Bonnie had been at the Salvatore mansion for over an hour but still had not made her way further than the foyer. Everyone around her had been quiet. They had given her as much space as she wanted and Bonnie had been grateful. She was sure they had questions. Of course, they did. Questions that she was not quite certain how she would answer them. However, she had managed to point out Elena as her attacker and that she had been the reason Kai had taken her. Bonnie did not know if they believed her. Especially, after seeing Elena hanging from the wall with a dagger holding her up.

The most troublesome for Bonnie was Damon. He had not bothered to look her way since leaving the cabin. When Damon was quiet, his need for danger became loud. Bonnie was not sure if their friendship could save her from his rage.

For the moment, his attention was on Elena. He had been with her in the dungeon. Locking her up must have been hard for him. Maybe it was a good thing he had avoided her. The last thing she wanted was to make things worse for Damon.

Bonnie heard footsteps and looked towards her right, just in time to make eye contact with Caroline walking through the living room. Every so often Caroline would come by and check to see if Bonnie was still in the hall. She never said anything. In fact, Caroline was being the opposite of her usual self. Push. Overbearingly supportive. There was no heavy rubbing against Bonnie's back, repeating over again how sorry she was, and annoyingly trying to make things better. Not even one "You need anything." Nope! Caroline had stayed her distance. It must have been killing her.

Maybe she was being ungrateful. Bonnie had not meant too. Of course, she was appreciative of all the trouble they had gone through to save her life. But eventually they would want her to explain Kai. Something she could not do. Even if she could, they would not understand. None of them would accept what he had done for her. In their eyes, he would always be toxic. There was a time that Bonnie would have agreed, but now she was starting to have seconds thoughts.

"At some point, you are going to have to come out the hallway." Bonnie was so busy paying attention to Caroline that she had not seen Stefan sneak up on her. He stood next to her, placing his heel against the wall.

"I will."

"Will you?"

"When I'm ready," she frowned.

"You've been through a lot the last couple of days, huh?"

"That's an understatement," Bonnie laughed uncomfortably.

"Yeah," he shook his head. "Everything that's going on with both Kai and Elena, I know it's stressful for you."

"Elena is the last thing on my mind."

"Well, you care about Damon and I know you. You are so worried about him worrying about Elena that you have barely had time to think about everything that has happened to you."

"I'm fine."

"You're always fine. We expect you to be fine even when you're not. I think that's the problem, Bonnie."

"You guys don't have to worry about me. I always bounce back."

"Well, I don't want you to carry this load. Let Damon deal with Elena."

"I was not planning on getting involved, Stefan. The last thing I wanted was to be the middle of them."

"I know you didn't mean to Bonnie. But you are in the middle because my brother has put you there. He wants everything with Elena but he refuses to let you go."

"So, is this what you came down here to tell me. To stay away from your brother. You agree with Elena. I should have known."

"That's not what I'm saying at all. Damon has not been honest with any of you. Not even with himself. Because of that, you and Elena are clashing."

"What are you saying, Stefan?"

"I'm saying you can't help how Damon feels about you. Instead of Elena attacking you, she needs to figure it out with him."

"Isn't that why he's down there with her now. Figuring it all out," Bonnie rolled her eyes.

"None of this matters, I guess" he said, rubbing her shoulder. "He won't accept any other feelings that he has outside of her. He'll fight for that relationship even if it's destroying him."

"I would never ask him to choose me over the love of his life."

"Maybe you should."

"I'm not going down that road. He loves Elena and we're friends. That's just how it is. How it will always be. You're right none of this stuff matters."

"There's a lot of things that matters." Damon walked towards them, a glass of Bourbon shook in his hands. "I can name a few things that matters. For one, why did you let that psycho walk away unscratched." He took a hard gulp. His last gulp. He turned the glass on it's side and placed it on the hardwood floors. He kicked the glass and watched it roll until it landed against the door.

"Maybe this is not a good time to discuss all this. We've all had a long night." Stefan blocked his brother's path just as he was headed closer to Bonnie.

"I don't think Bonnie has a problem with us talking," he said, making another attempt towards Bonnie but Stefan pushed him away. "We really need to have this conversation. Don't you think?"

"Not if you are going to do something crazy," Stefan warned.

"Crazy! I wouldn't hurt a hair on Bonnie's head."

"You wouldn't but the alcohol might be thinking something different."

"Stefan, you can let him go. I am going to have to talk to him about this eventually. It's better now then later," Bonnie responded.

"I don't know Bonnie. Later may be better option."

"Come on, brother. This is ridiculous. You know how much she means to me. I may be upset but I would never hurt her."

Stefan looked at Bonnie and she gave him a nod that it was okay to leave them alone. Stefan walked towards her and kissed her on the forehead. "Don't do something stupid," he told Damon before finally walking off.

Damon stood on the other side of the wall, directly in front of Bonnie. His eyes displaying all the hurt and disappointment that she had expected. She was sorry! She had never meant to hurt him but she was not about to apologize for saving Kai. He would just have to accept that just like the many things she had to accept being his friend.

"I don't want to argue," he said, breaking the silence.

"I don't want to argue either, Damon."

"On my way up here, I had all these things I wanted to say to you. I was just so ready to explode. And now I'm standing in front of you, I've got nothing."

"Well can I just tell you how grateful I am that you found me?"

"That's all I wanted, Bonnie. I just wanted so bad to find you."

"And you did! I'm here because of you. I will never forget that."

"I really did want you safe. I wanted to do what I couldn't when you were stuck in that prison world. I just wanted to make it up to you for leaving you there."

"It wasn't your fault, Damon. I chose for you to go instead of me. You can't keep punishing yourself for that. I never blamed you."

"I blamed me," he yelled and it startled Bonnie. "I just wanted to protect you and I let Kai get to you again. I was too wrapped up in everything I had going on with Elena and let my best friend get hurt because of it."

"Damon, you are blaming yourself for a situation that is not what you think. Kai had no intentions of ever hurting me."

"You're defending him again."

"I'm not defending him. I'm telling you the truth. All that time I was out there with him, he never laid one hand on me. He wanted the same thing you wanted. Just to keep me safe."

"So he protects you from my girlfriend and somehow all is forgiven for him. So you protect him and lash out at me."

"Lash out at you! That was not what I was doing there, Damon."

"You turned on me, Bonnie," he grabbed Bonnie by the arm. ""You saved that monster."

"That's what you really think, Damon?" Bonnie tried to loosen his grip but there was no use. " I didn't turn on you. I was just trying to stop you from killing him."

Damon let go of Bonnie and leaned back on the wall. He shook his head at her like a parent scolding their child. She was a disappointment. "Do you remember what this man did to you? He practically terrorized you and isolated you from us for months."

"And he also saved me from the one person I never thought would hurt me."

"I am not going to make excuses for Elena," he said, lowering his head. "I know she hurt you but..."

"But you're still going to protect her. You're still going to fight for her because you love her."

"I want to make her better, Bonnie. We all know this is not Elena. Maybe she turned off her humanity somewhere down the line and I was just too blind to notice it."

"You keep believing that."

"So what do you want me to believe? That the caring, compassionate woman I fell in love with no longer exists. That sweet girl is now the devil."

"Damon, I honestly don't care what you believe about Elena. I thought we were not going to fight about all this."

"I'm trying not to Bonnie but you can't compare me being there for Elena with what you did with Kai."

"Why can't I? Just because she's your girlfriend doesn't excuse the fact that she tried to kill me."

"Of course, it doesn't."

"But you are going to find every excuse you can to make this better for her." Bonnie walked towards the door.

"Where are you going," Damon yelled after her.

"I can't do this," she said, just about to turn the knob but Damon flew in front of the door before she could leave.

"Are you crazy? Do you think I'm just going to let you walk out of here with no protection?"

"You think I am about to stay in this place and watch you nurse my attacker back to health. No thank you, Damon."

"Bonnie, this is Elena we are talking about."

"I know exactly who we are talking about. Which is why I need to leave before I get upset."

"She's locked in the dungeon. She will be of no harm to you."

"It's the point, Damon. You take care of Elena. I can take care of myself." She tried to move Damon out the way but his strength was still hundred times her own.

"I can't just let you go. You don't even know how dangerous things are right now."

"The only danger to me is that girl in your dungeon waiting for you."

"Bonnie, Kai is still very much a danger. You don't know what he's been up to."

"I just want to go home and forget this night," she sighed. "I don't want to talk about Kai or Elena or anything. I just want to leave."

"He's just playing you so that you can let down your guards. He'll end up hurting you again. Enzo has two murders connected to him. Do you really want to go out there and end up with the same fate? You know how obsessed he is with you."

"What murders? What are you talking about Damon?"

"Two girls from the university have been murdered. That's what I am talking about and they are all connected to Kai"

"Why, Kai."

"Vamp bites and they were tortured."

"Because of that, you think it's Kai?"

"It fits his profile. So, if you think I am going to let you leave, you got another thing coming." Damon reached behind his back and locked the doors.

The drinks were not coming fast enough as Kai sat in an unknown ramshackle of a bar just outside of Mystic Falls. The sign on the window read Old Blackfoot and the place looked as if it had stepped out of a old Western flick. Kai shifted on the bar stool, trying to find some comfort as he felt the wood through the padding.

The place was empty and no one had come along since a gray beard man had made his way out the door over an hour ago. Before that, he had sat near the jukebox, singing some old Loretta Lynn song as he played it over and over again. "They Don't Make Them Like My Daddy Anymore."

"I'll make you dead like your daddy," Kai had mumbled. Fortunately, the old man had taken the hint and stumbled out the bar. That or he ran out of coins. Whatever the reason, Kai was thankful for the time alone.

Bonnie had left him. After everything they had gone through together. Just at the moment where she had finally given in to him. He had made himself vulnerable to Damon just so he could get a reaction out of Bonnie. He had put himself in a dangerous position, just to prove to Bonnie that he mattered to her. Somewhere deep down inside of her, she cared.

If she cared, why had she not stayed? Why had she not told the rest of them to fuck off and claimed her spot by his side? Kai was kidding himself to think that he would ever be on the same level as Damon. Any of them. She would always put them first and they would always put her last. That was the way life worked, the ones that deserved it the most, always got it the least. The ones who deserved it the least, capitalized the most.

"Hey, Bill" He heard the door slam and sounds of heels as they approached the bar. She was talking to the bartender. Kai had not bothered to acknowledge her presence. He just focused more on the Budweiser in front of him. "Has my daddy been in here, tonight," she asked. The sound of the bar stool squeaked as she sat down next to Kai.

"Yeah, he left out here about an hour ago," Bill responded.

"You let him leave?"

"I don't mess with your dad. You know that."

"Well, you know I always try to come pick him up."

"And you always miss him. He manages to make his way home just fine," he said, sliding a drink her way.

"It's kind of dead in here tonight," she said. Kai finally looked up and was greeted by a slight grin that was still quite pleasant despite the laugh lines. She was probably a little older then the age Kai was supposed to be in this decade but still quite pretty.

Kai watched her as she pulled her long golden strands away from her shoulders and exposed a beautifully slender neck. She noticed and smiled again, misreading Kai's attention on her as attraction. Her warm eyes set on Kai and he knew instantly who he was dealing with. A naive spirit, despite her many years on this earth. Someone who used young men to forget the gray hairs forming around her hairline and that she was closing in on fifty.

"I'm Bonnie," she said, extending her hand.

Kai squinted hard, unsure he had heard her right. Maybe it was the liquor. "Are you serious?"

"Serious about my name?"

"Bonnie, is that what you said?"

"Yeah, Bonnie. It's a nick name. My real name is Barbara but I hate it. So, everyone calls me Bonnie," she laughed. Kai continued with his drink. What was the chances of him meeting another Bonnie on the damn night that he could not get her out of his mind.

"I've seen you around here a few times," she continued.

"I'm sure you have."

"Yeah, it's kind of a small town here. Much smaller then Mystic Falls. We notice new people around here. I assume you live up in the woods. I've seen you headed that way." Kai shrugged his shoulders and took another swallow of his beer. "You're the loner type, I see. I had an ex husband kind of like that. He never talked to anyone. Not even me. It was my biggest complaint during our divorce," she laughed.

"Shouldn't you be out there looking for your dad?"

"He'll be fine. He just lives down the road from here. He always makes his way home."

"And who's going to make sure you get home." Why did he say that? He did not mean to flirt but it was too late. This Bonnie was already looking at him like his next stop would be her bed.

How many times was he going to call her? She had barely made it through her front door and she had already lost count of how many times her phone had rung. Damon had barely let her out the door and now he was blowing up her phone. Bonnie groaned as she threw her phone on the couch. She was not going to answer no matter how many times he called. She had left everything they had said to each other at his door. There was no need to rehash any of it. She was tired of it all. Too tired to fight.

Bonnie pulled her shirt over her head, slipped out of her sweat pants and headed for the shower. She stood under the water and tried to wash the night away but there were things she could not rid. Kai's scent was still with her. His cologne lingered from her skin and reminded her of every part of her body he had touched. Bonnie closed her eyes and he was on top of her. His hips thrusting between her thighs.

The knock on the bathroom door jolted Bonnie back to reality. "Bonnie, it's Dale."

"Give me a minute," she said, stepping out the bathtub and reaching for her robe. She opened the door and before she could greet him, Dale had already pulled her into his arms. "I'm so glad you are okay,"

"I'm fine. How did you get in here?"

"You left your front door open," he said, finally releasing her. Dale smiled at her as he wiped her hair from off her shoulder. "You just don't know how happy I am to see you. I've been so worried. What happened to you?"

"It's a really long story," she said, walking past him and heading towards the living room. Dale followed behind her.

"I've been running around here with my head cut off trying to find out what was going on. You're friends said that you had some type of emergency."

Bonnie shook her head in agreement. She was not quite sure what she should say to Dale. There were a lot of people in Mystic Falls who still were not aware of all the supernatural beings in town. Telling him she was trapped in a cabin with a warlock slash vampire might warrant a straight jacket in his eyes.

"I don't know! Something about it doesn't sit right with me. Your friend have all been acting weird. Ignoring my calls. Where were you?"

"There was an emergency with one of my aunts. She got into a car accident."

"Oh, wow! I'm so sorry to hear that. Is she okay!"

"She's fine now but I just didn't have time to tell you. I was so upset. I just bolted from the club and went straight there. I'm sorry. I left you hanging."

"Don't be sorry," he said, reaching for her hands. "I'm just glad you're okay. I wish you would have told me. Everyone needs support in a times like that. I would have been there for you."

"It's okay, Dale," she said, sliding her hands away. "I was planning on calling you when I came back but when I got in I just wanted to take a shower and hit the bed."

"I understand. Here I am busting through your apartment like a stalker."

"No," she laughed. "I'm just sorry I worried you."

"It's fine," he said, walking back towards the front door. " Again, I'm just glad you are okay. Maybe we can get together tomorrow or whenever you are feeling up to it."

"I'll call you."

"That's fine. Or knock. Remember, I'm just across the hall," he smiled.

"I don't think I will forget."

"I just sounded a little desperate there," he nodded.

"It's okay. I understand what you meant."

"Well, get some rest and we'll talk tomorrow."

"That's a plan."

She hated lying to Dale but what choice did she have? Besides him not believing in the boogeyman, the last thing she wanted was him doting over her. Holding her hand and making sure she was fine every second of the night.

.

The phone rung again and Bonnie picked it up from the couch. She looked at the name across the screen and answered. "Matt, I'm fine. No need to come by. I'll see you tomorrow." She hung up the phone before he could respond and headed towards her room.

She tried to sleep. The darkness was suffocating and the silence in the room had trapped her. She was lost in her head. Lost with a man she once hated. The more she tried not to think about Kai, the more she saw his face. The more present his voice was against her ear. The sheets hit the floor, as Bonnie tossed and turned. Her fingers grazed against her wrist. His power running through her veins like fire. His eyes were still on her. His touch tantalizing. His lips still close to her neck. The erotic verses from his tongue caused her knees to lock. Agonizing pleasure that made her not want to ever open her eyes. "God damn it, Kai," she sighed, tossing her pillow at the wall.

The refrigerator door closed and Kai stood in front of it with nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist. He popped a few red grapes in his mouth before leaving out the small kitchen. He walked over to his bed and noticed Bonnie's twenties' dress folded neatly on top of the comforter. He picked it up and pressed it against his nose. The smell of her perfume had awakened emotions in him. She always wore Estee Lauder Pleasures. Nothing else. Her dresser aligned with bottles of the same perfume. To say how he knew this things, would only prove him more madly obsessed with Bonnie.

There was a knock. Kai folded the dress up and laid it back down on the bed. Slowly, he walked over towards the door and answered. Half expecting Damon to return for another battle, Kai was ready for him. Ready for them all. When he opened the door, he was pleasantly surprised. " What are you doing here," he asked.

Bonnie stood in front of him but did not answer. "Are you okay," he asked but there was still no answer. Bonnie stepped closer to Kai. She reached up towards his neck. She pulled him in for a kiss. A kiss so strong, Kai held on to the walls to keep from falling forward out the door. Still she did not stop. She pushed him back inside. Kissed him again, pulling at his towel until it hit the floor. She kicked the door shut.