The rain pelted down on the gravel, the transparent droplets hitting the minuscule stones causing them to bounce. The time was 4 am, it was dark, cold, damp and it was Christmas eve. Bonnie Bennett, a homeless girl, sat on the Manhattan Bridge thinking about the cruel mistreats of life. The rain hit her face, making little beads of water appear on her skin, her usual black wavy hair was damp and now incredibly curly. She sat there and thought about what life could have been for her whilst standing on a railing, looking out into the river, lost in thought.

She thinks of her old life, of her family..

When Bonnie was 17 she was living with her father Duncan Bennett and step mother Melissa Federico, she should have been known as a Bennett but she was classy and wanted to keep her own name. Bonnie's real mother had died in a car accident on Manhattan Bridge, it was Christmas eve and she was rushing home to see her baby girl, it was slippery, two cars collided into both sides of her car, trapping her inside she died instantly- Bonnie had been 15 when her mother died. She doesn't know the full story, all the police had told her was that her mom was dead- and that was that.

Her father, before her mother had died was a happy man, buoyant, he was the type of man to whistle everywhere, those type of dads that love you so much and they showed it way too much, to the extent where they just embarrass you; yeah he was that dad. And Bonnie loved that guy, he was fun and she kinda' missed the embarrassing dad she once had. But when Alexandra died, he just... shut down. He stopped speaking to Bonnie, the last words he ever spoke to her were

"It was all your fault, she died because of you."

And Bonnie believed those words, she didn't know why or how it had all been her fault; she just did.

They didn't speak to each other once after that, she never spoke to her step mom either, they never really acknowledged each other. After her mom's death, Melissa became the only thing important to her dad, the only thing that didn't remind him of her mother, and Bonnie was disregarded. When Bonnie was 17 she left home, she didn't know where she was going or how she was going to survive but she just knew that she needed to leave an so she did. She ran away in the middle of the night whilst her father and step-mother were out on date night. She left a voice mail for her father

"Dad... Daddy I'm so sorry" a stray tear had found it's way onto Bonnie's cheek "I'm sorry that you don't love me anymore and i'm sorry that I... can't make you happy like Melissa does." Bonnie's tone now become more fierce and confident "Dad, I know that you don' love me anymore and I know that mom's death is all my fault an-"

"Excuse me?" Bonnie was brought out of her thoughts by a deep, velvety voice.

"Hello?" The voice came again

Bonnie span around to be faced with a man with raven hair and the iciest blue eyes she had ever laid eyes on.

"Are you okay?" She felt a flush against her cheeks, his eyes had captured her, hypnotized her in a world of blue and blue. She cleared her throat ready to speak realizing how weird she must have seemed to him at that moment.

"Hi.. err yeah I'm fine... thanks"

The man let out a sigh of relief

"Goodness, I thought you couldn't speak for a moment, that would have been embarrassing" he chuckled, and Bonnie gave him a small smile.

He reached out his hand towards her "I'm Damon. Damon Emilio"

"My name is irrelevant." Damon retracted his hand in confusion

"Well, I guess, but it was the gentlemanly thing to do,am i right?" he flashed her a cute smile, that showed off his pearly white, straight teeth and light dimples.

"Right. Well, if you're done here..." Bonnie turned her back to him and went back to staring out over the bridge.

Damon stood behind her wondering how this girl wasn't humping his leg the minute she saw him as other girls did, this made him even more eager to speak to Bonnie, it's not a usual thing for him to be rejected and today wasn't going to be the start of it. He walked up beside her against the railings and stared ahead with her.

Bonnie wasn't the type of girl to think about guys like other teenage girls did, she hadn't ever thought about her Prince Charming that would come and swoop her off her feet, but she did believe in love. She didn't know what being in love felt like either but when she would see her mom and dad look at each other she could see and feel the magic of their love and she only hoped that she would find that when the time was right.

Bonnie didn't have to turn her head to know that he was there, she could feel his presence suffocating her, a full 15 minutes had passed before Bonnie spoke

"What do you want?" she said with a soft whisper, almost as if she was too tired to speak "Is it money? Is it... sex? Do you want se-"

"What?! No! I don't want sex... what would make you think that?"

Bonnie felt a little embarrassed as the heat began to rise in her cheeks. Since she'd left her home and been slumming it out on the streets of Manhattan it wasn't an unusual thing for men- not exactly her age or her type to... ask her for certain things. She'd simply just say no and run.

"If it's not money or sex, then what do you want?" Bonnie was just tired, really really tired.

Damon couldn't blame her for being weird-ed out by him- who wouldn't be when a random guy comes up to you and starts making small talk, if the roles were reversed Damon probably would have punched himself.

But he had to actually think about what she was saying, what exactly did he want, yes he likes a challenge and Bonnie was definitely a challenge, but surely if it was some action that he wanted, he could get that elsewhere, so why was he here wasting his time.

"I don't know" He kept his vision fixated on the flickering stars above them, the stars looked like they were winking at the two. In some places they were polar white and beautiful, glimmering in their heavenly position.

Bonnie turned to look at him and gave him the "what the fuck is wrong with you?" look.

Too tired to continue with the conversation Bonnie turned to her left said goodbye and began walking away.

Shit he's missed his chance.

"Wait" Damon said softly, yet just loud enough for her to hear and stop in her tracks, exasperated she turned around

"what?"

Yeah, what Damon? His hands in mid-air willing her to stop her movements

He had nothing to say, he didn't know what this connection was but it just kept tugging at him Go on say something Damon, what do you want

"Nothing... it's nothing" He dropped his hand to his side in defeat

Bonnie looked at him and she could see disappointment and confusion in his somber eyes, but she quickly dismissed it, she gave him a small smile that didn't reach her eyes and walked away.

Silently with grace and no destination, she left Damon in the same position that she had been, quiet and gazing out into the river as if there was something to find, lost in thought.