❝oh girl, it's you that i lie with.❞
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

"WITCHES DON'T HAVE ETERNAL LIFE, RIGHT?"

Charlotte looked at Ben with a miserable glare on her face, watching as he approached Bonnie again.

"So you guys can die, right?"

"Yeah, we can die."

Ben scoffed, turning away from the two girls. "Oh, that sucks."

The door to the motel room burst open before Ben could continue with his ridiculous tough guy act, and Charlotte stood from the bed, relief pouring through her at the sight of the vampire.

"Stefan,"

The Salvatore brother ripped the curtains open, and Ben ducked to crawl into the shadows, yelling out in pain as the sun hit him.

"Get outside, go," Stefan waved Charlotte and Bonnie out of the room, and the girls ran, clutching onto each other tightly as they ran down the steps and into the parking lot of the dingy motel they'd been locked up in.

Charlotte dropped her hold on Bonnie's arm as they parted and let out a shaky sigh, biting her tongue to hold back the tears she felt building behind her eyes as Stefan appeared before them.

His eyes landed on the scabbed over wounds on her neck and she held her hand to cover them. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Charlotte said, her voice subdued. "We should go before Anna comes back."

Stefan seemed reluctant to agree, but Charlotte raised a brow in silent stubbornness, unwilling to bend. Sighing, he nodded and gestured to the car, and the girls piled in, Charlotte falling silent as the motel quickly became a distant speck behind them.

She figured she should feel lucky she didn't end up dead, or injured more gravely than she was. But she didn't feel lucky, she just felt scared.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Charlotte walked out of the bathroom at Bonnie's grandma's, dropping her hand from where the taped-on gauze pad sat on her neck. She gave Grams a shy smile, earning a small one back in response as she approached the table that her sister, Stefan, and Bonnie were all at.

"So, what do we do now?"

"For now, you need to stay here."

Charlotte frowned at Stefan's words, watching an identical expression fall over Grams' face, too.

"A prisoner, in my own house? I don't think so."

Stefan crossed his arms over his chest, shaking his head at Grams. "I can't protect you if you leave the house."

"We'll protect ourselves,"

Charlotte looked away, pulling at the sleeves of her flannel to absentmindedly scratch at her wrists.

"We need to let him have Katherine back," Elena spoke, her words surprising everyone. "He's not going to stop until he gets her. If we help him, maybe that ends it."

"No," Bonnie shook her head, giving Elena an incredulous look. "He doesn't deserve to get what he wants."

Charlotte scoffed, looking down at her feet. "It's not Damon's fault you got taken, Bonnie."

Stefan sighed at her words, giving her a pitying look that made her skin crawl.

She was grateful he'd saved their lives, but she'd hardly had the time to forget about the Katherine thing, let alone forgive him for everything he's done to Elena. Just because her sister has moved on, doesn't mean she has.

"He didn't exactly help get you guys back, though. And he is working with Anna,"

"No, he's not," Charlotte shook her head incredulously. "And, please, remind me again– did he even know I was gone to begin with? Because Anna and Ben were under the impression that I was Elena."

Her twin flinches at the reminder, and Charlotte can't find it in her to feel bad. She wasn't going to tell Elena about it, because it'd surely just make her sister feel bad, but Bonnie had let it slip earlier when they'd first gotten to Grams' house, and Charlotte had to explain.

Stefan reluctantly concedes to her point. "He thought it was Elena– at least, I assume he did. Elena didn't come home with me when I asked him to help, and I didn't think to mention it was you. I just figured he'd help me either way."

"I know Damon would've helped if he knew I was gone, and I'm not saying he's a saint because of it, but it's not his fault that Ben took you, Bonnie. Anna told me that her mother is in the tomb because of Katherine, so she had completely different motives to open the tomb. If anything, she'd rather leave Katherine in there, too!"

Grams scoffed, shaking her head at the drama. "Witches being pulled down by vampire problems. As much as we tried to do to stay out of it."

Charlotte feels a pinprick of guilt at that, and she drops her gaze, pinching the bridge of her nose between her fingers.

"I'll open the tomb."

Charlotte's head snapped up at Grams' words and she looked over to see a matching look of surprise on Elena's face.

"You get your brother's girl and destroy the rest with fire. Then this will be all over."

"We still have to get Damon to agree,"

Elena shrugged at Stefan's words. "He already agreed once."

Stefan nods, eyes briefly drifting to Charlotte and seeing the bitter look on her usually passive face. "Yeah, and then we double-crossed him. So, now he's angry."

"He's not angry, he's hurt." Charlotte mutters, shaking her hair out of her face. "There's a difference. You guys betrayed his trust– the trust you promised him was real, and now he's upset."

Charlotte pauses, taking in the bashful, somewhat shameful looks on Stefan and Elena's faces. "I'll ask him to help, but only if it's real this time. No lies, no double-crossing, no fake promises."

Stefan and Elena share a look, and then Charlotte looks at Grams and Bonnie, almost demanding an answer from them, too.

"No lies." Stefan shifts, giving Charlotte an earnest look. "We'll do it for real this time."

Charlotte nods, turning to look at her sister. "Give me my car keys then."

"Charlie, are you sure you can drive? You've been–"

"I'm fine, Elena, just give me my keys."

Elena reluctantly pulls her car keys out and hands them over to Charlotte, watching her older sister leave with a guarded look in place. Even though she understands Charlotte's distrust in them, it still hurts her to see, and it confuses her to see such a response over Damon of all people. She doesn't know why Charlotte is so defensive of him, but she has never really understood Charlotte, and why she does the things she does. Her sister is nothing if not an enigma.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Charlotte walked into the study of the boarding house, her eyes landing on Damon's back as he pulled his leather jacket on. Her breath hitched in silent relief at seeing him before her, even though he had no reason to not be fine. After the past twenty hours she's had, though, she just revels in the comfort his presence brings her.

Damon turns around when he senses the other presence, and a smirk plays at his lips when he sees Charlotte. "Where have you been all day? I figured you'd be glued to Elena's side after everything."

"They didn't take Elena," Charlotte tilts her head, her curls shifting out of the way to show the gauze taped over her neck. "They just thought they did."

Any hint of Damon's amusement disappears, and Charlotte barely blinks when he suddenly appears right in front of her. His hand comes up to inspect the covering that curves around the side of her neck, and she wraps her fingers around his wrist, letting them rest on his pulse point.

Damon's jaw is clenched angrily, but when he speaks, his voice is uncharacteristically soft. "Anna thought you were Elena?"

Charlotte nods, and Damon's thumb caresses up the curve of her jawline, making her unable to move her gaze from his. "We're going to open the tomb tonight. Bonnie's gonna help."

He looks unhappy at the sudden change in subject, and his frown deepens. "I doubt that."

"She and her grandma agreed to help get Katherine out of the tomb,"

"Charlotte, I really don't–"

"And Stefan and Elena promised to help this time, and not go behind your back–"

"Charlotte–"

"Damon, I'm trying to help you!"

Damon drops his hand from her throat and closes his eyes, obvious frustration building. "I am doing this alone, Charlotte, I don't need anyone's help."

"Look, I'm sorry that Stefan and Elena did what they did, but you can trust me Damon. You can trust me when I say I'm going to help you get Katherine back."

Damon tore his eyes away from Charlotte's determined gaze, looking up at the high ceilings to avoid her knowing stare. "I wish that I could believe you, Charlotte."

Charlotte couldn't stop the pang of hurt at his words, but she stiffened her jaw and laid a hand on his chest, making him finally drop his gaze back down to her. "If you don't– if you don't trust me, then compel me. Ask me if I'm lying– make me tell you the truth."

Damon blinked, his face crumpling momentarily as he tried to stifle his surprise at her words. "Charlotte, I don't– I can't compel you. You're on vervain."

"I haven't had any in over twenty-four hours, because Ben took me. You need to do it, if it'll make you believe me."

Damon shakes his head, bringing his hand up to wrap around hers and remove it from his chest. "It won't– Anna won't stop, no matter what I do. And she's already hurt you once." His eyes shift pointedly to her throat and she swallows roughly.

"Then we'll deal with it like we have every time something has happened," Charlotte's voice quiets as Damon steps closer, still clutching her hand in his. "It's not that big of a deal, you could've compelled me plenty of times before now and I'd never know. You could've done it when we went to Atlanta, or something– just do it, Damon."

Damon shifted, stepping impossibly closer to her as he brought his hands up to gently cup her face in his hands. "I didn't compel you in Atlanta, because we were having fun. It was real. I wanted it to be real."

Charlotte looks at him, not shocked, but something else, something warm.

"I've never compelled you, sunshine." Damon clears his throat softly. "I won't start now."

Silence lingers between them, and Charlotte finds herself unable to look away from Damon until he takes in a deep breath, seemingly answering whatever internal battle he'd been having.

"I'm trusting you, Charlotte. I've always trusted you. But Stefan and Elena–" He heaves a sigh, shaking his head. "They better not make me regret trusting them."

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ─── 

author's note; this is a short chapter but they are so 🤬🤬

edited and published; 12.6.22.

- liz