Chapter 7: Preparations

Bonnie POV

"Ha! I win again." I exclaimed, as I beat Meredith for the tenth time in Monopoly.

"Just because you have psychic powers doesn't mean you can use them during the game!" She exclaimed.

"I swear I didn't use them. I'm just…lucky I guess." I stated simply.

"Ugh," she sighed, "It's getting late, I'm going home." she said as she began to put the game away.

"Aw c'mon Meredith." I moaned, "One more round, a quick one. Please!" I pleaded.

"Fine, but a short game." She sighed in defeat.

And boy was it fast! She won-only because I let her. We were picking up the game when the doorbell rang. I looked at my watch to check the time, midnight.

"Who would be visiting you at midnight?" She asked as she put the game in the closet.

"I have no idea." I said as I went to answer the door.

I opened the door to reveal a somewhat tall man, with black hair and dark eyes. "Damon?" I gasped.

"Hello Bonnie." He said with a smile on his face.

"Why are you so welcoming towards me." He said with a confused look.

"I missed you." I said shyly.

We stood there for a moment and then he cleared his throat and asked, "May I come in?"

Once I agreed we walked to my couch and caught up with each other.

"So why are you here?" I asked.

"Well I'm back in Virginia so I can keep my promise to Elena."

"What promise?" I asked.

"Before Elena died, she made Stefan and I promised her that we would take care of each other after she had left us."

"Oh."

"Plus I needed to ask you a favor" He explained.

"A favor, why not ask Stefan?"

"I'm asking you because you're a girl with vampire experience." He said with a smile.

"A vampire! That's so cool! What's her name? Where's she from? How did you meet her? When did you meet her? When do I get to meet her? Is she a vampire like you and Stefan? Has Stefan met her? Do you like her?"

"Whoa! I knew you'd be excited, but not this excited."

"Sorry. Well, are you going to tell me about your mystery girl or not?" I asked impatiently.

"First of all, how do you know if I'm talking about a girl?" he asked.

"Well, I kind of figured it out when you implied that only a girl could do this favor."

"Then will you help me?"

"No…"

"Why not?" He asked.

"Let me finish! I forgot how impatient you are. What I meant to say was: 'No, I won't help you, but I'll be glad to help her!'"

"Thank you so much. Is it okay if she stays here until I come to pick her up?"

"Of course! Why, exactly, am I helping her again?"

"Well, she's from out of town and lost her luggage. So, the only outfit she has is the one she is wearing."

"Oh…just wait until AFTER I'm through with her, then you'll thank me. No, you'll praise me." I said with all the confidence in the world.

Damon let out a small laugh as he looked out the window for a second. He then rose from the couch and headed for the door.

"Where are you going?"

"Well, it seems that Bella has finished her business. So I'm going to pick her up and bring her here."

"What kind of business was she handling?" I asked.

"That's not my story to tell."

I figured as much.

As he opened the door and was about to leave he said: "I'll be back in a few hours. Why don't you get some sleep until I return?"

"I think I'll be fine without sleep."

"Please, Bonnie, I insist."

I knew that I could never win an argument with him. No matter how hard I always tried, he always won. I looked into his eyes before I sighed in defeat.

"Fine."

He placed a small kiss on my forehead and left.

-

I awoke to the sound of the doorbell. I looked at the clock and saw that I had slept for a good 5½ hours. I guess I did need sleep after all I got out of bed, threw on a pair of tattered jeans and a t-shirt, and ran downstairs.

I was overjoyed to see Damon again and Bella. I tried to compose myself as much as I could before I turned the doorknob to open the door. Damon stood there looking as wonderful as ever. Next to him stood one of the prettiest girls I've seen. She was average in height with long, brown that was held back with a simple headband. Her eyes were a pretty shade of auburn. And, just as l expected, she looked rather shy.

I smiled at both of them and invited them in. I gave Damon a hug as soon as he crossed the threshold and then turned towards Bella and extended my hand in welcome.

"You must be Bella. I'm Bonnie."

"It's nice to meet you, Bonnie." She said as we shook hands.

"So, how is it that you managed to find another vampire?" I asked Damon.

"I'm just that lucky. " He said with a smile, "I hope it's okay that I told her about what you are." Damon said to her in a somewhat low whisper.

"It's a little too late for me to object." She joked. As Damon and I laugh, I wondered when the last time that I heard him laugh like that.

"Well I should be going now." Damon said as he turned to the door.

Bella reached out and grabbed the sleeve of his shirt. "Where are you going?" She asked.

"Home."

"Am I not allowed to come home with you?" She asked, slightly disappointed.

"Of course you are, but I've asked Bonnie and she said that it would be okay for you to stay here." He replied.

"Why?"

"I think it would be a bit easier for Bonnie to help get you ready for tonight if you were here."

"I guess that makes sense." She replied in defeat

"Good. Then I guess I'll pick you up around seven." He said as the door closed behind him.

She turned and caught me with a Cheshire cat grin glued on my face. "What?" She asked.

"How did you manage to get a date with Damon?"

"I guess I was in the right place at the right time."

She said as she reached inside her pocket and pulled out a ring.

I let out a little squeal of excitement when I saw it.

"Don't tell me that Damon gave that ring to you!" I exclaimed.

"I won't, because he didn't. Edward did."

"Oh and who might this Edward be?"

"Edward was my fiancé." She replied monotonously.

"You're FIANCEE! But, if he…wait, did you say was?"

"Yeah, he was killed by a pack of wolves about a month ago." She said as she tried to stop herself from crying.

"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"I really don 't like talking about it, could we change the subject." She said wiping a few stray tears from her face.

"Of course, what do you want to talk about?"

"What exactly did Damon say about me?" She asked, trying to compose herself again.

"All he really said was that he had asked out a girl who is from out of town and lost her luggage. So the only outfit that she had was the one she was wearing. He asked me if I would be willing to help her out. Of course, I agreed because I LOVE to do makeovers! "

"So he didn't tell you about where I came from, why I'm here, or why I'm going out with him?"

"No, but I didn't expect him to."

She gave me a puzzled look. "Why not?"

"Damon isn't that kind of guy. I know he may seem like the type to break promises or tell other people's secrets, but he has a deep respect for privacy." I said as I lead her up the stairs.

Once we arrived in my bedroom, I looked over at Bella and saw that she had noticed the numerous articles of clothing, make-up and hair care products that were strewn about the room.

"Oh great," she murmured, "Here we go again."

"What, you've had a makeover before?" I asked, leading to the vanity

She let out a deep breath and said, "Many times"

"Aw, c'mon...It can't be all that bad." I said as I reached for the brush.

"You're right, its not…it's just that…my best friend, Alice. Well, she always gave me makeovers and I always complained. Right now I wish I hadn't." She said as she began to sob.

"Bella, what's wrong?" I asked as I kneeled down in front of her.

"I miss them all so much."

"Who?"

"M-my family I could have saved them, but I just stood there as they were killed. I'll never see them again; I'll never be able to hold Edward in my arms. I'll never have sisters like Alice and Rosalie or brothers like Emmett and Jasper. And I'll never have parents like Carlisle and Esme. I'll never see my family ever again and it's my fault!"

I wrapped my arms around her, in an attempt to console her. We sat there for about an hour before she started to calm down a little. I released her from my embrace and led her to the bathroom. I started the shower and laid out some towels and washcloths for her and left. She was in there for about fifteen minutes when the shower turned off.

"Are you okay now Bella?" I asked, as she came out of the bathroom.

"Yeah, I think I'll be okay. Sorry for breaking down on you." she sniffed.

"No need for an apology Bella. I totally understand, and I sort of expected it to happen."

"Really?"

"Of course, at least you're handling your lose way better than Damon and Stefan did." I said as I began to brush her hair again.

"Really? That surprises me." She said as she handed me some bobby pins.

"Really, after Elena past away, Stefan sat up in his room for about…um…" How long did he stay up there? "Now that I think about it, I don't think I've seen him since then, except when he visits her grave."

"What about Damon?" She asked as she looked through the outfits I had set out for her, while she was in the shower.

"Damon left the country, literally! He went back to Florence and I think that he has just returned."

"Oh…" She said as she mindlessly went through the outfits.

The more I spoke with her, the more obvious it became -she was Elena's polar opposite. Elena didn't really care about anyone else besides Stefan and herself. Bella, on the other hand, seemed to hardly care about what happened to her as long as everyone else was happy.

I finally picked an outfit that I felt suited her: a denim mini skirt with a pastel blue polo and a pair of black flats.

"Um…I don't know," she said, as she looked the mirror, "I like it, but the skirt is a bit too short for me."

"Well, I think it looks perfect, but I might have a longer one." I said as I rummaged through my closet. "Sorry Bella, I don't. But I know someone who does. I'll be right back." I grabbed my cell phone and began to dial Meredith's number.

"Hello?" She mumbled.

"Hey Mer, its Bonnie."

"Oh, hey, what's up?" she asked.

"You wouldn't happen to have a denim skirt that's longer than my mini one, would you?"

"Um…yeah But I thought you didn't like those kinds of skirts."

"Well…uh…I just thought I'd try something new."

"Uh, okay then. I'll bring it over. See ya in a bit."

"Okay, see ya." Phew, that went better than I thought. I hung up the phone and went back to my room, "Bella, my friend is going to bring a skirt over for you, so she'll be her in about twenty minutes. I'll go wash your clothes for you while we wait."

"Okay…?"

I went grabbed her dirty clothes and brought them to the basement. As I was down there I tried to think of ways on how to keep the fact that I had a vampire in my house that was associated with Damon and Stefan. I knew, from the moment that Elena had died and the reason that she died, that Meredith would have blamed Damon, Stefan, and pretty much every vampire for Elena's death. Sure I was pissed for a while, but Elena was the one who saved Fell's Church when everyone else was partying. Meredith, I thought, had no right to hate vampires so much. I left the clothes in the machine and went upstairs. When I got to the main floor, Meredith was just closing the door behind her.

"Don't you ever knock?" I scolded.

"I thought you told me that I didn't have to knock."

"Oh…right."

"So, who and where is the vampire?" She asked.

Damn it, she knows.