PROMPT: "close your eyes - I don't want you to see me like this."
Disclaimer: I do not own the Vampire Diaries or the characters, I make no money from this.
Damon brushes back the curtain slightly, careful not to expose too much view of the room and scans his outside surroundings, looking for any sign of danger. No cars pull into the dingy motel, he can hear no car engine in the distance and all the other hotel guests are in their rooms, seemingly winding down for the night. There's no Gemini coven coming to hunt them down, they've lost them for now.
He pushes the curtain back to cover the window, turning to face the room. There's a queen bed with a worn yellow cover, aged brown furniture decorating the room and a photo of a beach hung against wood-panelled walls; this motel clearly doesn't realize what the current decade is. He frowns, realizing the bathroom door is still closed, with Bonnie inside doing who knows what; he walks to the door, knocking on it gently.
"Bonnie?" he asks, trying not to jump to any conclusions, "Bon, you doing okay? Bonnie?"
"I'm fine," she replies quietly, but he doesn't miss the pain in her voice. It sounds like she's sitting down, but Damon can hear tiny hisses of pain escaping her mouth, echoing in his ears.
"No, you're not. Let me in, let me help."
"I don't-no-"
"If you don't let me in, you know I'll end up tearing the door off its hinges. I can tell something's not right, now let me take care of you." The door unlocks, and Damon tries to open it, only to feel Bonnie's hand blocking the door. "What's the problem?"
"It's just...I don't want you to...could you close your eyes?"
"What?"
"Close your eyes - I don't want you to see me like this. Please, Damon."
"You're scaring me."
"I don't want you to see me, okay? You'll have this horrible look on your face that'll make me feel even worse, or you'll do something terribly stupid if we run into the Gemini coven again. Please, close your eyes."
Damon sighs heavily, shutting his eyes and steps away from the door. "Okay, fine, eyes are closed now, I swear. You can come out."
"Okay, good," Bonnie breathes out, relieved and the door finally opens, her footsteps moving slowly across the room. He can hear her sit down on the bed with a strained grunt, rifling through the CVS shopping bag and her duffel bag; Damon thinks she's changing her shirt, maybe going through some kind of medical kit and her breathing still sounds odd, not that it's shallow but rather that it hurts her body to breathe.
He decides to open one eye just for a second, see why Bonnie's so worried and being in the dark is not easy for Damon, he doesn't like it, not when it comes to her. She's clearly injured anyways, she doesn't have to know, he'll take a quick look so he knows she's okay. He peeks open a tentative eye, immediately embarrassed when he realizes she's not wearing a shirt until he notices ugly purple bruises creeping around her torso and there's narrow red scratches on her shoulders.
"Bonnie," Damon's voice is strangled, he can't get any other words out about the horror in front of him.
She sighs, her back still facing him. "I told you to keep your eyes shut. Besides...it's not as bad as it looks."
"Not that bad?" Damon repeats incredulously, moving towards her. "Bonnie...this isn't just a tiny paper-cut. Let me heal you."
He lifts his wrist to his mouth, ready to take a bite, but Bonnie stops him, shaking her head adamantly. "No. The Gemini coven's still after us, and if I have your blood in my system when we face them again...I'm not taking that kind of risk."
"I think it's worth it in this case!" Damon points out, baffled, "Look at yourself, Bonnie! This isn't gonna go away overnight, but with my help, it can, I can fix all this-"
"No," Bonnie stands up abruptly and raises a hand to stop him, her eyes firm. He can tell the sudden movement hurts her, but she doesn't bother to back down. "I won't put any vampire blood in my body. I'll heal the old-fashioned way, like a regular human."
They both stare at each other for a few moments, waiting for the other to finally break. Damon stares into her dark-green eyes, wondering how he ended up going on this road trip with this infuriatingly stubborn Bennett witch. He eventually lets out a sigh of defeat, scrubbing his face tiredly. "Fine. If you insist on healing at a snail's pace, then at least let me bandage you up. I'll be Nurse Salvatore for you."
Bonnie smiles, looking a little amused and sits back down on the bed. "Alright. Fix me up."
Damon grabs the open medical kit from CVS, sitting down beside her on the bed and faces her side; she hasn't bothered to put a shirt back on, she's only wearing a plain black bra but there's an ugly large purple bruise all over the side of her torso. So, he simply takes out an ice pack and presses it against her side, using gauze to wrap it in place.
"Why do you have to be so stubborn?" Damon murmurs, but there's no bite to his words.
"I aim to please," Bonnie replies, he can tell she's smiling as he moves onto the next cut. She's one of those people where you just know what they're feeling, you can tell by the way their mood seems to seep into your own skin, taking over every nerve in your body. "How long do you think we have until we make it back to Mystic Falls?"
"A day and a half, maybe a little less depending on traffic. We'll have to get up early tomorrow too, the coven's probably worn out but after tonight, they'll have their strength again."
"All this trouble for this stupid ascendant," Bonnie sighs, "I just hope we manage to bring back Elena and Stefan. Our first real lead in months...it can't go to waste."
"It won't. We'll find them. We'll bring them back from….wherever they are. We have to. We haven't gone through the past two shit weeks and all that research for nothing."
Damon moves to Bonnie's shoulder, turning his attention to the long cut on her shoulder blade that goes to her neck and gently dabs on some ointment. He shifts closer to clean up the wound fully, his lips briefly brushing against her curve of her shoulder and her heart stutters a little, making Damon nervous too. "Sorry."
"It's fine," her voice comes out breathier than usual, "Thanks for doing this."
"No big deal, and to be fair, I probably wouldn't have gotten this far without you, so we're even."
"Yeah, no shit. You would've gotten run over by that garbage truck if I hadn't gotten your attention in time."
"You're never gonna let me live that down, are you?"
"Never," Bonnie laughs, and Damon begrudgingly smiles. "But I suppose we do make a decent team."
"Nice of you to finally admit it," their eyes meet, both of them smiling at each other and Damon thinks he can see a tiny dimple in Bonnie's right cheek, along with a couple freckles. "I guess, if we're being honest here, then I gotta say, you've definitely surprised me, Bennett."
Reviews are appreciated! If it's not clear, it was stelena that was sucked into the prison world, not bamon; the details of how and why are not important. Hope that clears any confusion.