A/N: Hello, everyone! So I've been really into the Daroline idea all weekend, & I made it my business to write a one shot involving these two. If you've been reading 'Mona Lisa,' and you've been waiting for an update- don't worry, it's coming very soon! Enjoy this one for now, and R&R if you like!
P.S: Check out "Don't You Remember" by Honeeym, if you can't get enough of Daroline. It's a great story!
Hearts on Fire
"Cause I could just lay and listen 'til the day I die,
Cause I live for the way you set my heart on fire"
-Kesha
"I told you that you should've gotten a new boyfriend," Damon said, as he poured two glasses of bourbon, and walked them back over to his couch.
Caroline sniffled, and he handed her the drink.
It had only been a few days since she broke up with Tyler, but with Bonnie still mourning the death of her relationship with Jeremy, Stefan gone from Mystic Falls, and Elena just being Elena, she realized she didn't have anyone to talk to.
She hated this- she hated going out places, and seeing Tyler, and completely falling apart. It just so happened that this time, she wasn't left to take the lonely drive back home, because she wanted to cry.
Damon was there, this time. Damon- the spitfire asshole who didn't really care about her and her drama, but was seemingly nice enough to allow her to come into the boarding house to vent about it, "just as long as she didn't cry all over his couch."
Which she was absolutely doing, anyway.
"I know it sounds stupid, but-" she began, and Damon wagged his finger, then pointed to her drink.
"If it sounds stupid, it probably is, Blondie. Drink your drink, and don't waste your breath," he asserted and she huffed lightly before she took a sip, and she flinched as the bourbon burned all the way down.
But I thought he was different, she was going to say.
And Damon was right- it was stupid. Completely asinine, for that matter.
Tyler was a hybrid, sired by none other than Klaus himself, and he could never be fully committed to her as long as he was indebted to his "master."
And this "committment" was going to last forever.
It in turn made Caroline think about her own sired fate- technically, she was "indebted" to Damon, only she really didn't feel like she was. Sure, she felt a connection with him, but the sire relationship ended there, she swore. She'd kick Damon's ass in a heartbeat if she had to, and she had, and she was also able to seperate her wants and needs away from Damon's, as well.
The only thing that bothered her the more she thought about it was that she felt like she unwillingly sought his approval for everything. And that was even before she was a vampire.
From her clothes, to her hair, to her plan of action- Damon was always the first criticizing voice she imagined in her head, and she always wondered why- why did she care what some jerk-off vampire had to say about her non-life, anyway? Is that how Tyler felt about Klaus?
She fought him, not because she wanted to, but because she wanted him to acknowledge that she was strong. She argued with him because she wanted him to acknowledge that she would not be his pushover, as she was while she was a human. She challenged him because, to Caroline, the only way to get through to him was by standing your ground, and showing him that he couldn't always get his way. It was all some sick game she was playing, and she didn't even know it, most times.
Why was she thinking about this, anyway? She came here to vent about Tyler, afterall. She took another long sip of her drink-her mind was racing.
Damon kicked back in his spot, with his feet on the table, lazily holding his glass to his mouth, and seemingly enjoying the silence between them.
Until she spoke again.
"Why'd you tell me to vent if you really don't wanna listen?"she suddenly snapped, and Damon rolled his eyes, as he took a gulp from his glass.
"I meant you should vent about the important things. Not all the cliche things like 'I thought he was the one,' or 'Tyler said forever,' or even 'I thought he was different- maybe I made a mistake.' Because let's face it, Caroline. He's not different, and for once, you actually did the smart thing, rather than the girl thing," Damon answered, and her eyebrow rose curiously.
"The girl thing?"
"Yeah, you know what the 'girl thing' is, Barbie. That's when you follow your stupid little heart instead of your hardwired brain, and give some idiot the chance to break your heart, again, because you haven't learned your lesson the first time," Damon said and she scoffed.
"Kind of like what happened with me and you?" she asked and Damon remained silent for a second before he drew his drink to his lips, and took a contemplative sip.
"Exactly," he finally replied.
Caroline went to respond but she stopped herself.
Why were they talking about she and Damon instead of she and Tyler?
"Well, you'll be happy to know that I didn't do the 'girl thing,' and I dumped him. I don't need another guy taking advantage of me," she said strongly, and Damon tipped his glass to her.
"And for that, I congratulate you," he said and she crossed her arms, as she knew what was coming next. "But you should have just listened to me in the first place about wolf boy, when I told you he was bad news," Damon added.
Caroline let out a suppressed sigh, and clutched her glass a little bit tighter. Why was everything he was saying making her so angry?
"Thanks for warning me about Tyler, Damon. But you probably should have used that warning on yourself," she said as she stood up, and his eyebrows furrowed.
Caroline tossed back the rest of her drink into her mouth, and she set the empty glass on the coffee table as she began to walk towards the door, and Damon raced in front of her to stop her.
"What do you mean, Blondie?" he asked, and she shook her head furiously.
"Nothing- I'm just gonna go now," she relinquished, and Damon grabbed her arm tightly to stop her from walking past him, and she groaned at the strong hold that he had on her.
Mentally and physically.
"Not until you explain what you meant," Damon bartered and she scoffed.
"I don't feel like venting anymore."
"I wasn't asking what you felt like doing," he answered, just as strongly and she rolled her eyes at him.
His ice blue eyes looked deep into hers, and she huffed angrily when she felt that familiar beating in her chest that only seemed to happen when he was around.
She ripped her arm out of his grasp, and narrowed her eyes at him.
"You know exactly what I mean, Damon. Why do you need to hear me say it?" she asked, and he remained silent as he watched her brush back her blonde curls, and she looked down at the ground. "You didn't care about me, and apparently, I'm not the perfect little sired vampire that you've always wanted," she accused and his eyes widened.
"I never said that, Caroline-"
"You might as well have!" she yelled, and he remained silent. "Why can't you ever be proud of me?" she suddenly asked in a tiny voice.
Damon continued staring at her, though she wouldn't meet his gaze. That voice- that voice that let him know she was hurt, and if he dug any deeper, she'd elaborate on just what he'd done wrong, and make him feel like an ass about it. It was dangerous once you got Caroline speaking her mind, because if you weren't ready for the blunt, harsh truth, it'd probably break you, a little bit.
But then again, didn't she feel the same way about him?
"Why do you think that?" he settled for, though he knew it gave Caroline too much of an opportunity to rip him a new one.
He figured he deserved it, at this point.
"I don't know, Damon. Maybe because you can't just say 'nice job, Caroline,' or you can't just tell me that I'm being strong without adding a 'but' at the end!"
"Because you know you're strong, Caroline! You were strong enough to leave me alone when I was totally bad for you. You were strong enough to deal with your mom and dad who hate what you are. You were strong enough to be there for Tyler while he was turning when he could have killed you- why do you need to hear me say it?" he asked, echoing her words, and she finally looked up into his eyes.
He was being honest- he had so much respect for Caroline because she was so strong. Damon wasn't strong enough to ditch the abusive relationship that he was in with Katherine, and he longed for her for decades. He wasn't strong enough to really stand up to his hate-mongering father, though he knew Giuseppe never really loved him and didn't give a shit about him. And Tyler being a werewolf? He wasn't even strong enough to deal with Rose getting a werewolf bite, and he had to put her out of her misery, for his own sake.
He respected Caroline because she was strong; stronger than he was, sometimes.
Her blue eyes were glimmering, and she had her arms tight across her chest.
"Because you have no problem saying it to Elena," she said. "It's so easy for you to be so proud of her."
Damon let out an incredulous laugh as he polished off his drink, and walked back over to the bottle to pour another.
He placed his glass to his lips, and contemplated her words.
"What, no rebuttal from Damon Salvatore, the comeback king?" she asked sarcastically, and he suddenly was in front of her again- so close that she felt the breath from his lips dancing on her skin- it was enough to stop her in her tracks.
"I say it to Elena because she needs to hear it-she needs to hear that I'm 'proud' and she's 'strong,' or she won't be able to go on- no matter how much of a front she puts up. I know that she can say anything under the goddamn sun, Caroline, but she loves and will always love my brother, Stefan. And if I stop encouraging her to fight... she'll fall apart," he admitted, and Caroline remained silent. "I don't need to tell you that I'm impressed because I know that you don't need to hear it from me, Blondie. You're completely capable of taking care of yourself. You don't need me to be your knight in shining armour," he said honestly.
She suddenly felt herself getting lost- lost in his eyes, and dizzy from the intoxicating smell of his skin- Damon always smelled good. He was still inches away from her, and she finally regained control of herself, and her breathing, long enough to send him a quiet nod, signaling that she understood.
Elena was strong- but not as strong as her.
"Besides," he added, as he still stared at her. "You've arguably kicked my ass not once, but twice. What kind of a knight does that make me anyway?" he asked, and his pearly white teeth that poked out when he grinned at her.
"It'd be nice to have a knight, anyway," she said meekly, and Damon softened a bit.
The truth was he did care about Caroline- he cared a lot; a hell of a lot more than he let on. Granted, when she was a human and a newly turned vampire, he didn't exactly feel the need to be concerned with her life, because let's face it: he didn't give a shit about anything, except for the pain Katherine had put him through. But the more he got to know Caroline- the real Caroline- he admittedly felt something for her.
Maybe it was the way she always grinned and beared it after she got heart broken. Or maybe it was the way she never stopped caring about anyone, even after they had done her wrong. Maybe it was even the way she didn't completely cut him out of her life, though he absolutely deserved it for what he put her through.
Nevertheless, he knew Caroline, and he knew she deserved better than Tyler. She deserved better than anyone in this town, including himself.
He only warned her about Tyler because he was concerned. He saved her from the sacrifice because he didn't want her dead. He told her to "vent" though he didn't really wanna listen because he knew it'd be good for her to hear the honest truth, as opposed to the bull shit her friends would tell her.
And for a while, Damon was guilty- for a while, he preyed on the fact that Caroline desperately needed his approval. He took advantage of her, and somewhere along the way, he felt awful about it. So he masked his upset with being exceptionally firm with her.
It was only after he realized how strong she had become that she didn't need him and his ideas at all- she just thought she did.
Damon snapped out of his thoughts when Caroline turned around, and walked back towards the couch, where she grabbed the still half full bottle of bourbon, and plopped down loudly in her seat.
She placed the bottle to her lips, and chugged most of it, letting the liquid burn all the way down. He sighed as he watched, and walked back over towards her, finally sitting down after a few seconds of thinking.
"You're her knight in shining armour," Caroline muttered and Damon swirled his drink silently.
"Don't be dramatic, Barbie. I'm nobody's knight- it's the last thing I should be," he said and he noticed a tear trickle down Caroline's cheek.
Was this girl drunk already?
"It doesn't matter if you think you should be, Damon. You are!"
"You're being jealous, Caroline-"
You weren't there, Damon! When my dad- when he..." she trailed off, and he sighed as he figured out the rest.
Sheriff Forbes told him all about Daddy Forbes, and his fucked up "vampire intervention" that he subjected Caroline to, while he was away. It was the very reason why he got so angry and attempted to kill her father- he wasn't there to stop it in the first place, because he was with none other than Elena. And as strong as he believed Caroline was, he knew she wasn't strong enough for that. He cursed himself whenever his protective side came out and reared it's ugly head- he hated that he cared so much.
Damon Salvatore was not supposed to care. But ever since he sired Caroline, this part of him just opened up, and he realized he was always trying his hardest to cover it up.
"I'm... sorry, Caroline," he said gently.
He even put a hand on her shoulder, and he let out an exasperated sigh when he realized how soft he was becoming.
Damn it to hell.
Caroline in turn wiped her tears, and raised the bottle to her lips again. Just as she began drinking, he snatched it away.
"I'm not drunk," she stated, attempting to grab it back, and he poured the rest down his throat in one shot as she scoffed at him. "Why would you do that?"
"I was thirsty," he said.
Actually, he figured it probably wasn't a good idea for Caroline to be getting drunk around him when he was in such a sympathetic mood.
Because alcohol and sympathy usually led to sex.
Caroline rested her head on his shoulder, and she shut her eyes. They remained in silence for a few minutes before Caroline spoke.
"I want a knight in shining armour," she whispered, before she drifted off to sleep, and Damon only exhaled at that, as he let her nestle her head into his chest, and he drummed his fingers on her thigh.
She lied about not being drunk.
When Caroline woke up, her arms were completely wrapped around the older vampire, and his fingers were tangled in her curls as she lay her head directly on his chest. She sighed when she slowly let go, and she looked at her watch.
3:30 in the morning.
Caroline eased out of Damon's touch, and stood up quietly, as if not to wake him. She already felt ashamed, and childish for being here- the least she could do was save herself from a lecture that she knew was bound to come.
She was doing the "girl thing:" getting drunk to escape her feelings, and then sneaking out to evade this talk she was sure they were going to have.
He would never let her live it down for being jealous that he was Elena's protector, and not hers. She's defend it by saying that when she said she wanted a knight in shining armour, she didn't exactly mean Damon.
Okay, so maybe she did.
But she didn't want him knowing that- she was supposed to be over him; she was supposed to be with Matt. She was supposed to be just friends with Tyler. She was supposed to be home. She was supposed to be human.
She realized she was supposed to be a lot of things that she wasn't.
As soon as Caroline leaned down to grab her shoes, she felt his hand grab shoulder softly, and she looked up to meet his eyes.
"Leaving so soon?" he asked, as he tiredly opened his eyes, and Caroline sent an embarrassed expression.
"Yeah, I should probably go. It's... late..." she trailed off, and Damon gazed back at her; he wasn't buying it. "My mom will be worried," Caroline offered nervously, and Damon instantly pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and typed a quick message, before putting it away again.
"No she won't," he said and she scratched her messy curls.
Did he really just text her mom to let her know where her daughter was?
Why was he doing this?
Caroline stood up, and he took her hand, and pulled her back onto the couch next to him silently, and she sat there puzzled-puzzled because she had no idea what he was thinking right now.
Damon had a lot of time to think while Caroline slept. He thought about his attitude towards her- the nonchalant way he never really told her he cared, when he absolutely did. The way he always chose Elena's problems over hers. The way he wasn't there for her in the way he should have been.
The way he knew she needed a knight in shining armour but he let her get wrapped up with that jester, Tyler Lockwood.
Save for the fact that he was actually jealous. But he wouldn't tell her that.
He had done a lot of things wrong when it came to Caroline, and while she slept, he wondered if he could ever make it right. He wondered if he could ever make her feel like she was important to him-because she was- and he wondered if he'd ever live up to her expectations.
"Just stay, Blondie," he finally said, and she turned to face him quizzically.
"What? Why?" she questioned.
He didn't really have a good reason why. He just knew he wanted her here, and not back out there where she'd probably get back together with Tyler, or work things out with Matt.
He wanted her here, with him.
Afterall, she still existed because of him, anyway. The least he could do was be there.
"Because you drank the entire bottle of my favorite bottle of booze, and now I have nothing better to do than hang out with you," he quipped, and he saw a slow flash of a smile behind her eyes.
She knew better.
He did too.
"Oh, my deepest apologies, Mr. Salvatore," she said, feigning dismay, and he shrugged.
"Just as long as your puke isn't one of your messes that I'll have to clean up in the morning, it's totally fine," he said and her eyebrow rose.
"I'm not drunk, Damon."
"Right. You said that five hours ago, and then you went into a mini-coma on my chest," he said and she let out a laugh.
"Five hours? Really?"
"Don't be so surprised, Forbes. You newborns need your rest, he said mockingly, and she hit his arm with a smirk.
"Don't act like I'm the sucker here, Damon. You let me sleep on you for five hours. The old-Damon was never that big of a pushover," she said and he rolled his eyes.
"The old-Damon also would have demanded you sleep with him after such a punishment. See? I've changed my ways," he said, and she grinned.
"So, you're not demanding sex as repayment for your time lost on me?"
"Why, do you want me to?" he joked and Caroline shrugged surprisingly as her blue eyes twinkled.
"What we had was fun, Damon... Minus the whole feeding on me and compelling me to do what you said," she replied and he pursed his lips together.
Fun- did Caroline Forbes really just call him fun?
"You know, Caroline, I can't erase the fact that I fed on you or compelled you, but... I can't exactly do that to you now," he said and she turned completely towards him to listen. "I don't have any desire to do that to you anymore," he confessed and Caroline leaned her head against the couch, with a smile curled on her cherry red lips.
Damon scooted in a little closer to her, and they spent a minute just staring at one another.
Why did it feel so right, after everything had gone so terribly wrong?
He instinctly leaned in and kissed her forehead softly, and Caroline sighed when his soft lips touched her face.
Being sweet and gentle definitely wasn't Damon's forte, but when he did do it- he was an expert at it.
Damon seperated his lips from her skin, and she instantly pulled him back in, and took it one step further when she placed a strong kiss on her mouth.
It was dizzying- feeling his lips against hers, and her tongue pressed into his mouth, in such a passionate way. She didn't feel this much when she kissed Matt, and she definitely didn't feel this way when she kissed Tyler- it was only him.
It was always him.
Damon pulled away first, and steadied her face with his hands as she looked into his eyes.
"Caroline," was the first word to pass his lips and a panicked expression crossed her face.
Why did she just do that? Why was she letting her feelings get in the way? Damon never did.
"I need to go," she said abruptly, and she attempted to walk away, but he stopped her.
"Save the lecture, Damon."
"Why would I lecture you?"
"Because, Damon, you can't be the guy who saves me. You won't be the guy who comes to my rescue, and I'm a fool because I keep believing you will be, someday," she said and he sighed.
"It's not that I don't want to, Caroline-"
"Then what the hell is it, Damon? Why can't you do it, then?" she asked, with a bit of a bite to her voice, as she felt herself getting angrier by the second.
This was how it always was with Damon. Bliss one second, and tears the next. Being into him made her believe she was crazy- she legitimately believed she was insane for wanting to be with him one second, and then wanting to hit him the next.
She watched as the dark-haired vampire rubbed his temples, and then looked back up at her, with glowing eyes that still made her melt whenever she saw them.
How could she still feel so much for somebody she convinced herself she could so easily hate?
"Let's be honest, Caroline. I don't deserve it- or you. You deserve so much and... it'll never be me. No matter how much I want it to be. For your sake, it can never be me," Damon admitted slowly, and she took in a deep breath as she looked into his serious eyes.
"Damon-" she started, but he was already to his feet, and pacing in front of the fireplace with the empty bottle of bourbon in his hand.
Caroline only gazed on as he moved back and forth, as she waited for him to say something, anything, to her. She needed to hear this.
She jumped out of fright when he hurled the empty bottle into the fireplace, and the glass shattered into a billion pieces as it erupted beneath the flame. Caroline didn't leave, though. She pressed her hands tightly together, and she waited.
He finally turned around, and walked up to her slowly, making her feel like her heart was now in her throat.
Damon brushed back one of her curls that was out of place, and peered deeply into her eyes.
"A part of this whole sire thing, Caroline, is feeling... intensely towards someone, even when you shouldn't," he began, and she continued listening. "Tyler feels like he has an obligation towards Klaus, and you... feel like you want to be wanted by me, though you deserve a hell of a lot better. You can do better."
Caroline shook her head, and he stuffed his hands in his pockets.
"We don't feel this way about each other just because you sired me, Damon. It's more than that. You know it and I know it," she said and he let out a short laugh. "What the hell is so funny, Damon?"
"Okay, Caroline, so we both 'know it.' Sure, great. What the hell would we do about it, anyway? It's not like it's ever gonna work out based on that pure fact alone. I don't deserve you, Caroline! I never did! You were always made for somebody boring like Matt, or perfect like my brother. It wasn't supposed to be me-"
"Stop with the self-loathing, Damon, and just listen to me. You may not have cared about me before, but you do now. You may not have deserved me before, but you do now. You're supposed to be a lot of things, Damon. You're supposed to be with Elena, you're supposed to be a perfect big brother, you're supposed to dead from that werewolf bite- but you're not."
"What's your point?"
"My point is, Damon... Why would you ever want to go through life paying attention to the rules, and what you're not supposed to be doing?" she asked.
"Because I hurt a lot of people in my life, Caroline, because I didn't always do what I ought to do. I'm here to protect you, Caroline. To guide you- I can't do anything more without hurting you."
"Who says, Damon? Who says you'll hurt me? You might- you're very capable of it, but who says you will?"
"Why are you so willing to take that chance? God, are you listening to yourself, Forbes? Were you asleep all throughout our entire relationship? I will hurt you, again. I always do."
"No, you won't, Damon. Besides the fact that you can't... you don't have the desire in your heart to hurt me, ever again," she said, echoing his words.
Before he could object again, Caroline pulled him in towards her, and urgently kissed him again, sending a flurry of shockwaves through his body as he stood there. Damon shut his eyes, and he felt her warm lips becoming familiar with his again, in the most dangerous of ways. His hands gripped onto her hips, and she grabbed him by the collar, and pushed him back onto the couch.
She damn near threw him.
She got onto his lap, with her arms wrapped around his shoulders as they continued, and the thoughts raced throughout Damon's head.
This was the first time he even kissed Caroline since she turned, and he could immediately tell the difference between her human self and her vampire self. Besides the fact that everything was so intesified and the emotions between them were heightened, she was a lot more aggressive. Before, he had no problem tossing Caroline around like she was his plaything, and she accepted the fact that he'd always have control over her, because she wasn't going to dare challenge his authority.
But now- now, she was the one in control. She was the one with authority. She was the one challenging him in more ways than one, and he couldn't help but feel very turned on and undoubtedly intrigued by a more dominating, and highly confident Caroline Forbes.
The little girl he met over a year ago was no more- the woman who was before him was somebody he couldn't help but feel attracted to; whether he was supposed to feel this way, or not.
He felt himself moan against her mouth when she grabbed onto his dark hair, and ran her fingers across his scalp.
She always knew the right thing to do- when she was just a girl, now that she was a strong woman.
Damon endured Caroline's advances for the next few minutes, feebly resisting her, because honestly-he really didn't want to- and he felt himself slowly giving in the more her lips kissed his neck, and her teeth grazed his throat.
He attempted to stop this, more than a few times, but Caroline only slammed him harder into the couch, and pressed her lips, her body, her everything more into his, if he objected.
Enough was enough.
Damon grabbed Caroline by the waist, with all his strength, and pushed her beneath him on the couch. She let out surprised yelp, and he took that as a good sign. Damon pinned her down, and inadvertently found himself looking down into her eyes.
She was looking straight back up at him.
His lips hovered over hers for a second, as he twirled his fingers through her blonde locks, and she breathed evenly as he did.
"I'm no good for you, Caroline. Everybody knows it," he whispered, and her fingers slowly began to unbutton his shirt, as she still looked into his eyes.
"I know."
"And you're okay with that?"
"All I need you to do is protect me, Damon," she whispered back and he sighed as she brought him down closer towards her, and placed her lips to his ear. "Besides... who says I'll be any good for you?" she asked, in that bubbly tone that he hated so much because he secretly loved it.
He felt a slow smirk cross his face, and he lowered his lips to hers.
Kissing Caroline was incredible- being this close to her was everything he wanted and arguably all that he needed.
She was what he needed. He needed somebody who understood who he was, and could accept that. And Caroline needed a man who would tell her the cold harsh truth, but would still be there to look out for her, at the end of the day.
And while Tyler was so closely tied to Klaus, and Matt was just a mess, Damon was who she needed; they both knew it.
She pulled his shirt off of his arms, and he shivered when her fingers pressed to his chest. Damon quickly went to work on getting rid of her blouse, and he lowered his lips to her shoulder as his hands fumbled with the clasp of her bra. She tightened her grip on his back, already leaving bruises on the surface of his skin.
He couldn't remember ever wanting something so bad before, in his life.
Damon's lips traveled down her chest to her stomach, and her hands gripped his raven hair as he smoothed over her bare porcelein skin.
He unbuttoned her jeans, and she sighed softly when they hit the ground. Once his were gone, too, Caroline shut her eyes, relished in everything that was Damon Salvatore.
She could name everything from his bitter laugh, to his cocky smile, to his stubborn attitude that made her fall for him the first time, and here again.
It was as if she never stopped feeling so much for him.
His soft skin, his firm kiss, and the angelic blue eyes that belonged to none other than the devil himself. His teeth against her throat was no longer something she was afraid of, and his rough grip was no longer something she couldn't handle.
This felt right- and she prayed it always would.