A/N: Many, many thanks to all you who have reviewed and favorited this story! Keep it up and the muse gets fueled.
The following Thursday found Bonnie and her girlfriends holed up in a booth at the packed Mystic Grill. The place was closed for a private party, the theme requiring a tacky 'Leather and Lace' dress code.
"I can't believe Madonna, much less our aunts and mothers used to dress like this," Caroline grumbled goodnaturedly, picking at her open-fingered leather gloves.
"I happen to think I look cute," Bonnie laughed, plucking at her pale pink lace bow. She stood to adjust her curve-hugging leather dress.
"You both look adorable," Elena enthused, then reevaluated. "Nope. Pretty sure we three look damned hot," she said, nodding her head in affirmation.
"Where is Stefan? I thought he'd have shown up by now?" Bonnie asked.
Caroline's harsh intake of breath gave Bonnie and Elena pause. Following her gaze, their eyes fell upon the Salvatore brothers entering the Grill.
Stefan was the more conservatively clad of the two. Wearing a black leather vest and matching hip-hugging pants and an uncomfortable smile, he ducked his head until his eyes met Elena's. Whatever expression he read on her face made him straighten up and give her a genuine smile, which flirted with cockiness.
Damon had no such illusions. He strutted in behind his brother as though he owned the place as well as its occupants. He forwent a shirt all together, wearing a black studded collar. His black leather pants looked butter soft, clung to his hips, tapering down to his black boots. His piercing blue gaze scanned the Grill in search of prey. He soon found the girls' table and started in their direction, his eyes captured Bonnie's.
He looked like sin and sex walking.
"Damn." She sighed out.
Caroline gushed, covering her mouth. "I know, I know!"
Bonnie switched tactics. "Ask me if I give a damn. Shit, he's coming closer. I swear..."
"What?" Elena asked, eyes still on the approaching vampires. "I think he's looking at you, Bonnie!" she squealed.
Bonnie murmured, "He's got to be the fiercest thing I've ever seen."
Turning about to face her girlfriends, her eyes widened as she whispered. "I can't believe he's looking at me. Something must be wrong with him. Aside from his usual psychotic state of mind."
Damon never paused as he walked past their table, but acknowledged them with a greeting. "Ladies." Cocking his head towards Bonnie, his eyes raked her from head to toes. "Witch." He headed over to the bar to order a drink.
Bonnie, breathing heavily, nodded to Stefan, who greeted the girls.
Stefan sent her a quizzical glance. "What's with Damon and you?"
Squaring her shoulders, she tossed her hair over one shoulder and said coolly. "There is no Damon and me."
Stefan, Caroline and Elena gave her assessing looks. "Uh-huh," he said.
Bonnie protested, "C'mon, people! He didn't mean to catch my eye. Your nutty brother's lucky he just walked on by."
"Seriously? Spill. What have you done to Damon? He was looking at you like you were the cherry on the cake of his day," Caroline smiled conspiratorially at her.
Bonnie's eyes rolled as she stated with false bravado, "Care, he's never met a girl like me, you've got to be kidding. I could set him on fire; give him an aneurysm. Maybe that's the source of his damned fascination…and why he's wise to keep a distance."
The little witch failed to read the knowing looks on her girlfriends' faces when she suddenly felt herself being turned about. Looking up into Damon's ice-blue stare, she stepped back abruptly, "What?"
A muscled arm settled comfortably about her slim waist, while his other hand, picked up her dainty fingers, bringing them to his mouth for a brief kiss. "Dance with me." It was more demand than request.
Narrowing her eyes at him, she tried to disentangle herself from his body. "I think I'd rather die," she snorted primly.
Damon smiled that all-too familiar smirk. "You just may, witch…of pleasure."
Bonnie gasped, trying to free herself from the pull of his intense stare. "Get your hands off me."
"No."
"Stefan, a little help here?" she implored.
Stefan stopped whispering in Elena's ear and raised his eyes to Bonnie's. The younger vampire's eyes were lit with amusement. "Sorry, Bonnie. This is all on you. If you hurt Damon, your actions will be unjustified. As your friend, my advice is that you dance with him, so that he doesn't embarrass you with the truth that everyone at this table seems to know, but you are in denial about."
Turning her irate gaze on Stefan, she said, "And that would be?"
Elena hopped up, interrupting any further exchange. "Bonnie! Come with me to the restroom. Now!"
Damon released her with a slight, mocking bow, watching the three girls make a beeline for the ladies' room.
"Elena. What is it?" Bonnie inquired.
Elena looked at her friend. "Ahh, Bonnie—Stefan, in his roundabout way, was attempting to be discreet. Damon wants to dance with you…you want to dance with him. Just give him the one dance, before you goad him into acting like more of an ass than he already is."
"But-," she asked before Caroline cut her off.
"Bonnie. As a new, card-carrying vampire, I'm here to tell you that you need to change your panties, honey. If I can smell it and Stefan can smell it, then you can be damned sure Damon can, too." She lay a comforting hand on the witch's shoulder.
Bonnie digested the information, closed her eyes and leaned against a wall for support. "Oh. Shit. Oh, fuck me!"
Caroline and Elena exchanged glances, but Elena spoke first. "I'm thinking that's the general idea, Bon," she said in mock sympathy.
The little witch was mortified. "You've got to get me out of here!" she said, desperation flooding her voice. "I can't go back out there. I can go out the back way."
"Then what? You get away to your house, which is one of the few safe havens for you in town? You have to come out of your house sometime, Bonnie. Something tells me that if you don't dance with him, he'll dog your every footstep. He's a predator. Your giving chase is like ringing the dinner bell for him."
Caroline cleared her throat. "I'm here to tell you that once again, when you do come down from that pedestal of yours…well, he's outstanding between the sheets."
Bonnie shook her head. "My closest friends are actually telling me to sleep with the asshole vampire. Did we land in Joss Whedon's Bizarro World or something? Is it Tuesday or did I just hit my head?"
Caroline tossed her hair. "Just one dance, Bonnie. Maybe that'll pacify him until something else catches his eye. It's not like you really have to put up with anything you don't really want. If he does anything you don't like, fry his brain and we'll cheer you on."
"Deal?" Elena asked.
Bonnie sucked in a deep breath, and then exhaled, "Deal. But wait a sec…" She stepped into a stall briefly. Emerging, she tossed her underwear into the garbage and washed her hands. Looking at Caroline in the mirror, she asked "Is that any better?"
Caroline nodded, giving her what she hoped was an encouraging smile. "Sure, Bon-Bon."
"One dance." Bonnie said, walking out of the restroom, leaving the girls in her wake.
Elena whispered into Caroline's ear, "Did that really help, Care?"
Caroline smiled deviously. "Hell, no. What she did was the equivalent of taking a screen off of the door of her house, leaving the front door wide open. I'd be surprised if she's still got her v-card by the end of the night, cause Damon's gonna eat her alive."
Elena smiled as they walked back towards their booth. "I guess Bonnie was wrong about Damon's revolution after all."
Damon scented Bonnie as soon as the door to the ladies' room opened. He tried to reign in his erection.
Bonnie ducked her head as she approached Damon. "One dance, Damon."
Damon smiled. He settled a finger under her chin, moving her head up to meet his eyes. "Thank you."
"The words are correct, yet your tone still manages to reek of smug condescension." Settling her hands on his waist, she glared. "Let's get this over with."
"As you wish." He acknowledged leading her towards the dance area.
During their dance, Damon kept his hands in respectful places about Bonnie's body and she by degrees, began to relax within his arms. It was his heated stare that kept her hyper-aware of him.
She glanced up at him. "Stop staring!" she hissed.
"Why?" he countered, amused.
She sighed, not bothering to answer. She seethed the entire time, but followed his lead dutifully. When the song ended, she snatched her hands off of him, walked back to her booth, drained her drink, picked up her purse and left the Grill.
Not willing to let Bonnie leave his presence for the time being, Damon followed her outside of the Grill. About a block from her car, Bonnie noticed that Damon had been trailing her.
"Leave me alone, Damon. You got your dance and you're getting nothing more from me tonight."
Damon frowned as he caught up to her. "Why are you so intent on not sleeping with me? It's evident that you want to." He gave her body a slow, heated perusal.
Bonnie accused him hotly pausing at her car. "Look, Damon, I'll admit it: I'm ovulating and I'm lonely. You caught me at a weak moment. Moment's over. Resume your search for that oh-so special one-night random piece of ass and leave my 17-year old one alone."
He smirked. "But yours is the only 17-year old ass I'm currently interested in."
She eyed him suspiciously, narrowing her coppery-green orbs. "While we're on the subject of 17-year olds, let's talk about your psychosis in stalking and sleeping with teenagers and co-eds. You're one hundred and sixty blah-blah, and you're still chasing young girls? What the hell, Damon? You're a supernatural candidate for a sex offender's list. Shouldn't your tastes run more towards cougars or pumas or whatever the current term is for grown-ass women?"
Damon whistled through his teeth. "Damn, witch. Quit with the psychoanalysis. It doesn't apply to me."
Bonnie's eyes rolled. "You're clearly trying to exploit my situation. You've never paid any attention to me before. Elena, Katherine, Caroline. Scads of random ass. SO not looking to notch your bedpost."
Damon countered, ducking his head down to put his gaze on level with hers. "You wouldn't be just another notch, Bonnie. We've all been through too much together. Besides, I get the impression that if I'd callously added you to any notch of mine, you'd retaliate in that painfully punitive witchy way of yours."
Bonnie quirked an unbelieving eyebrow, "Give me one good reason to go to your bed, because we would be going to yours. I'm not fool enough to allow you inside my house."
Damon sighed, grabbing her upper arms gently. Softly, he said, "Did it ever occur to you that I could be lonely, too? I've lead a lonely existence waiting on a woman who didn't give two shits about me and whored herself out to suit her whims. Elena hardly needs an explanation, and I'm sorry about Caroline, but that's how the predator in me has seen fit to lead my life for the past century and more. Maybe, with you, things could be different."
Bonnie looked away from him, extricating herself from his hold. She was feeling suddenly emotionally deflated and physically exhausted. Scrubbing a hand over her features, her tone was serious, "I had no idea, Damon. For what it's worth, I'm sorry for your pain and thank you for sharing a bit of your humanity with me, but unless there's an impending apocalypse whose fate rests on you and I being together, it just ain't gonna happen." She turned unsteadily to her car to open the door. "What the hell…"
Damon eyed her suspiciously. "Bonnie?"
The little witch slid into unconsciousness, the vampire catching her before her head connected with the asphalt.
Having witnessed the couple's exchange, a familiar figure emerged to lend Damon a hand and dispense with some advice.
"She'll be fine, Damon. You'd better get her back to your place before you attract attention," Caroline stated, moving to place her into the backseat of her Prius.
"What's wrong with her?" he demanded.
Caroline smiled tenderly at her sleeping best friend, then removed the pink bow from her head with a shudder, before closing the door on her. "I slipped a little something into her drink. She'll be out for about the next hour or so."
Damon's eyes cast a hard look at the blonde. "You roofied your bestie? What the fuck, Caroline?"
Caroline shushed him. "You should be thanking me, Damon. There's no way she'd be coming down off of that high horse of hers anytime soon without a little intervention from her friends. Bonnie and you…fit, somehow."
"You know she's gonna blame me for this. The least she'll do is set my balls on fire. I'll be lucky to survive the night with her on the rampage."
"Oh, hush, Damon. There's an easy way to hamstring her. Just get her home, tie her hands and use a blindfold. If she can't see you, and her hands are immobile, she can't direct her power at you. Haven't you been paying attention when she's throwing power and spell-casting? Or were your eyes too focused on her ass?"
Through his teeth, he inquired in harsh tones. "And just what do you suggest I do with her once she's trussed up like game?"
Winking at him, Caroline replied in a saucy tone. "Do what you do best, Damon. Seduce her, make her yours, claim her. But don't compel her or do anything that smacks of felony sexual assault, okay? This is seduction, not coercion. If she has any complaints in the morning, you'll be lucky if she gets to you first."
"Why you insolent little fledgling-," his eyes darkened as he made for the blonde vampire's throat.
Smacking him away from her, Caroline laughed in his face. "After how you used me when I was human, I've still got quite a mad on for you and suspect that I could kick that preternaturally pretty ass of yours up and down Main Street. Don't fuck with me, Damon," she said, eyes turning serious.
Backing down, he asked, "How am I supposed to explain to Stefan and Elena that I've got Bonnie?"
"Silly vampire," Caroline chuckled. "Who the hell do you think had access to the pharmaceuticals?"
"Jesus. I've been accused of, not to mention, done some crazy stuff, but you people are mad."
"Run along, now." She said, giving his cheek a good-natured pat, she turned and walked back to the bar.
He shook his head, slid into Bonnie's car and headed towards his home.
A/N2: Are y'all pickin' up what I'm putting down? Lay it on me if you want the conclusion to this.