Damon,
As I'm writing this letter to you, you are sound asleep next to me in our bed. It's fairly hard to hide anything from you, since you can practically hear me a mile away. But, when you're asleep, it gives me the chance to complete little tasks that I like to do. It's not that I want to keep them a secret from you, but more so that I want to surprise you. Remember when I completely redecorated our bedroom? Or when I planned that camping trip and you woke up to your bags packed at dawn? That's sort of what I'm doing right now. I got the idea when we were washing dishes after dinner and we had just finished writing our story to the next visitors of the Other Side. I decided that I wanted to write something personal for you, too. I'm not sure when I'll give this letter to you, or if it will even make it back home with us. However, as I lay here with you and let my fingers play with your raven-colored hair, I know I can feel in my heart the words that I want to say.
You tell me constantly how I'm your light at the end of the tunnel, and how I'm your home when you feel lost. Maybe you don't know… you're mine too. I can see the heavy burdens you carry, and the conflict in your eyes that you try so hard to conceal. I know you think negatively of yourself and I know you think you don't deserve to be with me. But Damon, that's not true. You deserve happiness. You deserve love, and to be loved- unselfishly. You're not a monster. You're my world. You're a man, and you're a vampire. You are exactly who you're supposed to be. In my eyes, you're my hero. You're the person who reached into my nightmares and took my hand and led me out of there. When I was spiraling into darkness, your voice was what kept me grounded. The first time you kissed me, I've never felt more alive. I found a kind of friendship with you, a partnership, that I never even imagined could be possible. A soul bond. In the past, I always tried to fight battles on my own. I tried to bottle everything up inside until I burst. There were many times that I felt cast aside and alone. Forgotten. But somehow, when we ended up here, things changed. When you saw me I somehow also saw myself. For once, I really took a good look at the woman I am, and also as a witch. You helped me find a balance between the two. That's what I hope I can do for you. It's a comfort to know even when we're not physically together, we will never be alone again. I have you. You have me.
The universe chose an unorthodox way of pushing us together- and I'm forever grateful it did. I wouldn't trade this experience with you for anything in the world.
I think I could probably spend an eternity writing out every detail of how much you mean to me, but the sun is rising soon, and I haven't got the time. Any second now, the sun will peek through the curtains and I'll feel your arms going around me, pulling me close. You won't be awake yet, but somehow your body knows that's usually when I get out of bed to practice my spells downstairs. You won't want to let me go. So, I will finish the letter with this…
Damon Salvatore. My heart, my love. Thank you. I love you. I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you. When we're together, anything is possible. I'll be here when you wake up.
Yours,
Bonnie Bennett
…
Bonnie,
Hey. It's me. You just went upstairs to take a bath and I, like an idiot, said I needed to finish some things up in the kitchen instead of joining you. I was totally lying about the whole kitchen thing, and I'm pretty sure you could tell. For some reason you just gave me that classic Bonnie Bennett grin and left. Now, here I am trying to write a letter to you. Why write a letter instead of just telling these things to you myself, might you ask? I don't know. It felt special writing our story together, and it gave me the idea to sit down and write a few things to you too. As you know, I'm not usually the sentimental type. But you're important to me. Arguably, the most important person in my world. This is my chance to say things you might not properly get to hear, because I don't have a pretty way with words like you do. Hopefully, if you ever doubt yourself or my feelings for you, this letter will fix all that. And if you end up losing this, then I promise I'll be your constant reminder. I got you.
Loving you has been the biggest surprise of my life- my extremely long, taxing existence. And I don't mean "surprise" in a bad way. I mean it like a twist of fate. Somehow, I think we were always meant to be. The way you could always see through me shook me to my core, and I lashed out at you when I really was lashing out internally at myself. It's not always easy to see yourself in such a bad light. Whenever I'm with you, I have no choice but to look at all my decisions without bias. I was so used to putting myself on a pedestal and not accepting blame or consequences. You changed that for me. You also saw all the ugly parts of my past and didn't reject me. I tried to push my feelings for you so far down because I thought you could never look at me after all the pain I've caused people. I was wrong. You're not like that. You didn't easily condemn me like everyone else. You helped me understand how to process my feelings, and you helped me define who I am. I don't know how I can ever thank you for that.
These months I have spent alone with you are a gift. Who knew dying was going to be the best reward? I know I've rambled on about the Other Side being my personal hell, but I want you to know, that never included you. You're my silver lining. You know that, right? You're my reason to keep going.
I know you're worried what will happen when we go home and have to face everyone. I know you're worried about Elena. I can't promise you everything will end up the way we want it to. I'm sorry about that. But, I do promise I'll be with you every step of the way. Never forget that we're a team. You're my home wherever we go… Mystic Falls, the Other Side or starting fresh somewhere new. I'm excited to live life with you.
Well, it's taken me longer to write this than I had hoped. I can hear you calling me up to bed. If I don't finish this in the next couple minutes, you'll find out what I'm up to and I'll be done for. I'll try and make this quick.
So, listen closely Bonnie Bennett. I love you. I love every single part of you. Thank you for making me a better man. I'm so lucky to have you. I'm so lucky you chose me.
Yours,
Damon Salvatore