❝favors❞
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

attention: there is talk of suicide attempts, and self harm scars in this chapter. do not read this if it will trigger you.

CHARLOTTE STIFFENS WHEN DAMON ENTERS JEREMY'S ROOM. Her brows furrow in confusion, but she quickly realizes the purpose for his presence and sighs distastefully. Damon seems to understand her reaction as he eyes the younger of the siblings slumped over on Charlotte's shoulder.

"Elena said you didn't agree with this,"

"I don't." She doesn't bother keeping quiet, knowing Jeremy will just forget all of this in a moment. The thought makes unexpected bitterness rise in her and she frowns. She gets up, her movement making Jeremy open his eyes confusedly, a sight that only deepens when he sees Damon.

"Why didn't you stop her? You're strong enough to fight back,"

Charlotte looks over her shoulder at Damon as she stops in the doorway, her eyes shifting to Jeremy's shaking form on the bed. She gives Damon a slight nod of disagreement. His words strike something defeated in her, and she's sure he sees it in her eyes. "No, I'm not."

The door shuts firmly behind her and Damon frowns at her solemn departure before he takes a seat on the edge of Jeremy's bed.

"What are you doing here?"

Damon sighs, giving him a forced, sympathetic smile. "I'm doing your sister a favor,"

"Charlie?"

Damon shakes his head, and sees Jeremy look at him curiously. "I didn't think you liked Elena that much."

Damon raises a brow, giving the youngest Gilbert a prodding look. "But you think that I like Charlotte enough to do something for her?"

"Everybody likes Charlie," Jeremy says, slightly defensive. "And yeah. I mean, usually people do stuff for her out of pity. But, I don't know, you don't seem like a guy that feels pity that much."

Damon hums, a familiar, unwarranted curiosity spiking in him at the topic of Charlotte. "Why would they feel bad for Charlotte?"

"She hasn't told you?"

Damon narrows his eyes, a bit of genuine cynicism seeping into his face. "I don't know if you know this or not, but Charlotte and I aren't exactly having sleepovers and sharing secrets while we paint our nails."

Jeremy rolls his eyes, the action slightly painful from the soreness his nonstop tears have caused. He takes a deep breath, and the shakiness doesn't go unnoticed by the vampire. "I don't know if I should tell you, especially if Charlie hasn't said anything."

Damon, far too gone in his curiosity to fumble with the kid's morals, leans forward and watches him fall under the familiar haze. "Tell me what happened to Charlotte."

Jeremy blinks, his voice detached of emotion as he recalls the events. "It was a month after our parents died, the anniversary of it in June. Elena and I had gone to the cemetery, and Charlie doesn't like going there. She says that talking to a stone doesn't make her feel better."

Damon can hear the girl's voice speak the words and he huffs a laugh through his nose.

"We were only gone for an hour," Jeremy shook his head, the force of his emotions strong enough to break through his compelled state just enough that Damon can hear the fear in his voice. "I– we got home, and I went upstairs to find her. She wasn't in her room so I knocked on the bathroom door, and,"

Jeremy blinks tears from his eyes and Damon clenches his fists in his lap.

"I waited a few minutes, but she wouldn't even respond to me. I kept yelling her name, I don't know how, but I could tell that something was wrong. I just had this feeling. I finally busted down the door and there was– there was so much blood. I couldn't– it was, it was just everywhere."

A distant look of horror flashed in his eyes, a type that showed he remembered the events so vividly that his body had disassociated from the trauma entirely to save him the pain of revisiting it.

"Elena heard me screaming, and she came running up the stairs. Jenna– she'd been home the whole time, in her room. She never even realized what Charlotte was doing."

Jeremy takes in a breath, departing from the memory as he delves into the aftermath. "Jenna almost lost custody of us after that, because the police tried to say she was unfit to take care of us. Charlotte talked to Sheriff Forbes about it once she woke up, and they made a deal. If Charlotte goes to therapy for a year and her therapist signs off on her recovery, then Jenna's probational custody can become permanent. If something happens again,"

"You'll all be screwed." Damon finishes, an odd tone to his voice he doesn't recognize. He thinks of Charlotte, of the girl he'd mockingly called sunshine because he had hardly seen her without a smile since the day he met her. Her protectiveness not only over her family, but him and Stefan, even against her own siblings. She'd gone up against Elena to defend him completely unwarranted.

He thinks of all of the things he'd been chalking up to her naivety. Her inherent humanity made her weak, and she was just another kid who'd yet to have a rude awakening from the universe.

But then he thinks of the moment when he crashed their dinner party with Caroline, and the comment Caroline made about her not being fun anymore. The way her hand shook when she took his cup from him, and the way her brown eyes silently begged him not to say anything about it.

He thinks of how quiet she is when she's not being addressed directly. Of how dormant she looks when she thinks no one's looking. The way she always seems a bit out of it when she's in big crowds, like at the Lockwood party. When she'd mentioned the entire town knowing of her supposed breakdown– it made sense now.

He wonders how the people around her didn't notice how haunted she still was. He wonders how it's possible that he was one of them.

Something odd stirs in him at the realization and he blinks from his thoughts and turns his attention back to Jeremy. He looks at the boy, young and full of pain that Elena just wants to take from him. He wonders exactly why Charlotte doesn't. Maybe she'd change her mind if she did it herself first. Maybe she'd see what it does for Jeremy and want to come to him for help.

He takes in a breath and silences his unending questions, and he tells Jeremy what Elena instructed him to. With each compelled word, the kid's shoulders perk up and his tears dry a bit more, too. He seems lighter already when Damon leaves him half-asleep in the middle of his bed.

He departs the bedroom with the intention to leave the Gilbert house, but the sight of Charlotte's open door stops him. She's sitting at her desk, her legs bent oddly as she looked down at her lap unmoving.

Her stillness catches his attention, and he thinks back to all of the moments he'd seen her do this before. He wonders how he didn't notice sooner, and why he didn't ask. He could've just compelled her like he had Jeremy. But that thought only brings one word to his mind, and he despises it.

Intruder.

He sees her begin to look up before she's even made the action definite, and by the time her eyes lift to her doorway, he's on the front porch again, assuring Elena that the deed is done.

He doesn't have it in him to even try and taunt his brother, and he leaves the Gilbert residence with little on his mind but the face of a girl that's haunted him for 170 years.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───  

"I need you to do me a favor."

Charlotte frowns as she sits up in her bed, her phone pressed to her ear. "I'm already doing you a favor by getting the ugly necklace back from Bonnie."

Damon's eye roll is practically audible through the phone. "Well, I need you to do me this favor, and in return I'll do you."

Charlotte raises a brow at his intentional phrasing, her voice unamused. "Do me a favor, you mean?"

"Isn't that what I said?"

"Right." She threw her comforter off her legs and stood, wincing at the ache in her legs. "What am I getting out of this?"

"Can't a friend just help another friend out?"

"Not when it's you," She smiles sweetly, pulling a shirt off the hanger in her closet and throwing it onto her bed behind her. "Seriously, Damon, what do you want?"

He huffs petulantly, like she's the one that called him, and she rolls her eyes at his dramatics. "I need to get an in with Sheriff Forbes, but I need your help to do it."

"Why me?"

"Because your sister doesn't like me very much, and the feeling's mutual. I need to give Sheriff Forbes some vervain for her super secret vampire council, but I can't touch the stuff so I need you to do it for me. In return, you can have some vervain and sleep better at night knowing you can't be compelled."

Charlotte sighs like she's contemplating it, though she knows she'll agree. Not only because of her apparent need to befriend Damon, but because she would sleep better at night knowing she couldn't be compelled. Stefan had given Elena a necklace full of vervain, but Charlotte didn't exactly have a kind-hearted vampire boyfriend to protect her.

Instead, she had Damon. And she didn't even have him, she just carried out his menial tasks for him like some little human secretary.

"Fine," She answers him finally, grabbing a pair of shorts and a flannel from her closet as well. "But I have more questions."

"I wouldn't expect anything less, sunshine. Now get your ass over here, I've got things to do."

She throws her phone on the bed as he ends the call and quickly changes, grabbing her things in a hurry. Her sneaker-clad feet slap on the stairs as she tucks her shirt into the waistband of her jeans, grunting as her father's old flannel gets in her way again.

She walks through the kitchen and pats Jeremy's head as she passes him by, grabbing a juice from the fridge before she gets her car keys and heads for the door.

"Hey, where are you going?"

Charlotte blinks, stopping suddenly as she turns to face Jenna and Elena with a deer-in-headlights expression on her face. She huffs, quickly shoving her surprise away and shrugs. "I'm just running to Cory's really quick, and then I have therapy."

She sees Elena narrow her eyes, but she knows her sister doesn't truly have any reason not to believe her excuse.

"Be safe, make better choices than I would," Jenna points a finger at her, and she feels a bit bad for lying, knowing that she wasn't being safe, and she was probably doing something Jenna would do, had she known everything Charlotte does.

"Of course. I'll be back."

She doesn't let her guilt haunt her as she leaves, instead justifying her lying silently as she drives through town. There was no reason to feel bad for lying, mostly to Elena, since she thinks the girl wouldn't appreciate her going to her sort-of boyfriend's house for a recreational visit.

She doesn't think Elena or Stefan really approve of her being friends with Damon, but she mentally reminds herself that she and Damon aren't really friends, and they should know that. And, she tells herself, she doesn't much care what Stefan thinks of her.

Her phone rings as she stops at a red light and she picks it up from where she dropped it in her cup holder, a small smile growing on her face at the sight of her best friend's name. "Hey, Cory,"

"What are you doing?"

"Running to Damon's," She slowly accelerates again, careful to keep her eyes on the road. "I actually need you to cover for me if Elena asks you where I am. I told her I was going to your place before therapy,"

Cory gasps dramatically and Charlotte sighs, somewhat regretting telling him the truth. "Are you banging your sister's ex's brother? Charlotte, I'm so proud of you!"

Charlotte's eyes widen and she scoffs, incredulity flooding her. "I'm not sleeping with Damon! I'm doing him a favor because he's got something I need!"

There's a slight pause and Charlotte winces as her own words process. "You understand why I'm doubting you, right?"

"Yeah," She sighs, defeated. "I hate to disappoint but Damon and I are not, and will never sleep together. I just didn't want Elena to know where I was going because she's being weird about Stefan right now, and I just don't want a lecture on it."

He hums understandingly. "Well, I'll cover for you if she asks, but I want every sordid detail from you when you're done with your, uh, favors."

"Cory–"

"Gotta go!"

Charlotte drops her phone into her lap with a groan, knowing full well that Cory wasn't going to drop this subject. With her luck, she could only hope he didn't say anything in front of Elena.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

"What took you so long?"

Charlotte pushed past Damon with a huff, dropping her purse on a table as he shut the door behind her. "I was still in bed when you called, forgive me for not being ready at the drop of a hat."

"Oh," He made an interested noise, his eyes suddenly alight with familiar mischief. "What do you wear to bed? I bet it's something skimpy. I'm seeing black lace,"

Charlotte gave him an unamused look that made him pout. "Damon, come on, I have other things to do."

"Like what,"

"Like therapy," She gestures for him to lead the way and he does so, grateful for the opportunity to hide the way his face twists at the mention of her therapy. She'd mentioned it before, he thinks, but in the moment he thought nothing of it. Now it sticks out in his mind like a sore thumb.

"Therapy is not nearly as entertaining as anything I'm doing," He feigns disdain as he walks past her, leading her in the direction of the basement.

Charlotte huffs, smiling exasperatedly at the back of his head. "I need to go to therapy to deal with you, Damon,"

"You talk about me in therapy?"

She holds onto the railing of the steep, dusty staircase as he flicks an overhead bulb on, and her nose crinkles at the mildew smell that floods her senses. She'd been in the basement before, but given the circumstances in that situation, she didn't really take the time to look at anything. She briefly reminds herself that the only reason she hadn't had the time to look around was because of the very same vampire leading her back into the basement right now.

She's sure if her therapist did know the truth about Damon, and knew that she still associated with him and trusted him, she'd make some comment about Charlotte not being scared because she doesn't care if she lives or dies.

And it wasn't true, despite the evidence that was stacked against her. She didn't want to die, she was actually terrified of death— but she didn't really want to live, either.

But if it came down to it, and it one day might knowing her present company, she knows she'd rather die in fear than live miserably.

"Charlotte,"

She blinked from her thoughts, her vision focusing again as she looked to Damon. She ducked her head at the sight of his confused look, embarrassed at being caught zoning out. "Sorry, I'm— I'm sorry. What'd you say?"

"I asked if you talked about me in therapy," Damon regarded her closely, his eyes narrowed at her as she registered his repeated words.

"Of course I do. I talk about everyone I know in therapy,"

Damon hummed, not happy with the answer. "Do you say nice things?"

"I keep things vague," She raises a brow, gesturing for him to open the cellar door he was standing in front of. "If I told a licensed therapist that my friends were vampires, I'd have a permanent address at the psych ward."

He huffed, whether in agreement or amusement, and swung the door open for her to step through. "I just need you to trim a few pieces for me to give to the Sheriff so I can get an invite to her not-so secret vampire council."

"Why do you wanna get into this council so badly?" Charlotte glanced at him with a frown as she pulled her flannel off, dropping it on the table as she grabbed one of the trimming tools off of it.

"Because I'm a vampire, Charlotte, and when people are trying to kill me, I like to be two steps ahead of them."

She eyed the purple flowers, pinching the branch of one between her fingers and snipping it off. She held it up for approval and Damon silently nodded, his eyes settled firmly on her small movements.

"Who all is on this council?"

"As far as I can tell, the founding families. Forbes, Lockwood, Salvatore,"

"Salvatore?"

"Zach was on it, before I, you know,"

"Ate him?" She raised a brow, recalling the way Zach had pushed her and Caroline out of Damon's path and saved their lives. She'd dutifully added that guilt to her never-ending pile when she found out he didn't make it. "So, you wanna take his place and be a double agent in this council so you know how to avoid getting caught. Are you going to use the information you get to help other vampires, or,"

"Undecided." He shrugged, leaning against the wall as she trimmed the plants. "The way I see it, if I'm doing this to save my own ass, someone else has got to take the fall for everything I've done."

Charlotte opened her mouth and quickly shut it, instead shooting him a distasteful look he smirked at. "How much of this do you need?"

He eyed the amount she'd cut and he grabbed the box, shoving it at her. "That's enough for now. I'll probably have to keep giving them some once I'm on the council, though,"

"I can't imagine this was a one-time favor?"

"Absolutely not," He smiles down at her, watching as she reaches past him to grab her flannel. His eyes dart down to her bare arms and his smile falters as he registers the long, pink scars that stretch just under halfway of the length of her forearm. He raises his gaze before she can see him looking and steps away from her, putting distance between them that he uses to observe her.

She swings the plaid fabric over her shoulders and slides her arms into it swiftly, adjusting the buttoned cuffs on her wrists with a focused furrow in her brow. Damon bites the inside of his cheek, and before he realizes what he's doing, he speaks.

"Let me take you to therapy,"

Charlotte freezes, her hands stuck mid-air from where she'd been pulling her curly locks from beneath the collar of her outer layer. She gives him a wide-eyed look that he mirrors, his own actions rendering him frozen for a moment. "Uh,"

"I'm going that way anyways. I'll go talk to the Sheriff while you're with your shrink,"

Charlotte seems to stutter around a response for a moment before her kindness wins out against her logic. "Uh, okay,"

She turns quickly and practically runs out of the basement, leaving Damon to follow slowly after her, wondering what the hell he'd just done.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

author's note; bit of a filler chapter,,,, also if you didn't read the warnings, charlotte tried to commit suicide after her parent's death. this is going to be a recurring topic through this book, though things probably won't be as heavy as this was. if they are, there will be appropriate warnings at the beginning of the chapter!!! heed them, people. i'm not responsible for you ignoring your triggers!

edited and published; 1.29.21.

- liz