A/N: In which Bonnie and Damon go forward and back. Happy (belated) New Year. Enjoy.

Freshman

Bonnie looked up one day and spring break was tomorrow. She turned in her last final exam and walked into dry sunshine. Sunshine that required shades, that baked her skin to a nice walnut brown. Students rushed around her, making plans, whizzing by on bikes and skateboards, laughing. Bonnie let the atmosphere soak into her. She felt their excitement, but she did not rush. The last exam was across campus and instead of taking the numerous shortcuts Mihaz advised, Bonnie took the scenic route to the hilly residence hall.

The rhythm of her walk lulled her into a waking dream. Towering redwoods, green leaves brushing her legs, the scent of wet earth, birds calling and water trickling. Walking with Lucy along the Crescent Beach overlook, waves upon waves at Mendocino, a cute surfer giving her a lesson. Bonnie smiled with pleasure. She might actually get to flex her magic muscles this trip. Lucy promised to take her to an underground exhibition. "The largest gathering of witches of the year. You'll see some things you never thought possible," Lucy told her over the phone. "I've done some impossible things," Bonnie said. Lucy only laughed and told her to wait and see.

Bonnie strolled along the shaded lane in a small park. Up ahead the corridor of building halls, and beyond that Foothills. A gentle breeze cooled the sweat from her skin. She was aware of her being, and it was an awareness flooded with contentment. The future was bright.

"Bonnie Bennett, is that you?"

Bonnie stopped, turned. The accent alerted her to the speaker, but she was still shocked to see Rebekah sitting on a bench beneath a tree, her sunglasses perched on top of her head. She had an open textbook in her lap, and a tablet beside her. A leather tote sat next to her sandaled feet, full to bursting with papers and pens and, Bonnie frowned, a blood bag?

"Rebekah?"

Before she knew it, Rebekah glided towards her, hand outstretched.

"We've never been formally introduced. I'm Rebekah Michaelson."

Bonnie looked at the hand, kept hers clasped around her books. "I don't know what's going on here, but I left Mystic Falls behind. So leave me alone." Bonnie whirled and started walking, her happiness disappearing into sudden clouds blocking the sun.

"Wait! Wait, I...I'm like you, you know," Rebekah called, "I wanted to escape and I did. This is not a duplicitous circumstance, I promise you."

Bonnie willed her feet to keep northward but curiosity won out. She stopped for a second time. Rebekah smiled, grabbed her belongings, and hastened to join her. They started walking, silence and askance glances the only communication for several minutes. Bonnie found that all her questions had to do with people she placed in a walled up room. Rebekah seemed at a lost at how to begin again. Bonnie sighed and fished for a question that had nothing to do with anyone else.

"So tell me why this isn't a duplicitous circumstance? And if I find it hard to believe at first, it's because of our relatively brief shared history."

Rebekah tilted her head. "Well...when I awoke again, I had to make a choice. Stay and remain in the same blood soaked gyre that has been my life since, well, since I was born, or leave, take my life into my hands, do something with it. Klaus made it very easy. I had no one, not even Elijah. So I bought a ticket and found myself in California."

"Why college? Why this college?"

"How many times does a girl have to be daggered before Prom and every other dance to get the hint?"

A faint smile worked Bonnie's mouth. "True. But why Berkeley? You seem like a USC or a UCLA kind of girl."

"How do you mean?"

"I mean, they seem more your scene."

Rebekah lifted a shoulder. "It is, to say the truth. But..." she hesitated, "I have lived for millennia, I've been that girl for as long as I can remember. The world has changed and so must I."

For some inexplicable reason Bonnie believed her. I'm like you. Bonnie could find no common ground between them aside from their past associations and their college of choice, but in the years ahead she would find they were eerily similar.

They approached Foothills. Bonnie stopped before the climb. "When I come back from break, we should do lunch. Take out your phone, I'll give you my number."

They exchanged numbers and goodbyes. Bonnie watched Rebekah cross the street and turn behind a building. For all the strangeness of the encounter, Bonnie treated it as an ordinary coincidence. She felt that it was good, and if it wasn't, well, Bonnie Bennett wasn't the same witch that left Mystic Falls.

Damon leaned against the Camaro. He listened to the commencement, the speeches, the cheering, the variations of Pomp and Circumstance. He told himself he didn't care, but he listened for each of their names. Bonnie Bennett. Matt Donovan. Caroline Forbes. Elena Gilbert. Tyler Lockwood. He toed the newly planted turf near the football field. The sun was high and warm enough to do without a jacket. A breeze ruffled his hair into his eyes. In Italy he would cut it at the family barber.

Overlapping voices became distinct. Damon looked up to see a procession of casually dressed parents and graduates in fluttering red robes. He spotted Caroline's blonde head smiling and bobbing, an arm clasped around Tyler's waist. She pulled on someone and there was Elena, holding her cap to her head and her blank diploma to her chest. A brilliant smile outshone the sun. Damon mused on the curve of her cheek and the length and volume of her hair. Her eyes were luminous. He smiled when she laughed at something Caroline said.

His eyes slipped past the scene, following the movement of robes and gold tassels, caught and remained snagged on her face. The smile dropped. Bonnie stood with her father and Matt, watching as Matt received some parental attention and affection. She held a bouquet of wild flowers. A lavender petal brushed her cheek. Her green eyes were averted, crisscrossing over the crowd. They swept closer and closer to his perimeter. He straightened, took off his shades, held his breath.

"Hey," Elena said. She reached to place a kiss on his lips. Strawberries and cream. Elena stepped back with a hazy grin. Damon grinned as well, and put on the shades.

"You ready to go?"

Elena slanted an eye at him. She peered at the luggage in the backseat. "Go where?"

"Since you've done the impossible and graduated, I thought you should get a gift."

"Haha." Elena smiled and ran around to the passenger side. Damon started the car. Elena swiped the two plane tickets off the dash. He grinned as she squealed, wrapped her arms around his neck, and jostled his sunglasses with her lips. She was talking, her head on his shoulder, as they drove from the football field. Damon heard, but his eyes were on the rear view mirror, on the lingering, smiling form. He listened for her laugh. He took it all the way with him to Italy.