Note: Unedited XO

I Got You

Bonnie couldn't hear what Jo was saying, her eyes wide and her mouth hanging open as she tried to breathe through the searing pain in her neck. Jo went out of focus as she raised her cellphone to her ear, Jo's face crumpled with horror and anxiety. When her eyelids fluttered again, who knew how much time after, Jo was gone. Someone was moving her body and it caused the pain to triple and she screamed out.

"Ssh, ssh, it's me." Damon muttered to her and her mind was reeling. Wasn't he with Elena or her with him? "Okay, I need you to hold onto something, this is gonna blow." Bonnie squirmed in his hold and tried to shake her head or say no but the only coherent thing was pain and the sound of his voice – so she clung to both. Her shaking hands gripped the lapels of his leather jacket and her knuckles ached with the force she used to hold on. Her eyes tried to focus on his face and when the blurring ebbed slightly she locked onto him and nodded, only just.

"Do it." She said through gritted teeth. He pulled and the metal slid out of her neck with a dull drag of her skin, but once the object left her body entirely, more pain came rushing in and her back arched under the hand of it. She heard the familiar sound of tearing flesh and could picture it perfectly in her mind; the veins under his eyes, their livid, vivid red-black colour as he hovered over her, pressing his wrist to her mouth. She didn't even fight him off, couldn't even fathom why she would. The taste was as foul as she remembered it to be but the relief that curled around her tongue simultaneously was enough to turn her limbs to noodles as she sagged against him. She listened to his patient breathing as he held her, waiting, for every last ounce of pain to leave her body. When it did, she tried to move and he hummed in the negative, tightening his hold on her. Where had everyone gone?

"Just, give it a sec." She huffed a little, "Okay let me rephrase that," he said, "Give me a sec." That gave her pause. "Bonnie…I feel like all I've been doing lately is apologising to you –" a soft snort from her broke through his version of 'I'm Sorry'. "I know when I called you…I made it about me even though I knew how you felt about all of it…I can't help it though, because, you're right, you do know me and this is the most scared I've ever been, but you've…you've been there every other time and I need you here now. And I know the only reason you're even in this mess right now is because of me…me wanting to get my mom back and me not dealing with the repercussions of all …but Bonnie, I'm trying –"

"Are you Damon?" Bonnie snapped, pulling herself away from him and struggling to her feet as he flashed to his. "Because all I see is you being as selfish as you've always been, all I see is me still, expected to lay it all on the line just because someone asks nicely…I can't do that anymore Damon and I know you think you're sorry but how could you be when you still expect the same things from me, the same things that got me, us dead in the first place?" He swallowed, she was doing it again…Making him think about it all with that aching clarity of a microscope and he could sneer and shout as much as he wanted; it wouldn't change the fact that she was right or that he needed to hear it – he knew it was why he kept calling her, talking to her, needing her…

"Bonnie I'm sorry." He said, earnestly.

"Damon," she said, pressing her eyes shut before opening them, the green holding a hardness he didn't like to see in her, because of what it meant for him, "That's honestly not enough anymore…" She shook her head with a sad smile, "Not until you and I both know, you mean it enough to act like it." She pressed her lips in a tight line and nodded her head. "Thanks for…giving me your blood or whatever." She muttered her eyes downcast. "I guess, I guess I'll see you at the wedding –"

"Bonnie, wait." She spun around after passing him to turn to him, with that face of hers; so open, patient, empathetic…even after everything…

"For what, Damon?" He could see the sheen over her eyes, knew what it really meant.

"I want to do better," He muttered lamely, unable to think of anything better to say, "I want you to know that I care about you, I want you to know how much I care about you…Because it's a lot and I need you to know that."

"Why? It won't forgive the way you've been treating me." She said matter of factly, "If anything it makes it worse because it means that even the ones you care about aren't exempt from your selfishness, your bull-headed wrath and the way you handle things. It's been centuries for you Damon and you're standing in front of me…showing me that you've learnt nothing."

"That's not true." He tried.

"Isn't it?" She countered, "A Petrova, lying to your brother, using witches for your every whim, avoiding responsibility, putting the affections of a woman over your own interests," her eyes flashed then, "And then putting those same interests above the lives of others…Tell me, where have you grown?"

"I'm better." He snapped. She almost smiled.

"You want to be better Damon," she rebutted, "That doesn't mean you actually are."

"Enough." He spat, his face cold and hard and then she did smile.

"Fine," she said, "But next time you want to call me to hear me tell you what you want to hear, don't." With that she turned and left him standing alone in the diner.

Thoughts?