Chapter twenty six

"This is how I show my love,"- Sail by AWOLNATION

Charlie groaned softly as she woke up. At first she expected to be in the dark, dirty room again, but she was in her warm, safe bed. She sat up and looked around for her husband to find him standing in the doorway, staring at her.

Despite the fact that Charlie had just escaped from a near-death situation caused by Damon, and that she still needed to talk about him killing Cassidy for really no good reason, the first thing Charlie did when she saw Damon was jump into his arms and latch her lips onto his.

Damon kissed her back just as roughly, his hands slipping under her shirt. The kiss was lustful and passionate and needy. It was the kiss that lovers shared after being apart for a long time. It was the kiss that lovers shared after being apart for a long time. Charlie moaned against Damon's mouth, her hands struggling to unbutton his shirt. Damon ripped her clothes off, leaving Charlie just in her bra and panties, and then helped her undress him.

Charlie wrapped her arms around her husband's neck as he lifted her up and pushed her against the bedroom wall. Her legs wrapped around his waist and she screamed into his shoulder as they made love up against the wall.

After an hour full of hot reunion sex, Charlie rested her head on her husband's bare chest, not speaking, not moving. Now that Charlie was sure that Damon was real, that he wasn't another dream, the questions she had pushed out of her head came crawling back. Why did Damon kill Cassidy? Was he really that impulsive that her refusal to help him set him off?

"You're mad at me, aren't you?"

His voice brought her out of her thoughts. Charlie didn't bother to raise her head to look at him. "No, I don't think so," she said in a calm, pensive voice.

"You should be," Damon said bluntly, one hand going through her dark curls. "I'm the reason you almost died Charlie, the reason we all I almost died."

"I told myself that I wouldn't let what Roger told me change how I feel about you, and I haven't. I just feel bad for Roger- he loved her so, so much," Charlie said, closing her eyes.

"And then I killed them both," Damon finished darkly.

She sighed. "I'm just glad that it's over with," she said, deciding on changing the subject.

"It is," he agreed, seeing through her obvious change of topic, but letting it slide. "We can start packing, I guess."

"Yeah, about that," Charlie said, sitting up and brushing her messy sex hair out of her face, "I don't think that I want to go back to New York."

His eyebrows shot up. "You don't?"

Charlie shook her head. "I like it here," she said simply, though her reasons went far deeper than that. In the midst of all of the attacks on them, her cardiomyopathy had all but been forgotten. If and when her heart finally gave out, Charlie wanted Damon to be near his brother and his best friend- a slightly alcoholic, ex-vampire hunter.

"Why?" he asked, his eyebrows furrowed slightly.

She shrugged. "It's quaint, and- let's face it- there's never a dull moment here."

"Yeah, with all the fundraisers, balls, and murdering supernatural creatures, this town is just full of excitement," Damon said sarcastically, earning a playful push.

"Whatever. Do you oppose staying here more permanently?" she asked, standing up.

"I go where you go babe," Damon told her simply, shrugging. Charlie smiled before walking towards the door. She was suddenly stopped when Damon blurted out an all too familiar question.

"Why won't you let me change you? Does spending all of eternity with me really seem that bad?"

Charlie sighed and turned to face him. "Of course not, Damon," she soothed him.

"Then why won't you become a vampire, Charlie?" Damon exclaimed, frustrated. He sat up and ran a hand through his hair.

"Because I don't want to be a monster!" she shouted.

Damon stared at her for a few moments, thinking about her confession. Charlie didn't want to be a monster like he was, like most vampires were. It seemed impossible, that his Charlie- sweet, polite, friendly, outgoing Charlie could ever be a monster. But it was humans like her that turned out to be some of the more monstrous vampires.

"I'm scared, okay? I'm scared that my humanity's going to be off for good and I'm going to turn into some blood craving crazy. I don't want to kill, Damon. I'm not a killer," she said quietly.

"There are other ways to survive as a vampire besides killing," he reminded her, thinking about his wife turning into the blood crazed monster she didn't want to be. He didn't want her to be a blood thirsty monster any more than she wanted to be one.

"You and I both know that all vampires end up killing, and I don't think that I could live with myself, if I killed an innocent person," she argued before sighing.

"It's not that I don't want to be with you forever, Damon. Believe me, being with you for eternity is the only reason I'm even thinking about turning," Charlie said, walking up to him and wrapping her arms around his waist.

"You're thinking about it?" he asked her, automatically pulling her to him.

She nodded, her head bobbing under his chin. "We have time, Damon," she assured her husband.

That was a lie though, and both knew it. Neither said anything, as the husband and wife both thought about if Charlie's love for Damon was strong enough to make her become the monster she didn't want to be.

"So, all of them are dead?"

Charlie was sitting on the couch, a book in her hands. Damon insisted that she relax that day, because of all the stress that was, undoubtedly, put on her heart the past days. When her husband walked into the living room, the random question fell from her lips without a second thought.

Damon knew what she meant, though. "Yeah, and it was fun, too." He smirked at his wife before tossing himself onto the couch and resting his head in her lap.

Charlie frowned down at him. "I didn't ask if you enjoyed killing them, Damon."

"I'm just saying that if you decide to join me in vampirism that ripping the hearts out of werewolves is a very fun hobby that we could take up together," Damon said, a smirk on his lips.

Charlie pushed him off of the couch and he fell to the floor. She laughed out loud and Damon frowned at her before getting up. "What? Isn't that what married couples do, take up hobbies together to try to keep the spark alive in their marriage?"

She rolled her eyes. "First, ripping out hearts isn't a proper hobby. Second, the spark is still very much alive in our marriage."

Damon smirked before sitting down on the couch again. "I know- the hot wall sex this morning proved that," he said smugly.

Charlie hit his arm. "Is this your new pastime? With Roger and his cronies dead, you're going to spend all your time trying to convince me to turn?" she asked, closing her book and setting it down on a table.

"Notice how both of them involve keeping you alive," Damon said dryly, causing Charlie to sigh.

"Technically, if I became a vampire, I'd be dead," she pointed out, causing Damon to frown at her.

"To answer your question, yes it's my new goal to convince you to become a vampire," he added, throwing an arm around her shoulders.

Charlie sighed. It had been all she could think about, becoming a vampire. She didn't have much time left, and both of them knew it. It was taking all of Damon's self-control, not to forcefully change Charlie. That and the knowledge that she would hate him forever for taking that decision out of her hands. But again, both of them knew that if it came down to Charlie dying or Charlie hating Damon because he turned her, Damon would always choose the latter. At least she would be alive then.

"I am thinking about it, Damon. Really, I am," she told him quietly.

He just kissed her temple before standing up. "Let's go to the Grill," he suggested, and she raised an eyebrow.

"I thought that I was on house arrest?" Charlie asked, standing up.

"I'm letting you off early for good behavior," Damon said, and she smirked mischievously.

"How about we keep the trip to the Grill short and then we can go back to the bedroom and I can show you how bad I can be," Charlie whispered seductively, causing Damon to groan lust and desire glazing over his eyes.

"If you keep talking like that, I'm going to skip the Grill altogether and drag you up to our room right now," he said huskily, and she giggled.

"Patience, love," Charlie murmured before pulling her husband out of the house.

"You know; if all you two are going to do is make out, feel free to leave."

Charlie pulled away from Damon, though he kept his arms firmly around her waist. She smiled apologetically at Alaric while Damon just smirked and kissed his wife's neck. "Sorry Ric, we'll try to stop with the P.D.A," she said, frowning at Damon and untangling from him.

"Yeah, we can easily move to the bathroom," Damon said, tugging on her arm.

Charlie sighed. "I'm not having bathroom sex, Damon," she said firmly, causing Alaric to roll his eyes at the awkward conversation.

"Why not? Might as well make this day filled with kinky sex," Damon said and Charlie shook her head again, a small smile on her lips.

"You're insatiable," she muttered, taking a sip of her drink.

"That's another plus of being a vampire- you have more stamina." Damon smirked. Charlie just rolled her eyes.

Suddenly, a waitress brought her a drink, and Charlie frowned. "Who's this from?" she asked.

"That man." she gestured with her head towards the back corner of the room before walking away. Alaric, Charlie, and Damon all turned to look who had sent her the drink. When she saw who it was, she froze.

Jason smirked and waved at them, still very much alive.

"I thought that you said that you killed them all," Charlie said, turning to face her husband.

"I thought I did," Damon responded, before standing up. "No problem- give me five minutes."

But Jason was already gone.

Damon sighed before turning to Alaric who was already standing up. "Apparently he wants to play chase before I rip his heart out," he said, sounding slightly annoyed.

"I have weapons in your car," Alaric responded, before walking away to go get them. Charlie frowned as Damon handed her her jacket.

"Come on, I'll take you home," he said.

"I want to stay here," she insisted stubbornly.

Damon sighed. "We don't know if there are still more running around, Charlie," he argued.

"And I'll be safe with a crowd of people surrounding me. I'll call Stefan to come get me if you're not back when I'm ready to leave," Charlie assured Damon.

He looked to be arguing with himself, before he sighed and kissed her quickly goodbye. Charlie watched him leave, hoping that neither him nor Alaric got hurt trying to kill Jason.

Charlie's mind wandered as she sipped her drink silently. She thought about becoming a vampire, and the things that were stopping her from becoming one. Charlie didn't want to be a monster, and it was inevitable that she would kill somebody if she became a vampire. Plus, turning would be admitting defeat against her cardiomyopathy. Charlie wanted to beat this disease, she was sure that she could. If she turned, she would be giving up.

But Charlie's heart was going to fail soon. She could practically hear the ticks of the nonexistent clock counted down to the moment when her heart would finally give out. It was a miracle that she was alive this long.

Charlie knew that the only way that she could survive was if she became a vampire, and Charlie didn't want to die. Plus, she wanted to be with Damon forever. She was hurting him, she knew. Damon wanted her to immediately decide to become one, to say that he was worth every bad side-effect of being a vampire. But Charlie had to think about every little detail of vampirism, she couldn't rush into this.

Charlie spent the next hour going over the pros and cons of being a vampire in her head. She wondered if Damon would help her control her urges to kill, and knew that he would. Because that was what she wanted, and, honestly, Charlie wouldn't be Charlie if she was ripping out throats.

After hours of deep thinking, Charlie finally came to her final decision, and she knew that it was permanent, her decision. She wouldn't be swayed from it.

Charlie was going to become a vampire.

A small smile formed on her lips, as she stood up. She couldn't wait for Damon to get back from killing Jason so that she could tell him. She wondered when they'd do it. Right away, as in that night? Charlie wanted to enjoy a few more days of being human, though.

Suddenly, a sharp pain hit Charlie's heart, a more painful hit than she had ever experienced. She gasped slightly and placed a hand over her heart. The pain didn't fade- if anything, it increased. Charlie knew at that moment, that her clock had ticked down, that her time was up.

She barely had time to gasp before she fell to the floor. And then Charlie's damaged heart finally gave out.

A/N: so, does anyone care to know why I took so freaking long to update? I had a very long paper for school due this week that was taking up most of my time. Plus, on Thursday, I got super sick and was throwing up. And then this weekend I went on a mini-vacation with my family and wasn't able to write at all. Good news- I have spring break this week and plan to finish up this story.

Thank you to: .twilight, Be My Baby, KimmyWSmith, and SomebodyWhoCares for reviewing!

Reviews are amazing!

~Abby :)