Best Friend

Part 27 - Where we are, Where we've been

R-M

A/N I just want to apologize for this stories long and overdue update. And to let you all know I do not INTEND to abandon my BAMON stories. Thanks for all of your continued support. ;)


Mason stood there looking between Bonnie and Sybil, unsure of what exactly to say. Sybil looked snide as always, and Bonnie wanted to smack her smug look off her face. Too many smug looks from this woman, were triggering Bonnie. She knew at this point the doctor's words made since. Her avoidance, had become a problem. She was coping in an unhealthy way, and she realized at that moment, she was angry. "What the hell, is she doing here Mase?"

"She's umm, she's my girlfriend Bon."

"What?!" Bonnie yelled. "You're kidding me, right? This is a joke, correct."

He shook his head, and looked down. "It's not a joke."

"Wow. Wow. You can't even look me in the face, can you? This woman, is the same woman who manipulated me years ago, and this is the woman you choose?" She looked at Mason full of disappointment. It brought her back to Damon, and the day, she saw he and Sybil together for the first time in person.

(Sheila's Funeral)

It had been literal weeks since she'd seen Damon. She was visiting grams right after ending things with Kol. She and Damon had made love again, and he made her promise she'd always be his. Then they went their separate ways. They didn't speak. She didn't call him, and she kept living her life. A month went by before she got the phone call. Kol flew back home with Bonnie, as he knew Sheila as well. His brother had been helping Abby with getting things together. They were having one last car wash in her name. The pictures went up on social media accounts for nearly everyone in town that Damon knew. Matt, Zack, Stefan, the Church's, and in all of the pictures he kept seeing Bonnie and Kol, in the car wash pictures. He wasn't aware they were broken up. He thought they were still together. He couldn't face coming home alone. Seeing Sheila in a casket, and Bonnie with Kol. He couldn't handle it alone. He couldn't deal with Sheila's death and Bonnie's happiness being thrown in his face. So, he asked Sybil to attend the funeral with him. Although they were still casual at that point, he couldn't go alone.

The night before the funeral, Damon went to pay his respects to Abby. Bonnie was in her room and wouldn't come out. "Doodle, she is devastated. Maybe, you should go upstairs and speak to her, I'm sure she'd like that."

Damon gave it a lot of thought, and at that point, Kol and Nik walked back into the house. The one man he didn't want to see, walking in comfortably. He remembers the day and time Kol had to ring the bell. Now, he was just walking in like he was family, which lead Damon further to believe, Kol and Bonnie reconciled. He looked at Abby, to answer. "No ma'am. I probably shouldn't." He hugged her one last time, and walked out past Kol, and Nik without so much as a word of glance.

"He is probably taking this very hard."

Abby squared her eyes in shock. She had no idea what had gotten into him, but she just knew, he and Bonnie probably needed the space. "Maybe so."

"Bonnie still hasn't come down?" Kol asked.

"No, she hasn't."

"I should give her space. After the break up, I don't want her to feel crowded. I'll be back by in the morning, to check on her."

"Okay, Kol. Thank you." He left his brother there, and headed back out to his car, feeling helpless. He saw Damon pulling off with a woman driving his truck. He thought it was peculiar, but he left it alone.

.x.

After the service, Bonnie didn't even go to the burial. The minute she saw Damon standing next to Stefan, she felt more emotions than she was ready for. Hugging him was all that felt right, but as the service ended, she headed out so talk to him, and she saw that she recognized the familiar face in his passenger seat. Sybil.

She wasn't inside the service, but she waited in the car.

When she realized the things around her were caving in, she turned to see him heading out of the service. He hugged Abby, and walked back towards his truck. She was over it all. She left before hell could break lose. Bringing that woman to Mystic Falls. Brining her around the one person who fought harder for Damon and Bonnie, then Damon and Bonnie. Her grams, his grams. Grams to them both.

She didn't even take part in talking to people during the homecoming. When everyone met at Abby's house, for the afterlife celebration. She walked over to the Salvatore's barn. She knew no one would be there. Damon never spent time with his horses anymore, since leaving for the army. Sheila, his favorite horse was there.

She changed her clothes. She put on strappy dress, and some boots. Her favorite boots. She hadn't worn them in a while. She left them at home, while she was in LA. Her hair was still long at this point. Just weeks ago, grams and Damon brushed and braided it. Or tried to before she stormed off angrily.

Now she walked calmly towards the barn, passing her small patch of tulips in the Salvatore's garden. She grabbed a few, and kept walking until she hit the barn door. Tears steadily falling from her eyes, thinking about Grams, and Damon. And this, reminded her of Baylee. She pulled the heavy door open, and when she went inside, she looked directly for Sheila. Sheila wasn't there.

So, she sat on a barrel of hay, and cried her eyes out. Her face was red, and her eyes were burning. She wanted to talk to her father right now, but honestly, the thought of him didn't pop into her mind, with the pain of everything already happening.

After about ten minutes, the back barn doors opened, and Damon was walking Sheila inside. She saw him, before he saw her, and she tried to leave the barn the way she came. When he caught her, he called out to her.

"Bird? Chu doin' in here?"

"Nothin' Doodle. I'm leavin' right now." She said.

"Wait. I- uh. I was ridin' Sheila. She's such a good horse." He said, rubbing her gently between the eyes. He leads her gently inside of her fenced area, and spoke to her a few minutes. Bonnie watched him, but felt the need to leave. She had anger towards him, and nothing, not even his gentle love for Sheila could calm her. She turned and headed towards the barn door, to leave.

He debated watching her leave, and letting her go. "Bird!"

She stopped dead in her tracks and bit back tears.

"I didn't take her inside the service."

She didn't care about his words. She pushed for the barn door, and he ran towards her and pulled her back inside. Dragging her against her anger. She had no words for him. She pulled away from him, trying to leave, and he wrapped his arms around her and carried her against her will back inside the barn.

"Let me go, Damon!"

"Don't call me that."

"You're not the man, I once loved. You're not him, you son-of-a-bitch." He fought her body and tried to explain. His arms grabbing her arms, and her arms, hitting any part of his body she could get to. When she looked at his hat she hit it off his head.

"Calm down, Bird."

"Fuck You Damon. I hate you." She hit him as much she could, until she exhausted herself.

"What do you expect? You and Kol's pictures are all over the place. Throwing your relationship in my face. I'm a man Bird that shit hurts me too." He yelled.

"Kol and I broke up. Weeks ago. I thought, you and I were... never mind. Just stay the fuck away from me." She yelled. He grabbed her room roughly, and at that moment, Stefan walked in.

"Aye, I heard ya'll from the house! And if I can hear ya'll, everyone can hear ya'll."

"Were good Stefan!" Damon yelled.

"No, we ain't."

"Bonnie stop being a fuckin' brat!" He yelled in her face. She took her hand and slapped him.

SLAP!

He held his face, and Stefan ran to grab him, before he overreacted. Then, Damon stopped him. "Get the fuck out of here, Stefan!"

"Why? So, you can't hear him tell you, how wrong it was to bring that bitch to grams funeral. Fuck you Damon. Go to hell!" He'd had enough. He lifted her up and threw her over his shoulder. He looked at Stefan, and Stefan knew, he couldn't interfere at this point. At this point, the two of them were in Doodle and Bird world, and they were a tornado running through field. Stefan quietly stepped out, and when Damon pushed the door closed, he dropped the four by four to lock it, then picked up his favorite hat, which she smacked off his head. Then after he put it on his head, he smacked her ass while she was over his shoulder and carried her to a further, darker, empty side of the barn.

"No, Doodle." She swung her arms and legs while he held her over his shoulders.

"It's you. It's always been you. Why did you throw my tulips? You know I planted those for you, on your prom night? What has Kol ever done?"

"He's been amazing Damon, he's amazing. I love him!" Hearing those words hurt his heart, so bad, he was sure she'd bruised it. He may have been a man, but he hurt too.

"You kill me Bird. Boy oh boy, do you know how to cut a man deep." He said with a fallen face and a dim glance, that had no twinkle to his eyes.

"It doesn't matter how much I love him. How great he is. How much he wants to make me happy. He isn't you. He never has been, and he knows it. I've tried to read you and understand you, and this... his takes the cake. Sybil?"

"When you left I had no one Bird. Mike is stationed somewhere else now. You don't give a fuck about me. She listens. I need a friend too. You ain't the only one who needs somebody."

"My friend, Damon? Or I thought she was."

"Grams-"

"Don't you say her name. You brought that woman here, and you should really be shamed."

"I'm shamed. I am, but-"

"But nothin' Damon."

"Stop callin' me that!" He slung her body towards his and stole a kiss from her. She couldn't help but let him kiss her, because in her mind, this was the very last time. She'd never touch him or kiss him again, after today. Their kiss turned to passionate touches, and Damon unbuttoned his belt, and unzipped his pants, taking them off along with his boots. She'd, torn his shirt open, and before she knew it her panties were gone, and her dress was being pulled over the top of her head, and he was slamming her into a wooden wall. He put his hat on her and lifted her into the air, placing her on his member, and they both exhaled. They lost themselves into each other and in the madness. He fucked her hard against the wooden wall, and deep enough to make her scream. Sheila watched them while she ate her hay.

His heavy breathing and her moans made for the only music the two of them relaxed to. He finally let their bodies hit the floor, and sweat dripped from him as he fucked her missionary style.

Damon and Bonnie made love, in the most aggressive way. In the most emotional way. He cried, into her cries. And they both, must've known this was the last time. Because after they were done, Bonnie, got up with no words. She got dressed, while he dressed. She gave him his hat back, and he just looked at her. She picked up one of the tulips she'd thrown. And handed it to him.

"Bye, Damon." She called him by his first name again, and left.

Somehow with clarity this time. They'd said their goodbyes, one last time. Her and Kol were broken up. Grams was gone. Baylee was her best memory. And she was officially walking away from her past with no ties to it. She was ready for a brand-new start.

After six weeks, she started feeling sick.

After eight weeks, she took a test.

After ten weeks, she'd accepted what was happening. At the three-month mark, she thought she should tell Damon. So, she decided to check up on him. She found pictures of him and Sybil, on Sybil's social media accounts. They looked happy. Or, at least, he was pacifying it as happiness.

So, it made sense to leave it alone. He'd moved on, she'd moved on.

She needed to keep her mind open on her fresh start.

At the start of her fourth month she'd met Ginny, Damon had gotten serious with Sybil, and the rest is history.

.x.

Mason walked out of his bedroom, where Sybil was waiting for Bonnie and Mason to have a private conversation. He sat on the living room couch, and she remained standing. She wasn't angry he'd moved on. She was angry that of all the people, it was Sybil.

"Why?"

"Bonnie, you don't have the right. You left me for your ex."

"No Mase. You pushed me away. You neglected my son and my feelings. I loved you. I mean, I love you, but, I just... we weren't right for each other."

"No, you were perfect for me Bon. You were. But I wasn't him. I saw it while I was there. And when I connected with Sybil, I guess it's the problem she had with him. She wasn't you. The two of you are never going to love anyone, the way you love each other. It's fine, I've come to terms with it. Well, I haven't. I'm angry at you. I really am. And I'm sorry for neglecting Dylan. It's just he was my kid. My son! Then I met his real dad, and realized he'd never looked at me the way he looked at his Damon. Sybil noticed... she and I were meant to meet, Bon. So yeah, things seem quick, but I'm almost forty. She's almost forty. For us, we're ready."

"So, what? She gets our wedding this year? She gets Europe, and the condo?"

"Bonnie, she gets all of the things that you don't want. You want a small town, and a house, in the south, with a simple life. You don't want this."

She didn't get it, but she still argued. "I love LA. This is my home."

"No. LA is your escape. You love Mystic Falls. And I get it. I saw it when I was there. I had to stay on business calls to keep from watching the way you and Damon looked at each other. The way Dylan looked at me differently once he met his father. I lost my family Bonnie. I lost you guys. And in Damon's mind, I stole you. Who's really wrong here? Nobody. We are all adults."

"Listen, whatever. I just... I need to get my things, and go. This isn't supposed to be drawn out. I need to get back to... to... I need to get back to him. He needs me."

"Damon?"

"Yes. He's back there, and that's why I'm here. I need to get my things, and go back. Being here, isn't where I want to be. You're right. Because I don't want to be anywhere, he's not."

"And Dylan? He's there, with him?"

"Yes. He's with his father. He and Damon, are very inseparable."

Mason felt it hit him in his emotional place, hearing that. He knew she needed to be with Damon. He knew she loved Damon. He felt it all between them when he was there. "You know, I think subconsciously I pushed you away. Realizing I wasn't him, and seeing the way you and Damon looked at each other. I sabotaged us, because I honestly knew, once you went back there, and I saw the two of you... I knew we were done. Probably much before you did. And I know he's really loves you by the way he could've treated me like shit, and didn't. Then you got back to LA, and I tried to talk myself out of what I was feeling, thinking we could work it out, but once I came home and he was here, in my house... I was ready to let you go, because, I knew, man to man, he wasn't going anywhere anytime soon."

"Yeah. Well, we've been through a lot, he and I. So, the point we are at right now, is dealing with it." She sighed, wiping her tears. "Gosh, let me shut up. Anyways, here... I brought you this?" She handed him a fifty-thousand-dollar ring. "I sure hope you're making the right decision, Mason. You are a good man, and you deserve happiness. Regardless of how we ended, I love you. I always will. And I want you to be happy. I'm sorry I couldn't give that to you."

"I'm sorry I couldn't give it to you." He said. They hugged, like two friends, who used to date, and still loved each other. Almost two years together, living together, engaged, and raising Dylan. He squeezed her, and kissed her on the forehead. "Anyways, we should give you privacy. We have an appointment with a wedding planner."

"Wow, doing it big, huh?"

"You know me, Bon. Go big or go home."

"True." She smiled. "I really don't want to speak to her. So, if you don't mind I'll head to the second room to start grabbing Dylan's things. And, maybe I'll see you one day, Mase."

"I hope you have a happy life Bonnie. I really do." She gave him a small smile and went to the second bedroom. She had no words for Sybil. She didn't hate Sybil, but second time around, was too much. She needed a drink. Her emotions were all over the place.

.x.

Back in Mystic Falls, Damon had just finished his physical therapy. It's been close to four months. He was finally able to put a little pressure on his left leg. His strength building had improved, and while his new physical therapist was patient. He'd have to admit, Bonnie was much better at her job.

The fact that she worked so hard on her body and strength building, made her really able, when it came to holding, lifting, and handling all of his body weight. But, in a way, this made him work harder. He was tired of the wheelchair, and he started watching it collect dust. He was on his crutches more often than not. When, Giuseppe dropped he and his son off at home, he realized he had a lot of time to kill today, because he didn't go to the Brandin' Iron again until tomorrow.

"Baby boy, com'ere." He said, when his son, waddled towards the couch to finish the nap, he was starting to take in the car. He grabbed his son, to help him get ready for his nap, then he noticed the poor boy was overheated, and all of that hair was moist with sweat from the heat of the summer. The young boy rubbed his eyes tirelessly, but was uncomfortably hot. Damon lifted his son, and carried him to the bathroom.

"Let's take of your shirt, so you can cool down." He said. But his son was irritated by his hair which kept falling in his eyes.

Damon rummaged around the bathroom inside of makeup cases and hair product containers, and found a pair of trimming scissors. He was initially gonna just put his hair in a baby bun, the way Bonnie loved it. But he figured, "Now's as good a time as any." He turned his son towards the mirror and put his hair in a low ponytail. Then, he chopped it off. "Aww shit. I'm in trouble now. May as well keep goin' baby boy. He took the ponytail holder out, and started to clip the hair slowly.

When Dimitri, first saw the hair fall he said, "Uh oh." And his mouth went into the "O" shape. Then his big, grey eyes, kept following lock after lock to the ground or cabinet top. "Whay it go, dad dee?" He asked.

"Where'd it go? It went bye bye."

Dimitri laughed and looked at Damon through the mirror and laughed at his daddy. "Bye bye dad dee." Then he waived bye, and laughed, covering his mouth. Again, his bright-eyed smile couldn't get enough of the change he was seeing in the mirror. He wiggled his body from left to right, slowly, and said, "Bye byeeee. Bye byeee." Like a song, and dance. And for whatever reason, whenever he locked eyes with his father he started to crack up laughing.

"Dang, you just got the giggles today, then. Don't ya?"

He nodded his head and picked up hair analyzing it, letting his little fingers play with it.

Every time a lock of his son's black hair fell, Damon felt instant guilt for not telling Bonnie what he was doing. And even if he'd talked about it with his son, just for shits and giggles, it was never a plan to cut it. But clip after clip, after clip later, the boy's hair was shorter and shorter. Until finally Damon turned him around to face him. He grabbed the entirety of the hair in his son's face, and held it up between his fingers, and trimmed it just about an inch from the root. When he was done trimming, he pulled out his clippers, and began shaving the sides down. It was official. His son went from shoulder length mess, to a damn near fade. It took about thirty minutes to get him together. He felt like he was back in the Army again, helping Privates out with haircuts.

He looked at it, finally finishing. His son looked up at him, and finally without all the dark black hair, he saw his beautiful crystal eyes. "Hot damn you're a good lookin' kid." He turned his son towards the mirror. When the young boy saw his face, and hair gone. He was initially in shock. He didn't recognize himself. He touched the mirror with his little fingers. "Like your new hair, baby boy?"

The young boy looked in the mirror and back at his father. "Me, Dad dee?"

That fact that he barely recognized himself let Damon know, he'd done the right thing, by cutting it. "Yeah son, it's you. He turned him again towards the mirror, and they both looked. Then Damon hugged his son from behind, pulling up his shirt and poking his stomach, so he'd realize it's him when he looked into the mirror. He laughed. And smiled. He loved his new haircut. And come to find out the top of his head carried the cutest smallest curls.

"Pweeetttty dad dee."

"You look handsome." Damon laughed.

"Yay." The little boy with a heart of gold, and the only child's syndrome, who had his daddy wrapped around his finger, was now the happiest kid in the world was clapping. At what cost...? Oh, probably just Bonnie's broken heart. This, wasn't going to be easy.

.x.

After about an hour of getting everything together, Bonnie called Stefan and Ginny to comeback.

They used a few good hours to pack up Dylan Dimitri's room, and all of her belongings, including stuff she had in storage, like training equipment for her clients. It had been a long, emotional day.

It wasn't so much, Mason and Sybil as it was her entire life doing another hundred and eighty degrees before her eyes. Her life always felt like adjusting and rearranging. She took Stefan and Ginny out for drinks, so she could clear her mind before sleeping.

"I can't believe they are together."

"Me either Gin. But, if I'm being honest, and I will NEVER, EVER, EVER take up for Sybil. Lord Knows I can't stand her. But, if I'm being honest, Damon and I both had some wrongs doings too. Not just Mason and Sybil. Damon and I played our awful parts in that whole situation. And according to Mason, both he and Sybil said they had no chances with me and Doodle, because we could never love anyone the way we loved each other."

"Maybe that is true. But it doesn't change the fact Sybil dated two men you loved. Good thing you never introduced her to Kol."

"She's only guilty of looking for love." Stefan said. "Granted, in all the wrong places. And trust me, I could not stand that woman, but all any of us want, in this life, is to love and be loved. By the right person." He looked to Ginny.

"Yeah, well, I guess people deserve happiness. And, I'm just happy it's all behind me. I gave him back that large diamond that was big enough to put a down payment on a new house." Bonnie laughed. "Lord knows, Doodle and I need the money. But, I had to let go of my past with Mason today, and I think I also let the pain Sybil created go too."

"I'm glad babe. I'm happy Dylan has an opportunity to be with his mother and father." Ginny said.

Stefan added, "I'll toast to that…. To baby boy."

"To baby boy." They all took a shot.

"I just don't get it, I mean, every few years, I'm living somewhere different. Now, of all the places I'm going back home?"

"But, Bon, you seem most comfortable there. Honestly." Ginny said.

"Yeah, and the first time I leave Mystic Falls, I'm just doing it to bring you back." Stefan laughed.

"Yeah, well, now you really have reasons to be there. You've got the Brandin Iron, which is successful. Then you have Sarah and Oliver. I just think, that your life, is really rich in meaning right now Stefan."

"Well, Bird... I guess, I'm adultin' now. That what they call it?"

"Yup. Story of my life. Adulting. I'm pretty bad at it." Ginny added. "I need like, a guide book. You think they have one at the DMV?"

"No, they don't even have a good driving manual at the DMV. You want a guide to adultin' in modern day America... Do it all the way your parents tell you not to, at first. Only to find out, that after you didn't listen, they were right, half the time."

Stefan, getting drunker, by the second, chimed in. "Hell naw. If I'da listened to old G and Lily, I swear I'd be worse off." He slammed his beer bottle on the table, waiting for another. "G screwed D, all up."

"Well, my momma, didn't help. Especially since, my momma and your daddy, was getting it on for like, I don't know almost the whole time me and Doodle have been in our dysfunctionalship. Hell, we are dysfunctional, because of G and my momma." She and Stefan both laughed at the ridiculousness that was Abby and G. The secret meetings, the whispers, the dinners, the sneaking around. It all boiled down to two people. Who needed something, they could only get from each other. Right, or wrong, it happened. And it needed to, for them to see it wasn't meant to be. Abby is now happy with Nik, and G is happy with his wife. All it took, was years of sneaking around to see it was awful. When technically if you have to sneak, you know from day one. The irony wasn't funny, but you had to laugh because, it was so wrong, and in the process, it hurt Bonnie and Damon.

"Be honest with me, Bonnie..." Ginny prayed, "... take Damon out of the picture, who was the better boyfriend, Mason or Kol?"

"Gin, in front of Stefan?" Bonnie was shocked.

"He's practically your brother. You act like I asked you who was he better lay?"

"Gin!" Bonnie through a peanut at her.

"No, I mean, enlighten me, sis. I'm an awful boyfriend slash friend with benefits. Ask Ginny." He laughed. I wanna know who was the better boyfriend and why?"

"Ugh, okay. Fine. It's hard to say. They came into my life at different times. I mean, Mason, helped me really prioritize my life and my career. He really helped me to do the "adulting" thing. But, Kol, he was attentive and affectionate. He may have been the spoiled rich boy, but as a boyfriend, I didn't ever see a silver spoon in his mouth, he worked hard, and he also played hard. He made sure I had a good time, and relaxed. Gave me the key to his place. Always, asked if I was good or needed anything. He was just... in tune with me. Kol, paid attention. And women love that. I just, didn't have the passion for him I had for-" she hated how he always managed to be a part of a moment, even if he wasn't, and how much he was inside of her. "He wasn't the man I married secretly behind my mom as back, and fell in love with over and over again. There is something about the way Damon loves me, that keeps us in love. No matter how often we fight, or leave each other, or even hurt each other. We never go to bed angry."

"Aww, sweet, you two are soulmates. I swear I'd never seen you, until I seen you and him." Ginny said.

"So, Kol's the better boyfriend?" Stefan asked sarcastically. "Don't get off topic, I need pointers ladies, come on."

"Oh yeah. Kol was attentive and affectionate. But he never over did it. Women hate when a man tries too hard. Be yourself."

"Okay, so don't go to bed angry, be myself, don't try too hard... and what else?"

"Stefan, show women you are confident and hard working. Women like to be independent, but they like to know, if it boiled down to it they could rely on their man. Also, a man with confidence is less likely to have a woman stray."

"Stefan, the girl you're dating has a kid, right?"

"Yeah. She's a single mom."

"Well, before you ask what you can be for her, it's about what you can be for yourself. A child, in the picture is a lot harder. Mason, I thought was an amazing father figure to my son. And he was, but it wasn't until I came back home, I realized I wanted and needed more for him. Not discrediting Mason, he will be a great father someday. But, for me personally, my son was missing the type of father/son relationship that he needed. Which is what he got from Doodle. And that's because, I fell in love with the man he is, and I always knew he'd be the type of father I wanted for my kids."

"I'm not ready to be a father." Stefan said out loud. Both girls looked at him, like he was crazy.

"Stefan, why date a girl with a child?"

"I don't know. I like her a lot. She's beautiful, and sweet. But, I kind of had something special with someone else, and that person just didn't feel the same way." Stefan twirled his shot glass and looked at it as it hit the table. The thud was a painful reminder of how he felt. He was so drunk and speaking so honestly, he wasn't even embarrassed. He looked at Ginny and she realized he was talking about her. "Fuck. I need another drink. I really want to forget everything I'm saying tonight, by tomorrow."

Bonnie held her hand over her mouth feeling nauseous, but realized she needed to break the tension. "Who wants wings? I'm kind of hungry."

"Uhh, I'll take wings." Ginny spoke up.

"Sis, can you order me some tater skins. I need to take a fuckin' piss." Stefan got up and walked to the men's room. Bonnie looked at Ginny and things got real.

"Wow. Gin, did you understand that?"

"I did." Ginny nodded her head.

"What do you think?"

"Oh God. Don't ask me that."

"Ginny the answer should be easy. If it's not, then there's a problem."

"Bonnie, I can't answer you. Stefan is a great guy. An amazing guy. But, Mike is... he's great. And Stefan and I shared a really beautiful and amazing time, and I love Stefan. I mean, we've grown as friends, and I love him as a friend." She said wiping her water eyes.

"Then why are you so emotional, right now?"

"I don't know. I wasn't expecting this. I have Mike he has Sarah. And that's the end of that."

"Okay, Gin. Sorry, I didn't mean to pry."

"It's fine. You're not prying. I'm just, worried about Stefan is all. He is my friend. We talk on the phone, and he's never told me he's not ready to be a father. I thought it was something he wanted, a long time ago. I mean, he and I were moving so fast, and he said he could see us having kids."

"Oh my God. Ginny, you never told me."

"Bonnie Stefan scared me shitless. He was really intense. He was confident in himself with me. This guy I'm seeing tonight, is different."

"Ginny, this guy tonight, sounds heart broken."

Ginny looked at Bonnie without a clue as to what to do. "He's coming back to the table, shh be quiet."

"I need more shots. This round on me?" He looked at the two girls, who looked at each other and smiled nervously.

"Sure."

"Alright, lighten up ladies. I'm in California one fuckin' night. I'm getting wasted."

"Fine, Stefan. You want to get shit-faced, I'll drive. You and Ginny drink your asses off. I'm actually feeling nauseous."

"Babe, you okay?"

"I am going to be okay, but I can't take another tequila shot. Honestly, it's about to-" Bonnie gagged and held her mouth with her hand. "Oh fuck." She stood up and ran to the bathroom.

"Crap. Do you think she's had alcohol poisoning?"

"Hell, I don't know. But If she's sick we should head out. My brother will fuckin' tie me to a horse and drag me by my got damn ankles if something is wrong with her."

Ginny laughed. "I love how you afraid of your brother."

"Hell naw. But, I don't like to see Bird sick. When she is sick, she really looks terrible, and her hairs all over the place and looks like death, literally." Ginny laughed so hard.

"Oh God. Shut up before I tell her." She tossed a couple lime wedges in his face.

.x.

After a long tedious, and strenuous drive home, Bonnie and Stefan made it back. Bonnie drove the first twelve hours so Stefan could sleep off his hangover, and Stefan drove the rest of the way so she could sleep. Damon knew Bonnie would be exhausted when she got home, so he took their son to his Abby's house for the night. Bonnie got home late in the afternoon, and even through exhaustion all she wanted was her son's hugs and kisses. When Stefan dropped her and the U-Haul off to Damon, Sarah met him at their place to pick him up. Her husband limped out to the porch. She dropped her bags, and ran to him.

"Hey baby, I missed you so much. How's your leg feeling?"

"I'm good baby. Fuck I missed you." His boyish grin grew looking at her face.

"Come on let's get you inside, and off that leg." He put his arm around her shoulder and she helped get him inside. "Here sit down, you hungry, want me to make you something?" She automatically went into nurturing mode.

"Baby, no. You must be exhausted."

"I am, but I'm hungry too."

"Let me order some take out."

"Take out? Baby, we are supposed to be saving money? This trip to Cali set us back."

"Bird, its fine. I'll order some food. You and I will have a quiet night alone. And tomorrow we'll see our son."

"Wait! Where is my baby, Doodle?"

"Calm down baby girl. I took'em to your momma's because I knew you'd be exhausted. She's gone keep him 'til tomorrow, mornin.' This way baby girl you can get a good night sleep."

"Don't play with me. Where's I my son?"

"Baby, I told you, he'll be here tomorrow."

"This makes me angry. You knew I'd miss him and want to see him. How could you do this?" She asked with an angry tone.

"Whoa. Baby girl, why you so damn emotional? I thought I was doing a good thing."

"Good thing. I have seen my son."

"It's been two days you are exhausted. I can see it in your eyes." And really he knew it wasn't a good look to let the first thing she saw, when she got back, be his hair cut.

"So, now you sayin' I look like shit?" she asked defensively. This point, he had no wrong or right answer, she was going to be angry at him, regardless.

"Ooohhhhhkaaaay. I'm gone order food. You sit down and relax. Call your momma, and check on'em and then we'll eat." Damon was afraid to say too much. She was a maniac right now.

After talking to her son, and eating, Damon wanted to hurry and get her to bed. He wasn't even going to try and have sex tonight. He missed her body for two days, but he wasn't ready to die. She was exhausted after the food she'd eaten. He put her in his wheel chair and wheeled her into the room. Then undressed her and got her more comfortable. Hopefully she'd feel better in the morning.

.x.

Bonnie still lay in bed the next day. Her body was exhausted. The most exhausted it's ever been. She didn't even realize when her mother dropped her son off. Abby didn't want to wake her, so she wished Damon luck and left quietly. Damon and his son sat in the living room on the couch. Damon's leg was propped up and elevated. They watched tv for a little while before Damon and his son both passed out on the couch.

Bonnie was stricken awake with the most nauseating feeling. She turned on her side and started to violently heave. "Fucking take out!" She screamed. Damon jumped up out of his sleep and sat his body up.

"Baby girl, you okay?"

"No. I don't feel good at all. I am fuckin' dying." Damon gently lifted his son and lay him on the couch, and carefully stood up and grabbed his crutch and walked over to the room with Bonnie. She lay on her side, wearing only one of his t-shirts, and a pair of panties. But she was sweating.

"Baby girl, what the hell happened?" He hobbled to her and pulled her hair up and out of her face, and held it. She felt her stomach clench again, and the tightening made her curl into a ball.

"I don't know what happened. I felt like crap in California too. I thought it was alcohol poisoning. But it must've been a stomach bug."

"Stefan let you drink a bunch?"

"No. He didn't." She felt cramping in her stomach. This wasn't normal sickness. She was going to need to go to the hospital. "Baby, I may need to go to the hospital."

"How am I gone drive you?"

"I don't know." At that moment, a sleepyhead crying little boy wondered into the room. "Mama." He smiled. Bonnie looked up to finally see her baby boy. Only he wasn't the same little boy she left there. She left a little boy with a baby bun and this little boy had short black hair. Hair that was buzzed on the sides and trimmed up top. Damon saw her face, go form helplessly nauseated to all trace of feeling and humanity obliterated. The temperature in his body dropped when her eyes stopped blinking and she sat directly up.

"Baby girl, let's get you to the bathroom." He said reaching for her hands, until she smacked his hands away.

"Damon Dimitri Salvatore." Her voice was deep and low. "What the hell did you do to my son?"

"It's just a little haircut."

"I'm. Gonna. Fuckin.' Kill. You. Get. Out. Of. My. Face." Her teeth were clenched so tight, Damon thought it was the second coming of Jesus, when she fought through her pain and stood up, facing him, eye to chest. However short she was, she was scary.

He started backing away from her and she grabbed him by his large belt buckle since he didn't have a shirt on. She tugged him towards her roughly forcing his weight on his leg. "Baby, girl. Ouch! My leg."

"Fuck you're fuckin' leg." She grunted out lowly.

"Say what?" Her eyes twitched at him, and she caught herself gag again, and all he could do was talk to her and get her mind off what he did. "Baby, let's walk to the bathroom. It's just a few feet over." He grabbed one of the crutches and tried maneuvering her towards the bathroom. The little boy walked in front of them. "Son, lift the toilet for daddy, please."

"Huh?"

"Toilet son. Lift the seat. Liffffft theee seeeat." He said slowly. "He's so cute when he don't understand shit, ain't he?"

Every bone in Bonnie ached to break every bone in Damon. But she felt worse than she's ever felt. And he had the nerve to talk about cute at a time like this. Her baby wasn't the same baby anymore, and she was ready to cry. She walked into the bathroom and fell to the floor near the toilet.

Damon watched, what he felt like was an over emotional, Bonnie, lose it. He didn't know if he should speak, or hear her out. "It is betrayal, baby. You did what you did with no concern to me. We are supposed to talk about everything now, remember? Not bulldoze each other's feelings or neglect them!" She screamed. "Of all the things, you could've done, you did this! And you seem like you feel good about it. The arrogance. The disrespect. The lack of compassion. If I wasn't so damn sick," she leaned over, and clutched the toilet bowl with her hands, then as the cold porcelain pushed through the small bones of her fingers and then arms giving her the chills, her stomachs tightened beyond her control and she heaved up her insides and they left her body through her mouth, and he felt so bad for her. She was so angry, yet, her face wasn't angry, it was expressing disgust and nausea. "If I wasn't so damn sick... bwaaaaaah." She threw up again. They shouldn't have eaten that take out. He thought, watching her try to yell, and contain her vomit. "If I wasn't so damn sick, I'd probably kick your ass." She said, wiping her mouth. His blue eyes felt fear, helplessness, and slight humor. She was making threats from hugging the toilet seat. When she saw the twinkle in his eye. That same twinkle that meant he was about to laugh. She sternly said, "You have three seconds to disappear, until I calm down. Or you're gone wish you signed them divorce papers."

Two hours later Bonnie was feeling a little better. She was in the kitchen with her son, cutting up bananas. She couldn't stop looking at his hair. Oh how sweet his little face was. She could really see the puff in his cheeks more clearly this way. Still, he had no right going behind her back.

"Nanas mama."

"Yeah baby boy. Bananas." Bonnie walked around the cabinet and grabbed peanut butter and honey. She placed the bananas slices in to a bowl over a spoonful of peanut butter, then she drizzled honey over it. "Come on baby, let's go sit and watch cartoons. You can share this lunch with me." She wasn't even hungry but her body was craving this exact thing and this exact moment.

"K, mama."

Bonnie carried him over to the couch and sat down. He sat beside her not taking his eyes off her food. She sat with her legs crisscrossed and faced him on the couch, while he sat on his knees and looked directly at everywhere her spoon moved. When she grabbed a bite, and placed it into his mouth, he smiled and clapped merrily. "Mmmm. Nom nom, baby boy."

"Yay." He laughed.

"Yay." She repeated after him and the doorbell rang. She ignored it.

"Baby girl. Let me in the house."

"Go away, Doodle."

"Baby, you're overreactin.'

"No, no, no. If you were my partner, I'd let you in. But, you like to run ship without a co-pilot. And I think, you need to learn your lesson."

"The therapist ain't gone like this baby."

Bonnie ear muffed her son's ears. "Fuck that therapist, and fuck you." She lifted another bite of banana to Dimitri, and he started rocking his body side to side, on the couch, dancing. "Yeah baby boy. So yummy in your tummy." She smiled.

"Baby girl. Please. It's hot as fell out here." Damon called out.

"Sweat it out."

"Bird!"

"I guess you should've thought about that before you chopped my baby's hair off."

"I owe you. I'm sorry. Baby, please... I'm so sorry. How long do I need to stay out here?"

"Until my doctor's appointment."

"Four hours from now?"

"Yup. You're lucky my doctor got me in today instead of next week, or you'd be out there 'til next week."

Damon limped onto the chair on the porch and sat down, once he realized she wasn't budging, and she couldn't do much with his messed-up leg. He leaned back and closed his eyes and started talking to himself. "She's fuckin' crazy. Fuckin' whack job! I swear to God, she is stubborn as all hell." He kept whispering. "And, I bet, she wouldn't be doing this, if my leg was fine." He decided to bother her some more, and he shouted out, "So, I guess it's too much to ask for some pussy?"

She didn't say anything. She just threw out a bottle of lotion and slammed the door, locking it again.

"What's this baby girl?"

"Pretend your hand is my pussy, and go to town." She shouted from the couch and he heard through the window as he sat on the porch. He laughed so hard. He was getting under her skin by laughing. He wasn't done tormenting her.

"Oh Fuck. You must be on your period. Huh?" He sat there, loving getting under her skin. He laughed to himself and maybe he should've thought twice, because a minute later she was on the porch behind him, with a pitcher filled with ice cubes and iced tea and dumped it over his head. Puppy followed behind her and stated licking up all of the iced tea on the ground.

"Period my ass." She said, walking back in slamming the door and locking it again.

Damon watched as Puppy sat at his feet, like a good loyal dog. "At least you love me, Puppy." Bonnie very vindictively got up and opened the living room door, "Here boy, here boy. Come eat, Puppy." Just like that, Bonnie took his last ally. He shook his head, and gave up. She watched her husband sit there, drenched and he didn't move. He finally shut up and just let her be angry. And she realized what he said. Which then made her realize... "Holy hell. My period is late."


Excerpt Part 28:

Bonnie stood in place breathless, before falling to her knees. She'd never seen such a breathtaking visual in all of her life. So much pain and beauty in one image. An old wound was finally being soothed. In a way, she was feeling something she'd never felt before. And wanted to protect herself, by fighting to hold in every ounce of emotion: happy, sad, angry, hurt, confusion, and anything else that could taint this perfect moment. For once, she felt the connection that she'd been missing. The one thing, she'd never had resolution on. She touched the picture delicately, allowing her fingertips, to glide across the canvas, just to feel every stroke of life he felt, when he made it. But when her eyes could no longer conceal the emotion, a single tear drop fell down her cheek. "You are so astonishingly beautiful, and wholesome and good. And I love and miss you, with my whole heart."


A/N Mason and Sybil, found each other because of Bonnie and Damon. They aren't main characters, so my goal wasn't to make them be hated, it was to show the changes in Bonnie and Damon over the years both good and bad, through their relationships. Bonnie and Damon's moment at Sheila's funeral was the moment she got pregnant with her son. And what happened between the two of them after that was really miscommunication. That is the last time they see each other or speak, until you see them reunite in the beginning of the story at the Brandin' Iron, and they were both angry at each other that night. Hopefully more pieces of the puzzle from the beginning make sense, where a lot of their problems stemmed from. Stefan just drunkenly admitted to loving a girl who didn't feel the same and being kind of heart-broken over it. Feeling confused with his relationship with Sarah. Ginny was really affected by Stefan's words. And the feelings hit her deeper than she expected to. Hmmm wonder why? And ofc, Damon experiences the wrath of Bonnie after he takes it upon himself to cut their sons hair.