Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the show, book, series or the characters. The writing here in is for no profit and simply a fan work. Please continue to support the creators by watching the show and/or reading the literature. Thank you.
x
Four Months Ago…
"Oh come on! Stop beatin' it. Get out there yourself! Stop feedin' off me! Get out of here—I can't breathe! Give me some air!"
It wasn't cries of protest, or sexual squabbles. It was Paul Newman as Cool Hand Luke up on the movie screen. Bonnie had some time off from school and had decided to go visit Elena in Mystic Falls.
Since the air between Damon and Stefan was still thick, Elena decided a double date might be a good way to break tension. She suggested they go to the local movie theatre to watch one of their "Throw-Back" night movies. Elena insisted that the classic films might bring back nostalgia between the brothers.
Instead it led to two vampires, a witch and one human awkwardly sitting in an empty theatre. It seemed like the start to a bad joke.
Bonnie and Elena sat side-by-side with the vampires on either side of them.
Damon leaned towards Bonnie, lifting his fingers to gently brush her hair away from the side of her face, "When you said you wanted me to see a movie with you, I think you failed to mention Bella and Edward there as being part of the deal—" he paused for a beat, "No offense, Elena."
"I don't like it anymore than you do, Damon," Stefan kept his eyes on the screen, but his dissatisfaction was apparent.
Elena touched the side of her temples to attempt to mask her failure. This double date was becoming a double-disaster.
Bonnie sighed heavily, "Look the film is only 126 minutes long. Can the two of you just attempt to get along in silence for that long without fighting?"
"No, I can't, and neither can you," Damon stood promptly after his announcement, pulling Bonnie abruptly to her feet. "Elena, you looked lovely tonight, and I enjoyed your brief, but tolerable company. Tell Stefan I said 'hi'."
Stefan glared daggers at Damon.
Elena opened her mouth to begin to reason with Damon, "Wait—"
"—It's OK, Elena," Bonnie had to stop this in it's tracks right now, "Damon and I should go. I'll call you later."
Bonnie didn't say another word until Damon and she managed to step outside into the night air. There was no one in sight. Unlike New York City, Mystic Falls was always dead after eight-o-clock. She'd forgotten just how quiet and desolate the town was.
"Okay Damon, what the hell is wrong with you? You were trying to pick a fight with Stefan during the whole film," Bonnie tightly crossed her arms, turning on her heels to face to boyfriend.
Damon extended his long arm to point at the theatre entrance, "Leave those two idiots to play house. Bonnie, that is not us. We don't double date. We sip wine off the side of the Empire state building. The reason Stefan and I don't get along is because he wants to be normal, and I would rather be locked up in a tomb for a thousand years than be normal."
"You're right that's not us, but you know what also happened? You attacked four security guards to get us that spot on the Empire State building," Bonnie reminded.
Damon brushed the reminder aside, placing vigilant hands against her hips, "So my plan had a hiccup—still—the sex that followed that date was phenomenal."
Bonnie couldn't keep herself from smiling. God, there had to be something critically wrong with her to find Damon so irresistible in this moment.
She slid her arms around his neck, resting her cheek gently against him.
"What am I going to do with you?" Bonnie murmured delicately.
"What are you going to do to me sounds so much better," he corrected.
As Damon breathed in, Bonnie could feel her world spinning. Under his embrace everything felt so simple and so perfect. Under his influence life was vivid and exciting.
"Damon, if this—if we don't last, what would you do?"
AND THERE WILL BE LIES
Chapter 4: Plans
"In local news, you may have noticed a delay in the subway during your commute home from work today due to a 'runaway train'—"
Bonnie's eyelids felt heavy. She could hear a voice, but her vision was blurry.
"—while investigators and officials are still looking into the matter they are chalking the incident up to being faulty components in the electrical control system and will continue to further testing to insure there isn't a repeat performance—"
Her fingers groped at fabric beneath her. She was on something soft, she tried to lift her neck, but it simply hurt too much.
"—Reportedly, only one man was actually on the train and has currently been escorted by paramedics to intensive care—"
The television clicked off.
She could smell coffee mingled with the scent of shampoo.
Her vision cleared enough to merit her the sight of Damon standing over her. He was armed with cappuccino in one hand and a towel in the other to rigorously dry his damp hair with.
This was how it used to be—when she dated Damon. Morning-afters were always filled with cappuccino, warm showers and a healthy dose of playful complaining.
Seeing him again flooded her with nostalgia and déjà vu.
Bonnie had to remind herself that with the good came the bad. Whatever was between her and Damon was over.
"Enjoyed your nap?" Damon was looking self-satisfied.
Bonnie tucked her sore knuckles against the couch, pressing hard against it for leverage. She sat upright, touching the bandage against her hand. They were alive, that was the main thing.
"Where are we?" Bonnie's own voice came out sounding surprisingly fragile.
"My hotel room," Damon crouched down in front of her, placing the cappuccino in her hand, and gently lifting the other to enclose around it, "Hold it tight."
Bonnie complied; lifting the hot beverage up to warm her face, "What happened?"
"You fainted"—Damon's eyebrow ticked up with enjoyment—"I put you on the fainting couch."
Embarrassment ran through Bonnie's body. She had been tired from the constant insomnia, the blood loss and then the jolt of apparently leaping from a moving train. It would have been a miracle if she hadn't fainted.
"How long was I—"
"Four hours," Damon always seemed to know exactly what Bonnie was thinking. "You must have really been exhausted."
Bonnie tried to stand, but the moment she did she became instantly dizzy. She tried to force herself to stay steady. She couldn't let Damon think she was too ill to leave.
Damon gripped Bonnie's arm to keep her balanced, "And where do you think you're going?"
Bonnie sighed; she wouldn't lie. "I have to go find him, Damon. I can't waste anymore time than I already have."
Damon snorted with vague amusement, "Right, because running out there blindly served you so well on the train."
He had a point.
Damon didn't release Bonnie; in fact, it made him only seek to get closer to her. "You do realize that we still don't know who we're up against. Our only clue is that they're more than likely a vampire."
"I can handle vampires," Bonnie spoke firmly.
Damon deliberately pressed up against Bonnie, "Can you now?"
His body had the horrible habit of feeling just perfect against hers. She had to remind herself to keep breathing.
"I handled you," Bonnie challenged breathlessly, "I think that makes me an expert."
Damon's arms were coming up against her back; it almost seemed impossible for him to refrain from touching her. Each movement, touch and gestures of his was soaked with throbbing desire and endless mourning, "If you chase after them, then they win. We're what they want, and as long as they don't have us, we win. All they have is Matt. Useless, dawdling, dough-eyed little Matt Donovan."
Damon's words brought Bonnie back to reality. This was the reason why they had failed. Damon may have cared for her, but he didn't understand the point in caring for anything or anyone else. If Damon saw a man stabbed on the street, he'd simply stare at them the way a curious child would stare at a dove that'd just broken its neck. He'd do nothing and he'd feel nothing.
It took all of Bonnie's willpower to simply push back from Damon. "He's not useless to me, he's my friend, Damon. And lately, he's been a better friend to me than even Elena. He could die."
"News flash, all things die," his voice was abruptly callous.
Bonnie stood her ground, "Just because you abandoned humanity doesn't mean that I have."
Damon's jaw went rigid, "I didn't abandon humanity; you are my humanity!"
Bonnie pressed her fingers against her collarbone, "Me? You think that just having me means you're humane? Preserving me, but harming others doesn't classify as having humanity,"
The scowl from Damon's dark brows slowly lifted as his eyes gleamed with an epiphany. His lips turned up a beautiful and daunting smile. Watching contentment quickly replace frustration was almost terrifying in and of itself.
"How about we make a deal, if I can get Matt back in one piece and stop this sociopath—who is obviously desiring to be a poor imitation of me—you have to take me back."
Bonnie's jaw dropped, "Are you seriously using Matt's life as a bargaining chip to get us back together?"
"Of course," Damon nodded.
Bonnie laughed once with sheer disbelief, "You're unbelievable."
"At least I'm not lying anymore," Damon leaned over the table, extending his hand out towards Bonnie, "So do we have a deal?"
Bonnie twisted her lips, she was uncertain of the situation, but how could she say no? She reached out to shake Damon's hand, instantly feeling a sting of electricity as their skin made contact.
They were staring at one another in awkward silence. Suddenly, the air in the room had changed. Damon's eyes belied that he felt exactly the same physical affect that she had. Damon was exhilarating and even when her mind tried to deny him; the rest of her desperately wanted more than simply a handshake.
She quickly snatched her fingers away.
"Deal—so, what's our plan?" Bonnie tried to distract him.
Damon slid into the distraction gracefully, "The kid on the train was taken to ICU. We go in and question him."
Bonnie thought about the young man who had forced her to cut herself. Why did he want her blood? Questioning him would be valuable.
Bonnie shook her head, "How are we going to get into a hospital and question him? I'm sure the police are already there waiting for him to wake up so they can interrogate him."
Damon pressed both his palms flat against the table, tilting towards her with aching slowness.
"We go in as staff members, Dr. Bennett…"
x
"I hate you so much right now—"
Bonnie and Damon were crouched behind a wall at the back of the hospital. It was the biggest hospital Bonnie had ever even seen, and she was stuck near the dumpsters. That wouldn't be the worst part though; she was wearing a bright red, tight-fitting miniskirt and velvet red pumps.
"—remind me again why I had to dress like a slut?" Bonnie hissed.
Damon was staring deeply at Bonnie's neckline, "What? I wasn't listening, what did you say?"
Bonnie pointed at her face, "Eyes up here, Damon. What are we doing here?"
Damon withdrew a few printed pages from his jacket, unfolding them delicately. "I got all the information I could about this hospital. They have an intensive security unit, so we have to play it careful. We first need to distract security, and then we need to make sure to avoid our faces being seen by any of the cameras. We get the doctor's garb, play dress up. Meet with our old friend and compel the information out of him."
"Let me guess, I'm part of the distraction plan," Bonnie gestured to her body.
Damon considered her disguise, "I'm distracted—maybe we should abort and go back up to my hotel room? See what's hiding under that skirt."
"No!" Bonnie's face felt warm with embarrassment, "I'll go distract."
"Remember"—Damon's face took on a humorless expression—"they can look, but not touch."
Damon was being protective of her. She felt guilty for liking that.
Bonnie smiled tartly, "Trust me, if they touch me I'll place a curse on them so dreadful their unborn children will feel it."
Damon placed a hand on his heart, "Is it wrong that I get aroused when you talk about using your voo-doo powers for evil?"
Bonnie's lips were cute and mischievous, "Focus on your part."
She carried herself like a royal debutant, keeping her red clutch close in hand. She'd never worn anything so revealing in all her life.
She surveyed the area. There was a tall, young security guard smoking a cigarette near one of the exits in the back. He wasn't savoring the moment; he was trying to finish the cigarette hastily. Bonnie guessed the hospital had a firm "no smoking" policy.
"Naughty, naughty. Are you allowed to do that back here?" Bonnie asked as she approached the guard.
Quickly the guard dropped his cigarette, looking over to study Bonnie, "What are you doing back here? You're not supposed to be back here."
"I know that—" Bonnie leaned closer to read his name tag, "—Stanley. I ran into some trouble and thought you might be interested in helping me?"
The guard hesitated, he turned to glance at the door; giving Bonnie a clear view of the ring of keys and a keycard dangling off his belt hook.
"I don't know ma'am. I'm not supposed to leave my post."
Bonnie had to lay on the charm more thickly. She lifted a hand to touch the guard's arm, "Even to help a damsel in distress? I'd be forever in your debt."
Stanley stuttered, absolutely confused and nervous, "Ma'am?"
"Yes, Stanley," she smiled wonderfully.
"You're beautiful—" Stanley started.
"Thank you," she threw in.
"—but I'm gay…" he finished.
"Oh—" then it sunk in, "Oh…"
Bonnie was going to murder Damon when this was all over…