Let me start off by saying that all of you reading my stories and waiting so patiently for each chapter to upload are AWESOME! I can not thank you all enough for your understanding and constant words of encouragement. And because you are all so freakin' amazing people, I've made this Chapter EXTRA LONG just for your readin pleasure (sort of my apology for the long delay). But either way, I hope you all enjoy the chapter and bask in the moments that are Bamon, lol. Enjoy!

Chapter 10- Trust

Bonnie and Elena sat comfortably side by side to each other on Stefan's bed inside the Salvatore Mansion. While Bonnie was wrapped tightly in a blanket and sipping on some tea, Elena consoled her friend by wrapping an arm around her and uttering "I'm Sorry" over and over again. It had been some time since the two women actually sat down and talked to each other, and they used every second to their advantage. Bonnie and Elena opened up about everything to each other, including the recently passed event that the witch barely survived, were it not for the aid of one Damon Salvatore.

Damon stood in the living room of his shared mansion with his brother, Stefan, while sipping from a clear glass of bourbon. His clothes were still wet and soaked, but it didn't matter to the vampire. It wasn't like he could get sick and die…again. Of course, leave it to Stefan to try and hand his brother a towel to dry off the excess water upon him. The older Salvatore merely waved a dismissive hand, furrowing his eyes and taking another sip from his glass.

"Please," Damon muttered with his mouth still touching the rim of his glass. "You're trying too hard with the human acts again, Stefan. The clothes will dry eventually. And if not, I'll just buy more…with your money of course." Stefan didn't smile at his brother's comment but instead made his way over to a chair which he threw the towel upon.

"You still didn't answer my question," Stefan said seriously. Damon swallowed the rest of his drink and turned on his heels to glance at his brooding brother.

"And what question would that be again?" Damon responded back with a snide grin. He knew what the asked question was but he just liked to egg on the annoyance.

"The hooded guy you fought," Stefan continued, "Was he a vampire or not?"

"Not."

"So…what are we dealing with?"

"Obviously something supernatural. My guess, possibly werewolves." Stefan gave a dubious look as he stood from his seat and crossed his arms over his chest, shaking his head towards the ground.

"No; Werewolves are only that strong when in wolf form. If they're still in human form, they shouldn't pose that much of a threat to us, much less being able to take you on in a fight and nearly win." Damon grimaced at his brother's words. He hated to be reminded of the times he lost…he never lost to anything.

"Don't tease so much little brother," Damon warned, shoving his way past Stefan to stand beside the blazing fireplace. "If that witch hadn't called my name and distracted me when I was fighting whatever the hell I was struggling with, I'd be strolling in here with a brand new trophy to add to my collection of heads." The younger Salvatore brother merely chuckled at his masochistic sibling. "What did the firefighters tell you about the fire Katherine starter?" Damon quickly changed the subject.

"They ruled it out as an accident; cigarette bud started the fire eventually." Damon narrowed his eyes in confusion. "We're just lucky that the rain started up in time before any real damage could be caused."

"Katherine doesn't smoke."

"I know. So either she's back to bringing in props for her destructive scenery, or she's got somebody else doing her dirty work. And if it is the latter, than this person is clearly sloppy and unable to pick up after themselves."

"I wouldn't count on it. Something tells me that cigarette was left behind on purpose," Damon sneered back, growing agitated with the idea of Katherine second after second. "Katherine makes no mistakes and she picks people she know are easily expendable and sneaky. I'd know." Stefan groaned. Sometimes it really hurt to see his brother in pain over the woman he had been obsessing over for centuries. "In any case, did the bitch leave a letter or something? Knowing her, she's still the attention whore she's always been."

"No…no note." Stefan went back to stand by the chair he sat in earlier. Both brothers looked at one another for some time, not saying anything in the midst of the silence. It made no sense as to why the woman was going through all of this trouble for a simple Moonstone that didn't affect vampires in general. Surely if the Moonstone's power did lift the werewolf curse, then it would spell safety for all the vampires in Mystic Falls presently. However if the Moonstone's purpose was solely meant for something else…then none of them would be fully prepared for it.

"Whatever the hell is going on, we got to take care of it quick." Damon's words were serious, almost worrisome. He'd never been put in a position so dire that involved not only him, but the people around him that were (against his best wishes) apart of his undead life. "The hooded folk, Katherine, Mason and Teen Wolf…we've got too much on our plate to deal with. How the hell are we suppose to deal with this all by ourselves?"

"Do my ears deceive or am I actually hearing doubt spilling from the mouth of Damon Salvatore?" A faint voice appeared on the side of both Stefan and Damon, causing both men to turn their heads in attention. From the top of the grand staircase came Bonnie and Elena arm over arm, slowly making their way down towards the two vampires. Bonnie didn't feel as weak as before and made a point not to let on just how weak she was in front of everybody. Damon merely narrowed his eyes and perched his lips together at the witch's comment. One would think that after he had risked loosing the hooded assailant to save her life, Bonnie would be a lot more appreciative for his actions and not so damn sarcastic. Unfortunately he wasn't in the mood to trade witty remarks with the woman and responded back as simply as possibly.

"I'm never doubtful…only concerned."

"About what?" Elena spoke up, leading both she and Bonnie to one of the stretched out leather couches by the fire place.

"We're concerned about everything," Stefan responded. "We've got too many things to worry about on top of Katherine. But right now we got to focus on these hooded people that obviously have some interest in Bonnie." Damon glanced his eyes from the witch over to his younger sibling, curious himself with the reasonings.

"I told you everything I knew when I got here," Bonnie admitted with a shrug of her shoulders. "All the guy said was that I was coming with him, and before I knew it Damon came out of nowhere and attacked him. Granted it caused me to fall off a cliff and into a raging river…"

"Y'know, I think I liked you better in the other room. Much more quiet." Damon gave a snide smile before rolling his eyes and going to pour himself another full glass of bourbon. Bonnie wrapped the blanket around her body tighter, arching an eyebrow at the vampire.

"I thanked you…that doesn't' mean that I have to immediately like or trust you. Lest we forget, there's the little issue of that vision I had of you killing my father." Damon didn't respond but instead began to take sips from his hard liquor. He swore that it was only his love for Elena that made him do "good" things for other people (like saving Bonnie's life), but the problem was that everybody saw it except for her. Clearly she pegged him for the type of person that did things out of the kindness of his heart because he was some sort of tortured soul. Apparently the woman didn't know him as well as she claimed to have because then she'd be aware of the fact that everything he had done was all for her. All of the blood, sweat (figuratively), and tears were solely for her.

Yet she didn't see it.

She never saw it.

"Damon!" A voice that boomed from in front of the vampire brought him back to reality. His eyes immediately met with Elena's before they trailed over to Stefan's. Reaction told him to high tail it out of that room and go pout in his own bedroom, but he knew that that wouldn't be the answer to his problem. No matter where he'd turn or what he did…he would never get rid of the pain that seemed to continually stab away at his unbeaten heart.

"What?" Damon asked irritated, finishing off his drink and preparing to pour himself yet another one. Stefan started to make his way towards his brother and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Damon," Stefan continued, "What's wrong?" Damon merely plastered on a fake grin and shook his head. How Stefan could pretend to act so human was beyond him.

"Nothing little brother, nothing. Everything is just dandy over here."

"Good…cause we're all going to need to keep focus if we're going to take down whoever is out there killing people. I know things are hard right now, but you, Bonnie, and I are going to need to make sure we're all on the same page when dealing with the same threats. The only other reinforcement we can count on is Alaric - suffice to say our army is small."

"And the significance of this inspirational speech…?"

"Gah, Damon does nothing good ever come out of that mouth of yours?" Bonnie's voice interjected in between the conversation, her eyes narrowed at the older Salvatore brother in disgust. Damon twisted his lips and shot his eyes in the direction of the witch, finding it difficult that he actually took the time out to save the woman when he could have left her to die. Or better yet, he could have just let that hooded guy take her - either way she would have been out of his hair permanently.

"Look witch," Damon sneered as he took a step forward. "I may have saved your life earlier, but your testing how quickly I can take it from you. Now shut up before I regret ever having made a truce with you."

"Screw you."

"Just name the time and place, honey." Damon gave a cocky smile before taking a step back, going for his drink again. Bonnie let out a sound of disgust before turning her attention back over towards Elena. Stefan stood with his hands on his hips and head hanging low. He knew that this kind of dysfunction between his brother and Bonnie would only prove disastrous in the long run. These two had to learn to get along with one another. Just then Elena stood up and hurriedly made her way over towards her boyfriend.

"Stefan can I talk to you for a moment please?" she asked the man. Stefan looked up at Elena and then over at Bonnie and Damon. He shook his head lightly and started to make his way into the kitchen with Elena close-by, leaving Bonnie and Damon in the living room alone.

It was silent. Uncomfortably silent. Neither of them tried to make an effort to look at one another, and to be quite honest, they didn't care. If only most of their interactions went this way, maybe they'd learn to get along much better. Maybe.

"What's your problem?" Damon finally asked before narrowing his eyes and strolling over towards Bonnie with his glass of bourbon in hand, water dripping from his still drenched clothes. "I take the time out to save your life…you thank me…then you act like a total bitch to me again." He took a quick sip from his glass as he glared down at the reserved woman. Her head was turned towards the fireplace while holding herself under the blanket.

"I told you already," Bonnie finally decided to respond after a few seconds of silence, "Just because you saved me doesn't mean I have to like or trust you." Damon scoffed at the woman's comment.

"Then wouldn't that defeat the purpose of this little truce we have between us?" he asked. The woman continued not to acknowledge him. "I mean, if we're going to be forced to work together, aren't we going to have to at least trust one another."

"Not necessarily." Damon grimaced at the woman's response. "I know the only reason you kept me safe was because you need to use me for whatever reason you have. Besides, Elena would never forgive you if anything did happen to me." The man narrowed his eyes at the woman and gave a challenging grin.

"What makes you think I'm doing this for Elena?" He asked.

"Please, Damon. It's so obvious it's painful." The man watched as the woman finally turned her head to meet his serious blue eyes with her lucid green ones. "You're in love with Elena; Everybody sees it including Stefan. Everything that you've done has been for love…for her. So don't stand there and act like you saved me from that river out of the goodness of your heart, because I know that deep down you did it for Elena. You figured that saving me would be important to her, so you bit the bullet and jumped in the water."

Damon was silent for a moment as he stood there looking down at the brown skinned woman. The fireplace's orange glowing bouncing off her silky skin. The man took another sip from his glass and looked down at the ground, knowing that every word the woman spoke was true. Obviously his assumption about his feelings towards Elena were fact; everybody saw it but Ms. Gilbert herself. Even the witch saw it (though she had always been the judgey type). Slowly making his way over to a single leather comforter, Damon flopped down in his seat and slouched low, his arms dangling over the sides of the chair's arms. He barely held on to the edge of the bourbon filled glass with the tips of his fingertips, using his vampire speed to grasp it tightly whenever it felt as if though it would fall to the ground.

"So you've just got all the answers, don't you?" Damon asked which caused the young woman to turn her head back towards the fireplace. "No…don't cower away now, you're doing so well psychoanalyzing me. Tell me, what other aspects about myself that I'm so clearly unaware of do you pick up on?"

"Fuck you, Damon." Bonnie whispered under her breath. "Don't take your frustrations out on me because you don't know how to handle the truth."

"Oh, much like you taking your frustrations out on me because you feel everything that's bad in your perfect little world is my fault?" Bonnie was silent. "Lets not forget that almost Bar-B-Q back at the carousel."

"Doesn't' mean you didn't deserve it."

"And who are you to make the judgment calls around here? I don't see you getting this upset with Stefan or Elena about the whole tomb incident. Remember that it wasn't just me who wanted to open it." Bonnie went silent again. Sure nothing he said would ever justify his actions up to that point, but he did make solid sense in stating that blame could easily be placed on anybody as opposed to just him. "If you persist on blaming me then you better damn well be ready to blame yourself as well. I'm not the enemy here."

"Damon I don't know what to tell ya," Bonnie retorted with a shrug of her shoulders. "You've done too many things in the past that makes the impending future look grim. How could I possibly trust you with all the bad history between us?" Damon was now silent. He had nothing to add on top of the woman's question and could honestly find no explanation to give at the moment. In a lot of ways, Damon was becoming the very thing he was growing to hate. The very being that he had dedicated his life to…

Katherine.

The thought itself made the man shiver against his will, forcing his eyes to narrow and his chest to bellow out a low growl. It was no surprise to Damon why Bonnie's disdain towards him (among other things) was so understandable. Though whether the two would remain enemies for eternity, there was no denying that he needed to gain the trust of the woman for him to exceed his goals in the long run. Truth of the matter was he'd be unable to do anything without the aid of a witch on his side. So he did what he thought he needed to do in order for her to see he wasn't all "bad" (at least, not entirely).

"I'm sorry," The words came out somewhat rough, and the gravely voice that carried it prevented the apology from being sincere. Regardless, it caught the attention of Bonnie.

"What?" she asked dubiously.

"I said…" Damon began to repeat, trying his damnest to hide the irritation within him, "…I'm sorry." Bonnie couldn't help but to scoot back towards the couch, trying to brace herself for whatever words would follow his sudden apology.

"Sorry…for what?" The witch's green eyes never left his as she searched for the truth within him. The man met with her eyes as he dropped his glass of bourbon on the ground and proceeded to lean forward towards the woman.

"I'm sorry…for everything." His words were more sincere this time, with no hint of irritation or rehearsed tempo behind them. "I see now that if we're going to have any chance of bringing down Katherine, the hooded couple, and quite possibly Mason…we're going to have to start trusting each other."

"Is that a fact?" Bonnie asked, still cautious to let her guard down so easily.

"Look, I'm trying to do the "right" thing here…don't let me regret it."

"You sure Elena doesn't have any input to this sudden change of heart towards me?" Damon narrowed his eyes.

"I gain nothing from Elena by liking you…per sa. This is from my own accord. You either accept my apology or not, I could really care less. But I'd appreciate it if you'd at least try to trust me from here on out." Bonnie sat in her seat silent, looking at the vampire whom was asking for her trust in him. She wanted to, if just to end the conversation and play it by ear from then. But her gut was telling her that this was all just some type of elaborate trap of his.

"I know that you're just using this trust thing as a means of using me in the long run." Somewhat true. "So excuse me if I'm not so willing to join Team Damon." The man let out a hearty sigh. She obviously read him like a book to understand the very corners of his personality so precisely.

"Bonnie," Damon opted in calling the woman by her name this time. The woman had to admit that hearing her name coming from the man's voice made her heart skip a beat in surprise. She'd never heard her name come from that voice before - not in the sincere way it did. "I'm not asking for friendship…I'm not even asking for your full forgiveness for all the shit I've done to you in the past." The young witch arched an eyebrow. "The truth is that I can't accomplish anything if I don't have someone like you by my side…a witch to be exact. You said you needed assistance in keeping Mystic Falls safe, we'll I'm lending a helping hand, even if it does go against my nature to be so helpful. All I'm asking for is your trust. I assure you, it's not the bourbon talking…it's Damon Salvatore."

The Bennett witch was silent as she sat there looking at Damon with soft yet cautious eyes. She'd never given this much thought when Damon was involved. For a moment she wanted to tell the man to go fuck himself, but a nagging voice in her head was telling her to consider the possibility that Damon was actually trying to do the right thing for once. And maybe (just maybe) gaining her trust would be the start of a new dynamic between the two of them. Maybe something more cordial.

Fat chance…but it was worth a shot.

"Okay; I accept your apology…and I'll lend you my trust." Bonnie immediately raised up a finger as soon as the smirk on Damon's face began to stretch on one side of his face. "Under one condition though."

Feeling more confident in himself and not as irritated as before, Damon sat up in his chair and shrugged his shoulders, "Name it."

"Under no circumstances are you ever allowed to go into my house…ever." The man arched an eyebrow and dismissed the woman's demand.

"Is that it?" Damon asked with a half-cocked attitude. "Cause if so, you've got yourself a deal."

Suddenly the air around the two didn't seem so thick and the atmosphere more tolerable. Bonnie could honestly say that she looked forward to her father coming home the following evening. Damon sat there staring at the witch with his smirk still attached to his face. The woman, however, still kept her face stoned and unwilling to showcase a hint of emotion. She'd go so far as to say she trusted Damon Salvatore under the circumstances…but reservations were still obviously present. Just then Stefan and Elena made their way back in from the kitchen hand in hand, both of them looking at Damon and Bonnie.

"Okay," Stefan started, "So Elena and I were talking, and we realized just how much of a problem it may have been to have you two working together while we try to make sense of all the craziness around town. Thus I decided…well, rather, we decided," he waved a hand between Elena and himself to further emphasize his point, "That we should switch things up a bit. So Bonnie, you'll have me to work with while Elena will have…Damon." The apparent hesitation in Stefan's comment when saying his brother's name only brought on a twitching smile on the older Salvatore's face. Damon could instantly tell that neither Stefan or Elena really wanted this exchange to happen (especially Stefan). Turning his sights over to Bonnie, he could tell right off the bat that the woman's mind was somewhere else at the moment. Her eyes were hollow and staring at nothing in particular. It was so obvious that she held on to the thought of the evening's early happenings and the growing concern for her father may have very well escalated weary emotions.

Now it wasn't Damon's natural instinct to turn down the opportunity of being with Elena at any given moment, even if that present moment meant risking the witch's life in his younger brother's hands. But it didn't make sense to have such a weak vampire such as Stefan trying to protect an amateur witch like Bonnie Bennett. Besides, the only plausible threat towards Elena was Katherine, but her motives were more so focused on obtaining the Moonstone. Thus if he made the effort of actually showing that he would protect somebody as important as Bonnie to Elena, than maybe it would work out all the better. Granted, he was going to hate having to constantly bicker with the judgmental, holier-than-thou witch…but it was a sacrifice he'd be willing to make in the long run.

"No…" Damon spoke up as he stood from his chair and placed his hands on his hips. "…You're not in any position to protecting a witch, especially a Bennett witch." Stefan narrowed his eyes in confusion as he let go of Elena's hand to take a step forward.

"Look I know that would make more sense for you to take Bonnie under your wing," - Damon scoffed at the comment - "But you two clearly don't get along with each other, which could only lead to disaster in the long run. You've both tried to kill each other, neither one of you have tried in the slightest to make nice, and the trust issue is off the charts."

"Poor, pathetic, typical little brother; if you had been here a second ago you would know that me and the little witc-" Damon cut his sentence short and cleared his voice before continuing, "…I mean Bonnie, have come to an understanding of sorts. Surely we won't be BFFs anytime soon, but at least now we've grown some sort of trust with one another." It was Elena who stepped up this time, pulling strains of her hair back as she went to sit by her silent friend.

"Really, Bonnie?" Elena asked, almost doubtful of the man's words. "I mean…you're alright with the idea of spending time alone with Damon?" Bonnie focused her attention on her best friend and gazed into concerned chocolate colored eyes.

"I'd be selfish to take Stefan away from you during these moments," Bonnie simply stated. Elena immediately grabbed hold of the witch's hands and squeezed.

"Bonnie…you wouldn't be taking away anything from me. All I'm concerned about is your safety." The caramel skinned woman did nothing but smile at her friend. She missed the heart-to-heart moments she use to have with the young girl…before vampires got in the picture anyway.

"What I learned after Grams' passing is that you shouldn't take for granted the times you spend with the ones you love. Share these moment with Stefan…don't let me get in the way of that, please." The room was silent and atmosphere had grown thick again, but it was the look of warning that Elena gave which brought life back into the moment.

"You take care of her or you'll have me to deal with." Damon only smirked at Elena's warning but acknowledged her threat with a slight nod. Shortly after the exchange, Stefan released a loud sigh and continued on with his speech.

"Alright, so this is how things are going to work out; Alaric is going to be over at Jenna's house keeping constant surveillance, while Jeremy and Caroline keep tabs on Tyler and Mason respectively. I'll be with Elena trying to search for this Moonstone and keeping an eye out for Katherine. Damon, you'll keep over Bonnie and see if either of you can dig up some information on these hooded folks." They all looked at one another, reminded of how serious the situation was and how important it would be to keep each other safe. Stefan focused his attention on Bonnie and furrowed his eyes. "Bonnie, when your father comes home tomorrow evening you're going to have to try and convince him to allow you to spend the night at Elena's house for at least a week. Suffice to say, you will really be staying here with me, Elena, and Damon that whole time."

Bonnie was silent as she narrowed her eyes. She wasn't sure if she was comfortable with the idea of staying a whole week in a creepy mansion with two vampires (one she just recently fooled herself into trusting). But having Elena there was somewhat reassuring, plus she was positive that Stefan would never let anything bad happen to her (or at least she hoped he wouldn't).

"Alright…I'll see what I can come up with," Bonnie responded with a nod of her head. "Of course it won't be easy with my car being totally totaled and-"

"We've got that covered." Stefan interrupted the woman with a small smile. "In the meantime, you should get some rest right now. We'll get up early in the morning to make sure you're home before Mr. Bennett arrives." The woman merely nodded as she held onto Elena's hand tightly. Turning his attention once more to Damon, Stefan spoke, "Are you sure you can handle this?"

"I've kept the Bennett witches safe before…I can do it again." With that Damon started to make his way to the grand staircase that lead up to his room, but not before he pulled off his soaked black t-shirt which revealed his muscular physique dripping with excess water. "See you tomorrow, Bon Bon." Damon called out as he reached the top of the stairs. Despite the pleasantry of the man's body, and the way the water seemed to make every muscle pop out in 3D…Bonnie could only see a vampire up to no good. A man willing to use anyone to get what he wanted. But it was too late to turn back now. Even if this was a bad decision to make, Bonnie knew that she had to work with Damon for the time being if anything significant were to be accomplished.

She'd have to trust her instincts…

…trust the plan…

…trust him.

Well, was it worth the wait? I wanted to get more intimate conversation between the two as opposed to the constant bickering (though that will return from time to time). Anyhoo, leave you comments and let me know what you thought. Thnx for reading! :)