A/N: Hey loves. I hope you're all still interested in reading this especially if you caught the last ten seconds of 6x07, and because I'm sure there are a ton of post 6x05 fics out there. But thank you for the reviews for last chapter, it really does mean the world to me. I really wanted to wrap this up in this update, but that just won't be possible because I still have far too much story to tell. Anywho, enjoy!

Disclaimer: These characters are the creative property of LJ Smith/CW Network. No copyright infringement no intended.

Strong arms that were cradling her against a solid wall of chest lowered her to the ground. Pain raced from her ankle zigzagging across her nerves and made Bonnie cry out, and nearly crumple to the dirt strewn floor, but durable hands held her up.

"What's wrong?"

The panic in Damon's voice was unmistakable and the sound of it inappropriately made Bonnie smile although she was in a tremendous amount of pain. This just reminded her of when she foolishly or bravely, depending on one's perception, challenged Kai to drain her of every last drop of her power and do the spell himself to return home. That had been excruciating, but nothing Bonnie couldn't handle, testing her limits. Testing Kai.

However, Damon's strained imploring for her to cut it out along with his restraint not to intervene, Bonnie assumed he'd be perfectly fine with her sacrificing herself again. It's what she had gotten increasingly good at. But that didn't turn out to be the case.

"My ankle," Bonnie wheezed. "It's broken."

Damon nearly bowled over in relief secretly thankful it wasn't something more serious like internal bleeding or a missing spleen.

Without question, Damon swept the injured witch up into his arms, crossed over to the stone bench where he sat down, and brought his wrist up into his mouth, shredding his skin with his razor sharp teeth.

"Do over," he held his bleeding wrist out to Bonnie who stared at it before flicking her gaze upward to look him in the eye.

"You'll do anything to get your blood into me, won't you?"

"Yep," he answered unabashedly and followed it up with a cinematic smile.

Rolling her eyes and huffing, Bonnie compliantly opened her mouth and Damon carefully placed his bleeding appendage between her top and bottom jaw.

Bonnie was cognizant on what to do with her tongue; made sure it didn't lap at Damon's skin, but that was impossible to avoid. His blood flowed, drop by drop, but she needed much more and had to use suction to really get the tap flowing properly.

It filled her mouth and she tried her best not to be grossed out so she kept healing in the forefront of her mind.

Unlike the last time where he saved her life right in this very crypt by doing his very thing, Bonnie had been unconscious. Now she was lucid and could remember every little detail, every little nuance tattooing this event into her memory.

Damon had a way of looking out for her even if he didn't want to. This was no different, but everything was different.

When he figured she had enough, Damon removed his wrist and then wiped away the excess that caked the corners of her mouth.

Her heart thumped and the sound made his ears twitch.

For several seconds they didn't say anything to each other. Their thoughts were on a super highway in gridlocked traffic. One thing was abundantly clear: they were both equally glad she was back though they wouldn't exactly say that out loud.

Damon cleared his throat, "Before this gets awkward," he propped Bonnie up into an upright position next to him on the bench.

She didn't want to pay too much mind to the fact she felt sort of bereft at the distance between them. Minute, though it was. Demurely, Bonnie folded her hands in her lap and looked at everything apart from Damon. Too many emotions were heightened and if this is what it felt like to transition into a vampire the birds could have it as far as Bonnie was concerned. Her head pounded, her skin warmed, the pain in her broken ankle receded to an annoying throb. She wanted a shower, something decent to eat, and a nice, clean bed.

More importantly she didn't want to move a single inch from this spot.

Damon wondered what Bonnie was thinking. He had expected her to harangue him with a bunch of questions that would cause him to snap, but her silence unnerved him.

He shifted to face her, staring at her profile.

Bonnie began to feel weighted down by Damon's gawking. She courageously made eye contact with him. "How did you make it back…to me?"

Glad she was being objective, the taut muscles in his shoulders relaxed. "I had help from some witches and warlocks from the French Quarter. They used traveler magic to open up a doorway for me to go back to 1994 and drag you kick and screaming into the twenty-first century," Damon grinned though it didn't exactly have his usual stamp of sinisterism.

Nodding, Bonnie decided to dissect that process and wrap her head around it later. The fact of the matter was she was back in the time she belonged in. She had benefitted from her fair share of loopholes—though they came at a price with massive consequences attached to them, but at some point they were sure to run out.

That thought made Bonnie grave. She pushed herself to her feet and hobbled a bit, but could walk on her own.

Damon watched her looking for any sign she might wilt like day old lettuce. He too stood and together he and Bonnie sauntered to the entrance of the crypt.

Bonnie blinked rapidly against the sunlight that filtered through the trees. She breathed in deeply and once more felt eternally grateful to be back, to be alive, to be whole. No more being a ghost. No more being the anchor. She had her birthright reinstated, blood rushing through her veins. However something felt like it was missing.

She spotted Damon hovering in her peripheral. "Thank you," Bonnie faced him. "Thank you for not giving up on me. Thank you for coming back for me," unshed tears welled in her eyes, but they didn't fall.

A muscle in Damon's jaw tightened. Bonnie was staring at him again in that way that made something hot fan through his stomach. No, it wasn't hard to see why Kai or any other guy would hit on Bonnie. There was a subtleness to her that made you look and linger and talk yourself out of approaching her thinking you weren't good enough. He blinked as if changing the channel on his thoughts.

However, Damon's hand grew a mind of its own, and of its own volition reached out and plucked a leaf from Bonnie's hair. He kept his eyes focused on that and not her.

"Well, you didn't leave me much of a choice. You sent me home packing without a souvenir," he growled playfully. Bonnie snorted. "While you were injured no less. I figured I could do better."

"So that's the reason you came back for me?" she tipped her head up. "Because you couldn't be one upped."

"Precisely," Damon blew the leaf away. He caught Bonnie smiling despite herself, and for some weird reason that made his chest puff out like he just delivered a baby.

Hell, he brought her back from another dimension that should have been reason enough for his head to swell to the size of Jupiter. Making Bonnie smile shouldn't top that.

Damon wandered off ready to get the hell out of this place.

"Did you tell anyone else about what you were doing?" Bonnie followed and looked around expecting the rest of her friends to show. But the cemetery grounds were empty and silent.

"No, because they would have slowed me down. They have a tendency to make things worse. Not better."

Bonnie said nothing in their defense because she agreed. Still, it would have been nice to see everyone. The last time they gathered here, she had taken one final look before disappearing back to the other side to await her depressing fate.

"It's been three days for me since we last saw each other," Bonnie said. "How long as it been for you?"

"Weeks," Damon muttered like there was a bad taste in his mouth. "How's your ankle?"

"It's almost fully healed."

"Hop on," he presented his back to Bonnie. "I didn't drive here."

Knowing she should say something smart, Bonnie bit her tongue and climbed aboard Damon's back. He shot forward without warning and Bonnie held on to him for dear life.

Esther!Lenore and her coven from New Orleans stopped the spell once they felt Damon had returned. Whether or not he returned with Bonnie would remain to be seen, but if he had may Bonnie not make the same mistakes she made in defying nature to keep her loved ones from dying. Nature had to take its course without mediation.

The body jumping witch knew she was responsible for the limitations that were placed on sorcerers like Bonnie. All she wanted to do now was free those limits.

"Carlisle," Lenore called, "find out if my debt has been paid."

Now that she was back the most obvious place Damon thought to take Bonnie was to Whitmore. He had reached for his cell to let the rest of the gang know about her return, but Bonnie in a surprising move placed her hand on top of his, shaking her head.

"Don't let them know. Not right now. I need…I need to take this all in first."

A brow lifted, "You sure? I thought you couldn't wait to have someone else to talk to?"

"Your biting sarcasm I've learned to ignore but also translate."

"Translate? Into what?"

"That's for me to know, and for you to…." Bonnie trailed off.

Damon grinned and then snuck Bonnie into Caroline and Elena's dorm room glad they weren't around.

He kept silent while the revamped witch walked around the room familiarizing herself, and seeing how not much changed. She picked up a photo frame featuring a picture of her standing in front of an ornate red gate, hands stuffed in a leather jacket that belonged to her dad she had found while cleaning out his closet.

A sad smile graced her face but her chin quivered. Memories she had buried under illusions instead of dealing with the truth of her resurrection the first time came flooding back. Like everything else, Bonnie learned to endure. Shoulder the burden and paint a happy picture that she was overjoyed about being a corporeal, tangible being and not on the fact she would experience the pain of every supernatural.

"I need a shower," she whispered mostly to herself.

"On that note I should probably go," Damon hitched his thumb in the direction of the door.

"No! Just give me a minute."

A dark eyebrow rose as Damon processed what Bonnie was pretty much saying without actually saying it. She wanted him to stick around while she showered. Naked. With only a door and a shower curtain separating them. Other than finding some old Playboy magazines in Stefan's room, he hadn't seen a naked woman in damn near five months. All right. Who was he to turn down a lady?

Making himself right at home, Damon observed as Bonnie rummaged through her friends things looking for clothing, and then she disappeared in the in-suite bathroom.

With nothing better to do and to make sure his mind didn't start building any fantasies concerning the witch, he too began to snoop around.

Damon began to wonder what he would do now. He was back. So was Bonnie who would probably jump feet first back into being the savior of her friends with little regard to her own life and safety. His lip curled unconsciously as he thought about her taking back up with that emo loser who had done nothing more productive in Bonnie's absence than drink, screw anything with low standards, and play video games.

Honestly, in Damon's humble opinion Jeremy sucked as a boyfriend. No, he wasn't so good at the boyfriend thing either, but the difference between him and Gilbert was, he wouldn't sit on his ass for months while his girlfriend rotted on the other side, and then not pick up his pinky toe to try to find a way to bring her back for the second time.

Why Bonnie remained loyal to the little punk defied belief. But love was a strange thing. It gave you hope, blinded you. Consequently, mismanaging it could leave you looking like a desperate fool who couldn't buy a clue with credit.

If he examined things too closely, Damon may start to question why he held on so tightly to Elena and she him. Though she didn't hold on for long considering she had her memories of him abolished so she could make it from one day to the next. The elder Salvatore didn't really know what to make of it. Take it as a compliment Elena couldn't function without him, or as an insult that she couldn't fight for her sanity the way he fought all those times in the past to keep her heart beating.

Then he had another thought. Bonnie hadn't really talked about Jeremy. When they weren't bantering about her lack of magic fingers, or she wasn't berating him for cheating at Monopoly, or even muttering nonsensically in her sleep, she never brought the twerp into conversation.

So what did that say about her love for Jeremy? Of course Damon never imagined Bonnie would gab about her relationship to him, and he certainly wasn't going to prod for details because one) he didn't give a shit and two) he didn't give a shit. The less he knew about their puppy love romance the better off he'd be.

Maybe Bonnie kept mum because her relationship was private and she and Damon weren't friends.

At least not when they first arrived in 1994 Mystic Falls.

What were they now?

The door swung open and Damon turned at the sound. Bonnie stood in the threshold, hair wet and curling, wrapped in a cerulean towel. Steam curled around her giving off the perfect illusion of her arriving from another world. Which was so very true in her case.

Her avocado irises held his but his eyes were too busy scanning her from top to bottom.

Clearing her throat, Bonnie strolled over to Caroline's dresser and picked up her deodorant. "Forgot this," she locked herself in the bathroom once more.

Damon released the breath he had been holding. It was official. He needed to get laid because seeing Judgy in a towel that came to her knees and didn't really expose any cleavage shouldn't have made blood rush to his dick.

But it did.

She reemerged ten minutes later attired in a blue pixie dress, feet bare. Hair a little less wet but still curling and emitting the fragrance of mangos and pineapple.

Damon's gums throbbed and his hunger flared, but he tempered it the best way he could. "Feeling better?"

Bonnie shrugged and her face fell in a flat line of seriousness. "What's the catch?"

Her question made Damon blink. "What catch?"

"The catch in me being brought back from the dead for the second time. What's the catch?"

As far as the vampire knew, "There is no catch."

Bonnie sniffed in disbelief. While she showered she did a bit of thinking. This time around she didn't want to get caught up in the euphoria that her life could continue as if she hadn't missed a beat. This time she wanted to know what conditions had been set that governed her return, and how much they were going to suck for her.

"I would love to believe that, Damon, but given my history in either bringing someone back from the dead or coming back there's always a consequence. The balance has to be found and I'm the one who pays the price," Bonnie paced. "I bring someone back, I get cheated on. I come back and have to relive a supernatural being's death," she stopped abruptly and looked Damon squarely in the eye. "I can't go through another year of pain, Damon. I can't," her voice broke.

He took a step forward to embrace her, but Bonnie read his intentions and stepped backward. If he touched her she would crack. Shatter.

Damon knew without it she would break regardless. The only times he touched a woman was to either give her orgasmic pleasure or…end her life. So showing affection that didn't have the end goal of getting someone naked was a rare thing for Damon. He had been informed by Stefan after the whole Shane/Silas debacle that Bonnie didn't remember her time on the island, which meant she didn't remember the hug they shared.

Well, she would remember this one.

Bonnie's breathing became heavier. Each inhalation made her chest cave in a little more deeply. Her eyes closed automatically when Damon's fingers brushed over her arms and pulled her forward. Her bones were liquefied and Bonnie clutched Damon with the excuse of remaining on her feet and not becoming a puddle on the floor.

Her arms tightened around him, her hair tickled the bottom of his grizzled chin, and the thump of Bonnie's heart reaffirmed what Damon's senses already knew was fact.

"I can't make this promise to you, Bonnie, but I'm going to do it anyways. Nothing is going to hurt you."

"You don't know that, Damon."

"You're right, I don't but gotdamnit come on! How much more shit do you need to go through in order for the spirits or whoever to leave you the fuck alone? You've suffered enough, paid your just due. So if anyone wants to launch some consequences on anyone then they should launch it on me."

Bonnie sniffled, "You mean that?"

"For now," Damon replied glibly.

"So you really weren't posturing for Kai. You really do like me."

He couldn't see Bonnie's face but knew she looked vindicated and smug. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves, shall we? I have an exceptionally high tolerance for you. There's a difference."

"But I'm pretty sure I heard you inform Kai that you liked me. And I quote, 'I like her'."

Inwardly Damon cursed. "You were emotional and were hearing things."

"Yeah, I'm sure that's exactly not it." Pulling away slightly, Bonnie stared up at Damon. "What's next? For us? We just go back to only communicating when you need me for something?"

Though the blue-eyed Salvatore could commend Bonnie for keeping her expression notably blank he could spot the apprehension in her gaze, but optimism that things between them wouldn't fall into its old pattern.

At the moment, Damon wasn't sure on what he wanted or where he wanted things to go. But he knew something had to change.

"What do you want?" he decided to cast the responsibility on the next phase in their…relationship on her.

Saying nothing, Bonnie just laid her head back on Damon's chest.

He could hear Blondie approaching and that should have been his signal to release Bonnie, but he held her just a bit tighter.

The grating sound of her whiny voice increased in volume and then the doorknob turned.

Caroline waltzed in, eyes in the process of rolling having caught a glimpse of Damon standing in the middle of her bedroom. Before she could cuss him out for violating the sanctity of her boudoir, she shouted into the phone:

"What did I tell you last night? That was all on you. When you feel like listening to me again then feel free to call me. Otherwise lose my number," she mashed down on the end button.

Bonnie pulled out of Damon's embrace and awkwardly looked over her shoulder. A smile forming on her face.

Shaking her head, Caroline stomped to her side of the room. "What are you doing here, Damon? Hey Bonnie," Caroline stripped out of her jean jacket, tossing it on the bed. She froze like a statue.

Caroline gasped. Her phone fell out of her hand and landed face first on the floor. The sensitive touchscreen shattering on impact made the only noise in the room.

"Please tell me that's not who I think it is? Please tell me I got ahold of some bad blood and I'm hallucinating. If it's who I think it is I may scream, and if it's not who I think it is I may scream anyways."

Slowly, Caroline pivoted in her boots to take in the scene, get a good look to make absolutely certain her mind and perception of reality wasn't playing a cruel trick on her.

That really was Bonnie. Caroline's jaw plopped to her chest and then she vampire sped over to her friend, looking her over, up and down, all around before screaming.

Damon stuck a finger in his ear to make sure it wasn't bleeding.

"It really is you!" she pulled the smaller girl into her arms hugging Bonnie for dear life.

"Hey Care," Bonnie intoned since the breath was literally being squeezed out of her.

Brooding lines marred Damon's forehead. "Watch it there, Blondie. Unlike you, Bonnie actually needs the full use of her lungs and spine."

Caroline wanted to defiantly hold on to Bonnie for a little while longer, so she loosened her grip rocking her best friend back and forth, eyes turning misty.

"How is this possible?" Caroline sniffled in wonderment.

"Magic," Bonnie answered simply.

"I can't believe you're back," Caroline grinned widely. "I'm so tired of losing you, Bonnie."

Bonnie who was failing at keeping her tears at bay, pulled away, "I'm tired of being lost, too."

"Ohmygod!" Caroline exclaimed suddenly. "Does anyone else know that you're back?"

Bonnie shook her head realizing her reprieve was rapidly coming to an end. She would have to face the rest of her friends if Caroline got her way. For some strange reason panic settled over Bonnie's shoulders and she wanted to flee, but remained rooted to the spot knowing that a big reunion was unavoidable but one she needed.

Being alone with one person and then spending the final two weeks of her stint in a supernatural prison with a coven murdering loon, one would think Bonnie would literally be dying for a new social circle. However, she was surprised to find that staying low key was what she wanted most of all.

Caroline began muttering to herself on the impossibility of Bonnie being back, and basically plotting the rest of Bonnie's itinerary for the rest of eternity from the sounds of it.

She picked up her phone and let out an irritated huff once seeing the damage she inflicted on it. Spinning to face Damon, Caroline snapped her fingers. "Let me see your phone."

Damon first glanced at Bonnie who appeared pensive as she nibbled on her lips. Digging his phone out of his pocket he handed it over to Caroline who didn't waste a second before snatching it out of his hands.

"Who to call first," Caroline spoke more so to herself.

"Are you okay?" Damon mouthed to Bonnie.

She lifted her shoulders and tried to put a smile on her face, but she couldn't pull it off. Bonnie knew she should have a strong, burning desire to be reunited with her friends. Hell, it's what she killed for but currently she couldn't kick the feeling of wanting to run. Not necessarily to be alone. She just didn't want to be here.

"Everyone will be here within the hour. Jeremy much sooner than that," Caroline spun around to face Bonnie and noticed she was engaged in a silent stare down with Damon.

For a minute her gaze switched from one to the other, gears in her head turning. But Caroline shook off her own thoughts, and took Bonnie by the wrist.

The contact startled Bonnie who reacted instinctually. With a blast of power she sent Caroline hurtling into the adjacent wall.

"Shit!" Bonnie cried and hustled over to Caroline who landed with a loud whack on the floor. "I'm sorry."

"Jeeze, Bonnie," Caroline massaged her back and stared at her newly returned friend in shock. "Ohmygod, you have your magic back!"

Bonnie cast a weary glance at Damon who looked strangely amused. She shook her head and rolled her eyes at him which only made his smile broaden.

"You could say that," she helped Caroline to her feet.

"How did that happen?"

Again, Bonnie's gaze wandered over to Damon. "It's a story best left to tell when everyone gets here because I only feel like repeating it once."

Caroline nodded and then plastered a smile on her face. She could feel her tears starting up again. This time, instead of making sudden contact with Bonnie, she motioned for them to have a seat on her bed. She really wanted Damon to beat it so they could have a few moments alone, but already figured she'd be wasting her breath.

"I can't believe you're back, Bonnie, but I should have known. If Damon of all people could be returned then there was no way you wouldn't make it home, either. I can admit…things looked a little bleak."

"I know," Bonnie murmured. "With hope anything is possible."

"That's so true. Jeremy is probably going to spray his shorts when he sees you."

Damon's lip curled at the imagery. Color blotted the witch's cheeks yet Bonnie refrained from saying anything.

"Hey, look I think I'm going to cut out of here," Damon announced.

"Good," Caroline made a shooing motion with her hand.

"No, you don't have to leave," Bonnie implored.

"If he has somewhere else he much rather be, don't stop the man, Bon."

Bonnie ignored Caroline. But the moment was interrupted when the door opened, and of course the person they were just talking about stepped over the threshold.

Jeremy's dark brown eyes which had lost their animation lit up like a Christmas tree when they landed on Bonnie.

She was just as he remembered her and yet there was something different about her. Whether that change had anything to do with the preternatural sheen to her skin, the bright green color of her irises, or just the fact she was alive—period Jeremy couldn't say and it didn't matter.

The months he spent fucking around and literally fucking anything in sight so he wouldn't feel crippling sadness and guilt that his girlfriend who sacrificed so much for others no one had been able to make a sacrifice for her; that was still there consequentially. She broke up with him over the phone, but that was in the past now. He had spent too much time numbing his pain and anger when really he should have been properly mourning Bonnie.

But he would make it up to her. Make up for what, he, as the man she loved would have done and had done for him.

"Bonnie," he took a step forward, drawn to her like never before. The other two people occupying the room disappeared as far as he was concerned.

"Hey Jeremy," Bonnie rose slowly from the bed and then was scooped up into arms that held her too tightly.

Her mouth was covered with another and Bonnie could taste the beer and vodka Jeremy had been drinking.

Other than slight revulsion, Bonnie felt…nothing.

That freaked her out more than anything. She bled for this man, died for this man, and here she was back in his arms, kissing him, and there wasn't so much as a flutter in her heart.

Something was indisputably wrong with her.

Damon averted his gaze. There were something's a vampire should not be subjected to.

Caroline covered her smile with her hand. Things felt like they were falling back into place.

Only…they weren't.

Chapter end.

A/N: A change gon come. What that change will be…I'm still in the process of figuring that out myself. Please, I beg of thee to let me know what you thought of this.