A/N: If you took the time to read, review, or subscribe to any one of my stories, I am deeply thankful.

Giving into one's baser needs is the first act of bravery.

Chapter 9

Katherine gave a full-framed stretch from where she laid. Although absent of heat from a warm body, Damon's bed was still so comfortable.

He won't be surprised to find her nude in his bed when he returned from his shower. He is used to her antics.

Katherine has grown tired of being denied. Damon's played his game long enough. She's been truthful with him up to a point. She's sat on her hands like a good girl. She hasn't killed anyone in months. Surely she should get some kind of a reward.

Katherine wasn't in love with Damon but that shouldn't prevent two extremely attractive people from having amazing sex.

Damon was much too romantic for Katherine's liking.

While Katherine's in the middle of a thought, Bonnie barges into Damon's room as if she owned the place.

Katherine shrieks (although she'll deny that she made such a sound), and pulls the bedcovering over her naked breast.

"Oh. Katherine, right?" Bonnie looks around, unaffected by Katherine's presence, "Where's Damon?"

"He's in the shower." Katherine responds with a dignity she doesn't possess.

"I just came to return this book. Tell him I'll talk to him later." Bonnie lays the book down on the dresser near the bed.

Katherine gains her bearings, "Sweetie, Bonnie, is it? I'm not your personal messenger service. What are you doing here anyway?"

A look that resembles annoyance flashes across Bonnie's face. "I could ask you the same thing. Everyone knows that Damon's not putting out. At least not to you."

There's a flash and Katherine is suddenly in front of Bonnie. Bonnie doesn't flinch. She's used to how quickly vampires move.

Katherine stands there, unperturbed by her own nakedness, "What happen to you? Where did your intelligence go? When you first met me you were so afraid. Now, you're just stupid."

"Here is the part where you threaten bodily harm. What's that phrase? Something about snapping me like a twig."

"I can."

"I'm sure. But see, everyone's running scared in this town, including you. I wouldn't piss off the only witch within a twenty mile radius."

"Or you'll what? Your parlor tricks don't hurt me."

"Katherine." Damon warns.

He was enjoying the wonderfully hot spray of water before he heard women's voices.

Damon stood in the doorway, towel wrapped dangerously low around his waist, body still slick from his shower.

"She ruined my surprise for you," Katherine states, hands on her hips.

Bonnie interjects, "I really don't know how any of you could mistake this... thing for Elena."

Katherine releases a guttural snarl, jaw unhinged and veins crawling around her eyes. Bonnie blinks and Damon is standing between the two women.

"Katherine, I made myself clear last time." Damon slowly sweeps his eyes along Katherine's body, "I'm not interested."

"Suit yourself," Katherine saunters out of the room not bothering to clothe herself.

Stefan is going to get a surprise with his breakfast.

Bonnie gives a tight grin at Katherine's departure. "She's precious; just like vicious pit-bull."

"What are you doing here? We are supposed to meet up later." Damon desperately wants to pinch the bridge of his nose in wariness.

Typical. You hang around humans long enough and you start to behave like them.

"Actually, no. You are going to come up with some reason why I won't be seeing you today."

"Why?"

"My dad wants you to have dinner with us. Tonight."

"Your father. Wants me. To have dinner. With you. And him." Damon is aware of how fragmented he sounds but he can't think of anything witty to say.

"I know, it's strange. Something about he talked to Jenna and then he said the neighbors saw you...I don't know. But I'll think of something to spare you."

"No you won't. What time is dinner?"

"You can't be serious."

"I am. What time?"

"Around seven."

"I'll be there 6:59."

Damon was at the Bennett residence at 6:50. He refused to make a big deal out of this whole thing.

It's impolite not to bring a gift when you go to a dinner at someone's house. He brings flowers and red wine.

It's no big deal.

Bonnie's father doesn't make it a secret that he's deeply suspicious of Damon. There's something about him that makes his hackles rise, the hair stand up on the back of his neck.

"I've met most of Bonnie's friends but I haven't had the pleasure of meeting you. I understand your brother goes to the same high school as my daughter, and he dates Elena, isn't that right?"

"Yes that's right." Is Damon supposed to call him Sir?

"You look a little too old to be in high school."

"Daddy!" Bonnie admonishes.

Mr. Bennett ignores his daughter, "Are you in college?"

"No, no. The university lifestyle never appealed to me." Damon answers.

"What do you do for a living?," Mr. Bennett asks.

Bonnie signs heavily into her spaghetti.

This was going to be a long night.

Strangely enough most people don't ask Damon that question. His career, his hobbies; those things don't matter to the people he knows.

"I'm not working right now," That's the best answer Damon could give.

"Well, then how do you support yourself?"

"As you may know the Salvatore family is very wealthy. With so few of us, my brother and I are the sole beneficiaries."

"Yes, the Salvatores. I've heard they had a rich history. Didn't your family used to own plantations?"

Bonnie chokes on spaghetti sauce.

After dinner, Mr. Bennett did not indicate whether he wanted their special guest to stay, so Bonnie took the initiative to walk Damon to the front door.

"That was... interesting."

"I'm so sorry. My father isn't usually this abrasive. But I commend you for not doing anything awful.

"What did you think I would do? I do know how to behave myself. Sometimes."

"Yeah. Sometimes, you definitely do." Bonnie replies with a smile.

On the afternoon before her birthday, Bonnie shares a secret.

"Tyler Lockwood." Bonnie says, as if Damon is supposed to know what she's referring to.

"What?"

"You asked who I lost my virginity to. It was Tyler Lockwood. When we were all normal," Bonnie says as an afterthought.

Damon sat down on her bed slowly. He wasn't sure he was ever going to be let in the house again after the dinner fiasco but Bonnie saw to it that Damon could continue to stop by at any time. (As long as it was deemed appropriate by Mr. Bennett).

"Elena was with Matt, and me and Tyler thought it would be easier to just become part of the gang." Bonnie spoke with a sad reverence.

A look similar to regret and ruefulness settled on her face, and Damon instantly recognized it.

"You don't have to be ashamed."

"I'm not...I just wish it was with someone else. Maybe." Bonnie looks down not wanting to continue the conversation eye to eye, "He treated me good, though. Tyler was really nice to me. He just didn't know how to deal with emotions. His father wasn't all that nice, from what I could tell. It only happened a few times anyway so it doesn't matter."

Damon gets it now: Bonnie's one of those girls that equates sex with feelings.

"Did you love Tyler?" Damon asked, jaw tense.

Damon was sort of glad Tyler left town because it would save him the trouble of ripping his heart out.

"No."

"And that's what bothers you," Damon guessed.

Bonnie just stares. She doesn't confirm or deny.

Damon wants to lighten to mood but he doesn't know how.

Damon tells her something personal because he realizes Bonnie didn't have to share with him. She could have kept all of her secrets to herself.

"Sometimes, I think about my mother; about whether she would have loved me better than my father."

Bonnie can't form a response. She knows Giuseppe Salvatore must have been a hard man to live with.

She unfolds her legs and leans over the pillow in her lap.

She presses a kiss to Damon's cheek. He can barely feel her lips, it's soft warm air and a brush of skin.

Bonnie is a heavy sleeper.

Damon had climbed through her window five minutes ago and she didn't stir.

She looked so young, so fresh and full of this inescapable hope that he wanted to hold and keep for himself.

"You do know I've been awake all this time, don't you?" Bonnie asked with her eyes still closed.

"Why did you pretend to be asleep?"

Bonnie smiled, her eyes flying open, her spry form jumping out of bed.

The thin strap of her camisole slid down her should and the already diminutive length of her shorts rode higher.

Damon thinks he should leave her bedroom.

Fortunately, he stopped listening to his brain a long time ago.

"What are you holding behind your back?" Bonnie asks with a knowing smile.

"Well since it's your birthday, I thought maybe you'd want this."

Damon held a small red velvet cup cake in his hand with a single candle stuck in the middle.

"How did you know this was my favorite flavor?" Bonnie asks, already taking the yummy treat out of his hand.

"Elena may have mentioned something." Although Damon couldn't really tell what Elena said because her head was buried against Stefan's chest.

Elena and Stefan can be so cranky in the morning.

"I didn't peg you for a morning person." Bonnie responds, beginning to lick the frosting from the cup cake.

"I'm not. But it was a special occasion."

"Did my father see you?"

"I don't think so. He hasn't come to rescue you yet so I assume that I am safe."

"Thank you, Damon. You're a great friend."

Damon has always been impulsive. He does things on a whim because that's the only way to do them.

"I have another present for you."

"Really?"

"Put down the cupcake and close your eyes."

Bonnie does as she is told, her mind racing as to what will come next.

Damon takes her face in both of his hands and he can feel how the skin on skin contact startles her. Bonnie keeps her eyes closed and he doesn't know if it's because she's anticipated what he's going to do or if she's still curious.

Damon presses his lips to hers.

It's slow. Slower than he can remember kissing anyone.

He can't resist running the tip of his tongue against her bottom lip. Other than that, he keeps it innocent.

Almost.

Damon can feel the moment she responds to the kiss: her back straightens and she grabs the back of his neck with her hand, rubbing through the hair at the nape, not to deepen the kiss, but to press closer, to keep him right where he is.

He keeps his mouth over hers, an unhurried push and pull of mouths.

The kiss ends with a wet little click from their parting lips.

Damon steps away from her but thinks the better of it to press another, chaster kiss against her face.

"Happy birthday," is all Damon says because he doesn't realize his life has changed.

"Happy birthday to me." Bonnie responds a little in awe.

"Are we still friends?" Damon asks because for some reason it's important to him.

"Of course, silly," Bonnie says, smacking his arm, "what's a kiss between friends?"

It's Elena idea to throw a birthday party with the Salvatore boardinghouse as the location.

She invites everyone. Some of the people, Bonnie doesn't even know.

The nurses from the hospital Bonnie was in attend: they smile and chuckle; they knew Bonnie would pull through.

Wherever Bonnie goes, Damon is close behind, arm thrown around her shoulders, pressing his lips against her ear to make a joke he doesn't want anybody else to hear.

Sometimes he gets a wonderful, liberated laugh. Other times he gets an elbow to the ribs.

The only brief respite Bonnie gets from Damon's all consuming company is when she goes into one of the studies.

"I guess I can give you your present now, without your guard dog around," Jeremy jokes.

Bonnie turns to face Jeremy, bright smile on her face. She takes the package from Jeremy's hands, and holds on tightly.

Jeremy turns to go, but Bonnie stops him with a hand on his broad shoulder. "Hey, we haven't had any chance to talk."

Jeremy smiles bitterly, "There's nothing to talk about. You and him, huh? I wouldn't have guessed." Jeremy says like that's exactly what he'd guessed.

He had such a pained expression on his face, so full of hurt and anger.

"Damon and I are not a couple. We're just friends."

"What planet do you live on?," Jeremy explodes.

"Jeremy!"

"Seriously. Damon is so close to stamping the word MINE on your forehead. How can you not see that?"

"Is everything okay here?" Stefan stands in the doorway to the study, his face easy, relaxed which means that he's anything but.

Stefan liked Jeremy, he cared about him. He understood how hard it must be to see Bonnie and know that she doesn't remember what she and Jeremy shared.

"Yeah, everything is fine." Jeremy stares at Bonnie while he says it.

"Bonnie?" Stefan questions, wanting to hear her opinion of the matter.

"It's fine. Jeremy, we should talk."

"No, not right now. I don't want to ruin your night. Just... open your gift. I'll talk to you some other time."

Jeremy turns to walk out of the room, Stefan causally stepping out of his way.

"You should tell your brother to watch his back," Jeremy says all the heat and anger directed towards Damon and not the Salvatore in front of him.

"Are you okay?" Stefan asked once Jeremy was out of the room.

"I'm good. Everything is perfect tonight."

"Jeremy will be fine," Stefan assures because he can see how worried she is.

"I hope so." Bonnie looks around the room.

"I'm remembering things," she says after a moment.

"Like what?" Stefan asked curiously.

"Small things. Nothing with any context to them."

"Does Damon know?"

"I shared some things but some stuff seems so ridiculous to share if I don't know what the memories are connected to, if I don't know what the larger picture is."

"Damon really cares about you" Stefan suddenly states.

"I know. I care about him too."

Stefan's face breaks into a grin that he quickly reigns in when he see the confused look on Bonnie's face. "I mean, he really, really cares about you."

Bonnie scoffs, "You guys speak some language that I will never understand."

Damon cleans the garbage left behind after the party and commissions Alaric's help.

Stefan is off somewhere wrapped around Elena like he's her favorite blanket.

"Bonnie Bennett, really? I have to say I'm a little surprised, but she is a good catch. Is it strange for me to talk about my students this way?" Alaric asks, a crushed paper cup in his hand.

"What are you talking about?" Damon's too preoccupied with moving garbage bags with cake frosted paper plates in them.

Alaric stops what he's doing, to carefully consider his friend. "Oh man, you are in deep."

"Ric, you really need to stop drinking. There are AA meetings all over the place now."

"Another problem for another day." Alaric jokes. "Seriously, the look written all over your face tonight is the same one I had when I fell in love with Isobel. You've changed."

"Nothing's changed. The end-game is the same."

"Which is?"

"Kill Klaus, get rid of Katherine, save Elena."

"Save Elena?"

"That's what I said. Save Elena."

"What happened to getting Elena? Getting Elena and having her to yourself. What happened to that plan?"

Damon didn't have a well formed response, "Shut up."

Alaric beams, "Shut up? Is that it? The Damon I knew before would have threatened to rearrange my kidneys." Alaric puts a hand on Damon's shoulder, "You're growing up."

Damon never felt more terrified in his life.

A/N: A reviewer asked how long this story will be. There are 4 to 5 chapters left... I think.