'You can see me...' replied Bonnie, her breath caught in her throat.

She started to walk towards him, around the side of his bed, but Damon was still staring straight ahead where he had seen his best friend a moment ago.

'You can't see me...' noted Bonnie, her smile turning into a downcast frown.

Damon sighed and shook his head. You're going crazy.

He leapt off the bed, unclothed. Bonnie looked away modestly. It was one thing seeing Elena naked but Damon? Not in this lifetime...or deathtime. Or whatever her ghostly existence was called.

'Nice ass', she joked as he put his boxers on.

'Now who's the pervert?'

The witch gasped, slightly confused. He could hear her somehow but not see her.

She seemed to be a flicker, flashing on and off, sometimes in his vision, sometimes in his head.

'Damon, can you hear me?' she asked, waving a hand in his face.

Nothing. That's odd.

'It sure is,' said Grams, popping out of thin air.

'Grams, can you be a little discreet?'

'Hush child. Nobody else can see your bright red cheeks or read the shameful thoughts in your head.'

Bonnie felt her face grow hotter, 'Gimme a break, I'm only human.'

'Remember what he did to your mother.'

'Mother didn't exactly object,' she spat back.

'He's always going to be a monster.'

'And she's always going to be an awful mother. Nothing's going to change that. She loves being a vampire now and I can't blame her because she gets to live forever.'

'Immortality isn't what it seems-'

'We die every time the world or God or whoever is up there decides to snap their damn fingers. So you know what? Immortality wouldn't be such a bad idea.'

'Insolent child, I thought I taught you better than to defend bloodsucking leeches.'

'He's not just any bloodsucking leech, Grams. He's my friend. Are we done here?'

The old woman shook her head and disappeared, bitterly disappointed at her granddaughter.

In the meantime, Damon had taken a trip downstairs to make some breakfast.

Bonnie walked into the kitchen to find pancakes.

'Pancakes again? They are so 1994, Damon.'

He smirked on cue. It was just a voice in his head, he was sure. His smirk soon turned into a straight, hard line.

All of his thoughts swam into Bonnie's head like someone had opened the floodgates.

It was hard to pinpoint one emotion. He was sad, he was guilty, he felt loved but couldn't return the same love to Elena. It tore him up inside to picture Bonnie in Elena's place and wish her dead again. Everything was a lot simpler the past few months.

'Really?' snorted Bonnie. 'You think all the Heretic drama made life simple?'

You know what I mean, Damon shot back silently. And funnily enough, she did. They had to save Elena once while she was sleeping. That was a new record.

Bonnie covered Damon's hand with her own and he flinched from the ice cold contact.

He blinked several times, watching the small hand materialise into hands, feet, a torso and finally a face. A face he loved more than his own.

'Bonnie...' he whispered, cupping her heart-shaped face and inspecting it from every angle.

'You're real- wait, how are you here?'

Bonnie shrugged her shoulders as it was all she could do - her jaw was still locked tight in his hands.

He swooped down and kissed her, releasing one hand to pull her close to him.

The dull ache in both their hearts eased. This felt right. More right than kissing Elena or Jeremy.

Five seconds into the kiss and Bonnie was pushing Damon away.

'Damon!'

'I'm not going to apologise, okay? I've wanted to do that for a long time and I saw an opportunity and I'm surprised you don't wanna carry on. For the record, I'm a great kisser-'

'The pancakes, Damon. They're burning.'


AN: I'm so so so so (x100) sorry for being so late with this update! I had a job during my Xmas vacation and I'm back to uni next week and I have a ton of assignments due on Monday! I hope this was worth it. I'll try and update in the next couple of weeks. Lemme know what you thought!