I will warn all readers now that you will find Damon OOC. After all, when he is thinking to himself and sees many truths, his character will change. If that fact is disturbing, then maybe you should not read this.

Disclaimer: Characters, places, and the like from the Vampire Diaries are the property of LJ Smith. I'm just borrowing them to create this tale. All other characters that have no ties to any other fics belong to me!

Chapter One

Damon couldn't stop thinking about her – Bonnie McCullough. Even as he flew over that damned small town, the stubborn, proud, and trusting red head was haunting his mind … as well as his aching heart. How had he allowed her to get so close? How did she find her way in? He had never let any get so close to his heart in nearly nine centuries! Why did she have to be so different from the rest of her kind? And why did he really care?

This time they met because she had brushed his mind with her own by means of some spell. That little witch was become more powerful every day, and didn't know it. Obviously Elena had made sure he would return by helping with the contact, but it was the secret message was within the touch that truly gave him cause to return. In that touch he had felt a silent plea for his mind alone. Bonnie was hoping beyond all hope that he would return … to her.

He had always felt something akin of respect for the witch. She had suffered much, yet still stood out. A lighter version of himself, though he refused to say such to any. If she wished to slip into his darkness, so be it. She wanted him to return to her.

So Damon did, only to find that Matt was moving into her heart! Not that Damon cared. He was fine with it. Nearly nine centuries had proven that he could manage very well without some female telling him what they needed and complaining to him when they did not get just that. Eight centuries without being harmed as he had been in his youth by females.

Besides Bonnie might be a witch, but she was a mortal! A human female who had became just that … a striking female. Why was he thinking of her so? She was with Matt, and that was how it was meant to be!

Matt had Bonnie, Stefan had Elena, but Damon had no one! It was better this way. He was a loner, and that was one thing that Bonnie had no use for. Adding on that she and her friends had gone through enough. Still the once stone heart within him needed to know that she would be taken care of if times fell hard or another attack would threaten her … their lives.

Not that he held any feelings for her. He simply owed her a debt, and would pay it back … in time. She had believed in him when no one else did. She trusted him when the others would have turned their backs on him. She had given him a reason to keep on living when it would have been far easier to leave the group to their doom or die with them, littering the bloody ground around her and him. In time he would return such graces.

He left two notes behind in his wake. The first went to Bonnie. He even sat in a tree looking into the girl's bedroom window when she tore it open.

Mio piccolo fiamma,

It would seem that not all of your kind should be considered food after all. You have finally turned into a woman from that frightened child I once teased for pleasure.

I believe that this would be a much more pleasurable way to contact me the next time you find that you have a need for some fun. At least we could talk a bit more than we did using that blood and hair trick.

Durare ardere and arrivederci mio piccolo fiamma

  Damon

Then he gave her his cell phone number. He always had to tease; it had become second nature to him, and it was what they all expected. But he did want her to go on with her life and not let that damned town snuff her flame out as it had its various idiotic residents. She was different from them, and that was what first grabbed his attention. But she was not meant to be his.

For a moment she looked saddened, or was that only what he wanted to see on her lovely face? Damon shook his bird head, telling himself that he had to get past all of that. It was better for him and for her that they would never find out what could have been. She was a creature of the light, and he had no right to drag her into his darkness. Though he would never say such to anyone else. That was not his character or nature.

Bonnie went to the window and gazed at the world without ever noticing the crow that was keeping a careful watch on her. He thought after her statement of needing a few decades without him that she would be relieved to know that he was gone. What had changed her heart?

Bonnie's voice shook him out of his thoughts. "Please take care of yourself Damon. I know that inside you're a good man, and its just going to take some time for you to see that too. My only wish for you is that you find true happiness. I hope that I'm still pretty the next time we meet. I'd hate for you to ever see me old and ugly. Goodbye for now sweet, dark champion."

And with that she went to her bed and pulled out a book. Obviously his Bonnie kept a journal just as Elena had. However, that was where the similarity between the two ended.

Unlike Elena's given strength and domineering ways with people, Bonnie was soft and only now realizing what she had inside of herself all along. All of the pain they had endured in that year had strengthened her and made her shine from within. Her Power was starting to grow and she was slowly beginning to master it. Many other puny humans would have put it away as a nightmare curse and let it die, but not his Bonnie. NOT HIS BONNIE! What was he thinking?

Still he admired her shell as well. She had also slowly begun to grow into a remarkable woman outside. Damon noticed how she was just slightly taller than when he had last seen her, and she was curving in all of the right places too. But, he could never think of her like that – for she would be Matt's bride soon enough, Damon was certain of that. And it would mean that he wanted her, when he … no, he didn't want to cling to some human as his pathetic little brother was with Elena! He did not love Bonnie!

After a few moments she put the book away and snuggled under her covers, with the window wide open. Damon immediately flew in and changed to his human form. How important she was to him. And he couldn't explain why. But he did not love her. He was a true vampire and did not love anyone but himself.

After all they had gone through that day, he had no doubt that Bonnie would be sleeping heavily for hours. Still Damon wanted to be sure that she would rest, so he used his Powers to send her into peaceful dreams of whatever she'd like her future to be – without nosing in on what was in her mind. Her dreams would always be just that … her dreams, unless she said otherwise. Besides, what would he want to know about her dreams for? In a few decades she'd be gone with the rest of the pathetic humans he had gotten mixed up with.

She softly smiled as she settled back against her pillows. Damon tenderly covered her warmly with the blanket and brushed a few stray hairs from her face. Yes, she was indeed lovelier than the last time he taunted her to smell the fear running in her veins. He cursed himself for being so weak as to let the little witch twist her way into his heart. He couldn't fight the truth. He had fallen in love with the human witch. But this did not mean that anything would come from his admission to himself.

But he really wasn't sorry for loving her; she was different from other women – both human and vampire. Damon sighed as he reminded himself that they could and would never be. He would not take her from Matt, and she probably wouldn't make it as one of the night. He snorted at that thought, she would make a force of a vampire – she just wouldn't want to become one.

After watching her smile peacefully for a long two hours, Damon kissed her soft lips for what he really believed for the very last time. Fully accepting that he had fallen in love with Bonnie, but that they would never be together. "I'll take care of myself, if only to be ready to help you if you need me. Matt had better be good to you, or I will take very good care of him. Be yourself always, Bonnie. I love you."

He wanted to lie beside her and rest – that battle had taken all of his strength, and he was feeling all of the centuries he had lived through hitting him at once. And he hated the thought of not feeling her so near to him.

But Damon had things he had to do before he would leave, and the longer he remained with her the harder he would find it to go. Still she would now take the place Felicity once held in his heart, and it hurt to let Bonnie go. For the first time in a long time, Damon allowed a few tears to fall from his eyes – which landed on Bonnie's face, waking her.

"Damon? Are you still hurt? I thought that Elena had healed you too! You left before I could say goodbye." Bonnie clung to the vampire's chest with tears falling from her own eyes. Could she have feeling for him and not Matt?

Damon partially gave in to his desperate need for sleep by lying next to her on the bed, and pulling her close to him. For now he could only imagine what it would be like to have her in the same bed forever. "I am alright. Now close your eyes …"

"Wait. Did you hear what I said before I laid down?" Bonnie looked up into his unreadable eyes. He couldn't break down before her.

If she only knew how this felt to him, but it would never be. Somehow Damon was able to be playful, but still held his unreadable mask. "You are such a sentimental human, mio piccolo fiamma. Are you trying to insinuate that you want to change? Or are you being a little tease?"

"I'll pick tease. Hungry handsome?" Bonnie playfully tossed the hair away from her neck as she winked at the softly growling vampire beside her.

For a moment Damon forgot himself and leapt hard on top of her, making far too much noise. Bonnie's mom heard the bed screeching beneath the couple, "Bonnie, what are you doing?"

"Stop her, Bonnie. Or I'll have to go away now." He didn't want to. To be honest he didn't want to leave without her.

Bonnie took a breath before calling out, "I just jumped into bed. I'll talk to ya later mom, I need to get some sleep."

"You are in enough trouble as it is young lady! I don't want to hear another sound from that room. You are grounded until you tell me the whole truth about where you were last night!"

Damon looked puzzled for a moment, until Bonnie smiled up at him. It was the first time she had seen behind his mask without their lives being in danger. "Come in soaked, covered with dirt, leaves, moss, and blood – and that's what you get. She's even threatened to call the cops if I don't come up with a good story soon."

"I will take care of that problem before I leave." He softly whispered in her ear.

Bonnie sleepily smiled up at him, "I knew that you would. I have always known that you would do what is right. You didn't answer my question … are you hungry?"

The glimmer in her eyes almost convinced him to spirit her away. But, Damon knew that Bonnie had gone through enough already. Still, she had to learn to be more cautious of who she would tease in the future. "Consider this a rain check that I intend to collect on, my little witch."

His fangs scratched the surface of that creamy ivory skin at the base of her neck. Her heard her sudden inhale, easily sensing that she wanted to cry out in her pleasure. The small amount of blood this brought forth he lazily lapped at like a cat. He could sense that Bonnie was enjoying this, mostly because he was still with her. Damon knew then that she didn't want him to go, but he had to leave – she deserved every chance for happiness, and he doubted that he would be able to give it to her.

He started to get up, but stopped to gaze upon her as she groaned softly in disappointment. "Tit for tat, Damon."

He never asked if she was certain, because he read her all too open thoughts. She was in love with him, but he knew that it could never work out. None of the others trusted him, so why should she? Why was it that this one mortal always thought the best of him when the rest were ready to curse him as the worse? Was that how she stole her way into his heart?

Silently he gave her one of is hungered grins as he unbuttoned his burnt and tattered shirt just enough to expose his flesh to her. Slowly his fingernail opened only a slight tear in his flesh, but it did the job. Just as he had, Bonnie softly lapped up the blood that ran down his chest. In the end, Damon gave Bonnie back much more than he took from her. He hoped to give her a bit of his strength for whatever she was about to face … without him.

Again Damon quietly lay next to his true love and held the young woman close as she grinned up at him. That grin became so intoxicating that Damon let his emotionless mask fall into a smile that showed her the love that was in his heart, as well as the sorrow that was there as well. All that mattered to him was gain closure from this area of his life. That is if he ever dared to hope for such peace.

Shortly after that, he put her back into a deep sleep and made all that they had done seem like nothing but a dream to his sweet Bonnie. Before leaving he wiped all traces of Bonnie's condition returning home from the minds of all her family members. He would not allow them to harm his Bonnie in any way, shape, or form.

****

The other note went to Matt. Damon had never been invited into the now grown man's home before, so he simply pushed it through the open window and willed it to rest on Matt's nightstand. That done he left that small community, and vowed to only return if asked by Bonnie – only if she needed him.

The next morning Matt found the note and wondered how it got on his nightstand.

Uomo,

You may have survived our encounter without feigning away like many of you kind, but never forget I am the more powerful of us two. Next time I suggest to not anger me, for I may not be as merciful.

Oh, and should anything happen to Bonnie and I find that you are the cause – pray that I kill you quick.

Arrivederci Mio Amico!

Damon

That day Damon left the country. How he would have stayed there in Fell's Church to keep watch over her himself, but to see Bonnie in another's arms would have torn him too much.

****

The pair he was so certain would come together had a long talk. Matt admitted that he was only protecting Bonnie because he still saw her as a little sister who needed her big brother to chase off the creeps. When she admitted to having feelings for Damon, they went silent. Neither knew how to carry on after that for several moments.

Finally Matt said that if Damon really felt anything towards her, then he'd return for her someday. Bonnie nodded in agreement, but she still felt so sad and alone without having to watch for Damon stalking her. She knew that she was safe with him, more so than with anyone else – but she couldn't explain why or when she had first started feeling that way.

Matt and Bonnie met up with Meredith at the park later that afternoon – both agreeing to not tell their friend anything about their conversation, except that they were not a couple. Meredith wasn't surprised, but she had sincere feelings about Damon.

"It's a good thing he's gone. After all he only thinks about himself, and he doesn't care if any of us live or die. We're just food for him. He probably just came back to make sure no one else took down Stefan but him."

That irritated Bonnie. "Meredith he came back because Stefan is his only blood relative left in the world! I'll admit that I have family that I wouldn't mind taking out, but if someone else was threatening them I wouldn't hesitate in guarding my family. That's the way things are."

"Calm down Bon. I'm just saying that he only cares about himself. But, maybe you're right and deep inside he cares about Stefan. Hey, weirder things have happened in this town." Meredith chuckled.

Bonnie and Matt groaned in answer. Matt shook his head as he pulled something out of his pocket. "I got his from Damon. It was on my nightstand this morning. But Damon has never been invited into my house, so how did he get it in there?"

"Simple will power. Vampires can do a lot of things when it does not hurt the mortal within. You were asleep and wouldn't have seen it floating through the air, so he could move it." Bonnie rattled off as if such was common knowledge.

Meredith stuttered in her shock. "How would you know that?"

"I'm not sure. I must have pulled something from him that night behind Vickie's house, before Matt interrupted."

"What do you mean that night? And where was I?" Meredith scowled.

Matt grabbed her arm. "You were locked in your car fast asleep. Damon didn't even get close to her neck. Back to my note, it has lines I'm assuming are in Italian. Think you can tell me what they mean?"

"I have a note too." Bonnie excitedly pulled the envelope out of her purse. "There's some Italian on mine as well."

Meredith glanced each note in turn. "Well, it's a good thing that I brought my laptop with me …"

"Don't you mean Alaric's laptop?" Bonnie teased with a wink. She knew what was coming, but it didn't make her like it any better.

Meredith simple gave a blank stare; she wanted to put it off as long as she could. Bonnie was going to be devastated when the truth finally did come out, so why bring it up right away? "I'll explain that later. Now we get online … now I'll get into the language database … select Italian. Okay, so who wants to go first?"

"Matt brought his letter out first, and I want to know what Damon said to him." Bonnie giggled. The truth was that she wanted to keep her Italian message from Damon private for a little while longer. She just knew it was endearing and that the others would easily read between the lines.

According to Meredith's laptop, Damon had called Matt a man and his friend. Mat smiled at that. He thought to himself that being strong in wake of the threat Damon had hinted at that night was one test he'd rather not live through again. Still to have Damon call him a friend made Matt wonder if anyone really knew all there was to know about the vampire, or had they all ran with their assumptions – all but Bonnie really.

Bonnie, in her note, Damon had named his little flame. That caused her heart shaped face to turn near red from a combination of happiness and embarrassment. Even more so when he asked her to continue burning and called her 'his little flame' once again before telling her goodbye. She swore to not let herself change into a 'normal person' the town might have dragged her into becoming eventually.

Meredith held a strange smile on her face, "so, he gave you his cell number? Anything that you care to share with the rest of us, Bonnie?"

"No Meredith. He probably got irritated that I couldn't give him more information about what was happening this last time and figured to be safe rather than sorry next time."

Bonnie might have said it, but inside she hoped for it to be otherwise. Deep inside she had always felt a hunger for Damon. Ever since that first kiss at Alaric's, she felt a bond or connection to the moody and unreadable vampire. Still, she knew her luck and it had run true to form – there was no guy for her, as usual.

But that dream she had of him, how it felt when he scratched her skin, how his blood tasted. It had all seemed so real, still she couldn't remember it all. How he had gotten in, what he had said, how long before her left her side – it made her brush it off as a dream at first. Then the fact that her family had forgotten her shocking appearance coming home early that morning, and their threat no longer posing any danger, made her wonder if it really had been a dream.

"So, what do we do now? Do you think that we might actually be able to go on living – without being forced to fight for our lives that is?" Matt glanced at Bonnie before staring straight into Meredith's eyes.

Meredith had a look of concern on her face. "At least we can for now. I got a call from Alaric last night. He's coming home tomorrow, and he asked me to marry him."

"Wow. Are you Meredith? I thought that we were going to school together?" Bonnie tried to hide her disappointment. The group was splitting up and she'd soon be on her own – she had seen this coming for three days in visions that she had held back from the rest of their group. Problem being that terrified her, but she could not have them put their lives on hold for her.

"Look, we barely survived that last one. I just want to make sure that I get my life going before we get caught up in a fight again."

Matt grabbed a hold of his friend's hand, "well, I say congrats. After all, Elisa and Stefan shouldn't be the only ones in this group to be happy – right?"

"Right. So, when is the day?" Bonnie could feel the tears welling up but refuse to let them fall. After all, she had finally proven that she was no baby. Why go and act like one now?

"I don't want to wait. So it will be this Friday. Not a big one, just you guys, a few other friends, and family – but that's all. I couldn't handle all of the planning and waiting that comes from a big ceremony." Meredith sighed. Bonnie was taking all of it better than she had been expecting – too much better really.

She knew that it would hurt Bonnie to change her plans like this. Still, nearly dying in those woods made her think about how things might have turned out – that is if Damon hadn't shown up.

She wondered why it was he did come back at first. None of them had acted … well … polite after Vicki died, except for Bonnie. Meredith remembered faintly hearing him tell Klaus to leave his brother alone. It still brought a smile to her face thinking about it. Bonnie's explanation made perfect sense. The two hated one another, yet no one was going to bring harm to the other without getting their butt kicked by a Salvatore!

"Already planning the honeymoon, Meredith?" Bonnie chuckled like her old self as her friend's face lit up red.

Meredith merely glared, "that's none of your business!"

"Seeing as we are going to miss their wedding, should we feel bad about not telling Stefan and Elena?" Matt grinned.

"No!" they all yelled at the same time, before breaking down into tears and smiles.

****

It was a beautiful wedding. Nothing fancy, just a casual party. Meredith and Alaric were all smiles, and for the first time in so very long Bonnie was happy. Still, she felt lonely. She knew that Matt only held her as a little sister in his heart, and was why he took every opportunity to become the barrier between Damon and her. In fact he had brought his new girlfriend, Lydia, to the event.

She was nice, and reminded her of a combination of herself, Elena, and Meredith. Dark brown hair, chocolate brown eyes, and not quiet as tall as Matt. She had lived two towns away (lucky girl), but was moving in with Matt on a permanent basis the next day. She almost seemed to fit into their odd group as if she had been one of them since the very beginning of the horrors. But, Matt swore that he hadn't told her anything about it.

An old flame named Gary Huster escorted Caroline to the event. Bonnie knew that it was only for show; Caroline really didn't have feeling for the sweet nerd. She just didn't want to come alone to the party. Funny how near death didn't change some people as much as others would expect. But, she and Elena had made up. Once again the group had been back to the way things once were – until it was time to part.

Elena, once again wearing her lapis lazuli engagement ring, and Stefan were off to see Europe together. Damon had left seemingly without saying goodbye – or maybe he had. Bonnie cursed herself for thinking about him again, but it was hard not to. After that night, she doubted that she'd ever look at him the same way again. He had her heart, and that would not change.

Everyone was with someone now, except for Bonnie.

It seemed ironic that she was the one to catch the bouquet, seeing how traditionally it went to the next in line to be wed. Damon was all she thought about from the moment she felt the flowers hit her hand on. She wished with all of her heart that it were that sweet, brooding, untouchable, mysterious, and trustworthy vampire she was meant to be with forever.

It was funny how she thought of it in that way – forever, as if she was like the Salvatore brothers … an immortal.

Given what he had written in the notes, Damon obviously thought differently, and unfortunately so had Bonnie for a brief time. But, she didn't let it hurt her. After all Elena found her guy after years of trying one after another on. And it took nine centuries for Stefan to find her.

Bonnie knew that it would just take time to find her Prince. She only hoped that she'd find her guy before she was too old to enjoy being married. Still Damon was always in her dreams.

Oh, if he only saw her dreams, Bonnie wondered with a smile on her face just what he'd think of his little flame then.

Well, how was that all? Please do leave me some comments. Flames will be used to roast chestnuts and marshmallows!! ^_^