Great puffs of air escaped his lungs and rushed out in front of him as he surveyed the area around him. It was pitch dark outside but his vision had always been good. Besides, he knew exactly what he was looking for like the back of his hand. Feeling the sudden, malevolent shift in energy, Jeremy slowly turned and faced the vampire he had been hunting down for months.

"Well, Well. If it isn't the legend himself. Jeremy Gilbert."

The vampire was deceptively beautiful with flowing blond hair, and milk pale skin. If Jeremy hadn't known any better he would have mistaken him for an arch-angel.

"Sergio. You've been avoiding me. And here I thought our last get together had gone so well."

Sergio smiled displaying perfect pearly whites. Jeremy wasn't sure if it were all an illusion or the vampire's true appearance, but he was for damn sure that this was perhaps the prettiest man he had ever seen.

"No. I just grew weary of our back and forth. You nearly had me that last time Slayer, and we couldn't have that. Speaking of having that, How's that lovely girlfriend of yours...Bonnie?"

Jeremy barely changed expression at the mention of her name, but his entire insides caught to fire. They threaten his town and they were dealt swift justice, they threatened the love of his life and he had no mercy. Talk time was over.

Sergio didn't see the change on the Slayer's face, but he felt it in the air. Bringing up the witch had been a mistake he may have to pay his life for. DAMN! Everyone knew the Slayer's only boon was his witch, no one ever fucked around with her! Acting on pure instinct, Sergio called out to his loyal goons...They came like angry bees out of the trees. He knew that they would be no more than a minor inconvience for the Slayer despite their ferocity, but they may just be enough to help him to escape again.

Jeremy grinned for a split second (the only outward warning of pending death) and shot the gun at the vampire before he could speed away. He had intentionally missed the heart wanting the vampire to watch as he killed off his goons, and sweat over what his own death would be like. Jeremy set on the goons like wrath. He finished them out quickly and sped into the woods where he had Sergio gunned on the ground...He had threatened Bonnie...He was as good as dead.

"So that's the Slayer's secret. Pin them while their backs are turned and finish them off without a fight? Pathetic."

"That was a lame attempt, even for you Sergio. But tonight may be your lucky night. I want you to suffer, I want to rip your fucking throat out, I want you to feel like you have a fighting chance in hell before I leave you to dust. I want your blood staining my hands. So I'm going to let fight, Serg..we'll fight this one out. But only one of us leaves these woods alive."

Sergio smirked as the Slayer approached. Heads would roll tonight...

XXXXX

She wasn't the type to sit at home wringing her hands and waiting for her man to come home from a dangerous job. No she was too stubborn and too independent to wait for a man to come home. That's not what she was doing. She was reading...Whatever book this was. Bonnie glanced down at the book in her hands and sighed at the fact that she hadn't made it past page one. Setting her book aside, Bonnie looked out into the night. He was out there. Fighting to keep so many innocent people safe. He was like darkness itself, and they would never see him coming. He was a hero really, hell he deserved a freaking medal! Self-sacrificing hero puts his life on the line every night to save people who don't even know he exists! Mystic falls' own superman! Bonnie let out a breath in disgust and jumped up to pace the living room of their apartment. She wasn't the type to sit at home worrying about whether or not her boyfriend would make it home alive, and it killed her that this is pretty much all she's been resorted to for the last year or so.

Bonnie whirls around when she hears the door open, and barely contains her tears at the sight of him. Dressed in all black, with his dark hair and eyes he looked like the angel of doom. He also looked incredibly worn-out and tired to his soul. Seeing him that way set her over the edge she had been teetering on...

Jeremy walked into his home out of the night and saw her standing there. Just looking at her, perfect gold dust skin,beautiful pearly green eyes that turned the color of gold-flecked moss when she got too emotional, her silky brown locks curling around a pixie face. She looked like a beautiful little fairy but Jeremy knew that his Bonnie could bring down the devil himself if she were crossed the wrong way. She held such great power he both feared and loved it in her.

"Bonnie...Baby I'm so glad you're still up. I could use-"

"How long do you expect me to put up with this, Jeremy?" Bonnie interrupted him.

Jeremy paused to look Bonnie in the eyes. What he saw had him shutting his own for a split second before he shut down and faced her again.

"As long as there is evil out there, I need to be protecting people from it. It's my destiny, Bonnie, It's in my blood."

"Well, I'm glad you're so sure there Jer. Sounds like you've been practicing that lame ass speech for years!"

"I'm simply being as honest as I can be with you Bonnie. I've never tried to hide from you who and what I was and I won't start now. You want an argument and there's no need."

"There's every need! I feel trapped Jeremy! My fear for you every-fucking-night traps me and leaves me cold. I can barely breathe when you leave. You're so fucking stupid and reckless and I HATE it! I want you to stop and you won't, and it hurts me! Why can't you see that?"

Somewhere in the middle of her rant, Bonnie had started crying, and now she left off any pretense of being strong and let herself cry. Cry out a year's worth of fear and anger at him.

"Stop crying Bonnie. You know I hate it when you cry. I can't even believe this conversation right now. We've been together for 2 years, I've been building my life up for this for nearly double that. Since when has this come as a surprise to you?"

"I was surprised when the man that I love with all of my heart decided that he had little to risk enough that he felt ok about going out every night and putting his life on the line!"

"I don't understand you, Bonnie. I'm not fighting for me, I thought you understood that. I'm going out there every night for those innocent men, women and children who's safety is put on the line for the amusement of some soulless monsters. I do this for us, so that we can feel safe and secure every morning and not worry about death over our shoulder. I do this for my family, Elena and Jenna, our family. Our friends, Tyler, Caroline, Matt, Alaric. I do this for those who can't do it for themselves."

"Such great passion Jeremy...And here I was thinking you couldn't feel anything past the cold that's taken you over for the past year."

"Why are you doing this, baby? Please don't do this Bonnie."

Jeremy sank onto the couch unable to stand any longer under the weight of everything that's crashed on him not just tonight, but since the moment he learned that his fate was to be a slayer.

"YELL AT ME! SCREAM! SHOUT! TOSS ME AT A WALL! I hate that you have so much passion for everything BUT me Jeremy!"

The dam that had been holding Jeremy together suddenly burst apart at her words. He barely contained himself from falling to the floor and sobbing like a girl.

"No passion for you... No passion? Everything I do, every decision I make, every step I take, every breath in my body is for you Bonnie. After everything that we've been through, after all the fighting that we had to do to be together, for you to do this now Bonnie, is harsh. I've given everything to be with you, I've become whatever you needed me to be, always, and I never so much as puffed about anything that you demanded of me because I love you with all my heart and know that you deserve no less than the sun from me. But I need ONE thing, one thing from you bonnie, your support in this life with me, and you fall apart. You run away. I just don't understand what you want from me anymore."

Jeremy had stood again to face Bonnie, and now they stood no more than 2 feet (though it felt like a mile) apart; both upset, both confused, both hurt beyond belief.

"I want back the careless boy who loved me with all his heart and didn't demand more than my time and love in return."

"That boy never loved you like I do, Bonnie. Who I was back then could never be enough to satisfy you today. I know you want things easy and careless, but life is complicated. All I can promise you is that there will never be any strings attached to my love for you. I never have and never will demand anything of you to have it."

Bonnie shook her head slowly as more tears spilled. She knew they had reached the end.

"Bonnie please..."

Jeremy reached out to her...only to have his hand blocked by an invisible barrier a foot away from her body. And he snapped.

"TAKE THIS DOWN, NOW BONNIE! Don't you ever fucking shut me out like this! If you are afraid, upset, lonely whatever you talk to me! don't fucking use your magic to put a barrier between us! I don't fucking deserve this shit!"

Bonnie's breath shuddered out as she undid the blocking spell she hadn't been aware she was performing. Her breath hitched as Jeremy rushed to her and set her against the wall. She had finally broken through the ice that had greeted her for the past few months, but now she wasn't so sure if the alternative was any better.

"Jer..."

"You want me to be a boy again so that I can love you easy breezy and you can feel like there are no monsters hiding underneath your bed? Well too fucking bad, because I've had to grow up a lot Bonnie to protect us both, and I'll never be that boy again. This is a man loving you now, and I can promise that while I may no longer hold that childish adoration that I once held for you, the passion, love, devotion and trust that I have for you now means infinitely more and is infinitely stronger."

Bonnie let out a breath, and Jeremy watched as more tears fell from her eyes.

"I just need you to trust and support me in what I was born to do the same way I trust and support you putting your life on the line every time you go out of your way to use your magic. It hurts me and it kills me to know that the next spell you do could be the one that hurts you, and still I stand by your side proud of you like no one else, and give you everything that I am to prevent you from being hurt. All I ask for is that in return."

Jeremy took a deep breath and let Bonnie go. She slouched on the wall a bit, before she turned her back to him. Letting out his breath Jeremy turned to leave the room. He took off his shirt as he walked away, heading to the showers to try and wash the night away...

Bonnie shut her eyes against her own stupidity. She loved that man with everything she was, and she was letting childish insecurities stand in their way of happiness. Lifting her chin, Bonnie turned to call Jeremy back to her, and saw the barrage of fresh bruises and claw marks covering almost his entire back. Bonnie fell to the floor as a fresh wave of tears made their way out.