Chapter 24

The silence was deafening as Bonnie and Damon stared at Elena, and she stared right back at them. Bonnie felt paralyzed, both from shock and embarrassment that she was naked. When her brain began to function again, she reached for the nearest piece of clothing and tried to cover any of the parts that might have been on display.

"Elena," she started, even though she had no idea how she was going to end that sentence. Elena shook her head and then ran out of the room without saying a word. Bonnie covered her face with her hands. "Shit!" she screamed. "That's not how that was supposed to go!"

"I'll stop her," Damon said. "This will probably be the last time I ever say this, but put some clothes on."

He hopped off Bonnie, grabbed a shirt, and ran downstairs after Elena. Bonnie stayed in the bed for a moment, replaying that horrible moment in her head and wondering why she couldn't have just stayed away from Damon until New Year's, when she planned to come clean to Elena anyway. She had the most awful luck and as much as she wanted to wallow in self-pity, she had some major damage control to do. She found her clothes, which Damon had thrown around the room, and pulled them on as quickly as possible. She scurried down the stairs and followed the raised voices to the foyer. She came to a halt when she saw Elena and Damon, screaming at each other.

"How could you?" Elena yelled through a stream of tears. "How could you screw my best friend?!"

"You need to calm down," he said, holding his hands up.

"Calm down? I just caught you in bed with Bonnie! You don't get to tell me to calm down!"

"If you'd stop acting like a maniac, we could explain it to you!"

"What's to explain? You were on top of her and she was naked! I think I get it, Damon."

Bonnie slowly got close enough that both of them turned their heads to her. Damon looked concerned for her safety and Elena looked like she might pounce. Bonnie held her hand and shook her head.

"Don't even think about it," she said seriously. "I will use my magic if I have to, but I really don't want to. Please let me talk to you."

Elena's face went from one of rage to pain and more tears spilled down her cheeks.

"How could you?" she asked again, only this time much softer. Guilt consumed Bonnie, as she knew it would whenever she broke the news to Elena.

"We didn't plan this, okay?" Bonnie said slowly and evenly, hoping that her calm tone might soothe Elena. "And we definitely didn't want to hurt you. I'm sorry that you found out this way and that was not my intention. Please let me explain."

Elena's jaw clenched and Bonnie expected her to speed right out of the boarding house and never speak to her again. Instead, Elena folded her arms and waited with an expression that let Bonnie know that no explanation would be good enough.

"Damon, could you give us a minute?" Bonnie asked.

He raised an eyebrow, and she nodded.

"I'll be upstairs if you need me," he said.

Once he was gone, Bonnie slowly lowered her hand, silently making a peace offering. Elena only glared.

"When Damon and I woke up on the Other Side, we were mid-way through this life that we were already leading," Bonnie began. "You were with Stefan and Caroline was with Matt and all of you guys were really happy. Damon and I were not only together, but we were engaged. We tried to fight it for a little while, but then we just...couldn't. We fell in love."

"And you guys never once thought about me or Jeremy," Elena snarled.

"We were dead, Elena. Dead. I know that death doesn't mean much around here, but we had no reason to think that we were ever coming back home. What were we supposed to do? Spend the rest of our after-lives pining over people that we'd never see again?"

"Jeremy and I pined over you two for six months! While you were partying it up on the Other Side and fucking each other!"

Annoyance and anger ignited in Bonnie's bones but she reminded herself what Elena had just walked in on and she tried to be patient.

"Like I said, I'm sorry that you saw that. Really, I am. That's not how I wanted you to find out. But this isn't just about sex for us and we didn't do this to hurt you."

"Yeah? Well, that's exactly what you did."

"I'm sorry," Bonnie said genuinely.

"Sorry doesn't cut it," Elena spat. "You know, I might expect something like this from Caroline. After all, she seems to love moving on with my exes. First Matt, then Stefan. Damon wouldn't surprise me at all. But you?" She looked at Bonnie and shook her head like she was disgusted. "You weren't supposed to be like that."

Irritation got the best of Bonnie when she asked, "and what was I supposed to be, Elena? Your sidekick, asexual friend that none of your gorgeous boyfriends could possibly find attractive?"

Elena actually looked surprised by Bonnie's assessment and for a brief moment, she shook her head apologetically.

"That's not what I meant. You act like I think you're not worthy of them or something. That's not what I said."

"You didn't have to say it! You've always thought it! I'm just supposed to be this neat little accessory that you can pull out whenever you want and then discard like trash!"

"Don't try to make yourself the victim, Bonnie! You're the one who fucked up here, not me!"

"The only way I fucked up was by not telling you the truth from the beginning, but I didn't do anything else wrong. I'm not sorry that I was with Damon on the Other Side, and I'm not sorry that I'm with him now. You can either accept it or you can't."

Silence fell between them again and each woman surveyed the other, trying to understand how their friendship had come to this point.

"I can't accept it," Elena said lowly.

In that moment, Bonnie had a powerful vision of the way they used to be. At one point, they were so close that they truly considered each other as sisters. They told each other everything, supported each other's endeavors and nursed the other's broken heart. Those days were long gone and Bonnie hardly recognized the person in front of her anymore. She hardly recognized herself either, but her transformation was one she embraced and needed. Elena's, not so much.

"Okay," she said, barely above a whisper.

"I can't give you my blessing to be with Damon," Elena said.

"I didn't ask you to."

"And I can't be friends with you if you're with him."

"I understand."

The ultimate question hung between them like a heavy weight, and several tense quiet moments passed before Elena said what they were both thinking.

"It's him or me."

It wasn't even a choice, but Bonnie still mourned the fact that she was going to lose her oldest friend.

"I choose Damon," Bonnie said.

Elena's brown eyes widened in a way that told Bonnie that she was actually surprised by the answer. Somehow, even after everything Bonnie had said, Elena still expected her to to choose their broken friendship over love. When Bonnie didn't change her mind, Elena stiffened her shoulders and left without another word. Bonnie stared at the door for a few minutes, before she returned upstairs to Damon's room. He sat on the bed and looked sympathetic when their eyes met.

"I guess you heard," Bonnie said quietly.

"Yeah." He stood and slowly approached her. "You want to talk about it?"

Bonnie shook her head but accepted his hug. She pressed her face into his chest and he stroked her hair and told her it was okay as the weight of her fight with Elena settled over her and she cried. She didn't know how long they were standing there but when fatigue got the best of her, they walked to his bed and he gently lay her down. She let him disrobe her down to her panties and after he was only in his boxers, he tucked her underneath the covers and spooned her. They didn't talk but she clutched his hand while he kissed her neck and comforted her. Despite the fight with Elena, sleep came easily for Bonnie.

But Damon didn't sleep. He just held her and listened to her breathe all night. When the sun began to peek into the room, Bonnie groaned and turned around so that she was facing him. Damon scooted back enough so that he could look at her and take her in. Even in her sleep, she was beautiful. He ran a finger over cheek, then her lips. His eyes fell to her chest, where one pert breast was fully visible. He gently caressed her nipple and she whimpered and reached for him.

It was still kind of crazy to him that he and Bonnie were in this position, but it was something that he wouldn't change for the world. He thought back to the conversation from the night before, where he'd overheard the words exchanged between her and Elena. He hadn't really had time to appreciate them because he was trying to make Bonnie feel better, but as he replayed them in his head, a thought struck him. Never in his many years of life had anyone chosen him for anything. He was always second or third best and constantly lost to Stefan. Katherine hadn't chosen him. Elena had chosen Stefan many times before she finally went to him and even that was under supernatural circumstances.

But Bonnie had chosen him. She ended a lifelong friendship for him. And he didn't have to beg her for her love or fight his brother for her. She gave it to him freely and was willing to end relationships to be with him.

It was the kind of love he'd wanted his entire life.

He gingerly crept out of bed so he wouldn't wake her, then he knelt at the large chest in front of his bed. As quietly as he could, he rummaged through the chest until he found what he was looking for. He pulled out a large, mostly unused sketchpad and a box of charcoal pencils. He scooted a chair across from the bed, so he had the most artistic and flattering vantage point of Bonnie. He opened up to a fresh page and held a pencil right about the paper. It had been so long since he'd drawn that he wasn't sure he still knew how. But once he made the first few lines on the page, it all came back to him.

For an hour, he looked at Bonnie and drew. He tried to perfect the complexities of her hair and the shadows of her cheek bones. Once he'd gotten her features just right, he moved on to the rest of her body. A smirk came to his lips when he thought about drawing her exactly as she was, topless and exposed. But he didn't want her to be upset, so he drew her arm covering her chest, then moved down to the rumpled sheets.

"Damon?" her soft voice came. He looked over the sketchpad and held up a hand, causing her to stop any movement.

"Don't move," he gently directed. "I'm drawing you."

Surprise showed in her bright eyes, but she settled back into her position and closed her eyes without question. She was incredibly patient, even when he took another thirty minutes to finish.

"Okay," he said.

Bonnie opened her eyes again and he could see the question her face. He took one last look at his picture, smudged a few places to get the coloring just right, then tore the paper off the sketchpad. He handed it to Bonnie, whose eyes widened.

"Wow," she said. A blush crept into his cheeks as she stared at the drawing like she had never seen something so good. "Damon, this is amazing. I had no idea that you could draw."

"I haven't drawn in thirty years," he told as he joined her on the bed again. He held up the picture for both of them to look at and he had to admit, it was pretty nice.

"Thirty years? Why so long?" She rested her head on his chest and he put the paper down on a nightstand. He gathered her up in his arms and kissed the top of her head.

"I wasn't inspired, I guess."

"I inspired you?"

"You did."

Bonnie looked up at him and asked, "you never drew for Elena?"

He shook his head, and she smiled. She rested her head on his chest again, he rubbed her arms, and both of them knew then that they were in it for the long haul.