Series of firsts for Bamon.
Fire
The first time it happened she had been reeling from the loss of her Grandmother. She felt the loss so deeply, she feared she could not go on. She was so angry, she feared she would explode. And that's how he found her. Standing in a clearing in the middle of thick woods hurling expletives at the sky. Self-preservation told him to run, but he was curious to see what would happen next...he was a sadist that way, probably explained how he had readily shared Katherine's affections with his own brother.
Sensing his presence, she rounded on him with one word, 'You.'
Her eyes pierced him like twin laser beams...he was mesmerised by the depth in those orbs. Only the pain snapped him out of it. He was on fire.
'You!' This time it was a scream, followed by more fire and more pain. Yet, she didn't allow the fire to consume him wholly in order to end his life. Each time it threatened to, she pulled it back. He sensed her extraordinary power and, ironically, her helplessness. She felt helpless that she hadn't had enough knowledge to wield her power and save her Grandmother.
Soon, the anger gave way to despair and his physical pain ended only to be replaced by a worse kind of pain. She was sobbing, knees on the earth, hands clutching at her chest as if she could stop her heart from breaking. Her pain hit Damon worse than the fire and for the first time in a long time, Damon Salvatore found himself doing something good with no ulterior motive. He sat beside her and put his arms around her, smoothing them over her hair and back and without making a sound, he let her cry. After a while, she was all cried out and weary from her uncomfortable position so he shifted her onto his lap and continued to just hold her. Her head fit snugly in the crook of his neck and he caught the perfume of her shampoo, conditioner, treatment, hair polisher and a host of other hair products that he attempted to sort into smells to avoid thinking too much about how much he enjoyed the feel of her in his arms. He was so engrossed in this meaningless exercise that he almost jumped when she began to speak. She spoke in a whisper, all the energy gone from her. 'I'm so tired of being sad...of being angry. I wish I could feel something else. I just wanna feel something else.' He kissed her then, and laid her carefully on the grass and proceeded to get her to feel something other than despair.
Afterwards, as if his loving had renewed her fires, she set him on fire one last time before walking away with a parting shot, 'This changes nothing.' He understood that to mean that she still hated him and blamed him and he was in danger of being set on fire if ever in her presence.
Mellow
The first time it happened, she was learning to accept Grams' death. Largely due to her growing knowledge of all things witch-related garnered from Grams' spell book. She was getting more spiritual and knew that her Grandmother wasn't far from her. She would always live on in her. When she got this peace, she heard Grams as clear as day telling her to let go, that hate would only hurt her.
Again, he found her in the woods but this time she was meditating. A soft smile playing on her lips. No longer curious about what would happen to him if he stayed around, he made to leave but she had already sensed his presence.
'You don't have to be afraid of me,' she spoke without opening her eyes, 'I'm not gonna set you on fire again...well, not unless you deserve it.' She smiled then and he found his lips responding on their own accord to form what passed for a gentle smile for him.
'Why the sudden change of heart?' Again with the curiosity, would he never learn?
'Being angry, hateful, mean...that's not the way Grams would have wanted me to be. I'm going to be strong, like her.' She opened her eyes and pinned him with her gaze. 'Being strong means that I don't lose control of my emotions and use my powers in anger.'
'Well,' he drawled out, 'I for one am pleased with this new you.'
She laughed then and he swore it was like the sound of twinkling diamonds. He realised that he hadn't heard her laugh in too long.
'It's been awhile since you've appreciated my witty banter,' he continued.
'You're a regular comedian,' she rolled her eyes at him, 'Now, get lost I'm meditating here.' She resumed her meditation pose and closed her eyes again.
'I can meditate,' he volunteered.
'What?' It was a cross between shock and laughter with her eyes wide open. 'You can meditate?'
'Don't be so shocked little witch. I spent quite some time in China.' He sat down opposite her and assumed his meditation pose. He felt her eyes on him for a few seconds more before she shrugged and continued with her meditation.
Ten minutes in the meditation and he felt magic in the air. He cracked open an eyelid to take a peak. Bonnie was still...so still that only his vampire senses confirmed to him that she was breathing. The air warmed around them and he felt his skin responding. He hoped to...something...that she wouldn't inadvertently set him on fire. But it was worse than fire...pain he could handle, hate he could definitely handle, but what was floating in the air and worming its way inside him was something else entirely. It was the warmth of a hug from your mother after you'd fallen and skinned your knee. The warmth of being lulled to sleep while she smoothed your hair and laid a soft kiss on your temple. He felt a single tear struggling to escape from his tightly shut eyes.
'I forgive you.' It wasn't said in words, more of in feelings that continued to wrap themselves around Damon and caress him with love and acceptance. 'Everything happens in its own time.' She was telling him that it was OK for him to let go. He hadn't realised until now that he blamed himself. He had never blamed himself for anything in his life. But he had, and a part of him wanted to be punished for causing her such hurt. That's why he kept on coming to her...hoping that she would set him on fire and keep it burning until the flames obliterated him from the world.
The magic eased but the warmth was replaced by Bonnie. She held him tightly, as if afraid that he would break free from her hold and disappear. She wanted him to know that she had changed, she didn't hate him anymore and if she had changed then he could change. He wrapped his arms around her and held her just as tightly, afraid she would change her mind and he didn't want her to because her change had caused his change. They stayed that way for a long time.
Getting to Know You
The first time it happened, it had been quite a while after the hug in the woods. She hadn't seen Damon in weeks and thought it better to give him space. After all, it's not everyday that a bad-ass vampire lets down his guard. She was in the woods again...their woods and she felt his presence as she sometimes did. She knew that he watched her from the shadows, sometimes as himself and sometimes in the form of a crow. She also knew that he knew that she knew, it was a strange game they played. But, she would allow him to make the first move. So she sat, reading her Grams' grimmoire and pretending to ignore him.
She felt the movement before she heard the flutter of wings. The crow landed gently in front of her.
'Caw,' softly.
'Well, hello to you too Damon,' she replied.
'Caw?' questioningly, while his outstretched claw pointed at the grimmoire.
'What am I reading?' Bonnie had no idea how she knew what his various caws meant, but somehow she did and they talked like this the whole afternoon.
Interview with a Vampire
The first time it happened, they had been meeting regularly at their woods to talk. Bonnie as Bonnie and Damon as the crow. She figured it would take a long time to really get him to let down his guard and that was why he preferred conversing in his crow form. Well, she would wait.
She got to their woods and found an envelope waiting where she usually sat. It was addressed to her in the bold script that was Damon's.
'Wanna catch a movie?' read the first line. The slang was so incongruous with the fancy script that it shocked her for a moment. 'I hear Interview with a Vampire is showing tonight. D.' Well, that was Damon's way of asking her out on a date.
She got to the theatre with a few minutes to spare but didn't spot Damon. She purchased her ticket and some snacks and got in...she didn't want to be one of those people who walk into a movie when it's already started and disrupt the rest of the movie-goers. She sat at the back and there were a number of empty rows between her and the next person. The movie had just started when she felt his presence next to her.
'Caw,' whispered.
'Hi,' she whispered back, holding back a giggle.
'Caw?' questioningly.
'I just can't believe you asked me out on a date in crow form,' the giggle escaped but they were so far back that the rest of the audience remained undisturbed.
'Well, how did you expect me to sneak in seeing as you only bought yourself a ticket,' Damon raised an eyebrow at her, 'And who said anything about a date? This is just two people catching a movie together.'
'OK.' She conceded. 'I'd have thought you'd seen this before.'
'Not with you...on a non-date of course,' he replied.
They were silent for a while, eyes fixed on the screen.
'If you could interview me, what would you ask?' he said it softly, his eyes still firmly on the screen.
Oh, so he was ready to finally talk. She quizzed him non-stop throughout the whole movie and then afterwards while he took her home.
Declarations
The first time it happened, they were all at the boarding house. They'd been hanging out together for weeks and she'd gotten to know him pretty well...and she liked what she knew. But their relationship was not exactly public knowledge. The gang knew that they had resolved past differences in order to work together to keep Elena safe but that was as far as it went. She hadn't even breathed a word of their friendship to her best friends.
Now, here they all were, painstakingly going through volumes upon volumes of books in order to find some way to keep them all safe.
'You know what?' Stefan's voice was like a booming canon in the quiet concentration.
'Jesus! You scared the vampire out of me,' Caroline exclaimed.
'Sorry, but that's just the point,' Stefan continued, 'We've all been working so hard we hardly even rest. We're way too jumpy and that could cause mistakes.'
'He does have a point,' Elena closed the book she had been reading, 'I think we all need some R and R. I mean, it is the weekend. We can pick up where we left off on Monday.'
'I'm liking this plan,' Caroline said, loudly shutting her book, 'I'm gonna go hang out at the Grille and drool over Matt.' She took off before anybody could comment leaving Elena and Bonnie chuckling in her wake.
'I think we should drive out to the cabin,' Elena turned to Stefan.
'Good idea,' Stefan turned to Bonnie, 'Wanna come?'
'Ummm,' Bonnie was caught completely off guard and her gaze inadvertently slipped to Damon. This was not lost on Stefan. 'Actually,' she tried to cover, her brain wildly groping for a good excuse.
'She can't,' Damon lazily drawled out, 'She'll be hanging out with me.' Bonnie's eyes went wide with shock and in the ensuing silence, you could have heard a pin drop.
'Here's the thing,' Damon was on a roll now, 'Bonnie and I kind of have a thing going on.' His voice was calm, only his eyes gave away that this was more than a thing.
'OK then,' Elena stepped in before Stefan could, 'Enjoy your weekend.' She grabbed Stefan's arm and practically dragged him out of the room her eyes telling Bonnie that they'd talk about this later.
'A thing?' Bonnie asked, turning to face Damon.
'Definitely a thing,' he replied, closing the distance between them and wrapping his arms around her.
'Well, I guess we're out now,' Bonnie thought, smiling against Damon's shoulder and wrapping her arms around him.
Love
The first time it happened they were in the middle of a battle. Magic and blood and screams flying everywhere. They were winning when he caught her eye in the middle of the battle field.
'I love you,' he said and even though he was half a football field away from her, she felt like he'd whispered it in her ear.
'I love you too,' she sent her feelings to wrap around him.
After the battle, they stood in his shower letting the hot spray cleanse them. His hands followed the trail of water down her body and she shivered despite the scalding water. His lips replaced his hands and soon she was shaking as he consumed her.
'I love you,' he said it again and again and demonstrated it with actions.