Penultimate chapter. I disclaim.

XXXXXX

Elena was happier than she'd been in a while—she felt free. And all it had taken was everyone she knew either outright ignoring her, or giving her a verbal spanking.

After that, she'd set out to fix everything.

She'd made sure to shove Stefan and Caroline at each other, tricking them into meeting each other. That had been easy, and merely the first step in her plan.

She'd proceeded to apologize to both of them individually, and as a couple. They were actually adorable. It only gave her a slight pang in her heart to realize that she'd let one of the most amazing guys she'd ever known slip away . . . but at least she knew that someone worthy had his heart now.

Then she'd apologized to Jeremy, telling him that she supported him completely. And, honestly, part of the reason she'd freaked out at Tyler had been that she didn't trust him not to break her brother's heart.

And why shouldn't she have been worried? Tyler wasn't exactly known for his stable relationships. But he seemed to have some weird sort of connection to Jeremy—that had just somehow become romantic.

Now if they could just find acceptance from everyone else, everything would be fine.

XXXX

Tyler stood in front of his mother nervously; ready to tell her the truth.

He was nervous, but not because he was ashamed. He liked to believe that his mother would accept him no matter what, but if she couldn't, he didn't know what he would do.

Because if she made him choose between her and Jeremy . . . he couldn't guarantee what his answer would be.

He watched his mother carefully, trying to figure out how to say it. "I haven't been completely honest with you lately, I've been hiding something from you, but I need to tell you," he sighed, "Mom, I have something to say—"

His mother just smiled and Tyler became slightly confused. What exactly did she think he was going to say that had her in such a good mood? "I know. I've been waiting for you to tell me," his mother replied, interrupting his thoughts.

"I don't think you actually know, because if you did, then I think you'd be more . . . I don't know."

"Tyler, I love you. There's nothing you can do to change that. Certainly not dating that nice boy Jeremy Gilbert."

She just smiled at his obvious shock, "How did you—"

"You're obvious, Tyler. The way you go up to 'hang out' and come down smiling like he just hung the sun, and the way you look at him. It took me a little while to get used to the idea, but I have. And I love you."

Tyler stepped forward quickly and enveloped his mother in a tight, intense hug. "I love you too."

XXXX

Bonnie sighed. She didn't—she couldn't—no.

She may or may not like Damon Salvatore.

She snorted at that thought. Like. Such a tame word that didn't really mean anything. You like it when the sun comes up in the morning, you like it when you find an empty parking spot outside the supermarket, you like a guy who makes you want to slap him most of the time.

A bunch of like on a spectrum that seems huge. Bonnie liked a lot of things and a lot of people.

The question was, was he special?

That Bonnie did not know.

She almost didn't want to know.

When she'd spoken to Elena about it she'd went back in her memory, searching for Damon's presence and she realized something terrifying: whatever her feelings were for him, they'd been there for a while. She'd been feeling them—but she apparently had some amazing subconscious sublimation powers, because she'd been masking them with dislike, disdain and heavy dosages of sarcasm.

She remembered her first impressions of Damon—and they hadn't exactly been favorable. She remembered watching him with Caroline, remembered watching him obsess over Katherine and Elena.

She'd hated watching that, because she'd somewhat sympathized with him. It was hard to never be the person someone wanted, to always be the second choice. Or not even a choice at all.

Bonnie knew what that felt like, though she rarely mentioned it, and she really didn't like to talk about it.

But if that was all she felt for him, then that didn't explain the tingling, firey sensations she felt when he touched her, or the weird warm feeling that came over her when she was "arguing" with him.

She thought about when she'd found out that Elena and he were dating. Maybe there'd been some secret jealousy there too. Had she taken the opportunity analyze the feeling, she have probably explained it away as jealousy of Damon for somehow finding someone.

It hadn't worked out for him though, and her feelings over that confused her. There was a part of her that was happy, because they didn't love each other anyway. There was a part of her that when Damon had kissed her hadn't known what to say, or what to do, but most of her hadn't cared about anything other than the kiss itself. Because for a brief moment she hadn't felt alone, and that meant something.

Relief and happiness. Bonnie sighed again at that. Damon shouldn't make her feel those things.

He shouldn't excite her, he shouldn't fascinate her. And she shouldn't think about him. She shouldn't look forward to arguing with him—which she'd secretly been fond of . . . well, almost always. She shouldn't want him at all. She shouldn't think about him when he's not around, and just want him to be there so badly it almost hurts.

Bonnie shouldn't have initiated a kiss. She shouldn't, even now, want to kiss him again.

Bonnie didn't know to handle all of the emotions swirling around her, and she couldn't determine whether or not they were merely romanticized thoughts she was thinking because she didn't want to think about the biggest problem she had.

She was lonely.

And she didn't want to start something with anyone unless she was sure she really wanted that person, that it wasn't just convenient, or because she just wanted to have someone.

So in the end, Bonnie was horribly confused and had no idea what she wanted or actually felt.

XXXX

Caroline smiled. Stefan was horribly adorable. And he wanted her—that felt absolutely amazing, because she was in love with him.

She hadn't said the words yet, but she would. She was waiting.

Maybe it was a bit pessimistic of her, but she wanted to make sure that this was real, that this wasn't just some sort of horribly intricate dream.

She loved his smile so much—it made her melt, and she could honestly spend the rest of her life letting him smile at her.

It made her feel whole, and happy.

She really loved that his smile—at least right now—was just for her.

God, she loved his smile. She loved him.

It was amazing—this feeling of falling with someone into some sort of love story.

Caroline realized that neither one of them had said anything in at least five minutes—they'd just been smiling at each other. She laughed. "Well, this is fun."

"It is," Stefan agreed. He leaned over and kissed her and she felt herself sink, sink into him.

But she felt herself pull away as questions began to cycle through her mind.

Why was she so lucky?

Why did he want her?

Stefan must have noticed the slight frown on her face. And, proving that he knew her well, he knew exactly what to say. "Because you're you, Caroline. That's mushy and corny, but it's true."

Caroline felt herself smile again. Stefan, noticing that the sparkle was back in her eye, leaned over to kiss her again. This time she didn't pull away.

XXXX

Tyler and Jeremy were happy.

Bonnie smiled at their utter cuteness. She was happy for them, she really was.

She was.

She laughed at something silly that Jeremy said and sipped her tea.

"You know what might be fun?" Tyler asked suddenly.

"What?" Bonnie asked, not realizing that both Tyler and Jeremy were somewhat nervous, as if this was not random.

"A party. Maybe, you know, a dinner party."

Bonnie lifted an eyebrow, slightly suspiciously, "A dinner party?"

"Yeah." Tyler looked down at his hands.

Jeremy sighed, realizing that it was his turn, "Tyler's mom. She doesn't want him to spend all of his time with me, which makes sense. She said that it's really easy when you're in a new relationship—" At that Jeremy turned to smile at Tyler."—to forget about your friends. And she pointed out that lately it's just been the two of us. I mean, Matt hasn't been over to Tyler's in a few weeks."

"That's . . . strange." Bonnie said cautiously. It was, actually. But she wasn't sure how she felt about this.

"Exactly," Tyler said. "But I managed to get it down to a reasonable number—she wanted to have an all-out bash, but then I pointed out that that would achieve the opposite of what she wants, which is me to reconnect with friends."

"Okay." Bonnie narrowed her eyes, "And you want to know if I'll come? Of course I will." She was sure there was more to it than that.

Tyler hesitated. Jeremy sighed. "So Mrs. Lockwood believes strongly in the importance of even numbers. Especially since it's actually, well, a dinner party."

"Cut to the point, Jeremy." Bonnie demanded.

"Damon will be there."

Bonnie swallowed. "So?"

Jeremy shot Tyler a look, "Elena said—"

"I don't care what Elena said. She doesn't know what she's talking about," Bonnie stood up suddenly at that. "Um, I need to go. I'll see you guys later. I have to—meet someone."

Tyler and Jeremy merely stared at her. She smiled awkwardly and ran off.

They looked at each other in confusion.

"Dude. I think Elena was right."

XXXX

Bonnie ran off right into Damon. Literally. She ran into him, knocking him over, and falling down on top of him. Her head ended up on his chest, so when she looked up, she was pretty close to his head. "Oops."

"Yes, oops." Damon smiled. It almost seemed genuine, which unnerved Bonnie.

Bonnie tried to lift herself off of him, but forgot that she had her bag over her shoulder, so she ended up falling back down.

They were nose-to-nose now.

Damon mused aloud, "Does this count as our second kiss? I know our actual second kiss didn't happen . . . but does this one count?"

Bonnie just stared at him in surprise. "What?"

Damon smirked, "It's an Eskimo kiss."

"I can't believe you just said that," Bonnie said in amazement before dissolving into a fit of giggles.

Damon smiled. There was some sort of weird pleasure he'd just received from being able to make her laugh. It was impossible to describe.

Bonnie stopped laughing suddenly and grew serious. She struggled to lift herself off of him, and Damon felt awkwardly . . . naked. He'd enjoyed having her on top of him—in a completely platonic way.

Though he wouldn't, of course, mind some non-platonic Bonnie on top of him. He cut off that train of thought. He stood up.

He didn't need to go there right now.

"Are you okay?" He asked instead.

"Fine." Bonnie said curtly.

Bonnie was surprised to see Damon's face drop a little. "Are you? I kind of just bowled over you."

"I'm fine," Damon's smile returned.

"Well, I should go." Bonnie said, feeling more than a little awkward.

Damon grabbed her hands at that and just waited until she stopped looking everywhere but at him and finally met his eyes. "Bonnie."

Bonnie closed her eyes at that, "Look, Damon. Just say it."

"What?" Damon asked, a little caught off guard.

"Let's just get it over with. We're kind of bouncing around each other, and we're not actually talking this out. So do it. What is it that you want to say? I won't interrupt you."

Damon just blinked in response. "Can we do this somewhere else?" Damon looked around, they were standing on a fairly busy street.

"Fair enough," Bonnie stalked off, leaving Damon to catch up with her. When Bonnie found a place she deemed acceptable she stopped. "Now, go."

"I—" Damon stopped, realizing that he didn't know what to say. He'd spent time trying to just get her to talk to him, and he'd forgotten to figure out how he actually felt. He didn't know what to say.

Bonnie merely raised an eyebrow at his silence, "Well?"

Damon sighed, "I can't stop thinking about you."

Bonnie bit her lip. "Damon, what does that even mean?"

"I don't know."

"Then come back and talk to me when you do know."

"Bonnie—"

She shot him a pleading look. "Please."

"Okay," he stepped forward and kissed her on the cheek and disappeared before she even had the opportunity to process what had just happened.

It was one of those almost funnily tragic sorts of moments, because even though he didn't know . . . now she did.

It had come to her in a flash. As she told him to leave she realized that she didn't want him to. But she needed him to. She didn't want to do something stupid and fall in love with him if he weren't all in.

She couldn't handle that sort of heartbreak.

XXXX

One Month Later

"I honestly didn't expect it to take you this long to organize this," Bonnie commented.

Tyler had a pained expression on his face, "My mother . . . she's insane."

"But she loves you, Tyler. She only wants you to be happy," Bonnie teased.

"But she's driving me crazy . . . " Tyler trailed off. He smiled brightly. Bonnie followed his gaze and saw Jermey, "Go say hello to your boyfriend, Tyler. Before I pounce on him."

"You wouldn't."

"I might."

"But you wouldn't."

"Why don't you go kiss him hello before we have to find out whether or not I actually would?" Bonnie raised an eyebrow. She was serious.

Tyler narrowed his eyes at her before walking over to Jeremy. Bonnie sighed. Silly.

Bonnie looked around. She glanced at Caroline and Stefan and smiled.

Honestly, someone should save her from all of this horrible sweetness.

She turned her attention to Elena—who was adorably trying to hold Matt's attention, when in fact she already had it completely.

She realized there was someone missing, which is why they hadn't sat down at the table yet for dinner.

Damon.

Bonnie fully recognized that she was, well, a little bit in love with him. Or, well, a lot. Bonnie smiled when Elena looked her way and nodded. Bonnie looked down at her hands.

She'd felt some sort of weird energy between them since as long as she had known him, but she'd pretended it was just hate.

Then she'd kissed him, and she'd been so confused, she hadn't been able to think straight.

Then she'd done a memory spell . . . and she remembered the night he'd brought her ice cream. He'd been so sweet and funny, yet snarky and just . . . really hot.

And when she'd told him to leave her alone until he knew how he felt about her, she had known that she really wanted him.

She just knew.

And, honestly, she hadn't expected him to take so long to figure out what he wanted.

In the meantime, she was obsessing. She was trying desperately not to be one of those girls, but she couldn't stop herself.

She kept thinking about how much she wanted to talk to him, see him, touch him, kiss him.

It was driving her insane, keeping her up at night, and making her way more neurotic than she'd ever been in her life.

It needed to stop.

XXXX

Damon Salvatore freely admitted that he was being cowardly. Normally, he wasn't the type.

But now he was.

He wanted to make sure that he wasn't going to hurt Bonnie—which in and of itself proved to him how deeply he felt for her.

He was a bit of a screw up. And he honestly didn't believe he deserve someone like Bonnie.

Katherine, Elena . . . both of them had just proven how emotionally unstable he was.

So at first he'd avoided Bonnie because of that. But then he'd realized that if he'd told Bonnie that . . . she would have killed him.

So upon realizing that the party was tonight, he decided that it was time.

It was time to tell her that he wanted her. Only her. He didn't know quite when it had happened, but he was glad it had.

XXXX

"Damon," Bonnie said. "How are you?" She mentally smacked herself for that brilliant greeting.

He ignored her attempts at pleasantries, "I need to talk to you."

"That's what you're doing."

"Outside, please?"

Bonnie looked around, "I suppose. For a few minutes."

Damon grabbed her arm, pulling her gently out of the room, and then outside. Bonnie shivered. "I left my jacket inside."

Damon just stared at her, "Sorry. I'll grab it,"

"No, it's fine. Let's just get this over with." Bonnie winced at how horrible that made her sound.

"I'm sorry," Damon said suddenly.

Bonnie quirked her head to the side, "I said it was fine. I'm not really that cold."

"That's not what I meant. I know I've said it before, but I'm sorry about what happened with your Grams. And I wish we hadn't had to drag you into the whole thing with Katherine." Damon sighed, pulling at the back of his neck with his hand.

Bonnie realized part of the reason Damon was avoiding her. "You feel guilty."

"Of course I do."

"Damon," Bonnie reached out to tilt his head towards her. "That—I—it's in the past. And there will always be a part of me that wishes that all of that didn't happen, but it did. And it's—I don't blame you anymore."

"Maybe you should. I was selfish."

"You're not that guy anymore." Bonnie replied.

"I feel like him sometimes, Bonnie. It's why . . . I couldn't tell you."

"Couldn't tell me what?"

Bonnie prayed that he'd just tell her the truth.

"Bonnie, I can't."

Bonnie had never seen Damon so lacking in confidence, so sad. So . . . afraid. "Damon, you are not the guy you used to be. The worst of you is gone." Bonnie smiled, "Now, you're just snarky and overbearing and at times annoying as hell . . . but you're better now. And you—" Bonnie placed her hands on either side of his face, "You deserve to be happy, with whomever that might be. Don't forget that."

"Why are you forgiving me so easily?"

"I told you that night we had our Harry Potter marathon." Bonnie smirked. "Don't you remember?"

"I thought you didn't."

"Now I do. I told you, I forgave you a while ago . . . around the time I forgave myself for what happened."

Damon leaned into her left hand slightly, possibly without even noticing what he was doing. "Bonnie, I care for you."

Bonnie felt her heart drop slightly, but she ignored it. Baby steps.

"I know." She sighed, "Let's . . . take this very, very slowly."

"Is there something to take slowly?"

"Yes." Bonnie answered. "But only if I don't freeze to death right now."

Damon realized that Bonnie was still shivering, "I told you that I'd—"

"Damon, let's just get inside."

"Are you going to always be this obstinate?"

"Are you always going to annoy the hell out of me?"

Damon smirked, "Probably."

"Then there's your answer," Bonnie hesitated before grabbing Damon's hand as they headed back inside.

Baby steps.

XXXXXX

One more chapter, then a random oneshot sequel that won't pop up for a week or two. Anyways, if anyone is curious as to what my next Bamon fic will be about . . . review this chapter or the next one asking for it and I'll send you the summary. Yuppers. I'm sneaky like that.