Damon has the urge at night to go to Bonnie's house and stay in her room while she sleeps.

Bonnie felt a chill and stirred in her sleep. She was finally able to sleep at night after being back for a few months. It's been unusually quiet lately, not that she would complain. She took things harder than the others. She got depressed and shut people out. Sure, she was full of forgiveness and compassion but she's the most sensitive and it took time to adjust to things.

On this night, the night of what she thought would be her first night of real rest; she sensed something and her eyes flew open. She sat up from her bed and looked around her dark room. She closed her eyes for a second and opened them to all of the candles in her room lit. With better lighting, she scanned her room and focused on her open window. Did she leave it open before bed? It seemed unlikely.

"I'm going crazy." She shook her head at herself before rolling out of bed to close and lock her window.

As she reached for the window and dark figure appeared. She screamed.

"Hey, hey! It's me. It's Damon." Damon climbed through her window and raised his hands in surrender. Bonnie had enough power to hurt him however she wanted. He would deserve it but he'll try to avoid a Bennett head blasting anyway.

"What are you doing here?" Bonnie caught her breath. She might like Damon in her own controlled and quiet way but that didn't give him the right to scare the life she just got back out of her body.

"Just visiting?"

"Damon," Bonnie's voice was hard and distant, sort of the opposite of the tone Damon came for.

Damon looked the short witch up and down. Getting Bonnie back had taken everything in him and all that was left was a feeling he was losing control over. He couldn't talk about it to anyone and the person he did want to talk to, he'd been too afraid to. He kept telling himself to go back to how things were but it was killing him. "OK, I come sometimes to check on you." It was an honest confession, and Damon hated those.

"You've done this more than once?!" Bonnie yelled, after a moment to take in Damon's words.

"You see I... I have this tic." Damon continued.

"A tic?"

Damon took a deep breath; he didn't do honesty as well as his brother. He was better at pretending, better at pouring out his soul to compelled girls who will eventually die or forget their time with him anyway. He was better at being selfish. He was better at Elena, he loved her, and it was probably the only good thing about him. "I have this feeling that you'll die alone... die without me, without help. And suddenly I'm in front of your house... and in your bedroom."

Bonnie stared at the blue eyed man for a long time. "You're... a creep." She said with the faintest smile on her lips. Damon had the oddest ways of expressing feelings. He was worried about her and it wasn't a terrible thing.

"If there's a spell to end this feeling, I'm all yours," Damon whispered. He tried stopping more than once. The more he resisted the harder it got to control. He selfishly told Elena once that if boiled down to her or Bonnie, he'd choose Elena every time. Things were different now though. Bonnie mattered now. She meant something to him, enough that he knew he wouldn't be about to choose which he'd want to save first, or sacrifice his life for. He owed Bonnie a thousand lifetimes.

"You can't be here to protect me forever." Bonnie said, her voice was low and soft. She was exhausted and this conversation held more depth than her sleep deprived head could fathom.

"I can give it a shot." Damon responded quickly. A thousand lifetimes, his life was hers now and she didn't even know it.

She nodded. It wasn't the time for them and this subject. Not in the middle of the night, in this darkness, they wouldn't talk about this. "Remind me... do vampires sleep?" She turned to fuss around her bed.

"Sure we do." Damon heard the change in Bonnie's heartbeat as he spoke. He wanted to push it, thinking he wouldn't get over stalking her until the both of them understood what exactly had changed between them.

"Then go to sleep!" She throws a pillow and a blanket to him. "On the couch!"

Damon smiled a bit. She was allowing him to stay which suited him just fine.

Bonnie, with a vampire downstairs bent on protecting her, fell back asleep quickly and deeply. They had spent so much time together on the other side that it was another adjustment not having Damon so close to her. But she knew that's what life was, changing and adjusting and dealing with the demons that go bump in the night. This was her life now. It was of the life of her and everyone she cared for.

The sun rose and Bonnie felt that it was particularly bright as it shone through her window. Last night felt like a dream to her. She looked over to her window, it was still open. She hopped out of bed to shut the window before she had a change of her and opened it wide. She smiled has a cool breeze rolled by, blowing her hair out of her face and away in all sorts of directions.

Suddenly in a good mood, she skipped down the stairs, smelling pancakes as she made her way to the kitchen. She stopped short upon seeing Damon. Last night wasn't a dream after all.

Damon made her pancakes and placed a plate of them on the table. "Here, eat."

Bonnie couldn't stop the smile that spread across her face. "You don't have to do this you know. You're not stuck with me anymore."

"I'm here because I want to be. Believe or not, I've gotten even better at this."

"I believe you." She dug into her pancakes. He was right, they were better than what she remembered.

"Can we have this… for a while?"

"Breakfast?" She asked, a bit confused.

"No," Damon breathed. "There's more people better for you than me for it… but I'm going to be with you. I'm going to be there for you for anything."

The conversation they had earlier filled her head. Damon was serious.

"You should know that you don't have to promise me anything. As small as I am, I'm stronger than you are. I can help myself." She spoke with conviction.

"You're still human Bonnie so I'm yours anyway." The mere thought of Bonnie dying, for anyone, for any reason, made him want to lock her up somewhere.

"Your Elena's, Damon. Not mine." She spoke the truth and he knew it. She offered him a smile. "Let's promise to protect each other instead." She put out her hand and Damon shook it.

"Promise." He smiled; it was oddly warm and genuine. It was the kind of smile that rarely crossed his face.

"And thank you… for the pancakes."

"My pleasure."