Masquerade- One Shot

Tension pierced through Bonnie's body as she tried to stop fidgeting with her mask, which she held in her hands.

Taking a deep breath, Bonnie placed her mask on the end table to her right as she got up and started to pace. She went from one bookshelf to the other as her eyes travelled over various titles, but they never really focused on the words.

She was too keyed up. Waiting did not suit her well- it just made her more anxious, made her feel useless, and gave her more time to think, which she really didn't need at the moment.

Bonnie was so tired of thinking of the many ways that their plan to trap Katherine could go wrong or how many people could get hurt bouncing back and forth in her head- in circular motion. It made her dizzy and queasy- knowing there were no guarantees when it came to Katherine, she always managed to have an ace up her sleeve.

Bonnie shivered and tried to rid the chill out of her as she crossed her arms, trying to keep clam.

She looked up at the ceiling as she heard a small creak above her head- willing Jeremy to hurry up. Jeremy had asked her to wait in the main room as he bounded up the stairs to find Stefan for a last minute chat Bonnie didn't know what that was about, however she was absolutely going to find out in the car ride over to the Lockwood estate.

Bonnie, Caroline, Jeremy had gotten dressed up for the Masquerade party and arrived almost exactly at the same time at the Salvatore estate as they rehashed their plan, got together their weapons of choice, and reaffirmed their commitment to the plan. If they were going to do this they needed all hands on deck.

Caroline had already left not too long ago for the party and Bonnie was going to Carpool with her- but was stopped when Stefan suggested Jeremy and she go together instead of she with Caroline, since Jeremy and her would being working together all night anyways. Bonnie had agreed- as their last minute meeting ended.

After the 'pow wow' as Damon put it- everyone had scattered.

Damon vanished into thin air as if he wasn't in the room to begin with. Caroline had wished her luck as she made her way out the door, while Stefan nodded his goodbye and went off to finish getting dressed. She was about to get up from the sofa to meet Jeremy in the hallway where he had moved to, but was halted as he told her to stay seated and that he would be right back.

Pacing once again along the shelves where worn out books lined the walls, Bonnie stopped and actually tried to focus on the words this time and realized her eyes had settled on Damon's book of choice- Jack London's Call of the wild . The same book she had levitated to him, trying to display she had been practicing her magic.

"Aww cute, were you waiting to say goodbye to me before you left"

Speak of the devil and he shall come Bonnie thought to herself while turning around and zeroing in on Damon in his suit, which she grudgingly had to admit didn't look too bad on him.

"I'm waiting on Jeremy- he's talking with Stefan" Bonnie clarified not elaborating any further because she really did not want to engage in any conversation with him.

He looked her up and down with a slight smirk hovering over his lips as if he found her amusing. But Bonnie could tell there was something on his mind, Damon never just hung around to make simple conversation- he always had an agenda.

"You wouldn't be having second thoughts now- would you Bonnie" Damon said while taking a step closer to where she stood.

"Do you have amnesia or are you just playing dense today? Bonnie asked knowing full well she really should have just ignored him, but his continued asinine comments aggravated her to no end. "I'm still here aren't I?"

"For the time being, yes…but you still have time to back out technically- it is your specialty. I know this plan doesn't exactly sit well with the moral code you seem to live by" Damon said acidly and ended in a sugary sweet voice as he took another step forward by innocently stating "After all, you know as well as I do that so many people could get hurt"

"Well that's not going to happen now, is it Damon? The plan to isolate Katherine will work before she can do any damage to anyone else. Then you and Stefan can have your merry little way with her- I don't care- as long as the job is done" Bonnie bitingly replied back as Damon took another step forward.

The more he got closer the more she felt agitated. "Where the hell is Jeremy" Bonnie said breaking eye contact to look past Damon's shoulder to see any sign of Jeremy coming down the stairs.

"He's going to be another minute or two" Damon mentioned to get Bonnie's attention once again, which worked.

He had his head to one side as if listening for sound, which she took as listening into Stefan's and Jeremy's conversation. Damon shook his head in amusement and looked Bonnie right in the eyes as he said "That Gilbert is definitely an eager one- I would keep a tight leash on that one tonight- don't need him to get too over excited and screw things up."

"If anyone is going to screw anything up- it's you Damon. You're the one with no impulse control" Bonnie said in defensive of Jeremy.

She saw as Damon clenched his jaw tight as a moment of irritation flickered across his face, but quickly left being replaced with his trademark smirk.

"With me having no impulse control as you claim- I would watch what I would say if I were you witch" Damon delightfully replied while smiling genuinely at the end as if he had heard the slight increase in the hammering of her heart against her chest at hearing his words.

Bonnie swallowed slowly trying to calm down her almost racing heartbeat. Uncrossing her arms and jutting out her chin slightly high in the air, she stood defiantly showing she wasn't just going to cower away from him.

"Your words might have the power to effect me" Bonnie stated the obvious fact that she knew that he heard her accelerated heartbeat. "But that doesn't mean that I'm going to let you mow me down- I'm not just some sorority girl Damon- one wrong move and I'll light you up real good"

Damon actually smiled at her statement. She saw the delight in his eyes as he stared at her- almost like he enjoyed her threats.

Damon looked her up and down as if he was assessing her, like a boxer did in a fight to his opponent, except after his evaluation- he said the most unexpected thing she could hear come from his lips.

"You're quite special"

Confusion was clearly written in her eyes Bonnie knew, as she looked at Damon trying to figure out where he was trying to go with this and before she really thought about what was coming out of her mouth she let slip "I would trade special for normal any day"

Bonnie quickly dropped her gaze away from Damon's inquisitive ones. She took a step back as if with that one step could allow her to run away from this all too normal conversation they were broaching upon.

She didn't know how to deal with this Damon- The one that Elena trusted to keep her safe- the one that said Thank you to her.

Bonnie felt Damon take another step toward her, but she still didn't look at him. However, that was soon broken as he said "You're no Emily Bennett, but you're no lame minion either. You were born to stand out among the crowd Bonnie- it's in your Bennett DNA."

"Wow in actual compliment- you sure you're feeling alright?" Bonnie questioned in all seriousness while directing her green eyes back to clash with his ice blue ones.

"Touché" Damon replied as his lips quirked in another smile.

An uneasy feeling settled into Bonnie's stomach as she saw that smile directed towards her. There was no malice or cynicism to be found….and that had her troubled.

Wanting to break this relatively stable conversation they were having Bonnie bit into her lower lip softly in indecision but she knew she had to go there.

"I hate to bring this up-

"Then don't" Damon interrupted.

"But-" Bonnie stressed insistently as she went on, streaming rolling over Damon's earlier words "What…what did you do with Mason?"

"I really don't think you want to know that" Damon equally stressed back as he shook his head side to side. "Bad Idea"

"I wouldn't have asked if I didn't think I could handle it Damon" Bonnie pushed insistently. She knew it didn't make sense- a second ago she didn't want to bring this topic up, but something inside her was pushing her to.

She knew whatever that came out of his mouth would be ugly. And that's what she needed from him…Dark and gloom made sense with Damon- smiles could not enter the picture when it came to him- it would jut screw everything up.

Damon shrugged his shoulders as if to say he tried before he flippantly said "I ripped his heart out"

Bonnie actually cringed at hearing the words come out of Damon's mouth and momentarily closed her eyes in horrified silence.

She tried to get over her shock and managed briefly as she said- in as much disgust she could muster into her breathless voice "Damon-"

"What? You asked- I did warn you, didn't I?" Damon replied calmly

"Did you really have to do it?" Bonnie asked as her own hand leapt up and settled against her beating heart, which was now in full overdrive- beating away as if it would pop right out of her chest with how fast it was going. "Oh god, Tyler will be devastated- first his farther and now his uncle"

"There was no other option- and wolf boy doesn't need to know a thing cause his sweet uncle sent him a text stating he was suddenly leaving town"

"But still- couldn't you have found another way that didn't involve killing him?"

Instantly Damon sped up to stand inches away from her, the force of the speed in which he travelled took her off guard and had her backing up into the bookshelf behind her.

"I did what I needed to do. It was him or me and guess what- I chose me" Damon said as he stepped closer to Bonnie- decreasing the gap that her earlier steps had caused.

Damon raised both his arms to encase around on either side of Bonnie, effectively caging her in.

"If I had given him a second chance- he would have killed me in a heartbeat. I eliminated the threat. If Saint Stefan can understand why I did it of all people, why can't your judgey self do the same" Damon asked in scorn.

"Because I don't get it" Bonnie stated as she tried to shrink away from his frame, but her efforts were pointless cause the more she looked for an escape the more he closed ranks. She really had no where to go, she was effectively trapped between the shelf at her back and Damon inches from her. She could push him back with her magic or cause his blood vessels to pop in his brain she knew, but she was conserving her energy for Katherine at the party and she had a feeling he knew it.

"I've tried to hurt you- It wasn't too long ago that I was trying to burn you alive. Why am I still standing here?" Bonnie asked as she met his gaze head on. She really wanted to know the answer to this.

"Because you've also saved me Bonnie- that is the only reason why you've been spared, however whether you die or live in the future doesn't really concern me" Damon stated as he tiled his head to one side and looked down at Bonnie.

"Right, cause all you care about is yourself- and you wonder why Elena chooses Stefan over you" Bonnie said sarcastically.

"The witch has claws" Damon said jokingly and continued with saying "You really could have such potential if you only just embraced who you fully were"

"I know who I am just fine"

"I don't doubt that for a minute with the moral high ground you walk on- but if you just accepted that other side to you and all that it entails- you could be unstoppable' Damon softly said while raising one of his hands from the bookshelf, bringing it over to smooth away Bonnie's bangs that fell into her eye and continued to trial his fingers along the side of her face- right down to her neck where his fingertips grazed against the beating pulse- back and forth as if to soothe her.

Bonnie's eyes wavered from the intense look Damon was giving her and oddly enough she didn't brush his fingers away from her pulse point.

Her eyes did flicker back to his however when he took an unexpected step back and let his arms drop away from her.

She watched Damon take another step back yet again, allowing her space to move away from the book self.

Bonnie took a small step forward testing just as he took his final step back. They were still within arms reach of each other, but Bonnie could instantly feel with the space created- the atmosphere quickly changed between them as well.

In a blink of an eye she saw him revert back to the Damon she knew- the one that was a egotistical bastard as his playful smirk dawned his lips.

She was startled out of her silent staring competition with Damon as Jeremy came down the stairs in a rush.

Her eyes looked past Damon to see Jeremy reach the bottom of the steps and look towards her.

"Sorry about that, you ready to go Bonnie" Jeremy asked as she saw him briefly glance towards Damon's back and her once again with questions in his eyes.

Bonnie smiled indicating too him that she was fine. "Yeah- let's get out of here- the air's getting a little stuffy"

She couldn't help her eyes darting towards Damon's as she went past him. He slightly nodded in farewell as she passed him, joining Jeremy at the door to exit

"Hey-"

She and Jeremy both turned around as Jeremy was closing the door on their way out.

They both looked at Damon who appeared very serious in the dark corner he stood in now.

"Be careful"

"We will" Jeremy replied for the both of them.

Just before the door swung shut she thought she caught a glimpse of regret cross Damon's face.

"Your ready to go" Jeremy asked directing her away from the door and to his car.

"Yeah…I think so" Bonnie heard herself saying, while pondering what she had just seen as she followed Jeremy.

Regret…no that couldn't be right- her eyes were probably playing tricks on her Bonnie thought. After all, Damon Salvatore didn't do regret

Right?