Stefan walked towards the house after he finished hunting. He had decided to limit his intake of human blood while he still had other options. Bonnie supported his decision even if she declined to participate in his 'diet'. She also offered not to drink human blood in front of him. However, Stefan assured her such drastic measures weren't necessary. At the moment, he felt in control of himself and his blood addiction. He promised to let Bonnie know if that suddenly changed.
He was surprised to find Elena sitting outside. The snow was melting at a good rate but the temperature was still in hospitable for a human born and raised in Virginia. However, it dawned on him that Elena was sitting outside to get a moment alone with him. He couldn't blame her for arranging this meeting because he had been avoiding her. Stefan didn't know how to even start the conversation they needed to have. If his humanity was off, he would be brutally honest uncaring of her feelings. Unfortunately, his humanity was on and Stefan had no true desire to hurt her.
"Hello, Elena," Stefan said.
Elena looked up when Stefan approached her. She had become lost in her thoughts as she waited for his return. She gave him an anxious smile. "Hi. Did you have a good hunt?"
"It was successful. But it will take some time to adjust to drinking animal blood again. It has something of an aftertaste," he admitted.
"Oh," was her reply. "Well, I am glad that you've decided to go off the human blood. I know you struggle with your...urges."
Stefan said, "I haven't gone off it completely. Animal blood leaves me at too much of a disadvantage strength wise. I can't...I have responsibilities."
Elena was about to ask what he meant by that before the answer dawned on her. Stefan was talking about Bonnie. She knew that her friend had some plan on how to neutralize Klaus. However, she had been rather tight-lipped about the whole thing. All Bonnie had been willing to confirm was that Klaus would not die. She had explained that vampires were essentially tethered to the Original siblings. Killing one of them would mean the death for every vampire in their sireline. Tracing Damon and Stefan's sirelines would take more time than they really had. Moreover, they knew for certain that Tyler was tethered to Klaus. None of them were willing to sacrifice his life just to get rid of Klaus permanently.
"That makes sense," she conceded reluctantly. "Will you be able to...it won't get out of hand will it?"
He gave a tight smile. "It might but I have to try this...for now at least."
She nodded in understanding.
"I have been meaning to talk to you. I...I owe you more than the cold response I gave you while my humanity was off. I'm sorry about that...truly. I care about you, Elena. I would never want to hurt you."
Elena asked, "Just care about…"
He smiled a little and said, "I was in love with you before everything with Klaus happened. But things have changed now. Some of those circumstances were beyond our control but some of them weren't."
She quietly asked, "You're talking about me and Damon?"
"Among other things but your relationship with Damon is pretty high on the list," he admitted.
Elena snapped, "We aren't in a relationship!"
Stefan said, "Maybe not but you certainly aren't platonic friends either. You have been falling for my brother for a longtime, Elena. It started long before I left for the summer with Klaus. I tried to ignore it because I know that Damon has a magnetism about him."
She scoffed and asked, "Magnetism?"
"My brother is capable of drawing people in...it's always been his personality. I'm the nice brother but Damon has always been the one to draw people in like moths to a flame. Even Lexi grudgingly liked my brother despite how toxic he was for me," he tried to forget that Damon had slept with her, too.
Elena swallowed thickly. "But I love you."
He said, "I know and I believe you. I also think that you probably love Damon. Even if you didn't I have moved on and it started the moment I left with Klaus. I left this life and everyone in it behind while I worked for him. It was the only way for me to survive my time with him. Then I came back without my humanity which alienated me further from you. I don't think we could ever go back to what we once were and I know that is what you want. There is also the matter of Bonnie…"
Elena tried not to roll her eyes at the mention of Bonnie's name. The two friends had come to a truce earlier in the evening. She knew that Bonnie's interest in Stefan was genuine but it still hurt. She said, "I just don't understand how you can suddenly be so into her. I got it when your humanity was off. Your inhibitions were nonexistent and you were looking to get back at me."
He blinked and then shook his head. "I was never trying to get back at you Elena. Since my humanity was off, I didn't care enough about you to want to hurt you. I have cared about Bonnie as a friend for a long time. I didn't necessarily know how to get close to her because of my vampirism. It was like she always held me and Damon at arm's length. Not that I blame her for doing that after the havoc we've caused in her life. But then Damon turned her and I can't really explain it. I felt a spark the moment she walked through the door and ran into me-literally. Even with my humanity off I knew that I wanted her. I can't say that is was love at first sight but it was this unexplainable urge to possess her...own her. Then I realized for all the power that Bonnie possessed she was scared and alone. She needed me. Being a vampire is...living so long can be a curse, Elena. You watch the people you care about live and die...that's only if you stick around that long. Most of the time you know someone for a few years before disappearing to hide the fact that you don't age. It's a lonely existence. The one true friend I had, Damon killed her. When I saw Bonnie it was like an opportunity was being put in front of me. She could be mine for the rest of our days and I liked that idea even without my humanity. It hasn't changed now that I have my humanity again. I am sure some of this has something to do with the soulmate curse."
Elena frowned but she sort of understood what he was saying. She thought about what little she knew about the soulmate curse. Lucy seemed to think that it activated after Bonnie's last birthday. It had probably been gradually increasing its power ever since. It would certainly explain why Damon found himself drawn to Bonnie's house every night.
She asked, "Doesn't the curse bother you? It's affecting your free will in some way."
He shrugged. "You and I are doppelgangers, Elena. Lucy said the doppelgangers are fated to fall in love each generation as a way to punish the witch who created the immortality spell. If I follow your logic then I could say that the curse is the reason I fell in love with you, too. I don't believe that for a moment. I won't sully what we once shared by saying that the universe forced us together."
Elena's mouth opened and closed a few times because she didn't know how to counter his argument. To accuse the soulmate curse of controlling Stefan would be to invalidate their own relationship because of the doppelganger curse. "This isn't fair…"
He smiled sadly. "Life is rarely fair."
"I don't know how to let go of you," she whispered.
"It will take time for you to move on with your life but you will. There is a lot for you to look forward to, Elena. You are going to graduate from high school this year and start college next fall. You should focus on all the good things in your life. Eventually, you'll heal and all of this won't feel as painful as it feels now."
Tearfully, she asked, "But what if you were my one great love?"
He smiled and said, "You are going to have a lot of loves. Trust me on this. Your life is just getting started."
"Can we still be friends?" she asked.
Stefan nodded eagerly. "I would like that very much, Elena. I will be leaving Mystic Falls for a time, but I will return. In the meantime, you can always call or text me. I will return your calls and messages."
"What about you and Bonnie? What are the two of you going to do about missing school? I mean how long will you be gone?"
He said, "Our trip is open-ended at the moment. I can't say when we will come back here. In regards to school, I've graduated from high school a few times in my past. It doesn't matter if I flunk out this time around. As for Bonnie, I'll make sure she graduates...one way or another."
Stefan had been thinking about Bonnie's future a lot since turning on his humanity. He knew that she was focused on revenge and that didn't leave much space for the future. She could only see her goal of getting rid of Klaus. He would have to make sure that she had options when she found satisfaction.
Damon had spent the last thirty minutes looking for Bonnie. He knew that Stefan was out hunting furry animals in the woods. This would be the perfect time to chat up the elusive little witch. He had learned from his brother that Bonnie was avoiding him. Apparently, he was coming on a little too strong for her. Damon was inclined to believe it had more to do with how her body reacted to him. He would always remember those stolen hours in the cellar fondly. Damon still didn't know how the witch had managed to fix Tyler without causing some sort of brain damage. He and Stefan had been relentless with teasing and touching her.
He had already tried the library and found it empty. He had caught the quarterback looking amused as he wandered aimlessly around the boarding house. Damon cornered the teen and asked if he had seen Bonnie recently. Matt had reluctantly suggested that Bonnie might be in the conservatory. He thought he had noticed her headed that way an hour ago. Damon rarely went to the conservatory. In fact, he couldn't think of the last time anyone had stepped foot into the glass enclosed room. In anycase, he wasn't disappointed when he found the witch.
Bonnie had turned the sparsely furnished conservatory into her own little yoga studio. She had a few candles lit that helped illuminate the darkened room. Her phone was set up to play Gregorian chants. It was situated on a table that held a few plants that had obviously seen better days. She had placed a folded blanket on the floor to stand in for a yoga mat. However, the most interesting aspect to Damon was her attire. She was wearing a pair of tiny shorts and a sports bra as she moved through the poses. He spotted a sweatshirt and pants nearby that she had obviously worn when she walked through the house.
"Who knew you were so flexible, witchy?" Damon asked in a way of announcing his presence.
Bonnie rolled her eyes and moved into downward facing dog. "I was a cheerleader."
"Yes, you were. Do you still have the uniform?"
"What do you want, Damon?" Bonnie asked with a huff.
He chuckled and said, "I actually came here to talk to you. Stefan and I aired out our grievances. I figured that maybe you and I should do the same."
Bonnie shifted into the Lotus position and asked, "Does that mean that we're going to fight in front of the house, too? If so, can I use magic?"
Damon lifted an eyebrow at her question as he tried to avoid looking between her legs. He was trying to behave. Ogling her wouldn't set the right tone for this conversation but she wasn't making it easy. He asked, "Do you want to fight me? And you definitely couldn't use magic in our fight."
She shrugged and said, "I wouldn't mind hitting you a couple times. Not sure I would like the feeling of you hitting me even once. You're older and stronger than I am. It wouldn't really be a fair fight."
"No, you're right it wouldn't be a fair fight. But you're lethal with magic and that wouldn't be a fair fight either," he replied.
Bonnie smiled at his praise of her lethality. She hummed in agreement, "Well, I guess that means that fighting is out of the question for the two of us. How else can we air out grievances?"
Damon walked into the room and sat down across from her on the floor. He said, "We could try talking. Stefan and I tried that first but found that punching each other was the better solution. Anyway, they claim that women mature faster emotionally. Maybe you and I will have better luck just talking."
She shrugged and said, "Okay. You go first."
"I was thinking you should probably go first, Bon-Bon. Out of the two of us, I would wager that you're the one that has more grievances."
Bonnie worried her bottom lip between her teeth for a moment. "You tried to kill me."
Damon blinked and then rubbed his hands on his legs. "So we're going straight to the meat and potatoes. I can respect that. I did try to kill you and that was wrong. You hadn't done anything to deserve that from me. You weren't even in control of your own body at the time. I don't have a good explanation or excuse for that. I was angry at having been jerked around by Emily for over a hundred years and you were just an innocent bystander. Although, it was kinda shitty of her to leave you in the lurch like that. Emily knew me well enough to expect some sort of immediate retaliation."
She laughed dryly, "Yeah. My family isn't exactly what I would call helpful whether they are living or dead."
"Lucy showed up when you needed her," he replied.
Bonnie rolled her eyes. "She showed up because I was turned into a vampire and our meddlesome ancestors intervened. She'll go back to her own life soon enough. I don't need her help now. I needed her help when Klaus showed up to kill us all. She knew he would be coming and she left without a word of warning. Lucy didn't even give me a heads up to get out of town. With family like that, who needs enemies?"
Damon could see Bonnie's point. He asked, "I thought the two of you were getting along."
She shrugged her shoulders. "Lucy is useful. She knows things that I could benefit from knowing. I'll soak up everything I can before she disappears into the ether. I doubt I'll hear from her again and that's fine."
He thought long about what to say in response to Bonnie's apathy about her family. However, he wasn't good at emotional things. He was just surprised to hear the young girl so incredibly bitter. Damon knew enough about vampirism to know this was no side effect from her being turned. She truly felt this way and probably always had. It seemed Bonnie no longer saw the point in suffering in silence. Damon knew a thing or two about making everyone suffer with him. Normally, he would support that sort of chaos but Bonnie was powerful enough to cause problems that they couldn't easily hide. He decided to refer this issue to his younger brother.
He shifted and asked, "Do you have anymore grievances?"
She snorted. "Your stupid obsession with Katherine killed my grandmother. I don't know what pisses me off more: that she wasn't in the freaking tomb or that you were dumb enough to believe she ever had been."
Damon bristled at Bonnie's blunt assessment. He growled at her. "Emily lied to me."
"This doesn't have anything to do with Emily. You claim to be smart but you let Katherine lead you around by the nose while she was compelling and fucking your brother. Then you spent a century pining for her anyway. You stole what little time my grandmother had left for a woman that never loved or cared about you. Frankly, I feel like I should add Katherine to my list. Has anyone seen her since she helped steal Klaus' coffins?"
He stared at her for a long moment. "Sheila dying wasn't part of the plan. How was I supposed to know she a had a bum ticker? Maybe if she was a stronger witch..."
Bonnie had closed the distance between them and had her hand in Damon's chest in seconds. She wrapped her hand around his heart and hissed, "Finish saying that and it'll be the last thing you ever say, Salvatore."
"What a way to go," he muttered despite the pain in his chest. He could feel her individual fingers cradling his heart rather than squeezing it. He leaned forward and kissed her full on the lips. Meanwhile, he slid a hand onto her hip.
Bonnie was so startled by the maneuver that she let Damon's heart go. "Do you have a deathwish? What if I had pulled your heart out rather than let it go?"
He shrugged and said, "Dying with a beautiful half naked girl on top of me is in my top ten ways to die. If you get completely naked we can bump that up to top five."
Stefan cleared his throat.
She looked up with wide eyes and hurriedly scrambled off Damon. "Stefan! It's not what it looks like! I promise."
He looked at Bonnie's bloody hand. "It looks like you were about to kill my brother."
She glanced at her hand and said, "Oh, I...I guess it is what it looks like."
Stefan walked up to Bonnie and wrapped an arm around her waist. "What's he done?"
Damon chuckled from his place on the floor. "That's what you ask her? No concern at all for your only brother."
"You are good at pissing off people, Damon. It's your superpower," he countered. Then he caressed Bonnie's back. "Are you okay?"
She nodded. "Damon...we were supposed to be settling our differences but he insulted my grams and I lost it for a moment."
He pressed a kiss to her forehead. "It's okay. I often have the urge to kill Damon but it's probably better that we don't. He has his uses."
Damon slowly sat up with a groan. "Your concern for me is heartwarming, brother. However, you are interrupting. Bon-Bon and I aren't finished talking."
Bonnie shook her head quickly. "I think the talk is over when one person tries to kill the other. Maybe we should have opted for fighting instead. It might have been less bloody than this."
He frowned and then conceded, "Tomorrow morning in front of the house. No magic and I promise to go easy on you. I have my own grievances you judgemental shrew."
Stefan balked at the idea. "I don't know if that's a good idea."
Bonnie said, "I do. Punching Damon will be satisfying."
"10 AM and don't be late. I know how much you and my brother like your late starts to the day," he snapped.
"Fine," she replied. Bonnie grabbed her phone and then snapped her fingers to extinguish the candles in the conservatory. She took Stefan's hand and practically drug him out of the room.