𝟑𝟒

a/n: Cher's outfit for the chapter is above!

☆═━ 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐘 𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑 ━═☆

C'est cela l'amour, tout donner, tout sacrifier sans espoir de retour.

Charlotte admired a lot of phrases and deep quotes but that one French quote was without a doubt her favorite of them all. That is love, to give away everything, to sacrifice everything, without the slightest desire to get anything in return.

It was true, the things she had done and continues to do for love was living proof for that quote. Charlotte believed that sacrificing things for the better good of others shouldn't be classified as dumb or naive but normal. Everyone should be doing so, it was just a part of who she was.

Compassion and Honesty. The morals she lived by, honesty was going down day after day but at least she was still doing it for the better of others?

"I like your necklace, it's heart-shaped with a C, right?" Elena commented before asking, "Where did you get it?"

Charlotte nodded, her hand instinctively reaching out to hold the necklace around her neck, "Stefan gave it to me, actually."

"He did?"

Noticing the change in Elena's tone, Charlotte nodded, explaining, "Yes, for my birthday. It was kind of short notice. I thought I was the only one who remembered it and I didn't want to celebrate it."

Elena had a relieved look on her face as she asked, "Why wouldn't you? Bad memories?"

Charlotte shrugged her shoulders to herself before shaking her head, "Quite the opposite...I had the best of memories in all of my birthdays but it doesn't feel right to celebrate it without my family...without my sisters, uncles, many cousins, and of course, my best friends."

"Paulina is here, yeah?"

The brunette vampire crossed her arms, nodding, "Yeah, but she wasn't my only friend and I would feel weird celebrating without her and Angie...It's just not right."

The Gilbert girl sighed, "Well, happy birthday anyway. You wouldn't mind me giving you a small thing, would you?"

"Not at all," Charlotte shook her head, smiling gratefully before she asked, "Just please keep this between us, I don't want it to be big deal or to be forced into some celebration."

"Don't worry about it," Elena smiled, reassuring her before she leaned over, opening her drawer. Charlotte raised an inquisitive eyebrow as Elena pulled out a purple-colored book with a C engraved below, "Here it is."

"A diary?"

The brunette human nodded, "Lately you have been having mixed emotions about a lot of things. Some of them you might not be able to tell me about, and that's fine. So I thought I should get you a diary. It doesn't have to be just writing things down but if you ever feel like talking to your sisters, dead family members, Angelina...Write it down, take it off your chest."

"That's very thoughtful of you," Charlotte commented as she extended her hand to take the diary, "Thank you," She leaned over, embracing Elena, "This really means a lot to me."

"Your welcome, just put it to use, okay? It will help a lot," The Gilbert girl said, pulling away from the hug.

"I will, I can promise you that."

"Great," Elena smiled, her eyes lingering down on her fingers as she contemplated spitting out her next words, "So, what's Paulina's problem with me? I feel like she hates me too much when I didn't do a thing to her."

"It's just normal Paulina...She either really likes you or really hates you. Nothing in between."

✵ ✵ ✵

Serena smiled, waving goodbye to her sister as the school bus drove her away. Turning away, she was faced with none other than Tyler Lockwood, "What are you doing here?"

"We need to talk."

"No, we don't," Serena shook her head, shoulder checking him as she passed over to get in her car, "I have school, tight schedule. Can't fit you in, not really sorry about that."

"What happened to my uncle Mason?" Tyler questioned as she turned her back on him.

Serena furrowed her eyebrows, shrugging, "He went back to Florida, didn't he?"

Tyler pressured, noticing the confusion on her face, "He's dead, and I want you to tell me what happened."

The brunette dropped her car keys, gaping, "Oh my God...Mason is dead? For real? Since when...and how—"

He raised an inquisitive eyebrow, "What? You don't know that Damon and Stefan killed him because they are vampires, like you and Caroline."

She scoffed out, shaking her head, "I am what now?"

"Vampire."

Serena shook her head, bending down to pick her car keys, "I am very much human, last I checked. I don't know what happened to your uncle because I don't want to be involved in all of this supernatural shit. If you haven't noticed, I am raising a kid who might end up like your uncle if I let her near any of my...friends."

"I am sorry about Mason, I really am," Serena patted his shoulder before opening her car door, "But you should probably discuss this with someone you are close to," She raised her index finger, pretending to think for a few seconds before blurting out, "Maybe Caroline, you two looked cozy when I passed by last night."

"What...no, Serena—"

She cut him off, showing her disinterest, "I get it, Tyler. You and I, we are old news, ancient even. You just lost my respect when you moved on with my best friend."

Serena got inside her car, slamming the door shut before driving away as he stepped away from her car, "Stupid...Stupid, Serena," She hit her steering wheel, huffing out.

✵ ✵ ✵

Charlotte crossed her legs, sitting down on Stefan's bed as Damon started, shaking his head, "You brought back John Gilbert? That was your big Save Elena move?"

She rolled her eyes, "We didn't exactly pick him, it's what we got instead of Isobel," Charlotte sighed, adding, "And last I saw of him, he chained me up so I don't like him as much as you do."

Stefan nodded, finishing, "He said he can help us, and we're desperate."

"We're not that desperate, Stefan!" Damon spoke back, taking offense at the turn of events, "The guy tried to barbecue me!"

Stefan shook his head, reminding his brother, "Damon, Bonnie's new witch friend is working with Elijah and Paulina, so we have to assume that the moonstone was never destroyed."

"Elena is putting all of her faith into some deal that she and I made with Elijah to keep everyone safe," Charlotte crossed her arms, rising to her feet, "None of this is right."

"You know what isn't right?" Damon raised an eyebrow, turning to Charlotte, "You, avoiding your old best friend. You know that one word from you and she will call off this whole thing so why aren't you doing it?"

Charlotte rubbed the back of her neck, "We are not really on the best terms right now...I can't use her for your or anyone's needs because that's just not who I am, okay? You need to accept this sooner or later."

"Isn't Elena your friend or what?"

"Stop putting me in positions where I have to choose someone," She shoved her hands against Damon's chest, pushing him back, "It's having no impact. Eventually, I will just walk away from both choices."

Charlotte picked her purse off the nightstand before walking out the door, "Unbelievable how more of an idiot can you be..."

She heard her phone buzzing in her purse before she pulled it out, reading a text from Care <3, 911 NOW.

✵ ✵ ✵

Charlotte tucked in a strand of stray hair behind her ear, knocking on Caroline's door impatiently as Caroline did open the door. She found Stefan as well, looking as though he had just arrived.

"Hey...what's wrong?"

"Tyler knows about you and Damon and some girl named Paulina?" Caroline revealed, rubbing the back of her head, "He knows that Damon killed Mason. I didn't say a word."

"It's that woman, Jules," Stefan suggested, nodding to himself.

Charlotte realized, concluding, "She had a run-in with Damon and Paulina..."

"There's worse."

"Worse than that?"

Caroline ran a hand over her face, shaking her head, "Tyler kissed me! Okay, I liked it but it's wrong and Serena saw it and she is my best friend in the whole world...I would rather be killed because of Tyler's stupid friend but not die with her hating me."

"Can you just help me fix this?"

Charlotte massaged her temple, raising an eyebrow as she looked over at Caroline, "I don't know...I mean I want to help you but you know how Serena is these days and with that. I don't know what she would say or if you are ready to hear it."

"Serena and I have been friends since we were in diapers, okay? I am not losing her any soon and not for boy trouble," Caroline shook her head, stating as she sighed to herself.

"Wow, this is bad."

"True," She nodded, pulling her hair up in a ponytail.

Stefan raised an eyebrow, claiming, "I, umm...I meant Tyler's situation."

"Both are equally as bad, Stefan."

"I don't know, Charlotte," Stefan shrugged his shoulders, "Best friends fighting can wait but Tyler Lockwood can retaliate at any second."

"No, he is a nice person."

"He is a werewolf, a teenage grieving, and vengeful werewolf."

"He is just...lost and he doesn't know who trust," Charlotte retorted, crossing her arms, "I can relate with that."

✵ ✵ ✵

Charlotte, being the most responsible vampire in Mystic Falls, picked Cassie out of school, made sure she finished her plate after she made lunch, fed Ginger, and had the two tucked under a blanket in Cassie's room, doing story night.

Serena opened the door, sighing in relief when she saw Charlotte at the end of the room, "Please tell me you cooked, I am starving!"

"I made beans and rice."

"I hate beans."

"They are healthy."

"They are disgusting," Serena rolled her eyes, claiming.

Charlotte smiled, placing her niece's plate on the table, "But you will eat them anyway because you are hungry."

"I hate how much you know me," She pursed her lips in a straight line, finally sitting down and digging in into her plate.

Caroline whispered from behind a door in the Bernards' living room, knowing Charlotte, "Okay, start."

Charlotte exhaled sharply, rubbing the back of her neck casually, "So...about Caroline—"

She interjected the question, "Don't. Seriously, Charlotte, don't go there."

"I just wanna help you two fix this," The vampire replied, biting her bottom lip, hoping Serena wouldn't say anything she might not mean about Caroline.

Serena scoffed out, "There's no fixing this!" She raised her voice out of instinct, claiming, "She said she wouldn't and she did...she betrayed my trust in her. It's not about Tyler, it's about Caroline's dishonesty with me."

She crossed her arms over her chest, "And this is not even the first time; when we were kids...She always lied about messing up and I had to take the blame because her dad was really mean and he wouldn't accept an apology."

"I was always the one who had to stay shut and pretend it didn't happen," Serena screamed out, involuntarily tears escaping her, "And maybe that didn't hurt before but now I have to care of my sister, my studies, a job that I despise, and I have to manage our financial life at seventeen because my mother sucks!"

"It's too much, okay? How was I ever supposed to be ready for any of this?"

Charlotte squeezed her eyes shut, not knowing what to say as she sniffled back a few tears. She hated how seeing people cry always had her crying as well but she could see herself in Serena's position, and God, did it hurt...

"I can't do this, Charlotte...and I don't know how to back out without disappointing my sister, my Nana, and my Dad."

"I don't hate Caroline, I hate how she is not here for me when I need her the most," Serena shrugged her shoulders, finishing.

Caroline sucked in a deep breath, a stray tear escaping her as Charlotte wrapped her arms around Serena, miserably failing to comfort her.

✵ ✵ ✵

Caroline was shaking her head as Charlotte continued, "I mean it happens...Life gets in the way and you can't always be there for your best friend but the point is, you know how to fix this."

"She needed me, Cher," The blonde vampire reminded her, looking down in shame, "And I wasn't there for her...She has always been there for me, even when I don't need or want her to be."

Caroline stood in front of her car to open the door as Charlotte said, "But you can make—" She paused, sensing someone's behind her as soon as she turned around she was met with Jules.

"Excuse me, Caroline, right? And Charlotte?"

"Yeah..."

"I'm looking for Tyler," Jules stated before asking assumingly, "You haven't seen him, have you?"

"No, not since earlier," Caroline shook her head.

"Sorry, wish we could have helped," Charlotte apologized as Caroline opened her car, moving to get in.

"I know you're lying."

Caroline and Charlotte exchanged a look as the brunette raised an eyebrow, her back facing Jules as she asked, "Really? How? Is that one of your werewolf tricks?"

"Actually, it is," Jules replied.

"Well, we have some tricks too," Charlotte's vampire face came out as she turned around to face her. Jules sprayed her with vervain as the brunette shook her head, "I am getting tired of having that vile thing pointed at me!"

She reached forward with her hand to Jules' that held the spray before breaking the werewolf's hand, the moment of victory cut short when she is shot with a wooden bullet in the head, dropping to the ground as Caroline screamed out in worry.

✵ ✵ ✵

Her head spun around a million miles an hour as her mind raced to beat the vervain which soon wore off. Charlotte peeled her eyes open, wincing at the flickering light above her as her skin shivered from the cold, hard floor she lied on.

She placed a hand over her head, finding the bullet entry. She dug in, screaming a little before pulling it out, finally, "Caroline..." She called out, turning around to find the blonde unconscious beside her.

"Care..."

"Oh, she couldn't take them, between me and you, she is a lot weaker than she looks," Brady, the werewolf who shot her, spoke up, revealing his place on a chair a few meters away from the cage.

A cage. She was in a cage? Charlotte had only just realized it, looking around herself and her eyes lastly falling on the bars. What the hell was going to happen to her and Caroline?

"So, to be fair," He said before shooting her in the chest, she screamed, clawing at her chest as the pain spread through her body, faster than any vampire she had ever known.

Jules picked up one of the phones on the floor, luckily Charlotte's before calling Stefan, "Hey. Is everything okay?"

"That depends," Jules crossed her arms, answering with a question, "How badly do you want to keep her alive?"

"Who is this?"

Jules responded bitterly, "Ask your brother. Where's Tyler?"

"Jules? Where's Charlotte?" He questioned, worry seeping through his voice.

She said, shaking her head, "You made a mistake, Stefan. I'm gonna give you a chance to fix it."

"Where is she?"

"Oh, it's not just her. Your blonde friend managed to join the party," Jules smirked, turning on the speaker as she walked into the RV, "Let me give you proof."

Brady shot Caroline in the arm and she screamed out before Charlotte's distinctive cries were heard, "You're dead. I didn't hurt Tyler."

Jules shrugged her shoulders, replying, "I can still hurt her again, and then she is dead. Bring Tyler to me, the clearing by Wickery Falls. You have 20 minutes until they die."

✵ ✵ ✵

Charlotte tried to stay strong, so hard for Caroline's sake at the very least. It just brought out too many buried memories with the cage, vervain, wooden bullets everywhere.

Caroline was crying aloud as Brady questioned, "So, How many vampires are there in this town anyway?"

Neither of them answered before he shot Caroline with a squirt gun filled with vervain, she screamed out as Charlotte moved herself sitting in front of Caroline, she exhaled, "Just please...stop this. We didn't do anything to you...Tyler is completely safe."

"Oh, a hero?" He raised an eyebrow, using a blowgun to shoot wooden darts in her neck. She held back a scream, gritting her teeth as she curled her hands around the bars, "Trying to play strong, are you?"

"You are gonna regret not letting us out when you had the chance," She sucked in a deep breath, stating, "And my reaction is something you won't like or pass through..."

Brady chuckled, shaking his head, "Are you really in a position to make threats?" He asked, shooting her with the squirt gun he used on Caroline, expecting a scream before she squeezed her eyes shut and gritted her teeth.

"I know you aren't..."

✵ ✵ ✵

Charlotte was leaning against the bars as Caroline tried to pull the wooden darts out of her neck, "I am sorry...you didn't have to take them for me."

Charlotte flinched as her friend's nails dug deeper, "It's fine, Care...I have been through worse. Sadistic werewolf torturer just made the list."

She sucked in a deep breath as Caroline dropped another dart to the floor, "Care, there's a latch on the door, try to get it."

Caroline nodded, reaching through the bars with her hand. She struggled before pausing as she spotted Tyler on the door, "Tyler! There's a latch on the door and I can't get to it."

He hesitated as she called out again, "Tyler?"

Charlotte squeezed her eyes shut, calling out, "Tyler, c'mon! Please."

He finally walked toward the cage and opened it for them. Tyler and Caroline both had one of Charlotte's arms over their shoulders as the brunette found difficulty walking on her own as the vervain and wooden bullets from earlier spread through her body.

They tried to leave but Jules grabbed Caroline, pushing her face-first against the RV, and put a gun to her back. Charlotte tried to stop that mess before Tyler held her back, "If you don't let go of me right now...I could kill you, Tyler," She threatened, seeing one of her friends in such danger brought out a side of her that she never knew existed.

Tyler pulled his hand back but before Charlotte could do anything, suddenly all of the werewolves except Tyler began to scream in pain. They all covered their ears with their hands and fell to their knees, "What's happening?" Caroline questioned.

"What the hell is going on?"

"You have the worst timing," Paulina sighed, turning to face Jonas Martin as he appeared with his hands held out while he was casting a spell on the werewolves.

Damon and Stefan got up off the ground as Charlotte finally noticed Paulina's presence, smiling in relief. Jonas stated, "Elijah made a promise to Elena. I'm here to see it's upheld. You need to go. Get out of here. Now."

"Alright, easy with the orders," Paulina huffed out, rolling her eyes before moving to pick up Charlotte as Caroline made her way out with Stefan and Damon, "You know who's your boss here."

✵ ✵ ✵

Serena sighed looking down at the blueberry cake that she had in her hands before knocking on Caroline's door. Paulina texted her, informing her of the incident with the werewolves and how she was taking care of Charlotte. So, Serena being the semi-mature teenager she is, managed to forget what happened a day before and just be there for her best friend.

Caroline swung the door open in her bathrobe, surprised to find Serena standing there, "So...I am sorry."

"Serena, you shouldn't be apologizing."

"I am sorry that I am an overemotional teenager and that I push you away and blame you for not being there and if I have to kick werewolf ass to be there for you then I am ready for that," Serena continued, either way, exhaling sharply, "And to hell with Tyler Lockwood, who wants to date a guy with a once month troubles? Hmm? Not me."

Caroline was momentarily speechless before engulfing Serena in a hug that they both needed, "You are squishing my cake! My beautiful artwork!"

The blonde vampire laughed out through her tears before inviting Serena inside.

✵ ✵ ✵

Charlotte shivered under the cold shower in Paulina's apartment. Her mind taking her back a few hours when all she could feel was the pain. Physical pain for the first time in a while.

It didn't help that all she could see was Brady's sadistic smile as he shot her, many, many times and that all she could want was to get back at him for what he did to her. Her morals shouted back that a bad shouldn't be followed by another but...her vampire instincts were getting the best of her.

"Don't worry, Elijah won't be home for another day and he doesn't blame you for killing him...so you could be less awkward now," Paulina stated, sitting down beside her on the bed.

Charlotte nodded, sucking in a deep breath, "Okay...but I really need to get home."

"Where? To the Salvatores? That...is home?"

She shrugged her shoulders before asking desperately, "Can you not? I already had a similar talk with Damon earlier and I don't need you too to put me in a position where I have to pick a side."

"It's either your best friend or the guy that broke your heart," Paulina scoffed, crossing her arms, "How hard is it to pick from that?"

Charlotte shook her head, rising to her feet, "It's not about Stefan."

"It always is."

The Bernard vampire ran her tongue over her bottom lip, claiming, "Well, this time it's about Elena. She is my friend, she is the only one who knew what I was and managed to be there for me and I can't let you kill her."

The Gilbert huffed out, "It was bound to happen, Charlotte—"

"No, it shouldn't be!" She interjected, raising her voice with Paulina for the first time. They never fought, it wasn't usual in their friendship, "Today when Jules was going to kill Caroline, you were triggered. You had it in you to stop her because you know Angelina wouldn't have wanted that but Elena is your descendant...how could you just want her dead?"

Paulina blinked back, failing to find the right words before Charlotte continued, "My best friend, the girl that I would die for any day and any century was cold but sweet. She was aggressive but she had her reasons. She made mistakes but she knew how to fix them."

"She would never let a member of her family die and stand aside, let alone, help..."

Charlotte let out a sigh of utter disappointment as Paulina's eyes fell to the ground and she took the time to vamp-speed away.

✵ ✵ ✵