A/N: I don't know how ya'll are going to feel about this chapter. I just ask you keep your pitchforks locked up for the time being. And thank you for the awesome feedback from Chapter 11. Love you guys so much!
Disclaimer: These characters are the creative property of LJ Smith and The CW. No copyright infringement is intended.
Act II Scene 5
"We have to stop meeting like this."
Elena turned around in her boots and stared at the vampire who was sauntering up to her. All week she had been nothing but a jumble of nerves wondering if she was doing the right thing, making the right decision. Her guilt often went to war with her subconscious that she was betraying everyone she loved and everything she stood for. But as she stared into those glowing azure eyes, all second-guessing took flight like birds.
She licked her lips and admired the way black leather looked on Damon. His preference had always been black and he wore it extremely well. She remembered the first day they met. He seemingly popped up out of nowhere when she showed up at the boardinghouse unannounced in hopes of seeing Stefan. Elena had found herself trapped by Damon's eyes, his proximity, and of course that dark seductive aura that drowned anyone he came into contact with. Her mouth had gone dry; she momentarily forgot how to talk as she forced herself to remember why she was there.
But she remembered the way his black t-shirt and jeans hugged his frame. She recalled the way sunlight bounced off his skin as he gave her a very brief tour of the living room. From that moment on, Elena felt she had stumbled into something that would make her question everything she thought she believed in.
She had been scared back then but she wasn't anymore.
Elena held still as Damon's fingers reached for the zipper of her jacket. Very carefully she touched his cheeks, cupping his face between her palms. Her eyes glided from his eyes, to his mouth, back up to his eyes again.
"You're right, Damon. We do have to stop meeting like this." Elena leaned up on her toes and crashed her eager mouth against his.
Damon took control of the kiss, devouring her lips, slaying her sensibility. His hands ran along the length of her spine before cupping her ass and bringing her just that much closer.
An excited gasp escaped from Elena's mouth before she went back to kissing him zealously. The forest could catch fire right this instant and it wouldn't be enough to get her to stop and turn away.
It didn't take long for Elena to begin to feel as if she were being drugged. Angling her head for better access to his mouth, her right leg lifted from the ground as she hooked it around the back of Damon's thigh.
She felt dizzy and light-headed as her tongue circled Damon's. This should be illegal, the way he kissed.
After a while, Damon eased up and tenderly kissed her cheek. "Do you love me, Elena?"
Inwardly, she huffed but outwardly she bit a corner of her lip. Yes, she did love him. Very much. He was one of the most important people in her life.
She nodded her head. Damon shook his.
"No, I want to hear you say it. I want to hear you say 'I love you, Damon'. And I want you to mean it."
"Damon," Elena looked him dead in the eye knowing that once she said it there would be no turning back. And she was tired of running from what she wanted. "Yes, I love you."
It was out in the open now. She loved Damon, she wanted…
Elena Gilbert woke up in a cold, guilt-ridden sweat. Her whiskey colored orbs went over to Stefan who was slumbering next to her, his back to her. Her bottom chin quivered and her pulse thumped because her dreams or more accurately her fantasies about Damon were getting worse, and unfortunately they were making her think she wanted him.
What was she now? Katherine? Elena shivered at the thought. She didn't want to be like her ancestor. She didn't want to like Isobel, either. But everyday her fear that she was no different from the other Petrova women in her family was becoming a harsh reality.
Hugging her pillow, Elena's treasonous thoughts shifted once again to Damon. He had barely said two words to her since being here. In fact, he seemed to be preoccupied with watching Bonnie's every move. Though Elena only saw them interacting a few times yesterday it was the way they were around each other that concerned her. Tension still lingered between them but it was a different kind of tension; the kind that Elena was familiar with whenever she had been alone with Damon. As if she was being stalked by a jaguar.
Elena was well aware of the fact Bonnie had one of the biggest hearts she knew, but she didn't think her best friend would ever forgive Damon for turning Abby, nor did she think Bonnie would grow to view Damon as anything other than her enemy.
She should be happy that the two of them apparently mended some fences, however, that warred with how her feelings about Damon had changed since becoming a vampire.
Stefan sometimes looked at her like she was a totally different person. And after a while he didn't know how to be around her, and Elena had forgotten how to be around Stefan. She loved him but that love sort of felt…it was innocent like a fairytale, and in Elena's eyes she wasn't a damsel anymore. She could protect herself and as such she wanted someone who would treat her like an equal; not like an injured bird with broken wings.
Elena couldn't deny the fact that Damon could make her feel alive and on edge because he was so unpredictable and intense. However, his unpredictability usually went hand-in-hand with someone's death. Now that she was like him, an immortal, she could understand his ways a little better when before she couldn't.
She wanted to talk to him, see if things between them were still the same or if something changed. Elena knew she needed to work out her issues with Damon if she ever hoped to recapture what she had with Stefan. But frequently she caught herself questioning: did she want to be with Stefan for eternity? She was still as undecided as she was before being killed.
This was not good. Elena stuffed her face in the pillow.
Act II Scene 6
Slender brown fingers slid down her jugular. Bonnie added pressure until she could feel the beat of her pulse. She counted each individual thump treasuring what it signified. There was still life in her body and though life should be treasured no matter the state of health a person was in, it wasn't until those who were faced with death did they begin to see it for the gift it was.
It shouldn't have taken taxing her body, pushing it beyond its limitations doing spells to help extend the lives of others for Bonnie to realize her life mattered as well. She was eighteen and people would say she had her whole life ahead of her, but now her timetable had been shortened and she didn't know how many days, weeks, or even months she had left. Bonnie reasoned she could go quietly, or she could go out guns blazing, but the end result would be the same.
Bonnie thought over her last and final doctor's visit. The blackouts, the lapses in memory, the seizures finally prompted her to get a professional opinion to explain what was going on, what was happening to her. Emily's grimoire had been of no help, but constantly she saw the same warning over and over again. Magic when welded improperly can cause damaging, irreversible harm to the body. Take care of it, and use your magic discriminatory. She hadn't done that.
She sat there in that faux leather seat, freezing because doctor's offices for whatever reason and no matter the season were always frigid, shaking her head back and forth in denial and said the most clichéd thing there was to say after she had been delivered the news.
"There must be some mistake. What do you mean I have a malignant brain tumor?" insert humorless laugh. "I'm only eighteen. I've never gotten more than the flu…I can't possibly have cancer."
"I'm sorry, Bonnie and I know this is a lot to take in. We've run several tests and they've all come back definitive."
"Do them again," Bonnie had demanded through slightly clenched teeth.
Dr. Floyd did nothing more than adjust his glasses and shake his head. "I've already run them six times unable to believe it myself. I'm sorry but the MRI and the CT scans will say the same thing."
Tears flooded her eyes and Bonnie hastily wiped them away. "I want to see them."
And so she was shown the scans taken of her brain. Listened as Dr. Floyd explained and pointed out the tumor highlighted in white that was about the size of a silver dollar located in an area that was inoperable in her brain.
"From the size alone, its position in your brain all the science says you have months…"
"What do you say?" Bonnie inquired shakily and sniffled.
"I say it's a miracle you're still alive."
Needless to say, Bonnie left in shock and uncertain about what to do, who to call, who to tell, or if it was even worth mentioning since all anyone cared about was killing the Originals.
The eighteen year old never conceived any of the spells she casted or the power she welded would backfire like this. A brain tumor. Terminal. Her. Bonnie had pushed herself too far, did too much in such a short span of time never giving her body time to recuperate after doing a spell, and it led to this.
Several times she tried to trace it all back to pinpoint when things might have taken a turn for the worst. Was it when she faked her own death? Was it when she petitioned the spirits to bring Jeremy back from the dead? Was it when she used dark magic to perform the desiccation spell?
Bonnie had no answers and no one had been around to give her any. So she kept her illness quiet, packed her things, and left Mystic Falls because she wanted to at least explore what she was soon going to leave behind.
But leave it to a determined Salvatore to interrupt her plans. Though in retrospect, Damon had intervened at the right time because Bonnie was facing a life on the streets, and for as powerful as she liked to think herself, she knew she wasn't quite strong enough to handle that. In many ways she had been pampered and had been blessed but she saw her blessing as a curse. She was the girl whose father gave her too much independence. She was the girl who never drew attention to her own problems because she was an extremely private person, and what she went through there had been no one around who could understand.
Even while she had been in the pinnacle of her health Bonnie felt her life lacked meaning. Her best friends seemingly fell in and out of love at an alarming rate while her love life had been stagnant. She had been an okay student, but not great. She had been a cheerleader which afforded her some security in the high school social hierarchy, but she had never been on top of the proverbial pyramid, and Bonnie had been fine with that. She liked being in the background, she thrived being a helper.
Being a witch, coming into her own had been her clandestine way of placing herself on the map. Yet the only people who knew were currently gathered under this roof. Bonnie couldn't say whether her friends respected her for what she could do, or just saw it as an extension of herself like having an additional arm or leg and thought nothing more about it.
Plenty of times the green-eyed beauty questioned what she saw in herself. The trite words: power, strong, beautiful lacked adequacy and didn't encompass what lied deep within. Anyone could have power whether it was of the corporate or personal kind. Having power in a boardroom, having power in a bedroom, power was power. Being strong meant not letting your problems run you down until you couldn't function on a day to day basis or not letting someone define you for you. Beautiful…beauty was in the eye of the beholder. And all creations of God were beautiful.
What more? Bonnie wondered. What did she want her epitaph to say? Witch, friend, protector? Daughter, witch, friend? Guardian, lost, witch?
Save yourself, Bonnie was sure she could do it.
Floating on her back in Damon's brass Sultan bathtub, eyes fixed on the wood beam ceiling, she checked her pulse again noting its strength and the way it rushed when she spared certain things a thought.
Particularly Damon.
A smile touched her lips as she thought over last night. No, not what he said about her potentially becoming a vampire if he continued to feed her his blood. That worried her and kept her up far later than she would have liked, but she focused instead on the way Damon made her feel.
Important. Connected. Attached to something that had very little to do with what she could do for others. When he kissed her, her bones ignited. When he looked at her with those eyes that could convey a hundred different things from the urbane to filth, Bonnie felt she was being wrapped in a cocoon of bliss.
And it had only been two days. Her smile grew wider and then her thoughts were interrupted by a tepid hand covered in pale white skin caressing her cheek.
Damon's affection surprised Bonnie mainly because she had seen so few examples of him being affectionate. He crowded spaces. He was king of the intimidating stare down and threw snark habitually. Bonnie never would have pegged him as the type who liked to cuddle or even engage in pillow talk. But that's what they did early this morning before she slipped out of his room to return to hers as not to arouse suspicion.
"I hope the reason you're smiling is because you're thinking of me, doll face."
And she did have a doll face, Damon internalized. Bonnie's face was one of those unique wonders just for the simple fact it was asymmetrical yet attractive. She could appeal to anyone no matter one's race or mortality. Next to her viridian eyes her lips was his favorite feature to ravish with his gaze and more importantly his mouth.
"What if I said I was thinking about what I want to eat for breakfast?"
"Then I'd just call you a liar. I've never seen anyone smile like that while thinking about a bowl of Cornflakes."
Bonnie laughed and lifted her own hand from the water to brush Damon's obsidian hair off his forehead. He leaned into her touch and, gripping her wrist, he kissed her palm.
A powerful zing licked at her body and landed square dab on that bundle of nerves nestled between her sex, which thankfully wasn't visible to Damon's viewing pleasure.
The water in the bathtub had been diluted with aromatherapy milk and honey liquid that Bonnie found conveniently located next to Damon's shaving cream. Who knew he liked to take milk baths. But then Bonnie could imagine vampires would suffer from dry skin considering they were dead, plus he was conceited so...
Nevertheless Bonnie figured if Damon wanted to see her goodies he very well could. For now he kept his eyes locked on her face and nothing below that.
"Seriously, what's on your mind?"
Bonnie shook her head. "Nothing. Just thinking about random things."
"I'm surprised you're lingering in my room. The rest of the gang," Damon grimaced, "is up and moving around."
"Well…Caroline is hogging the bathroom in my room, and I needed someplace to groom myself. So what if I'm using your bathroom? I'm grown."
"That you are," Damon's gaze began to trail down her body.
Bonnie gave a light slap to his cheek. "Eyes up here."
Said orbs in question flew up to meet hers and crinkled around the edges.
"That's better. You didn't tell me good morning."
"My bad…good morning," he leaned down and pecked her lips. "Now tell me what you were really thinking about. I think you've forgotten I do know how to read you."
"I guess I'm going to have to do a better job at not wearing my thoughts on my sleeve, but really, Damon it wasn't anything important."
Now that was the biggest lie she's told all day and it was only 7:30 in the morning.
Damon didn't know the exact nature of Bonnie's thoughts but he could take a guess from the divot between her eyebrows that she was thinking of that tumor. Taking her by the chin, Damon lowered his head and kissed those morbid thoughts of her own mortality away. She wasn't dying. He wouldn't allow it.
There was too much fire in this girl simply for it to be put out prematurely. And he could really regret the fact it's taken him this long to open up his eyes and see the real Bonnie, and not the witch he only called and relied on to fix his shit.
He tasted Bonnie's life in this kiss, her virility, her spice. Death wasn't on her, but the blood of the dead swam through her veins, but it seemed to bring to life the things that made Bonnie, Bonnie.
With that fact alone he wanted to turn her.
Bonnie was feeling dizzy as Damon's tongue darted in and out of her mouth. He dipped one hand in the water and roamed her body, squeezing her hip, traveling over her stomach to squeeze her breast. Bonnie covered his hand with her own, moaned and arched her back the second he started twisting her erect nipple between his thumb and forefinger.
Bonnie had never been kissed like this before without restraint or inhibition. Damon took her mouth as if they were fucking and that made her pull away because she needed a breath and a time out.
"Sorry," Damon panted, forehead pressed against Bonnie's. "Forgot you were human and actually need oxygen to live."
"My lungs forgive you."
"Do you want me to join you?" asked Damon.
Biting a corner of her lip, Bonnie weighed the pros and cons. If Damon climbed in this tub with her neither one of them would leave for a while, and in a house full of people it wouldn't take long before someone started searching for them.
"I want to say yes…" Bonnie replied hesitantly.
"But your morals and ethics are gonna say no."
"There are just too many ears in this place," the demure witch reasoned.
Normally Damon didn't like reticent girls but with Bonnie he found it kind of hot and it made his loins stiffen to nearly painful proportions. Deciding to leave her alone, he stood up from the edge of the tub and then pulled the string of the knot that held his pajama pants in place.
Bonnie watched—wantonly as Damon stripped in front of her. So much skin exposed. He was muscle and brawn in all the right places, lean in the waist, corded veins raced down his arms and yes she could see them pulsating in his erection. Her mouth grew dry.
Giving Bonnie a view of his ass, Damon marched to the shower, turned it on and stepped inside without giving it a chance to warm up.
"This is crazy. What's happening between us, right?" Bonnie asked, keeping her back to Damon as she sat up in the tub and seriously began to wash herself.
"Crazy—no. Unexpected—yes. But not surprising. I'm sure someone out there had a pool going on how long it would take for us to hook up."
"How do you figure that? We barely tolerated each other."
"Well, a wise person said that hate is the beginning of a love story. I mean, there was no love lost between us. Just a burning desire to kill the other. Plus I kind of figured you had a crush on me anyways."
Bonnie pursed her lips. "And where in hell did you get that idea from?"
"The way you worked so hard to prove you weren't an incompetent witch. I take full credit for you bringing your A-game," Damon leered and lathered his body with soap.
"You are being completely serious right now," Bonnie shook her head in disbelief. "First of all, I never had a crush on you. Yes, I can admit I thought you were sexy, but you were always too good-looking to be trusted so I never did. Never even tried."
"Ouch just go ahead and tell me Beyonce's voice is autotuned why dontcha. Bubble buster." Bonnie snickered. "But is that your cheeky way of saying that you've always found me to be the more handsome of the Salvatore brothers?" Damon ended his question with a wiggle of his eyebrows.
"Fishing for compliments? How am I not surprised? No, that's not what I'm saying."
"You puppy kicker!"
Bonnie laughed out loud. "In my book your looks were a strike against you. Maybe I stereotyped you, but I kind of had my mind made up that you were rarely held accountable for anything because of the way you looked."
"Oh, I see. You think I was one of those guys who never had to do a lick of homework growing up because I just batted my baby blues at whatever gullible female was around and she did it for me."
"Pretty criminals get lighter prison sentences than ugly ones," Bonnie informed.
"Hmm. I don't think you want to know what I thought about you when we first met."
"You didn't make it much of a secret. You didn't think anything about me because you were too busy screwing with Caroline while making moves on Elena."
Damon stopped scrubbing his skin after hearing a bit of edge to Bonnie's voice, the previous light-heartedness gone.
"I'll tell you one day," he treaded carefully. "But I still think you had a crush on me."
Bonnie rolled her eyes. "If my memory serves me right, you were the one who tried so hard to spring up a truce between us. If anyone had a crush, I'd say it was you."
"You were playing hard to get, but what can I say? I love witches."
"I'll bet."
"Our situation isn't that uncommon," Damon rebutted. "Opposites do attract you know. It's not completely unheard of for two people who couldn't stand each others guts to take one look at each other and end up fucking like porn stars."
Bonnie frowned. "Is that what you're expecting to happen?"
Damon certainly didn't like that tone to Bonnie's voice as if she were implying they would never have sex. He would invoke the spirit of Lord Voldermort if he couldn't sleep with Bonnie at least a few hundred times.
"I'm guessing you're asking me what my intentions are, Miss Bennett?"
The young woman in question stared at the nude vampire over her shoulder. "That would be correct, Mr. Salvatore. You have a reputation and it isn't a very good one. You are of the: compel 'em, love 'em, and leave 'em type, but you're also the love 'em and obsess over 'em for hundreds of years type as well. I need to know where you stand with me."
"Well, currently I'm standing in the shower," Damon sassed. That earned him a glower. "Seriously, Bon let's just take things one day at a time. I'm here, I'm in this."
"For how long?" Until I die, Bonnie wanted to add but reframed from doing so.
Damon ran a calculated eye over Bonnie's back and wet hair. Even viewing her from this angle still made the blood in his dick pound.
"Long enough for you not to question how long I'm going to stick around."
Trapping her bottom lip between her teeth, Bonnie wanted to believe Damon but a very specific person from his past was here. And though they had had limited contact with one another since her arrival, Bonnie wasn't stupid enough not to realize those two had some unfinished business between them.
Done with her bath and with the twitch of her powers, Bonnie summoned a towel to float over and cover her as she rose from the tub.
"That was extra," Damon complained as he rinsed off his skin.
Bonnie ignored him as she stepped out to on the rug and pulled out the stopper in the tub. She toweled herself dry as much as she could before padding over to the door. She looked at Damon though most of him was skewered because of the condensation built up on the glass walls of the shower.
"I'll see you downstairs."
Act II Scene 7
She hadn't been able to get that dream out of her head. Not while she took a shower. Not while she listened to Stefan rattle off different things they could do while in New York. Not while she combed her wet hair. Not when she slipped into her clothes. Not when she kissed Stefan good morning before slipping out of their temporary bedroom.
Guilt had associated itself with Elena way before she descended into vampirism. It only tripled because of her inability to stop thinking about Damon. The arguments they had. The way he treated her like an invalid, completely incapable of making her own decisions regarding her life. She remembered her first twinge of jealousy in seeing Damon flirt with Rebekah at the party in the woods to distract her from Stefan. The doppelganger remembered the rush that went through her as she danced with the dark-haired Salvatore at the Mikaelson ball. And she remembered how she rejected him when he blatantly told her that he loved her.
Did he still…love her?
Elena couldn't say a word to anyone how it made her feel hearing those words from Damon Salvatore—the vampire that many had written off as a lost cause and a menace to society. Whenever her judgment would start to cloud, Elena would focus on all the bad things Damon had done and never apologized for. Still…it hadn't been enough to get her to stop thinking about him and what a night with him would be like.
Maybe it was just lust and not love.
Her thoughts were horrible and Stefan, not only him but everyone deserved so much better from her.
Elena's first stop had been Bonnie's room. She needed her girlfriends and since being here Elena hadn't really connected with Bonnie. When they spoke to one another they had been cordial like tentative strangers. Bonnie had been much more at ease and open with Caroline, and Elena knew why that was and why her own relationship with both of her best friends was shaky.
Her constant involvement with the Salvatore's had equaled the neglect of her life-long friendships. Elena had always prided herself on not being one of those girls who wrapped their entire world around the guy she was dating, but she became that girl seemingly overnight.
She knocked on the door and Caroline screamed who was it. Elena turned the knob and poked her head through the opening.
"Hey…where's Bonnie?"
Caroline shrugged, toothbrush lodged in her mouth. "She was here when I woke up but then I kind of took over the bathroom. She might be downstairs."
"Well, hurry up. I'm going to cook breakfast."
"You?" Caroline said incredulously.
Elena scowled. "Yes, me." With a roll of her eyes she backed out of the door and then made her way downstairs, but not without hearing the sound of Damon's voice. For a second she was tempted to listen to see who he might be talking to, but she decided against it and continued on her way to the kitchen.
Jeremy and Matt were already there looking for food or lost treasure from the way they were opening and closing cabinet doors.
"Morning guys," Elena greeted her brother and ex-boyfriend.
"Morning, Elena," Matt reciprocated and then made himself at home at one of the barstools that surrounded the center island and poured himself a tall glass of orange juice.
"Sup," Jeremy said and carried on his search for cereal.
"I'm going to cook breakfast if you feel like waiting."
Jeremy and Matt groaned.
"What?" Elena asked defensively.
Matt decided to fill her in on a harsh truth many had spared the brunette from. "No offense, Elena but have you tasted your cooking before?"
Picking up an apple from a nearby fruit bowl, Elena chucked it at Matt's blond head. He caught it with one hand, shined it on his shirt before taking a hearty bite.
Pursing her lips, Elena searched the shelves in the refrigerator and pulled out everything she'd need. By the time she had the stove going and was whisking eggs, Bonnie had appeared wet hair thrown into a tight bun that sat on the crown of her head dressed in a halter top and jeans.
"Good morning, Bonnie," Elena smiled brightly.
Bonnie returned the smile though she wasn't positive it reached her eyes. Draping one arm over Matt's shoulders, Bonnie spoke to him in an aside. "What is she doing? Trying to burn down the kitchen?"
Matt laughed. "Where's the fire extinguisher?"
Elena slammed the whisk down on the granite countertop. "I am not a bad cook!"
Caroline breezed into the kitchen with Stefan pulling up the rear. "The lovely food poisoning I was struck down with after eating your meatloaf casserole says differently."
"We were fourteen years old and you were the one to tell me to set the ground beef in the sink all day so it could defrost. Now shut up. Nothing is going to rain on my parade. Besides this is my way of saying thank you to our hosts."
Bonnie rested her elbows on the island and shook her head. This was just like old times. "Well if you're dead set on cooking I should let you know Damon likes his eggs sunny side up with toast, no butter, and he likes his coffee black. No cream, no sugar, no milk with a little bit of O positive if there is any. And if you decide to make pancakes he likes maple syrup and not buttermilk."
Several pairs of eyes blinked at Bonnie before drifting to the person who sauntered into the kitchen dressed in his customary black.
"Morning," Damon said lazily as he headed over to the coffee machine.
"Good morning, Damon," Caroline felt her devious head rearing. "Your wife was just filling us in on your food preferences."
Azure eyes fixed on the blonde and narrowed in confusion. "Wife?"
Caroline pointedly stared at Bonnie who was studying her nails and trying her best not to blush.
A flush settled over Elena's face as her happy mood slowly began to head south.
Damon's eyes began to play a game of racket ball as they first shot over to Caroline before flying to Elena and then ending on Bonnie.
If he wanted to be technical about things he had been taking care of Bonnie like a good common law husband, but she certainly hadn't been handling her wifely duties in the boudoir that was for damn sure.
The corners of his well-formed mouth pulled down while his dark eyebrows arched. "A good wife always knows what her man likes," Damon turned away from the group to start the coffee.
The kitchen became deadly silent after that.
A tick hammered in Jeremy's jaw. Matt looked uncomfortable. Bonnie was biting down on the inside of her cheek resisting the urge to scratch out Caroline's eyes. Caroline looked uncharacteristically smug. Stefan shook his head. Elena was completely frozen. She wasn't even breathing not like she needed to breathe.
"Elena…" Stefan decided to diffuse the tension that blanketed the room. "Do you need help with anything?"
Blinking rapidly, the doppelganger nodded her head.
You are such a punk, Bonnie tried to broadcast that thought at Stefan. But he was too busy rolling up his sleeves, washing his hands, and joining Elena at the stove to take over the cooking. Jeremy was still glaring at Damon's back who was ignoring everyone in the room while he made his coffee.
Bonnie took a seat beside Matt who offered her a bite of his apple. She declined but felt a conversation between them was in order considering she hadn't really talked to anyone outside of Caroline, Jeremy, and Damon.
"How did you sleep last night?" Bonnie asked.
"Like a baby. I seriously need to look into getting a pillow top mattress but then that means I have to actually be able to afford it."
"Are you still working at The Grill? What about college?"
Matt suddenly turned bashful. He didn't like talking about his personal struggles especially not in the presence of his ex-girlfriends and the Salvatores.
"Right now, I'm on an unofficial school hiatus. I'll probably take a couple of online courses in the spring but right now I'm just working. What about you, Bon?"
Bonnie snorted softly. "I'm not in school. I don't do much but get on Damon's nerves."
"Which she's passing with flying colors," Damon interjected and then approached his brother and began to lecture him on how to make a proper omelet.
"I'm still upset with you for bailing on school, Bonnie," said Caroline.
"Sorry, kind of have other things on my mind."
Matt rubbed her back earning him a self-deprecating smile from Bonnie. Elena stared at her worriedly. Damon glowered at Caroline. She was close to breaking one of his rules.
Noticing she had killed the mood, Caroline perked up. "I can't believe I forgot this. Don't move a muscle, Bonnie." She zoomed off and returned five seconds later with her hands behind her back.
Bonnie didn't need to question what Caroline was concealing. She could feel it. Hear it. It was like listening to an ancestral song that you were taught when you were only a child.
From behind her back, Caroline withdrew Bonnie's grimoire and placed it on the center island in front of her.
The noise and chatter stopped as all eyes focused on Bonnie who had her eyes on the grimoire. She ran a hand over the cover and the book opened having responded to her magic. Pages flipped while her eyes glossed over Latin and symbols of spells she had learned. Hot air burned against her face and her brain began to hum.
Suddenly the pages stopped and tucked between them was a picture of her and Grams.
The Grams Bonnie was looking at wasn't the one she remembered. Her Grams had been sassy and knowledgeable, but the one she encountered while sending the ghosts away, the one who told her that Elena Gilbert wasn't her problem…she had been about business. Firm but proud of her, commanding and then…
Punished.
Bonnie's hands began shaking because she was back in the basement at the witch house where she tried to put Klaus back in his body. The spirits through Grams told her no; railed that she needed to leave the dark stuff alone. She defied them because Klaus was going to claw out Tyler's heart with his bare hand. So many voices. Too many voices. The spirits pissed off because she wasn't listening, Klaus threatening to kill everything in sight. Jeremy and Caroline pleading…black veins traveling from her hands to Grams' arms.
"They're punishing me! They're taking it out on me!" Sheila had cried and Bonnie couldn't do anything but scream for her grandmother.
The lights in the kitchen flickered. Appliances whirled to life automatically. The air felt heavy and oppressive, and everyone was scared shitless.
"Oh no what did I do?" Caroline asked and attempted to reach out to Bonnie.
"Don't!" Damon warned.
Bonnie wasn't paying attention to anything. Grams was still being punished on the Other Side. Was she crying? Screaming, writhing in pain and it was all her fault. She couldn't do anything to help her.
She was seeing without seeing. Looking beyond what was in front of her. "Grams…." Bonnie whispered her face twisted in agony. Hot, angry tears spilled from her eyes.
Something touched her shoulder. Death was touching her. Fury swept through Bonnie as she knocked the hand away with enough force to break it and then her hand was around death's throat and she slammed it up against the wall.
"Bonnie!"
Everyone was immobile. The sound of Bonnie's heavy breathing overpowered the sounds of inanimate objects responding to the burst of magic she sent out.
More death surrounded her and Bonnie snapped her head to look over her shoulder. She blinked her eyes and suddenly the red haze that glazed over her vision began to clear and it wasn't the spirits who probably fucked her over more than her enemies, but her friends she was facing.
"Bonnie…" a voice croaked.
Whipping her head towards the person who called her name, Bonnie realized she had Elena in a chokehold.
Pulling her hand away in disgust, Bonnie shook her head and flew through the house and was out the front door.
Matt and Jeremy instantly went in pursuit. The vampires soon followed.
Bonnie walked purposely towards the lake but stopped short of the pier.
So much anger so potent she could taste it was too much for Bonnie to keep it contained. The scorned witch lifted her hand and the entire lake went up in flames.
"Whoa!" Matt skittered to a stop. He was still several feet away from Bonnie but he could feet the heat coming from the lake.
"Holy shit!" Jeremy swore. "Bonnie…Bonnie you have to stop!"
In response she screamed until her own ears were ringing. Birds from miles away cawed and took flight in the air.
"Let me handle this. I'm the only one who can reach her, calm her down," Damon shouldered past the others who looked perpetually stuck, but of course it was the annoying little shit who grabbed him by the arm, detaining him.
"No, Bonnie isn't going to listen to you."
Snap. Scream.
Matt ignored the commotion, and the fact that Jeremy was holding his now broken arm to his chest while screaming obscenities at Damon. Tentatively he approached Bonnie.
"Bon…Bonnie look at me. Please."
"Leave. Me. Alone."
Nervously, Matt licked his lips, and took a step forward. "Do you remember when we were kids and anytime we started to feel scared we would start to quote lines from our favorite cartoons? No one could top your impersonation of Yosemite Sam." Matt took another step closer to Bonnie until he was right behind her. "And do you remember when we were twelve and you were bullied by Gage Thompson…he liked to throw peas at you during lunch and one day I kneed him in the balls and pushed his face into his pizza and everyone called him crater face afterwards?
"And do you remember when Grams drove us to our eighth grade graduation because my mom had skipped town with another boyfriend, and I had no way to get to school that day? I called you and you said that there was no way your brother was missing the biggest day of his life, and you and Grams showed up at my house and we rode together. We've always been there for each other, Bonnie. Maybe not as much lately, but when it really, really mattered we had each other backs. Let me be there for you now. Whatever you're feeling let it out but not like this."
The fire slowly began to diminish until eventually the flames disappeared. Smoke and steam rose from the water's surface. Matt was pretty sure if there had been any fish swimming in the lake they were all dead now.
Bonnie turned to face him. She still looked uncertain and just as angry as she was in the kitchen, but calmer now with recognition in her eyes.
"I remember," she said.
Relief was evident on Matt's face who cautiously pulled Bonnie into a hug. She looked over his shoulder and saw vampires staring back at her. One of them was feeding Jeremy its blood.
Bonnie ripped away from Matt and pushed him behind her, hand outstretched. "What the fuck are you doing?"
Startled, Caroline pulled her wrist away from Jeremy's mouth and stared at her friend in alarm. "Bonnie, its okay. I'm not hurting him."
"Move away from him," green eyes flashed in warning.
Caroline wasn't taking any chances. She listened and moved.
That wasn't good enough. Bonnie didn't take her eyes off Caroline as she muttered one word, "Afflictio."
Caroline, Stefan and even Elena all dropped to their knees, crushing their fingers to their temples.
Oh shit, Damon thought. His blood must have worn completely off and now Bonnie was having yet another episode. He stepped forward and wondered for point two seconds why he was being exempt. He'd question that later.
It didn't take much other than him making a sudden move for Bonnie to flash her eyes in his direction.
"Witchy…"
"Stay away from me!" she seethed. "This is the only time I'm warning you. It's because of all of you that my grandmother is dead and she's being punished because I went against the spirits to make sure that bitch right there," she pointed at Elena, "stayed alive."
Even through her pain, Elena looked more than hurt. Bonnie had never called her a bitch not even in a joking manner before. Was that how she really felt?
"Bonnie…please…" Elena groaned against the onslaught. Having the vessels in her brain burst was right up there with being roasted alive in a fire.
Caroline cried, "Bonnie…stop…"
"Stop her, Damon," Stefan tried to take his aneurysm like a man.
Matt and Jeremy didn't know what to do. But Jeremy tried, "Bonnie, you need to stop whatever it is you're doing. This isn't you."
"Forget about them, Bonnie just keep your eyes on me," Damon drifted closer. "I need you to think back to this morning. When it was just the two of us and we were talking. You were happy and smiling; I made you laugh. These are your friends. They care about you and love you, and you love them."
Bonnie's eyes traipsed back to the group. They weren't looking at her as if they loved her but like they were afraid of her.
Good.
Damon was in reaching distance of her now. "You and I…we've gotten close. You trust me. You know I wouldn't do anything to hurt you and I'm not going to let anyone hurt you. You know that, Bonnie," he stated emphatically. "Do you trust me? Do you trust what I'm saying to you?"
"Stay back."
Desperate times called for desperate measures and Damon had promised he wouldn't do this to her again, but he didn't have a whole lot of options left. He lifted his wrist, bit into it, and let his blood flow. He stared intently into Bonnie's eyes.
"Come to me, Bonnie. Let me help you."
The sight of Damon's blood triggered something within Bonnie. She felt a pull on her own will but she fought against giving in. She, Matt, and Jeremy were outnumbered and she had to protect them no matter what, but somewhere in the back of her mind she knew the vampires surrounding her wouldn't hurt her. She knew that because they were her friends? Or she knew that because the one with the dark hair and the blue eyes wouldn't allow anyone to touch her, come after her? He cared? They were close like he said.
Damon could tell Bonnie was wavering. Her outstretched hand began to lower. "Damon…?"
"Yeah?"
Bonnie blinked, let her magic fall away. She looked around suddenly feeling painfully embarrassed. "What's going on?"
"You just got a little lost in your head for a moment, but you're fine now," he wrapped an arm around Bonnie who immediately burrowed her face in his chest unable to look at anyone.
"No, I'm not."
"Well, you will be," Damon alleged and escorted Bonnie back to the house.
Very slowly, Stefan, Caroline, and Elena rose to their feet and stared at one another trying to make sense of what just happened and came up empty. However, one thing was very clear…Damon and Bonnie were a lot closer than they appeared, a lot closer than frenemies, a lot closer than a witch and a vampire should be.
Act II Scene 8
With Bonnie resting upstairs in his room, Damon joined the others in the living room their faces blanched.
"How is she?" Stefan was the first one to question.
"She'll be all right."
The brothers gawked at one another as Damon picked up on the silent question Stefan was glaring at him through his bluish-green eyes. Infinitesimally Damon shook his head. No, he had not given Bonnie anymore of his blood. She had a migraine and took a sedative and was currently passed out.
"She's been like that the whole time you two have been living together?" Elena blurted out.
"That was her nice side," Damon grinned and sat down in an overstuffed chair. He received disapproving looks for that comment. "Bonnie has her good and bad days. This was a bad day," he then swung his slightly accusatory gaze to Caroline who was nibbling on her thumb while staring off into space. "What made you think it would be a good idea to give Bonnie her grimoire? Magic is probably the reason why she has that tumor to begin with."
"I didn't know it would set her off," Caroline vehemently explained. "I wanted her to have it because it's been such a big part of her life for the last two years. Is she really okay, Damon? Should we leave?"
Yes, the hell you should is what Damon wanted to say but deep down he knew Bonnie wanted her friends to be here.
"I think you should be mindful that Bonnie is…she can be a loose cannon. There's not a specific thing that may trigger her to have a mood swing or to experience memory loss. She's going through a lot right now, physically speaking. So while I personally don't see the purpose in any of you being here, I know Bonnie needs you. Until you all return to your lives, Bonnie will be staying with me."
Jeremy had a major grievance with that. He had seen firsthand what magic could do to Bonnie when she pushed herself beyond limits. Like the time she sent a message to Elena who had been kidnapped by Rose and Trevor, and Bonnie's nose began to bleed and she lost consciousness. Jeremy had experienced plenty of terrifying episodes but seeing Bonnie that vulnerable made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end.
He didn't know what that whole ritual with Damon bleeding himself and Bonnie regaining lucidity meant, but he knew he didn't like it nor its implications.
"Bonnie should be with someone who has her best interests at heart," Jeremy said. "You've somehow found a way to compel her with your blood…"
"Jeremy," Stefan cautioned knowing how much his brother hated his methods being questioned.
"And if you have found a way to manipulate her then you are the absolute last person she should be around."
Damon slid to the edge of the chair, face snarling. "Maybe I shouldn't have broken your arm but your gotdamn jaw. How are you going to reach Bonnie if she goes off again, boy? Since you have all the answers and were so effective this morning. Judging by how she listened to me and not you, I'd say she trusts me a whole hell of a lot more than she trusts any of you. I'm done arguing about Bonnie. She's rooming with me and that's final."
No one could rebut what Damon said because it was the truth.
Elena stood up from the couch. "Damon, can I talk to you for a minute outside?"
Inwardly, the vampire in question groaned but then nodded his head and followed Elena outside of the house.
The two walked some distance away but they were still in hearing range of Caroline and Stefan and it went without saying they were probably listening. For that reason, Elena vampire sped through the woods until the house was no longer visible. Damon caught up with her the second she stopped running.
"What is it, Elena?"
"How bad is her condition and please tell me the truth? I've never seen Bonnie that angry or unhinged and I know she has every right to feel the way she does…I just never thought her anger was that strong."
"Because she buried it that deep. I can't tell you how bad off she is because I honestly don't know. Bonnie could be facing weeks, days…" Damon hunched a shoulder and for the first time allowed the helplessness about the situation override everything else, and admit he was a little afraid she might die before he could find a way to help her. "I do the best I can to help her."
Elena was able to put the pieces together. "By giving her your blood?"
Damon said nothing only stared at Elena.
"It's not enough. There's been no change. She's only getting worse?"
Once again, Damon remained mute.
"Damon…"
"I plan to leave tomorrow," the eldest Salvatore confessed. "I have a couple of contacts in NYC who can probably point me in the right direction to get Bonnie the help she needs."
"I can go with you," Elena eagerly volunteered.
"I think you should stay here with Bonnie."
"I don't think she'd care if I was here or gone. You heard what she said, you saw what she did so please don't try to pretend that my friendship with Bonnie is the way it was before you…" Elena clammed up.
Damon's eye twitched. "Before I what? Showed up in town? Started killing people? Started chasing after you?"
"Pick one."
"And that's the reason why your ass isn't going with me."
"Damon…I didn't mean…" Elena tried to backtrack.
"Save it, Elena. If anyone is coming with me it'll be Stefan. Bonnie doesn't particularly like him either so it's probably best he's not around."
"But she likes you." Pause. "This is probably none of my business but is what Jeremy said true? Have you found a way to compel or manipulate Bonnie with your blood?"
"You're right," Damon cocked a lopsided grin that was anything but friendly, "it is none of your business."
"Do you like her?"
"What am I in the second grade?"
Elena sighed heavily. "Just answer the question."
"Why are my feelings regarding Bonnie important to you?"
"Because I have feelings for you!"
Damon was mute once more.
Elena looked down at her feet and fidgeted with her hands. She looked up at Damon again. "I have feelings for you, Damon and I don't know how to make them stop."
Chapter end.
A/N: Yes, I know hardly anyone reading this fic gives a hot damn about Delena, but I can't ignore their unresolved issues because it wouldn't be realistic and I kind of have to follow canon a little bit in regards to Damon's feelings about Elena and her feelings for him. No worries, I don't plan to do a Delena/Bamon triangle. Not the purpose of this story. But Damon will have to self-introspect on Elena's "confession" and how that might or will get in the way of his budding relationship with Bonnie. And speaking of Bonnie those mood swings and lapses in the here and now are turning more dangerous. I think I might have one more chapter showing the gang together before moving on to Bonnie and what she's willing to do to kick that tumor out of her body. Thank you guys so much for reading! Until next time, love you! Don't forget to review!