Drabble taking place sometimes after 7x18 when Bonnie reads the letter.

Bonnie didn't want to open the stupid letter, that this stupid man child had written her three years before. However, he was towering above her, doe eyed, apologetic, and aching for her to open it. She didn't understand why it mattered so much, why a letter that was probably all about Elena, should matter to her.

"Please, open it." Damon said to her, and her heart thumped in her chest.

Bonnie was almost angry with herself for feeling so warm, and comfortable around Damon. She was supposed to be mad at him, fuck, why couldn't she just keep being mad at him?

She grumbled and ripped the seal off the letter, yanking the stupid piece of stupid folded paper out of the envelope and unfolding it quickly. Her eyes locked on the paper, with an outright intention to gloss over it, give Damon a death glare, toss it at his stupid face and walk away. She knew what it was going to say, she knew she would still be mad at him, and she knew she didn't fucking care about any of this.

She glossed over the first few sentences, not really reading, but then her eyes caught some words and she had to backtrack.

…I want you to live, Bon. This is why I'm leaving, I want you to be able to live, happily, and I feel as though as long as I am around you will always be two steps behind in life. I want to protect you, by letting you live the life you should be living, the life you deserve, the life you thought you would have before I met you when you were seventeen, before I ruined everything. Bonnie Bennett, I want you to be happy, and I know you will hate me, but…you having the option to move on from me, and live is all I need.

Bonnie's hard expression had fallen, her eyes were a little wet, and her heart was beating at a slow hard pace in her chest. Her emerald eyes moved up to Damon's face.

"You dropped something." Damon said quietly, and her eyes moved to the floor, where she hadnt noticed something fell out of the envelope.

Bonnie grabbed what was on the floor, and when she looked at it, she saw it was a bundle of plane tickets from all the places they went to over the summer after Elena was gone, with a rubberband around them. And behind all the tickets was a black credit card, with her name on it.

Damon wasn't speaking, and she wasn't sure she understood any of this, so she looked back at the letter. But when she tried to read it, she felt like she couldn't breath.

"Let me?" he spoke up, stepping closer to her. She nodded and was about to hand him the letter, however, Damon didn't need it.

"Remember all the places we visited this summer? The hotels we stayed at, and all the hours you supervised Ric and I. You left us alone sometimes, wandering to the lakes, the museum's, the beaches. You thought I didn't care, or notice whether you were around, but I always notice you. You were happy, while we were on our little trek around Europe. I want you to remember your trips, I want you to go on more, I want you to go everywhere, see everything. I want your life to be as full as possible. I want you to be untroubled, content. I want to wake up one day and know that you felt the sun as deeply as you could." Damon spoke the letter from memory, stepping closer to her.

"Because I might not be the most selfless man in the world, but, when I think about you, I think of your smile, and I hope you never lose it. I hope you don't cry for me, I don't deserve it. If you never read this, maybe that will be a good thing, maybe it will mean you are happy. Whatever you do, Bonnie, never think I left because I don't care about you." he said, and watched Bonnie's hands grow shaky in her silence.

"That is the opposite of everything true. I left because I love you."

Bonnie inhaled, and the effects in her hands dropped to the floor.