Need

A/N: So this one-shot was originally a RP SL I did with Julie (hopelessdream2005) on twitter. I wanted to adapt it into a fic because I loved it so much. So this fic is pretty much co-written with her lol. Most of Damon's dialogue is hers and she gets half of the credit for the general idea and story. I did tweak the ending from the RP SL a bit so that it can stand alone as a one-shot. Takes place sometime after Midnight where Damon and Bonnie are in a official relationship.

Damon

It didn't take long at all to figure out the reason that his little brother had been suddenly trying to contact them.

The elder Salvatore brother's gaze shifted towards the front door of the apartment after hearing it fly open in a surprisingly harsh manner and caught the sight of his little redbird stepping into the apartment. There was...something very obviously wrong if the look on her face was anything to go by. More often than not, Damon found her kind of endearing when she was angry...like a kitten trying to be a lion, but there was a very clear level of distress in her warm brown eyes this time.

But before he could even begin to ask her what was wrong she answered his unspoken question.

"Damon...why did you ask Stefan to spy on me and Bastian?"

The vampire had to fight the urge to suppress the scowl that threatened to cross his lips. It seemed that his little brother couldn't even keep the simplest of secrets.

He wasted no time in responding. "Because I don't trust him, redbird." He then sighed in a very frustrated huff before continuing. "You weren't supposed to ever find out. Did Stefan tell you?"

Bonnie stepped further into the apartment they shared, her eyes flashing even more in uncharacteristic fury. "No...well, not at first. I...Elena told me about it first and then I confronted Stefan. I guess he felt too guilty about lying to me. I...I don't understand. I told you that I don't have any feelings for Bastian. Do you not trust me?"

Damon was almost ready to crumble and simply apologize when he saw the very clearly hurt look on her face as she asked the question. But in the end, he stood his ground. She was missing the whole point entirely anyway.

"I told you, Bonnie, this has nothing to do with whether or not I trust you. It's him I don't trust. And frankly, I don't understand why you're reacting this way. It was for your safety, after all."

Since the moment he had met the Bastian boy, he had felt something very off about him. And it wasn't just because he had a very clear desire for his little redbird (although, the fact that the boy had the gull to continue flirting with Bonnie knowing she was in a relationship certainly didn't help). No, there was something different...and possibly dangerous. The way he looked at Bonnie at times seemed more like a predator eyeing his potential prey than it did a boy simply gazing at his little crush. But every time Damon brought up his suspicions, Bonnie would brush them off, claiming that it was only because he was jealous. She had given him no other choice but to ask Stefan to watch over her while she was at school.

For a moment, Bonnie said nothing. But he had a feeling that he knew what was coming because of the almost...surprised look on her face.

"You...you don't understand why i'm mad? At all? Damon, I told you that I was tired of everyone treating me like a child!"

Now she was beginning to scream at him. Damon felt a slight urge to yell back at her with the frustration he was currently but he fought against it, not wanting to raise his voice against her under any circumstances. He just didn't understand why she was being so...unreasonable. It wasn't like her to get this explosively angry without even considering what he had to say.

Forcing his voice to maintain a relatively calm tone, he continued. "Why are you being like this? Is it so terrible that I want to keep you safe? If you're asking me to say that I regret asking my little brother to watch over you, you won't be getting your wish. I will never regret wanting you to be safe."

He saw her hastily begin to fumble around with her cellphone before she replied, but he was far too focused on the argument at hand to be interested enough to ask her what she was doing. When her gaze eventually returned to face him, he saw no upcoming signs of surrender in her expression.

"Of course. Because Damon Salvatore is always right. You never do anything wrong, right?" He saw tears beginning to leak from her pretty eyes and down her pale cheeks. Despite his current anger, he had the burning instinct to wrap his arms around her and somehow comfort her, but he highly doubted that she would welcome such a gesture. "You're supposed to be my boyfriend. Not my father."

"I am your boyfriend, Bonnie. And it's because I am your boyfriend, because I love you, that I worry about you. You can't ask me not to worry about you, because as long as I exist, I will always want to keep you safe. There are things out there that could easily hurt you and I can't let that happen."

Those string of words were actually able to render her speechless for a few moments. He hoped that the pause meant she was considering what he was saying and was possibly coming to understand his side of the conflict. However, every ounce of optimism he felt immediately vanished upon hearing what she eventually had to say next.

"I love you too Damon, but you don't respect me. I...I know that now." She paused in order to wipe away some of the tears that had fallen down her cheeks before continuing. "What about Elena? If you were with Elena right now, would you be treating her this way too?"

The vampire felt a pang of hurt at the jab about him not respecting her but quickly brushed it off in order to reign in his response, allowing his voice to raise this time. "I don't give a damn about Elena! But if I did, then yes, I would. Because the fact of the matter is, whether you like it or not, you are human. Yes you are able to protect yourself from certain things but...you are far from unbreakable."

He allowed a hint of vulnerability to seep into his voice at that last sentence, but he was too emotionally drained to really care. It caused Bonnie to hinder in her speech, her eyes gazing into his in an almost desperate fashion, as if she was fighting hard to figure him out.

For a few moments, it looked as though they had finally reached a catalyst to the end of their argument...that is, until her phone made an ominous beeping noise, signaling the arrival of a new text. The little redhead opened the phone up to gaze at the message for a moment, before she looked sadly up at him.

"That was Meredith. I...asked her to come pick me up so I can have some time away from here to think. I'll be back later tonight."

And then, she was gone...going out the front door and leaving him alone in an apartment that suddenly felt really cold without her presence. He didn't try to go after her, knowing that it more than likely wouldn't do any good in this point and time.

At first, he felt the desire to call up his little brother and give him a piece of his mind but in the end, he decided against it. This wasn't Stefan's fault. It was his. He always managed to somehow mess up the good things that happened in his life. He had no one but himself to blame for this mess.

Letting out a low sigh of defeat, the vampire turned to head further into the apartment, eventually stepping into the kitchen and opening up the cupboard that contained his stash of Black Magic Wine. If he was going to spend the evening alone, he might as well do it while intoxicated. It was easier that way.

And so he drank...and drank. Until he reached that very goal.

Bonnie

After only about five hours passed since she fled the apartment, Bonnie gave in and asked Meredith to drive her home.

She couldn't help but feel a bit nervous. After all, she and Damon had a...fight before she left. For the first time ever! And he had even gotten angry enough to start raising his voice against her near the end of it...which was something he had never done before. She knew that she had yelled at him first but...she had just been so angry! And she hadn't been able to believe how stubborn he was being...refusing to acknowledge the reason she was upset.

But she was now ready to talk to him again...and hopefully fix things. She hated the feeling of fighting with him.

"Damon?" She called out as she entered their apartment, glancing around the area quickly. He was nowhere in sight in the kitchen and he didn't respond to her call. Had he gone upstairs?

"Damon?" She repeated once more as she stepped further into the apartment, eventually entering the living room. "Damon, I..."

She stopped in her tracks when she felt the crunch of breaking glass under her shoes and glanced down, realizing that there was a broken bottle smashed onto the floor. What on earth had happened here?

Her question was answered when she heard a slurry voice call out to her from the darkness of the living room. "Well...what do you know! The little redbird has returned to her nest!"

Bonnie turned in the direction that she had heard the voice come from, seeing him lounging lazily against the couch, clearly distraught. It was very obvious to her that he had been drinking. She stepped further into the living room, eventually standing in front of him. "Of course I came back. I told you that I was going to come back eventually. I...Damon, are you okay?"

The vampire sat up, stumbling slightly as he faced her head on before regaining his balance, his mind clearly spinning. "That depends on which one of you is asking...you or your twin?"

Bonnie frowned. "Damon, I don't have a twin. Just...please try to focus, okay? I think we need to talk." She knew that trying to talk to him while he was intoxicated might not be the best idea, but she hated the feeling of being at odds with him and wanted it gone as soon as possible. She didn't think she could wait until morning. She stepped even closer to him and placed a gentle hand on his cheek. "Please?" She repeated.

A small smile crossed the vampire's lips at her motion of touching his cheek, and swiftly, before she had time to react to it, he gently pulled her into his arms, sitting her in his lap as he buried his face into her curls. "Don't leave me little bird. I couldn't bear it if I lost you too."

Bonnie practically felt her heart shatter at hearing those words from him. She had know idea that he had been this vulnerable when she had fled the apartment. "Oh Damon." She buried herself even further into his embrace, kissing his jawline. "I will never leave you completely. I...was just mad today and needed some space to think, that's all."

A sigh slipped through his lips...one that actually sounded kind of frustrated. But before Bonnie could say a word about it, he parted from her slightly, allowing her to look him in the eyes.

"I meant that I can't not worry about you. No matter what you do, i'm always going to be concerned about your well-being. My mother...she was a strong lady and yet, she died so easily. I know that you're strong...so strong, but there are some things that you just can't win against. And I can't lose you. I don't want to and I wouldn't survive that."

At the end of his emotional outburst, Bonnie could only stare at him for a few moments...her heart pounding and her chest filled with sorrow at just how...anguish he sounded.

"Damon," she began softly, as if she were speaking to a frightened child. "I...the only reason I got mad was because you went behind my back and asked Stefan to watch me. Why didn't you just explain to me why you were worried?"

Damon grumbled. "Because you insist on doing everything on your own. If I had told you, you would have argued with me and accused me of simply being jealous. I'm not like one of your friends who believe that you can't take care of yourself...I know you can. But as all humans, you can't win against everything. I wish you would understand that."

Bonnie took one of his hands into hers delicately. "I'm sorry. I just...I get defensive sometimes because i'm so used to people viewing me as a child. But I...how about this? If you promise not to keep secrets from me anymore, i'll promise to listen to always listen to you when you're worried about something."

She really hoped he would agree to those terms. If there was one thing she learned from this experience, it was that she hated fighting with him. And she just wanted this one to end.

To her relief, Damon managed a small smile in her direction. "Deal. And just so you know, both you and your twin are very much beautiful young women in my eyes."

Bonnie giggled, both in flattery and at his silliness. She had gotten so lost in the conversation that she had nearly forgotten that he was currently drunk. "Good. Now, let's go to bed." She glanced at the looming staircase warily for a few seconds before biting her lip nervously. "Do you think you can walk up there?"

"I'm not sure..." Damon attempted to stand up onto his feet, almost immediately falling back on the couch with a low groan. "Perhaps I should wait a while..."

Bonnie frowned in thought, trying to think of some sort of solution to the problem. She didn't think that trying to help him up the stairs was a good idea, since she was so small and would be unable to stop him from falling. But maybe...

A small smile crossed the little redhead's lips as she formed an idea. "I'll be right back," she said to Damon cheerfully before speeding off up the stairs. Once in their bedroom, she grabbed a bundle of blankets and pillows, carrying as much as she could in her arms before she slowly trudged her way back downstairs.

"Since you can't walk up to the bed, i'll just bring the bed to you," she explained, using the blankets and pillows to form a makeshift bed on the living room floor. "I wouldn't mind spending a night out here with you."

She peered at Damon's face to gauge his expression and felt a sense of relief when a very small grin crossed his lips. "How did I ever get so lucky?" He murmured, walking over to lay down onto the blanket bed, gently enveloping his arms around her small frame and pulling her along with him.

As they cuddled into each other, Bonnie let out a soft giggle. If Damon was going to be this affectionate while drunk, maybe it should happen a little more often.

"I'm the lucky one," Bonnie stated, gently running her fingers through his dark hair. "I have a boyfriend who loves me and protects me." She paused, briefly thinking over her next words. "I'm really glad that we aren't fighting anymore. I still don't really understand why you hate Bastian so much but we can talk about it tomorrow. And...i'll listen to you this time. I promise."

"I can tell you why I don't like Brandon now," Damon mumbled, peering directly into her eyes.

"Um...okay." Bonnie conceded, despite her doubt that he would be able to properly answer while he was in his current state of mind. "Why don't you like him?"

"I don't like Brandon because he's the big bad wolf trying to steal my redbird away. But I won't let him."

Bonnie shook her head, an amused smile on her lips. "This is why I wanted to wait until morning to talk about it." She scooted closer to him, planting a kiss on his jaw. "But you also don't have to worry about that. I only love you."

A peaceful look crossed the vampire's face before he leaned forward a small fraction and planted a kiss on her forehead. "Promise me that whenever you go somewhere you will fly back to your nest, here with me."

She smiled at the feeling of his cool lips pressing to her forehead. "Of course I promise Damon. You're my...home." Bonnie's eyes misted over with a small amount of tears as she realized just how true her words were. "Besides...I can't see myself ever going too far from you anyway."

The two of them eventually lapsed into a harmonious silence after that, falling asleep in each others' arms.

Damon

Damon woke up to the smell of pancakes.

The vampire let out a groan as he sat up from where he had been lying, which, for whatever reason, turned out to be a pile of blankets on the living room floor.

It didn't take too long after that for the memories to start coming back to him. The Black Magic wine, the makeshift blanket bed, and the way he had all but bared his soul to Bonnie last night...

"Morning," Bonnie's cheery voice chirped as she stepped into the living room, a plate of pancakes in her hands. Her brown eyed widened in concern as she regarded him, sitting down on the couch. "Are you okay Damon?"

Normally he would wake her up with breakfast rather than her making herself some on her own, but he supposed it had taken him longer than usual to wake up this morning. Clearing his throat, he nodded. "Yes. I apologize for my behavior last night, redbird. It wasn't very practical of me..."

"It's okay," Bonnie insisted, a light blush on her cheeks. "You were acting a little strange but...we actually worked some things out last night." She bit her lip before continuing. "Do you remember anything?" There was an expression of hope on her face as she asked the question.

"Yes I do," he eventually replied honestly. "However..."

"It's fine Damon, really." Bonnie discarded her plate of half-eaten pancakes in order to place herself on the floor beside him, engulfing him in a hug. "I don't care that you got a little drunk. I'm just happy that we aren't fighting anymore. I didn't like it."

After a very brief hesitation, Damon returned the embrace, managing a small smile of his own without her knowledge. "I suppose we have one thing in common right now then."

His little redbird remained in his arms for a moment longer before slowly disengaging herself, seeming rather reluctant about it. "I'm glad."

It was then that Damon glanced at the clock and realized what time it was. "You should finish your breakfast, redbird. Your first class starts in under an hour from now doesn't it?"

He still believed that her college classes were an unnecessary hindrance. He could give her anything she wanted and more, after all. But she insisted on continuing them, wanting to achieve some sort of career for herself. He made himself bare the slight annoyance for her happiness.

Bonnie shook her head, a bright smile on her lips. "No I don't. I...only had one class today and I sort of called in sick. I wanted some time to spend with you now that we've made up," she explained, blushing lightly. "As long as that's okay with you of course."

Damon flashed her an amused look in return. "Lying by calling in sick...pffft. My naughty little redbird," he said with a light chuckle, pulling her gently into his arms and planting a kiss on her lips, wordlessly answering her question.

The End