Without reluctance, and Bonnie would completely blame the bottle of alcohol she'd brought in the room with her, she scooted so that she was leaning against the wall next to Damon. She still kept some distance between them of course.

It was still daylight outside and Bonnie wondered if Stefan's reasons had been a fear of Damon hurting other people or more a fear of him trying to kill himself. Bonnie was sure that she had walked in just before he was about to do that the day before.

Damon had been lucid when she'd gotten into the room but now he had his head turned away from her, staring at the wall with a dazed look in his eyes. He was mumbling to himself and she was pretty sure she heard Katherine come from him.

Wasn't surprising when she thought about it. Katherine had been the focus of most of Damon's existence. Her eyebrows drew together and she knew he wasn't actually seeing the walls of the cellar at that moment because she felt the drastic change in his emotions.

The physical pain had faded into the background and for those few moments, she felt the overwhelming sense of devotion…love he must have felt for Katherine before she'd betrayed him.

Getting to her knees and turning fully to him, she put a hand on his shoulder. "Damon." He didn't react at all to her voice or her touch and, in frustration, she turned his face towards her. "Damon, snap out of it."

He blinked a few times after a moment and a frown of confusion crossed his face. "Bonnie?" The use of her first name surprised her and lent weight to the theory that he was seeing things that weren't there. It was always witch or Judgy with him. She was sure that, if he ever thought about her, that she was Judgy and not Bonnie in his thoughts as well.

The pain was back again, this time worse than before. In fact, both types were. "Looking for an excuse to get closer?" He asked with a raised eyebrow before bending forward with a cry. She felt the physical pain spike. Bonnie took her hand from his face like she'd been burned and widened the distance between them once again.

"Why are you here?" He asked. He was breathing hard through the agony that she knew he was feeling and holding his injured arm to his chest. His eyes were clear and completely serious and she wondered if he even had the energy for his usual sarcasm.

Bonnie opened her mouth to answer but was distracted when her phone rang. Pulling it out, she glanced at the display and saw Elena's name there. Chewing her lip, she considered what to do next. After a glance in Damon's direction, she answered the call.

"Hey," she said, standing and walking a few feet away from Damon, not that it would help.

"Bonnie…Stefan told me about Damon," Elena said immediately and the worry in her voice had a frown forming on Bonnie's face. "I just wanted to find out if you…"

"Found a way to save the pain in the ass?" Bonnie's voice turned sarcastic and she caught the smile on Damon's face out of the corner of her eye. "Yes, I did. So, no need to panic and come over here-"

"Wait," Elena cut her off, sounding confused. "You're with him?"

Bonnie nearly groaned. "I had to cast the spell, didn't I?" She lied.

"Yes, that's why you're here," Damon commented just loud enough for her to hear. She scowled and kicked his leg for the comment, which only made him chuckle…and then suppress another yell when the pain spiked again.

"And it worked?" Elena pressed, the worry not leaving her voice.

"Yes, it worked." Or it will. Her voice sounded sure, even if she wasn't.

"Oh. Okay, that's good." The relief in her voice was easily heard and Bonnie was once again amazed at Elena's never ending ability to care about a man who had repeatedly hurt her in the worst ways.

"Look, I have to go. I'll call you later, alright?" She hung up before Elena could answer and let out a sigh.

Xxxxxxxxx

"What's going on?" Jeremy asked worriedly when he finally caught up to Elena in the parking lot. He'd been a little worried himself. Bonnie was supposed to meet them in the square and hadn't shown yet.

"Damon. Stefan told me Tyler bit him."

"He told you about that?" Jeremy asked in surprise. Bonnie had specifically asked him not to tell anyone about any of it and he'd reluctantly agreed.

"You knew?" Elena turned on him and he didn't like the flare of anger in her eyes.

"Bonnie told me," Jeremy admitted. "She asked me not to say anything."

"Well, she's with him now-"

"What?" Jeremy cut her off. "She's with Damon?"

"She said she went over to cast a spell to save him," Elena said with a shrug. "She sounded pretty sure it would work."

Jeremy shook his head. He knew Bonnie wasn't there for that. She'd already cast the spell, at least the first part of it and Damon couldn't have gone downhill that fast, could he? She'd said she would stay away from him until she had to cast the second part and that wouldn't be until Damon died from the bite.

"What's wrong?" Elena asked, turning her worry on him at the look on his face.

"Nothing," Jeremy lied. "I'm fine." He wondered away from her. Maybe it did work faster than Bonnie had thought when she'd last talked to him. He felt a spike of jealousy when he thought about it but dismissed that feeling almost instantly. It was Damon and if there was one thing he knew for sure, it was that Bonnie hated Damon.

Xxxxxxxxxx

Elena stood, unsure, after Jeremy had walked away. After her talk with Stefan, she had been determined to see Damon, to talk to him, to at least make things right between them but Bonnie had sounded so sure and had warned her away.

The thought of Damon actually dying had stopped her cold. She'd never been truly afraid of that before. Not for Damon, anyway. However illogical it was, it had seemed an impossibility.

All those conflicted emotions rose up at the thought too. She hated that, hated that small part of herself that was so drawn towards him.

Still, what if Bonnie's spell didn't work? What if she never got the chance to talk to him? She made her decision.

Xxxxxxxx

Bonnie let out a frustrated breath and dropped back down next to Damon, grabbing the bottle and taking a large drink from it. Damon watched her with an amused light in his eyes.

"You know, this is all your fault," she stated after a moment, gesturing towards him with the bottle.

"What is?" He pressed his right hand to his chest with a grimace and Bonnie noted that his hand was shaking a little. He sounded exhausted…and felt it too. The fact that she knew that, that she felt it as well, only served to make her more angry.

"Everything!" She answered loudly. "You know, it doesn't matter what I said, Elena's going to come running straight here to see you."

"You think?"

"Don't look so satisfied," Bonnie said, sending him a glare.

"You know, I'm trying to figure out just what I did to piss you off this time, Judgy but I'm beginning to think that's your default emotion."

Bonnie drew back, the anger in her eyes spiked and very suddenly, they were yelling at each other.

"Stop calling me that!"

"Why not? It's who you are, isn't it?"

"I'm not…You're a murderer!"

"I never said I wasn't."

"Oh, so that makes it okay? Of course."

"I never said that either but at least I can admit my flaws."

"That is not just a flaw! And you just don't care, do you? No guilty conscious on your part!"

"And you know me well enough to say that?"

"I do know you well enough! All the things you've done, all the horrible, selfish, monstrous-"

"I do feel it, alright!" The admittance stopped her and she stared at him. Maybe it was the exhaustion or the pain. Whatever it was, he kept talking. "I do feel guilty for it. What I did to that girl on the road, what I've done to Stefan and Elena…I feel it."

Bonnie stared at him with wide eyes and her anger deflated. She believed him, every word of it. She could feel it. it was haunting him, that guilt and she was sure that part of it had to do with Katherine as well. A part of her yelled in triumph that maybe he wasn't a complete sociopath.

When the agony in him reached newer and greater levels and he fell forward, she caught him before he landed on his face.

This chapter is shorter than my previous one, I know. I had planned to keep going with this one but after thinking about it, I thought this was a good place to stop, especially with all I've got going on for the next chapter.