Title: The Loved One
Synopsis: No More I Love You's and She Hates Me 'verse: Fallout from the 'Klaus crisis' persists, as Bonnie and Damon try to find their way back to each other.
Rated: M, overall
Pairings: Bonnie/Damon (main), Elena/Stefan.
When you can't get out of your own head, it's like falling through a trapdoor.
Chapter One
Bonnie tells him not to stay over tonight; "Sex ruins everything," she says and although Damon will testify to the fact that sex always manages to make things one hundred percent better, he obeys her wishes.
Damon speculates about the possibility that he'll be one of those boyfriends who jump at their girlfriend's command. He deduces that it may be too soon to rebel against the Status Quo.
He wants to kiss her but he figures he should at least ask her permission. It's not something he does, though. He takes what he wants when he wants it and the idea that the other person may not want the same thing never occurs to him.
He feels silly asking. He's an adult male. More than that, he's a vampire!
He presses his lips to her cheek because it is safe but she moves her head and he ends up kissing her mouth anyway.
The way she winds her fingers through the hair at the back of his neck, and the way her lips are pliant against his own makes him feel unbelievably soft inside, as if the space in the middle of his chest is melting.
He knows he will get good and drunk after leaving her to chase the feeling away. But this time, he'll keep his hands to himself and his thoughts to himself if he can help it.
Alaric can chaperone.
Bonnie tries to get ready for bed and all she can think about is Damon. She doesn't want to; she wants some part of her to hold on to her anger.
And she is angry, still. But she wants him and she wants to be with him. She fights with herself about the merits of both situations: she can be miserable without him, or she can be slightly less miserable with him.
Bonnie thinks about this as the foam runs down her legs and the water beats on her face. She was always able to do her best thinking in the shower.
Afterwards, she sits on her bed and picks at a day-old scab on her knee; loving the fact that it's still there, loving the fact that it hasn't healed at some freaky speed.
"It's not entirely normal to be fascinated by the sight of your own blood."
Bonnie jumps off of her bed at the sound. She looks around her room, frantically.
Her own harsh breathing could be heard over what is otherwise a quiet room. There is no other sight but her earthly possessions.
Bonnie wonders if she is finally going crazy. Were the cracks that have edged their way into her reality finally splitting open?
Bonnie runs to the bathroom. She throws cold water on her face and squeezes her eyes shut, the coolness cascading over her skin.
"If you thought you could get away from me, you were mistaken."
Bonnie opens her eyes only to find nothing in her view. She knows, for certain, that her imagination is not running wild.
Klaus is back.
Stefan leaves a sleeping Elena, warm in his bed, to venture downstairs to the kitchen in search of coffee.
His sweatpants ride low on his hips as he stumbles around the kitchen counter.
He hears Damon come downstairs a moment later. There was something carefree and open in Damon's face and inadvertently, it irritated Stefan.
"Have I told you how glad I am that you're back? Elena's coffee sucked, " Damon said with a conspiratory wink.
Stefan didn't smile and such a display was of the usual. Damon is accustomed to Stefan's grumpiness.
Damon pressed on, "I'm thinking about getting the Scooby Gang together to figure out what we're going to do about Klaus."
Stefan blinks as if the one action took most of his control and concentration, "That's a good idea," is all Stefan says, looking down at his coffee then back to Damon.
"Of course it is. I'm full of good ideas," Damon smirks, conceit being his oldest friend.
Stefan doesn't offer any words of wisdom or caution Damon not to do anything drastic, despite Damon waiting the appropriate time for him to do so.
The silence drags on. It fills up the room, invading whatever warmth the room once held.
"So..." Damon begins, nodding, wanting Stefan to say something. Anything.
Stefan stares at him and in an unintentional moment, Stefan bored mask slips and something like true fury shines through.
Damon resists the urge to flinch, to step away but Stefan's face is blank once again as he walks out of the room.
Damon wonders what the hell just happened.
In the study of the Salvatore mansion, Damon relays this morning events to an entertained Alaric.
"He's still mad at you," is Alaric's diagnosis.
"That's ridiculous. He forgave me. He forgave Elena. It's fine," Damon say, brushing off Alaric's assessment.
"It's not fine," Alaric insists, "Any guy who sleeps with the love of his brother's life is just plain wrong, according to most civilizations. Although, I understand that this has happened a lot between the two of you."
"Katherine was an isolated incident. Stefan and I have completely different tastes in women."
"Didn't Rose go on a blind date with Stefan, once. And do I need to mention Elena, because really, it's a little redundant. Face it, if the girl is hot, smart and at least pretends to be nice, both of you are hooked."
"Ric, you're making something out of nothing," Damon says trying to smile despite being bothered by the conversation.
"Okay, but if you want my opinion, Stefan's not going to let this go until he gets revenge."
"Revenge," Damon repeats, suddenly finding it hard to swallow.
"Yeah, you know, 'Eye for an eye,' or in this case, 'Girl for a girl."
Dismissing the conversation after saying his peace, Alaric holds up a book of folklores he acquired from EBay. It seemed way more legit when he purchased it.
"Can you read Croatian?" Alaric asks, turning the book upside down.
Awful music blares too loud and the Mystic Falls inhabitants who have nothing better to do with their time converge to a manor for a fundraiser.
An annoying woman took over the Carol Lockwood role of resident party-thrower.
Damon dances as close as he possibly can to Bonnie during slow songs and dances around her while she laughs during faster songs.
It is fun to hold her close and grin into the curve of her neck.
Tonight, he will go home with her and he will talk her out of any misgivings she has on the subject.
Damon is of the mind that sex never hurt any body (unless, of course, it is completely illicit).
When Stefan asks to cut in, Damon can't identify the emotion that comes over him. It can't be jealousy, he rejects the idea.
Damon says, "Okay," and he let's the witch out of his grip. He hands her over to Stefan because under any other circumstances, it wouldn't raise his hackles. But Alaric's words replay in his head and Damon thinks this is the worst idea he's ever had.
"Everyone stares at me like I'm the Unabomber," Stefan states once Damon is out of the way, a quick, fleeting smile spreading across his face before it is gone in a second.
"You were scary," Bonnie offers, fingers sliding over the lapels of his suit jacket.
"Were you scarred of me?," Stefan asks looking down at her.
"A little. A lot, actually. You weren't yourself."
"And what is myself, exactly?," Stefan asks, genuinely curious.
"You care about people and you value certain things and all of that just went away."
Stefan seems to consider Bonnie's statement. "When I'm alone with Elena, I think about hunting, and then I think about Damon's hands on her," Stefan says, leaving brief pauses between the words, his own way of informing Bonnie that she could have interrupted at anytime.
"You're going to drive yourself crazy if you keep thinking things like that," Bonnie responds, unhappily.
"Sometimes, I think of hurting Damon. I think of doing something that would just...hurt."
"Why are you telling me this?," Bonnie asks, not wanting to be anyone's confessor.
"Because you will listen and because you will talk me out of it."
Bonnie sighs, "I'm your voice of reason."
"Something like that," Stefan says. "I'm glad you and Damon are together. He's never had someone devoted to him."
Bonnie wants to add that Stefan has been pretty devoted to Damon throughout the years but she understands that it is not the same thing.
She stares at Stefan's jaw, her eyes then traveling up to his faraway gaze, "Elena loves you."
Stefan seems to snap out of whatever daydream he was having, "When you say it like that, I almost believe it."
Meanwhile, Damon's arms are full of an aging, southern aristocrat who babbles incessantly and who keeps grabbing his ass.
He eavesdrops on the conversation between Bonnie and Stefan while offering timed responses to the woman's inane chatter.
Once the song is over, Damon kisses the woman's hand, "You are a heavenly dancer," he gushes, and the woman fans herself as Damon makes his escape.
"May I cut in?" Damon asks, when he reaches where Stefan and Bonnie are. Stefan steps way without a challenge.
"What was that about?," Damon questions as soon as Bonnie is back in his arms.
Bonnie snorts at Damon's thinly veiled meddling, "Like you don't already know."
Instead of arguing, Damon inquires, "My place or yours?," his voice low and heated.
"Damon," Bonnie invokes his name as a warning.
"We don't have to do anything. We could just roll around naked. No actual penetration required."
Bonnie looks at him, incredulous.
"You lack imagination. Remember, I was born when adequate contraception was a star in a desperately horny bastard's eye."
Scoffing, Bonnie responds, "Reminding me of your age is not sexy."
"Just imagine what I feel when I see at your stuffed animals."
"If you feel like a pervert it's because you are a pervert."
Damon smiles.
"Promise me we will be able to do this?" Bonnie states, suddenly serious.
"Do what?"
"Talk to each other," Bonnie responds, laying her head on Damon's shoulder.
As the night goes on, Bonnie allows herself to feel happy. She almost forgets about hearing Klaus' voice.
Bonnie refuses hors d'œuvre from a passing waiter and senses a presence disturbing her space.
"Dance with me," Klaus suggests, grabbing her arm and pressing her to him; the request not to be declined.
"While I was chained up," Klaus begins, "I thought of all kinds of delicious ways to make your friends suffer, to cut them down at the knees, so to speak. And the thought of you, howling in grief, inspired such surprising feelings in me."
Bonnie forces her body to remain calm. Klaus' hand settles low on Bonnie's back, fingers spreading to cradle her to him. Tender, almost.
"You shake like you are afraid. Are you afraid, Bonnie?," Klaus taunts, his lips close to her ear, "Damon Salvatore is not as powerful as I am. He's not as smart, either. More importantly, he will never be able to give you what you need."
Bonnie makes the decision that it doesn't matter if she draws attention to herself, she will try her damndest to inflict some kind of pain on him. Before she can reconcile this thought into an action, Klaus is no longer dancing with her.
Throughout the evening, Stefan had become uninterested with the goings-on around him. Elena wasn't even enough to keep him occupied.
Stefan finds a secluded bedroom in the manor and walks out onto the balcony.
He breathes in the clean air and tries to reoriented himself to the life he always believed her wanted: Elena's love, his brother alive and well, and untainted roots in Mystic Falls.
"The dreams...I woke up and I never saw you. I thought, maybe, you were my own personal demon that I drudge up whenever I'm at my lowest," Stefan says aloud.
Klaus steps out of the shadows, "You look well. And I'm honored, truly, that you chose me as your demon. Has Damon relinquished the role or do you not even care anymore?"
Stefan turns around to face Klaus, "What do you want?" It's a valid question. The time he had spent with the man didn't shed light on any of Klaus' intentions.
"Are you going to make me another deal? Your life for everyone else's. Will your brother do the valiant thing and step in? He's assumed your role in every other way."
"You don't know anything about Damon or me."
"Don't I? You and I both know that the only reason you haven't done away with your brother is because you think he could help you destroy me. You should skip the former and put him out of his misery."
"And what are you suppose to do? Replace Damon?"
Klaus keeps his expression blank and unaffected but something in his eyes is not so easily repressed.
"Oh my God," Stefan says, quietly, "That's what you want, isn't it? You honestly think you could just replace Damon."
"He killed his whole family. That must be...lonely." Elena states, her dress wrinkling as she sits on the couch.
"Klaus likes to play mind games. I don't think for a second that he's gone mushy on us," Damon argues, pouring a drink for himself.
"Everyone wants to belong, Damon. The only people he surrounds himself with are people who does whatever he asks without questioning him, " Bonnie asserts.
"You get tired of not having anyone who cares about you," Stefan attests.
"Have you all lost your minds?" Damon looks around the room for a sane individual.
"Regardless of what Klaus is up to, he's taking his sweet time. I was so sure he would have killed us by now," Bonnie states.
"He's fucking with us. He knows we have no way of stopping him right now. Of course he's twiddling his thumbs. It's what I'd do," Damon state after he drains his drink.
Stefan gives Damon a barely concealed look of disgust.
Elena blinks rapidly and tries to think positive thoughts.
Bonnie looks like she's not going to take her clothes off anytime soon.
This night is definitely not going the way Damon thought it would.