Damon knew that certain people would call him a misogynist or a chauvinist. He would probably agree with those people to a certain degree. However, he generally just saw himself as having old school values. Giuseppe raised him to believe that a good wife had to possess certain qualities. Fortunately, Bonnie possessed those qualities in spades. She was beautiful, demure, compassionate, maternal, charming, intelligent, and elegant. However, Bonnie's relative innocence had always been his favorite trait. Damon had never confessed that to even his closest friends for fear that Enzo and Rose would believe he was a pervert. He shuddered to think how Bonnie would react to the salacious thoughts tucked into the dark recesses of his mind.

In the beginning, he had been firmly against marrying Bonnie. Damon still thought of her as a child when Sheila and Giuseppe brought the proposal to him. She was 17 years old and closing in on being an adult—legally. However, she was still the little girl that he had watched grow up. Damon could remember helping her learn to swim. He didn't understand how anyone could expect him to marry her. Giuseppe bribed him with the top seat at Velocita. It was a great enticement but Sheila had truly won him over. The truth was that Bonnie needed a husband to protect her interests. Sheila told Damon that he could be that husband or it could be someone the girl barely knew. Something snapped inside of Damon at the mere thought of Bonnie being married to some asshole he didn't even know.

His engagement and subsequent marriage to Bonnie made him face some hard truths. His feelings for the girl weren't quite as familial and platonic as he had led himself to believe. The best evidence of that had been the day of their wedding. Damon spent the majority of the day sporting half an erection because he couldn't stop thinking of getting Bonnie alone. He struggled to understand from where this sudden burst of lust for her stemmed. Bonnie looked gorgeous in her wedding dress but that couldn't be it. Dozens of stunning women had graced his bed and the back seat of his cars over the years. He knew it couldn't just be Bonnie's beauty that attracted him. However, the truth struck him like lightning when she emerged from their hotel suite's bathroom dressed in white satin and lace. Damon was turned on by the fact that something so pure and innocent belonged to him. It was possessing Bonnie in every way that set his blood on fire. That night he claimed Bonnie's body and heart as his own. No one else had ever been within her depths and no one else ever would.

After four years of marriage, Damon and Bonnie were never more in harmony than when they made love. All of their differences and conflicts seemed to fall away when they were intertwined. He had all but ordered Ric to get everyone out of the house that morning because he didn't want to be disturbed. He needed to be alone with his wife because their argument about Katherine had left him uneasy. Bonnie had stopped being argumentative two days ago. However, she feigned smiles to their family and refused to speak to Damon. She shunned his attempts at apologizing. His words and gifts did nothing to dull the sadness in her eyes. He hated that he was the reason for her pain. Damon needed to make her realize that Katherine was merely a distraction in comparison to her. Ric had reluctantly agreed to Damon's plan. However, his uncle had threatened him with castration if he managed to make things worse in their absence.

Husband and wife had spent all morning and most of the afternoon in bed. They angrily devoured each other leaving behind passion marks and scratches to stake their claim on each other. However, that slowly ebbed into heartfelt lovemaking that left Bonnie in tears. Afterwards, Damon just held his wife in his arms long after she drifted to sleep. He nestled his nose in her wavy brown hair and inhaled her calming essence. For the first time in days, everything felt normal and Damon could think clearly again. He didn't understand how Bonnie could so thoroughly consume him. He truly didn't know what he would do if she left him. Well, that wasn't true. Damon knew exactly what he would do…he would kill anyone that got in the way of him getting her back. Bonnie was his and she would be until the day he drew his last breath.

Damon looked down when Bonnie started moving. He gently combed his fingers through her hair as his eyes lingered on the swell of her breasts. Damon ached to have her again but he knew there wasn't time. The sun was getting lower on the horizon and soon enough their family would return. Moreover, he didn't want Bonnie to overexert herself. Her body was still recovering from a trauma and she was carrying his children. Damon was still trying to wrap his brain around that. He always knew that he would have children because it was expected of him. However, Damon would never lie and say that he had planned for Sarah's arrival.

In fact, he hadn't even known that she existed until his flighty ex-girlfriend's sister dropped Sarah on his doorstep. Frankly, that was a generous description. Bree's younger sister quite literally abandoned his three-month-old daughter at the front gates of Salvatore Manor. She stuck around long enough for the guards to find the baby and then she sped off into the night.

Damon had been furious at first. He used thousands of dollars to track Bree down to get some sort of explanation. Damon learned that someone had broken into her house and shot her up with a nearly lethal dose of heroin when Sarah was two months old. Bree had been sober for years and the set back crushed her soul. Damon knew immediately that his father was behind it. Giuseppe must have found out about Sarah and decided to retaliate against Bree for keeping the baby from their family. She signed over her parental rights and Damon gave her enough money to check into the best rehab. Until this day, he puts a generous monthly stipend in an offshore account for Bree.

Damon lightly brushed his lips against Bonnie's. "It's time wake up, bunny," he murmured quietly.

Bonnie's green eyes fluttered open. She gave a tired smile and asked, "What time is it?"

He glanced at the clock and said, "A little after five o'clock. Everyone will be coming back soon. I figured that you would want a shower before then."

She nodded and yawned a little. The three-hour nap just hadn't been long enough. Bonnie bit back a wince when she started to sit up in the bed. "It was really nice of Ric to give us the house for the day. I am sure he didn't really feel like taking everyone putt-putt golfing and go-cart racing."

Damon noted the wince and asked, "Are you okay?"

"I'm okay."

He cupped her cheek gently. "Are you sure that I didn't hurt you? Maybe it was too soon…"

Bonnie smiled a little. Sometimes he could be so tender. It made her love him even more. She leaned into his touch and said, "I'm fine. You worry too much, Damon. I needed to feel close to you again. Besides, it had been awhile and I…just needed you."

Damon smirked after his wife's admission. He kissed her and then said, "I needed you too, Bon."

Her smile brightened even more because she believed Damon. Bonnie knew that her husband wasn't good with verbalizing his emotions. She had felt every bit of his desperation while they made love. He had been trying to prove something to her. She loved Damon and nothing would change that. However, she needed to start making moves for herself. Bonnie said, "I am going to shower and then squeeze in a little study time. I have finals coming up in a couple weeks."

He watched with hungry eyes as Bonnie climbed out of the bed. However, he tried to temper his desire. He huffed. "You always ace your exams. You are a much better student than I ever was."

Bonnie pulled on her robe and playfully rolled her eyes. "That's not exactly a high bench mark.

Damon was across the bed and had his arms around her in mere seconds. He buried his face in her neck and murmured, "It's not nice to call your husband dumb, bunny."

"You weren't dumb," she replied. "You were lazy."

He huffed out a laugh and steered her towards the bathroom with his hands on her hips. "I guess you are right about that but I still managed to graduate from business school."

Bonnie slipped out of his grasp and turned on the shower. "I've been thinking that I might go to business school, too."

Damon wasn't surprised by that. Bonnie had always been intelligent and driven. He said, "I think that business school would be good for you. You know I support your education 100%, baby."

She took off her robe and hung it from a hook on the door. "Really?"

He eyed her body and nodded. "Of course, bunny. I never expected you to be a stay-at-home wife."

Bonnie bit her lip as she stepped into the shower. "Do you think that you could talk to Uncle Zach for me about an internship at Velocita? I need an internship to meet the requirements for graduation at the end of the spring semester. I want to be able to graduate in May. Maybe if I impress him, he'll decide to hire me after graduation. I mean I know that I am guaranteed a seat on the board now that I am 21 but I want to be more involved. The best way I can do that is by learning about the company from the inside.

Her simple request floored Damon. He had always assumed that she would want to take over as CEO of Benedetto-Vicario Wine & Spirits after college. He had been looking into real estate to move the company's headquarters to Southern California. He stepped into the shower with Bonnie. "You really want to work at Velocita after college? What about BVWS?"

She turned to Damon as she lathered herself with vanilla scented body wash. "Well, Tessa is doing an amazing job here. Her move with the microbreweries last year was genius. I don't see a reason to remove her as CEO. Besides, BVWS belongs here in Shadow Hills and I belong with you."

Damon's heart thudded in his chest when Bonnie said that she belonged with him. He caressed her cheek. "Do you really want to work at Velocita?"

She nodded. "More than anything, Damon. I was always interested in Bennett Technologies before it merged with Velocita. I loved looking at the drafts for my papere's designs when I was a kid. Besides, Velocita is like the two of us—the very best that the Salvatores and Benedettos have to offer the world."

Damon didn't remember much about Bonnie's great-grandfather. Claude had died in the early aughts. He only remembered his father calling the man a coward for allowing his wife to keep her maiden name when they married. However, what he remembered of Miss Emily would suggest that Claude didn't allow her to do anything. Giuseppe had been similarly displeased when Damon agreed to allow Bonnie to hyphenate her last. However, he understood that in the girl's eyes her line was facing extinction. Damon couldn't take away the last vestige of her grandmother.

He smiled a little. "The very best of the Salvatores and the Bennetts…I like that. If you truly want to work at Velocita then I will make it happen, bunny. We will talk to Zach tonight about finding an internship for you at the company. I don't want you working in the mail room or some bullshit like that. I'll make sure that you are shadowing him. I'm sure he could use a second assistant. He's always bitching about all the work he has to do. I'll also have the company extend an official offer of employment post dated for after graduation."

Bonnie's eyes lit up and she threw her arms around Damon's neck. She kissed him soundly on the lips and then pulled back with a sheepish smile. "Thank you."

Damon wrapped his arms around her waist and said, "You don't need to thank me. I will always try to give you whatever your heart desires. Besides, Velocita is as much yours as it is mine, Sheila made sure of that during the merger. I would never try to deprive you of that."

"But Giuseppe…"

He tensed when she mentioned his father. He shook his head. "He will be retired and no longer our concern. He won't stand in the way of this or anything else in our lives. I promise."

Bonnie leaned up and kissed him once more.

Damon reluctantly let Bonnie go when he heard his phone ringing in the bedroom. "I need to get that."

She nodded. "Go. You'll only distract me anyway."

He winked at Bonnie and stepped out of the shower. Damon wrapped a towel around his waist as he exited the bathroom.

Bonnie gave a pleased little smile and finished showering. That had been easier than she had expected. Bonnie couldn't tell if Damon truly meant it or if he was only amenable because of the guilt. Either way she would have her internship at Velocita and a permanent position after graduation. Bonnie knew the terms of the merger line by line. She knew that she could throw her proverbial weight around and demand a position of her choosing. However, it could quickly become acrimonious. An aggressive action would also tip off Damon. The longer he believed that she was a delicate flower the better. Damon wasn't ready to see her true colors. She didn't know if he would ever be able to handle the woman that Sheila Bennett raised.

Frankly, she found his naiveté to be confounding—if not useful. He knew how formidable Sheila and Emily had been. He had undoubtedly heard stories about the prowess of Hannah. How could he ever assume someone that shared the genes of those women could be a weakling? Even her mother was made of steel. Abby had the reputation of being a fragile heart and a free spirit. However, when Sheila refused to let Abby divorce Rudy the younger woman had systematically poisoned her husband for weeks. When Sheila finally caught wind of her actions, she allowed Abby to file for divorce and paid Rudy to make him go away.

Bonnie finished showering and then stepped out of the glass enclosure. She took her time drying off before walking into the empty bedroom. She assumed that Damon had gone to take the call out of her hearing range. She hoped that it was business and not Katherine. However, she doubted that the woman would be bothering them for a while. It seemed that Enzo's late night visit had been impactful. Of course, Damon hadn't told her about his right hand man's actions. Bonnie had her own ways of getting information.

She sat on the edge of the bed and took time to lotion her body. She was starting to notice changes in her figure that weren't there a few weeks ago. Her body was changing to accommodate the lives growing within her. Everything she was doing was for the benefit of the twins and their older sister. She wouldn't bring them into a world where Giuseppe still drew breath. However, it was more than that. She planned to give her children the world and it started with Velocita. She liked Zach. Bonnie would go as far as to say that she loved her uncle-in-law. He had always been a big part of her life. However, there was no way in hell that she would ever let him be CEO of Velocita. The company was hers and one day it would be for her children. Just as one day, one of her children would become the don of the Salvatore family.

Sarah was not her child by blood but Bonnie had taken the child into her heart from the moment Damon proposed to her. She was the one that insisted on adopting Sarah so that the girl would never doubt her meaning to the woman raising her. She planned to raise Sarah to be as formidable as Sheila had raised her to be. It was a necessity in their world. One day she would marry Julian Mikaelson. He was the future head of the Mikaelson family. Bonnie hoped that Hayley and Elijah were raising him to be a good man…a better man than Damon was. Either way Sarah would need to be strong enough to bear the challenges that came with being the boss' wife.

Whenever Damon left the house, Bonnie knew that one of their enemies might strike him dead. There had been peace for years but it came at a price. The Salvatores and Mikaelsons ruled the streets with an iron fist and made deadly enemies along the way. The people trampled by their powerful families wouldn't stay down forever. As much as Bonnie wanted Giuseppe dead, she feared what was to come. Would their enemies try to take out Damon to destabilize the family? It's what she would do were she in their position. She would target Damon, Ric, and Zach so that there would be no clear successor. Everyone knew that Stefan would never take the top spot. The Salvatore organization would cannibalize itself in the power struggle that followed. Damon knew the risks as well as she did and he was already increasing security on the family. Bonnie hoped that it would be enough.

The caramel skinned beauty dressed in a light blue baby doll dress that hugged her cleavage and then flared out at the waist. Then she applied makeup to cover the bruises on her face. She didn't like the idea of everyone seeing her that way. Only a handful of people had seen the true damage to her face and she planned to keep it that way.

Afterwards she stripped the linens from the bed and carted them down to the laundry room. Her steps slowed when she heard Damon talking to someone in the living room.

Damon stopped talking when he heard Bonnie approach. "Bunny?"

She walked into the room and smiled at Mason Lockwood. She waved, "Hi, Mason. I'm sorry to interrupt. I was on my way to the laundry room and I heard voices."

Mason stood up and said, "Good evening, Mrs. Salvatore."

Damon walked over and pecked her lips. "Let me take these for you. You are supposed to be taking it easy."

"I'm not an invalid but I know arguing with you is pointless. Just put them in the machine. I'll add the detergent."

Damon said, "I'll be right back."

Bonnie asked, "How are Vicki and the kids doing?"

Mason smiled at her. "Oh, they're driving me crazy. I was glad to get a break from them but don't tell, Vick. She's a bit hormonal these days."

Bonnie laughed quietly. "Well, your secret is safe with me."

Mason gave Bonnie an appraising look but it wasn't sexual. It was more a look of concern. His eyes fell onto the Saint Christopher's medal around her neck. He recognized it as being his father's because of the missing chip at the bottom. He removed a scrap of paper with a string of numbers written on it from his pocket. Mason silently slipped it into Bonnie's hand and returned to his seat on the couch.

Bonnie eyed the offshore account number and slipped the paper inside her bra as Damon's footsteps thudded against the hardwood floor. She smiled at Mason and then turned to greet her husband. "I am going to leave you two alone. I need to make the bed."

Damon groaned and slid a hand onto Bonnie's stomach. He said, "Stop it. I'll take care of making the bed. Go relax. Eat something."

She laughed softly and said, "Okay. A tuna sandwich with extra sweet relish and chips does sound pretty good right now."

He wrinkled his nose. "Is that a craving?"

She shrugged. "I don't think so. I just like tuna fish." Bonnie kissed his cheek as she walked out of the room.

Damon shook his head and said, "Women."