Disclaimer: I don't own the VD. If I did Alaric would still be alive.

Chapter 9

Bonnie scoffed angrily pushing the annoying Maths problem aside. She had no chance of coping with that in time for the test and the imminent failure drove her nuts. She was still at Alaric's loft. After he had spoken to her late last night to tell her Stefan hadn't called him back as promised and they knew nothing about Damon's attacker, she had used her magic to put the former vampire in a deep sleep and drove home for her books. For some reason unknown, she had promised Ric she'd keep an eye on Damon and she might as well use her vigil to get some work done. Not that it had gotten her anywhere.

"There is no chance I pass this" she thought desperately. Even her witchcraft couldn't help her. She buried her head in her arms sobbing quietly.

"You alright, Bonnie?" a hoarse voice nearly made her jump out of her skin. "I am sorry! I didn't mean to scare you." Damon added as he approached the couch tiredly.

Bonnie looked up and thought that he seemed worse than he sounded but instead she just asked timidly:

"How do you feel?"

"I've been better" Damon admitted. His eyes had a feverish glow. "What's bothering you?" he persisted.

Bonnie sighed again.

"I'll fail my Maths final" she finally said out loud.

Damon didn't answer immediately. Instead, he just stared at her, cuddled on the couch, eyes shining with unshed tears, looking so fragile and childlike. "She is a child" he reminded himself. Then he smiled:

"I believe we could remedy that. Let me see those" he held out his hand.

Bonnie frowned slightly but still handed over her book. Damon skimmed through the text and shook his head.

"Sorry to disappoint you but it's not difficult at all. Here, look..."

...

Not more than an hour later Bonnie did one last calculation and compared her answer to the one in the textbook with an incredulous look on her face. Damon sat at her side smiling at her disbelief.

"It's correct!" Bonnie exclaimed. "I can't believe it. I did it. I won't fail the test next week!"

"Told you it wasn't difficult" Damon was grinning broadly.

"I... I wouldn't have made it without you!" the young witch exclaimed again. "Thank you!" and she threw herself at the former vampire.

Caught by surprise Damon found himself pinned to the couch with Bonnie almost sprawled in his lap. Then her arms came around his neck and he couldn't hold back his gasp of pain.

Bonnie pulled away immediately.

"I am sorry!" she cried. "I didn't mean to!" her hand touched Damon's forehead.

"You are feverish" she concluded. "I think you'd better get back to bed."

The fact that he didn't protest just proved how bad he was feeling. He stood up and held out his arm.

"Come stay with me" he nearly begged. "I don't feel like being alone."

Bonnie rose and followed him.

...

When he was settled in Alaric's bed, sheets pulled up to his chin, Bonnie finally dared to ask.

"Why do you think it was your father who attacked you last night?"

"I know what I saw" he answered.

"Stefan seems to find it impossible"

"There are many things Stefan knows nothing of" Damon pointed out.

"But why? Why would your own father want to kill you?" Bonnie crawled next to Damon on the bed.

She instinctively knew he wasn't telling her all there was to tell.

He looked at her narrowing his eyes.

"It's a long story."

"I am not in a hurry" Bonnie propped herself on her elbow.

Damon sighed and turned to look at the ceiling.

"I guess it all started with my mother's death..."

His voice was quiet and slow and it carried Bonnie in a different world.

"My father loved her and since I looked a lot like her he didn't want me around. He started saying I was nothing but trouble and that he wasn't my real father. I was a child back then, around seven years old and I didn't understand what I did wrong. Stefan was just a baby. He has no memory of this.

Anyway, at first I blamed him for my loss because my mother never fully recovered after she gave birth to him. I didn't want to see him or know anything about him and I hid from my father."

"I can't believe that there was a time when you and Stefan were the best of friends." Bonnie chuckled.

Damon just huffed.

"If you had told me I would love him more than anything back then I wouldn't have believed it either.

My father didn't know what to do with a baby and he hired a nurse but she was lazy and negligent and Stefan cried a lot. And so it happened that one day I passed the room where his cot was placed and I heard he was wailing again. I peered around but the room was empty. He was left on his own. That was the moment when I realised Stefan had lost as much as I had, maybe even more cause he was helpless and without his mom. It was the pity that drove me to the cot and made me pick him up. To my greatest surprise, he stopped crying and smiled at me as though he knew me. That smile captured my heart. From that day on, I started taking care of him. None seemed to protest and so it happened that the first word he said was my name and it was my hand that guided his first few steps. I knew all of his secrets and he always came to me when he was afraid or worried."

"So that's how it works!" Bonnie exclaimed. "You know everything about Stefan but he doesn't know anything about you!"

"I tried to shield him from everything and we were inseparable. I guess my father was getting jealous but I didn't care back then. All I cared about was Stefan cause he was my world."

Damon stopped for a moment. He had a far away look on his face and he seemed lost in his own memories. Bonnie didn't dare break the silence in fear of him changing his mind and not telling her the truth. After all, they were almost enemies a little while ago.

"Anyway, everything started when Stefan and several of our servants' children were playing with a ball in the house. There was this huge portrait of my mom over the mantelpiece and my father valued it a lot. I don't know who did it, but one of the boys had managed to hit it with the ball. When I came home that afternoon, they were all terrified. I sent Stefan to his room and shooed the others away. When my father appeared, I told him I had damaged the portrait because I knew he would be furious and I wanted to keep Stefan away from harm. I don't think he believed me though. He just turned on his heel and left."

"Oh, God" Bonnie whispered. "Did he punish Stefan?"

"No. I listened closely and when he approached Stefan's room later that night, I intercepted him at the door. Stefan had suffered enough. He was so distraught and anxious that it wasn't necessary for him to be further reprimanded."

"And your father listened to you?" Bonnie asked incredulously.

Damon smiled ruefully.

"Of course not. He was drunk and angry. He said someone had to pay. I remember his exact words to this day: "It's either you or your brother. Your choice." What could I have done?"

"Nothing" Bonnie whispered terrified.

"He used my love for Stefan against me and I took the blame on many an occasion after that. I made sure Stefan never knew. It hurt though, because Stefan loved our father and even criticized me for my lack of respect."

"But that is still not a reason for him to want you dead."

"Well, I made sure I was a pain in the ass for him. But the real reason is that I planned to run away and take Stefan with me."

"You what?" Bonnie couldn't believe what she heard.

"Yeah" Damon chuckled. "One day I decided I'd had enough and I made my mind to leave. But I couldn't leave my baby brother behind. The problem was that I needed money. I didn't want to deprive Stefan of anything – normal life, school and so on. And he wanted to be a doctor and well, it was kind of expensive..."

"What went wrong?" Damon smiled when Bonnie asked.

"My father found my savings. He immediately knew what I needed that much money for and he was livid. Stefan was his favourite, his pride and I was about to steal him all for myself. That was when my father decided I was too much of a problem and I had to be dealt with. But he couldn't do it himself or pay for it. The town was small, he was one of the founders, it was bound to come out. So he sent me to war and told me I would do better not to return."

"But you came back?"

"Yes, I came back for Stefan. He kept on mentioning that Katherine woman in his letters and I decided that if she was the love of my brother's life I had to get to know her. And she was beautiful indeed. Stefan hadn't lied about that. But there was something off about her from the beginning. The mere fact that my father had brought her home put me on guard."

"And then you found out she was a vampire?"

"Yes, and then I found out what she was. It was an accident. I overheard Pearl and her talking. The truth terrified me and I refused to believe it but everything somehow made sense. And then my blood ran cold. That thing, that woman, she wanted my brother. That was when I knew she wanted to turn him."

Damon sighed. He looked tired and pale and he fought to keep his eyes open. Bonnie knew it would be better if she put him to sleep with one of her spells but she wanted to hear the end. It all sounded strange but the pieces somehow seemed to fit together. He took a deep breath and started speaking again.

"I didn't know what to do. I couldn't tell my father. I thought he would never believe me. How was I supposed to know what he and John Gilbert were at? The only thing I could come up with to save my brother was to make her want me instead. I didn't want to be a vampire but if one of us had to be turned, it was better to be me. Stefan wouldn't have made it as a vampire."

"You tried to seduce a 500 years old vampire?" Bonnie was astounded.

"She wasn't 500." Damon weakly protested.

"Don't change the subject" Bonnie scoffed.

"Alright. Yeah, I guess that's what I tried to do." Damon chuckled. "It didn't work though, as you know."

"Katherine made you believe she loved you" Bonnie pointed out dully. It had all started to make sense.

"Yes, and I desperately wanted to be loved."

"You still do."

Damon looked sideways at her but didn't argue.

"You know the rest" he said through a yawn.

Bonnie nodded and laid her head next to his on Alaric's pillow. Her head was spinning.

"I don't have to tell you that Stefan mustn't know a word of all this, right?" he whispered sleepily.

"I won't tell him" she promised. "But you must."

...

Stefan stood at the doorway of the boarding house and stared with disbelief. This couldn't be true. All these years he had spent blaming himself for his father's death only to find out now that his father wasn't dead. Well, maybe only technically...

"Stefan" his father sounded both happy and surprised. "My boy"

"Damon" Stefan said. "He did meet you, didn't he?"

His father's shoulders drooped.

"Such an unfortunate situation" he hesitated. "I didn't know of his transformation. If I did, I wouldn't have dared to approach the house. I have a problem with blood but I don't think you'd understand..."

"I understand" Stefan said quickly. "I kind of have a problem myself. But Damon said you had compelled him to invite you in."

"Compelled? No, no, he invited in and we talked. Made amends actually and then we hugged. Up until that moment, I managed to keep myself under control but then... I was so ashamed I ran away. And now I come back to ask forgiveness. How's Damon? I hope he wouldn't be so angry as to not want to talk to me. Let me see him."

"He, he is not here" Stefan hesitated. He desperately wished what his father said to be true. "We took him to one of our friends' flat."

"Well, can't we have him back" his father asked impatiently. "I want to make it right. I want us to be family again after all these years."

Stefan hesitated.

"If you can't control yourself..."

"You'll help me. You'll teach me" his father looked at him again. "I missed you, my son."

"I'll get Damon" Stefan decided.

...

It was the knock on the door that brought Damon back to consciousness. He was vaguely aware on the young witch sleeping soundly on the pillow next to him. Careful not to wake her up he slipped out of bed and went to open the door. Stefan's anxious face greeted him on the outside.

"How are you feeling?" Stefan asked worriedly.

Damon groaned.

"I am fine, baby bro" he answered sarcastically. "What has got you so wound up?"

"Father came to see me" Damon's eyes widened at that. "No, listen, he said that attacking you was an accident. He wants us to be family again. He is worried about you and has the same problem with blood as me."

"Did you real believe that?" Damon asked tiredly.

"Why are you so prejudiced? Why don't you want us to be happy?"

"His presence won't make me happy, Stef. It will get me dead." Damon sighed.

"He said he didn't want to!" Stefan stared at his brother imploringly. "Can't you give him another chance?" he waited a second. "I promise you will be safe."

Damon just stood facing his brother with his puppy dog eyes and wondered what to do. But he knew very well that he was hardly capable of refusing anything to Stefan. He sighed again and said:

"I'll just leave a note to Bonnie. She'd be worried."

Stefan nodded.

...

Damon left the small piece of paper that explained what had happened next to Bonnie's head and he wondered if he'd ever see the young witch again. He found he regretted he might not. Ric's smirking remark that he was probably in love swam in his mind and he leaned forward and gently placed a kiss on her hair. She sighed in her sleep and turned over. Damon quietly left the room.

...

Katherine took a deep breath and entered the hotel room.

"Well?" Klaus was waiting for her.

"I found him, love" she said. "The plan is set in motion."

"Good" he smirked. "Come here, my love, I missed you."

Katherine shuddered as she approached the bed.

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