Disclaimer: I do not own the Vampire Diaries and never will, but I do own Charlene Davis and Megan Swann and any other characters I come up with.

Author's Note: Hope you love the updated version! :D

Carol smiled brightly at the large crowd in front of her. "Tickets for the raffle are now on sale. All proceeds benefit the annual Founder's Day celebration!" she announced from her microphone in the Mystic Grill where the fundraiser from being held.

In the crowd, there was Alaric standing there and he had a 'bachelor number 4' sticker plastered on his chest. Jenna noticed him right away, of course and came up to join him.

"That's a good look for you." She joked with a smile.

Alaric smiled sheepishly. "What? Embarrassed and uncomfortable?"

Jenna laughed. "Yep that's…that's the one."

Alaric looked at Jenna with an apologetic look on his face, remembering their last conversation. "Hey, look, I'm, uh, sorry about earlier," he said. "It was just kind of a—a shock."

"Well, I'm sorry for dropping it on you," Jenna told him sincerely. "But I felt like you should know."

Alaric nodded, "No. I get it."

Jenna nodded back, then bit on her bottom lip nervously for a moment before she spoke up again. "At some point maybe you and Elena can talk…and maybe even Charlene. I'm sure they'd like to hear about Isobel…what she was like…"

"Yeah." Alaric said slowly, an uncertain look on his face.

Jenna quickly corrected herself. "Uh…or not. No pressure."

"I don't know if that's a…a great idea." Alaric said, shaking his head. "At least not—not for a while."

Jenna nodded. She understood completely.

At the boarding house, Damon headed over Stefan, slipping on his jacket, "So, where'd our girls go?"

"On the way to the Grill." Stefan responded before changing the subject. "I, uh, wanted to talk to you." He took out the picture of Isobel that he showed the girls and showed it to Damon, regarding him with a serious look on his face. "This is the woman, Isobel, from North Carolina. Remember her now?"

"Who wants to know?" Damon said with a suspicious look on his face.

"I do."

"Who else wants to know?"

"Did you kill her?" Stefan asked.

Damon looked at the picture once more while Stefan waited for his answer before he looked back at his brother, and shrugged his shoulders. "Sorry. Don't know her." He walked past his brother but didn't walk far as he turned around to face Stefan with a smirk. "Hey, are you coming? The real housewives of Mystic Falls await."

Charlene stood inside the grill near the entrance with her friends, smiling and laughing as they enjoyed the fundraiser. It hadn't started yet, but it was still a good time.

Stefan hadn't arrived yet. She wasn't sure where he was, however, she wasn't worried about it. The only thing missing was Megan. It was strange not having her here at one of the many events at Mystic Falls as Megan loved going to them and she was usually the life of the party.

"He's already been hit on, like, thirty-five times." Caroline was saying to them, talking about Matt as she laughed loudly. She was standing behind this podium, selling the raffle tickets for the fundraiser. "He's total cougar bait." She giggled at the embarrassed look on her boyfriend's face as he shook his head.

Charlene stifled a laugh as Elena smiled, amused.

"Impressive." She teased.

"Very." Charlene agreed with a grin, nudging Matt in the side as she was standing next to him. "That's quite an accomplishment."

"More like embarrassing." Matt told her.

She nodded in agreement. "Well, that too."

Caroline laughed before she perked up, seeing someone enter the Grill. Charlene looked to see who it was, and it was Kelly Donavan. Matt's mom. And best friend of her and Elena's mother Miranda. Charlene had no idea she had came back and the blonde honestly wasn't excited to see her. She had never really liked Kelly, not after she abandoned Matt and Vicki, but especially Matt, leaving him to fend for himself and take on the responsibility that a parent should be.

"Hi Mrs. Donavan." Caroline greeted her brightly as she came up to them.

Kelly looked at her with distaste in her eyes and completely ignored her as she looked at Charlene and Elena, smiling brightly. "Elena and Charlene, honeys!"

Elena smiled back. "Hi Kelly." They shared hugs briefly, then Kelly hugged Charlene, who hugged back, not wanting to be rude.

"Long time, no see." Kelly said, smiling.

"It has been." Charlene told her. It was the older woman's fault for it being so long since they last saw each other.

"How are you doing?" Elena asked.

"Oh, same old, same old." Kelly shrugged as she glanced over at Matt. "Oh. Matty tells me you broke his heart."

Elena looked lost for words.

"Mom." Matt said in a warning tone, glancing over at Caroline briefly.

"Just kidding. Calm down." Kelly rolled her eyes, even though it sounded like she wasn't kidding at all. In Charlene's opinion at least. "He found his rebound girl."

Caroline automatically looked hurt, and Charlene couldn't help but glare at the older woman a bit as she moved over to her friend to rub her on the arm in comfort. Her friend looked at her with a small smile.

"Oh." Kelly looked at Caroline as if noticing her for the first time as she pulled out some money from her pocket. "Here sweetheart. However, many that'll buy." She handed it over to Caroline, who took it from her with a small smile. "I just hope I don't get bachelor number three. I dated him in high school. Not impressive. In anyway." The last part was said in a whisper as Kelly made a face.

Matt shook his head, embarrassed, as Caroline handed the raffle tickets over to his mom.

"Very exciting." Kelly winked before sauntering over in the direction of the bar.

Bitch. Charlene thought to herself, wishing she could say it out loud, but of course she couldn't, not with Matt there. She shook her head and looked over at her sister to find staring off to the side, so she followed her gaze before landing at Alaric. He was staring at the both of them. This was the first time seeing him since learning about him and Isobel. It was kind of awkward, but Charlene managed a small smile and a wave. She got nothing in return as he walked off and she sighed, looking over at Elena to see her looking dissatisfied by how he reacted. Charlene patted her sister's shoulder in comfort.

"Do you want anything to drink?" She asked her sister.

"Just a coke."

Charlene nodded and headed over to the bar where the bartender was already.

"What can I get for you, sweetheart?" he asked as she sat down on the stool in front of him.

"Just a coke…and a bourbon too." Charlene had to compel him for that one. It wasn't long before her drinks were set down in front of her.

"That'll be five dollars."

She went to take out her wallet to pay for it, but a familiar voice stopped her.

"Let me get that." Charlene looked over and there was Damon in the seat next to her, sliding five dollars over to the bartender as he smirked at her. She rolled her eyes with a frown as she was still kind of mad at him for pretending, he was drunk just so she would be near him. Though it was more flattering than anything, but he didn't have to know that.

"You didn't have to do that." Charlene told him, rolling her eyes. "I could have paid for it myself."

"Oh, come on, Charlene, be a little appreciative." Damon pouted at her. "You could at least say thank you. You should be flattered."

Charlene snorted. "Oh really?" She rose a brow at him.

"Yeah. I never pay for drinks for just anyone."

She just stared at him for a moment before sighing. "Fine, thank you for paying for the drinks."

Damon smirked proudly. "You're very welcome, Charlie." She didn't bother correcting him, knowing it wouldn't do any good.

"Okay, well see ya." Charlene grabbed her drinks and went to leave, but Damon's voice stopped her.

"Hey, I think you dropped this."

She turned around and found Damon standing in front of her, holding out a raffle ticket.

Charlene stared at it, confused. "What? That's not mine."

"Are you sure?"

"…yeah. I never even bought one."

"Mm…well keep it anyway…" Damon moved closer to her, a little too close, but she didn't complain as her breath caught in her throat. He grabbed her hand, slipping the raffle ticket in her hand, then he leaned in to whisper in her ear. "Who knows, you might get lucky and win a date with me." Before she could say anything, he moved back with a smirk before walking away.

Charlene stared after him for a moment, then she glanced at the raffle ticket in her hand. She didn't stare at it for long as she slid it into her back pocket, deciding to keep it. Not because she could possibly win a date with Damon, at least that's what she was telling herself.

Shaking her head, she walked back over to Elena and the rest of her friends.

"I got the big date planned," Damon told Carol Lockwood with a flirty smile on his lips. "It's a romantic dinner, secluded spot somewhere woodsy." Even though he was telling her this, he really was wanting Charlene to win that date with him.

Carole smiled. "You're making me think I should buy a ticket."

Deciding to just let her think that, Damon smirked as he leaned forward towards Carol. "Well you are in charge," he said. "You could always rig it." From the corner of his eye, he saw Liz and he looked back at Carol, touching her arm. "Pardon me." He headed over to Liz and they met each other half-way as he crossed his arms over his chest. "How's it look?

"He checks out." Liz told him. "Couple of speeding tickets. It's a rough story, though. Turns out his wife went missing a few years back in North Carolina."

This caught Damon's attention. "North Carolina? Does she have a name?"

Liz nodded as she flipped to next paper, showing the picture of a woman. It was the same one that Stefan had showed him.

"Yeah, her name was Isobel."

He stared at the picture. "Isobel…" He looked around for a moment before spotting the person he was looking for. It was Alaric, and he was walking with some people.

Damon smirked.

The fundraiser was underway finally. Charlene thought it would never start, even though even with it going on, it was pretty boring, watching all the men being listed off.

Her mind was elsewhere as she fiddled with the raffle ticket Damon had given her. She thought about what he had planned if the ticket did, in fact, get picked. Would he take her on an actual date? Dinner and everything? What about afterwards? Would he take her up to his bedroom, and would they do what Charlene had been wanting to do ever since she met the dangerous Salvatore?

At this, Charlene shook her head and scoffed at her thoughts. What was she thinking? Was she really willing to forget everything Damon had done, just for the chance of going out with him? No. No she was not.

Focusing her attention on Carol, introducing the men. She was now on man number three; the one Kelly had mentioned going out with.

"And what do you do, Bachelor Number 3?" Carol asked brightly into the microphone.

"I'm a plumper." The man responded plainly, not sounding at all excited about the occupation he had, and who could blame him.

"Well, isn't that wonderful?" Carol said with an overdone smile. "We could always use more plumbers. Moving on." She moved over to Alaric and looked at him, still smiling, but it looked more relaxed this time. "Number 4, 'Alaric Saltzman'. Wow. That's a mouthful." She chuckled, and the crowd laughed along with her. "What do you do, Alaric?"

As she put the microphone in front of him, Alaric looked completely awkward up there, not at all how he normally looked when he was teaching a class. It was strange to see him like that, Charlene thought.

He cleared his throat before he spoke up. "I'm a teacher at Mystic Falls High."

"Oh, beauty and brains, ladies." Carol complimented, giving the crowd a charming smile. "This one's a keeper." Alaric awkwardly smiled in response. "What do you teach?"

"History."

"History." She repeated, then smiled. "Oh, well, give us a fun fact about Mystic Falls, something crazy."

Alaric glanced at Damon, who smirked at him and placed his hand up to his ear, sarcastically. Charlene rolled her eyes at his response. Did he really think Alaric would reveal vampires to Mystic Falls?

"Uh, well…" Alaric paused, and Carol pulled the microphone away.

"He's probably saving the best stories for his date." She joked, then moved down the line to Damon, who was the last bachelor. "And last, but not least, Damon Salvatore. We don't have much on you."

Suddenly, Elena nudged Charlene on the side and gestured. She followed her gesture, spotting Stefan in the middle of the Grill. Charlene smiled at the sight of him and she waved at her. He smiled back at her, waving back.

Charlene smiled again before turning her attention back to the stage to Damon, who of course, was smirking. She couldn't help but roll her eyes.

"Well, I'm tough to fit on a card." Damon said smugly and he winked in Charlene's direction.

The blonde ignored him, rolling her eyes again.

"Do you have any hobbies, like to travel?" Carol asked.

"Oh, yeah. L.A., New York. Couple of years ago, I was in North Carolina. Near the Duke Campus, actually. I think – I think Alaric went to school there. Didn't you Ric?" He smirked as he looked over at the teacher, and he looked back at him.

Charlene frowned, not knowing where Damon was going with this. And maybe she should have.

"Yeah, 'cause I – I know your wife did."

This sentence made the whole world just stop as she stared at Damon with shock in her eyes. W-what? Did he just… Looking at Elena's face, yes. Yes, he did. Charlene couldn't believe it. Damon was the vampire who killed Elena's birthmother…her aunt… She was just as upset as Elena was. She could see it on her sister's face.

"Elena…" Charlene started off, hesitating on touching Elena's shoulder. She ended up doing it and her sister flinched at her touch.

Damon continued on, ignoring the crowd's reaction. "I had a drink with her once. She was – she was a great girl. I ever tell you that? Cause she was – delicious. Mmm!"

By now, Elena's eyes were filling with tears. Immediately, Charlene went into protective sister mode as she put her arm around Elena's shoulders, turning her around, towards the entrance of the Grill. Jenna took notice to this.

"Are you guys okay?" she asked.

"We just need some air, that's all." Charlene forced a smile. "We'll be back." Without another word, they headed out of the Grill with the blonde's arm still wound tightly around Elena's shoulders. They walked straight past Stefan and once they were outside, her sister broke away from Charlene's grip and began pacing around.

"This can't be real…this can't be real…" Elena mumbled, her fingers running through her hair repeatedly.

Charlene opened her mouth to say something, but the sound of Stefan's voice stopped her.

"Elena. Charlene."

The latter turned around to face him. "Stefan…" she said quietly. "Is it true? Did Damon kill her?"

He said nothing for a moment. "I don't know what happened." He said with a sigh. "Alaric said they never found her body."

Finally, Elena stopped pacing and turned around to face him. "Oh, my God. Stefan." She breathed.

"I know. I'm sorry. I wanted to tell you, both of you." Stefan glanced at Charlene, who met his gaze. "But I just – I wanted to know more."

The blonde didn't say anything, but it didn't last long as she let out a heavy sigh. "I just can't believe this. I guess I have to add this to the list of bad things Damon has done to hurt me, and my family…and here I was feeling sorry for him, about this whole Abigail thing. And here he goes again, making me regret it. He's never going to change, is he?" She was mostly talking to herself, glancing down at her feet as she mumbled her words. She didn't have to look to know Stefan was staring at her.

Charlene looked up Stefan, but ignored the look on his face. "It's whatever…" she mumbled.

"He doesn't know about the connection to you." Stefan said softly as Elena crossed her arms and stared at him. "I thought about confronting him, but he's already so on edge."

"Why are you protecting him?" Elena demanded.

"Because you're not the only one hoping that he might change." Stefan answered softly, looking straight at Charlene.

She stared right back, starting to feel emotional even though she shouldn't be. Damon was never going to change…it was stupid to hope that he would.

Elena shook her head as she looked over Stefan's shoulder but then she froze, gripping Charlene's arm. "Charlie…it's him!"

She whirled around and it sure was, and he was watching them.

"Who?" Stefan asked, confused as he looked to see him.

"That man…he was outside of Trudie's house." Charlene told him, staring at the man with a glare as she stayed close to her sister protectively.

"Get back inside." Stefan said as he pushed them both towards the direction of the Grill. "Come on."

Giving the man one last glare, Charlene helped Elena get inside and Stefan went off somewhere once they were inside. She ended up bumping into Damon, who smirked.

"Whoa, Charlie, easy there, wait until your ticket gets called." He teased.

Charlene glared at him. "Save it, Damon!"

His smirk faltered a bit, seeing the shattered look on her face behind her glare. Before he could say anything, Elena interrupted.

"Did you enjoy that?" she snarled. "Rubbing it in Alaric Saltzman's face?"

"What?" he asked, confused.

Elena just shook her head and walked around him, hands in her hair. Damon watched her leave before turning back towards Charlene.

"What is she talking about?"

"Just leave me alone." She said quietly. "And stay away from me." She tried to move past him, but Damon grabbed her arm. "Let go of me!" She glared heatedly at him as she roughly pulled her arm away.

"What's your problem?" Damon asked, completely confused.

Charlene didn't even want to bother explaining, but if she had to. "Remember earlier when I was telling you about Elena's birthmother, my aunt, the one who gave her up? The one you said sucked because she left?" He slowly nodded. "You know what her name was…it was Isobel." His face faltered and he stepped forward, but she quickly moved back away from him. "No. I told you to stay away from me, I can't even look at you right now… I honestly really thought that there was something good about you, and I can't even think why I thought that, but I did. I was so wrong though and so stupid to think you would change. And though as much as I hate to admit it, I was starting to like you but now…I look at you and all I see is hate." This ended her speech and she brushed by Damon, bumping into his shoulder before she chased after Elena and ended up back outside of the Grill.

She moved over to her sister, grabbing her into a hug. Elena buried her face into her chest.

"I hate him, Charlene. I hate him." She mumbled into her chest.

"I know…" She whispered as she rubbed Elena's back in comfort. "I hate him too."

"Are you guys okay?" Stefan's voice asked, breaking the moment as they turned to look at him as they kept their arms around each other.

Charlene gave him a watery smile. "I don't know…but I think we will be. We'll get through this together." She squeezed Elena tightly and her sister nodded into her shoulder.

Stefan gave them a weak smile. "Okay, come on. Let's get you guys home."

Charlene let go of Elena and grabbed her hand. They started to leave, but Elena stopped abruptly causing her to stop. It was the man again. Immediately Charlene moved in front of her sister protectively and so did Stefan. The man didn't even flinch.

"I have a message for you." He said in a monotone, staring at Elena.

Immediately, Charlene knew he had been compelled.

"What?" Elena questioned, confused.

"Who are you?" Stefan demanded.

"Stop looking."

"Stop looking for what?" Elena was still confused, and so was Charlene.

"She doesn't want to know you. She doesn't want to talk to you."

"Isobel?" Elena asked, her eyes widened a little.

"You need to stop looking. Do you understand?"

"She's alive? Does that mean she's a…" Elena started inch forward, but Charlene stopped her by grabbing her arm.

"Don't Elena, he's under compulsion." She warned. Her sister glanced over at her, then back at the man.

"Do you understand?" He repeated.

Elena nodded her head. "Yes. I do."

"Good." The man looked down at the street. "I'm done now." He stepped backwards into the road and a truck blared its horn but ran into the man with a sickening crash.

Charlene brought her hand to her mouth, shocked as Elena gasped in horror and grabbed onto Stefan.

After a moment, a crowd started to form around the man. The chaos around them made Charlene not notice that Elena had picked up a phone from off of the ground.

They made it back home, and Charlene took a shower and dried her hair before heading to Elena's room to check on her sister. She stopped when she heard her on the phone.

"Isobel?" Elena breathed.

Charlene said nothing as she listened in but there was nothing else to hear. She must have hung up. Charlene heard her sister's tears and she knocked on the door softly, but she didn't wait to hear Elena invite her in. She went inside, climbed into bed, and hugged her sister, letting her cry into her shoulder.

Harper was walking through the woods until he came upon a large house. He got to the door and knocked on it twice. The woman that he saw at the park appeared and she opened the door, smiling at him.

"Pearl!" she called. "It's Harper!"

Pearl smiled as she went to stand in front of Harper with Anna right behind her. "I'm glad you found us." she said to Harper softly. "Ms. Gibbons." At the sound of her name, an older woman appeared behind Pearl and Anna. "This gentleman is a friend of mine. May he come in?"

"Any friend of Pearl is a friend of mine," Ms. Gibbons said in a dazed voice. It was obvious that she had been compelled. "Please do. Come in."

Harper nodded as she left. Pearl smiled and turned to her daughter.

"Annabelle, close the door, please."

Anna nodded and Harper walked inside as the young woman closed the door behind him.

TBC...

In...

There Goes the Neighborhood, Part 1...