ONE YEAR AGO

That had been unexpected.

Though if Bonnie were being completely honest with herself, it really hadn't been that unexpected at all. Ever since their New Year's Eve dance almost six months ago, she couldn't seem to stop thinking about that moment when she thought he might have kissed her. She'd have been lying to herself if she denied the prick of regret that knifed through her when he'd placed a chaste peck on her cheek instead before disappearing through the door.

He hadn't disappointed her tonight, however. Looking down at the dark eyes of the black-haired vampire in her arms, Bonnie let her lips stretch into a loopy grin. "You're a great teacher."

Enzo seemed amused by her reference to his half-hearted attempt to improve her playing before they'd found more interesting things to occupy their time. "Glad to be of help, love."

She felt a delicious shiver as the endearment that had irritated her for so long rolled off his tongue, producing quite a different effect on her now than in the past. Sighing contentedly, she let her head drop sleepily to his now bare shoulder.

They hadn't moved from the couch after their lovemaking, both lying stark naked with each other while basking in the glow of her carefully built fire. She was in no hurry to move, and it seemed he wasn't either. She felt him move his lips to her forehead, placing a soft kiss there before working their way down the side of her face back to her mouth.

"I've missed you." He murmured the words between sensual kisses before latching firmly onto her lips and robbing her of the opportunity to answer.

She kissed him back, basking in the warmth of his admission before pulling away to give one of her own. "I'm glad you're with me."

She pulled back slightly, gazing at his face lovingly before tracing her fingers over his left hand, fiddling with the two rings decorating his fingers.

"I'm happy when you're with me." She kept her eyes trained on the shiny metal against his skin as she admitted this, almost too afraid to see his reaction to the words. Almost immediately, he moved his other hand to cover her wandering fingers and waited to answer until her gaze moved back to his.

Once their eyes locked again, he graced her with a smile that was equal parts adoration and hunger. "Right here, in this moment, I think I'm the happiest I've ever been in the last one hundred years. You do something to me, Bonnie Bennett."

"Something good I hope," she answered with a mischievous grin before reaching down to see just how happy he was. He surprised her by reaching out to still her movements.

She pressed her brows together in confusion when he stopped her and looked back up to his handsome face to find him pulling her hand up and placing a warm kiss on the center of her palm.

He kept his mouth pressed there, tickling the sensitive skin at her palm with his playful nuzzling. "I'm fully aware that this may send you running for the hills, but I'm still going to say it. I love you."

Though the words were muffled by her hand against his mouth, she still heard them clearly, and a pleasant sensation warmed her from the inside out, even more than the blazing fire beside them. Instead of panicking like he expected her to do, she found herself smiling even more widely than before, but she wasn't ready to admit her feelings as easily as he had. "You've been in love before," she reminded him gently of his affairs in the past that had ended pretty badly.

He sat up then, bringing them closer as his eyes fastened to hers and their breath mingled together. "That wasn't love."

"How do you know?" she asked breathlessly, her eyes dipping down to the mouth that was so close to hers. It took a hell of a lot of concentration to actually listen to what he was saying, but she forced herself to focus.

"I was always too afraid to stay," he whispered, moving his mouth directly next to hers so she felt the confession as well as heard it. "I was either compelling them to forget me or running away. If any one tried to take you from me, I'd rip their heart out without a second thought. I won't leave you, Bonnie. I don't think I could if I wanted to."

Considering her recent pain over being abandoned, Enzo knew just how much the sentiment would mean to her. The joy he saw in her eyes proved he was right. "I know you won't." The shimmer of tears in her eyes reflected the glow of the fire as she looked at him with the same emotions he was feeling. "That's why I love you too."

After her confession, he looked almost incandescently happy before his eyes took on the teasing glint she was so used to seeing there. "Then show me."

She let out a laugh full of joy and love before doing just that.

PRESENT DAY

Just as soon as their reluctant audience of one had left, Enzo felt the playful teasing in his eyes slip just the slightest bit. He had been trying his damnedest to act as if the woman he loved with all his heart weren't a mere seven days from taking her last breath when all he really he wanted was to tear someone - anyone - apart to help ease the pain and guilt that was eating him up inside.

Ever since he'd learned that he was the one who had caused all of this, out of a misguided attempt to shield Bonnie from the armory, he had barely been able to look at her without a feeling of self-loathing replacing the look of confidence in his eyes. Falling apart now wouldn't help either of them.

With these thoughts running through his head, he looked up at her face from his vantage point in her lap and saw the absent look in her eyes as she gazed at the fire. Before he had time to shield the feelings on his face, she looked down and the absent look was quickly replaced by one of concern.

He tried to return to the carefree flirting from before, but it was too late now. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing," he lied, sitting up and swinging his legs off the side of the couch as he settled in next to her. The guitar was placed to the side, forgotten as he dwelled on the dark thoughts in his head.

Bonnie reached out and forced his face to turn towards her. "Hey, you can tell me anything. You know that. Is it what Damon said before? You know I don't blame you for all this, and Damon just likes to make everyone else around him as miserable as he is."

"I blame myself." Enzo shook his head and turned away as he remembered Damon's hateful words from earlier that day. The worst thing about hearing the other vampire's accusations was knowing that they were true. This was all his fault, and he couldn't ignore that. "I was trying to protect you, but all I've succeeded in doing is making everything worse."

Bonnie left her seat on the couch and kneeled down in front of him, forcing him to look her in the eyes whether he wanted to or not. "Can you maybe stop your little pity party long enough to hear what I think?"

He frowned at her joking while he was torn up inside over what he'd done to her. How could she not hate him as much as he hated himself? "Don't do that," she said sharply as if reading his thoughts. "I know why you gave me those pills. You were trying to protect me. Yeah, it turned out to be something horrible, but you had no way of knowing that. We had no way of knowing it."

"I should have seen it," he stopped her, not wanting to hear any more excuses for what he had done.

"You protected me!" She shouted the words at him, trying to convince him of how she saw things. "No don't speak."

She reached out her hand to cover his mouth when she saw he was about to argue and kept going in order to finish her thoughts. "I'm dying. There's no undoing that." She ignored the pain in his eyes at that but kept talking. "You were there for me, Enzo. You were there. I would have probably been dead already if not for you. When I lost my best friend, and I was all alone, you were there. I love you for that. I love you more than I've loved anyone in my life, and I can't have you abandoning me now because you feel guilty. I could die, and if I do, I want to do it by your side, with you fighting for me, not drowning in self pity. I fell in love the man who promised never to abandon me. So don't abandon me now. I need you now more than I ever have before."

"I won't leave you," he assured her, squeezing her hands in his to an almost painful degree, but neither of them noticed.

"Then don't," she demanded as she lifted up on her knees to bring his mouth to hers, pressing her lips to his in a desperate kiss that pleaded with him to stay with her. She knew he would never physically abandon her, but she couldn't have him treating her like some delicate thing that might break if he were too careless. She wanted the Enzo who loved her without limit, worshipped her body like he would cease to exist if they weren't in each other's arms.

He wrapped those arms around her then and lifted her before marching them both to the bedroom where they wouldn't be interrupted. "I won't leave you, Bonnie Bennett." He repeated the words as he slammed the door shut behind them. If he couldn't keep his promise to keep her alive, a thought he refused to even consider for more then a second, then he would make damn sure she knew how much she meant to him.

As they fell into the bed together, he kept that thought in his heart and mind. This woman was worth fighting for, and he would do everything in his power to do just that.