Bonnie feels a change in the air as she approaches everyone. Not surprising considering Damon must have blabbed to Elena about what she had done to him when he had gone awol.
It's not that Bonnie was upset that it took them this long to notice that something was up with her―in fact she expected them to figure it out much much later if at all―as more as it took Damon falling off the grid for them to put one plus one together. She had started to hang out with Rebekah of all people for crying out loud. No offense to the blonde Original considering Bonnie actually enjoys her company. But if that didn't scream something was off then, what would it take? Besides, when had she ever been able to shut Elena out? After all she was the first to come to the doppelganger's defense and aid...well besides the Salvatores.
"Okay, I'm here." Bonnie greets as she sits down across from Elena, Jeremy, Matt, Tyler and Caroline. Trying her best to not take offense to the fact that they're all together on the opposite side of the table. "Guys?" she questions, studying them, noticing the guilty looks on both Caroline and Elena's faces. Bonnie presses her palms together raising them to her mouth to hide her smile when she senses Damon and Stefan attempting to sneak up on her from behind.
With a deep sigh she turns her attention to Elena "Call off your guard dogs or I'll finish what I started." She states calmly.
Elena flinches but flits her eyes behind Bonnie, giving a look to one of them.
"Alaric too." Bonnie adds, sensing the newly turned hunter.
And to think she helped suppress his urge to rip his best friend's throat out...why had she done that again?
"So, what is this?" she asks when the three men sit to her right, putting a noticeable amount of space between them and her "An intervention or something?"
"Why?"
"That's pretty vague." Bonnie says looking at Elena.
"Why did you-"
"Attack the man that killed my mother and almost killed me? Oh, I don't know." Bonnie shrugs "I guess I just felt like returning the favor. It's not like anyone else was going to do it."
Damon scoffs, as if she actually forgot about Rebekah playing doctor with him against his will.
"No." Elena breathes ignoring Damon "I mean why...or how did you...what happened to you Bonnie?"
Bonnie holds up a finger to Elena, suppressing the urge to smile at the look on her face before she turns to Damon "I'm sorry sweetheart, is there something you want to say?" Bonnie raises an eyebrow waiting for Damon to reply.
Damon blinks in surprise at the condescending tone Bonnie's using when she speaks to him. Ultimately deciding not to respond to her at all.
"Well that has to be a first." Bonnie smiles turning back to Elena, lowering her hand back down to the table "I turned my humanity off." she answers as if it were nothing "I figured if a vampire could do it...why couldn't a witch?" she shrugs "Considering a witch is responsible for everything a vampire can do in the first place." She adds as an afterthought.
Bonnie didn't know why but she found herself taken back that they hadn't put that part together, though considering she's never heard of a witch without humanity she lets it slide.
"You turned it off?" Elena breathes "Bon…" She trails off, not exactly sure what to say.
Bonnie lets out a deep breath "Yes, Elena. My emotions are off. They've been off for the past week. But before you all get your panties in a bunch, the spell is slowly but surely wearing off. Something about seeing Damon squirm was oddly satisfying. Between that and what happened the day before, he managed to break through it."
"Oh," Bonnie feigns shock "did Damon manage to leave out his little visit to me before I 'lashed out'?"
Bonnie lets out a small laugh when Elena turns to Damon who avoids her gaze.
"Why am I not surprised?" Bonnie mutters before giving her a recap, nodding when Elena looks horrified. Though she was unsure if it was because of her words or Damon's.
"You know what?" Bonnie turns to look at Damon "I've been directing all my anger towards you. When I haven't showed the tiniest bit to Stefan. After all he had a part in it too. And even worse he was the one that was going to kill me. I should change that."
"Bonnie."
"I said I should. I didn't say I was going to." Bonnie rolls her eyes, annoyed by Elena's protective nature "Besides, apparently everyone is a firm believer in not holding anyone's actions against them when they don't have their humanity. Right?" she makes a point of looking at Elena "So unless you all want to be considered hypocrites, I would suggest that you show me the same damn courtesy. Unless that only applies when your last name is Salvatore. Then I completely understand. Though if that's the case, don't come to me when you have a problem. Are we clear on this or am I going to have to spell this out for you when I'm 'me' again?"
Bonnie looks at everyone, narrowing her eyes when she doesn't get a response.
Everyone jumps when Alaric's head suddenly falls to the table.
"Stefan's next." Bonnie says, knowing that he will get everyone to speak up.
"Perfect." Bonnie beams when they all give her a reluctant 'Yes.'
"And one more thing." she waits until she's sure she has everyone's attention "If anyone tries to guilt trip me about this later on or pull a stunt like this again...I'll unlink Caroline and Tyler from Klaus' line, tie them to Rebekah, release Alaric's dark side and set his sights right on Klaus. Don't believe me? Call my bluff." Bonnie dares them before standing up from the table.
"And I believe the real question should be; what happened to you, Elena. I'm not the one holding an intervention for her friend when she retaliated on the man that once snapped your little brother's neck right in front of you. Or almost sent your so called best friend to an early grave. My Elena would have noticed something was off about me the minute she saw me and cornered me, one on one. She wouldn't have staged whatever the hell this was supposed to be and had her puppies try to sneak up on me." Bonnie throws out as she spins on her heel walking away from everyone "I mean seriously, what the hell were they going to do to me anyway?"
...
"Well that went well." Damon snarks as he watches Bonnie walk away from them. Fighting back the urge to show her, before hissing when the syringe in his pocket explodes. Glaring at Caroline when she laughs.
"How can you joke about this?" Elena frowns "Bonnie's been like this for a whole week and we didn't even notice."
Damon shrugs, if he were to be honest, he was relieved that Bonnie was acting like this because she wasn't herself. He was happy that this sassy, cutthroat version of his witch wasn't here to stay.
"I kind of like her." Caroline shrugs unapologetically at the looks she gets in return "She's like the drunk Bonnie minus the stumbling and not having to hold her hair back by the end of the night." She elaborates. Plus it was nice to see her standing up for herself and clearly not here for their bullshit.
"Where are you going?"
"Bon invited me out for drinks with her and Jesse. I'm not exactly excited to be a third wheel, but this is the only way she's going to let me anywhere near him." Caroline answers, giving Tyler a quick kiss, telling him that she'll call him later as she walks to her car. Hoping that this little ambush didn't revoke her invite.
Elena feels a twinge when Caroline answers her question. She was always the first person that got to meet Bonnie's boyfriends and vice versa. When had that changed? But then Bonnie's words hit her and she realizes that Bonnie wasn't lashing out at her or trying to make her feel bad. She was just telling her how she felt. After all, that was what she always heard about the humanity switch. Due to not having emotions, you didn't feel the need to hold back.
The next two days fly by and according to Caroline the old Bonnie is back. Drowning in guilt but back nonetheless. Except, even through her guilt Bonnie hasn't as much as spared her a glance. Elena sees her in the halls, in the classes that they share and she sees her after school.
Yet as soon as she attempts to make her way towards her she walks away.
When Elena corners Matt and Tyler, asking why Bonnie was avoiding her they give her apologetic looks and try to steer the conversation away from Bonnie. When she decides to go straight for Bonnie's new right hand―Caroline―she sighs and tells her that she doesn't want to talk to her. Elena gives her a bitter laugh, telling her that that was obvious but feels guilt hit her at full force when Caroline says that Bonnie thinks she won't be able to speak to her one on one as long as the Salvatores have a say in the matter. And as much as she wants to disagree, she knows that Bonnie is right. But what both she and Caroline seem to forget is that she is her own person and makes her own decisions, and she tells her as much. Only for her argument to falter when Caroline points out that she always has one lingering in the background, whether she wants them or not. To which Elena sighs, attempting to deny it but stops when she sees Damon making his way over to her a big grin on his face.
Seeing this Caroline gives her a 'You were saying?' look before walking away, telling her that they'd talk later.
But later never comes, and apparently the guilt that Bonnie feels doesn't outweigh her staying true to her word. Because as soon as Damon tries to get Bonnie to help him by playing on said guilt Bonnie snaps his neck and goes to find; Caroline, Tyler, Rebekah and Klaus, rendering the couple and two Originals unconscious before taking blood from them. And next thing they all knew, all hell breaks loose.
However once knowledge of Alaric's life being linked to Elena's, gets back to Bonnie, her protective nature kicks in and she quickly gets to work on unlinking them, yet lets the rest of the pieces fall where they may. The results aren't what her best friend hoped for but Caroline, Tyler, Matt, Bonnie and herself are safe and sound. And that seems to satisfy the young witch.
When Damon sees Bonnie in passing he doesn't say a word to her and vice versa. Stefan however seems to make it his mission to get back on her good side. And Bonnie seems to enjoy it, because she strings him along for weeks before finally admitting to him that she forgave him a long time ago. Damon however, she makes it clear to him that he can kiss her ass.
After seeing her walking around with Stefan―she's still shocked at how close they've become―she takes it as a sign that she may be receptive to hear her out. However she doesn't give Bonnie a chance to say no because she catches her at her locker after school. Bribing Caroline to keep Damon away from her long enough. Taking full advantage of her brief jailbreak pulls Bonnie into her arms telling her how sorry she was, asking for her forgiveness and how she could make it up to her childhood friend. She smiles when she feels the tension start to leave the young witch's body and starts to hug her back assuring her that they're fine and that's all she needed to hear.
It takes a while for them to get back to normal and if Elena were to be honest with herself she knows that Bonnie is still closer to Caroline than she is to her now. But hopes in time that they'll get back to where they were.
While Bonnie finds herself a little disappointed in how easy she just let her issues with Elena go, she knows that it's due to the fact that no matter how much she and Elena may have wanted to they could never hold grudges when it came to the other. Though she can tell that the brunette is a little jealous that she and Caroline have grown closer in her absence, yet she never speaks on it. Though never hides her annoyance when Rebekah is around or manages to get Bonnie to herself.
When Elena finally voices her jealousy on being the only one that hasn't gotten to officially meet Jesse, Bonnie gives in, agreeing to dinner. Finding herself impressed with how well the two actually get along, rolling her eyes when they tease her about being jealous of their 'bond'.
The next day Bonnie finds herself grinning when she and Jesse find themselves walking in on an argument between Elena and Caroline over who he likes better. It's the most normal thing she's had with her best friends in what feels like ages. Laughing when he gets flustered when they confront him about it, constantly looking to Bonnie for assistance, before saying that he likes them both equally, when he sees that she's not going to help. Taking the heat when they both make it clear that they're not pleased with his answer.
When it comes down to Elena making her choice, both Bonnie and Caroline find themselves pleasantly surprised when Elena chooses neither. Telling the two brothers that she's choosing herself. But tells Bonnie and Caroline that it's because she doesn't want to continue being a riff in their relationship, and having a relationship with a vampire when she has no intention on ever becoming one isn't realistic no matter how much she may want to be with one of them. She never tells them who she would've chosen though they both have a feeling she would've went with Damon. Though neither are surprised that Damon continues to linger in the background. With the occasional one night stand. While Stefan on the other hand starts to spend time with someone named Freya. An apparent flame from the past.
"There's no such thing as a humanity switch is there?" Bonnie looks up meeting Stefan's eyes across the table. Once she finally accepted his apology, they started to actually become friends. She would admit it was a bit unfair to forgive one and not the other especially when he was as equally to blame―maybe even more so. She knows now that there is no good brother but at least Stefan tries to be a decent person.
When Stefan hears Bonnie's question he sighs before shaking his head in the negative replying "I don't think so."
"So that was me...everything I said, everything I did...that was me?"
"The unfiltered you, but pretty much."
"So there is a switch."
"If there was a switch to humanity―emotions―whatever...when we flipped it, we would be in a constant state of void. If it were real, we wouldn't get the occasional flood of relief, or flare of anger or the that weird feeling where it feels like someone just hit heart with a pick?"
Bonnie nods noticing he was looking for a confirmation of the description.
"We would just be..." He trails off trying to find the word he's looking for, smiling when Bonnie says it.
"Numb." Bonnie finishes "That was what it felt like most of the time. Then there were times where I felt like I was...trapped in my own head. Like I was this passenger while someone was in control of my body saying all the things I've wanted to say for soo long. Doing the things that have crossed my mind but…" Bonnie trails off "Is it just me or is sex better when 'it's off'?"
Stefan chokes on his drink.
Bonnie laughs, folding her lips when a petite brunette rushes over to their table, looking more than disappointed when Stefan politely turns her away insisting that he's fine. Sending a glare in Bonnie's direction way when she snorts.
"Well…" Bonnie waves her hand waiting for him to answer. Raising her eyebrows when he gives a brief nod, she hadn't expected him to actually answer her question but is pleasantly surprised that they've reached a point where it could be a semi casual topic in conversation. Briefly wondering when that had happened. She still blushes when Caroline asks her about her and Jesse.
"Bon?"
Bonnie blinks, clearing her throat ignoring the smirk on his face.
"So if there's no switch, why does it feel like everything is hitting you all at once when you turn it back on?" She asks, to distract herself from her thoughts, shifting when he looks at her as if he's trying to figure her out.
"Because you're deciding to feel." He answers, smiling when he sees the small blush on her face.
"So we basically just make ourselves temporary sociopaths?"
"In a nutshell."
"So it's all just bullshit." Bonnie raises her glass to her lips, shaking her head when he shrugs.
A/N: Yes, yes I'm aware that Stefan and Freya have like zero chance of ever happening but I absolutely adored their scenes together even though it was like two seconds. I crackship them so hard. As far as Bonnie and her humanity I didn't want her to go to far off of the deep end, and due to keeping this a T rating fic I scratched Bonnie torturing Damon. I apologize if you found the ending to be lackluster, but I just didn't want to leave this unfinished and I felt as if the first chapter was a bit of a cliffhanger.
