Hello! Not much to say except hoping you've liked this story, and will like what's yet to come. I've loved writing it, and am doing my best on the sequel to make sure it's better than this one. So far I can tell you I'll be ignoring a lot of what happened in the last eight episodes of the series, making things my way, what events may happen, still won't in the same way. (And there's no way my Bonnie, or even Jeremy will be like the ones in those episodes!)

Some pretty big surprises in this chapter, hope you'll like them. I enjoyed writing it very much.

Well, that's that, enjoy the chapter and, if possible, I would be very happy if you helped me reach 200 reviews by this chapter. We're so close...if you do I promise to give you the next chapter early! (just one more chapter missing, and then the epilogue...)

Chapter 12. Heart and Soul

Bonnie stood before a mirror in front of her bedroom in Grams' home. She was once again wearing the same white lace dress, spotless, as if that shocking and eventful night had never happened, though it had been a week since.

Caroline herself was standing behind her wearing rather simple off-white dress. The blonde just kept looking at her friend with an approving smile.

"I still don't understand what this is all for, Caro…" Bonnie half-pouted.

"And you don't need to." Caroline told her, evading the eyes. "Just go along with it."

The blonde Sensitive then handed her witch friend a beautiful milky white hooded cloak, it was longer than the one she herself was wearing, with a trail longer than that of the dress.

Shaking her head at the uselessness of her insisting on some explanation, Bonnie covered herself with the piece of cloth before following her best friend out. All the while thinking about when she had first woken before that crazed stunt in the tomb, just the previous day:

***Flashback***

She was honestly surprised when the musky smell reached her nostrils, it was the first thing she was consciously aware of, warmth was the second, followed then by a husky voice calling her name…or, not her name, rather a pet name, one she was well accustomed to.

"Dark Angel…" She called, very softly, still not opening her eyes.

"Little Witch!" The same voice was suddenly more alert. "Bonnie!"

It was then, as her bed moved suddenly, that she realized she was actually laying on another body, her mind still half-asleep while listening to the inhumanly slow heartbeat beneath her.

Suddenly, everything came back to her: the vampires, the cursed tomb, the Winter Dance, that heartbreaking song, her magic out of control, her sacrifice…? Damon?

"What happened?" She asked, finally opening her eyes.

"I nearly lost you again." The one she was laying against whispered roughly. "You went down to that tomb, with vampires ready to go on a rampage, while your magic was totally off balance, and nearly lost your life. That's what happened!"

"Did it work?" She pushed aside his upset tone, focusing on what was important.

"The suicide? You can guess not." He hissed, sarcastically.

"That's not what I meant!" She cried out, scandalized. "You think I actually wanted to die?"

"Well, considering it was the second time I found you about to kill yourself…" He began.

"They were entirely different circumstances."

"Not for me. Both times you were going to die. You think anything else matters after that?"

"I'm sorry…" She buried her face in his bare chest, totally ashamed of what she had nearly done, and at the same time relieved and delighted to be in his arms again.

"Don't you understand it, Little Witch?" His voice was hoarse as he held her to him almost too tightly. "I cannot lose you…not again. I wouldn't survive."

"Neither would I." She whispered back, holding him as tightly as she could. "I promise you, my Dark Angel, I'll always be here for you."

"As will I, my Little Witch…" He whispered back.

***End of Flashback***

She'd spent the whole day in Damon's arms, with just a quick break to eat; though, to her surprise, some of her friends had somehow managed to 'collect' some human blood for Damon in the blood-bank so he hadn't actually gone to hunt.

Still, together a whole day, she was actually surprised, and more than a little disappointed to find him gone that morning.

Then Caroline had arrived, talking about some Druid Celebration they would be having that night. Bonnie guessed it might be related to the Winter Solstice, but since she'd never been part of such ceremonies she found herself at a loss. She especially didn't understand why exactly she was wearing the same dress again, except that Damon asked her to in a short letter he'd left on her pillow, along with the reassurance that he would be there that night. That was the only reason Bonnie wasn't truly fighting the whole thing.

Right then, a honk sounded outside.

"Come on girl, gotta go." Caroline announced from the door.

.-.

Elena was very careful to make sure Jenna was still out and her brother locked inside his room when she finally emerged from hers and rushed to her car; she didn't want one of them to see her in that off-white dress, it was very beautiful, but so unlike her it might raise suspicions of something weird going on. So much had happened; so much she could barely deal with it herself, there was no telling what her family would say if they were ever to find out.

As she put the key in the ignition, the brunette very vividly remembered what had happened that night, after she and Stefan had seen Damon jump into the magical twister:

***Flashback***

"Damon!" Both Elena and Stefan cried out in shock and fear.

Those feelings turned into a mix of confusion and hope when they saw him get to Bonnie; then transformed again, back to shock and a little fear when they saw him biting her.

"What is he doing…?" Elena gasped.

She could hardly believe it. Had she been wrong to trust Damon? Was Bonnie truly lost?

"He's…" Stefan seemed to be absolutely mystified. "…bonding with her?"

"What?" Elena turned to him sharply, not really understanding.

"Yes, the blood exchange, the way they're holding each other." Stefan explained. "And the power…it actually seems to be stabilizing…"

Elena watched in wonder as the twister effectively changed shape, assuming that of a mystic dome around the witch and the vampire, who were still connected.

No word was said for a while, it could have been seconds, or even hours, and then all hell broke loose…almost literally.

With a deafening rumble the earth shook violently beneath their feet; Stefan barely had enough time to scoop Elena on his arms and jump a back, enough feet to clear the new hole, which was nearly five times as big as the previous one and half filled with dirt and debris.

"Oh my God…" Elena gasped, holding tightly onto her boyfriend. "Bonnie! Damon!"

There was a cloud of dust all around, and Stefan didn't dare make a single movement.

It took a while for the dust to begin clearing, but once it did Stefan noticed a figure on the very edge, with a knee on the ground, he was holding an unconscious Bonnie tightly in his arms.

"They're alright." He whispered into his girlfriend's ear.

Hearing that, Elena let out the breath she'd been holding, and began to cry.

***End of Flashback***

It had been such a relief to know her best friend was alright.

The tomb was no more, the vampires had been destroyed, Damon had saved Bonnie, they would both be alright; everything was going to be alright.

.-.

In the Salvatore boarding house Stefan found Damon pacing in the living room, dressed in a half-buttoned shirt and loose slacks, both white…the younger brother, dressed in a similar style but in an off-white color, stayed there for a while, just watching the older.

"You done staring at me yet?" Damon asked, without even turning to face Stefan.

"Sorry." Stefan chuckled. "It's just…I find this whole thing so strange…"

"Yes, white is definitely not my color." Damon deadpanned.

"Well, that too." Stefan smirked. "But that's not really what I meant. You, the way you're pacing, the way you seem almost…nervous. And then I remember what you did a week ago, and everything Caroline told us happened in years prior…it's just so…amazing."

"That girl has a way too big mouth." Damon complained.

Stefan chuckled again. And it was that with Bonnie unconscious and Damon refusing to leave her side, Caroline had become their source of information, relaying everything Bonnie had told her about her 'Dark Angel'. It was quite a bit, and as hard as Stefan and Elena found it to believe it at times, a part of them couldn't help but accept it as true.

Damon shook his head, it had been way too long since he'd heard Stefan laugh at him, since he'd actually felt like laughing along with his little brother, and it felt right, it felt great.

"You do know your Little Witch is probably gonna want to kill us, right?" Stefan commented.

"Not me." Damon grinned. "She loves me way too much."

"Just as much as you love her." Stefan replied, and then sighed. "You know, just a week ago I would have found that very strange, almost impossible, and now…now I see you, and I see Bonnie, and I cannot believe how I didn't realize before how right you are for each other."

"Which is exactly why we're doing this." Damon stated. "Is everything ready?"

"Yes, I told you that before." Stefan smiled. "Caroline and Elena are getting Bonnie there, I will be driving you, and Tituba is already there, waiting for us."

Damon nodded, satisfied.

Stefan's thoughts meanwhile went to someone else: Tituba, the Bennett matriarch, who'd just awoken from her coma a week before, he remembered how they'd found out:

***Flashback***

Stefan and Elena were standing side by side, watching as Damon got comfortable on Bonnie's bed, with the witch still held in his arms.

"Are you sure you'll be alright here by yourselves?" Elena asked.

It wasn't that she didn't trust Damon, after he'd saved her best friend there was almost nothing that could make her distrust him; she was actually worried about them, both of them.

Stefan was actually trying to find the best way to suggest at least one of them stayed in the guest bedroom, when suddenly Elena's phone rang, she answered it after the second ring.

"Hello?...I'm Elena Gilbert…Yes, I know Mrs. Bennett, her granddaughter Bonnie is my best friend…Yes, I was there when she was checked in…She's awake?...Since when?...Well, that's wonderful news…No, I'm afraid she's a bit under the weather right now…But I can get there right away if you need me…Yes, I'll be there in fifteen minutes…Thank you very much, you've given us great news…Goodbye…"

"So Tituba's awake." Damon spoke, and it wasn't a question.

"You don't seem surprised." Stefan raised his brow.

"Well, we all knew the only reason she wouldn't wake up was because her magical core was nearly dry, she's had several weeks to recover already, and then there's the fact of the huge amounts of Power the Little Witch released a while ago…"

"So you think that Bonnie's Power woke up Tituba?" Stefan asked, and it sounded logical.

"It's just a theory." Damon shrugged lightly. "I guess you'll be the ones finding out the truth."

And with that reminder Elena nodded and with a whispered goodbye left the house, closely followed by her boyfriend.

***End of Flashback***

Truth is they never actually found out what woke Tituba that night, but no one cared that much, really. The only thing that mattered was that she was awake and alright.

Yes, after weeks of complications and stress things were finally working out. And if all went well, they would be even better.

.-.

People were waiting when the Salvatore brothers arrived, a woman dressed in a long cedar colored dress, a bright red cloak covering everything but her head; what actually surprised the brothers was that she wasn't alone, two other people stood in the clearing, both women, each dressed in simple forest green dresses covered by open green-brown cloaks. Next surprise, came as the brothers identified just who the first woman actually was.

"Emily?" It was Stefan who called out her name in shock.

"Yes Stefan, it is me." Emily nodded with a patient smile.

"But, but you're dead." Stefan seemed to have lost reason at some point.

"And so are you, and your brother, technically." Emily deadpanned. "However, we must remember that those of us who weren't born to be bound by mortal laws, find few things to be truly impossible. Like being the one to officiate the ceremony that is to join a several times great-granddaughter and her vampire beloved."

Damon almost audibly gulped. Even with all the new (or old) memories in his head, he hadn't yet forgotten the last time he'd met Bonnie's ancestor, what the witch had done, how it had hurt at the time, and the awful thing he'd done as an attempt in getting retribution.

"It's alright." Emily spoke, suddenly turning to him. "You need not think about such things any longer. The past is the past."

"Nonsense." Damon shook his head. "I nearly killed your descendant."

"After I'd destroyed what, back then, seemed to be the only way to get back the woman you believed you loved." Emily continued. "You were understandably angry with me…"

"I could have murdered the Little Witch!" It became obvious in that moment just how badly that fact affected him.

"But you didn't." Emily insisted. "And as hard as it may be to understand, what happened that night, had to happen, for the good of all. And yes, that includes you biting her."

"I don't understand." Stefan was the one to speak then. "I mean, Damon almost killed Bonnie that night; would have if I hadn't been there, both to pull him off her and to feed her my own blood. How can that have been necessary?"

"Their bond needed to be rekindled." Emily explained. "The blood bond that my descendant and Damon first established, that had to be sealed three years ago, needed to be reestablished, many lives depended on it."

"But it was I who gave her blood, not Damon." Stefan still didn't get it.

"And Damon is your brother." This time it was one of the other women who spoke, Tituba. "His blood, is your blood, technically."

"What matters is that it worked, as it was meant to." Emily interrupted. "That night my descendant began having flashes of the past she'd forgotten, as did Damon, even if it took him a while longer to accept the truth of what he was seeing."

"It's not my fault that it went against everything I'd always believed." Damon explained.

"True, the first time around it took you twelve years, to change from the creature of darkness you had shaped yourself into, to the man you were always meant to be." Emily nodded. "This time it only took you a few weeks."

"What if it hadn't worked?" Stefan asked, doubtful.

"But it did." Tituba said simply.

"But what if it hadn't?" Damon insisted.

It was the older Salvatore's worst fear at the moment, if things had gone wrong and he'd killed Bonnie that night, or if that spell to open the tomb had been too much for her.

"It was meant to work." Emily explained calmly to them. "There was just no way for it not to. I understand your fear Damon, but there's just no way you could have ever purposefully harmed your soul-mate."

That froze everyone in their spots.

"Soul-mate?" Stefan was the first to get halfway out of his stupor.

"Yes, soul-mate." Emily nodded, and with a hand on Damon's temple added: "Cuimhnigh…"

Damon's eyes seemed to roll into his head suddenly, Stefan rushed to catch him, only he didn't fall, he didn't even move; and yet, his expression continually changed: peace, sadness, disgust, calm, horror, anger, love, confusion, denial, hopelessness, and then…nothing.

Almost a full minute passed by before Damon opened his eyes again, they went by Stefan, showing suddenly such a deep regret the younger vampire staggered briefly, they passed by Tituba with a nod of acknowledgement, and finally ended in Emily.

"I loved you." He declared, to everyone but Emily's shock.

"As I loved you." Emily nodded.

"You told me I would forget, warned me, I refused to believe such an awful thing could be possible…and yet I did, I forgot." Damon continued.

"It wasn't in your hands Damon." Emily told him, compassionately. "You didn't choose to forget me, you just couldn't help it."

Damon shook his head, refusing to accept something like that could be out of his control.

"Excuse me." Stefan called suddenly. "I'm at a loss. You were in a relationship? When?"

"In early 1964." Emily answered.

"I'd just returned from the war." Damon explained without being asked to. "Father hated me, called me a coward, and you followed his lead. Gone were the days when you would follow me…So I stayed away from the house for long periods of time, as long as I could. Since most of the people in Mystic Falls followed Father's ideas regarding my desertion I ended up visiting the neighboring town, where I met a young woman. She was a servant, and yet she behaved so different from any servant I'd seen before, it was…interesting. As I got to know her I realized she was a beautiful, intelligent and witty person, and I liked that; I began seeing her more and more, and then we became lovers."

"How come I never knew any of that?" Stefan asked, half-hurt.

"Let me finish and you'll understand." Damon ordered. "It didn't take long to realize I loved her. I asked her to marry me, she refused; said we would never be accepted, that society would look down on both her and me. It's not like I cared, I was already seen as a disgrace. In that moment I cared about nothing but her. Still, I tried to be patient, believed that, eventually I would convince her. I was even considering the possibility of renouncing the Salvatore name and asking her to come with me someplace else, begin a new life. I was even willing to take her child as mine. But I never got to suggest it. The night I was going to, she told me it was over." He sighed. "She told me that we just couldn't be, began spouting something about fate I didn't actually pay attention to, and then told me I was gonna forget her. I refused to accept that, there was just no way I could ever forget the woman I loved, right?" His face suddenly showed a great pain. "And yet I did. I forgot her, and fell into that bitch's arms!"

Stefan couldn't help but step back, he'd never seen his brother this man, and talking that way, specially about Katherine Pierce.

"I thought Katherine hadn't compelled you to love her." Stefan dared speak after a while.

"She didn't." Damon growled. "Instead, she compelled me to forget I already loved someone. When Katherine arrived to our home a week later I saw Emily again, only I no longer knew who she was, it was like we'd never met." He turned to the witch in question. "Except you did remember, didn't you? You never forgot. Why didn't you remind me?"

"No, I didn't." Emily admitted. "And I couldn't act against Katherine in that moment. You need to understand, I was a widow with a child, my husband was killed by our Master when he displeased the Mistress; I'd to run away with my little girl when people began throwing accusations of witchcraft. I couldn't lose my child. When I met you, it was like a dream, one I always knew wasn't meant to last. You weren't meant to be with me, I knew that, since the first time I saw you, I'd a vision, of your soulmate…"

"You mean, you knew even back then that Damon would end up with a descendant of yours?" Stefan's shock just seemed to keep growing and growing.

"Yes." Emily nodded. "That's why I was so insistent on you guarding my lineage. If my line disappeared, you wouldn't meet Bonnie, wouldn't find your soul-mate. You had to, needed to. Just see how much good she's done for you. You remember what I told you that last night?"

"When you see her you'll know, because you'll be unable to look at anything, anyone else; you'll feel as if the whole world turned around her, as if nothing but her mattered…" Damon began reciting as if in a half-dream. "She'll be the light that breaks your shadow, she'll be able to bring all your walls down with just one look, you'll be willing to go to hell and back for her, and she'll make everything in your life, good and bad, worthwhile."

"And it's all come true, hasn't it?" Emily questioned.

"It has." Damon nodded. "I'm just, I'm sorry I could never give you what you deserved."

"But you did Damon." Emily assured him. "You loved me for me, made me believe I could be loved no matter what, and you protected my daughter when I couldn't, even when you no longer remembered what we'd had. You've always been a man of your word."

"I did it, if for the wrong reasons." Damon admitted.

"None of that matters anymore." Emily insisted. "The past is the past. What matters is the present, and what will be happening today…"

"There's something else." Tituba reminded them.

"Right, right." Emily nodded.

In was in that moment that everyone's attention turned to the last woman, as she pushed back the hood of her own cloak. She was petite, with porcelain white skin, and delicate features, her hair a very dark brown, almost black, like Damon's, her eyes large and the same forest green as Stefan's; she directed a soft, loving look at the Salvatore brothers.

"Buonasera, miei figlioli…*"

This time, Damon nearly lost his footing, his mind just unable to fully comprehend what he was seeing, who was standing before him.

Stefan just kept looking at his older brother, and then at the woman, over and over again, as if searching for an explanation, for someone to tell him if his assumptions were right or wrong.

It was finally Damon's broken voice that broke the silence.

"Mamma!"

And say you'll hold

A place for me

In your heart.

* Italian for "Good evening, my sons..."