𝟎𝟗

a/n: charlotte's outfit is above ⬆

☆═━ 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐄 ━═☆

For the first time in years, she felt the deep sadness of exile, knowing that she was alone there, an outsider, and too alert to the ironies, the niceties, the manners, and indeed, the morals to be able to participate.

Charlotte felt foreign to the modern days, everything sounded so new and weird to her, for first; the television scared the hell out of her.

That squared huge screen that showed people acting as they did on theaters back in her time, she had stood bewildered as Damon chuckled at her state of shock before pulling her upstairs, to give her some change of clothes.

Realizing that he doesn't own any clothes to fit the petite girl, he gave her a shirt of his and some sweats he found on their couch, that probably belonged to Stefan.

Damon already assured her that Elena would probably come up in the morning with some girl clothes, he led the girl into one of the guests' rooms and left a few blood bags in case she had gotten hungry.

The eldest Salvatore stayed in the room, till she was safely asleep, knowing that the first night asleep after years of desiccation could be full of nightmares.

After her heartbeat had taken a calm rate he left the room, before placing a gentle kiss to her forehead.

He walked outside to the slam of the front door as Stefan walked in, "You didn't have to disappear to avoid her, she didn't even mutter your name once."

Stefan turned to look at his brother neutrally, "I wasn't avoiding her, Damon."

"And I am not a serial killer," Damon retorted, chuckling as he added, "A little too early for April fools?"

Stefan ignored him before making his way upstairs, but feeling a sudden budge of remorse, he turned and asked, "Is she ok?"

"She is certainly better than you, brother."

✵ ✵ ✵

Charlotte woke up the next morning to find Damon walking in with a handful of bags, carrying a lot of female things— undergarments, clothes, shower gel, and many other shampoos of different scents as he didn't quite know if she favored Lillies or coconut.

"What is all of this?" Charlotte asked, a faint bewildered smile on her lips as she looked at the countless bags.

"The both, blessing and curse of the twenty-first's century that women have to carry," Damon shrugged, chuckling as he placed the bags down on the couch.

"How would you know?" Charlotte laughed out, wiping a fake tear.

The eldest Salvatore would have probably killed anyone with such snark to speak back to him in such way after he had done one of the nicest things in his whole life but when it came to the girl he had always seen as a younger sister, it was a different story.

He slightly glared at her before crossing his legs as a compelled human walked into the Salvatore house and Charlotte raised an eyebrow, looking back at him.

"Well, as you said, how would I know? See, I found Sarah here, she was shopping at the same time I was getting all of these...and I thought, since Elena is out of town, you definitely need outside help,"  Damon shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly, before raising his hand, motioning for Sarah to come closer.

"Sarah, please, help Charlotte fit into the modern era...fashionably, so she would get ready for life in the 2000s," He smirked as the compelled human picked up the bags and Charlotte pointed at her room.

"I don't understand a single word of what you just said," Charlotte muttered, blinking with a shook of her head.

Damon chuckled, "Just go, Char."

The compelled human didn't ask questions, or talk much, as if she was compelled shut, literally. She helped Charlotte use all of the products Damon had bought before she got the girl into some jeans, that Charlotte kept eyeing weirdly.

The Bernard girl had many choices, most of them purple, she was quite glad Damon remembered how much she loved that color and made sure all of the clothes were though. In the end, she wore a purple blouse and a pair of light jeans that suited her perfectly well, then Sarah gave her purple flats to finish her look.

After her shower, new look, and change of place, Charlotte was starting to feel as though she truly belonged, that all the bad times were over and the good is yet to come. It finally didn't matter if she was a vampire and cursed to live forever.

She was invincible, beautiful, forever young and had the world at the tip of her fingers. Charlotte thought the girl was quite done but she was just starting, the human girl had straightened her hair and put on some light pink make up for her.

"Thank you, Sarah," Charlotte had a beaming smile on her face as she thanked the human girl who nodded before walking away as though she was some robot, granted the compulsion side effects.

She shrugged to herself, biting her bottom lip before turning back to the mirror. Charlotte was mesmerized, she couldn't believe that this was truly herself, feeling so alive, new, and her.

With her, yet to be maintained, supernatural hearing; Charlotte found herself involuntarily eavesdropping on Damon and Stefan's talk, it felt so familiar to hear his voice after all of those decades but yet so disturbing.

"There was a woman you may have known a few years back named Isobel in North Carolina at Duke," Stefan stated, awaiting for some source of answers from his brother.

"You wanna discuss the women in my past right now? Seriously?" Damon said, and Charlotte could have sworn she heard his eyes roll to the back of his head, he had only done it a hundred times on a conversation with her.

"You killed her." Stefan, so assuredly, accused, as Charlotte glared at the mirror, how could he accuse his brother if he had no evidence of so? And why was he so hellbent on knowing what happened to Isabelle or Isobel?

"What's your point?"

"I just—just wanna know if you remember anything about her," Stefan finished off, his voice seeming as though desperate.

"Oh, it's like a needle in a haystack, Stefan," Damon retorted.

Stefan pressed, with much more desperation, "Well, think hard. It's important."

Charlotte already bored of the ill-mannered habit, it was not one of her mannerisms to eavesdrop, she smiled one last time at her reflection before walking outside as Damon grasped Stefan's shoulder and whispered in his ear, "Nothing is more important to me than Charlotte right now, so I would suggest you stay out of my way."

Noticing the thick tension in the room, Charlotte cleared her throat, as both of the Salvatores turned to look at her, "I am ready," She grinned.

Damon clapped his hands on Stefan's shoulder, while the green-eyed vampire still stood gazing at the Bernard girl, he was surprised to see how within just a day back, Damon had dropped everything and focused on her.

It seemed like the time Damon would have a timeout to go check on his family then back to the battlefield, the time was usually spent on Stefan and Charlotte, the latter getting most of the attention. Being the cutest, most sensitive, and funniest did have its perks.

"Let's go?" Damon smiled, approaching her and she nodded, as a beaming exciting smile took a place on her face.

Charlotte did notice Stefan's gaze on her, his eyes burning on the back of her head as she turned to leave with Damon, yet she didn't make a move to acknowledge him; she simply didn't want to.

✵ ✵ ✵

After a long tour around Mystic Falls, endless talks about the supernatural, vampire's abilities, and a little beating around the bush for the subtle topic disguised as a green-eyed Salvatore with a sharp jaw, they had gotten to one of the only hangout places in Mystic Falls, the Mystic Grill.

"Every mentally unstable, horny, and lost teenager hangs out at this good for nothing cafe slash bar, and sometimes restaurant, they don't really rock all sorts of foods," Damon gave Charlotte a basic definition of the Mystic Grill as she muffled a chuckle.

Charlotte had her hands in her jeans' pockets as she asked, "Then why on Earth do you hang out here?"

Damon approached the bar along with her as he answered, "They got bourbon,"

The History teacher, known to everyone as Alaric, was sitting at the bar, drinking a glass of bourbon as Damon walked up to the bar and stood next to him, before ordering, with Charlotte's on his other side.

"Two glasses of Bourbon," Damon ordered before sitting down, nodding for Charlotte to sit too.

"I am not drinking," Charlotte shook her head, stating.

Damon chuckled, shaking his head at her in mockery, "Oh those two are for me," He assured before turning to the bartender, "Get her a cheeseburger, extra fries."

Charlotte frowned and before she could open up her mouth to ask, Damon beat her to it, "You will know what a cheeseburger is when it's here."

She nodded, placing both of her hands under her chins, Charlotte had a small pout on her face as she waited for her treat.

Damon's attention soon adverted to the History teacher beside him, as he greeted, "Behold the teacher. Don't you have some papers to grade?"

"It's, uh, more fun with a buzz," Alaric replied calmly.

"Well, most things in life are. Sober's depressing," Damon claimed as Charlotte frowned.

She butted in, "Life is depressing but Sober is just better and great...being drunk is so sick," Charlotte claimed, adverting the teacher's attention to her before she politely introduced herself.

"Hi, I am Cher," She gave him a hand to shake and Alaric gave the girl a soft smile, shaking her hand.

"Alaric Saltzman."

"Nice to meet you," Charlotte grinned, nodding at him.

As the waiter placed down the cheeseburger and fries in front of Charlotte's seat, she excused herself to go and eat.

Damon and Alaric exchanged long looks, that went unnoticed by the hungry Bernard, before Alaric finished his drink and placed the glass down on the bar.

Charlotte took a long look at the burger in front of her, juicy substances leaking out as she tried to think of a way to eat it.

Damon looked to her and chuckled before instructing, "Just hold it up with both of your hands, and take a bite... It's really that simple."

Charlotte did as instructed and took a small bite, moaning at the taste of all the random ingredients in her mouth. It felt almost as good as one of those treats she would help Paulina prepare for the big dinners. It was so endeavoring that she kept eating, mindlessly not taking a notice of the Sheriff who approached Damon for a small talk.

Everything was going just well with Charlotte, as she finished her burger and started munching on the fries, thinking about how the modern time was so much better than the 1800s, there was nothing she would add to it, except for two people. Her best friends.

Paulina and Angelina.

It didn't take a genius to realize that her best friends were long dead, they probably mourned her before moving on with their lives, getting married, and having many cute children. All of the dreams she wished to pursue in life along with them were long gone the day she chose to be there for Stefan.

Oh, how great the remorse she carried, if she hadn't been as compassionate and selfless... things would have been different.

Charlotte thought but then again, if she was someone selfish and intolerable; Damon wouldn't have saved her and she would still be rotting in that tomb, but Katherine was selfish and she is free so what gives?

Many thoughts haunted the Bernard girl, remorseful and grateful. She needed to realize that she can't be the same poor Charlotte she was a century and a half ago, that wouldn't have been the right thing to do.

✵  ✵  ✵