FAGE 007

Title: Somebody's Somebody.

Written for: cloemarrie

Written By: Nicia

Rating: T

Fandom/Pairing: The Vampire Diaries. Damon/Bonnie.

Summary/Prompt used: I used the prompt 'Before He Cheats - Carrie Underwood' and 'Summer vacation, a summer fling' as inspiration for this fic.

A.N. This fic is based on the books and takes place after The Reunion.
Huge thanks to Little-Angry-Kitten who saved my ass on this one! Without you this fic definitely wouldn't be here and I'd still be pulling my hair out in frustration!
Huge thanks to LanaW.81 for being an awesome beta!
Cloe, I hope you enjoy it!

If you would like to see all the stories that are a part of this exchange visit the facebook group: Fanficaholics Anon: Where Obsession Never Sleeps, or add the C2 to get all the stories direct to your inbox. community/ FAGE-007/ 93625/ (just remove the spaces and brackets).

~ SS ~

She wasn't supposed to feel like this.

This wasn't supposed to be like this, or even be a this.

She and Damon had agreed that it would just be a summer fling, a bit of fun while they were both back in Fell's Church but that it would have no real meaning… That it would end as soon as she had to go back to college, or if he chose to leave before that happened.

Stress relief.

A warm body on a cold night - figuratively speaking since the summer weather meant there were no cold nights.

But now…

Bonnie stared across the campfire at the back of Damon's head as he spoke quietly with Elena, stomach twisting uneasily and unsure, or rather, unwilling to name of exactly why she felt that way.

It had been just over a year since they'd fought Klaus and Elena had been brought back, and not all that much had changed. Too much time had passed for Elena to be able to settle back into her old life, so she and Stephen had moved across the country where they were both unknown and could start afresh. Bonnie, Matt and Meredith had finished their final year of high school and gone on to study at college, like they'd always planned. Now the first year of college was over and they were all reunited in Fell's Church for the summer, ready to catch up on each other's news and strengthen their friendships again.

Surprisingly, when they'd all arrived back, there had been another visitor waiting for them all.

Damon.

There'd been no explanation as to where he'd been or what he'd been doing while he was gone, no offer to tell even Elena or his brother why he'd chosen to return. He'd simply turned up when they'd all been hanging out at Bonnie's house, had taken the place on the sofa where he'd sat the few times he'd been there before he'd left and joined in with the conversation as though nothing had happened/he hadn't ever been absent from their lives.

She still wasn't quite sure how their not-relationship had started. The others had welcomed him back easily enough, they'd been more glad to have Damon with them than they were curious about where he'd been when faced with the knowledge that pushing for more information could lead him to disappear again, this time permanently.

Bonnie, however, hadn't been so reticent. For three weeks Damon had turned up every time they all arranged to meet and sometimes randomly on his own and Bonnie seized her chance whenever it appeared. She had nagged and pushed, and pried, both when the others were present and when they weren't, until Damon had finally snapped and shouted back at her.

Their screaming match had lasted an impressively long time; Damon, dark eyes glittering ferociously and Bonnie, face almost as red as her hair, until - and she didn't know who had taken that first step - they were kissing fiercely, fingers tangling around strands of hair, hands desperately tugging at buttons and zippers that refused to unfasten quickly enough and she was giggling as Damon chased her up the stairs and into her bed.

After that, by unspoken agreement whenever Damon turned up alone bed was the primary destination. Afterwards, they would lie together and talk, though that often ended in more arguments and sex. Sometimes they'd go out on a random drive, just following the roads until they ended up somewhere new and would while away the hours.

Until now. Now, it was only a week before Meredith had to leave to head back to college and within three weeks they'd all be back into their busy schedules of college studies, work and student life. So they were having one of their last campfires of the summer in the clearing where the final showdown with Klaus had taken place, a celebration of how far they'd come in a year when most of them hadn't been sure it was a stage they'd be alive to reach.

Bonnie twisted a lock of bright red hair around her finger thoughtfully; as she continued to watch Damon and Elena converse while Stephen chatted with Matt and Meredith, she could feel that familiar twisting, tugging feeling at her gut and allowed herself to acknowledge the feeling. She was jealous, simple as that.

Logically, she knew there was nothing going on between Elena and Damon. Since coming back Damon hadn't shown the slightest hint of interest in Elena or his brother, and had kept a respectful distance from them, treating them the same way he did Meredith and Matt. Hers was the door that Damon continued to show up at. She was the one he seemed to be spending most of his time with. Sure, she didn't know everything that Damon got up to when he wasn't with her, he was still quite secretive when he wanted to be, and they hadn't told any of the others about his regular solo trips to her house, but Elena and Stephen were practically inseparable and disgustingly in love. There was no way Elena would be flitting between boys again, and Bonnie highly doubted that Stephen would allow it to happen this time around. Nevertheless, watching them talk, heads bent together and eyes focused on each other intently she couldn't help the slight insecurity that rose up. Elena had always been the one all the boys went after, and Damon had been after her from the start, willing to shove Bonnie on the backburner whenever Elena came into the picture. Things had changed now, but those worries still niggled whenever a crack showed in her confidence.

As if he sensed her gaze burning a hole into the back of his head Damon looked up, dark eyes meeting Bonnie's. She didn't know what he saw on her face, but something in her expression must have tipped him off because he cut short his conversation with Elena and moved to sit next to her, his own gaze fixing on the flickering flames of the fire as hers switched to see the confusion on Elena's face and the slight crinkle in her brow as she watched the two of them before shrugging and moving to sit next to Meredith.

"I thought you'd be pleased to see me and Elena talking. Isn't that one of the things you've been nagging me to death about over the past two months?"

She sighed. "I am. I just-"

"Just what?" He turned to look at her, she could feel his gaze appraising her slowly, starting from the top of her head and slowly working down her body, and the heaviness of it made her shiver.

"What's going to happen once I go back to college?" Well, that certainly wasn't what she'd expected to blurt out, and judging from the sharp intake of breath at her side, neither had he.

"We already talked about this," Damon began slowly. "You'll go. That's the end of it."

"Right." Something sharp twisted in Bonnie's chest, and she felt the irrational prickle of tears behind her closed eyelids. Slowly, so her voice didn't shake, she spoke. "You haven't-, you don't-" Incoherent mumbling and half-finished sentences did just as much damage as bursting into noisy sobs would do, so Bonnie fell silent, instead opening her eyes and focusing on the wispy curls of smoke floating up to mingle with the night air, imagining symbols and secret messages hidden inside each grey whorl.

They sat in silence for long moments, both absorbed in their own thoughts until Damon's hand covered Bonnie's startling her.

"I'm not like you, Bonnie. Being with me… it's unfeasible. You've seen firsthand with Elena and Stephen the dangers, the troubles that it causes, and that's barely the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the supernatural side of things. There are also human consequences, things you haven't thought about and taken into consideration."

"And if I don't care?"

Her chin was tipped up defiantly, jaw stubbornly set, but Damon only smiled at Bonnie's expression.

"You would eventually. This summer has been fun because you're young and this, it's not permanent. We agreed that it wouldn't become something serious. Following you to college would be giving false hope, the impression that there was something lasting when the cruel reality is that there isn't."

"There could be."

"No." His voice was soft, but held a tone of finality.

Bonnie frowned. "You were willing to fight to the death for Elena. You did fight to the death over Katherine. And yet you won't give me a few more months, time where things might finish on their own and we could end amicably-"

"We are ending amicably, Bonnie. We agreed at the start of the summer that this wouldn't mean anything. I intend to stick to that. You bring up my past… relationships as though I don't remember them. Have you ever thought that perhaps I've learned from my mistakes, that I don't want you to become another one on a long list?"

"How do you know that I'll be a mistake if you're not even willing to take the chance? I- this could be one of the best things ever, and you wouldn't know."

He smiled drily. "That's just a risk I'll have to take. Things between us would never work out, I know they won't."

"And here I thought I was supposed to be the psychic," Bonnie muttered.

They sat quietly for a few more moments, fingers linked but not looking at each other. Then she could practically feel Damon glance at her, hear the question he was holding back.

"Say it. The worst I could do is not answer."

"Why did you want me to come with you?"

A soft snort. "Because despite our agreement, I started to like you a lot more than planned. And the thought of having to cut this short, without even giving it a chance at becoming something more… it didn't feel right. And I wondered if perhaps you felt the same way. It's obvious now that you don't, that this never became anything to you other than just sex."

"That's not true," Damon's voice was slightly defensive Bonnie noted. "I thought about it too. But I- I'm not like you." he finished lamely.

Stephen's amused voice sounded from behind them, obviously startling Bonnie but it was clear that he'd been so quiet, or Damon had been so distracted, that he also hadn't heard Stephen approach. He whirled around, spinning into a half crouch, teeth bared instinctively before he realized it was his brother, and stood uneasily.

"It appears Elena was right. You have been hiding something. But I never thought you'd be the type to chicken out, Damon."

"I'm not." Oh yes, when talking to his brother, he was definitely defensive. "It's not safe for her, just look at everything Elena went through!"

"But she made it through, and so did Bonnie. The threat is gone. Even if Klaus somehow managed to come back to wreak havoc on our lives, I think you're underestimating Bonnie. And she deserves better."

"Yeah," Damon's shoulders slumped. "She does."

"But she's chosen you. So stop being so pig-headed and give her a chance. Give yourself a chance. Stop punishing yourself."

"She would like it if you didn't talk like she wasn't here." Bonnie cut in, standing and tugging sharply on Damon's hand so he'd look at her instead of glaring at his brother. "Is that why you were so determined to leave again? Because you think it's some sort of justice for everything you did in the past?"

Damon didn't meet her eyes, but Bonnie had seen him in enough different frames of mind often enough to be able to interpret the expression on his face. The slight wrinkle in his brow, downcast eyes, the crooked twist to his mouth… that was his 'the answer is yes but I don't want ti admit it' face.

"You stupid idiot."

Damon looked up in surprise - usually Bonnie's insults were a lot more colorful - and at a loss for words Bonnie threw her arms around his neck and drew him down into a hard kiss, pouring all of her love and worry and acceptance, all of her pain and stress and desire and every other emotion she'd been keeping locked up when it came to them into it.

She hadn't expected Damon to kiss her back, had half expected him to pull away or push her back, but the feel of his arms wrapping tightly round her waist and pulling her closer, his head angling to deepen the kiss, sent a thrill of happiness through her.

"So," Bonnie smirked as Damon's lips finally released hers. "I hope you realize this is one argument that isn't going to end in bed."

Damon laughed. "I'm a patient man, I can wait."

"Are you going to come with me when I leave for college in a couple of weeks?"

Damon smiled down at her, bright white teeth glinting in the firelight and large hands cupping her face carefully as he repeated his words from before when they had been in this same clearing. "I'm not like you. But if you're foolhardy enough to take that risk, I'd be a fool not to take it too."

Bonnie grinned up at him, heart light and filled with hope for the future. "Good. It'd be boring if you didn't."

~ The End ~