EEP!

Bonnie could hear Damon calling to her, moving her body, pressing his ear right against her chest to hear her faint thrumming heartbeat. But she couldn't respond yet, she was floating in her head, it was empty without him there, and she wanted to open her eyes and see him but she was being assaulted by a flurry of stars and bursts of colour. She could feel her thoughts rolling around and slamming against the walls of her skull and she felt as her mouth curled upward into an attempt at a smile. She felt incredible.

"Bonnie!" He barked again, his hands tight around her small shoulders, wanting to shake her no doubt. Slowly her eyes opened, and her eyelids fluttered as she adjusted to the brightness that was falling behind Damon's worried face. Her vision blurred and she giggled, drawing in breaths of him and the smell of fire that was still hanging in the air. Damon watched as her multi-coloured eyes dilated and she lifted a hand to trail a finger down his cheek. There was a sudden kick in her chest as her heart rate returned to normality.

"You look like an angel Damon." She said in a small voice, almost giddy-sounding. Her head still lolled a little this way and that as he lifted her up and she gripped onto his arms with an impressive hold, seeing as she could barely keep her eyes open. She took in another deep breath and looked around her. Lucy and Caroline were sitting a few feet away on the open tarred road. Bonnie waved lazily at Lucy with a silly smile still stretching her face. Damon frowned as he tilted her head so that he could do a full inventory of her features. He was getting really tired of having to cradle her like this, of wondering if she was okay, of her pushing herself this far and this hard with her magic. Mostly because it felt like he was hallucinating again, dreaming of her dying, standing there, helpless as she put the world before her own needs.

You'd think she'd have fucking learned something by now.

"You look high." He commented as she leaned into his hand.

"I feel high." She agreed, her head falling back as she started laughing softly, "I could have died you know." She said the amusement in her voice giving her words an odd effect. Damon pulled her back towards him and he moved her hair out of her face. He didn't need her reminding him of something he'd been feeling in his gut.

"Look at me." He ordered her and her eyes went wide as they locked with his. She lifted a hand and covered his as it held her chin in place. Her small fingers were wrapped around his wrist while the other hung listlessly at her side while his free hand held her in place at her waist. "Your eyes don't look right." He said, concern putting an edge in his voice. She snorted.

"Neither do yours but I'm not being rude about it." She commented with a small frown creating a divot between her brows. Damon wanted to say something snarky in return but he pushed down the urge. She was alive and that was all that mattered. "Stop doing this to me." He said his voice gruff and her heartbeat stuttered as she looked at him, for what seemed like the first time in that moment. She pulled herself up and Damon eased her onto the gravel beside himself as they sat making sure she wouldn't fall over.

"It had to be done." Bonnie said, her voice returning to its usual seriousness.

"I don't give a shit." Damon spat, "We could have all moved somewhere else. It probably would have been for the best."

"This is our home Damon," Bonnie pointed out, "I've heard you say it myself, you always come back here."

"That was because I knew Stefan would be here. My home is where he is." Bonnie's chest tightened at his naked honesty and she reached out to him, pulling him in for a hug. First he hugged her back because he felt like that's what she'd want and then he relaxed into her hold because he realised it was what he wanted.

"Whenever you two are ready, we should probably head into town and figure out our next move." Lucy called and the duo slowly pulled apart, Damon flashing to his feet to help Bonnie up.

"My place it is." Damon said squinting as he stepped over the border and turning to grin at Bonnie when nothing happened to him. "Come on, let's go home."

Jeremy had Sarah pushed up against one of the walls in the den, his mouth on her neck as her legs were locked around his waist. Her fingers tunnelled through his hair as she sucked in quick breaths with he moved against her. He tore at her shirt, ripping it down the middle to reveal her black lace bra. He looked up at her face and they shared a breathless grin. She wriggled out of the torn item and Jeremy moaned a little at the feel of her skin against his. Their mouths returned to each other and Jeremy felt like he could spend his days doing exactly what he was doing now – because he didn't know who he was outside of moments like these and he didn't have it in him to wonder why anymore.

"Well this is nice." Jeremy tore his mouth off of Sarah at the sound of Damon's voice. He turned with Sarah still firmly in his hold, ready to say something biting when he noticed who was standing next to Damon. She was nothing like Jeremy had remembered – she was a thousand times better.

"Bonnie." Jeremy gasped, half dropping Sarah on the floor in his shock. The girl stumbled a little but righted herself, hiding herself behind her crossed arms as she peeked around Jeremy's shoulder at the other girl everyone had been trying to find. Bonnie's face was eerily indifferent to what she was seeing, but she knew what she'd been walking into. She'd heard their laboured breathing from outside already, for whatever reason.

"Jeremy." Bonnie said evenly before looking to Sarah. "And you are?"

"Sarah." The girl stammered and Bonnie nodded. Damon looked down at Bonnie, worried at how she'd react to seeing her boyfriend this way and to distract himself from flitting over to Jeremy and snapping his neck for old time's sake. Bonnie drew in a breath and turned to look up to Damon.

"Pack your bags, Caroline and I are going to do the same at my house, I'll be back in an hour." Jeremy opened his mouth when Bonnie locked her eyes on him again. "We're done." She said easily and walked out of the room, a confused Caroline hurrying after her. Jeremy moved to follow her but Damon flashed in front of him.

"You heard what she said." Damon growled out. Jeremy stumbled back at the unfiltered anger rolling off of the vampire in front of him and then Jeremy raised a wary hand.

"What the hell happened to your eyes, to Bonnie's eyes…Why are they like that?" Jeremy managed to get out. Damon smiled then, a sinister one, like he always used to. He stepped into Jeremy's space then.

"That's none of your concern." Damon hissed, his eyes snapping to Sarah and he all but snarled as his gaze returned to Jeremy's face. "Now both of you pack your shit and get the fuck out." Lucy put a hand on Damon's shoulder then, frowning at Jeremy when she saw fight sparking in his eyes.

"Don't be an idiot." Lucy said to the Gilbert boy. "I don't want to have to hurt you." Jeremy couldn't hide the shock on his face.

"Since when do witches take the sides of vampires like him?" Jeremy asked his voice accusatory and infuriated.

"Since he's the only one I see actively trying to maintain the balance in this god-forsaken town." Lucy said her voice thick with authority, "That and I wouldn't want him to have to endure the guilt of killing you when he looks into Bonnie's eyes …but me? I don't care about that kind of thing so I'd watch myself if I were you. If I had to choose between him and you I wouldn't even hesitate to put you in an eternal sleep." Jeremy swallowed and nodded, turning to jerk his head at Sarah, for her to follow him as he went upstairs to pack up his things. Damon waited until he heard Jeremy close the door upstairs to whichever room he'd claimed before turning to Lucy with questions in his eyes.

"Why did you say all that?" He wondered. She shrugged.

"I can see what you mean to Bonnie and what she means to you, and from what I've seen when it comes to you and guilt over her you wouldn't survive killing the boy she loved so yes Damon, I would kill him if it came down to it because I can see what's better for Bonnie…I can see it in her eyes, in yours too – because they carry the same truths," Lucy stepped into his space then and put a hand over his heart and closed her eyes. Damon felt the hand of her magic dig into his chest, quickly and gently before her eyes flashed open again and she smiled, "Héo hæfþ þin heorte." Damon frowned. "She holds your heart." Lucy tapped his chest as she moved away from him, "And that's why I'd do whatever it took for you, because it's for Bonnie, one in the same really and I owe her that." Damon was still at a loss for words. "Could you hurry up and pack your things so we can book these flights and get the hell out of here?" He nodded and flashed upstairs leaving Lucy smiling as her eyes trailed over the carpeted floors of the den. "…And so the wolf fell in love with the sheep, only to discover she was a lioness in disguise." She whispered, giggling softly as she flounced onto the couch and waited.

Bonnie was throwing things this way and that and Caroline, the vampire, was barely keeping up with her.

"Bonnie…Are you –" Caroline's words were cut off when she dodged a flying peasant shirt, "Are you okay?" Bonnie dropped the clothes in her hands and locked eyes with Caroline.

"Are you asking me because of the spell I just cast or what happened with Jeremy?"

"Both." Caroline said, crossing her arms to show she meant business and wouldn't stop until she got some answers. Bonnie nodded and put a hand on her hip as she gestured to herself with her free hand.

"I spent over four months dead with Damon and then I had to send him back without me because of that backward bastard Kai and then, when I started hallucinating Damon it was pretty much the only thing that kept me sane as we found a way to get me back. Then," Bonnie said now using both of her hands as she tried to make sense of what had happened since her return, "Then I get back and all I want to do is see Damon, be near him, and adding on the fact that my eyes are all weird and that I can do all these spells without dying or even having so much as a nosebleed, yeah, I've never been better!" She drew in a sharp breath, "And then I see Jeremy today, with that girl Sarah and you know what…Nothing happened. It hurt sure, but there was no fight there, no want to fight and that doesn't mean I don't love him but it does mean that the love I do have for him is dwindling as we speak…because that's what happens when you die as much as I have Caroline, you figure out what's worth fighting for and his love is no longer good enough for me." Caroline's brows flew to her hairline and her mouth fell open.

"Bon, all he did was mourn you." Caroline felt the need to point out and Bonnie nodded in a way that both acknowledged and disregarded her point.

"Sure and I died for him. Do you see me fucking someone against a wall?" Caroline's face crumbled.

"I'm sorry Bon, I –"

"I don't have time to be sad Caroline; we need to figure this thing out with my face and hopefully everything else will come with that."

"You're right, where's your passport?" The blonde asked, checking things off in her mind.

"Downstairs in my dad's study." Caroline nodded and flashed away and Bonnie took that moment to stand still and let the tears she'd been keeping in come to the edges of her lashes before she blinked them away. Her dad wasn't coming back, her relationship with Jeremy had finally run its course and the only person who made her feel safe and normal was in love with her other best friend who she couldn't have felt more estranged from in that instant. She drew in a breath and continued packing hurriedly. She had to keep up her momentum before she stopped moving altogether.

…

Stay excellent.