Disclaimer: Don't own; don't sue.

Spoilers: General season 1 and 2 spoilers.

Author's Note: just got the start wrong may or may not be slowing down from here on out... so here is a present to tide you over.

part three

003. Crush

As soon as she sees him from across the Grill, she knows this a man she could fall in love with. Gorgeous from head to toe, and definitely a man, not a boy still in high school. When she bumps into him and he smirks and says, "Very much," she knows that their love will be passionate and steamy (two days later, she's proven right. She doesn't have any experience to compare, really, but he's got her making sounds she's pretty sure she should be embarrassed about. She's not, 'cause every time it just makes him grin wider). Every second proves to her that this is it, this is love, none of those stupid crushes that she's had from middle school through high school. It's only after she wakes up with a stabbing pain and still wet blood on her neck that she also realizes that this love is also a tragedy.

066. Technology

Bzz.

Bzz.

Bzz.

Sometimes he hated modern technology. Back when he was alive, you had to walk to see someone, or send a letter. You had to take time with your communication.

It's a lesson the blonde on his couch needs to learn.

Without a word, he zips over to her and grabs her phone. He'd dash it against the floor, but he knows better. He likes all his body parts where they are, thank you very much.

Caroline's mouth is open with shock, and her eyes are narrowing in fury. He has a very short time period to work with.

Gently, he tosses the phone on the opposite couch and leans over Caroline, capturing her mouth with his. Body language is a form of communication, too.

038. Rejection

When Elena hugs him, it feels like the end. He's made so many promises to both Elena and his brother, but this is one he has to keep. He's going to leave them alone. Let them live their lives, be in love. He won't get in the way anymore. He thinks of shutting it all off simply to ease the aching pain in his heart, but that didn't help last time, and he doubts it'll be as effective this time around.

He travels the world, drinking every blood type and booze the world has to offer (Stefan always said it would be good for him to have goals). Still, none of his new friends and experiences prepare him for what he finds in Mozambique.

Caroline Forbes.

She's on a safari; getting in touch with the spirit of the animals or some shit (he's pretty sure she's just tasting every animal on the planet; not the goal he would have set, but whatever). She's still the blonde bombshell she's always been, and now she's single.

So Damon does what he does best; flirts, smirks, and innuendos his way into her pants. Or he tries to.

She smiles back, pats him on the arm, and walks out of his life.

The rejection stings. (It tells him that he's moving on.)

022. Voice

Ever since she was a little girl, Caroline sang at any given opportunity. It had always been something she loved, and while her father had once encouraged dreams of becoming a pop star, her mother's practicality had won out in the end. So she saved singing for only the most important people in her life. Matt, when she thought she had lost him. Bonnie, when her Grams had died. Tyler, when he first became a werewolf and howled and sobbed through the pain. She sang during the happy times too, but those were a little harder to remember.

Sometimes, during their first relationship, Damon would compel her to simply stop talking, stop whining, stop making any noise at all. Shortly after they had broken up, she would see him and her throat would dry up, choking her voice. She never knew why, not until she died and woke up with a lot of missing pieces finally returned.

It took twelve years, four months, and sixteen days into their second relationship for her to sing to him.

(She sings Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart", muffled from the noise of the shower raining down on her. It sounds nothing like the original, and he loves her even more because of it.)

060. Convert

"I can't kill Thumper."

Caroline Forbes stalked into his living room, hands on her hips and an ugly scowl twisting her mouth.

"Or Bambi, or Flower, or any other woodland creature that once sang in a Disney movie!"

"Who the hell's Flower?"

"The skunk," she glared as she collapsed on the couch across from him.

He spent about three seconds looking at her with a raised eyebrow before getting up to get a drink. A strong one.

"Why is any of that my problem? Or, better question, why are you in my house?"

Caroline crossed her arms and refused to meet his eyes.

"Iwanttolearnhowtofreshfeed."

"What," Damon asked, a smirk already in place. Oh, he heard her alright, but he was going to make her say it nicely.

"I. Want. To. Learn. How. To. Fresh. Feed," she gritted out.

"Good for you," he hid his grin behind his drink. "What does it have to do with me?"

Caroline huffed a huge sigh and got off the couch. She looked towards the front door, as if she was giving up on this and ready to leave and take her chances.

"I want to learn, because animal blood just isn't doing it, and blood bags aren't always a guarantee, and I don't want to eat my entire graduating class because I didn't get breakfast, okay?" Her face softened, and she looked him in the eye. "And you may not be my first choice, but you're pretty much my only choice, and you owe me."

Damon refused to wince at that, but she was right. Instead, he allowed his smirk to return.

"I was wondering when you'd see things my way, Blondie."