As much fun as the prospect of watching a human Damon and Elena navigate small town life promised to be, Bonnie was simply not up to it. All the two of them had ever managed was to constantly fight, make up, and make love, and walking in on them reconciling in the library once was enough for a lifetime. She wished them the best and hit the road for parts unknown, spending as much time as possible in places with terrible cell reception. Of course, Bonnie checked in on her friends, because she cared how their lives were going, but inevitably they all drifted apart as their adult lives took shape.

Bonnie was lying on the beach in Ibiza when her little pink phone rang out the tone reserved for Damon Salvatore. He was by far the person she heard from the most often, which tracked with her being his best friend. She answered quickly. "Hey there," she said with a fond smile.

"Ah," he sighed. "My Bon Bon. I'm eternally grateful you found time for lil ol me."

She rolled her eyes at his whiny tone. "Always for you. I breathlessly await the sound of your voice."

He chuckled. "You'd do anything for me but come home, wouldn't you?" he wistfully queried. "But to be fair, I wouldn't trade Paris for Mystic Falls, either."

"Actually, I'm on the beach in Ibiza right now."

Damon growled at her like a wolf. "Are you wearing that teeny weeny yellow polka dot bikini?"

Glad that Damon couldn't see her blush or her smile, Bonnie did her best to school her voice into a serious tone. "As a single lady I can't be sure, but I'm pretty sure it's written in the married man rulebook that 'what are you wearing?' is not an acceptable way to start a conversation." The sound of his deep, rich laugh made her whenever she got to hear it. "Was there anything in particular that you wanted?"

"Maybe I've just been breathlessly awaiting the sound of your voice. Did you ever think of that?" he tossed back at her in a flirty tone with a suspicious hint of slurred words.

"What time is it where you are?" Bonnie asked. She wasn't great at mental math, but she'd gotten sufficiently used to time zone differences to know it was almost certainly not wine o'clock yet in Virginia.

Damon chuckled. "It's around 10 AM. I was thinking about you over brunch."

Although Bonnie had long since given up worrying as a full-time occupation, it remained a solid side-hustle when it came to this man. "Well, I'm glad you're eating something. I worry you don't eat enough," she groused. "I worry if you're taking care of yourself at all."

"For the thousandth time, I'm fine. You don't have to worry about me, Bon Bon," he promised. "In fact, you don't have to worry about anything but your tan lines."

Being psychic can be a blessing and a curse, and right now it was cursing Bonnie to know he was lying. She should absolutely be worrying about him. Bonnie scanned her brain, trying to think of what to say. "You know that if you need me, I'm here for you, right?"

He sighed deeply. "You've given me so much already, I could never ask for more."

The sinking feeling something was going on that he wasn't telling her about nagged her, but she decided to let it go. "How's Elena?"

"Busy," he snapped. The easy warmth in his voice fled in an instant. "The same way she always is."

Bonnie cleared her throat. "Gotcha. Well…what have you been up to?"

After a long enough pause that Bonnie was about to check he was still on the line, he finally responded. "Staying alive. What about you?"

What the alarm bells in Bonnie's brain actually had her doing at this point was wondering how fast she could get back to the town she couldn't get away from a year ago. "You don't realize how big the world is until you decide to see as much of it as you can. Once I got my first taste of travel, I could never get enough."

"That was a nice summer," he slurred with sad nostalgia in his voice. "I'm glad I was able to give you something other than grief." He's definitely been getting more drunk as this conversation proceeded.

The desire to hug him squeezed her heart. She wanted to tell him she loved him, but you can't go telling someone else's husband that. "Don't get maudlin on me, Salvatore."

"Never that, never that. But I should probably go. If your boyfriend isn't getting tired of watching you talk to me on the phone, then surely a line is queuing for your attention as we speak."

Bonnie laughed and rolled her eyes. "There's no boyfriend, and no line of applicants forming either. There is, however, a pressing need for supper." She wasn't actually hungry, but she was hoping if she modeled decent behavior he might actually have something other than the bourbon she was hearing in his voice.

"Sure, sure. You're out there looking like you do and I'm the only man wanting your attention right now. You go have that supper, Bon. I'll have you know I have plenty of my own things to attend to."

If she'd ever heard the sound of a man with nothing to attend to, it's this one. "Goodbye, Damon."

"Goodbye, Bon."

No sooner than she hung up the phone, Bonnie was headed back to the hotel. She could order some room service while she packed, because she was headed back stateside, and she was headed there right way. As beautiful as the streets had been on the way there, but all it looked like at that point was another place that was too far away. It wasn't her job to take care of him; he had a whole wife for that, but Bonnie had been a witch too long to start ignoring her intuition now. Her gut said get back home to him and get there now, so she was. She was so distracted making her way through the narrow, winding streets she had to stop herself short when she nearly collided with a strong chest.

"Pardon me," she said, looking up at the very handsome face of a dark-haired stranger.

He smiled. "No problem. Are you in a rush?" he asked in a British accent. Her heart thumped unpleasantly. He didn't exactly look like Enzo, but since his death that accent had a way of sending her mood plummeting.

"Actually, I am," she answered. "If you'll excuse me." As she attempted to make her way around him, he grabbed her arm. A certain chilly shiver confirmed this was not a man, but a vampire. He wasn't grabbing her hard enough to hurt her, but she didn't like strangers touching her at all, and that went double for undead strangers.

"How about you take a walk with me," he asked, while locking eyes with her in the way vampires do when they're hoping to compel someone. This must be a coincidence, because he wouldn't even be attempting this if he knew who or what she was. A coincidence is better than being hunted, but she still didn't want to tangle with him.

"How about you fuck off?" she countered as her mood galloped from sad to angry with incredible speed. The hand on her arm tightened, and Bonnie started frying his brain before this encounter got any more annoying. He instinctively let go and grabbed his head.

"What the hell?!" he demanded as Bonnie changed course for the most crowded and brightly lit area in her line of sight. She didn't worry much about walking through alleys because there was quite literally nothing a mortal man could do to her, but she shouldn't have forgotten not all men are mortal.

At a jog, she made her way to the brightly lit restaurant across the way and headed in. It wasn't a private resident, so that vampire could follow her right in, but it was crowded enough that he wouldn't try anything. It looks like her lie about getting supper was about to come true, because she certainly wasn't leaving this place until at least a half hour had passed. He might decide to wait on her, but the least she could do was give herself the chance to lose him.

Sweaty and rattled from the encounter, Bonnie nearly fell into a chair. It's moments like this she wished she wasn't traveling alone. It can be incredibly peaceful to do so, but a woman alone looks a little too much like dinner to a little too many men. The sudden desire to speak to Damon struck her. She wasn't really thinking, and wasn't going to tell him about this anyway, but she called him on instinct. He picked up after only a few rings.

"Hello again, little witch. Missing me already?"

Genuine laughter bubbled up in her. "I'd tell you not to flatter yourself, but what good would that do?"

"None at all." They were both quiet for several moments. Her heart rate was returning to normal and everything felt okay again. Bonnie looked at the menu, and her blurry brain had no idea where to start with ordering something. Maybe she did want something from Damon besides to hear his voice. "What's your favorite local dish?" she asked.

Damon hummed in that way that made her stomach flutter. "The real question is what's going to be your favorite. How hungry are you right now?"

"I'm starving," she groused. It was suddenly true.

He laughed low and warm. "You in the mood for something sweet, or something savory?"

Bonnie thought this over carefully. Something sweet was always lovely, but the likelihood she'd have to get in a fight the second she made her way out of here meant she should avoid something that's going to give her a sugar rush before crashing out. "I'm in the mood for something savory," she answered with certainty.

Damon was silent on the other end for a full minute, doubtless weighing the options in his mental catalog. "In that case, I think paella de Mariscos is what you want. Seafood and rice is filling, but not heavy. And it's deliciously savory."

Bonnie's stomach growled so loudly at the thought of it that she was grateful he no longer had his vampiric senses. "That sounds absolutely perfect." She raised her hand to call over a waitress and ordered. "No matter where I go, you always have a perfect food recommendation. I'm surprised you paid this much attention to the food, given when you last visited you…you know…"

"Yes Bon, I know. I was a vampire. The best dish I ate in every country I've ever visited had a first and a last name I usually didn't get time to catch, but that doesn't mean I didn't give the human food appropriate amounts of attention. You never know when a beautiful woman wanted a suggestion for a delicious detour; a man has to be prepared."

She should really be used to his relentless flirting right now, but she was hungry and it was making her weak. Butterflies rattled around in her stomach and she felt as flustered as she had the first time he did this. "Of course you would be prepared for this exact eventuality."

She technically didn't need anything else from him, but she didn't want to let him go just yet. They'd always been good at being quiet together, and he seemed to correctly intuit that she just felt like some company with her food.

After only a few minutes, her food arrived. The only thing better than how it looked was how it smelled. "My food just arrived, and oh my god, Damon, you're a genius!" Bonnie said.

"Am I?" he asked with a chuckle. "Tell me how it tastes."

As Bonnie dug into her meal, she did as he asked. She described her paella in luscious detail as she made her way through the delicious flavors, bite by bite, and he sighed and growled along with her like he was right beside her. It seriously lifted her mood, and by the time she was done eating, it was falling dark outside and she was quite ready to murder the fellow that had been annoying her earlier. "Thanks for the company, Damon."

"Any time, doll."

"Goodbye, for real, this time," she said.

"Goodbye, for now, he countered."

After she hung up the phone, she left enough euros on the table to pay for her meal and made her way out cautiously. Although she wanted to speak to Damon again to settle her nerves, it would only worry him and distract her if he was still there when she encountered the British vampire. Bonnie was debating taking the quickest way to the hotel through the alleyways and simply ending that vampire if he was foolish enough to seek her out, or taking the long way. As she debated in her mind, she started to get annoyed with herself. She was only vacillating because she was out here; if she was in Mystic Falls and a strange vampire bothered her she would have put him down in an instant. It may not be her responsibility to protect this place, but that doesn't mean she needs to be on the run from the things that go bump in the night. She's one of those things that goes bump in the night, after all.