Chapter 19: Moments in Time

Disclaimer: I own nothing at all.

A/N: Because, why not? :)

"Are you finally going to let me in tonight?"

"If I were going to invite you in, don't you think we'd be meeting at the door right now?"

Damon extended his leg further across the roof. "C'mon Bonnie, the shingles are starting to form a dent in the shape of my ass."

"Would you like a pillow?" she asked, without a shred of concern.

"Yes, actually."

The blinds rattled as she passed a lime green shag pillow through the window for Damon to sit on, giggling as he winced in pain as he positioned it under him.

"Don't laugh, I can't feel my ass."

"How does that work exactly? It's not like you actually need your blood to flow through your body,"

Damon grimaced. "Well, I don't know, Bonnie" he snapped, "let's put you out here on the roof for two weeks and find out."

After Damon flipped his switch, he thought it would be chaos and carnage in Mystic Falls, this time with a powerful witch by his side. Instead, he came back the next night and found Bonnie at home. Doing homework. It baffled him. Who embraces Expression to still go to high school?

'All I want is a normal life, Damon. And since I'm only 16, that involves graduating high school. I know you're old as dirt, but I'm going to need you to keep up with this century, just a little.' That explanation didn't convince him.

'You know I'm stinking, filthy rich, right? Emphasis on filthy. I can get you whatever you think that stupid little diploma can, Bonnie.'

The witch laughed harder than Damon appreciated. 'I don't even know if I want you to remain in my presence, Damon; I'm definitely not dropping out of high school just to hang out with you.'

'Fine, so what do you want to do?'

'Right now, study for algebra.'

Damon sucked his teeth and began to walk away. 'Okay, well I'll be out eating some coeds…'

'Have fun,' she threw out, not bothering to look behind her.

Damon's attitude increased twofold. The walkaway technique always worked with women. He was tired of playing this game with Bonnie already.

He turned back around and stared at her pointedly.

'What?' she asked, still not looking up from her book.

'Fuck algebra,' he said, as he tore the book from her hands. He held it high over his head, knowing there was no way Bonnie would ever be able to keep up with him. He chuckled as she hissed for him to give her back her book. When she looked like she was finally two seconds from setting him on fire, he tossed the book back at her.

Bonnie wanted to shatter his kneecaps, and she really didn't know why she hadn't already. Even though she really did need to study, she'd be lying if she didn't acknowledge that that was the first time she'd genuinely laughed in weeks, maybe longer. Maybe she'd let Damon stick around a little longer; she could always incinerate him later.

'How long do we have to keep playing this game, Bonnie? You clearly enjoy my company, or we wouldn't be here right now, would we?'

'If you don't like it Damon, you could always stop coming.'

'Maybe I will.' He smirked. 'I could think of a couple pla—'

Damon winced as the window slammed in his face and the blinds hit the sill with an audible slam.

He tapped on the window a couple times, but nothing happened. After a while, he heard nothing at all. He wasn't even sure she'd slept in her room that night.

Damon came back the next night. The window was closed, and the blinds were down. The house was still, and he didn't think she was home at all.

Despite himself, he came back a third night. This time, the blinds were up, and the window was open, although the curtains were closed. Through the glittered sheer, he could see her silhouette laying across the bed. He was sure he was visible in the window with the moonlight behind him; she knew he was there. Her scent wafted on the breeze, and he held his breath. She was so close, if he could just step over the threshold…

He left, taking his frustrations out on that coed.

His pride wanted him to skip the next night, but everything else in him thought that insanity, so he once again ended up at this house he hadn't even known she'd lived in a week ago.

The window was open, and the blinds were up. The curtains were parted, and Bonnie was brushing her hair in front of the dresser. Her hair had curled back up in the Virginia heat, and the streaks she'd put in glistened in the moonlight. He waited, hoping she wouldn't ask him where'd he'd gone after he'd left last night. Surely, she'd seen him in the mirror by now. His impatience was growing, but he wasn't going to leave tonight. He'd sit right there and tell her exactly how he felt. If she didn't want to hear it, then she could leave.

Damon was shaken out of his thoughts by a pillow plopping on the floor in front of the window. Bonnie lowered herself onto it, making herself level with him. She rested her arm on the windowsill and looked him dead in the eye.

They sat like that for a what seemed like centuries, and he was okay with that.

"I'm passed my algebra test."

Damon blinked a couple times. That certainly wasn't what he was expecting her to say.

"You know what that means, right?"

"No, what?"

"No more studying, at least until next week."

A smirk stretched across Damon's face. "How about we just take off the rest of the week?"

"Don't push it, Damon."

"It was worth a try." He leaned as close as he could to her, as close as the invisible barrier between them would allow him to. "So where are we going? I could have us on a flight within the hour."

"Actually, I was thinking about staying local tonight."

"Why on Earth would you want to do that?"

"Caroline's been texting me nonstop, even though I've already told her to leave me alone. I'm thinking I can show her better than I can tell her. And who's better at annoying people with their mere presence than Damon Salvatore?"

Damon let out a short laugh. "Well, that's childish and immature. And very unlike you, I'm surprised. Of all the things we could be doing…"

Bonnie just stared at him.

"…and I'm a hundred percent in, of course." He smirked again. "But you knew that already, didn't you?"

Bonnie smiled. "I'll be downstairs in ten."

*picks up in chapter 16 flashback*

Damon lay on the floor, unable to move. He felt the vervain spreading through his body, paralyzing him with currents of seething pain. There was a loud roaring sound that Damon did not recognize. He was trying to keep from passing out, but he couldn't tell if he was actually staying awake or not. As his body convulsed in pain, he shifted to his left side, giving him a partial view of Bonnie. He couldn't hear them over that sound, but he could see Elena facing Bonnie. His vision was blurry, and his head felt like it was two sizes too small for his brain. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew the vervain would wear off eventually, he just had to hold on long enough to be conscious when that happened. He tried to lift his head again, and ended up biting into his own tongue. It wasn't healing as fast due to the vervain, so his mouth began to fill with blood. Well, that sure kept me up a little longer, he thought as his tongue began to swell. He could make out Bonnie and Elena talking now, no longer straining to hear over what he'd just realized had been his own screaming.

"—this all amusing…"

None of this is amusing, he thought, as everything went black around him again. When he came to, he was sure he had passed out this time, as he woke up on the other side of the room, propped up against the sofa. He could see Bonnie standing in front of him, and Elena walking out the room. The pain in his body was slightly less incinerating, and he tried move his arm towards Bonnie. He'd only barely brushed the back of her leg, but she turned around immediately and knelt towards him.

"Damon? Are you al… …amon? Damon, can you hear m…"

Damon felt himself losing consciousness again, but he didn't fight it this time, knowing that Elena was gone. The last thought he remembered having before going under is wondering how far away Stefan was.

Damon squirmed in his seat. He'd been waiting for over an hour. Damon was starting to wonder if she was sick or something. Humans can be so fragile sometimes.

Just as he was contemplating knocking on the front door, Bonnie came outside. She made her way down the porch stairs towards her car, until she saw Damon sitting at the end of her driveway.

She stopped in her tracks, looking genuinely surprised. "What are you doing here, Damon?" She knew he could hear her, even from there.

Damon stepped out of his car and swaggered towards her, new leather jacket crisp. "I came to take you to school. Which started 10 minutes ago, by the way."

Bonnie looked around. "I'm not going to school."

"Okay great, hooky it is. So where are we going?"

"We are not going anywhere, Damon."

"Sure we are." He pointed at himself. "Sidekick, remember?"

"I never agreed to that."

"Some things don't need to be stated, Bonnie."

Bonnie looked around again. "Damon, I have plans. And they don't involve you."

"Who are you looking for?"

"Anyone."

"Anyone like who?"

"Anyone who might see me with you."

"Why?"

"Why not?"

"Oh, we're playing that game."

"This isn't a game, Damon."

"Of course it is. I invented the 'be vague and enticing' game."

Bonnie opened her car door. "There is no game, Damon. I have things to do. So move."

"What could you possibly have to do 9 o'clock in the morning?"

"It's a long drive." Bonnie instantly regretted telling him that. "Move Damon, for real."

"No problem." Damon moved aside and let her get in her car. He closed the door gently behind her with a smile. Before she could lock the doors, he was in the passenger's seat in a flash.

Bonnie sighed. On one hand, she really was tired of having to do everything on her own. It got old pretty fast. On the other hand, she didn't know if she could handle a five hour drive with Damon Salvatore. She didn't even want to consider the drive back.

"Where are we going again?"

"I never told you the first time." She gave in and locked the doors, putting the car in reverse before remembering that Damon's car was at the end of the driveway. She looked at him, annoyed.

The vampire glanced behind him, seemingly forgetting about the car himself. "Let's just take my car. You don't want to put all those miles on yours anyway," he added.

Bonnie sighed again. She was already regretting this.

Fifteen minutes later they were on the highway. "You still haven't told me where we're going."

"It's a straight shot down, no direction needed."

"Not an answer, Bonnie."

Bonnie knew there was no use in not telling him, since he'd see for himself anyway. But she enjoyed getting a chance to annoy him for once as much as he constantly annoyed her.

"I'll let you know when to exit."

Damon furrowed his brows, glancing at Bonnie as they cruised down the almost empty highway.

"Fine." He paused. "What was so important that Judgeyskipped school?" Sure, she'd been ignoring everyone there, but she'd still been going.

"It was a last minute thing."

"Okay."

They cruised for a little while longer, before the sound of Bonnie's stomach filled the quiet cabin. "Would you like to stop for breakfast?"

Bonnie glanced at the time on the console. She didn't think they would have time to stop, but looking now she could see that they were making great time, by almost 40 minutes. She was suddenly glad they'd taken his car after all.

"Sure, I'm starving."

Damon was expecting her to be stubborn and say no, so he hadn't actually had a place in mind when he'd asked that. He turned on the first exit he came up on, and said a prayer.

"Are we thinking bagel and coffee, or steak and eggs?"

Bonnie didn't answer, and they rode in silence again for a while. It actually wasn't awkward, and Bonnie was starting to feel uncomfortable with how comfortable she was starting to become with Damon. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back.

Bonnie looked up, suddenly sober.

"Elena, what are you doing?"

"Relax. He'll be fine."

Elena looked down at Damon on the floor. He writhed in pain from the vervain coursing through his system, but she felt nothing, knowing he'd heal on his own soon enough. She looked back up at Bonnie, now scowling at her like an anime character. Elena knew she didn't have much time before Bonnie realized she only injected him with concentrated vervain, not any magical poisons.

She rolled her eyes as Bonnie buttoned up her jeans. Bonnie was never the drunken hookup type, much less the sex on a random couch type. Damon's negative influence was clear, and it made Elena mad. Bonnie was supposed to be disgusted by Damon, not in love him. This wasn't even supposed to be a problem to be had right now. She walked towards Damon's now breathless body. He had gone quiet, probably passed out from the pain.

Elena could actually see why Bonnie would leave Jeremy behind, and really couldn't muster more than a halfhearted shrug about it to be honest. But that didn't matter; she wasn't supposed to end up with Damon of all people. In the moment, Elena realized she would've been less mad if Bonnie had just ended up with Stefan. The thought surprised her, but she couldn't take the time to unpack that revelation in the moment. She shoved it down and away, her switch flipped just a little more. It was more of a dimmer, really. Elena smirked at her own joke.

"I'm glad you find this all amusing."

Elena had forgotten all about actual Bonnie in the moment. She faced the witch again, suddenly wanting to get this over with quickly.

"Like I said, he'll be fine. I just want to talk to you."

Elena bent down and pulled the oversized dart out of the side of Damon's abdomen. There was enough vervain in there to take out two undead elephants.

"I'll give you the ingredients for the antidote when we're done." She stood back up. "I don't want Damon dead, Bonnie. I just needed him out the way for our ladies chat."

Elena sat in the ottoman across from the couch Bonnie was now standing in front of. The fire was hot on her legs, and would have once comforted her some time ago.

"So chat, Elena."

Bonnie thought about burning Elena right there in that chair until she finally gave up the ingredients, but she thought about Stefan and Jeremy and decided to make that Plan B instead. She didn't trust Elena not to give her the wrong ingredients anyway.

"Fine, let's jump right into it; what's going on with you and Stefan?"

Bonnie was dumbfounded. She definitely wasn't expecting to hear anything about Stefan.

"I don't know what you mean, Elena." I'm not you.

"Don't play coy, Bonnie. I saw the way you two were looking at each other earlier in the parking lot, I'm not stupid."

Bonnie hadn't absolutely the slightest idea what Elena was talking about. In the parking lot, they were talking about Elena. Where she got anything else, Bonnie wasn't sure.

"Don't give me that look, Bonnie. I know how this game works."

Bonnie had no clue what Elena was talking about, since Stefan had never been anything other than cordial to her. She decided that none of this made sense, and came to the conclusion that Elena must be paranoid on heightened vampire emotions.

"What do you want from me, Elena? There's nothing happening with Stefan and I." Bonnie went over to Damon and began dragging him back towards the sofa. "I'm with Damon," she said, in between light grunts. "Even now, you should know me better than that," she added as she propped him against one of the arms.

Elena looked at Bonnie and paused. After a second, she nodded her head.

"I believe you. That makes it worse."

Bonnie wanted to ask her what she was talking about, but deemed it futile and said instead, "any more questions, or can you tell me what you shot Damon with?" She looked at the dart gun at the foot of Elena's chair. "Where did you get that from anyway?"

Elena shrugged. "One of these rooms, somewhere. Stefan used it on Tyler, I think." She huffed, "I would think you would be more concerned with where I got the poison from."

Bonnie was, but she'd already decided to get the ingredients before she broached that topic. She did not trust herself not to do something prematurely.

"Speaking of which, how about that antidote?" Elena was quiet, seemingly lost in thought. "Elena, the antidote," she repeated with more force.

"Not yet. I'm not done." Elena looked pointedly at Bonnie. "You're going to take Damon's offer."

"What offer?"

"To move with him. Leave Mystic Falls. I can't focus on making things right with Stefan if you're here ruining things."

"Elena, I'm not going anywhere."

"Well then you can live the rest of your pathetically short human life without Damon." Bonnie began to respond, "—and before you try to do that brain pain thing with me, I don't actually know where the antidote is or how it's made, I made arrangements for that later. You'll get it when I'm far away from here. Like I said, I'm not stupid, Bonnie."

"You have to be if you think I'd let you live if Damon doesn't, Elena."

"Maybe, maybe not. I've made it through worse. Either way, you won't have Damon. Worth it, if you ask me."

Bonnie's breath caught in her throat. She wanted to hurt Elena, badly. And repeatedly. But she knew none of that would matter if she lost Damon. The only retort she could muster was a weak "Stefan would never forgive you."

Elena stood up and picked up the dart gun at her feet. "Be gone from Mystic Falls by morning. I'll send the information later." She started towards the door. "Stefan can bring him to wherever you are later so you can do your witchy thing. I'm sure he'll still be alive by then. Or not. Whatever."

Elena stopped at the threshold, staring at the dart gun in her hand. She shrugged again, and tossed it in the corner of the room, apparently deciding she no longer needed it. Bonnie was seething with so much anger she almost didn't hear Elena say "…and Stefan already hates me," as she strode out the door without another glance.

Elena was still trying to process how quickly everything had changed. Just 24 hours ago, she was planning on how to make things right with Stefan, and now… what? Elena could accept losing Stefan. She knew she'd messed up, and a part of her was already prepared that he wouldn't want to do this all over again. What really hurt her was Damon. He never turned his back on her, not fully, not until Bonnie got in the picture. No matter how crazy things got, Damon always came back for her when she needed him. And now she has no one.

Elena didn't know how this happened, or what she was going to do, but she knew that whatever it was, it had to happen fast. Bonnie was never going to forgive her, and she's pretty sure she wanted her dead now. The plan was to make her admit that she had feelings for Stefan, making her really no better than Elena. If Damon could forgive her for that, then surely he could forgive Elena, especially after everything they'd been through.

It never occurred to her that Stefan's feelings would not be reciprocated. After all, she herself had always found something about Stefan to be so alluring; even when Damon was around, she could never fully give up on him. Plus, Bonnie always said he was the better brother before she began dating Damon, so she just assumed that something would happen with them all living in the house together. But no, Little Miss Loyalty strikes again. Elena was so infuriatingly annoyed with Bonnie, she just wished she'd disappear in a puff of smoke.

She'd thought about just killing her, but she had a feeling that Damon had been feeding her his blood, and the only thing worse than dealing with Bonnie would be dealing with Bonnie for the rest of eternity. Still, Elena kept the option open. Bonnie was a very powerful witch and turning her may be the only way to eliminate those powers. She'd still be a threat as a vampire, but one Elena thought she'd have a much better chance of handling. Of course, she'd feel a lot more secure with one of the brothers by her side. Did it even matter anymore which one? They both hated her; she'd be grateful just to have one of them talk to her again, much less love her.

Elena reached up and wiped the tears from her face, turning the dimmer a little more. She wanted to turn it all the way, but she was scared. She wanted to feel something; what about Jeremy? What about all the innocent people she didn't want to kill? Really, she didn't care that much about either at the moment, but she knew herself well enough to know if she ever decided to turn it back on, she would regret all of it. She hated being stuck in this limbo of sorts; she wasn't sure who she was anymore, or what her purpose was. All she knew was that the only way she was going to figure it out was if she got Bonnie Bennett out of the way.