Hi. One more update for Kisses. Check out my profile, there's a link for an accompanying fanmix for the story. The next chapter will cover the birthday part and uhem...sealing the deal between our fair couple. I've got a few PM requests I'm working on that will be more DamonxBonnie centric but don't fight the power that is Mason and Bonnie. Embrace it. That's all for now. Journeys update tomorrow. I'm going to climb in my bed.

A Gentlemen's Agreement

Mason left Bonnie in Tyler's capable hands for the day and disappeared to Vienna, VA. The younger Lockwood had planned a hike and a ton of other physically exerting activities to keep her mind of Mason, Elena, and Caroline for twenty – four hours while they finalized the details for her birthday bash. She didn't want anything extravagant but they'd all ignored her and forged ahead with the night to remember. The lovely witch's birthday was a week away and Mason had procrastinated, shirking his assigned boyfriend duties. The thought made him laugh, he was twenty – five years old, hopelessly and helplessly smitten with a high school senior and he wouldn't have it any other way.

The two had met during a difficult period in both their lives. He'd spent most of his post college years as a hired day walker and protector for some of Eastern Florida's deadliest and nastiest bloodsuckers. Mason had seen a little bit of everything. Territory wars, weres strung out on the blood of fangers, and lives turned upside down. She'd struggled with coming to terms with her supernatural ability and the loss of her grandmother. Bonnie had nearly lost her life at the hands of Damon Salvatore and even just reflecting on her retelling of the story made him want to turn the car around and end the menacing vampire's life. He took a deep breath - things were getting better. Together, Mason and Bonnie had gained clarity, and found the comfort they longed for in one another.

His fingers gripped the steering wheel of his nephew's car.

Mason had made some dumb choices on his journey with teen beauty. He had marked her, partially out of need, but primarily out of obsessive desire for possession. Unlike, Bonnie, his mother and grandmother taught Mason and his brother the dangers and blessings of their curse. He'd avoided witches based on the warnings issued by both women.

Beautiful packages with black hearts…

Those had been his grandmother's words about Bonnie's kind. He remembered the book she'd opened before him; beautifully bound in burgundy leather with embossed gold lettering. Legends and myths of entrancing practitioners of magic who twisted the will of the men they claimed to love. Using the power that the moon held over them to fulfill their selfish wants for wealth and vengeance. That was not what he saw the night he first laid eyes on Bonnie. She was innocent, pure, and heartbroken. When his arm brushed hers as he reached the chips above her head, he knew what she was. He felt the power on the surface of her skin, tasted the wisdom that surrounded her, and knew that she held the strength to wield the gift she'd been given honorably. He wanted to help her, ease the turmoil raging around the shattered fragments of her heart, but more importantly he sensed the growing need within him for her.

All of the colliding thoughts and emotions overwhelmed him the night in her kitchen. That's why he'd broken her skin. Bruising and scarring the delicate dermis with his brand so that other supernatural beings would know she was claimed and protected. Tyler had even willing yielded to his authority when it came to Bonnie, Caroline and Stefan walked in respect to the deepening connection between Mason and his heart's desire, but Damon Salvatore fought him the entire way.

He didn't understand what motivated the selfish vampire.

Until Mason's arrival in Mystic Falls, Damon had been infatuated with his brother's girlfriend Elena, and now with the wolf's presence, his sights were keenly set on Bonnie. He didn't know if it was a cosmic tug – of – war or if the man's feelings were true.

He pulled into the parking place, stepped from the car, wrapping the leather jacket he wore around his massive frame, as he slipped into the Fairfax Square entrance. He hurried into the store. The crowd was diminishing. The first of the season's major holidays was approaching. The entire mall smelled of cinnamon, spice, and vanilla; things that brought her to mind. Anxiously, he looked around for his favorite familiar face. Expecting to see her in corners and shadows, exiting her favorite stores, but she wasn't there.

Mason's eyes followed the classic script lettering used in the store's signage. His idea for the perfect present for his girlfriend's birthday came early one morning when she smiled at him beneath the duvet and filled the entire space with her brightness. He wanted to give her something just as beautiful. He bent over the case, mulling his purchase. The clerk rolled her eyes, discounting his interest based on his manner of dress. He was covered in worn Diesel jeans, a faded gray t-shirt, a too little leather blazer he'd found in his brother's closet, and he topped off the look with dirty motorcycle boots covered in red mud.

"Tiffany's Lockwood …Walmart is two exits over."

Mason recognized the grating sound of Damon Salvatore's voice. Regardless of what the old hag behind the counter or the dead man beside him thought, he had more than enough to cover whatever he decided upon for Bonnie's birthday. Yeah he'd wasted years surfing but the trust fund willed to him by his grandparents sat safely in the bank until he returned to the Falls. In other words, he could buy the entire store once, twice, or three times if he liked.

He turned to face the man, pleasantries fully loaded, but not an ounce of sincerity in his voice, "Go away Damon."

His nemesis answered in a casual tone, "No."

He wanted to rip the man's throat out, but a strange feeling of peace washed over him and his lips turned upward with the realization that even apart she was still with him.

Mason pointed to two charms in the case and asked for the woman's opinion. He didn't want or need Damon's.

"Does the little…" Damon paused obviously seeking a suitable replacement for the word 'witch', "Cheerleader, strike you as a diamond girl."

He ignored his unwelcomed shopping buddy and pointed at a pink petal with a diamond in the center, brushed in a rose gold tone. The clerk pulled the matching chain from a nearby case and even echoed her own vote of approval.

Damon shrugged, "To each their own."

Mason silenced anymore of the vamps retorts when he paid for the gift in cash without hesitation. He accepted the turquoise box adorned in a white bow before he walked towards the exit.

"How about a drink? I'll even put it in a stainless steel bowl for you, Fido."

Mason's hands reached for Damon's neck but he felt a tug at the back of his consciousness, so he offered a conciliatory reply, "Sure."

He wasn't prepared for the vampire to fold into the passenger's seat or punch the button's of his nephew's stereo system.

"Does Tyler really listen to this garbage?"

He couldn't fight the grin that spread across his face; he'd thought the same thing on his trip over. Damon threw jeweled case after case out of the window. Gone were the Avett Brothers, Ray LaMontagne, "Taylor Swift…oh…he's never going to live this one down." By the end of the purging session, Alice in Chains floated through the speakers, and Mason's hatred towards Damon was decreasing.

By the second round of shots they were sharing war stories; Mason's tour of duty in Afghanistan and Damon's round during the Civil War. There were discussions about the women who broke their hearts, Katherine and the girl who set his curse in motion who may or may not have been one in the same. Before the conversation finally turned to the only thing they had in common.

"Bonnie is the only reason I haven't killed you yet."

Mason held the glass to his lips contemplating his answer, "Funny, that's the only thing that keeps you enjoying life the sequel."

Damon leaned back in his chair, hands poised behind his head, "You can give her something I can't and I'd rather see her happy with you, than brokenhearted and alone."

There was no response strong enough for what the vampire had openly shared. He quickly ended the friendship bonding session.

"If you hurt her…use her…" Damon leaned in closer pointing his finger square in Mason's face, "If one unnecessary tear drifts from her eyes, I'll be on your doorstep, full moon or not, ready to end your miserable walk on two legs or four."

"You love her…"

It was more of a statement than a question. The eldest Salvatore never answered; he only smirked, motioning for another bottle from the waitress whose behind he was molesting before Mason's eyes. "Just be good to her."

Mason rode home alone, sure that Damon and the waitress were enjoying their own personal den of iniquity in the bar's storage room. It hadn't come easy, but finally he'd won him over, and for one reason or another he felt like a champion. Especially when he climbed the stairs of his family's home and saw Bonnie curled into a tight little ball in the middle of his bed. Her hair fanned out around her face, traces of a smile on her lips, and a stomach turning scent of the woods, sweat, and mud. Where had Tyler taken her today?

He hid her birthday present under the bed before slipping into the bathroom and filling the tub with hot water and bubbles. He shook the sleeping witch and stood staring goofily as she tried to rid her green eyes of the troublesome signs of sleep.

His fingers caressed her cheek, "Go take a bath."

She followed him to the door, accepted the kiss he offered, before disappearing into the steam-filled bathroom.

Yes, Mason would be good to her. He would be any and everything she needed.