Title: Place Holder

Rating: K+

Summary: Even from afar she still manages to interfere.

Pairing: Damon/Bonnie

She'd been distracted for a while. But being the good boyfriend that he was Damon let it slide. For weeks he understood the need to focus on school, her craft, and all the supernatural drama that seemed to followed their little group. She was just preoccupied, became the mantra that go him through the days. It was summer now, and they were finally in bed not sleeping. So why the distance between them only seem greater.

"Enough." Adding physically distance to the steady growing chasm. "Bonnie what's wrong?" She should not be able to ignore his lips against her skin. This was his best work and there were no goosebumps, no shiver, her pulse was steady and her eyes vacant. He might as well not even be there.

She can feel him staring at her. Feel the doubt that had been consuming him almost as long as it had been consuming her. The question he dare not ask. The question she wasn't ready to answer. Was this the end? In the back of her mind, the bottom of her heart she knew the day would come. Had always been aware of the inevitable, even thought she'd prepared for it, . But god it felt as if her soul was being ripped in two. "Elena called."

He wants to give her the gold medal for evasion tactics. It wasn't that Elena was taboo, but she wasn't really something they discussed. She was off in Europe with his brother, and from what Stefan had to say she still didn't have any idea what to do with her life. Oh well. He doesn't care about Elena's latest misadventure. He cared about what was going on with them. "Good for her."

"She's coming back." Was he seriously going to make her spell it out? Was he that cruel? Maybe he was trying to push her, make this her decision… well he could shove that right up his ass. He would not manipulate her to lessen his own guilt. As petty as it may be, as small a person as it made her. She would make him hurt like hell.

"Funny, Stefan didn't mention a visit." Fine, she wins. He brings his lips back to her shoulder, hoping to end the pointless conversation. She didn't want to talk fine, he would fix the problem the good old fashioned way.

"Without Stefan. They aren't together anymore." She waits for it. Waits for the disbelief, the hidden hope that would undoubted saturate his voice. Waits for the question she knows he'll ask, the reluctant conclusion he'll try to focus on. Damon doesn't disappoint.

"For how long? Their break-ups are always so short lived. Is she sure it's worth the airfare." Even from half way across the world Elena was ruining his life. Not only would he have to deal with a broodier than usual brother but he'd also have to placate an insecure girlfriend for however long this particular identity crisis lasted.

"He left her, something about not being a substitute, and deserving more than a substitute." The irony isn't lost on her. But hey! three years, it had been a good run at least. "She's coming home, Damon." Bonnie wants out of her skin but she settles for simply jumping out of bed, their bed or... well no it just his again. God, it would take her at least a day to clear her stuff out. Not to mention the amount of time it would take to make her house livable again. When was the last time she'd actually spent a full day there. Would it still feel like home? What about her car, he bought it for her… sure it was a gift but she couldn't keep it now. She couldn't keep any of them. Three years worth of gifts, memories, feelings to sort through and move past. This was such a mess.

He approaches her like a wounded animal. She's mumbling about gifts and time, loss and home. There are tears streaming down her face that he's pretty sure she isn't even aware of and the whole thing just breaks his heart. Did she really think that after the last few years all it would take was a phone call… that all Elena had to do was show up?

He wants to tell her how wrong she is. He wants to tell her how much he loves her, how happy he is. He wants to tell her that he's moved on and that Elena wasn't a threat to them. But he doesn't because he already knows she won't believe him, that she's never believed him. It was the reason behind both their insecurities. His lie in her refusal to claim him. How absolutely ludicrous the idea was since she 'knew' one day he would leave. Hers in the knowledge that when he left it would be, could only be for one person.

So he doesn't say anything. Just carries her weeping and mumbling back to their bed. He kisses her even though her eyes are distant and mind is somewhere else. The further he goes the more her body responds. It kills a part of his soul to know he's the one doing this to her, hurting her this way. He reassures her in the only way she'll let him. Her eyes come into focus, and there's a fire behind them that he's never seen before. "I'm not going to make it easy for you. I love you too much to just lay down and die." Bonnie touches him like she's trying to set him on fire from the inside out, and he reciprocates tenfold.

In the end they're both coming down from a blood high, exhausted and scared to death. Neither of them want her to be right. He wants more than anything to lull her to sleep with his convictions. Wants to tell her she has nothing to worry about, to laugh in the face of her uncertainty. But it's Elena. And when he screws up she's usually the cause. Even when he doesn't want to, even when he tries his damnedest not to. No matter his intentions.

Damon crushes her body against his. Holding on to the point of pain but she doesn't seem to mind, not with her limbs and hands fighting to get closer. Impossible. He empties his mind of anything besides the way she feels against him. The sound of her breath, taste of her blood and the smell of her arousal. He limits the world to this bedroom, in this moment. Because as much as he loves her, as quickly as he would die for her... he can't bring himself to tell her she's wrong.