A/N: If you happened to click on this story, read it, and didn't completely hate it, thank you!

Sometimes calling a truce is the best way to end a fire fight.

Chapter 13

Bonnie sat on the floor of her bedroom, a cup of Chai tea in her hands. She deeply wished that she could commune with the spirit world. She desperately needed guidance.

A small part of her wanted to hold on to her anger. It was so tangible, her emotions being the realest thing since regaining her memories.

The larger, more dominant part of her knew that she will eventually forgive her friends and be back to her normal, loyal self.

She resented that part of her.

Even with remembering past events, Bonnie still doesn't feel like the girl in her memories. There is something inside of her, running under her skin that would break if she were to go back to being the same Bonnie.

Too much has changed, it seems.

So, Bonnie sat with the tea in her hands, sipping slowly and leisurely, trying to figure out how she can make this experience count for something.

Stefan got out of his car and walked to the passenger side to open the door for Elena.

"Did she mention what she wanted to talk about?," Stefan asked.

Elena leaned against the car, tired all of a sudden and dreading what was to come. "No. But it doesn't take a scientist to figure out that she wants to murder us for not telling her about Damon."

"How she'd seem at school this week?" The two stroll languidly up the cement pathway, the vivid green of the lawn enclosing them on both sides. They wanted to prolong the inevitable, if it were possible.

They both ignored Damon's car which was still parked in the Bennett drive way.

A week. One week, two days, and a number of hours.

"She seemed upbeat." Elena responded, "How'd she seem to you?"

Stefan struggled to find the right words, not wanting to worry Elena, "She seemed reserved."

"Yeah," Elena agreed, her face down-turned, not with sadness, but with consideration.

Elena rings the door bell. A few moments pass and the door opens with Caroline standing on the other side. "Hi!" Caroline beams, but the smile does not reach her eyes.

"She called you too?" Elena asked.

Caroline nods, "I got here a few minutes ago."

Stefan and Elena share a guarded look but venture into the Bennett residence despite any misgivings.

Caroline, Stefan and Elena go into the living room and Elena can't hide her surprise when she sees Jeremy sitting on the couch.

"Why didn't you tell me you were coming here?" Elena asks.

Jeremy shrugs an easy shrug. It's not like he can tell Elena that he was hoping he was the only one called over to Bonnie's. That dream was shattered when Caroline come over a few minutes after he did.

Everyone who is standing takes a seat.

Stefan, more than anything, is curious as to why there were called over.

Elena envisions Bonnie coming in the room only to tell them that she has disowned them all. She glances out the window and it's just too bright, too sunny to deal with disappointment.

Jeremy pastes his best bored expression on his face to hide the nervousness rippling through his guts.

Caroline chews her nails, an all too human habit that she has yet to kick now that she's a vampire.

The silence lengthens because no one wants to talk, no one cares to voice his or her thoughts of woe.

Bonnie enters the living room, relaxed but with a careful expression on her face.

Her friends look at her expectantly, some already forming an argument as to why they should be allowed to stay in Bonnie's life.

"I know you are all wondering why I called you here. I don't have to tell you how hard this has been for me. You know. All of you know. You probably don't understand, can't really comprehend how mad I was... how betrayed I felt―"

"We didn't mean to make you feel that way," Caroline interrupts.

"I know. But that's what happened," Bonnie responds softly. "I know you guys think you were helping me, and maybe you were. I appreciate how you were all there for me when I needed you, and if I were to be completely honest I'm not so angry about it anymore. But this can't happen again. We can't hide things like this from each other."

Reality is just setting in; how many of them were guilty of hiding the truth or has lied because they thought they were protecting the people they cared about.

Bonnie continued," So I'd like to try something, a little experiment."

"What kind of experiment? " Jeremy asks.

"It has come to my attention that some of us have known each other for years, and we still have problems with being honest with each other. I am guilty of that myself. That's why I'm invoking an honesty policy. This means if the argyle sweater is the wrong shade of green for your skin, Caroline, then I will tell you. If I feel like you are being you're being a whinny little bitch, Jeremy, then I will tell you. Elena, if I feel like your love for Stefan is bordering creepy and obsessive, I'll tell you. Likewise, Stefan. I expect all of you to be truthful with me and with each other. If we can't trust the people in this room, then who are we going to trust?"

Her friends glance around the room, looking into the faces of the people they'll probably die with, or at the very least, die to protect.

"How would this work?" Elena asks.

"Whenever you think someone is being dishonest with you, you can say honesty policy, and they'll have to tell you what they were being deceitful about," Bonnie responds.

"So if I think Stefan is making plans behind my back that evolve me I can say honesty policy to get him to tell me the truth." Elena pointedly ignored Stefan's frowning visage.

"Ideally," Bonnie answers.

"What if you think the person is still lying?" Caroline asks, equally excited and alarmed at the prospect.

"That's up to the person who's being lied to. They can choose to handle it any way they wish." Bonnie says with a slight smile on her face.

"How long do we have to do this?" Jeremy asks, partly to see just how long it would take him to get back in Bonnie's good graces.

"Two weeks. Two weeks just to see how it goes." Bonnie starts leaving the room, everyone still contemplating what complete honesty would mean for their relationships.

Bonnie was positive that either her relationship with her friends will grow stronger or they'll all end up killing each other.

Bonnie stops suddenly. Halting her escape, she directs her statement to Stefan, "Please tell Damon to come get his car. It hasn't been towed yet but it will be if he doesn't move it." Each word is spoken from between Bonnie's teeth, a wide plastic smile gracing her face.

She'd be the image of calm, cool and collected if she wasn't still mad as hell at Damon Salvatore.

Damon does frivolous things like play his old record collection to death, consume large amounts of alcohol, and have sex with many, many women, most of whom he can't remember their names.

Perhaps the sex is not the type he's used to. He approaches sex, gives it the old college try, with his classic seduction techniques and a smile that promises a good time. What usually happens is that he talks some strange woman's ear off about a witch, the emotionally draining activity usually leads to perfunctory sex for him (amazing sex for her), and he feels worse than he did before he picked up the woman.

Such is the heartache of his life.

"If he plays that song one more time, I am going to put him out of his misery." Katherine bemoans to Stefan, standing in the middle of his bedroom with a perturbed Elena and a bemused Stefan looking on.

Damon has played 10cc's I'm Not in Love so many times that Stefan has considered doing the exact thing that Katherine is suggesting.

"He's going through a rough time right now," Stefan defends.

"If it's too much for you, you can always stay somewhere else." Elena suggests, liking her own idea immensely.

"I'll pass, thank you." Katherine says with a sharp little smile directed at Elena.

She departs soon after, leaving Elena and Stefan alone inside his room.

"I will never get used to having that woman stay here," Elena admits.

"We'll find a way to make her leave. I promise," Stefan rubs his hands through her hair, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

Elena stares at him, trying to think of the most brilliant thing to say to him that would convey how much she loves him.

A familiar melody breaks her concentration.

They both groan in complaint as the song starts again.

Stefan has never considered hiring a house keeper before today, but the atomic bomb that has become Damon's bedroom begs to defer.

"Damon." Stefan says, staring at a malformed bundle under the covers.

"What?" Damon asks, pushing the bedcovering off the upper half of his body, blinking at the sun glaring through his window.

"Do you have any plans for today?" Stefan tries.

"No." Damon responds, his feet shifting, which knocks several liquor bottles to the ground.

"I just wanted to know if you wanted anything before I went to school."

Damon doesn't respond. He pulls the sheets over his head to block out the sun's rays.

"Bonnie wants you to pick up your car. Today." Stefan commands, deducing that just telling Damon to do something will likely get him nowhere.

"Whatever." Damon says. Or at least, it sounded like that to Stefan's ears.

"Okay, honesty policy, I hated that movie. Did you see how much Botox she has? I couldn't even tell it was her." Caroline has taken to using honesty policy for everything.

Bonnie hadn't intended for the phrase to be used in the ways Caroline has found to use it, but it made her glad that Caroline was embracing her own thoughts and feelings, and was comfortable enough to share them.

The two women grabbed their lunch, and scanned the cafeteria for their friends. Caroline spots Stefan, Elena, and Matt, and heads to the table, dragging Bonnie along.

At the table, Stefan spares mildly disgusted looks at his lunch while nuzzling his nose along Elena's neck. Elena giggles, yells "stop", but draws him back to her when Stefan pulls away.

Bonnie wished that they were as normal as they all seemed.

Matt submits his cheeks to Caroline's questing lips, and pokes at his lunch, "Honesty policy: this shit looks like vomit."

Bonnie grins hugely at Matt's use of the phrase. Caroline has committed to using the honesty policy with Matt, "tell him as much as possible" without revealing she was a vampire.

Bonnie didn't know how Caroline could manage it; the strain of keeping something so big from her boyfriend and her mother.

"Damon is coming over to pick up his car today." Stefan says, arms wrapping around the middle of Elena's body.

Bonnie already waning smile slips completely.

"I can be there with you if you want." Elena offers.

Bonnie shakes her head, disaffirming Elena's suggestion. "I'll be fine. He's just going to pick up his car."

Elena nods like she understands, but Stefan wonders if Bonnie has deluded herself into believing that Damon won't somehow distort a simple task.

Damon inspects his car. It's in the same condition it was in when it was in his possession, if only a little lack-luster from pollen and air debris.

The keys are in the ignition and the driver's seat is in the same position he left it. The car beckons him to hop in and drive a long and winding road.

Bonnie hasn't come out of the house.

Damon stands there, and he stands some more; making it clear that he's not leaving the spot.

Mr. Bennett looks out of his window and sighs heavily. "Bonnie!"

Bonnie walks downstairs as if she were going to leave her room anyway but decided to see what her father wanted on the way.

Mr. Bennett touches his daughter's shoulders gently, "Now I've never told you who you could and could not be friends with. I trust your judgment. But that boy outside is starting to worry the neighbors. Get him to leave."

There is no real choice on the matter. Bonnie must face her own personal nightmare.

Bonnie comes out of her house, and Damon thinks this is what it looks like when she admits defeat.

He is slightly annoyed that she doesn't look horrible, no bags around her eyes as if she she'd been crying.

"Damon" Bonnie says, so cordial that it borders on hostility.

"Bonnie." The name sounding infinitely more patronizing coming from Damon.

Moments pass and neither of the two speak.

"How are you?" Damon asks, looking away from her face, trying to convey how little he really cares about her well-being.

However, Bonnie won't go down that road. "Look. You were nice to me despite everything. I don't hate the things you do, and I don't trust you but you helped me with my powers, and you were likable when you weren't being a bastard, so for the sake of Stefan and Elena, I just want to forget this ever happened."

"Forget?" Damon almost sneers, the business of remembering and forgetting become tedious.

"Yep. Just wipe the slate clean." Bonnie responds simply enough.

"Can you do that?" Damon asks, the new game that Bonnie is creating is confusing.

"With everything else, no. But with this thing that happened between us, yeah. Yeah, I'll try."

Damon thinks about what he's heard. He doesn't know if he agrees.

"I don't want to have to deal with you outside of protecting the town. I don't want to be friends, I don't even want to be enemies. I just... I don't want you around me. Can you do that?, " Bonnie asks, not really caring for an answer because Damon has no choice in the matter.

"Fine. Whatever." Whatever is Damon's favorite word, it has no real meaning, and he loves that.

Bonnie walks back to her nice, safe house.

It takes a moment for Damon to get into his car and drive off.

Bonnie felt that it was sacrilegious to be going out on a date so soon but it's for her own sanity.

She sits in Mystic Grill with a boy from her science class. The guy was nice enough; he was cute. Most importantly, he wasn't harboring any secrets that involved torture or murder.

So she laughs too loudly although the jokes aren't all that funny. She rubs her shoulder against his shoulder. She pretended to have a good time.

This is a Friday night special she can get used to.

Jeremy sits a few tables away with some girl who thought he was so terribly cute and charming, and if Jeremy wasn't already head-over-heels in like with Bonnie, he would pay attention to his female companion.

He didn't like the guy Bonnie was with. Something was too straight-laced about him, too Richie Cunningham.

A few tables farther, Damon sits with Stefan and Elena determined to have a good time, and ignore the witch and her "date."

Outside of supernatural, he hadn't spoken to Bonnie the day after he picked up his car.

He can't help feeling that he got off too easy. Beyond the day she got her memories back, she never showed any real anger with him. It was as if there was a void where her feelings used to be.

Damon flirts with Elena because it's so easy, and he likes to rile his brother up.

Elena makes half-hearted attempts at dissuading Damon from making bedroom eyes at her, and Stefan squints his eyes, probably contemplating ways to disembowel his brother.

Damon smirks, insisting to the exasperated couple, "I'm helping your sex life. You can't deny how much more spectacular the sex is when Stef's all territorial."

Elena blushes, a flush spreading along her face and Stefan frowns.

No one disagrees with Damon.

Bonnie excuses herself to refill her drink, and Jeremy follows, leaving his companion a little bewildered.

Bonnie leans against the bar and exchanges pleasantries with Jeremy. She waits patiently for her Coke to be refilled.

"Honesty policy" Jeremy begins, "You look really, really hot."

Bonnie shifts from one leg to another, and tries not to be flattered. "Seriously, why is everyone using honesty policy the wrong way? I'm suppose to say honesty policy and then you're suppose to tell me the truth."

Jeremy leans in, conspiratorial, "If you say honesty policy right now I'll finish telling you my thoughts." He has this look in his eyes that tell her that his thoughts aren't innocent.

"I―I don't think that's a good idea." Bonnie stammers.

Jeremy changes the subject, "Damon is burning a hole in the back of your head."

Bonnie turns her head slightly, eyes catching where her best friend and the Salvatore brothers are sitting.

"Damon is just being annoying," Bonnie responds.

Drink now in hand, Bonnie turns her attention to Jeremy, "I have to go."

"I would say enjoy your date but I'm trying to be more honest."

Bonnie leaves to go back to her date, but Jeremy smiles just a little.

He knows he's gotten to her.

Damon watches the interaction, and tracks Bonnie's movements back to her table.

"Whatever you are thinking, Damon, don't." Stefan warns already knowing his efforts are in vain.

"Relax, little brother." Damon gets up from the table and heads in Bonnie's direction.

"This is not going to be good." Elena states.

"Funny seeing you here." Damon announces as if he wasn't in the same place Bonnie was the whole night.

Bonnie didn't respond. She sat stoic and still, and willed herself not to kill Damon in front of all these nice people.

"I think he's talking to you." Science guy says to Bonnie, adding helpfully to her annoyance.

Damon will stand there all night till she acknowledges him so she opts to get whatever he has cooked up in his mind over with, "I'm busy. What do you want?"

"I think you can ask nicer than that." Damon replies.

Bonnie takes a deep breath, and wills herself, yet again, not to do something harmful to Damon, "What would you like me to help you with, Damon?"

"That's better. A little formal, but it'll do." Damon grabs an empty chair from another table and makes himself comfortable.

"I think we should go somewhere else," Bonnie suggests, observing the fact that Damon does not seem ready to leave the two alone.

"Don't leave on my account." Damon insists.

Stefan walks over to the table, placing a hand on his brother shoulder. His grip is tighter than it should be under friendlier circumstances, "Hi, Bonnie."

She gives a small, short smile in response.

"Why don't we leaving these nice people alone so they can enjoy their time together." Stefan directs the statement at his brother.

Damon thinks for a moment, and then gets up from the table on his own accord, "You two kids be smart, now. Don't do anything that I wouldn't do." He winks at Bonnie, which only serves to make her more agitated.

"So, that was your ex-boyfriend I assume?" Science guy asks once it's just the two of them again.

"Sort of. I had some brain damage which explains the circumstances under which I associated with him." Bonnie quips.

Science guy blinks rapidly.

Damon leaves Mystic Grill, ditching the love birds that are Stefan and Elena.

He drives to a bar not far out of the way.

He gets good and drunk, meets a pretty girl with perfect brown skin and perfect emerald eyes.

He'll compel her. He'll call her some other girl's name and he'll change the ending of their story a million times over.

Damon Salvatore was always the proactive type.

END

Follow-up: She Hates Me

A/N: I would like to take the opportunity to say thanks again for reading this story. You didn't have to, there are many other more talented writers on but for some reason you've spent your time reading my words.

She Hates Me Sneek Peak:

"If restraining orders worked on vampires, Bonnie would have slapped one on your ass a long time ago," Alaric says, laughing hardily at his own joke.