A/N. I'm placing the current issues in the season near Christmas for the purposes of this fic. Anyways, I disclaim!

XXXX

12 days till Christmas . . .

Bonnie Bennett was lonely.

It was an odd sort of loneliness, the kind that appears most often after a period of feeling like a part of something gets ripped away from you without warning.

She'd trusted Luka. She'd liked him, a lot. She'd felt like she didn't have to be alone anymore . . . because as much as her friends loved her, they didn't understand.

And he had betrayed her in ways that had risked the lives of those she cared about most, and that was absolutely unacceptable. It was weird though, because he'd sworn that he hadn't known everything that was going on . . . but he'd known enough to hurt her.

The moment she accepted that Luka had hurt her was the moment she realized what a fool she was.

"Understanding" was overrated.

And she hadn't been running towards Luka, she'd been running away from someone else. Luka, although she hadn't known him well, was safe. He was like her, he was unconnected to everyone else in town . . . and he didn't make her heart jump in her chest when she saw him. He just made her feel . . . warm and cozy.

The problem was that she'd been so afraid of the spark she'd felt with Jeremy—of all people!—that she . . . she didn't know how to handle herself. So when Luka, who was so much more appropriate, had popped up she'd used him as an excuse to push Jeremy away.

And now it didn't really matter, because Jeremy wasn't speaking to her, and she was alone. Again. But this time it was worse, because it was her fault.

She only had herself to blame.

XXXX

10 days till Christmas . . .

"I'll kill him, I can't believe you didn't tell me before," Jeremy shot an accusatory look towards his sister after she'd told him that they'd discovered that Luka and his father had been working against them.

Elena looked at her brother in shock, tilting her head to the side, "Why so angry, Jeremy?"

"I—He hurt Bonnie."

"Oh," Elena sighed in relief. "She'll be fine. And it's nice that you care so much. I know she's been like a sister to you."

Never before in Jeremy's life had he had such a strong desire to get his sister some sort of muzzle, and he'd had quite a few fantasies about that in his younger years, especially when she'd teased him especially mercilessly.

"She's not my sister—" he bit out.

"I know, but—"

"She's not my sister, Elena. Just—how is she?" Jeremy ignored his own frustration with his sister in favor of worrying over Bonnie.

"She's a little shook up. But she'll be okay. She has us, and he was just a guy. She said she didn't even really like him very much, but it was nice to be around another witch."

With that Elena left Jeremy alone with his thoughts.

XXXX

7 days till Christmas

"I'm fine." Bonnie assured Elena, smiling at her concern. It was nice to be reminded that even though Elena's life was crazy . . . she was still her friend.

"Are you sure?" Elena sighed. "Jeremy's been bugging me for the past few days to come visit you and make sure you're okay."

Bonnie felt her heart catch her in throat. "He's worried about me?"

Elena smiled, "Yeah, of course. You're practically family, why wouldn't he be?"

Bonnie narrowed her eyes, "We're not family."

Elena raised an eyebrow, "Am I missing something?"

Bonnie just smiled, hugging Elena suddenly. "Yes, but it's okay."

XXXX

5 days till Christmas . . .

Jeremy nervously stood outside of Bonnie's door. He knocked.

"She's not there."

Jeremy whipped around, "Oh, Stefan. Wait, what are you doing here?"

"Waiting for Elena to get back from shopping with Bonnie."

"Why are you waiting here?" Jeremy was rather befuddled.

"I—" Stefan hesitated. "Okay, so I'm actually waiting for Damon, we're going to outfit Bonnie's house with a new security system for safety purposes. We—we tend to forget to worry about her, but she's vulnerable, Luka got close to her easily and we want to make sure she's as protected as we can make her. Especially with Elijah hanging around, and Klaus on his way to town."

Jeremy smiled, "That's a good thing, can I help?"

Stefan hesitated, "Sorry, Jer. You'd just stand around feeling useless. You should probably go home anyway."

"Oh." Jeremy was disappointed, but he listened nevertheless.

XXXX

4 days till Christmas . . .

Bonnie was baking cookies.

It was relaxing(not really), it kept her mind off Jeremy(it really didn't), and she enjoyed it(minus the cleanup).

She sighed, setting her mixing down when she heard a knock at the door. She opened it, surprised to see Stefan. "Stefan, what are you doing here?"

Stefan smiled one of his patently gorgeous Stefan smiles and said, "Elena said you wanted the butterscotch chips." He held them up for her to see.

Bonnie smiled, "You didn't have to come all the way over here to give me those."

When she saw him hesitate she sighed. "And that's not why." She heard a beep, "Come in and have a cookie."

Stefan smiled faintly.

"You're here to check on me," she stated without heat.

"We're all worried about you. You've been quiet."

Bonnie smiled. "I'm fine."

"Jeremy was here yesterday, and he seemed rather worried," Stefan said, deciding to test a pet theory.

Bonnie's face seemed to light up at Jeremy's name, and Stefan smiled happily in response.

"I knew it."

Bonnie tilted her head to the side, "I don't know what you think you know, but you don't."

"I think I do."

Bonnie scowled. "I think you're crazy."

"Guilty as charged." Stefan responded, "But I think I'm still . . . right."

"Go away, Stefan." Bonnie said, spinning around to place more cookie dough on the baking sheet.

"How bad is it?"

Bonnie hesitated, trying to determine whether or not she really wanted to respond. "Bad. I think I'm falling in love with him."

"Wow."

"Yeah," Bonnie slid the baking sheet into the oven, resetting the timer. She stepped back and sighed. "What do I do, Stefan?"

"I'm probably the wrong person to ask," Stefan shrugged.

"Why?"

"Because I'm with Elena, even though there are so many reasons not to be."

"But you're with her anyway."

"I am. And it's a decision I have to remake every day, and I do it because of one very important reason."

"Because you're in love with her."

"Precisely. And because that love makes us happy. If at any point it stops being that way, I'll let her go."

Bonnie suddenly felt incredibly foolish. "It makes Jeremy and I seem way less star-crossed."

"Bonnie, that's not why I said it. I said it because it's true. If you love him, what's the worst that could happen?"

Bonnie thought about that, "I hurt him already. I told him there was nothing between us, and that I didn't want him."

"Why?"

"Because I was afraid of hurting him."

Stefan raised an eyebrow, as if to say see.

"Oh."

"Exactly. Anyway, I should get back to Elena," Stefan replied, setting the butterscotch chips on the counter and grabbing two chocolate chip cookies. "One for Elena."

"Of course." Bonnie said, stuck somewhat in her reverie.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm going to be fine. Thank you, Stefan. For the talk. And for the chips," she held them up and smiled.

"Anytime."

XXXX

3 days till Christmas

"It's a holiday party, you have to come!"

"On Christmas Eve, Elena? It's short notice." And, of course, Bonnie wasn't sure she was ready to face Jeremy, or, well, anyone. She was a weak point, she'd allowed Luka get close enough to her to steal the moonstone from her without her even realizing it. She was embarrassed, and ashamed.

"Bonnie, please. We've been through a lot lately, we deserve to have a nice party on Christmas Eve. It'll be a nice distraction," Elena seemed like she needed a distraction desperately, and Bonnie felt herself begin to waver.

Bonnie smiled. "Okay."

Elena's face seemed to light up, "Perfect, you won't regret this!" Elena leaned over and hugged Bonnie tightly.

Bonnie kind of already did.

XXXX

1 day till Christmas

Bonnie tried to hide in the outskirts of the party, and she was doing well until she saw Jeremy coming down the stairs, so she looked around quickly and realized her only option was to drift into the room where everyone was. She sighed and managed to step through the doorway before Jeremy looked up to see her.

"Mistletoe!" She heard Matt say. Of course it would be Matt. First she looked upwards and saw that there was, indeed, mistletoe, then she sighed.

She closed her eyes. This could be bad. She opened her eyes and turned to her right and saw Damon.

She threw up her hands at that, "How is this my life?"

Damon smiled at her with a bit of a sparkle in his eye.

She raised an eyebrow, "Not going to happen. Hell no."

She moved forward, and he grabbed her arm, "You owe me a kiss now."

Bonnie smirked, "Only in your dreams," and she escaped through the room and into the kitchen, which was thankfully empty at the moment.

But not for long. "Bonnie—" she heard Jeremy say and she was thankful she'd placed her hands on the counter or she might have fallen over in surprise.

She turned around to face him, smiling nervously. "Jeremy. I haven't seen you lately. How are you?"

Jeremy didn't smile back. "I'm—I—"

Bonnie saddened, "Jeremy, I—"

Jeremy interrupted her, "Do you think this is how it's going to be now?"

Bonnie was taken aback. "What? Jeremy, I don't understand what you're talking about."

"If you thought about it, you would." He stepped closer to her, looking her right in the eyes. "We're pretending that nothing was happening between us. And that you didn't choose Luka, and that he wasn't—" Jeremy stopped when he saw a tear start to fall out of the corner of Bonnie's left eye.

"You're right. I screwed up."

"Bonnie, I didn't mean it that way-" Jeremy started to say.

Bonnie shook her head, "You're right. I was afraid, and I ran away, and I almost ruined everything. I—It's easier for you. If it ends badly, it's my fault. I'm the friend, but you're family. And I can't risk that."

Jeremy stepped closer, wiping away the tear with his thumb. "Bonnie, I really care about you."

"I care about you too."

"But you won't give us a chance," he said, without accusation.

"I—" Bonnie started to explain herself and then realized how incredibly close he was standing to her.

She had no excuse for what she did next. She leaned forward, kissing him, wrapping her arms around his neck, and practically falling into his arms.

She lost herself in him, and she swore she didn't know how long it was, and she didn't hear the oven timer go off when it did. Neither of them noticed, so when Elena and Stefan walked in to take out the lasagna they'd made, they didn't break apart.

Until, of course, Elena practically screamed. It was an incoherent string of noises, many of which sounded like a mixture of the noise that Bonnie rather thought a dying seal would make with the noise of a squawking chicken.

Stefan merely stood there smiling as Jeremy and Bonnie pulled apart. "Elena, you should probably calm down."

Bonnie sent Stefan a look of sincere thanks.

Elena stopped making odd noises and looked at Stefan, "Did you know?"

"There was nothing to know, Elena. I—" Bonnie started to make excuses, but stopped.

Elena stood, looking back and forth between Bonnie and Jeremy quite a few times before she let out a "Hmm" noise. Then she broke out into a smile, and practically tackled her best friend and her brother in a group hug. "It's so perfect!"

Bonnie looked, mouth open, in shock at Elena. "You're okay with this?"

"Of course!" Then Elena jumped back, "The food!" And she scurried over to the oven.

Jeremy and Bonnie looked at each, and had the same thought. Bonnie reached out her hand at the same time Jeremy did, and they clasped their hands together, sneaking out of the kitchen.

They ended up sitting on a couch, Bonnie leaning into Jeremy, and him just . . . holding her.

They fell asleep like that.

Wrapped together, with the promise of new love evident in the very air around them.

XXXX

Christmas Day

Elena tried to shake Jeremy awake, "It's Christmas, time to open gifts!"

Jeremy indicated that she should be quiet, lest she wake up Bonnie. "I already have what I want," he whispered, and he looked down and smiled at Bonnie's sleeping face.

Elena smiled, "Okay, if you say so." And she left them alone.

Jeremy wiped some of Bonnie's hair away from her face, smiling happily. She was lying on his chest, and he swore it was the best feeling in the world.

At that moment she stirred, rolling over and looking at his face.

"Any regrets?" Jeremy asked nervously.

Bonnie smiled, leaning forward to kiss him soundly on the lips.

She didn't pull away after the kiss ended, and instead kept her head near his. "Eskimo kiss."

Jeremy laughed, and Bonnie could feel the rumbling underneath her. "Bonnie—"

"No regrets." Bonnie assured him, going in for another kiss.