"Jeremy?" Bonnie called his name hesitantly before she opened the door to his room. She knew this was going to be a fight and she really didn't want a fight right then. She was still exhausted. The only sleep she'd gotten in the past several days had been from passing out after casting the spell. Still, she didn't want to wait any longer to talk to him. She'd never been one to avoid confrontation before and the longer she waited the worse it would be.
Jeremy sat up in his bed when she walked inside. "Hey, Bonnie."
"Look, Elena told me you guys saw me and Damon," she started, getting right to the point. She walked over and sat on the bed as well, facing him. "You have to know that nothing is going on with me and Damon."
"I have to?" Jeremy frowned and she saw the anger and hurt in his eyes. "You were practically sitting in his lap, Bonnie. When I found him last night, he was looking for you. He was delirious and dying and the first thing he asked about was you. You were looking for him. What happened to staying away from him until you had to perform the spell? What happened to hating him? I thought you both hated each other?"
Bonnie drew back, surprised. She hadn't known Damon had been looking for her. She had expected that, in that delirium, he would search out Elena. Jeremy was right. They had hated each other for a very long time.
Still, wasn't she forgetting things? Had she still hated him when Stefan asked her to find a cure for the bite? She did remember how he'd helped her, helped her with that spell to make Klaus think she was dead. She remembered the decade dance.
"With all that power, isn't there a way to increase your odds?"
"Careful, Damon. I might start to think you actually care."
"We wouldn't want that."
Bonnie nearly smacked herself in the forehead. Why was she thinking about that now? Why couldn't she stop thinking about him? As much as she wanted to blame it completely on the connection, she was terrified it was more than that.
"I couldn't leave," Bonnie admitted finally, softly with a frown of her own. "Not when he was in so much pain. But it was the connection. That's all."
The hurt was back in Jeremy's eyes. "Maybe you should figure it out."
Bonnie stared at him a moment. "You want to break up?" She asked from the look in his eyes.
"No...I just." He paused for a moment. "Look, this connection you have to him...maybe we should just...take a break until it plays out?"
Bonnie opened her mouth to protest but then closed it before the words could get out. When she looked at it from his point of view, she could understand. It couldn't be easy with her connected to another guy the way she was and she guessed it was the best option.
"Okay," she said finally, quietly. "But I want you to know...this doesn't change anything. I do not have feelings for him."
Xxxxxxxxx
"Fuck me." Damon brought one hand up to his pounding head and squinted his eyes at the light filtering through the window. He struggled to sit up on the couch and groaned at the nauseous feeling.
"Feeling sick?" An entirely too loud voice asked. Stefan had appeared at the foot of the couch and was watching Damon with a smirk on his face.
"Fuck off," Damon said with a half hearted glare.
"I'm guessing the hangover isn't fun?" Stefan's grin only widened.
Damon lay back down on the couch, considering an attempt at sleeping through it. This was definitely something he hadn't missed over the years.
"You're not going to puke on the carpet again, are you?" Stefan broke into his thoughts again.
Irritated, Damon grabbed the book lying on the coffee table and threw it at Stefan's head. His brother caught it easily and it only made him laugh as he walked out of the room.
Xxxxxxxx
Stefan only came back into the room when he was sure that Damon had fallen back to sleep. He wondered a moment what it was like, waking up human again and he couldn't help the slight feeling of envy that had crept up.
He'd never give himself the luxury of wishing for something like it simply because he'd known it wasn't possible. But now, watching his very human brother sleeping on the couch...
He had known for a while that he and Elena would not last forever. She had admitted that she wanted a family of her own someday and that was something he could not give her. He'd already made peace with that and decided to stay and love her for as long as he could.
He found himself hoping that Bonnie was wrong, that this wasn't temporary. He knew Damon well enough to know that his brother had been miserable for most of his existence. Maybe this could change that.
Xxxxxxxxx
More than anything, Bonnie was resigned. Ever since leaving the Gilbert's, she'd been thinking about what Elena had said.
She stood in front of the Salvatore's front door, considering her options. She could ignore it until the spell played out and the bond between her and Damon was broken. It would probably be easier to ignore it.
Then again, she had never been one to ignore confrontation, or her own feelings. Plus, she was just feeling the need to be there. She couldn't help it and even though the thought that it might be more than just the connection scared her, she had also never been one to back down from her fears.
She was sure, she thought as she walked into the boarding house, that it would only prove what she'd already said to both Elena and Jeremy.
When she got inside, she found Damon already sitting up on the couch. He didn't notice her at first and she held back a tiny smile at that.
"Enjoy the hangover?" She asked calmly and her smile widened when he jumped and turned to her.
She knew he wasn't happy that she'd surprised him but he recovered after a moment. "Come to check up on me, Judgy?"
Bonnie ignored the question. "So, your first night as a human and you get drunk?"
Damon raised an eyebrow. "How do you know what I did last night? You're not stalking me, are you?" A hint of amusement came with the question.
"You wish," Bonnie said. She considered telling him about the connection but stopped short when he stood and wavered on his feet.
"Whoa. What the hell?" He frowned.
Bonnie rolled her eyes. "You should probably eat something." Without waiting for an answer and before she could second guess herself, she grabbed his arm and pulled him along with her towards the door and her car. She was only mildly surprised when he didn't protest the action.
Xxxxxxxx
The diner Bonnie stopped at was near the outskirts of town. She was too aware of the fact that all of her friends were at the grill a lot and even though she had decided to try and figure this thing between her and Damon out she did not want to be caught at it just yet.
Damon's mood was...well, like it always was. He teased her about her choice in places to eat, flirted with the waitress and stole food off her plate. She would have been irritated if she didn't know for a fact that it was all an act.
"You know, you should really lay off the drinking," she commented. "I'd probably be pissed if you wasted all my hard work and died of alcohol poisoning."
Damon grinned at her. "Careful now. You almost sounded worried for a second."
Bonnie widened her eyes in an imitation of him. "We wouldn't want that, would we?" She asked, repeated words he had spoken to her once back to him.
Damon's grin only widened and, for once, it was genuine. "So, this human thing...?" There was a question in there and she didn't need the bond. She could read it in his eyes.
"Temporary," she revealed. "I think."
A frown formed on his face and she tried to decipher the emotions coming from him. She was surprised when she caught the disappointment mixed in there.
"You think?" And he was guarded then, and for a moment, serious.
"I'm pretty sure," she said with a shrug. She considered again telling him about the other consequence but she was hesitant about it. She was sure she'd either get one of two reactions. Either he'd be angry because she was technically invading his privacy, even if she couldn't help it. Or, he'd tease her about it endlessly.
"Right." He stared off a moment and Bonnie watched him, unaccustomed to this side of him.
"Sorry," she blurted out without thinking, for some reason not liking the look on his face or what he was feeling. She'd expected him to hate the idea of being human. She didn't expect him to feel disappointment at the thought that it wasn't permanent.
His gaze snapped back to hers. "You are worried about me," he said, the grin forming on his face again.
Bonnie glared and threw her napkin at his head. "Shut up, Damon."