Disclaimer: I don't own The Vampire Diaries.

Summary: "I've been trying to contact you for days...and you've ignored me for Shark Week?" DamonCaroline, oneshot

Being a nerd for both things Vampire Diaries and Shark Week, I thought this fic would just be a fun idea in general. It is my first Vampire Diaries fic in a very long time, and my first Daroline overall. I really hope that everyone likes this! I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Show Me Your Teeth

Rapping on the door, Damon Salvatore wondered just when he started to care so much.

Usually, he wouldn't. People didn't talk to him all the time. They sometimes actively ignored him. With good reason. He could be a dick, after all. And he really didn't mind that one bit. Most people annoyed him, with the exception of a vague few, and even then they could be grating.

But this was something completely different.

If someone were to ask him when he started to care about the well being of Caroline Forbes so much, he wouldn't be able to answer them. Frankly, he was still puzzled about it himself. She was neurotic and crazy, blonde and bubbly, a nuisance in so many senses of the word.

But, really, he kind of liked those thing about her, for whatever godforsaken reason.

Except now, when he was so worried he couldn't think straight.

He knocked on the door yet again. Her small apartment was in a nice complex. Which was both good and bad. At least she was in a good neighborhood, but if she were to slip up anytime soon, things would not be easy to take care of, since places like this revelled in the scandal of a bloody murder.

He was pondering the merits of busting down her door when he turned the knob.

It was unlocked.

Now, this was something that reminded him vaguely of every horror movie he had ever seen. Hot hunk comes to pretty young girl's apartment, finding the door unlocked and then the body of the dead girl inside.

Damon didn't think twice before barging in.

All the lights were off, which made him instantly suspicious. Caroline liked her place to be lit up at every given opportunity, having random candles and lamps scattered about the place. A dark apartment and Caroline didn't go hand in hand.

The place smelled like fast food wrappers, fruit laden oatmeal, and used blood bags. Which was another weird point Damon hadn't the will to dissect.

Then he noticed the television.

It was on a commercial at the moment, but the tell tale flashing was comforting, as was the blonde head he saw outlined by the light emitting from it.

"Caroline," he voiced, unconcerned about surprising her.

Though he did, which was shocking in and of itself. Sneaking up on a vampire wasn't necessarily easy...well, unless you were one also.

Her thin shoulders gave a minute jerk, but she didn't look behind her to see who it was. Damon circled around the couch and laid eyes upon Vampire Barbie for the first time in what seemed like decades, when in reality it was only a few measly days.

Her hair was adorably rumpled, but reminded him of a hobo almost instantaneously. She was dressed in a light green cotton pajama set that looked as it it hadn't been washed in ages. Her knees were drawn up to her chest. The lower half of her body was wrapped in a well-used quilt. She leaned against the bottom of the couch, a pillow cushioning her back.

"Well don't you look gorgeous," he drawled.

Caroline's eyes did not leave the television screen.

Damon moved to stand in front of the television. "Did you see The Ring? Seven days, right?"

She finally stirred, leaning forward and shoving his calf with a hand.

Damon cocked his head to the side. "Really?"

No response.

He crouched in front of her, his frame taking up all of her view of the television. Her eyebrows knitted in annoyance, and she wrinkled her nose. "What are you doing?"

"She lives!" Damon exclaimed in sarcastic joy. "Bout time."

"You're blocking the television, Damon," she said, completely ignoring his response.

Damon stared at her for a moment, puzzled. "Are you on drugs or something?"

"I will punch you if you don't move."

Though the threat held much more weight now that she was a vampire, Damon still didn't hold too much concern for it.

"It's a commercial break." Damon cocked an eyebrow as he talked. "What are you watching that's so spectacular, anywa - "

"Welcome back to Shark Week! You've tweeted your votes for what the robo-megalodon is going to crush next, and the winner is...the oil drum! Let's get ready!"

Damon paused.

He turned.

He gaped.

Amusement tinged with a vague sense that Caroline had finally gone off the deep end filtered through his mind. He turned back to the blonde, saying, "Shark Week? Really?"

"Move, Damon, they're about to feed an oil drum to a robotic shark!"

He almost denied her this, but the childish look of anger and awe on her face was enough to get him to move out of the way. Damon stepped to the side, crushing a McDonald's bag with one foot and a Burger King cup with the other. "Hell," he breathed in astonishment.

He looked at Caroline again, her eyes were wide and a grin was on her face. Wanting to see what the whole fuss was about, Damon turned just in time to see a gigantic robotic mass that resembled a shark chow down on an oil drum. In a matter of seconds, the metal of the drum was crushed and oil spewed out in all directions as the crowd cheered. In the background he swore he heard Caroline giggling in delight.

"That was awesome! Now, back to the 25 Greatest Shark Week Moments."

After the faux-megolodon crunched down on the oil drum, Damon had turned to face Caroline yet again.

"I've been trying to contact you for days...and you've ignored me for Shark Week?"

"Yep."

"Seriously, Caroline, this - "

"It's the last day! Please be quiet! I'll return to reality tomorrow!" Her voice was desperate in an endearing sort of way, he found.

And he didn't think he could deny her...shark-y obsession.

"Fine, fine," he said, stepping on bags and plates and cups without much concern. "But I'm watching with you."

This made Caroline snap her head around to look at him so fast he thought she should have whiplash. "What?"

"I'm going to watch the sharks with you."

"...why?"

"Because it'll annoy you."

Caroline pulled her lips back, showing her teeth as if she were a dog.

Damon grinned back.

"And, I've been told, I'm a rather good cook. And you look in desperate need of some real food."

Caroline then looked like she was warring with herself. She glanced from Damon to the television and then back again, settling to watch some moment of what looked like a Great White latching its jaws onto a random boat. When she responded, it was hard for him to hear her say, "Fine."

Damon smiled haughtily and made his way to the kitchen, flipping the light on as he did so. "Any requests?"

"In some countries, many sharks are used for food, unfortunately. The mercury content in the White shark is very high, and yet most of these are - "

"Not fish," she said automatically, protectively almost.

Damon chuckled. "Spaghetti okay?"

Caroline turned around, her face lit up at his words. The first sign of humanity he'd seen since he arrived here. "That sounds perfect."

"Spaghetti it is," he chimed, turning to set things up for what would most definitely be an interesting night.

Because with Caroline, it could be nothing less.

End.