Chapter 15
Before Bonnie opened her eyes, her nostrils were assaulted with the clashing smells of disinfectant and unappetizing food. She rolled her head to the side and a small groan escaped her lips. Her head felt like it had been run over with a truck, her neck was stiff and the rest of her body was sore and immobile. It took all of her strength to open her eyelids, and when she did, she was greeted with the sight of a dimly-lit hospital room. She frowned, trying to get her bearings, and she fought against her screaming muscles to sit up. She looked around, her eyes bouncing from the television to the window to the chair beside her bed. A chair that was occupied by a snoring Jeremy.
His head was tossed back at an uncomfortable angle and with every inhale, his lips opened slightly and a resounding snore escaped. Bonnie wondered how she could have slept through the chainsaw-like noise, but she was happy to know that whatever had caused her to be in a hospital room, she wasn't alone. She tried to reach out for him, only to find her arms occupied with tubes and wires that hooked up to a machine.
"Jer," she said quietly. Her voice cracked from disuse and she cleared her throat. "Jeremy," she said a little louder.
He startled and yanked his head into an upright position. His brown eyes widened when he saw her and he nearly leapt out of his seat.
"Bonnie," he said with a happy smile. She could tell that he wanted to wrap her up in a big hug but thought better of it. Instead, he took her hands and kissed them repeatedly. "Oh my God, I can't believe you're awake and alive."
"What...happened?" she asked, her voice fighting her at every turn.
He jumped up and poured her a cup of water, which she downed like a woman in a dessert. He gave her a second cup and when she finished that, she sounded a little better.
"Why am I here?" she asked. "What happened?"
"I've been trying to get you back for six months, Bon," he said. His lips quivered and his eyes rounded like he might cry, but she shook her head in confusion.
"Six months?" she asked. "What are you talking about?"
"Hold on. Let me get the doctor and tell everyone that you're awake."
"Jer, wait..."
But before she could get any answers out of him, he was out of the room. She sighed and rested her head against the soft pillows and nearly drifted back to sleep when the door opened again and many of her friends rushed inside: Jeremy, Elena, Caroline, and Stefan. Caroline covered her mouth and broke into tears and Elena hugged Stefan's arms like she needed support.
"Bonnie," Caroline wailed. And she came over and crushed her friend in a tight hug, wires be damned.
"Care," Bonnie said, "you're squeezing the shit out of me."
Caroline released her and said, "I'm sorry! I just can't believe you're alive."
"What are you guys talking about?" she asked, still bewildered. "Alive? Jeremy said the same thing. What's going on?"
The four of them exchanged glances and Stefan stepped next to the bed and gave her a reassuring smile.
"Bonnie, what's the last thing you remember?" he asked.
She tried to think back, but thinking hurt her head even more than it currently did. She really didn't remember much of anything, other than that night in the woods.
"Uh...I remember we were trying to get you back. From the Other Side."
Stefan's eyebrows furrowed like they always did when he was contemplating something.
"That's it?" he asked. "I know you're tired but try to remember."
So Bonnie did try. Despite the pounding behind her eyes and the general pain and discomfort, she did try to remember.
"Damon," she finally said. And for some reason, saying his name conjured an image of him in her head and her stomach flipped. "Me and Damon were on the Other Side, waiting to die."
"Bon, you did die," Stefan told her gently. "You and Damon were gone for six months. We didn't think you'd ever come back."
"But we never stopped looking for you," Jeremy piped up, taking the other side of the bed and interlacing his fingers with hers. "We looked for you every day. We got a witch to open the portal and then you guys came back."
"What?" she asked, more confused than ever. "I was...dead...for six months? With Damon?"
Everyone nodded their heads.
"Where is Damon?"
"He would have come," Elena said, speaking for the first time. "But he couldn't stand to be around all the blood in the hospital."
Bonnie frowned. Since when could Damon not control himself around human blood?
"I'm lost," she admitted.
Stefan opened his mouth to speak again but he stopped when Bonnie's doctor came in. She was a young-looking Black woman with a kind face and a gentle smile. She listened to Bonnie's heartbeat, read her measurements from the machine and checked her reflexes.
"Well, my dear, you look good. How do you feel?"
"Like crap," she said dryly.
"That's to be expected. Your friends tell me that you hit your head pretty hard."
Bonnie's eyes briefly fluttered to her friends, who were discreetly nodding their heads for her to go along with the story.
"Uh, yeah."
"What day is it, Bonnie?" she asked.
"I have no idea."
"Do you remember how you hit your head?"
"No. The last thing I remember was being with my friends in the woods."
"And how long ago was that?"
Again, Bonnie's eyes flitted up and she saw Caroline hold up finger and mouth the correct answer.
"A week, I think."
"It's not uncommon to experience some memory loss after a head injury. We're going to run some tests and make sure that you're not bleeding from your brain or anything like that. If you check out physically, we'll get your set up with some therapy sessions to try to regain your memories. How does that sound?"
"Good, I guess."
"Okay," the doctor smiled. "I'll give you a few minutes with your visitors and then we'll check you out."
Once she was gone, Bonnie sighed.
"Can someone please explain to me what happened?"
Stefan again tried to explain but Caroline overtook him.
"Well, you and Damon got stuck on the Other Side. You died. We cried. We tried to bring you back. You're back. Now it's time for a welcome back party!"
Bonnie cracked a smile to appease Caroline, and it seemed to work. Stefan gave her a gentle pat on her shoulder.
"We'll explain later," he said. "For now, you need your rest."
She couldn't have agreed more. She accepted hugs Stefan, then Jeremy, then Caroline. When Elena approached for her embrace, Bonnie saw her watery eyes.
"Bon," she started, her voice wavering, "I'm so, so sorry. I know I have been an absolutely shitty friend for the past few years. I've been so caught up in my own drama that I let our friendship fall apart and you have no idea how much I missed you while you were gone. Or how much I wished and prayed for you to come back. I swear that I'm going to be a better friend, okay?"
Even though she still didn't understand what was going on, Bonnie did appreciate her friend's acknowledgment and apology and she gladly accepted. Their shared a long, warm hug and she waved them all goodbye.
For the next couple of days, Bonnie was subjected to a battery of annoying and probing tests. She checked out as completely healthy, with the exception of her memory loss. She couldn't even tell her doctor how extensive the loss was because of the supernatural nature of it. She accepted the prescription for therapy and when she was discharged, the nurse gave her a plastic bag filled with the belongings she'd had when she arrived at the hospital. Bonnie glanced at it in confusion; it looked like a bathrobe, some jewelry and hair rollers.
"Just gets weirder and weirder," she mumbled to herself when Caroline and Elena showed up to take her home.
She sat quietly in the back of Caroline's SUV as they drove down the familiar streets of Mystic Falls to her home. She basked in the chit-chat between Caroline and Elena, feeling normal for the first time in a while. They helped her out and into the house, and Bonnie was surprised when they both disappeared to the truck and returned with luggage.
"Uh, what's going on?" she asked.
"Bonnie Bennett, if you think for one second that we're going to let you stay here by yourself after everything you've been through, you're sadly mistaken," Caroline said matter-of-factly. "We're here for you, whether you like it or not."
Bonnie didn't even have the energy to object.
"Okay," she sighed and smiled. "But the price of admission is that I want as much information about this whole situation as possible."
"Sold," Elena said. "Now put on something comfortable and let's pig out on ice cream."
Bonnie did just that. She went up to her room and sat on her bed for a few minutes, taking everything in. She didn't understand why but something felt different. She felt like she hadn't been in her room in a long time, which she supposed made sense considering that she was apparently gone for six months. She slowly changed out of her hospital-issued clothes and donned her favorite sweatpants and T-shirt. When she went back downstairs, Elena had already spread out an assortment of goodies: ice cream, cookies, cupcakes and sodas. Bonnie's stomach grumbled in anticipation.
"Uh, God, that looks so good," she said. "After eating that hospital crap, I could shovel all of this into my mouth right now."
"Knock yourself out," Elena said with a big smile.
The three girls gathered around the counter and dove right into the details.
"So, someone please enlighten me," Bonnie said.
"Well, we don't really know much more than you do," Elena admitted. "You and Damon got stuck on the Other Side and you died. Jeremy and I went back to the woods every day trying to figure out how to get you back, if we could even get you back, and we finally found someone who helped us open the portal. We found both of you guys, unconscious, right there in the forest. Damon woke up but you were unresponsive so we took you to the hospital. You were there for a week before you came to."
Bonnie slowly chewed an Oreo and mulled over everything Elena said.
"What does Damon say? Does he remember anything?"
Elena sighed heavily. "He's been kind of MIA since you got back. From the extremely brief conversation we had, he doesn't remember anything."
"Why has he been gone? And what were you saying about him not being at the hospital because of the blood?"
"He's been transitioning again."
"What?" Bonnie asked, her eyes wide. "Transitioning again? To a vampire?"
"Our theory is that we was a human on the Other Side," Caroline said.
"Wow," she said slowly. "That's...crazy."
"You really don't remember anything?" Elena inquired.
"No. Nothing. It was a struggle to even remember being in the woods."
"Well, the important thing is that you're back now and we're so happy, Bon," Caroline said. "We missed you a lot. It sucked not having you here."
"Thanks, guys," she said with a genuine smile.
For the next few hours, the girls caught Bonnie up on what had happened in Mystic Falls during her absence. She was surprised to know that things had actually been pretty quiet. The travelers were gone, Matt was dating a new girl that they suspected was a vampire, and Caroline and Stephan were dating with Elena's blessing.
As the day shifted to night, Bonnie began to crave some real food on her stomach.
"How does pizza sound?" Elena asked.
"Amazing."
"Elena and I could do a little quick hunt and then go pick it up," Caroline offered. "If you're going to be okay by yourself for ten minutes."
"Guys, I promise I'll be fine. I would actually like a few minutes to myself, you know?"
"Fine. But if you're gone when we get back, I swear I'll find you myself and kill you," Caroline said with a pointed finger. Bonnie held up her hands in surrender.
Her friends left a little while later to hunt some furry woodland creatures and pick up the pizza and Bonnie took the time to enjoy the quiet of the house. She slowly climbed the stairs to her room and headed straight for the shower. She was quick since she knew her friends would be back soon. She toweled off and slipped into some shorts and a Mystic Falls High cheerleading shirt that fit a little too tightly from a few too many washings. She ran her hand over her bedspread, entertaining the thought of just going to bed, when a tapping noise came from her window.
Bonnie jumped and her head snapped up to see none other than Damon sitting on a branch in the tree right near her window. His black hair ruffled a little in the wind and his eyes seemed to glow in the darkness. They stared at each other for a moment, and Bonnie was surprised by how she felt at seeing him. Typically whenever she was around him, she felt a mixture of anxiety, dread, irritation and a touch of fear. But at that moment, she felt...relieved. Maybe even a little happy?
It was odd.
She cautiously moved to the window and slid it up.
"Hi," he said with his signature smirk.
"What are you doing here?"
"I heard through the grapevine that you were out of the hospital."
"And you came to check on me?" she asked with an arched eyebrow.
He poked his bottom lip out and nodded his head from side to side. "Just seeing if you're alive is all." He craned his head around her shoulder and looked around. "Gonna invite me in?"
Normally, Bonnie would have scoffed and closed the window on his face. Maybe smashed a few of his indestructible fingers. But instead, she found herself nodding.
"Come in."
She moved back as he slithered his way inside. He looked around and nodded slowly.
"Girly, but not too girly," he assessed. "Kind of like you."
"Do you remember anything about the Other Side? Where we were? What we did?"
"Not a thing," he said. He walked to her desk and picked up a few trinkets, and she took them from him and did her best annoyed face.
"So, you and I were together, for six months, doing God knows what, and somehow we both made it back alive? We didn't kill each other? Sounds fishy to me."
"Maybe I charmed you with my winning personality," he grinned.
"Maybe you drugged me until I found you tolerable," she say dryly.
"I see that little bump on your noggin has done nothing to diminish your fun demeanor."
"What do you want, Damon?" she sighed. "I'm tired, I'm confused and I don't have the mental energy to spar with you right now."
"Oh, I don't know. You're doing fine so far."
Bonnie put her hands on her hips. "Elena says you've been missing lately."
"I'm not the most fun when I transition," he said with a grim smile. "Didn't want to get mad and go on a killing spree. A certain judgey little witch I know wouldn't approve of that."
"And since when do you care what I think?"
"Good point. Maybe I'll kill your neighbor."
"Damon..." she groaned.
"Okay, fine, I'll stick to the blood bags." His eyes scanned her from top to bottom and he quirked an eyebrow. "You look different."
"I look the same."
"No you don't."
She sighed loudly. "Okay, if I ask you how I look different, will you get please get out and let me rest?"
He did that crazy eye thing that said he would, so she dropped her arms. He looked at her intensely, his gaze going from her face, to her arms, to her chest, and then her legs. She felt a little shy under his scrutiny, and her cheeks flamed when he slowly walked behind her. Although she couldn't see him, she could almost feel his gaze on her butt.
"Your hips are wider," he announced. "And your ass is bigger."
She spun around and punched him in the arm.
"Are you saying I've gotten fat?!"
"No," he said with a devious grin. "I'm saying you've gotten fucked. A lot."
Bonnie's eyes widened to ridiculous proportions and her whole body warmed with embarrassment.
"You've been a naughty girl, Bonnie Bennett. Does Little Gilbert know that you let someone on the Other Side put his hands in your cookie jar?"
She had no idea what to say. She wanted to refute what he was saying but she had gotten a quick glimpse of her naked body in the mirror and even she had to admit that her backside looked a bit plumper. But to have Damon notice, and for him to look at her with what she could only describe as approval, was a bit disorienting.
Damon looked to the side and then smiled.
"The girls are almost here. Have fun tonight. Nice ass, by the way," he said with a wink.
As soon as the words came from his mouth, Bonnie froze. In that instant, she had a vision of her and Damon, in his room, in bed together. He had that same stupid smirk on his face and used the exact same phrase. Just as soon as it appeared to her, it was gone and so was Damon. She stood, more confused than ever, until Caroline burst through the door.
"Hey, pizza downstairs!" she said.
Bonnie snapped out of it and turned to her friend. She must have looked as strange as she felt because Caroline frowned immediately.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
"Uh yeah, just feeling tired."
"Pizza and bed for you, then. Come on."
Bonnie allowed her friend to lead her out of the room but she took one last look over her shoulder, only to find nobody there. She couldn't explain the disappointment when she realized that Damon was really gone. She didn't even like Damon, so why in the world did it feel like she missed him?
It was definitely time for some sleep.
...
Thanks for all the reviews and favorites, guys! Please keep them coming! I don't expect this story will go on too much longer, so if you have ideas for new Bamon stories, let me know. Also with this story, if you have any interesting ideas for situations for our lovebirds to get into and "jog their memories" about what happened on the Other Side, let me know!