A/N - This drabble is the prequel to two one shots I have written. I got the idea for this when I was writing them and decided to post it here.
Stefan fidgets anxiously as he waits for Bonnie to come to the door. Other than when they helped the others take out Silas, he hasn't really seen all that much of her lately. Technically, it's actually been about six months since he's had any real contact with her. For five of those months, he'd been trapped underwater in a safe while she was stuck on the other-side after dying. No one had figured out anything was up with either of them until a month ago and with some help from Lucy Bennett, he and Bonnie had been rescued. They both had been back for a month now and Stefan decided to check up on her for the first time. He had wanted to come and check on her sooner, but he had still been weak from being stuck in the safe. Now that he is doing a little better (at least physically), he wants to see how Bonnie has been dealing with being back.
Bonnie lays on the couch staring aimlessly at the television, lost in thought. She has been back for about a month now, after five months of living on the other side, but she still isn't adjusting. She's angry and withdrawn, not that anyone's noticed. She decided to post-pone college for a semester, since she'd missed the first month of classes and she knows they have all assumed that this means she's fully adjusted to being brought back to life and that she's back to that Bonnie that would risk her life to help everyone. She has gotten good at hiding her real feelings because she knows they will never understand and she doesn't have the energy to explain.
She is broken out of her thoughts when she hears the doorbell ring. Sighing, Bonnie stands up and walks over to door and is surprised to see Stefan there. For a brief second, she thinks maybe he came to check up on her, but banishes that thought out just as quickly as it appeared. He probably wants help with a spell and or something. Knowing he can most likely hear her breathing, she decides to open the door anyway so she can turn him away.
"Stefan." She greets him. She is happy to see how much better he looks. The last time she saw him had been a month ago when they'd all worked to takeout Silas. Bonnie had been shocked by how pale and weak he had looked. Apparently some time has managed to help him get back to normal.
"Bonnie." He returns the greeting. "Can I come in?"
"Let me guess. You need my help with something." She thinks of the last time he showed up at place a year ago for a similar reason.
"No." He shakes head almost immediately. "I don't need anything from you. I came because I wanted to know how you were handling being back." He looks into her eyes "How have been doing?"
It's on the tip of her tongue to say she's fine, but when she looks into his eyes for some reason she knows he won't believe the lie. So she opens the door wider, stepping aside so he can walk in. He slips in past her, his leather jacket brushing against her arm.
X
Ten minutes later Bonnie is sitting side by side on the couch with Stefan. His jacket is draped on the arm of the coach and ever so often their eyes go to the television before going back to each other. They had been talking about what they had gone through during to the five months away.
"I'm just tired and angry."Bonnie shifts on the couch her feet resting underneath her. "I spent five months on the other side and no one noticed that I wasn't around. No one thought to check up on the story. I know I could have avoided this in the first place by saying something, but now that I'm back I realized just how often that kind of thing happens." She looks at him sadly.
"Yeah it does." He acknowledges "And I'm sorry that I've been part of the problem." And he is. He wished had worked harder to be a friend to Bonnie. But he hopes he can be one now.
"That's not even what I'm the most upset about."
"What are you most upset about?" Stefan has feeling he already knows, but he doesn't want to make any assumptions.
She stares at the television for a few moments before answering his question. "Everyone assumes that now that I'm alive again, that I'll go back to normal. Like-"
"-Like they expect you to go back to being that same person you were before all this happened. Not realizing that you aren't that person anymore." He finishes her thought and Bonnie realizes that he knows exactly how she's feeling because he's feeling that way as well.
"You really do get it. Don't you?" And Bonnie is happy to finally talk to someone that understands.
"Yeah I do. Everyone expects me to be the old Stefan, but I can't be him anymore and they shouldn't expect me to. And they shouldn't expect you to be that Bonnie anymore either." He rests his hand on top of her and softly squeezes it.
Bonnie smiles weakly at him before standing up. "I'll be right back."
Stefan watches in confusion Bonnie disappears into the kitchen before coming back with a bottle of vodka and two glasses.
"I figured if we're going to sit here and wallow, we should at least be drinking." She says as she sits back down on the couch.
She pours two glasses and hands one to him. They clink glasses before they both take a drink. Neither realizes it yet, but for them this is just the beginning.