Caroline stood in the doorway of the Salvatore boarding house with her arms folded across her chest. Her frown deepened as she looked over Stefan's shoulder at the vintage Porsche idling in the driveway. Damon had just honked the horn for the tenth time. She was going to march out there and snap his neck if he did it again. Caroline took in a calming breath so that she could speak to Stefan without screeching at him. "I just don't understand why you have to drive out to the middle of nowhere with Damon. Saturday night is supposed to be our date night, Stefan."

Stefan decided not to point out that their date nights always consisted of staying in the house. Caroline shot him down whenever he suggested going out. She was not ready for Elena and Tyler to find out about their relationship. Therefore, the chick flick they were going to watch could wait until he returned. He smiled, "Damon is determined to buy more moonshine, but he is too drunk to drive himself. If I don't drive him out to the boondocks, he is going to try to make it in our cellar. Moonshine can be combustible under the right circumstances. I am just trying to prevent my brother from blowing up our home."

The blond vampire huffed but nodded in agreement. Damon making moonshine in the cellar had disaster written all over it. She leaned up and pecked Stefan's lips. "Well, I hope you won't take too long coming back. I really want to watch The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants with you. It's one of my favorite movies."

Stefan had no interest in watching that movie, but he understood that Caroline was going through a difficult time. Her friendship with Bonnie and Elena was strained for reasons she did not understand. In her most honest moments, Caroline complained that the two girls had changed in some way. Stefan was inclined to agree with her.

He said, "I promise that I will be back soon."

"Okay," Caroline replied.

Stefan walked out to his car and climbed into the driver's seat. He pulled away from the boarding house without looking at his older brother. Sometimes Stefan felt as if he was taking care of a drunken toddler. However, he didn't complain since Damon wasn't killing humans. Stefan knew that he was setting the bar low but it was better than being disappointed. "Don't say anything."

Damon poured a twenty-ounce bottle of Coca-Cola into the half-filled jar of moonshine sitting on the seat between his legs. Damon took a healthy gulp of the mixed drink and then grinned in satisfaction. He chuckled and said, "She's turning you into her gay best friend."

Stefan tightened his grip on the steering wheel. He said, "When you are in a mature relationship, you trade off on doing things that the other person likes. It is called compromise, Damon."

He rolled his eyes. "Yes, you are in a mature relationship that you have to hide behind closed doors. Lecture me on the finer points of a healthy relationship when Blondie decides to take your little arrangement public."

Damon wasn't the type of person that would sit his younger brother down for a heart to heart. However, it didn't mean that he wasn't worried about Stefan. He saw the toll this relationship was taking on him. Stefan had found the sneaking around enjoyable in the beginning. Now he just felt like Caroline's dirty little secret, but he was too nice to say anything to her.

"Caroline is just trying to be respectful of Elena and Tyler's feelings. I happen to agree with her. Everything has been peaceful lately. I don't see any reason to upset the apple cart. The secrecy won't last forever. Caroline has been trying to set Elena up with a guy in her theater class."

Damon chuckled as he brought the jar of moonshine to his lips. "I think sometimes you forget that I know you better than anyone else does, brother. You can lie to Blondie all day long but you can't lie to me."

"You don't know what you are talking about, Damon You're drunk. You are always drunk lately."

"Really? I think you are fine with keeping your relationship quiet because you don't want to hurt Elena's feelings. After all, you love playing the good guy. But you are also worried that Caroline is holding out hope of reconciling with Tyler."

Stefan looked over at his shockingly lucid older brother. He frowned and said, "You aren't drunk."

"Oh, I am definitely drunk. I am just not as drunk as I pretended to be. It's called acting, brother. Caroline isn't the only thespian in the house." Damon held the glass jar aloft and said, "To be, or not to be: that is the question. Whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune...shit I forgot the rest of it. But you get my point."

Stefan was used to his brother's antics but he wasn't really in the best mood. Damon had picked at a particularly sore spot when he brought up Tyler. He wanted to believe Caroline when she claimed to be done with the hybrid. However, there was a little voice in the back of his head that said something wasn't right. He had ignored a similar voice that had warned him about Damon and Elena. "Why am I playing chauffer if you aren't fall down drunk, Damon? You could have driven out to the farm on your own."

"I needed to talk to you without anyone eavesdropping on our conversation. That is practically impossible since Blondie has essentially moved into the boarding house during weekends. This conversation really couldn't wait until Monday."

The blond vampire tensed because Damon's voice was no longer teasing. Stefan wondered if some new threat was on the horizon. Six months was really too long for them to avoid attracting any new enemies. He had been waiting for the other shoe to drop for weeks. "What's going on, Damon?"

Damon took another gulp of the moonshine. "Well, we have a good news and bad news situation on our hands. The good news is that there is exactly zero chance of Wolf Boy and Blondie hooking up again. That should put a smile on your perpetually brooding face."

"Did you kill him?" Stefan asked.

He tilted his head to the side as he considered ripping out Tyler's heart. After a few seconds, Damon shook his head. He didn't think Bonnie would be too happy with him if he did that. "No, the mutt is as alive as he always is. He just has a new girlfriend if I read the situation right."

Stefan wasn't proud of how happy he was to hear that. Tyler moving on with his life was the best news he had gotten in months. However, he quickly remembered that Damon mentioned bad news as well. "What's the bad news?"

"What I am about to tell you cannot leave this car, Stefan. I don't care how much you love Blondie, this stays between the two of us. Or I will break your neck several times," he declared.

Stefan glanced at his brother for a moment before returning his gaze to the road. He didn't like keeping secrets from Caroline. However, the situation must be serious if Damon was making a big deal out of it. His brother rarely talked about anything without cracking a joke. "You have my word. I won't say anything…for now."

Damon had expected more of a struggle from his brother. He decided to accept Stefan's caveat. It wasn't as if Bonnie and Tyler would be able to keep their secret for much longer. Stefan and Caroline would come to the same conclusion he did the moment they were in the same room with her. "I wasn't exactly honest when I told everyone that Bon-Bon went home with someone she met at my party last night."

"What? Why would you lie about something like that, Damon? You said that Bonnie was okay. Did you lie about that, too?"'

The dark-haired vampire rolled his eyes as he took another gulp of his drink. He said, "Witchy was alive and well when I dropped by her house this afternoon. I lied about her meeting someone at the party. Bonnie went home last night with someone she already knows—Tyler."

Stefan's head whipped toward his brother. "What?"

Damon startled when Stefan swerved into the other lane. Fortunately, traffic was practically nonexistent on that stretch of Interstate 90. He groaned when realized some of his the drink had splashed onto his pants. "Would you keep your eyes on the road? This is the last of my moonshine and we are at least 30 minutes away from the farm."

He pulled onto the shoulder of the road and turned off the car. Stefan asked, "Are you being serious right now?"

Damon searched the glove compartment for napkins. "Why would I make up something like this?"

"You saw Tyler there?" he asked just to clarify.

"No, I don't think he was there when I stopped by. But Bonnie was wearing his clothes and she smelled like him," Damon explained while he dabbed at the wet spot on his pants. He grumbled, "It looks like I pissed on myself. This is why we didn't take my car. You are a terrible driver, brother."

Stefan sighed. "Focus, Damon."

He said, "Bonnie begged me not to tell anyone. I convinced her to let me tell you on the condition that you keep your mouth shut. There is something happening that she doesn't understand. Why do you think I mixed Cola into my moonshine? I've gotta stay sharp because something is headed our way."

"What do you mean?"

Damon said, "I expected to find Tyler at Bonnie's house. The two of them have been circling each other for months. So I wasn't surprised when she smelled like Tyler but it was more than just that. His scent wasn't just on her skin…it was radiating out of her body. Adding to that, Bonnie pulled me into her house as if I weighed nothing at all. The two of them have done something that has changed her on an elemental level."

Stefan silently arranged all the pieces in his mind as he tried to understand the situation. He asked, "How long has this been happening? Caroline told me that Bonnie has been going missing for hours at a time."

"I think last night was the first time they got together. The disappearing thing is just Bon-Bon communing with nature or whatever. She does it almost every night," he explained.

Tyler wasn't the only one that made a habit of keeping tabs on their powerless witch. However, Damon stopped checking on Bonnie every night once he realized that Tyler had taken up the job. He knew that the werewolf was up to the task and he certainly cared for Bonnie. Damon didn't even hate Tyler as much as he once did. They weren't friends by any means but Damon wouldn't let anyone kill the furry bastard. That was definitely progress.

His respect for Tyler increased leaps and bounds during their road trip to Oregon. They had sought out the Gemini Coven to help Bonnie. The leader of the coven was less than thrilled when a vampire and a hybrid rocked up on his doorstep. Joshua Parker came very close to killing them. The gray haired witch had impaled Damon with a stake that was dangerously close to his heart. Joshua believed that Tyler had been knocked unconscious but the kid had merely been stunned. Damon had expected Tyler to run like a coward to save his own skin. He had run often enough from Klaus. However, he partially shifted and sunk his canine teeth into the witch's neck so that Damon could get the upperhand. They forced the obstinate witch to help Bonnie.

"Did Tyler turn her?"

Damon chuckled, "I was drunk, but I would have noticed if Bonnie was lacking a heartbeat, brother. She's still among the living."

Stefan said, "Bonnie doesn't have her magic so this can't be a witch thing. She still has a heartbeat so it isn't a vampire thing. By process of elimination that means this is a werewolf thing. Right?"

"That would be my first guess but werewolves are born and not turned," he pointed out.

The younger of the brothers wore a thoughtful expression. "The scent change reminds me of something I learned while I was working for Klaus. He sent me ahead to scout out an Alpha living in North Alabama. I had to kill him because he wasn't interested in hearing Klaus' pitch. He was an old alpha that had ties with dozens of packs around the country. He would have proved a challenge when Klaus approached his pack. He certainly would have warned the others about the threat. After I killed him, his son and daughter-in-law returned home. Their scents were almost indistinguishable from one another. I learned that they were a newly mated pair and she was pregnant. I gave them the opportunity to run from Klaus before he arrived the next day. The girl ran because she was pregnant but the son stayed behind. He died when the transition failed."

Damon's dark eyebrows furrowed as he mulled over Stefan's tale. "Can werewolves and humans mate?"

He shrugged. "I don't know but Bonnie isn't exactly human. She is still a witch even without her magic. It is the reason that she can't be compelled. Maybe it is possible for werewolves and witches."

"What you are saying is that we need to find a competent werewolf to find out what the hell happened to Bon-Bon," he complained.

"A werewolf that will be forthcoming with information and not bite us on sight," Stefan added for good measure.

He said, "I suggest that you call your boyfriend."

Stefan glared at Damon. "Klaus is not my boyfriend and I am not calling him for anything. There is always a price with him...you know that."

Damon snickered, "Yet you knew exactly who I was talking about. Look he is the only werewolf we know that might have any useful information. Just lie to him about the circumstances."

He heaved a long-suffering sigh. "Klaus won't believe that I am suddenly curious about werewolf mating practices for no reason."

"Probably not but you could tell him you found a werewolf trying to run away from her violent boyfriend. He would believe that you were trying to play hero."

Stefan frowned. "We should talk to Bonnie and Tyler first. We need to figure out what they know about their situation. This might be a witch thing...not that we know any witches that like us."

Damon smiled and said, "I am glad that is settled. Now let's go get my moonshine."

"We should be going to Bonnie's house to talk to her, Damon. The moonshine can wait a few days."

"Nope. I am going to need to be suitably intoxicated to watch my best friend fall in love with wolf boy," he said with a shake of his head.

Stefan was quiet for a moment. He asked, "Is that all Bonnie is to you?"

Damon lifted an eyebrow as he looked at his brother. "What else would the judgy little witch be to me?"

"I don't know. Things have seemed different between the two of you since we got her back from the Other Side. You have been spending more time with her."

He scoffed and said, "I'm just trying to make sure that she doesn't get dead again. Bennett witches have a knack for dying. Now will you get back on the road? My moonshine will not wait forever. What if another dashing alcoholic shows up before I do? I don't know their policies on holding stock."

The younger vampire bit back a smile as he started the car. "Okay but it is going to cost you. I want a few jars of moonshine for my trouble. Caroline actually liked it."

"You have a deal," Damon agreed.

Stefan turned on the radio and got back onto the road. He knew when questioning his brother was a fruitless endeavor. Damon was rarely as dense as he liked to act. He was only pretending now to avoid having a serious conversation. Stefan would just have to watch his brother with a careful eye. He had 150 years of data to support his concerns. Damon didn't know how to cope with losing someone he loved. And he did love Bonnie, even if he was too stubborn to admit it.

While Damon had been watching the strange dance Bonnie and Tyler were doing, Stefan had been observing his brother's behavior. Damon had been legitimately distressed when Jeremy confessed to hiding Bonnie's death from everyone. Their friends all assumed Damon's reaction was solely because of Elena. However, Stefan knew better. He had watched his brother run himself ragged for days as he tried to find a way to bring Bonnie back from the dead. Damon had been equal parts desperate and determined. His relief was palpable when Bonnie once again had a corporeal form. Her resurrection was the genesis of the friendship she now shared with Damon.

Stefan was intrigued by the friendship. His brother didn't make a habit of being friends with women. He usually slept with them at some point. Stefan had been waiting for Damon to conform to type. However, he hadn't made a play for Bonnie even after Elena broke up with him. Stefan didn't know what to make of the situation but he was concerned. He liked the effect Bonnie had on his brother. Damon was still a reckless, narcissistic, alcoholic but his humanity was evident. He walked away from emotional situations rather than lashing out. He refused to let Elena into their home rather than snapping her younger brother's neck in retaliation. He threw a stupid party and refused to invite Elena just to goad her. Stefan believed that Bonnie was responsible for those changes. However, Bonnie and Damon's friendship would change if her relationship with Tyler became serious.