Chapter 6
With You, I'm in Warm Water Swimming Down
Mid-week before the dance, Alaric began to act strange. Bonnie knew what was up, that Klaus was possessing him, so she only had to wait for him to start making moves. Knowing who he was, it was strange watching him try to pretend to be their history teacher, almost amusing actually. It was obvious he had no idea what he was doing, but he somehow finessed his way through class, a thousand years of knowledge at the back of his hand proving to be useful in making anecdotes on the fly. Even so, being an actual teacher clearly wasn't his forte. Some of the things he'd said made Bonnie want to snort, but she sat there like a good little student, pretending to listen and ignoring whenever his stare would wind up in her direction.
Notwithstanding class with Klaus, the rest of the week passed in a blur until the Friday of the dance. Her day started off normal with no drama whatsoever, and she got through her morning classes, turning in some of her homework early, much to the delight of her teachers.
In the afternoon, however, when lunch time came, she was met by Jeremy in the hallway. She put a small smile on her face as he approached her and grabbed his hand. "Lunch together?" She asked, trying to be as girlfriend-y as possible.
He nodded in response, a pensive look on his face.
Uh oh. She resisted the urge to sigh. Bonnie knew that look. Another argument was incoming. Things had been strained between them for the past couple of days. Her possibly dying from using the witches' power did not sit well with him, and he'd made that abundantly clear multiple times. Bonnie personally had enough of him playing the overbearing boyfriend, so she remained quiet, waiting for him to rehash the subject again.
His lunch tray hit the table and he sat across from her, staring. They were alone at the table, and Bonnie avoided his stare, picking at the food on her tray. It was chicken patty sandwich day, and the chicken patties weren't that great. The fries, however, were actually delicious. She ate a bit until he finally spoke.
"Did you tell Elena what it's going to take for you to do that Klaus spell?"
She raised her gaze to his. This was the third time he'd asked this week. "No, and you're still not going to tell her either," she said coolly.
"Well, she's gotta know you can't do it."
"I can and I will. Have some faith, Jeremy. I'm not that weak." She popped a fry into her mouth.
"You told me they said it would kill you."
She gave him a hard look. "Only if I used too much of it at once. And you promised to keep this a secret. I'm trusting you. I'm going through with this, and if you tell anyone, I…" She trailed off into silence as there was nothing she could really threaten him with. If he told someone, if he went back on his promise, all she could do was be upset with him.
He must have realized this too as he leaned further into the table, closer to her, intent on challenging her for once. "What? What are you gonna do?" He pushed.
His frustration was palpable, and it made her want to sigh again. Bless his heart for caring about her so much. It was a shame that he ended up doing what he did to ruin their relationship, but Bonnie could see why her younger self had taken him back. She had wanted to be with somebody who cared about her, and at this point in time, Jeremy was the only guy she knew with a romantic interest in her that would accept her for who she was and hadn't been in an entanglement with Caroline or Elena.
And speaking of the devil, she had just walked up to their table with her own lunch tray in hand and took a seat. The tension diffused a bit at her arrival, and Jeremy leaned back. With something clearly on her mind, she was seemingly oblivious to the strained atmosphere between her little brother and best friend.
Elena turned her worried gaze on Jeremy first. "Hey Jer. How're you doing? Are you okay at the house alone with John?"
Her presence made him uncomfortable. "It's not ideal." Jeremy stood up, eyeing Bonnie with a look that Elena raised a brow at. He grabbed his tray.
"You haven't heard from Jenna, have you?" Elena asked before he could leave.
He answered quickly. "It looks like she's staying on campus." Shifting on his feet, his entire demeanor screamed that he wanted to be anywhere but there, having to lie by omission to his sister about how her best friend might die before the day is out. "Look, I'm…I'm late for class." He glanced at Bonnie one last time before somberly walking away, leaving the two girls alone at the table.
Elena watched her brother go with a frown. "What's going on with him?"
Bonnie shrugged. "I told him he had to dress up tonight and he got all uptight." She lied easily, eating another fry.
"Oh," Elena chuckled.
They chatted for a minute about class, but were interrupted when Dana came up to their table. She was another girl on the cheerleading team, but more of an acquaintance than a friend. As far as Bonnie knew, she had been helping Caroline a bit with organizing the dance, but something was off with her. There was a vacant, cheery look in her brown eyes as she spoke, and her smile was unsettling.
"This is going to sound freaky," she started in an upbeat voice, "but this totally hot guy just asked me to ask you if you're going to the dance tonight."
Elena and Bonnie shared a glance, Elena smiling and Bonnie not having any reaction at all.
"I have a boyfriend," Elena said, but she was so obviously flattered.
"You could at least meet him. He'll be at the dance tonight. Look for him. His name is Klaus."
Elena's smile fell into shock, but Bonnie just stared at Dana. She had undoubtedly been compelled to mess with them. The original hybrid always had a penchant for being dramatic.
"I'm sorry, what did you say?" Elena asked.
"She's probably been compelled," Bonnie voiced her thoughts aloud and took another bite of her fries. She supposed she should at least pretend to be more frightened or nervous, but Elena's attention was wholly on the other girl.
Unaware of her compulsion, Dana simply smiled. "He wants to know if you'll save him the last dance. How cute is that?" With her eerie grin, she turned to leave, her curled dark hair bouncing behind her as she pranced away, imperceptive of the distress she'd caused.
And Elena, rattled by the encounter, promptly pulled out her phone to notify her boyfriend.
Of course, after that, there was no way they were finishing the rest of their classes that day. Almost immediately, she, Elena, and Stefan left school to have an emergency meeting with Damon at the boarding house.
Stefan texted his brother before they got in their separate cars, letting him know that they were on their way, Elena riding with Stefan and Bonnie driving her own car. On the way, Elena also texted Alaric, and he sent a response saying he would see them soon.
Less than fifteen minutes later, the three of them arrived and entered the house together. Damon appeared as soon as the door shut, his game face on. As usual, Bonnie had to make an active effort not to let her stare linger on him.
"What are we going to do?" Elena nervously looked around the room.
"I don't think running is going to be an option," Stefan said.
"So we go to the dance. We find him." Damon proposed.
Stefan's brow furrowed. "Really? How are we going to do that? We don't even know what he looks like," he pointed out.
Damon shrugged. "Something tells me he's not going to be sixteen and pimply."
"He could be anywhere at any time. He compelled somebody at school." Elena was not quite over the earlier incident, and Bonnie couldn't blame her. Having anyone practically stalking you would be an uncomfortable experience, never mind an Original vampire who needed you to die in a ritual sacrifice.
Stefan gave her a look. "So I guess it's not as safe as you guys thought." The I-told-you-so was encased in every word.
There was a pause in the conversation as a knock sounded at the door. Alaric sauntered in, and half of Bonnie's attention moved to him. She narrowed her eyes inconspicuously, watching his every move.
"There you are," Damon said, completely unaware that he was actually talking to a thousand-year-old vampire-werewolf hybrid.
"Sorry I'm late."
"I need you to put me down as a chaperone at the dance tonight," Damon requested. "Klaus made his first move."
Alaric nodded, and the previous conversation resumed.
"Okay, so we find him and then what? What's our plan of attack?" Elena asked.
That should have been obvious. "Me. I'm the plan. I can channel the magical energy of a hundred witches. I can kill Klaus," Bonnie side-eyed Alaric.
The hybrid looked dubious. "That's not going to be that easy. I mean, he is the biggest, baddest vampire around."
Bonnie inwardly rolled her eyes at the exaggerated self-praise. Somebody really needed to put his ego in check.
"Alaric has a point," Damon said, his gaze trained on Bonnie. "I mean, what if he…"
Her hackles rose as Damon rushed at her, and her reaction was instant. She raised her hand, and with the power of the dead witches, she threw him onto the other side of the room before he could even get close. He landed behind the couch, using it to help him stand back up, a half-hearted glare on his face.
"Well, I was impressed," Stefan said.
Bonnie raised her chin. "I can handle it," she insisted, generally annoyed at the lack of confidence in her abilities.
"Alright then. We have the plan in place." Alaric was the first to go with the excuse of getting ready to chaperone, leaving Stefan, Damon, Elena, and Bonnie still in the boarding house. The Original had been rather eager to leave after her little display.
A moment later, Stefan and Elena disappeared off somewhere, leaving Bonnie and Damon alone in the living room. He was still by the couch and she stood across from him by a chair near the wall. They watched one another for a long moment before Bonnie straightened her posture. Yeah, it was time for her to get out of there.
"You know," Damon started, making her stop to turn around. "For a person that's so stressed, you seem pretty relaxed right now."
That made her raise a brow. She looked relaxed? She wouldn't exactly say she was relaxed, just sure of herself, sure of how things would turn out tonight at least. That didn't change the stress of having to relive these moments and the slight worry she had that something might change, but all the pieces she remembered were falling into place.
He approached her, and she came up with a feasible explanation not too far from the truth.
"That's because I have faith in my abilities." She folded her arms across her chest as he stopped just outside of invading her space, raising her head to meet his stare. "Also, Damon, don't test me like that again."
"Or what?"
"Or you might find a limb missing," she warned, intending to leave it there. She figured antagonizing him a bit wouldn't hurt, but maybe she should've kept silent and left.
He did his little crazy eyes thing and lifted his brows. "Big threats. We both know without that power, you'd barely have a chance against me."
He was talking out of his ass and it grated on her nerves enough that, as careful as she'd been trying to be, Bonnie forgot herself, and the retort tumbled out. "Please. I could have you flat on your back in less than ten seconds."
Since she knew it to be true, her confidence was unbridled, and shock was the first thing she saw pass across his features. It was subtle, quick, but there until it faded into a dangerous gleam in his eyes. The corner of his lip pulled up into a smirk that told her exactly what direction his mind had gone. "I'd like to see you try little witch. Don't be so sure I wouldn't have you on yours."
She scoffed. "In your dreams, Salvatore."
He hummed, and sized her up for show. "How about right now?"
Ignoring the offer, she raked her eyes over him in kind with a look of mild annoyance and turned on her heels. "See you at the dance, Damon." She stretched her fingers in a wave, not bothering to glance back at him.
Though to know he was still looking, she didn't have to. She could feel his eyes burning holes into her back.
Five hours later, outside the dance, Bonnie brushed at the white collar of her dress while Jeremy pestered her about the whole dying thing again. It was annoyingly sweet how much he cared, and Bonnie, not for the first time, wished she could just explain that she knew she wasn't going to die. As he tried to give her his ring that protected him from supernatural death, she had a twinge of guilt.
"It doesn't work on someone who's supernatural," Bonnie explained.
He looked distressed. "Well, I have to do something. I can't just…I can't just let you get yourself killed."
"The witches gave me a warning. A warning doesn't mean I'm going to die."
"So you're saying there's a 50-50 shot you won't? Look, I'm sorry. But…you know I don't have the best luck in the girlfriend department."
"I'll be fine." Her gaze softened, and she placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. He grabbed her hand in his and squeezed it, but Bonnie became distracted.
Behind him, she caught Damon watching them as he walked in, knowing he had heard their conversation. He disappeared inside.
Elena and Stefan arrived seconds later, and after greeting one another, they all headed into the gymnasium together, catching up with Damon. The moment that happened, Dana made an announcement over the speaker. Klaus had creepily dedicated some song to Elena.
Accordingly, the knowledge that the Original was already slinking about amplified everyone's overall anxiety, and their little group stood near the entrance, their gazes roaming around the packed gym while they further discussed how to handle the situation.
With no way to find him, the plan became to blend in and let Klaus come to them, so Bonnie dragged a reluctant Jeremy off onto the dance floor. From where she was, her eyes moved around the room. She saw Caroline walking in, clueless to everything that was going on, but Stefan and Elena had seen them come in as well, and Stefan was already leaving Elena to make his way towards Caroline.
The doppelganger stood there for but a moment before Damon took Stefan's place as her dance partner, and Bonnie watched the way he danced with her, the smile on his face, the smile that came to her face, the way she laughed at whatever he was saying.
It pricked at something inside her, and the envy ambushed her, tore through her. The strength of the emotion surged into her magic, causing it to release without her consent. The power flickered inside the entire high school, and murmurs passed through the crowd as everyone in the gym raised their heads to look at the lights. She needed to rein herself in.
"That was strange." Jeremy said, his gaze slow to lower from the ceiling after the lights came back on.
Bonnie looked away from him, magic crackling under her skin as she pushed it down. "Must have been a shortage."
Thankfully, no one seemed interested in talking about the flickering lights for long, and she stopped torturing herself by watching the other couple. Instead, she leaned her head onto Jeremy's shoulder. They continued slow dancing, and his arms tightened around her waist, pulling her closer to him. She tried not to stiffen against him.
A minute or so later, she could sense the moment Damon started to approach, sense that same pull, the force of it growing less and less the closer he came to them. She turned to meet his icy eyes, darker in the lighting of the gym and set on her.
"May I?" He asked with a cursory glance at Jeremy.
Jeremy looked at Damon, then at Bonnie, only moving out of the way when she nodded.
He walked off, and as soon as he was gone, the elder Salvatore took in her polka dot shirt dress, but his expression as he did so was hard to read. It was contemplative, though what he was contemplating she could only guess at.
Eyes flicking back up to hers, he stepped towards her, raising his hands. She raised hers to his, and they touched. A spark ran through her palms.
With how much she longed to be close to him, she thought this moment, the moment they touched, would bring a sense of relief, but she was wrong. On the contrary, the longing multiplied tenfold. A desire to press against him crawled beneath her skin, and she barely suppressed a shiver. Ironically, the physical contact only made the space between them more perceivable, only illuminated the deep chasm between them that made her heart ache for the intimacy they once shared, and the ache only worsened when their fingers intertwined as they began to dance, and a small steady current ran through her palms.
The look in his eyes wasn't helping anything either. Though cold, it exacerbated everything. It reminded her of the last time they'd danced at one of the many pretentious galas she'd been required to attend for work reasons. Then, in his arms, his gaze had been warm, a clear ocean blue under a sunny sky. Endlessly, she could swim in it, find comfort in it, but the way he stared at her now was so far from that. His eyes were frozen over, and all she wanted to do was break the ice and drown.
Despite the turn her thoughts had taken, she had enough wherewithal to make sure nothing on her face betrayed her inner turmoil, though she wondered what he would make of it if he could see. Most likely, he would probably attribute it to the conversation he heard earlier, to her being troubled over the possibility of dying. The truth would be inconceivable to him.
"You look pretty tonight, very 1960s housewife." He broke her thoughts with the compliment, the corner of his mouth upturned despite the serious look in his eyes.
She buried a smile. The last thing she expected from him was a compliment and it made her a little suspicious. "What are you buttering me up for?"
He shrugged. "Just making an observation."
"Hmm," she hummed. Staring at him, she bit the inside of her lip, then let it go, tilting her head to the side. "And does it suit me, the housewife look?" She shouldn't have asked after their earlier conversation, but she was too curious to hear his answer.
Surprise flitted across his face at the question. His eyes dipped down her body as he spun her and pulled her closer. Close enough that the hand not holding his landed on his shoulder, and his went to her waist. His head lowered a little, and her waist warmed under the fabric at his touch. Her breath hitched. An inch closer and her body would be flush against his. An inch closer and she could start to fill that aching chasm. She suppressed another shiver. "I won't lie. If this were the 1960s and I was hungry, I'd probably be tempted to eat you."
There was a smirk on his lips, but he spoke in a matter of fact way with a nonchalance made her roll her eyes. "I'm flattered," her voice dripped with sarcasm.
But his gaze flicked down to her lips, painted red to match the belt cinching in her waist, and his smirk faltered, and she was no longer sure he was just thinking about drinking her blood.
Her hand on his shoulder moved closer to his neck, lightly brushing along the leather of his jacket. And are you tempted now? she wanted to ask, but the words died on the tip of her tongue, or rather she killed them. Flirting was bad. Flirting was forbidden. She reproached herself for even asking the question she did, but the implications of his answer made her wonder.
Damon clearly found her attractive. He'd admitted he'd always thought so in the future. And even if he was messing with her, he was making it known far earlier than expected. But just how attractive did this Damon find her? How hard would it be to turn his head away from Elena and completely onto her? How much effort would it take to prematurely seduce his heart into her hands permanently?
Then and there, while they danced, she imagined how she would start. It would have be subtle of course. A step closer with every movement, a lingering press of her body against his. She would lean a little too close when they talked, invade his space the way he liked to invade hers, but pretend she hadn't noticed to make him question whether he was imagining things. Then she would find whatever excuse she could to touch him.
But wait. That would be far too obvious, wouldn't it?
No, instead, she would make him want to find any excuse to touch her.
An insuppressible shiver ran through her at the thought of that, of him needing her so badly that he couldn't keep his hands off of her. It would really be no different than the way he'd acted as her husband, but she missed that feeling of being wanted, of being so submerged in his love that every touch bred a deep intimacy.
She was biting her lip when her eyes found his again and Damon was looking at her with a peculiar expression.
"What?" she asked. He led her into another spin, meeting the hand that was on his shoulder with his so he held both of her hands, their fingers interlocked together. She swayed in opposite directions with him.
He blinked. "There's been something different about you lately, but I can't quite put my finger on what." That comment made her nervous.
"Well, don't hurt your pretty little head trying to figure it out."
His eyebrows rose and he fake gasped into a grin, showing teeth. "You think I'm pretty?"
Okay. She needed to get this conversation back on track. "Is there a reason why you asked to dance with me?"
Regrettably, the grin left his face. "I heard you and Jeremy talking earlier."
"And?"
Releasing one of her hands, he spun her out once more, then turned her into him so her back was to his chest. "And is the whole 50-50 shot thing true?" She held back a sigh and closed her eyes, sinking her weight into him as he rocked them back and forth. This was what she had missed. Him being wrapped around her. Yet still, she wanted to be closer. His face had leaned against hers as he spoke, and she raised her head towards his, seeking more skin to skin contact as she let her cheek brush against his jawline. It was just a little though, just enough to let him think it wasn't intentional, just enough to let the tingles to spread across her neck, and just enough for warmth to slide down her spine at the feel of him pressed against her.
Well, so much for not finding any excuse to touch him. She only hoped that he couldn't tell she was trying to take advantage of the moment.
"I just didn't want him to worry," Bonnie finally said when she remembered she was supposed to speak.
"So you lay it on the line for Elena, no matter what."
The way he said it, like it was an expectation that she give up her life for Elena, brought her down from the high of being near him. But she still agreed with him because she recalled how this conversation went and knew she was supposed to. "No matter what." He twisted her out again so she faced him, and all that warmth was swept over by a cold that racked her body. Bonnie pulled herself back closer to him.
"Good."
"I trust you won't tell Elena."
"Your secret's safe with me." His voice lowered, and he leaned towards her with a conspiratorial smile. "But with all that power, is there no way to increase your odds?" They rocked and he twirled her slowly once more so that his arm was wrapped around her neck. She rewarded him with a small smile of her own, gripping his hand a little tighter.
"Careful Damon, I might start to think you actually care."
He smirked. "We wouldn't want that." He spun her back out and then pulled her close once more. Bonnie would blame gravity for the way she inched closer, her thumb brushing against his, but she didn't dare close little bit of space between them no matter how much she craved to. She was already pushing her limits.
"I'm open to whatever ideas you might have."
He tilted his head in acknowledgement. "If I think of anything, I'll let you know."
His eyes dipped to her red lips again which curled ever so slightly. She stared up at him as his hand slowly loosened from around hers.
They stopped dancing, and with distance between them again, that cold ache returned, but she stood there, keeping her expression neutral as they both walked away.
After Jeremy spilled the beans about Bonnie possibly dying, the fun began. Elena was confronting Bonnie outside when Alaric walked up to them, claiming Klaus had Jeremy. He led them inside, and Elena, sensing something was off, shared an odd look with Bonnie. They questioned him, and Alaric did his dramatic reveal that he was actually Klaus and their vampire hunting history teacher had been possessed by the thousand-year-old hybrid all along.
Bonnie faked her surprise, but Elena's was real. Then Klaus proclaimed he wasn't there to kill Elena, but Bonnie.
In the hallway, he took a step towards her to attack, but Bonnie used her magic to push him back against the wall. He landed in a nearby display case and fell to the ground laughing like the psychopath he was. He said something else, but whatever it was faded on the wind as she and Elena ran away from him.
They were hurrying through the halls when Damon appeared out of nowhere.
"What happened?" He asked them.
"Klaus is in Alaric's body," Elena explained.
"What!?" That was probably the last thing Damon expected her to say.
"He's possessing him," Bonnie said.
Damon ordered Elena to go find Stefan, then turned towards Bonnie.
"Can you kill him?"
She shook her head. "He's got some kind of protection spell on him."
"You have the power of a hundred witches. Break it."
Bonnie shook her head again. "If I kill Alaric, Klaus will just possess someone else. He knows I have my power, and he's trying to kill me. He's not after Elena right now."
Damon clenched his jaw, his features determined. "Klaus does not get to win tonight. You still willing to do whatever it takes to kill him?"
She nodded.
"Okay. I know a spell."
So they wouldn't be disturbed, he led her off into one of the classrooms and began to teach it to her. It was a simple spell, one for suspended animation, and committing it to memory took little effort on her part. When she asked, Damon wouldn't tell her how he knew the spell or why he knew it, but she was grateful that in this moment, he wanted to save her, even if his motive was to outsmart Klaus.
And outsmart him, they did.
Bonnie successfully carried out their plan in a whirlwind of events where she could feel herself going through the motions, the memories becoming clearer in her mind as she experienced them in reality, and just as she was supposed to, she faked her death, fooling the hybrid.
The next time she woke up, Bonnie was in the basement of the old witch house. Jeremy was the only one with her, and when he saw her awake, he pulled her into a hug. She returned it lightly with an awkward tap on his back before he pulled away, heartfelt joy in his eyes.
He moved back to remove a laptop from his bag, setting it up so Bonnie could apologize to Elena for letting her think she was dead, but while Elena experienced emotional relief, Bonnie's reaction didn't quite match hers. It was bordering on distant, and she noticed.
"Is everything alright?"
"Yeah. I'm just tired."
Elena gave her a worried frown. "Okay. Talk soon then?"
Bonnie forced herself to smile. "Sure."
Not long after she hung up, the guilt began to creep up on her again. It was always there, from the moment she realized she would be stuck in the past for a while, from the moment she realized she would be letting things play out as they were supposed to. But the problem was that in playing her part, what she was doing was the equivalent of doing nothing, and it was coming easier than she expected. That easiness was where most of the guilt stemmed from, and considering the coming events, she feared it would only get worse.
She turned over in her sleeping bag, trying to get some sleep after she finally convinced Jeremy to leave, wishing she had a drink to dull the way she was beginning to feel because her thoughts were growing far too loud in her head.
Mainly, it was Jenna's coming death that was beginning to weigh on her mind. John's not so much because he volunteered his life, and at this point, his death was unavoidable to guarantee Elena surviving the ritual. Jenna, however, was turned against her will and used as a vampire for Klaus to sacrifice in his ritual. He could've used any other vampire, turned any other person, and Bonnie could've bargained with him and possibly made it happen. But who was she to offer up someone else's life for Jenna's when she knew Jenna was supposed to die, that this had been her original fate?
She went back and forth in her head, trying to justify her actions until she grew too tired to think and laid in her sleeping bag, staring at the ceiling.
Two days. That was how long she had until this would all be over, until she wouldn't have to think about any of it for a while.
A/N:
Hello you wonderful readers, I've been going crazy editing this, so I just decided to say I'm done and pray ya'll enjoy it lol.
As a side note, originally, this chapter did end up going to the end of S2E21, but I ended up chopping off the end so I could possibly insert a Damon POV chapter in the near future. I do want this story to be primarily about Bonnie, but I'm assuming an occasional check in with Damon's thoughts might be something people are interested in. If you do have an opinion on the matter, please let me know how you feel about it in the comments, and thanks for reading as always!
Chapter title from "Warm Water" by Banks.
