Title: Eternal Contemplations
Author: fading_tales
Pairing: Damon/Blair (Vampire Diaries/Gossip Girl cross-over)
Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Diaries, Gossip Girl or any of their characters.
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Timing means nothing and everything when you have an eternity to live.
Chapter Ten
Serena and Blair spend the rest of the night reliving old memories, sharing past heartbreaks (including the ones involving each other) and fantasizing about new beginnings.
"Things will change now," Serena promises for the umpteenth time.
Maybe if she says it enough times it would come true. Or maybe she thinks she could fool herself into believing it. Blair smiles sleepily back at her from her corner of the large king sized bed. Her friend's reassurance makes those fantasies seem closer to reality. They can get through this, they're Serena and Blair.
Serena reaches over to take her hand into hers, squeezing it affectionately. They both fell asleep that night believing that their friendship could overcome anything. An invincibility of sorts that would get them through all the hardships that life had to offer.
Their habit of talking into the wee hours of the morning makes it difficult for Blair to stow away with Damon in the middle of the night to meet up with Emily. Damon says he could easily compel Serena and the rest of the gang, but Blair is not having any of it.
It's been two whole days after the Serena confrontation and thus far Damon has kept his mouth shut. Serena continues to casually flirt with Stefan, riling up Elena, and Nate continues to pine after the blonde goddess whilst sharing butterfly kisses with Blair at the breakfast table.
"I'm sorry I left without saying anything."
"It doesn't matter. We're together now."
"I'm glad you're here," Blair whispers, although there's a trace of doubt in her voice that Damon manages to catch.
"I'm glad to be here," Nate returns, the famous Archibald smile that make girls weak at the knees employed to the fullest.
It's a nauseating sight that would make Damon lose his appetite if only he had any.
Chuck Bass is surprising the best of the house guests and spends most of his days out of the Salvatore Mansion and in town indulging in various debaucheries with the townies. Damon has a passing thought about how Chuck Bass and he could have been friends, but quickly dismisses the thought on account that they hated each other's guts.
The longer the breakfast club stays at the Salvatore Mansion, the more restless Damon gets. Elena, too, was not fond of the idea of the buxom blonde sleeping under the same roof as her boyfriend for an extended period of time.
"Aren't you going to get rid of them yet?" Elena confronts Damon one day.
"I'm working on it," he snaps back.
Elena lets it go because she has other things to worry about, particularly one witchy friend who has been suffering various blackouts as of late and refusing to talk to her.
xxx
Bonnie is not unfamiliar with these feelings of disorientation and vivid dreams. They are her constant nightly companions and the last time such a feeling was so strong was when Emily had possessed her. She doesn't tell a thing to Elena though for fear that girl would worry as she is prone to do. She keeps thinking that the feeling would pass, but it doesn't.
It gets harder every day as her headaches increase and she starts having waking visions of a forest, a pretty brunette girl and Damon Salvatore, whom she has avoided since the last time he had tried to kill her.
One time she wakes up in her bed to find that her feet were covered in dirt and her sheets littered with bits of foliage. She had quickly replaced the sheets and showered for a good long hour after to wash away signs of dirt and the odd smell of smoke that clung to her hair. She tells no one, because if no one knows, maybe it's not real.
Giving Elena a ride to Stefan's house one day, she spots the brunette girl in her dreams through the living room window. She chalks it up to her eyes messing with her due to her lack of sleep. Later that afternoon she finds Emily's amulet in her drawer buried under her t-shirts. The amulet that was supposedly destroyed, the very same amulet that allowed Emily to possess her the first time around. She is no fool and quickly realizes the implications of the reemerged amulet. It's her worst nightmare.
Emily is back and inside of her.
Bonnie has never been so afraid to look into the mirror, but she does. She almost expects to see Emily standing there in place of her own reflection, but she doesn't. It's just her, good old Bonnie Bennett staring back at her.
She breathes a sigh of relief only to turn around and face the apparition of Emily sitting on her bed. She lets out a scream she backs up violently and smacks into her dresser, knocking various objects onto the floor.
"Please, calm down," Emily says.
The last thing Bonnie wants to do is calm down. She wants to freak out and smash objects, preferably on Emily. She's not a fan of violence, but if that's what it'll take for the centuries old witch to leave her alone she'll do it. Despite the urges to throw various heavy objects at the apparition on her bed, she doubts anything would make physical contact and she would probably have to clean up afterwards. That is if she's not dead by then. Or worse, under Emily's control.
"Get the hell away from me! Dad! Mom!"
She suddenly remembers that both of them are working late tonight and neither is at home to hear her screams.
"I'm not trying to hurt you. I just want to talk," Emily coaxes.
"You- you possessed me!"
"It was the only way I could have made contact with the living. You're the only viable vessel."
"And that makes it right!"
"I'm sorry for startling you, but you must listen to me," Emily demands, standing up.
Bonnie grabs the silver hairbrush that was lying askew on her dresser and brandishes it like a sword.
"Don't come any closer!"
Emily doesn't. The spirits are not fond of silver, as Bonnie learned from Grams.
"What have you been making me do? That forest clearing in front of the tomb, that- that girl I saw in Stefan's house, Damon Salvatore! That was all real wasn't it?"
"Yes," Emily answers.
"What are you planning? What are you trying to do?"
"To save you. To save our family."
"What?"
"There's something you need to know about the Bennett witches."
"And what's that?"
"We're cursed."
xxx
Damon is not often surprised, so when the Bennett witch shows up on his doorstep, he's taken back.
"Damon."
"Um…" he doesn't know how to greet her. Is she Bonnie looking for Stefan and Elena or is this Emily he's talking to?
"It's Bonnie." She says in reply to his ever witty 'um' as if she read his mind. He doesn't doubt that she probably could if she wanted to. "Aren't you going to invite me in?" she says with a smirk knowing full well about vampires and their little requirement to enter one's house.
Damon doesn't know what's going on, but he's not sure he likes it. Blair and her posse are out shopping today with Stefan and Elena, so only he is left to entertain the young witch.
"Make yourself at home," he says with a smile that doesn't match his eyes.
Emily and he might have a deal, but Bonnie is a whole different matter. It's just a bit confusing since they're both sharing the same body.
"Can I get you a drink?" he offers.
"I'm good, thanks." Despite what Emily told her about their alliance with Damon, Bonnie wouldn't trust Damon not to try to poison her drink. If only to see her sputter and choke for entertainment.
The witch sits herself down, crossing her legs at the ankles and looking around at the Salvatore house. It's her first time actually seeing the inside and she realizes Elena wasn't exaggerating how big it really was, nor how gothic. It sends shivers down her spine. The stuffed raven on the mantle even looks alive, ready to fly towards her and scratch out her eyes at any given moment.
"So… to what do I owe this pleasantly surprising visit?" Damon oozes charm despite the dangerous glint in his eyes.
"I know about your deal with Emily."
"Do you now?"
"She's told me everything."
"Before I reveal my diabolical plans in your confidence, what exactly does 'everything' entail?"
"Your second attempt at opening the tomb, the Immune girl helping you do it and the curse Katherine has on my witch family. And Emily has agreed to help you if you helped her remove the curse. Did I leave anything out?"
"No, no. I think that's pretty much all of it. But let me guess, you don't approve and you're planning on telling Stefan and Elena or something along those lines?"
Damon will not let that happen.
"No," the teenage witch replies.
"No?"
"I want to get rid of the curse Katherine put on my family as much as Emily does."
"Alright… then you just came here to do what exactly? Give me your blessings?" Damon mocks.
"Not so fast. I want to meet the girl. The Immune."
Damon narrows his eyes at the request.
"And why would you want to do that?"
"She's the key component of this whole plan. I'd like to know who exactly I'm dealing with."
"Well let me just go grab her appointment book and pencil you in," he snarks.
"I'll be at Mystic Grill tonight at seven," she says calmly in reply as she gets up and gathers her things. "Tell her I'll be sitting at the booth in the corner."
Damon follows her to the door where Bonnie pauses across the threshold.
"Oh yeah and one more thing." Without another word, Bonnie uses her telekinetic power to shove Damon into a nearby bookcase. "That's for the last time you tried to kill me."
She marches away to her car without looking back.
xxx
Blair arrives at the agreed upon local bar and grill with Damon trailing behind her.
"I don't trust her."
"You don't trust anyone," Blair points out. "You all have trust issues and that's part of the problem. Let me handle this."
It's not entirely true; he trusts her after all. It's a funny thing, their friendship. It has taken on a mind of its own, developed in ways he hadn't originally planned nor expected. He doesn't mind it.
"It's hard to trust somebody that shoved you into a bookcase," he replies rubbing his sore back dramatically.
Blair rolls her eyes at his continual antics. "I bet you barely felt it."
"It was the principal of the matter! It's like stabbing someone in the back! I wasn't prepared!"
"Maybe you should go home and let me do this on my own."
"No, I want to be here."
"Fine," Blair sighs.
"I'll be over there if you need me."
Blair nods and walks confidently to the girl who wasn't Emily sitting in the corner. The non-Emily smiles at her cautiously and motions for her to sit.
"Hi," she says.
"Hello," Blair returns.
The waiter comes over to take their order, interrupting any further conversation. The animated boy goes on to rattle off a number of specials to which both girls decline.
"Just an iced tea please," Blair says with a sweet smile that is barely restraining her impatience, but nevertheless manages to make the waiter blush.
Bonnie merely asks for water and they're left in awkward silence once the waiter leaves. It's been at least five minutes and non-Emily has yet to say a word besides staring at her strangely and she's starting to feel nervous.
"You asked me here, so what do you want?" Blair sighs with irritation.
Bonnie blinks and breaks her strange gaze.
"I can't read you at all. I mean I can't read vampires clearly. It's mostly just random images with them and a lot of white noise, but still. You're… just blank. It's really true."
"Of course it's true," Blair scoffs. "So what was this? Just a test?"
"Damon is not exactly the model of honesty and good will. And I wouldn't trust Emily as far as I could throw her. People lie all the time."
"About their real hair color? Age? Maybe… But being damned to live in eternal torment in a spectral form, lying in wait to serve some spoilt, psychotic vampire bitch isn't something people usually care to lie about."
"And what about you? What exactly is it that you're getting out of all this? Emily says you're a friend of Damon, but out of the entire story, that's the most unbelievable part."
"This whole We-Hate-Damon campaign is getting really old. Elena has already filled me in on all of Damon's nasty habits."
"And you're okay with that?"
Blair shrugs. "People are flawed. Damon is especially so. I mean, look at what he's wearing, John Varvatos t-shirts or not. The whole Grease look has been overdone."
Bonnie can't help but snort in laughter at Blair's comment. Bonnie could take a liking to this girl.
"But if anything, you guys should know that he would do anything to get into that tomb."
"You still haven't answered my question."
"Believe me. My reason is just as self-serving as Damon's. There's something I want him to do for me and if I help him get into the tomb, he owes me a favor," she answers easily. "There are a lot of things one would do in the name of love."
Damon catches Blair's last sentence and it makes him uneasy even though he doesn't know why. To exactly what extent does love excuse you for your actions?
"Alright… I believe you. And I don't really care whether or not Damon gets back Katherine or whatever, but what about the other vampires in the tomb? This is my town. I can't have people I care about get hurt. Even if Damon promised to protect me and my family, what about the others? What about Elena and Stefan? What are you guys planning on telling them?"
"It's be ages since those vampires were stuck in there. They're not exactly in fighting shape. I'm pretty sure Damon can handle it. Besides, Emily has a wicked fire spell in her arsenal if worse comes to worse. Believe me, I would know," Blair answers dismissively.
Bonnie isn't quite convinced yet.
"As for Elena and Stefan, they're a bunch of worrywarts so let's just keep this between us. It's just a simple recovery mission," Blair reassures.
Bonnie doesn't quite believe that this little mission of theirs was as simple as Blair says it is.
"Look, as long as we all hold up our ends of the deal, it should all be like clockwork. The only reason the last time everything went to hell was because you were all so busy backstabbing and hating each other. We're all going to get what we want, so let's just be civil to one another. Okay?"
Bonnie wonders to herself if all the girls in New York were quite so self-assured and proud at the same time. She's equal parts compelling and condescending.
"Fine. But, I want to be made aware of what's going on."
"I'll be sure to write up a full report for you."
"Just the cliffnotes would be fine, thanks"
Blair smiles at the strange parallels and contrasts between Bonnie Bennett and her ancestor.
xxx
Damon gets up from his seat at the bar as she approaches him.
"All settled," Blair states.
"I know."
"Eavesdropping much? I told you I was going to handle it."
"I know that. Doesn't mean I was not curious."
"I told her about the meeting with Emily tomorrow night."
Damon nods in reply.
"We better get back. I told Nate I was only going for an hour."
"Yes. We wouldn't want Nate to worry," Damon says sarcastically.
Blair looks back at Bonnie and smiles, she rather like the Bennett witches. They have sass, enough to throw Damon against a book shelf and come out the other end unscathed anyways. Bonnie sees her and smiles back, but then her eyes meet Damon's and her expression rapidly changes to a glower.
"Um, why don't you get back to the car? I want to say something to our witchy partner," Damon says to Blair while cockily waving to Bonnie in spite of her death glares.
"What? Don't mess things up with your usual antagonism and need for ego stroking."
"Don't worry about it!" he reassures her.
She sighs and leaves before the chaos ensues.
xxx
Bonnie sees Blair exit the restaurant and thinks to herself things went much more smoothly than she had anticipated. The girl reminded her a bit of Caroline and the idea of a friendship doesn't seem so farfetched. They have to work together after all, might as well enjoy it the best they can.
Such pleasant thoughts are interrupted when she sees Damon walking up to her.
"What do you want?" Bonnie bites out with gritted teeth and narrowed eyes.
"Despite Blair's jaded, worldly front, she's a lot more naïve than you'd think. She seems to trust you and your witch kind, but don't forget that it was Emily who betrayed me first. I just wanted to make sure that you know that if you do anything to jeopardize this and/or get Blair hurt in anyway… I assure you, the next time I try to kill you, I'll succeed."
Bonnie is a little surprised at the show of care and protectiveness, disregarding the bit about homicide, Damon was capable of. He had always seemed inhuman, distant and cold, it was easy to hate him and categorize him as a monster this way. He has always been single minded in his search for Katherine and only Katherine, but to think Damon could ever let in somebody else into that exclusive circle. That was a bit mind-blowing.
"I'm not going to do anything stupid."
"You better not."
xxx
The second layer of the spell on the tomb is broken with the usual fireworks and chanting. It's a little unnerving how close to the fruition of their little mission they really were. All they had to do was wait for the next full moon and they would be set.
Bonnie had acquired a sort of conscious state whilst Emily borrowed her body and so the use of cliffnotes was not needed. Blair asks her if it's as disorientating as she would imagine and Bonnie can only describe it as the feeling you have watching a movie about somebody else, except they have your face. The two girls and one ghost had formed a sort of tentative friendship that came from necessity. Although Damon was skeptical of Bonnie's awareness of their little operation, he soon realized that the teen witch planned to uphold her end of the bargain. In fact, Damon would like to believe the witches were a more honest bunch than Blair's Upper East Side pals who continued to play an elaborate game of charades.
xxx
Blair is not ignorant of Nate's rather obvious stares at Serena, but it's not enough for her to say anything. She's use to people oogling her best friend and has come to terms that while Nate might think Serena is attractive, he's with her and that's what matters. Boys will be boys and she'll allow the small trespass so longs as she's the one that ends up with the boy at the end. Her dreams for the future dictate it.
Nate is the perfect boyfriend. On paper anyways. He's captain of the lacrosse team, handsome, from a prominent family and with a hefty trust fund in his name. They've been together forever and she wouldn't know how to be with somebody else. There's only one way, in her mind, that this could end. And it ends with wedding bells.
But sometimes she starts to rethink that condition she gave Damon in exchange for her participation with the plan for the tomb's opening. Maybe she shouldn't hang on to someone who doesn't love her and only her. She should have more self respect than that shouldn't she? But then Nate smiles at her and it reminds her of that day in first grade when he had brought her dandelions he picked in the school yard. The flowers were of inferior quality, but that smile was the same crooked, ever so endearing smile. And in those moments, she thinks: He loves me. He loves me.
He loves me and it's all worth it.
She tells herself that Nate just needs that extra push, remove those shiny distractions, and soon they would be well on their way to their very own Happily Ever After. Their plan has always been to get married in an extravagant wedding ceremony and have little children running in the hotel lobby of their penthouse. He would say something if that's not what he wanted too, right? Blair always did have a hard time letting go of those precious plans of hers. Fantastical dreams aside, she just wants to believe in a love that truly lasts forever, even if she says she doesn't.
They can make it, the two of them. She's sure of it.
Damon is of another opinion entirely.
xxx
He realizes what he is about to do is betraying Blair's trust, but Damon is a firm believer of the ends justifies the mean. So, he goes on to walk that extra ten feet towards the Bennetts' door and knock. Bonnie answers it and is surprised to see him visiting her in the daytime.
"Aren't you going to invite me in?" Damon smirks, remember the witch's earlier jibe.
"No," Bonnie answers, crossing her arms across her chest in a defensive manner. Relations with Damon Salvatore remain a tricky business at best, even if they are allies.
"We can't just stand outside your door talking about this stuff," he points out.
"My parents are home. We can talk on the porch."
Damon relents and Bonnie takes a step outside, shutting the door behind her. Damon perches himself on the porch railing while Bonnie situates herself on the swing seat. If you told Bonnie Bennett a few months ago that she would be sitting in the porch with Damon Salvatore and they were not trying to kill each other, she would have laughed in your face.
"I need you to do me a favor," Damon begins.
She's not surprised. Damon wouldn't usually come to her unless it had to do with business.
"I've already agreed to open the tomb, what more do you want?" Bonnie sighs.
"This doesn't have anything to do with the tomb. It's… a little side project."
Bonnie quirks an eyebrow and he knows her interest has been piqued.
"As you know Blair's friends have been staying with us lately."
Bonnie has had the privilege to be acquainted with one Chuck Bass and she can't say she's impressed. Nate and Serena seemed friendly enough, if not a bit dense and shallow.
"Yeah, so?" Bonnie presses.
"I don't trust them."
"You're just way too protective," Bonnie replies dismissively.
"I happen to know for a fact that they're not as nice as they would seem."
"Nice or not, I don't think Blair would appreciate your meddling."
"I don't think Blair would appreciate getting cheated on."
"Nate's cheating on Blair?" Bonnie asks, surprised. If anything Blair Waldorf and Nate Archibald looked like one of those perfect couples in romance movies. They looked to be a happy, handsome couple, but it turns out looks can be deceiving. Bonnie should've known. Nate is Chuck Bass's BFF for a reason.
"I won't get into the details, but yes. Nate Archibald needs to be exposed. Usually I would compel him to confess, but Blair made me promise to not compel any of them. So, I want you to cast a truth spell on him for me."
"What do I get out of this?"
"Must you always demand something in return? I thought you were supposed to be one of those good witches who champions against wrong doing."
"As if you wouldn't do the same in my shoes," Bonnie retorts. "Besides, if I'm going to risk Blair's aftermath, I better get something out of it."
"Fine, what do you want?" Damon sighs.
The corner's of Bonnie's mouth quirks up and Damon regrets asking.
"Halloween's coming up. I want you to dress up like Dracula."
He blinks at her for several seconds before he answers. "Seriously?"
"Yes. With the plastic fangs, white makeup, fake blood, the works. Oh and a red cape, that would be good. The more ridiculous the better."
"You could have asked for anything and you want this?" he asks skeptically.
Bonnie merely shrugs her shoulders. "It's just a truth spell. I could do them in my sleep and it's not like you're asking me to kill him or anything. Your humiliation, however, is worth its weight in gold. Consider payback for those snide remarks about my witch costume last year."
"Then I can trust you to do this?"
"Consider it already done… so long as you hold up your end of the bargain."
It seems like a majority of their interaction is through a bargain or another.
"I'll do it." Damon smiles and get up from his seat. "Well then! This has turned out to be a surprisingly pleasant visit. It's been a pleasure doing business with you."
"Likewise," the witch quips. She looks forward to the end of the month.
As Damon reaches his car, he turns around and adds, "Oh yeah, I think this goes without saying, but keep this a secret from Blair."
A/N: A bit of jumping the shark with the whole Halloween ordeal, but please just ignore the ridiculousness for the sake of the story, as impossible as it may seem to be. Also I realize the timeline of the story might be a bit confusing so here's the breakdown for those of you who care:
After Damon's plan to open the tomb failed the first time because of Emily (TVD: 1x09, History Repeating), he left Mystic Falls and left for New York for a while, where he met Blair (Pre-pilot). I'm going to say the time period when he and Blair met and were together in New York were from June/July- September. During early October they left for Mystic Falls. Which leads to the current timeline being somewhere near the middle-end of October and Halloween. As for school, Blair's still on her extended (emphasis on the extended) break to look at colleges. Nate and Chuck pretty much just ditch whenever they want anyways and Serena just came home from boarding school. On the other hand, Stefan and Elena continue to go to school which explains their absence in the majority of the scenes. I hope that sounds plausible enough. _ Thanks for reading!