A/N: I HAVE NO EXCUSES! I am so, so sorry for the 6 MONTH delay, all I can say is that writer's block is a bitch. Idk how you guys will feel about this chapter but thanks for sticking with me and I'll try to be better. I hope you all enjoy and remember, reviews are gold

He couldn't get enough of her. Even though Damon had tried to play off his attraction to Bonnie, one taste of her lips and his control had flown out of the window. Gripping her hips, he dragged her to the edge of the worktop, settling himself between her thighs. Finally, finally, he was kissing the girl of his dreams and he knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that he would never be able to let her go again.

"Please don't leave me." He mumbled into her mouth, silently cursing as she tugged gently on his hair, sending a bolt of arousal through his body. "Please, please don't leave me, I need you here, please, I need you." His words were muffled as he never gave up his assault on Bonnie's lips, unable to tear his lips from hers. "Tell me you won't leave me…Bonnie, tell me you won't leave me, please." He felt her drawing away and, going against everything within him screaming at him to draw her closer, he let her go, planting one last, soft kiss on her swollen lips before he pulled away. Gently stroking her cheek, he smiled at her appearance, her eyes still shut, her lips red and pouty, her breathing laboured. Stepping back, he took a deep breath, thinking of anything to dampen his raging arousal. Licking her lips, Bonnie slowly opened her eyes, the emerald depths swirling with a mixture of lust, hesitance and embarrassment.

"Damon, I…"

"Don't say it, Bonnie." She frowned.

"Say what?"

"Don't play dumb. Don't try and tell me that what just happened was a mistake. It wasn't." Her ears and cheeks burned hot and darkened, a sign of her discomfort.

"I wasn't going to say that," she mumbled, tucking some stray hair behind her ear as she bowed her head. He scoffed and stuffed his hands into his pockets.

"Right. Sure." She sighed heavily, slipping off the counter-top and moving closer to him, placing a hand gently on his chest.

"Okay, I…I was going to say that, but, Damon, cut me some slack here. I'm still trying to keep up with this new turn of events, the fact that you have feelings for me. I'm sorry, I'm not trying to brush you off. I'm sorry." With a reluctant half-smile, he brushed his fingers over the apple of her cheeks, relishing in the darkening blush that followed his touch. Bending his head, he hovered his lips over hers, smirking.

"Let me try and catch you up then."

Waking up in the morning with Bonnie curled against his side was possibly the best moment of Damon's entire existence. His heart swelled as he stared down at the sleeping form of the petite woman lying beside him, her breathing soft as she slumbered. Leaning down to press a kiss to her forehead, he slipped out of bed, smiling at the sight of her in the matching shirt for his pyjama pants. Although nothing had happened between them other than a series of extremely hot kisses, followed by a long night of snuggling, he had been perfectly content; it was the first time in a long time that he had happily spent the night with a woman without indulging in more…X-rated activities. Chuckling softly, he strolled to the bedroom, preparing to freshen up before he went to retrieve some blood bags for her to feed from. Halfway across the room, a knock at the door interrupted his path. Turning his head, he watched as the door opened slowly and Stefan's head poked around. His gaze zoned in on Bonnie's sleeping form, his eyes widening a fraction, before he swung his head around and locked eyes with Damon. The elder Salvatore smirked, crossing his arms over his bare chest.

"Yes, Stefan?" Scratching the back of his neck uncomfortably, Stefan stepped fully into the room, avoiding looking at the bed where the witch slept on.

"Damon, I have some news. It's about Elena." His good mood quickly dissipating, Damon scowled at his brother.

"You'd better have a very good reason for bringing that bitch's name up right now." His eyes widened with barely constrained rage, flicking to Bonnie's still form as he spoke before returning to his brother. Stefan shifted but held his gaze.

"Damon, I know you're…protective of Bonnie, but this is really urgent. I swear." Narrowing his eyes to gauge his brother's honesty, he sighed, motioning to Stefan to step out. As the two moved to vacate the room, a soft voice shattered the silence.

"Don't leave on my account." The two looked towards the bed where Bonnie was shifting into a sitting position, her eyes suspiciously bright for someone who was just waking from sleep.

"Bonnie…" Damon's tone was warning and tense.

"You can't protect me from everything." Her returning glare was fierce before she turned to face his brother, his gaze shooting rapidly between the couple. "Stefan, whatever you have to say about Elena, I want to hear." Stefan looked to his brother, his demeanour wary. "Don't look at him, look at me. Seriously, the two of you need to realise that Damon is not my keeper."

"Well, what am I then, Bonnie?" Silence followed his outburst. Bonnie's eyes were wide and shocked and Stefan looked as though he would rather be impaled with millions of tiny wooden splinters than been in the room at that moment.

"That's not what we're talking about right now," she mumbled, "we're talking about Elena." Damon smiled mirthlessly and turned to his brother, smirking sardonically.

"You heard her, little bro. We're talking about Elena."

Elena was curled up in the foetal position, tears streaming silently down her face and dampening her already soiled jeans. The paralysis spell had finally worn off, but she still felt weak and violated. Rebekah had disappeared off a while back, leaving her alone in her concrete cell with nothing but her own thoughts to keep her from going insane.

Elena's tears not only stemmed from fear of her situation-trust her, she was terrified- but also the knowledge of what she had put her friends through. Although she knew that the sire bond between herself and Damon was still as strong as ever, she knew it was no excuse for her actions; killing and then turning Bonnie was definitely the worst thing she had and probably would ever do. However, even though her intentions for forcing Bonnie to transition were malicious, she was glad that her friend –ex-friend?- was still alive to hate her. Sniffling, she wiped her tears on the sleeve of her hoodie as she raised her head, taking in the bare walls of her prison. Using her hands to balance herself, she shakily stood to her feet, leaning heavily against the cool concrete wall. Breathing heavily, Elena pushed off, using the force as momentum to stagger towards the barred door. Grabbing the handle, she rattled it, twisting it this way and that in the hopes that the lock would snap. However, her efforts were to no avail as, even without her weakened vampire strength, the door would have remained firmly shut; Rebekah had made sure of that. Slumping down to the floor once again, she let out a pitiful moan, like a wounded animal; she sure as hell felt like one, caged up and under the control of a stronger being. Leaning her head back, she sniffled, wiping the tears from her face and steeling her resolve. She was going to get out of here, she was going to help Bonnie and she was going to make amends for her awful behaviour, most especially to her oldest friend.

"As we all know, Elena is sired to Damon. However, what we didn't know was that, for a doppelgänger, it works slightly differently." Damon sat up straighter, a frown on his face.

"What do you mean?"

"Elena is a carbon copy of Katherine. That means that she acts and loves in almost the exact same way as Katherine. Obviously, she's less of an evil bitch," Damon raised a disbelieving eyebrow, "but, she shares a lot of her traits."

"Like, stringing the two of us along for years while we fought for her attention, or treating people around her like shit whilst she sat on her throne, throwing people rags and expecting them to treat them like riches?" Stefan rolled his eyes at Damon's dramatics, but Bonnie visibly flinched at the implications of his words. She was one of those peasants who settled for Queen Elena's scraps and treated them like the finest gold. Stefan grabbed an aged book from the table beside him, flipping the pages until he came to a certain point.

"Because Elena was turned by your blood and you, in turn, were turned by Katherine, the sire bond has become a bit more complex. As much as she still feels the need to please you, she also feels the need to possess you. Her connection to Katherine makes her feel as if you're hers to possess and when she senses a threat," he glanced meaningfully at Bonnie, "she has to exterminate it. The two sides would be wreaking havoc on her mind, leaving her stuck between wanting to dominate or submit to you." Silence followed his statement, the other two trying to wrap their heads around the new information. As much as she was trying to stay angry, Bonnie could feel sympathy for Elena seeping in and a steely determination to bring her best friend back.

"How can we be sure that she hasn't just turned into a crazy bitch like her predecessor?" Stefan set the book back down and levelled his brother with a serious stare.

"Look, Damon, I don't know about you, but I care a lot about that girl. Even if I hate what she's done and I'm no longer in love with her, I still care about her well-being and what happens to her. She's my friend and she doesn't deserve to be suffering like this. If there's anything I can do to help her, I'm going to do it, and you should too." Damon turned to the girl beside him, reaching out a hand to cover her bare thigh which was exposed as her legs were curled up underneath her on the couch.

"Fine. I'll help. But this doesn't mean she's receiving atonement for her sins and it doesn't mean I still care about her." He turned to Bonnie, lifting her chin and looking earnestly into her eyes. "It doesn't mean I still care about her, okay?" She nodded, smiling sadly before rising to her feet.

"I'm going to go and clean up." Damon moved to rise but she held out a hand to halt him. "No, it's fine, I'll probably end up hanging out with Care today." She turned and walked away before he had a chance to reply, leaving Damon to stare longingly after her. The clapping of his brother's hands caught his attention and he turned to face the younger supernatural.

"Let's get started then."

Tyler pulled the front door open, his expression hardening at the sight of Jeremy Gilbert standing on his porch.
"What are you doing here?" Jeremy flinched slightly at the hostility in his voice, stepping back slightly as if to physically avoid the impact of his words.

"I take it Matt told you." Tyler laughed derisively.

"Yeah, he did. What the hell were you thinking, Gilbert? You were putting your hands on Bonnie? Really?" The boy shook his head, gaining a sudden fascination with his shoes.

"You don't understand-"

"Make me understand then. Seriously, Gilbert, you really fucked up this time."

"I know," Jeremy mumbled, duly chastised. Tyler took pity on him, clapping his hand over the boy's shoulder in a gesture of comfort.

"Look, man, Matt's here and I'm pretty sure he's still pissed at you. Maybe it would be better if you came back-"

"Tyler?"

"-tomorrow." Tyler shut his eyes in despair as Matt came to the front door, his eyes narrowing to slits at the sight of Jeremy.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" Tyler stuck his arm out to prevent Matt advancing further on Jeremy.

"I came to try and make amends."

"Make amends? That's rich, if you were really sorry, you'd be over at the boarding house, pleading for Bonnie to forgive you, not over here talking out of your ass." Jeremy felt a moment of rage coursing through his veins. Gritting his teeth, he worked to rein in his temper.

"Why can't anyone understand that I wasn't in my right mind? Being a hunter makes me crazy, it's like I'm always pissed at someone or something. I love Bonnie and I fucked up, I know, but I'm trying to do the right thing, so can you cut me some slack?" Matt's stance never relaxed as he took one more perusal of Jeremy's person before he turned and stalked back into the house. Jeremy turned to Tyler, eyes desperate, and the young man let out a puff of air, already tired of the hostile situation.

"Just come in, man."

"Go Fish!" Bonnie threw her cards down, glaring at the grinning blonde across from her.

"You're definitely cheating." Caroline smirked, rolling her eyes slightly at Bonnie's inability to see that she just sucked at this game.

"Bon, I don't need to cheat, you might as well be letting me win." Bonnie stuck her tongue out, blowing a raspberry at the girl. "Nice, mature."

"Whatever." Standing to her feet, Caroline extended a hand to her best friend, pulling her off the floor where they had been perched on cushions. Hand in hand, they headed to the kitchen in search of sustenance; after her suicide attempts, Caroline had taken it upon herself to make sure that Bonnie was eating enough, not willing to take risk her attempting to kill herself in a subtler way, like starving herself.

"So…" Bonnie turned to face her friend.

"So…"

"Are we going to talk about the fact that you slept in Damon Salvatore's bed last night, or not?" Bonnie bit her lip, her ears heating up with embarrassment.

"Nothing happened." Caroline scoffed.

"As if you slept with Damon without him expecting some of the cookie in return." Bonnie shook her head.

"I swear, we just slept. It was…nice." Caroline gawked at her friend.

"Like, seriously? The two of you actually didn't do anything?" A bout of irritation washed over the blonde, irritation at the fact that Damon had used her for sex and blood, whereas Bonnie was able to be with him without either of the two aforementioned factors coming into play.

The sound of the front door opening caught both of their attention, and Caroline perked up at the sound of Tyler's voice, alongside Matt and…Jeremy? Caroline noticed Bonnie grit her teeth, turn and walk into the kitchen at the sound of the latter male's voice and stared after her sympathetically. Her attention was quickly diverted as the trio rounded the corner and her man came into sight. Walking into his arms, she pressed a gentle kiss to his chin, smiling slightly at the feel of stubble grazing her lips. Matt flashed a quick wave whilst Jeremy looked around the room, searching intently for something…or someone.

"Hey Care, are you alone?" She grimaced slightly at the boy's voice.

"No, Damon should be around here somewhere…" Jeremy pulled a face at the name, '…and Bonnie went to go feed." His face lit up and he was back to eagerly searching for the girl like a lost puppy.

"Is she still in the house? I'd really like to talk to her." Caroline noticed Matt giving the younger boy a strange look, one which she couldn't quite identify.

"I don't think that's a good idea." The occupants of the room turned to face a glaring Damon, rearing back at the pure hatred in his gaze. "I think you're the last person she needs to be around right now." Jeremy's confused gaze landed on each person in the room before they returned to the fuming vampire before him.

"What's it to you if I want to see my girlfriend or not?" Damon let out a loud bark of laughter.

"Open your eyes, Gilbert, that relationship has run its course." All traces of humour left his face. "It would be in your own interests to stay far away from Bonnie Bennett."

"Look, man, you really need to step off-"

"That's not what Bonnie was saying when I had my tongue in her throat and my hands all over her body." Jeremy stilled.

"What?" Damon's smirk widened to a full-blown grin, exposing all of his teeth.

"You heard me. Your supposed girlfriend was far from complaining last night when I had her in my arms, in my kitchen and in my bed-" Jeremy rushed the older man, an inhuman roar coming from the depths of his throat. Damon was ready for him, ducking as Jeremy swung for his face and flipping the boy to the floor on his back. That wasn't enough to hinder the boy who sprung back up in full hunter mode, the promise of murder in his eyes. He let out another angry cry, preparing to run at him again. Damon was ready, loathing feeding his need to break the man-child who had dared to hurt Bonnie. An agonising pain ripped through his skull, dropping him to his knees as he screamed in pain. Turning his head, he saw Lucy walking towards him, hands outstretched. He turned again to look at Jeremy and noticed that he was being pinned down by Tyler, Caroline and Stefan. Matt was pressed up against a wall, his mouth agape in horror.

As Lucy let up the attack on his brain cells, Bonnie came rushing back into the room, a half-empty blood bag clutched in her fist.

"What the fuck is going on?" Damon was breathing heavily as he recuperated from Lucy's intense aneurysm. The witch looked around the room.

"I just got here. Ask your boyfriends, they were getting ready to beat the shit out of each other." Jeremy had managed to shake the three vampires off of himself and stalked towards Bonnie, anger etched clearly on his face. Damon staggered to his feet, placing himself in front of Bonnie, preventing the enraged hunter from advancing on her any further.

"Is it true, Bon?" Her eyes flickered between the two headstrong males who were glaring each other down.

"What?"

"Did you let him…touch you last night?" She stared incredulously at the back of Damon's head before turning to Jeremy.

"Can we talk in private about this please." Finally, he looked straight at her, nodding his head slightly and stepping back. As she moved around Damon, he grabbed her wrist, preventing her from moving any further.

"You're not going anywhere with him." She shook him off.

"Damon, you've acted like enough of an ass already. I can handle this." With that, she stalked away, Jeremy following behind her like an overgrown puppy.

"The Bennett witch is no longer a threat. She's transitioned to a vampire." Rebekah pouted at Klaus' words, upset that she would no longer be able to inflict damage on that miscreant band of teenagers.

"But Klaus-"

"Let the doppelgänger go, 'Bekah." She huffed and flounced out of the room, heading to the cellar with an attitude. Just her luck that, the one chance she has to get revenge on Elena for literally stabbing her in the back, and Klaus had to go and ruin her fun. As she entered the cellar, she was shocked to see that the door to Elena's cell was open and the room was empty. She was preparing to call out to her brother when something heavy hit her in the back of her head, knocking her out cold. As she lost consciousness, she heard a faint voice.

"You messed with the wrong bitch, bitch."

"So you're fucking Salvatore now?" Bonnie whirled around, slapping Jeremy across the face.

"Don't you dare talk to me like that, ever in your miserable fucking life." Jeremy laughed mirthlessly, licking away the small droplet of blood that came forth as the impact of her hand split his lip open.

"He's starting to rub off on you, I see." Bonnie's blood boiled.

"You don't get to be mad. We're over, so-"

"Well, that's news to me." His words left her speechless.

"Really? You really thought we were still in a relationship after what you did to me?

"Bonnie! Bonnie!" The pair turned to face the trees, where a haggard form was rapidly staggering towards them.

"Elena?" In spite of what she had learned earlier that day, Bonnie still felt intense anger rise in her as she watched the girl coming closer.

"Bonnie." She panted and the ex-witch gasped at the sight of her. Her clothes were stained with blood and she looked as if she had been starved for at least a week. "Bonnie, I have to talk to you, please, it's urgent."

"What could you possibly have to say to me that you'd think I'd want to hear."

"It's Rebekah, the Originals. They want to kill you."
"What?!"

"Rebekah, she kidnapped me and said that you were a threat and she wanted to use me to kill you." Bonnie shared a panicked look with Jeremy.

"I think you should come inside."

7 months prior

"These murders fit Stefan's MO to a tee. I'm sure this is him, Damon" Wiping a weary hand down his face, Damon moved closer to Bonnie's laptop, where she had a series of news articles open. Looking up at him sympathetically before minimising the window and shutting the lid of her computer. "Come on, you need to rest."

"What the hell are you doing, Bonnie. We don't have time for you to fuck around." She scowled fiercely.

"I was trying to be nice, Damon. You've been searching for your brother for the past month and you're wearing yourself down. You need to rest, spend some time with Elena, we can pick this back up tomorrow."

Suddenly, Damon was in her face, his hand wrapped around her throat, applying just enough pressure to make her squirm.

"Every second we waste, Stefan is killing more people and Klaus is gaining more influence over him. You may have time to throw away, but I need to find my brother and I need to find him now." Curling her lip, Bonnie used her powers to simultaneously throw him across the room as she caused him to feel one of the worst aneurysms she had ever given.

"I'm so fucking sick of you putting your hands on me!" Damon curled into a ball, groaning in pain. "I am not some fucking toy that you can toss around when it doesn't do what you want!"

"Woah. This is not the welcome home I was expecting." The two of them looked to the doorway, shock in their eyes.

"Stefan."