wow, another fast update on my part. I'm in a good place right now :) So this one's for The Rager, obviously.

and once again the fandom's blown me away with the wonderful reviews and support. you're amazing. seriously, your dedication to Bonnie and Damon is awesome, makes me forget it's not happening on the show :)

thanks to anonymous reviewers as well: Guest (glad the Alaric memory didn't feel forced, I enjoyed writing it:) ), Alexis (aww, thank you), guest2 D (wow, that's an amazing metaphor, dark rich chocolate, lovely), Vie (thank you, I wished my version or something similar to it had played on TV instead, oh well:) )

I don't know what you'll think of this chapter. It's slightly different. I hope you like the changes I made to the episode.

Let me know.


Bonnie felt the mother of all headaches coming over her as she swung her legs out of bed. Dizzy and bleary-eyed, she nearly missed the bathroom.

Don't throw up in the shower. Don't throw up in the shower. Don't do it.

Leaning her forehead against the cold tiles, she tried to swallow down the nausea. It proved to be difficult. She felt as if she had drunk her weight in beer, or something equally disgusting.

That tea had put her straight to sleep after Damon had left. She was beginning to wonder if he hadn't really put something in it.

She would have been able to tell, though, wouldn't she?

Nope. You forgot you're on probation. No more awesome powers for you.

She groaned into the wall and let the hot water run down her skin. It would have been wonderful if someone could have done the job for her; get washed, get dressed, eat, go to school, smile like senior year is the only main event in your life, go home, do homework, don't obsess over lack of magic, stay out of trouble, have a normal, boring life -

Her phone started ringing. She had left it in her bedroom but she could hear the obnoxious pop song through the walls.

Bonnie decided to ignore it for now. Whoever it was could wait. There was no way something else had happened in such a short time.

But the phone kept ringing insistently. Over and over again.

Eventually, it went to messages.

"Morning, Bon-Bon. Hope I'm not interrupting any depressing life crisis again but I sort of need your help. So if you could pick up your phone that would be peachy."

She sighed and hit her head against the tiles. She'd never get rid of him, would she?


Damon sniffed the air in mild interest.

"Is that... lemon? Do I smell lemon?"

Bonnie rolled her eyes. "Just my shampoo. How the hell did you get yourself in this mess?"

"Uh, sorry, you use lemon-scented shampoo? I mean I know you're a pretty dull human being, but really?"

"Do you want me to help you or should I just let you combust into tiny vampire flames?"

"Ha. Ha."

Bonnie grabbed the knife and started working on cutting Connor's deadly arrows from Damon's back. It wasn't exactly easy. But he wasn't making it easy for her.

"So how come you didn't call Stefan?"

"Are you wet? You're dripping all over me."

Bonnie flipped her wet locks into his face.

"Ouch! What'd you do that for?"

"You know why. Now tell me why you didn't call Stefan."

Damon sighed. "You just want to hear me say it, don't you?"

There was a pause. "Maybe."

"Fine. Yes. As ashamed as I am to admit it, my little brother still goes to high school."

Bonnie hit him on the head with the handle of the knife.

"Could you stop doing that?! I actually preferred it when you zapped my brains."

"Oh, trust me, it's the first thing I'll do once I get my powers back," she retorted.

Damon would have wanted to make a smart comment about her magic-less condition, but he realized he was still at her mercy. And he knew not to push it.

"So, you came here straight from the shower?"

Then again...

"I feel flattered. I mean you didn't even dry your hair."

"Yeah, well, you made it sound pretty urgent. Had I known it was only your safety involved, I probably wouldn't have bothered."

Damon snorted. "Oh, come on. You were desperate to get your hands on me again."

Bonnie wondered if leaving him there would be such a terrible thing, after all.

"So, no more clever comebacks?" he drawled.

"Oh, shut up. You're the one who's trapped in this creep's trailer while your brother's out enjoying eternity with the girl who broke your heart."

"Wow. Touché, Bonnie. Touché."


"So what do you reckon this greater evil might be?" Damon asked once they were out of the trailer.

"I don't know and frankly, I don't care, since I can't do much about it right now. This vampire hunter, though, how much trouble is he?"

"Enough. I mean if you couldn't tell already, he's out to kill us all. Brainwashed idiot, if you ask me."

Bonnie rolled her eyes. "Right. Cuz you're all such a wonderful bunch, why would anyone try to kill you?"

"My thoughts exactly. Listen, there's something fishy about the guy. He's got these tattoos. Jeremy's the only who can see them."

"Jeremy?"

"Yeah. So I'll need his help to catch him."

"Damon, don't bring Jeremy into this; the guy practically stabbed April to death and shot Tyler in front of everyone, remember?"

"Yes and he won't harm Jeremy because he'll be interested to know why the kid's so special."

"How can you be so sure about that when not even a hybrid was enough to -"

"Look, just trust me on this, all right?" he snapped impatiently. "And don't get so excited, your precious Jeremy won't die while I'm around."

"He's not my -"

"Sure, but you wish he was."

She glared at him.

"Hey, Gilbert fans need to stick together."


Elena sighed and looked down at her feet, reluctant to admit what she really wanted.

"You don't want alcohol do you?"

Damon had read her mind. He always did. It drove her mad at times, how good he was at this.

"You think I'd actually leave the last remaining white-oak stake where any vampire could just walk in and take it?"

Admittedly, that had been a stupid assumption.

Damon started unbuttoning his shirt and that is when Elena noticed his wound.

"W-What happened to you?"

"Hunter mishap. Luckily, Bonnie was there to help."

Elena suppressed a grimace and tried to sound nonchalant.

"Oh. Bonnie?"

"Yep. She's really good with knives."

Elena's stomach did a double-flip. Anxiety. Excitement. Rage. All packed into one giant heap of insanity. Bonnie is a friend. She's not Rebekah. She's my friend.

"You all right?"

Elena nodded her head absently.

Damon smiled to himself. He knew he shouldn't be enjoying this. He knew he should put a stop to it. Stop torturing the poor baby vampire. It wasn't fair to her, especially now when all her emotions were going into overdrive. It was like taking advantage of a child. But if he had to give her up to his brother, he might as well have fun in the meantime. And if making her jealous consisted as fun, why shouldn't he indulge a little?

"You know he was at my school? The hunter?" Elena asked, voice wavering slightly towards the end.

Damon smirked. Hook, line and sinker.


"Hello, Damon!" Klaus bellowed good-humouredly as he leant back in the swivel chair.

"Klaus, where's Tyler?"

"Tyler's occupied, making big decisions about honesty and whatnot. Is there anything I can do?"

"I don't think so."

"Ah, still sour about the witch, I gather?"

"That and you know, I hate your guts," Damon replied, smiling into the phone.

"Oh come now, isn't it time we buried the hatchet? Or is Bonnie Bennett really worth it?"

"You don't wanna go there, Klaus."

"I think I do, actually. If I recall correctly, it was she and your little brother who almost did me in."

"Yeah and look how that turned out. If you want the job done, you gotta do it yourself, I always say."

"Oh, you really are a laugh, Damon," Klaus chuckled amused. "I'm sorry to say Tyler's not coming out to play, not this time around, so whatever conundrum you've got yourself into..."

Damon pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Fine. I'm going after him alone then."

"Going after who?"

"Father Christmas. Who do you think?"

"Oh! You're going to have all the fun, aren't you? Can't have that, I'm afraid."


Boom!

The explosion happened fast and clean. He was left thinking that might've been him in there.

Wouldn't that have been a blessing.

He was sprawled on the hospital floor, looking up at the ceiling, wondering whether anyone would miss him.

Well, they would miss him, theoretically speaking, but would anyone stay up at night, thinking about him?

His departure was already a done deal, though. He wasn't going to change his mind. Not again.

But leaving so soon left a bitter taste in his mouth. He wasn't running away. He didn't want people to think that.

He was being the good guy, the good brother.

He was a good brother.

"No. You're a bad brother," he muttered hoarsely.

Well, Connor was all bits and pieces now. Job done. Time to leave.


"Where is he? Where's the idiot? When I find him..."

Damon chuckled. He could hear her voice coming all the way from the entrance doors. She had a funny way of pretending she was angrier than she really was. Not that she couldn't pull it off, but it didn't really convince him. She was always secretly amused. In fact, very little fazed her. She was like that nagging mom that you happened to upset sometimes, but who always helped you in the end. Right after giving you a long and tedious lecture on the importance of safety. Which would start in 4, 3, 2 -

"Damon, how could you do that?!"

He winced. "Hey, Judgy."

"You could have harmed actual patients! This is a hospital, not your personal playground! I should have known you were planning something reckless and stupid, but Klaus? Since when is Klaus an acceptable partner in crime? And you got Jeremy involved too? When I expressly told you -"

"Could you please cut the lecture short? Meredith gave me an identical one two minutes ago and I'm really not in the mood -"

"Too bad! Because I'm going to tell you this until you learn to listen to me; no good can come from pulling these kinds of stunts."

"But Connor's dead! Isn't that what we all wanted?"

"Not at the expense of innocent people!"

"Oh, spare me, Judgy, no one died."

"But they could have, Damon!"

He rolled his eyes in annoyance. She really wasn't being endearing anymore.

"I don't know what's been clouding your judgement recently, but you're acting more reckless than usual. Did you have another fight with Stefan?"

Why couldn't she mind her own business?

"Okay, what was this one about? Elena again?" Bonnie asked, sitting down next to him.

"No, actually, it was about who would look better in a turtleneck sweater," he drawled.

"So...if I had to guess, I'd say you two aren't on the same page about her vampirism," Bonnie surmised, ignoring his comment.

"But that can't be all it is. You two never agree on anything. So you must've done something really stupid to spite him," she continued.

"Why do you instantly assume I did something?"

Bonnie raised an eyebrow.

"Well, sure, if you want to put it that way."

She sighed, shaking her head.

"So, how are you gonna fix that? Blow up another hospital wing?"

"I wish. No, I think I might just take a break from Mystic Falls for a while. See some greener pastures."

Bonnie wrinkled her nose in confusion.

"You're leaving?"

Damon shrugged his shoulders.

"But that's -"

"Devastating for you, I know. We didn't get to finish that make-out session, after all."

Bonnie almost smiled.

"Actually, I'd be relieved to have one less vampire to worry about, but it's not about what I want."

"Well, it's definitely never about what I want," he retorted childishly. He knew he was acting immature, but he didn't really care. It was Bonnie. She always saw him as immature.

"Listen, Damon. Stefan knows you love Elena. Elena knows you love Elena. Heck, this whole town is probably up to speed. But you're not a terrible brother. You're just a dumbass who fell for the wrong girl."

Damon stared at her as if she'd both kissed and slapped him at the same time.

"So yeah, maybe it's not what you want but Stefan still needs you. And so does Elena. You're still his big brother and her close friend. You can't just walk away from that."

"Oh yeah? Watch me."

Bonnie sighed and looked away, disappointed. She didn't know why she had expected her words to have some effect on him.

"Fine. Do whatever you want."

And she left him, sitting there, thinking over and over again about the girl he had fallen for. The wrong girl.


"What have I done?" Elena asked, horrified by her own actions. "What have I done?"

Matt was gone, but she could still see the terrified expression on his face. She had inspired that great fear. Her.

"Nothing to be ashamed of," Damon quickly told her, trying to calm her down.

"You are a vampire now. You just have to learn the right way to be one."

Elena felt tears stinging her eyelids.

Damon only hesitated for one moment. Only one.

"And I'm gonna teach you."

She looked up surprised. "You - you are?"

"Well, since no one else will do it."

She smiled brokenly. "Thank you."

Don't thank me. Thank Bonnie, he thought, feeling as if somehow he was doing this for the witch too.