Chapter Twenty-One

"We should really stop talking about this."

"It's therapeutic."


The spell had gone awry. It was supposed to be a small experimental light spell where she released rays of light similar to the intensity of the sun's rays from her palm. As a half witch hybrid, Bonnie was normally unaffected by the sun, but when she tried to alter the spell, her hands began to burn. In addition, she couldn't turn it off immediately, and the combination of those things caused her to burn a hole through her chest and leg while trying not to burn down her apartment. Bonnie grit her teeth, holding back an agonizing scream as she reached for her last blood bag.

That was when her doorbell rang. Bonnie cursed as she opened the bag with her teeth and downed it. Whoever it was would have to wait. With only one blood bag left and barely any energy from all the spells she'd been practicing, her healing was slow. In retrospect, she should have done this outside, but in the woods, there was the threat of hunters and her apartment was specifically spelled to conceal her location as an extra precaution against a certain witch. Sure, she still had the necklace for that, but when it came to her, Bonnie was paranoid.

"Bonnie?"

Of course it was him. She tried to stand up, groaning in pain as her leg hadn't fully healed yet, and he heard it. Damon overreacted, breaking the lock on her door and entering into her apartment to find her leaning on the side of her couch as she tried to prop herself up. His wide eyes went from the slowly healing pink, tissue filled holes in her chest and leg to the holes in the wall opposite her on the other side of the living room.

"What the fuck happened here?" His expression was openly alarmed. It was a look she hadn't seen on him often.

"Nothing. I'm fine. I was experimenting and messed up a spell," she explained.

His gaze went to the grimoires spread about her coffee table, then to the pile of blood bags sitting on the floor, and finally landed on the finished bottle of bourbon and the opened bottle of almost finished tequila. Yes, she may have been practicing magic with more than a little buzz, and having drunk enough to make herself somewhat inebriated, it may have been a factor in her current self-inflicted state. Her gaze dropped to the plastic bag at his side.

"Please tell me there's blood in there."

"There isn't. You don't have any more stashed somewhere?"

She nodded at the pile of empty blood bags. "I used it all."

Exhaling a sigh, he held his wrist out in front of her and she immediately vamped out and her teeth ripped into his skin. She found she had missed the bittersweet taste of his blood and she lapped it up, feeling her hands and the rest of her injuries begin to heal at a faster rate. With a frown, he watched the muscle tissue from the hole in her shirt slowly become covered by a fresh layer of skin and she stood straighter.

The disapproval in his eyes annoyed her. She was already cursing her own idiocy. She didn't need his judgement. Bonnie let go of his arm and her eyes went to the walls where two black edged holes sat beside her television. She looked at them, held a hand out, and mumbled a minor spatial time-reversal spell while focusing on that area of her apartment. When she finished, she felt a little lightheaded, and still low on energy.

She should probably go on a blood run or a nap would probably do her wonders. She hadn't slept properly since the meeting two days ago. But before she could do either of those things, she had to deal with her intruder. Damon was still in the middle of her living room, staring at the wall where the holes once were. "What are you doing here?"

He answered her question with another irrelevant one. "Did you just reverse time?"

"It's a minor spell, not that big of a deal so long as you can visualize an object's previous state." She wondered if he would tease her if he knew she found that spell easier than shooting rays of light from her hand.

"And what were you trying to do earlier?"

"Turn a simple spell into an offensive one," she answered somewhat vaguely.

"While drunk," he pointed out.

Bonnie huffed at him, not wanting to be reminded of her dumb decision. "Are you going to lecture me, dad?" The accident had sobered her considerably, but she could still feel the alcohol flowing through her system. She could use another drink.

He raised an eyebrow. "Nope." He took a few steps closer to her, the plastic bag rustling at his side.

"What's in the bag?"

He handed it to her and she looked inside of it. Unexpectedly, it was two tubs of her favorite ice cream, butter pecan and rocky road. "I heard you've had your head buried in grimoires for the past few days. I know you like to eat it when you're stressed." She had done so a few times before in 1994 and was surprised he remembered.

"Thank you," she dropped the bag to her side, but she was certain he wasn't here just to give her that.

He looked around the room again. "You know my offer to help still stands. We've always made a good team Bon-bon."

And here we go. "This is different." She walked over to her kitchen and Damon followed her.

"How?"

She placed the ice cream on the island, taking the butter pecan out and putting it in the freezer. "It just is." Beside the refrigerator, she reached in a drawer and pulled out a spoon. When she turned back around, she noticed Damon looking at the blue orchids still sitting in her window sill. She popped open the rocky road and put a spoonful in her mouth.

"That isn't an answer."

They stared at one another. He was dressed in one of his usual ensembles, some black pants and a dark grey shirt topped off with a leather jacket. Bonnie was in a black hoodie and a pair of jean shorts. The black hoodie still had a hole in it, but her shorts had managed to remain unscathed.

"Have you come up with a plan then, in case she does show up?"

"I'm working on it." She shoved another spoonful in her mouth, wishing that the ice cream would give her sustenance in the same way blood would. She enjoyed it nonetheless, but in between spoonfuls, Bonnie toyed with the idea of kicking him out. Ultimately, she decided against it. He had already done two nice things and she couldn't muster up the energy to be rude.

"Even if you're hellbent on doing this alone, at least let me help you come up with something."

She sighed.

Bonnie did recognize the benefit of having another person's input while she formed her plan, and she and Damon had been the brains behind a few operations in Mystic Falls, so she was tempted. But like with Rebekah when she came over, Bonnie really didn't want him involved in any aspect. Not only was she not fond of the idea of being alone with him, but she witnessed him almost die a few days ago, and Bonnie was not keen on seeing him get anywhere near that state again. The look in his eyes, however, told her he wasn't about to let this go. "And if I say no?" She couldn't believe she was actually considering this.

He walked around the kitchen island to where she stood, looming over her like usual. The intensity of his stare made her still. "Then I'll sit outside your apartment until you say yes. I'm not taking no for an answer Bonnie. You look exhausted, you've been obsessively reading grimoires and practicing spells to the point where you've run out of blood bags and injured yourself. If you think I'm leaving you alone now, you're out of your mind."

She huffed. Bonnie was aware she was a mess. This was why she hadn't let Rebekah in earlier and threatened to run off instead. Just the thought of Vanessa made her frantic and anxious because if she had finally figured out who she was and where she was, it was only a matter of time before she had to face her again, and Bonnie wasn't confident she would be able to handle her. She had already been unsuccessful in dealing with her more than once, and the witch had made it clear that she wanted to do more than just kill her, but Bonnie didn't want to think about that.

She resisted the urge to chew her lip and stared at the man beside her. He had caught her in her home, off her guard, and his crystalline eyes were boring into her with the sincere desire to help, and she almost couldn't take it.

She should make him sit outside just to see if he would, but Bonnie let out another long sigh. It was more trouble than it was worth to deal with preventing him from coming around her, and she couldn't just threaten to run away because, unlike Rebekah and Marcel who were willing to support her from afar, she was certain he would find a way to chase after her. Still, she was reluctant to let him in on this.

"You don't understand how serious this is," she said, placing her spoon down and returning the intensity of his gaze with a serious one of her own.

"What I don't understand is why you're willing to shoulder this alone when you have so many people willing to help you."

"That's because those people have tried and failed. Rebekah, Elijah, and even Klaus were easily incapacitated, and Marcel and Freya were nearly killed the last time they came close to this. I don't want the same to happen to you. This is my responsibility, and my responsibility alone." Her anxiety over the situation was rising again, but she was certain she masked it well. God, she could use another drink to calm her nerves.

Damon must have been able to see through her because he inched even closer, mirroring the way she leaned onto the island with one arm on top of the counter. He let his hand cover hers and the back of her hand tingled as his thumb brushed across her hand. These innocent touches were becoming worse than the not so innocent ones. "Bonnie, stop fighting me on this. Let me help." His light blue eyes were uncharacteristically soft and caring and her heart was twisting inside her chest against her will. This side of him would be the death of her.

Damn him and his persistence. Under the pressure of his gaze, Bonnie found herself caving. It was never as if she wanted to deal with this alone. She just didn't want anyone to get hurt because of her. But as long as she could keep Vanessa away from him and vice versa…

A long drawn out silence passed between them before Bonnie finally relented. "Fine," she said. "But I don't want you there when I confront her. I will face her alone." She wasn't sure what happened to not budging an inch with him because she had just moved a mile.

"Scouts honor. I'll let you face her on your own." Bonnie wasn't dumb enough to think he wouldn't go back on his word if he saw a need to. She would just have to find a way to make sure he couldn't.

They stood in her kitchen staring at one another for a moment longer. "Before we try and figure out a way to stop her, I need you to do something for me first though."

"What?" Damon asked.

"Go get some more blood bags."

He smirked. "Alright. I'll be back in a half hour. Don't do anything stupid while I'm gone?"

Bonnie rolled her eyes.

While Damon was out filling her request, Bonnie changed into a black long-sleeved shirt and fixed the lock on her door with the same spell she used to fix the wall. It left her lightheaded again and she was forced to sit down until he returned. While she waited, she ate more ice cream and returned to reading one of her grimoires, but had a bit of trouble focusing. When he did return, she drank about two more bags before she felt normal though she was still a little tired from not sleeping for so long. She had also opened another bottle of bourbon with the intention of pacing herself this time. She needed it for her nerves.

Damon sat down next to her on the couch with a moderate amount of distance between them while Bonnie poured him and herself a glass. "Nice place by the way." He glanced around as he took the glass from her.

"Thanks."

The picture on the end table beside him caught his eye, and he picked it up. It was one of her and Rebekah, both of them blonde. "I have to say, Bon, the blonde look suits you."

She brushed off the compliment. "I was going through a phase in college."

"In the spirit of the age-old adage, I'm assuming it was a fun one?"

"You could say that." Memories of partying and having the time of her life flitted through her mind. Back then, she had felt free. Going back to college had been a liberating experience. A small smile came to her face before she could stop herself, but as quickly as it appeared, it was gone. Damon had seen it though, if the gaze directed at her mouth was any indication.

He looked back at the picture, staring at it as he placed it back where he picked it up from. "You looked happy."

Her smile was wide and bright in the photo, her arm wrapped around Rebekah's shoulder as she took the picture. "Yes well there weren't as many hunters to worry about then, nor was there a witch after me." They fell into silence as Bonnie took a drink from her glass.

Another beat passed. "So about this witch…" Damon started.

"Right," she dove in. "I have a few ideas. Firstly, I'm considering trapping her or sealing her away somewhere, but…"

"You don't want her to be able to come back." Bonnie nodded. "So what about sending her somewhere like 1994?"

She shook her head. "Even if I sent her into a 1994-esque dimension using my blood as the seal, it's likely she might be able to bypass it simply because she's that strong. I want to be sure she's gone. And… the last time I tried that, I failed."

He leaned back into the sofa. "What happened last time?"

Bonnie sighed. "When she figured out she couldn't kill them normally, she was able to desiccate Rebekah and Klaus in less than two minutes and had Freya bleeding out. Luckily, she was only interested in me, so she didn't kill her and Freya was able to heal herself. That's when I tried the spell and she used her magic to counter, anchoring herself to the earth. I barely managed to get away."

"Maybe we should start at the beginning. Who is this witch, and how exactly is she so powerful?"

Bonnie skipped over the first question. "She has the magic of more than one witch compounded inside of her."

His brow furrowed at that. "And how does one gain the magic of more than one witch?"

Bonnie looked away from him, taking a drink. "She was in a special coven, but that's beside the point. If I were to fight her head on, the issue is her power. I need to find a way to get stronger."

"...Or strip hers away," Damon added.

"Yeah unfortunately, I don't know a spell capable of that and I can't siphon her magic. After one of my run ins with her, she managed to figure out a siphoning spell of her own, which was able to prevent her own magic from being siphoned when I tried it on her a second time. But her magic is volatile because it's connected to the spirits of the witches it came from, and when I absorbed it the first time, it rejected me, so to speak, and almost killed me."

"Magic can reject being siphoned?"

"Only if it's still connected to the spirit of the witch it came from, which can only happen if the witch's magic is absorbed through a witch dying and said witch is willing to give up that magic."

He paused, taking in the information. "You seem pretty knowledgeable about all of this."

"My own power is the result of something similar, but that's also beside the point," she brushed the statement off, wanting to move on from the subject. "Since you insist on being here, you can help me go through some of my grimoires to find anything that might be useful."

With her magic, Bonnie pulled some of the grimoires that she had yet to go through from her study. The amount totaled to seven, adding onto the additional five that she already had out.

"I see your grimoire collection has increased."

"Some of these are ones Freya has stumbled upon, others are ones that I have found in my own travels," Bonnie explained.

She returned to the grimoire she had been reading, one written in Greek that she had picked up a while ago. Damon picked up one of the ones in Latin and started to read through it. She leaned against one side of the couch and Damon sat in the center and whenever either one of them would find something interesting, they would discuss it with the other, but nothing seemed to bear fruit.

It reminded Bonnie of old times, of how she and Damon used to work together with one another to solve issues in Mystic Falls. Occasionally she would glance at him, and he would be still as a statue, deep into reading a passage, and Bonnie wondered if she looked the same. She had expected it to be more difficult being alone with him after their conversation the other day, but she supposed since they had something else to focus on besides each other, everything was bound to be normal. And honestly, having him around helping her somehow made her feel less panicked about the situation.

"There's something that's been bothering me," Damon said after a while.

Bonnie lifted her head from the book. "What?"

"How is it that you haven't been found through traditional non-magical means? People find people every day with a simple search online."

"She didn't know who I was, and hopefully still doesn't. She only knew my face and what I had done."

"Which is?"

"Something bad." She would rather not share that with him. It was a painful memory and what she did still haunted her to this day even though not doing it would have resulted in more suffering, but sometimes she wondered if she could have done something differently.

"How bad is bad?"

"Let's just say I understand why she has a vendetta, and I don't blame her for it."

"Hm, if she's been after you for this long for revenge, you've either destroyed something important to her or killed someone important to her. Have I hit the nail on the head?"

He had to an extent, but it was worse than that.

When she didn't answer, Damon thankfully let it go. "Okay fine. I get it. Touchy subject. We don't have to talk about it then." He returned to what he'd been reading.

They had their brainstorming session, as Damon had aptly dubbed it, until late at night. Both of them threw out multiple ideas and found one or two binding spells, but nothing that would increase Bonnie's power or prevent the witch from using hers. Occasionally, Bonnie would practice a spell and Damon would watch with rapt attention as she experimented.

After some time, Damon floated the idea of contacting Alaric and asking whether the Armory had something that might help them, but it was past eleven o'clock at night then and Alaric didn't answer when Damon called. An hour later, the lack of sleep was finally getting to her, and Bonnie was finding it hard to keep her eyes open. In the middle of reading, she succumbed to sleep without even realizing it.


In the early hours of the morning, her eyes blinked open to the sound of movement in her kitchen. She was still in her apartment in New Orleans laid out across her couch. She sat up, stretching and looked behind her into the kitchen where Damon was putting a mug in her microwave.

"Morning, sleeping beauty." He turned around, slight smile on his face as he leaned back against the counter. A bit of sunlight seeped in through the widow, highlighting his features, making him look as handsome as ever. Bonnie was instantly transported back to a similar moment where she'd had the exact same thought in the boarding house, and for a split second, she wanted to smile back, but the smile died on her lips as the memory faded from her head.

"Good morning."

Bonnie shook her head and wandered off down the hall to her bedroom where she cleaned up and took a quick shower. When she finished, she put on a pair of thin black shorts along with a navy three-quarter sleeve shirt that hugged her figure. With her hair piled up on her head, she walked back out of her bedroom and into the kitchen where she found Damon and a cup of warm blood waiting for her.

"You've certainly made yourself at home," she brought the mug to her lips.

The initial smirk on his face faded as his eyes raked down her body for a second. He had been good so far, and maintained a distance from her which wasn't what she expected after they both basically confessed to having feelings for one another. It wasn't as if she thought he would try and initiate things, but he had been on his best behavior, and it was proving to be a bit disarming.

Damon's phone went off and he looked at the screen. "It's Alaric."

Both she and Damon said hello, then Damon proceeded to explain the situation to him. At the end of the explanation, Bonnie made him promise not to tell Caroline or Stefan. The last thing she needed was for those two to stick their noses in her business as well. Alaric told them he would get back to them later if he found something that might be of use.

When Damon hung up, Bonnie sighed leaning her elbows onto the counter. In front of him, she had kept herself together so far, but the weight of everything was sinking into her. Her emotions were usually on a tight leash, bottled up inside. But bottling too many things up could eventually lead to that bottle bursting, and Bonnie was close to it.

She could feel herself starting to crack. The sudden urge to cry rose within her. Instead of doing so, she placed her head in her hands, massaging her temples. "You alright Bon-bon?"

"I'm fine. I'm just tired of this. I'm tired of having to deal with things like this. It never seems to stop, and I'm always in it."

"It will be over soon, and you will come out on top of this." He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "You know how I know?"

Bonnie decided to humor him. "How?"

"Because you have a secret weapon."

"Which is?" She turned towards him, meeting his light eyes.

"Me, duh." he said as if it was obvious, grinning.

Bonnie's lips twitched as she rolled her eyes. Typical Damon, but she appreciated the effort to cheer her up. His hand slid up from her shoulder and into the crook of her neck, his thumb reaching to brush along her jawline. He gave her one of those looks, one of the ones that made her stomach curl in on itself and her chest clench again. The seriousness was back in his gaze.

"I hope you know I'm serious when I say I will make sure you come out alive at the end of this. If anyone deserves to be happy, it's you Bon-bon."

"Why?" She stood straighter, her body angling itself towards him.

"Why what?"

"Why do you want me to be happy? Why do you think I deserve happiness?"

With his hand still brushing against her cheek, he moved even closer to her. "Do you not think you deserve it?" His brow furrowed.

"Honestly, I don't know sometimes."

"Well take it from a person who cares about you and still considers you to be their best friend. I know you deserve it." His thumb stopped moving and he held her cheek, his eyes never leaving hers.

She scoffed, but indulged herself, leaning into his touch before it was gone. "God, you've become such a sap." She cracked the smallest of smiles at him and watched as his face lit up.

He grinned. "I blame you." He let his hand fall away and Bonnie immediately missed the comfort of his touch and the slowly fading burn it left beneath her skin.

He held her gaze with his, and Bonnie allowed herself to be drawn in. She found she wanted the distraction of him. It was better than thinking about dire possibilities floating around in the back of her mind and far easier to let herself feel whatever this was between them because the more he was around her, the more she was feeling it anyway. "I wish you would stop making me feel like this." It was easy to let the words slip out of her mouth.

His eyebrows raised at the minor confession, and as if gravity just switched on, there slowly became less than a foot between them. His voice lowered as his head canted towards hers. He smiled, light and teasing and nothing like the heavy smirk her brain imagined over his next words. "And how am I making you feel?"

There was no way to answer his question aloud without digging deeper than she cared to. His eyes were purposefully bleeding emotion while hers were struggling to remain guarded. She was annoyed with him for being here, for forcing his way into her problems, but she was grateful that he cared enough to. His hidden capacity for kindness was something she had once loved about him, and seeing it on display so constantly made her want to be able to forgive him even though she couldn't. It made her confused. It made her frustrated. And she wasn't sure what to do about it.

Inevitably, she thought back to a few nights ago where he had stood as close as he was standing now, how much she had wanted to let go and act on whatever this was between them just to see. Even in this moment, she could feel herself want him, the air between them growing heavier by the moment. And Damon was easy to read. It was plain as day what he really wanted then and plain as day what he wanted now.

Her eyes dipped to his lips hovering inches away from hers for the umpteenth time, pink and inviting. She licked her own, and when her eyes returned to his and could finally see a hint of his restraint, of that look he had given her outside Rousseau's. In a rush, a different sort of tiredness accumulated inside her, threatening to boil over. It wasn't just the current situation. It was them. Her and Damon. She was tired of tip toeing around this thing between them, tired of being in denial. Here they were, locked in the same gaze, holding back the same desire, and it was all getting old.

Somewhere inside her, a thread snapped.

Bonnie was over it. She was done holding herself back. She was done pretending like this didn't exist. She was done denying herself for the sake of others. For once, she let desire be a welcome distraction, and before she could be sensible, she pressed the length of her body against his.

They both shuddered, and Damon's hands came to rest on her waist.

In the back of her mind, she had the errant thought that maybe this might drive him away and make him one less thing to worry about. Yet further behind that thought, she knew she was only fooling herself, that she was only trying to come up with an excuse when she really was just tired of ignoring this.

Her fingertips trailed up the fabric of his shirt on either side of his torso until her palms rested on his shoulders, and he leaned into her until her chest was crushed against his. Bonnie raised her head towards him while he stood stock still, his eyes widening ever so slightly as she brushed parted lips against his, and his fingers flexed against her waist.

Lips tingling deliciously from the contact, she was reminded of 1994, of that night they had almost kissed before where they had been in a very similar position. The blue of his eyes had been just as dark as they were now, but this time she could hear his slow heart beating faster than normal, and instead of retreating from what she wanted, she gently pressed her mouth to his.

A burst of desire shot through her body. Damon, still seemingly in shock, didn't move at first. But when she started to pull away, he erupted. He chased after her, arms further encircling her waist to pull her back against him as he caught her lips again in a hot open-mouthed kiss that sent another shockwave of desire coursing underneath her skin.

After that, neither one of them were able to stop. Things became frantic. Her fingers tangled into the back of his hair, and she flicked her tongue against his lips. He returned the favor, going a step further as he slipped his inside her mouth.

The closeness, the feel of his lips on hers, of his tongue inside her only further heightened the electric heat that was shooting straight to her core in near constant waves. She had never felt anything this intense from just a kiss before and the longer it went on, the more arousal began to cloud her mind. She moaned as his tongue brushed against hers again and in response, Damon slipped his hands down her body and lifted her onto the island. Planting himself between her legs, she could feel her effect on him.

It was because it had been so long is what she told herself when she thoughtlessly rolled her hips against his and felt herself throb with need. He groaned, his mouth leaving hers, and he nipped her jaw and kissed her neck before his mouth quickly returned to hers again, her thighs tightening around his waist, pulling him impossibly closer to her.

She had not been close to anybody like this since before she had become a vampire and the sensations were wholly different, borderline overwhelming. Inside her, desire was giving way to a long-ignored craving to be close to someone, to let go of the conscience weighing her down. There were no hunters, no Vanessa, only her and Damon wrapped up in each other, giving into each other, and Bonnie was beginning to think she could drown in this feeling, drown in him.

Catching his bottom lip between her teeth, she sucked before letting go and finally pulling back.

When she looked at him, his blue eyes were almost black and the look in them made her pulsate with need. His hand slipped under her shirt, running over skin and scars. She allowed herself to imagine him slipping what she felt between her legs inside her, and the thought made her gush. They could both smell her clearly then, and he inhaled deeply as his hands slipped down to her ass, pulling her against him. She began a slow, continuous roll of her hips, seeking pleasure through the friction of their clothes, and he kissed her again, groaning into her mouth while she gasped into his.

It all felt so good, good enough for all her worries to fade into the background, but it wasn't enough to drown out her conscience entirely. Nothing ever would be.

She pulled away again just as his thumb dipped below the waistline of her shorts, could see it in his eyes that he would fuck her right then and there in the middle of her kitchen if she let him. But as much as she wanted the same, she wouldn't. Her body cried out with frustration as her fingers encircled his wrist, stopping him. Kissing him was bad enough and things had already escalated too far. "We shouldn't. Not while you're still with her."

The words were like a bucket of cold water had been splashed on his face and he dialed back the lust in his expression, but it was still there, simmering. He leaned back from her as she released his wrist, but he kept his hands on her hips, reluctant to let go.

Bonnie tried to control her own expression, but she wasn't sure if she succeeded. "I think we both need to take a second and cool off."

The silence was deafening before he spoke, his voice low. "Is that your polite way of kicking me out?" His hands ran down her thighs, lingering just above her knees as he moved back from her. "Are you sure you want me to go?"

Her body ached for relief from the buildup that had started when she was grinding herself against him, but no. She resisted the temptation. "I think it's best if you leave." She hopped down from the island and walked over to the foyer, ignoring the wetness between her legs and the obvious smell of her still floating in the air. Damon followed her, and she could feel the heat of his gaze as she opened the door. Her skin was still on fire from his touch, and her lips still burned from his kiss.

She licked them, tasting him, as he brushed past her, turning around in the doorway as she started to close it. His fingers pressed against the wood, stopping her. Damon's entire body was tense, and he looked like a wolf waiting for the moment she bared her neck again so he could pounce. His words, however, didn't match his expression. "I hope you know what just happened changes nothing. I'm still not letting you handle this all on your own." She expected this. Damon was never one to let things go. "I'll call you if Alaric calls again."

She nodded, and he sped off down the hallway as she closed the door behind him. Bonnie stood in front of her door in silence. A curse escaped her lips and she shook her head. All she could think about was the taste of him, the smell of his scent covering her, the feel of his hands on her and everything that could've happened if she hadn't stopped him. It didn't change her own confusion, the confliction of her desire to give in and resist at the same time. But what's done was done now.

She had to live with this mistake, but that isn't to say she regretted it. For a long time, she had been just as curious as he had been to see what things would be like between them, and now she had an idea. It had been satisfying and freeing to let go and surrender to her baser wants just for a moment. She just couldn't let it happen again no matter how much she may want it to. This was merely a slip up. She was still upset with him. She still didn't fully trust him. And when she next saw him, she had every intention of re-establishing the distance between them.

Damon was right.

What happened changed nothing.


A/N: I know at least one person has said this slow burn is killing them, and honestly, it's highkey starting to kill me too lol. So finally we have a bit of progress-progress on that front, and hopefully it comes across alright. Also, there were a few hints given about what happened with Vanessa, but we'll get the full story soon so stay tuned!

Thanks for reading!