chapter rating: pg-13
word count: 6,060

what's an omen anyway?

v.

"We have a problem." Sheila walked into the Salvatore Boarding House without waiting for an invitation.

"Sure. Come on in. Wouldn't want to use our manners or anything…" Damon rolled his eyes as he swung the door closed and then followed Sheila into the parlour. Stefan was sitting on the couch, mulling over a few musty, old books. "Look alive, little brother, we've got company."

Stefan looked back over his shoulder, spotted Sheila, and stood. "Is something wrong?"

"A lot is wrong, beginning with the fact that I find myself trusting a pair of vampire brothers with this information." Sighing, Sheila walked to the drink cart and poured herself a bourbon, skipping the ice and downing the glass whole.

Stefan and Damon exchanged a look.

"That can't be good," Damon muttered.

Dropping the glass back to the cart with a clatter, Sheila turned to face them. "Bonnie had a nightmare…"

"Okay. So give her some warm milk at night, with a little splash of bourbon. Puts her out like a light." He snapped his fingers and grinned.

Damon was met with a noticeable lack of humor; he hated when that happened.

"It wasn't your average dream; it was a premonition… She said it felt like someone was sending her a message or a warning." Licking her lips, she let out a sigh. "There was a man. She said she'd never seen him before but somehow she recognized him."

Damon stiffened. "Who?"

Sheila stared at him a beat. "Kai."

"Impossible." He shook his head. "He was bleeding out. There's no way he survived."

"What if it's not the Kai from your future," Stefan suggested.

"The Kai from right now is stuck in a prison world. No. That little maniac is dead."

"But something's wrong, and you know it. Something is going around killing your original victims. How do we know, really know, that the timeline that Kai sent you back to is yours?"

"What?" Damon's face scrunched up in confusion. "What the hell does that mean?"

"We don't know how any of this time traveling stuff works. You trusted him to send you where you needed to go because you were grieving and desperate. But what if he sent you to somewhere else. A— A different timeline entirely."

"Or what if he just hitched along for the ride," Sheila suggested. "If Kai is strong enough for time magic, maybe he's pulling the strings on this whole thing. He could be behind the attacks, somehow."

"Kai is dead…" Damon paused. "He has to be."

"If he's not, then we need to find him before he hurts anyone else…" Stefan looked to Sheila. "Did Bonnie say anything else?"

"No. But she's scared."

Stefan nodded solemnly. "Look, we're still figuring out a lot of this stuff as we go, but I promise you, we're taking this seriously."

She pursed her lips and looked between them, but tipped her head. "Much as I don't want to say it, I know you two are supposed to be meeting the girls at the festival today and… I don't think it's the worst idea."

Damon smirked slowly. "No?"

She rolled her eyes at him. "Whatever is out there, whether it's Kai or something else, Bonnie is at risk. She's coming into her powers but she doesn't know what to do with them and she's not ready to face a world that's much stranger than she thinks. I may not like it, but at least I know you'll keep her safe." She waved a hand before Damon could speak. "Do not take this for absolute approval. Just as soon as we figure this all out, you can go back to keeping your distance."

"Not sure I've ever done that…"

"Then it's a new skill you can try." She smiled sharply and marched past him to the hall leading to the door. "I don't care if you think Kai's' dead, Damon. Bonnie saw him. We can't afford to ignore any omens."

With that, she left, and Damon was left to scowl after her. "Well, that soured my morning…" He looked to Stefan. "I'm hungry. A blood bag or two and then we should paint the town red… Metaphorically."

Distracted, Stefan nodded. "Yeah. Sure."

"C'mon… We're supposed to be meeting the girls at the Grill. We need to hand out flyers so I can steal Bonnie off for some bourbon and banter and you can play 'will they, won't they' with Carebear."

"She's seventeen, Damon, you can't give her bourbon."

"So are you and that's never stopped you from knocking off a bottle and singing Bon Jovi's greatest hits to all hours of the night."

Stefan rolled his eyes. "That's different." Gathering up his books, he started for the hallway. "I need to shower and then we'll go. That should give you some time to think of more age appropriate things to do with Bonnie."

"Fine. We'll braid each other's hair and share gossip," he snarked after him.

Stefan didn't bother answering and Damon walked off to the kitchen to dig out a few blood bags. Whistling to himself, he searched around for his favorite mug to warm it up in the microwave. A little blood and he hoped this day would get back on track, leaving behind the doom and gloom of Sheila's visit.

"Sorry I'm late." Elena hurried to catch up to them as Bonnie and Caroline walked down a path, handing out flyers to everyone they passed. "I was up late studying and I slept in."

"No worries. Lots left to hand out." Bonnie pulled a bunch of flyers from the bag hanging over her hip and handed them to her. "So studying, huh?"

"Yeah. I was serious about not wanting to get called out by Tanner again." She blew out a sigh and rolled her eyes. "It's weird. I feel like this used to come kind of easy to me and now I just… I don't know, I can't focus."

"It happens." Bonnie shrugged. "It just takes time. You'll get back into your routine."

"Speaking of routines…" Caroline looked over at them. "What are the chances you're coming back to cheerleading this year? Not to be a bitch, but we've got a few girls on stand-by and they want to know if they're going to be cheering this year or benching it."

"Cheerleading, right…" Elena bit her lip, but nodded. "Yeah, sure, I can do that. When's the next practice?"

"Tomorrow." Caroline looked at her seriously, her brows hiked. "So you'll be there? You're sure?"

Elena smiled, amused. "I'll be there, promise."

"Okay, good. 'Cause no offense to Becky but her backflip is awful."

Bonnie rolled her eyes. "She broke her ankle last year; it still bugs her."

"Then she should join Band or something." Caroline passed a flyer off to someone without looking at them. "I'm not going to have sloppy cheering on my field."

"Work on my back-flips and don't break my ankles, gotcha." Elena's mouth tipped up in a smile.

"I'm just saying…" Caroline trailed off and stood a little straighter. Her face softened and a smile broke across her lips as she looked at something far ahead.

Bonnie turned to follow her gaze and found Damon and Stefan walking toward them.

Caroline ran a hand down the skirt of her yellow dress and rocked forward a little on her heels.

"See you got started without us," Damon said as they neared them. "Wasn't the deal that we help get these handed out early?"

Caroline handed her stack over to him. "Have at it." Turning, she hooked her arm through Stefan's. "Have you eaten? I'm starving."

He smiled down at her. "I could eat."

As they walked off, Damon fanned himself with his new flyers. "Bonnie," he greeted. "What are the chances I get to toss these and we go do something a little more fun?"

"Slim." She raised an eyebrow at him. "You're the one that bargained with Caroline."

"In my defense, I was hoping you'd have most of these handed out by the time I got here."

She snorted. "Well, we didn't. So you get to do your share." She walked past him and continued down the path, smiling politely at strangers as she handed them a flyer.

Damon caught up to her, and Elena lingered nearby, watching them curiously.

"What's the point in these things anyway? A rock is gonna slowly inch its way across the sky. Just look for the people pointing and you'll find it." Still, he handed some random guy a flyer as he passed him. "We could be bobbing for apples right now. Sharing cotton candy. I'll even get the blue kind, even though it'll turn my lips purple. Not an entirely flattering look on me, I gotta say."

She glanced back at him, brow furrowed. "The blue's my favorite."

"What a coincidence… Better reason to be doing that than this." He grinned and wiggled his eyebrows at her hopefully.

"Or we could hand these out and then get cotton candy." She marched ahead and, with a sigh, Damon followed.

"Your flirting needs a little work," Elena said.

Damon turned to her. "My what? My flirting? A) I'm offended. I'm great at flirting. It was my best class in school. And b) that was not flirting. That was healthy antagonism. It's a thing that we do. A thing we are very good at."

"Yeah? Because it mostly just looks like you're flirting..." She walked past him.

Damon pivoted and caught up to her. "Her flirting with me, that's a given. I'm me. But what makes you think I'm flirting with her?"

She rolled her eyes. "I have eyes. And ears. And you're not exactly subtle about it."

"Subtlety was never my forte." He stared at her a moment, gaze skittering over her face in search of… she had no idea. "Thanks for the heads up," he finally said, "I'll work on my technique." With a faint smile, he turned on his heel and jogged toward Bonnie, who had paused to talk to someone from their history class.

Elena stared after them a beat, watching as Damon slid a hand over Bonnie's shoulder and redirected her down the path, pointing, unsurprisingly, toward a cotton candy vendor in the distance.

With a blink, Elena looked down, and realized his stack of flyers were now sitting atop her own. What a jerk.

"Ugh. Drama." Caroline stirred the straw in her drink as she watched the awkward back and forth between Jeremy, Tyler, and Vicki across the room. Redirecting her attention to Stefan sitting across from her, she half-smiled. "So, what do you think the chances are that Bonnie and Damon are getting along?"

"Considering Damon thinks annoying her is fun, I'd say he's enjoying himself and she's looking for an escape route."

She laughed, and leaned forward to rest her arms on the table. "I don't know, it's kind of good for her. I mean, she says he annoys her but she still likes him. Not a lot of people can get Bonnie to react like that. It's weird. She's always been pretty mellow. Doesn't let things get to her."

"You've known Bonnie a while."

"Practically since birth. Our moms all knew each other. Well, back when Bonnie's mom was here…" She frowned. "Anyway, it's just been me, Bonnie, and Elena since forever… Actually it's more like me and Bonnie, and then Bonnie and Elena. Not that I don't like Elena, I do. It's just… I don't know. Sometimes we're friends and sometimes it feels more like we're pretending to be friends. Like we're keeping up appearances or something." She looked away for a moment and then shook her head. "God, ignore me, that was so emo."

He smiled gently. "I get it. Me and Damon have had… our differences. Sometimes there's no one more important and other days I think pushing him off a cliff would be a favor to humanity."

Caroline smiled. "You know I always kind of wanted a sibling. Maybe a sister. I used to tell my mom she should have one so I could dress her up and stuff, and mom just bought me a doll." She rolled her eyes lightly. "So I changed direction and now Bonnie lets me pick out her outfits… Sometimes. Sometimes she locks me out of her closet and tells me I'm on a fashion time-out."

"I can't say that's ever happened to me and Damon, but I don't think he's got much to work with."

"Yeah, he's a fan of the all-black wardrobe, huh?" Her nose scrunched up.

Stefan ducked his head as he chuckled. "He is."

"I think if he was my brother, I'd sneak and replace his clothes with something a little more colorful."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"So? Anything you wanna tell me? Some deep dark secret."

Bonnie raised an eyebrow. "What, you buy me cotton candy and I'm supposed to spill my guts. Mm-mm. That's reserved for a certain status of friendship, which you haven't yet reached." Plucking a fluffy blue piece off candy off, she tossed it in her mouth. "Why? What makes you think I have any secrets anyway?"

"Everybody has secrets. Especially in a small town like this." He batted a balloon out of his face as they walked past a crowd of kids. "And you, Bon-Bon, look like you didn't get much sleep last night. So I repeat, is there something you wanna talk about?"

She glanced up at him. "It's not a secret, I just had a bad night. Weird dreams."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. Just weird stuff, like something out of some B-rated horror movie. Creepy guy in the window, that kind of thing."

Damon hummed. "Anybody you know?"

Her mouth screwed up. "No. I mean, not really…"

"What's 'not really'?"

"What are you, my therapist?"

"A concerned friend." He nudged her shoulder. "So. Spill."

Bonnie sighed. "I don't know. I looked at him and for a second it was like… I knew him. And… It was weird, it was like he was trying to tell me something, or someone was anyway."

"Yeah, what's that?"

He's coming.

Bonnie stiffened, her eyes staring forward, unfocused.

"Bon?" He touched her shoulder gently, and she startled.

"What?" She looked up at him, brows hiked. "Sorry. I… Like I said, I didn't get a great sleep. I'm jumpy, I guess."

"Yeah." He stared down at her searchingly. "Why don't we go sit down somewhere? Find a bench or something."

"No, don't worry about it. You didn't come out to just sit around on a bench. It's a festival, you should have fun."

"I will. On the bench. With you." Hand falling to the small of her back, he started directing her across the field.

Bonnie bit her lip and stared up at him out of the corner of her eyes.

He looked over at her. "What?"

"Nothing. Just… I can't tell if this is sweet or weird."

He smiled. "That's my shtick."

With a snort, she rolled her eyes.

Caroline blew out an irritated breath as her phone continued to beep for attention. "Sorry. I'm on the planning committee for the festival, so anytime something goes wrong, I get bombarded with texts." She paused as she looked at her phone, brow furrowed.

"Something serious?"

She glanced up at him and then back to her phone. "No. Just my mom… She's been a little clingy since Vicki was attacked. I'm officially banned from going into the woods, or anywhere dark, or talking to strangers." She huffed a laugh. "This is just like when I was twelve and she gave me a rape whistle and pepper spray on the first day of school."

"She cares."

"Yeah, depending on the day." She frowned, and turned her phone face down.

"You're not close with your mom?"

"I used to be. Kind of. When I was a kid. But then mom started working more. Her and my dad weren't doing so well so she decided if she wasn't around, then she didn't have to deal with it." She shrugged. "Anyway, he left last year, and she's been busier than ever. She's the Sheriff, so… Her job takes priority."

"Sounds hard. Balancing that kind of stuff. My, uh, my parents weren't great for each other either. Dad wasn't what you'd call 'father' material…" He pursed his lips and dropped his gaze to the table for a moment. "He wasn't much better after mother died."

"I'm sorry." Caroline's hand landed atop his arm. "I mean, I'm not always happy with my mom, but I still have her."

"Yeah." Stefan frowned down at the table for a moment.

"Are you okay?"

"Uh, yeah. Sorry, I was just… distracted." He shook his head. "Did you want to get out of here? Or maybe play a game of pool or something?"

"I'm up for some fresh air." She pushed her seat back to stand. "I know we just ate, but I've been dying for popcorn."

"We can share a bag."

She grinned. "Who said I wanted to share?"

"Will you stop?" Bonnie batted Damon's hand away from her forehead. "I don't have a temperature."

"You can never be too sure about these things." He offered her a bottle of cold water. "Maybe you're dehydrated."

"Or maybe I'm allergic to your mothering…" Still, she took the bottle and unscrewed the cap. After taking a long sip, she licked her lips. "Aren't you bored?"

"Because the rest of this festival was so exciting? Face it, everyone's just waiting for it to get dark so they can see the ice rock of doom."

She rolled her eyes. "Well, if you didn't care about the festival, why'd you come?"

"I thought that was obvious…" He rested an arm along the back of the bench. "I told you, Bon-Bon. You and me, we're going to be best friends."

She shook her head. "Anyone ever tell you that you come on a little strong?"

He grinned. "A few people. But I'll grow on you."

"Mm-hmm…" She raised an eyebrow, but eventually leaned back against the bench and tipped her head up to look at the sky.

"So, about that dream, with the creepy weirdo…"

"What about it?"

"Is that the first time you've dreamt about that guy? No other weird dreams…?"

Her brow furrowed, and then a flush filled her cheeks. She remembered another dream, not quite as clearly, but it'd been her and Damon and a hug. Her legs wrapped around his waist, and his mouth brushing her ear as he laughed. But she wasn't about to tell him that. She could just imagine how he might tease her.

"No. No other dreams."

"Sure?" He fingers brushed her cheek. "You're warming up."

"It's warm out," she defended.

"Maybe we should get out of the sun…"

"You are such a mother-hen!"

"If being concerned about your well-being is a crime—"

She turned her head toward him, and smiled. "You're ridiculous. And dramatic!"

"Am not." He screwed his face up with distaste, and Bonnie just laughed.

"Come on. I don't want to sit around here when we could be doing something." She stood from the bench and tucked the water bottle away in her purse.

"A minute ago, you were dizzy… Maybe you should slow down."

"Damon, I'm fine." She put her hands on her hips. "Weren't you the one telling me you wanted to have fun? Bobbing for apples, that's what you wanted to do, right?"

"I'm not much for participating, but I'll cheer you on."

Rolling her eyes, she walked away.

Damon was quick to catch up. "Fine. I'll bob for one apple…"

Her mouth kicked up, amused.

"And I bet I can get one before you."

"Since when is this a competition?"

"Since right now…" He smirked. "What? You don't think you can take me?"

She stared up at him through narrowed eyes. "You're on."

It was dark by the time Caroline and Stefan found Bonnie and Damon, seated on top of a picnic table, sharing a container of fries.

"Hey!" Caroline poked Bonnie's knee. "I've been texting you. I was starting to think Damon had pulled some elaborate stunt to kidnap you…"

"That's touching, really." Damon dusted his hands off of salt. "For the record, I wouldn't need an elaborate plan. She'd come willingly."

Bonnie rolled her eyes. "Where have you guys been?"

"Just walking around. There's a chalk art display over by the library. And Kelly Sutter put together this weird play; it's got puppets and she plays all the characters. I have no idea what's happening, but the kids love it."

"Huh. Hey, have you seen Elena? I haven't really seen her since we were handing out flyers."

"I think she's with Matt…" Caroline turned and scanned the crowd. "Yeah. There she is!" She pointed across the field to where Elena, Matt, and Tyler were standing together. "Stefan and I were going to grab candles. You want one?"

"I can come…"

"No, don't worry. We'll bring them over." Caroline waved it off and Bonnie shrugged.

Stefan turned to Caroline as they walked over to stand in line to get their candles. "So are we leaving Bonnie and Damon alone for a reason, or…?"

"People act differently when they have an audience. But when they don't think anyone's watching…" She turned to watch them, her head cocked curiously.

Stefan followed her gaze.

Bonnie and Damon were leaning against each other, shoulder to shoulder. He reached up and pressed the back of his hand to her forehead, but she slapped it away, and he laughed.

"They're cute, right?"

Stefan stared a beat longer. "Hm?"

"Come on. I know he's your brother, and he's a little weird, but you've gotta admit, him and Bonnie are cute together."

Stefan turned to her and smiled. "What are you doing after this?"

"After the comet?" She shook her head. "I don't know. Probably going home, since mom's being weird. What about you?"

"Same. But I was thinking, if you want company, maybe we could hang out… Watch a movie or just… talk some more."

She stared at him searchingly, and then nodded. "Sure. I'd like that."

Candle in hand, Bonnie watched as Stefan lit his own and then touched the wick to Caroline's. She, in turn, raised her candle for Bonnie to light hers. Damon reached over and lit his own without prompting and then leaned forward, resting his arms on his legs. "So what are the candles for, exactly?"

"They turned out a lot of the lamps so we can see the sky better. This way, you're not standing around in the dark."

"What's wrong with the dark?"

"Tripping hazards, mostly."

Damon shrugged and tipped his head back to look at the sky. "I'll catch you."

Bonnie turned to look at him. She stared at his profile a while, all pale skin and dark accessories. Except those eyes. Ridiculously blue and in contrast to everything else.

"You're staring." He glanced at her.

She redirected her gaze to the sky. "Don't flatter yourself. I was just thinking."

"About?"

"Comets."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah… You know, according to my Grams, the comet is a sign of impending doom. I guess the last time it passed over Mystic Falls there was lots of death. So much blood and carnage that it created a bed of paranormal activity."

Damon hummed. He turned to her, a brow raised curiously. "What do you think?"

"I… I used to think it was just a story. Nothing serious. I mean, anything paranormal is a little weird, right?"

"But…?"

She stared at him searchingly. "But sometimes I wonder… Something I think maybe it's not all just crack-pot theories."

"Hm…" He stared back at her, and she felt a warm feeling flood through her chest.

"Hey!"

Bonnie blinked, and turned her head to see Elena walking toward them. The moment, if she could even call it that, was gone, and Bonnie found herself wondering why she was disappointed.

Officially over the comet, the group moved inside the Grill, and Stefan took the opportunity to pull Damon aside. "You know what's about to happen, right?"

"Refresh my memory. I didn't get to a front row seat to the show. A lot's happened for me."

Stefan rolled his eyes. "You, me, Vicki Donovan, ringing any bells?"

"Right, I pulled an intense 'eat the girl or I'll let her reveal your immortal secret to the world' on the roof… Well, good thing I don't plan on going anywhere near the roof. Bonnie's getting tired. I figure I'll walk her home and then scope out her place, see if there's any sign Kai's been lurking around…" He shrugged. "I still don't believe he's alive, but he's a cockroach, so if anyone could survive, I guess it's him."

"Damon, we need to check this out/ You need to see this… thing for yourself."

"Right, this shadow creature you're worried about… That may or may not be Kai playing puppet master." He frowned. "How sure are we that's even going to happen?"

"Hey, has anyone seen Vicki?" Jeremy Gilbert marched toward the group all crowded around a table.

"You're her stalker, you tell us."

"I can't find her."

"She probably found someone else to party with." Tyler smirked humorlessly. "Sorry, pill pusher, I guess you've been replaced."

As the group descended into arguing, Stefan turned to Damon, his brows hiked.

"All right. Fine. We'll go to the roof…" He sighed, and turned on his heel.

"Hey." Bonnie stopped next to him. "Matt's sister Vicki is missing. We're gonna take a look around. Wanna come?"

"We'll probably find her quicker if we split up. Meet back here?"

"Sure."

He turned to leave, but paused. "Don't go home without me… It's late, and dark out."

She lifted a brow at him as she walked backwards. "You don't think I can take care of myself?"

"Just wait for me, Bonnie. Please?"

She sighed, but nodded. "Sure. We'll meet back here."

"Good." As Bonnie walked off, he turned to Stefan. "All right, let's go see what Kalabar has to say for himself."

"Do we need to talk about how familiar you are with Halloweentown?"

"It's a classic!"

Vicki was on the ground, crawling across the pavement, crying. "What's happening?"

The blackened shape of… something floated near her feet. There was no distinguishable features, no arms or legs or face. It was like smoke.

"Okay… That's weird." Damon cocked his head, his brow furrowed. "What is it?" He crossed the roof slowly.

"Don't touch it," Stefan warned.

"What's it going to do?"

"It's killed people, Damon."

"Only people I already killed. Technically, I'm not on the hit list…"

"We don't know that." Huffing, Stefan followed after him. "Maybe we should just watch."

"And leave Vicki to fend for herself?"

"She's not in danger. Not physically, at least. And we can make her forget this ever happened."

"Listen to you. You know, you're getting a little 'the ends justify the means' on me here. I'm not sure I like it…"

"We need to know what this thing is if we want to destroy it."

"I know we can't see ears, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have any…"

Vicki rolled over and peered up at the black smoke. "What's happening?" She turned her head toward Damon and Stefan. "What the hell is that thing?"

Damon sauntered toward her, eyeing her curiously. "Humor me, when you look at the black smoke, you see…?"

"Black smoke!" She skittered back a few steps on her hands and feet. "Look, I don't know what it is or how, but it grabbed me in the bathroom and it… it brought me up here."

Damon hummed. "And that thing that attacked you in the woods… Can you tell me what that was?"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

He rolled his eyes. "Just answer the question, will you?"

"It was an animal. I don't know. Not this."

He nodded, and looked to Stefan. "Well, the compulsion stuck."

"So? What's the plan?"

The smoke lunged forward then and pulled Vicki from the ground to stand her in front of Stefan and then drag her back a few steps. It caught her head and turned it up toward the smoke.

"H-Help me," she whispered shakily, turning her eyes toward Damon and Stefan. "Please!"

"Damon…" Stefan stepped forward, his expression hard.

"This was your idea, remember?"

The bandage was torn from Vicki's neck and blood spilled from the still open wounds. She was unceremoniously shoved to the side, and landed hard against Stefan's chest, crying as she knocked into him.

"Oh. Right." Damon walked over and gathered her away from Stefan. "Okay, take a few breaths. Your control is still a little wonky…" He released her, to stand off to the side, and focused on his brother. "Breathe through your mouth. Think about, I don't know, sunshine and rainbows, puppies and kittens, Caroline, whatever helps."

Stefan bent over, hands on his knees, and tried to shake off the all-consuming feeling of hunger that was running through him.

The smoke moved to Vicki once more, who gave a little cry of fright. But all it did was linger near her for a few seconds, and then it moved to the edge of the roof and disappeared over the side.

Damon followed it, but when he looked below, he couldn't see it anywhere. "Well, that didn't help us much, huh?" He turned back to Stefan, who seemed to be getting a hold of himself. "We've got a smoke monster on our hands, should we call the Ghostbusters or the Winchesters…?"

"It's not funny." Stefan leaned back, still catching his breath, and waved a hand toward Vicki. "You need to compel her to forget this happened. I'm not strong enough."

"Yeah, yeah…" Damon crossed the roof to Vicki, who was looking around with bright, wet eyes.

"What the fuck? What the fuck?!"

"All right, okay, calm down… Listen, everything is okay…"

"Hey!" Bonnie smiled as Damon made his way over to the table she was sitting at. "So apparently you're a hero."

"Me?" He shook his head as he sat down. "That's more Stefan's bag. He's the one that found Vicki wandering around out there. I just helped get her back here."

"Well, either way, it was nice of you. Vicki's pretty much all Matt has when it comes to family. She means a lot to him."

"Glad I could help then." He pointed to her half-empty glass of Coke. "You almost ready to head home or…?"

"Yeah. I'm good to go." She stood from her seat and smoothed out the fabric of her dress. "You know, I really don't need you to escort me home. I'll be fine."

"After the weird nightmares and the comet of doom?" He shook his head and held an elbow out for her to take.

"I thought you said you weren't the hero type?"

He grinned down at her. "I'll make an exception for you."

She rolled her eyes, but hooked her arm through his anyway. "Fine. But only because I'm still a little freaked out."

"About?"

"I don't know. Everything. The last few days have been weird. The attack in the woods, Vicki going missing, the weird dream… And then Grams and what she said about the comet. Honestly, it all just feels like one big omen."

He hummed as he led them out of the Grill. "So what happens if it is?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, how does Bonnie Bennett react to omens?"

She chewed her lip. "I don't know."

He nodded. "You want some advice?"

"Why?" She raised an eyebrow. "Have you got a lot of experience in this kind of thing?"

"Generally, if you've got a bad feeling, trust it. And then call me, and I'll fix it or kill it or whatever you want."

She laughed. "My own personal bodyguard, huh?"

Damon grinned. "The Costner to your Whitney."

"I don't know if we're at the sleepover stage in our friendship…" Caroline smiled as she leaned in the doorway of her house, looking up at him.

"I promise you, I will be on my best behaviour. I'll sleep on the floor or the couch or wherever you put me." Stefan held his hands up innocently. "And I'll keep my hands to myself the whole time."

"And you want to stay over because…?"

"Because you're all alone in this very big house and some weird things have been going on the last few days. You said it yourself, you're a little freaked out."

"Yeah, and so is my mom. I think if she comes home and finds out I let you stay over, she'd be even more freaked out."

"So we'll be very quiet and she'll never know I was here."

Caroline sighed. "I am still a little scared. Especially with Vicki wandering off like that, after everything that happened… So weird."

"We'll watch movies and talk."

"My choice?"

"Why do I get the feeling I'm going to be watching The Notebook?"

She laughed. "Now you definitely are."

He ducked his head as he smiled. "I admit defeat."

"All right. Fine…" She stepped back from the door. "Come on in."

Stefan looked up at her, and crossed the threshold into her house.

Bonnie took a seat on her bed and pulled the covers up into her lap as she dialed. He picked up on the first ring. "I'm only calling because I'm about to go to bed…"

"And you wanted me to listen to you breathe like some Edward Cullen reject?"

She rolled her eyes. "No. I wanted you to distract me. Give me something normal to think about so that when I fall asleep, I'm not going to have a nightmare."

"All right… What are you wearing?"

"Damon!"

"Pajamas, right? I bet you even have slippers on. With those big fluffy bunny heads and everything."

"I'm hanging up…"

"No, all right, I'll be good. What do you wanna talk about?"

"I don't know." She shuffled down her bed to lay on her back. "Tell me about you. About life before Mystic Falls. Just whatever will keep my head busy."

"So you want a bed time story?"

She smiled. "Yes. Preferably with a kick-ass girl that saves the world or something."

"All right, I've got one for you… You comfortable?"

She reached over to flick her lamp off. "Uh-huh."

"Once upon a time, in a tiny little town in the middle of nowhere, there lived a judgy little witch…"

Stefan didn't sleep. While Caroline had passed out, curled up on her couch, he remained awake. Watching. In Damon's memories, he'd taken Caroline home, and they'd spent a good portion of the night hooking up, until Damon turned and decided to use her as an unwilling meal.

Convincing Caroline to sleep elsewhere hadn't worked, so Stefan's only option was to convince her to let him stay. He still had no idea what he was going to do if and when it attacked, but he had to do something. Leaving Caroline there to defend herself wasn't an option.

It was just after two in the morning when he felt it. An ominous chill in the air and the feeling that something wasn't right. Checking on Caroline once more, he found her still safely asleep on the couch, wrapped in a throw blanket. Quietly, he made his way to her bedroom. It was too dark to see anything, so he flicked on the light. There, hovering over the bed, was the same dark creature he'd seen twice before. Non-corporeal, but clearly on some kind of mission.

Only Caroline wasn't there for it to attack, and still it seemed adamant that it stay on the bed, re-enacting what Damon had done in the first timeline. So was it stuck in some kind of loop? Repeating the same actions, regardless of whether the victims were present or not? If so, that meant they had options, a way to circumvent the on-going attacks. As long as his victims were nowhere near the original attack site, they had a chance.

"What the hell is that?"

Stefan startled, and looked to the left to see a wide-eyed Caroline staring at her bed.

That, would be a serious complication.

tbc

note: honestly, the bamon banter in this story is so much fun to write. they just have such an amusing back and forth that i fall into every time. i'm actually really happy to have caroline figuring out something strange is going on early, just because i feel like her friendship with stefan takes off because they're able to be so honest with each other.

i know a number of you are curious about updates to other bamon and/or steroline stories. i promise you i'm working on them, and they'll get updated in time. :)

thank you all so much for reading! please try to leave a review!
- Lee | Fina