Salvatore

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Well, that was fun!" Damon enthusiastically smiled as he held Caroline by his side, though it was evident that his main intention was not to please his girlfriend with his happiness, but to anger his brother. "Am I right, or what?"

Stefan held his tongue as they were met with the warmth of their home, and Charlotte only held tighter onto his bicep. With Damon lingering around, she hated the fear she felt and how it made her turn into the shy 5-year-old girl she was so long ago. She followed Stefan into the living room like a lost puppy with her gaze strained on the carpeted floor, too fearful of what could happen if her eyes had accidentally met with her father. No girl should have to be afraid of their father, but she was. The worst part was that Stefan never told her stories about the heartless Damon Salvatore; this fear was conjured on its own the moment Damon had walked through the large oak door.

Charlotte allowed her body to relax against the softness of the couch as Stefan compelled Caroline to go home immediately, much to Damon's dismay. However, the youngest Salvatore had found relaxation to be difficult with her father looming in darkest spots in the room. He was the monster in children's books that Stefan avoided reading when she was a child, as the last thing he ever wanted was for her to ever feel fear. Perhaps he never thought that Damon would force her body to feel that way. To have chills run down her spine whenever he walked into the room as a sudden stillness would wash over her, for her confidence to drop to its lowest level, and to do everything she could to blend into the room so he would not notice her.

Which was all stupid, really. She wanted him to notice her. She needed Damon to notice her hurt, and to recognize that he is the cause of it all. She always had planned what to say to him and what to do; but he really was the monster she was scared of in books.

"I don't care if you ruin this for me, Damon." Stefan's soft voice, which had only been soft in attempt to avoid Charlotte from having to listen to the conflict unfolding, drew her attention away from the loud thoughts running through her mind. "All I ask is that you don't ruin this for her. For your daughter."

Damon only smirked and decided to raise his tone just to satisfy his nosy daughter and annoy his unamused brother. "It wasn't a big deal, Stef, c'mon. You're just being a little dramatic. All I did was crash your cute little dinner party with your beautiful girlfriend, and just happened to bring two guests with me. I'm not ruining anything for anyone, I would never do such a thing."

"She has opportunities here to grow. This is a quiet town filled with innocent and loving people that Charlotte needs to live a normal life," Stefan shifted uncomfortably in his position, his eyes moving to stare at his curious niece before they snapped back into a harsh glare at his older brother. "You are ruining her chance at a normal life to punish me, and I can't accept that."

"Maybe..." Charlotte's voice croaked out as she stepped up suddenly, only out of fear that a physical fight between the two Salvatore brothers was beginning to brew. "Maybe we should just cool it off for the night. Get some sleep, wake up with a fresh mind tomorrow."

"You're right, Char. You should go to bed." Stefan nodded his head calmly, before his glare return and his anger began to grow further. "I'll deal with your pathetic excuse of a father."

"Well, I wouldn't call myself pathetic, brother."

"You wouldn't?" Stefan tilted his head to the side sarcastically, acting as if he were genuinely curious as to what his brother had to say. "You dumped your child on my doorstep without a trace of you. You expected me to take care of her. I don't regret raising her, and I would do it all again without a doubt, but you should. You got me to raise her, to be her father, her mother, her uncle, everything into one person. You come back into her life, eleven years later, to ruin our lives. I did you a favor, Damon. You dumped a kid on me, and I raised her to be better than you."