Chapter 13

We Could Dance Around It, We Could Rendezvous


The Grill was packed on Saturday and Bonnie was bored out of her mind listening to this guy at the bar. He'd tried to hit on her, and Bonnie already shut him down, but he was the pushy sort. She was two seconds away from just up and leaving when Damon approached. He moved next to her, close enough for her to feel his body heat through the thin yellow long sleeved shirt she wore, and she shifted even closer, her shoulder pressing against his chest.

"Does it look like she's interested in anything you have to say?" He stared him down over her shoulder, and Bonnie's stomach dipped at the sound of his voice.

The other man looked between them and raised his hands. "Sorry, didn't know she was taken."

Bonnie didn't correct the assumption as he grabbed his drink and walked off. She turned, pressing her shoulder further into Damon who didn't budge and gazed up at his blue eyes. "Thanks. I could've handled it myself though."

"Of course you could've." Damon took the guy's stool beside her, his body brushing against her arm as he moved around her. He turned slightly towards her in his seat and she turned slightly towards him. The foot of her crossed leg brushed against his calf before she pulled it inward. "Didn't expect to find you here today, Bon-bon."

She blinked. The sudden use of the nickname gave her pause, after which she was nearly elated. "Bon-bon?" She tried to hide the smile that was threatening to spill across her face. Her annoyed mood completely dissipated.

Damon ignored her asking about the new nickname and eyed the glass in her hand. "They let you drink here?"

"With a bit of persuasion."

"Of the magical kind I'm assuming."

"No magic involved actually." There was a new bartender that didn't know her, and she might have suggested she was a college student. Somehow, he believed her.

Damon followed her gaze to said new bartender who looked to be a college student himself. "One bat of those pretty green eyes, and he just gave you what you wanted huh."

You think my eyes are pretty? She thought to tease, but she held her tongue. "I may have also lied a little about my age. Sometimes just batting my eyes and hoping they find me cute doesn't work."

"It doesn't?" He feigned surprise.

"Yeah, I mean I doubt me batting my eyes would work on someone like you." Not quite yet anyway.

"Whoever said that?" The smirk on his face was sly.

She eyed him with suspicion. "What are you after?"

"Why do you think I'm after anything?"

His voice had that falsely innocent lilt, and Bonnie couldn't help but cut to the chase. "If you aren't after anything involving magic or some kind of favor, then this conversation sounds awfully like a precursor to an indecent proposal."

He grinned, showing teeth. "Only if you'd say yes."

He was either testing the waters with her or teasing just to tease, so she responded with levity, reaching over to lightly push his shoulder with the back of her hand. "Stop. How much did you have to drink before you walked in here, because you have to be drunk in order to think I'd ever sleep with you."

"Oh please. We both know you have a crush on me." He wiggled his eyebrows.

Is that what he was thinking? She scoffed. "I don't have a crush on you." And that was the truth. She didn't have a crush. She was head over heels in love with this idiot. An idiot who was currently in love with her best friend. "And I'm not stupid enough to sleep with a guy who's into another girl."

As she spoke, the other girl in question walked through the door and they both leaned away from one another and sat straighter. Bonnie quickly downed her drink and left her stool to meet her.

"Hey, you okay?" Elena asked as she came up on Bonnie, looking between her and Damon.

"I'm fine." She waved a dismissive hand in the air. "Damon was just…being Damon." She glanced back at him and wasn't surprised to find him watching them.

"Can I talk to you for a second?" Elena pulled her attention back.

"Sure." They took a seat across from one another in one of the booths. "Shoot."

A frustrated hand ran through her bone straight hair. "I feel like I'm going crazy. Totally paranoid all the time," she started.

Bonnie didn't blame her. "Klaus is still out there and he knows you tried to kill him."

"Why hasn't he made a move? There has been no sign of him. Nothing. Just my slow spiral into insanity." Her eyes shot around the room.

"He'll make a move sooner or later."

She looked back at Bonnie. "How do you not sound worried about this?"

"I am worried, but I think there's a good chance we can handle whatever he throws at us."

She sighed. "I wish I had your confidence."

Bonnie peeped over at Damon. At some point Alaric had come in and they were talking when Damon abruptly stood and made his way towards them. He slid into the seat next to Bonnie, his entire thigh brushing against hers before she scooted away from him for show.

"So it turns out Jeremy was fired last week and his grades are slipping." He nodded over at Alaric who was grading papers while having a drink at the bar.

"Are you serious?" Elena frowned and pulled out her phone from the back pocket of her dark blue jeans. She called Jeremy. When he didn't pick up, she left a voice mail. "Jeremy, the minute that you get this, call me," she said in a firm mom-like tone.

She hung up, clearly pissed.

"Unbelievable," she muttered.

"You're feisty when you're mad," Damon said, and Bonnie was beginning to feel trapped in the booth beside him.

"It's not that I'm mad. I'm just-I'm worried."

"But why? He lost his job at the Grill. He can survive, Elena."

"He is spiraling. Ever since," her eyes darted over in Bonnie's direction. "Ever since you broke up with him, he's been moody and he's not really talking to anyone."

She needed to get out of this booth. Them talking about Jeremy was not something she wanted to hear.

"It's typical teenager behavior. He probably feels like it's the end of the world, but he'll get over it eventually," Damon said, purposefully putting on a sympathetic face.

"And don't blame me," Bonnie interjected. "A break up is not an excuse for losing your job and failing at school."

"I'm not blaming you Bonnie, but Jeremy is not your typical teenager. He sees ghosts and he's lost everyone he cares about."

"He still has you," Damon said.

She looked down at her hands. "Yeah, but sometimes I wonder if-"

A shadow appeared over their table. "Don't mind me."

Bonnie would recognize that voice anywhere.

"Klaus." Elena said.

Damon was instantly on guard, his body radiating with tension. "You gonna do this in the Grill? In front of everyone? It's a little beneath you, don't you think?"

"I don't know what you're talking about. I just came down to my local pub to grab a drink with a mate." Klaus looked over his shoulder. "Get a round in, would you Tony?"

Elena peered around Klaus and looked as if she'd seen a ghost when she saw the man standing next to him.

"I'm surprised you stuck around town long enough for happy hour." Damon said.

"My sister seems to be missing." Klaus narrowed his eyes. "Need to sort that out."

Elena had daggered her so she wouldn't be a problem during the whole Mikael debacle, meaning she was incapacitated somewhere at the moment.

"Cute blonde bombshell, psycho. Shouldn't be too hard to find."

Klaus placed a hand on the back of Elena's side of the booth and bent his head towards her while looking at Damon. It was fascinating to watch the way he moved to intimidate, but it was even more fascinating to watch the way Damon reacted. He projected a guarded annoyance more than anything, but he was coiled tight and ready to spring if need be. "Truth is I've grown to rather like your little town. Think I might fancy a home here." His gaze wandered around the rest of the table, giving even Bonnie a slight chill with the contrast between the lightness of his tone and the weight of his presence. "Oh, I imagine you're wondering how does this affect you. The answer is not in the slightest. As long as I get what I want and everyone behaves themselves, you can go on living your little lives however you choose. You have my word."

"What more could you want?" Elena asked.

He pinned her with a cold look. "Well for starters, you can tell me where I might find Stefan."

"Stefan skipped town the second he saved your ass," Damon bit out.

Any sense of pleasantry left his voice. "Well you see that is a shame. Your brother stole from me. I need him found so I can take back what's mine."

"That sounds like a Klaus and Stefan problem." Elena said.

He stared at her for a long moment and Bonnie could feel Damon further tensing beside her, ready to defend Elena if need be. It wasn't necessary though. That false friendly smile of his returned and the rising tension faded. "Ha. Well this is me broadening the scope. If your brother doesn't return what he's stolen, then you're going to have to worry about more than just that little brother of yours."


Later, Bonnie felt as if she was being called. Familiar whispers echoed on the wind and she had a pretty good guess as to who they were and where they would lead.

She dutifully followed them as they pulled her through the forest and back to the old witch house, and once inside, the voices became louder but remained indecipherable, saying something and nothing at the same time. They led her to the basement where she found a certain missing vampire already standing in the center of the room.

"Hello, Bonnie." Stefan was eerily still as he spoke, putting her on edge even though she knew he wasn't going to hurt her.

She glanced around the room. "Stefan. What is this?"

"Relax. I just need your help."

"With what exactly?"

He blinked, taking a step towards her. "Let me fill you in on a little secret about Klaus. He kept his family with him at all times, daggered and stored in coffins. And now I have them, and I need you to help keep them hidden."

She shook her head with the knowledge of just how much trouble this was going to cause for everyone, but she helped him before so she would help him again. "Klaus is already looking for you and his sister, so this plan will probably blow up in your face… but fine. I'll help you for as long as I can."

A hint of confusion entered his features. He hadn't expected her immediate agreement. "I…appreciate it."

Bonnie closed her eyes and as if she had remembered them all along, the words of the spell to conceal the coffins left her mouth. When it was done, she nodded at Stefan and was going to leave, but he stopped her.

"Wait." There was a curiosity in his expression as she looked back at him. "What's going on with you and…" He changed his mind mid sentence. "Actually nevermind. It's none of my business."

There was only one thing he could be referring to. "Damon and I have decided to bury the hatchet if that's what you were going to ask."

"I just noticed you were at the boarding house with him the other day, and lately you've been..."

"I've been what?"

He tilted his head. "Different."

"After everything that's happened in this town, don't you think it's normal that I've been a little different."

Stefan considered her. "I suppose."

Was his humanity already almost back on? "Well if you've said that out of concern, I'm fine. There's no need to worry." Stefan looked as if he could see through her, as if he wanted to offer something, but he wasn't sure if it was his place. A shroud descended upon him instead.

Leaving Stefan to it, she spent the rest of the day at her house. She fell asleep early that night and Bonnie dreamed of one of the coffins, and as soon as she had the dream, the memories rose of which coffin it was, who would be inside, and who she had to contact in order to get it open.

A headache blossomed in her head.

But it was her phone that ultimately woke her up, ringing loud on her nightstand with Damon's name on her screen. She answered.

"Damon, hey." She checked the time on her phone again. It was half past eleven.

"Have you found anything else out about opening that coffin yet?"

"I…" Her head pounded. She was about to tell him, but something told her it was too soon. "No. I just keep having these dreams. But I'll be sure to call when I do find anything out."

She pushed her covers off and and started towards the steps. "In the spirit of our truce, there's also something else you should know." The way he dragged out the words made it sound like he was about to tell her something she wasn't going to like.

"Hm?"

She flicked the switch as she walked into the kitchen and pulled out a glass. She went to her father's liquor cabinet and pulled out some scotch, hoping it would ease some of the pain in her head.

"I compelled Jeremy to leave town."

Her movements slowed as she twisted open the cap. She was aware that she should have more of an adverse reaction to that news, but she didn't. "Okay," was all she said.

"What? No lecture?"

"Do you want me to lecture you?"

"Maybe. Self-righteous Bonnie has always kind of done it for me." His voice went playfully low and had her stomach curling even if he was saying it to mess with her.

"Well Damon, compulsion is bad. You shouldn't have done it, even if it was Elena who asked you to."

"So you blame her."

"She has you wrapped around her little fingers. I couldn't have expected you to refuse, but she should know better."

"She doesn't have me wrapped around her fingers." He sounded offended by the notion.

"Right."

"Are you having a drink right now?"

"Yes."

"You're not drinking what you bought at the store are you?"

"I am. I was tempted to come pilfer your supply, but…"

"There's no one here right now."

Bonnie looked down at the comfy cloud-print cotton button up and shorts she wore. "I'm in my pajamas."

"Skimpy pajamas?" There was hope in his voice as he asked the question.

She rolled her eyes, unable to keep the smile off her face at his antics. "No."

"Then you can come."

It was a bad idea to go this late. "Maybe tomorrow. After school. You can help me with going through grimoires."

"Tomorrow then."

They spent another ten minutes on the phone after that, Bonnie mentioning that she was hungry and going to make a late night snack with the intention of hanging up, but Damon asked her what she was going to make, and they kept talking. She asked him what he used to eat back in the 1800s which goaded him into telling her about how he used to steal leftover sweet bread from the kitchen.

They kept talking for a little while longer, and being on the phone with him left her happy. She hadn't even realized that her headache had gone away halfway through the conversation until after they got off the phone and she went back to sleep.

Again, she dreamed of the coffin, of it opening and no one being inside, but what followed was pure terror and rage until she reached for a familiar hand and let him pull her out.


Bonnie came to the boarding house late. Damon opened the door for her and she flew past him with a stack of grimoires in her hands. She made her way into the living room and spread them out on the coffee table. Damon, meanwhile, made her a drink and strolled into the room, handing it to her.

"Sorry I'm late. Elena and I had to get some things for Caroline's birthday tomorrow."

"Did she say anything about me?"

The way he asked the question made the back of her neck prickle and her head snapped towards his. "Why would she say anything about you?"

"No reason." He was far too dismissive of the question, but Bonnie let it slide. She filed away the odd behavior in the back of her mind.

She looked back down at all the grimoires. "These are the ones I haven't gone through yet." She sat down on the sofa behind her and put her glass on the side table. Damon sat on the opposite end and reached for one of them, then turned on the TV for background noise.

Bonnie stared. "How was your day?"

His eyes flicked to her. "Fine. The usual. Tried to make some progress on who killed that guy with a stake, but there's still nothing but dead ends."

She waited, but he didn't catch the hint or purposefully ignored it. "My day was fine until I got another headache this afternoon. Thanks for asking."

He snorted at her sarcasm.

They delved into researching the spell, and sprawled herself out across the couch which the one in this room was small enough that one of her feet brushed up against his leg. She left it there like she had the other day and he didn't move so she kept on flipping through the grimoire in her hands while occasionally sipping her drink. It was an hour before Damon found something that might work to unseal the coffin.

She sat up, placing her grimoire down beside her as she adjusted herself to sit closer to him, pulling the grimoire half onto her lap.

"I can try it tomorrow morning."

"Fine by me, but we should keep looking just in case."

"Okay."

They delved back into the books, Bonnie readjusting herself on the couch into a more comfortable position.

It wasn't much longer until the day someone would kill him, until someone would rip him from her life. So maybe it was a good thing that she was letting herself get a little bit closer to him, that she was spending this time with him, because what if she isn't able to save him? What if these were the last moments she would ever have with him? Sitting here, pretending to read a grimoire when she already knew the spell wouldn't work tomorrow.

No, letting him die wasn't an option. She would do whatever it took to fix this regardless of the consequences. She wasn't going to lose him again.

"Bonnie?"

Concerned blue eyes swam into her vision. She'd been staring at him without realizing it and she blinked back the wetness rising in her eyes.

"I'm fine."

With a sideways glance, he chose not to say anything else.

She still knew almost nothing surrounding the circumstances of his death. The who was the biggest mystery to her. Damon probably had a lot of enemies, but if it was a person in her past present who went back, there wasn't anyone who she could think of, so it was either someone only Damon knew, or someone she knew who was completely not on her radar because it had to have been personal. It had to have been revenge.

"You're staring again." He wasn't even looking at her when he said it.

"You're in my line of sight."

He smirked, raising his eyes from whatever grimoire he was reading to hers. "It's alright, I know I'm pretty."

She disregarded that comment. "Can I ask you a question?"

His eyebrows went up.

"Would you say you have a lot of enemies?"

He took a second to think about how to answer the question. "I wouldn't call them enemies, but there are a quite a few people who probably hate me. Why are you asking?"

"Just curious."

"Hm."

He went back to skimming the grimoire, but Bonnie was over pretending to actually look for a spell and had been watching the TV for another thirty minutes when she started to drift off. Damon seemed oblivious as she slowly succumbed to sleep, and Bonnie found herself waking up to being carried into the same bedroom as the last time she slept at the boarding house. She was quiet until he carefully placed her on the bed, his fingers sliding against the underside of her thighs. Carefully, she unwrapped her arms from around his neck and let her head fall back onto the pillow.

"Thank you. I should probably go home though."

The room was dark and she could barely see his face from the hallway lighting behind him. "It's two in the morning."

She hadn't realized she'd been asleep that long. "Oh. I guess I'll stay then." Her father wasn't home anyway, so no one would miss her.

He hovered near her for a moment longer. "I don't get a kiss this time?"

She rolled her eyes. "Good night, Damon."

He left the room quietly and she drifted off to sleep again.


Without her alarm clock, Bonnie woke up later than she intended to with Damon barging into the room and pulling back the curtains until they blinded the back of her eyelids. "Rise and shine, Bon-bon. We have a coffin to try and open."

She sat up, rubbing her eyelids and looked at her phone for the time, cursing when she saw how late it was. She was supposed to meet Elena early at school to help her decorate Caroline's locker for her birthday, so there was no time for her to go home and get dressed. It wasn't really a problem for her to put the same jeans and bra back on, but she would rather not wear the same shirt and have everyone at school know that she was wearing the same thing she wore the day before. "I need to get ready here. Can I borrow a shirt?"

Damon was moving back towards the door when the sudden request stopped him in his tracks. He looked back over his shoulder. "One of mine?"

"Do you mind?"

He walked out of the room and Bonnie went into the attached bathroom, hopping in the shower. She was out in ten minutes with her jeans and bra back on and she opened the door to find a black crewneck shirt laid out on the bed. Running her fingers across the fabric, Bonnie lifted the soft material into her hands and brought it straight to her nose. Damon's scent filled her nostrils, and she sighed, burying her face into it.

If Damon could see her now, he'd think she was obsessed with him. A teenage girl harboring a crush. He'd also point out how weird it was that she just did what she did, and would probably tease her for it.

The thought brought a wistful smile to her face, and she slipped into the shirt which was of course far to big for her. She gathered up the extra fabric behind her and tied it up into a knot so the shirt hugged her waist, showing a bit of her midriff. She walked out the room to go find Damon downstairs and finger combed her hair as she went, grabbing her things from the living room as Damon moved towards the door. When he saw her, he paused, his eyes heavy on the way she tied his shirt. Her skin warmed.

"Thanks."

"No problem."

They left the boarding house and met up with Stefan at the old witch house, going in separate cars, but the way Stefan looked between them when they arrived said that he could tell they hadn't just seen each other for the first time that morning. Hell, he could probably smell him all over her in his shirt. He didn't say anything about it though, and Bonnie couldn't help but wonder what was running through his mind. It was all business after that, and Bonnie tried out the spell to open the coffin which, of course, failed.

"Why isn't it-," Stefan was cut off by the sound of the floor creaking above them. Both vampires were set on alert, and the coffins were re-cloaked again. An intruder was in the house. Someone had followed them.

The brothers disappeared first, and Bonnie followed behind them, walking outside just in time to see the bloody mess of Damon ripping out the heart of a hybrid. It pumped a final beat in his hand.

"Well, I need to get to school." Bonnie said after Damon threw the heart on the ground, blood from the organ seeping into the concrete. "We can figure something else out with the coffin after."

Damon nodded. "We'll handle things here."

Leaving the brothers, she was at school not long after, rushing to meet up with Elena in front of Caroline's locker. As she helped decorate, Elena finally told her about having Jeremy compelled, and she picked up on Bonnie's lack of surprise.

"I thought you would be more upset over this."

"I am upset. You really shouldn't have done that Elena," Bonnie said, trying to be more true to her old self.

She supposed she should also say goodbye to Jeremy since that too was what she did in the past, but the moment she looked at him down the hall, she couldn't see the point in it.

Later on, the plan to surprise Caroline fell flat when the birthday girl wasn't really feeling her birthday. Becoming a vampire made her feel stuck, and the thought of her birthday was a reminder that she was dead. She wanted to wallow, but Elena wasn't having that and suggested that they all go to the cemetery. Together, they sat in Fell Crypt and had a funeral to celebrate Caroline transitioning from her old life and into her new one. Ironically, it seemed to brighten her mood. They passed around a bottle of tequila, reminiscing on their favorite memories of Caroline when Tyler showed up, pulled her outside for a talk, then bit her.

Caroline disappeared for a while after that and so did Elena after Stefan apparently kidnapped her. Bonnie also made herself scarce after leaving Matt with Elena, going off to search for Caroline alone since she knew she had never been apart of this before. While they were in the crypt, she began to remember a bit more of that night and how she had left early and heard all the details second hand, so she was about to just head home and turn in for the night when Caroline called her.

"Bonnie?"

"Caroline, where are you?" She could at least pass the message on to Matt, so he could find her.

"I'm home. Matt found me and took me home, but Klaus made Tyler bite me and I'm scared, Bonnie. I can already feel myself losing it."

And there was that guilt again. "I'm sorry, Caroline."

"I'm not going to die, right? I know what you said about the future, but I just need you to tell me that I'm going to be alright."

Bonnie was silent for a moment, then relented, unable to deny her request. "Care, you're going to be fine okay, but you can't call me and ask me things like this. You're not supposed to know. It's bad enough that I told you the things I told you already."

"I know, I'm sorry." The weakness in her voice tugged at Bonnie's heart.

"I'm sorry too."

Bonnie hung up the phone, wishing for the millionth time that she had never made the mistake of coming back this far into the past.


A/N:

Feeling kind of meh about this chapter, but thanks for reading as always!

Chapter title from "Alone With You" by Alina Baraz.