Disclaimer: I don't own The Vampire diaries, the characters, or the plots. If I did, Damon would be a lot nicer to Bonnie in the beginning.

Notes: Hey guys! I work in retail technology, so that's why I've been so slow updating lately (the holidays are NUTS). This chapter finally gets some resolve on what the problem is, but not how to solve it. Next chapter, you'll get some fun 1 on 1 time with Elena, and some with Damon as well- which of course will include some juicy flashbacks. You will soon get the smut you guys deserve! Again, to keep up the momentum on this fic, reviews are key! I am working on a pre-legacies fic with an uncommon pairing of Alaric + Elijah, and also a new Delena fic with religious undertones that will be my new 20+ chapter fic once this one is finished. Expect about 5 more chapters out of this one :D

"Now, hopefully you ended on a good note, because it's time to get down to business." Bonnie tapped a napkin to her lips, dabbing off the remnants of powdered sugar. Her posture was straight, resolute, and commanding. She rose, the whole room hanging on her every movement. "Why don't we all move to the living room." In a swift motion, she strode off, everyone staring ahead speechless. Caroline and Stefan followed her immediately, loyal as baby ducklings, their desire to 'fix' Elena unwavering.

Alaric and Damon hung behind, still unsure of what to do with a still incredibly drunk Elena. Alaric poured the last of the coffee from the stainless steel carafe into a mug, gently nudging it toward Elena.

"Hey, take it from me, you'll feel much better if you drink coffee-" He dug into his bag that had been sitting on the floor by his chair. "and take a few of these. Aspirin, coffee, and all of those carbs you just ate should sober you up in no time."

"While that is sage advice from a certified alcoholic," Damon paused, upending the remainder of his booze-filled coffee. " I think I have an easier and more efficient solution." Damon's eyes darted left and right . "Just checking to make sure no one judgy is in the room before I do this." He rolled his eyes, mumbling half under his breath. Crunching into his firm flesh, he bore two, fang-shaped holes in his wrist. He clenched his other hand around the wound, squeezing a few choice drops of blood into Elena's coffee."There, now that's really good for what ails 'ya."

"Damon! You can't just keep doing that any time Elena has a problem." Alaric put his hands to his temples, massaging small circles. What the hell am I going to do with these two.

"Ok, responsible guardian. Would you rather her just use your favorite go-to hair of the dog trick?" Alaric looked up, cringing at Damon's words, feeling called out.

Elena watched on as Damon and Alaric bickered, sheepishly dragging her coffee cup back in front of her. She picked it up with shaky hands, cradling the mug like it was full of liquid gold. She took long sips, her eyes rolling back into her head at the addictively familiar flavor of Damon's blood. A small moan escaped her throat, prompting an eye roll from Alaric.

"I mean look at her Damon." He aggressively gestured toward Elena. "What the hell are you even doing here? She's just a kid. She doesn't need a murderous, older, vampire boyfriend."

"Stefan was 150 years old. I don't think four years plus or minus is statistically significant at that point."

"Statistically significant? Really Damon?" Alaric pressed his lips into a sassy line.

"What? I studied financial analytics at Columbia in the 70's. I didn't just drink at CBGB's the whole time." Elena perked up at the mention of New York.

"Is that when you bought your fancy apartment?" Elena giggled.

"Elena, that is the least of our-" Alaric chimed in, actively avoiding any interruptions in this conversation that would derail it from the point.

"Actually Elena, yes- it is." Damon smiled, his voice chipper, a purposeful diversion from Alaric's inquisition. Back then, TriBeCa was a desolate dump. I got in on the ground floor there… not that I couldn't afford it now." He turned to Alaric, smirking. Hit him right where it hurts- in the teacher salary.

"I'm well aware." Alaric deadpanned. "I saw the heaps of boxes in Elena's room at your loft. What did you do? Get Elena her own credit card?"

"Oh, he just lets me use his!-" Elena chirped. Alaric ignored her.

"Answer my original question, Damon. What are you doing here. With her."

"Ooh, don't get all touchy. Are you asking me my intentions? Nobody has asked me my intentions with a woman since 1864." He mocked surprise, putting his hand to his chest.

"I'm serious. She's not Katherine. She isn't going to play both of you. But somehow, you convinced her to dump Stefan. I know we had our bonding session after Elena came back to Mystic Falls. I know that you're having some supernatural disease, but that doesn't excuse anything. I thought we were past this, I thought you were going to leave her alone, but last night you proved me wrong- again."

"Honestly Ric, are you really surprised? What did you think was going to happen bringing me back here?"

"I don't know Damon? Maybe I thought you cared enough about Elena to not jailbreak her from her hospital bed. How did you manage that by the way? Give her more of her blood? I saw how she just looked when you did that- like a frickin' addict."

"I'm right here by the way… and Alaric, you sat here and let me drink that blood-coffee. You didn't exactly… stop me?" Elena furrowed her brow, cocking her head to the side in a taunt.

"I know you're old Damon, but are you blind in your old age? Since when does Elena act like that?" He pointed to Elena, who threw him a glare. "That's why we're really concerned. She isn't acting like herself." He paused, taking a breath. He knew Damon wasn't going to like what he was about to say. "She's acting like you."

The vampire blood was pumping through her system, returning the blood vessels in her brain back to their normal state, quickly reducing her inebriation. Her mental acuity was returning, and with it her annoyance with the current conversation. Damon picked up on this- he could smell the change in her blood, her sweat. The alcohol flush was leaving her cheeks, the golden olive tone unmuddled. Alaric was too invested in the argument to notice, and Damon was completely ready to hear how Elena would fire back. He loved it when people were caught off guard, the chaos was a part of his nature.

"What's wrong with that." Elena's voice was flat. "Everyone is so quick to make Damon the villain, but at least he embraces who he is. Has anyone stopped to consider that maybe I'm not acting like him- maybe I'm acting like myself. I get that Caroline, Bonnie and Stefan don't understand, but I thought you were better than that, since you're Damon's best friend." Elena stood up, taking a deep breath and standing tall. The dining room table became her soapbox. "Nobody ever lets me make decisions, but Damon does. He lets me figure out who I am for myself. He encourages me to have fun and not mope around like the 16 year old girl whose parents died on Wickery bridge. You don't know what I was like before that Alaric. I was a cheerleader who did keg stands on the weekends. I dated the quarterback. I was catty, energetic, fun."

Alaric sat silent. There were a million thoughts floating in his head. He wanted to yell at her, send her to her room, something fatherly. He wanted to slap his friend across the face and tell him to leave her alone, to stop corrupting her. But instead, he sat silent. Elena was right, nobody did let her live her own life- he just wished that Damon wasn't the one encouraging her to figure out who she was. God, Caroline might be annoying, but she's at least not a homicidal maniac.

Alaric scoffed internally at the fact that even that one of the least homicidal people he knew was still a killer, who has killed people. My life is such a wreck. No wonder I'm an alcoholic.

"Ugh where are Damon, Elena and Alaric. Can't they take anything seriously?" Caroline huffed, crossing her arms in disgust. "I'm just going to go get them."

"Actually, Caroline, it might be best if I explain this to you and Stefan alone first, it's a bit heavy." Bonnie chewed the inside of her cheek, her confidence waning as she was finally faced with explaining the incredibly awkward situation.

"What do you mean, it's better if it's only us? Is it going to make them upset?" Stefan furrowed his brow, leaning forward from his place on the couch in concern.

"Look, I won't beat around the bush here, so I'll tell you first and then explain. Damon and Elena are linked. On a physical and spiritual level."

Stefan and Caroline were transfixed on Bonnie, anxiously waiting for an explanation.

"The closest term that I can explain it in is that they are each other's familiars."

"You mean like Sabrina's cat?" Caroline was incredibly confused. She was expecting for there to be a simple explanation- a spell, compulsion, something to explain Elena's behavior. This was worse.

"Yes, something like that. Damon and Elena were… sharing blood for quite a while, and this created a very strong linkage. I'm not sure about the specifics, I would have to ask them myself, but I imagine they were feeling a bunch of psychic side effects- intuition, hearing each other's thoughts, feeling the same sensations. The most obvious one is what Elena and Damon were experiencing when they got sick. With a witch and her familiar, if they are separated too far, their magic begins to fade, and their health can begin to fade as well- now since witches and familiars are usually non compatible species, the physical effects are not as well documented. I pored over research, and I've found a couple of similar stories that I'm going to draw techniques from, but un-linking them won't be pleasant- for any of us."

"Wait, Bonnie. This sounds like something called a sire bond. They're very rare, and I don't know a lot about it, but I know Damon's done it to someone else before." Stefan was convinced this was Damon's fault, that Elena was just a victim of his manipulation.

"Well not quite. I looked into that. Sire bonds only form when someone is turned by a vampire who they already have strong feelings for. So if that did happen to Damon in the past, none of that is his fault, it just means the person he turned had incredibly strong feelings for him when they were still human. And Elena is still human so…" Bonnie trailed.

Caroline had been hoping that Stefan was right, feeling defeated when his suggestion was shot down.

"Well, plus, there's no way that Elena has real feelings for Damon, so that would never happen." Caroline retorted confidently, "I still stand by the fact that Damon compelled Elena. Don't you think that makes a lot more sense Bonnie? I mean, Damon probably just got sick after we brought Elena home because he went on some kind of tortured bender." She scowled, her hatred for Damon looming over her.

"Care, he was vomiting blood, that doesn't happen from a hangover." Stefan spoke quietly. As upset as he was about Elena, he was worried for his brother. He had never heard of a vampire getting sick, except in the case of werewolf bites. He hated himself for not being there for his brother, for being with Katherine instead. Up until now, he had been so busy hating Damon for stealing Elena that he didn't even consider how his brother was feeling. "I think Bonnie is right. They must be linked. I hate it, but I think it's true. Now, is this link a two way street? Did Damon do this on his own?"

"Well, I don't know their motives, but no. A witch and her familiar choose each other. It's a mutual choice. A witch can't just choose a familiar as her slave, and since this situation mimics that so closely, I can't imagine that it could have only been from Damon. They both had to have feelings in this situation, at least to some extent. The blood sealed it, but it wasn't the original seed planted." Bonnie took in a jagged breath, holding it in and waiting for a reaction from the two blank expressions in front of her.

"UGH! But why would Elena do that. He had to have compelled her to want that."

"Caroline, that's not constructive. We have this problem, we have to solve it. None of us like it, but let's just move on."

"But did you find out a way to tell if she's been compelled?"

"I can, but it won't exactly tell me what she was compelled to do, who compelled her or what it was about."

"It's not like she's on vervain, or else Damon wouldn't be able to drink her blood." Caroline accused.

"Actually Care, no. He's been drinking vervain every day since he found out that the originals can compel us. It's how Katherine has survived running from them all these years. I'm sure the little bit in her blood from her necklace or that she drinks in her coffee wouldn't affect him at all." Stefan was growing more and more resigned, as the holes in his original theories were all falling through. "So, what do we need to do Bonnie?"

"For that part, we should wait until everyone else is in here, because it's going to be a real team effort."

Like clockwork, Elena walked into the living room, Alaric and Damon following at her coattails. She seemed remarkably more sober than she had just a few minutes ago, which didn't go unnoticed by the rest of the group. Elena took a spot on the couch opposite of Caroline and Stefan, leaning into the plush pillows and bringing her feet up to sit curled comfortably on the couch. Damon walked over to a chair in the corner, picking up a soft wool blanket and tossing it over to Elena before standing over by the table and pouring himself a glass of bourbon. Elena wrapped herself up, settling in for what she knew was going to be a long, tedious discussion about something supernatural.

Alaric took a seat in an armchair near the fire, mentally preparing for how terribly this conversation between the two groups was going to go. He had no idea what Bonnie was about to dish out, but he knew for a fact that Damon wouldn't like it. He wanted to go over and pour himself a glass of bourbon, but Damon's harsh words still rang clear in his head. Maybe I should start cutting back. To be honest, I really shouldn't be driving anywhere most of the time. Alaric took note that at some point, when the drama dies down, he should go to a doctor for a liver panel.

"Ok, well, now that everyone is here, I'll just re-state what I already told Stefan and Caroline. Elena," She turned to her friend, still avoiding directly addressing Damon. "You and Damon have a psychic connection. Essentially, he is your familiar. That's why you both got so sick when you were separated. This is probably a deeper seeded issue, but sharing so much blood definitely triggered this bizarre familiar-type behavior. This isn't a well documented phenomenon, and while it's exciting that I'll get to document it in my personal grimoire, it means we will have to work with some trial and error here." She took a deep breath before opening a notebook, glancing at the page and continuing.

"I have a list of questions that I have to ask both of you, but I think for everyone's sake it's best to answer them privately. I don't want anyone else knowing what I asked, and I will cast a spell after to make you forget the questions. It is critical here that any bias is removed from the experiment. I'll burn sage to make sure nobody can listen outside the rooms…" She glanced at Caroline, knowing her friend was the queen of busy-bodies. 'To make things easier, I've gathered herbs to make a truth-serum tea, to make sure that neither of you lie to me." Her eyes shot to Damon, boring holes into him fierce enough to stake him in the heart."

"Hey little miss Dr. Hyde, I might be a lot of things, but when it comes to kiss and tell, I always tell. Proudly." Damon taunted. Bonnie refused to justify his banter with a comment.

"So, before I start the inquisition, there are a few baseline things that I know we are going to try regardless of how they answer the questions. There are two cells in the basement, correct?"

Stefan looked at Bonnie, a bit confused.

"Yes, but…. You're not considering locking up Elena too, are you?" Alaric spoke up for the first time.

"Well Stefan, I don't see why Elena deserves any kind of special treatment here. Her bad behavior is the majority of the problem here. She is honestly the one acting out of character here anyway. There are consequences for your actions Elena." Stefan stood up, feeling protective and defensive.

"There are better consequences than locking her in the cellar in a jail cell Ric! She's not a monster. Come on, this is Elena." Stefan knew he would need at least one other person on his side to make this a fair argument, so he turned to the one other person he knew cared about Elena as much as he did. "Damon, back me up here. You can't possibly agree that Elena should be locked up in a dusty, cold cellar."

"Well Steffie, actually if I have to be locked up than she should too. Because, by that logic, if nobody wants to lock sweet, innocent Elena up, then I can't be locked up either- but I know that things don't work that way around here and you all would much rather put her up in the Ritz and leave me in the basement to rot." He spat out the last word, throwing verbal daggers to the majority of the people in the room. Alaric raised his eyebrows, shrugging in agreement. "Plus, Ric is right. If you're so concerned that there must be something supernaturally wrong with Elena, then maybe you should treat her like the danger to herself you think she is. Plus, if you think I'm a bad influence on her, who knows? Next she might just start snapping necks too-" He dramatically vamp-sped over to the couch, putting his hands around Stefan's head in neck-breaking position. "and that definitely wouldn't be a good look for her, now would it?" He sped back to where his half-finished glass of bourbon was, shooting a look at his brother.

Stefan was clearly flustered he couldn't get anyone to agree with him, running his fingers through his voluminous hair, mentally grasping at straws as he tried to find a way to save Elena from spending an indefinite amount of time in the dungeons below the boarding house.

"Guys, this isn't being very productive. Can't we just listen to Bonnie? She clearly knows more about it than we do." Caroline chided, her head resting in her hand, her annoyance at all the immature men in the room nearing the max limit.

"Ok Caroline, then here's what we are going to do." Bonnie closed her notebook. "Caroline, go get some of Elena's things from her house. We don't know how long she's going to stay here, so she'll need clothes, her journal- I'm sure you can handle it. Stefan, I'm talking to Elena first, that puts you on bodyguard duty. When I'm done with Elena, hopefully Caroline is back because I don't trust you to not let her out."

"So, Bonnie- where exactly do I fit into this?" Alaric looked confused.

"Well, part of this is separating their blood supplies. This means we have to pump Damon full of someone else's blood. Since Alaric is both incapable of picking out clothes for Elena, and Stefan can't be trusted at a hospital blood bank, that leaves you to go pick up ample blood bags for Damon."

"And exactly how am I going to do that without compulsion? Did you forget that I'm a normal human and if I get caught I can be arrested?" Bonnie mentally face-palmed.

"No, you're right. Ugh, fine. Caroline, swing by the blood bank on your way back. Alaric, you're on bodyguard duty, I know you won't let either of them out." Bonnie was confident in her new decision.

"So, where does that leave me?" Stefan looked to Bonnie for answers. He didn't want to feel useless.

"Well, you're too emotionally invested to deal with Elena, but you might be useful for some of the plans I have for Damon. Oh, wait! I'm assuming that the rooms downstairs aren't incredibly comfortable, why don't you grab some things for Damon as well and then maybe a space heater for Elena. We don't want her to get sick, and once the vampire blood is out of her system, her immune system might fight back. Also, make sure you go hunt- we will be talking about blood a lot and the less tempted you are the better."

Stefan still felt relatively useless, but regardless, he would do whatever he had to to help get Elena back. After his indiscretions with Katherine, he wasn't sure if Elena could ever forgive him.

Stefan and Caroline went separate ways, leaving Bonnie, Alaric, Elena and Damon in the parlor.

"Ok then, let's get to it." Bonnie half-smiled. Damon turned to Alaric, plastering on a signature smirk.

"Alright bad boy, bust out the handcuffs and lock me up. Time to get kink- uughf" Before Damon could finish the sentence, a blur of brown hair and pale skin rushed into the room, and Damon collapsed to the ground, his neck emitting a loud crack. Stefan stood next to his brother panting, looking a bit proud.

"That vervain should keep him down long enough to get him into the cellar. His neck is also broken, but that might only last five minutes or so. I know he played along well with this whole plan so far, but I know my brother. He never would have gone along with getting locked up like that. Sure, he nodded and smiled along, but when it came to it he would bolt. It was a pretty big hole in the plan, so instead of going out to hunt, I went and fetched this-" He knelt down, removing the large syringe from his brother's neck. "Now, this might just be my opinion, but I think he will be much more… complacent if we keep pumping him full of this."

I'm not so useless after all.