*wiggles eyebrows*

Ask and ye shall receive. ladylibre, I hope you realise this means we're besties now. Lol. Also, Dahlia's Note, your review had me in stitches – the Jay Z and Beyoncé of magic? Stahp. All your comments have my heart aflutter so I shall pay you all back in kind. It's all your guys' fault how dumb I look right now from grinning so damn much.

You're a wonderful bunch X

Let's get out of this town

Baby we're on fire

Everyone around here

Seems to be going down, down

If you stick with me

I can take you higher

And higher

It feels like all of our friends are lost

Nobodies found, found

I got so scared

I thought no one could save me

You came along

Scooped me up like a baby

- Lucky Ones, Lana Del Rey

The following morning Bonnie lay in bed with her eyes on the ceiling above her. All night she'd been listening to the waves crashing as if the water was rushing straight into her ears. Sitting upright she frowned, smelling something she never thought she would again. The distinct smell of cooking pancake batter. Quickly making the bed she showered, dressed and primped before speeding off following the scent to land up at the threshold of the kitchen watching Damon and Lucy arguing over what to put on as toppings.

"Whipped cream doesn't even make sense Damon." Lucy argued, trying to pry the can from his hands to no avail. He grinned as he spun away from her, shaking the can as he moved.

"They're not going on yours." He said, his tongue sticking out as he moved his hand in a curve and sprayed whipped cream onto a pile of pancakes like he was putting the final brush of paint on a masterpiece.

"Not on mine either." Bonnie said, announcing her presence with a sly smile, "I've had enough of those to last me a lifetime." She walked over to him and rolled her eyes, sure enough he had drawn a vampire face with blueberries for eyes. She swept up a taste of whip cream with a finger and he gave her his trademark 'you're welcome' face.

"Too late," Damon said with a triumphant grin, "I made them especially for you." Bonnie shook her head but laughed softly.

"Of course you did." She muttered with mirth colouring her tone. "Thanks… I guess." She moved to sit next to Amelia who was sipping on a mug of coffee and reading something; her hair spilling over her shoulders in lovely waves as she sat with reading glasses on, her body wrapped up in a silk robe that was patterned with cherry blossoms.

"I also got you something else," Damon said with a quick lift of his brow, "But you have to finish your breakfast before you even find out what it is." Lucy rolled her eyes with her back to them as she finished off the rest of the batch. Damon had pressed so hard for pancakes and had only ended helping to make three of them, all for Bonnie. She didn't know why she was surprised. Bonnie looked at Damon and then down at her pancakes.

"What if I can't eat them all?" Bonnie asked, hardly interested in the prospect of eating at all really, what with her stomach in knots. He needed to stop looking at her like that.

"Then you ask me nicely so that I can help and then …surprise." Damon promised with a wink as he turned back to Lucy who waved the spatula at him.

"Don't even think about it Salvatore, do us all a favour and irritate Bonnie instead." Lucy said her hand on her hip while her hair was pulled up in a messy bun in a pair of denim shorts and a loose fitted white tank. Amelia chuckled into her mug, hazel eyes glittering with equal mischief as Lucy's. Bonnie gasped at the playful betrayal and shook her head as she laughed at Damon who shimmied his way over to her.

"I've been put in time out." Damon said with a pout stealing a blueberry from her plate. Bonnie snickered.

"It's hardly time out if you're with me." Bonnie said smugly. Damon's brows rose in pretend shock.

"Well excuse me Miss Bennett but I do believe I have heard rumours of you cavorting with dark haired vampire boys." Damon teased and Bonnie's eyes popped as she giggled.

"Well I'd check my sources if I were you but the only cavorting was done by the vampire himself, see, he had a penchant for drinking bourbon and dancing to nineties anthems."

"Sounds like a guy I could party with," Damon mused, "Did you get his number?" Bonnie shoved at his shoulder, picking at the edge of the top pancake and popping a piece into her mouth. It did bring back surprisingly fond memories with its flavour; especially with Damon smiling at her like he was in that moment.

"I did," Bonnie said after she swallowed, "But only as a favour to him, I threw it away the minute he turned his back."

"Minx," Damon said in a quick whisper, nudging her shoulder with his as Caroline and Fahada walked into the kitchen. Bonnie smiled at them and then looked to Amelia who winked. Looking around the kitchen Bonnie could understand the comforts that came with immortality; the room was wide and open, lined with glass-front cupboards and shelves that housed pots, pans and skillets and various utensils and crockery. The island in the middle, much like their dining room table could seat a horde of people, with the chairs surrounding it indicating as much. Even with the island come table the kitchen still had ample space to move between the fridge, stoves and ovens – a host's dream. "Morning ladies." Damon said with a cheeky grin as he saluted Fahada who patted his head as she walked past him. Damon chuckled; she was so tiny and the image of pure innocence but he'd gotten an inkling of the warrior that rippled just beneath the surface. Fahada wouldn't bat an eyelash, or stain her clothes when she took you out – she was much too subtle and experienced for that. The perfect killer if you asked him; like Elijah…but easier on the eyes considering she actually smiled at him once.

"Damon." Caroline said with a quick yawn, "Bon-Bon." She said, her face breaking into a smile.

"Morning Care." Bonnie smiled as Lucy spun around and placed a steaming pile of fresh pancakes in the middle of the kitchen island.

"How come Bonnie's got a smiley face on hers?" Caroline teased.

"Because Damon's an idiot?" Lucy offered with a wry smile at the same time that Bonnie offered her plate to Caroline. Damon tapped Bonnie's extended arm and pulled the plate away narrowing his eyes at Caroline.

"If you don't eat at least one you'll regret it." Damon said matter-of-factly, his tone bordering on a sing-song effect.

"Is that a threat Salvatore?" Bonnie asked, with a huff as she reached for a nearby knife and fork. Caroline looked between Amelia and Lucy who said nothing.

"Just, eat will you?" Damon said, getting to his feet, "Come to my room when you're done." The four women stopped and looked over at him strangely, "It wasn't meant to sound suspicious." He defended himself feebly, "For a group of beautiful women you lot sure do have the foulest minds." He tisked and walked out of the room with Stefan entering not moments after him.

"Morning everyone." Stefan said a little awkwardly, his gaze flickering to Fahada who was poking at a pancake on her plate. Amelia put her mug down and blindly held out a bottle of syrup to Fahada, waving it a little before the vampire took it. Keeping her eyes on her book Amelia spoke up.

"Morning Stefan, when you're ready I'd like to speak with you in my office." She looked up then and smiled. Stefan nodded as he walked over to Lucy who held out a cup to him and motioned to the pot of coffee on the table.

"Of course," Stefan said with a small smile, "Whatever you need." Amelia nodded, closed her book, took the last sips of her coffee and stood to her feet. She squeezed Bonnie's shoulder as she passed.

"The rest of you should go sight-seeing or something, I'm sure a breathing period is in order, for you especially Bonnie…After Damon's surprise for you of course." Amelia winked and with a swish of soft fabric and faint perfume she left the kitchen. Stefan frowned as he looked over at Bonnie who was staring intently at her plate; her mouth scrunched up and pulled to one side. Caroline had joined in with Stefan's gawking as well, confused. Bonnie sighed and stood up, having barely touched her food. Elena walked in then and smiled shyly at everyone, immediately picking up on the settling tension in the atmosphere.

"Leave it," Lucy said with a soft smile, "I'll lie and say you ate." Bonnie beamed and nodded, making quick work of exiting the suddenly quiet room.

Bonnie had been eager and anxious when she fled the kitchen but something heavier was crawling into her body as she made her way downstairs to the sleeping quarters. Fahada had talked of an even lower level; a basement of sorts where they kept more archives and weapons and other things in storage but Bonnie had been too busy staring at Damon practising magic to pay much attention. Wringing her hands she curved around the corner and stepped into the hallway where all of their guest bedrooms were. Hers was at the far end, after Damon's and she reasoned that she could just step into her room for a bit. Breathe or whatever it was that she felt like she couldn't do at that moment. She didn't know why she was so nervous but she was. The last time she and Damon were alone in this house he told her he loved her. The last time she was alone with him in this house she realised that she may love him too, that she did love him, a nameless, shapeless thing that she'd yet to allow to take root in her heart for fear of ruining what little normality she had left. She didn't know how much she loved him or in what way she loved him and it was this that spread fear into her. It left her vulnerable and susceptible to the vampire waiting in his room for her.

For so long she'd been with him; whether he was there or whether he wasn't. When they died together they were only able to do so because he'd brought her back. He'd brought her back and then they died, they died after saving everyone else. For once the burden or martyrdom had been divvied up between her and someone else. Damon had held her hand and he'd slipped into nothingness with her. Then they'd months with one another, mourning, fighting, reeling and seething but ultimately always staying close to one another. Because she'd been all he had and he'd been the same for her. Then, when the time called for it, Bonnie did what she felt she had to, despite him telling her to leave him behind – she could never have done that to Damon. So she sent him home, only to steal a part of him solely for herself. He'd stayed with her despite her best efforts and that had been all that had kept her sane enough to find her own way home. Then, when she fell out of the sky she'd fallen into his arms and the world had slipped and fallen off of its axis, moving to a different galaxy, finding a new alignment in the stars because Damon had been running to her. Writhing in misery without her. She remembered one of the memories/hallucinations of Damon's that had flooded her mind when Amelia had sifted through her head:

Damon was flipped onto his back and his vision was flooded with a startling brightness. He was outside, on the ground, in a forest of some sort. But the light was too warm, the colours too perfect for any of it to have been real. But as he sat up he recognised the woods he was in, he and Bonnie had walked through here to get to the cave where it all happened. Damon felt something twist in his chest, a heaviness, begging for freedom and as he exhaled it fell from his lips, a strangled sob that bounced off of the trees. "Bonnie." He whispered, his head hanging low in defeat. Maybe this was how it would be for the rest of his life if he didn't get her back? Maybe he'd hallucinate her for all of eternity. Serves him right for claiming that being stuck with her was his hell. Serves him right for continuously taking advantage of her along with everyone else who claimed to love her and care for her. Damon didn't want to fight this sentence that he'd been charged with – he deserved it. They all did. Bonnie had always put herself last, if she put herself on the list of her own priorities at all – a mentality they all had had a hand in breeding in her consciousness. The misery was quickly swallowing Damon and he was seconds from succumbing to it. Just as his eyes didn't reopen after his slow blinking he felt the world tilt once more and he was transported to one of his fondest memories of Bonnie.

They were dancing; her in that vibrant orange dress and him in his usual black and leather get-up. She actually smiled at him that night after he'd had the decency to wonder about her safety in their latest quest to keep Elena alive. Damon's limbs twitched as he moved along with the memory. "Careful Damon," she'd said, "I might start to think you actually care." And Damon's breathing hitched as he lay there in the desolate forest. He should have cared; he should have let himself care for someone other than Elena. He should have but he never did, he even stopped caring about his brother – the only family he had left, and that should have been the first sign that maybe pursuing Elena wasn't the smartest option for him. But Damon wasn't smart, he didn't think, he just did. He killed, he fucked, he fucked people over and he'd rub salt in your wounds afterwards, because he didn't give a fuck. That's the person Bonnie died for…And the knowledge of that alone was tearing him apart. An infuriated cry ripped through his chest and arched his back off of the floor, it was like all of his emotions had taken on a physical pain, and a physical representation as it tore apart his insides. His hatred for himself and Bonnie's sacrifice in his name was slamming together in his chest and he doubted he'd survive it this time…

Bonnie's heart ached as the intimacy of Damon's thoughts swam through her mind – they'd established that they'd both hallucinated one another but…Damon's had been different. The culmination of all of his feelings merging with the dreams…they drove him crazy with guilt and regret without her…before she'd returned to him. Bonnie knew every thought that had traversed his mind and it was a strange sensation when she realised that eighty percent of them had been about her…fifteen percent had been his brother and a shocking five percent had been Elena's betrayal.

Bonnie was just standing there, outside of his door, holding her breath and blinking stupidly – wondering what it all meant. Where it would all lead. How it ended. Bonnie had lived a life where death was never the final chapter and yet she was never immortal – but she was now…ish?

"I can hear you thinking you know." Came Damon's voice and she gasped, jumping back as the door opened with him grinning down at her. "Well not literally, I should point out," Damon went on, "But I heard you breathing and then you stopped so I figured you were overthinking everything as usual and honestly we don't have time for that right now." Bonnie blinked a few more times and then her mouth opened and closed before she cleared her throat and crossed her arms.

"And what are we setting aside all this time for?" She wondered, looking up at his eyes. She hadn't admitted aloud or even to herself yet, but she loved that his one eye was now the colour of hers, like…like a part of him belonged to her now; even though it was more likely a testament to his newfound magic. Wasn't it the same thing though?

"This." He said and pulled her into his bedroom swiftly, clicking the door shut behind them as he tugged her to the edge of his bed. "Sit." He instructed with a light seriousness; she could see a smile was seconds from his lips. "I learned something cool while you were zoning out during our test-trials."

"Oh?" Bonnie said dismissively, she'd been zoning out for sure, her mind plagued with the impossibility of it all…of being part vampire and not knowing what the hell exactly that meant.

"Yup." He said cheerfully and held out his hand between the two of them. "I'd say you should close your eyes but I wouldn't want you to miss it." Bonnie was about to ask him what the hell he was on about when something appeared in his outstretched hand. "It's not the real thing, I don't think anyway, but I know how much she meant to you so I manifested one from scratch." Bonnie gasped and reached out tentatively to touch the caramel coloured bear that had appeared out of thin air.

"Cuddles," Bonnie whispered, in awe. "Damon," she looked up at him with her eyes wide and shining, "I, I don't know what to say."

"I think 'thank you' is a good place to start." She giggled, a happy sound falling from her mouth in short breaths as she held the bear to her chest and beamed up at him. She hadn't seen him look this proud of himself since the first batch of pancakes he'd made for her with those ghastly fangs drawn on with whipped cream. His smile was warm as it moved over his face, brightening every feature he had. Acting on instinct she moved to kiss his cheek, feeling as it rounded as his grin widened. She moved away slowly to gage his response.

"Thank you." She said, "This is probably the cheesiest – sweetest thing anyone's ever done for me."

"You're welcome." Damon said, dipping his head so that their faces were close together and Bonnie felt her throat tighten at their proximity. He loves you, a voice reminded her, unnecessarily. You love him.

Every now and then

The stars align

Boy and girl meet

By the great design

Could it be,

That you and me and the lucky ones?

"Damon, I need you to listen to me for a minute and you can't move, okay?" Bonnie said, her words rushed as she built up the courage to see the moment through. Wordlessly he nodded and she drew in a breath and moved closer to him. "I can't articulate how I feel about you but I think I know how to show you, and you deserve to be shown how happy you can make someone." His eyes became expectant and his mouth fell open slightly, calling to her attention. Her eyes flickered to them and back to Damon's eyes – her eyes. She couldn't define it exactly, but she felt a part of herself reacting to her own words in a way she imagined Damon might. His soul was etched into hers now, she felt it, she was sure he did too. Making sure he was staying still she moved until their mouths were a breath apart. Thoughts of Jeremy, Elena, Stefan, Caroline, her mother, her Grams, Emily, her father, her vampirism, everything, it all rose up to meet her as she felt his breath tickling the skin of her mouth but she didn't waver – Bonnie never wavered. Like a roaring wave her insecurity and apprehension hung over her head before crashing down around her and falling to pieces at her feet as she pressed her mouth to his. Like she wanted, he stayed still as she moved her lips over his; testing the texture, the sensation, the desire sparking behind it before she pulled away slowly, once again gaging his reaction. His eyes were closed and his mouth was slightly puckered, a light flush dusting his cheeks before his eyes snapped open and locked with hers.

And exactly like the time he told her he loved her she watched as the colour in his eyes flared and could only assume the same was happening to her as they watched each other. The blues and greens shone with a vibrancy that stole Bonnie's breath away.

Finally

You and me are the lucky ones this time

*does the running man as a celebratory dance*

Stay excellent.