I'm Not Leaving You

"Happy New Year, luv!" Enzo greeted with faux enthusiasm.

Bonnie started as walked through the door, the gasolene can hanging limply from her hands as she gaped at the Vampire standing by the fireplace. He held his arms wide, showing off the white christmas lights he had managed to string up around the cabin in her absence. He held a flute of champagne in one hand that he sipped from while he monitored her reaction. Smooth jazz emanated from the stereo in the corner and for one bright shining moment, Bonnie wondered if maybe he had finally come back to her.

The problem was that the display was a mediocre copy of another man's work. It lacked any of the thought and intention that had gone into the previous effort. It would have been unlike her Enzo to do the same thing twice. Her Enzo or 'The Dark Poet, as this new version liked to refer to his former self, was too classy for that.

"I remember now," Enzo said in a cocky, bored sounding tone of voice, "the lights, the-" he paused to take a sip his champagne, giving a little shiver of delight for effect, "the music. Mmmmm."

It was the utter smugness that got her, his complete lack of respect for how his little scenario would affect her. The emotionless version of Enzo was trying to get her attention in the cruelest possible fashion, by playing the hopeless romantic in order to convince her he had turned his humanity back on. He was playing on the love she had for the other Enzo, the one she had spent three years getting to know intimately. This version hoped she was stupid enough to fall for it. Thankfully, for both of them, Bonnie knew him better than that.

"Screw you." she muttered, hefting the gasoline can through the doorway with a quiet grunt. She tried not to look around the cabin, lest she lose her nerve about torching the place. There were memories in every corner and if she stared at any part of it for too long she would lose her resolve.

"You didn't buy it?" Enzo queried, amused. "Not even just a little."

"Buy what," she answered sarcastically, feeling weary of the entire ordeal, "your poor attempt at placating me or your horrible acting?"

Bonnie had tried everything she could think of to draw the real Enzo out but, so far, had come up short. She had tried starving him, vervaining him, appealing to his better nature, strumming on that damn guitar in the hope that he would tell her how much she sucked...all her efforts had been met with the same indifferent attitude he had now.

She wanted to be done with this surly, discount version of the man she loved, wanted done with the cocky vampire who only wanted to tipple champagne and poke fun at her efforts. With each day that passed she lost hope of ever seeing the real him again.

It's just as well." Enzo shrugged. "The romance, the," he paused again and pulled a face, as if the very word left a foul taste in his mouth, "slow burn of it all...it was all so unbelievably saccharin!"

He was trying to hurt her, to make light of everything they had built together. Bonnie hated to admit it was working. This Enzo, this arrogant, aloof man before her, was not the one she had fallen in love with. She could never have loved someone like this. Emotionless Enzo was playing on her emotions as he would the strings of a guitar. Pull a heartstring here, tug at another there. Chip away at her love for the other him and hope she cracked under the pressure.

"And for what?" He continued, shifting his expression from one of disgust to annoyance. "I kept you safe for three years and you tried to kill me!"

Bonnie ignored him as she released her frustration by violently throwing gasoline onto a nearby bookcase. She didn't look at Enzo as she moved in a circle about the room, splashing accelerant on anything she could reach. She poured all her emotion into that one, simple act, all her hurt and her fear and her loss. It was easier to let it out this way even if it wasn't as satisfying.

"Looks like you might uh...be trying it again?" Enzo half commented/half queried as she moved into the kitchen with the gas can. Did she detect surprise in his voice? If so that was something. For weeks now it had been nothing but boredom and sarcasm.

"I'm gonna get through to you." Bonnie promised firmly, speaking through her teeth as she dumped accelerant onto the counter and stove. That accomplished, she finally looked over and pinned him with a determined expression. Enzo, for his part looked unconvinced. Obviously, he wasn't that worried about what she was doing because he didn't lift a finger to stop her... or maybe he just assumed she was bluffing.

"If I have to use your darkest fears to pull you out of this," she continued, grunting with effort as she splashed gasoline up onto the wall, "then that's what I'm gonna do!"

"Weeeeeell," Enzo drawled from his place by the hearth, "I'm a complicated person. 140 years on this earth and no one has taken me out yet."

"I guess I'll die trying then." Bonnie responded with a smile, matching his nonchalance with some of her own.

She continued splashing gasoline around the doorway. Enzo watched her and offered up nothing more than a humoring smile. That was alright, it was all she rightfully expected from him anyway. In fact, she fully expected that he would continue with his 'I don't care' attitude up until the last possible second. In a way, he reminded her of Damon, standing there with that petulant expression and a drink in his hand. Was she to lose both of them then, her best friend and the man she loved?

Enzo suddenly let out an amused bark of laughter, as though her efforts were childish and stupid. Bonnie tried to ignore him as she made her way to the other side of the room, splashing accelerant up onto the curtains and furniture.

"You think I'm afraid of fire because Damon left me in a fire," He concluded amusedly, "Points for effort, luv, but you still missed the mark!"

"Did I?" She replied straightening. "Or do you really think my torching this place is about 'fire'?" Bonnie straightened up and made her way slowly towards him. Enzo, briefly looked doubtful but soon buried the emotion behind haughty eyes.

"You're afraid of people leaving. Period." Bonnie stated firmly.

She all but dared him to contradict her, to move away. She could see that her sudden closeness unnerved him; she caught the slight flash of his throat as his breath hitched, the briefest tightening around his eyes.

"You're afraid of being abandoned." Bonnie continued, moving closer yet, "It's the one thing that happens to you over and over again. Everyone leaves, no one stays."

Again she paused, again she held his gaze. Enzo tried to give a little dismissive 'hmmm' to her words, his eyes darting away, but she knew she had him. All she had to do was follow through.

"Well, that ends now," she promised quietly, jabbing a finger into his chest, "because I'm not going anywhere!"

She turned away from him then and stalked over to palm the enchanted candle she had used to trap him in the cabin. She held it before her and took a deep breath, knowing what she had to do but feeling woefully unprepared to do it.

"This is all a bit extreme, don't you think?" Enzo asked with just the finest thread of fear running through that rich voice. That was good, the fear meant that her Enzo was still in there somewhere. That was the Enzo her gamble was catering too, she just hoped it paid off before they both burned to death.

"Desperate times call for desperate measure." She replied evenly. She looked over at him again and she knew that her eyes were pleading even if her voice was as flat as his. She couldn't hide how she felt, she didn't want to.

"I'm not leaving until you turn your humanity back on." She declared. " I'd rather burn alive than abandon you."

Enzo merely regarded her with that same detached, bored expression he had worn for weeks. Bonnie wanted to believe she saw a flicker of something in his eyes, some recognition of what they had been to each other. She had loved so very few people in her life outside of Grams and her father. She had thought, once upon a time, that Jeremy Gilbert would be the only man she ever wanted. It had been true for a while but Jeremy had left and Enzo had blindsided her in more ways than one.

She hadn't fought this long and this hard only to lose him now, not to his humanity switch and certainly not to that damned siren and her mind games. If she couldn't get him to switch his humanity back on then it was likely they would both die. Not new territory for her, she had died several times already. This time was different though, more personal. She refused to lose anyone else! Too many had been lost already; Grams, dad, Elena, now Tyler...she was tired of losing people.

Bonnie leaned down and the flame jumped onto the accelerant like a puppy joyfully bounding after a ball. She watched it streak across the floor and climb the walls, igniting everything as though it were made of flash paper. She watched it burn 'their place'. She watched their memories literally go up in smoke. That smoke soon filled the room, the acrid stench of it invaded her nostrils and made her cough. Flames licked up the walls and climbed the ceiling faster than she had anticipated, destroying everything in its wake.

"Congratulations, you nailed it!" Enzo sarcastically spat. "Fear of abandonment, a textbook case. Now can we end this?"

"I'm not leaving you." She replied stubbornly.

"Well, I hope you leave at some point," He countered irritably, "I mean, this cabin is going to run out of food eventually and I really question 'Over Eats' ability to locate this address."

He showed zero concern for the fact that the cabin was literally falling apart around them. Bonnie tried to picture the other Enzo, her Enzo, standing in his place. She thought back to that day by the car, when she had tried to get him out of town and away from Sybil but had nearly killed him in the process. She saw herself trying to stalk away, hurt and angry at his rejection, when he suddenly whirled her back and pulled her into a bone breaking kiss.

It was that Enzo that she held onto with every fiber of her being as her brain screamed at her to escape from the burning structure. It was that Enzo she pictured as she stared at the indifferent bastard who was now wearing his skin.

"I'm not leaving you." She repeated, her voice strained from breathing in too much smoke.

"Yeah, I gathered." The emotionless Enzo muttered, offering her little more than a disdainful smile. She began to actively cough as he busied himself studying the remaining champagne in his glass.

"Smoke doesn't feel good in the lungs, does it." He commented dryly.

Know this, love! I will never stop fighting! The Enzo of her past promised fiercely.

"I'm not leaving you." She said again, forcing more firmness into her tone. If that Enzo wasn't going to give up then neither was she. Bonnie tried to catch his gaze but he made a point of stiffening his shoulders and staring over her head.

"And I still don't care." Emotionless Enzo replied in a terse tone. "Now you're just being stupid."

He tilted the glass to his lips and drained the remaining champagne before tossing it aside. It shattered against the hearth with a gentle tinkling sound.

I will brave the oceans and sail past the sirens to find my way back to you!

Bonnie stumbled towards Enzo, all the while struggling to breathe. When she reached him she bunched his shirt into her hands and stared pleadingly up into his face. After what felt like an eternity, he finally looked down at her, though his own face a frozen mask of indifference.

"I'm not leaving you." She told him quietly.

"Any other last words?" He asked flatly, regarding her with that same condescending smile. Bonnie swallowed against the burning in her throat, her eyes filled with tears. She coughed again and had to force her next words out slowly.

"I'm...not...leaving...you."

She held his gaze with each word, she held his gaze as her chest burned with the need for air and tears clouded her vision. She held his gaze as the flames danced around them and burned all their memories to ash.

"You're as good as dead." she heard Enzo reply as her vision started going dark at the edges. All Bonnie could see were his eyes now, those beautiful, beautiful hazel eyes.

"I'm not.." she gasped, collapsing to her knees. Her fingers pulled the fabric of his shirt where they still gripped it. The world came forward and retracted as though she were on the world's worst roller coaster.

"I'm not…" she tried again as everything grayed out, "Leaving…yo-"

Bonnie never managed to get that last word out before the world disappeared in a wave of smoke and heat around her. She barely perceived Enzo's hands coming up to grasp her elbows as she fell backwards. With little more than a whisper, she crumbled in a heap at his feet.

Enzo blinked down at the unconscious woman lying on the cabin floor and suddenly could not account for his hands which he held out before him. He hadn't intended to lift them when she began listing to the side, he hadn't intended to reach out for her as she fell, they had simply come up of their own volition.

As he stared down at her, he was aware of...what exactly? Some feeling deep inside that Sybil, even with all her prospecting in his brain, had been unable to suppress. He watched the firelight make shadows on Bonnie Bennett's face and suddenly became more 'aware' of his surroundings.

Enzo jumped as the heat of the flames brushed against his skin and glanced around the cabin as though only just realizing where he was. He had known, of course, but he had had no appreciation of the circumstances until about half a second ago. He blinked rapidly, feeling slightly disoriented, wondering at the fruity, bubbly taste of champagne on his tongue.

He had been drinking hadn't he, before Bonnie had come back? Bonnie...she had torched the cabin! Enzo opened his eyes again, focusing on the woman who laid sprawled at his feet. His brain couldn't immediately account for what he was seeing. Why was she laying there? He slowly became aware of the faltering beat, beat, beat, of her heart and the hitching uneven breaths that went with it.

"Bonnie?" He heard himself saying.

There was a part of him that half expected her sit up and smile, yell 'gotcha' and then magically put out the fire. She wasn't moving though, she was barely breathing, and all the while that heartbeat was growing fainter.

"Bonnie, wake up!" He called, a sensation much like panic pushing its way through his system.

If anyone can pull me back from the precipice, it's you, Bonnie Bennett. Enzo's words to her echoed at the back of his mind.

He remembered her eyes as they stared pleadingly back into his own. He could see the tears spilling down her cheeks as he did the one and only thing he could think to do to protect her. He remembered kissing her, that final meeting of lips to hold them both over until she found a way to get through to him again. Apparently, she had though it was about to cost her her own life!

Enzo flipped that mental switch then, he hit it so hard that when he knelt down next to Bonnie it wasn't only to see if he could bring her around. The force of flipping his humanity switch had literally brought him to his knees.

The one thing no one ever explained to new vampires was that switching off meant turning off everything. One no longer felt guilt or responsibility or love, those things that many wanted to escape just to be able to get through the endless march of time. What they didn't think to mention was that one also lost other sensations as well, or rather they stopped caring about them.

Now that his senses were slowly coming back online he felt the heat of the fire around him, he felt the minute buzz from the small amount of alcohol he had consumed, and he felt an increasing panic for the woman he loved who was dying on the floor in front of him.

"Bonnie!" He called, slapping her cheeks and trying to bring her around. "Bonnie!"

Nothing, not even a twitch of the eyelids. Cursing, Enzo pulled her arm around his shoulder and gathered her against him before lifting her from the cabin floor. His breathing came fast as he tried to fight through the 'fuckfuckfuckfuck' that was screaming through his brain. He stared at Bonnie's unconscious face and tried to think. Enzo knew she had spelled the cabin so simply escaping through the front door wasn't an option. If he didn't do something quickly they were both going to burn to death.

I spelled the candle so only I can put it out. Her voice echoed in his memory.

He looked then at the doorway and remembered that he might not be able to leave but she could. He might not be able to save himself but he sure as hell could save her! Using his vampire speed he raced to the door and angled her as he prepared to toss her through it.

"Sorry about this, luv." He whispered, holding her to him for a couple of seconds and laying a kiss on her dark hair before heaving her as hard as he could out the burning door.

She landed with a heavy thump on the lawn and rolled just a bit before coming to a stop in the middle of it. Enzo could have cried with relief when he heard her lungs start to breathe that much easier and her heart rate increase by a fraction of a degree with each clear breath.

The cabin was slowly coming apart around him, it wouldn't be long now before it collapsed and buried him under a burning pile of rubble. After that he would be consigned to Cade's hell and would likely never see Bonnie Bennett again. He drank in the image of her face and was content with the fact that he had managed to save her life as his final act on this earth.

It might not be enough to save him from slavery in hell but at least he would go with his head held high. Enzo began to cough and choke as the smoke filled his lungs, he was bent over with the force of it when he suddenly heard her voice.

"Enzo!" Bonnie gasped. She still sounded weak but when he glanced up through the shimmering heat, he saw her sitting up and staring back at him with wide, panicked eyes.

"You came back to me." She mumbled as she tried to get to her feet but failed.

"Of course I did," he replied with a weak smile, "Someone had to save you."

"No, no…" She said through gritted teeth, fighting her way onto shaking legs. She was trying to get to him, trying to save him when there was no way to do that...not anymore.

"Bonnie," he said gently, trying to appeal to the rational side of her, "It's my time."

She paused in her forward momentum, shaking her head as though she didn't accept that. Enzo gave her a sad smile.

"You loved me more than anyone. It's enough…" he couldn't get any more words out, coughing overcame him again. He bowed over with it for a second time. This was where being a vampire had its disadvantages, the increased healing repeatedly fixed his damaged lungs but would be unable to overcome the flames that would soon be licking over his body. It gave a whole new meaning to the term 'going out in a blaze of glory'.

"No!" Bonnie suddenly cried. "I'm not losing you!

And with that she charged past him and into the burning cabin. She raced to the table where the candle sat and slammed her palm down on top of it, giving a cry of pain as her flesh sizzled. Enzo's brain went on autopilot then. All he could think to do was grab her and speed out of the cabin as fast as his vampire legs would carry him.

He fell to his knees with her on the lawn, panting out apology after apology as he cradled her against him and took stock of the ugly burn mark now marring her palm.

"It's ok, we're ok!" She gasped in reply to his apologies.

"I almost killed you." He exclaimed, cupping her face in his hands and wondering if he had dreamt up this entire scenario. Bonnie was here, in his arms, mostly uninjured, and he was in control of himself again.

"Look at me." She commanded when his eyes darted back to the burning cabin. When he did she gave a weeping laugh and smiled at him. "You're ok now."

"You're ok," she repeated as though to drive the point home, "and you're stuck with me forever."

Enzo looked into her dark, lovely face and felt so much emotion that he didn't have words to adequately express it. She had done it, she had saved not only him but herself as well. She was truly the bravest female he had ever met in his life.

" And I'm never leaving." She promised ardently. "Never, never, never-"

Enzo stopped her words with a kiss, it was the most eloquent response he could give. She met his kiss with a passion that only those who had renewed hope could offer. He grasped her face in his hands and kissed her over and over again as though he would never stop, then he pulled her against him and wept.

This is my first and only Vampire Diaries fanfiction. I was watching the episode where Bonnie burns down the cabin to force Enzo to turn his humanity back on and thought...'This scene needs to be longer, it needs more emotion.' I mean, I know its a tv show and they have other characters to fit into a 40 minute episode so they really couldn't devote more screen time but...that's why we have fan fiction, right? XD

Anyway, i really like the Enzo/Bonnie dynamic and i enjoyed watching how the scene played out on screen. I decided to write my version of it so we could get a glimpse into the heads of both characters and what they were thinking in that moment. I obviously took some liberties with the dialogue and what happens between Enzo picking Bonnie up and her ending up outside. My assumption is that he chucked her out the door (which i admit is kind of a hilarious picture in my head). I tried to keep most of the dialogue from the episode intact except for in places here it didn't translate to Prose as well.

I hope you guys enjoy my interpretation of this scene from the show and, who knows, maybe I'll see other episodes that i feel the need to novelize lol