❝light the match.❞
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

"SO, HOW'D HE ROPE YOU IN?"

"My sister is dating his brother," Charlotte taps her fingers on the bar, the heat in her chest slowly dwindling as she relaxed. "Somehow we've managed a friendship."

Bree gives her a reproachful look, a smirk on her lips. "Oh, honey, you can never be just friends with this one. Once you're in, you're in for good."

Charlotte huffs a laugh as Damon shifts beside her, and she sits back in her seat. "How did you two meet?"

"College," Bree chuckles, pouring another drink.

"I have a hard time believing you went to college,"

Damon sniffs, lifting his drink to his mouth. "I've been on a college campus, just not necessarily for my education."

"That's more like it," Charlotte nods, her tone full of dry amusement.

"About twenty years ago, when I was a sweet, young freshman, I met this beautiful man and I fell in love. And then he told me about his little secret, made me love him even more," Bree gave Charlotte an adoring, but slightly sarcastic look. "Because, you see, I had a little secret of my own that I was dying to share with somebody."

Damon slides over, leaning in dramatically towards Charlotte. "She's a witch,"

Realization dawns on Charlotte and she looks back at the bartender with an understanding look. At least now she understood why Damon wanted to ask her about the tomb.

"You changed my world, you know," Bree shook her head, a nostalgic tone to her voice.

"I rocked your world,"

Bree laughed in agreement, lifting another shot up to her lips. "He is good in the sack, isn't he?"

Heat flooded Charlotte's face and she pressed her hands to her cheeks, giving Damon a weak glare as he laughed softly at her reaction.

"But, mostly, he's just a Walkaway-Joe," Bree slammed the shot back, her eyes flashing with bitterness as she briefly turned around to put a bottle back. She faced him once again, a knowing glint in her eyes as Damon sighed. "So, what is it that you want?"

Charlotte slid off her seat, turning to lay a hand on Damon's arm. "Can I have your phone? I'm gonna call Elena back and check in on her."

Damon nodded and handed her his phone, and she gave him a grateful smile before she walked away, heading out the door they'd entered through barely half an hour ago.

Bree watched the young girl walk away, and watched Damon's eyes follow her the entire time. She shook her head, knowingness gleaming across her face. "Oh, Damon,"

The vampire snapped back around, his brows furrowing at her tone.

"What have you gotten yourself into?"

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

"Charlie, is that you?"

"Yeah, it's me, Lena,"

"Are you okay? Are you still in Georgia? Jenna's been asking about you, and I'm running out of excuses,"

Charlotte sighed, brushing her hair out of her face as she paced back and forth on the pavement. "Just, tell her I went to Cory's or something and my phone died."

Elena pauses, but eventually sighs. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, Elena, I'm fine. I'm just... have you talked to Stefan?"

"He called earlier."

"And?"

"It didn't exactly go well. He swears up and down that he has no idea why we look like her, but I just didn't want to hear it. I don't believe anything he says right now."

Charlotte nods despite her sister being unable to see it. "I get it, what he did was messed up. I'm– I should go, I need to give Damon his phone back. But, Elena, listen to me. You don't owe Stefan anything, okay? Just take your time, and wait until you're ready."

"I will, Charlie. Be safe, please,"

"Always." Charlotte whispers, quickly hanging up the phone before her sister can prod her anymore. She stops her pacing and leans onto Damon's car, tapping the phone against her forehead in repeated dull thumps.

"Are you okay?"

Charlotte startles at Damon's sudden appearance and she snaps her gaze up to look at him, uselessly hoping he doesn't see the slight sheen of tears gleaming in her eyes. "I'm fine, just tired."

"Charlotte,"

"Please don't," She shakes her head, pressing her hands into her eyes again as she holds back her emotions. "We should– let's just go back inside. I should eat something, probably."

"Okay," Damon nods slowly, his blue eyes still peering into her brown ones with a frightening gleam of knowingness. "Okay. Let's go inside and get some food, and we can talk."

Charlotte moves to hand his phone back to him, but she stops short at his words. "Talk? What is there to talk about?"

Damon gives her a flat look, because they both know she can't play dumb. "You can't think of anything we could possibly need to talk about right now?"

"No, no, I know that we need to talk about it, I just don't want to. There's a very big difference in the two,"

The vampire sighs and throws his arm around her shoulders, forcing her to actually start walking back towards the bar even as she grumbles unhappily. "Yeah, I know, I know, it's hard out here for vampires and freaky twins."

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

"Okay, so, genetically, I am related to Katherine in some way," Charlotte shrugs, gesturing vaguely with the french fry in her hand as she spoke. "Otherwise there's no way we'd look alike."

"But for you to be related to Katherine, it would mean she had a kid before she became a vampire, and there's no way that happened."

Charlotte frowned, giving Damon a look of confusion. "How do we know that's not what happened?"

"Because there's no record anywhere of Katherine ever having a child," Damon waved the thought away. "She's older than I am, and back then, she would've had to have been married to even have sex, so,"

"Could it have happened after she turned?"

Damon shook his head, humming. "No, vampires can't procreate," He tilted his head at her, smirking. "But we love to try."

Charlotte huffed, giving Damon an exasperated smile as she reached for the beer Bree had served them with their food. She wasn't necessarily a fan of drinking in general, let alone beer, but she'd relaxed the more the alcohol flowed through her system so she didn't complain. She hadn't been able to take her meds today, and she'd felt a headache coming on that was luckily dulled by the greasy food and beer.

Sighing, Charlotte set the beer back down and shifted to look at Damon. "That still doesn't change the fact that there's some sort of relation between Katherine, Elena, and I. It's scientifically impossible for us to look the same without some sort of genetic similarities– I mean, Elena and I are identical twins, that in itself is a scientific event. There's gotta be something there,"

"Wow, you are such a nerd,"

Charlotte gave Damon a flat look and he waved her off. "Don't worry, it's cute when you talk all science-y. But I'd like to remind you that, scientifically, I shouldn't exist. Or Stefan. Or even Bree. Vampires, witches, twins, this isn't just science, sunshine, it's the supernatural. We're special."

"That's what drives me crazy, though! You shouldn't exist, you're technically dead. Your body shouldn't just function like it does. Like, how can you even eat real food? How does that work?"

"I haven't really figured out the exact science behind it all, but as long as I keep enough blood in my system, everything functions normally. As long as I've got blood, I've got a pulse," He shrugs. "Useless as it may be."

Charlotte nodded silently, contemplating his words for a moment. "Even though, you know, technically you shouldn't exist, I'm glad you do."

Damon's face goes through a multitude of emotion, and Charlotte laughs as she reaches for her beer again. "Don't look so surprised, Damon, I do happen to enjoy your company occasionally. You're really not as bad as people think."

"You are way too nice to be hanging around me, sunshine,"

"So you've said," She shrugs a shoulder. "I seem to attract the antisocial assholes, I guess."

"Yeah," Damon slides his eyes over her face, shaking his head slightly. He startled slightly when his phone vibrated in his pocket, and he frowned at the text.

Cory told you to let Charlie call him later. I told him she was fine with you, but he just kept calling you Derek and threatening your limbs.

Damon rolled his eyes, showing the screen to Charlotte who took it with a frown before she realized who it was from. Laughing slightly, she raised a brow. "He really likes you, you know? He didn't even bother to make Tyler's name sound similar."

"Lockwood?"

Charlotte nodded, and Damon twisted his face in disgust, making her laugh. "You know, Cory once called him Lucas, and that made Tyler think I was cheating on him with his teammate. I had a hard time getting out of that fight,"

"I can't believe you dated that asshole," Damon shook his head.

"It didn't last long. I think– I was just trying to be a normal teenager. He was my first boyfriend– my first everything, really. I saw everyone else my age doing all this stuff and I just had no interest in it, but I didn't want to feel left behind so I forced myself to enjoy it. Elena was with Matt, so dating his best friend was a pretty easy decision."

"Well, it wouldn't take a genius to recognize that you were punching way below your level, sunshine," Damon smirked. "I mean, that kid probably couldn't hold an intelligent conversation to save his life."

"He... tried his best," Charlotte winced, and they both laughed, before another text vibrated through. "Oh, this one says, 'Cory said if you don't call him when he gets home from work, he's going to tell everyone you ran off because you got pregnant and you're having a shotgun wedding'. That's creative,"

"He is a complete psychopath, you know that?"

"Yeah, but don't you just love him?"

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

"Okay, okay, one, two, three!"

Charlotte threw the shot back with a cheer, her shoulders twitching with a shiver when the warmth of the tequila slid down her throat and settled in her chest. She turned to the two girls that had started drinking with them and gave them high fives, a grin spread across her face.

Spinning around, her wild curls bounced as she looked up at Damon. "That was three. Hey– can vampires get drunk?"

Damon shook his head, a glimmer of amusement in his eyes. "I would have to drink this bar dry to catch a buzz. It's mostly just to help with the cravings, and it's a better hobby than knitting."

"You could always knit and drink," She offered, grinning as he rolled his eyes. "Hey, what time is it?"

He pulled his phone out, glancing at the clock. "It's 8, why?"

"I need to call Cory, he just got off work," She held her hand out for the phone and he gave it to her with a wary glance. "I'll be right back."

"Be careful," He glanced over his shoulder, eyeing the moonlit darkness outside. "And tell him to have a little more faith in me, yeah?"

"I'll mention it, but I make no promises," Charlotte spun on her heel, making her way through the crowd as she dialed Cory's number and brought the phone up to her ear.

It picked up after the second ring, and Charlotte laughed at the abruptness of it as she swung the door open and stepped outside.

"I was totally kidding about the shotgun wedding thing, but if you're about to tell me you and Damon ran off to Vegas and got married, I'm going to be so pissed I wasn't invited."

"Oh, my god, Cory, that's– that's not what we're doing. We just went on a road trip. Totally impulsive, we left last night, it's nothing. We're coming back home later."

"Okay, so where is your phone? Or your car? Because I went to the boarding house, and it wasn't there. Stefan was all weird, too, he kept asking about Elena like I have any idea what she does in her free time."

Charlotte rolled her eyes, grumbling under her breath as she stubbed her toe against a column on the front porch of the bar. "Yeah, well, Stefan just needs to give Elena her space and mind his own business. As for my car and my phone–"

Charlotte's cut off as arms wrap around her tightly, a hand making its way over her mouth, muffling her sudden yells of panic. The phone clattered out of her hand, and Charlotte's noises drowned out the sound of Cory yelling through the speaker for his friend.

She writhed in the man's arms as he drug her around the bar, grunting when she slammed her elbow back into his ribs and momentarily knocked his breath out.

The moment of relief didn't last long, and the man doubled down on his actions, wrenching her up a short set of stairs near electrical towers. He shoved her away from him and she drunkenly stumbled, catching herself on the railing with a wince.

"What do you want from me?" Her chest heaved with trembling breaths as the man glared at her. His eyes began to trickle red, and veins crawled up his face, and realization dawned on her.

She uselessly backed further away, her arms shielding her body. "I don't– I didn't do anything, I don't know what you want from me,"

"You didn't do anything," The man pointed a finger at her. "But your boyfriend did. And now you have to pay for his mistakes."

Before she could plead any further, he turned, disappearing into the shadows, and Charlotte looked around helplessly before her eyes fell on a familiar figure stepping into the light.

Her eyes widened as Damon's landed on her, concern marring his sharp features. "Damon, run!"

His face twisted in confusion, and he stepped towards her, only to be stopped by the vampire that had taken her. The man swings the bat in his hands out, taking Damon out at the knees, and Charlotte jumps down from the platform she'd been standing on, running for him.

Damon's groans of pain echoed through the night, even as his bones quickly healed. "What the hell?"

The vampire quickly grabs a can of gas and pours it over Damon, making Charlotte yell out.

"Stop!"

Before she can reach him, the creature snaps around, baring his sharpened fangs at her. She stumbles to a stop, watching helplessly as he turns back to Damon.

Damon grimaces at the gasoline on his skin, and he looks up at the vampire towering over him. "Who are you?"

"That's perfect," The man shakes his head, scoffing slightly. "You have no idea."

"What are you talking about? What did he do?"

"He killed my girlfriend,"

Charlotte's face falls and she drops her gaze to Damon, confusion marring her features as she racks her brain for any sort of answer. Damon seems just as lost as she is, and Charlotte wipes her hands over her face exasperatedly.

"What did she do to you, huh? What did she do to you?!"

Damon pants, chest heaving with his exerted breaths. "Nothing,"

Charlotte takes another step forward when the vampire turns his back to her again, and she slowly inches closer to Damon. "How do you even know it was Damon?"

"My girlfriend went to visit Stefan, and Damon killed her. Got it?" He spits the words at Charlotte before swinging his leg back and slamming his foot into Damon's jaw.

Charlotte flinches at the action, but realization quickly dawns on her. "Lexi? Lexi was your girlfriend? She– I thought she said you were human,"

The man nods, a war of emotions in his eyes. "I was." He slowly turns back to Damon and pulls out a matchbox, and Charlotte's breath stalls in her chest painfully.

"Uh– um," She swallowed roughly, shaking her head. "Does that– does that mean Lexi turned you?"

"If you wanna be with someone forever, you have to live forever,"

Damon shifts on the ground, turning to look at her over his shoulder. The movement earns him another kick, and Charlotte clenches her fists at her side.

"She loved you!" Her words make the man stop and look at her again, and she quickly scours her brain for more. "She– she gave my sister really good advice. She said, 'When it's real, you can't walk away'."

"Well, that's a choice you're not going to have to make,"

"Don't, don't," Charlotte holds her hands out, pleading with the man as he stands over Damon. "Please, don't hurt him."

The vampire strikes the match in his hand, and the flame lights up menacingly. "I'm doing you a favor,"

"Look, I– I know that Damon does really stupid stuff. He shouldn't have killed Lexi, it was a huge mistake," Charlotte shakes her head, every inch of her tone giving way to the desperate plea in her voice. "But Lexi loved you, and Lexi was good. And just because Damon made a mistake, doesn't mean you should, too. Lexi wouldn't want you to do this, because it'd make you just like Damon, and that's– that's not why she loved you. She loved you because you were good, so you need to stay good. For Lexi."

He seems to contemplate her words for a moment, and she drops her eyes to the matchstick in his hand, with its flame slowly dying out. For a moment she thinks her efforts have been useless, but he blows the match out and drops it in favor of picking Damon up by his shirt.

His emotions seem to take over for a second before he contains them, and throws Damon backwards, sending him into the concrete building across the street. Damon's groans of pain follow, but Charlotte can't help the utter relief that pours through her.

"Thank you,"

"I didn't do it for you." He turns to look at her, tear-stained cheeks glinting in the moonlight. "You should run. Far, far away from him. All he'll do is get you killed. Leave while you still can."

He doesn't stick around for a response, and she figures it was rhetorical anyways, but Charlotte wants to tell him that she knows. She should've tucked tail and ran the second she and Damon made eye contact in the foyer of the boarding house.

But she didn't. And she knows she's sufficiently stuck, no matter how much she pretends she isn't.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

author's note; making my return with this long ass chapter.. i didn't wanna drag this episode out so much but there's too much charlie & damon moments i have to include for the YEARNING (and the plot) 

edited and published; 7.12.22.

- liz