𝟑𝟔

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

☆═━ 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐘 𝐒𝐈𝐗 ━═☆

Charlotte couldn't stop thinking about Serena's words and actions all night. She knew she was supposed to get used to how moody and quite passively aggressive her niece could get but the brunette couldn't help but think that maybe, just maybe, Serena overreacted.

That thought, though, didn't stop her from turning up at the Mystic Grill and trying to apologize.

"I was just trying to help Elena...I didn't think far enough about how that will affect everyone," Charlotte sighed, stating, "And I am sorry, Serena, I really am. I can't stop thinking so please can you just—"

"Can you just stop playing the victim?!"

She blinked, stepping back. Charlotte frowned, ceasing to believe what she had just heard as Serena continued, "You have had it rough, we get it. But you are not perfect and I am not obligated to forgive you."

"I know that...I," Charlotte stuttered, looking down at her feet, struggling to find the words to say. She had yet to get over what Serena had said to even continue apologizing, "I am just...I..."

"I have work, not enough time in the world to waste on this conversation," Serena took in a deep breath, claiming. She could see Charlotte's eyes watering as the vampire failed to hold it back but she shook her head and walked away.

The brunette sniffled, rubbing her face with her knuckles as she felt a hand tap her shoulder, "Paulina?"

Her friend's smile instantly faded away as she asked, "You are crying? What happened?" Paulina had her hands on Charlotte's forearms, trying to reassure her before the Bernard shook her head.

"It's fine...I just...I really need to go."

Paulina attempted to follow her best friend outside before Elijah called her over, asking something that Charlotte couldn't quite hear as she rushed out of the Mystic Grill.

✵ ✵ ✵

Charlotte sat on a bench in the town square, her head in her hands as she massaged her temples. Just stop thinking.

"What a day to be out...enjoy the sun on your skin," A sing-song tone sighed beside her, "You know all those human mushy things."

Charlotte raised an eyebrow turning to the brunette seated next to her, "Katherine? Shouldn't you be...miles away from here?"

She shrugged her shoulders, her elbows on her knees as she placed her chin in her hands, "I should be but here I am...being confused."

"Because?"

Katherine chuckled, shaking her head at Charlotte, "One of the conditions of the deal you and Elena made with Elijah contained freeing me. When I asked him, he said you insisted."

The Bernard vampire shrugged her shoulders, rising to her feet, "So? We are not friends, Katherine, but I won't abandon everything I believe in and stand for because you did me dirty."

Katherine clapped her hands, showing her faux enthusiasm as she followed Charlotte walking through the town's square. "I know. I am not expecting us to be friends...just voicing my surprise."

Charlotte bit her bottom lip, thinking for a few seconds before turning to the older vampire, "I need advice."

"Remember the part we are not friends?"

The Bernard pursed her lips in a straight line, "This is precisely why I am asking you for advice. Because you are old, you are invincible and mainly, we are not, and never will be, friends."

Katherine inhaled sharply before shrugging, "Ask away."

She contemplated wording it out before shaking her head, "When you just can't take it anymore, what do you do?"

The older vampire crossed her arms, rephrasing, "Mhm...when being a vampire gets you down," She started, smiling shortly, "Firstly, it's never about vampirism. Some people are just not worth sticking around for."

"Even if they are all you have?"

"Unless they are the air you breathe...then it isn't worth it. And no one is the air you breathe."

✵ ✵ ✵

Charlotte unlocked the door, entering the Salvatore Boarding House with her keys. She frowned hearing a voice that belonged to neither Alaric nor Damon, "Hello?"

Andie walked out of the dining room, greeting, "Charlotte, darling, how are you?"

"Hey, Andie," The vampire greeted back, walking further inside before she asked, "What are we doing here?"

"Preparing dinner," Jenna answered, taking the plastic plates out of the foil, "Damon invited Paulina and Elijah over."

Charlotte nodded, placing her keys and bag on one a table, "Can I help you guys with anything?"

"You can get the forks and knives from inside?" Jenna raised an eyebrow.

She nodded, "On it."

Charlotte retrieved what Jenna asked for from the kitchen before passing by the library and straight to Damon, "What are you planning?"

"Me? Just a fancy dinner."

She folded her arms over her chest, "I heard you talk with Stefan last night, getting rid of the wolves left you a place to focus on getting rid of Elijah."

He acted innocent, shrugging his shoulders, "I have no idea what you are talking about."

Before she could further interrogate him, the doorbell rang. Charlotte glared his way before rushing outside, placing the forks and knives by the table then moving to open the door.

"Hello, Charlotte."

"John? Who, in their right mind, invited you?"

Damon walked out of the library and into the front hall, "John. Surprise. Leave."

"When Jenna told me she was coming to a dinner party for Elijah, I decided I couldn't miss out on all the fun and games," John crossed his arms, claiming.

"I hate you...your own daughter hates you. Can't you just leave?"

Alaric walked in before John could respond to the brunette vampire's statement, "There are not going to be any games tonight, John. It's just a friendly dinner party."

John looked back at Damon who shrugged, "What he said."

✵ ✵ ✵

A few minutes later, Damon opened the door with Charlotte right behind him, finding Paulina and Elijah outside, "Good evening," The Original greeted.

"Thank you for coming," Damon smiled, stepping aside to let them in, "Please, come in."

"Just one moment," Paulina interjected, speaking up, "Can I just say that if you are planning anything for this night, don't. You will regret it, so for your own good."

He shook his head, feigning surprise, "No, nothing, absolutely nothing. Just getting to know you two."

"You have had plenty of time to know Paulina...I don't think you worked that sentence correctly," Charlotte commented, chuckling to herself before noting the looks she was getting from the three vampires.

She faked a cough, "Yeah...I will go help them inside."

Damon shut the front door and within minutes they were all around the dining table eating as Jenna poured some wine for Damon, "I hate to break it to you, Damon, but according to Elijah, your family is so not a founder of this town."

"Hmm, do tell."

"Well, as I mentioned to Jenna earlier, a faction of settlers migrated from Salem after the witch trials in the 1690s. Over the next hundred years they developed this community where they could feel safe from persecution," Elijah explained as Charlotte leaned over, grabbing a glass of water.

"Because they were witches?" She raised her eyebrows, asking.

"Yeah, but there's no tangible proof there were witches in Salem," Andie suddenly cut in as Charlotte shrugged, not really caring whether she was right or wrong about that.

"Andie's a journalist, big on facts."

Paulina shrugged her shoulders, quick to jump to her best friend's rescue, "Well, the lore says that there was this wave of anti-witch hysteria. It broke out in the neighboring settlement, so these witches were rounded up," She remained calm, continuing as Charlotte's eyebrows raised to her hairline, "They were tied to stakes in a field together and, uh, burned. Some say you could hear the screams from miles around us. They were consumed by the fire."

"Could you pass the...," Ever so casually, Paulina turned to Damon, pointing at the salt.

Jenna stated, "I wouldn't repeat this to the Historical Society."

"It's starting to sound a little like a ghost story to me."

"Trust me, history is full of scarier massacres," Paulina interjected, turning to John. Charlotte subtly caught on how he was scared just seeing her glance.

"So, why do you want to know the location of these alleged massacres?"

"Pure curiosity, it helps him sleep at night," Paulina shrugged her shoulders, answering as she downed the last of her drink.

Damon rose to his feet, asking persuasively, "Would anyone care for some cognac? I have a bottle that I've been saving for ages."

"I would," Paulina raised her hands before getting up and away from the table.

Charlotte asked, raising her eyebrows, "Can you pour me a glass from my juice, Damon?!"

✵ ✵ ✵

Charlotte helped take the plates to the kitchen as Damon and Elijah shared a drink in the library. She was followed by Paulina, her arms crossed over her chest, "What was going on earlier?"

"What?" Charlotte shrugged cluelessly.

"I am not blind, Char," Paulina rolled her eyes, claiming, "I saw you crying and I want to know why. If I can do something about it, and I most likely can—"

She interjected, taking in a deep breath, "Things aren't going well between me and Serena. She hates me."

"Hates you, she is a teenager, just walking extremely emotional machines," Paulina chuckled, leaning against the island as Charlotte started washing the dishes, "If you want, I could talk to her?"

She instantly shook her head, "No, no, please don't. Look I appreciate it but you might make the situation worse even if you don't mean to."

Charlotte watched Paulina frown for a few seconds before shrugging nonchalantly, "Of course, whatever suits you."

Paulina kept the tap turned on even after Charlotte finished the dishes as she turned to her, raising an inquisitive eyebrow, "Damon isn't planning anything, right? If he was you would tell me, right?"

She paused for a few seconds before her lips parted, "I don't know..."

"What?"

Charlotte shook her head, quickly correcting herself, "I don't know if he is planning something, if I did then...of course I would tell you."

Paulina smiled at her, patting her shoulder before walking outside. Charlotte let out a long sigh, she opened her eyes alarmed when she heard a lot of noise. Coming out she found Damon on the floor with Paulina holding the broken leg of a wooden chair and ready to push it through his chest.

"You thought I was the easy part, huh?" Paulina raised an eyebrow, asking Damon, "Just snap my neck and throw me into a closet?"

"What is going on here...?" Charlotte asked, taking a look at everyone before finding Elijah by the table, desiccated, "Oh, my God."

"We need to work this out later, Jenna is here," Alaric spoke up reminding them.

The Gilbert pushed the stake into Damon's abodemn, intentionally missing his heart before rising to her feet, "Which reminds me to kill everyone in here as he promised. Get ready to die, do you want a specific order or...?"

"Paulina, stop," Charlotte shook her head, turning, "Please, just stop this."

"Stay out of this, Charlotte," She turned to her with a look that Charlotte couldn't decipher before she looked at Andie, "Why don't we start with his new toy?"

Paulina vamp-sped herself to Andie, holding her in a chokehold before she compelled, "You are suffocating, you can't breathe the air, you are—"

She was cut off when her neck snapped and she fell to the ground with Charlotte standing behind her. The brunette shook her head at herself before turning to Alaric and John, "Clean this up now...unless you want to explain this long cycle to Jenna."

✵ ✵ ✵

"Can't say I expected this...," Damon commented, changing into another shirt as Charlotte was in the room, giving him her back, "That was actually the tough yet best part of this whole night."

"I guess that leaves you on our side?"

Charlotte shook her head as she turned to face him, "I didn't do this to ease up your plan, I did it because she was going to kill someone innocent who had nothing to do with this."

He shrugged his shoulders, "That doesn't change the fact that you did it anyway."

She watched him walk out of the room before she sat down on the bed. Charlotte didn't know what to feel, ashamed that she betrayed her friend, or relieved that neither Damon nor anyone innocent is dead because of Paulina.

She just did what felt right at that time.

✵ ✵ ✵

Elijah woke up again, failing to find Paulina, he went straight to the Martins to locate Elena. Once he did, she fooled him long enough to stab him again with the dagger, this time making sure not to remove it.

Charlotte, all the while, stayed in her room, overthinking what she had done before she went downstairs, poured the blood bag into a bottle. She collected herself then went into the basement where Damon had locked Paulina in.

She walked inside, hesitantly greeting, "Hi..."

"Who snapped my neck? Was it John? I am going to kill that coward," Paulina got downright to the point, questioning before she declared, "It's going to be nasty."

Charlotte sat down on the floor, "It wasn't John."

Paulina chuckled, shaking her head, "It couldn't have been Alaric, he was standing right behind Andie and Damon couldn't have healed that fast—"

"It was me," Charlotte interjected, claiming.

"But I was saving Elijah...how could you?" She struggled to find words to say, too shocked to form words.

"You were going to kill them...I couldn't let you."

"Damn it, Charlotte! That's my fiance!" Paulina screamed out, cutting her off, "The man that I am in love with, the one I am going to marry one day and you don't even care?!"

Charlotte ran her hands over her face, "I want to help you...believe me, I do," She paused, squeezing her eyes shut, "I just..can't."

She could see the betrayal running through her best friend's eyes. Paulina was shattered. She was beyond just shocked or in disbelief. Never in her life did she thought a day would come where she leaned on Charlotte for help...and she says no.

"After everything that we have been through? You are picking them over me?" She asked, attempting to hide the tears threatening to fall.

"Just stop!" Charlotte shouted out, letting all the stress and tears she held in throughout the day out, "I am done with this. You, Serena, Damon, even Katherine...even her," She shook her head, spitting it out in distaste.

"All of you, pressuring me with how I need to pick a side...I can't!" She yelled out, pulling onto the sleeves of her sweater, "You keep telling me that it is my fault I want to help everyone...that I am naive, stupid, and inconsiderate."

She exhaled sharply, "All my supposed friends do is make me feel bad about myself and how I treat others..."

"Sometimes you need to put you first," Paulina spoke up, swallowing a lump in her throat as she leaned her back against the stone wall, "Because none of them will."

Charlotte chuckled humorlessly, "Don't you think I tried?"

"I don't mean to be naive or trusting...," She shrugged her shoulders a sob wracked through her body, "I just am..."

The Gilbert looked back at her first friend and best friend ever, it hurt to see Charlotte cry...It barely ever happened but when it did, it always caught Paulina off-guard, "What do you want me to say to that?"

"I just...," Charlotte stammered, shaking her head at herself, "I need you to know that none of this is up to me and I do care about you. I just wish I had more of a say."

The brunette villainous vampire chuckled, leaning back against the wall, "You are never gonna change. No matter how hard you try...but I did."

"And I can't always forgive you and look the other way, it's not really in my genes."

Charlotte nodded, nonchalantly shrugging her shoulders. At this point tears had already dried on her cheeks, "I get it. No matter what I do, how hard I try...it's always going to be my fault, my mistake, my wrong turn..."

✵ ✵ ✵