A/N: Thank you, kittens for the awesome reviews for last chapter! Here is the latest! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: These characters (with the exception of my OC's) are the property of LJ Smith/CW Network. No copyright infringement is intended.

The concept of better intrigued Bonnie. In the last few years she never really gave much thought to better. Yet subconsciously she held on to the belief that things had to get better. They couldn't continue to slide downward, that at some point things had to make their way back to the middle. Simmer down. Begin anew.

She never wasted time counting up the loss because there was no way to recoup. Her grandmother died—she hated vampires. Her boyfriend cheated on her—she busied herself in figuring out how to kill Originals. Her mother was turned—the limits she'd go when it came to self-sacrifice increased to near absurd levels. Her father was murdered right before her eyes—she lived in denial that it hurt as bad as it did after having one good cry about it. She lost her life...twice…

She ended up having company in the form of Damon Salvatore.

For just that second Bonnie was willing to put all her grievances with Elena's boyfriend aside because the end was imminent. It would have made lugging that baggage to wherever or whatever came next pointless. It had been far too late to change anything. The course was set, there were no detours left.

Damon had finally gotten the truce he wanted.

It may have been implied reliant on the times Bonnie came through with a life-saving spell, but she never explicitly said, "Yeah, Damon we can bury the hatchet." And she certainly didn't count it as a truce in introducing him to Shane as her friend. The word came out as more of a bitter retort than a factual statement.

But she relied on Damon for practical reasons because he wasn't one to get his emotions tied up into things. Well, no that's not entirely true. Damon was highly emotional. Too emotional at times. He could be chillingly heartless. Or passionately overwhelming. He wanted things his way and his way only. There was zero room for compromise.

Bonnie hadn't known what to expect in sharing a roof, meals, basically a life with Damon, and surprisingly it didn't turn out as bad as she dreaded. They got on one another's nerves. She's stormed out on him too many times to count. Yet she came back because they were all they had, and even having Damon was better than having nothing at all.

Now, a week later after returning to her life she found herself missing him at odd times. If she saw a plaid shirt in a window display at a store, or sunglasses she'd start smiling for no damn reason. Bonnie couldn't even eat pancakes or eggs without thinking about that vampire.

He hadn't left, made a sneaky exit when the gang arrived, vying for her attention, coming to grips with the fact she was alive. Here. Real. Elena ugly crying, Matt blubbering trying not to cry, Caroline holding on fiercely to her left hand, Jeremy glued to her side, Stefan telling her he was glad she was back. Tyler repeating his sentiment; Alaric looking strangely relieved and somehow guilty. Even Enzo had appeared mumbling in that accent of his about the gang now being able to go on tour.

Damon stayed, hung out on the outer ridges making a quip here and there, but otherwise saying little. He made sure to keep his mouth glued shut about Esther and the charm she spelled that made it possible for him to enter Mystic Falls. He knew once word got out about it, especially to Bonnie she wouldn't hesitate to whip up her own batch of charms once again making life easier for blood fiends. She said she needed a minute and that's exactly what he would give her. A reprisal of sorts for as long as he could.

When night bled into early morning and Bonnie was all talked out, he took that as his cue to leave with the faintest clue on where to go. He had made it to the end of the hall before turning around at her summons for him to wait.

Some distance down the hall Carlisle, a warlock from The Quarter hid himself as best he could. The second he caught a glimpse of Bonnie, he whipped out his cell and sent a text informing Esther the spell had worked.

Now that Bonnie stood in front of Damon, she had no idea what to say to him. She had already thanked him for coming back for her, for healing her ankle and other superficial injuries, for staying. What more was there left to convey?

Damon stared down at her expectantly seeing the wheels turn in Bonnie's head, but not being privy to her thoughts.

"Are you going back to Georgia?" Bonnie began and inwardly kicked herself because that wasn't precisely what she wanted to know, but the info would come in handy.

Some obscure part of Damon deflated.

"I haven't given it much thought. Stefan and I can only take living under the same roof for so long before we're back to wanting the other dead."

"Well…um…wherever you decide to go…stay safe."

Damon drew a measured eye over Bonnie. "You sure that's all you wanted to tell me, say to me?"

Automatically feeling defensive, Bonnie folded her arms over her chest. "What else would I have to say to you?"

"I don't know, Bon Bon, you tell me?" he playfully bopped her nose. She not so playfully slapped his hand away. "I'm curious. You're used to having me around and it bothers you, you won't have twenty-four seven access to me. It's all right to admit it."

"All right, yeah it's time for you to go and dial down on that ego."

Damon laughed at Bonnie fighting valiantly to prevent a smile from forming on her face. Impulsively he pried her hand away and kissed her knuckles. "I'll see you later, Bonnie. Tell the rest of those losers to get the hell out so you can get some rest."

After delivering those parting words, Damon strutted down the hall. Bonnie rubbed her hand and disregarded her tingling digits.

Situations, people, circumstances had a way of accelerating expectations in life, happening simultaneously giving very little time to catch one's breath. To think. Weigh options. Decline, rescind, or accept the presentation of events unfurling.

Her mind should have been on her next step but it kept reverting back to the other night-morning. Damon's cool lips on her skin. The tingle. The surprising fire. It brought a memory to the forefront of Bonnie's mind.

Kai reaching for her, stance threatening, Damon intervening using his vampire speed and strength to shove him up against a wall. His proclamation:

"We might be having a bit of a disagreement but don't you ever lay a hand on her."

It had been surreal and almost didn't feel like Damon was actually coming to defend her, but he had. There was no erasing what happened. Especially considering that not two seconds prior, Bonnie refused to do the spell that would return them home, even after Damon pleaded with her willing to risk unleashing Kai from his prison.

That was unlike him, right?

"So I was thinking we could look for a place."

Bonnie jolted out of her musings. She was positive Jeremy mentioned something about them looking for a place, but her thoughts were stuck on 1994 Mystic Falls. She stepped out of the bathroom and stared at him lounging on her bed.

"What?"

Jeremy sat up placing his feet on the floor, "Yeah, I was thinking, now that you're back and for good that we could get an apartment together. You've been squatting here but you're not enrolled in school, and I still have some money left over from my parents' life insurance policy. I think living together is the next step."

"Ah," Bonnie let out a nervous sound, "Jeremy...that's a big drastic step and…we're not together," she tried to frame her words gently, but they were still laced with steel.

The hopeful glint in his eyes faded. Since she had been back they hadn't had "the talk". He hadn't gotten it off his chest how her dismissal of their relationship over the phone, and only catching a glimpse of her before she disappeared to the other side drove him to insomnia and mood fluctuations. They hadn't said one word on the future, their future and where things would go.

Yes, bringing up moving in together could be seen as out of left field and illogical, but Jeremy was done moving at a snail's pace. He loved Bonnie. She loved him. There wasn't anything standing in the way—from what he could see that was stopping them from being together.

He stood to his full height. "I know we haven't talked about us, but it's not like I haven't tried to get you alone. If you're not with Caroline, you're with my sister, or you're just walking out the door to do something. Bonnie," he reached for her hands, "no one understands better than I do how it feels to come back from the dead. I've done it so much I'm an expert. You're probably feeling displaced and that you don't belong, but all you need is stability. We can have that."

Bonnie appeared to mull over his words but let go of his hands and placed the room between them. "You think moving in together will equal stability?" she grabbed Ms. Cuddles off her bed. "What did you do miss most about me, Jeremy?"

A quizzical expression colored his face. "Everything. I missed everything about you, Bonnie."

"But name one specific thing."

He approached and when he was close Jeremy ran his blunt fingers over her cheek. "I missed this. I missed being close to you. Feeling you. I could hear your voice when I called your phone and left you drunk voicemail messages…"

Bonnie blinked. "You left me voicemail messages?"

"Yeah. I talked your mom in continuing to pay your bill just so I could hear your two second greeting. Other than memories and pictures, your outgoing message on your cell was all I had left of you, Bon."

"You missed the physical parts of me?" Bonnie wanted clarification.

Jeremy looked uncertain but nodded infinitesimally.

"How did you grieve? How did you deal with me not being here?"

Jeremy wanted to be honest, but if he were honest it could backfire. No girlfriend wanted to hear her boyfriend coped with her death by drowning in booze or being balls deep in another girl. Girls in his case. Plural.

"Bonnie…look I probably could have handled my grief better but…I was so lost. I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to feel anything. If I were a vampire I probably would have turned it off, but I had to wake up each day knowing that the people I considered friends, family were alive at the expense of my girlfriend's life who lied to me knowing there was no way for her to save herself. I was pissed and in my anger I slept around. A lot. I'm not proud of that. I just…I just didn't know what else to do because day in and day out all I felt was resentment."

Bonnie's nose tingled. Softly she said, "I'm sorry that I didn't tell you the truth until literally the last minute. That was wrong of me to do; to lead you to think I would be fine. The last thing I wanted to do was hurt you, Jeremy. Whatever you did in your grief…maybe it can be justified, people grieve in their own ways. I've lost you. I know what that feels like. I knew I was willing to do anything to bring you back. Even plunge this world into hell." Pause. "Did you at any time try…try to find some loophole or spell or hope that I could be brought back?"

Jeremy blanched. Remorse and shame twisted his stomach into knots. The tips of his ears became enflamed as well as the back of his neck. No. He hadn't. He hadn't lifted a finger to try to bring Bonnie back. For the second time. For the second time he dropped the ball. And instead of her ghost enabling his inaction, that honor had been given to Johnnie Walker and the countless procession of nameless females looking for a good time, no strings.

His silence was incriminating, but nothing Bonnie hadn't come to expect. She chortled at the poignancy of the matter. She, who's always so willing to go the extra mile for those around her sometimes couldn't be bothered to do the same for her. What made it hurt all the more was it stemmed from a person she had given her heart and body to. Not little things to her.

Bonnie could fester in her anger about that, but anger fueled a witch's taste for vengeance. But this unerringly closed the door for good on their chapter. She was done being an afterthought or no thought at all.

Jeremy, however, wasn't going to give up on trying to salvage things. He fucked up and fucked around. But he could fix it. He could make things as they were, only better.

"Bonnie…"

"I know what you're going to say. You love me. You would have done everything in your power to find a way to save me if you thought there was a solution. We owe it to ourselves to pick up where we left off, but…I can't. Not this time."

Fear clawed at Jeremy's spine. A light film of sweat coated his entire body. Bonnie was slipping through his fingers despite her standing right in front of him. She was already miles away.

"If you need time, I can give you that. Please just don't throw us away, Bonnie."

"It's not time I need, Jeremy. I just need a fresh start. A real fresh start. I need to figure out who this version of Bonnie Bennett is. What she wants for her life. What she's going to do with it this time around. I can't be the girlfriend you need. So to answer your proposal, no I don't think it would be a good idea for us to find a place together. I'm still searching for my place in this market."

Gnawing on the inside of his cheek, anger making his nostrils expand, Jeremy cleared his throat. "So that's it? We're done? For good?"

Bonnie hesitated. There was comfort in knowing she could just pick back up with Jeremy like putting on an old coat, but that wasn't what she wanted. And if she was comparing her relationship to wearing a garment, she didn't know if that was good or bad in terms of the fate of their relationship. Going with the old and familiar could make one complacent. Bonnie wanted—no craved movement in her life.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

"Well," Jeremy averted his gaze. "I think you're making a mistake."

Bonnie's eye crinkled at the corner. "And it would be a mistake for me to act like the last five months of my life didn't happen, and pick up where I left off."

A shroud of silence engulfed the room until Jeremy ruptured it. "I'm sorry my love for you isn't enough." Pause. "I hope you find happiness. I have to go."

Bonnie watched as Jeremy stiffly left the dorm room, and blew out a breath.

Literally two seconds later Elena sailed into the room, face pensive, a sign she heard the tail end of their conversation.

"Hey," Elena dropped her satchel on her bed.

"Hey," Bonnie murmured.

The doppelganger briefly bit into her lip. "You broke up with Jeremy?"

"To break up with someone you actually need to be with them to break up with them. I was just reiterating what I said to him over the phone five months ago."

"But I thought for sure…being back you'd want to rekindle what you two had. He was a wreck, Bonnie. You should give it a chance."

"Yeah well, I should be with someone out of obligation?" she snorted derisively. "I need to work on me for now, Elena. I can't clean up anyone else's life when my own is a mess. If there was one lesson I've learned it's that one. And no offense, but you should be the last person dispensing relationship advice."

"Okay…ouch."

Bonnie tilted her head to the side, "Jeremy may have slept around and behaved totally irresponsibly, but you had your memories of Damon wiped clean. You cheated," she stated bluntly. "Cheated yourself out of coping with your grief."

"Bonnie, my grief over Damon led me to getting hooked on witch drugs, and feeding on people left from right. I was dangerous."

"Most vampires are, Elena. Par for the course. Don't get me wrong, I understand. But when are you going to fight to be strong to slay your demons yourself?"

"You think I didn't try to fight?" Elena laid a hand on her chest. "You think I wanted my life to fall to pieces over loving a guy?"

"Well, honey it did, but you didn't seem to do much about it other than rehash old wounds. I'm guilty of taking on your problems as if they were my own thinking it was my job," Bonnie chortled. "And that hindered you. We're all guilty of hindering you.

"Damon is back and instead of facing him, and what you two meant to each other you're living this Stepford vampire life, but it's your decision. I'm officially staying out of your business," Bonnie placed Ms. Cuddles back on her bed and reached for her purse. "I'm late for an appointment. See you."

In stupefaction all Elena could do was watch Bonnie stroll right by her and exit the room.

"Ain't No Sunshine" by Bill Withers began playing next causing Damon to laugh self-deprecatingly.

He told himself he could do it. He could stop loving her as easily as he stopped loving Katherine, wash his hands clean, move on, and never look back.

Then some small voice in the back of his mind would ask him bitingly: who the fuck do you think you're fooling? It had been child's play to fall out of love with Katherine after worshipping at her alter for nearly two centuries because her look-alike had been standing right there. Not exactly waiting in the wings but close enough.

All he mounted to doing was trade in an old model for a newer version. And it happened so seamlessly Damon had convinced himself he and Elena were kismet because as much as he may have loved Katherine, without Elena he could hardly function let alone breathe.

They weren't together and he was breathing quite fine.

Damon had yet to return to Savannah preferring to squat on Alaric's couch. It had only been a few weeks, but the dark vampire knew he was wearing out his welcome as well as leaving a very noticeable dent on the sofa. He paid rent in booze; and if Ric wanted the good stuff to keep coming he just needed to look the other way when he headed off to do the professor thing at Whitmore.

Now Damon was at his second favorite place in this small town.

"You gonna tap that or not?"

Damon's disembodied voice floated to her ears from across the bar. Elena made no outward sign she was hearing something she shouldn't have been able to hear. She kept her smile in place while wrapping her fingers around the neck of the beer bottle. Liam's dark eyes glittered with intentions that spelled his lips would be making their descent to her mouth sometime within the next few minutes.

She and Damon were in a weird medium. Her memories of him where still locked in the confines of her mind, and though she's been plenty tempted to have the compulsion reversed, she hadn't exactly taken the plunge. Her argument with Bonnie still fresh in her mind.

Honestly, how was she to know that Damon would come back from the dead? Elena hadn't prepared herself for that possibility—that she could recall. Nonetheless, she knew her drastic decision hurt him.

Despite Damon's personal feelings on the matter, Elena liked where she was now. She didn't want to do anything to jeopardize that. However, the Damon she's seen and come to know in the last month intrigued her. He had a personality, face, body that was hard to ignore, but her mild attraction to him...did she want to start fresh?

From what she remembered, Damon had an obsessive steak which led him to pursue something but mainly someone doggedly, and he hadn't been doing that. For all intents and purposes he had been laying low. Would it be a wasted effort to have Alaric reverse the compulsion if Damon wasn't, for lack of a better word, harassing her to remember their love? He seemed to want to move on which was what she was trying to do.

From across the bar Damon watched his ex flirt and carry on as if life was wonderful. The back of his throat should have been filled with the acrid taste of bitterness, but instead it was the sweet flavor of regret he was choking on. He wanted to mess with her because he was bored. Maybe see if he still had the ability to draw Elena's undivided attention even if she didn't want to look in his direction to acknowledge his existence.

"I bet you fifty bucks his version of talking dirty includes using clinical terms for his…"

"Damon," Elena's reprimanding voice trilled sharply in his ear. He chuckled and tossed back another shot.

His laughter was quickly silenced when the poor man's version of McDreamy stroked Elena's jaw before leaning in for a chaste kiss.

Somewhere in the back of Damon's mind he realized that seeing the woman he loved, traveled dimensions just to be reunited with kissing another man should have filled him with unmitigated rage. He was mad, yes but not to the point he wanted to hurt someone. Instead he felt hollow and disappointed. He wasn't quite sure what to make of it.

Damon's eyes went on a tour and after returning from checking out the back of his skull, he realized the bar had a new patron in the form of Bonnie Bennett.

His silver blue-eyes followed her as she crossed the bar, not even pausing to say hello to Elena who Damon noticed stiffened once becoming aware of her bestie's presence. Hmm, the elder Salvatore wondered. It wasn't like Bonnie to give Elena the cold shoulder, and he couldn't help but be curious as to what led to the snub.

She had parked herself at a table and pulled out a file folder and began leafing through it. Interest piqued, Damon swiped his tumbler and bottle of bourbon, and made his way over to her table helping himself to a seat. Poured himself a drink.

Bonnie didn't look up. "You're bothering the wrong girl, aren't you?"

"Nope. I'm getting on the nerves of the right one," he grinned. "What's all this?" Damon fingered a few papers Bonnie had spread out over the table. "This doesn't look like official witch business."

"Because it's not." Bonnie briefly glanced at Damon, then turned to thank the waitress who dropped off her drink. "It's the contract to my new house," she beamed.

Damon's brows knitted together. "House? You bought a house? When? And how do you know how to buy a house?"

Bonnie snorted and took a sip of her club soda. "Economics was my minor. I called a realtor and had her search for foreclosed properties. She found something in my price range. I'm using part of my dad's life insurance policy to cover the down payment. There you go."

"Who sells a house to a nineteen year old?"

"Someone desperate enough to make a sale in this still recuperating economy. Aren't you going to say 'Congratulations Bonnie'?"

"I would if I didn't think you just made a bonehead mistake. How are you going to pay for a house when you don't even have a job, let alone a college degree to land a job to pay for said house? And speaking of college, I thought you had or I should say I thought Caroline compelled you back into Whitmore?"

"Shows how much you know," Bonnie winked. "Do you think I would make a big purchase like a house and not consider every variable?"

Damon placed his elbows on the table and leaned forward, "Do I need to bring up prior examples of your bad decision making skills? Because I can and will if I have to."

Bonnie tapped her fingers along the table's surface. "No one needs to remind me of the decisions I made in the past," her eyes unconsciously wandered over to Elena. "I know what I'm doing."

Damon grunted, "So you mean to live alone in a...how many bedrooms?"

"Three. And a two-car garage."

"So you mean to live alone in a three bedroom, two-car garage pleasure palace?"

Bonnie twisted her lips, "I wouldn't phrase it that way but yes. I'm not opposed to having roommates."

She looked at him all bright-eyed causing Damon to clear his throat and sit straighter on the chair.

"Can you help a friend out by looking at this contract to make sure I'm not being scammed out of my money?"

Damon snatched the document out of her hand and grumbled. "You should have asked me to go with you from the start."

"I could have but I wanted to do this on my own because I was doing it for me."

A wave of silent understanding passed between them.

"I think I've rubbed off on you too much," Damon shook his head feeling wistful for some bizarre reason.

"Yeah you probably did. I don't mind it so much."

And it was just like that Damon had forgotten about Elena and her stupid human crush, his hurt feelings and quasi-crushed pride. Bonnie, once again, gave him something to do. Purpose.

"What have you been up to these days?" Bonnie questioned and kind of marveled at the speed in which Damon's eyes moved as he read the contract line by line. He was already on page three.

He shrugged, blindly reached for his drink, and tossed it back. "Looking for food."

"That's all? I thought you would have dedicated your time on trying to figure out a way to reverse traveler magic over Mystic Falls. Aren't you dying to go back to the boardinghouse?"

Damon paused in his reading, staring at Bonnie in the recessed lighting of the bar. "A change in scenery never hurt anyone. What about you? I thought you'd be chomping at the bit to find a spell to undo what Markos and friends did?"

"Old Bonnie would. New Bonnie is soon to have a house that needs upgrades and decorating. How good are you at wielding a hammer?" she tacked on a smile.

Elena had thrown surreptitious looks at Damon and Bonnie the minute he got up from his table to join Bonnie at hers. Their conversation competed with the one she tried to hold with Liam. Bonnie bought a house? Damon complained about not being there with her? Bonnie didn't want to find a way to get rid of the magic bubble over Mystic Falls? What exactly was going on? Nothing was exactly falling into place like it should have.

She didn't want a party, sit down dinner, a backyard boogie, or anything resembling an orchestrated affair welcoming her back from the dead. Caroline accepted the challenge and came up with a doable compromise sending out invitations via text to meet up—when schedules allowed, but at the very least arriving within reasonable time at the local college bar.

There weren't any ostentatious decorations hanging from the rafters. Apart from icicle lights that stayed up year round, no special table linens, no band or DJ. But the owner of the bar did "agree" to concoct a special alcoholic beverage in Bonnie's honor.

Caroline carefully handed the martini glass brimming with a dark purple liquid with a lime wedged on the rim over to Bonnie.

"What is this?" the young witch accepted the glass and stared at it questionably.

"It's a new drink called Orphic. It means mysterious, entrancing, beyond ordinary, understanding. I think that sums you up pretty well. Try it."

Bonnie took a quick sniff before tasting the drink. It had a kick that opened up her nasal passages. Sweet on impact but a little tart going down. Overall not bad.

"Verdict?" Caroline pressed.

"It's good. I like it. Thanks for having the bar make this for me."

"It was the least I could so since you wouldn't let me throw you a much deserved party."

Parties often led to disasters, complications, and Bonnie simply wanted to avoid them at any cost at the moment.

She and Caroline wandered off to another section of the bar. Several of her friends were there trying to be as nonchalant as possible, and not treat this like the celebration it was supposed to be. Matt and Jeremy were playing darts. Stefan stood off on his own nursing a beer.

"What's up with those two?" Bonnie nodded in Tyler and Liv's general direction. They were seated at a table throwing not-so-subtle looks at one another.

Caroline's eyebrows mashed together in consternation. "I'm not really sure. They've just been hanging out a lot lately. We pretty much know where that's headed."

"Speaking of future hook ups… what's been going on with you and Stefan?" Bonnie coyly took another small sip of her drink.

"What about me and Stefan?" Caroline wiggled in her shoes.

"You two have barely said more than five words to each other, and not too long ago you were thick as thieves. The only time you're mad at a guy is when you like him."

Caroline pinched her lips together while Bonnie brightened.

"That's it! You like Mr. Tortured and Brooding, and let me guess he's not returning your affections?"

"It's complicated."

"I imagine it would be."

"It's not that I'm pissed off because I have…that my feelings for Stefan have changed, but the fact he threw everything away in favor of starting over without, at least, having the courtesy of informing anyone that he was leaving his old life behind is what bugs me the most. It's like he didn't care."

Bonnie drew her tongue over her bottom lip observing Stefan who was so clearly listening to their conversation. "I don't think him not caring has anything to do with it. You have to look at it from his perspective, Caroline. He's a vampire and what do most vampires have to do every decade or so to avoid suspicion? Start over. He was doing what came naturally to him. He's not like you. He's not still friends with people he's gone to elementary school with because they're all dead. All he has is his brother and you know their history.

"Picking up and moving on is how he survives. Leaving things behind regardless if he's ready to move on is all he knows how to do. And it's something you're going to have to learn to do and keep doing. You have another good six maybe seven years left calling this place home before the whispers and speculations start. Are we all supposed to move on together, never having any semblance of a life outside of each other? You saw how well that worked out for the Originals."

Caroline thought over Bonnie's words. No. She hadn't factored in how hard it might be for Stefan to stick around when it's become instinctual and habit for him to pack up and move on, and especially after suffering a great loss like thinking his brother was dead.

Still, answering one of her phone calls and explaining as much would have sufficed.

"I can understand all of that, but it still doesn't excuse his dicky behavior," Caroline sniffed.

Bonnie had been filled in on the drama surrounding Caroline, Stefan, Ivy, and Enzo. The aftermath of the impromptu visit and dinner from hell, and their subsequent conversations.

"You're right it doesn't. But he also doesn't need anyone's permission to live his life."

Stefan looked directly at Bonnie who held up her drink towards him. He inclined his head, a ghost of a smile pulling at the corner of his mouth. Bonnie floated off and was quickly intercepted by Matt.

Elena sidled up next to Caroline who appeared to be lost in thought and a million miles away. "Hey, you okay?"

Slapping a smile on her face, Caroline held up her near empty glass. "Never better. I'm going to get a refill."

Bonnie laughed as she was twirled around. She was having fun—sort of. It was nice to be in this environment with her friends—she supposed, but a key element was missing that Bonnie didn't want to think too much about.

As the night wore on and she danced until her feet hurt, and one particular person never showed his face, her happy mood dissolved until she felt flat like lukewarm soda.

Cell phone pressed into her hand, eyesight going slightly in and out of focus, Bonnie searched for one name in her contacts list, and mashed the call button when she came across it.

It only rang once before being routed to voicemail. "Hey…guess you're really busy tonight. Don't know if you got Caroline's text about tonight," she sighed. "If you did…it's real…fucked up you're not here. Hopefully you're not being murdered. All right I should probably end this before this turns embarrassing. I may have…kind of wanted you to be here. Crazy right? The world is shortly to end when I actually want your company. Okay…call me back if you want, I guess."

Bonnie hung up, snapped her eyes closed and prayed she hadn't made a fatal error in leaving Damon that message.

They shut the place down. Matt was nice enough to give her a ride to her new home a mile or so outside of Mystic Falls city limits.

Bonnie had to use a bit of force to wrench open the front door of her very first home. She giggled—drunkenly at the prospect she was a nineteen year old homeowner, but then her giggles tapered off once she realized she would live in all this square footage alone.

Dumping her purse, kicking off her mules, Bonnie meandered her way up to the master bedroom. She fell backwards on her bed, bouncing along the mattress. Blowing hot air out of her mouth, Bonnie turned on her cell to see if she had any missed calls or new text messages.

Nothing.

Sitting up she reached into her bedside drawer and pulled out her old cell phone. Powering it on, she scrolled through her voicemails. Over a hundred. All of them from Jeremy. A part from the last three.

Frowning, Bonnie quickly played them feeling her heart annoyingly speed. She activated the speaker phone and curled on her side.

"That's it? That's your outgoing message? The one time I'm actively seeking out the sound of your voice that's what I get? Perfect"—Bonnie smirked—"Anyways, I'm in your room which doesn't sound as stalkerish as it probably is. There were something's I wanted…needed to say to you. Didn't get the chance."

Thoughtful pause.

"The thing is, Bonnie, I don't know what I'm supposed to say to you. I can talk my way into and out of anything but (irritated sigh) I don't know how I'm supposed to sum up what's going through my head without sounding like I'm Klaus reciting a poem, or Stefan brooding about the animal bloodlines he's cut short. (snorts) I guess I could start with the basics and say…thank you. As much as I want to strangle you for sending me back, sacrificing yourself for a schmuck like me, you did the one thing I don't think I could ever do. Especially not for someone who treated me the way I've treated you. I'm sorry."

The message ended and not two seconds Damon had called back to continue his monologue.

"Me again. This is easy. I can say this and not feel weird because you'll probably never, ever hear this and I can deny I was so pathetic to, not gonna finish that thought (laughs) You've been saving my worthless ass mostly for a third party since the beginning, but this time I want to believe you sent me back for me. I didn't deserve it. I don't deserve to be here and you sure as hell don't deserve to be stuck where you are and with a psychopath like Kai.

For a second time the voicemail cut off leaving Damon little choice but to dial her up once more.

"Now I'm annoyed. I swear on my life, Bonnie I'm going to get you out of there. I just need you to be all right, and not give up because I'm not giving up on you. You didn't give up on me even after I've given you every reason in the book to do just that. (phone beeps) Now that this message has gotten ridiculously long, I just want to say one more thing. I might miss…"

Again his message was prematurely cut off leaving Bonnie with an anticlimactic ending. What was he going to say before technology so rudely intervened?

Bonnie exhaled shakily. The screen asked if she wanted to save or delete the messages. Drawing a corner of her lip between her teeth, Bonnie pushed the save button and shut off the phone.

She was filled with vindication that for once her sacrifice hadn't been taken in vain. Was in a mild state of shock that Damon would even go through the trouble of calling her cell just to hear her voice through a recording, and purge what he inevitably would have taken to his grave.

Suddenly Bonnie just wanted to see him.

Her phone started ringing—the new one and when she saw who it was on the caller ID, that pound in her heart abruptly ceased.

Bonnie quickly answered. "Damon?"

"Bonnie, I don't normally thank this person but thank God!"

"Damon?" his voice had faded in an out. Bonnie jumped off the bed and began pacing. "What's wrong?"

"I can't talk long. How fast can you get to…shit…I don't know where I am."

"What's going on? Why are you whispering?"

"Because," he gritted out, "I would get myself out of this but they put something in me. It's hampering my abilities. Shit," Damon spat in frustration.

"You've been anally probed?"

"Now is not the time for jokes!" he rebuked. "Bonnie just… please! Find me."

The dial tone blared in the confused witch's ear.

"Damon?!" she shouted futilely.

Bonnie's hand tightened around her phone, and she had a mind to throw it clean across the room. Two weeks of peace. Two weeks after coming back that's all the time she had been allotted.

Her eyes slowly sealed themselves shut and when they opened again Bonnie didn't know her irises had changed color. Time to kick a little ass.

Chapter end.

A/N: I forewent writing a big reunion scene because I have to write one in my other fic Everybody Wants to Rule the World, and certainly didn't feel like repeating myself. I really hated how the writers tried to demonize Stefan for wanting to move on, so I definitely wanted to address that because I feel Alaric/Caroline/Enzo were being grossly irrational toward Stefan. Anyways, what has Damon gotten himself into now and what's up with Bonnie? Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think.