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Note: Hope the last chapter wasn't too bad for you guys. Here's another one. Enjoy and feel free to comment!

Chapter 12

"Let me call you back…" Damon said into the phone as he ended the call. It was a moment before he stepped out of the car, he wanted to make sure he wasn't seeing things.

"I see you finally got the happy ending you've asked me for" she said, her tone even, her face balanced, she was giving nothing away.

"And I can see you because…?" he asked, his guard already up.

"That's not important right now Damon" she replied but Damon shook his head.

"Pretty sure it is, considering you're dead" he reminded her as she gave him a stern look but he only returned it.

"Time is of the essence" she told him as he rolled his eyes.

"I feel like it always is" he said sarcastically as Shelia's bottom lip tightened.

"You cannot go through with this cure Damon, it will cause more harm than good" she quickly said as Damon looked over her expression. She looked worried, frightened even.

"I'm sure you're right, but, a lot of lives are in this" he told her.

"Not yours" Shelia was quick to remind him.

"Yes, well, your granddaughter has assured me she loves me either way, so," Damon told her as he decided this conversation wasn't worth the oncoming argument.

"It involves Bonnie going to the other side again" Shelia said, her words spilling out as Damon put his hand on the car's door. Damon paused, Shelia could be lying, after all, there was no way for him to be seeing her.

"Why can I see you?" he asked turning back to face her.

"Because a lot of things happened that night you saved Bonnie," she said, the tiniest smile on her face. "And I don't mean from Silas" she added.

"Okay, fine, let's say I believe you. Bonnie's been to the other side, she can handle it, she's a big girl now" Damon said though he knew he was more so telling this to himself. Had Klaus told him it involved traveling to the other side he would've freaked the fuck out.

"We both know this is a secret that won't be kept long. And surely by know Katherine has informed a hand full of vampires that curse can be force fed. I'm sure there are those unwilling to go back to the way they are now" Shelia explained. Okay, so she had a good point there. But, still, he could protect her. Granted he wasn't at her side this minute.

"Alright, let's say there's a big petition to prevent the cure from being made? No one has to actually know we're doing it." Even as he said he didn't believe it.

"Regardless Damon, Bonnie is now a target, though I'm sure you know who's most likely to do what" she said giving him a look. Was that some sort of clue? "I want you to protect my granddaughter. If you can't do that you should tell me now, because I know I can protect her, I can bring her to a safe place." This time Damon did freeze. Was Shelia implying she'd kill Bonnie to protect her? Was she saying things could be worst? Was there an actual safe place he could trust Shelia to keep her?

"No, I got it" he told her, his voice oddly off balance. "Don't take her from me" he said, unable to figure out if he was terrified or angry. This seemed to satisfy Shelia because she smiled, just a bit. Was this really Shelia or some hallucination he was having was, it could be that being with Bonnie was finally getting the best of him.

"This is real Damon," Shelia said as if reading his mind.

"Then why aren't you more concerned about Rudy?" he asked.

"Because either way, he has a life to live. We both know given everything, Bonnie would not want your life" Shelia said, though her words weren't cold or disheartening.

"Pretty sure our buddy Rudy wouldn't either…" Damon countered but Shelia didn't respond. "Like I said, I got this, take care now" he said getting into his car. Even as he backed up and drove around Shelia he couldn't help but wonder if maybe he should take her words to head.

"Where have been? Stefan said you were on your way" Bonnie said jumping up from a stool as he slowly approached her. He smiled at her, his little witchy, all worried and anxious about his well-being, all concerned and keeping in touch with Stefan.

"Look at you, all worried and stuff" he teased as Bonnie straightened her face and composed herself to look less, worried but he couldn't shake the little feeling that she felt something was still wrong.

"You didn't bring anything did you?" she asked. Damon gave her a look, only slight noting her tone which seemed weird, but he simply assumed it was because she was trying not to be annoyed with him for not getting anything.

"Yeah, about that….no" he said but as Bonnie started parted her lips to speak he put a finger to her lips. "I had a little run in with your grandmother so I was bit distracted" he told her as her eyebrows got furrowed like Stefan's did.

"What do you mean?" she asked as Damon sighed and sat on the stool, nodding at the large brown bag Bonnie had left where she had been sitting.

"What's that?" he asked as Bonnie quickly looked around, again slight worry and alarm covering her face but when she looked back at him she relaxed upon seeing he was just nodding at the bag. "You okay?" he asked squinting at her as she nodded and focused on him.

"Just the stuff I told you about; what do you mean you saw my grams?" she asked gently touching his shoulder. He tensed at her touch, he was getting too close to her, they were getting too public, Shelia was right, people were going to find out, people were going to try and stop Bonnie. He swallowed hard as he put his hand on hers, bringing her fingers up to kiss her knuckles, he'd do anything to protect her.

"What's this?" he asked noticing small faded lines near Bonnie's thumb. Even before the words left his lips, Bonnie was pulling away.

"It's nothing" she whispered, but Damon grabbed her hand and examined it. He stared at it, it looked familiar, but why? They weren't bite marks or stretches.

"Bonnie…who did this to you?" he asked realizing it wasn't self-inflicted.

"Don't get mad, but—"

"Who?" he said unintentionally yanking her closer; he felt his eyes getting darker.

"Excuse me, is there a problem?" Damon started to turned to the stranger and tell them to fuck off, but as soon as he made eye contact he was meet with another pair of dark eyes. "Is there a problem?" the guy asked, an olive skinned man with straight brown hair to his ears, instantly taking in his popping veins under his eyes. Damon looked over the guy, but then he noticed how quiet Bonnie got. Slowly, he looked at her, her face was a bit pale. He only had to look around to find out way. Slowly surrounding them were at least fifteen vampires.