Disclaimer: I really don't own anything.
Author's Note: So this was an AU Dirty Dancing Bamon prompt that was turned in to a gifset by the talented artemisgoldenarrow for the Bonnie Holiday Ship Fest on Tumblr. Nisha (esmeralda321) fed the fires and so I started writing it because the idea hasn't left my head all weekend. Not sure how long this is going to be and I'm playing fast and loose with the actual film plot. But whateves, I'll be fun. So enjoy.
I'm pretty sure I got the nick-name Bunny from norrific's story Better then Fiction (which seriously needs to be updated)
This is un-beta'd and a little shorter than I would like, but it is pretty much hot off the press. So excuse me for any errors.
Tittle is also subject to change. It comes from a Florence + The Machine song, but I'm not sure if I like it. So... there's that.
Pairings: Bonnie/Damon, Stefan/Elena, Caroline/Matt, Caroline/Tyler (endgame), others to be determined depending on how the muse wants them to be.
Warnings: The usual: adult language, adult situations, sexy times, and drug and alcohol abuse.
Between Two Lungs
Chapter 1
"Bunny, could you pass me a bottle water? My throat is going to be as dry as the Sahara with the way your father has the heat blasting."
Bonnie looked up from the tablet resting on her crossed legs for what felt like the first time in hours. Her mother, Abby, was looking over her shoulder back at her as her father reached for the control panel of the silver Chrysler Town & Country they'd rented for the trip. He fiddled with the temp gauge and the warm air that'd been blasting down from overhead calmed some.
"You're the one that was complaining about being cold," her dad muttered as Bonnie bent over the side of her seat to fish a water out the cooler.
"That was 30 miles and half a tank ago. My Southern blood isn't that thin, Rudy," her mother said with an exasperated sigh. "Besides, we're so close to the resort. I don't want to have to stop and fill this gas guzzler up again."
She smacked him on the shoulder playfully before reached back for the bottle. Bonnie handed it over and tried to fight a grimace as the space between her shoulder-blades twinged sharply. Her mother saw it regardless and she frowned in concern.
"You okay? Is your neck bothering you?"
"It's alright," she said and sat back in her seat. "I've just been hunched over for too long."
"You sure?" her father asked, and she saw him looking back at her via the rear-view mirror. "You didn't get out at the last stop to stretch your legs. And I haven't seen you wear your brace since Wednesday. You did pack it right?"
"Yeah, Daddy. It's in my bag." She wanted to roll her eyes but decided against it seeing as how they were both still giving her worried looks.
"Seriously, I've just been bent over reading this e-book in one position for too long. I promise I'm fine." She uncrossed her legs and placed her feet on the floor to emphasize her point. Another shot of pain played down her back but it wasn't as bad as the first and she was able to keep her face from showing her discomfort this time. She didn't like drawing attention to her injury, especially if it meant they'd be treating her with kid gloves for the rest of the day.
"Maybe we should stop, Rudy," her mother said anyway. "Let her fish her brace out and get more gas. The website said they had pumps there, but I'm sure it'll be cheaper to fill up on the road then at the resort."
"Bunny says she's fine, so she's fine." He dad said. "Besides, we're almost there like you said and I don't want to be stuck in the check-in crowd. We're already behind schedule because somebody wanted to get her mink out of storage."
"It's supposed to snow, Rudy," Abby protested. "And I don't plan on freezing my skinny behind off while we're up here."
"Whatever you say, sweetheart."
Bonnie caught his hazel gaze in the rear-view and he gave her a conspiratorial wink to let her know he knew what was really up, but was willing to cover for her. Truth was she probably should have put on her brace, which looked more like a vest that hugged her under her breasts and pulled her shoulders back, forcing her to correct her posture. And she probably could go for getting out long enough to move around. But she'd already insisted she was fine and didn't want to start her winter vacation with them babying her like they'd done right after the accident.
Abby was still frowning over her but finally shook her head in resignation. "We should be there within the hour. Promise me you'll let us know if you need to stop, though."
Bonnie smiled. "I promise."
The lie slipped off her tongue a lot easier then it would if it had been for her dad. She actively avoided his gaze as she picked up her iPad and turned it back on. Rudy had always been able to read her like a book despite how hard she tried to hide things from him. He could smell a lie on her a mile away, but had been biting his tongue about it lately. Though there was that disproving look he'd give her every time that made her feel like he was losing a bit of faith in her every time. She just couldn't stand the smothering though, and was just about willing to say whatever it took to get them to back off and let her be19 with her own wants and dreams.
"First world problems," she mumbled under her breath as she glanced down to see her tablet to find the battery was dying. With a disgruntled groan she unbuckled her seat belt and grabbed her charger out of her purse. She looked back to see her brother sprawled out in the back seat he'd claimed as his own when they left their Brooklyn brownstone hours ago. He had sunglasses on to block the morning sun filtering through the already tented windows and, despite his headphones, she could hear the music he was blasting over sounds of their parents conversation and the slightly muted sounds of NPR coming through the car speakers.
"Jamie, I need to use the plug."
Getting no response, not that she was expecting to over the volume of his music, she crawled out of her seat and made her way to the back of the mini-van. Jamie startled as she shoved his legs out of the way to sit, and he yanked his ridiculously expensive headphones off and glared at her.
"What are you doing back here? I told you I called dibs before we left."
She rolled her eyes. "I just need to charge my iPad. Let me use the plug and I'll get out of your hair so you can get back to your shitty music."
"Language, Bonnie Bennett," her mom admonished from the front. "Don't think you're too old to be taken over my knee."
"Sorry mom," she answered, ignoring Jamie's snickering. "Won't happen again."
"It better not. I swear, you kids these days have no home training. You'd think your parents raised you in a barn or something."
"Or something," her father agreed and Bonnie and Jamie shared a look before he sat up and stretched.
"Are we there yet? I feel like we've been on the road forever."
"It's barely been three hours and you slept through most of it," Bonnie chuckled as she plugged her iPad into an electrical socket near the floor.
"What can I say? I'm a city boy." He yawned and scratched at his head absentmindedly, "Not used to long car rides."
"Almost there," Rudy said, as he flicked on his blinker to switch lanes, letting a speeding Lincoln pass by them. "Jezz, where's the fire, asshole?!"
"And you wonder where we get it from," Jamie smirked while looking out the window. The scenery wasn't much to be impressed by, the normally brilliant fall colors of upper state New York haven long turned brown from the harsh winter chill. Most of the trees where bare for the exception of a few scattered pines.
"Some view," Jamie said. "We should have just gone to Gram's place like always. I know she's on a cruse with that guy this year, but she wouldn't have minded. Besides, her house is on the beach. That means hot sun and girls in bikinis. Not me and my balls freezing together in some backwoods, trust fund brat's campground."
"You're a trust fund brat," Abby reminded him in a matter-of-fact tone, taking a sip from her water. "Besides, we'll have a real Christmas this year. With a live tree and hot cider and carols and hopefully snow. It'll be great."
"Yeah, no offense but that sounds miserable." Jamie crossed his arms.
"Don't worry, I"m sure they'll be plenty of beautiful woman for you to chase around. And the Lockwood's have booked a cabin for the holidays, so you're wingman will be there to help you out. It's no South Beach, but I'm sure you two can make the best of it."
Bonnie groaned, thinking about all the hell her brother and his best friend, Tyler, could get up to mostly unsupervised for their vacation.
"Don't encourage him. There's no telling what kind of new STD's those two will be spreading to all the unsuspecting girls there. Next thing you know the CDC will be called in and we'll be locked down in quarantine like in some crappy horror movie."
"Nobody asked for your input, Bunny. In fact, why are you even still back here?" He started to shove her out the way, carefully though, always mindful of her neck. She took the hint and scrambled back to her seat, buckling herself in with a grin.
"You know, I really wouldn't have minded being the only child," he said and laid back down. "Being an older brother is over rated. I would have been just fine with that puppy I wanted when I was a kid. It would have been more economical anyway. You don't have to worry about putting a dog through college."
"Love you too, bro," she smiled back at him while flipping him off
"I saw that Bonnie Sheila Bennett," her mother exclaimed. "Rudy, get your child!"
"Why is she always mine when she does something you don't like? I'm pretty sure you're just as responsible for her as I am. In fact, you're the one that carried her for nine months."
Bonnie ignored them both as they started to nag at each other affectionately. She pulled her phone out her bag and slid her earbuds in, turning on her own music. A billboard came up, advertising in a flowing script Kellerman's Catskill Mountain Resort. She settled farther in to her seat, drawing her legs up to wrap her arms around her knees. They'd be there soon she realized. They had just enough miles left for her to take a quick cat nap. Closing her eyes, she hummed along to her music as she let the motion of the mini-van traveling up through mountain passes lull her to sleep.
Damon stood with his hands shoved in to the pockets of his worn leather jacket. He was surrounded by dark wood paneled walls and leather furniture that stood out in stark contradiction to the slightly country, rustic architecture of the rest of the building. But then again, Giuseppe had always been an ostentatious bastard, and his private office was a prime example of the money he liked to flaunt. He shifted on his feet, hoping that his engineering boots had some good old Manhattan street crap escaping their worn treads into the expensive, Persian rug beneath him; a spiteful slight that would make him feel slightly better.
"Why don't you have a seat?" the older man suggested, pointing at the stiff looking chair a few inches behind him with a hand holding a tumbler of Scotch.
"Naw, I'm good." Damon shook his head and shrugged his shoulders back, looking him over and trying to find any little thing familiar between the two of them. He was just a disappointed as he was all the other times he'd been in the man's presence. Which hadn't been many.
Giuseppe seemed to be giving him a similar appraising gaze and must have found him wanting because he sighed dramatically before finishing off his drink. He sat the glass down on the desk with a clank that sent the ice within clattering about.
"I just wanted to get a few things straight with you, Damon, before this holiday season started and you settled in. And I wanted to do it face to face, so that there is no confusion as to why you're here and just how precarious the conditions of your employment are."
He sat back in his high back chair, folding his fingers together and resting them on his stomach.
"You come with great recommendations, but make no mistake... you're here as a favor to your mother. Nothing more and nothing less. You follow the rules and make these desperate Fortune 500's with marital problems a little bit happy, then you'll leave with a bonus and all your problems taken care of. You break my rules then there will not be a studio in the tri-state that wouldn't burn your resume on principle once getting it. Do you understand, young man?"
Damon clenched his jaw, feeling his stomach churn with anger but swallowed his automatic response and nodded instead. "Yes sir. I understand completely."
Giuseppe smirked. "You get through these two weeks without any incident, you and your crew could have a steady thing. I'm talking full time with benefits. There's not much of a ladder to climb, but it'll be dependable, which is probably a lot more than what you're used to. I can't imagine you have many prospects as a dance instructor."
He said those words with such disdain that Damon found himself shifting on his feet again in agitation.
"Mr. Salvatore, you don't have to worry about me or my people. We're here to work, and we're damn good at what we do. There won't be any problems from us."
"I hope so. You have more riding on this than anyone else." Giuseppe raised a brow at him before shaking his head. "Get out of here, kid. Go get settled in. Find Alaric Schwartzman. He's head of HR and has all the paper work for you to sign. He'll also direct you to the staff cabins. He should be out front waiting on you."
Though it hurt his pride to do it, Damon thanked him before making his exit. Giuseppe grunted in response before rising from his seat, grabbing his empty glass and heading towards his mini-bar. He didn't look his way as he walked out the room and Damon wasn't sure if he felt relieved or pissed that the man was able to dismiss him so effortlessly.
He closed the door behind him and took a deep breath, looking over at scurrying staff members as they rushed around making last minute preparations for opening day. His attention settled on a pair of green eyes a little further down the hall and he groaned quietly to himself before heading in the opposite direction. It wasn't the way he was supposed to go, but he figured there had to be a back door out the place and he was willing to hike it back to his car if it meant avoiding the guy sporting Justin Bieber's haircut and looking a little to eager to talk to him.
He cut down several other, less crowded hallways, wondering just how big the place was before he found a glass door that led out onto a patio. He slipped through it quickly, ignoring the rush of cold air that greeted his exit as he walked down the deck, his boots causing the wood beneath them to groan in protest. He realized his mistake almost as soon as he made it, seeing that he was a good 30 feet above the round with a sharp drop-off that led down into a ravine that even he wasn't desperate enough to attempt.
"Must be a downstairs," he muttered as he walked over the the porch railing to look down, seeing the conformation below him.
Cursing under his breath he started back for the door to see it already open and stopped short seeing that horrible haircut and its owner standing in the threshold.
"Hey, Damon."
Damon ran his tongue along his bottom lip before lifting his head a little in greeting. "Hey, Stefan."
They starred at each other for a few uncomfortable moments, neither one know how to break the years-long tension between them.
Stefan reached up to scratch at his chin before mimicking him and licking his own lips. "So, ah, how have you been? It's been a while since we've talked."
Damon scoffed and shoved his hands back in his jacket pockets. "I'm here, aren't I? So obviously things aren't going that well."
"Damon, listen-"
"No." He cut him off with a obstinate shake of his head. "We're not doing this. I'm here for work. You and me. "He pointed between the two to them." We are nothing more than employee and employer. So whatever it is you're getting ready to say... Whatever bullshit, Hallmark words that over large cranium of yours has come up with, just save them. I'm here for two weeks and then I'm ghosting. So let's keep this strictly professional."
Stefan looked at him in disappointment. "It doesn't have to be like this, you know?"
"As long as that devil you call a father is alive, yeah it does." Damon started for the door again, shoving past him back into the warmth of inside. He heard Stefan's footsteps following closely behind him and cursed his luck as he tried to find his way back to the front door.
"You know where you're going?" his unwanted second shadow asked after a few frustrating turns. Damon stopped to look back at him, not even bothering to hide the annoyance on his face.
"What do you think, genius? You mind showing me the way out of here? I'm supposed to be meeting up with some guy for paper work."
Stefan let out a chuckle. "You haven't changed a damn bit, you know that? Still have that chip on your shoulder. Too stubborn to admit you need help."
Damon clinched his fists in his pockets, already agitated and looking for a fight. "You got anything else you wanna say?"
"Nope." Stefan humphed and turned on his heel. "Come on, let's find Alaric and get you all settled up and a drink in you. I'm pretty sure you'll be a lot more pleasant to be around afterwords."
"Thought I'm supposed to abstain." Damon started after him.
"What father doesn't know won't hurt him." Stefan looked over at him with a smirk on his lips. "And trust me when I say there are plenty of things that go on around here he doesn't know about."
Damon didn't know how to respond to that as he followed the suit clad man. He had a lot banking on this gig, including his mother's life and he wasn't going to put his faith in Giuseppe's next in line anytime soon. There was too much bad blood between the two families, some of it literally spilled, for him to trust them. He'd get squared away with the human resources' guy and meet up with his gang. As much as he was tempted by a drink, he forgo it for a warm meal and some shuteye before the opening ceremony once the sun went down.
They hit the lobby much quicker than he thought they would, and he had to wonder how he was able to get turned around so fast.
"Check-in rush," Stefan said as they stopped to watch the chaotic progression moving around the room. "We've booked almost 200 people this year. I think people are trying to find an alternative to the Hampton's for the Christmas season. Even the rich are cutting back in the recession."
Damon gave him a look that clearly read he didn't care. "Where's this Alaric guy?"
Stefan sighed and pointed across the way. "Over there. Come on."
They started across the unlacquered, hardwood floor, Stefan's footfalls a little more surer and faster as Damon tried to keep up with him through the crowd. He skirted past a guy wearing overly large headphones, obviously not paying attention to where he was dragging his suitcase. He scowled back at him as he went on, almost knocking over someone else in his hurry.
"Hey, watch it!"
His arms went out automatically to steady to them as their feet tangled together. He pulled her straight before she could hit the ground, having to look down way more then he was used to in order to get a look at her.
"Sorry, you okay there?" He asked, a flirty smile making a way to his face for the first time all day. She was a tiny thing, wearing a pair of kitten keeled shoes and still not even reaching his shoulders. She stepped out of his embrace quickly, both her hands reaching up grab at the back of her neck.
"Yeah," she said with a frown. "Just watch where you're going. I promise the freaking mountain isn't going to get up and move without you checking in first."
"Not checking in, but I'll make sure to keep that in mind." He chuckled softly, reaching down for her dropped bag since she was still rubbing at her shoulders with her lips turned down. "Are you sure you're okay? That was a pretty hard hit."
"I'm fine," she said with a finality that almost made him take a step back as her eyes met his and narrowed. "Just look out next time before you tackle someone who's willing to sue your ass."
He smiled even wider, enjoying the way her face scrunched up in annoyance. "What's you're name, little bird? I'm Damon, the new dance instructor."
She huffed and snatched her bag from his hands. "It's Bunny. And I don't care who you are."
She shoved past him without another word and he watched her go, admiring the way her hips and rear moved in the skinny jeans she was wearing as she saddled up to Captain Oblivious wearing the headphones. A throat cleared behind him and he turned with a shake of his head to find Stefan standing there.
"Having fun yet?"
Damon rolled his eyes, feeling his improved mood evaporating quicker than water drops on a hot skillet.
"Let's get this over with."
Stefan nodded and started off again. Damon took one last back at the curly-haired girl before following after him.