Thanks to everyone, especially Reighn Venhem who suggested a few things for this chapter that helped me out a lot!

"He sold his soul?" Damon asked again.

"Yes, to save his son."

Damon was frowning. "And what? That just makes up for all the crap he put on them when they were kids?"

Bonnie frowned as well at his tone. "No but I mean...he never did get over his wife's death."

"That does not make it alright to treat your kids like shit," Damon countered with a slight scowl. Bonnie stared at him a moment. He seemed pretty unaware that she was staring at him and of the scowl on his own face.

"Was your father...not a nice guy?" She asked hesitantly because she had the distinct impression that this issue was a little personal for him. The look on his face coupled with the emotions she was getting from the bond made her think so anyway.

He looked over at her and she could see that she had startled him with the question. He gave her one of those considering looks she'd seen before whenever she asked him something anywhere near personal.

"Well, he is the one that killed me," he admitted after a moment. His voice was light and she didn't feel any pain coming from him. Still...

"He killed you?" Bonnie asked with wide eyes.

"Shot us both when they were taking Katherine away. He hated everything to do with vampires and couldn't abide Stefan or I coming to one's rescue."

Bonnie took a moment to process that information. She had harbored hatred for the vampires herself, and had tried to kill Damon on more than one occasion, but she couldn't imagine doing that to someone she loved.

"What about your mom?" She asked finally.

"Died when I was a kid," he answered. He didn't look over at her as he said it. "My father wasn't the same after..."

Bonnie's brow furrowed at his words, understanding his almost instant dislike for the fictional John Winchester. She turned back to the show. Damon's father sure sounded a lot worse to her though.

Damon ignored her reaction and she got the feeling he wouldn't be answering anymore personal questions that night. She made a point of keeping any conversation they had after that light.

Xxxxxxxxx

Once again, Bonnie woke up alone. This time, however, she wasn't in her bed. She was in his. She was surprised at the flare of disappointment she felt when she realized he wasn't beside her. Suppressing it, she got up and grabbed her shoes before heading downstairs. She found him in the kitchen and had to smile.

"You made breakfast?" She asked, not so surprised at this.

"Of course." He put a plate with eggs, bacon and toast in front of her and her after she sat down and her smile widened.

"Thank you."

xxxxxxxx

He was lying on the grass. Head pillowed in his hands and eyes closed, Damon kept his mind on what he was doing and tried not to let his thoughts drift to other areas.

He'd been strangely...content in a way he hadn't been in a very, very long time all day. He ignored the other people that were out as he lay in the grass, tuned out the sound of children and parents alike.

He wasn't usually one for being so stationary for so long. He got bored and restless quickly. It was why he, usually, never stayed in one place for any length of time.

But he found himself liking this. Lying in the grass with the sun shining down on him. He liked the feel of it. He hadn't felt it without burning in a century and a half.

It was all due to the witch, he knew that. What he was feeling was because of her. He'd even told her things that only Stefan knew, and perhaps Elena if Stefan had decided to tell her.

The feeling of peace that had overwhelmed him that morning when he'd woken up with, once again, Bonnie's head resting on his shoulder was so foreign that he almost didn't recognize it. Despite his usual recklessness and love of trouble in general, he wanted it to last as long as it could.

Unfortunately, as he should have known, it really wasn't meant to last.

"What are you doing?"

Damon did not jump at the sound of her voice but the contentment he'd been feeling evaporated in an instant. "Getting a tan," he answered, not bothering to open his eyes, a wave of unexpected irritation at her interruption washing over him.

"Funny." She sounded as irritated as he felt. "We need to talk," she stated bluntly.

Damon opened his eyes, squinting up at her. Elena had her hands on her hips and he could see the determination on her face. He let out a sigh and closed his eyes again.

"I haven't been killing anyone or manipulating your friends. Hell, I haven't even threatened to kill anyone lately."

"That's not what I wanted to talk about," Elena protested, a touch of anger entering her voice. He'd known that she had sat down in the grass next to him before he opened his eyes.

Damon propped himself up on his elbows and looked up at her. "What do you want?" He asked. He found that he simply did not want to have this conversation and he wished that he'd chosen a more secluded spot, a place where she would have been less likely to walk up on him.

Elena seemed taken aback by his tone. "I just...I haven't seen you since..."

"Since? You asked for time, remember? Now you're pissed because I didn't come around after you asked me not to?" He figured he was being a little unfair but the irritation from before hadn't left and he couldn't seem to help himself.

"You almost died! And you...didn't..."

"I came to talk to you when I thought I was going to die," he pointed out.

"But you didn't tell me about it," she countered. "If I'd known-"

"You would have what?" He sat up fully then. "Forgiven me because I was dying? Stayed with me and told me what I wanted to hear because of it?"

"Damon...there is something-"

"You don't love me," he cut straight to the point, already hating the conversation. "You never will." He paused and watched her eyes. He'd shocked her with the blunt statements but that was what he'd been going for. "Stefan thinks you might. You're friends probably think you might. But you don't."

He saw it in her eyes in the moment before she answered. "I never said that I did."

Damon nodded and was surprised to find that those words didn't hurt the way they had before. For the first time since his feelings had developed for her, he wondered if he was seeing something in himself that wasn't there.

"I'm still your friend," she said softly. Then, after a moment, she asked another question. "Damon...where's your ring?"

Damn. He really hadn't been thinking about that. He was silent for a moment. He didn't want to tell her, that was his first thought. After the conversation they'd just had, he didn't want her to know.

"It doesn't matter." He laid back and closed his eyes again. "I'll talk to you later, Elena."

xxxxxxxx

Elena stared at him and for a minute she didn't move from her spot next to him. She had been thinking about him, about her feelings towards him since Bonnie had called her out on them.

His dismissal stung and she didn't ask how he was outside without his ring again. He was right. She shouldn't be there and she'd told him the truth, she realized, she couldn't love him the way he had wanted before.

She walked away.

Xxxxxxxx

The restlessness had seeped back in. Damon sat up after Elena left when he couldn't get that feeling of peace from before back. It had abandoned him as soon as she had spoken. Frustrated, he stood and left.

Bonnie was not surprised when he showed up at her house later that night. He was not surprised when that feeling came back as soon as he sat settled down next to her on her bed.