A/N: I have seen several people complain about the direction of this story. It is going to be a Poly relationship. Bonnie bonded with Stefan first and is leaning on him. However, that will begin to shift in upcoming chapters. But it will always be a poly story. If that doesn't interest you then please find another story to read. Have a great day!

It was surprising but the poker game turned out to be incredibly fun. They had chosen to play Texas Hold Em poker since the teens were most familiar with that version of the game. They broke up into four teams: Bonnie & Stefan, Caroline & Tyler, Jeremy & Elena, and Damon & Alaric. Matt was the dealer and Lucy was helping him make sure none of the supernatural players were cheating. They had played eights hands thus far and the wins were split three ways. Damon & Alaric and Stefan & Bonnie were tied for three wins apiece. Meanwhile, Tyler & Caroline accounted for the remaining wins. However, the young witchpire had very little to do with her team's success.

Bonnie sat on Stefan's lap as they played poker with their friends. She squinted at the cards in his hand and tried to figure out their next move. She pursed her lips and then looked up at his amused eyes.

Stefan nuzzled her neck and rumbled against her ear. "You are a terrible poker player, Bonnie."

"You're supposed to be teaching me," she said with an adorable pout. She liked the game even if she didn't have a grasp of it.

He chuckled and asked, "Why would I teach you how to play poker? I am going to have fun playing this game when we are alone."

Bonnie smiled mischievously. She whispered, "You don't have to work so hard to see me naked, Stefan. All you have to do is ask."

"I don't know...something about winning your clothes piece-by-piece would be far more entertaining for me. Watching you squirm while you get wet for me. Ripping that last piece of clothing off with my own two hands. Then there is always the possibility of exchanging sexual favors once you're out of clothes," he growled against her ear.

She swallowed thickly and went back to looking at the cards. Stefan's words were stoking the fire in her belly. Bonnie squared her shoulders and muttered, "Let's focus on the game at hand, pervert."

Stefan tossed a couple chips into the pot with a grin.

Damon snorted, "I couldn't agree more."

Bonnie's eyes widened. She hadn't considered that the vampire was sitting close enough to overhear his brother's filthy words. She looked around and found that no one else was looking in their direction.

Stefan chuckled at his brother. The two of them had been relatively friendly during the poker game. Stefan had resisted the urge to taunt him. It would have made the atmosphere too tense. He didn't want the game to end early. Stefan needed Bonnie to understand that he was committed to their relationship. After tonight there would be no doubt in their friends' minds that his desire for Bonnie was about more than just sex.

It wasn't just about Bonnie sitting on his lap the entire time. It was the way she leaned into him and looked up at him. It was the small smiles and quiet laughs that were only meant for him.

Bonnie scrutinized the cards on the table. She looked at Stefan and whispered, "We should raise more."

He lifted an eyebrow because at best they had three of a kind. However, most of the cards on the table were of the same suit. He had no interest in losing to a flush. He said, "Let's wait to see what the turn card is first."

She pouted at him and said, "Fine."

Stefan pressed a kiss just below her ear and whispered, "Patience is a virtue."

She huffed at him. "Yes, I'll be taking patience lessons from the Ripper."

He chuckled deeply. "I have patience and restraint where it counts. You know that well enough."

Bonnie bit her lip and elbowed him slightly. She watched the round of betting end with interest.

Matt flipped over the next card.

Stefan squeezed Bonnie's thigh to keep her still. They now had four Jacks. He planned to bluff his way into a bigger pot but only if Bonnie didn't give away the game.

The witch understood the pressure on her thigh and resisted the urge to offer a big reaction. Instead she pouted more and muttered, "Maybe you were right about not raising again."

Tyler chuckled from across the room.

Caroline bit back a smile of her own. She had never realized how truly terrible Bonnie was at poker. Her friend had no natural talent for the game. Caroline had grown up spending time at the station while her mother worked. She spent more time than was probably appropriate playing poker. She also secretly loved watching the poker tournaments that ESPN played late at night.

Stefan said, "Check."

Elena grumbled, "We're going to fold."

Caroline looked at Tyler and she said, "Raise."

Stefan watched her push half their chips into the pot.

However, Damon seemed to be watching Stefan and Bonnie. He frowned and said, "Raise."

The vampire pretended to scowl when his brother raised as well.

When the betting ended, Matt flipped over the last card. It was a 2 of hearts.

Stefan patted Bonnie's thigh and nodded at her.

She grinned and pushed all their chips into the middle. "All-in!"

Matt said, "Let's see everyone's cards."

Caroline and Tyler pushed their chips into the center, too.

Damon hissed and tossed his cards on the table. He had been worried that Stefan and Bonnie were baiting them. He pushed his chips to the center, too.

Stefan smirked seeing that Damon only had a flush.

Tyler and Caroline flipped over their cards. They had three of a kind.

Bonnie placed their cards on the table with a flourish. "Four Jacks."

Matt said, "Stefan and Bonnie take the pot and win the game!"

Bonnie squealed happily and dragged all the chips over to their side of the table. Then she leaned up and kissed Stefan.

Stefan was pleasantly surprised by the ferocity of the kiss. Afterwards, he grinned at her. "Just imagine how much fun we can have in Vegas."

She nodded eagerly. "And there I can cheat...a lot."

He chuckled at that.

Lucy said, "Be careful cheating at casinos, little cousin. I know of a few that are run by vampires. They recognize our methods easy enough."

She frowned and said, "Well, that's no fun."

Lucy grinned, "I didn't say that you couldn't cheat using magic. You just have to be careful. Never stay in the bigger casinos for longer than a couple hours. Always spread your cheating around so it doesn't only benefit you. Also, keep your senses alert. You'll know when a vampire approaches. Always leave before they can confront you."

Stefan chuckled. "Sounds like you are speaking from experience."

She shrugged her shoulders and said, "There are all sorts of ways for a wayward witch to make a living."

Bonnie's eyebrows rose at that. "You suddenly became much more interesting to me."

"Did you think that I was some straight-laced witch? You did find me working for Katherine. I march to the beat of my own drum," Lucy said with a haughty huff.

"Don't look now but I feel my opinion of you changing rapidly," Bonnie said with an eager smile.

Lucy rolled her eyes at the younger girl playfully. "Games with dice are the easiest to manipulate."

"That's what I figured," Bonnie said.

"But it's possible to manipulate cards games using magic, too. There is a spell that I am fond of using. I think I have it in my grimoire," Lucy said.

Bonnie's eyes lit up. "I'd love to see it. Unless we're still playing poker?"

Damon shook his head. "I'm done for the night."

Stefan nodded in agreement. He patted her thigh and pecked her lips. "Go figure out how we're going to fleece those casinos."

She grinned at Stefan and then hopped off his lap. "Do you have any other spells that are good for cheating? Everything in Gram's grimoire is ethical and righteous. There's not even anything fun in there."

"Wait until I teach you how to make a glamour," Lucy said with a smirk.

"What's a glamour?" Bonnie asked curiously.

She said, "It's a spell that alters your appearance. It works best around humans and werewolves. I've used it with younger vampires, too. It's harder to trick the older ones. They can't see through the glamour but they can sense all the magic."

Bonnie hummed as she mulled that over. She wouldn't be able to use a glamour against Klaus. She followed Lucy out the room.

Caroline said, "This was fun. We should hang out again tomorrow."

Tyler chuckled, "You want to play poker after Lucy teaches Bonnie how to cheat using magic?"

She pursed her lips and said, "Well, we could play charades or do trivia questions."

Matt said, "I like charades."

Ric reluctantly admitted, "I do, too."

Caroline grinned. "Great! We can team up again. I think tomorrow should be boys versus girls."

Tyler snorted and said, "No way. You, Elena, and Bonnie have been best friends forever. You probably have some secret code to help you win."

Matt nodded in agreement.

Elena offered a small smile at that.

Caroline huffed, "Fine. We'll choose teams randomly from a hat!"

Tyler chuckled, "That works."

Stefan and went into the kitchen for more blood. He was feeling a little peckish. He was standing over the sink when he heard Elena approaching him. He turned around and asked, "Can I help you with something?"

Elena slowly approached him. She looked up at him from underneath her dark eyelashes. "I just wanted to say that I am glad you are letting Bonnie help you. It will be nice having you back to normal. I have missed you, Stefan."

He lifted an eyebrow. Stefan wondered what approach Elena would take this time. She had made several appeals to get him to turn on his humanity. Of course all of her arguments had been based on her desire to reunite. "I've been home for months."

"No...you know what I mean. I miss the real you. I miss...us. I miss our epic love. You know that's what Caroline calls us," she replied.

Stefan chuckled softly. "You miss us? It's my understanding that you kissed Damon the same night that I sold my soul to Klaus."

Elena's cheeks heated up in embarrassment. She wrung her hands in front of her. "I am sorry about that, Stefan. I...it was such an emotional night and I thought Damon was going to die."

"I don't want an apology. I think it's great that you are with Damon."

She became flustered and snapped at him, "I'm not with him!"

He smirked and said, "You were until he started sniffing after, Bonnie. Maybe we can help one another that way."

"Help each other in what way?" she asked in genuine confusion.

"Well, you don't want to walk out of this empty handed do you?" he asked innocently.

"What do you mean?"

He said, "I will never be with you again, Elena. The last time my brother and I shared a doppelganger it ended poorly. We were turned into vampires, there were endless years of suffering, blah blah blah. I'm not interested in history repeating itself. You should be with Damon. Save him from himself or whatever is that attracted you to him."

Elena blinked in shock. Then she was filled with white hot anger. "You want me to distract Damon so that he leaves you and Bonnie alone?"

Stefan grinned. "Ding, ding, ding. Tell the young lady what she's won, Bob."

She glared at him. "You are only saying this because your humanity is off. Bonnie is going to fix you tomorrow and you are going to remember how much you love me. You are going to remember how much I mean to you."

He chuckled quietly and cupped her cheek. "Oh, Elena. I do remember how much I love you. I just don't care about any of that. Bonnie is mine. She was made just for me and I have no intention of letting her go. Now you can help me by distracting Damon or you can stand aside. Either way, what we had is over."

Elena shook her head. "You don't mean that! Bonnie has just worked some spell on you."

He stepped back and stared at her. "Do you really think that? You think Bonnie stole me from you with magic? I wasn't interested in you long before Bonnie was turned or hadn't you noticed? And let me be clear about one thing, Bonnie doesn't need magic to keep my interest."

He walked out the kitchen with a shake of his head.

Bonnie joined Stefan in bed shortly after midnight. She had spent nearly an hour in the company of her cousin. Lucy had allowed her to copy several interesting spells from her grimoire. Bonnie had practiced one of the spells with her help. The spellwork was complex but the girl was certain that she would be able to perform them flawlessly with some practice. She was glad to have a few more days at the boarding house before heading to Vegas. It would give Bonnie some time to practice the spells. The last thing she wanted was to attract unwanted attention from vampires or security guards at the casinos.

Once in bed the couple took advantage of the tension that had been building between them all day. Bonnie and Stefan lost themselves in a haze of blood and intense pleasure. Stefan even went out of his way to teach Bonnie a thing or two for good measure. He knew that she was behaving as if this would be their last time. As she prepared to fall asleep, he whispered reassurances into her ear. He didn't know how well it worked but it was the best that he could do under the circumstances. Unfortunately, seeing was believing in this situation. Bonnie wouldn't believe his words, but she would have to believe his actions.

A few hours later, Bonnie woke Stefan up. It was so early that the sun wouldn't rise for another hour or so. Everyone else in the boarding house was still sleeping peacefully. Bonnie decided now was the best time to remove Klaus' compulsion from Stefan's mind. She really didn't want to deal with an audience or any distractions. Stefan had to agree with her logic. At a minimum, Damon and Elena would be lurking like poltergeists while she worked. It was sheer luck that Bonnie hadn't injured or killed Tyler yesterday. Stefan and Damon had shamelessly distracted her at every turn because neither of them cared about the hybrid's survival or comfort.

The couple quietly made their way to the basement without disturbing anyone. They even stopped off to get a few bags of blood. The young witchpire had learned her lesson from yesterday. Bonnie bound Stefan to the chair using heavy duty chains that he wouldn't be able to break. Then she gagged him to minimize the risk of drawing unwanted attention. Her last move was to secure the door with her magic. It was a spell that Lucy would be able to break through if necessary. However, it was the best that she could do on short notice. Moreover, her cousin wasn't the person she was trying to bar from the room-it was everyone else.

Bonnie was clad in a pair of boy shorts and one of Stefan's t-shirts. She had began wearing them more than her own clothes. His scent was the only thing keeping her from being anxious right now. Part of her wanted to leave Stefan as Klaus' puppet. Bonnie could admit to herself that she was enjoying what they shared now. However, there was a little voice in the back of her mind that whispered 'it's not real'. The little voice in Bonnie's head sounded suspiciously like Elena. She would never be able to trust Stefan until he had free will again. Even then she probably wouldn't fully trust him. Bonnie didn't fully trust people anymore. She had learned the hard way that people are flawed and never give as much as they receive.

She stood in front of Stefan and twisted the ring on her thumb. She asked, "Are you ready to do this?"

He nodded resolutely and tried to smile at Bonnie despite the gag in his mouth. He wanted to reassure her but it all fell a little short.

Bonnie returned his smile and straddled his lap. She squirmed a little to get comfortable. Then she placed her fingers to his temples. She whispered, "This is going to hurt...a lot."

Stefan nodded a little. He knew that it would. He had watched the agony Tyler had experienced. However, he was willing to pay any price to get Klaus out of his head. All thought left Stefan's mind as Bonnie's magic sliced into him like a knife. He growled in pain and thrashed against her.

She bit her lip and whispered, "I'm sorry, Stefan."

The pain only grew worse for Stefan the longer Bonnie was at work. He quickly lost track of time. All he could focus on was the pain and Bonnie's comforting words. Occasionally, she would whisper something sweet and encouraging. She kept reminding Stefan that he wasn't alone-that he would never be alone again.

The longer Bonnie worked the more she realized the procedure would be more complicated for Stefan. Klaus had compelled Stefan more than once and had left scars behind. The scars almost felt like hastily tied knots to her magic. Bonnie had to take her time meticulously untying those knots and smoothing out Stefan's memories into something more coherent. In some cases, it meant that he possessed two set of memories for a particular time period-his real memories and the ones that Klaus had implanted. Bonnie felt guilty for delving into Stefan's mind this way. However, she had to understand his memories in order to avoid leaving him a drooling mess. Being a vampire came in handy because she was able to enter his subconscious via telepathy.

Bonnie devoured the bags of blood they brought to the cellar two hours after she began working. Afterwards, she had to feed from Stefan repeatedly to keep up her energy. Towards the end Bonnie was beginning to feel faint but she was too close to the finish line to give up. She pushed through exhaustion and the searing pain in her own brain to finish removing all of Klaus' compulsion. Some of it had been buried beneath decades of memories. However, when she finally removed her fingertips from Stefan's temples, he was his own man again.

She wanted to get up but didn't have the energy to move. Instead, she rested her forehead against Stefan's shoulder. Her eyes fluttered closed as the exhaustion began to overwhelm her.

Stefan pulled at the chains repeatedly because he could tell something was wrong with Bonnie. He grunted trying to get her attention.

Bonnie blinked up at him and then looked at the chains. She used the last bit of her power to release Stefan from his bindings. Then her entire body went slack.

Stefan caught Bonnie before she could topple off his lap. He clutched her sweat soaked body to him. Stefan felt weak but he was in better shape than Bonnie was.

He held her with one arm and removed the gag from his mouth with the other.

Stefan couldn't think of anything to do but call his older brother. He bellowed, "Damon! Damon, get down here!"

Even Stefan's screams didn't rouse the vampire in his arms.

He tried again, "Damon!"

Damon suddenly appeared on the other side of the door. He peered into the room and felt his stomach plummet. He tried the door but was easily repelled. "What the hell?"

Stefan said, "Bonnie spelled the door to keep everyone out and us inside. You need to get Lucy. She can undo this. And bring blood. She needs blood."

Damon stared for a moment in disbelief.

"Go!" Stefan roared at his brother.

Damon disappeared as quickly as he had arrived.

Stefan pressed a kiss to Bonnie's forehead. He muttered, "It's okay. You're going to be okay."