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

Before the kiss could get too far, Charlene and Stefan broke apart, both realizing what they had done.

She brought her hands to her mouth as they looked at each in complete shock.

"I…I…I got to go!" Charlene blurted out. Before he could say anything, she darted out of the room and away from the boarding house. She made to the woods and leaned against the tree that she was near.

What the hell did she just do? She…she just kissed…Stefan. Oh my god, she was a horrible best friend. She knew she had been high on the human blood she had, but that was no excuse. She kissed her best friend's boyfriend.

And now, there was another secret to keep from Megan.

Megan hadn't been able to find Charlene anywhere. Where the hell was she? She wasn't able to look for too long because Elena had called her to come in Alaric's classroom.

"What's going on?" Megan asked as she went into Alaric's classroom. The brunette didn't say anything, handing her a paper. She looked at her confused before she looked down to read the title of it. Fact or Fiction: The Truth About Vampires in Mystic Falls by Jeremy Gilbert. Then she looked back up in shock. "Jeremy wrote this?"

Elena nodded her head. "Yeah, he wrote it for extra credit for History."

"Does he know?" Megan questioned, looking over at Alaric.

He shook his head. "No, he was very clear that he didn't believe any of it."

"That's a good thing, though?" Megan glanced over at Elena.

"It is, but I really hope you're right because I've done so much to protect him from all this." She said.

Megan nodded in agreement. "It's why Charlene made Damon make Jeremy forget about what happened to Vicki. He can't know about this."

Alaric said nothing for a moment. "So, how do you deal with it?"

"What do you mean?" Elena asked softly.

"With all the lies and the secrets. You have to lie to everyone that's important to you."

Elena shook her head, crossing her arms. "It's not safe for them to know the truth. So, yes I keep it from them, but it's only because I love them."

There was a long pause until Alaric broke it. "I think Stefan is a good guy. But at the end of the day, he's still a vampire." He looked over at Megan.

Megan stared right back and didn't say anything for a moment. "I know, but I'm not scared of him, which I know is kind of stupid, he's a vampire. But I also know that he wouldn't do anything to hurt me." Just the thought of that didn't settle well with her, even though she knew it would never happen. Then she changed the subject. "Is that it? I really need to find Char."

"Why? What's wrong?" Elena asked, looking a bit alarmed.

"I…I have no idea."

At the Gilbert household, Jeremy sat at the table with John sitting across from him while Jenna was in the kitchen. The youngest Gilbert glowered to himself.

"I've got no interest in the Founder's Day kickoff party." Jeremy informed his uncle, making a face.

John wasn't hear any of it. No matter what Jeremy said on the subject.

"Sure, you do, it's tradition."

"It will be our role to break tradition." Jenna mumbled to herself as she poured herself a drink.

John ignored her and continued with his speech, "The Gilberts have been a part of this town for a hundred and fifty years. We're one of the founding families and with that distinction comes certain obligations including going to the party." He smiled and Jeremy tried not to roll his eyes. "One day, when you can appreciate the significance, I'll tell you all about your heritage."

Jenna turned to the two of them, a glass of wine her hand now. "Hmm, the Gilbert family legacy." She said sarcastically. "I forgot how sacred it was. I'm not a Gilbert so I was never cool enough to hear it."

Jeremy looked amused, leaning in towards John. "Why does she hate you?"

"We used to sleep together."

Jenna glowered at him as she threw a bag at him, right at his face. "I'm standing right here!"

Jeremy shook his head in disbelief while John simply smirked at Jenna.

Charlene was back home, locking herself in her room. She didn't trust herself around anyone at the moment. At least not anyone human.

It didn't work out that way.

The door opened and Megan stepped inside her bedroom. Didn't she lock the door? She was sure she did. Maybe her best friend used her magic to get the door open. A feeling of annoyance washed over her and Charlene clenched her jaw.

"What are you doing here?" she gritted out. "The door was locked. Usually that means to stay out."

Megan looked startled by the hostility. "What's with the attitude, Charlie? You're not normally like this…did I do something wrong?" The last question was asked in a quiet voice.

Hearing this made Charlene soften up and she sighed. "No, it has nothing to do with you." She reassured her. "It's just been a long day and ever since being captured by the tomb vampires, I've just…just been on edge…"

Megan said nothing for a moment. "Well, why didn't you just say so, Char? I would have understood." She sat down beside her on the bed, reaching out to rub her shoulder.

This time Charlene didn't flinch away. "I…I didn't want you to worry." However, she did scooch back a little from her as she looked away from the pulsing of her neck. Not trusting herself to be so close to her.

Megan noticed, but didn't comment. "I was worried anyway, Charlie." She informed her. "But that's not the only thing I came over here for. It's about Jeremy."

This made Charlene look back up at her sharply. "What about Jeremy?"

"Well, Mr. Saltzman showed me and Elena Jeremy's extra credit report that he got a A on it." Seeing the confused look on her best friend's face, Megan continued to explain, "It was about vampires."

"You're kidding."

Megan shook her head. "Nope."

"Well, what does it mean? Does he know?" Charlene demanded.

"Mr. Saltzman doesn't seem to think so."

Charlene looked relieved by that. "Good…I mean, I know he should know about it. I hate lying to him about it." She admitted quietly. Initially, she knew it was the right thing to compel his memories away and to keep him away from the truth, but now, she regretted even telling Damon to do it.

"Do you want to tell him?" Megan questioned softly.

"Sometimes I do and sometimes I don't." Charlene answered. "It feels like I can't talk to him about anything anymore. Elena and I haven't even told him about us being adopted and about you being related to us."

"Then maybe you should tell him…about all of it." Megan suggested. "He might be mad for a while, but he'd get over it."

"I don't think Elena will." Charlene sighed. "If I told him about the vampires. The last thing she wants is for Jeremy to find out."

"Well, she'd get over it too. If you want to tell him, I'll be there every step of the way." Megan smiled, touching her shoulder again.

Charlene smiled back softly. "Thank you." After a moment, the smile fell as she thought about what happened earlier. She felt so guilty for kissing Stefan and she knew she needed to tell her, but she just couldn't…

"Come here." Megan pulled her into a hug, which was probably the worse thing she could have done.

The smell of her best friend's blood filled her senses and it took all she could not to bite into Megan's flesh, but it smelt so good. Charlene grit her teeth together as she could feel her face changing. She just couldn't stop it. Before she could try and pull herself together, Megan pulled back from the hug only for her eyes to widen at the sight of her face.

Charlene growled, her eyes growing veins underneath them. Then she shoved Megan away from her. Hard enough that she managed to make her best friend slam into the nearest wall of her bedroom.

Megan couldn't help but cry out in pain. "Charlene!"

Hearing her name made her realize what she had done, and Charlene snapped out of it, her face going back to normal. Her eyes welled with tears as she got off the bed and put as much space between them.

"Get out." Charlene said quietly, her voice void of all emotion.

"Charlene…" Megan winced as she tried to walk towards her.

"GET OUT!" she roared, tears falling down her face.

Her best friend stopped where she was, and her own eyes filled with tears. "Okay…I'll go…" she whispered.

Giving her one last look, Megan finally left the room as Charlene slid down the wall that she was resting again and covered her face with her hands.

The doorbell rang at the Bennett household, and Megan got up from the couch to open it. Damon was on the other side of the door. After what happened with Charlene, she ended up calling Damon. She could have called Stefan, but she didn't want to bother him. He had enough stuff to deal with.

"Finally!" Megan breathed in relief. "I called you like two hours ago! What took so long?"

Damon scoffed. "I do have a life, you know. It doesn't revolve around your problems."

This made Megan roll her eyes. "Just get in here."

"You have to invite me in first." Damon reminded her with a smirk.

That was the last thing she needed to do, but she was desperate for his help. She just couldn't let Bonnie know she invited him in.

Megan rolled her eyes again. "Fine. Please come in."

"Thank you." Damon stepped inside, and Megan grabbed his arm only to pull him towards the stairs. "No Megan, I will not go to your bedroom with you!" His voice rose.

Megan slapped his shoulder with her free hand, her cheeks flushing. "Shut up! There's no one even here."

He laughed at her annoyance and her flushed face, letting her drag him upstairs. Once to her bedroom door, Megan let go of Damon's arm to open the door to move inside.

"Ah, just like I remember." He gave her a teasing look.

"Okay, that's enough!" Megan fumed, stomping her foot. "I didn't call you here for you to tease me."

"Sorry." Damon smirked, not looking sorry at all. "But you make it so easy, Meg."

Her eyes narrowed at the nickname. Did he really think they were that close to call her that? Megan gave a roll of her eyes. Oh whatever, it didn't really matter.

She crossed her arms as Damon went over to her bed, took the teddy bear she had gotten when she was a baby, laid on the bed, and held the bear close to his chest.

"So, did you know Elena and Charlene's has been kicking it with the Founders' Council?"

Megan looked surprised. "What? Seriously?"

"Yep." Then Damon shrugged. "Beats me. So, why did you call me here?" She opened her mouth to answer but he cut her off. "No wait, it's about Stefan, isn't it?"

"No." At his rose eyebrows, she rolled her eyes. "It has a little bit to do with him, but I called you here because of Charlene."

This had Damon straightening up. "What about Charlene?"

Megan sighed heavily, sitting down on the bed. "I think what happened with the tomb vampires is getting to her…just as bad it is with Stefan. Her face changed and she was going to bite me, but instead, she shoved me against the wall. I'm really worried about her. Not only that, she hasn't been herself. She's been snappy…and I'm just worried about her. I would talk to Stefan about this, but he already has enough going on. But speaking of that, I'm really worried about him too. He clearly has a problem, but he doesn't want to admit something's wrong. So, I just want to know, when will everything go back to normal?" She waited for an answer for a moment, however, there was silence coming from Damon. "Hey, are you even listening to me?"

Whatever stupor he was in, the sound of her voice snapped him out of it and Damon smirked at her. "Sorry, I zoned out after the mention of Stefan."

"Oh my god, why the heck did I think this would be a good idea to talk to you about this?!" Megan threw her arms up in frustration before heaving a heavy sigh. "Seriously Damon, when is he going to get back to normal?"

"A few days, give or take." He shrugged.

She glared at him as she crossed her arms over chest "I would believe that, but it's already been a few days, Damon."

"Give then, I don't know. What's the big deal?" he asked, getting up from the bed to hand her the teddy bear.

Megan stared down at it in disbelief before rolling her eyes yet again as she threw it back over on the bed. "The big deal is that he's not acting like himself. Whoever this Stefan is, it's not the one I'm in love with."

Damon was looking through her drawers now. "Well, maybe the problem is that he has spent too long not being himself."

"What do you mean?"

He didn't answer her immediately, taking a bra from the drawer. Megan tore the undergarment from him and shoved it back inside her dresser.

"Again, why did I decide to ask you about this?" she grumbled as he took a picture of her and Charlene when they were five years old from her mirror. She tried to take this from him too, but this time, she was too slow to get it as he pulled it away from her, causing her to cross her arms and glared at him.

"It is what it is, Megan. The Stefan, you know was 'good behavior Stefan', 'reign it in Stefan', 'fight against his nature to an annoying excessive level Stefan' but if you think there isn't another part to this then you have not been paying attention." Damon pouted his lips at her as she finally managed to take the picture from him, and she put it back on the mirror.

Megan turned towards him again as she put her hands on her hips. "I have been paying attention." She corrected him, putting her hands on her hips. "I know there's another part of him, that I probably don't know about, but this still isn't him. Not the one that he wants to me. No matter what you say, Stefan isn't you and he never will be you."

"Well, he doesn't want to be me." Damon said after a moment. "That doesn't mean that deep down he's not." He moved close to her, making her heart skip a beat for some reason, but he didn't do anything, just looked at her before starting to leave.

"Wait." Megan said, making him stop and look at her. "What should I do about Charlene?"

He stared at her for another moment before answering, "I don't know. I'll talk to her."

That really didn't answer her question, but she decided to leave it alone as Damon finally left the room.

TBC...

In...

Under Control, Part 3..