A/N: Damon took the ring from Elena because Elena had gloated about her engagement to Stefan and made Bonnie sad. I tried to portray the feverish mind of Damon in love - Elena hurt Bonnie, in a way, so he was hurting her back.

All I can say about this chapter was that I was craving one-on-oneness Bamon style.

Bamon

In nature was where the powers were strongest, or so Katherine had told him as much at the beginning. Damon carried her into the forest, weaving between the tall trees until they were deep enough into the shadows that they were practically invisible if anyone were to search. He set Bonnie down on her feet, clutching her waist at either side with his hands when she wobbled uneasily, and made sure her back was against a trunk. He could smell the scent of burning rubber in her hair and thought of how close she came to be taken from him. Elena would have to be dealt with some way or another; He would not allow his red-bird to be so close to death again, he would not leave her unprotected, he could not.

Her head hung forwards like a rag doll's, but she did not have the strength to raise it to his, even if all she wanted was to hold him too. She wanted him to tell her this was just a nightmare, that soon she would wake up, and that what had happened wasn't real. She hadn't meant to put herself in danger like that; she just wanted to burn the rug to ashes. She hadn't thought that people actually meant it when they explained to therapists or the police that they just needed to burn something, but hadn't that been almost exactly how she had felt? A therapist might even say that the fire was just misplaced anger – anger towards Elena, anger towards herself.

"How are you feeling?" Damon asked her with downcast eyes, "Did the fire touch you?" He worried that she had taken in smoke, remembering how damaging that was to a human. She coughed hard, spitting dark fluid into the fallen leaves, and his stomach tightened painfully. Damn Elena, damn Stefan, damn the whole stupid town. He wanted to leave it all behind, run away from everything, but he would not go anywhere without her beside him.

"I'd say..." she seemed to think about it for a moment, then gave a weak smile, "I feel like a baked marshmallow – all toasted on the inside..." He laughed and made her flinch in surprise.

"All soft and gooey on the inside?" he asked. Sometimes, just when he would forget how adorable she was, she would liken herself to something so appropriate that he would find himself thinking it all over again. She really was the most unlikeliest person that Elena would choose to be friends with.

His hands were still on her waist, his fingers fluttering softly, and she gulped audibly. It wasn't that what he said had frightened her, but the words had conjured images in her mind that brought blood to her cheeks. She knew she was blushing like crazy, she was imagining what he would taste like inside, and the thought was just so strange to her. She'd never thought about this before, about anyone, but she had never dreamt of truly being in love. "I guess so," she breathed.

Damon kissed her softly, light pecks on her cheeks and forehead and lips, but Bonnie pressed herself into him harder. The kisses became more heated, passionate, and his hands groped her body. It would have hurt her to be handled like this by anyone else, but when Damon held her as tight as this nothing could have been more further from pain. The tree she leant against shook a little and droplets of dew fell on both of them like rain.

"Will you be mine forever?" he asked, taking her chin between his fingers gently, his mind running at full speed. He dropped his hands to hers and bent one knee, "Do you want to be mine forever?"

She knew what he was asking and knew that he meant what he said. Pulling his head down to hers, she kissed his full lips and rested him on her shoulder. She didn't have to think twice. "Yes."

And he bit her.