Sorry this didn't get up when I wanted it to. I literally fell asleep with my head next to my laptop. Hehe. Anyways, I disclaim!

XXXXXX

Jeremy sighed and sipped a drink of his water. He sat in the little café—one he'd never been to, chosen specifically so that no one would overhear sensitive information or intrude on the conversation he was about to have with Bonnie.

"Jeremy, hey." Bonnie slipped in across from him, setting her bag down next to her and taking off her sweater. "Thanks for meeting me here."

Jeremy shrugged, "Yeah."

Bonnie placed her hand on the table and moved it on top of his. "I'm sorry about what happened yesterday with Elena and Tyler."

"So am I." Jeremy looked down into his drink, avoiding Bonnie's eyes.

"Jeremy, Elena was just overreacting."

"No, she's right."

Bonnie looked at Jeremy in surprise, "She's not. She doesn't get it. She doesn't know how either you or Tyler feel. She was just . . . " Bonnie trailed off, not wanting to insult Elena to her brother. "Confused. She has her own stuff to worry about, and she's just shifting her worries onto you."

Jeremy looked up at Bonnie, "She had a point."

"About what?" Bonnie asked as if she didn't believe that at all, which she didn't.

"Tyler. He does this to girls all the time, why would I be any different?" Jeremy asked, almost as if he wanted to be proven wrong.

Bonnie squeezed Jeremy's hand. "Because in choosing you, he already thinks he's risking a lot. Which means he really wants you, Jer. And I've seen the way he looks at you, I've never seen him look at any girl like that."

"Like what?"

"Like he wants to drown in you," Bonnie replied honestly.

Jeremy tried to hide his smile at that, "It's so complicated, Bonnie."

"No, it's not." Bonnie realized something, "It's love. We all care about you, and Elena will come around. The only people you really need to worry about are you and Tyler and how the two of you feel."

Jeremy's head started to fall down to the table and he buried his face in his hands. "What if—"

"Don't 'what if' me Jeremy. What ifs are for people who would rather regret a lifetime of bad choices instead of taking a single risk."

Jeremy lifted his head and met her eyes, "Will you help me, Bonnie? Talk to Elena, I mean."

"Of course," Bonnie smiled.

"Thank you."

"Of course," Bonnie squeezed his hand. "Now, lets eat. I'm starving."

Jeremy smiled at her, "You're a good friend, Bonnie."

XXXX

Caroline giggled as she watched Stefan bowl a strike. Lately, she'd been taking him to do random things—from feeding ducks at a pond to a picnic in the woods.

She was trying to comfort him, and she was also having a lot of fun.

She respected, liked, and truly cared about Stefan, and believed that he deserved to be happy. And, frankly, he wasn't going to be happy any time soon if he continued to pine over Elena.

He'd said that he was fine, that he was moving on slowly but surely, but Caroline wanted to make sure of that. She'd been tag teaming with Bonnie to make sure he didn't spend too much time alone. And, just a little, Caroline had been trying to shift the 'responsibility' away from Bonnie and towards herself.

Because, honestly, she was lonely. Sure, she had Bonnie—but Bonnie was under a lot of stress, she'd seemed to have started to take the weight of the world on her shoulders, and although she would have been there for Caroline had she only asked, she didn't want to put that kind of pressure on her best friend. So, instead, she had Stefan.

He was like a pet project. A very cute pet project, she thought fleetingly. She pushed the thought immediately out of her head. Yeah, thinking things like that would only end in unhappiness.

She cared about him. As a friend. And that's all they would ever be.

She felt her smile falter. He turned back towards her, smiling brightly. She forced her smile back onto her face. She could do this. For him. Because what she really wanted to do was keep spending time with him, and make sure that he understood that he didn't have to feel alone.

Stefan walked back towards her and sat down. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Just a little, um, out of it."

"Can I help you get back in it?" Stefan asked, concerned.

Caroline felt a real smile form on her face. "No, it's fine. Anyway, you've won again."

Stefan smiled, "You let me win."

"No I didn't." Caroline responded quickly.

"Yes, you did." Stefan gave her a look that dared her to disagree with him.

Caroline sighed, "Fine, you caught me. I let you win," Caroline proceeded to stick her tongue out immaturely at Stefan. "But next time I won't make it so easy on you."

"I'm looking forward to it," Stefan said, surprising Caroline with how much he seemed to mean it. "But I'll still win," Stefan smiled to cover up his own surprise at how much he truly enjoyed spending time with Caroline. There wasn't anything wrong with Caroline . . . she was just Caroline.

Caroline smirked, "Only in your dreams, Stefan. I was going easy on you, but next time I'll win."

Stefan merely lifted an eyebrow. "If you say so. So, um, are you busy this weekend?"

A look of surprise graced Caroline's face. "No, not really. Why?" It was odd, because she was always the one who made the overture. She was always the one who suggested they hang out. This was different.

"I want to pay you back for being such a great friend and organizing all of these little adventures. Are you in?"

"For what?" Caroline asked cautiously.

"It's a secret. And if I told you, then it wouldn't be a secret anymore, would it?" Stefan smiled secretively.

Caroline narrowed her eyes, "Should I be worried?"

Stefan placed his hand on Caroline's shoulder, making her jump a little inside and looked into her eyes, "Do you trust me?"

"Yes," Caroline replied immediately, without even having to think about it.

"Then wait and see, "Stefan said simply. "Just wait and see."

XXXX

Bonnie sighed. She'd offered to talk to Elena while Jeremy went off to discuss things with Tyler.

But first she needed to talk to Stefan, because sometimes Bonnie swore he understood Elena better than anyone else. It made sense, because they'd had a connection that had seemed almost magical.

Bonnie had texted Stefan to make sure that she could come over. She'd also been told by Jeremy that Damon and Elena were supposed to be out doing something before Elena came by in a while to visit Bonnie. It was careful timing, but it was worth it to avoid awkwardness.

Bonnie exchanged greetings with Stefan and entered the home. "Thanks, Stefan."

Stefan smiled, "No problem. You helped me out when I needed it, it's all I can do. Plus, you helped me with that thing."

Bonnie smiled. "That I did. Anyway, so . . . " Bonnie struggled to find the words to explain what she needed without giving away anyone's secrets. "When Elena is unreasonable, and you need her to see reason, what do you do? Because I usually just ignore her or argue with her until she sees reason, but I—well, this isn't about me. I need her to open her damn eyes."

Stefan smiled a small smile and quirked his head to the side. "Elena just needs prodding. Sometimes you have to be a bit confrontational."

Bonnie sighed, "I know. I was hoping you'd have a better idea of what to do than that. But thanks," Bonnie leaned forward to hug Stefan.

They squeezed, and then had the horrendous luck to be caught in that embrace when Elena and Damon walked in.

"Bonnie?" Elena seemed shocked.

Bonnie and Stefan pulled away from each other and looked at each other. Uh oh.

Bonnie turned toward Elena, "Hey, I thought you and Damon were hanging out before we got together."

Elena just narrowed her eyes, "Yeah, we were. But then we got bored, so we came back."

"From doing what, exactly?" Bonnie asked, trying to shift the conversation away from the fact that she was seemingly sidling up to her close friend' ex. Which, by the way, was not what she was doing, she was only being a good friend. Obviously.

"Just walking around," Elena answered.

Bonnie looked at Damon, who was apparently trying not to make eye contact with his brother, which was actually fairly easy because Stefan was staring at Bonnie. Damon just shrugged.

"Well, I should go," Bonnie said. "Coming with Elena? Or will I just see you later?"

Elena just stared at Bonnie for a moment, "Are we really pretending that that didn't just happen?"

Bonnie blinked in confusion, "What are you talking about?"

"Were you after him before we broke up? Is that why you let go so easily?" Elena asked accusingly, turning to Stefan.

Stefan looked at Elena in shock, as if he'd never quite seen her before. No one was really paying attention to him, but Damon had a look of similar shock on his face.

"How dare you?" Bonnie just looked at Elena. "When did you become such a bitch?"

A look of utter shock passed her face. "Excuse me, Bonnie?"

"That's enough, Bonnie," Stefan said softly.

Damon looked back and forth between Bonnie and Stefan and felt a weird sort of feeling. "What, are you her knight in shining armor now, brother?"

Bonnie snorted, "What is wrong with you? We were just being friendly. I'm sorry I even bothered."

Bonnie started to stalk out of the room when Damon grabbed her arm. She stared at him angrily. She pulled away and continued walking, and left Elena and Stefan alone.

Stefan looked over to her. "That wasn't fair, Elena."

Elena looked at him in surprise, "I have the right to be angry if my best friend was coming on to my boyfriend."

Stefan merely lifted an eyebrow, "You know she'd never do that. And you need to calm down. I don't know what's happened to you lately, but I don't think it's a good thing." Stefan sighed.

Elena just sputtered.

Stefan smiled humorlessly. "That's why it was so easy to let you go, Elena. You're not the girl I fell in love with anymore."

At that, he left her alone with her thoughts.

XXXX

Bonnie managed to get out of the house before she felt Damon appear in front of her. She stopped, hugging herself tightly. "What?" She asked, almost rudely, but she really didn't care.

"Even if Stefan happened to be ready for a new relationship, he's not ready for one with you."

Bonnie stared at Damon. "Your point being?"

Damon sighed, "He's been spending a lot of time with Caroline . . . "

Bonnie held up a hand, "Look, I'm not interested in Stefan that way. Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I'd hate to see you fall in love with him."

"Why?"

"Because you'd only end up with a broken heart."

"Why do you care?"

Damon shifted awkwardly. "I don't."

"Okay then."

"Fine."

They just stared at each other for a moment, keeping an intense eye contact that almost seemed to fall into staring-contest territory.

"He's not right for you anyway."

Bonnie just blinked, "Um, okay then. I don't think you really have the right to tell me whether or not someone is right or wrong for me."

Damon sighed.

For some reason that made Bonnie angry, as if somehow him sighing at her meant something. Bonnie narrowed her eyes, "Are you trying to imply that I'm not good enough for your brother?"

Damon just looked at her, "No, of course not."

Bonnie glared him, That's kind of what it sounded like. You telling me that he's not right for me, that he wouldn't want me even if he were ready for a relationship."

"Bonnie," Damon stepped forward and placed his hand on her cheek, moving it away quickly when he something akin to an electric shock, "Both you and my brother deserve more. You know as well as I do that you just don't fit together."

Bonnie shook her head, "Whatever." She pulled away. She was done with this nonsense.

Damon's hand lowered and grabbed hers. Upon realizing that he grabbed hers he felt a bit of a spark and dropped it. "I wasn't trying to offend you."

Bonnie just smirked, "First off, you don't have to try. And secondly, why did you let Elena turn you into such a shadow of who you used to be?" Bonnie knew she was being unfair, but she couldn't seem to help herself. Damon brought out the worst of her. At that Bonnie just spun on her heel and started to walk away.

Damon quickly caught up with her, standing in front of her. "What are you talking about?"

"You, Damon. You've let Elena change you."

"Isn't that what being in love is supposed to do? Make you a better person?"

"Not when it changes who you are, when all you're doing is ignoring how you really feel to adapt to someone's ridiculous standards of behavior."

With that Bonnie just raised an eyebrow, implying that he should just move out of her way. He did, turning around to watch her go.

He felt Elena move up beside him. "What was that about?"

Damon turned to her, "Nothing important."

"Are you sure? Because Bonnie's been a bit bitchy lately." Elena said with more heat than Damon had expected from her.

Damon blinked, trying to process what she'd just said. "You're friends, Elena. You'll get over it, but leave me out of it."

Elena crossed her arms in front of her and almost seemed to pout, "She and Stefan are ganging up on me, it's so weird. Everyone keeps treating me like I'm being selfish. I'm just trying to do the right thing."

Damon quirked his head to the side and just looked at her for a moment before speaking, "I know, Elena. But maybe you need to step back and take a time to think about why people feel that way. And I don't think you can do that with me. I think . . . I think we should end this."

Elena stared at him in shock. "You want to end us?"

"I'm not exactly the best influence on you." He refrained from stating the obvious, that they also didn't have anything in common.

Elena just stared at him, "I thought you'd changed. But you just callously broke things off with me, I can't believe you."

"I'm only doing it because I care about you."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why should we end things? Give me one good reason."

Damon smiled sadly, "Because you're better than this. You've spent so much time trying to defend our relationship, that not only do we not have an actual relationship, but you've alientated most of your friends, and your brother."

"Jeremy? What are you talking about?"

"Exactly. You don't even realize it. This isn't you, Elena. You used to be better than this."

"I'm exactly the way I've always been, Damon." Elena just looked at him, shocked that this was happening.

Damon seemed to realize something, "Then maybe we really shouldn't be together. Because I don't know you."

"You said you loved me," Elena said quietly, "Was that a lie?"

Damon placed his hand on Elena's cheek, and felt something very different than when he'd just done the same thing with Bonnie a few minutes prior. "I thought I did. But the more I think about it, the more I realize that I was only in love with the idea of you."

Elena felt a tear escape from the corner of her eye. Damon wiped it away. "Are we still friends?"

"Were we ever?"

"Yes, I think," Elena replied as if it were an inane question.

"Then we are." Damon said before taking her hand in his. "I"ll take you home."

"I think I need to do some thinking," Elena pulled her hand out of his. "Thanks anyway."

"You'll be fine, Elena."

"I know. But you'll regret this."

"No, I won't."

Elena started at that and turned around and started off.

Damon watched her leave, and knew he was right.

XXXXXX

Up next: cute Stefan/Caroline, some Tyler/Jeremy, and Bonnie/Damon and Bonnie/Elena conversations.