Chapter 4

Bonnie stormed to her office and once Tyler entered she slammed the door and said, "Tyler I can't work on this project with Damon."

Tyler frowned and sighed, he knew all about Bonnie and Damon's past relationship that produced Izzie. "Bonnie you know how persistent and demanding Damon can be when he wants something. Unless you plan on leaving the company or disappearing unfortunately I don't see a way out of this."

Bonnie went to her desk and sat down and put her head on the desk and said, "Yeah too bad he couldn't have been this persistent when we were dating." Bonnie lifted her head and looked at Tyler and said, "I just don't understand why me, and why now."

Tyler could see the fear in Bonnie's eyes and asked, "Bonnie what really has you scared, is it that Damon may find out about Izzie or that you haven't gotten over him and you are still in love with him?"

Bonnie grabbed a tissue off her desk to wipe away the tears that had started to fall and said, "Tyler I'm afraid of the unknown, I've never really thought about the fallout with Damon finding out about Izzie. I put Damon out of my mind as soon as I found out that I was pregnant, and then once Izzie was born I put all my energy into her well-being and making sure even through there was no father in the picture her having a well- balanced childhood became my top priority. With Caroline dating and now being engaged to Stefan I couldn't completely act like he didn't exist, but so far I've made sure our path's haven't crossed and kept him from meeting Izzie. It worked until now, so I don't understand why he is here and insisting we work together. He just got engaged is he here just to rub it in my face?"

Tyler went over to Bonnie and sat down on her desk and grabbed her hands, "Actually Bonnie I think that he just wants all the animosity to be over. You know it hasn't been easy for him since he thinks that as soon as you left New York you met someone else and had a baby after you wouldn't commit to him. Plus with Caroline and Stefan wedding approaching we are all going to be around each other and maybe this is the perfect time for you to get everything out in the open. I know you feel guilty he doesn't know about Izzie and Izzie has to be asking about her father."

Bonnie looked sheepishly and said, "Well not actually, when she was five and my cousin Lucy and her husband had a baby, she asked where her Daddy was, and I explained that since we were from a line of strong Bennett women and I didn't need a man. That seemed to work until last year my Brainiac daughter was doing research on babies and discovered artificial insemination and said she thought it was cool that I wanted her so much I turned to science. I thought it was the perfect explanation so I just went with it."

Tyler laughed and said, "That's why she is always trying to get me and Elena to find her a real daddy." Seriously Bonnie see how it goes working with Damon and if you can find it in yourself to forgive him, maybe it will make it easier to tell him the truth about his daughter. You know Damon is hot headed and unpredictable so if you can get over your anger and try to become friends, it might make it easier for him to forgive you and work out a situation where you don't wind up in a custody battle. Didn't you say your top priority was Izzie's well-being? I think having two parents who love their daughter and above all else are willing to co-exist to do what's best for her."

Bonnie stood up and said, "There is no way Damon would try and take my baby from me, he doesn't know the first thing about parenting, and I would take Izzie and leave first."

Tyler stood up and faced Bonnie and said, "Hey calm down, I'm sorry I didn't mean to get you worked up. Of course no one wants to see a custody battle but I'm just trying to get you to realize that you need to come to peace with Damon, when and if you tell Damon about Izzie is your decision, but you need to be ahead of this and there is just not Damon to think about what about Caroline and Stefan's relationship, since Caroline has never told Stefan whose Izzie father is."

Bonnie hugged Tyler and said, "Okay but can we just take this one step at a time, I'm not ready to tell Damon about Izzie until I know his real agenda." Would it be asking too much to have a personal assistant who will be the go between me and Damon?"

Tyler got up and headed toward the door and said, "Sure you can pick someone on the team to be your assistant, but again you know Damon if he plans on using this project to spend time with you, nothing or no one is going to get in his way."

Bonnie rolled her eyes and said, "Please I'm a mom now, I can be just as stubborn and persistent when setting rules."

Tyler walked out the door and smiled and said, "Right Bon, you are just like the rest of us, none of us are immune and can say no to your blue eyed princess Isabelle Bennett."

On the other side of the office sat Damon Salvatore swirling top shelf bourbon in a tumbler in Enzo's office. "Thank you Enzo for insisting that Bonnie work on this project. It really means a lot and I owe you big time."

Enzo sat behind his desk sipping his own bourbon and said, "Look mate if there is one thing I know about Bonnie Bennet don't thank me just yet. You know she is going to make your life a living hell during this project."

Damon laughed and said, "Don't I know it, but all seriousness I need to see if I can see my life without her and move on and get out of this engagement and find love, or if I need to say to hell with my parents and get my girl back. These last eight years have been miserable and now that my parents have announced my engagement without me actually proposing it's either now or never."

Enzo nodded his head and said, "I can't believe your parents man, do they have any idea of where you are?"

Damon said, "Yes they knew I wanted to venture into real estate and develop a high rise office and residential complex, they just didn't think I would be building and designing it in Mystic Falls. I've had the contractors working on the building for a couple of months now, so I'm ready to begin the interior design process while I continue to oversee the remaining construction. When I found out last night about the engagement I blew up and threatened to resign from the company and thank goodness for my Grandmother because she convinced them to let me get away and work directly on this project to give me a chance to think about my future."

Enzo asked, "Do you even know what you want? I mean when you came to me with this project I thought it was a good financial move, but when you came in here this morning and blindsided us with teaming up with Bonnie, I'm not sure what your end goal is mate."

Damon said, "That's easy I want Bonnie, I can't deny that I still love her. I know that eight years ago I couldn't be the man she deserved and she left me, and I was devastated when I learned she had a child by someone else, so that kept me away, but it hit me when my engagement was announced that if I don't stand up for what I want, and see if we can be together I'm going to end up in a marriage based on business instead of love."

Enzo said, "What about her daughter, can you be step-daddy to another man's child? I've met her daughter and she is a sweet and smart little girl, but you have to think about how your parents treated Bonnie can you imagine what they would do to a child that doesn't have the Salvatore blood running thru them."

Damon responded, "Well first I have to win over Bonnie and then her daughter. According to Stephen the father is not in the picture, so I don't have to worry about her daughter wanting her parents back together. Hey do you think it would be easier to win over the kid, that's got to win me points with Bonnie?"

Enzo laughed and said, "After the way Bonnie reacted this morning, you are going to have your work cut out with you on spending time with her outside of work, there is no way she is going to let you near her daughter and I wouldn't let Bonnie hear you call her daughter "kid" if you hope to ever spend time with either of them."

Damon responded, "Well now that I've got the hard part out of the way in letting her know I'm back and not going anywhere I need to find a place to stay while I'm here and figure out a way to work my way back into Bonnie's life."

Enso laughed as he walked Damon to the door, "If you think that was the hard part, you are in more trouble than I thought."

It had been a couple of days and Damon had found a townhome to rent, Mystic Falls didn't have a lot to offer in the way of Condominiums or penthouses there were only a few luxury hotels that's why he thought Mystic Falls would be such an excellent location for expansion. In addition he didn't put it past his parents or fiancée in trying to keep tabs on him, so he preferred if anyone called around looking or checking on him, he wouldn't easily be found. This morning he was back at Lockwood and St. John meeting Bonnie to move forward with his project.

He walked into the boardroom again and Bonnie looked up from her laptop and said, "Okay, Mr. Salvatore, let's set up some ground rules." Damon sat down opposite of Bonnie at the conference table. Bonnie was wearing a black dress with a red bolero jacket, and she looked fierce and sexy at the same time.

"You are looking beautiful today Bon Bon, see how I didn't use your professional name, try it its easy."

Bonnie sighed and said, "The first rule is that we keep this on a strictly professional level. I'm not interested in your personal life and I prefer if you stay out of mine". She closed her laptop and pulled out a calendar and took a deep breathe, and continued " Second is that we keep our work within business hours as I have a life outside of work that I keep separate from my clients and work."

Damon laughed and said, "As a businessman who has multiple projects going at the same time, there are days where I work well into the evening and on some weekends, what if I need to meet after business hours or on the weekend, surely you understand that is likely to occur."

Bonnie replied, "I will try and do my best to accommodate you, but I can't guarantee I will always be available."

"Are you seeing someone?" Damon knew the answer would be no from all of the snooping plus a little investigating he had done, but he wanted to see if she would tell the truth.

Bonnie shook her head, and looked him in the eyes and said, "First rule Mr. Salvatore".

Damon smirked and said, "I work on your first rule if you will work on calling me Damon."

Damon was getting a kick out of teasing Bonnie. He knew she was determined to keep their relationship on a professional level, but unfortunately he was also determined to turn the professional relationship personal. The sooner the better because he didn't have a lot of time before his family, would request he return home and start planning his wedding.

Before Bonnie could respond Enzo walked in with several other people and said, "I see this meeting got started without us, but looks like everyone is still alive. "

As people began to get coffee and pastries Damon whispered, "I'll agree to your rules for now, Bonnie." As she breathed out a sigh of relief and looked at Damon he said, "Only if you have one dinner with me. We need to deal with our past if we want any chance at making this partnership work." Damon needed to talk to her. To see if she hated his guts as much as she was letting on and if it was possible they could even salvage their relationship.

Bonnie glared at him and thought about her conversation with Tyler and said, "Okay you win, one dinner then we get back to a professional relationship."

Damon tried not to grin and said, 'I'll pick you up tonight at 6:00."

As people were starting to sit down at the table, Bonnie said, "I rather just meet you, email me the information."

There were about six people on this project in addition to Bonnie and Damon, two young male contractors who would work with Damon on the building construction, and one older man who would handle contracts and paperwork and Bonnie's assistant Nora and then Krystal the young designer Enzo had hired because he was currently sleeping with her mother. Bonnie had tried keeping her off the project because she was spoiled, rude, and couldn't follow directions, but once Krystal got a look at Damon she was determined to be on the project. Enzo felt that Krystal could learn to be a better employee and designer working with them on the team. Bonnie finally agreed because she thought that either Krystal would keep Damon busy trying to fend her off, and he wouldn't have time to bother Bonnie, or once Krystal learns Damon is engaged she will lose interest and move onto another project.

As the meeting began and Damon explained the project and went over major points and deadlines Bonnie sat back and thought no matter what she thought of Damon personally she was surprised at how excited he was for this project, Bonnie could remember when she interned for him and it was hard to keep him on track since he hated being in boardrooms and having to prove he had what it takes to be an heir to a empire he didn't even want. As Bonnie was deep in thought she heard Damon say, "Bonnie don't you agree?"

Bonnie looked around and all eyes were on her, she looked at Damon and said, "I'm sorry agree to what?"

Damon said, "Relocating your office temporarily to the site, as we will need to spend a majority of the time on site".

Bonnie shook her head and said, "Absolutely not, I can work in my office on designs and buying materials and furniture until the structure is established and then I can be on site when needed."

Damon explained that since he would like her input on the building layout she would be needed as construction had been started and he was ready to proceed with designing the interior. Krystal spoke up and said, "I'll relocate to the site to assist you Mr. Salvatore." As she giggled and fluttered her fake lashes and big brown eyes at him. Another thing about Krystal is she was constantly trying to replace Bonnie at her job.

Damon smiled at Krystal and politely said, "Thank you Chrissie was it, but I think that you would be better at being the go between Lockwood & St. John and Salvatore Industries. You can work with the team on tenants and leasing. You look like you would be up to date on what kind of hot spots millennials are interested in."

Of course Krystal was so caught up in Damon giving her some attention she didn't even realize he said her name wrong, she just blushed and pushed her chest out and said, "Exactly that's what I've tried to tell Tyler and Bonnie but they won't listen to any of my ideas"

Bonnie was getting irritated and looked at Krystal and said, "Well Chrissie when you come up with any idea that's better than suggesting stripper poles when a client requests a work out area for employees, will consider them."

Krystal looked at Bonnie and said, "My name is Krystal with a "K" and how was I to know that the Red Door was a textile and fabrics store instead of a strip club."

Both Damon and Enzo couldn't help but laugh which caused Bonnie to look at Damon and say, "Yes because what's more classy with a "K" then knowing how to pick out stripper poles?"

Before things became heated Bonnie's phone rang and she saw it was Izzie school so she immediately said, "Nora can you feel me in on anything that involves me, I need to take this call."

Bonnie walked back to her office as she answered her phone and the school nurse called to say that Izzie wasn't feeling well and had spent the last hour in the wellness room and it did appear she was running a fever. Bonnie told the nurse she would be there in 20 minutes. As Bonnie picked up her briefcase and told her assistant to forward any calls to her home number as she was going to work from home the rest of the day.

As she walked to the elevator Krystal was coming out of the boardroom with Damon and overheard Bonnie and said with glee, "You are leaving this soon, I'll be sure to do whatever I can to help out Damon."

Bonnie pushed the down button and looked at Krystal and Damon and said, "Krystal I'm working from home for the rest of the day, if Mr. Salvatore needs assistance he can contact Nora who will handle it or contact me."

Damon didn't want Bonnie to think that he was interested in Krystal as he didn't need anything else she would use against him, so he said, "Is everything okay, can I help you with something?"

Bonnie looked at Damon and she didn't know how to bring up Izzie so she said, "No everything is fine I need to pick up a delivery then will just work from home the rest of the day. Thank you for asking."

Damon knowing that it might have something to do with her daughter he walked with Bonnie into the elevator and said, "No problem I'm actually have phone calls to make with investors so I'll just call you later about maybe scheduling dinner for later this week. "

Bonnie smiled at Damon for being understanding and said, "Okay I appreciate that."

As Bonnie drove to Izzie's school she realized that she had been worried about how Damon would react when he found out about Izzie she now was concerned with how Izzie would react when she found out about Damon.

Pulling into the school parking lot, she hurried to the nurse's office and saw her little girl laying on a cot wrapped in a blanket. She rushed over to her and said, "Oh honey are you sick."

Izzie turned over and said, "Mommy my stomach hurts". Her saying Mommy proved just how sick she was, Izzie thought only babies said Mommy she preferred to call her Mom or Mother unless she was upset or sick.

Bonnie reached down and picked up Izzie and she looked so pale and sick, she said, "Okay baby let's get you home."

Izzie wiggled down as she didn't want the other children to see her being carried out of school and said, "I'm not a baby Mom, and I can walk to the car."

Izzie also became more like Damon when she was sick or unhappy because she became temperamental and irritable. Bonnie grabbed her hand and said, "Sorry I forgot you are my big girl, let's get you home and see how you do and then if you are not better tomorrow we will need to make an appointment with your doctor."

Bonnie got her all buckled in the car and started the drive home, She started thinking about what would it be like if her, Izzie and Damon were a family, he would be driving the car while she sat in back and comforted their daughter. She didn't realize she was so deep in thought until Izzie said, "I'm sorry Mom."

Bonnie pulling into their parking spot and said, "What for honey."

Izzie blue eyes began to tear and she said, "I ate all the chocolate from the gift Aunt Elena sent I was only going to put a couple in my lunch bag this morning, but then I didn't have time to pick out which ones I liked so I just put the whole bag and then I ate some this morning and I guess I ate too many."

Bonnie got her daughter out of the car and this time Izzie let her pick her up and she kissed her forehead and said, "I'm not mad, how about we go upstairs and I'll give you something for your stomach and will put on our pajamas and watch movies the rest of the day?"

Izzie smiled and said, "I would like that Mommy, can I pick the movie and maybe if my stomach feels better later we can have noodles for dinner."

Bonnie laughed and opened the door and Izzie got down and ran to her room to change clothes as Bonnie went to her bathroom to get the medicine as her phone buzzed and she had a message from Damon.

"I hope everything is okay, and if you need anything let me know. I'm serious in just wanting to talk to you and clear the air, if you need to stay with your daughter I can have something delivered and we can do dinner at your house, or you and your daughter are welcome to come to my penthouse so you can give me decorating tips. Just let me know."

It all became real for Bonnie at that moment when Damon mentioned Izzie, it's was like the curtain had dropped and you could now see the cast of the play. Until that moment it was like since Izzie hadn't been discussed to Damon that he didn't know she existed, but now that he had acknowledged her Bonnie had two people who were either going to be very excited to get to know each other or very disappointed and hurt and never forgive her for keeping them apart.