Bonnie laid curled up on her bed with the occasional tear falling from her eye having Stefan's words ring over and over again in her head. It's been two days since everything happened and the voice is still loud and clear in her head like she was still sitting beside him in the car.

She didn't go see him that night figuring it was best if they both have some space to cool off. She should've known that things wouldn't have been that easy, but she still hoped that it would.

She admits that she made a horrible mistake and now she's finally paying for it. The thought of her being so close in seeing her daughter again for the first time in years then to have that taken away was what hurt the most.

A knock was at her door and she was glad because she was starving and opened the door with a smile thanking the man for her food before closing the door. She felt a little bad that she didn't tip, but she didn't have a lot of cash on her and she wanted to save what she did have for an emergency.

"Damnit. He forgot my fries."

As soon as she said that, a knock was heard again and she quickly went to answer the door but instead of seeing the server with her fries, she saw her husband.

"How did you know where I was?" It probably wasn't the best opener but she spoke the first thing on her mind.

"I remember you getting out of this hotel a few days ago and I know the guy at the front desk so he told me what room you're staying in."

"Oh. Uh, come in."

She turned walking more into the room frowning some since she was starving and Stefan picked the worst time to come and see her. She notices his eyes look at the cart that held the food and hoped that he would allow her to eat and she practically jumped for joy when he gave her permission.

"I came over because we need to talk." Stefan started after she'd eaten almost half of her burger. "I called out of work today and asked Liz to babysit so we can take our time."

Bonnie nodded then swallowed the food in her mouth. "I guess I should start? Well… I want you to know Stefan that if it was up to me, I would've been home last year. I started having these dreams and visions about you and Aussie and it hurt so much, I felt so much pain and regret that I wanted to leave. I told the drummer that we had at the time that I was leaving, we were pretty close and I guess I thought that he would understand and support my decision, but then he gave me these pills and told me that if I take them that all my pain and regret would go away. He said that I'm living out my dream and I shouldn't let anything stop me from doing so, but now that I think about it, I realize that he was talking about himself. He was living out his dream and he wasn't going to let me stop it.

"I don't know why I took the pills, but when I did, what he said was true, my pain and hurt had faded mainly because I barely could think about anything. When I found out that I was taking drugs, I got so angry at him and I stopped but the withdrawal phase was too much, I couldn't handle it so I started using again and found myself addicted to cocaine."

"Oh Bonnie,"

"My life was one big high of a mess until my manager caught me snorting and put me in rehab. He told me that he had a wife and kids back home and he didn't want to see me ruin what I had back home but little did he know... I already had."

"Why didn't you reach out to me, Bon?"

"I don't know. I guess I didn't want you to see me like that."

"Yeah, but even before that. Before the drugs, I would've came for you."

"I guess a part of me didn't want to be found. I felt like and quite frankly I still do believe that I don't deserve you to do anything for me because I don't deserve it… You were right, Stefan. What you said to me in the car, you were right—"

"Bonnie, about that, I was just talking out of panic—"

"But you meant it and it's okay because it's true. I did walk out on you, I do barely know how our daughter looks like because I am the biggest idiot ever. I should have never left, I had a one year old and a person that I loved with everything I had right where I was, but I left to tour with complete strangers."

"I encouraged you to go, Bonnie."

"But you never encouraged me to stay gone. I regret what I did so much and it just hurts because I can't take it back, I can't fix it. I'm so sorry, Stefan. If you don't believe anything I said just believe that I am truly sorry for everything. All the pain and damage that I caused, I'm so sorry. You didn't deserve that, Austyn didn't deserve that."

It stayed quiet between the two.

"Are you clean?"

"Yes. I have been for about a year now."

"Do you ever think about using again?"

She let out a breath. "I did, but not anymore. I want that side of me to stay gone."

He nodded. "Why did you change your hair?"

"I actually came back to Mystic Falls earlier than when I first visited you. I got stopped by this girl and I realized that I needed to do a change. I want to focus on rebuilding my family and I can't do that if I get stopped by people who want an autograph or photo."

Stefan stared into her eyes. So far he knew everything that she told him was the truth, he's known her too long to know how to pinpoint when she's lying. There was still one question that he was yearning to ask and the answer to this question would either make them or break them.

"Did you ever cheat on me?"

"No." She answers instantly shaking her head. "I promise you I stayed faithful." She looked dead into his eyes because she knew how important of a question that was.

"Where's your ring?"

Bonnie reached in her shirt pulling the chain from out it and on it was her ring. "I wasn't sure you wanted me to wear it so I put it on a chain… I know that I probably don't have the right to ask this but… did you cheat on me?"

He let out a breath then looked down at the floor before looking into her eyes. Bonnie was prepared for the worst and if he did cheat on her, she wouldn't blame him. Not one bit.

"I went on one date with Elena. The same night you visited me actually. Nothing happened, we didn't even kiss, I… I couldn't kiss her."

"Oh." Bonnie was a bit relieved but then she started to feel bad because Elena was the one that she went crying to. She had no idea that Elena liked Stefan and honestly she couldn't believe that they would ever think about dating. They are best friends, how could she do something like that?

"I talked to Austyn." Stefan snapped her out of her thought.

"What did you say?" Bonnie wasn't sure if she really wanted to know the answer to this question but she knew that she needed to know.

"I somewhat reminded her of how you went away because you had something to do. Of course her being in that questioning stage, she asked what stuff you needed to do and I told her singing. She loves singing, Bonnie," he informed, "she's only four but she's pretty damn good."

A smile came to her face and tears filled her eyes but she stopped them from falling.

"Anyway, I told her that you came back now and that you would like to see her and I asked her if she wanted to see you."

"Please tell me she said yes."

"She did."

She wiped her eyes then laid back on the bed in relief. This was the best news she's heard since she's got here and she was so happy that she couldn't stop herself from crying.

"Are you going to let me see her, Stefan?" She talked to the ceiling through her tears.

He thought. "I will. You can come over for dinner tonight."

She cried harder at the thought of finally getting to meet her little girl. If anything, she regretted not being there for her child the most because she missed out on a lot, if not all, of her firsts and that pain was like no other.

Stefan stood up from the bed and joined her on the other. He wrapped her in his arms and she held him tightly crying on his shoulder apologizing over and over and thanking him too. He tried his best to calm her down even though he knew that she was crying out of joy, he still hated to see her cry. Stefan calmly rubbed her back and kissed her head shushing her telling her that everything is going to be OK.

Bonnie forced herself to calm down but she was feeling so many emotions that it was difficult to. She focused on Stefan's hand running up and down her back, the calming rhythm to it and allowed herself to breathe.

"I'm sorry I ruined your shirt."

Stefan chuckled. "It's okay."

Though her crying was over, he still continued his ministrations and Bonnie felt as if she would go into a deep sleep.

"I should go wipe my nose." She said before she really did fall asleep.

Stefan let her go watching her quickly scurry off into the bathroom and return a few moments later.

"You might be mad at me for this," she said looking through her drawers, "but if you want to change your shirt, I stole this one from you before I left." She turned showing him his Harley Davidson T-shirt. "I know it's your favorite shirt, but I wanted to have something that smelt like you."

He stood walking over to her. "I've been looking everywhere for this thing."

Bonnie laughed slightly. "I didn't tell you because I knew you probably would've asked me to take another shirt, but you wore this one so much it's almost as if you scent is permanent."

He took the shirt from her hands smiling down at it before locking eyes with his wife. A slight smile was on his face causing her to grow one too. They stayed that way until he pulled her in for a hug."I want you to wear it. Your ring, I want to see it on your finger tonight."

"Okay." She said holding him tighter. "Can I ask you a question, Stefan?"

"Sure,"

Bonnie pulled away from the hug so she could look at him. "About that night when I came back and now the ring, I was wondering... are we- are we together?"

He let out a breath, "I can't give you a definite answer, Bon. I want to work things out, I really do, I just don't know how. Does that make sense?"

She nodded. "Yeah. I want to work things out too, and I promise you that I'll be there for you and for Austyn from now on. I'm truly sorry and I want to prove that."

A couple hours of catching up later, Stefan left to go get Austyn.

[[]]

If Stefan was nervous about tonight, he couldn't imagine how Bonnie must be feeling right now. He took the effort to show Austyn pictures of Bonnie in hopes that she would remember and he was glad that she did. She was excited for tonight, he heard her talking to her bears telling them that "mommy is coming home" and it melted his heart.

She insisted on wearing a dress, one of the fancy ones that she wears to church. Stefan knew that if he denied her, she would throw a fit, so he picked the violet dress with the lace and sewn black flowers on the skirt.

The doorbell rang as he was setting the table and he went to answer it before Austyn tried to hearing her footsteps running down the hall. He smiled opening the door then stepped to the side when Austyn tugged on his arm.

"Mommy!"

Bonnie smiled through her tears bending down to hold her little girl in her arms. "I missed you so much."

They hugged a while longer before Austyn pulled away. "I like your hair, mommy."

Bonnie smiled knowing that she would never get sick of hearing her call her that. "Thank you, I love your dress, it's very beautiful."

"Thank you. Dad helped me put it on."

Bonnie smiled up at him and he smiled back. "Come on in, Bon."

She picked her daughter up standing to her full height. "Ug, you're so heavy, such a big girl now, huh?" She talked walking more into the house.

"Dinner is almost ready," Stefan said, "I just have to finish setting the table."

Bonnie nodded and returned Austyn's feet to the ground.

"Do you want to see my toys, mommy?"

"I would love to."

Austyn smiled and made her way up the stairs and before following after her, she ran over to Stefan.

"Thank you." She kissed him then smiled caught in the moment before heading upstairs.

Stefan smiled and walked into the kitchen only to walk out moments later when the doorbell sounded. Opening the door his face dropped when he saw that his brother was on the other side. He knew that Damon wasn't Bonnie's number one fan right now and Stefan knew that this would end badly.

"Damon, this isn't a good time."

"I just wanted to see how you were doing, I won't stay long, I just haven't talked to you in a while."

He sighed. "Listen, I'm sorry for punching you, but-"

"Dad, is dinner ready? I'm hungry."

Damon smiled and moved his brother to the side so he could see his niece but that smile quickly faded when he saw Bonnie standing behind her.

Bonnie saw the look of anger in his eyes and it almost frightened her and it probably would've if she wasn't used to someone looking at her that way all the time.

"Damon, it's nice to see you." She tried.

He narrowed his eyes at his sister-in-law but softened his face returning his attention back to his niece and walked up to her.

"Hi, kiddo. What you been up to?"

"I just showed mommy my toys."

Damon frowned then stood to his full height. Bonnie would've taken a step back by the way he was glaring at her, but Stefan stood by her side placing his hand on her back.

"We were about to eat so you should go."

"No, why don't I stay? It's been a long time, Bonnie. We have some catching up to do."

"I actually wanted to focus all my attention on Austyn right now."

"Why? Don't you know her enough already… Oh that's right, I forgot that you missed the past three years of her life."

"Damon-"

"It's fine, Stefan, I guess I deserved that… I should go wash my hands."

Stefan watched her walk away but quickly told her to take Austyn with her. Once they turned the corner, he looked into his brother's eyes.

"Tonight is not that night, Damon."

"I don't get how you're so forgiving when she obviously didn't give a single fuck about you. Let me guess she decided to come running back home because she realized how big of a mistake she's made well guess what, she had years to think about that, years to realize it, so why now all of a sudden? She wants something, there's a goal that she wants to score and once the crowd cheers when she finally makes it, she'll be gone and I'm going to figure out what that goal is before she has the chance to hurt you again."

Before Stefan could say anything, the girls returned so he walked up to them leading them into the dining room. Austyn sat between her parents and Damon sat in front of Bonnie. Bonnie really wanted to escape this situation by pretending like she's sick, but she didn't want to let down or disappoint Austyn and Stefan.

"So, Bonnie," Damon started, "how was life on the road?"

"It wasn't all that special."

"Funny, I would've thought that it was amazing since you've been gone for quite some time."

"Damon-"

"It had its perks," Bonnie cut Stefan off, "but it had more downfalls."

"Like what?" Stefan wanted to know.

"Perks: Doing something that I love and not only that but in front of people who love my voice and know the lyrics to my songs. Seeing and visiting places that I know I would've never been able to see. The fans were sweet too, not all, but it was nice."

"And the downfalls?"

"Everything else."

The brothers looked at Bonnie as she was in thought both with different perspectives.

"Mommy, can you sing a song?" Austyn asked snapping Bonnie out of her thoughts.

"Not now, sweetie but I'll sing for you later."

"Come on, Bon. Let's hear that beautiful voice of yours, I mean I'm assuming its beautiful since you were a big rock star and all."

She let out a breath then turned to her daughter. "What song would you like to hear, Aus?"

"Um… Row, Row, Row Your Boat!"

Bonnie smiled and took a breath before singing the famous tune. Stefan smiled over at her missing that singing voice of hers. It used to bother him at one point in time of how she would sing or hum all day long but listening to her sing now, even if it was just a silly nursery rhyme, he can't remember why he was ever bothered by it.

His eyes snapped at his brother who slow clapped when she was finished. Bonnie shook her head but stayed calm not wanting to act out in from of Austyn so she just went back to eating.

"Oh, I see you're wearing your ring, do you think you deserve to still have it on your finger?"

"Actually, I asked her to wear it, Damon." Stefan intervened.

Damon rolled his eyes. "Nice hair, Bonnie, I barely recognized you. Why did you change it?"

She didn't answer not wanting to continue this game that he's been trying to play. This was supposed to be a great night, a perfect dinner with her family so she could get to know her daughter but Damon had to invite himself to stay and ruin it all. She hoped that Stefan would invite her over again for somewhat of a do-over, because the night isn't going anything like she wanted it be.

"Dad, can I have my hair like mommy's?"

"Maybe when you're older, Aus."

"Or maybe not," Damon added, "I don't think you want to be anything like your mother."

Bonnie opened her mouth at him in shock that he would say such a thing to her like that. She jumped slightly when Stefan hit the table and stood up telling Damon to get up too and watched them walk out the dining room. She then stood holding in her tears grabbing her things.

"Are you okay, mommy?"

"I'm okay, sweetie, but I have to go."

Austyn stood up to hug her mother's legs and when she let go, Bonnie walked out just as Stefan was walking in.

"Woah, hey, where are you going?"

"I think I should go, Stefan."

"Bon, I'm sorry about Damon, but please stay. Aus was so excited to have you here."

"I know but I feel like everything was ruined, I can't pretend that everything is okay, maybe we can try again tomorrow."

"Please. Please prove me wrong, Bonnie." Stefan begged after a while.

"What?"

"I can forgive you for this, I promise you I can, but I feel like I can't trust you. When the going gets tough and believe me it will, I don't want to constantly have to hold you because I'm scared that if I let go, you'll leave us again and I can't take that. Not again. Please prove me wrong, prove me wrong by staying. Please."

She nodded. "Okay, I'm sorry, I should've never tried to leave. I really do want to be here, Stefan, I just… I'm just a little hurt, but I'll get over it."

He nodded and hugged her letting out a breath before he pulled away and walked with her back to the table.

[[]]

Bonnie smiled crawling into bed dressed in one of her husband's shirts laying beside him. Part 2 of dinner went extremely well she got to ask Austyn questions like she planned to do in the first place and Stefan told her stories of past memories. Bonnie found that absolutely nothing was better than her daughters laugh and her gorgeous smile. She was glad that Stefan gave her the opportunity to her to know her and hopefully it'll be as if she never left.

Stefan wrapped his arm around her and pulled her body in closer to his and kissed her once on the lips. She was practically out the door when he stopped her and told her to sleep over. Maybe he was being concerned again like if he let her go, she'll leave, but a true part of him wanted her to stay just so that he'll be able to wake up to her. He misses her terribly and he knows that he told her earlier that he couldn't give her a definite answer, but after spending the evening together, just them and their daughter, his mind was pretty much made.

"Man I missed you."

Bonnie smiled. "Thank you for tonight."

He looked into her eyes, "I'm sorry about Damon, babe. He doesn't have the right to talk to you like that."

"He's mad at me and I get it, but I never thought that he would talk to me like that in front of Austyn… I think I should talk to him and explain myself."

"Yeah. Let's just hope that he'll listen."

She nodded then held him tighter. "Thank you for listening. I don't think you know how important that was to me- that this is to me. I love you and I know that I need to earn your trust back, but I will never leave you again. I promise you that."

He nodded and moved her closer into him smiling when she tangled their legs and feet together.

The next day Bonnie headed over to Damon's house. She guesses that Stefan didn't completely trust her to be alone with Austyn yet, which she understood, so she found herself alone. She called Stefan to let him know where she was going in the off chance that Damon actually listens to her and is able to have an adult conversation without him acting like a child. Stefan hated the idea of her going over there alone, but he hoped that Emily would be there just in case.

"Well, well, well," Damon said when he opened the door and saw her, "if it isn't Ms. Sheila Andrews."

"How did you know?"

"Oh it wasn't hard I just typed in 'abandoned mother', 'deadbeat wife', and 'idiot' into Google and low and behold your face was the first thing that popped up.

"Why are you so mad at me, Damon? If Stefan could forgive me then why do you have such a hard time doing so?"

"Oh, if you really want to know, I think you should come inside and have a seat cause it'll be a while."

She sighed and walked into the house turning to face him standing in the middle of the room.

"You asked me how my brother could forgive you so quickly and the answer is simple; he's stupid, clinically insane." Damon stopped a few feet in front of her. "Who in their right mind would take someone like you back? You ditched your husband and child for singing. Singing? Really Bonnie, singing?"

"If you just let me explain-"

"I don't want to hear it, Bonnie because I already know what you're going to say. You're going to use classic excuses to try and make me feel sorry for you and since I feel bad for you I would forgive you. Please, that may have worked on Stefan and Elena and whoever else you told, but it sure as hell ain't going to work on me."

"Damon-"

He stepped closer, "You weren't there to lift him up, you weren't there to force him out of bed, you weren't there to pick up the itty bitty broken pieces of his heart and superglue them back together."

"Da-"

"You weren't there when she felt brave enough to sleep in her own bed, you weren't there when she found her voice, you weren't there to talk and explain to her why daddy is so sad. You weren't there, Bonnie!"

"I know that," she said through her tears.

He stepped even closer, "Then why is it so hard for you to understand how angry I am at you, Bonnie?! My brother should not be with you, he should be with Elena because she's the one who picked up the slack, she's the one who raised your daughter, she's the one who deserves my brother, not you. You're pathetic."

She closed her eyes at his stinging words as the tears left her eyes. Nothing hurt more than to hear him say that and though she felt her walls being knocked down, she needed him to know the truth.

"Damon, if you could just let me explai-" her sentence was cut short when his hand met the side of her face with force.

The pain stung as she placed her hand over cheek and looked at him with watery, wide eyes.

"Bonnie, I'm sorry. I never meant to hit you, I never laid my hands on a woman in my life. I'm so sorry."

"Are you happy now?!"

"Bonnie, wa-" Damon sighed when the door was slammed shut and he thought about following after her but he heard the engine start and tires screech.

Bonnie headed back to the hotel to pack her things. She obviously wasn't welcomed and she knew that it was only a matter of time before Damon manipulates Stefan and soon he'll want nothing to do with her, so she figured that it'd be best if she just leave now before she finds herself hit again.

Prove me wrong, Bonnie. Prove me wrong by staying.

She sighed hearing her husband's voice ring in her head then crawled on the bed letting out the rest of her tears. She's never cried so much in her life and she knew that getting her family back would be hard but not this hard. Damon was part of her family too, like it or not, and she really wants to make amends with everyone.

She decided to sing the song that she wrote for Austyn while she was in rehab using that as her inspiration to not give up. As her lips moved and lyrics flowed from her mouth she stood and looked at herself in the mirror wiping away her tears before packing on the concealer so her puffy eyes would look more tamed. She turned her head to the side she'd been hit and was relieved that there was no redness but she did spot a small cut on her cheek that his ring more than likely did to her so she ran water on a wash cloth and covered the cut winching some. After a few moments, Bonnie removed the cloth but under the light it was still noticeable so she decided to let it breathe a little before covering it up with makeup.

Her phone ringing broke her out of her singing and she smiled reading the contact.

"Hello?"

"Hey, where are you? Are you still over Damon's?"

"Uh, no I just stopped by the hotel for a few things."

"Listen, I was thinking that maybe this weekend we'll get your stuff from the hotel and you can move back in. What do you say?"

She smiled. "I'd love that."

"Good. Hurry home."

"I'm already on my way out the door."

They both ended the calls with smiles on their faces and Bonnie quickly grabbed her purse and headed home. She was glad that the hotel wasn't that far away from her home and she was ringing the bell about ten minutes later. Stefan opened the door smiling and shortly Austyn came running to her side. She smiled and lifted her in her arms and kissed her before setting her down.

"I didn't get to ask to ask you on the phone," he stared after Austyn left, "how did things go with Damon?"

She let out a breath, "Uh, okay I guess."

He smiled some, "Are you sure, you look a bit timid." He moved his hand to the side of her face and narrowed his eyes when she turned her head away. "Babe, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, I-"

"What happened to the side of your face?" Stefan asked expecting it more.

"What?"

"There's a scratch on the side of your face, what happened?"

Bonnie mentally cursed realizing that she was so distracted by his call earlier that she forgot to cover it up. "Uh, I don't know, I guess I must've scratched myself."

Stefan narrowed his eyes at her knowing that something else was up. "Bonnie, you can tell me if something happened, you know that right?"

"Yeah," she smiled as best she could.

If Stefan kept pushing her on this she knew that she would break down so she hoped that he stopped asking her.

He looked into her eyes sensing something but he couldn't figure out what it was. "Just remember that I know you, Bonnie. I won't push you on this but don't hide it from me, tell me whatever it is when you're ready."

She bit the inside of her mouth and nodded thankful when he walked away because she couldn't take his stare much longer. Stefan turned to see her trying to calm her breathing running her fingers through her hair, so he walked back over to her.

"Bonnie, I need you to tell me the truth, what happened?"

"It's no big deal, I'm fine."

He sighed and quickly raised his hand intending to run it through his hair but stopped his movement when he saw her flinch.

He paused and saw her looking at his hand. "Did you think that I was going to hit you?"

"No, I don't even know why I did that." She nervously chuckled and started to walk by him when his voice stopped her from doing so.

"Bonnie, did he… did he hit you?" He searched her eyes.

She sighed. "Stefan-"

"I'm going to kill him."

He walked passed her and grabbed onto the handle of the door but was pulled back.

"Stefan, please don't, I'm okay. He was mad at me and just needed to release it. I deserved it after what I put you all through."

He narrowed his eyes at her in shock. "Bonnie, I don't care what you did or said, he should've never put his hands on you. You didn't deserve it, but he does."

"Stefan please don't. I don't want this to ruin your relationship."

"It's already over, Bonnie." He shook his head. "I knew I shouldn't have let you go there yourself, Emily wasn't there?"

Bonnie shook her head, "No. At least I didn't see her. Stefan please don't go over there, it's all in the past please just let it be."

"I don't think I can do that, Bon."

"Please, just try. For me. Promise me."

Stefan shook his head not believing that she was trying to save the guy that hit her.

Bonnie gathered his face in her hands and kissed him. "I'm okay, just please promise me that you won't hurt him."

Stefan let out a breath. "Alright, fine. I promise."

She nodded smiling then hugged him. Stefan wrapped his arms around her holding her close and apologized to her for his brother like he's been doing a lot recently. She told him that it was fine but it was anything but in his eyes.

[[]]

Stefan looked at his wife who was sleeping beside him not being able to find sleep himself. He couldn't believe that his brother would ever hit her, no matter the circumstance, that never should've happened and it angered him just thinking about it and the fact that Bonnie tried to cover for him.

There he made up his mind and got out of bed waiting a few to see if Bonnie would reach out for him and when she didn't, he slipped on a shirt and his shoes walking out the door.

TBC