Have you heard the news? Nina will be missed. If Bamon doesn't happen romantically, Im still super excited for more interactions between them. Fun fact: My lights went out one night and I wrote half of this chapter on paper by candlelight

42th bite

Damon and Bonnie bickered. It was normal but sometimes this prison world got the best of him and the only one around to feel it was Bonnie. Damon was still very capable of being mean. He knew by now that Bonnie was precious so why the hell did he push her so far? He was trying to prove a point but that point wasn't worth it.

Bonnie found her grimoire. It gave her more hope than ever. Damon couldn't be more annoyed by it. They were stuck and just accepting it seemed a hell of a lot easier than whatever hope kick she was on.

"Why did you come if you were going to be a sour puss all afternoon?"

"What the hell did you just call me?"

In the woods, Bonnie sat cross legged on the ground. Damon found out that this was what she did when she left him the first time. Damon didn't believe in meditation. What was it good for?

Bonnie took a deep breath. "Witches are one with nature. If I'm out here maybe I can reconnect."

"Uh huh. Aren't witches the reason vampires like me exist?" Damon smirked. "Judgy little things like you, going on about nature and balance, and creating the one creature capable of taking every life on this planet."

Bonnie finally opened her eyes. Damon was right. "Not every vampire is evil or what's to take over the world. But—yes—bad things happen when we go against nature."

"Bad things like dying?"

"Yes, like dying." Bonnie responded in a low voice. "Over and over again. And it takes a huge chuck out of you every time."

"Well I've died a few times myself and I turned out just fine." Damon grinned.

"A vampire wouldn't understand. Sure, you have super hearing and strength, but you're not alive. You've forgotten what it felt it like."

Damon stood from the tree he was leaning on. There was no point in losing his cool but that just what Bonnie did to him. "I'd hate to be that weak. I got to see it all with my own eyes—everything this world has to offer."

"What is a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul?"

"Translation please."

Bonnie sighed. "Where's the satisfaction when you can compel whatever you want out of people? Life is beautiful because it's short. You have to go out and see what you can and love when you can. Because one day those places to see and those people to love won't be there anymore. Being human is hard that way, it makes regret so much heavier. It makes forgiveness so important. You, who's already gotten to exist for over 100 a hundred years, spent almost all of it chasing after a mean girl who didn't want to be caught and hating your only brother."

The green of her eyes were blazing. Who did she think she was?

"A martyr going on about life. What a sad poem you are." The look Bonnie gave him should have been the call to end the conversation early but Damon was on a roll. "You died trying to save someone who went against nature, someone who'd seen enough. You don't get to talk about being alive when you've thrown away yours recklessly—so easily," Damon's voice remained even. He just wanted it to hurt.

"Easy?!" She shrieked. Bonnie got to her feet. "Screw you Damon! I wanted to save everyone including me! It wasn't me being reckless when time was running out." Her eyes reddened. "I waited for you because you mattered. You mattered to everyone! And that made my decision easy. Lexi finding peace made it easy. Stefan and Elena waiting for you made it easy."

Finally, tears spilled from her eyes. She continued, "I gave it my all and you stood there with me on the edge of oblivion, holding my hand, and I was ok with that. Maybe I came up short but I gave it my all. I am not a sad poem. I am decency, compassion, and love. You don't get to shame me for that."

Damon felt as though he'd turned to stone and every part of him was crumbling. Damon didn't enjoy feeling things. It was nothing less than the sensation of splinters to his chest.

They stood there staring right into each other's eyes for a moment. Bonnie's blood felt cold in her veins and Damon sensed it. She finally wiped away her tears and picked up her grimoire.

Without a word, Bonnie walked away. There was no rush in her, no heightened pace to quickly distance herself from the vampire, but she walked with purpose. She took back what she thought she felt for Damon, he wasn't helping, and he wasn't playing fair.

She'd been gone for nearly a month since then before Damon decided on getting her back.

To hell with pride. To hell with the nasty blood bags he'd been drinking from. To hell with being alone when he knew that Bonnie was out there.

Finding a tiny witch proved to be harder than he thought it would be. With every house he blew through, a piece of his heart withered. Bonnie didn't just leave; she didn't want to be found either. And when she finally was found, she was only half the person she was when she left.

Damon opened the door to the mystic falls grill. It was the last place he ever thought he'd find her and the very last place he checked.

"You sure know how to make an exit, Ms. Bennet."

Bonnie sat at the bar quietly. She didn't flinch at the sound of Damon's voice but was surprised by his cool tone. She spent a month drinking and mulling over what she'd gotten into. Not just dying but dying with Damon—what this experience had made her. The faith she held onto with all of her might was slipping. Believing in the impossible, doing the impossible, had done nothing for her.

Damon took a seat next to her. For a moment they seat in silence but it wasn't the type he was used to. Though the sun had set a half hour ago, this wasn't one of their midnights together. Even though they were sitting next to each other, Damon knew that Bonnie was sitting alone still, burying herself in some unseen pit.

It hit him then that Bonnie didn't just affect him, he affected her too. He grasped that he didn't like his darkness engulfing her. Instead, as terrifying as it was, he preferred to have her light to beam right through him.

"Drinking your sorrows away? How very me of you," Damon quipped.

"What do you want?" She asked. She took a swig of her beer.

"I want to apologize."

Bonnie turned to him. "Apology accepted. Now go away."

"OK, come on then," He stood and pulled the beer bottle from Bonnie's hand. "I need to get you out of here. This place isn't for you."

Bonnie gave him a look that would have discouraged anyone but Damon at this point. They belonged together now, he knew it. He wasn't perfect but perfect wasn't what he was going for—just better—and he needed Bonnie for that.

"You don't get to decide that."

"Look, if after tonight you never want to see me again then I'll leave you alone. You can spend the rest of this eternity with yourself without regrets. Just give me this night." Damon put out his hand. Bonnie looked torn, she hesitated. "Please," he urged.

She looked him in the eyes and slowly put her hand in his. Their fingers curled around each other's palms and squeezed. Bonnie took a long shaky breath. She told herself that Damon wasn't worth it. So why would she let her hand be taken? Why would her hand clutch Damon's as fiercely as Damon's gripped hers?

Damon led her to the road that leads into town.

"What…"

"Get on the ground," he ordered.

"Excuse me?"

Damon got on the ground and patted the space next to him. Bonnie cracked a smile then. What was this? What was he up to? She conceded. She lowered herself to the ground and lied down next to him, the vampire.

When she finally settled down next to him, he took her hand. Bonnie felt heat rush to her cheeks.

"I used to do this whenever something upset me enough to actually make me feel pitiful."

"Isn't this where the animal attacks started?"

"Yeah… sorry about that."

They didn't look at each other as they spoke but their hands were connected and their eyes were set on the same night sky.

"Damon Salvatore apologizing? We must be in another dimension."

"Maybe we are," he smiled.

"Why did you take me here? Or is this how you stargaze now?"

"I'm sorry attacking you that first time."

"I already let it go," she said as she held his hand tighter for good measure.

"But it wasn't you I was attacking. It was Emily. I didn't see you through the fire, I saw Emily, staring straight at me. She didn't keep her word and I thought I lost my only shot at getting Katherine back."

Bonnie took a deep breath. "What else?"

"I always wanted to protect you. That wasn't a lie even if I said it in that menacing way that I usually say things. I turned your mother because it meant I didn't have to hurt you. It might hurt your feelings, might mean that you get to hate me, but it definitely meant that you got to be alive."

"You don't have the right to make those decisions," Bonnie said with her eyes still focused on the sky. She wouldn't let go of Damon's hand but she couldn't let Damon go on with his way of thinking either.

There was a moment of silence before Damon muttered an astounding "I know." He won't bother anymore with trying to keep a straight face "You are compassion, l decency, and love. I just hate that you wasted it on me. I blamed you for my guilt. You don't deserve this prison but I do."

"When we get out of here, you can work on it, all of the things that make you terrible—even in the name of wanting to protect someone. You'll have forever to do it."

"I don't want forever," he admitted. "I want right now. The human way."

"OK, we'll do it the human way."

Bonnie finally turned her head to Damon and he turned to meet her gaze. Damon raised the hand

holding onto Bonnie's. "Awkward."

She smiled a little. "You're the one getting emotional. You can let go anytime you want."

"Not likely," Damon's smile was oddly warm. Bonnie blamed it for the blush she hoped was hidden in the cover of the dark night.

"Hungry?"

"Yeah, but let's go home first."

Damon bit Bonnie later that night as they sat on the couch, right after watching The Bodyguard.

The seeds have been sown.