A/N: I am Queenbmia and I am also known as 'A Glutton for Bamon.'

People aren't generous with reviews. Not even people who are suppose to be your so call friends.

Reviews are a fan fictions writer's only payment for long nights, multiple rereads, paper usage, ink usage, etc. so to drum up more support for my story Oblivion that did pretty well when TVD was on the air, is not getting much attention now, so that is why I'm uploading this story on two accounts.

I originally opened this account because I was being harassed by a reader who wished that me and my daughter be raped and killled for my story 'Now that the Spell has been Broken.'

Turns out I didnt need this page then because she stopped, but lately I've found that people are kinder and extremely generous with reviewing. Stefan's Diary did better on this handle than it did when I uploaded it under the Queenbmia handle/account. This is the third time that Stefan's Diary has been uploaded to FF!

...so, in closing, thank you for your support and for warning me of the possible plagiarist of my story who is none other than myself... ROTFL!

**This story is set after 5x22. No copyright infringement intended. I don't own the characters. They are merely written in my own light, OOC. This is an AU. I must edit these chapters, again, so updating may be a week out for each chapter. Thank you!

Oblivion Chapter 1: Implode

Bonnie had to make a quick stop by her dorm room. She stopped and listened at her door when she heard a loud ruckus coming from inside. She opened the door slowly to see Damon demolishing her things.

"Damon, stop," she demanded.

"You said you had a plan, Bonnie." Damon pointed the poker at her.

"I did. I had a traveler that knew the right spell."

"…and you lost her," he bellowed.

"I didn't lose her. She was sucked into oblivion like everyone else on the Other Side," Bonnie argued.

"Then find another one."

"It's more than just knowing the spell. Markos was able to come back because dozens of Travelers were willing to sacrifice themselves in order to overwhelm me. I doubt that they'll be willing to do that for a bunch of supernatural strangers," she stated, equally as heated.

"You know who needs motivation. You need motivation. Because if the Other Side goes away, then everyone, including you, will go away with it." His angry visage was immediately replaced with the realization that he could lose Stefan and Bonnie forever.

"I know that. Do you think I want to die?" Bonnie stated painfully.

"My brother is over there," Damon announced gravely.

"I know that."

Damon looked at her, wounded, and began to lower the poker before slinging it across the room.

"Alaric is over there. Your gram's is over there." The graveness of the situation sunk deeper into his awareness with every word spoken, and it hurt him. It crushed him. It was real, and sadly, it took his brother dying for him to see how tangible it all was.

"I know that, Damon," Bonnie stated, close to tears.

They stared at each other, Damon searching Bonnie's face fitfully. He had never been vulnerable with her, yet here he was. They continued watching each other, their chests rising and falling, nearly in sync.

Damon was the one to break the trance first. He walked over to the bed and plopped down onto it. He looked blankly down at the wooden floor.

"Look, Damon, I'm sorry about Stefan, but I promise you that we'll find a way to bring him back. I just can't have you taking your anger out on me." Bonnie walked over to the bed and sat down beside him, staring at the side of his face, his mauve pouty lips and wide eyes.

"I know," Damon murmured. "But he's all I got, Bonnie. I can't live knowing that my brother is dead."

Bonnie had to bite her tongue. She knew that Damon loved his brother, but he was also the one that caused his brother so much pain. It was touching to see the softer side of him all the same.

"I know, how it feels to love and lose someone. First my grams, and then my dad. I didn't think I could go on without my grams, but I found the strength to do it; and when Silas killed my dad, it devastated me. I could have saved him." Bonnie looked out into space as she recalled what had happened to her grandmother and father. "We will get Stefan back. I promise you, Damon." She quickly looked back at him as she vowed to help him get his brother back.

Damon turned to her. He'd come into her dorm room raging and angry, like he was the only person in the world who had ever lost someone; and Bonnie, like him, knew that pain all too well, yet still she listened to him and sympathized with his pain. She didn't push it aside or ignore what he said all together like Elena had done on many occasions.

He immediately thought back to when he and Elena were locked up together, held captive by Dr. Wes. He told her about all the pain he had been through being an Augustine vampire, and Elena made the whole thing about her as she went on and on about her dad killing innocent people. Not once did she apologize or even ask what had happened to him.

But Bonnie didn't do that. She was sympathetic to his pain, and he felt sympathetic to hers. They had a beautiful connection, and they were both oblivious to this element about themselves and their wonderful dynamic as a duo.

"Bonnie, I'm sorry about your grams. I take full responsibility for that."

"It's okay, Damon. There was no way you would've known that her body could be so overwhelmed by magic."

"I know, but still," Damon replied as he looked Bonnie square in the eyes.

Once again, they were sharing a moment, another long silence between them, but not an awkward one. It was peaceful, comforting, but this time it was Bonnie who broke their trance.

"Well, we better get going. I must find Enzo. He's supposed to be helping me find another traveler who knows the spell." Bonnie stood.

"Yeah, and I need to catch up with Liz. We need to find a way to stop Markos." Damon got to his feet next.

"Okay, so we'll talk later?"

He nodded and then left the room. Once he left Bonnie's presence. He went back to thinking about his brother, and a way that he could destroy Markos and the other Travelers.

::::::

Damon had come up with a plan to destroy the Travelers and Markos. Sheriff Forbes agreed to stall them by keeping them entertained at the Grill. Now all that was left was for him to fill Jeremy and Matt in on the plan.

After Damon strategized with Liz, he had the bright idea to share his plans with Elena. He spent an entire hour in the woods arguing with her about why he shouldn't be the one to go on a suicide mission to help find and save his brother and the town. He couldn't understand why he felt the need to even include her in on it. He regretted it soon after, but what was done was done.

After talking with Bonnie, he found the strength to do what he needed to. All was going according to plan. Bonnie and Enzo had found a traveler to teach her the spell, and Caroline had given Liv a bit of incentive to perform the ritual, getting his brother back wasn't just a pipe dream anymore. After this day, they could all live happily ever after, so Damon thought.

One thing he hadn't factored into his plans was how he would save Bonnie. He was so concerned about his brother and getting rid of Markos that he didn't think once or even twice after leaving Bonnie's dorm room that morning about how she was going to die when the Other Side collapsed. Nothing about this day for Damon was normal. His brother was dead, and that changed everything, mostly his way of thinking.

::::::

Bonnie lied, yet again, to Jeremy. She couldn't tell him the truth about her dying. She really wanted to; she needed to prepare him for the inevitable, but she knew instead of him helping her come up with a plan to save her life he would only try to stop her.

Bonnie didn't want to be stopped. She couldn't let the Other Side collapse without saving her friends and family—her grams being first—and deep down inside there was this urgency and a certain obligation she felt to help Damon get his brother back as well. She even took Enzo under her wing, and she didn't know why. Perhaps it was because Damon cared so deeply for him, or maybe she was just a fool.

She liked to argue that fact with herself all the time, but she couldn't help but do the right thing by people, and some days she wished that gene had been removed from her body. She felt like a slave to her friends, especially to Elena, but Caroline had killed to protect her.

Stefan had been there for her countless times and had even admitted to killing Enzo's late girlfriend in order to save her life. It was those moments that kept her going, that made her see that sacrificing herself, yet again, was not all in vain because the people she was risking her life for cared about her, too; even Damon, in his own little, weird way had been instrumental in being there for her, like coming up with the plan to protect her from Klaus.

Helping him to bring Stefan back to life was the least she could do for Damon. She never thanked him for fighting so hard to give her back her life. She figured he did it all for. It couldn't have been for himself. She had let that idea cross her mind, off and on, every day since she had returned to the land of the living. Did Damon fight so hard to bring her back just for himself? Had he really come to care for her that much that he couldn't bear the thought of living in a world where she didn't exist?

Bonnie pushed the thoughts to the corner of her mind as she walked slowly through the woods of the Other Side looking for her grams. Silas had given her the spell that would allow her to bring back her friends and she was anxious to tell her grams so that she would be front and center once the ritual began. Even though her life wasn't promised, knowing that she brought back her grams before she left the world permanently gave her some peace of mind.

Bonnie finally stumbled upon her grandmother's grave. She waited for five minutes, twitching nervously. She was anxious.

"Come on, Grams. Where are you?" Bonnie inquired impatiently.

"Didn't I teach you not to rush your elders?" Sheila stated. "We move a little slower." She smiled.

"I found us all a way out." Bonnie walked quickly to Sheila.

"You think I was born yesterday?" Sheila said, knowingly. "I know what you're doing. You cannot survive all of these people going through you and even if you could, when it's all said and done, you're still the anchor, and when this place-,"

"I know what you're about to say," Bonnie interrupted.

"No, you don't." She paused. "I was going to say that it's been my privilege to watch you grow into the beautiful woman you've become." Sheila smiled, and Bonnie giggled, sniffling.

She looked her grams directly in the eyes. "You need to pass through me when the ritual begins."

"No." Shelia shook her head. "I'm going to stay here."

"Grams, you can't. This place is imploding and taking everyone with it," Bonnie argued on a huff of disbelief.

"I can't, Bonnie. You're not the only member of this family who knows how to make a sacrifice." "What does that mean?" Bonnie was perplexed by her grams' statement.

"It means that I'm going to be fine. I've found peace because I've made sure that you'll find yours."

"I don't understand." Bonnie shook her head, confused.

"Not your concern. Just know that I looked out for you." Sheila looked at her granddaughter with watery eyes before pulling her into a warm embrace. "I love you, Bonnie," The woman said as she began to lightly sob.

Bonnie rubbed her grandmother's back briskly as she cried.

"Be strong, Bonnie," Sheila said.

Bonnie clutched her grams tightly before whispering that she loved her, too. Sheila Bennett walked away. Bonnie wiped the tears from her eyes and turned away. Lexi and Stefan were there the whole time listening to Bonnie and Grams talk.

::::::

Damon sat on his car at the edge of Mystic Falls. He needed this moment of silence to grieve over his brother properly and in his own way. He contemplated how he would be committing suicide and that he had promised Elena that he would come back.

He hoped that he would be able to keep that promise. In this moment of silence, he still hadn't thought about the fact that Bonnie would be gone forever. He assumed that once he destroyed the Travelers that everything would just reset itself.

Damon's head was a haze of random thoughts and ideas which completely had taken his focus off what he needed to do for Bonnie. He finished off his liquor and hopped in to his car. As he sped back to Mystic Falls, he ran into Elena. Nothing gave him so much joy than seeing this woman. This woman who was no longer the fresh face and innocent girl that he had first met.

Elena not only was the worst version of herself but her looks had faded, too, mirroring her very self-absorbed and selfish personality. Her voice was courser, her skin was lackluster, and Damon was too obsessed to even notice her horrible and drastic changes; or, he ignored it because nothing meant more to him than being able to roll around in the sack with her. It had become the most comforting thing in the world to him.

Elena pleaded with him to piggyback on his suicide mission. He didn't like it but she made him a dumbass instead of the smart cunning individual he used to be. He welcomed her, with little to no argument on her part at all, to come along.

Alaric had warned him not minutes ago to not blow up the woman he loved, but no matter to Damon. He got the girl, so he could do whatever he wanted with her. Neither Damon nor Elena gave one thought to Jeremy and his wellbeing or the fact that he would be losing his last surviving immediate family member and the woman he loved all in one night. Not only that, but there wasn't even a guarantee that they could be brought back. But as usual, it was all about them and no one else.

Bonnie's wellbeing didn't matter. The fact that her bringing them back to life could hurt her didn't even register. They couldn't bear to live without each other and that's all that mattered.

As Damon gunned it towards Mystic's Grill, Elena held tightly to the front seat and not to the man she supposedly loved with all the passion of a thousand suns as she had claimed. It was Damon, yet again, who had to come to her as he slapped his hand over hers and gripped it firmly as he gunned it for the Grill and their inevitable deaths.

Damon's Camaro drove through the Grill at over a hundred miles an hour. Bricks, wood, glass, tables, and an atomic-sized explosion forced the car to a cruel and deadly halt. Damon's body went flying through the windshield and Elena's body went up in flames as it was secured by her seatbelt.

Damon woke up and took off to find Bonnie and Alaric. Elena came to minutes later discovering that she had been separated from her umbilical cord. She took off in a flash to look for Damon but found Stefan and Lexi instead.

Bonnie watched in frustration as Elena threw a tantrum about not leaving without Damon. She looked at Stefan and nodded and without warning she grabbed Elena and the bothersome woman passed through her. Elena ripped into Bonnie for her insolence just as Caroline appeared out of nowhere instantly wanting to know what was going on, and Bonnie began to violently choke on her own blood.

"Oh, my God, Bonnie!" Caroline gasped, and Elena didn't seem to care as she was still having a hard time grasping the fact that she had been kicked out of the nest without her daddy.

"This can't be it," Elena cried.

"I can't do this." Bonnie rolled her eyes at the unbearably selfish woman and then walked away.

She was immediately back on the Other Side. She beamed big and bright when she saw Damon and Alaric approaching.

"Thank God," she whispered with a dazzling smile. She never thought in a million years that seeing Damon Salvatore would make her so darn happy and relieved. She supposed it was because saving him would make Elena happy, but really it was the simple fact that she could bring him back to life like he had done for her.

Once Alaric and Damon were within arm's reach, she took ahold of her old friend and he passed over.

"Where is Elena and Stefan?" Damon asked worriedly.

"They're okay." Bonnie beamed through a giggle. She knew that this information would please him, because at the end of the day, they were both two people who would save the people that they loved at all cost.

"Okay," Damon smiled sweetly at her, his face childlike.

"Okay, come on." Bonnie grinned as she signaled to Damon to pass through her.

Damon quickly nodded and stood still. Bonnie hurriedly grabbed him, but he didn't pass. They looked into each other's eyes, confused. Bonnie grabbed him again, and Damon still didn't pass.

Devastated, her eyes slowly traveled up to his. She wanted to save him with all her heart. She wanted to give him what he had given her, a second chance at life.

"Well, would you look at that?" Damon stated nonchalantly.

They both stared at each other for a moment and then Bonnie walked away. She dreaded immediately having to tell Elena the sad news, but she was a strong woman. She could handle her spoiled friend.

Elena went bursting into the building in the graveyard. She called out Liv's name, and just as she was turning around, Bonnie was walking in behind her.

"We need to find them. We need to start the spell again," Elena rushed out as she pushed her hair behind her ear.

"We can't. That was our one shot," Bonnie stated calmly.

"But…but yeah, Damon's on the Other-,"

"Elena," Bonnie said in a stern voice, instantly shushing the woman. "It's too late."

"No!" Elena cried as she drifted back against the wall.

Damon finally entered.

"He's here. You can say goodbye," Bonnie said and then left the two alone.

Damon told Elena 'goodbye'. He thanked her for loving him. He told her how she was the best thing to ever happen to him since he had been in the world. He had peaked with her. He was as happy as he had ever been or could get. Real love didn't peak, but Damon was still oblivious to what real love was.

Whilst he gave Elena the most touching and endearing goodbye speech of his life, Elena did nothing but cry about herself, telling him not to leave her. She didn't once say she loved him, and Damon stood patiently by, hoping to hear those words part her lips one last time before he left the land of the living for good, but those words never came. Elena couldn't say 'goodbye' or 'I love you' to the man she claimed to be so in love with. She couldn't give him that peace, only, "Please don't leave me," she chanted like a broken record.

While Damon was saying his final goodbye's to Elena, Bonnie was giving her final farewell to Jeremy, who couldn't seem to wrap his head around what was happening because Bonnie never included him in on major decisions or problems in her life. Jeremy demanded that she stay put so that he could come to her and give her a proper goodbye or make some last-ditch effort to save her.

"Bonnie! Bonnie! Bonnie!" He yelled hysterically through all his pain and fear as he ran through the graveyard, alerting the others to what was going on.

"Tyler, Stefan, Caroline, Alaric, and Elena came running out from nowhere. Jeremy had finally spotted Bonnie standing in the graveyard, and just like that, her life force was gone; she melded into the Other Side.

Bonne stood frozen, watching as the Other Side was evaporating right in front of her eyes. She was ready and willing to face this thing alone. She figured that Damon was long gone by now, pulled into the nothingness, and even if he were there, he probably wanted to be alone to grieve over Elena, and she was okay with that.

For one fleeting moment, Bonnie thought about what her grams had said to her. What did her grams do? Once this place imploded, where would she go? What would happen to her? As the questions about what Sheila had said to her looped over and over in her mind, she heard a branch breaking behind her. Damon. They glanced at each other for a second, and then Bonnie turned back towards the growing, blaring light.

He was finally there standing beside her, the wind blowing the scent of his cologne in her direction.

"I'm sure there are a million other people we'd both rather be here with right now, but-," She placed her hand behind his, their fingertips gently brushed against each other's. They interlocked their fingers and gripped each other's hand firmly. Bonnie looked down at their linked hands nervously, and Damon looked down, too, not seeming to mind at all that they were holding hands.

"A couple of thousand at most." He smiled sweetly, his comment eliciting a giggle from a frightened Bonnie.

Bonnie's smile quickly dropped as she looked at Damon unlike, she ever had before, and he the same. He gazed at her in the most dangerous and affectionate of ways. If Bonnie didn't know better, she'd swear that Damon Salvatore was happy about dying with her.

It was Bonnie who turned away first, looking back to the light. They both now stood looking at the growing light in silence as the winds lightly swayed their bodies.

"Do you think it'll hurt?" Bonnie asked, her face open and innocent.

"I don't kno-." Damon went silent as the Other Side finally imploded.

Suddenly, Damon and Bonnie could tell their bodies were traveling at unrecognizable amounts of speed because they couldn't open their eyes. They were moving so fast that it was like they weren't moving at all.

As their bodies traveled through the portal that they couldn't see, they felt extremely hot, as if the sun were right on their backs; then, they felt extremely cold as if they were laying on a bed of ice. They heard animals and then something that sounded much like thunder.

This went on for what seemed like forever as their hair flapped harshly against their faces, making tiny little scratches on their skin.

Why is it taking so long for this place to implode? Damon questioned frustratingly in thought.

Oh my god, why won't this stop. Please stop, Bonnie thought frantically.

They both tried to call to each other numerous times but the speed that their bodies were traveling made the simple task of parting their lips the impossible.

Their bodies had finally slowed down enough for them to realize that they were moving. They screamed in horror as their bodies were ripped violently apart as they came hurtling down to planet.

Bonnie screamed as her body flew down toward a lush green hillside. She closed her eyes and braced for impact. She went tumbling down the hill. She rolled for what seemed like forever before stopping just short of plunging into a jagged rock.

Damon's landing was similar, but into a puddle of mud instead. He flashed to a standing position and around in a circle frantically looking for Bonnie.

He sped to the edge of the hillside and began to panic when he didn't see her.

"Bonnie! Bonnie!" Damon looked around the vast land, terror in his wide eyes. They didn't survive an imploding of the Other Side to be ripped apart, now. He'd be damned if he lost the only person he knew and was comfortable with on a foreign planet.

"Bonnie! Bonnie!" He called in a painful, shaken voice as he sped around the hillside and the one near it fearfully.

Bonnie stood up slowly and began limping through the forest. Droplets of blood rolled down her eyelid and she quickly wiped it away. She panicked when she didn't see Damon close by. She was okay with facing whatever, but only if her partner in crime was here to face it with her.

"Damon! " Bonnie yelled, her eyes moistening in the process. "Damon, where are you!" Bonnie called louder as the panic rose in waves. She had limped through the hot forest keying in on all the weird and scary sounds around her. "Damon!" Bonnie yelled again, and then began to cry. "Please, God."

Damon jerked his head to the left of him. He could have sworn he heard his name being called in the distance as he looked around fitfully for Bonnie. He heard his name again and he flashed to the sound of it. The sounds in the forest made his skin crawl, and if it made him slightly afraid, he shuddered to think about how they made Bonnie feel.

He stopped dead in his tracks, hoping to hear his name again, a light wind blew, and it carried with it—Bonnie's scent. Damon dashed off in the direction of her aroma.

"Bonnie!" He beamed once stumbling upon the woman. "You're okay," he said winded.

"Damon! Thank God!" She stated excitedly, all her pearly white teeth showing as she tried to limp to him.

Damon flashed immediately to her, stopping her from going any further. "Here, sit down. Let me look at your leg," he said concerned.

Bonnie eased down to the forest floor and held her leg out for Damon to inspect, and he did so, carefully and tenderly. She watched as Damon touched and lightly massaged her leg. He had never been so tender with her—as far as she knew—and it warmed her heart and made her extremely nervous all the same.

Damon slowly moved his fingers up her leg, massaging out the pain. He had done this much longer than he really needed, but he couldn't help it. He felt this noticeable peace and calm around Bonnie and it was oddly wonderful to him. He had always felt this way before, but so many things in Mystic Falls, mainly Elena, stifled and made those feelings all hazy.

"Am I going to be okay?" Bonnie asked softly.

"Uh, yeah, it's not broken, but you still should have my blood. There's no telling how long we'll have to travel by foot for a place to stay." Damon bit into his wrist and held it to Bonnie's lips.

She gazed down at his bloody wrist before clamping her mouth over it and taking in his blood. The move instantly took Damon back in time to when he gave Bonnie his blood to save her life after she was attacked by Alaric, but this time it was different because she was conscious, and her lips were moving ever so tenderly over his slowly closing wound.

He looked at her with such affection and Bonnie missed it all as her eyes were closed through the entire interaction.

She pulled away and Damon quickly pulled his arm away, too. "How do you feel?"

"Better." Bonnie gave a node, her lips coiled happily into her cheeks.

Damon got to his feet and looked around the area, putting his vampire hearing to use. He could hear a waterfall and animals off in the distance. He stood up and looked carefully around at the lush green grass, tall trees, and a mountain off in the distance.

The place was beautiful. It reminded him of the untouched parts of New Zealand but even more beautiful, if that were possible. He was able to really appreciate their surroundings, now that he had found Bonnie and she was okay.

Bonnie peeled her eyes away from Damon and began to take it all in as well. She looked up to the sky and saw three moons. Her jaw dropped, and her eyes widened as she gazed at all three of them. Could this place truly be? Did grams send me here?

"Come on. Let's walk around. See if we can find a place to sleep tonight."

"How do you know this place has a night?" Bonnie asked.

Damon squinted his eyes in thought. He looked at her before answering.

"It has a moon and a sun, surely it has a night," he said sarcastically.

Bonnie nodded. She was in shock and really didn't feel like debating with Damon on the matter. He then took her by the hands and helped her up off the ground. They interlocked their fingers like before and he led her to the sounds of the water in hopes that there would be a cave and a nice comfortable place where Bonnie could lay her head while he hunted for food.

Bonnie and Damon walked for hours, never finding the waterfall that he heard. Now, they were many miles away from it. He was sure of this. As they walked along the thick forest, Damon became aware that his and Bonnie's hands were interlocked again, and that they both were doing this thing together, and not fussing or fighting with each other.

Bonnie didn't complain about how hot this place was or how tired her feet must have been in her two-inch heeled boots, she soldiered on into this unknown wilderness with him.

They always had this connection to each other, and the first time they had really sat down and had a decent conversation was earlier that day in her dorm room.

Damon still couldn't believe he had thrown such a tirade in front of her about losing his brother. After he left her, he was on a mission to get Stefan back, and nothing else mattered. He let their little moment slip out the window like a little bird, and now here he was, with her. Now they were dead, or alive. But in any case, he now had lots of time to think about that moment.

Damon began to wonder why he had never made a conscious effort to be friends with Bonnie before. He had hobnobbed around with Caroline on occasion, and why? Caroline hated him, but since his relationship with Elena and her little mishap with Klaus they eased into being comfortable with each other, so why couldn't he have done this with Bonnie, too?

Over the years, the sassy little Bonnie had wormed her way into his heart; though, he couldn't quite figure out at what capacity. All he knew was when he found out she was dead, he had to get her back; and, at some point, while working with Silas and then Qetsiyah to accomplish that goal, he realized that he was fighting harder to bring Bonnie back than Elena and Jeremy. In fact, he was the one to come up with the plan, and Elena had almost compromised his mission. She didn't even apologize for it. She was too busy riding on cloud nine because Stefan had rescued her from the big bad Qetsiyah.

The moment he thought about Elena messing up his plans he began to think about how toxic and crazy his relationship with her was. He had put her and Stefan through hell to steal her away and when he finally won her it turned out to be horrible.

Their relationship was a disaster, but he couldn't stand being without her. He had to keep jumping into the ring of fire with Elena because it felt so good to screw all their cares and pains away. But now, he couldn't do that because he was here in some unknown world, without Elena, and his mind was at ease, surprisingly.

Perhaps he was occupied by the fact that he had to take care of Bonnie. Perhaps it was this great need to protect her. Whatever it was, his relationship with Elena, or lack thereof, was not an issue at present, but his survival and protecting Bonnie was.

Bonnie looked ahead but she also kept a careful watch over her hand in Damon's. The vampire seemed to be holding onto her for dear life. There were moments when he gripped her hand tighter than usual and then his grip would loosen. It was as if he were mulling over things and she could certainly understand why.

He had been ripped away from the woman he loved more than life itself. She, too, thought about her grams and the fact that she would never see her again, and how not coming clean with Jeremy caused her to feel guilty. She didn't want to die, but she wanted to enjoy her last days with him.

She was given a second chance at life and she wasn't going to let that stop her from being happy while she waited to die –again, and she knew if she told Jeremy about what could happen to her that he would be worried about her the entire time and they wouldn't have made all those wonderful memories.

Bonnie suddenly lost her train of thought when Damon came to a complete stop.

"Okay, we'll stay here for the night. I'll go gather up some wood and get a fire going."

"But it's so hot. Do we really need a fire?" Bonnie asked as she took off her jacket and wrapped it around her waist. She felt relieved after removing the heavy garment. She blasted herself in thought for not doing it sooner. She looked up to the sky, seeing that it was indeed getting darker. Damon had called it right. She was impressed.

"But the nights here could get very cold, Bonnie, and we need the light and maybe we could use the fire for protection to ward off animals and predators," Damon answered passively, a stoic look on his face.

Bonnie was surprised that he wasn't sarcastic. Maybe the heat is getting to his brain, she giggled in thought.

"Stay here. I'll be right back." Damon sped away, leaving Bonnie alone.

Bonnie looked around their beautiful surroundings smiling serenely. Here she was, alive. Her grams had a plan, and it involved her being alive. She quickly lost her smile. If I hadn't been holding Damon's hand, he would be gone, gone with the Other Side.

"You okay?" Damon asked.

Bonnie turned around to him, gravely. She looked at Damon who was holding an armful of branches.

"Nothing. I was just thinking of what my grams told me before she disappeared."

"What was it?" Damon asked.

"She said that I wasn't the only one who knew how to make sacrifices and that she could go in peace because she made sure that I would have peace as well.," Bonnie stated somberly.

"Unf, that may explain why we're here."

"Yeah, it may. I guess we better try to come up with a plan to get back home," Bonnie suggested.

Damon looked at Bonnie for a moment, puzzled, before taking off his jacket and getting to his knees. He dug a hole in the ground at vampire speed before throwing the limbs inside along with some dried leaves and then surrounded the shallow opening with rocks. He grabbed two of the smaller pieces of the wood and rubbed them together briskly until sparks flew from them.

"Wow, Damon." Bonnie smiled.

"You like that?" Damon smiled back at her.

Bonnie nodded quickly. They were getting along quite well so far. She supposed that dying with him had changed things. Damon quickly scooted against a tree, placing his jacket under his bottom. He looked over at Bonnie and she met his gaze.

"This plan of yours to go home, it sounds great but kind of impossible to do since you no longer have your powers." Damon seemed almost saddened by the fact.

It made Bonnie somewhat happy, but then again, Damon did want to go home and so did she for that matter, so her not having her powers was sad in this instance.

"Yeah," she sighed. "I know Elena and Stefan won't give up on looking for you."

Damon let out a short chortle. "They won't give up on you either, Bonnie," he stated as if he were annoyed by her comment.

"Please, all Elena cares about is you," Bonnie specified hilariously, and Damon frowned.

She quickly lost her smile. She couldn't believe those words had escaped her lips, but Elena wasn't the same person anymore, and she was tired of pretending otherwise.

"She didn't seem to care when I was coughing on my own blood in the woods after saving her," Bonnie susurrated.

"Well, she does," Damon stated defensively.

There was another long awkward silence between them. Damon began to wonder how he and Bonnie were going to fair, all alone, without a buffer. Yes, they came up with plans to take down the big bad evils together, but they had never been thrust into a situation where they had to completely rely on one another for survival, and the idea of it all made him somewhat nervous.

"I'm feeling a little bit thirsty. I'm going to go and see if I can find some water." Bonnie sprang to a standing position and started walking in the direction they had come from.

"Whoa, whoa, where the hell do you think you're going?" Damon flashed to his feet and stared Bonnie down.

"You need some time alone, and I need some water," she replied impassively.

"Bonnie, we don't know what kind of evil or creatures reside in this world. The last thing we need to do is separate," he expressed vehemently. "I'll come with you."

"What about the fire, and do you still hear the waterfall?"

"I'll put the fire out; and no, I don't hear the waterfall. We've come way past that point," he answered disappointedly.

"Ugh, great," Bonnie panted.

"Look, do you think you can wait until tomorrow? You really need to rest. We've been walking for hours," Damon explained.

"Yeah, you're right." Bonnie sat against the tree a few feet away from the tree Damon rested against.

They were back to their awkward silence as night slowly descended upon them. Bonnie smiled aimlessly as she thought about her time with Jeremy, and Damon was on the other tree remembering his summer with Elena before she went off to the college. It was the time in their lives when things seemed so perfect.

"Damon."

"Yes." He smiled

"Thank you," Bonnie publicized.

"For what?" He raised an eyebrow curiously at her.

"For bringing me back to life."

"Don't, Bonnie," Damon said sternly.

Bonnie looked at him peculiarly. "Why don't you want me to thank you?"

"Because, I didn't do it to win brownie points with you. I did it because if anyone deserves to live, it's you. Not me, not Elena, not Stefan, but you."

Bonnie's eyes widened. She couldn't believe that Damon Salvatore thought she, Bonnie Bennett, deserved to live over Elena Gilbert. She had half of mind to ask him why he felt that way but decided that maybe that conversation was for another day.

"…and I'm sorry, too, Bonnie," Damon declared.

"For what?" Bonnie raised her brow.

"I was so hell-bent on bringing my brother back that I didn't even think to come up with a plan to save you, and even when I was about to pass through you, I didn't say 'thank you,' or 'goodbye,'" he said shamefully.

"It's okay, Damon. The night was mad crazy."

"Even so, you saved everyone but your grams, and yourself. You brought back Alaric, Stefan, and Elena." He paused and rolled his eyes, "…and she should have never been there in the first place." He huffed regretfully. It was in this moment that Damon saw what a bad idea it was to let Elena come along with him. That little incident was one of the many reasons why they should have never been together as a couple. "You even brought back Enzo, who threatened to kill you." Damon looked Bonnie square in the eyes.

"Saving the people I love and seeing them happy makes me happy," Bonnie affirmed sweetly, and Damon smiled.

They soon went back to their uncomfortable silence. Bonnie rocked her knee from side to side. She didn't know how the hell she was going to get to sleep while outside in the wide open in a foreign world not knowing what lurked in the woods, in the air, or in the water. As Bonnie thought about her surroundings she looked up to the sky. It was magnificent. Seeing the large moons hovering overhead and the stars in the sky that seemed to twinkle to the likes of music made her feel like she was in a dream world.

"It's beautiful," she said abstractedly.

"What?" Damon looked at Bonnie and she pointed to the sky.

He looked up. Damon didn't want to smile at all the beauty he saw but there was no way he could hide how beautiful he felt while looking at this sky. His lips unconsciously curled into a crooked little smirk. Before they knew it, they were both gazing upward until their lids were too heavy to keep open. Damon's head fell back against the tree and Bonnie's head fell forward, her chest propping it up.

As Bonnie slept, a mysterious gray slimy creature slithered down the tree and over her shoulder. Bonnie finally began to stir when she felt something moving on her. She slowly opened her eyes and spotted the creature immediately as it tried to glide over her right breast.

She screamed at the top of her lungs, quickly jumped to her feet and stomping around in a circle trying to get the animal off her.

The loud ruckus woke Damon. He flashed to a standing position, seeing the creature instantaneously. He grabbed the animal and slung it through the air. The creature was gone, and Bonnie was still screaming bloody murder.

"Bonnie! Bonnie!" Damon shook her gently by the shoulders trying to bring her back to get her to stop. "It's okay. It's okay." He searched over her body frantically, his eyes like saucers.

"Oh, my God. It was on me! It was on me! It was crawling on me!" Bonnie yelled hysterically with wide eyes, her chest heaving.

"I know. I know. But it's gone, now. It's okay." Damon instinctively brought Bonnie into an embrace. He looked out into the dark woods worriedly as he rocked Bonnie gently in his arms. It wasn't the first time he had hugged her, but this time it felt different. This time he didn't want to let go. Bonnie, too, felt something.

Damon Salvatore had never hugged her (so she believed), but here she was, locked in his arms. She closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around his back as she cradled her head against his chest. She felt safe. She even felt loved, and she couldn't understand it.

Damon continued to hold her. He even went so far as to rub the back of her head tenderly. After several minutes had gone by of him comforting her, he finally found the will to push away. He took her by the shoulders and looked into her eyes. "Are you okay?" He asked with a worried look on his face, his forehead wrinkled.

Bonnie nodded quickly. "I think, but there's no way I'll be able to go back to sleep."

"Try to get some rest. I'll keep a look out."

He walked over to his jacket, laid it by the fire, and gestured for her to lie down. Bonnie looked at the jacket before quickly grabbing hers and then laying down on his. Damon sat back up against the tree with his legs agape and rested his elbows on his knees. He stared at the back of Bonnie's head for what seemed like forever. He couldn't take his eyes off her.