Bonnie turns to the window by her bed. She was sure she felt a presence but there was nothing, no one, only the cool wind of the dark night. She folded her arms around her middle, comforting against both the chill and the emptiness she felt. Elena was gone. She'd never see her again. At least she had some sort of comfort in knowing she wasn't completely gone. She was just in a slumber but the irony, she wouldn't wake again until Bonnie breathed her last breath on earth. Caroline, things just aren't the same anymore. Without Elena, everyone's just grown apart. Almost everyone. Damon, the last person Bonnie thought she'd come close too. The last person she'd imagine ever caring about. Her best friend. He's what keeps her together these days. Luckily, he feels the same, or else she'd be lying somewhere with her neck snapped and Elena would be there. They both love her, she guessed it's normal in these situations to cling to each other for comfort. Now Bonnie can see what Elena saw in him, how she could love him. It's hard not to see it now, now that she truly knows him, that she understands him. Now that she's looked past that armor he wears and has gotten to know the side of him Elena found.

She shuts the window and draws the curtains. Then turns to the bed. She freezes. There's a white folded paper. On the outside her name is written and instantly she recognizes the handwriting – Damon. Somehow, she knows it's nothing good or else he'd tell her in person. Damon Salvatore doesn't do the pour your heart out in writing thing – he doesn't do the pour your heart out thing at all. She opens the letter and reads:

Bon Bon,

I didn't want to have to do this in a letter but I knew if I said goodbye in person – well it would just be too hard. I've decided to join Elena – to desiccate. It will make things easier on everyone. All I do is screw things up anyways. You know that. Everyone knows Elena was the one that kept me grounded and with her gone, I'm just bad choice after bad. I hope you understand. You know I'm not much for showing emotion but I want you to know that I will miss you. I'm glad I met you and I will always remember you Bon Bon.

- Damon

She tightens her fist and crumples the letter. Her chest feels like it's been carved open and a thousand-pound weight has been sowed in. She throws herself on the bed and lets the tears fall. How could he do this? How could he just leave her? She sits up and wipes her face. Refusing to just let him go like that, she calls Enzo and persuades him to tell her where Elena's coffin was.

She finally makes it to the building and finds Damon standing outside. He's starring out into the dark night and his back is to her. In this moment, she's so angry with him. She wants to yell and tell him to disappear, to go and at the same time she feels like she's losing another part of her. She wants to throw herself at him and beg him not to go, not to leave her alone in Mystic falls in a shadow of what life once was.

"I should've killed Enzo when I had the chance," Damon says without turning to face her.

"Look at me Damon," she demands.

"You can't change my mind Bon Bon. Not about this." He doesn't turn around. "You're just making things harder."

"Harder?" She huffs. "Harder for who? For you! Because what's HARDER for me is knowing that my best friend has decided to leave me. To leave me behind and never able to talk to him again. To know I'll never see you again and you can't even face me."

"This is who I am Bonnie!" He yells. "I always do the selfish thing. I always put Damon first. Why does that surprise you now?"

"No Damon. It's not who you are. If that's true, then why am I still here. Why don't you just kill me. Bring Elena back."

"Elena wouldn't want that."

"Is that why Damon?"

No answer.

"Turn around and face me Dammit." He turns and his soul piercing eyes lock with hers. They're filled with unspoken apologies. "Why are you truly doing this Damon?" she asks, not sure why she's asking that question but somehow it feels like the right one and by the look in his eyes she can tell that it is.

"I have to."

"What about me?" she cries. "Don't you care about me at all. Don't you care about how this is hurting me."

"I love you!" He yells.

"Then don't do this. We'll get through it together. Be here for me."

"You don't understand Bonnie. It's because I love you that I have to do this."

"You're right. I don't understand."

He steps towards her with a fierce look on his face. His eyes glow with what resembles anger and she thinks he's actually going to try to kill her. He grips her shoulders and pulls her against him, her chest is pressed against his and she's looking up at him. She's waiting but not sure for what.

"I love you dammit, more than as a friend. I love you in the kind of way that feels like I'm betraying Elena."

Her heartbeat instantly increases and she admits to herself that she'd been battling the same feelings herself. But in that moment, she knows that she wants this. She needs this.

"I love you too," she whispers.

"Then you know why I have to do this."

"No this is exactly why you shouldn't."

"Elena-"

"Elena wanted you to live. She wants all of us to live. She would be happy that two of the people she cared about the most were able to have each other."

"Bon Bon."

"No. no more excuses Damon. Do what you must. But know that if you go. It's not okay. I'm not going to just miss you Damon. You will be tearing out my heart and when you wake up in sixty years with Elena, this emptiness, this hole you feel knowing your walking away from this, from us… It will still be there. You're just putting it on pause. So, think about that while you're in that coffin starving." She doesn't wait for an answer but hops in her car and drives away.

Later that night, she lays in her bed. Tossing and turning unable to sleep. Promising herself she'd waste no more tears on Damon Salvatore when she feels the presence again. She turns but no one's there. She gets up and shuts the window. When she turns back towards her bed he's standing there. He has that look in his eyes. That one she'd wanted to see for so long. The one that sparked a fire somewhere deep inside of her.

"What are you do -"

Before she finished the sentence his lips were crushed against hers. She parts her lips for him to savor between his and grips the back of his nape, kissing him back just as eagerly. He tastes so good. She wants this. She needs this. This feels so right.

"Does this feel wrong?" She asks into his mouth.

"It feels perfect." He bites her lip gently and it just drives her wild. She bites him back and he pulls away just enough to let her see his mischievous smile.

A knock at the door interrupts them. Damon backs away and Bonnie walks to answer the door. She opens it and her heart feels like it's stopped.

"Jeremy?"