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Six Hours in a Car

Bonnie was awakened by the sound of cawing outside her window. Startled, she looked outside and saw a bird perched on the ledge. It was looking at her in a creepy, knowing sort of way. "Go away" Bonnie yelled to it as she turned to her clock. 6AM. She was surprised she had been able to sleep at all. She had spent most of the night alternating between packing some stuff to bring and trying to come up with a plan that would keep her home safe and sound instead of going on a road trip with a vampire. Her cell phone rang out. "Hello" she said sleepily, putting it to her ear.

"Rise and… Oh, just rise" said Damon cheerfully on the other end. He added unnecessarily "I don't like waiting."

Bonnie hung up the phone and sighed. She brushed her teeth, pulled back her hair and decided not to bother with a shower as she had taken one at night. She dressed in jeans with a black hoodie over a heather grey t-shirt over a charcoal cami. Wearing grays and black just seemed right. Picking up her satchel and a backpack that had some spell materials in it along with a change of clothes, she took one last look about her room. She had the uneasy feeling she might never see her room or her house or her dad again. She stifled a whimper when she thought about her dad. Lying had been easier than expected. He trusted her so much that he didn't give a second thought to her request to stay at Elena's for the weekend.

"Relax, its not an execution" remarked Damon when Bonnie opened the passenger side door of Damon's black Ferrari. Bonnie's grim expression did not change. "Lets make the best of it" said Damon, sliding on sunglasses despite that the sun was not yet even over the horizon. "Look, I brought you breakfast" he said merrily, holding up a bag from Starbucks.

Bonnie, who had not had a chance to eat breakfast, took it gingerly. "Thanks" she muttered and viewed the contents. A toasted cinnamon raisin bagel with heaps of cream cheese and a fresh squeezed OJ. It was exactly what she herself would have chosen. "Um, this was thoughtful of you - thanks" Bonnie tried to sound gracious. Damon was right. If they were going to be stuck together anyway, she was going to make the best of it. "Would you like half?" she asked without thinking.

Damon grinned. "No thanks. Already had my breakfast."

Bonnie froze with the bagel halfway to her mouth. "Did you…? I mean what…? What did you have?" she gulped.

"Dear little Bonnie" he said pointedly, "if I had not already fed, you might have ended up on the menu." He then turned up the radio, so he could continue listening to the Bob Marley medley that had been playing.

Bonnie found she had lost her appetite and instead pulled out a book she had been in the middle of. She became engrossed in the story of a refugee family in Darfur. The children in the story had nothing but mud and stones to play with and ate one meal a day if they were lucky. The parents worked 16 hour days and were always tired and depressed. Bonnie was imagining how her powers might be able to help people like that and began dreaming about all the ways she would make their lives better.

Damon glanced at the snoozing girl beside him. He did seem to spend an awful lot of time watching Bonnie sleep. Her book had fallen to the floor and her barrette had fallen out and her hair was falling over her face. One hand was lightly curled around the strap of her satchel and the other was under her cheek. Her nail polish was a very girly pink. Damon had half a mind to wake her to ask what the hell did she think she was doing falling asleep while trapped in a car with a vampire. The other half was happy to make time driving in peace without any distractions. But another sliver of his mind, that he barely acknowledged, was a little bit elated that Bonnie trusted him enough that she felt safe falling asleep next to him.

He also ignored the part of his brain that was questioning his motives for bringing Bonnie with him. Bonnie may not trust him, but he knew that Bonnie was possibly the most trustworthy human he had ever met. If she told him that she had seen Katherine holed up at Rowan College, he believed her. And he didn't really need Bonnie's help in finding Katherine – his vampires senses would easily help find her once he was in her vicinity. So why had he insisted on bringing the witch along? He tried to tell himself that having a witch in tow could always come in handy. He refused to acknowledge to himself that he was becoming fond of the girl.

Bonnie's eyes fluttered open and she sat up instantly as she realized the car had stopped moving. She looked around, and noted that she was alone in the car, which was parked under a shady tree, next to a semi-deserted service station. There was just one other car in the area but not a single person seemed to be around. Bonnie opened the door and got out, stretching her legs and arms as she emerged. She figured Damon must be using the restroom (did vampires have to use the bathroom??) and decided she might as well too. But as she walked towards the service station, she heard muffled voices coming from behind it. She walked towards the back of the building with a little bit of apprehension, and as she rounded the corner she heard loud moans. She came upon Damon bent over a middle-aged woman, slurping against her neck. A husky man, probably her husband, lay a few feet away, his body slack, some blood still seeping from twin gashes in his neck.

Bonnie screamed and focused a bust of firepower energy at Damon. He flew several feet backwards, and landed on his feet. He instantly ran at Bonnie and was face to face with her before she could react. 'Damon, no" she wailed. "You can't feed from people like this."

"Its either her or you" said Damon. Without missing a beat he added "Of course, I'd rather it be you. Now choose."

"No, I won't let you; its wrong. " said Bonnie as she mentally prepared herself to cast another firepower spell.

But Damon was onto her. "Oh no, you're not going to do anything witchy on me" he snarled, grabbing her arms so it would be harder to release any spells. "I'm a vampire. I drink blood. Deal."

"Why can't you just drink animal blood like Stefan does?" asked Bonnie desperately.

"My brother is an idiot" replied Damon.

"I am not going anywhere with you if you do this" Bonnie retorted. "You can find Katherine by yourself."

"You're getting all worked up over nothing" said Damon, pointing to the dazed woman who was sitting on the ground and looked to be in the middle of a daydream. "She will never remember any of this"

"But you're still hurting her" Bonnie insisted. "Against her will."

Damon had had enough and simply dragged Bonnie towards the car. He was too strong to resist and Bonnie was forced into the vehicle. But at least he had stopped feeding on the woman.

They drove the rest of the way in silence. Bonnie was furious at Damon for doing damage to humans. And Damon was annoyed at Bonnie for being such a spoilsport. He was also a tiny bit annoyed at himself. But he couldn't figure out why. Was it because Bonnie was disappointed in him? No, that couldn't be – he didn't care what she thought. He could just kill her right now and any judginess would disappear. Poof -- easy.

He tried to focus on Katherine instead. He was so close to being with her. He could imagine her desirable face, her soft lips and white teeth, her angelic eyes and teasing laugh. He tried not to think about the fact that Katherine had escaped from the tomb, or perhaps never even been trapped in it, and still had never sought him out. There must be a reasonable explanation. Maybe she had been in danger and wanted him to be safe. Maybe she had some sort of magickal amnesia. Not for an instant could he let himself believe that Katharine may have simply not been interested in seeing him anymore.