7x02

Beginning while Damon is at the Lockwood mansion, drinking and staring into the fire after news from Lily that he needs to leave town. But before Stefan arrives.

Like a Flame

The silence that had been encompassing Damon quickly disappeared as his phone rang. Echoing throughout the mansion, it was the loudest thing besides his thoughts.

He contemplated not answering, even once he saw Bonnie's caller ID, but slid the answer over after four more rings.

"Hey." Damon answered, tilting the glass of bourbon up to his lips another tip.

"Hey, is everything okay? You said you'd call me later but..." Bonnie started, and he was just silent.

"Damon?" She asked, and he sighed.

"No, everything's not okay. If anything it's all gone to hell. But what else did we expect?" Damon said slowly, staring into the flickering flames of the fire place.

"Slow down... What happened?" Bonnie inquired.

"Lily has cloaked Elena's coffin, as punishment for me apparently." Damon replied, and there was a pause in the conversation.

"W.. What?"

"You heard me correctly..." Damon sighed and then noticed a slight wind on her end of the phone, but didn't bother asking where she was headed.

"What does she want? I'm assuming you made a deal to keep Elena safe." Bonnie said right away, reading his mind.

"Well, I did, and this.. this'll be the keeper... She wants me to leave Mystic Falls." Damon responded, turning around and leaning against the wall beside the fire place.

"Leave permanently?" Bonnie asked, although she already knew the answer, especially when Damon didn't answer her.

"I'm coming over." she said after a second.

Damon shook his head to himself, "No, you don't need to do that." he started.

"I'll be leaving soon anyway."

There was a long pause and Damon heard nothing from the other end until finally there was several buzzes as she hung up.

"Bonnie?" Damon asked moving the phone from his ear and looking at his home screen.

Suddenly he heard the sound of the front door opening and clattering as it closed.

He tilted his head to the side and took several steps forward.

Bonnie's combat boots thudded against the floor softly until she was briskly walking into the room Damon was in.

"Too bad, already here." she said her eyes unhappy.

"And did you really think I was going to let you just leave without seeing you first?" Bonnie asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

Damon blinked, "I guess I wasn't thinking."

"No, I guess you weren't." she mumbled, walking closer to him and looking at the empty bottle sitting on the shelf above the fireplace, and the glass in Damon's hand.

"What were you going to do? Leave without your car? Because hell if you're going to drunk drive out of Mystic Falls." Bonnie said grabbing the glass from Damon's hand quickly.

"Who cares?" Damon said his eyes wide, angry.

"Who fucking cares anymore? All of this, has completely spiraled, and it's only been a month." he said motioning around with his arm.

"So who cares!" Damon raised his voice more and swung the other arm up.

Suddenly Bonnie lifted her arm and threw the glass to the floor, it crashed downwards and broke into pieces, the contents splattering.

"I care! Stefan cares! People care Damon! If no one cared, we would all be dead. If you continue acting like you don't care, you'll be dead." she said angrily at him, taking another step forward.

"You're hurt! Be hurt!"

Damon growled a little, "Of course I'm hurt. I just don't cry all over the town, whining about what has to be done."

Bonnie huffed, "Maybe that's your problem. You think that what you're doing is... being responsible, what's best. Perhaps it is. But, you've failed to realize..."

She took a deep breathing, calming herself down and swallowing.

"You're allowed to hurt. You're allowed to cry, those are normal coping mechanisms. What you're not allowed to do is go on this war path to self deconstruction that you dead set on! Do you really want to be this person around -." Bonnie was going on and on, with her heart pounding in her chest until Damon interrupted her.

"Around Elena? When Elena comes back in 60 years, do I really want to be this person?" Damon asked, assuming this is what she was going to say.

Bonnie shook her head, running a hand through her hair.

"No, Damon. Around me, around Stefan, around Caroline?" she said stepping closer to him.

"We're the people that are here right now. I'm here, right now. Not 60 years from now, and you know what you'll get when you 'get Elena back'? You'll lose me. So do you really want to spend the time I'm here, spiraling down into a super-massive black hole of bullshit? Because that's how you've been acting." she said inches from his face.

Damon's brows furrowed and he took a breath.

"Tell me how you really feel why don't you..." he mumbled and Bonnie backed away a bit.

"I'm always going to be straight with you. I expect the same from you. I won't let you go on your own." Bonnie cleared her throat.

"What do you mean?" Damon asked, looking down at the broken glass on the floor.

"I'm coming with you. You're leaving Mystic Falls, I'm leaving with you." she replied simply.

Damon scanned her with his bright blue eyes for a second.

"You sure?"

"I don't say things I don't mean." Bonnie said raising her eyebrows.

It was silent for a few moments as Damon thoughts.

This was the first time he felt like someone was doing something for him, rather than in spite of him. Perhaps that was his fault, but...

Bonnie always got through to him, like no one else.

Bonnie was startled when Damon suddenly crossed the space between them and embraced her in a hug, this from the second his arms were wrapped around her, she knew that this wasn't to comfort her. Instead... it was for him.

"B..." Damon startled but she hushed him, wrapping her arms around him tightly.

Her eyes felt a little wet as Damon started to shake a little in her arms and suddenly, his knee's buckled and they were on the floor.

"Bonnie." Damon mumbled into her shoulder.

"Shh." Bonnie said, her breath hitching.

The man in her arms fell apart all in two seconds and she was floating away in his tears. Bonnie's own heart started to throb inside her chest and tears dripped from her emerald eyes.

Damon started to shake harder in her arms, his sobs verbal and she felt salty water soaking into her shirt, pooling on her skin.

"Why does everything have to be so fucked up?" Damon whispered shakily.

Bonnie held back a small sob before she answered, "I've been asking myself that for years."

Damon choked a little on his own rapid breath and his head moved upwards and he saw that she was crying as well.

"Oh no..."

Bonnie looked back at his tear covered face as he looked pained at her damp face.

"I'm sorry." Damon said, his eyes so hurt, his bottom lip quivered a little.

Bonnie shook her head, "No, I'm.. I'm fine."

"No..." Damon said quickly, pulling her closer to him, and letting her bury her face in his shoulder.

The second Bonnie closed her eyes, she was sobbing.

They weren't sure how long they were there, crying, but at some point that's all they were doing. Almost in rhythm with each other, they sobbed at the same times, breathed at the same times, heart beating against each other's at the same time.

Finally at some point, Bonnie's face hurt, her heart was in her forehead and she started to laugh.

"What?" Damon replied, half laughing, half crying.

"We're a mess!" Bonnie laughed into his shoulder and they both lifted their heads to look at each other and laugh again.

"Oh God." Damon took a deep breath and sniffled.

Bonnie chuckled again and did the same, wiping at one side of her face.

Damon reached a hand up and wiped at the other side of her face, and her lips turned upwards a tad.

"You look horrible." Bonnie told him and he rolled his eyes.

"Oh, thanks."

Bonnie giggled, "My nose hurts."

"Here." Damon leaned over without thinking and pecked the tip of her nose lightly before leaning back.

Bonnie's face was red, from crying or from the kiss, well, only Bonnie knew the answer to that.

"You know..." she started still sitting in Damon's lap on the floor, arms wrapped around each other.

"I've never seen you cry before."

"I've never cried like that." Damon replied, and this made Bonnie's heart sink a little, so she decided to change the subject.

Bonnie turned her head to look at the fire.

"The flames of strong a fire may still dwindle but can easily be built back up." she said quietly.

"Where'd you read that? Back of a book?" Damon chuckled.

"No, just thought of it." Bonnie replied.

"Well, nice job Shakespeare." he teased and then blinked.

"What about if the fire goes out?"

Bonnie tilted her head to the side before replying, "You relight the fire."

"What if there's no matches, or lighter?" Damon asked with a chuckle.

"Hmm." she pondered.

"The right person can light the fire by hand."

Damon blinked, just looking at her, something changing in his mind.

This was the first time he'd cry with someone else, in each other's arms, real crying.

And this was the first time when he felt that there was a hope for him to live without Elena.

"So you're coming with me?" he asked, breaking the silence.

"Yes, unless you don't want me to." Bonnie replied, looking at him.

Damon said something he meant more than anything he'd ever said before.

"I want you to come with me."

"Really?" Bonnie asked with a chuckle.

"From now on, I don't say anything to you that I don't mean." he replied, giving her his answer.

It was in that moment that they realized there were so many things they've yet to say to each other.

Without even them even noticing they had built their own fire... With more words, more time, more firsts and their flames wouldn't stand a chance at dying out.

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