A/N: Words can't express how much I've missed you all! I'm excited to be back and diving into this story again with you guys. Thanks so much for the reviews last chapter, and welcome new readers! I have been keeping up with TVD this season and can't deny I'm a little annoyed that they've introduced a character named Valerie. Obviously my character has no connection to theirs seeing as my Valerie is only four years old and this story has been around for almost a year (can't believe it, doesn't even feel like it's been that long). Regardless, I will mostly refer to my Valerie as Vee. And besides the fact that Lily's relationship with the heretics reminds me just a tiny bit of Victoria's relationship with her coven (don't you hate when that happens FF writers?), I've been enjoying season 7 of TVD and living for the Bamon scenes.

Now, we're back to Outsider and this increasingly dysfunctional group. I hope I can shift you all into a Julius/Julonnie state of mind after all this time. And of course, no Bonnie-centric story of mine can be without some Bamon (which I have not forgotten about). I hope you enjoy this update. I'm so sorry for the wait.

Song: Remembrance by Audiomachine

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OCs. This is for entertainment purposes only. No copyright infringement intended.

Happy Reading!

15 - Remembrance

Icy blue eyes pierced through the dark of the unfamiliar house as he stepped carefully down the hall. He didn't know how he knew, but he knew she was in danger. He knew she needed him. I have to find her. Just as the thought crept into his mind he heard a distinctly familiar voice, "Damon! Damon, please!"

"Bonnie!" He called out loud. He could not detect the direction of which the voice was coming from but it sounded eerily close.

"Damon, please! Help me! He's going to kill me!" He was hearing the voice in his head. Bonnie was clearly using her magical abilities to reach out to him.

"Bonnie, where are you?!" Damon cried desperately. He started toward the kitchen when an earsplitting scream shattered the air in the opposite direction. It was her. Damon turned on his heel and with his supernatural speed he followed the screams. The familiar sound of suckling met Damon's ears as his eyes fell upon a man by the front door, hunched over a young woman he was cradling in his arms.

"Hey!" Damon shouted.

With an angry hiss the bloodsucker whipped his head up at Damon, his elongated fangs dripping with blood. It took Damon a moment to recognize him through the blood and the veins pulsing on his face, his usually hazel eyes now a dangerous black. Damon's heart stopped at the sight of the girl in his arms. It was Bennett blood dripping from his greedy mouth, Damon realized, as he had Bonnie in his arms, her lifeless eyes staring off into nothing.

"Bonnie..." Damon sputtered in disbelief.

Her attacker laughed. Damon glared at him as the vampire's laugh morphed into a maniacal cackle. Then he was at her neck again, implanting a fresh bite to drain the last bit of blood she had left.

"NO!" Damon shouted at the top of his lungs, rushing at him. He faintly heard the sound of a baby crying in the background.

Damon shot straight up in his bed, his heart pounding furiously. Immediately he dived for his cell phone that was sitting on the nightstand and dialed Bonnie's number. "The number you are trying to reach has been-"

"Fuck!" Damon shouted, throwing the phone down and falling back onto the bed. For that instant, he'd forgotten that Bonnie had run away and changed her number in the process. "Stupid little witch," he groaned to himself. He was suddenly angrier at her than he had been in a long time, though anger at himself was seeping in as well. He, Damon Salvatore, did not have nightmares. Nightmares were for humans and Stefan. You weren't supposed to have nightmares when you yourself was to be considered a nightmare of the worst kind. The last bad dream he'd had involved irreparable damage to his Camaro, and that had been years ago. This dream bothered him much more than that one, and it bothered him even more that his initial instinct was to call Bonnie to find comfort in the sound of her witchy little voice, alive and well.

He felt an overwhelming need for blood and bourbon as he slid off the bed. Maybe that could get his head on straight.

Bonnie noticed a change in Julius' demeanor. He was straight-faced and serious as he woke her in the morning, when he kissed her it wasn't for long, when they showered together he washed her back but didn't make a move on her, and he barely cracked a smile at her attempts to make jokes and lighten the mood. Playtime was over, and Julius wasn't going to get distracted from his goal by fooling around.

They linked hands as they exited their motel room and when Bonnie started toward the Mercedes Julius tugged her in the opposite direction, toward a black Impala. "Uh, what are you doing?" Bonnie inquired with a raised brow.

"We can't go over there in a car Vic has seen a thousand times," he explained as he opened the passenger door for Bonnie. "We have to be inconspicuous if we want to spy, babe. It may not be a luxury car but it'll get the job done."

"When did you get it?" Bonnie questioned as she clambered inside. Julius closed the door without answering, and was opening his own door a millisecond later.

"This morning, while you were asleep and I ran out to get you some food." he explained as he climbed into the driver's seat and started up the car. Bonnie extracted her grimoire from her bag and opened it up on her lap. "What are you doing?"

"I'm going to do a spell, so we can park on the street but the car will appear empty from the outside," she explained. "I've never quite done it this way before."

"Don't cloaking spells take a lot of power? Maybe you should reserve it until we go in."

"It takes a lot to cloak people, I'm just blocking off a window. It'll be fine." Bonnie looked to Julius, who's eyes were on the road, but she could tell he had a lot on his mind. "We're getting your Vee Vee back."

He nodded. "I know we are. I just hope we all make it out in one piece doing it."

Damon headed to the basement of the boardinghouse to get himself some A Negative from the freezer. He'd had some for breakfast but he needed some human blood in his system, and he was fighting the urge to lurk the streets and get it from the vein. When he came back up, sucking it down, his brother was coming through the front door. They hadn't seen each other in a couple days. Damon had left Elena's at sun up and when he got home Stefan had not yet returned.

"What's up, baby brother?" Damon greeted as they approached each other. "Where have you-" His sentence was disrupted by an unexpected strike to his face. Damon fell to the ground, dropping his blood bag, which was much more frustrating to him than the actual punch.

Stefan towered over him menacingly. "You did everything in your power for two years to steal Elena from me!" He shouted down at his brother, jabbing his finger toward him. "Two fucking years and you finally got her! You honor that by being a complete ass in your relationship?! She fucking loves you Damon, and I don't need her crying to me on the phone about how shitty you're acting."

"About time you express your true feelings." Damon got up from the floor. "This whole I-don't-really-care act hasn't been fooling anyone. Want to hit me again?" Stefan glared at him. "Go on, you get one more shot before I kick your ass." Stefan reared back before throwing a punch with such force it caused Damon fly into the adjacent wall and would've surely caved his head in if he'd been a human.

"I came back here with no intention of having anything to do with Elena, I came back for you," Stefan said through gritted teeth. "But she's always there and I can't just say fuck it to all the feelings I had for her. Want me to be honest about how I feel? Fuck you and fuck her. I thought for a second about telling her that when she wanted to talk about you, but how can I be angry at her for leaving me after everything I put her through? She just hopped from one monster to another, and maybe one day she'll smarten up enough to leave us both behind forever but until then, fuck you!"

Damon disconnected himself from the wall, holding his now pounding head. "Fuck! That was a good one. Where's my blood bag?"

Stefan narrowed his sea-green eyes at him. "What the hell is the matter with you?" He watched his brother locate the bag and start sucking it down more vehemently.

"Nothing. I'm completely fine." Damon stepped past Stefan.

"Damon!" He shouted, quickly following him and standing in his path.

"I had a dream last night," Damon revealed. "I found Bonnie. She was dead. Julius had killed her. He didn't care. He laughed."

"Okay, you had a dream. It doesn't mean anything, Damon, you're not a prophet," Stefan reminded him. "What's with your recent obsession over Bonnie's life? You're acting like Jeremy at this point."

Damon's lip curled in disgust. "That's the most insulting thing you've ever said to me," he bristled.

"Look, I'm concerned about her too," Stefan said. "The thing is I can't tell if you're actually concerned about her or you just feel vulnerable without the resident witch. I know you guys had some sort of bond over zombies and pasta, and you're the one that stepped up to get her off the island and wouldn't leave until you found her, but this is a different situation. She made a choice to disappear, and she made it very clear in her letters that she expects us to respect that choice."

"I find it exceptionally hard to respect idiotic decisions."

"Elena wishes you would drop it. Do you respect her?" Stefan asked, boldly. This gave Damon pause.

"Elena is young, she can't see the type of person Julius is," Damon debated. "I've met a lot of Juliuses and I took joy in killing all of them. He's a master manipulator and I'll bet he's just using Bonnie."

"Because that's what you do?' Stefan rebuffed. "What if he's not? What if he just loves her? Look, I know part of the reason she didn't tell anyone where she was going is because she didn't want anyone forcing the information out of us, but I can try to track her down. Check on her, make sure she's good. I actually see her as a friend, not just a weapon, and I don't want anything bad happening to her. I even feel for Julius a little. A crazy ex kidnapped his daughter and is threatening the life of his girlfriend if he doesn't take her back.. Victoria practically makes Katherine look like an angel."

"Not possible, brother," Damon quipped. "Not possible."

"Let the Bonnie situation go for now," Stefan instructed. "Let me worry about that. You have problems of your own you need to take care of."

Damon's eyes turned cold as he finished off his blood bag and thrust it at Stefan. "Whatever you say, brother." If there was one thing Damon hated more than anything, it was being told what to do, or how to behave. He walked past Stefan and headed out of the house. Stefan hoped he was going to see Elena to make amends, and not going to do anything stupid or murder-y.

"Are you sure no one can see us?"

"For the hundredth time, no. No one can see in here. Now quit asking." Bonnie reached her hand into the bag of Lay's resting on Julius' lap only to feel it being pulled away. She looked back at him in confusion. "What the hell?"

"You're eating all the damn chips," Julius complained with a furrowed brow. Bonnie sucked her teeth and went for the bag again, becoming increasingly frustrated when he once again moved it out of reach. She fell in his lap as she fought to get to it, causing Julius to laugh at her expense, giving her more determination. A wrestling match ensued in the front seat of the Impala until Julius stuffed it behind his back and smiled at Bonnie with a mischievous glint in his eye.

"Give me the damn chips or I'll kick your ass all the way back to Melbourne," she said in a serious tone.

"You're so sexy when you threaten me," Julius teased. Bonnie rolled her eyes, then he was grabbing her, causing her to giggle as he kissed on her face. He suddenly stopped and moved her away from him. "We have movement," he announced, and Bonnie turned her attention to the house across the street. Sure enough, the door was being opened, and Bonnie felt her heart spike in anticipation .

They had been outside of 124 Cedar Drive for over an hour, watching the house. It had been still except for a flutter in the curtains in the top upper right window, but Bonnie felt secure that no one knew they were there. Now, the front door was opening and a small, exotic woman Bonnie recognized to be Akira was stepping out of the house, followed by another female she didn't know.

"Who's that?" Bonnie asked of the second woman.

"I don't know, but she was creeping around Vee's room the other night," he responded. "I had to snap her neck. I'm sure she hasn't forgotten about that." She and Akira were by the BMW parked in the driveway, having what looked to be an important discussion.

"Can you hear what they're saying?"

Julius focused on the pair and their distant voices. "How long is this going to go on for?" The vampire was asking Akira. "Victoria promised to get me out of North Carolina when she turned me, and it's been weeks now. I definitely didn't sign up to be babysitting some kid I don't even know."

"I hadn't thought you really signed up for anything when she snatched you off the street and snapped your neck," Akira quipped in her high-pitched, girlish voice.

"Victoria saved my life when she...killed me, made me better..."

Julius snorted. He couldn't believe how utterly ridiculous the girl sounded but remembered that had been him not too long ago.

"That's the effect Vic has on people," Julius huffed. "Makes them think she actually cares for them, that she's giving them purpose, when really she's just using them for her own selfish needs." Just as he finished this sentiment, the woman herself was exiting the home she'd forcibly taken over.

"What do you think you're doing, Raven?" Victoria questioned as she descended the porch steps and headed toward the other two. "You're not coming with us. I need you here."

"Why?" Raven asked in a huff. "Chris and Bryan are here."

"Bryan is still without his magic and Chris has weapons but he's still only human," Victoria reminded her in an exasperated voice.

"No one's coming for the girl," Raven argued. "If they were going to do something they would've done it by now. Let's just leave her with the humans who own the house and go."

Victoria narrowed her gray eyes at her. "When I want your opinion, I'll tell you," she snapped. "Inside." Raven huffed and flashed inside, slamming the door behind her. "Sometimes, it takes a lot to not smack the shit out of that girl. She knows better than to be doing things like that outside of the house." Victoria opened the passenger side door of the BMW as Akira clambered into the driver's seat, and her eyes swept the street before landing on the Impala. Both Julius and Bonnie drew in their breaths in anticipation, as it looked like she was looking at right at them, and Bonnie worried for a split second that her spell had not taken effect. Then Victoria turned her head and was getting into the car, which pulled away a few seconds later.

"Where do you think they're going?" Bonnie asked.

"No clue, but I can't stand the idea of Vee being in there with Raven and Bryan," Julius said, seriously. Bonnie looked at him, could see the worry etched on his handsome face, and decided it was time to make moves.

"Let's go," she said, firmly as she opened her car door.

"What the hell are you doing?" He was out of the car and blocking her exit in a blink of an eye. "We can't just go marching in there!"

"We won't march, we'll sneak," she said. "Just like we planned."

"We're not even cloaked!" Julius said in a frantic tone. "I don't even like standing out here in the open like this. I feel exposed."

"So let's not stand here." Bonnie stepped around him and started toward the house.

"This wasn't the plan, Bonnie," he said as he followed her.

"Victoria is gone, this is an opportunity," she said. She didn't go toward the front door but instead rounded the house, out of sight of any windows someone could peek out of. She turned toward a confused Julius and spoke in a noticeably lower tone. "Bryan cast a spell that prevents anyone beside him, Victoria, and that guy Chris from taking Vee out of the house, right?"

"Yeah..."

"So, he'll have to be the one to undo the spell."

"But you took his magic."

"I'll give him back just enough to undo the spell," she stated matter-of-factly. "If he tries anything, you'll get to fuck him up."

"He will try something," Julius whispered frantically. "It is a 100% guarantee that he will try something. If you allow him just a fraction of his magic back for just a minute or two, he won't use that opportunity to help us. I know Bryan. It doesn't matter how nicely we ask or what we threaten him with...he would die before betraying Victoria."

Bonnie crossed her arms, seemingly wavered for a moment. Then her expression hardened into one of determination again. "Then, we don't use him," she said. She started walking further along the side of the house again, then stopped and looked up. "Which one is Valerie's room?"

Julius shook his head in disbelief but moved to stand beside her and pointed. "That one at the very top."

She surveyed the scene, was happy to see the huge oak tree blocking the neighbor's view of the house. "Okay." She stepped closer to him and wrapped her arms around his torso, looking up at him expectantly.

"What are you doing?" He asked, a smile of amusement threatening to crack his face. Despite the seriousness of the moment, he couldn't help but find her adorable.

"You have to do that vampire-jump thing so we can get up there," she informed him.

"Vampire-jump thing?"

"Yes, Stefan did it with me before," she said, a hint of exasperation in her voice. "You lift off from your feet and like fly straight up. Let's go, I can get the window open."

Julius chuckled as he softly pushed her away. "Let me check if there's anyone in there before we come bursting through the window and scaring the shit out of my daughter."

"Fine." Bonnie stood to the side and crossed her arms, waiting impatiently. Julius shook his head at her with a smile, then took off into the air. He landed quietly on the ledge outside of Valerie's window and went completely still. Bonnie could tell he was listening intently, then she saw him peering through the tiny holes in the shades. A minute later, he landed softly back onto the ground, then wrapped his arm around Bonnie.

"It's just her," he reported. "Hold tight, bosslady." Bonnie smirked at his affectionate teasing, and held onto him as their feet left the ground. Once they were on the ledge, she muttered a foreign word under her breath and the locked window started to rise. It squeaked a little, and Bonnie stopped, not wanting to be overheard by Raven. When she heard nothing, not even coming from inside the room, she whipped the window all the way up, then pulled the shades aside and was climbing in as Julius assisted her. She quickly surveyed the room until her eyes fell on the little girl who had backed into a corner, gripping a stuffed animal, her hazel eyes wide with fear.

"Don't be afraid," she said in a soft voice as Julius lithely slid through the window behind her. "We're here to help you." Valerie clutched her puppy even tighter, clearly untrusting of the intruders in her room.

"Meeko," Julius said under his breath as he stepped up beside Bonnie and studied the quaking girl in the corner.

"What?" Bonnie asked, not understanding.

"The dog...Meeko," he elaborated. He took a step toward Vee, his tone one of bewilderment. "I got him for her when she was just a baby. I can't believe she still has it."

"Who...who are you?" Vee asked, her voice shaky and Bonnie felt her heart melting.

"We're your friends," Bonnie replied in as gentle a tone as she could muster. "We're not here to hurt you, we would never hurt you."

Julius stepped closer to her and kneeled down onto his knee. "Listen, honey, has anyone in this house hurt you in any way?"

Vee's expression slowly changed as she studied him, now in closer vicinity to her. Realization seemed to leap into her little eyes and a question burst from her mouth, loud and clear as day, "Are you my dad?"

Both Bonnie and Julius' jaws dropped and they exchanged look of bewilderment. Julius face quickly grew serious as he picked up a noise in the hall. He signaled to both Vee and Bonnie to be quiet, seeing the shadow of a pair of feet under the bedroom door. It was apparent someone was outside the room listening, probably alerted by the sound of Vee's voice. After a few moments the feet moved away and Julius heard them descending the stairs seconds after. He turned his attention back to his daughter.

"How did you...why would you..." He was at a loss at how to frame the question, as he hadn't expected her to have any remembrance of him, and had been planning to use that to his advantage if she had to go through a later inquiry by Victoria.

"Why would you ask that, honey?" Bonnie spoke up.

Vee took a confident step toward Julius, the fear in her eyes seeming to have completely diminished. "I saw...I saw you in Mayma's house..." she explained.

"Mayma is my aunt she was living with," Julius said lowly in response to Bonnie's questioning look.

"You and Mommy," Vee continued on. "Mayma showed me you and Mommy...she said you were in a better place, watching over me." Julius hated the fact that Victoria had compelled his Aunt to believe him dead, knowing how much it must have hurt her. Vee suddenly reached out and placed her tiny, soft hand gently on the side of Julius' face. She looked him straight in the eye as she moved even closer to him. "Daddy?"

And with that Julius felt his heart burst inside his chest, his vampirism heightening his overwhelming feeling of love by a hundred. It also surged the anger and hatred he felt for Bryan for robbing him of the chance to take her away from this place and never look back. He suddenly wanted to kill Bryan more than he even wanted to kill Victoria.

Julius' murderous thoughts instantly vanished with the sound of sniffling coming from beside him. He turned his head to see Bonnie turning hers away from him, trying and failing to inconspicuously wipe away a tear.

He half-smiled in appreciation of her appreciation for the moment then turned back to his daughter. "Vee, when you say Mayma showed you me and Mommy, are you talking about a photo?" He questioned. Vee looked at him uncertainly. "Was it this picture?" He dug in his pocket and pulled out a polaroid that looked like it had been folded and unfolded many times. He unfolded it and held it up. Bonnie's eyes fell on the picture of a human Julius and a beautiful young woman who could only be April, both holding up a months-old Valeria, all three beaming for the camera.

Vee nodded enthusiastically. She held out her stuffed puppy, that she'd been holding with a vise-like grip, out to him. "Do you want to play with Meeko?" She asked so innocently, her hazel eyes wide with anticipation. " Mayma said you gave him to me. I think he misses you."

Julius chuckled. "Not as much as I've missed the both of you." He took the puppy from her, examining it, still in disbelief that she'd held on to it for four years. "I tell you what, pretty soon we'll be playing with Meeko together, and he's going to have the time of his life."

"Are...are you going to take me away?" Vee asked nervously. "She said...she told me bad people were going to try and take me away...and bad things would happen if they did." She suddenly swiped Meeko from Julius' hand, backing away with him held tightly to her chest.

"Who said this to you?" Julius asked firmly, though he was sure he knew the answer.

"She's...really mean sometimes. Scary."

"Who's mean to you?" Julius asked in a more aggressive tone. Vee fell silent again, a look of fear creeping back into her eyes.

"It's okay, honey," Bonnie said, slowly approaching her and maintaining her gentle tone. "You can tell us. We're not bad people. " Bonnie was fully aware this was the exact thing a bad person would say when they were trying to gain the trust of a child they were essentially planning to kidnap, if it could be considered that. She was now beside Valerie, resting a comforting hand on her tiny shoulder. "I'm your Daddy's friend, Bonnie, and we both really, really care about you. We just want you to be safe."

"I'm not supposed to talk to strangers," Vee whimpered, back in the corner and clearly scared again. "Vicki said bad things will happen."

"Has Vicki or any of these people hurt you, Valerie?" Julius asked, his face hardened and the hatred creeping back into his heart. "I need you to tell the truth."

"She's nice sometimes," she said, Meeko now blocking part of her face. "She lets me eat ice-cream...then she'll get really, really mad...and she'll yell and say mean things." Julius gave Bonnie a furious look.

"Julius, we may not have a lot of time before-" Julius had held up his hand to silence Bonnie before she could finish her thought. A few seconds later the bedroom door was being opened.

An indisposed Bryan was peering in at the little girl, standing in the corner with no one but Meeko. "Are you in here talking to yourself?" He asked with utter annoyance. Vee shook her head no, her sandy curls bouncing. He looked down at her stuffed animal. "Oh, you're talking to your stupid dog again." Bryan was suddenly crossing the room toward her. "I hate that thing. You scream like a banshee every time someone takes it from you and I'm sick of it." He roughly ripped him from her tight hold, causing her to instantly cry out in distress. "It's about time you learn to separate yourself from this thing, so I can at least give you a meal without you crying about not being able to hold him for ten minutes."

"Give him back!" Vee screamed, tears welling in her hazel eyes.

Bryan held him up threateningly, as if he was going to rip him open. "You know what, little girl. Fuck. Your. Stupid. Animal."

The closet doors were suddenly thrown open and a dark blur rushed him, knocking the wind out of him as it threw him across the room and pinned him against the wall. Julius' arm dug into Bryan's throat, his eyes blazing with anger. "Give him back," Julius said threateningly through gritted teeth. "Give him back and apologize to her." Bryan smirked as Bonnie emerged from the closet as well, seeing no reason to continue hiding as Julius had blown their cover to fast for her to stop him.

"I was wondering how long it would take for you two bozos to show up," Bryan said with an ugly smirk. "What do you think is going to happen? You think you two are just going to waltz out of here with her?"

"We know about the spell you placed, asshole!" Julius breathed angrily.

"Too bad your little witch stole my magic so you can't even threaten me to undo it," Bryan said so smugly it hurt. He didn't seem to have any fear although he was alone with a witch and an vengeful vampire with no magic to protect him.

"Did you hear what the fuck I told you?" Julius said scathingly, gripping his throat tighter. He then snatched him away from the wall and forced him to his knees in front of Vee. "Give her back the dog, and apologize!" Julius' hand looked dangerously close to crushing his trachea.

"Maybe you should loosen your grip a little-"

"Shut up, Bonnie," he snapped. Bonnie's brow furrowed at his tone.

"Here," Bryan wheezed, holding out Meeko. "Take it back."

"And..."

"And I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?" Julius snapped.

"For taking it from you and being a general asshole," Bryan wheezed with great difficulty. Vee seemed to accept this and took the puppy with a small smile.

"Now..." Julius pulled Bryan back to his feet. "If you fuck with my daughter again, I will rip you apart and drain you dry. Got that, asshole?"

"I cannot wait until you get yours and Victoria gets rid of you for good. You always thought you were a tough guy," Bryan responded. "Always thought you were something special. Trying to get Victoria to ditch her coven, wanting me out of her life because you were so damn threatened by what she and I had. Then you have the nerve to run off and get with the first dumb bitch who'll take care of you-" Julius suddenly grabbed him by the throat and slammed him against the wall again with enough force to knock the wind out of his lungs.

"Don't call her that!" He bellowed.

"Julius!" Bonnie cried with wide eyes. She was sure that racket had attracted someone else in the house. Julius heard movement and acting quickly, he grabbed Bonnie by one arm, Bryan with the other, and in one supersonic move, flew out of the open window.

Stefan was pouring himself a hefty glass of Damon's bourbon when there was a knock at the door. He didn't bother to make a move and he didn't have to as it was being opened a few seconds later. Stefan smiled at Caroline as she bounced into the room. She hadn't ever responded to his Want to come over for a drink? text and had just dropped by, in true Caroline fashion.

"Nice to see you," he said with a small smile and held out the glass he'd just been pouring for himself.

"Can't say I couldn't use it," Caroline said as she shrugged off her jacket. She took the glass from his fingers and settled comfortably onto the couch as he poured another for himself. "To what do I owe the pleasure of this impromptu invitation?" She questioned, peering at him knowingly as she sipped her drink.

"It's not impromptu," Stefan replied, settling into the footrest before the fireplace. "I've been wanting to invite you over for awhile. Things just kept...happening."

Caroline snorted. "Tell me about it. I can't remember the last full day we had where there was no relationship drama, friend drama, ex drama, or someone trying to murder us drama."

Stefan chuckled. "This is what I mean, Caroline," he said. "No matter what, you're always the person that can put a smile on my face." Caroline beamed at this. She moved off the couch, closer to her friend, and the two began to converse. Stefan felt better as he opened up to Caroline about his true feelings about everything that was going in their friends and their own lives. Caroline continued to make him laugh with her own sassy takes on the situation.

They were eventually disturbed by the sound of the front door being opened. "Damon!" Elena's voice called out in the foyer. "Damon, where are you?!" She rushed into the living-room and stopped short at the sight of Caroline and Stefan. "Oh, hi." Her eyes narrowed suspiciously at them. "What are you two up to?"

"Drinking," Stefan said very matter of fact. "Looking for Damon?"

"Yeah, is he here?"

"No, he hasn't been home since this morning," Stefan revealed.

"Argh!" Elena slumped onto the nearest armchair and slouched in frustration. "I've been trying to reach him all day! He's been ignoring all of my calls!"

"I'm sure he'll call you as soon as he gets a chance," Stefan reassured half-heartedly. Caroline made a face as she sipped her drink. She always found it difficult to hide her disdain for Damon and Elena's complicated relationship.

"I don't know, something's wrong," the brunette disagreed with a shake of the head, "He never goes this long without at least checking in. I don't know if I should be worried or pissed off." Stefan caught Caroline rolling her eyes and looked away to hide his smirk from Elena. "I feel like he's done something. Why else wouldn't he call?"

"For crissakes, Elena, read the room!" Caroline suddenly blurted. Elena looked at her in confusion. "Look at who you're talking to. The last two people on this Earth that would give a shit about Damon not calling for a day. You guys will be back in the sack together by tomorrow night so what does this even matter? If you ask me, you two need the space from each other anyway."

"Caroline..." Elena was put off by how rude her friend was being. Stefan said nothing, just held a raised brow as he downed the rest of his drink, mentally cheering his best friend on.

"How long has it been Elena?' Caroline continued. "12 hours since you last saw him, heard his voice? When it's been two and half months then come talk to me. It's been exactly 84 days since I've heard from Tyler but you wouldn't know that because you never ask! When's the last time you asked me about Tyler at all or how I'm holding up without him?"

"Caroline, it's not like that..." Elena started to say.

"And what were you thinking asking Stefan for advice on your relationship with his brother?!" She screeched. Stefan had been waiting for his name to come up all though he'd been hoping it wouldn't. "You've always been self-absorbed, Elena, but you've never been so tactless." She stood up with a huff. "Excuse me, I need another drink." And hastily exited the room. She wasn't frustrated with Elena alone, everything had been about she and Bonnie's relationships and neither had bothered with checking in on her feelings lately, and she was dealing with the void Tyler left in her life seemingly alone. The void hadn't seemed fillable at all until Stefan had returned. She knew she would feel bad about her outburst later, but for the moment she needed to separated herself from her friend before more hard truths came spilling out of her mouth. A silence fell over the room in her wake, as an awkward Stefan gazed into the fireplace rather than at Elena who appeared quite perturbed and told off.

"You know she doesn't mean it," Stefan said, breaking the heavy silence.

"Yes she does," Elena quickly rebuffed. "And she's right. I may not have been as good as a friend lately as I should be." She gazed at him curiously. "You seem to be filling that spot pretty well."

Stefan nodded. "She's a good girl," he stated. "Brutally honest and sometimes shrill, but a good person either way." Elena chuckled and nodded in agreement. "I'll call Damon and see if he picks up." He extracted his smartphone from the pocket of his jeans.

"No, I couldn't ask you to do that," Elena said with a shake of her head.

"He's my brother, Elena," he reminded her firmly. "I know him a lot better than you. He was in one of his moods this morning and I want to make sure he hasn't gotten into any shit since then." He held the phone to his ear as it rang and he could tell Elena was listening intently with her vampire sense.

It rang quite a few times and Stefan was about to hang up when the line clicked and a cold voice drawled from the other end, "What do you want?"

"Where are you?" Stefan asked simply. Caroline had quietly returned and taken a seat on the sofa beside Elena's armchair, seeming much calmer than when she had stormed out a few minutes ago.
"Out," Damon snapped. "What do you want?" Elena had sat up straighter at the sound of her boyfriend's voice, clearly bothered that he'd picked up for Stefan and not her.

"You've been MIA all day," Stefan said. "Stay away too long and people might start to get their hopes up."

"No need to worry about me brother," Damon replied as he merged onto the highway. "I'm perfectly fine, just taking a little trip out of town."

"Where out of town?" Stefan asked cautiously. He sighed heavily. "Damon, please tell me you're not going where I think you're going."

"Maybe you should think less. Might save you a headache or two," Damon quipped.

"I told you I would take care of it."

"I decided I didn't feel like waiting around while you dragged your feet," he said.

Elena was now on her feet, standing directly behind Stefan. "Let me talk to him," she demanded.

Damon's stomach lurched at the sound of her voice. "Fuck, you got Elena with you?!"

"Let me talk to him, Stefan!" Elena demanded again.

"Look, tell her I'll call her first thing in the morning," Damon was saying. Elena snatched the phone out of Stefan's hand with lightning speed.

"Damon Giuseppe Salvatore, don't you dare hang up this phone!" She shouted. This wasn't good. She had never full-named him before.

"Elena, listen-"

"You're going after Bonnie, aren't you?" She questioned, sternly, cutting him off. He didn't respond. "Aren't you?!" Stefan and Caroline were both surprised by the quick turn this conversation had taken.

Damon sighed on the other end. "Elena, it has to be done. I can't shake the feeling that if we sit on this we're all going to regret it."

"I asked you not to do this," Elena reminded him. "You promised me you would let it go. Then you disappear in the middle of the night on me, ignore my calls all day, and go and do it anyway. And you're stupid enough to go alone as if she'd go anywhere with you."

"She will...and without him," Damon responded though not so confidently. "I figured you wouldn't be so mad in the end once everything is back to the way it was."

"Turn around," she said, firmly.

"Elena..."

"I'm asking you to turn around for me," she reaffirmed. The day before she'd decided not to ask him, thinking he would have the smarts to do it on his own. Now, she was laying her cards on the table. He had to make a choice right then and there and it had better be the right one. There was a heavy silence as Elena, Stefan, and Caroline all waited to hear Damon's answer. Now was the moment Caroline was starting to feel bad about her outburst. As much as the thought of Damon and Elena together still made her sick, she didn't want to see her friend upset or hurt.

Damon sighed deeply on the other end. "Dammit, Elena, I love you," he said. "Nothing I do is to hurt you. I don't want to fight anymore."

"Damon?"

"No matter what, Elena, I'm always going to come back to you."

The moon was glowing bright in the sky, the air was still and silent, all that could be heard was the sound of lips smacking and heavy breathing inside of a black Impala. Julius had his hands full of Bonnie as they necked passionately. Their trip back to the motel had been unexpectedly halted as Julius pulled over and pounced on her. He had never found her to be sexier than he did that day. He got to see his daughter again because of her, actually speak to her. At this time tomorrow, he fully expected to be putting miles of space between he and this place, both of his girls by his side.

Bonnie pulled away. "What's gotten into you?" She asked breathlessly.

"You." He covered her mouth with his. "I love you so fucking much." She fell back against the car door and in one quick movement Julius had ripped her shirt open, the buttons flying all over the place. She pulled him toward her and he buried his head in her chest.

"Are we really going to do this here?" She asked, her eyes closed. He didn't reply, just moaned into her mocha skin. "What about him?"

"He's out cold," he reminded her. "It's not like he can get out of the trunk anyway." He was covering her with his passion and she was bursting at the seams when they were suddenly disrupted by a ridiculously loud blaring horn. Julius cursed and pulled away from her. A car had pulled up directly behind them, their front lights beaming into their car and obscuring their view, and was leaning on the horn.

"Fucking all right!" An irritated Julius shouted, his accent thicker than ever due to his irritation. He started the car up again and pulled off. "Fucking prick." Bonnie attempted to fix her shirt but found it was a no go seeing as most of the buttons were gone. Thankfully, they'd be heading straight back to the motel. Julius looked in his rearview mirror and saw the same car was still following closely behind them down the empty road, flashing his lights incessantly.

"What does this fucking idiot think he's doing?!" Julius cried, a rage building. Bonnie looked back but couldn't make out the occupants of the car. Julius pulled back over to the side of the road and their pursuant did the same.

"Maybe you shouldn't..." Bonnie started to say.

"Just give me one second, babe," and he was getting out. He was shouting as he approached the strange vehicle. Bonnie saw the car door open and within seconds she heard a familiar snapping sound then there was a blur of movement. Damon Salvatore was sticking his head into the Impala, smirking at Bonnie.

"Long time no see, Bon Bon," he quipped with a crooked smile. "Sorry, but the vacation's over, honey bunch. Time for you to come home."

A/N: Thanks for reading! I really have missed this. Please, drop a review on your way out and I'll see you next update. :)