Her Saving Grace

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Two days later and Damon has still been by my side at night. I am feeling more rested and feeling better than I have in months. Matty and Caroline both have said that they are seeing more of the old me coming back. Maybe Damon was right. I was taking some of my power back a little at a time and that is because of him. It's the night of the dance and I was starting to get nervous. "Are you okay?" Caroline asked me as we were doing our hair and makeup. "I will be. Just my nerves." I tell her. "Matt, Damon and I will all be there with you. Nothing will happen to you. I promise." she tells me and I start to calm down a little. An hour later, we are headed out the door, arm in arm with Matty and Damon and headed to the dance.

Walking into the dance, I start to tense up a little and Damon pulls me a little closer and whispers in my ear, "I got you. Just breathe." I take a deep breath and see him looking at me. I nod that I am ready and we walk farther in and take a table. Elena, Stefan, Jeremy and Bonnie all come over and see me there. They all hug me and tell me how happy they are to see me there and that makes me relax a little. We sit around, listening to the music, talking and laughing when Matty says he is going to get him and Caroline some punch. Damon asked if I wanted some and I said yes. He kisses my cheek and walks away with Matt. "I need to hit the ladies room." I tell Caroline and she nods as I walk towards the bathroom. Once I am in the hall, I hear a very familiar voice. "There's my favorite play pretty." I freeze. It was him. Nate. I couldn't move. He walks up behind me and starts to walk me towards the bathroom when all of a sudden he is pulled away and up against the wall. Caroline has her arms around me and I look up to see Damon was the one that grabbed Nate. I see him in Nate's face and I see Nate's face go blank. "What is he doing to him?" I asked. "Compelling him most likely." Caroline answers. I see Nate walk off and Damon rushes to me. "Are you okay? Did he hurt you?" He cups my face to look at him and I say "No. He didn't hurt me. I'm okay." And that was all I got out before Damon had me pulled to his chest with his arms around me whispering "He won't hurt you. I told you I would protect you." Before we walk back into the dance, I asked Caroline to let us talk for a minute. "What did you do to him?" I asked. "I knew you wouldn't like it if I did what I really wanted to do so I compelled him. I told him to forget he knows you and that when he looks your way, he isn't to notice you. I also told him that he was to leave the dance and that he had a great time and went home alone." he tells me. "Thank you Damon." I say before kissing him softly.

We head back into the dance and everyone in our group looks at me like they want to ask if I am okay. "I'm fine guys. Damon took care of it." I tell them and they look at him shocked. "I compelled him. That's all. Do you all just expect me to do bad things?" he asked and they all said yes, almost in unison and I found myself laughing for the first time in a long time. "Dance with me?" Damon whispered in my ear. I nodded yes and stood. Walking out to the dance floor, he pulls me close and we sway back and forth to the slow song playing. Looking in each others eyes, it's like we are the only ones there. No one else existed. Like we were in our own little world. "You look beautiful by the way." he says and I blush. "Thank you Damon." I say. "You seem to be saying that a lot lately." he says and I laugh. "Well, you give me a lot to be thankful for." I tell him and he smirks. "I really like you Char. I know you feel something too. I want to see where this could go but we will take it at the pace you want. Okay?" he asked and I smiled softly and said "Okay." He smiled and asked "Okay?" I just nodded and said "Okay." We finished the dance and by that time, the dance was ending so everyone headed to the Grill to hang out. Everyone except for me and Damon.

Getting back to my house, I was physically and mentally exhausted. Stefan called and said he needed Damon so I told him that I would be fine and to call me in the morning. He kissed me goodbye and headed out the door and I climbed into bed and drifted off to sleep.