A/N: I know I'm supposed to be working on Think Twice, but this Stefonnie idea popped up in my head and I felt motivated to get it out all on paper. For the purpose of this fic I changed the time where Stefan found out about Delena's kiss, so here it happens before Bonnie is reunited with her mom. Just read to find out why. But I hope you enjoy it! Thanks for reading!

Disclaimer: These characters are the creative property of LJ Smith and The CW. No copyright infringement is intended.

Night…

Some would consider this pagan territory, a lynching site, but to Stefan Salvatore it was just another place to concoct diabolical schemes that never seem to work in his favor. For every good plan there were a million little failures all around. He began to count them off in his head like dominos falling. Being Klaus' henchmen over the summer—check. Pushing away Elena in a desperate attempt to save her life—check. Losing Elena's love and respect—check. Becoming the town leper-check. Getting even with an old as dirt Original—check. Finding out his brother kissed his girl—priceless.

He sighed heavily as he walked the familiar path to the once grand mansion that sat on the outskirts of town. Parked adjacent to the house in the overgrown lot was Bonnie's clean as a whistle Prius. She better have good news for summoning him here in the dead of night or…he'd figure that part out later. His brain was slowly dissolving into mush in figuring out clever ways to stall Klaus and hold up his Bad-Stefan facade.

Stefan threw open the door with no impediments. The dead witches liked him because he was willing to do whatever it took to get rid of nature's number one abomination. Suddenly he had a flashback of when Damon came here with his chest all puffed out demanding answers to questions he should have asked himself a long time ago. That was funny to sit back and watch his brother throw his body around to avoid being made extra crispy by the rays of sunlight that filtered in.

But Stefan recalled hearing Elena and Damon's conversation as they walked towards the mansion. They honestly believed that Stefan had turned into Darth Vader overnight with no clear reason or explanation, and felt totally justified in treating him as enemy number one. It was hard explaining things to those with an infantile attention span. How was it they so easily forgot the many times he put his life in danger for the both of them, and this was how they decided to show their gratitude?

By making out with one another on her freaking front porch!

Stefan may have been passive aggressive way back when, but he was a man of action now.

The floorboards protested loudly against his weight as he headed to the basement of the witches' house. The smell of candle wax was heavy in the air, factor in the smell of rot and decay, catching a hint of Bonnie's summery perfume was a much welcomed relief to his hypersensitive senses.

She stood with her back to him as she looked over each individual coffin as if doing inventory to make sure they were all accounted for. The one that was turning out to be a bitch to open still remained on its dais, but from the looks of it, Bonnie hadn't asked him to come here to show him the fruits of her labor.

He sighed again.

"Bonnie?"

She didn't jump when Stefan spoke her name. Bonnie merely turned around and faced him. He looked tired and exhausted and more than ready to give up, but the one thing she learned about Stefan in the two years she's known him was that he wasn't a quitter.

Her face was pinched which meant he was two seconds from being chewed out. Stefan ran a frustrated hand through his perfectly styled hair, the action causing his leather sleeve to crinkle nosily in the silent air.

"You were out of line, Stefan," she began without preamble.

Stefan had done so many out of line things this week it was hard for him to pinpoint what exactly she might be upset about. He shifted his weight to his left foot and stared—more like glared at her.

"You've lost me," he said. "You're going to have to refresh my memory because it's been a busy week."

Bonnie scoffed and folded her arms over her chest. "You're right about that so I'll get straight to the point. Do you remember Caroline's birthday? Punching out Matt and kidnapping Elena, forcing your blood into her, and then threatening to turn her into a vampire if Klaus didn't agree to ship his hybrids out of here? And oh, almost driving her off the same bridge that killed her parents," Bonnie shook her head as if someone just asked her to explain particle/wave duality. "That's why I wanted to talk to you. You're out of control!"

Inside Stefan felt his organs move but he kept his face notably blank. "I needed to get his hybrids out of here and that was the only solution I could think of to get him to act."

"And I want Klaus gone as much as the next person but I'm not going to threaten the life of someone I claim to care about to see that it happens. That was overboard, even for you, Stefan, and that wasn't the Stefan I agreed to help."

He pinched the bridge of his nose. "I was calling his bluff. I had no intention of killing Elena."

"I don't think you really believe that. If Klaus refused you would have done the same thing Damon tried to do when all this stuff started. You would have taken her choice away."

"Did Elena put you up to this?" he asked impatiently.

"No, she has no idea that I'm here."

"I'm surprised since you couldn't seem to keep your mouth shut when I initially came to you asking—,"

Bonnie held up a hand, cutting him off. "You didn't ask for a damn thing, Stefan. You told me to find a way to hide the coffins because I hate Klaus."

"Okay, fine semantics," he attempted to brush off the facts as they appeared. "I left the choice entirely up to you and you agreed."

She nodded her head. Stefan could understand where Bonnie's anger was coming from. She was essentially putting her life at risk in helping him keep Klaus' family away from him. If the man ever decided to corner her one day, Stefan figured Bonnie would fold simply because she wouldn't want to see anyone else she cared about get hurt. Yet his recklessness was the catalyst for some of the measures Klaus took in showing how ruthless he could be when things didn't go his way.

Alaric getting hit by a car ring any bells? The target had initially been Jeremy, but Alaric—Mystic Falls' own dark knight pushed the boy out of the way. Yet Jeremy had all of a sudden grown a pair and made that same hybrid who ran over Alaric, a head shorter. Honestly that was the only time Stefan could admit to being proud of Jeremy. It lasted for all of a hot second because in the next minute he was shipped off to Denver.

Oh well, one less crybaby to worry about.

"It was my choice, but I won't help someone who's going to willfully endanger not only my life but the people around me. This has got to stop. And if you don't get yourself together you're going to lose everything."

Stefan rolled his eyes. "Oh, please. Elena will forgive me eventually because that's what she does. I mean look, she forgave Damon and he snapped her brother's neck right in front of her. Flash forward a few months and she kisses him."

Bonnie's eyes widened a bit at the bomb Stefan just dropped. She knew about the kiss but she wasn't sure if Elena had any plans to share that tidbit of information with Stefan. Apparently she had.

"You know about that?"

Stefan could only nod his head.

Bonnie shifted a little on her feet. She felt a weird sense of morbid curiosity flash through her. "So what did you do?"

Stefan hunched a shoulder and stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "I pimp smacked Damon."

She wanted to give him a high-five, she really did but asked instead, "Was there blood?"

"Unfortunately, no. But I did leave a nice little shiner on his cheek that made him look like he was wearing blush."

Softly Bonnie said, "To be a fly on the wall in that room." But then she resumed her focus. "That's not the point. The point I'm trying to make is the fact you need to find your integrity again because at the rate you're going you'd be willing to sacrifice every life in this town to stick it to Klaus, and I'm not going to let you do that."

Upon hearing the thinly veiled threat, Stefan's bluish-gray eyes darkened and became almost sinister. He began to approach Bonnie like a lion hunting, looking for weak and unsuspecting prey.

"Oh, yeah and just how are you going to stop me? For all your witchy bravado you aren't nearly ruthless enough to do what is necessary to stop me. You can kill me right now."

And to put her words to the test, Stefan spotted a chair not too far from him, kicked it over, snapped off a leg, and offered the piece to Bonnie. The witch in question stared at it, then up at the ferocity lining his eyes, back to the makeshift stake again.

Stefan pounced on her hesitation. "You're so tough you can ram this through my heart, give Klaus his coffins, and watch as he makes all of you his bitches. Something tells me you would be his favorite. I see it now. He'd have you on your hands and knees licking his boots and wiping his…"

Before he could finish his tirade, Bonnie sent him careening through the door, planting him on his ass as she calmly walked out of the dusty room into the much dustier hallway.

Writhing and completely defenseless Stefan could do nothing but grunt and roar in pain. All he could compare this feeling to was having ultraviolet rays liquidated and then injected into his body. The spirits of the witches howled furiously at his insolence, and the lit candles burned like small blow torches.

Bonnie loomed over Stefan as an invisible wind whipped her hair around her face. Lifting her foot, she placed her booted heel on his chest keeping him planted on the ground while maintaining the attack.

She smirked. "Do you know what I'm doing to you, Stefan? I'm turning your blood acidic. Feels like vervain is running through your system, doesn't it?"

His only response was to growl, cry, and grunt, and growl some more.

"You will show respect when you talk to a Bennett witch!"

Would it be completely wrong of me to find her incredibly hot right now? Stefan thought through the pain that was stabbing him all over. He stared up at her as she glared down at him, her green orbs glowing, and wondered for a moment if he had misjudged Bonnie thinking she was incapable of willfully hurting someone. But he could honestly say he respected her because she wasn't going to tolerate him speaking to her anyway from Sunday.

As soon as a little sliver of blood began to leak from Stefan's nose she called off the attack. The voices of the witches dissipated, and the candles burned at their normal rate.

Very carefully Stefan pushed himself to his feet, wobbled a little bit, coughed, felt the urge to pee, but cricked his neck and tested the range of motion in his shoulders. He brushed the dust off his jeans not for vanity reasons but because he couldn't quite look Bonnie in the eye just yet. He realized he shouldn't have insulted her because truly when he thought about it, in a town as bad as Mystic Falls, she was his only ally.

After a minute he finally looked at her. "I'm sorry, Bonnie. I was out of line. It won't happen again," his voice was gravelly and filled with apology and sincerity, so much that it reminded Bonnie of old Stefan.

However, she wouldn't be so quick to forgive him. Stefan had crossed a line with his assumptions about her and what she would allow someone to turn her into. She might be a lot of things but she would never agree to indentured servitude or forced slavery.

Stefan for his part tried not to wither under her raised chin and glaring stare down, something he had come to associate with her but something she only blessed his brother with.

Many times Stefan questioned if he and Damon had traded personalities over the course of the last six months, and truthfully he could agree somewhat. But he was in survival mode where the livelihood to do anything was your only motivation for getting up in the morning.

Suddenly an overwhelming sense of loneliness passed through Stefan. It was amazing how one tiny bite could snowball into Armageddon. He started this war with Klaus because he was "programmed" to attack the girl he loved and then his humanity was shut off. Now Stefan felt as if he were walking in a perpetual limbo where the only things that made sense were his rage and seeking revenge.

Bonnie's face softened when she saw a look of contriteness overcome him. But what really changed the game for her were the feelings that were rolling off Stefan like a radio signal and as hard as she tried to tune it out, she couldn't help but feel his loneliness as if it were her own.

She gasped because she had never experienced anything like that. And it scared the willies out of her.

And as tempting as it was to explore his feelings, to weave through the intricate patterns, the night was wearing down on Bonnie.

"I want to help you, Stefan. I will help you so long as your agenda doesn't include enforced vampirism on my close friends. You try it again and I will drive a stake through your heart. But…I understand your pain."

His eyes became sharper as they focused on Bonnie.

Now it was her turn to feel sad. "I know what it feels like to discover that the person you love, would defy the laws of nature to keep alive—cheated on you with someone else. I can write a book about that."

And that's where he remembered about Jeremy and Anna's non-discreet hook up. Now that had to hurt. How in the world could you explain that to a talk show host? My boyfriend cheated on me with the ghost of his ex-girlfriend? Syndicated television would never be the same again.

Yet the old him would have asked Bonnie a long time ago how she was handling that. Stefan could wallow for days in his misery but Bonnie merely slapped a smiley face band-aid on hers and kept it moving.

"We do make quite a pair don't we?" he said. "We're probably the two smartest people in town yet completely clueless when it comes to relationships."

"Are you saying you regret falling in love with Elena?"

"I'm saying that I always knew it would come to this and I fell anyways."

A corner of her mouth lifted, not in sympathy, but in agreement. "I knew Jeremy and I weren't going to last. I mean let's be real. He and I aren't on the same level. His life would have been in constant danger because of what I am."

And those were Stefan's exact thoughts in terms of his relationship with Elena.

"You and I…we're partners…tovarich, and I want to trust my partner." Bonnie held out her hand for Stefan to shake. He didn't need to study it but merely extended his hand.

They shook on it. And he shouldn't have been surprised by the flood of relief that came over him at knowing he didn't have to face this completely alone. There was Damon, but Damon could turn on him like a snake at any given moment. Elena was finicky as well, but the only die-hard person he could really depend on and trust was Bonnie.

Teasingly he asked, "Are you done yelling at me now? Can we get the hell out of here?"

Bonnie nodded her head and then with a few whispered words, killed all the candle flames and followed Stefan out of the house.

A few weeks later…

It felt good to have a friend—a real one someone he could show his humanity to and not worry about having his ass chewed out because he failed to make someone else's emergency his emergency. He and Bonnie fell into a rhythm where he would meet with her after school, they'd head over to the old mansion and would pour through all the grimoires she had pilfered from the Martin's hoping to find that missing ingredient to unlocking the box.

Bonnie would read over the words until her eyes were dry and the muscles in her neck and shoulders screamed from lack of movement. So during her breaks she'd take a stroll around the property that surrounded the abandoned place, listen to the sounds of nature, and wonder how far different her life would be if she weren't caught in the middle of a supernatural war.

Stefan for his part kept to himself, but occasionally he and Bonnie would engage in conversation that had nothing to do with trying to differentiate the pronunciation of a certain word.

And by doing this he learned things about her. He had learned to observe people, did so while he was still human, so from her facial expressions alone he could tell when she was pensive, frustrated, hungry, worried, scared, restless, impatient, and tired.

But through their conversations he learned that she was into suspense novels, didn't really like romance comedies, and that she had an intense fear of slugs.

And another thing he learned about Bonnie was that she liked to touch herself. A lot.

Not in a perverted way, but oftentimes he'd catch her rubbing her arms, or squeezing her fingers, or grazing her neck, or playing with her earlobe, or continuously running her hand along her thigh, or simply curling a strand of hair around her index finger.

He was becoming to see her not as a teenaged witch, but a sensualist. She loved smelling things. Like when he would go on a food run, Bonnie would first take a deep breath of the aroma of whatever he got for her to eat before taking a single bite. She would sometime's comment on his cologne.

And when it was time for them to leave for the day and show their faces to the rest of the world, when she slipped her little arms in her coat, she always closed her eyes reveling in the feel of the fabric gliding on her skin and would sigh very quietly, almost inaudibly that if he weren't a vampire with supersonic hearing he would have missed it.

But probably the best thing he learned about Bonnie—she had an incredible smile.

He could admit he wasn't the funniest man on the planet, but when he managed to tell a joke with perfect comedic timing, Bonnie would laugh, exposing teeth, tongue, and her tonsils. Her face became absolutely radiant when she smiled, and more often than not he found himself unable to look away.

Yet something on the side of him began to like doing things to get some kind of reaction out of Bonnie. For so long she had been like a military soldier. Stone faced and no-nonsense. Granted there was very little joy to be found in their world, he felt like he had done his good deed of the day if he could get her to crack a smile or rip down a brick from the wall she enshrined herself in.

That's when he suggested that after heavy, intense spell finding sessions, they'd go grab a cup of coffee from Mystic Grill to recharge their batteries.

At first Bonnie was apprehensive. She didn't think it was a good idea for the both of them to be seen together in public, but Stefan's argument was the ball was essentially in their court and they had no reason to hide and cower.

Bonnie agreed. Not like her phone was ringing off the hook and any alternative offers were being made at the moment.

It didn't take him long to figure out which coffees she liked and that she preferred eating muffins instead of chowing down on bagels or doughnuts. If her hands were cold, no matter how scorching hot her drink might be, Bonnie always insisted on holding it for a minute to warm her hands, before inhaling the rick aroma, and taking a sip.

And watching her drink kind of made his purely innocent thoughts turn into slightly pornographic images. But it had been so long since he last kissed, touched, held, hugged, or been with a woman. So long since he felt a comforting touch from a female hand. So one night when Bonnie placed her hand on top of his at The Grill to garner his attention, he jolted and then stared at their hands.

He wasn't sure if Bonnie felt anything—she was still talking after all—but the heat of her palm on the back of his hand singed him, and her warmth began to spread through his extremities until that one very male part of him engorged, lengthened, and felt like steel pressing against his thigh.

Stefan warred with himself if it would be smart to run or stay to find out where things might go. To push boundaries and limits and test loyalty, but he knew he couldn't do any of the above and that he had to be very careful, because if Bonnie suspected he was looking at her not as a friend but as a potential cut buddy, she'd pull the plug on their whole operation and send him suggestions via FedEx.

Yet he couldn't lose her. He wouldn't lose her because as it stood, she was the gatekeeper to his humanity. But most importantly he was remembering what it felt like to love and be loved by someone.

He was in trouble.

The Salvatore Boardinghouse

Stefan clicked off the light to his bathroom, tossed his dirty shirt into the hamper and fell on his bed face first. He balled up his pillow and rested his chin on top of it. Tonight had been particularly exhausting because he had to sit across a dinner table with Klaus and remember his manners, and act like he was ready to settle the score between them.

He wanted to do nothing of the sort. But his brother had said—couldn't exactly promise that Elijah was truly on their side and would uphold his end of the bargain. Yeah, he'd believe it when he saw it. Right now, words meant absolutely nothing to Stefan.

Other than eating a meal that really was delicious, and having that meal served by gorgeous women who had been compelled to be meals-on-legs when called for, there of course were only two hiccups tonight.

The first being his arm was roasted over an open fire like chestnuts, and the other which had been slightly more tragic was slipping into the old Lockwood property to find Bonnie and her mother unconscious.

Since this whole feud with Klaus began Stefan never felt mortally afraid. But seeing Bonnie immobile on the ground in an awkward position made his blood turn cold, and his humanity to his horror had slipped out in front of Damon of all low lives.

He could still heart her heartbeat and could practically taste the warmth of her skin on his tongue, but he needed more empirical proof that she was alive. So he automatically fell to his haunches, pushed her hair out of the way and placed two fingers on her jumping vein.

"She's alive," he said unnecessarily but the oral confirmation made him feel a thousand times better.

Without thinking he slipped his arms under Bonnie's legs and around her shoulders and lifted her easily off the ground. Damon stared at him a bit petulantly because he was left with finding a way to get to Mama Bennett who was unfortunately passed out in the part of the cave vampires couldn't enter into.

Stefan didn't care what measures Damon would have to take to complete his task, his only concern was making sure Bonnie was okay because he vaguely remembered seeing that the coffin they had spent weeks trying to open was now open, and the contents inside—vanished.

He'd worry about that later, Stefan decided as he placed Bonnie into the backseat of his car.

She moved a bit and her eyes fluttered before opening. Bonnie lifted her head up just enough to try to make out the person who was looming over her.

Groggily she asked, "Stefan?"

"Yeah, it's me. How do you feel?" he couldn't help it, he had to touch her again to make sure she was all right. So he ran the pad of his thumb over her cheek.

"My head…" she winced. "It hurts."

"Do you remember what happened?"

Bonnie sat up slowly and looked around as if she were lost. "All I remember is leaving the cave to tell Damon about the coffin and when I came back, Abby…oh my God where is she?" Her heart began to pound.

"She's fine. Damon's with her."

Her heart slowed again. "She did it…she opened the coffin. I only got a glimpse but I think it was Klaus' mom. She did something to me after that."

Stefan nodded his head and slightly cursed. Now they may have a vengeful Original witch or whatever the hell she was supposed to be on their hands.

He'd worry about that tomorrow. The only thing important was the girl sitting dazed in front of him.

Coming back to the present, all Stefan could really focus on was the warmth and softness of Bonnie's skin and the feel of her hair as it tickled his neck and the bottom of his chin while he carried her. He wondered how her hair would feel against his naked torso, how her tiny hands would feel on his skin touching him in forbidden places.

His body sprang to life tenting his gray jogging pants.

Stefan cursed and tried to ignore its persistent throbbing, but it pounded only one consistent mantra: we want Bonnie, we want Bonnie, we want Bonnie.

"Well, that's too bad because she ain't here," he glared at his equipment and turned on his side and shut his eyes.

Big mistake because all he could see were visions of caramel skin, big smiles, and an alluring pair of green eyes.

There were few options left such as satisfy himself but...

Growling, Stefan knew sleep would never come in his current state and if he took matters into his own hands, literally, he'd only go back to feeling miserable.

So he hopped off the bed, jumped up for that wooden beam and began to do pull ups. He wasn't going to do this. He wouldn't turn into his brother and lust over a woman he could never have. And Bonnie deserved more than being an indiscretion, a one night stand, friends with benefits.

His cell buzzed halting his exercises. Stefan had retrieved it in an instant, saw who was calling and kept his face devoid of any and all emotion.

"Hello?" he spoke clearly into the unit.

"Hi, I hope I'm not catching you at a bad time."

"It's never a bad time."

"Did you hear about what happened to Alaric tonight?"

"Yeah, Damon filled me in," Stefan took a seat on the edge of his bed. "Looks like we have another problem on our hands on top of Klaus and his family."

"Do you have any plans to look into what's going on?"

No, he just wanted to focus on calming down his body at the moment. And now after hearing her voice it wasn't happening any time soon. Stefan stabbed the heel of his hand into his eye socket. He didn't want to be rude, but he couldn't stay on the phone with Bonnie all night. He might say something he won't have any regrets about later.

"Actually can we talk about that tomorrow? I'd…I'd really like to get some shut eye," he said.

There was a brief pause on Bonnie's end before her voice came through again. "Sure, no problem. I'll see you at our spot."

This time he allowed a small smile to grace his face at her "our" reference. "I'll be there. Sleep tight, tovarich."

"You as well…partner."

TBC

A/N: I think I'll probably tell this from Stefan's perspective and a little from Bonnie's. I haven't really decided yet. After seeing the pic for the upcoming episode and realizing that no person of color was invited and last I checked this is Black History Month—I guess Bonnie, Abby, and Tyler must be at an NAACP meeting watching Roots or something. But I digress. This story is what I like to say are "filler" moments of things that could have happened before we're introduced to a new episode or to wrap up what happened in a prior episode since there hasn't been any Bonnie scenes, from my perspective, that have had any substance. They could have done more with the reunion with her mom but somehow it got turned into Stelena. But anyways, I hope you guys liked it. Let me know what you think! Love you guys!