A/N: The response I've had to this fic is absolutely ridiculous. I honestly thought it would take you ages to write 350 reviews! You guys are amazing, and I write for you so thank you so freaking much!

Enjoy this mellow new chapter because the shit is about to hit the fan... so stay tuned! ;)

Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries or any of its characters. This is a work of fiction written for entertainment purposes, but the original characters and original storylines present in "My Paper Heart" are my own work.

Since Bonnie had already tried to make me pick out quivering leaves among billions of trees, I was ready to blow her off if her "sense of smell" exercise involved locating a specific scent of soil in the middle of the freaking woods. When I saw her pull small flower pots full of soil out of her bag, I snapped.

"If you want me to tell you the difference between your stuff and the forest ground, I'm warning you; I'm out of here!" My remark made her giggle.

"Let me guess…that's all you can smell around here?" she asked in an amused tone while putting the fourth pot down next to her.

"No, but this scent is particularly strong," I told her seriously.

"What else can you smell?"

"Well, wood, resin, green stuff, dust…mushrooms, humidity, soil…you," I enumerated scrupulously.

"What?" Her head shot up as she turned to look at me with surprised eyes. "Me?"

"Yes, you…" I shrugged casually.

"I have a scent?" she asked suspiciously.

"Of course, you have one." I looked at her like she was a brainless five years old.

"What…is it like?"

"Hmm, like your house, mostly…" She raised her eyebrows in incomprehension. "A mixture of varnished wood, herbs and the food you usually eat," I clarified.

"Really?" She sounded unconvinced.

"Yes. You also smell like the laundry detergent you use, your shea butter shampoo, and-"

"Okay, okay, I get the idea," she cut me off. "No need to detail everything!" She seemed suddenly a little bit uncomfortable at the thought that I could smell her entire fragrance like I had my noise glued to her neck. "Is it the same with everybody?" she added with wary curiosity.

"Yep."

"Wow, it's…" she trailed off, seemingly trying to decide whether she thought it was amazing or scary.

"…awful!" I finished for her. "Sense of smell is by far the sense I dislike the most." I scrunched up my noise to make a disgusted face.

"Why?" she asked, a bit stunned by my strong reaction.

"You know the odor of the locker rooms after practice, right?" I was speaking rhetorically, but she winced in repulsion anyway. "Well, I can tell when someone has stinky feet just by passing them in the hallway. Know when there's food rotting in one of the lockers. And as soon as someone starts to sweat even a little bit, I can smell it a hundred times stronger than anyone else!" I explained vehemently. "So imagine what it's like for me to enter the locker rooms…or pass the dumpsters."

"Ew!" She shuddered exaggeratedly. "That bad, huh? Well, at least, you can smell good scents ten times stronger, too. That must compensate a little."

"Not exactly…if the aroma is too powerful, it's as unpleasant and nauseating as a bad smell."

"Do any of us have a perfume that sickens you?" she asked, looking horrified.

"No…" I answered with a small smile at the corner of my mouth. "You barely wear any perfume, and Elena's is very sweet and discreet… Caroline once had one that made me want to puke, though. I don't know if my reaction was what made her stop wearing it or not, but it disappeared soon after." I chuckled a little. "I also have a tendency to suffocate between aftershaves and perfumes when the guys are all prepped up for the Mystic Falls events, but I've gotten used to it over the years, so it's all good."

"Wow. That…sucks."

"Yes, it does. If you want to kill me, just take me to a perfumery." I gave her an ironic look.

"Duly noted," she answered seriously, and for a second, I wondered if she was actually considering it. But her compassionate expression reassured me. "Well, I hope that my exercise won't make you throw up." She shot me a childish smile.

"What is it, exactly? I still haven't told you that I'm on board with it."

"No quitting, missy!" she scolded me. "You're going to have to tell me what flowers you smell."

"I think you forgot to bring the flowers along with the pots," I declared sarcastically. She shot me an annoyed glance, but there was also an amused glint in her eyes.

"Don't play dumb! You know I can make plants grow with my powers," she said cockily. She took the four pots in her arms and walked away from me. When she decided she was far enough away, she settled down.

"Are you ready?" she shouted.

"I still haven't agreed to this!" I yelled back.

"Shut up and focus!" She began cupping the pot with her hands, ready to use her magic. I chuckled and closed my eyes, doing what I was told to do. The aroma that invaded my nostrils was so different than the surrounding scents that I didn't need to concentrate or even think about it to know what it was.

"Rose," I shouted self-confidently.

"Too easy, huh?" She took the three other pots and moved further away.

"Hmm…mint, definitely. But it's also spicy," I started, pushing my focus to determine the exact classification. "Peppermint?"

"Yes! Nicely done…" she conceded, impressed. "What about this one?"

"Who do you take me for?" I grumbled. I was focusing carefully to catch the perfume, but was incapable of remembering the name of the flower just yet. "A freaking botanist expert?"

"Oh come on, it's an easy one!"

"I know. I just…lilies!" I shouted, the name suddenly popping in my head.

"Yay! See? I knew you could do it," she replied in a know-it-all tone. She picked up the last pot and walked back a far distance again. Then she crouched down and resumed her magic. I dived back into my deep focus, but I could smell everything except for a flower. I pushed my concentration again and again until I finally smelled a trace of perfume. My face was strained from the effort, but I kept pushing for a distinct scent. Despite the stinging pain I was starting to feel in the middle of my forehead, I was completely on the ball.

"I can smell it, Bonnie, but I don't know the name," I shouted across the forest.

"Is it something you've smelled before?" she yelled back.

"Yes."

"Could you tell me where, exactly?" She was obviously determined to make me find the flower one way or another. Realizing that associating scents with memories could actually be really helpful in some circumstances, I dug into my memories to figure out where I had smelled this aroma before. This caused pain to spread throughout my entire brain.

"The town square," I said finally, pleased that I'd finally been able to put my finger on it.

"Exactly. Would you be able to tell me where they are? What color are they?" I tried to remember which part of the flower beds I had smelt this scent the most in when I had passed them, but the more I narrowed it down in my memory, the more painful white flashes struck my brain. I started to pant heavily, but I was almost there.

"The purple ones," I managed to say. "Bonnie…" I tried to warn her that something was wrong, but a powerful wave of hurt overcame me, and I let out a half scream instead. Speaking was making the pain even worse. My hands shot up to clench my head forcefully in a desperate attempt to ease the hurt. Another loud scream passed my lips. I could hear quick footsteps coming in my direction, but my thoughts were in tatters. All I could think about was the excruciating ache I was experimenting. I buried my head between my knees instinctively, trying frantically to make it stop. That was when I felt two strong hands on my shoulders, pushing me to straighten. I didn't fight them.

"It's okay, Maya. It's okay, open your eyes," she said urgently but softly. "Look at me, it's fine. We're going to push the pain away, okay? Open your eyes…" I was having a hard time lifting my eyelids because the light was too bright, but I finally managed to look at her. A sudden gasp escaped her lips, and shock and fear were written all over her face. I immediately closed my eyes again.

"No, no, it's okay. It's okay, sweetie…" she murmured, rubbing her hands over my shoulders softly. "Shhh, everything is fine. Calm down…" she kept going, constantly stroking my arms. I tried my best to focus on her hands and her silky voice whispering soothing words. I knew that she was trying to distract me from the pain. I finally opened my eyes again and saw a sympathetic and comforting smile on her lips. She was inviting me to take deep breathes, so I imitated her. The hurt was slowly and gradually fading away until it completely disappeared. I covered my face with my hands in exhaustion and sighed heavily.

"Damn, that was close," I croaked quietly.

"Yes…but you did it. You fought the pain away." I could hear pride in her voice.

"My creepy eyes showed up, didn't they?" I lifted my head to look at her.

"How did you know?" she whispered, her eyebrows raised in surprise.

"I can feel it." I shrugged uneasily.

"How?" she asked, confused. "And how do you know what they look like?"

"I had already seen them before," I started to explain. "That time after my parents' funeral, my eyes felt like they were prickling and being stabbed by hundreds of tiny needles...needless to say, it freaked me out, so I went to check them in the mirror before collapsing with fever," I related. "Since I felt this exact sensation just a minute ago, I assumed they had appeared again. And I just had to look at your face to know for sure that they had…" I smiled awkwardly and glanced up at her.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to hurt your feelings, but that was quite…unexpected." She gave me an apologetic look.

"It's okay. They scare me too," I admitted in a light tone, trying to joke around a little.

"What…are they? Do you know why they change like that?"

"No idea. I just know that they show up when my senses go all crazy." I shrugged nonchalantly.

"Hmm…it probably means that you're only at your full capacities when they appear. Like a step you have to take to really free all of your powers."

"Or that I'm like werewolves and if I happen to trigger it somehow, I'm going to turn into a freaking sasquatch!" I shot back in frustration.

"Come on, you already did a great job so far. Don't you want to find out the answer while we're in a safe place? I'm around if anything happens. I promise I'll be there to help during the process, no matter what," she declared with a warm, reassuring smile on her lips. I looked at her for a while before narrowing my eyes suspiciously.

"Why do I feel like you want to find out now?" I drawled lowly, making her chuckle a little.

"If we stop every time you're on the borderline of reaching your true potential, we're never going to discover what you really are…"

"Bonnie, do you have any idea of how painful it is for me to switch into a freak?" The mere idea made me defensive, with maybe a bit of bad will.

"I know. I know…" she admitted contritely. "But last time this side of you showed up, you lost consciousness in the middle of the high school grounds and ended up disappearing for twenty four hours. Not to mention the fact that the person you disappeared with is public enemy number one!" she reprimanded. "What do you think will happen next time?" Her face lined with worry. I frowned in response and stayed quiet for a while, trying to weigh the pros and cons of teasing this unpredictable part of me. After all, I had no way of knowing how I would act once I revealed my true nature.

"What is going to happen if I lose control and try to hurt you?" I whispered uncomfortably. She held my grave stare, realizing how alarmed I was.

"I know how to protect myself." A soothing smile stretched her lips.

"Your magic doesn't work on me," I reminded her warningly.

"But it works on me," she shot back, "and we don't know yet if my powers are always ineffective where you're concerned, or only when they're aimed directly at you… I was actually hopping to test this theory with the next exercise." She flashed me a mischievous glance.

Her argument reminded me that Bonnie was perfectly capable of protecting herself against me, no matter what I was. She hadn't survived so many vampires and killed Klaus just to fall under my attack. But I was still worried about what could happen to me, and was far from enthusiastic about going through another one of Bonnie's creative tortures. My eyes slid downward to stare at the ground and I took a slow, deep breath. I knew that ultimately, I would have to learn how to live with this side of me, so why not now, right?

"What do you have in mind, exactly?" I drawled lowly, giving Bonnie a clear warning glare.

"I'm not as sadistic as you think," she replied with a knowing smile. "I thought we could test your other abilities for a change."

"My other abilities?"

"You told me that you could run and jump faster than regular people, right?"

"Yes…" I answered, enlightened. "But what do you want me to do? If I just run, you won't be able to keep up!" I was confused about the kind of exercise she wanted me to do.

"Look at you, all confident…" she sing-songed huskily, pretending to strut with a few moves of her shoulders. She managed to get a chuckle out of me. "I do hope that you run faster than I do with all the physical exercises you cumulate!" she pointed out sarcastically. "The way I pictured it, you were sprinting around. You stayed in my field of vision, at least."

"You want me to run in circles?" My pitch got higher with disbelief.

"That's pretty much what I just said, yes…"

"What would be the point in that?" I deadpanned. "It's not like that requires me to channel my supposedly 'true' powers…"

"I knew you were going to say that. I thought of something to…motivate you." The mischief shining in her eyes made me instantly suspicious. "You're going to have to try to avoid being trapped in one of my isolation spells. This way, you'll have a reason to run…" she added, unable to restrain the smile rising on her lips. "It will allow me to practice my own powers as well and help us to finally know if magic can have some impacts on you if not aimed directly at you."

"Wait...you want to trap me inside invisible walls while I'm running at full speed?" I rephrased with wide eyes, notifying her that she had clearly lost her mind.

"Do you really think that I would purposely do something that could hurt you?" she defended herself, seeming a bit offended. "If you're doing your job right, I won't even able to trap you…"

"Oh, you're right! If I happen to crush my entire body into an invisible concrete wall, I'll just be getting exactly what I deserve!"

"Oh stop it…" she chided me in an amused tone. "If I'm casting the spell at the perfect moment, it will trap you in motion. Meaning you'll be efficiently stopped, but without collision."

"If you're doing it right?" I shot back in disbelief, collapsing backwards on the ground and covering my face with my hands in despair. "This is going to epically fail."

"Come on, have a little faith in my powers!" She slapped my knee gently. "Have I ever given you a reason to doubt them so far?" I partially raised my hands away from my face to shoot her a skeptical glance. There was an encouraging smile on her lips. Sighing heavily, I let my hands fall to my sides. I could think of hundreds of reasons why this was a bad idea, but I already knew that I was going to do it.

Probably because, deep down, I was very aware that, from the beginning, Bonnie had selflessly and relentlessly helped me deal with all of this and rigorously respected my choice to keep it as a secret.

"Fine," I mumbled reluctantly. "Let's do this." I stood up and she imitated me. I could see in her eyes that she was very pleased by my act of trust.

"So, I just run?" I asked awkwardly, suddenly feeling that it would be stupid to just start running like that with no particular purpose.

"Yes." Amusement was audible in her voice. "You can go in any direction you want…try not to be too predictable." Her warning was defiant. She was clearly enjoying this.

I hesitantly started to trot about, not exactly sure how to run around randomly. Usually, I was running to catch a ball or to escape someone, not to create whimsical patterns around trees.

"Show some effort!" she scolded me teasingly. "Even a two years old could catch you!"

"Give me a sec, okay?" I shot back, annoyed. "It's not like I'm a freaking bunny," I grumbled under my breath.

After a moment, my legs got a mind of their own and liberated my stride. I wasn't sprinting at maximum capacity, but I was feeling like nothing could possibly stop me. I suddenly realized that a wide grin had unconsciously grown on my lips. The impression of freedom that running without restricting myself was bringing me was intoxicating. But the hairs standing up all of a sudden on the back of my neck brought me back to earth instantly, and made me realize that one of Bonnie's spells had been cast way too close to my ass for my liking. I deliberately sped up right toward a tree and at the last second put my foot on the trunk, transferring my weight to project myself into a completely different direction. It was fun and empowering. It felt like I was practicing free running. Watching Bonnie struggling to keep up with me was just making it all the better. She had given up on keeping an eye on me and had closed her eyes to focus on my presence instead, and this caused an impish idea to grow in my mind. I ran toward another tree to use it as a springboard. I bounced onto the ground before jumping again toward one more tree, changing my direction. I landed quietly behind her back.

"Boo!" I shouted next to her ear, making her jerk violently. I burst out laughing before she turned around and hit me hard in the arm. "Ouch!" I rubbed the bruised area with a childish pout on my lips.

"Do you think this is funny?" she yelled angrily. "When you told me that you could run and jump faster than humans, you never specified it was that fast!"

"Oh come on! It's not like I become a blur like vampires…" I shot back teasingly.

"No, it's worse! You move so quickly, in so many directions that it's like trying to keep an eye on a crazy pinball ball!"

"Looks like this time, I'm not the one who's having a hard time. Maybe you're not trying hard enough…" I sing-songed daringly, a satisfied grin on my lips. I quickly sped away before she got the chance to trap me and leave me alone in the middle of the woods as a payback.

Taunting her pride was obviously acting as a big boost on her motivation. I had to concentrate and pay attention to my path to avoid her consecutive and very close spells. I was tricking my way through her attempts to corner me just fine, until something suddenly stopped me dead. The shock was so violent that I fell down backwards. An intense pain immediately spread over my face and inside my head before resonating through my entire body.

"Bonnie!" I yelled furiously, instantly reaching up to cover my nose.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry!" She ran urgently toward me.

"Fuck! It hurts like a bitch…"

"Are you OK?" she asked in a panicked tone, throwing herself on her knees in front of me and raising her hands toward my forearms.

"I think you broke my nose," I growled angrily.

"Oh god, I'm so sorry." Remorse was written all over her features. "Let me see…please?" I reluctantly moved my hands away, but not before shooting her a dark glare.

"Oh my…you're bleeding!" She quickly took out a tissue from her pocket. She delicately placed it under my nose. "Are you okay?"

"I don't know! You tell me…do I look like okay?" I shot back dryly, raising the hand not holding the tissue next to my face for emphasis.

"You…look like you have a broken nose," she answered uncomfortably. She seemed like she wanted to add something else, but paused before bracing herself. "It…" she started hesitantly, moving her finger along her nose to obviously indicate something. "It's deviated…" She looked at the ground, chewing her lip ashamedly. I immediately raised my hand to touch the bridge of my nose and felt the deformation.

"Damn it, Bonnie!" I yelled, shooting daggers at her with my eyes. I pinched the part of my nose that was deviated and forced it firmly into the opposite direction, screaming in pain in the process. She desperately clenched her hands around my knees like it would help me bearing the hurt somehow.

"I'm so sorry…" she whispered.

"Tell me it's better now." I looked at her through watery eyes and waited for her to tell me that I didn't inflict pain on myself for nothing.

"It's perfect," she declared firmly. "I mean…it's swollen and tumid, but it's straight now." She gave me a contrite smile. "Damn it! I wish you weren't immune to my magic! I could take the pain away, and even heal you!" she exclaimed, slamming her fist against her thigh in frustration.

"It's okay. It still hurts, but it's bearable. Thanks to my healing ability, the pain should fade away quickly," I reassured her in a soft voice.

"Maya, I am sincerely very, very sorry!"

"I sure hope you are! What happened to 'trust my powers' and 'you'll be efficiently stopped without collision,' huh?" I shot back teasingly.

"I know, I know! But you were too fast and too unpredictable!" she defended herself urgently. "I tried to anticipate your next move, but I failed each time! When I finally succeeded, I obviously misjudged your velocity… I'm so sorry!"

"Well, at least we know now that I'm not immune to your freaking invisible walls…" We exchanged a look and burst out laughing together.

"Okay, I declare this practice session officially over!" I told Bonnie after our laughter lessened.

"I couldn't agree more! But we're going to need an explanation for your face…" She stood up and gave me her hand to help me get to my feet.

"What do you mean?" I frowned in confusion, which caused me to wince in pain. She stared at me with wide eyes, seeming to realize that I couldn't possibly see myself.

"You…look like a panda," she admitted.

"You mean, I have giant bruises on my face?" I asked in distress, motioning my fingers in circle around my eyes.

"Yep." She flashed me a sympathetic look.

"Oh, fuck…" I sighed, suddenly feeling really tired of the lies.

"There's an easy way out," she mumbled pensively.

"Really?" I raised a skeptical eyebrow. "And what is it?"

"We could just say you're sick. That would justify you staying at home for a couple of days..." She shrugged non-committedly.

"And that would be the perfect excuse for all of our friends to parade inside my house to make sure that I'm okay," I pointed out sarcastically. She frowned in irritation, knowing perfectly well that I was right.

"Hmm…in that case, you're going to stay at my house. I can say that you have a fever and that I want to keep an eye on you. That way, I can be your personal bouncer," she said humorously.

"Our little gang can be a real pain in the ass. Are you sure you can handle keeping them from checking me up?"

"Well, I'm usually a part of the real-pain-in-the-ass group..." She gave me an ironic side-glance. "So I think I'm the best for the job."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," she replied firmly. "Plus, it will give you time to talk to me about the…gay manual," she added timidly with a smile on her lips.

"The gay manual, huh?" I repeated between chuckles. "Okay then."