*looks over shoulder before looking back at you and slides this chapter across the table*

The next day:

"Okay Bonnie, I'm going to need you to be as still as possible and to clear your head as much as you can." Bonnie nodded as her hands gripped the arms of the chair she was seated in. She knew Damon's eyes were on her, as well as Imran's as Amelia's fingertips touched the sides of her temples but she pushed it down. She took a deep breath and as she exhaled she imagined she was blowing all of her thoughts away until her mind was a blank slate. "Perfect." Amelia's voice commended her and then Bonnie felt Amelia's magic dip into her consciousness, digging for answers that weren't even guaranteed. Bonnie's breathing hitched and she heard the smallest sound of movement, from where Damon was last standing before she'd closed her eyes – almost like he'd jerked a little in response to her. Damon watched as a frown spread over both witches faces as he and Imran stood aside, eyes trained on the women before them. Bonnie's face wasn't sitting well with him, the small pinched expression she wore; like she was experiencing some kind of pressure and Damon knew what it had felt like because of Lucy having searched his mind as well. He crossed his arms to keep himself from intervening; his hands fisted so tightly he was sure he'd just heard a metacarpal break. There went another one. Imran turned to him then and put a hand on Damon's shoulder in empathy. Damon didn't even turn to look at the man, his eyes stayed on Bonnie. A whimper fell from her lips and Damon moved then, talking a determined step forward only to be pulled back by Fahada – who knew when she'd even walked into the room? Damon looked down at the girl who was about the same build as Bonnie, if not smaller, her grey eyes clear and set with authority – something he would have never predicted coming from a face so kind. Fahada shook her head as she turned back to look at Bonnie.

"Amelia." Bonnie muttered, her voice pained and the three vampires watched as Bonnie's back arched, her head falling back against the chair that was almost three times her size. "Stop, please." Fahada's other hand gripped Damon and held him back with an unmovable force and Damon would have snarled at her if Bonnie's eyes hadn't opened in that moment. Her eyes sent iridescent shimmers that bounced off of the stark walls as a cosmic light shone through them. Amelia gasped but kept on, beginning to chant softly for serenity and clarity as she continued to scour Bonnie's mind. Damon stopped fighting against Fahada's impossible hold and watched as Imran flashed to a nearby bookshelf and tugged at the spine of a black weathered book until it fell into his hands with a low 'oof'. Amelia exhaled sharply and stepped away from Bonnie whose body immediately slumped forward, her head hanging down, hiding her face. Damon yanked himself away from Fahada who let him go and not a second later he was in front of Bonnie, lifting her face.

"Bonnie," Damon hissed tapping her cheek, "Bonnie, wake up." Her head lolled around in his hold and it twisted at his chest that she always ended up like this whenever magic was involved – he didn't like seeing her like this, in fact, he'd grown to sincerely hate it. Turning his neck he locked eyes with Amelia whose face was blank, "What did you do?" He accused and she shook her head.

"A standard searching spell." Amelia said, crossing her arms, "And I think you'll find that she is perfectly fine." Damon's eyes snapped back to Bonnie's face who had her own eyes on him already.

"Bonnie." He said again, needing to be reassured. She nodded and tried to smile as he held her face in his hands but he didn't believe her. "Are you okay?" Bonnie wanted to say no; because she hadn't been okay since he'd declared his love for her, in fact, she hadn't been okay since she sent him back without her, or since they died together, or since he'd brought her back as the Anchor, or before then when he was the only who waited for her on the island…something she'd only just remembered for some reason…She saw every nightmare he'd had when he came back without her; every hallucination, every gasp, every scream, everything…Whatever Amelia had done had unlocked so many things in her mind and Bonnie was almost dizzy with all the new information coming at her from every angle. Yet all she could think of was the vampire in front of her, looking beside himself as he waited for her to say something – anything.

"I'm fine." She said softly, nodding when he raised his eyebrows, "Really." Damon nodded though he looked anything but convinced and in a flash they were both standing and facing the three supernaturals who had been quietly observing them. "I think you sealed together a few pieces of my mind that had been altered previously because of Expression, because I now have memories that I didn't have before…"

"Memories of?" Amelia prompted, she'd seen a few but she needed Bonnie's verbal confirmation.

"Of Damon." Bonnie said as evenly as she could, his eyes immediately on her face, "And what happened on the island when we were all searching for the cure for vampirism." Amelia nodded while Imran flipped through the book in his hands at a flurrying speed while Fahada narrowed her eyes in thought.

"We should do Damon next." Fahada said as she pursed her lips, "Whatever this thing is, it needs to have them remain in equal balance and in close proximity, look at what happened when they were in separate dimensions, when they were miles apart, this magic between them is magnetic…we can't afford any imbalances. Search Damon's mind and hopefully we'll unlock something there as well that can speed the process of our understanding."

"Yes," Imran concurred, "And in the meantime Fahada and I will begin assembling the physiological tests to ascertain just how many supernatural traits have been exchanged between the two of them." Amelia nodded and then turned back to the confused couple standing in front of them. What a sight they made, their souls so clearly split between them, as clear as day in their eyes as they stood as close to one another as possible without the other noticing. Amelia smiled then and extended her hand to Damon, showing him to sit where Bonnie had been. Nodding, Damon sat down and looked up at Bonnie, who stepped back even though anyone with eyes could see she wanted to comfort him and assure him that everything would be fine – she knew how much he hated this; it reminded him of his time without her. Instead she clasped her hands together and nodded at Amelia.

"Damon, I'm going to need you to be still…" Amelia began as Fahada and Imran flashed out of the room and up to the third floor to ready the tests.

"I can't believe you didn't see it." Lucy said in reference to what was happening to Damon and Bonnie, as she trailed a hand through the sand, creating a curve as she drew. Stefan watched her hand move; sighing as they sat side by side on the quiet beaches of Meh-lk – Boss, or something like that…he couldn't pronounce the name.

"I think I was too set in my ways, in what I thought was plausible and what wasn't." Stefan said, his eyebrows furrowing as usual.

"And what's that?" Lucy asked with a smile in her voice as she kept drawing. Stefan moved to lean his weight on his hands as they extended behind him.

"That Damon loved Elena," Stefan said seriously, his eyes focused on the rumbling ocean in front of them, only a few feet away, "But I didn't think that he'd one day be able to see past it…I think we all forgot how long he'd been mourning Katherine when he met Elena…it never occurred to me that Elena could have just been another stage of his mourning – of him coming to terms with certain things, I mean as a…a transference of feelings sure, but I never thought he'd ever move on from loving the same face he has for as long as we've been vampires…you know?" he turned to Lucy then, who was nodding as she drew what was turning out to be a rune-like symbol for strength with sharp angles and sweeping curves. "What's that?" he asked and she looked up then, surprised he was watching her hands.

"A rune," she said, dusting her hands off with a smile, "For strength, I was studying a tribe a while back that believed in decorating their bodies with runes to call on the spirits to protect them when they went to war." Stefan nodded. "But yes," she said, returning to what Stefan had been talking about, "I don't think anyone could have predicted Bonnie and Damon loving one another, not with this, intensity…I mean…they called to one another through different dimensions Stefan, I don't think we've realised how incredible that is…it's more than magic and it's more than love…whatever they have growing between them is literally not of this world and they need our help nurturing that, supporting that, because if they don't it will have dire consequences for both of them. You saw what happened to Damon when he was without Bonnie…" Stefan's chest tightened at the memory of his brother writhing in pain and misery, "I don't think they could survive without each other and that bond has been progressing exponentially every day, who knows when it will reach it's pinnacle…if ever."

"So what do we do?" Stefan asked after a few moments of them looking at each other with the ocean water curling and crashing in front of them. Lucy looked out to the water with a small shrug before looking back at him.

"Whatever we can."

Bonnie was chewing on her bottom lip ruthlessly, only stopping when she managed to draw blood. Damon sucked in a sharp breath and his eyes shot open, much like Bonnie's had earlier, casting a blinding brightness all over the room and Bonnie's jaw dropped. Amelia ended her chant and stepped away from Damon as his head drooped forward, his body suddenly completely slackened. Bonnie rushed to his side, much like he had done and held his face up and ran her fingers over his cheeks as she waited for his eyes to open. When they did she'd never been happier… though she knew he would regain consciousness; she didn't like the idea of him being unconscious one bit, not for one second. Damon smiled at the worry on Bonnie's face, loving that it was there and that she had one of his eyes…like the world could see that she had one half of his soul, which Damon knew to the core of his being that she did – he just didn't know if she did.

"You're okay?" She asked, moving to help him stand, and he let her, as unnecessary as it was. He nodded as he looked down at her, his smile still perfectly in place. He squeezed her one hand that was still holding his and nodded.

"I'm fine." He said and she nodded, turning to Amelia who was scribbling things in her notes. Looking up, the witch smiled at them.

"From my preliminary searching I can tell you this; the love and magic are not separate, one isn't the cause of the other, they are perfectly unified in causing whatever phenomenon this is. So, before you think feelings are growing as a result of the magic I assure you they are not, nor is the magic being propelled because of how you feel. They are one in the same, much like your minds are one in the same…you remember the island because Damon remembers…I didn't seal any parts of your mind, I think I just reaffirmed this bond between the two of you and strengthened it…you two are very quickly becoming more and more connected… as well as…and Imran and Fahada will confirm this, the first recorded cases of the witch-vampire breed."

"The what?" Bonnie gasped.

"Both of us?" Damon asked, shocked, at the same time Bonnie had spoken. Amelia merely nodded in response to them both.

"…You're turning into hybrids." Fahada's voice piped up as she appeared in the office once more, "And if you'll be so kind as to follow me, we have some tests that can confirm that."

*claps hands excitedly*