First off, I disclaim. Secondly, I'd like to say that I'm playing a lot with the pairings, so there may be pairings you don't like. For instance, there's Delena and Bamon, if you dislike Bamon you may not want to read this story, if you love Delena, understand that it's not endgame. I'd prefer to avoid any angry reviews over my pairing choices. Also, Elena gets a little bit bashed during this fic, but I promise you that she does, indeed, undergo a bit of character growth and get what I think is a fairly happy ending.

I think it's a happy sort of fic-with angsty goodness sandwiched inside.

Anyways, so at the end of my last Bamon fic I had people vote in their reviews as to which pairings they wanted, and the endgame pairings are all based on those results. Also, so the fact that I'm really playing with the pairings is indicative of how incredibly amazing the chemistry is between all of the cast members on TVD! So this fic was inspired by CrazedBamonFan who was ranting a few weeks ago on twitter. Here goes.

Enjoy!

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"Stefan and Elena broke up," Bonnie said as if she didn't quite believe the words. "I thought they'd handled their issues last year after the whole Katherine thing."

"They did," Jeremy said tentatively, almost as if he didn't want to explain what was really going on. Mostly, of course, because he didn't.

"Jeremy, what aren't you telling me?" Bonnie and Jeremy had had a bit of flirtation last year until they'd realized there was very little romantic chemistry between the two of them. He was still acting a little awkward around her though, and she didn't know how to snap him out of it. He seemed to not feel as comfortable around her as before, and that upset her, because she valued their friendship. And now he was withholding important information. This was unacceptable. "Jeremy," she said warningly.

"They broke up because she's in love with someone else." Jeremy almost seemed to explode with the words, as if he couldn't hold them in anymore.

Bonnie blinked, because that all she could do. That made absolutely no sense. "What the hell?"

"I know, it makes me uncomfortable too."

"When?"

Jeremy hesitated, "A week ago."

"Who?" Bonnie practically demanded, she was trying to avoid the hurt that she felt. Elena should have told her.

"Damon," Jeremy said, looking at the ceiling, floor, wall, anywhere but at Bonnie.

Bonnie buried her left hand in her hair. No, no, no.

"Jeremy," Bonnie warned when her power of speech returned. "Look at me now and tell me you're kidding."

He met her eyes, "No," he sighed, "I wish I were. But I'm not." He shrugged helplessly.

"I can't process this right now," Bonnie said. "I need to—"

"Talk to Caroline?" Jeremy suggested, proving that he still knew her pretty well, even if their friendship was a bit fragmented.

"Yes," Bonnie said, almost smiling until she remembered the seriousness of the situation. "We'll talk later." Bonnie awkwardly wrapped her arms around Jeremy. "You know we're still friends, right?"

Jeremy smiled slightly, "Yeah, we are." As he watched Bonnie leave, Jeremy wondered whether that were actually true. Because he really needed a friend right now.

XXXX

"I'm sorry. I think you just said something that implies that if I go outside pigs will be flying, signaling the impending apocalypse." Caroline looked at Bonnie as if she'd lost her mind, as if Bonnie had somehow gotten lost in a delusion and would find her way back soon.

Bonnie almost laughed, but under the circumstances it wasn't funny, so she managed to keep a straight face. "I'm serious."

"You can't be."

Bonnie sighed, "Caroline, I'm worried about her. What if she's under some sort of compulsion? I don't—"

"As much as Damon is ridiculously in love with Elena, he wouldn't do that to Elena. Or Stefan for that matter."

"You seem sure of that."

Caroline sighed, "Look, Bonnie. I know you and Damon don't always necessarily get along—" Bonnie snorted and Caroline merely raised and eyebrow and continued, "But he's not a bad guy. Even though he pretends to be, he isn't. And he loves Stefan."

"He should have at least waited. If he truly loves Stefan as much as you say he does, then he shouldn't have made a play for his brother's girl while they were still together—"

At that moment Elena interrupted, "Actually, he didn't." She walked into the kitchen, where Caroline and Bonnie had been 'talking' and leaned on the counter. "I did. I made the decision. This isn't about Damon, you guys. This about me. Stefan and I—we weren't working anymore. And Stefan is okay, he doesn't hate us. He . . . wished us happiness."

"Wow, I can't believe you're actually delusional enough to believe that." Bonnie looked at Caroline in confusion, she seemed to be more upset with Elena than anyone else.

"He understands," Elena insisted.

"That sounds like Stefan," Bonnie muttered, looking down at her hands and sighing. But only because he wasn't selfish enough to rage at them, or to guilt them out of being together. Stefan was better than either of them.

He deserved better, Bonnie thought to herself.

"He deserves better than you anyway, Elena. How could you do this to him?" Caroline berated Elena. "How long have you been cheating on him?"

Bonnie looked back up quickly at her friend in surprise. She hadn't realized that Caroline and Stefan had grown so close. "Caroline, I don't think—"

"I didn't. We ended things last week, but I've been so busy I just hadn't told you. And Damon and I have been . . . bonding for the past few days." Elena said, trying to explain herself. "I've been falling for him for the past few months, and now we're giving things a chance."

Caroline ignored Elena's attempts to explain herself, "You're such a bitch sometimes."

Bonnie took Elena's stunned silence as an opportunity to turn to Damon, "And you, Damon. How could you do this to Stefan? Wait, don't answer that, because in the end you don't care about anyone other than yourself."

"He cares about me," Elena cut in. "And that's what matters." Caroline looked at Elena like she made her sick. There was more to life than just Elena.

Despite Elena's words Damon, for the first time in the time that Bonnie had known him, had the decency to actually seem ashamed. Almost . . . regretful.

Bonnie wondered if that were Elena's influence on him—if somehow she brought the best in him.

Elena had always seemed to quiet the part of Damon that made him Damon. Even now, even though he seemed to have what he wanted, he was being quiet. He wasn't snarking about the situation, he wasn't espousing his wonderful "virtues" as being somehow superior to his brother's. Instead, he was quiet. And maybe that meant Elena made him a better person, but Bonnie almost thought it was rather . . . disappointing. But she didn't have the time or want to consider why that was.

She just expected more of him, that was all.

"I'm sorry you feel that way," Elena finally said. "But how you feel . . . it doesn't change anything. I'm still with Damon, and he's still with me."

Caroline smiled sadly, "It does change things Elena, you just don't realize it yet," Caroline turned, nodded goodbye to Bonnie and left.

"She'll—" Bonnie was about to say she'd get over it, but she was pretty sure that Caroline would hold her grudge for a fairly long time. "Just give her some space."

Elena sighed and got up. She walked over to Damon and leaned into him. Bonnie watched in amazement, "Um, if you're just going to make googly faces at each other, I want you to leave."

Damon stared at her, and instead of challenging her he just nodded, as if he actually understood what she was feeling.

She doubted it though, because she didn't even understand it. She just wanted them to leave, because this circus freak show was unnecessary. And annoying.

Everything was wrong, and she didn't want to have anything to do with it. Bonnie just stood and watched as Elena reached out for Damon's hand before they left.

Eew. There was really something wrong with that.

XXXX

Bonnie Bennett wasn't much like Elena. Sure, they were best friends, but there were times when Bonnie questioned her friend's approach to life. While Elena might have stood by and waited, believing that Bonnie knew exactly what she was doing, Bonnie felt no such desire. Something was wrong here.

Bonnie believed quite firmly that she would never be the kind of girl who just let things happen, so the first opportunity she had, she went to go see Stefan.

She'd texted him beforehand, suggesting that they meet at her home so that they could stay off the radar of their circle of friends. He'd seemed to hesitate, suggesting that maybe they shouldn't meet. She'd replied telling him that he didn't have a choice. He'd given in after that, deciding not to argue.

She sat—almost nervously—awaiting his visit. It was strange, meeting secretly with her best friend's ex.

It wasn't betrayal, because that was a non-issue. It was just strange, because they weren't really friends. Or, maybe they were. It was hard to tell sometimes.

Bonnie heard a knock at the door and seemed to jump two or three feet up in the air. She breathed deeply to get back her composure and opened the door. "Stefan, hey, come in." She stepped back for him to walk in.

"So what is it?" Stefan asked, not meanly, but rather . . . resigned.

"I'm worried about Elena. This isn't like her." Bonnie's heart clenched for Stefan when she saw his face fall at the mention of Elena's name. "What happened to you two, Stefan? You were so in love and now you're just—"

"Not," Stefan completed for her with a small smile. "Can we sit?"

"Sure," they walked over to sit in the kitchen. Bonnie grabbed a bottle of water for herself. "I really don't mean to be nosy, but I'm worried."

"I know," Stefan said simply.

"I know you and I aren't particularly close, but I like to think we're . . . friendly. I supposed we've worked together often enough to warrant being . . . friends. Or am I being presumptuous?" Bonnie was obviously a little flustered, and she didn't seem to know how to approach the subject matter at hand.

Stefan smiled kindly, "Bonnie," he held out his hand and placed it on her hands—which had been fluttering awkwardly about in the air—"We're friends."

Bonnie smiled. "Good. I'm glad." It surprised her to realize that the idea of being friends with Stefan wasn't as bad as it would have been even just a few short months prior. She'd finally forgiven him. Anyway, I think Elena might be under some sort of spell, why else would she break up with you for Damon? Obviously we need to find out what's going on and put a stop to it—"

Stefan squeezed her hands delicately to interrupt her stream of words. "It's not just her, Bonnie."

Bonnie raised an eyebrow, as if she didn't quite believe him. She didn't.

Stefan, seeing the look on her face just closed his eyes and sighed. "Things are different now."

"What happened, Stefan?" Bonnie asked. Honestly, although there had been times that she'd hated Stefan, she'd almost always looked at Stefan and Elena as the shining example of what love was supposed to be.

"After we finally got over everything with Katherine, Damon started seeing Rose, and Elena just . . . realized that she had feelings for him."

"She was jealous," Bonnie stated.

"Yes. And I—I want her to be happy, Bonnie. Even if it means it can't happen with me. And honestly, she's been pulling away from me for months, we're just not in love anymore."

Bonnie looked into Stefan's eyes, "You sound like you believe that," Bonnie said, amazed.

"Because I do." He really did seem to. "Anyway, thank you for caring, Bonnie. You're a good friend. Most people don't give credit for that, but you are. I should, um, probably go."

"Don't," Bonnie said, shocking herself because she hadn't been aware she was going to ask him to stay. Bonnie wanted to hear more, and she wanted to comfort him. She wasn't sure why, but she didn't want him to be alone.

Stefan looked at her in confusion.

"I think we're friends, Stefan. And therefore I think that as your friend it is my responsibility to cheer you up."

Stefan looked like he was torn between wanting to laugh and wanting to ask her if she needed a trip to a nice little white padded room. He decided on neither. "Why?"

"Because you're hurting. I can feel it." She looked down at her hands, which had been holding Stefan's minutes before. "And that bothers me."

"Okay, how exactly are you going to cheer me up?" Stefan asked curiously, deciding to stay on a whim.

Bonnie smiled confidently, "I haven't exactly figured that out yet, but I think we could probably start with a really bad B movie marathon."

Stefan laughed. "Sounds fun." He meant that it sounded normal, and like it might manage to distract him from the pain in his heart.

XXXX

"Give them time."

"I don't understand why they're so upset in the first place," Elena practically pouted. But in the cute, Elena-sort-of-way, Damon assured himself.

"They like Stefan, Elena. It's like how there's an army of teenage girls that would attack any girl with the audacity to break Justin Bieber's heart."

Elena just stared at him. "I'm sorry, did you compare me to Justin Bieber?"

"No," Damon said, smiling slightly. "Actually I compared Stefan to him. You're more like—" Damon saw a strange look forming on Elena's face, "Nevermind. Forget I said anything."

"Fine," Elena said. She pasted a smile on her face and leaned into him on the couch. "Are we going to be okay?"

Damon hesitated.

"Are we?" Elena demanded. "We're starting a new relationship, and I don't think if you already have doubts it's going to work out particularly well. I want us to be honest with each other, Damon."

"Elena, I'm not going to make promises I can't keep." And you shouldn't either, Damon thought to himself.

"I love you, Damon."

At that, instead of telling her he felt the same way, he showed her, leaning in to kiss her softly.

XXXXXXX

So, what do you think so far? The next chapter will explain exactly how Damon and Elena came to be, and their motivations. Also, Tyler and Matt show up! Ensemble fic FTW.