Track #3- Outlaws

Run, run like the devil's behind us

Run to where no one can find us

Be my accomplice to my crime…

Things spiraled quickly after that night at the party. Somehow between getting Bonnie drunk off her ass and making sure she got home safely, Damon decided she wasn't quite as bad as he'd first thought her to be.

When Elena busted up their side party to let them know that the ball was over, Bonnie had caught her second wind and was doing impersonations of their entire gang of friends. And the disapproval on both her and Stefan's faces only cracked Bonnie and Damon up even more.

"What are you guys doing in here alone?" Elena asked.

"See!" Bonnie pointed out in a fit of giggles.

"Leave here alone, she can't help it," Damon leapt to Elena's defense, even as he struggled not to laugh right along with Bonnie.

"What are you talking about?" Elena asked.

"There it is again!" Bonnie laughed.

"Is she drunk?" Elena accused Damon.

"And third time's the charm!" Bonnie was hollering at this point.

"Yeah no, I hear it now. Thanks so much for pointing that out, by the way," Damon said, voice dripping in sarcasm. Now he was sure to notice every single time Elena asked another asinine question. "It's nothing Elena, and she's fine. She's not even hiccuping."

"Nope. No hiccups!" Bonnie sang.

"Okay, well let's get you home sweetie." Elena pulled Bonnie to her feet and caught her when she started to fall over. "What the hell did you do to her Damon?"

"Me? That girl's a lushy mess all on her own, I just happen to make an excellent drinking buddy," he smirked and pushed in between Elena and Bonnie. "Come on Lushy, before Mama Bear sics Brother Bear on me." He swooped her up in his arms and carried her out of the room, while she laughed the whole way and asked him if he'd ever thought about being a fireman.

Damon promised Elena that he would get Bonnie home safe and sound after he stuffed her in the passenger seat of her car. He bid the doppelganger goodnight, told her how beautiful she had looked, kissed her cheek, and watched her climb into a limo and ride off with his brother.

"Come on Romeo, take me home!" Bonnie honked her horn at him incessantly.

"You're lucky you make a cute drunk, Bennett," he griped.

…..

After that, Caroline claimed the two were inseparable. She said Bonnie was always sneaking off with Damon and blowing off her friends.

"I had no idea you and Damon were so close now, Bon," she started in on Bonnie one afternoon a few weeks after the party. They had been finishing up lunch at the Grille when Damon texted Bonnie to meet him at the boarding house.

"We're not close," Bonnie replied with a grimace.

"He just texted you to come meet him and you're going. No questions asked."

"Because I already know what it's about. He's been looking into a witch for me, hopefully he's actually come up with something useful this time," Bonnie explained.

"Still, you two have been hanging out more often lately…" Caroline trailed off, letting the implication hang in the air.

"Ew, no! We do not 'hang out'! We team up! We rescue our friends, no wait- my friends from danger, and then he buys me booze after. That's not 'hanging out'. That's basically a full time job!"

"Why is he 'teaming up' with you and not Stefan? Or Elena? Or any number of other vampires he knows?" Caroline continued her argument.

"I don't know Care, why don't you ask him? Contrary to whatever you think, I don't know his every move and intention, okay. But for now, I'm gonna get some info on this witch and I will talk to you later. Love you, bye." Bonnie smiled, trying to let her friend know she was being paranoid and worried over nothing.

…..

In retrospect, maybe Care was right to worry, just a tiny bit. It turned out that the lead Damon had found on his mystery witch had morphed into a spur of the moment trip to New Haven, Connecticut. Damon swung by Bonnie's house, she grabbed a couple changes of clothes and they hit the road. Neither of them thought much of it; it's not like it was some romantic getaway, just a business trip.

After they'd been on the road for a while Bonnie brought up her conversation with Caroline.

"Care thinks we're spending too much time together."

"And did you tell her to mind her own fucking business?" he replied.

"No, Damon, because I actually know how to talk to people. I told her whatever she thinks is going on she's wrong."

"What does she think is going on?" Damon asked, his face scrunched in confusion.

"She thinks we hang out together."

"Hang out?" Damon knew lingo was generational, so he wasn't entirely sure what she meant by 'hang out'. "That's not a sexual reference is it?"

"Oh my god, no! Jesus, what is wrong with you? No." Bonnie was appalled his mind would even go there. "You're worse than Caroline. She thinks we're like 'friends' or something." Bonnie put finger quotes around the word friends, but that only confused Damon more.

"Why are you saying it like that? Is 'friends' a sexual reference?"

"Would you get your mind outta the gutter for like a second. Nobody is referring to sex but you!"

"Is this your way of telling me you want to be... 'friends'?" He was still using the finger quotes, his voice saturated with innuendo.

"Nevermind. Just drop it," she regretted bringing any of this up.

"Hey, you started it."

"I was just trying to share a funny a story and you had to go make it dirty," Bonnie rolled her eyes and glared out the window.

"That's the price of being 'friends' with me, toots," he grinned over at her, and tickled her ear. She smacked his hand away.

"Don't call me toots and that's what I was getting at before you made it weird. We are not even friends! We are at best partners or associates, but Caroline's getting all freaked out over nothing!"

"Well that's blondies M.O. Blowing shit out of proportion. Stefan's the same way. He thinks I'm a bad influence on you," Damon scoffed.

"You're a terrible influence."

"Hey!"

"What, I can't help it if he's right!"

"How is he right? You are the most stubborn person I've ever met, I couldn't pressure you into anything you didn't already want to do, no matter how hard I tried."

"That's true, I wouldn't be here right now if I didn't actually want to be."

"See, you like being around me."

"I wouldn't say all that. But you do serve your purpose every now and then."

"Just think how helpful I'd be if we were… 'friends'." he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"And now we're done." Bonnie dropped her shades over her eyes and pretended to sleep for the duration of the trip.

….

New Haven turned out to be a bust, but it was only the first in a string of trips Damon and Bonnie took trying to track down information about a coven of witches strong enough to take out the original hybrid without killing his bloodline. So far they had come up with nothing.

Bonnie was so focused on their mission that she didn't notice when she went a week without talking to her friends outside of school. Jeremy noticed though.

"Bonnie this is ridiculous, I haven't seen you all week and I miss you," he whined over the phone one night while Bonnie was pouring through research with Damon.

"Babe, I know I've been busy, but we are so close finding a way to get rid of Klaus. That's what we all want right? To have him out of our lives for good?"

"Yes, of course, but he doesn't have to ruin our lives in the meantime does he?"

"Well, Jer, that's kind of what he does…" Bonnie was getting annoyed.

"You know what I mean," he sighed.

"I'm really not sure I do. Everyone expects me to come up with a solution, but nobody but Damon is willing to put in the work. Look, I gotta go, I'll call you later."

Jeremy sighed into the phone; he didn't even pretend to believe her when she said that anymore. "Fine. I love you, Bonnie."

"Goodnight, Jer."

….

Run, run 'cause we're guilty as sin

Run 'cause we know we won't win

We know together we kill time...

"Do you think you could possibly keep your little boyfriend on a leash? 'Cus the next time he comes barking at me, I will bite back," Damon threatened as he pushed his way into her house and promptly made himself comfortable on her couch.

"What the hell are you talking about Damon? And why are you here?" Bonnie had long since invited Damon inside, but if she'd known he would make a habit of showing up unannounced she would have rethought her decision to do so. She closed the door behind him and followed him into her living room.

Damon glanced over at her and noticed her looking super comfy in a pair of sweats and a tank top with her hair up in a messy bun and he grinned. She caught the look and flipped him off in return.

"Little Gilbert just tried to pick a fight with me at the Grille," he clicked through the channels of her tv looking for something better to watch than whatever reality crap she had on.

"Hey, I was watching that," she fought him for the remote and won and switched back to her show. "Why did Jeremy pick a fight with you? This time?"

Damon rolled his eyes and launched into his side of the story. "Apparently, I ruined his date night tonight, because you blew him off to do some kind of research with me. Imagine my surprise. Because as far I knew, you had other plans and couldn't do research tonight."

Bonnie chewed her lip, knowing she'd been caught in her lie. "What'd you tell him?"

"Well, you know me, I don't like being accused of something I didn't do…"

She just stared at him with a blank face.

"I told him to fuck off and find someone who actually gave a shit."

Bonnie gave him a grim grin, "Sounds about right. I bet he took that well." Bonnie retreated into her kitchen for a moment and returned with a glass and a bottle of whiskey. She topped off her own glass and then poured one for Damon.

"About as well as can be expected. When are you gonna bite the bullet and just cut him loose?"

"I keep trying, but I don't want to hurt him, Damon," she took a gulp from her glass and sighed as the liquor burned down to her stomach.

"Well, can you at least give me a heads-up when I'm supposed to corroborate your alibi?" Damon really didn't want to get in the middle of her relationship drama. Hell, he still couldn't believe the witch was in a relationship with Gilbert, Jr. To him, they had never made sense and recently, it seemed Bonnie had begun to see that as well.

"Sure."

Her monosyllabic response alerted Damon to her mood. "What's with you?"

"Nothing," she shrugged and slumped back into the couch.

"Bullshit. You're being moody or broody. Or both." Damon tried to read her face but she was stonewalling him, revealing nothing. "Is this about boy troubles? Because you know I don't do boy troubles."

"It's not about Jeremy."

"Then what is it?"

Bonnie sighed. She knew he wouldn't relent until he got something out of her. "It's…" She cleared her throat. "Today- It's been a year since Grams…" she struggled to finish that sentence.

Shit. That was even worse than Damon thought it would be. "Bonnie-"

"I'm fine. I just didn't really feel up to being around anybody tonight. I was feeling a little 'broody'." She sent a glare his way.

"And I just barged in here anyway. You want me to leave?" He didn't want to leave her alone like this, but he'd understand if he was the last person she wanted to be around.

But she shook her head. She didn't feel like talking to anybody, but that was the nice thing about Damon; sometimes he actually did just shut up and let her be.

She'd learned a lot about him over the last couple trips they had taken. Like that he enjoyed silence just as much as he enjoyed filling silence with his own voice, it just depended on his mood.

Against all of her efforts they had actually become friends. No air quotes needed, just friends. He was someone she could talk to about things she couldn't share with Caroline and Elena. Mostly about Caroline and Elena. And he talked to her about, what else, Elena. She understood why he was so in love with her even when it was never going to happen for him, and she knew he just needed an escape and distraction from his more destructive tendencies. So she let him drag her all over kingdom come on a wild goose chase that could possibly lead to absolutely nothing. Because in the end it didn't really matter. They both needed to be doing something. Why not do it together?

The problem only arose once everyone around them finally took notice of their little arrangement…

…..

The night Klaus forced Bonnie to unlink him and his siblings was the same night that Rebecca decided to go all fatal attraction on Damon's ass.

Bonnie was so pissed that she had been caught with her guard down and had allowed Klaus's minions to over power her. Of course she blamed Damon; he was supposed to meet her at the Grille but he blew her off. She assumed Elena was in some kind of distress and needed one or both of the Salvatore brothers to come to her rescue.

So, she was quite shocked to see him chained to the ceiling with Rebecca carving her initials into him like he was leather seats in a Carrie Underwood song. He looked like shit and wasn't moving much and honestly it scared the crap out of Bonnie to see him like that. For a second she couldn't move, she froze in panic and didn't know what to do, until Klaus all but kicked her out of his house.

She was practically hyperventilating when she made it to her car. She sat in the front seat shaking and trying to calm herself.

She had to call someone, she needed help. But the person she always called for help was the one who needed rescuing this time.

Once her breathing was closer to normal she realized she needed to move fast; Damon needed her.

She moved her car out of the Mikaelson driveway and down the street, before calling in a favor from Matt. She told him she needed him to get Rebecca out of the house for a little while and he agreed to ask her out. After that she called Caroline to do the same with Klaus, only she wasn't quite so cooperative. She demanded to know what was going on and only when Bonnie said it was life or death did she agree to distract Klaus, yet again.

Bonnie watched from behind the bushes lining their driveway as both the Mikaelson siblings left, before using her magic to sneak in and find Damon.

He was bleeding from everywhere it seemed. She couldn't understand how he was still bleeding, there was so much blood already covering the tarp on the ground.

"Bon…" he groaned. "What are you… doin' here?" he managed to croak out from between his dry and cracked lips. His eyes were going in and out of focus.

"Me? What are you doing here? How the hell did you manage to piss off Rebecca?"

"Didn't send … flowers after I banged her…" he chuckled.

"You know what, don't talk. Just enjoy being rescued." She used the same trick she showed him the night of the party and the iron cuffs around his wrists burst into clouds of dust. She managed to get his arm over her shoulders before he hit the floor entirely.

"Okay, just stay with me, Damon. I can't do this if you pass out on me," she grunted under his weight. Her magic steadied him and kept him from hitting the ground.

"So then why'd you come back for me?" he was shuffling forward, moving his feet and with every step it felt like his last.

"oh, shut up. I wasn't gonna let you die in there. What kind of friend would that make me?" They were outside now, crossing the great lawn to where she had parked her car.

"Just like every other friend I've ever had," he gave her a weak grin.

"Wow, that's pretty pathetic, Salvatore," Bonnie opened her car door and shoved him inside her backseat. She sighed in relief and exhaustion, resting her hands on her knees to catch her breath. "You need better friends."

"Nah, 'ts what I got you for…" he mumbled before he passed out.

Bonnie got him to the boarding house in record time, but no way was she dragging his unconscious body all by herself again. She screamed for Stefan to come help her and he came flying out of the house like he was on fire.

He took one look at her covered in blood and nearly lost his shit, before he smelled it wasn't hers. He looked in the backseat to find his brother half naked and also covered in blood. "What the hell happened, Bonnie?"

"Help me get him inside!"

"Bonnie!?" Elena came running from the house in a panic. "What happened to him? Are you okay?"

"He's gonna be fine, Elena, we just need to get him inside." Bonnie pulled her friend out of the way so Stefan could get Damon out of the car. He eased Damon's big body over his shoulder in a move that was way more elegant than it should've been and in a blur he was gone. Bonnie took off after them with Elena screeching questions at her a mile a minute.

"Who did this Bonnie? Why didn't you call me? How did you find him? Were you two together-"

"No, Elena! Do you think if I was with him, this would've happened in the first place?!" Bonnie screamed.

"Why are you yelling at me? I'm just trying to understand what happened to him and you're not telling me anything!" Elena had tears in her eyes and Bonnie was trying hard not to keep yelling at her.

"He's gonna be fine," she repeated.

They reached Damon's room where Stefan had dumped him in his giant tub and was running a bath.

"Here, let me help," Bonnie and Elena stepped forward at the same time to get Damon undressed. Stefan however wasn't having it.

"Guys, I've got it. You wanna help- Elena go get him some blood bags. Bonnie- find some clean sweats to put him in," Stefan calmly and easily took charge of the situation.

Elena took off running, but for the second time that night Bonnie couldn't make herself move. She just stood there, looking at her friend losing what little color he had had in the first place. Deathly pale and still, she couldn't tell if he was even breathing anymore.

"Bonnie?" Stefan's voice was still calm and she tried to let it soothe her frazzled nerves. "Can you tell me what happened tonight? Do you know who did this?"

She only nodded her head, but couldn't find the words. Her mind was swimming as she tried to recall what happened before she found Damon. But all she saw was his face right before Klaus kicked her out. He'd looked ready give up.

"Bonnie?" This time Stefan's voice sounded so far away that when she finally looked up into his eyes she was surprised to find him standing right next her.

Good thing too, because in the next moment she blacked out and collapsed in his arms.

….

You'll never face a judge without me

You'll never battle the gavel alone…

When Bonnie came to, the first thing she noticed was that she didn't recognize the room she was in. Then she realized what had woke her. Caroline was arguing with somebody. She was trying and failing to keep it to a whisper.

"What the hell was she thinking storming Klaus' mansion alone? Why didn't she call you or Stefan? Or me? Instead she sent me off to deal with Klaus!"

"I know, Care, I asked the same thing," Elena whispered back. "She had time enough to call you and Matt but couldn't call someone who could actually handle the situation?"

At that Bonnie had had enough.

"I did actually handle the situation," she croaked, and swallowed roughly. "I got him out, didn't I?" She sat up in the bed they had put her in.

Both girls spun around, realizing she was awake.

"Bonnie, oh thank god you're okay!" Caroline squealed. "You scared me to death! What were you thinking?"

Bonnie shrugged and started to climb from the bed. "How long was out for?" She was still tired so it couldn't have been too long.

"Half an hour," Elena answered. She was still standing in the doorway, watching her from across the room.

"How's he doing?" Bonnie asked her.

"He'll live."

Bonnie couldn't understand the whole monosyllabic thing she was doing and frankly didn't feel like deciphering it. She brushed past her friends and stepped out into the hall. She turned left and right, trying to get her bearings.

"To your right," Elena's soft raspy voice directed her.

Bonnie glanced back at her. "Thanks," she mumbled before heading off to find him.

Stefan had cleaned him up and got him into bed. His face was looking better already, but he was still unconscious.

"Stefan says he should wake up soon, if you want to get some more rest. You look exhausted, Bonnie," Elena commented.

"Well, it's been a long day." Bonnie sat on the edge of Damon's bed and put her face in her hands, rested her elbows on her knees. "I didn't call you Elena because I knew you would be upset. And I knew Stefan would go in like he was storming the castle. And I didn't think Damon had time for Stefan to fight through all of Klaus' hybrids." Bonnie looked up from the palms of her hands and dragged her fingers through her hair.

"Did Klaus do this?" Caroline asked. She was furious that Bonnie had sent her to placate the same monster that would do something like this.

"No. Rebecca." Her revelation was met with silence.

"How did you know where to find him?" Stefan asked this time. Bonnie glanced over her shoulder to see him sitting in a corner.

"I didn't even know to be looking for him," Bonnie admitted. "I thought he blew me off, we were supposed to meet at the Grille but he never showed. When I came out of the restaurant two of Klaus' hybrids came up to me and told me Klaus needed to see me. I told them to fuck off. They didn't like that, so they stuffed me in my own trunk and took me to him."

"What did Klaus want?" Elena moved to sit beside Bonnie, and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. Apparently all her previous hostility was forgotten.

"He made me unlink them all." Bonnie shook her head and tears slipped down her cheeks. "I didn't know what else to do. I had to."

"You did the right thing, Bonnie."

"No, I should've fought him or tricked him or something… I don't know. But I shouldn't have given him what he wanted."

"Well, you did what you had to."

Just like she always did, she thought to herself. "Anyway, after he released me, he was walking me out and that's when I saw him. He was uh... chained to the ceiling and it looked like she was trying to drain him dry…" she was having a hard time talking about it. She couldn't understand it herself, why she was so scared to see Damon so messed up like that. It had more than freaked her out, it completely disabled her.

She shook it from her mind, didn't want to think about it anymore.

"I had to get him out of there," she finished.

"Why didn't you call for backup before going back in, though?" Caroline pressed.

"I didn't need backup."

"See! That right there! That's what I'm talking about, the old Bonnie would never have gone running in after Damon without a plan and a backup plan! He's got you throwing yourself into dangerous situations!"

"Care, don't be ridiculous. Damon only wishes he had that much power over me." Bonnie was offended that her friend assumed she couldn't think for herself.

"It's not ridiculous to worry about you when you keep hanging around with a psychopath. Elena say something!"

"She's got a point Bonnie," Elena sided with Caroline.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me right now. Elena, you're sleeping with the goddamn Ripper of Monterey; and Caroline, you're busy falling for the Original fucking hybrid but y'all are mad at me because I saved Damon's life? A year ago, you were begging me not to set him on fire!"

"I am NOT falling for Klaus! And I'm not even mad you saved him, although I personally wouldn't have cared if he'd died or not. What I'm mad about is that you risked your life to do it!" Caroline looked like she wanted to shake some sense into Bonnie.

"So I'm only supposed to risk my life to save yours? And Elena's? And Matt and Jeremy?" Bonnie was hot now. "Who else's life am I allowed to risk mine for, Caroline? Since you seem to be making all of my decisions for me?"

"I'm not making decisions for you, I'm trying to make you see how bad your decisions have gotten!"

"They aren't your decisions to make!" Bonnie screamed.

"Bonnie," Stefan stepped in, trying to diffuse the situation. "We're all just concerned about your safety."

"No, because if you all were really concerned for my safety you would've noticed that I went missing for half a day before Klaus used me dry and then dismissed me, but where were you when I needed you? Huh Care?" Bonnie looked from her best friend to the other vampire. "And where were you Stefan when your brother was being tortured by Psycho Barbie for god only knows how long?" Nobody had anything to say to that, there was nothing they could say. "So don't you dare stand there and judge me for helping him. That's what I do, I help you people when you can't help your fucking selves… I would and have done so for every single one of you when none of you deserved it!"

They were all silently avoiding eye contact with her when they heard a low cough from the bed.

"Damn, for someone who's not even my friend that was one hell of a defense, witchy," he grinned and finally opened his eyes.

Elena shot forward to take his hand, her face a flood of relief that matched exactly how Bonnie felt. It only irritated Bonnie more.

"Fuck you, you asshole!" she yelled and stormed from the room.

…..

And if they lock us away

Then I'll be still here

Proudly waiting to kill more time with you…

Damon found Bonnie a little while later, scrubbing at the bloodstains in the backseat of her Prius.

"Club soda works pretty good, too. F.Y.I," he suggested.

She looked over her shoulder at him but said nothing and returned to her task.

"Now you're not speaking to me?"

Bonnie didn't even bother to face him this time, "I think I've said quite enough for one evening."

"True," he nodded in agreement.

After she'd left the boarding house, Caroline had started in on him next, but he wasn't hearing it. Unlike Bonnie, he felt no need to defend his actions to anybody, least of all the freaking Brady Bunch. He blew them all off, downed a few bloodbags, chased them with some bourbon, cleaned himself up and went to find his witch.

His witch. He wasn't sure when that had happened. One day she was setting him on fire, the next she was dragging him out of it. With no less animosity it seemed, but their whole dynamic had shifted when they weren't looking. It had caught him by surprise, so he could only imagine how Bonnie was taking it.

"Where's Little Gilbert? I half expected him to be here trying to talk some sense into you." Damon changed the subject and grabbed an extra sponge and dunked it in the bucket of soapy water at Bonnie's feet. He went around, opened her other back door and began scrubbing away at his blood.

Bonnie was almost amused at how spot on Damon could be sometimes.

"He came by," she answered vaguely.

"And…?"

"And I told him I didn't want to talk about it. Apparently Elena called him to come check on me." Her scrubbing increased in pressure as she thought about the encounter. "He told me that he should have been the first person that I called."

"Of course he did. And what did you say?"

Bonnie huffed out a laugh, "Told him I was done pretending to give a shit what he thought."

"'Atta girl," he grinned.

"No, not 'atta girl', Damon," she stood up straight and looked at him over the roof of her car. "In the course of one night, I have managed to alienate myself from literally every single one of my friends."

Even in the dark he could read the disappointment on her face, saw that it was directed at herself.

"Not all of them," he promised.

We'll be outlaws

Partners in crime

We'll take on the world together

I'm Bonnie you can be Clyde….

a/n: leave me a comment. 'I'm an artist and I'm sensitive about my shit.' lol

Bonnie is taking on a lot of Damon's habits but can you really say it's for the worse? I like seeing a Bonnie that will stand up for herself and demand the respect she deserves, even from the people she cares most about.

Damon is still sweatin' Elena, he's old and stuck in his ways, but the more he points out faults in Jeremy to Bonnie, she dishes it right back about Elena. And nobody knows a girls faults like her best friend, right?

Damon and Bonnie have grown closer, bonded. Bonnie still resists letting him all the way in because at the end of the day it is Damon and she's not stupid, but that won't be lasting much longer!

-T.