Author Note: Well kiddies, sorry for the rush but I think we'll have one more Chapter to wrap this one up. However, I do not see the 'Bamonella' (a name given to them by Jacksprat77) story ending yet. So, I think I will write something focusing more on Bonnie/Damon/Bella, have Bella grow up a bit, it might be drabbles or it might be a serial :D Anyway, back to this one, I greatly appreciate all the feedback I've gotten. I'm glad so many have enjoyed it and as always I hope it meshes well and I hope you all stay tuned.
*** indicates words spoken simultaneously
"And you actually thought that idea would work?" Stefan asked baffled and also slightly amused by the plan that his older brother had concocted.
"I guess I wasn't thinking at the time," Damon replied as he sat with his elbows resting on the kitchen island with his face buried in both hands.
"Obviously,"
"That's right little brother," Damon spoke as he raised his head, swirled on the stool, and gave Stefan, who was seated beside him, his full attention. "Lay it all on me. Tell me how much of an ass I am."
"I can't," Stefan said with a slight pout. "I've already met my 'tell Damon he's an ass' quota for the month," He joked with a small smile and Damon couldn't stop the smile that spread on his own face. "Besides, you already know that you're an ass so why are you letting this time get to you so much? You've done far worse and Elena has always forgiven you."
"But not Bonnie, my little witch is not so forgiving," Damon said as the sense of doom he had been feeling since Bonnie told him 'no' crept upon him once more.
Just five minutes into packing and already Bonnie was becoming flustered as she looked at all of the baby things that were on the bed and scattered around the room.
Upstairs
"God, I cannot believe I let Care convince me to get you all of this stuff, babygirl," She spoke aloud into the room where she thought she only had her daughter as company, but when Caroline's voice cut in Bonnie jumped, placed a hand on her chest, and turn towards the door in surprise.
"We didn't buy all of this stuff," She said with her head stuck around the door and her body hidden on the other side. "I've seen Damon bringing in a lot of this, so it's his fault, not mine. And while we're on the subject of blaming Damon for things..." She then pushed the door open further and walked in while tugging Elena behind her. "I think you two need to talk."
"Elena," Bonnie called out to her best friend softly. "I'm so-"
"Don't," Elena cut her off as she snapped her red bloodshot eyes up to meet Bonnie's who in turn bowed her head a bit and locked her eyes down to the floor. "Don't you dare say you're sorry," She continued. "Because 'you' didn't do anything wrong," These words made Bonnie lift her eyes and look at Elena curiously. She then shot her eyes to Caroline who stood next to Elena with her arms across her chest while she beamed like the cat that caught the canary.
"Yes I did, I fell in love with Damon," Bonnie whispered out as if she were genuinely afraid to say it too loudly.
"I agree, that is 'so' wrong," Caroline chimed in with a disgusted look on her face. "And you're both guilty of it. God, where did I go wrong when I was educating you two about boys?" She said as she looked off as if she were lost in memories of the time.
"Caroline," Elena said as she and Bonnie regarded their friend with matching humorous smirks.
"What? I honestly don't know how either one of you could actually love him without being compelled to," She said and a gurgle from the nearby bassinet instantly gained all of her attention. "Oh, there's my goddaughter," She cooed as she walked into the far corner of the room and gave Bonnie and Elena some privacy.
"I don't know what to say other than I'm sorry," Bonnie started and Elena stepped closer to her and grasped her hand. "I still can't believe I even have those kinds of feelings for Damon."
Back downstairs
"I still can't believe that you've finally admitted your feelings for Bonnie," Stefan said and Damon bunched his brows as he turned to regard his brother again. Stefan caught the look on Damon's face. "What? We all knew how you felt, how you 'both' felt about each other, but none of us thought that either of you would ever actually admit to it let alone act on it. Bonnie never would because she's convinced herself that you and Elena are destined to be, which is your fault with all of your, "Elena's my destiny and if it comes down to your life or Elena's I'm always going to choose Elena's. The rest of you can go to hell!" Stefan mimicked and Damon could only close his eyes and inwardly groan at Stefan's true imitation of him. "Also, Bonnie's so loyal and self-sacrificing. She'd bury her feelings for you and carry on like she hated you if she thought it would spare Elena pain," Damon simply nodded at this. "Now, you, on the other hand, you're just stubborn and self-absorbed and selfish," Again Damon only nodded at these very true descriptions. "I was sure you'd never accept your feelings for Bonnie because if you did you'd have to come to the realization that 'maybe' Elena isn't the love of your life as you've always proclaimed, and I knew that would be difficult for you because of Katherine."
"What?" Damon spat out in surprise and mild disgust. "What does that wicked bitch have to do with any of this?"
"Uh … Everything," Stefan said with a chuckle. "Damon you loved … No, you obsessed over Katherine for nearly a century and a half. Then you learned that she never really loved you-"
"No, she never did. It was always you little brother," Damon cut in and the sting of it all was still evident in his voice.
"Right," Stefan replied feeling a little bit guilty. "Then, after you decided to move on from Katherine who did you move on to? One of Katherine's descendants, who also happened to be her doppelgänger, 'and' who I was dating at the time. You honestly think that was all just a coincidence?"
"I loved Elena and it had nothing to do with Katherine or you," Damon defended.
"Really? So, the thought of finally getting some version of Katherine, the woman you spent a century and a half pining for... did I mention that already?" He asked playfully and Damon shot daggers at him which made him chuckle as he continued. "You never thought of Katherine once during the time you pursued Elena, trying to get her to fall out of love with me and fall in love with you? The fantasy of having 'Katherine' choose you over me, the guy you felt stole her from you, it never once crossed your mind, Damon? "
"I loved Elena," Damon said again although this time the tone was less defiant and more defeated.
"I know you did Damon... eventually. So, when I saw that you truly started to love 'Elena' and not what she represented to you and that Elena truly loved you too, I never fought you about any of it or mentioned Katherine. But now, you must know that your interest in Elena, in the beginning, was never really about Elena. What I'm curious about is when did 'you' start to realize it?"
"May 10th, 1994," Damon answered surprising Stefan with his response.
"Well, that's specific. Wait, you didn't even know Elena back then and she was like one or two years old," Stefan stated.
"I'm talking about when Bonnie and I were trapped in Kai's prison world, where we lived May 10th, 1994 over and over again for months," Damon said and Stefan nodded his understanding. "At first I thought I was in hell being forced to relive probably the worst day in my life, as you well know," Again Stefan nodded. "That topped with the thought that I would never see Elena again nearly did me in, but..."
"But you had Bonnie," Stefan finished for him and it was Damon's turn to nod as a smile played on his lips.
"There were some days where she would literally pick me up and make me carry on. Even when I purposely did things to piss her off and even hurt her," He added shamefaced. "She wouldn't let me just give up. She kept promising me that she'd find a way to get me back to Elena. Not 'get us home', but get me back to Elena. After about a month we kind of fell into a routine; I'd make breakfast, she'd make dinner and it was nice. Every day that I was there with Bonnie-"
"You didn't miss being here with Elena so much," Stefan finished.
"Yeah, but even then I think I was still in denial. It actually wasn't until Kai finally showed his evil mug that I started to notice it."
"Why then, was he a threat to Bonnie even then?" Stefan asked becoming slightly angered as he remembered the story Bonnie had told him about when she was alone in the prison world with Kai, how he had tortured and tormented her.
"No, he actually liked her and he would just flirt with her a lot. At first, I found it disgusting the way he carried on and the way she'd giggle a little and tuck her hair behind her ears, but it quickly turned to anger whenever he was near her, and then blinding rage whenever he'd touch her."
"So, you were jealous."
"Is that what it was?" Damon asked as he looked to his brother honestly seeking his knowledge and wisdom. "Because I had never felt that before, not 'that' kind of simmering rage. Not with Katherine and not with Elena."
Back Upstairs
"Damon..." Elena spoke out his name dreamingly as she smiled slightly and shook her head a bit while trying to find the words. "There's just something about him, he's-"
"Like a fever, you can't shake," Bonnie said as she chuckled to herself remembering Damon teasing her with those very words once upon a time.
"Yeah," Elena agreed as she smiled and nodded.
"Oh, please," Caroline chimed in from her spot at the foot of the bed where she sat rocking a sleeping Bella. "He's more like a 'disease' you can't shake, like Syphilis or herpes," She said and both Bonnie and Elena burst into a fit of laughter which woke Bella and caused her to cry out briefly as her face twisted up in a frown that morphed into the cutest pout.
"Ahwww, I don't think she likes us bad mouthing her daddy," Elena announced.
"What are we going to do?" Bonnie spoke out bringing the focus back onto their Damon situation.
"You, Bonnie Bennett, are going to be happy for once in your life," Elena said and Bonnie looked at her in confusion. "Damon loves you and more importantly he's 'in love with you'," She explained and both Bonnie and Caroline watched with their mouths slightly agape as they listened. "Yeah, I know that Damon loves me too, but he's not in love with me and honestly I don't think he ever was."
"Elena that's not true," Bonnie interjected as she shook her head.
"Yes, it is. At first, Damon was in love with the 'idea' of what I represented … who I represented," Elena further explained and her words had Caroline nodding her head even when Bonnie didn't fully understand what she meant.
"Katherine," Caroline said and Elena nodded.
"Yep, I reminded him of his long lost love, Katherine. Then, Damon fell in love with getting 'revenge'."
"If he stole you from Stefan then that would be payback because he blamed Stefan for stealing Katherine from him," Bonnie replied as things started to click in her mind with what Elena was saying. Elena nodded at her words.
"And finally, Damon fell in love with his humanity again. He started doing good deeds because he thought he could win me over that way and it worked. Eventually, he did good simply because he wanted to, not because of me, but he couldn't see that it was all him and not me. So, he held on tighter to me because he deemed me as his connection to his humanity."
"When did you have this epiphany?" Bonnie questioned because she was curious to know how long Elena had been 'pretending' with Damon.
"After I had Alaric to compel me to forget that I loved Damon, and you were trapped in Kai's prison world. I got to really see Damon for who and what he is, all from an 'outside looking in' perspective. All the evil things he had done those things that made me hate him before, they were all fresh in my mind. Yet, I also got to see the good side of him, and it wasn't some farce or something he did to impress me. In fact, he even told me that his actions had absolutely nothing to do with me. Everything that he did during that time, all that he cared about was you. Even when he was trying to woo me back and make me remember how we loved each other, somehow the conversation always ended up back with you. How you kept him sane in that prison world. How you always listened to him. How you sacrificed yourself to get him out. When you were trapped you trapped there with Kai alone, Bon, you should have seen him. He was so determined to get you out of there."
"Yeah, he became pretty obsessed with it," Caroline agreed.
"And it made me fall for him all over again, even though it was obvious to me that he was in love with you," She said with sad eyes and a sad smile.
"Elena, I-" Bonnie began to speak but Elena silenced her with a shake of her head.
"No, not this time, this time Bonnie you get to have the happily ever after."
"But what if-" Bonnie's words were cut short again but this time by Caroline.
"I cannot believe that I'm actually about to say this, but … Do you love Damon, Bonnie?" Caroline asked looking directly at Bonnie, who stood silently looking back and forth between her friends as she thought about it.
"Do you love Bonnie, Damon?" Stefan asked as he stared hard at his older brother looking as if he could gauge whether Damon would tell a lie or the truth. Damon sat up a little straighter and his scowl deepened as he contemplated the question.
"I'm talking head over heels, a 'Gone with the Wind' type of love," Caroline went on.
"That desperate, crazy, and sometimes pathetic kind of love," Stefan added.
"Yes," Both Bonnie and Damon affirmed in unison. Both of them smiled while their eyes held a far off gaze as they both pictured the other in their mind.
"Then go get your man girl," Caroline said snapping Bonnie from her haze. Bonnie tightened her grip on Elena's hand as she looked at her warily. Elena looked back at her with tear filled eyes and a quivering smile. Then, she gave a nod of approval. Bonnie quickly pulled Elena into an embrace.
"Thank you, Elena," She whispered and the smile on Elena's face widened as her tears fell.
"After all the times you've saved me and allowed me to have happiness you deserve this, and this doesn't even come close to making us even. I still owe you so much," Elena whispered back and then she pulled from their embrace and wiped away her tears. "Now, go before Damon goes off and does something stupid."
"If he hasn't already," Caroline mumbled but was still loud enough that her friends heard her. "Well go on, we'll look after Bella," She said and Bonnie gave a quick nod of her head and hurried to the door.
"Well, if you love Bonnie that much go upstairs and tell her how you feel, tell her that you choose her and hurry before she leaves and you lose her forever," Stefan advised. Damon reached over and gripped his brother's shoulder with his hand, shoved him slightly, and gave him a smile of thanks. Stefan smiled back, gave a nod, and then watched as his brother flashed from the room.
