As the group offered their congratulations to the newlyweds. Damon just sat there, he only moved when Stefan kicked him gently under the table.
He made eye contact with Bonnie and he saw the pleading way she was looking at him, as if to say, please not here, don't make a scene.
Well F her! He thought, just then the Mayor interrupted and started his speech .He called Bonnie and Jake,her husband, to the stage to introduce them. He barely heard the mayor say they had been married for 3 months and how proud he was of the happy couple. Jake was in the Navy Special Forces a real life American Hero. Damon stormed out of the ball room followed closely by Elena and Stefan.
When they were out on the balcony, Elena asked. "Damon what is it? Are you okay?"
Stefan saw the look on Damon's face and gently suggested to Elena that she should head back in and let him talk to his brother.
Damon leaned on the railing gripping it so hard that it bent.
"How long?"
"How long what?" he asked through clinched teeth. He wanted to kill someone.
"How long have you been in love with Bonnie?"
He glared angrily at his brother and when he saw the sincerity in his face he decided to tell him what he had never told anyone.
"Since New Orleans and that spell."
"What spell?"
Damon relayed the story to Stefan who couldn't remember any of it.
"She asked me to let her go live and I did. I just didn't think she would go make a life with someone else." He said sadly.
"I'm sorry Damon."
"Why, it's what I deserve, I stole Elena from you twice, the second time I didn't even love her. "
"Do you still love Elena?"
He shook his head no.
"Damon, you are all she has."
"What about you?"
"Elena knows I will always be here for her, but Elena hasn't, needs to…"
Damon finished his thoughts, "Grow up."
Stefan nodded in agreement.
" What should I do about Bonnie?"
Stefan faced the ballroom and saw Bonnie dancing with her husband.
When he didn't respond Damon turned and saw exactly what he did.
The couple was dancing slowly, looking at each other as if they were the only two people in the world. They looked so young and happy; the sight of the two of them together squeezed Damon's heart so tight he stumbled back onto the railing.
"She is going to have his babies," he smiled brokenhearted.
"I'm sorry Stefan, for everything."
Stefan patted him hard on the back and said, "I think we're even."
He saw the way Damon looked at Bonnie and he knew that pain better than anyone.
/
Once they got back to the boardinghouse Damon went straight to the computer and began researching Lt. Jacob McCall. He was the only child of Senator from the state of Maryland, Jack McCall and Marjorie Miller-McCall. He graduated from the Naval Academy and joined the Navy Seals immediately after graduation. He was injured in Afghanistan in 2012 and spent a few months at Walter Reed Army Medical Hospital, where as fate or as Damon would call it his bad luck, Bonnie Bennett was doing a Cardio rotation. The two met and 6 months later, were married in a small ceremony at the Naval Chapel at Bethesda.
He wanted to rip his heart out of his chest it hurt so badly!
Elena climbed into bed next to him, dressed in a slinky black gown.
She kissed him gently on the shoulder and saw what he was researching.
"What are you doing?"
"Nothing," he said slamming the computer shut, he didn't care if she saw what he was doing.
"What are you thinking? He seems like a regular guy to me."
"A regular guy who kills people for a living." He said getting out of bed and pouring himself a glass of bourbon.
"Damon, let it go okay, Bonnie is happy and Jake seems nice."
"He is a killer Elena."
"So are you, me, all of us for that matter, he should fit right it."
"Right in," he questioned," right in where?"
"Here in Mystic Falls. Bonnie took a job at Memorial to be close to her father who is having a few medical issues."
"What about her husband?" he refused to say his name.
"Oh he is deploying to Afghanistan for year. I think he may run for Congress or something." She informed him.
Damon looked at her and for the first time he smiled. Bonnie was going to be moving back to Mystic Falls, without her husband for a year!
There can be miracles!
"Look Elena we need to talk?"
"About?" she questioned.
"Us, I don't think this is going to work out?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean I think it's time we took a break from each other, explore different things. You said you wanted to go visit Jeremy, maybe you should."
"I wanted us to go together." She asked, "Where is this coming from? Is it because of Stefan?"
"No, well yes." He said throwing Stefan under the bus." I see the way you look at each other and I think there may still be something there.'
"No, Damon, I love you."
"And I you, but some things just don't go away, like true love," he said trying to sound sincere.
"You think I should be with Stefan?"
He loved his brother so before him completely backed over him he said." I think maybe you should be alone for a while, grow up a little, and get to know yourself before you jump into something else."
"Maybe I will," she smiled although he could see she was unsure.
He grabbed his leather jacket and slipped it on.
"Where are you going?"
"Out, to clear my head. You can sleep here tonight. I won't be back."
And with that he left and didn't even spare Elena a second glance.
/
"Bonnie, someone is here for you." Her father announced.
She looked at Jake, who had just emerged fresh from the shower. She was lying in bed, reading a medical journal. "I wonder who that is?"
"I bet its Damon." Jake grinned, "You might as well get it over with."
Bonnie smiled, she had told him all about her affair with Damon, the supernatural world and how for years she thought that she was in love with him and waited for him to come after her. He never did.
"Bonnie, baby it's Damon." He father yelled confirming their suspicions.
"What do you think he wants?"
"You." He stated matter of factly.
He wasn't insecure, not when it came to Bonnie's love for him. He knew it was real, he also knew that a small part of Bonnie still wondered about Damon.
"Go talk to him babe, I'll be here when you get back," he crawled under the covers stark naked.
Bonnie kissed him and ran her fingers over his chest. There were scares all over his body and to her it was sexy.
"I'll be right back."
When she got downstairs she noted the scowl on her father's face.
He hated Damon.
"He's on the porch, be careful."
She nodded, kissed him on the cheek and stepped outside.
It was a beautiful night, cool and sweet, she thought.
Damon was sitting on the porch swing and was watching her with the same primal expression she always remembered.
"Damon, we didn't get a chance to talk tonight. How are you?" she asked politely.
"Cut the shit, Judgey."
She shrugged and smiled, "you always get straight to it."
"In more ways than one." He smirked.
Bonnie blushed and knew exactly what he meant.
"So you go away and get yourself hitched? As the official guardian of your line I am surprised Jack didn't ask for my permission."
"It's Jake, and since when did you ever take your duties seriously when it came to protecting me, it was always about getting close to Elena."
He didn't deny it because it was true, at least at first.
They sat in silence for a while and then, "Elena tells me you are moving back here."
"Yeah to be closer to family, Lucy is right across town and to be near my dad."
"Not serious I hope."
"No, I just want to be close in case something happens."
"What about Jake's family?"
"They are pretty busy all the time and Jake is not really close to them. Ilike his parents though, they are good people. I got a job here at Memorial."
"Congratulations by the way, I am proud of you." He said truthfully.
"Thank you Damon. Would you like to meet Jake?"
"Nah," he said rising from the swing." He's the competition you know." He winked.
She grinned and rose also.
"I just wanted to say hello and let you know that if you need anything while your Jack is deployed you can count on me."
"It's Jake," she said exasperated, "and thank you. How are you and Elena?" she asked because she couldn't help herself.
"Done." was all he said and didn't elaborate more.
He waited to see her expression and was rewarded when she smiled victoriously.
"Well, .." she started.
He was looking at her so intently it made her nervous.
"I wanted to come to you, but I wanted you to be happy."
"It doesn't matter now Damon, what's done is done. I'm happy."
"I see that, I'm happy for you." Even though he wasn't, how could he be happy for her, he had lost her forever.
Maybe, he thought watching her squirm under his gaze, maybe I can turn her, make her a vampire, sire her to me, and then she would be mine. She would hate me for a while but then we would eventually fall back into old habits, and she would be his, always.
Watching her though he realized her life force was what he had loved most about her. Her warmth and her spirit, he couldn't kill that. Still though if it meant that he could have her for himself he would do it.
Just as he was about to take a step towards her Jake stepped out onto the porch.
"Everything alright out here."
He was a foot taller than Damon and when he stepped outside Bonnie gently lowered herself back into the swing.
"Fine," she gulped.
Damon and Jake eyed each other with the same smart ass smirks and as Bonnie watched amused. She realized the two of them were a lot alike, maybe that was what drew her to her husband in the first place.
Jake extended his hand and said "we didn't have a chance to speak earlier but I'm Jake."
Damon looked down at the extended hand as if it had been floating in a shitty toilet but he took it anyway. Immediately he felt the callused palm and roughness of it, probably from a sniper rifle, he thought. He looked straight into his eyes and saw a killer looking back at him. His soul was just as black as Damon's, the only difference was there was a small light in the depth, Bonnie.
The three of them chit chatted for a while,, Damon asking Jake about his tours and where he had been while Bonnie looked on. After about 30 minutes, Damon realized he liked him! DAMNIT he thought! The two men talked until Bonnie yawned.
"Sorry baby," Jake apologized, "Hey man it was good meeting you."
"You too, when do you ship out?"
" A week." Jake said looking sympathetically towards Bonnie, who turned her head away.
"Oh," Damon understood, the young couple had never been apart, from the time they dated until now. Dating for 6 months,married for 3 months , a year and he was head off to a war, it had to be hard.
Bonnie gulped and said goodnight.
"I'll see you around Damon." She smiled weakly and disappeared into the house.
Jake watched as Damon stared longingly at Bonnie until she dissappeared.
The two men stood on the porch, sizing each other up one last time.
"Look man, I can see you still have a thing for my wife."
Damon smirked crossing his arms across his chest, "Yeah." He wasn't going to deny it.
"I know about you all, you and your brother, and I just wanted to ask if you can look after her while I am gone. She told me how crazy this town can be and I just don't want her getting hurt."
"Don't worry about it man, I'll look after her." He smirked and couldn't help being Damon," all of her wants and needs. As I recall from our time together, she has a lot of them."
Jake didn't take the bait, "Whatever man" he shook his head and laughed, it sounded like something some of the guys on the team would say. " just look after Bonnie, she will have a lot on her plate in a while."
"I know her dad is sick and she is going to be working. She told me about that."
Jake looked at him confused," Her father is sick?"
Damon smiled, apparently Bonnie was keeping secrets." Yeah, she wanted to be near her dad, I am assuming it's because he is sick or something."
Jake nodded his head like he understood.
"He's going to alright isn't him?" concern marring his face, Damon got the feeling that he was the one in the dark now.
"Yeah."
Jake extended his hand and Damon gripped it.
"Look out for her okay, in case something happens to me, she told me how close you all used to be your whole little gang and Bonnie will need her friends and family."
Damon wanted to be a Dick, he really did, but there was something in the way Jake gripped his hand that gave him pause.
"Yeah man, don't worry. Nothing's going to happen to you, from what I hear you guys are the best of the best. It's the other guys that should be worried."
Jake grinned and turned to go inside, before he did though he turned back to Damon and said, "I know you still love her."
Taken aback Damon said, "Yeah I do."
"Then remember what I asked."
/
Two weeks later Elena moved out into her own apartment and left the brothers alone together for the first time in the house.
Damon was happy to see her go and try to find her own life. Bonnie had hooked her up with an admin job in her department and all seemed to be well. Bonnie moved into her grandmother's house and was busy remodeling. Damon was pretending to be "just her friend" and was helping her out with the plans.
The gang had started Friday night get together at the Grille, Friendships were being repaired and so were the fractured relationships of siblings. They were on their 4th Friday, when Caroline offered to buy a round of drinks.
Elena wanted an appletini but when Caroline asked Bonnie, she said water please?
Damon knew before the words even left her mouth. Bonnie was pregnant. Elena and Caroline jumped to their feet screaming for joy, planning a shower.
Damon felt betrayed, his eyes locked with Stefan and he mouthed" not about you."
They all congratulated her and Damon grudging wished them the best. They even Skyped with Jake later to congratulate him. The couple knew before he shipped out but were waiting to tell everyone. Damon remembered the conversation on the porch and why he looked so damned happy, Damon thought watching the guy on the screen. He was a lucky bastard; he was coming home to Bonnie and a brand new baby boy or girl. Jake said he couldn't wait to get home!
When she was 6 months pregnant and showing, Mrs. Jacob McCall was informed that her husband had been killed in a helicopter crash and wouldn't ever be coming home again.