AN: Hi! You can read this oneshot on its own, but there will be some references to my other story 'A Coveted Gift'. The only thing you have to know is that Elena was captured, and Damon told Bonnie he would rescue Elena if Bonnie did something in return. I hope you enjoy this oneshot :) Bookfans may recognize the bathtub-scene from Nightfall. Remember: it's BookBonnie with red hair in this fanfic.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, it all belongs to LJ Smith

Bonnie POV

Damon needs something. He needs something so badly he was willing to make a deal with me. He promised to help us save Elena, if I did something in return. I guess it's pretty stupid not to ask what exactly that 'something' was, but I wasn't really thinking clearly. Damon… does that to me, he muddles up my thoughts. I think he can make me agree to do anything, even when I wear vervain. He told me not to tell anyone, which is pretty hard for me to do. I'm sure someone will find out, I'm just not that good at hiding things.

Bonnie sighed as she read her attempt at writing in a diary. It was just a little notebook, but she'd thought that if she wrote her thoughts down, she wouldn't be so eager to tell her friends about it. And it had worked, she'd wrote down everything she couldn't say out loud, and now she would have to get rid of it. She ripped the pages to shreds and flushed them down the toilet.

Bonnie was laying on her back, staring at the ceiling. Damon was coming. He'd startled her while she was in class, she'd heard his voice in her mind. He'd told her to wait in her bedroom after school. And she hadn't been able to think for the rest of the day. A knock on the window brought her back from her thoughts. She found that she felt almost eager to see Damon again and that scared her.

The closer she came to the window, the more nervous she got. Her stomach hurt and her fingers trembled on their way to the handle.

"Hello, there." Damon said when she'd let him in.

As usual, she forgot how to speak when she saw him climb through the window. She watched him as he reached inside his pocket and held up a necklace. It was simple, but very beautiful. A small black stone hung from a thin, silver chain.

"What is it?" she asked, turning the stone around between her fingers.

"Onyx. And it's cursed."

Bonnie quickly let it go. "What do you mean?"

"Before I came here, I lived in another town for a while. A witch figured out what I was fairly quickly, but she decided to make deal. She wouldn't tell anyone about me and I wouldn't touch her or her family. One night, I was drunk and fed on the first girl I saw. She turned out to be the witch's granddaughter."

"What did the witch do?" Bonnie asked.

"She got mad, but she realized that yelling 'vampire' wouldn't do much good. People already thought she was crazy and no one would believe her. So she cursed me instead."

"She cursed you?" Damon was a good storyteller and Bonnie felt hypnotised by his voice.

"She made sure that no matter how much I drank, I would never be satisfied."

"That's horrible!" And dangerous! Her mind screamed at her. It meant that he was craving blood all the time. She shivered.

He grimaced. "She told me that if I wanted to lift the curse, I hade to gain a witch's trust. You had to agree on helping me and I couldn't compel you. I did my part, Elena is safe, now it's your turn." He had grabbed her wrist while he was speaking and he was shaking it roughly at the end. Bonnie whimpered at his tight hold. She realized that his need for blood was making it harder for him to control himself, and that it must have been hard for him to stay controlled while saving Elena. He looked down at his grip on her wrist and let go with a frown.

Bonnie carefully stepped back and took a shaky breath.

"I'm not going to hurt you." He said.

She wanted to believe him, but she didn't know what to think. It was true that he'd never hurt her, and he'd been good to Elena, but he'd also left his own brother for dead in the woods.

"Tell me what I need to do." She said, looking up at him.

"I want you to lift the curse." Damon said.

Bonnie nodded, she could do that.

"And I also need your blood." He finished.

Was it part of the witch's condition or was it just another thing he wanted? Bonnie didn't know and she slowly backed away from him.

"No! You're not backing out now! You gave your word." He practically growled at her and Bonnie could barely keep from crying out. He'd come closer again as he spoke and he was towering over her. She was frightened and her breathing hitched.

He seemed to see how scared she was and stepped back, closing his eyes. When he opened them again, there was no trace of anger on his face.

"Look," He said softly, "I'm not just adding conditions as I go, giving me your blood is part of lifting the curse."

Now that he stood a few steps back and spoke normally again, she was able to think clearly. Damon wasn't fully in control of his actions, which made him more dangerous. But he was right, she'd given her word. She tried to make her voice sound strong.

"Look, I promised you I would help you, so I will. But in the few minutes you've been in here, you've almost made me faint with fear twice." Bonnie had no problems with admitting her fear, everyone knew she was scared quickly, she had no reputation to keep. "So please, don't do that again." The last part didn't sound quite as strong as she wanted it to. She looked at him, her face still pale and her breathing still a bit too fast.

He just nodded and tossed the necklace onto the bed, showing her that he wouldn't come any closer. She whispered a 'thank you' and took the necklace. She held it in both hands and as she concentrated, she could feel the negative energy surrounding it. She was glad she'd spent so much time learning about witchcraft, otherwise she wouldn't have known how to help him.

"Did the witch live by a river?" She asked, looking up at him.

He seemed confused. "Why?"

"It's a powerful spell, and to cast it you need to draw power from one of the elements. Most witches use a river, since running water is very powerful."

Damon seemed impressed. "Yes, she lived next to a river."

Bonnie feared it would be that answer. It meant that she had to go all the way to a river. And she knew Damon would want to come with her.

"We have to go to the cemetery, the river runs behind it." She said. It wasn't really a river, it was much smaller, but it was running water so it would have to be enough.

"You take your car, I'll follow." He said, and he disappeared through the window.

Bonnie was glad he didn't say they were walking the whole way, and she didn't have to sit in a car with him either.

She was glad to be alone as she rode to the cemetery, it gave her some time to collect her thoughts and to calm her breathing. You're stupid, she told herself. She shouldn't have that small tingling feeling that was happy to be alone with him, she shouldn't! She should've told Elena and Stefan and Meredith, she should be heading for the boarding house right now. But that small part of her convinced her to go along with his Damon's plans and keep her promise.

She arrived at Wickery Bridge and parked in the grass alongside the road. When she gathered her things and got out of the car, Damon was already waiting for her. He kept his distance as they headed toward the creek and Bonnie was grateful for that.

She knelt down next to the water and placed everything she needed in front of her. She could feel Damon's eyes on her back and she was suddenly nervous. She knew what to do, but what if it didn't work? It was a pretty powerful spell, what if she wasn't strong enough? She shook her head and took the necklace out of her pocked. In front of her were three bowls, one for each element aside from air. She scooped up some mud and put it in the first bowl, then she lit a fire in the next. She tried to scoop up water from the creek, but she was afraid she might fall in. She glanced at Damon helplessly and he walked over to help, sighing as if he had to do something impossibly hard. He easily reached the edge of the water and brought a full bowl back to her. She avoided looking at his face as she took it from him, and he walked away to watch from a distance again.

Now came the first part, the easy part. She dropped the necklace in the bowl with fire, then let the mud fall into it, and then put the fire out with the water from the creek. She didn't know why she was doing this, but her book said that it was important. Then the harder part came, she had to lift the curse. She knew how to do this, but she was a little bit scared, it could take a lot of energy and she wasn't sure if she was ready for that.

She found the necklace in what was left of the mud and cleaned it a bit with a tissue. Then she walked over to the edge of the creek. Despell it and toss it in the creek, that was what she had to do. She held it in both hands, closing them around it, and closed her eyes. She could feel the energy building inside her body, and she felt the small black stone become hot. She let her energy pour into the stone, quietly repeating a sentence she'd learned in her book. She could feel it now, something was being forced out of the necklace, her power replacing it. She knew she would feel it when it was gone, she was almost there. She was concentrating so hard, she didn't feel her legs get shaky. Her hands trembled and it made the necklace rattle.

Bonnie started to panic. She wasn't strong enough to do this! Her power kept flowing into the stone and she wasn't able to stop it. She could only feel her strength disappear and her body become empty. The good thing was that the stone was almost free of the other power, she hoped that it would stop then, that she would be in control again. She wanted to open her eyes, to see if she could see what was leaving the stone, but it was surprisingly difficult.

Then she felt it, a blast which left her shaking. The only thing left inside the stone was her own energy, her power. And it had to be almost all of her energy, because she couldn't feel a thing anymore. Her thoughts were floating and she didn't know how to move her hands. That was when she could finally open her eyes. She was confused, the world around her was spinning, her vision turning from grass to sky. The last thing she saw was Damon's alarmed expression, and then she hit the water.

Damon POV

Damon rushed forward, his hands grasping for her clothes, but he was too late. He saw her go under water and jumped in after her. It shouldn't be difficult to fish her out, but his leather jacket became heavy pretty soon. He was strong enough so it wasn't much of a problem, but it did make moving around a lot more difficult. Bonnie, on the other hand, was about as heavy as feather and wearing a light shirt. She got pulled down by the current, which was a bit stronger than he expected, and it took a few seconds before he saw her again. He struggled to get to her, he never really liked swimming, and felt around under water. There she was, he found her arm and pulled on it. Her body was being jostled around and he had some trouble getting her out of the water. When he finally held her in his arms, she was white as a sheet and her lips were changing to purple. He didn't know how long a human could go without air, but he feared that she had reached the limit. Once he got a good hold on her, it didn't take long to get out of the water. When he reached the side and put her down, he noticed that she'd stopped breathing. He didn't know what to do now, most of the time he just ended peoples lives. He remembered some things he'd seen in movies, and he slapped her back, careful not to break anything. He seemed to have done something right because she started coughing up water. She didn't open her eyes, but she was breathing. Damon smiled, pleased with himself.

He scooped her up and noticed how cold she was. He glanced at her car, but decided he would be faster if he ran. He was staying in an abandoned cottage –well, it was abandoned now – not far from the bridge, and he was glad he had a place where he could take her. He didn't even want to think about how annoying Stefan would be if he showed up with an unconscious Bonnie in his arms.

When he arrived at the cottage, he hesitated. She was shivering, so putting her down in these wet clothes didn't seem like such a good idea. He frowned. It didn't feel quite right to remove her clothes without her knowing about it. Then her teeth started shattering and he thought what the hell. He took of her shoes and socks, stripped of her jeans and pulled her sweater over her head. He'd thought that maybe she would react to that, but she remained lifeless and cold, looking like and oversized plastic doll. He tried not to look at her when he was done. He found a thick quilt in one of the closets and turned the heater on, shoving it against the couch on which he'd laid her down. Now he didn't know what to do anymore, so he sat down on a chair across from her.

Colour was returning to her face, he lips turning pink again, and she was breathing more regularly. She looked so small, huddled up in the quilt. He never knew why he called her his little bird, but it made sense now. Her red hair was still wet and the dark curls stuck to her face. He was sure of one thing: he was glad she was here with him. He wouldn't think about why he felt that way, he would only enjoy the sound of her heartbeat and the tingling heat that emanated from where she lay. He wouldn't go closer either. Only when she asked. Of course people had told him to stay away before, and he couldn't remember ever listening to them, but somehow it seemed to be more important now. He wanted her to ask him, he'd be right beside her from the moment she'd uttered the words. He cursed himself for giving her a reason to be scared. He had to admit that at first, he'd liked it when she gasped at the sight of him, her eyes becoming big. But at some time during the past few days, that had changed. He'd been careful not to hurt her, to hold back when she was around, but he'd screwed everything up when he lost control in her room. She didn't know how lucky she was, her frightened eyes and little cries had kept him from really losing it. She would be dead by now if they didn't have such an impact on him. There was only one thing he wanted right now: that when she woke up, she wouldn't be frightened, but glad to see him.

Bonnie POV

Bonnie was feeling good. She was in a dreamlike state, not able to form coherent thoughts, but not caring either. She knew that everything was alright, there had been something she had to do, and it must've worked! It must've gone right, because why would she feel so happy if it hadn't? Yes, she thought blissfully, everything is fine. It was good where she was, cosy and warm, she would've liked to stay longer. But something was telling her to open her eyes, so she did.

Bonnie opened her eyes and blinked a few times to let them adjust to the light. She was still surrounded by something warm and soft, and when she glanced down she saw that she was huddled up in a thick quilt. It wasn't hers, who had put her here? When she moved a little, she noticed that she was wearing nothing but underwear. She tried to remember at whose house she'd fallen asleep without having her pyjamas with her, was she at Meredith's or at Elena's? She looked around and didn't recognize anything in the room. When she heard Damon speak to her, she couldn't believe she hadn't seen him right away. He was sitting across from her, his elbows on his knees. Everything that had happened came back to her when she saw his face –looking worried, for once.

"How are you feeling?" He asked quietly.

Bonnie barely heard him because he was sitting so far away.

"I'm fine." She said. She still felt weak and drained, not all of her energy had returned and you could hear it in her voice, but she wasn't really thinking about that. She was trying to get over the fact that he'd taken her clothes off, she could see them hanging over the heater.

"You were cold. I did it quickly." He said as he saw her look at them.

She nodded and looked away, feeling embarrassed.

He stood up and grabbed her clothes. After tossing them at her, he left the house. Her clothes were dry and warm, she must've been out cold for a while. The act of putting on her clothes left her exhausted. Sitting up made her head spin and she had to close her eyes for a few seconds. She wondered how long it would take for her energy to come back, she wouldn't be able to go to school like this.

Damon came back in after asking if she was done, grabbing car keys from a table.

"I'll bring you home." He said.

Bonnie was confused. He saved her from drowning and took her here, but now he only spoke to her when he needed to, and his eyes were troubled. Then she realized what was wrong.

"Wait," She said, standing up from the couch. She didn't expect her legs to feel so weak, she was dizzy from standing up too fast, and she fell forward. He caught her, but instead of steadying her, he let her fall against his chest and locked his arms around her.

"You really need to be more careful." He said, his eyes confused.

Bonnie couldn't handle this, she felt miserable. Her body wouldn't do what she asked, her head hurt when she moved too fast, and Damon was muddling up her mind. She let out a sob.

Damon immediately backed away, he held his arms outstretched and his hands on her shoulders to keep her upright.

"I wasn't going to hurt you." He said, sounding a little bit hurt himself.

Bonnie blinked a few tears away so she could look at him, he was confusing her.

"I know that." She said, her eyebrows pulling together.

"Then why…I thought you wanted me to stay away from you." He said, sounding just as puzzled as she felt.

"Not now, please…" She couldn't finish her sentence. She wasn't sure if she fell against him again or if he pressed her against him, but she was in his arms at once.

She didn't know how exactly they got there, but they were sitting down on the couch in less than a second. Normally, she wouldn't have done this, but she couldn't hold herself up anymore and leaned against his chest.

"Now tell me the truth. How are you feeling?" Damon repeated his question from before.

"I'm drained. When I do something, like lift a curse, I use energy, power. I think I just used it up, and now it needs some time to come back."

He didn't answer for a while.

"Was that why you didn't want to go home?"

"No, I wanted to keep my promise," She said quietly, "You still need my blood."

His eyes widened as if this was the first time he thought about that.

"So it worked? What you did by the creek?"

She nodded. "I only needed to throw the necklace in the water, but I fell in, too. But the result is the same." She closed her eyes for a moment, struggling to stay awake.

"Your energy clearly hasn't returned yet. Just sleep for a moment while I make sure your parents don't call the entire neighbourhood to find out where you are."

Bonnie nodded, but wasn't really listening. She felt him lift her up and get out from under her, then the quilt was around her again and she fell asleep.

Damon POV

When Damon came back, he found Bonnie asleep on the couch. Half of the quilt had slipped to the ground and it left her back bare. He stroked the pale skin with his fingertips and then quickly covered her again. He'd been thinking about what she'd told him, and now he wanted to try something. He made his power flow to his eyes so that he could see her aura. He'd done this once, a few days ago, it had been sparkling with life and innocence. He could clearly see the loss of energy she'd described. The sparkle was gone and a dull light surrounded her instead. It would take a long time for all her power to come back. And she wanted to give him her blood! He wasn't proud of himself, he shouldn't have told her that he needed her blood after she agreed to do anything. It wasn't his usual style.

The daylight was hurting his eyes so he let the power he'd gathered in them go. And then it hit him. Of course! He could give her her power back. It was not hard at all, he could do with his power whatever he wanted and he would drink her blood afterwards which would make up for the loss. She would be better and he would be able to really feed again. He flashed a brilliant smile at no one in particular.

That's when Bonnie began to wake up. He knelt down next to her, still concerned about his fragile little Bonniebird. She mumbled his name questioningly.

"I'm here. I'm back." He said softly. Something inside him stirred as he saw her smile.

She woke up for real after a few more minutes. She started to push herself to a sitting position, but gave up when her arms couldn't carry the weight. She let him help her and he sat down next to her to give her some support. Her head rested against his arm, and he knew that it was because she wasn't strong enough to sit upright. If anything, she looked even worse than when he left her. He channelled energy to his eyes again and saw that he was right. There wasn't much that scared him, but the fading light of her aura did. It was a good thing he'd thought about an easy way to fix this.

"Bonnie."

"Mmm"

"This isn't good, and you know it. You're getting worse." He said.

He spoke loud enough for her to open her eyes and she looked at him a bit guiltily.

"You knew that! You knew it all along, that it would get worse." He stared at her unbelievingly.

Something defensive sparked in her eyes as she looked at him.

"Not really. My mind has been a bit clouded since I woke up. Sometimes I remembered something, about strong spells that keep draining your powers after they're done. I remembered that a few times when you were gone. During the other times I thought that my energy would come back." Having said what she wanted to say, she closed her eyes again.

"Don't go back to sleep. I'm going to fix you." Damon said. He went to sit on his knees in front of her and held her head in his hands.

"What?" She opened her eyes a bit, as if she was not sure if it was interesting enough to stay awake for.

"I said, I'm going to fix you. You don't need to do anything, I'm just giving you some of my power."

He placed his thumbs on her temples and let his energy flow into his little bird. He saw her eyes become more alert and knew that it was working. He focused on her aura, watching it glow up again as his energy poured into her. She was breathing fast but didn't stop him. He could feel it when she was fine again, and he removed his hands.

She looked completely normal again, no drooping eyes or failing strength. He was pleased and smiled at her. She looked surprised but smiled back. He couldn't help it, when he saw her like that, smiling because of him, he pulled her against him and hugged her. Sharing energy –giving energy, in this case –was like sharing blood. It made you feel delirious. So, he told himself, I have an excuse for acting like this. He didn't hold her long, just long enough to make sure she was okay with it.

"Feeling better?" He asked.

She nodded. "A lot. Thank you."

She was blushing, and Damon thought about her blood again. He could feel the veins become visible under his eyes. He heard Bonnie's heart rate pick up and looked at her.

"You can have it, my blood. You need to, if you want the curse gone, and I feel fine, honestly."

He nodded and gestured to come closer. She hesitated, but then came to stand right in front of him. He held her hair out of the way and leaned in. He felt his canines extend as his lips traced her skin, looking for the right spot. When he found it, he slid his teeth easily into her throat. She stiffened in his arms and the hand she'd placed lightly on his shirt made a fist around the fabric. He pried it loose and smoothed her fingers out while he drank. She relaxed and let out a small sigh. For the first time in weeks, he tasted something. And he didn't know if it was because of that, but she tasted like heaven. Then he decided it was just Bonnie.

He could feel her joy as he drank, and when he pulled back, he didn't release her. He saw two small droplets of blood stick to the little wounds and pressed his lips against them once more, not sure if he meant to take the blood or kiss her. If he breathed out now, it would be shakily.

When he lifted his head, she was looking at him shyly, a small smile playing around her lips.

He bend down and kissed her, softly and short, his lips lingering a little. He pressed her to his chest one more time and then stepped back.

"Let's get you home."

AN: I hope you liked it! Don't forget to review, I'll give you a cookie if you do :)