A/N: Hi Guys! Soooo sorry it took so long for me to upload a chapter. I lost my mojo again and was hoping that VD: Phantom or whatever its called would inspire me again...unfortunately it did not. But this is for theavidreader4life who shared with me an email from LJ Smith, and gave me some wonderful suggestions on what she'd like to see in this chapter. Thank you so much, chica you rock! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I disclaim. The only thing which belongs to me is the plot and of course Leith. He-He.

Breaking the Rules of Attraction

Chapter 11

Saying goodbye to Meredith and Matt wasn't as hard as Bonnie thought it might be. She still cried like a baby, still held on to both of them as tightly as she could while they stood outside of the boardinghouse one final time. The last time Bonnie said goodbye to everyone she was the one who was leaving, and there had been one noticeable absence. However this time, Damon was there albeit standing a part from the rest of the group—like always but Bonnie wanted to laugh giddily that he was there for her and her alone.

Now this morning waking up with the sun on her skin and a song in her heart, she couldn't wait to get the morning started.

She kicked the covers off her body, ran a small hand through her tousled hair, and merely stared up at the ceiling. So much had changed between her and Damon that it was still a bit bizarre for Bonnie and more than a little hard to take in. Was she still afraid of him? Not in the way she was when they first met. Back then she feared him because at any moment he choose, he could snap her neck and drain her dry or vice versa. No, what she was scared of now was letting Damon completely back in. The reason for it? Elena. Since Bonnie's return she and Damon had been backwards and forwards with one another on why she left, why he didn't scour the earth searching for her trying to win back her affections, but they hardly tapped into why Damon was so enamored with Elena to begin with.

Most importantly did she really want to know?

Okay so the girl looked like something from another world. Big freaking deal. Bonnie had an otherworldly beauty as well. There weren't many redheads out there who were freckle-free with huge deep brown eyes, and most importantly was psychic and a telepath. And there weren't that many redheads who kissed two hot immortal siblings.

That thought gave Bonnie pause.

She chuckled a little and bit a corner of her lip.

Stefan hadn't really made a blip on her radar since she and Damon er…covered certain bases. She laughed airily again. But now that she had a moment to herself before Damon came over to pick her up to take her on another adventure, she thought back to that night in Scotland with Stefan.

He came to her for a reason, but she was just so overwhelmed with seeing him that she failed to ask certain questions. Bonnie could understand why he wanted to check up on her. Her whole life Bonnie had been the frail and fragile type—or at least that was the role her friends and family placed her into. She knew she was capable of so much more than being a hindrance during a crisis or forgiving too easily because she didn't like dissension among the ranks. And she did ask him what he was doing in Scotland…what she should have asked him was…

"What was the point in revealing yourself if you were just going to take the memory away?"

Perhaps his reason for doing it was, Stefan had been raised to be noble and treat women with respect. Maybe he was lonely and wanted another lonely soul to commiserate with. Or maybe he was just curious to see how Bonnie was fairing in mending her broken heart. Whatever the case may have been if he had been willing to take a chance, throw all his cards on the table, and ask Bonnie if she'd be willing to open his heart again would she have been brave enough to accept the challenge?

More than likely she would have for the simple fact Bonnie liked proving people wrong.

And let's not forget the best part. He kissed her and that by itself said a lot.

When Bonnie became curious about something it took a lot for her to just forget about it, leave it alone, and let it slide. She wanted answers, an explanation damnit and she wasn't leaving Fell's Church until she got one.

Her computer binged and Bonnie flew out of bed.

Someone was trying to contact her via Skype and she had a pretty good idea who it was.

Bonnie got distracted by her reflection in the mirror and almost screamed. If it was Leith, which her psychic senses were already tingling that it was, he very well couldn't see her with bed head or chapped lips.

Before slinking off to the bathroom to get halfway presentable, she did sign-on to her system and quickly typed him an IM.

She was off to the bathroom when he responded back that he'd wait for her.

Bonnie quickly scrubbed her teeth, washed her face, brushed her hair, and applied lip gloss and mascara. She ran her eyes over her risqué nightgown—a cute cranberry camisole with straps that were held together with little ribbons. She'd throw a cardigan over it or something or maybe not. Nothing was visible anyways. The last thing she did, however, was put on the beautiful jade stone necklace he gave to her as a gift.

Two minutes later she was sitting down on her desk chair, beaming broadly at Leith.

Her heart fluttered. He was still fatally handsome—like Damon, with those hooded eyes—like Damon's only Leith's eyes were ocean blue in contrast to Damon's midnight black. And here was another interesting tidbit, Leith was topless, and Bonnie…well she hadn't seen Damon with his shirt off and she knew it was coming soon and she couldn't wait, so for now she'd suffer through staring at Leith's impeccable six pack and bulging pectorals.

"Good morning, Leith," Bonnie greeted him in his native Gaelic.

"Mo nighean. How are you? Have you missed me?"

Bonnie bobbed her head up and down. Her cheeks felt like they were blazing, she couldn't stop smiling.

"I have. How's California?"

"Hot. Right now it is approximately eight-one degrees. The blokes I'm rooming with have already skipped the first meeting of the day to go to the beach. I declined because I figured what better way to be rebellious than by speaking to Ms. Rebellion herself. California would be ten times better if you were here."

Bonnie rolled her eyes and tried to look put off but Leith knew her mannerisms well enough to know when she was deeply flattered.

"Charmer. Has it rubbed off on any of those bleached blond California girls?"

"Is that a hint of jealousy I here, lass?"

Bonnie narrowed her eyes and folded her arms over her chest. "I don't get jealous, Leith."

"Oh, really?" he challenged. "Have you forgotten when you deliberately spilled an entire pitcher of mead over Valentine O'Connor's head because she winked at me one too many times?"

Bonnie faked a yawn. "I don't recall that event, sir. I don't remember any winking but she was exceptionally rude…to me. If I'm shelling out my hard earned bucks the least she could do while taking my order is look halfway interested in serving me rather than making goo-goo eyes at you. And you were no help at all."

"Now I'm afraid I don't know what you mean," he grinned.

"Please, you were encouraging her shoddy service."

"By saying please and thank you when she came to the table?"

"You said more than that."

Leith chuckled guiltily. "Well you have me there, lass," he deepened his voice to add, "You could have me anywhere."

Bonnie felt all the blood rush to her face. She looked down at her lap. "Leith…it's too early in the morning for innuendo. What time is it over there, anyways?"

He checked his watch. "It's seven in the morning."

Bonnie's eyes bulged. She had slept to ten again. She had promised her mom she'd get up early to run a few errands for her while she was at work. So that meant her conversation with Leith would have to be a brief one.

"I see you're wearing your necklace. Did you put it on because I was calling?"

"I've worn it periodically," she said a bit defensively. "It doesn't exactly match everything I wear you know."

"Will you promise to wear it…especially when you're around…never mind."

One of Bonnie's eyebrows lifted in the air. "No, finish what you were going to say."

Now it was his turn to look slightly uncomfortable. Since Leith had arrived in California all he wanted to do was hop back on a plane and return to Fell's Church. Part of him felt he was behaving irrationally, but it didn't placate his inner instinct. Not by a long shot. There was something wrong with the Salvatore brothers, something wrong with Bonnie's hometown in general. And he knew she scared easily so he certainly didn't want to plant any doubts in her mind especially in terms of her safety, but Leith had promised her while they were both in Scotland that he'd do everything in his power to watch over her.

"You'll think I'm foolish," he said.

"Half the people of this town think my elevator doesn't go all the way up to the top floor…" and after what she's seen and lived through and experienced, Bonnie on a good day would have to agree. "Just say it, Leith."

He sighed heavily before boring into her with his intense blue eyes. "Wear it when you're around the Salvatore's." He waited for Bonnie's eye roll and wasn't disappointed. "You have a hard time believing this but I get weird vibes when I'm around them. Chiefly the elder. There's something dark that lingers in him and I don't want his influence around you."

There was something dark that lingered in Damon all right; it was five hundred years of killing.

Bonnie switched her thoughts. She didn't like to think of Damon as a soulless, heartless killer. So okay he was a vampire, and since knowing him, he hadn't killed anyone—no wait he offed Mr. Tanner, not like she was particularly sad over that fact, but still Mr. Tanner may have been important to someone.

Maybe.

However…was it that Leith was eluding to or something else entirely?

Damon did die in the Dark Dimension and it carried that name for a reason. Did something else attach itself to Damon and was currently parading around imitating her stunning…well he wasn't her boyfriend—not yet at least and they weren't lovers. Urg, so what the heck were they?

She'd have to remember to ask him that later.

Just then, Damon in crow form, landed on a tree branch outside of Bonnie's window. He was about to transform into human form and surprise her, but he heard her speaking with someone so he postponed his transfiguration and eavesdropped on her conversation.

When he heard the Scotland brute's voice, he wanted to caw as loudly as possible, hopefully loud enough to shattered whatever device Bonnie was using to communicate with, with the intruder. And why was she speaking with him first thing in the morning? Before she talked to him? Damon didn't like it.

"What do you have against Damon and Stefan?" Bonnie asked.

"Stefan...he appears to genuinely not want to hurt anyone…but his brother…I didn't like the way he handled you that day at the park as if you were his property, and I certainly didn't like the way he stared at you when we had dinner at your friend's house. If he loves Elena so much why does he throw his machismo around when it comes to you?"

Bonnie bristled when Leith mentioned that Damon loved Elena. She had forgotten that she told him the real reason she fled her home in Virginia to live with her aunt and cousin. In her defense she was inebriated and lonely. Anything was liable to come out of her mouth.

"Damon is…complicated," like Gordian's Knot she wanted to add but didn't.

"Complicated for not…it still doesn't atone for how he's treated you in the past."

"Don't do this, Leith. Don't drag me back through past hurt."

The hardness marring his face immediately fled and his tone softened. "I'm sorry, mo nighean. And you're right. Forgive me?"

"Maybe tomorrow."

They grinned shyly at each other.

"But you know I only say what I say because I care very deeply for you. You're more than my friend…you're my girl."

Enough! Damon decided as he quickly transformed into his human form and banged on Bonnie's window so hard it was a miracle the glass didn't shatter under the onslaught.

Naturally this caused her to scream and she almost fell out of the chair.

"BONNIE! What's wrong!" came Leith's frantic reply.

Her head played a quick game of tennis from looking at the computer monitor to her window back to the monitor again.

Bonnie tried to gather her thoughts and stop her heart from racing so badly. "Someone just banged on the…door. I have to go, Leith."

"Bonnie, wait! Are you home alone?"

She nodded her head as she rose from the chair.

"It could be a home invader. Call the police."

Bonnie marched over to her window and threw the curtains apart. She wanted to scream again at the lethal fury she saw plainly written on Damon's face. She snapped the curtains closed mainly so Leith wouldn't see and quickly jogged back over to the computer. She leaned down until Leith could see her face again.

"I have to go. I'm fine. I promise you. I'm in no danger."

"Then who is it at your door?"

"A friend. I have to go. I'm sorry, Leith. I'll call you later."

A muffled "No you won't," came from the window, which Bonnie pointedly ignored.

She blew Leith a kiss and closed down her Skype. She unplugged the computer altogether before tentatively making her way back to the window.

Damon's scowl was still in place when she slid the curtains apart and opened the window.

"Good morning, sunshine," she tried for humor and failed miserably. "I'm assuming the reason you're staring at me like you'd like nothing more than to dance in my entrails is because you were listening in on my conversation with Leith. If you heard something you didn't like that's your own fault for eavesdropping in the first place."

Damon scoffed and looked away. "How much does he know about me and Stefan, Bonnie?"

"I'm not going to discuss this while I'm barely dressed and you're sitting in a tree. I'll be down in a minute."

Bonnie slammed her window closed, threw on her jeans from last night, grabbed her pea coat and stuffed her feet into her pink bunny slippers. Well, it wasn't the most dignified outfit but it would have to do.

Of course Damon would be waiting on the back porch right when the door swung open. Bonnie stepped out and closed the door behind her. The air outside was mild but from Damon's cold gaze, she felt as if she stumbled into the Arctic.

"You were saying," he spoke through clenched teeth.

"He doesn't know you two are five-hundred year old vampires who can change into birds."

"Yet you've discussed my…romantic history with an outsider. Is nothing sacred to you?"

New blood rushed to her face and it wasn't due to embarrassment or shyness, but straight rage.

"You want to talk about sacredness, Damon? How about not interfering with your brother's love life and trying to steal his girl."

Damon's eyes rolled so far back into his head Bonnie thought they might get stuck there.

"You are never going to let me live that down, are you?"

"And why should I? You've treated me and everyone else you've ever met with either contempt or like chess pieces. Nothing is sacred to the great Damon Salvatore except for fulfilling his own wants and desires."

Damon placed a hand on his hip. "And what's wrong with that? I desire you," he flashed his cocky grin.

At any other time that would have melted Bonnie. But not today. "Don't try to seduce your way out of this, Salvatore."

"Ooh," he said and saddled up close to Bonnie, taking her around the waist and drawing her flush against him. He smiled in victory when he felt her heart taking off like a pair of nightingale's wings.

"I love it when you address me by my surname. Say it again, my little red bird."

It was growing more difficult for Bonnie to breathe, let alone think. This wasn't fair. It was like he was attempting to throw a shroud over her to isolate her from her anger at his imprudence.

She nearly lost it when he ran his cool fingertips down her crimson tipped cheek.

Damon for his part felt his body growing hard and turgid. He had meant to teach her a lesson but he was soon distracted with the way Bonnie was responding to his nearness, to his touch. She was slowly becoming his new addiction.

He cleared the distance between them and worked his lips over hers as if he were spreading butter on bread. Bonnie allowed herself to enjoy it for one hot scintillating moment, and right when he was about to deepen the kiss, Bonnie pushed him away using something akin to telekinesis.

His eyebrows lifted in surprise. She was growing stronger in her psychic abilities.

Bonnie, too, was amazed she was able to move Damon two feet away from her.

"Stop…" she cleared her throat and placed a hand over her heart hoping it would be enough to calm it down. "Be still my heart," she said. Damon smirked. "Stop trying to throw me off track. What is said between Leith and I is none of your business."

The fury returned to his face.

"Why can't you see it? He means to place doubt in your head about me."

"And what's not to say it isn't already there? You've hurt me a lot, Damon, and I'm trying my best to get over it and move on. If we are to have any kind of future you need to trust me and my ability to make my own decisions."

He shook his head, while clenching his jaw. "You're wrong about something, Bonnie."

"What?"

Damon looked into her dark brown eyes. "What is said between you and Leith is my business because I made a pact to look after you. If I feel anyone is a threat to you, I am duty bound to eliminate them."

Bonnie's jaw fell open. When had that been decided? And why wasn't she at the meeting?

"What pact? Duty bound to whom? You're not making sense, Damon."

"I cannot say. I am sworn to secrecy."

Bonnie made an undignified noise in the back of her throat and took a seat on the porch swing.

"I'm tired of secrets. Secrets is what got us in this mess in the first place." She studied him for a moment dressed in all black, skin as pale as the moon, eyes as dark as a black hole. She shivered inwardly. Bonnie would never get used to Damon's handsomeness. Never.

"Was it a condition you had to make in order to come back from the dead?"

He approached and took a seat beside her. Damon threw an arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer. Sighing, Bonnie laid her head on his arm. He kissed the crown of her head and inhaled the lilac scent of her shampoo. So soft and gentle like a newborn, that was his Bonnie. His little red bird.

"You know I'm the master at finding loopholes," Damon began, "so I'll tell you this…kitsune aren't only known for their tricks and ability to restore humanity…but they are protectors as well…and I'm afraid that's all I'll be able to say."

Bonnie was sure if she put her head to it she'd be able to figure it out. Who knows, when Damon's nowhere around she might call up Meredith and ask her to do some digging.

"So am I forgiven?" he asked.

Bonnie awkwardly stared up at him and shook her head. "Maybe tomorrow."

For the first time in a long time Stefan woke up with a purpose. He hadn't seen much of Bonnie or his brother since their big fight on the boardinghouse lawn—except for when everyone gathered to say goodbye to Meredith and Matt as they headed off to college. Once the tears were dried and the others could see nothing but taillights, Damon had swept Bonnie up into his arms and disappeared.

If this were months ago or maybe a year ago Stefan would feel happy that his brother managed to find someone who kept him preoccupied for longer than a nanosecond. In fact, Stefan would have been ecstatic that Damon had found his equal in wit, wisdom, and cunning. Don't let Bonnie's haunting big brown eyes fool you, the girl could sweet talk the devil if she wanted to, and he of course would have given his blessing.

Now, things were different.

Stefan could admit to no longer feeling as passionate about Elena as he once did so many moons ago when he first moved to Fell's Church. His life was consumed by her; he wanted nothing, needed nothing save Elena and her unconditional love.

Damon arrives on the scene and its Hiroshima.

And Stefan tried to move on but all he accomplished was floating through life going through the motions. There were but so many times he could play video games with Matt, or strategize with Meredith, or attend "friendly" dinners with Elena before he wanted to gnaw his own arm off as a new form of entertainment.

Damon had ran off shortly after Bonnie split which left Stefan as Fell's Church lone defender. It was not a summer dream job, so one night his boredom and hostility towards his own life finally got to be too much causing him to hop in his car and just drive with no set destination in mind.

And before he knew what he was doing, Stefan had purchased a roundtrip ticket to Glasgow, Scotland.

His intent was merely to check up on Bonnie, make sure she was okay and thriving and then very quietly return to Virginia. However, those plans were blown to smithereens when he heard her singing that poignant song and he felt as if she were luring him in rather than casting him out like the ancient sirens. It was hook, line, and sinker for him.

They had spent an amazing evening together, and Stefan very briefly got to relive certain aspects of his childhood. It had been centuries since he last rode a horse, and centuries more since he swam. He didn't like taking his clothes off in public. Call him old fashioned but he was raised during an era where people were taught to feel ashamed of their bodies.

If his governess were still living, Stefan was sure she would have had a stroke at seeing what women considered modest attire these days.

But what had startled him the most wasn't Bonnie's singing but how much she matured. Sure she still behaved a little immaturely, yet she was strong, and…

She was gorgeous.

Her skin was peach hued, kissed by the sun, her hair was no longer a curly, fiery mane, but pin straight and layered, and the weight she lost due to stress, she had gained back plus some which finally gave her the womanly curves she wanted since hitting puberty.

It was difficult for Stefan to merely look at her like she was his baby sister. It was hard for him to remember she was the best friend of the love of his life. It was just hard to focus, period.

So when the sun peaked over the horizon, that's when Stefan's mood soured and he remembered his plane was leaving shortly and he'd have to leave Bonnie. But he had to because the way he was thinking of her wasn't right, nor was it like him.

After Elena died—the first time, and Bonnie summoned him back to Fell's Church, she very directly asked him if there'd ever be anyone else. Stefan had answered "No" unequivocally. There was no one else for him save Elena.

Now…?

Stefan was fueled by a moment of impulse because when he thought about it, he only kissed two girls in his whole existence, and they both so happen to look like one another. He lacked variety that was for sure. And he wouldn't call his brother a whore—not to his face but maybe if provoked—but Damon indulged in life way before he became a vampire and still had far more experience with the opposite sex than him. He denied himself nothing whereas Stefan's life was one big continuous ball of lack and denial.

He denied himself human blood and as a result he nearly died. He denied asserting himself and putting his foot down in his relationship with Elena. And he denied knowing what another female's lips would taste like against his own.

Bonnie was there, she was beautiful and he was lonely, so he may have taken advantage of the situation and kissed her.

And it was such a gentle and sweet kiss, just as he expected it would be, until…

He felt his body responding to her. The little, almost inaudible sound of pleasure she made, to the flutter of her heart, and the heat of her body surrounding him and making promises like: if you were to deepen it I promise it'll only get better.

Stefan hastily ended the kiss and immediately felt shame. This was Bonnie! His little sister! Elena's best friend! He shouldn't be kissing her, and he shouldn't enjoy kissing her. But she made him feel like the seventeen-year-old boy he once was. Bonnie's child-like naiveté was dangerous and lethal and if you weren't careful you'd find yourself ensnared in her claws of joy and sunshine. She made hope erupt in his belly that he could become like a real live boy and have the dream, the wife, the white picket fence and the two point five children.

But then he rudely reminded himself that Bonnie loved Damon. So he had no choice but to wipe the memory clean from her brain. He didn't want to throw her into another complicated love triangle.

Since her return he kept his distance…from the both of them. And when she introduced Leith as her special friend, Stefan didn't feel an ounce of competition for her time or attention—for that he was grateful.

Yet things were shifting again because somehow, someway Bonnie remembered their time in Scotland and very soon he was going to have to explain himself.

Stefan rolled out of bed and dressed. After eating he would head into town. He wanted to get something for Bonnie to apologize for his behavior while they were in Scotland and for using Influence on her.

As he stared at his reflection, he began to question why did he use Influence in the first place? Who exactly were you trying to protect, Stefan?

"Bonnie," he answered aloud and felt a little ridiculous.

Are you sure? Bonnie would have been perfectly fine if you wanted to use her to brush up on your kissing skills. You know that. She's a big flirt.

"I wasn't going to use her affinity for boys against her. She's an innocent."

And you are the devil in a pin-striped suit? Stefan, don't think too grandly about yourself. You aren't that big of a menace.

His face darkened. "I'm a walking threat and that's good enough."

Just admit you were afraid of liking Bonnie in the way you liked Elena. You're loyalty is bound to either get you killed or living alone for the rest of your life.

"Doesn't matter because she loves Damon."

Yes, but she could have loved you too, if only you weren't such chicken sh*t.

Stefan growled an almost punched the mirrored glass again. Almost. He stopped his fist before it smashed into the newly replaced vanity glass.

"I can get Bonnie to love me as much if not more than she loves Damon."

His reflection arched a sarcastic brow. Really? And how do you expect to accomplish that? Bonnie and Damon are kismet. Accept that fact and move on with someone else.

Stefan snorted. He was being foolish. There was no way he was going to insert himself into Bonnie and Damon's equation. Not when she knew how she felt about his brother, and not when he had his own unresolved feelings for Elena to deal with. It was the bloodlust talking making him think he was ten feet tall, and could take whatever he wanted no questions asked. Bonnie was a person he cared about, not someone to be trifled with.

Thinking clearly now? Good because here comes your first test of the day.

Stefan heard a car pull up and doors open and close. When he peered outside his bedroom window he saw it was Damon and Bonnie. Damon reached out for Bonnie's hand who happily accepted it and the both of them strolled up to the kitchen door.

He wasn't ready to deal with either one of them right now, so Stefan made his escape through the window.

His priorities were simple: get blood, go to town, and come back and find out just how attached his brother was to the redhead.

Bonnie sat at the kitchen table with a cup of tea between her hands. "Everything just feels so empty now that Meredith and Matt are gone. I mean…there's still you," Bonnie looked at Ms. Flowers.

"And you have me," Damon said from the corner of the kitchen. Bonnie smiled at him and took a sip of her tea.

"And Stefan," she added quietly. "Where is he by the way?"

Ms. Flowers stared up at the ceiling. She knew Stefan had made his escape through his bedroom window, and heard the discussion he was having with himself. She felt no need to alarm Bonnie or Damon but she was worried about Stefan. He was slipping into something she wasn't sure he was strong enough to fight his way out of.

Damon noticed that the old woman was taking longer than usual to reply to Bonnie's question. Stefan had never been anything more than a fleeting thought to Damon, however in a town this bad, when someone began acting out of character it never mounted to being a good thing.

"He's gone out to eat, Red. Which means we have the whole of the forest to ourselves for the time being. That is, if you're ready to practice."

Bonnie felt her heart explode. She had forgotten that Damon was going to help her strengthen her telepathy.

A look of concern marred Ms. Flowers' face. "Practice, dear?"

Bonnie finished the rest of her tea and stood up from the kitchen table. "Nothing too major just some deflection and mind reading. Damon thinks I have wonderful potential."

"It'll be more than potential it will be kinetic once she's had my tuition."

"Well, please be careful. Things have just settled down and a psychic and a vampire frolicking around in the forest might stir things up again."

Damon looked less than noble. "That is always my intent. To stir things up." Gripping Bonnie by the hand, they flashed out of the house.

Donned in the leather jacket Lady Ulma designed for Bonnie, she lightly stepped across the earth, her dark brown eyes looking from tree to tree, up to the sky, and through the trees again trying to spot a figure clad in black.

"Marco," the deep voice taunted from some distance away. Bonnie regretted not paying attention when she was a girl scout when it came to learning how to use a compass or using the position of the sun to get directions. She could really benefit from that right now because she was feeling all turned around.

"Polo," she replied still walking like a mummy through the forest. Damon told her to block out the noise of the forest which to her had always been silent, but when she focused she soon realized that it made a symphony of its own. She was no vampire, but there were ways she could magnify her own human senses to pinpoint where a threat might be coming from and to disarm it or deflect it.

The hairs were standing up on the back of her neck all right. And as much as she wanted to hear Damon's thoughts he had centuries of practice in throwing up mental shields.

As she headed several more meters into the forest, she stopped suddenly when she heard a thought.

Bonnie looked to her immediate right. She saw nothing but the trees, but she focused her psychic power and concentrated it towards that direction. She butted up against a concrete wall and she smiled in victory at having found Damon.

She began to head towards him despite the fact she couldn't see him. "Am I getting hot or cold?" she asked.

Damon watched as she stumbled in his general direction. "You're warming up."

Bonnie paused and made some adjustments. She began to walk a little more in what she hoped was a southwest direction.

"Am I hot?" she said with a smirk.

"Yes you are."

She giggled.

Damon knew she wasn't speaking in terms of direction.

She was now only five meters away from him. Bonnie felt the hardness of the concrete wall bearing down on her, and she touched the tree she knew with absolute certainty that Damon was hiding behind. She turned until her back lied flat against it.

"Am I an inferno, Damon?"

"You most certainly are."

She smiled again before swiftly walking to the other side of the tree only to find no one standing there.

Bonnie began to pout. "No fair. You suck. You know I had you, Damon."

No witty reply came and Bonnie went on guard again. "Damon?"

Only the sounds of the forest responded back. Bonnie twirled around in a circle, her eyes going everywhere.

"Damon."

She may have walked a few feet away from the tree when something landed behind her, and wrapped its arms around her waist. Bonnie was proud of herself. She didn't scream.

Damon kissed her neck. "You're right. I do suck," and he caught the skin of her neck between his sharp teeth not hard enough to inflict pain but for Bonnie to feel something else.

Bonnie hissed and reached her arm backwards to thread her fingers through his hair. "If you keep this up we'll never get anything done."

Damon skimmed the tip of his icy tongue along her neck to calm the sting of his bite.

"Everyone needs a break, Bonnie. Even you."

"We've only started half an hour ago."

Damon artfully traced the shell of her ear with his tongue.

Her heart was hammering in her chest. Bonnie began to curse her virginity because she would have turned around, banished Damon's clothes and hers with some mind trick and they would have gotten it on right there in the middle of the forest. But she wasn't that type of girl and she wanted her first time to be special and mean something. However, when Damon played with her like this she didn't need candles or flowers or even a bed, she just wanted him.

Bonnie's heart leapt up to her throat when Damon reached for the zipper of her jacket and began to pull it down.

"Damon…" passed between her cherry lips breathlessly but it was meant to be a reprimand. Once her jacket fell open, Damon slipped a hand under her shirt and merely laid his hand on her belly.

"Your skin is so hot. So soft," he spoke into her ear.

Okay this has to stop, Bonnie thought.

Are you sure?

Yes. Things are moving too fast.

I don't think they're moving fast enough. You do want to see him bare-chested right?

Well, yes but not right now.

Why not? The two of you are completely alone. It's the perfect time.

No, no, no. Things can't happen like this. I will not put my virginity on the line in the forest where the potential to get caught is very high, so is my probability of being bitten by a deer tick or catching splinters in my butt.

Where's the fun, adventurous Bonnie who liked to have a good time?

She's still here but she's a lot more responsible.

Now while Bonnie was mentally talking herself out of scoring, Damon had somehow, someway popped opened her jeans and was two seconds from touching her core.

She grabbed his wrist and disengaged her neck from his mouth and clever tongue.

She spun around and faced him. His eyes were heavy-lidded and glazed. Damon, with his hands on her hips, walked them towards the nearest tree until Bonnie's back slapped against it.

He said nothing, only directed his mouth to her neck once more, a hand disappearing in her hair, the other holding her tightly around the waist.

"You drive me insane," he mumbled against her flesh.

"Same. You do the same to me, but we gotta stop, Damon."

"I don't want to."

"I don't want to either," she whined and finally pushed him back far enough to look into his eyes. "But this isn't where I want to lose…"and her eyes widened.

They never talked about their sexual pasts. Bonnie was too intimidated by his, and well, it was no secret she was a virgin but it wasn't something she shouted from the rooftops with pride. Bonnie had kissed her fair share of boys since the tender age of six, but…she had never been partially naked or fully naked with one, and she had never seen…well that. In truth she didn't know if vampires could "do the do" because otherwise, she was sure Elena and Stefan would have been going at it like bunnies. However, Stefan was very shy in that regard, and Elena was like your typical teenager, curious but cautious. But what it all boiled down to was nerves.

Bonnie's nerves weren't ready yet, and she and Damon had not defined what their relationship was. She wasn't about to hand out her cookies. She would not become a statistic.

Damon groaned and stepped away from Bonnie. What was he thinking? No woman—not even Elena had made him act so recklessly in regards to a woman's virtue. Bonnie's pureness of spirit and innocence was one of the reasons why he loved her so much. And to think he was going to try to coax it out of her in the middle of a filthy forest, said more about him than it did her. Damon loathed men with such impertinence. He didn't want to treat Bonnie this way, like she was his personal scratching post. He loved her and because he loved her, he'd wait until the time was proper and fitting.

"I'm…s-sorry," awkwardly fell from his lips.

Bonnie had just finished re-buttoning her jeans when her head snapped up and her brow furrowed.

"Did you just apologize?"

He stared at her drolly. "Don't make me do it again. It makes me feel funny."

She laughed. "Apology accepted. But I do have a question…can you…with me? Is that at all possible?"

If he were human the tips of his ears would have been burning. He might have built up his own reputation for being something of a Casanova, but the truth of the matter is…

"I've never actually done…" he said and deliberately didn't finish his thought.

Bonnie peeled herself off the tree and approached Damon. "You?" she blinked and her jaw dropped. "No freaking way," she giggled. Damon's eyes narrowed. "But you're so…seductive."

He grinned his devil-may-care grin. "It's part of the persona."

"Part of the act you mean."

"Whatever," he snapped.

"But do you think you can?"

"When the circumstances are correct."

"What circumstances?"

"If I have fresh blood in me I can then use Power to direct it to ah…er…certain body part."

Hearing that grossed Bonnie out a little bit. "Have you tried?"

"It's a theory but it should work."

Bonnie laid her arms over his shoulders. "It's okay. I won't pressure you if you're not ready," she could barely keep a straight face.

"Yes, I wouldn't want you to molest me in my sleep," he rolled his eyes. "You tell anyone and I'll kill you, Bonnie," he deadpanned.

"Yeah, I'm sure I heard that before. So are we done for the day?"

Damon wrapped his arms around her and kissed her soundly on the lips. "Yes. For the time being."

As the pair headed out of the forest, they were ignorant of the pair of eyes that watched them and narrowed menacingly.

Chapter end.

A/N: I hope you guys liked the update. We had a lot of inner monologue going on with Stefan and his thoughts, and how that may or may not be a factor in upcoming chapters. Then we have Bonnie discovering yet another secret about Damon. Hey it was never said if he was or wasn't a virgin, so in this fic he is which I think makes him even more hot and adorable...but that's just me. And now the question remains, who was watching them frolic around in the forest? Questions, questions. And I have to thank theavidreader4life because the Skype convo between Bonnie and Leith and Damon listening in was her idea. Thanks guys for reading and let me know what you think! R&R!