A/N: This was inspired by Bamon week and Kat saying that Damon and Bonnie are going to maybe have some resentment issues when the season begins. I hope you guys enjoy and forgive any typos.

Disclaimer:The characters belong to someone else. I don't own anything.

The engine sputters, coughing up exhaust like a final breath.

Then nothing but silence.

Bonnie's head drops onto the steering wheel. Her sigh of exasperation ringing heavy.

This can't be happening. Or it could because she was Bonnie Bennett. Her life was a series of unfortunate events. She didn't need Lemony Snicket to know that this was the case. How else could she explain being stuck on a dirt road in 100 degree temps?

No A/C. No cell signal. And no sign of rescue since no one knew what she was actually doing. She couldn't have told them. Not Caroline. Not Stefan. Definitely not Damon. She was doing this for them. For him.

Because the ugliest truth was that they no longer saw her as Bonnie. They saw her as the reason that Elena was forced to sleep away the century. Bonnie was the reason that Caroline lost one of her best friends and the reason that Stefan lost his first love. Well, not entirely on the last one. Most importantly, it was her fault that Damon couldn't have the life he so desperately wanted. That he couldn't have the person he so desperately craved.

So no she couldn't call for help, but even if she could. She wouldn't. Especially not from him.

Feeling weighed down by the heaviness of her thoughts, Bonnie steps out of the car to loosen her limbs. The sun beats down on her. The reality of her self-imposed exile causes her sag a little against the heated car.

Something about the way the sun-soaked vehicle heats her entire being reminds her of Damon. When he hovered above her before placing a gentle kiss against her forehead. He'd had too much grace for someone so deadly. And even though she was in pain, fearing that her next heartbeat would be her last. His kiss. The feel of his lips. His oaky scent. The weight of him pressed down against her. The heady combination of all of the above are the things she remembers most from that moment on the precipice of death.

The sound of 70's rock pulsating against the sun beams stops her thinking. The sleek blue body of a familiar Camaro comes into view.

She can't believe it. It can't be him. Maybe he has his own Silas. A doppelganger. One with the same dreadful taste in classic cars and classic rock.

The car moves close enough so that she can make out faultless alabaster skin. Her Damon senses tingle. She knows it's him. She's like Spiderman when it comes to recognizing his presence.

After wringing the nervousness out of her hands, Bonnie decides that the best course of action is to ignore him and the butterflies that he has induced by escaping back into the safety of her traitorous car. No way was she facing him. He'd think she was being a yellow-bellied coward for sneaking off without the slightest hint of a goodbye.

She pulls the handle. The door won't open. It's locked. Dammit.

He is getting closer.

She tugs on the door again. Nothing. She runs to the passenger's side. This door is also locked. At this point she is seriously entertaining the idea of throwing a rock through the window if it means escaping him.

His car stops parallel to hers on the dirt road.

Too late.

She thuds her head down on the car window in defeat. There's no way that this was going to be painless. She might as well start mentally preparing now. Before she can build the first wall of her emotional self-preservation, his calloused hand is on her elbow. Turning her to face him. She allows her body to be shifted, but she refuses to meet his glacial gaze. No way is USS Bonnie going to willingly hit that iceberg.

"Bonnie." He breathes her name. His hand still holding onto her elbow. Being this close is making her dizzy. He shouldn't get to say her name like that. Like it fills up his lungs. Like it's a part of him.

Still it gets her. She looks up. His face is closer than she imagined. She inhales him and his proximity.

"Why are you here?" She questions softly.

"You looked lonely." He smirks. Backing up to give her the space he incorrectly assumes she needs.

"Funny. I don't feel lonely."

"I read your body language. It was begging for my company."

"You're illiterate."

"You pronounced irresistible wrong."

She says nothing. Ignoring a joke that hits closer to home than he could probably ever fathom.

Damon abhors the silence. He tries to break it. "Bon-" he begins with an unnaturally serious tone.

Bonnie interrupts unwilling to go there just yet. "No chance you spent any of your wasted eternity learning how to operate on past their prime vehicles?

He shakes his hand as he joins her in leaning against the locked car. Shades in place, he is the epitome of cool.

Bonnie takes a moment to admire him and all of his bad-boy glory. "I knew you were all beauty and no brains." She scoffs.

Damon smiles. It feels familiar. She smiles back. "I appreciate the compliment, I think" he says.

Silence. Again. This conversation is headed to the graveyard. That thought should make Bonnie happy. It's what she wanted after all. To get away from this. From him with as little injury as possible. But the thought that it might come sooner than she imagined was upsetting.

"How did you find me?" she finally asks, nudging his shoulder to pull him away from his thoughts.

A sheepish grin covers his face. "Well…"

She waits from him to finish. When he doesn't, she prods him again, looking up at him with sultry emerald eyes under heavy lashes. "Damon."

He sighs. Even he isn't dead enough to resist that look. "I may have did a thing that you're probably not going to like."

Bonnie starts to protest.

Damon continues over her, "But it was only so that I could stop you from doing something stupid."

He pauses. Preparing himself to be pummeled by the feisty witch as soon as the truth of his bad behavior is shared. Finally he admits, "It's likely that I compelled the entire morning staff at Verizon. Not for anything extraordinary evil though. I just needed them to get out of my way while I tracked your phone. And also to like my selfies on Instagram."

Bonnie is quiet. His words wash over her. Her first instinct is to be angry. She decides it's best to run with that. Ignoring whatever his possible motivations could have been, she concentrates instead on the act itself. Damon being Damon. Doing what he wants no matter who is hurt in the process. No matter if she is hurt in the process.

"Just to be clear your morning consisted of magically manipulating others and violating my privacy?" she questions with venom coating her tone.

"Caroline couldn't find you. Stefan couldn't reach you. But Ken and Barbie decided it was best to let you go through whatever this is alone. I, on the other hand, remembered your penchant for doing really stupid self-sacrificial things in secret. So I thought it was best to make sure this wasn't that."

Damon doesn't show one sign of contrition. Instead, he actually looks pleased with himself and his work.

"That still doesn't give you the right." She argues.

"Bon you really shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth on this one. A tall, dark, and handsome walking wet dream came to rescue you from hellish temps and a blown engine. You're welcome." He says in a manner that borders demeaning.

"I didn't and I don't need rescuing."

Instead of replying he nods in the direction of her unmoving automobile. And he has the gall to look smug about it. She wanted to throttle him. And not in a sexy way, but in a very violent way. Maybe a little bit of sexiness. But mostly violence.

"So I could use a little bit of help on the transportation side of things, but did you stop to really think about why I was out here? Aside from wrongly assumed martyr reasons." she spits out, stabbing a finger against his well-sculpted chest. Dammit, she shouldn't be noticing this. She is supposed to be angry not turned on.

"A Wiccan desert retreat?" He questions with an amused smile.

"I'm leaving town." She admits.

He absorbs the blow of her words. His jaw clenches. His mood visibly shifts.

"Why now?" he mutters in a tone icier than his glacial eyes. "Why now? I mean after years of death, destruction, and dating Jeremey. Why leave town now?"

Bonnie adds more distance between them before speaking, "because."

He approaches her not allowing her the space she needs. "That's not a reason. It's an excuse," he fires back.

"I don't have to explain my choices to you. You're definitely not my father, and I'm not even sure that you're still my friend."

"So that's why you snuck off behind everyone's back? Because I didn't give you a friendship bracelet? Or because we haven't had vamp-cakes in a while?"

"Don't do that. Don't trivialize my feelings." She warns.

"What about my feelings. Hmm? Bon-Bon?"

Doesn't he get it? This isn't what she wants to do. It's what she has to do. This will fix everything that Kai broke by tying her life to Elena's. Why is he making this hard?

"I did this for…I know that you stopped coming around because of me. Because of how much seeing me hurts. How can you expect me to ignore that? How can I deal with one of my best friends being in a coma because of me and the other not even being able to be near me anymore?"

She is nearly in tears when she finishes, but Damon stares as though she's grown an extra head. Great. He can't even be a little sensitive towards her confession. Bonnie starts to wipe her eyes. She needs to find a way out of this conversation and fast, before it takes a turn that she can't backtrack from.

"What are you talking about?"

"You. You. I know that's why you've all but ignored me! Why you leave any room I'm in. Why we never talk anymore. So while I appreciate you trying to do the right thing by asking me to stay. Don't bother. I know how hard this is for you, me being around. So let me just go and not be around anymore."

Damon tries really hard to understand the witch's spiel. But he can't wrap his head around it. Could Bonnie really think those things about him? After everything they've been through. After everything he's put her through. After everything she's saved him from. "I'm not around because-"

Bonnie interrupts. She doesn't want him to actually voice the words. Saying it herself, seems to hurt less. And at the moment, less of anything was looking favorable. "Because of Elena. You resent me because I'm here and she's not and you…"

Damon slams his hands on the roof of the car denting it in with the sheer force. But it garners the result he desired. Bonnie stops her misinformed rant. He walks so close that they are nearly touching. That he can feel her body heat coming off of her in waves. He towers over her. His face set. His eyes burning like melted ice. "Yes, I resent you."

Bonnie nods sadly. Although, he only confirmed what she knew to be true. The truth still hurts like hell. She is about to speak, when he presses one sole digit against her velvety mouth. He leans down so that there is unwavering eye contact.

"I resent how you lean into my touch. I resent the way your body melded into mine when I kissed. I resent that your smile makes my breath catch. I resent your righteousness. I resent that you challenge me to be better. I resent the fact that my girlfriend is in a coma for at least the next 60 years and I'm not as sad as I should be because I can't stop thinking about you. About kissing you. About holding you. About trying to figure out how I can keep my distance so that I won't ruin you. So that I won't ruin us."

Damon moves his finger from her lips as she struggles to make sense of his statement. "I... Damon…"

He nods. Understanding. He backs away. But not before handing over the keys to his car. Bonnie takes them with a quizzical look.

"You're going to need a car to make your great escape." He supplies.

She tries to give the keys back. "I can't take the Camaro. It's your baby. It's the most important thing in your life." He refuses them, by holding his hands up and backing further away. "Not anymore Bennett."

Bonnie looks down, tightening her grip on the keys. "How are you gonna get back?"

"I'm a vampire. Superhuman speed remember?" he smiles. It's hollow. It's so sad that it breaks her heart.

With a mock salute, he turns around to begin his trek away from her and into a life without her in it.

Being stuck in the 90's with Damon, Bonnie learned two things. He loved his car and he loved Elena. But could all that have really changed so quickly, if he was willing to turn his back on both for her? If this whole time he was only staying away, not because he hated her but because he cared much more than he should.

This was one of those moments Bonnie realized. The ones where your entire life could change if you choose to turn right rather than left. The type of moment you could regret not seizing for the rest of your existence.

Bonniedidn'tt know how long said existence would be. She couldn'tt focus on anything other than this moment. She thought earlier that her life was all Lemony Snicket, but what if she was wrong? What if she had some Caesar in her as well? She could continue to make dorky wordplays in her head while standing in the middle of a dusty road. Or she could go and conquer Rome. Beautiful, exquisite, complex, and complicated Rome.

Bonnie started to run, before she could make sense of what she was actually doing. She just knew that Damon was her Rome. She hoped, obviously, that it would end much better with little to no knifing.

"Damon! Damon!" she yelled.

He turned around. Worry etched on his face until she jumped into his arms. She wrapped her legs around his waist and her hands around his neck.

"Ican'tt drive stick," she offers to answer his questioning look. "Also, I really want to kiss you. So that's why I sort of tackled you. I can get down now if you want or…"

Damon silences her with a kiss. A heart-stopping, insides-melting, earth-shattering kiss. Their lips move together in sync as though they were already acquainted and looked forward to many encounters in the future. There was no room for resentment in the meeting of their mouths or the tight pressing of their bodies together. And Bonnie found that she was infinitely grateful for that.

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