CHARLIE WAS UPSTAIRS AT THE SALVATORE BOARDING HOUSE. Damon and Elena were arguing while she and Jeremy observed, sitting on the bed with their fingers intertwined. They had no clue how long this whole veil thing was going to last, so there was no way that she was leaving his side. He was completely okay with that too.

"Come on, we don't need the cure for Silas — he's a calcified statue," Damon told her before groaning uncontrollably. Everyone looked up at him with concerned looks, wondering if some random ghost of someone he slept with had come back and punched him or something.

Elena looked at him suspiciously, glancing between him and the spot on his shoulder that he had just barely brushed before immediately yanking his hand back down, not wanting anyone to know what was wrong. "What was that?"

"Nothing," he responded, trying to play it off and continue the conversation. They had bigger things to worry about than whatever was causing him pain. However, they would have a big problem on their hands if Damon died. Stefan would blame himself and either just be depressed or turn off his humanity. Then, the same thing would happen to Elena, and it was just this whole thing.

She rolled her eyes, not believing him. "Take off your shirt."

"Elena, there are children present," he joked, gesturing to the two teenagers behind them on the bed who were just sitting there and not saying anything. They were just enjoying the show. It was funny watching the two argue.

"Fine," the Gilbert girl responded, and she pulled the collar of his shirt down to reveal a huge, infected wound on his shoulder. He cringed in pain, also upset that she figured out his secret. "Damon, why isn't this healed?"

Damon sighed, and he looked down at his feet like he really did not want to say what it was. He did not have to say anything for Charlie to know what it was. She had seen a good number of werewolf bites in her day. He responded, "Because the bullet was laced with werewolf venom, okay? The hunters are dicks."

"We need Klaus. We need his blood," Elena groaned out, and she began pacing back and forth with stress in her eyes. Damon could not die. All of them knew that because the Gilbert girl had just turned her humanity back on, and another loss would break her. They would not know how to pull her back after that.

"Klaus would rather see me die," the Salvatore man reminded her, shaking his head hopelessly. He was right. If they went to the Mikaelson man and asked him to cure Damon, he would probably laugh in their faces. There was also the fact that he had freaking moved to New Orleans for some reason. Charlie did not question why because she was just grateful that he was gone. "Plus, Klaus is a thousand miles away sipping Hurricanes on Bourbon Street."

As if they were not already aware of the fact, Elena yelled, "That wound will kill you!"

"What about the Cure?" the brunette boy offered, leaning forward so that his elbows rested on my knees. Charlie thought about it for a second, and he had a point. Damon could not die of werewolf venom if he was human. It would hurt like hell, and he would probably have to heal normally. But at least he would be alive.

His sister nodded slowly, thinking about what he was saying and realizing how much sense it made. She stopped her pacing and turned to the vampire in front of her with the wound. "Jeremy's right. If you're human, the werewolf venom won't hurt you."

"And here I was, so moved by your speech to save mankind," he sighed jokingly, and it was obvious that he was not even considering the Cure option. If anyone was getting that Cure, it would be Elena. He would make sure of that. He cupped his ear and faked listening to something to come up with an excuse to leave. "Sounds like Vaughn's awake."

"Damon, wait," the Gilbert girl yelled after him, and she rolled her eyes as she ran down the stairs after him to stop him from doing something stupid. He had the Cure, and he was going down to one of Silas's minions with it.

Charlie moved to stand up, but her arm was grabbed by the Gilbert boy, pulling her back down into his lap. She chuckled slightly, pretending like she was going to go back downstairs, but she made no real motion to. "Jer, we should probably see what's going on."

"Yeah, yeah," he murmured, leaning in and brushing his lips against hers. She grinned against his lips as she leaned into the kiss. It felt like heaven, and she knew that she would never be able to pull away, even if she wanted to, which she did not. She giggled as he leaned back so that they fell onto the bed, and she completely forgot the fact that they were in the Salvatore Boarding House and that the brothers and Jeremy's sister were just downstairs with vamp hearing.

She straddled him, and her hair fell into her face as she leaned down to kiss him again, grabbing the side of his face to bring him up to her slightly. He ran his fingers through her hair as she moved down his face, kissing a line across his jaw and down to his neck. She paused after a second and sat up. He looked up at her in concern. "What's wrong?"

"Damon," she groaned out, flopping down on the bed next to him. She had heard a slight bit of yelling and listened in. "He just gave Vaughn the Cure and took him to go find Silas."

"No, no, no, no. You are not going anywhere," he insisted, grabbing her hips when she moved and tugging her back slightly so that she fell back and laid across his chest.

She chuckled and adjusted so that she could look up at him. She listened in and heard Elena groaning, and she decided that she and Stefan could deal without them for a bit longer. "Eh, they'll be fine without us for a little bit."

"There we go," he responded, and she gasped a little bit when he rolled over on top of her, propping himself up on his elbows, which were placed on either side of her head. He leaned in, his lips touching hers, and she felt chills run down her spine when he muttered, "Now, where were we?"

☾❄☽

ELENA WAS PACING AGAIN IN FRONT OF THEM. Jeremy, Charlie, and Stefan were sitting on the couch, listening to her rant about how much of an idiot Damon was. "We have to do something. If those hunters give the cure to Silas—"

"They're not giving it to Silas. Wherever Damon is taking Vaughn right now, it's to stall, because Damon hasn't had time to bury Silas' body yet," the Salvatore boy assured her, trying to get her to calm down. It seemed to work because she stopped walking. "And that's all you need to know right now."

"Okay, fine. We're stalling the hunters, but Damon is still dying," the Gilbert girl reminded him, pointing her finger at him. It was like she was trying to find a problem for them because she seemed almost excited about finding something to worry about. Charlie knew that she was really just trying to solve all of the problems that she could as soon as possible.

Stefan sighed, "It was one bullet, and it was only laced. We still have a little bit of time. I will go to New Orleans myself and I will beg Klaus if I have to."

"Then it's settled. You're going to your graduation," Jeremy told his sister, and he gestured to the Lockwood girl who leaned over the back of the couch to grab the cap and gown that they had brought with them. He knew that his sister would want to graduate.

"Gradua—" she started, confused, almost as if she had completely forgotten what that even was. Then she shook her head aggressively, waving her arms like there was no way that was happening. "No, Jer, I never even sent in my college applications."

The boy was as stubborn as her, however, something that they probably each inherited, and he really cared about his sister. She had to graduate, no matter what was happening. "I don't care. Mom and Dad would kill you if there wasn't a photo of you in your graduation getup."

"Jer, no. Not if you can't be there," Elena insisted, shaking her head. "And Charlie, don't you dare offer to stay with him because I know that Caroline will kill me, you, and him again if you're not there to take pictures with us."

"Lexi'll keep me company. You're going," he told both girls. Charlie had looked around frantically because she had completely forgotten about the fact that she had to go to graduation — for Caroline, for Elena, for Matt, for Bonnie. She did not want to leave Jer, but Elena was right. Caroline would actually strangle her. She had had this planned for a year. She and Charlie were going to do a pose for her graduation, and then, they would switch places when the younger girl graduated.

Elena finally agreed, and she walked over and accepted her cap and gown. "Let's go graduate."

"Welcome parents, family, and friends. What a beautiful day for a graduation. Thank you for joining us today on this special day, as we celebrate our graduates. So let's get started. John Albrecht. David Bance. Sarah Beasley. Um, not to play favorites, but I am especially proud of this next graduate, my lovely daughter: Bonnie Bennett! Rudy: Savannah Davis. Matt Donovan. William Duncan. Caroline Forbes. Congratulations. Caroline: Thank you. Rudy: Matt Freeman. Elena Gilbert. Congratulations."

Rudy gave a rather entertaining presentation. Well, as entertaining as a graduation could be. Afterwards, Caroline had all of them there and took pictures for about a million years. It was very late when Charlie got home.

As she walked through the door, she was listening to a voicemail that her best friend left her, informing her that Klaus had visited her. He was allowing Tyler to come back to Mystic Falls. Charlie grinned and spun around excitedly, but she paused when she noticed an envelope on her porch step. She picked it up and frowned when she noticed that it was Jeremy's handwriting. She opened it slowly and prepared herself for what was inside as she began to read.

Dear Charlie,

I know that this is a really crappy way to say goodbye, especially since I'm a really bad writer, but I don't think I could have been able to make it through a goodbye in person. Hell, I can barely write this letter. I knew you deserved something, though. I just wanted to thank you for everything that you have done for me. You have saved me in so many ways, and you have been the best friend that I could have ever asked for. You've also been the best girlfriend, even though I never really asked you. I meant to, after everything was done and things had settled down a little bit. You are such an amazing person. You're caring, brave, stubborn, and the smartest person I have ever met.

She was about halfway through the letter, and tears were pouring down her face when someone snatched it from her. She looked up in shock as she heard a familiar voice say, "Yeah, let's not finish that. I said some embarrassing things."

Jeremy.

"What the hell is happening?" she exclaimed, running a hand through her hair. She had just been reading a letter, thinking that he was dead, and now he was standing in front of her, definitely alive unless she was seeing things.

He shrugged, and he was about to cry as he watched the happy tears combine with the sad ones on her face. He stuck the folded up letter in his pocket and grabbed her hands. He informed her with a grin, "Bonnie saved me."

"Oh, my God," she breathed out, unaware that he was leaving a serious detail out about how the witch had saved him. She dove at him, wrapping her arms around him as he returned the gesture. She sobbed into his neck. "You didn't say goodbye. You left, and all you were going to leave was that stupid letter."

He rubbed her back comfortingly as he breathed out. "Yeah, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Char. I just didn't know how to tell you, and you were so happy at graduation."

"I love you. I was scared I was never gonna get to say it," she whispered into his hair. A huge wave of relief passed over her as she clung to him, terrified that he was going to disappear again. No one was going to take him from her ever again.

He pulled away and placed his hand on her cheek, running his thumb along the bone there. He was smiling down at her with loving eyes. "I love you too, Char. God, I love you."

He grabbed her waist and pulled her in for a kiss, the light from the porch illuminating them from behind. It was a kiss that took her breath away, and she could not even imagine what life without him would be like. She never wanted to go through that again.

To any other person, they were just two teenagers in love, but they were so much more than that.