Bonnie walked through the open door in the Salvatore Boarding House. She saw frightened Caroline leaning to Damon who sat motionlessly at his chair.

She had just been running when she'd decided to call Caroline. She'd had a decision to make, but one of those that wouldn't let her sleep nor eat, and even though she'd had her mind made up already, she would have appreciated some advice from her best friend.

Dropping everything for another (apparently Siren) problem was guilty relief.

"He won't wake up!" Caroline whined. She cracked her fingers at Damon's face. "What is wrong with you?"

"How long has he been like this?"

"I don't know, hours, maybe, who knows," Caroline sighed. "I was up in bed when you called, then you said you were coming, so I came down and boom, look at him. He hasn't moved an inch yet."

She leaned back to Damon and tried to find any sign of life behind those absent eyes. "What has that siren bitch done to you?" she said quietly.

In spite of their fiery beginnings, Caroline had developed a huge amount of compassion for Damon. At the end of the day, he'd been with her mother within her last moments, and she owed him for that and she owed him for saving her twins, even if it meant offering Stefan as servant to the Devil. She had also never particularly supported Elena's choice of the love of her life, but Elena's happiness was Caroline's happiness. Now she needed Damon desperately to convince Stefan to turn his humanity on; she'd promised herself she would help him.

"I'm gonna try to get inside his head."

She touched his arm.

Fire. Anguish. Sorrow. Fear. Despair. Guilt.

Pain.

Caroline screamed and jumped away from him.

"What is it, Car, what did you see?" Bonnie asked, calming her down.

"I don't know, there was so much pain and screaming..."

"Then that's what Damon's feeling. Look," Bonnie pointed at him. A tear ran down his face.

"He's in hell," Caroline realized. A few years ago, she would have happily left him burn there, she would have even brought popcorn and enjoyed the punishment. But a long while had passed and a lot of things had happened since then; if not for her, then for Bonnie she had to wake him up. Caroline knew how much Damon meant to her, even if she was too proud to admit it after his departure without any goodbye.

"Where is she? Where is Sybil? If she caused this, maybe she could fix it," Bonnie suggested.

"Shh, can you hear that?" Caroline whispered. Slight humming as if someone had been singing was coming from the basement. They didn't have to think twice to find out who it was.

Sybil was locked in the cell. Her sassy eyes and thick lips smiled even though she was under fairly miserable circumstances.

"Well," Caroline said, "looks like we have a rat in the cellar."

"Are you annoyed?" Sybil asked. "I always thought this was your resting face. Let me guess: Damon's not feeling very well."

"What did you do to him?" Caroline blazed out in anger.

"Oh, I just flipped that little humanity switch of his back on," Sybil answered innocently. "Isn't that what he wanted?"

"So why is he such a zombie now?" Caroline asked.

"Probably, he couldn't handle all the memories rushing back all at once." Sybil's voice was beautiful and annoying at the same time. And in spite of anything she said, she kept intriguing smile on her face. Bonnie was cold to her, but Caroline was straight irritated. "You know, killing all those people, killing Tyler, selling his brother's soul over to Cade... no wonder he's got emotional overrun. But don't worry, I can fix him."

Caroline gazed at Bonnie. She frowned.

"If I get what I want," Sybil added.

"How unexpected," Caroline noted.

"You're out of your mind if you think we're letting you out," Bonnie said. "You're gonna mess with our heads, too."

Sybil laughed quietly. Even tied up to a chair in a cellar, she remained on the top of things: "It's not that you have any other option, right? Unless you want a ripper spree at your wedding, caused by the groom himself because the best man can't save him from his dark self. Although," she lowered her voice. "I hear the wedding's looking kind of bleak now."

"Fine," Caroline sighed and untied her. The wedding was her soft spot: she would do anything in the world to get the real Stefan back. "What do you want?"

"You weren't kidding," the Siren said when examining the damage done in Damon's mind. "It's all flames and brimstone in here. It's going to be a bit more complicated than I expected," she admitted.

"What do you mean?" Caroline was beyond annoyed now. "You screw, you fix, simple as that."

"You're seeing only the surface," Sybil explained, "consciously, Damon believes he's in hell."

"But why?"

"He thinks it's where he belongs. So you better go inside his head and change his mind."

"We tried, remember? Didn't work so well."

"Because you didn't go deep enough. I can take you through the back door, give you a little sneak peek to his subconscious."

"Just do it," Bonnie told her impatiently.

Sybil beckoned them each to grab his hand.

Damon walked out of the door, still shattered from the hell he'd been through. He heard Bonnie's breath as she was sitting on the porch. There she was, the strongest of them all, the only one who could bring him out of the misery. She sat hugging her legs, looking somewhere into the night.

"Hey," he said as he approached her.

"Hey, stranger," she smiled and moved so Damon could sit next to her.

"Looks like I'm interrupting a reflective moment," he said, faking guiltiness in his voice.

"It's fine," she assured him. "I'm reflecting on good things for a change."

He smiled and looked down. His face showed off all his pain, his vulnerability, his fear. "Wish I could say the same thing."

"What you did while you were under Sybil's control wasn't your fault, Damon." Bonnie took his hand, cold and sweaty. Damon looked at her with grattitude in his eyes. "You didn't have a choice."

Bonnie understood what it was like to be a victim of something one couldn't influence, whether it was mind control or just the nature of a curse. She had been there herself, she had tried to kill her true love because she'd had no choice: she'd been the huntress, cursed by someone's need for vengeance because of her desire to live.

"Dear Bonnie," he started all of a sudden. "I'm a coward. I should be saying this to your face, not writing this letter but I know if I do, you'll talk me out of running away from all my problems. You're gonna make me face the future without Elena and you're gonna help make me the best man I can possibly be, same way she did. And I'm absolutely terrified of failing you both. So I'm leaving, because I'd rather let you down once than let you down for the rest of your life. And I hope it's the happiest life because you, Bonnie Bennett, are an amazing woman, a mediocre crossword puzzle player and my best friend. With great love and respect, Damon."

Bonnie wouldn't let Damon see how much the letter affected her. She was even more impressed that he'd memorized it.

"Gotta admit," she said and wiped the tears from her face, "it's a hell of a letter."

"I was such an idiot for leaving you behind," Damon said and Bonnie nodded. "Is there any chance you ever forgive me?"

"I don't know, depends," she teased him. "Are you planning to do it again?"

"Never," he said firmly, still holding her hand and now slightly pressing it to demonstrate how serious he was.

He remembered the moment she'd chosen Enzo when Sybil had controlled them to kill each other. He hadn't felt anything when his humanity had been off, but now it came, and at first the memory felt like a pinch, but now it was piercing through his heart. It made him understand what Enzo actually meant to her. He admitted to himself that he would choose Elena over Bonnie as well if he had to. However, he was not so sure whether the choice would be so obvious.

"You should go to Enzo now," he suggested.

Bonnie nodded. "Yeah."

When she got up to leave, Damon asked. "Did he ask you to become a vampire?"

Bonnie turned and looked him in his baby blue eyes. He knew what the answer was, though he wasn't present to give her any advice on that one. Or consent, at least. "I know I can't. If something happened to Elena..."

"Do you want it?" he interrupted her, demanding the answer.

"It's not an option. Even if I did, we can't risk it. Kai said clearly: no witchy jumbo mambo, no loopholes. Bad news: vampyrism is magic."

Damon frowned. He gazed absent-mindedly at his car, parked near the front door. "I'm so sorry, Bon Bon."

"It's not about me, Damon," she said. "Elena is my best friend. It's bad enough that you're stuck with me for next, I don't know, sixty years instead of being with her."

"Come on, Bon, we've been over this already."

"Well, I don't feel guilty about living my life anymore," she shrugged.

"That's good."

"But I wish Elena could be here living it with me." Her voice got lost in supressed cries. "With you."

Damon hugged her and tears on her face seeped in his t-shirt. He wished to give her the happy ending she deserved, he wished to pay her back for everything he had done to her.

"I know, Bonnie," he whispered, "I know."

"Sometimes I feel it's all my fault."

"No, no. Don't think that," Damon protested. "None of this is anyone's fault but that Gemini magic-sucker freak. You wanna blame anyone, blame him."

"He's dead," she noted.

"Burning in hell, I hope," he added.

Enzo was playing guitar by the fireplace in the living room when Bonnie came home.

"Hello, love," he greeted her as usual with his compelling voice. Bonnie hugged him from behind and kissed him on his cheek.

"What about our hell case, did he wake up?" Enzo asked, still strumming. Bonnie sat down and snuggled next to him.

"Yeah. But we're not finished," she said. "There's still a devil to kill. The Devil."

"Enzo?" she asked half-heartedly.

Enzo looked up at her. "What is it, love?"

"What if," she hesitated, "what if you could take the cure?"

Enzo stiffened. He put the guitar aside and gazed at Bonnie, both shock and confusion on his face. She would swear she saw a spark of joy in his eyes.

"I know what I'm asking you to give up. But I can't become a vampire. Not if Elena..."

"You want me to take the cure?"

"I'm not forcing you, it's just an idea." She waved her hand as if trying to make that idea go away, even though she didn't intend to sweep it off the table.

"So we would spend our fairly short human lives together and then die, side by side?"

"I thought that was what you wanted," she almost whispered. She felt so small at that moment.

"Bonnie Bennett," he started, "there is nothing in this world that I want more or that would make me happier than to grow old with you."

Bonnie's face lighted up and showed all her teeth in a big smile. She wrapped her arms around Enzo's neck and kissed him. She had no idea she had so enormous capacity for love and passion. Each time she thought she couldn't love him any more, he made her move the line even further.

"Does Damon agree with this?" Enzo asked.

Bonnie was silent. Obviously, Damon wanted to be the one to take the cure from Elena, and probably only from Elena.

"You haven't told him."

"Yet," Bonnie protested. "Why wouldn't we do something we want for once? Why couldn't we be the selfish ones? I won't ask Damon for his approval of my happiness."

"Oh, Bonnie Bennett, that's the spirit, that's the woman I love."

Enzo pulled her closer. Their lips drew together again. It was beyond his comprehension how he deserved to be a partner to this incredible woman. He was the lucky man. Not even eternity with her would be enough; taking the cure and dying next to her was an honour because it meant he would for a fact spend the rest of his life with her. It was their own forever, however limited it was by their mortality.