3 MONTHS LATER…

It was the last day of school as the final bell rung dismissing the students for the much awaited summer break. The school year had flown by just like that and now it was time to stay up all night and sleep in until noon and just chill. At least that was Matt Donovan's plan as he walked out of the classroom, headed to his locker to clean it out before they closed the building down. He walked the halls smiling in a good mood because he just knew that he'd passed all of his finals and was now officially a senior.

And there was a really good chance of him being team captain come football season and college recruiters would be coming out to the games specifically to watch him play, so he really had to step things up in order to get a scholarship and get the hell out of Mystic Falls.

But for right now, he was stuck, though he would use his time wisely.

His big sister had hooked him up with a part time job at the Grille. She was able to do that now that she was the restaurant's new manager. It was funny how no one batted an eyelash when Vicki hired Matt. That was probably the one good thing about living in a small town, people overlooked nepotism.

The handsome boy turned a corner and spotted his best friend down the hall cleaning out her locker.

He headed straight for her, forgetting about his own locker that needed cleaning out too.

The two had made up a while back and their friendship was stronger than ever. His cornflower blue eyes took in her attire. Boy, how things had changed. Last year around this time she was all covered up, her tiny frame being shrouded in loose fitting clothes, hiding her figure and now all he could see was a display of gorgeous caramel skin as she rocked a distressed denim mini skirt, a white tank and blue flip flops.

He strolled up to her and leaned his left shoulder against the lockers. "Hey I just found out that Peterson is giving a party at his house tonight…it should be interesting…you in?"

Bonnie chucked all of her old assignments, tests and notes that cluttered her locker into the plastic black trashcan at her side. Memories of Damon helping her with some of this flooding her mind and causing her heart to ache.

She wasn't in the mood to party, but Stefan was right; she couldn't let life pass her by no matter how much she was hurting inside.

"Yeah, it sounds like fun." She said somewhat flatly.

It was not like she had anything better to do, Bonnie thought to herself.

"Great." He said straightening up. The boy tugged his bottom lip between his teeth. "And would it be okay if I crashed at your place tonight?"

Bonnie continued to clean out her locker. "Matt, you know you don't have to ask."

"Yeah, I know… I just don't want you to think that I'm taking advantage, you know?"

The girl stopped what she was doing and touched her best friend's arm. "Hey, I would never think that... I know that things have been tough at home since Vicki moved out and got her own place and your mother moved in her boyfriend."

Ms. Donovan's new boyfriend was by far the worst of the lot of losers she'd had over the years. His name was Alaric Saltzman, but everyone called him Ric and he was one of those undercover racists with the philosophy, if you ain't white then you ain't right.

Yeah, he was one of those motherfuckers.

And for some unknown reason, he had it in for Matt, who was the epitome all the all American white teenage boy. It didn't make sense. Ric just didn't like him. And ever since he'd moved into their home, Matt was miserable. That was one of the reasons why he got a summer job, to keep him out of the house.

Anger crossed Matt's face. "I hate that guy so much Bonnie."

She rubbed her hand up and down his arm in sympathy. "I know…but look at it this way, you'll be going off to college soon."

He sighed, relaxing the tension that had set up in his shoulders. "Yeah, I just have to make it through senior year."

"You will Matty…we both will."

The boy saw some unnamed emotion appeared in Bonnie's eyes before she turned away.

Though she tried to pretend like everything was fine with her, Matt knew better. For months now, Bonnie had been on autopilot, just going through the motions. She was there, but she wasn't really present, her mind was a million miles away. And no one around them but him seemed to notice.

Matt's guess was that it had something to do with Damon suddenly leaving town a few months ago and leaving Stefan behind to look after her and Jamie.

She never talked about him or what happened between them and Matt didn't pry, knowing that if Bonnie wanted him to know she would have told him.

But Damon leaving town had unexpectedly worked in Matt's favor. Whenever he wanted to get away from home, he would crash at the boarding house. Hell, the guest bedroom down the hall from Bonnie's was practically his room now, having spent the night there more than a dozen times over the last couple of months.

The first few times that Matt had come over to the house Bonnie had been nervous, wondering how he would react to Stefan. But the strange thing was the boy hadn't picked up the same vibes from the younger Salvatore that he had from the older one, which was so weird because they both were vampires.

Go figure.

But maybe it had something to do with their very distinct personalities. Damon had an abrasive way about him that was very off putting to some people, whereas Stefan was more laid back and mild mannered, easier to get along with.

The said caramel haired vampire wandered into Bonnie's bedroom and laid across her bed as she sat at her desk on the computer.

"You better not be looking at porn or I'll be forced to confiscate your laptop." He teased.

Bonnie snorted. "No, I think you're getting me confused with yourself because you're the only pervert in this house who likes to look at porn."

He smirked, grabbing one of her pillows from the top of the bed and placing it underneath his chin. "So what are your plans for tonight, young lady?"

Bonnie closed the browser of the computer screen and got up from the desk. "Matt and I are going to a party."

He watched her as she crossed the room and looked through her messenger bag that sat on the chair in the corner.

"Oh and he wants to spend the night here." She said as an afterthought.

"That asshole is still giving him trouble, huh?" Stefan asked from the bed, casually inspecting his short clean nails.

Bonnie sighed as she found what she was looking for and crossed back over the room. "Yeah, but I'm just glad that he can come here when things get tough."

The younger Salvatore looked up at her. "You know Bonnie, I could take care of it."

She paused and turned to look at him, her face becoming guarded. "No… Alaric is just an ignorant loud mouth prick. He hasn't been stupid enough to put his hands on Matt or anything like that." She said, not wanting the man's blood on her hands.

Stefan just looked at her. "I wasn't going to kill him Bonnie."

Her jaw tensed as she turned away. "Stop reading my mind."

"Then stop making it so damn easy and close your thoughts to me." He shot back.

He'd taught her how to do it after she discovered he could read minds. "There." He said after a moment, no longer able to pick up on any of her thoughts.

Bonnie didn't say anything.

"You know, Jamie doesn't mind at all when I read his thoughts. In fact, he gets a big kick out of it...no wonder I like him better than I like you." He teased, trying to break the awkward silence that had settled into the room.

That was true. Jamie was fascinated by the whole vampire thing.

After the incident with Lexi, Bonnie decided he needed to know what was going on. She couldn't keep him in the dark anymore. It was too dangerous. Because what if something like that went down again. She didn't want him to be caught off guard. He needed to be aware of what was out there and surprisingly, the boy took the news of Damon and Stefan being vampires very well...a hell of a lot better than she did.

He wasn't scared or freaked out, but then again he hadn't witness what she had that night either.

There was nothing like seeing a bloody heart being ripped from a body to make a person lose their shit.

"Yeah, well, I guess I'm just not a very likeable person these days."

"Hey." Stefan said softy, getting up from the bed and going to her, but stopped when he found himself reaching out to touch her. He dropped his hand. "I was just kidding around."

Bonnie nodded her head, hugging herself. She wasn't upset about what Stefan said; her mind was on other things. She felt so cold and empty inside with Damon gone. She'd really fucked everything up. If only she could go back in time and change what happened.

Who knew that she could have so many regrets at the tender age of sixteen?

If only she had handled things differently, everything would have eventually worked itself out.

Her voice was so small when she spoke again. "It's been three months and we haven't heard a word from him." She sadly shook her head. "I don't think he's coming back, Stefan…I really hurt him."

Yeah, she had.

Stefan thought his brother would revert back to his old ways and that the people of Mystic Falls would pay dearly for Bonnie breaking his heart, but that didn't happen. Instead, they all woke up one morning to find him gone.

Damon didn't say goodbye or even leave a note. He just packed a bag and left.

Bonnie didn't leave her bed for a week.

She completely detached herself from everything and everyone, like his leaving town had devastated her. And it had. Even though she was the one to end things between them.

With Damon gone, Bonnie couldn't eat or sleep. She was brokenhearted. And no one could get through to her, not even poor Jamie who didn't know what the hell was going on during those first few days.

And even though Stefan was suffering from his own loss, grieving over Lexi's death; he had to step up because someone needed to be there for Jamie. The boy was so confused and if he wasn't asking what was wrong with his sister, he was asking why Damon left.

It was a hard time for everyone.

Two weeks had gone by and Stefan had had enough. He barged into Bonnie's bedroom, pulling the curtains back from the windows and allowing some light to come into the room. He yanked the covers from her small body and picked her up into his arms and carried her into the bathroom, placing her in the shower with her pajamas still on and he turned on the water.

Bonnie had screeched like a hyena, rushing to turn the water off because it was cold.

Stefan had done it on purpose wanting to shock some sort of feeling back into her.

When the water was off and she stood there soaking wet in her pajama, she turned scornful eyes on him. But the vampire wasn't fazed. Let her be mad at him, at least she was feeling some kind of emotion.

"It's time to get back to the land of the living and the undead, sweetheart." And then his voice turned harsh. "Now pull yourself together because you still have Jamie to think about. Remember him?"

It was a low blow, but a necessary one. She couldn't be allowed to wallow in her sadness and regret because it would only get worse. It was time to nip this shit in the bud now. After all, it wasn't like Damon was dead.

If anyone had the right to wallow in their sadness it was Stefan, but he couldn't do that because he had to take care of Jamie and Bonnie.

At his words, she blinked. It was like she suddenly came to herself. He was right; she had Jamie to think about. And after a moment, she slowly nodded her head.

"That's good to know." He said, before taking his leave.

And after that, it was all about trying to build Bonnie back up. It was a slow going process, but Stefan was determined and it wasn't easy. But she slowly found herself again, but she wasn't the same; there was still a deep sadness inside of her, though now she tried to hide it from everyone because she didn't want them to worry about her anymore. Damon was gone and there was nothing she could do about it. All she could do was try to live her life.

Stefan allowed himself to touch her and reached up to wipe the tears from her eyes, pulling Bonnie from her thoughts and back into the present moment.

She looked up at him with sorrowful eyes, sniffing lightly. "You know what's funny, the moment he left was when I realized that I'd made a mistake and that I still loved him in spite of everything. But it was too late to take everything back."

Bonnie remembered how scared and confused she was after everything happened. She was an emotional wreck and wasn't thinking straight. And there Damon was, literally on his knees practically begging her to love and accept who he truly was, while in his vampire form, but all she could see was how he'd lied to her, which made her believe that everything about them had been a lie. She became angry and lashed out at him, wanting to hurt him like he'd hurt her.

For as long as she lived, Bonnie would never forget the look on Damon's face when she told him that it was over between them.

"I wish I could take it all back, Stefan." She cried, shutting her eyes from all the pain she was feeling inside.

The following week ushered in Bonnie's seventeenth birthday and Stefan wanted to give her a party, but the teenager vetoed that plan as soon as it was brought to her attention.

Bonnie just couldn't do it.

She was tired of putting on a happy face and she definitely wasn't going to do it for a bunch of people she didn't give a damn about. She'd done that for the last three months straight and she needed a break from the charade.

But Stefan couldn't let the day go by without some sort of celebration, so he decided to crank up the grill for a little afternoon barbeque and he gave Matt some money to stop by The Cheesecake Factory to pick up the birthday girl's favorite dessert.

Meanwhile, Bonnie had no idea that all of this was going on back at the house because she was at the salon getting her hair done. It was way past time for a touch up, so she decided what better day to get her hair done than on her birthday? It was sort of her gift to herself.

The lady who did Bonnie's hair talked her into getting a Dominican blowout and even though it hurt like hell, she loved the end result. Her hair now had a flowy bouncy to it, moving every time she did.

Stefan whistled appreciatively when he saw her.

Bonnie looked absolutely gorgeous without even trying. She had on a simple black Maxi dress and black thong sandals with her sunglasses perched on the top of her head, looking like she belonged in Miami on some beach rather than Mystic Falls.

Bonnie smiled at the compliment in spite of herself. "What's all this?" She asked looking around the kitchen to see grocery bags littering the countertop.

Stefan shrugged. "It's summertime and I felt like having a barbeque."

Bonnie nodded, but then she raised an arched brow in suspicion when Matt and Jamie waltzed into the kitchen and the former was carrying a dessert box from The Cheesecake Factory.

Her gaze swung back to Stefan.

He rolled his eyes. "Relax party pooper, it's just a small cake and no one else is coming…it'll only be the four of us."

The now seventeen year old girl sighed, giving in. "Fine." She said, going over to the island to see what he planned on making for her birthday dinner.

She peaked into the bags to see that he'd bought steaks and fresh lobsters. There was also fresh ears of corn and plenty of stuff to make a salad.

"Ooh, surf and turf. Nice."

"If you think that's something, then check out the cake." Matt said, opening up the box for her to see.

She leaned over and her mouth watered at the delicious looking red velvet cheesecake.

They were really trying hard to make this birthday nice for her. Bonnie wanted to cry. She looked up at their expectant faces. "Thanks guys, I really appreciate all this."

"And it was the last red velvet cheesecake they had Bonnie and we got it!" Jamie said excitedly.

Bonnie laughed. "Lucky for us, huh?"

The boy nodded his head, becoming serious. "Yeah."

"Well, I just hope you got enough for one more."

Bonnie literally stopped breathing at the sound of his voice as all their heads snapped up in his direction.

Jamie was the first one to react. "Damon!" Jamie screamed happily, going over to the vampire and giving him a big hug.

Stefan's eyes immediately went to Bonnie and when he saw the look on her face, he turned away. She was gripping the counter for support, like it was the only thing keeping her steady, her eyes locked to Damon's face like she couldn't believe that he was standing there only a few feet away from her.

He was home, was all that was going through Bonnie's head as she stared at him.

"You're home." She heard Jamie say, taking the words right out of her mouth. Damon pulled back so that he could take a good look at the boy. He cupped the back of Jamie's neck.

"Yeah, I'm home. I missed you buddy."

"Not as much as I missed you…you were gone for a long time." He returned.

Damon nodded, his eyes landing briefly on Bonnie. "But I'm back now and that's all that matters."

Jamie smiled, patting his shoulder.

Damon looked at Stefan curiously, finding it odd that he had yet to say a word or even move to greet him hello. "Aren't you happy to see me, baby brother?"

Stefan snapped out of his thoughts. "What are you talking about…of course I'm happy to see you." He finally moved from where he was standing and gave Damon a bro hug. "I'm glad you're back." He said, slightly gulping.

"I hope so." He said as the two pulled apart.

Questioning blue eyes took in Matt. "Donovan? Is that you? I guess you don't mind coming over just as long as I'm not around, is that it?" He said, cocking a brow.

"Yeah." The blonde boy admitted with his face taut.

Damon snorted, dismissing him.

The kitchen became noticeably quiet as Damon and Bonnie stared at each other.

Stefan cleared his throat. "Um Jamie, Matt, come outside and help me with the grill."

The two boys left the kitchen, following Stefan out the backdoor and leaving Damon and Bonnie alone.

"Happy birthday."

"Thank you." She said, swallowing hard.

Silence.

"So, is this how it's going to be between us…awkward silences?" Damon sighed, rubbing his face in frustration. "I mean, we used to be able to talk to one other."

Bonnie hated the awkwardness between them too. Her eyes began to water and she dropped her gaze, twisting her hands together. "I know." She said with tears in her voice.

He wanted to go to her and pull her into his arms, but he couldn't do that anymore. She was no longer his to hold.

Damon cleared his throat. "So…so how have you been?"

Miserable. She nodded her head, unconvincingly. "Fine…I've been fine."

Silence.

"And what about you, how have you been?" She asked lifting her eyes to meet his while biting down on her bottom lip.

Damon shook his head, shrugging lightly. "You know me. I adapt."

Bonnie knew what that meant. Damon had probably fucked his way from there to China.

She hugged herself, looking away from him and out the window at her brother who was pouring charcoal into the grill. "Yeah, I know you alright." She said under her breath.

He heard her and he exploded.

"Don't you dare put this on me, Bonnie!" He bellowed. "As I recall, you're the one that ended things between us, remember?!" He yelled, unforgivingly.

"I know that!" She screamed, bursting into tears. "But it was a mistake…I made a mistake...but I didn't realize it until you were gone…but by then it was too late to tell you that I didn't mean it!"

Damon froze at her words.

She wiped the tears from her eyes with trembling hands. "So much happened that night, Damon…I was a mess and I said things out of hurt and anger and fear…things that I didn't mean."

She looked up at him with her heart shining in her eyes. "I hurt you and I'm so sorry…I've never regretted something so much in my entire life." She sniffled all the while, finding it hard to talk. "And I know that you have every right to hate me, but I pray that you don't because I love you so much Damon. I lied to you before…I haven't been fine, I've been miserable since the moment you left." She said dropping her head into the palm of her hands and sobbing uncontrollably.

She didn't hear when Damon closed the distance between them, pulling her into his arms.

"You weren't the only one who was miserable." He confessed, kissing her head.

Bonnie wrapped her arms tightly around his waist, burying her face in his chest. "It almost killed me when you left."

He shushed her while cradling the back of her head, not wanting to hear her say that.

She pulled back to look at him, but kept her arms around his waist. "Do you still love me?"

He wiped her tears away with the pads of his thumbs. "Silly girl, don't you know by now that there's nothing you can ever do to make me stop loving you?"

More tears fell from her eyes. "So you forgive me for freaking out on you and messing everything up?"

He wiped them away. "You weren't alone Bonnie. I had a part in what happened too. When things got serious between us, I should have told you that I was a vampire."

She wiped her runny nose with the back of her hand, sniffing softly. "I know now that you didn't tell me because you were afraid of losing me."

He nodded while gently caressing her face.

"And I now know that I should have given you time to process everything that happened that night, instead of making it about me."

There was silence as they stared into each others eyes.

"I'm sorry I hurt you Damon."

"And, I'm sorry that I lied to you."

Their lips met, sealing their forgiveness in a kiss.

Bonnie was the first to pull away, needing air to breath.

Damon held her to him, unable to let her go. He couldn't believe that this nightmare was over. He'd missed Bonnie so much and couldn't stay away from her a moment longer, so he'd pack his bag and came back to Mystic Falls, even though he knew that she hated him, but Damon didn't care anymore just as long as he could be near her.

And thank God that he came home, otherwise he never would have known that she still loved him.

He gently grabbed a fistful of her hair and pulled her head back, bending his own head to capture her lips once again in a searing kiss. She moaned into his mouth, only coming to her senses when something crashed to the ground outside.

She pulled out of his arms, causing Damon to frown. "We need to take this little reunion upstairs."

Damon growled, lifting her into his arms and vamp speeding out of the kitchen.

The three guys could hear her startled scream from outside.

Matt looked at Stefan in alarm. "Relax, she's fine." He said, his face brooding. He'd heard their entire conversation.

So Bonnie and Damon were back together.

Stefan angrily threw the lit match onto the charcoals at the bottom of the grill." "Now that Damon's back, Bonnie's just fine."

The two reconciled lovebirds came back downstairs a couple of hours later, both noticeably wearing different outfits.

While Damon headed out back when he saw Jamie at the grill, Bonnie stopped to admire the feast that Stefan had prepared. "Oh my god Stefan, everything looks so good." She said, coming up to stand beside him as he finished the salad.

Even though he could smell the scent of soap on Bonnie's skin, he could still detect the smell of sex on her.

Bonnie looked up at him when he didn't respond. She touched his arm. "Hey, is everything okay, Stef?"

He jerked away from her, causing her to gasp softly. She immediately dropped her hand, looking at him with wide eyes.

Stefan checked himself, clearing his throat. "Yeah…everything's fine. Let's eat."

She swallowed hard. "Okay."

Damon came in from outside. "Hey, what's taking so long in here?"

Bonnie cleared her throat, looking away from Stefan. "We were just coming out."

"Is that so?" He said in a playful tone, swaggering up to her.

Bonnie blushed at the way he was looking at her, like he was ready to eat her and not the surf and turf they were having for dinner.

Stefan turned away from the happy couple with the salad in his hands. "I'll be outside."

Bonnie watched him go, a slight frown marring her pretty face.

Damon noticed. "What's wrong, birthday girl?"

Her eyes went to his. "I think Stefan is upset with me."

"Why?"

She shrugged. "I have no idea."

Damon's eyebrows knitted together. "Well, what did he say?"

"He didn't really say anything."

"Then he's not upset with you…trust me, you'd know when my baby brother was upset." He said, kissing the tip of her nose. "Come on, let's go eat…we need to put some meat back on your bones."

Bonnie had lost a little weight while he was gone. He hadn't noticed until he undressed her and saw how fragile she looked.

Maybe Damon was right and she was seeing things that weren't there, Bonnie thought to herself as he pulled her along out the backdoor.

That night, Bonnie left the warmth of Damon's bed to go downstairs and get another slice of that sinfully delicious red velvet cheesecake. It seemed that now Damon was home, she'd gotten her appetite back.

She walked into the kitchen to see Stefan standing by the counter drinking a cup of blood. She felt funny about interrupting him. Any other time she would've just barged into the room without a second thought, but things felt weird between them. He was treating her differently but it was so subtle that it made Bonnie think she was imagining it.

He finally acknowledged her presence by looking at her. Bonnie didn't move further into the kitchen, but she did speak after a moment.

"Stefan did I do something to upset you?"

He didn't say anything which made Bonnie continue on lamely. "I mean, you've been acting weird all night and I was just wondering if I did anything."

He brought the cup from his mouth and sat it down on the counter. "No...everything's fine." He said, breaking eye contact.

Bonnie shook her head. "No, everything is not fine, Stefan. Something is wrong, I can feel it."

She watched as he placed the empty cup into the sink and began to walk her way, intending to leave the kitchen.

She blocked his path. "Stefan please talk to me. We're friends."

The girl watched him tense up and didn't understand why.

"There's nothing to talk about, Bonnie. I'll see you in the morning, okay." He walked past her.

That midnight craving for something sweet disappeared.

As soon as he was out of the kitchen, Stefan paused closing his eyes. Now that Damon was back, he should probably leave.

The last few months had been a series of highs and lows.

Of course, Damon killing Lexi had been a major low.

And, the unexpected high had been finding himself slowly falling in love with a beautiful young girl...that was hopelessly in love with his handsome older brother.