Disclaimer: The characters of the Vampire Diaries are not mine, although I wouldn't mind ;-)
Summary: Set during "Founder's day". When Damon thanked her, Bonnie realized that she had made a mistake by not deactivating the device. Elena and Bonnie are still best friends in this story.
Author's note: English is not my native language, please bear with me ;-)
-Guilt and other feelings-
Bonnie was completely taken aback. Had Damon Salvatore really just thanked her? That annoying smirk, that he was usually wearing, had been missing, and he had actually sounded honest. The young witch bit pensively her lower lip and cursed inwardly. Suddenly she felt guilty for betraying Elena, Stefan and Damon by not deactivating the device, that was now in enemies hands. As she couldn't bring herself to run after Damon and tell him the truth, she waited until the parade was over and then frantically searched for Elena. Finally she found her. She had changed into her normal clothes again and was with Stefan. Somehow she seemed tense, and when Bonnie approached her she let out a relieved breath.
"Bonnie there you are. We need to leave, Anna had warned Damon about some vampires that are going to attack."
Bonnie shook her head. "I don't think that we are in danger. There's a trap for all those vampires, I overheard your uncle saying something about it, and the device has something to do with it. Stefan, Anna and Damon need to leave, I didn't remove the spell from the device."
Elena and Stefan looked disbelievingly at her.
"Okay, now is not the time for discussing. Thank you for telling us, but do you really think that you and Elena are not in danger?" Stefan replied.
"I'm pretty sure. At least the device will not have any effect on us. Just go and Elena and me will look for Anna and Damon to warn them."
When Elena also assured him that everything would be fine he finally agreed and left the town heading for the boarding house.
He had just vanished into the woods as Elena spotted Jeremy and Anna. They made a beeline for the young couple and when Jeremy wanted to turn away, Elena grabbed his arm.
"Jeremy, Anna, please listen to me."
"If this is about the vampires, there's no need to talk. Anna already told me and I was about to leave." Jeremy said coldly to his sister.
"But you have to go, too. That device that your mother gave to Damon is actually working and that might be a trap for the vampires." Elena said turning to Anna. The female vampire nodded and dragged Jeremy along.
"Okay, now we have to find Damon." Bonnie murmured.
The two girls walked aimlessly through the crowd that was waiting for the fireworks to start.
"Maybe we should ask Mr Saltzman for help." Elena suggested when she saw him. He was currently standing alone as Jenna was talking to some of her colleagues a few feet away. Bonnie agreed and they went over to him.
They quickly explained the situation to him and after a short moment of hesitation he agreed to help them to look for the older Salvatore brother.
He was just about to reply something when the fireworks started and suddenly he noticed a couple of people collapsing. Elena and Bonnie had noticed that as well and looked quizzically at each other.
"They must be vampires and the device is already activated. Look, the deputies are dragging them out of the crowd."Alaric stated.
"We really need to find Damon." Elena replied anxiously.
They carefully followed one of the policemen to an abandoned building, where they firstly hid behind a corner and watched all the vampires being dragged in.
"Has anyone seen Damon?" Elena asked.
Bonnie and Alaric both answered in the negative, so they decided to go in there as the last of the deputies had stepped out again.
They had just entered the building when they discovered Damon lying on the floor with John Gilbert standing right next to him. Damon's face was a mask of pain, there was a lot of blood and it looked like he wasn't able to move properly.
"Oh God, what have you done to him?" Elena gasped.
"Nothing that a vampire like him doesn't deserve." John answered coldly. "And now he is going to join the other vampires in in cellar and they are all going to burn. The fire has already been ignited and I advise you to better leave the building."
"We will leave, but not without Damon." Elena snapped at him and went over to Damon.
Bonnie followed her and took a closer look at the injured vampire. His eyes were closed, he was really pale and his front was completely covered in blood.
Meanwhile Alaric had pulled his gun that contained vervain-filled darts out of his jacket and aimed it at John. Surely the vervain wouldn't do any damage, but the darts would still hurt.
"If you still have some brains, you're going to leave right now." he said flatly.
John contemplated his possibilities for a moment. His only weapon was a syringe full of vervain. The gun that he was wearing was no use since he had shot Damon with all the wooden bullets that he had carried with him.
"Fine. But don't you dare and think that it's already over."
When Alaric was sure that John had left he went over to the girls. Bonnie and Elena frantically tried to wake Damon, but he wasn't showing any kind of reaction.
"John probably injected him a lot of vervain." the teacher suggested.
" And he shot him." Elena added while she was carefully unbuttoning Damon's shirt.
"These must be wooden bullets, we have to get them out." Bonnie stated.
Alaric nodded. "Yeah, but not here and not now. We have to get moving, there's already smoke coming out of the cellar. Let's bring him to the boarding house."
With that he put his arms under Damon's knees and shoulders and carried him out of the building.
"My car is right over there. Grab my keys, they are in the left pocket of my jacket." he said to Elena who was walking right next to him.
She did as asked and walked ahead to open up the doors. Alaric carefully put Damon in the backseat and headed for the driver's seat.
"Let me ride with him in the backseat, I'm going to try a spell that can ease the pain." Bonnie said. Elena looked at her surprised but obliged and moved over to the passenger's seat, whereas Bonnie climbed into the backseat. Since Damon was in a lying position there wasn't much space left for her. She awkwardly took his head in her lap and started chanting closing her eyes in the process in order to concentrate on the spell. Elena turned around and watched her friend in awe. After the young witch had stopped chanting, Elena immediately noticed the changes in Damon's facial expression. He looked less tortured and more relaxed.
"I think it worked." she said relieved.
After what seemed like eternity they finally reached the boarding house. Due to the whole commotion they had totally forgot to call Stefan on his phone and he was already waiting impatiently. As soon as he heard the car arrive, he ran outside. He was relieved when he saw Elena, Bonnie and Alaric climbing out of the car, but that feeling quickly subsided when the smell of blood hit him. Vampire blood. His suspicion was confirmed when Alaric pulled Damon's unconscious body out of the car.
"Wait, let me take him." Stefan demanded and approached the history teacher.
Alaric handed Damon carefully over to Stefan who looked concerned at his older brother. On their way into the house and upstairs to Damon's room they quickly told Stefan what had happened. After Stefan had put him on his bed, he stirred slightly and moaned in pain. The effect of Bonnie's spell apparently started to wear off. With his vampire speed Stefan left the room but was back in an instant holding a small knife in his hand.
"We have to get the bullets out, I think you two should better wait outside." he said to Elena and Bonnie.
The girls nodded and stepped outside the door.
In the hallway Bonnie and Elena tried to comfort each other, as they were both still shaken from the earlier events. It didn't take long until the door to Damon's room opened and Stefan faced them.
"Is he going to be okay?" Elena asked.
"Yes of course, Damon is strong. I bet tomorrow he will make all of us cranky again." Stefan replied smiling when they entered the room.
Alaric just came out of the adjoined bathroom where he had successfully tried to get rid of Damon's blood on his hands. Bonnie glanced at the vampire who was still unconscious. He was lying on his back with his upper part of the body bandaged and a thin blanket covering his legs up to his waist. Alaric and Stefan had removed his clothes leaving him only in his boxers so that they could locate all the bullet wounds and tend them properly.
„Okay. I think that's all we can do at the moment. We should just let him rest, he's going to be fine." Stefan said.
Elena, Alaric and Stefan turned to leave Damon's room, Bonnie however remained standing next to his bed. Elena looked at her friend and immediately noticed the guilty expression on her face.
"Bonnie, that wasn't your fault."
"Yes, it was. I didn't deactivate that device and I was too selfish and too occupied with hating Damon, that I didn't realize that he actually tried to help. You're right Elena, he has already changed, but I didn't see it. And I betrayed all of you, I'm not better than him, maybe even worse." Bonnie declared sadly.
"Don't do this. After the whole ordeal of trying to bring Katherine back you had every reason to feel this way. And I'm sure even Damon knows that." Stefan assured her. "Come on, I'll show you the guest room, we should try to get some sleep." he added.
"Okay, I'll stop blaming myself, but I would like to stay here. Just in case he wakes up and needs anything."
Stefan nodded and pushed the big armchair that was standing by the window over to Damon's bed.
"Thank you." Bonnie whispered when he also handed her a blanket.
"Call us if you need anything." Elena said.
After Elena, Stefan and Alaric had left the room, the teacher said goodbye to them. He had Jenna already told on the phone that the girls would stay at the boarding house and since Bonnie was supposed to stay at Elena's there was no need to call her Dad. At first Jenna had been a bit worried about the story of Damon being really sick and suggested to better get him to the hospital. But eventually Alaric could assure her that everything would be fine and he would stop by her house on his way home.
When the front door closed Elena fell exhausted into Stefan's arms. He kissed her lightly on the lips and pulled her into a tight embrace.
"You have no idea how much I hope that John is not my biological father." Elena sighed.
Stefan rested his chin on top of her head and slowly stroked her back.
"Don't worry about that now. Let's go to bed."
In the meantime Bonnie had settled into the armchair and covered herself with the soft blanket. Glancing over at Damon's sleeping form she noticed how young and innocent he looked lying there with his eyes closed and a peaceful expression on his face. Right now it was hard to believe that he used to be cocky and annoying. She felt the sudden need to take his hand or to caress his cheek to give him some comfort, but she didn't dare to touch him. The fear that he could wake up and mock her about not being able to resist him and his sexy appearing was stopping her. But not for long. Eventually she reached out and tentatively grasped Damon's right hand. She squeezed it slightly before she let go again.
"I'm sorry, Damon." she whispered tiredly and finally dozed off.