❝fear decides❞
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

"SO THIS IS WHAT YOU TWO DO WHEN YOU'RE PRETENDING LIFE IS NORMAL,"

Elena startles at Damon's sudden presence at the table but Charlotte doesn't, though her pencil does drag along the piece of paper she'd been taking notes on, ruining her neat handwriting. She shoots Damon a glare with no heat behind it and sets about erasing it, ignoring his amused smile.

"What do you want?" Elena and Charlotte's voice overlap, and Damon blinks rapidly at the sound before shaking it off.

"Figured I'd check in on everyone's favorite doppelgängers, see how you're doing," He looks between the two of them, shrugging as he takes one of the fries out of Charlotte's discarded basket and pops it into his mouth. "Sorry to interrupt study group, I'll be on my way. See you at Jenna's barbecue!"

Charlotte slaps a hand down on his arm as he goes to push away from the table, halting him in his tracks. She fixes him with a somewhat stern look, looking back at the chair he'd barely stood from. Damon sits back down silently, though his smirk grows on his face at Charlotte's prolonged look, like she can read his devious mind just from this.

He'd be screwed if she could.

"Why do you know about Jenna's barbecue, and why are you coming?"

"Because I came up with the idea for it, duh,"

Charlotte glances at Elena, who looks surprised, but is happy to take the passenger seat to this ensuing conversation. Closing her eyes to gather her thoughts, she lets out a long sigh and opens them to meet Damon's eyes again. "Explain. Please."

Damon leans his elbows onto the table, dislodging Charlotte's hand on his arm, making her quickly retract it and drop it into her lap almost shamefully. "Jenna went to high school with Mason Lockwood, so I figured a social gathering would be a good way to get to know the guy. So, I told Ric to tell Jenna, and–"

"Does Jenna know you're coming? Because I really don't think she likes you that much,"

A waitress approaches the table before he can answer, setting a box down in front of Damon who takes it with a quick thanks.

"I'm hoping this peach cobbler will pave the way,"

Charlotte's brows twist on her forehead as she frowns. "You could've just made a peach cobbler, I think. I could've made a peach cobbler, that's– okay," She waves a hand, clearing her own distracted thoughts from the air. "What are you planning? You have your... planning face on."

Damon looks entirely too pleased for her liking, and she knows she has a long day ahead of her. "I'm gonna put some silver into Mason Lockwood and prove he's a werewolf."

He stands up faster than she can stop him this time and shakes the box with the peach cobbler in it tauntingly. "See you at the barbecue!"

Elena and Charlotte watch him leave, varying degrees of exasperation and concern on their identical faces.

"There's no way this isn't gonna end badly," Elena says, eyes narrowed at the space Damon had been occupying a moment ago.

"Oh, absolutely," Charlotte says, easily accepting their fate for the evening. "Now, what'd you get for this question out of the textbook? I swear, I can't find the answer anywhere."

─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

"Where's the man of the hour?"

Charlotte swings the front door open, her eyes shifting from Damon to Cory. "Did you come here together?"

"You think I'd let him in my car after that disaster trip to Whitmore?" Damon scoffs, stepping into the house past her as Cory holds up a middle finger at his back with a short glare. "Coincidental timing, sunshine, no need to worry. We wouldn't unionize against you like that."

Charlotte rolled her eyes slightly, shutting the door behind them. "I think your guest of honor is in the kitchen with Alaric and Jenna,"

Damon holds the peach cobbler he'd gotten from the Grill up with a taunting wiggle of his eyebrows. "I'll go say hi, then,"

Charlotte bites her tongue to hold back any snarky words she wants to say, instead sighing and turning to look at Cory. "Caroline and Elena are on the porch, I think, if you want to totally avoid the disaster that's about to take place in the kitchen,"

Cory quickly swings the front door back open, gesturing dramatically. "After you,"

They walk out around the side of the house to where Caroline and Elena are sitting, the vampire practically shoveling chips into her mouth as Elena looks out at the street with a sheen of nervousness in her eyes.

"Hogging all the snacks, Caroline? It's seventh grade all over again," Cory's taunting voice carries through the air, the blonde quickly fixing him with a glare as Charlotte slaps a hand out at him in silent scolding.

"Shut up," Caroline huffs, clutching the bowl of chips tighter to her chest as Charlotte and Cory perch themselves on the railing in front of them. "I just can't stop eating. Stefan says it's a great way to sublimate the cravings."

She takes on somewhat of a mocking tone, rolling her eyes, still Caroline despite the fact that she's been killed and turned into a vampire. "Well, it's horrible, just... fighting the urge for blood every minute of every day."

Elena grimaces in sympathy. "I know that Stefan really hates that part of himself."

Caroline shrugs obliviously. "Well, yeah. And he hates that you're a constant temptation."

Charlotte tenses slightly, her eyes immediately going to her sister, watching as she processes the words.

"He said that?"

Caroline scoffs. "The desire to rip out your jugular every time he's with you? Trust me, it's there. You know, it's why I had to break up with Matt."

There's something glinting in Caroline's eyes that has Charlotte on edge and she clenches her jaw irritatedly, gearing up to defend her sister's inexorable humanity. Before she can say anything, though, Alaric steps out of the front door, interrupting the tense moment.

"Hey, the food's ready. Come get it."

Caroline is up out of her chair quickly. "Finally. I'm starving."

Cory, Charlotte, and Elena linger on the porch for a minute in her wake, and Charlotte hops off the porch rail, moving to lay a hand on her sister's shoulder. "Don't listen to her, Elena. If anything, I think that just goes to show how much Stefan loves you. He fights that feeling every day just to be with you, and I think... I think it's admirable of him, especially with his history."

Elena sighs, looking entirely unconvinced.

"Caroline's just bitter because she can't be with Matt," Cory says, heading for the front door. "Just ignore her– I always do."

─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

"Aunt Jenna's getting tipsy," Damon says, grinning like a snake as he walks into the kitchen, sliding up behind Charlotte.

"You're getting my aunt drunk so she'll be nice to you," Charlotte says, carefully lifting the peach cobbler out of the box so she can cut it into slices. "How's your investigation going?"

Damon's voice lowers, appearing right next to her ear, and Charlotte fails to hide the shiver that travels through her body at the sensation of his words tingling against her skin. "He's my new BFF,"

"There he is!" Jenna's slightly slurred voice cuts in before Charlotte can say anything, but she's grateful for the distraction, because she's trying to rid her arms of the goosebumps growing on them. "Isn't this fun?"

"Yes," Damon stresses the word, smirking as Charlotte pushes away from the island, putting distance between her and the vampire in the name of getting a serving utensil. "Thank you so much for inviting me."

"Did I have a choice?"

"I know what you might think of me–"

Jenna quickly cuts him off, raising a brow. "No, you don't. You've never dated you. I, however, have dated many yous."

There's a split second of awkward silence that Charlotte happily breaks, nudging Jenna to hand her the serving spatula. "Here,"

Damon, easily taking the out, sidesteps Jenna around the island to the boxed silverware set Charlotte had just opened. "Oh, these are fancy,"

"Thank you," Jenna says lightly, most of the hostility from her voice gone. "It was my mother's silver set."

Charlotte glances up from the stack of plates she'd been fumbling with, watching over Jenna's shoulder as Damon slides a knife out of the set, turning it towards her with a smirk. She let out a shuddering breath, eyes drifting back to where everyone else was still gathered in the living room, attempting to play Pictionary despite the lack of points being given out, or any actual rules being applied to the game.

"Damon, would you take this to the table, please?" Charlotte lifts up the pie dish to the vampire, who takes it with a wink that has Jenna rolling her eyes.

Damon takes the dessert over to the dining table where Mason has taken a seat, and he sets it before the man with a wide, supposedly welcoming smile. "Mason, why don't you start us off?"

The man nods, and without missing a beat, spins the dish around to pick up a piece of the cobbler with his hand, completely disregarding the silver serving spatula Charlotte had provided.

Charlotte's jaw drops slightly and she watches as realization apparently strikes Mason, the man stuttering out a laugh. "What am I– I apologize. I'm an animal."

Damon makes a noise that could pass as humorous, but Charlotte can see the tension in his shoulders as he defers the moment to Alaric, struggling to resist the urge to slam Mason's head into the table and use the spatula for less-than appetizing things in front of everyone.

"So, Mason, you and Jenna never dated?"

Mason shakes his head, shooting an amused look towards the woman in question. "She was always lost in Logan Fell-land."

"Oh, my first mistake," Jenna says wistfully. "Mason was a catch. He had girls lining up."

Damon sits back in his chair, feigning shock. "Really? Huh. I always pegged you for a lone wolf."

Mason tilts his head in a slight nod. "Oh, I'm sure I wasn't half the lady killer you were,"

Charlotte sets her plate down with a slight clatter, startling Mason as she takes a seat at the other end of the table near him. She offers him an apologetic look as she stuffs an overly-large bite of cobbler into her mouth to avoid speaking.

The man shifts his gaze back to Damon pointedly and lifts his beer, plastering that charming smirk back onto his face. "How about a toast? To new friends,"

The adults all tap their beers together and Charlotte raises her fork as they do, mockingly waving it. "Cheers,"

"Hey, Charlie?" Elena pokes her head into the open dining area, quickly catching her sister's attention. "I'm gonna go over to Stefan's, I haven't heard from him in a while and I'm just worried. Care's gonna drive me, but I'll be back later."

Charlotte nods, eyes drifting to where Caroline stands behind her sister. "Drive safe," She glances at the adults all mingling with themselves and stands from the table, sliding past Damon, dragging her hand along his back before gripping his elbow lightly to get his attention.

The vampire turns away from the conversation to look down at her, his brows furrowed as he meets her eyes. "You alright?"

She nods silently, feeling Mason's eyes on them. "I'm gonna go upstairs with Cory. Come say bye before you leave,"

Damon ducks his head in a nod and she squeezes his elbow once more before letting go, walking out of the dining room down the hall.

Damon turns to grab his beer off the table and catches Mason's eye, finding something knowing and curious in his stare. Shaking it off, Damon takes a swig off his beer and resigns himself to keeping an ear tuned in on Charlotte upstairs for the remainder of the night.

─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

"Something's going on with Caroline,"

Charlotte sits up straight in bed, holding a finger up to Cory to halt his speech as she moves to put her phone on speaker between them. "What are you talking about, Elena?"

"She's being really weird, and she was saying all of this horrible stuff to me, I–I literally left her on the side of the road with a tow truck because of it, and I just got to Stefan's and Katherine was here with him all day, and I hate to say it, but I think that Caroline is working with Katherine in some way,"

Cory's eyes widened and he shifted, propping himself up on his elbow as he looked at the phone incredulously as if Elena could see the expression on his face. "What the hell? You met Katherine today? You– Caroline's working with Katherine? What the hell?"

"I know," Elena sighs, a rustling on her end as she mirrors Charlotte and Cory to put her phone on speaker for Stefan. "Stefan and I think that Katherine's gotten to Caroline somehow and she's using her to drive a wedge between us. Stefan says that's totally on brand for her, apparently, and I–I love Caroline, but..."

"But she's a baby vamp with no backbone, right," Cory groans, pinching the bridge of his nose. "So what are we gonna do with our double agent?"

"We're going to lie to her," Stefan's voice comes through the speaker. "Elena and I are gonna let Katherine think she's getting what she wants, because that's the only way we'll survive her. She's already threatened Charlie and Elena both, and everyone they love, and that's not a risk we can take."

Charlotte leans forward, face twisted into a deep frown. "So, what, you and Elena are gonna tell Katherine you're done? How will this work?"

"We're going to make Caroline think we're having problems so every time she has to go report back to Katherine, Caroline's not in any more danger. Can't kill the messenger, right?"

Charlotte bites at her bottom lip before sighing. "This is really risky. If Katherine finds out you're pulling one over on her... I can't imagine that it will go over well."

"I know," Stefan is quick to reassure her, the two at least able to come together on their desire to keep Elena safe. "That's why we're telling you guys. No one else can know it isn't true, but you'll be able to help keep the ruse up. Elena would confide in her sister over relationship problems, and you'd confide in Cory."

There's a brief silence that Stefan sighs through, understanding in the soft sound. "It's really risky, Charlotte, you're right. But you know I will never put Elena in harm's way. I– I know Katherine. I know what she wants from me, and this is it. If we want to figure out why she's back in Mystic Falls, this is the best way to do it."

"I know," Charlotte says quietly, contemplation in her eyes. "I– okay. Okay. But the second this whole thing starts to slip, it's over, okay? At the first sign of Elena being in danger,"

"Of course. Thank you, Charlie,"

She fights the instinctive response of 'You're welcome', because she doesn't really know what he's thanking her for to begin with. She wouldn't be thanking anyone if she were in his position.

––––––––

"I can't believe Tyler Lockwood's a werewolf,"

Charlotte and Elena sigh in unison, nodding at Jeremy's words. Charlotte leans forward, brushing a flake of mascara off her cheek as Elena swipes a sheen lipgloss across her lips, the twins observing their reflections in the mirror.

"We're not sure about that yet," Elena reminds Jeremy. "The only thing we know for sure is that Mason Lockwood is."

"It should be easy enough for us to figure out,"

Elena stiffens at Jeremy's words and Charlotte looks up at the ceiling, bracing herself for whatever argument is about to start.

"There is no 'us'," Elena says, frowning at their brother. "I said that I wouldn't keep things from you anymore, that doesn't mean that I want you involved in it."

Jeremy lets out a humorless laugh, walking through he and Elena's shared bathroom that gets overtaken by the twins more often than not. "By definition of being in this family I'm involved,"

"This is dangerous, Jeremy. You have to stay out of it, okay?"

"Alright," Jeremy shrugs, his easy conceding making Charlotte narrow her eyes at him suspiciously. "Just saying."

Jeremy walks past them through his room to leave for school and Elena turns to look at Charlotte helplessly.

"He's not a baby anymore, Elena," Charlotte reminds her gently, grabbing a stretched out hair tie off the counter as she gathered her hair up in a lazy ponytail. "And I used that same excuse for you in the beginning of all this– you didn't like it either."

"I know," Elena says quietly, trying to shake off the guilt that suddenly wracked her. "I just want to keep him safe."

"And we will," Charlotte reaffirms, wincing when she tugs at a baby hair at the base of her neck as she tightens her ponytail. It's lumpy all over from her hair being unprepared to go up, but she doesn't have the time or motivation to care about it. She just wants it off of her face, wants to forget about at least one of the things that makes her so similar to Katherine. "You should probably grab a jacket before we leave, just in case we end up being there late,"

Elena groans, happy to drop the subject of how dangerous their lives are on a daily basis and she turns on her heel to walk back into her bedroom.

Charlotte lingers in the bathroom, eyeing her reflection with growing unease, and she startles slightly when she hears the low rumble of a familiar male voice. Sighing exasperatedly but no less fondly, she swings an arm out, reaching for the connecting door from Elena's room into the bathroom.

"You guys are really bad at this whole pretend fighting thing, I'd just like to say," Charlotte reminds Elena and Stefan, earning flustered looks from both of them as she swings the bathroom door shut, Elena quickly going to do the same with her bedroom door. "Five minutes, Elena! We have to leave for the picnic soon!"

Her sister's voice comes muffled through the door a minute later, laughter in her words. "Got it!"

─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

"So, suddenly, she's in the running for Mother of the Year, just when I'm trying to avoid her the most," Caroline groans, throwing her head back as she complains about her mother.

Charlotte and Cory walk on one side of the blonde while Elena walks along her other as they navigate the busy area to head for the pavilion they've been put in charge of staining.

"I'm babbling," Caroline says, a hint of self-deprecation in her voice. "You don't want to hear all of this."

Cory makes a noise of agreement in his throat. "Yeah, actually–"

"Oh, uh– no, I'm– I'm sorry," Elena shakes her head, snapping out of her daze as she cuts Cory off. "What happened after that?"

"Well," Caroline huffs, dragging her brush along a column, the sting of the fumes burning at her nose as the twins and Cory do the same with separate columns along the pavilion. "I was a bitch. Which is par for the course with us."

Elena has no response again and Charlotte glances at her sister to see a nicely laid look of something lost in her eyes, something that catches Caroline's attention easily as the blonde shoots her looks out of the corner of her eye.

"So, how are things with you and Stefan? Anything?"

Elena sighs tiredly. "No, not since the fight. He's been pushing me away because he thinks that Katherine might get jealous enough to hurt me. I just don't know how to change his mind."

Caroline closes the distance between her and Elena, leaning down to talk on her level. "You said that Katherine's dangerous. Maybe he's got a point."

"Yeah, I know that she's dangerous and I know that he's just trying to protect me, but it feels like giving up. And I– I just..."

Caroline leans forward, looking at Elena imploringly. "Just what?"

"I just thought that we were stronger than that," Elena shrugs, giving Caroline a sad look.

"Alright," Charlotte cuts in, setting her bucket of stain down on the picnic table lined with small, pre-planted flowers that would eventually bloom into bushes. "That's enough negative talk. Today's supposed to be about volunteering, so we should be focusing on that."

Caroline holds her hands up innocently and stands back up, returning to the column she'd been staining half-heartedly.

They all work in silence for a few more minutes, Cory leaning in towards Charlotte every few minutes to mutter about someone walking by. Charlotte's long since gotten used to Cory's uncanny ability to know everything about everyone and with the lifestyle that she and Elena were recently thrust into, it's come in handy more often than not. It helped to know which members of the Council were the most trigger-happy when it came to vampires.

"Uh-oh,"

Charlotte's head snaps over at the sound of Caroline's voice, and she quickly follows the blonde's line of sight to where Stefan was standing across the small path between pavilions, drawing up measurements on a couple of plywood pieces Mayor Lockwood had deemed for picnic tables.

"Longing looks are being exchanged."

"Caroline," Charlotte intones, the blonde pointedly ignoring her.

Elena frowns, ditching her paintbrush in the bucket of stain. "I'm gonna go talk to him."

Caroline is quick to backtrack at that. "No, you– Elena, I think it's a bad idea. I–"

Elena ignores her friend, walking off towards Stefan, and Charlotte resists a long, tortured groan at Caroline's behavior. She knows it's because of Katherine, and she has sympathy for Caroline's entire situation; it's terrifying for Charlotte to think about being turned into a vampire even knowing everything she does, she can't imagine what it was like not knowing what was happening the entire time until she killed some innocent person. And to be further threatened by the woman who single-handedly thrust you into a dangerous lifestyle that had already killed you once, Charlotte understood Caroline's submission to Katherine.

But it didn't make it any less frustrating to watch, if not solely on behalf of her sister.

It also made her want to track Katherine down and put a stake through her heart, but that was a very dark path that Charlotte couldn't afford to let herself go down.

"What's her problem?"

Charlotte turns to look at Damon, letting out a tired sigh. "Typical teenage drama. Don't worry about it."

"Sure," Damon agreed lightly, grimacing as he turned to look at Caroline's frowning face. "Why are you being such a bitch to your mom?"

Caroline fixes Damon with a bitter look, shaking her head. "Don't worry about it."

She turns away from them all, tucking her hair behind her ears and entirely obviously looking at Stefan and Elena as Elena attempts to start a conversation with the moody vampire.

"Caroline, are you seriously listening to them right now?" Cory scoffs, turning to drop his bucket of stain on the table in front of the blonde.

Charlotte looks from Caroline to Damon, seeing the same inquisitive look on his face. "Are you seriously listening to them right now?"

Damon, at least, doesn't even pretend to look ashamed. "Relationships are about communication,"

Charlotte sighs, giving him a scolding look as Elena storms off away from them and away from Stefan. She steps past the tables just as Caroline moves to follow Elena, too, and stops the blonde with a hand without saying anything.

"I– just let me try to help her, please, Charlie?"

Charlotte's urge to defend her sister, even against Caroline rears its head but she buries it and nods, stepping out of Caroline's way, watching the blonde disappear in the direction her sister had.

Clenching her jaw, she spins on her heel to look at Cory and Damon, the two exchanging a series of silent looks that she doesn't even try to decipher. "Are you actually being helpful today, or am I going to have to take you home and put you in time out?"

Damon shrugs a shoulder, giving her a smile. "I haven't decided yet. If you come with me, who knows what will happen?"

"Jesus, everything you two say sounds filthy."

Charlotte flushes quickly and deeply, shooting Cory a glare he smirks at. "Shut up. Let's go, Damon,"

She follows the vampire through the growing crowds, reaching up to tighten her ponytail as he leads her to a pavilion with a few little girls selling lemonade, and one particular man standing in front of the display with a polite smile on his face. "Damon, are you serious?"

"Just go with it," He smiles genially through his words as they approach Mason, the werewolf instantly tense at the sight of Damon. "Hello, Mason. Working hard?"

"Doing my part," His eyes drift to Charlotte, briefly narrowing before his gaze straightens back out and locks on Damon.

"Heard you talked to Stefan,"

Mason smirks. "Nice guy,"

Damon scoffs a humorless agreement. "Yeah, a lot nicer than me."

"Well, nice is overrated,"

"That's what I think," Damon slaps Mason's shoulder, somehow able to conceive hostility in such a friendly gesture.

Mason drains the rest of his lemonade, shaking his head. "You have a good day, Damon," His eyes drift to Charlotte as he walks away and he gives her another one of those weird, lingering looks. "Charlotte."

Damon looks impossibly smug despite no real words being exchanged and Charlotte looks at him searchingly, trying to scope out whatever it was he had planned that he hadn't bothered sharing with her.

"Please tell me that you were just bonding," Stefan's voice comes up behind them, a plea in his tone as they turn to look at him.

Charlotte crosses her arms over her chest, giving Stefan a frown.

"So, what's up with this, um, faux drama in your relationship?"

Stefan's eyes shifted to Charlotte for a fraction of a second, long enough for her to shake her head, conveying that she hadn't told Damon anything. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh, come on, Stefan. You and Elena don't fight. Especially not over me," Damon's eyes flash amusedly. "That's usually reserved for our twins."

"Alright–"

"Drop it, Damon," Stefan cuts Charlotte off before she can start bickering with Damon, his stern words just furthering his brother's amusement and complete disbelief of he and Elena's ruse.

"With pleasure," Damon turns around to look at the lemonade table, the little girl picking up two cups with a wide smile.

"Would you and your girlfriend like some lemonade?"

Damon's smirk widened as he leaned forward to grab the cups from her. "We would love some lemonade, thank you, sweetie,"

He turned to hand Charlotte the cup and she took it, giving the little girl a smile as she took a sip of it. Her eyes drifted to Damon, who was looking at her indecipherably, and she huffed as she swallowed her drink. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Just wanted to know if my girlfriend liked the lemonade,"

Charlotte hissed, lunging to smack his arm. "Shut up, she's a little girl!"

Damon just shrugged a shoulder, lifting his own cup up to take a drink. He'd barely pulled the cup away from his lips before he was spitting it back out, choking around the liquid.

Charlotte dropped her cup, lunging to grab him as he gasped for air, and Stefan helped her move him to the picnic table to sit down.

"What's wrong with you?"

Damon gasped around the burn in his throat. "Vervain, it's vervain,"

Charlotte pulled the sleeve of her shirt down to wipe the remnants of the lemonade off the sides of his face, her eyes wide as her heart raced in her chest. "Water, Stefan, he needs water,"

Stefan hurries off to one of the nearby ice buckets, grabbing a water bottle for Damon, who stands as he takes it, walking over to the edge of the pavilion. "I've had worse," The vampire groaned, quickly taking a swig of water and swishing it around his mouth before spitting it out.

Damon let out a ragged breath, turning around quickly. "I'm gonna kill him,"

"No, hey, hey– listen to me," Stefan stops him, the two struggling against each other as Charlotte watched helplessly.

"No more Mr. Nice Guy!"

"Sit– sit," Stefan forces Damon back down onto the bench, looking at his brother pleadingly.

"I'm not listening to anymore of your give-peace-a-chance crap," Damon spits the words out through gritted teeth, glaring at his brother. "He's dead."

"Okay," Stefan sighs, a hint of defeat in his tone. "I don't like it, but he's making threats. He could expose us, we need to put him down."

Damon gives Stefan a shocked look that Charlotte briefly mirrors. "Alright, let's do it,"

"Guys," Charlotte starts quietly, going unheard by the brothers.

"Woods. Trash duty. Come on," Damon spots Mason in the distance, gesturing to the werewolf disappearing away from the crowd. He shoots Charlotte a stern look, pointing a finger at her. "You stay here. I don't trust him around you."

Charlotte opens her mouth to say something but he and Stefan walk away before she can even exhale on the breath she'd taken. Throwing her hands up, she turns in the opposite direction, quickly spotting Cory at the pavilion they were all supposed to be painting still.

"Something's happening," Charlotte doesn't bother with pleasantries as she drags Cory off towards the woods, her steps straining as they walk up the steep hill. "Mason just vervained Damon in public, and he and Stefan are going to try to kill him in the woods. Do you have any–"

"Yeah, I got some stuff on me," Cory quickly snaps into business, reaching up into the sleeve of his outer layer to pull out a small, serrated-edge knife that gleamed with something that looked ingrained into the metal of the blade. "You remember how I showed you to use this?"

Charlotte's fingers wrapped around the handle of the knife and she nodded, swallowing around the wariness that had suddenly wrapped a tight hand around her throat. "Yeah."

"Don't put yourself in the line of fire," He reminds her, helping her tuck the blade up in her sleeve like he had it in his. "Let Stefan and Damon take the weight."

"I know," She nods reassuringly, his words drilled into her mind at this point. "Only make the first move if it's to kill."

Cory lingers for a second before he nods, mostly to himself, and continues up the hill into the woods, carefully stepping past trees and over rocks that might trip them up.

"Oh– shit," Cory stops suddenly as they come to a clearing and they stumble over each other, stopping abruptly in front of Caroline and Elena, who look just as startled to see them. "What are you guys doing?"

"Stefan and Damon are in trouble," Caroline breathes out, eyes wide as she grabs Elena's wrist and pulls her further into the woods.

"Shit," Cory hisses out, he and Charlotte quickly following after them.

The four of them run through the woods as fast as they can, Caroline dutifully maintaining a human speed for their sake as she's the only one that can hear the surrounding threats.

They blow through a thicket of trees that start to spread out again, forest floor covered in dead pine needles, and Caroline comes to a stop, looking around.

"What is it?" Elena breathes out, chest heaving with exerted breaths. Charlotte steps up next to her sister, laying a hand on her arm to silently check on her.

"They've been here," Caroline answered, kneeling down to run her fingers along the branch of leaves that looks like it's been discarded haphazardly.

Cory furrows his brows, watching Caroline drag her fingers along the leaves. "What?"

Caroline pulls her fingers back, revealing the still-wet blood on the leaves.

Charlotte presses her fingers to her top lip to stop her mouth from falling open on a gasp, her breath stuttering in her chest.

"What are you guys doing out here?"

The all-too familiar voice has them all startling, and Charlotte snaps around, pushing Elena back as Mason Lockwood walks towards them.

"Have you seen Stefan and Damon?"

Mason narrowed his eyes, looking between the four teens. "Yeah, Charlotte, I've seen them."

"Well, where are they?" Elena bites out from behind Charlotte, glaring at the werewolf as he continues to walk towards them. Charlotte pushes Elena further back, clenching her jaw as she meets Mason's glare.

"You don't need me for that," He shakes his head, eyes shifting from the twins to where Caroline stood beside Cory. "I'll let your friend here sniff 'em out."

Charlotte's hand twitched and she felt the shift of the knife tucked into her sleeve against her arm, reminding her of its presence.

"Does your mother know what you are? I'm happy to tell her,"

Caroline lunges for Mason and he catches the premeditated move, quickly grabbing Charlotte and wrapping a thick arm around her neck, pressing down dangerously on her throat.

Charlotte gasped as he tightened his grip on her throat and she clenched her teeth as Elena made an aborted move to grab for her, swiping a hand out to keep her sister at bay.

"Necks snap easy around here," Mason intones, tilting his head tauntingly at Caroline.

Caroline glances at Charlotte, who urges her on with a dark gleam in her eyes. "I can take you,"

"Wanna bet?"

Charlotte shakes her arm just enough to displace the knife from her sleeve, and the handle drops down into her hand. She grasps it firmly and swings her arm up, swiping it wildly behind her, feeling the dig of it against Mason's skin, hearing his pained noise as he drops his hold on her, grabbing at the wound on his arm.

Charlotte stumbles forward just as Caroline grabs Mason, slamming him against a tree by his throat.

The vampire grins darkly, squeezing his neck. "Told ya," She slams her knee into his stomach and throws him to the ground, and he catches himself on his elbows, panting.

Caroline spins and kicks her leg into his stomach, sending him flying backwards into a tree across the small clearing.

He lands with a muted thump, pine needles crushing beneath his weight, and Charlotte flicks her half-undone ponytail back out of her face, standing upright as she regains her breath.

Elena makes to move towards her sister, but she stops her, shaking her head. "I'm fine. I'm fine– let's go,"

Caroline nods and takes off in front again, Cory taking up the rear with the twins in between them as they head in the direction Mason had appeared from.

It doesn't take them but two more minutes to come up on the ruins and they all slow, looking around.

Elena and Caroline stand before the opening of a crumbling staircase that leads underground, and Elena looks at the blonde confusedly. "Caroline, what is that?"

"It's the old Lockwood property," Charlotte breathes out in realization. "Slave quarters. There's cells in there,"

Elena's eyes widened and she looked at Caroline again, desperation shining on her face. "Caroline, what's going on in there?"

Caroline drops her hand from where it had come up to cover her mouth, her face twisted in horror. "My mom. She's killing them."

"What?" Elena and Charlotte echo each other, the twins heading for the stairs immediately.

"No, no, no, Elena," Caroline yanks Elena back and Charlotte stops on the top stair, looking at the blonde.

"We have to stop her," Elena exclaims, looking at Caroline incredulously.

"No, I can't! Elena, she's gonna find out about me,"

Elena clenches her jaw, shaking her head at Caroline before yanking her arm out of her grip and grabbing her sister's hand.

"No, Elena–"

Cory stops at the top of the stairs, moving to follow the twins as they disappear into the cellar. He gives Caroline a firm, but shockingly understanding look. "My dad would kill me if he knew what I was doing. But I still do it, because I love Charlie. That's what this life is, Caroline. Constant sacrifice, even at the risk of your own life. Can you handle doing that for the people you love? Or are you gonna let fear be the ruling factor in your immortality?"

He turns and hurries down the steps, grabbing the knife out of his sleeve despite knowing Sheriff Forbes and the other deputies with her likely had guns. It, at least, would get him a few decent wounds in if necessary. He'd like to think that Sheriff Forbes would take some pity on him and not shoot him on sight, but she's about to put wooden bullets into Stefan and Damon's heads, so he can't put all of his money on that hope.

"Hey," Cory hisses out when the twins' shadows come into view, and they snap around, Elena holding up a plank of wood and Charlotte clutching the knife he'd given her. "Stand down, soldiers. Get the door,"

Charlotte gives him a look that he knows is exasperated because of his unhelpful sarcasm, but they all know she shouldn't even bother pretending to expect anything less at this point.

Elena does as he says, though, pushing the rusted iron gate open, making it squeak noisily throughout the underground cellar.

Footsteps thud towards them and as soon as the door swings open, she swings the plank of wood in her hands as hard as she can, dropping the deputy that had come towards them.

The three of them run into the cellar and are met with Sheriff Forbes' gun, and her outraged face. "What are you doing?!"

"You can't kill them," Elena shakes her head, emotion thick in her throat. "I'm not gonna let you."

The deputy that Elena had knocked down stumbles back towards them, shoving Elena further into the cell, wrapping a tight hand around Charlotte, who wrenches it from his grasp. "Don't touch me!" She turns around, fixing the three police officers with a hateful glare, her dark eyes full of fire that looks out of place on her usually soft features.

Cory goes to mouth off to the police officer that had shoved Elena, but the iron door to the cellar slams shut, and a blur of blonde and black flashes through the enclosure.

"What was that?" The deputy snaps around, looking fearful.

Liz looks at the three of them with wide eyes. "Who else was with you?"

The blur that is Caroline makes a round through the cellar, grabbing one of the officer's from behind and wrenching his head back so she can sink her fangs into his throat.

She pulls away from his jugular as he screams out in pain, shielding herself from the wooden bullets using his body.

As soon as the gun clicks, Caroline discards the deputy in exchange for another, appearing before him to slap the gun from his hand and snap his arm back so he can't reach for anything before shoving him to the ground.

She pushes herself away from the mess with a ragged gasp, blood smeared down her chin and the front of her neck as she stepped back into the dim light from above, looking across the room at her horrified mother as her face shifted back.

"Hi, mom,"

Charlotte looks between the mother and daughter before pushing away any concern for them in favor of hurrying over to Damon. Elena follows suit and hurries toward Stefan, the vampire just barely starting to stir amidst all the chaos.

"Damon," Charlotte pulls at his arm, wincing at his pained groan. "Come on, you have to feed,"

She grits her teeth and yanks his arm again, making him let out another pained noise before he gathers himself and helps her drag his weight towards the officer Caroline had torn into.

He groans in relief as soon as the blood floods his senses, skin healing over and turning the wooden bullet fragments into nothingness. With Charlotte's help, he sits upright, shifting back to look at his brother, who had yet to heal. "You need to drink some deputy blood," He panted out, exhaustion laced in his voice.

"Oh, no," Stefan shook his head, voice hoarse like he'd been yelling. "I'll be fine. It's just gonna take a little bit longer."

"Damon's right, you know," Caroline shakes her head from where she stands in the far corner, keeping distance between her and her shellshocked mother, who was either being guarded from them by Cory, or being guarded from herself by Cory. "If there's ever a time to break your diet–"

"He said he didn't want it, okay?" Elena cuts her off, not entirely gentle with it as she glances between the two other vampires, making them quiet down in surrender.

Charlotte helps Damon stand up, the man still limping around one of the wooden bullets in his knee, making him bite out more audible winces as he regained balance.

"This is a most unfortunate situation," Damon sighs out, looking at the mess made in the cellar. "Two deputies dead... and you,"

His eyes land on Liz, who flinches beneath his attention. "What am I gonna do with you?"

Caroline looks at her mother pleadingly. "You won't tell anyone, will you?"

Liz turns to look at her daughter, but says nothing, and the room grows tense once more.

"Mom? Mom, please, I– look, I know that we don't get along and that you hate me, but I'm your daughter," Caroline's voice breaks as she looks at her mom, the woman avoiding eye contact in her persistent silence. "And you'll do this for me, right? Mom– please. He will kill you."

Liz looks up at that, looking at Damon with teary eyes. "Then kill me,"

"No!"

"I can't take this," Liz shakes her head and Damon approaches her bending down slightly to look at her. "Kill me now."

"But you were gonna drag it out so painfully," Damon's voice is somewhat mocking, and Charlotte looks at him with sympathetic eyes as his gaze shifts the longer he looks at Liz.

He grabs Liz roughly, standing her up before him, and exclamations echo from around the room, Caroline's shrill and fearful while Stefan and Elena take on stern, scolding ones. Charlotte stays silent near him, and Cory doesn't move to take Liz from him, just watching the vampire with a slightly narrowed gaze.

"Relax, guys, no one's killing anybody. " Damon turns to look at the three calling out at him, rolling his eyes slightly as he looks back at Liz. "You're my friend."

Charlotte watches relief flood the other three and she steps away from Sheriff Forbes as Damon keeps his hold on her, shuffling on still-weak legs.

Damon looks at the bloody mess surrounding them all and groans quietly. "We gotta clean this up,"

─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

"I'm supposed to be asleep, you know," Charlotte says, not flinching as her window opens and closes, soft footsteps thudding on the carpet. "Alone."

"Well, I'm sure Jenna would love to know that I'm sneaking in your window past curfew," Damon smirks as he comes around to where she's laying in the bed on her side, the Petrova history book propped up on a pillow, the pages turned nearly halfway through. "Anything fun going on in there?"

"Haven't decided yet," She shrugs against her bed, turning to lay flat on her back and look up at him sitting beside her. "Are you and Stefan alright now?"

Damon waves a hand, as if that dismisses the events of the day. "We're always fine,"

"Now you're just asking for something to happen to you," Charlotte huffs, smiling at his eye roll. "Is Sheriff Forbes...?"

"Alive and extremely unhappy. She's camping out in the basement for a few days, until the vervain is out of her system and I can compel all of this mess away. I, uh, I think her and Caroline have a lot to talk about, though."

Charlotte hums. "They always do, I think. I also think it never actually gets talked about, but what do I know about mothers?"

"Morbid take, sunshine, wow," Damon winces, pressing a hand to his heart. "Weren't you close with your mom?"

"Yeah, absolutely," Charlotte shrugs again, thinking of the days she'd spent with her mom and Elena, talking about anything and everything, learning what it meant to be a woman, learning what life she had to look forward to if she had a love story like her parents. "My dad and I were definitely closer, though. And, you know– Isobel is everything you'd never want, and John isn't exactly father of the year. So, I'm either an orphan or the child of two teen delinquents who didn't want me."

Damon's eyes flash with concern at her words but he apparently knows better than to press her about those specific feelings, instead letting her play it off as a joke like she wants to. "Hey, I'm an orphan, too. There's nothing wrong with it."

"Yeah," She says quietly, eyes growing heavy the longer she looks into his hypnotizing gaze.

"You're alright?" He switches the subject abruptly, eyes dragging over her despite her being covered by her comforter and sheets from the armpits down. "No scratches?"

"Nothing on the outside, at least," She huffs, a wry smile pulling at her lips. "Mason Lockwood put me in a chokehold earlier, so my throat doesn't feel amazing, but it's nothing some hot tea and an ice pack or two can't fix."

Damon's soft blue eyes harden in the blink of an eye, suddenly ablaze with anger. "He did what?"

"Damon, it's okay, I'm okay," Charlotte is quick to reassure, flicking her fingers out to tap against the side of his arm. "You and Stefan are going to handle it, right? That's what you said."

Damon clenches his jaw. "Yeah. If he thinks he's getting away with all of this, he's in for a rude awakening,"

"Exactly. So don't overreact and mess up the plan, alright? Revenge is always best when you wait for the right moment,"

Damon eyes her suspiciously, eyes roaming over her again. "You're so dark and twisty all of the sudden. Should I be worried?"

"I'm just tired," She assures him, letting the Petrova book close with a quiet slap beside her as she moves her arm. "It's been an extremely long day, in case you haven't noticed."

"Yeah," Once again, he looks at her with something in his eyes that she can't put a name to, despite the way it makes her stomach flutter nervously. "Go to sleep, Charlotte."

She yawns despite the attempt to hold it back. "Are you sure? I feel like you came here for something and I'm just gonna pass out on you now,"

"Don't worry about it. You're no use to me when you're tired,"

She waves a hand at him as he stands up, heading for her window again. "Night, Damon. Thanks,"

He stops, hand on the pale green curtains billowing in front of the glass. "For what?"

Charlotte burrows into her pillows, pulling the covers up over her shoulders as she peeks an eye open to look at him. "For coming to see me,"

Fondness sweeps over him like a tidal wave and he has to tear his eyes away from her before he shuts the window and joins her on her bed and inevitably spills his guts to her in every way he can't afford to.

Clearing his throat, he shakes his head and climbs out of the window without another word.

He takes a quick glance back into her bedroom as he shuts the pane behind him and sees her eyes are closed once more, the furrow in her brow smoothed out and a few stray curls falling across her cheek in that specific way that always irritates her and makes her swipe them away, even in her half-conscious state.

He ignores the warmth in his fingertips as he disappears from the Gilbert house, and tries to rid his mind of everything that is Charlotte Gilbert.

It doesn't work.

It hasn't worked since the very first day he met her.

─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

author's note; charlotte and damon lowkey being a married couple and they haven't even kissed 40 chapters in i'm insane kinda

edited and published; 4.26.24.

 - liz