AN: So my life as of lately has been like a country song gone wrong. I pretty much gave up on everything including this story, and for that, I apologize. I recently decided to pick it back up, and I will try to stick with it. Love you guys.

...

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is Denise Scott and I'm your chief flight attendant. On behalf of Captain James and the our crew, welcome aboard. We are leaving Mystic Falls, Virginia and flying non stop to Linosa, Greece. Our flight time will be thirty hours and ten minutes. We will flying at an altitude of 33,OOO feet at a ground speed of two hundred miles per hour. At this time, make sure your seats are in an upright position, and that your seat belt is correctly fastened. Also, your portable electronic devices must be set to airplane mode until an announcement is made. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask one of our crew members. We wish you all an enjoyable flight. Thank you."

...

As the cheerful flight attendant fluttered through the small cabin of the private jet making last minute preparations for the flight, Bonnie sat in a window seat trying not to let her anxiety get the best of her. From the moment she had boarded the plane, her time had spent biting her nails, crossing and uncrossing her legs, and forcing herself to swallow back the bile that was slowly rising in the back of her throat. Even though this was her third time flying, she was quickly discovering that each time seemed worse than the last. The first time she had flown had been on her cure finding trip to Canada where she had gone to Nova Scotia to secure the cure from the desiccated hands of an immortal. Her second flight had been when she had accompanied Alaric and Damon on a booze filled trip to Amsterdam. It wasn't the fact that her ears would pop annoyingly and she would somehow always find herself vomiting violently hours after landing at the determined destination that had her feeling nervous. It was the thought of being trapped inside of a flying metal coffin that could fall out the sky ending in her fiery death made her feel like passing out.

As she teased her bottom lip in between her teeth, she began to think about the diffrent ways that her fear of flight had affected her life. It was because of her crippling Acrophobia that Bonnie had spent most of her life avoiding things that would force her feet to leave the ground. When she was a cheerleader, Bonnie would volunteer to toss Elena and Caroline in the air while she remained firmly on the ground. During carnivals and fairs, her friends would all rush to the nearest and most dangerous roller coasters while Bonnie had eagerly opted for riding the carousel. She knew that her fear was laughable given the fact that her supernatural resume included coming back from the dead, taking down immortals and psychotic Originals, and escaping a retro prison world. Despite the brave heroics from her past, when it came to dealing with her aversion of heights, Bonnie was embarrassed to find herself folding like a cheap suit.

Inhaling deeply, she turned her attention away from the window, she stared down at her lap where her fingers were clasped together as if she was preparing to pray. She wasn't a very religious person, but if saying the Lord's prayer would increase her chances of flying several thousand miles in a steel coffin, it couldn't hurt. Right? As she closed her eyes, she began to mumble quietly under her breath as she struggled to recall the traditional prayer that her grams had taught her when she was a young girl. Unfortunately, her nervous prayer was cut short by the sound of soft sniggering. Her eyes flew open and narrowed in annoyance when she found Stefan, who was sitting directly across from her, staring at her amused.

"What?" she snapped feeling self-concious as she pulled her hoodie sleeves over her hands that were beginning to sweat profusely.

"Nothing," he chuckled deeply as his eyes danced with amusement. "I just can't remember the last time that I saw a witch so eloquently butcher the Lord's Prayers."

Bonnie scowled and was preparing to say something rather unpleasant back to the smirking vampire when she decided not to waste her breath. If she was going to be stuck on the plane for hours, the last thing she wanted to do was go back and forth with Stefan while dealing with her crippling anxiety.

"It's okay to pray before every flight. I do," a soft womanly voice grabbed Bonnie's attention.

"That's nice," Bonnie mumbled forcing a smile as she stared at Marie, the junior flight attendant.

She was a tall and imposing woman with long raven black hair and big gray eyes. Her lips was full, her face was petite and exotic and she was wearing so much perfume that it practically filled every inch of the cabin. Usually Bonnie wouldn't pay such close attention to strangers, but the fact that she was brazenly sprawled across the lap of her vampire companion that was sitting directly in front of her was kind of hard to ignore. Although Marie was wearing the traditional flight attendant uniform, her skirt rose several inches above her knees exposing her voluptuous thighs that were being devoured by Stefan's greedy forest green eyes and explored by his large, rough hand.

Apparently, her response wasn't dismissive enough, because Marie continued to chat aimlessly.

"Just to let you know, it's perfectly normal to be nervous. If it makes you feel better, I read somewhere that the odds of a person dying in a plane crash is one and a million. I also read that the odds of being murdered is one in eighteen thousand, so if you it makes you feel better, you are more likely to die at the hands of a psychotic killer than you are to go down in a fiery plane crash," Marie informed with a gentle smile.

Bonnie and Stefan locked eyes and the smile he gave her was all teeth as he struggled to keep himself from laughing. The fact that this poor woman was spouting these facts while in the loose embrace of a serial killer was an irony that Stefan clearly found ironically amusing.

"You have no idea at how reassuring I find that fact to be," Bonnie said dryly before clearing her throat.

"Is this your first time flying?" the chatty flight attendant asked curiously.

"No," Bonnie mumbled sheepishly as she scratched the space above her right eyebrow. "Why would you think that?"

"She can tell because you literally look like you are about to throw up," Stefan mumbled with a mouth full of the young flight attendant's throat.

If looks could kill, Stefan would have been dead several times over from the glare that Bonnie was sending his way.

"Didn't your psychotic mother ever teach you that it's rude to speak with your mouth full?" she grumbled annoyed.

Bonnie's harsh insult caused Maria to gasp in disbelief. It was obvious that she was uncomfortable with Bonnie openly insulting the mother of the current object of her affection. Stefan, on the other hand, appeared to be completely amused as he turned his complete attention on to the flight attendant showing he was clearly unaffected by Bonnie's petty insult.

"Maybe you should worry less about what I'm doing and focus more on relaxing." Stefan said wetting his bottom lip, before turning his attention back to Maria. He teasingly walked his index and middle finger up her outside thigh smirking as he enjoyed watching her exhale sharply from the anticipation of being sexually satisfied.

Bonnie glowered at Stefan with her mouth pinched into a tight line. It was clear by the way Stefan stared at her unabashed as he molested the flight attendant that he was doing it to get a reaction out of her and she was determined not to give him the satisfaction of seeing her bothered.

"Maybe if I had the pilot of the plane curled up on my lap while I shamelessly fondled him, I would be a little less tense," Bonnie scowled, her olive green eyes flashing indignantly.

The flight attendant blushed deeply and made a move to disembark off of Stefan's lap, but he wrapped his arm tighter around her waist holding her in place.

"Don't worry about my little friend, sweetheart. Being judgemental is practically wired in her DNA," Stefan sighed rolling his eyes.

Bonnie tried schooling her features as she felt a rush of annoyance surge through her at the sight playing out in front of her. Even though she felt a little awkward witnessing Stefan display his affection and obvious desire for the blushing and sexually eager woman, the young witch remained silent. While she was internally having a melt down over flying, Stefan appeared to be completely at eased and unbothered as he trailed his tongue from the woman's collarbone up to the tip of her pierced earlobe. Maria wanted to enjoy the attention Stefan was generously showing her, but it was awkward when there was such a heavy tension in the air between the two passengers who seemed to be at odds with one another. Clearing her throat, she pushed Stefan away before turning her attention back towards Bonnie.

"Listen. If you are that nervous, I have some Dramamine in my bag," she offered generously.

"I think she is probably going to need something a little stronger," Stefan snorted, "Be a sweet heart and bring us the bottle of Dom that you have on ice."

It's not recommended to mix drugs with alcohol," she warned as she slowly rose from the vampire's lap.

"She'll manage," Stefan said with a crooked smile before slapping Marie's ass causing her to squeak softly.

As the young woman scurried away to carry out "Mr. Salvatore's" wishes, Bonnie stared at Stefan with a smirk.

"She's seems very eager to please ," she noticed wryly.

"That tends to happen when women sit on my lap. They can't help but to feel relaxed and filled with joy," he bragged arrogantly as he spread his legs wider before giving her a salacious look. "If you would like, you can come sit on me and experience that kind of happiness for yourself."

Bonnie rolled her eyes and folded her arms across her chest. "Hard pass."

Feeling undeterred by her coldness, Stefan rose from his seat and made himself comfortable in the aisle seat next to her.

"I can't help but feel all of this attitude is because you didn't really like watching me play with my food," he drawled lazily as he traced circles around the inside of her wrist.

Bonnie flinched as she turned her head to glare at him heatedly.

"My attitude is because you lack self control?" she snapped.

"Self control?" he echoed drolly.

Bonnie sighed exsperated as she stared straight into his eyes. "Just because someone throws themselves at you doesn't mean you have to indulge them. It's not a bad thing to actually have standards."

Stefan whistled lowly as he slouched down in his seat and crossed one ankle over the other. "Jealousy doesn't look good on most people, but you manage to wear it well."

Bonnie laughed incredulously. "Why the hell would I be jealous?"

Stefan looked up from examining his nails with a caculating look on his handsome face. "I can't be certain, but I think it has something to do with the fact that Marie will have the pleasure of learning why I am called a fucking god in the bedroom while you are still left wondering?"

"You are disgusting," she spat. "She isn't just a piece of meat, Stefan. She deserves better than being felt up and snacked on."

Stefan whistled feeling aroused and amused by her palpable anger. He knew that Bonnie would never approve of his shenanigans which is why he so openly and unapologetically provoked her. Deciding to take his agonizing a little bit further, he leaned closer to her until his shoulder brushed against hers.

"If memory serves me right, you didn't mind me feeling you up and snacking on you not so long ago," he teased slyly as he dragged his finger lightly across the curve of her cheek. "All you have to do is say the word and you can easily take her place."

He was both amused and chastized when Bonnie slapped his hand away before pinning him down with a withering glare.

"Since your little friend like odds so much, you should call her over and asks her what are the odds that I would willing volunteer to be something that you hit and quit. I bet its astronomical," she said as ice and contempt dripped from her words.

Stefan laughed. "I bet it's not."

Before they could continue to go back and forth, Maria returned with a gray wool blanket, a bottle of motion sickness meds, and a apologetic smile.

Here you go." Marie smiled before handing Bonnie the bottle of Dom and pills before draping the gray blanket across her lap.

"Thank you," Bonnie said polietly before popping the pills in her mouth and downing the Dom Perignon in the champagne flute in one swift gulp.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the Captain has turned on the fasten seat belt sign. If you haven't already done so, please stow your carry-on luggage in the overhead bin. If you are seated next to an emergency exit, please read carefully the special instructions card located by your seat. If you do not wish to perform the functions described in the event of an emergency, please ask a flight attendant to reseat you. We would like to remind you that this is a non smoking flight. Smoking is prohibited on the entire aircraft, including the lavatories. Tampering with, disabling or destroying the lavatory smoke detectors is prohibited by law. Please stand by as we prepare for take off."

As the plane began to make its way down the airstrip, Bonnie exhaled sharply as she mentally prepared for take off. On the outside, she was the perfect picture of what it looked like to be unbothered, but on the inside, she was having somewhat of a meltdown. She was quietly considering using a spell to knock her out for the next couple of hours when Bonnie felt the plane slowly leaving the ground and ascending into the air. As they gain altitude, Bonnie feels like their are a tiny little butterflies dancing inside of her stomach and there is a small pressure increasing inside of her ear. She was so focused on trying not to crawl out of her skin that she didn't notice when Stefan wrapped his large hand wrap around her small one until he squeezed her fingers with slight pressure.

"Relax," Stefan murmers as he intertwined his fingers with hers.

Surprised by his kind display of affection, Bonnie looked over and was preparing to thank him, but he already turned his attention back to scrolling through his iPod. Bonnie shook her head amused and caught off guard by his conflicting behavior. One minute, he was practically mauling a flight attendant and taunting her with his lewd and disgusting behavior, and the next, he was holding her hand genuinely trying to offer comfort when he could clearly tell that she was distressed. His mood swings were so abrupt that she felt like she was getting emotional whiplash. As his thumb lightly swirled circles across her knuckles, she exhaled deeply as she felt the muscles in her body relax.

"Why are your eyes burning into the side of my face?" he asked casually as he settled on his favorite Black Metallica album.

"It's amazing how you can go from being this complete ass to a super sweet guy," Bonnie said randomly as she propped her chin up on her fist while staring openly into his half lidded orbs.

A slow grin stretched across his face as he bit his bottom lip softly. "Well to be fair, I could just be pretending to be a gentleman just to get on your good side."

Bonnie smiled. At least he was being honest. Twenty minutes and two glasses of Dom later, Bonnie was relatively buzzed and a lot calmer than she was when they had first taken off. She knew that getting inebriated around a very unstable vampire while several thousand feet up in the air wasn't the brightest idea she ever had, but there was no way she was going to get through the next twelve hours sober.

"I see that your cocktail finally kicked in," he noted amused breaking the heavy silence that had fallen between them.

She nodded flashing him an appreciative smile.

"I feel like I'm flying," she slurred dreamily.

Stefan chuckled as he reach down and squeezed her knee affectionatly. "You are lucky that the cocktail worked, because if it didn't I would have offered to put my cock in your tail and something tells me that you would have enjoyed that much more than the pills and the Dom."

And just like that, a moment that had been nice and sweet was now tarnished by Stefan's unapologetic vulgarity.

Bonnie scowled before slapping his hand away from her leg. Her rebuff barely even registered with him. He simply grinned before turning his lazy gaze onto Maria who was practically eye fucking him from the other side of the cabin.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the Captain has turned off the Fasten Seat Belt sign, and you may now move around the cabin."

"That's my cue," Stefan grinned getting to his feet and making his way towards the back of the plane. Bonnie's eyes followed him curiously and narrowed when she spotted Maria waiting outside of the private room with desire dripping from her dark almond eyes. She watched as Stefan stopped in front of her with his arms folded across his chest. Leaning forward, he whispered something in the flight attendant's ear causing the young woman to laugh as she flipped her hair over her shoulder and pressed her body closer to his showing that she was reacting in a positive manner to his thinly veiled flirting. She continued to watch as they conversed back in forth for another minute or two before Stefan reached down and took her hand before leading Maria into the private cabin where he closed the door behind them for privacy. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that Stefan was about to have his card punched as a valuable member in the mile high club. The soft gasp of pleasure she heard followed by the sound of a belt being unbuckled confirmed that.

It was times like this that reinforced the tragic fact that Stefan and Damon were in fact brothers. Both men were just oozed sex appeal and seduction like it was branded in their DNA. Women just threw themselves at the feet of the devastatingly handsome vampires and happily allowed themselves to be used for whatever carnal sin that Damon and Stefan seduced them into committing. If she wasn't so disgusted by their womanizing ways, she would admit that there was a tiny piece of her that was envious. Not envious over the fact that she had never been on the receiving end of hot sex with a Salvatore, but envious in the way that they openly and unabashedly gave into their wanton desires and took pleasure in sexual liberation. Bonnie wasn't ashamed that she had only managed to sleep with two people in her life. She wasn't even ashamed that one of those people had been younger than her and the other had been a vampire who had been responsible for nearly getting her killed. What struck a vicious blow to her feminine ego is that both men that she had been involved with had one thing in common and that was being unfaithful to her. That fact made Bonnie reach over and grab the half emptied body of Dom out of the ice bucket before taking a long and unforgiving swig out of the bottle.

As the passionate and extremely x rated noises in the cabin increased, Bonnie closes her eyes and tried to distract herself with thoughts that wouldn't make her focus on the filthy and nasty things taking place in the room several feet away from her. A part of her wished it was Damon who was with her on this journey to some mysterious island to collect a mystical weapon. Damon would have stuck around and kept her company instead of deciding his time was better spent banging it out with the flight attendant. Damon would have engaged her in some pointless banter that would have distracted her from the fact that her Acrophobia was attempting to overwhelm her. Damon would have been better to travel with because unlike Stefan, Damon didn't just see her as some fuckable witch. He actually cared about her. The conversation that they had before she had departed from the Boarding House had convinced her as much. Closing her eyes, she prepared to drift off into a light sleep, but found herself reliving a memory that had taken place earlier that night.

(Flashback)

The sound of the grandfather clock chiming loudly downstairs echoed inside of Bonnie's ears as she stood at the top of the staircase preparing to make her way outside of the Boarding House. It was nearing two in the morning and she was waiting for Stefan to gas up the car that he could take them to the airstrip where the private jet was waiting to fly them to their destination. Wiping the sleep out of her eyes, she adjusted the strap of her carry on bag tightly on her shoulder before jogging lightly down the stairs feeling mentally drained and physically exhausted. Twenty minutes ago she had been sleeping deeply when Stefan had woken her up abruptly telling her that he was leaving to fill the Porsche up with gas and that she should be ready to leave once he got back. She had whined, begged and bargained with him for a few more minutes to sleep in, but he killed her pleas by pulling the blankets off of her and throwing them on the floor on the opposite of the room before flipping on the switch on the wall causing the entire room to flood with light. Any hope of her getting any extra time to slip into much needed light slumber had been all but destroyed. After spending five minutes cursing Stefan's existence, Bonnie had gotten dressed and took solace in the fact that she would make up the lack of sleep once she was on board the plane. Arriving at the bottom of the stair case, she stifled a yawn, before reaching out and grabbing the door knob and making her way out of the Boarding House.

"Sneaking out like a thief in the night? Looks like someone has decided to borrow a page from my playbook."

She felt her spine stiffen when her eyes fell upon Damon sitting on the partion wall on the porch with his head tilted back, his eyes closed and one knee pulled up to his chest. His face was relaxed and there was a lazy smile splayed across his lips. As her eyes moved from his face to the area below his neck, she gulped and quickly diverted her eyes when she discovered that he was shirtless, and wearing only a pair of black and blue flannel pajama bottoms. She had been in the process of sneaking out so that she wouldn't have to have an awkward conversation with the raven haired vampire, but unfortunately, he had sensed her deception coming from a mile away. For several seconds, they stared at each other in a tense silence, both wishing that they could go back to a time where they both could speak freely without the heaviness and awkwardness that was lingering between them in that moment. When the silence became too unbearable, Bonnie cleared her throat and smiled at him uneasily as she adjusted the strap of her luggage bag over her shoulder.

"Leaving without saying goodbye is your style, not mine," she said with a saccharine smile.

"Touche," Damon snorted before dropping his leg and pivoting so that he could face her with a patient and laid back look on his face that seemed to glow in the several seconds, they stood in front of each other in a tense silence, both wishing that they could go back to a time where they both could speak freely without the heaviness and awkwardness that was lingering between them in that moment. When the silence became too unbearable, Bonnie cleared her throat and smiled at him uneasily as she adjusted the hood of her hoodie on top of her head.

"Looks like I interrupted a reflective moment," she said sounding somewhat apologetic as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other.

"In the span of twenty four hours, you got your magic back, we found a lead on how to defeat Cade, and to top it all off, I was kissed by a beautiful woman," he grinned folding his hands behind his head watching as Bonnie eyes widened noticeably," I'm reflecting on the good things for a change."

"Wish I could say the same thing," she sighed deeply as she deliberately ignored his attempt at flattery.

Her breath caught in the back of her throat as his hand lashed out and grabbed her wrist causing her to stumble into his arms. When she shot him an inquisitive look, he smiled briefly.

"Join me," he invited huskilly as he released her arm and motioned for her to sit next to him.

Dropping her bag, she reluctantly complied and sat next to him on the sone brick wall. She made sure to sit a good distance away so that they maintained a good and respectable amount of separation between them.

The cool evening air caused goosebumps to dance across Bonnie's exposed legs as she tried to ignore the awkwardness between them.. Glancing up at the night sky, she smiled softly as she watch as countless of stars beamed down causing an ethereal glow to stretch across the obnoxiously huge Salvatore estate. Besides the occasional chirp of crickets and the passing of random vehicles on the road several feet away, the atmosphere was relatively quiet. Resting her head on the brick wall behind her, she closed her eyes and began to mental prepare for the mission and task that was ahead of her. She had faced many different threats in her short lifetime, but knowing that she was preparing to go after the one weapon that was capable to defeat the literal devil left her feeling heavy hearted, frightened and overwhelmed.

"So what's on your mind, Bon Bon?" he asked quietly.

"What if I fail?" Her voice was so soft that Damon wouldn't have heard her if he didn't have vampire hearing. "What if I find the key to destroying Cade and when it comes time to take him down, I fail?"

She lifted her head and stared at him bleakfully. Even though she was still mad at him, she really needed someone to vent to.

Damon was uncomfortable with seeing her look so vulnerable so he decided to lighten the mood with humor. "If you fail, I guess me and my brooding little brother will have eternal damnation to look forward to. I heard that the seventh circle of hell is a perfect vacationing spot if you like it really hot."

Bonnie frowne deeply. "How the hell are you able to crack jokes at a time like this?"

He smiled and scooted closer to her. "I am able to crack jokes because I know you won't fail."

"You don't know that," she insisted softly.

The raven haired vampire sighed heavilly before turning serious. "Are you seriously going to make me sit here and read off a list of all the supernatural victories that you have pulled off over the years? You have defied death more than anyone that I know. You tangled with the entire Original family and survived, you took on Expression, defied your ancestors, broke out of a Prison World, survived being the huntress without killing any of your friends and you rescued me and your ex boyfriend from the clutches of a deranged siren. I think that you are more than qualified when it comes to taking on the devil." He stopped talking and took her hand in both of his. "You are going to succeed because you are strong and powerful. More importantly, I have complete and utter faith in you."

Bonnie blinked owlishly before a smile blossomed across her face.

"What?" he asked cautiously.

"It's hard to stay mad at you when you say things like that," she confessed, "But I'm still mad at you."

"And on that note, I think it's time for you to hear the apology that I have been working on for the past couple of hour," he started, but she stopped him by pressing her index finger against his lips taking him completely by surprise.

"Don't. I already know what you are going to say," she said curtly. "I'm sorry, Bon Bon," she said contorting her voice to sound deep and masculine as she made a poor attempt to mimic her best friend, "I know that I was wrong and I never meant to hurt you, but none of this would have happened if it wasn't for Stefan."

Narrowing his methane blue eyes, he reached and wrapped his pale fingers around her mocha colored wrist before gently pulling her digits away from his lips.

Damon looked as if he was going to snap, but he pulled his mouth into a tight line before rising from the sitting position on the wall before making his way over to her. He didn't stop walking until he towered over her. Bonnie knows that this is a tactic he is using in an attempt to intimidate her, but she glares at him feeling completely unbothered.

"Cute, but you should really leave the impressions up to me," Damon said stiffly.

Bonnie smiles as he folded her arms across her chest and jutted her chin up arrogantly.

"Believe it or not, Bon," he started with a biting edge in his tone, "I am sorry. I'm sorry for everything and I need you to believe that."

"I would believe that, but the truth is that you don't respect me," she said softly.

Damon silver blue eyes flashed with disbelief. "Do you honestly believe that? There is no one on this planet that I respect more than you."

"You claim to respect me, but you don't lie to people you respect. You don't hurt people you respect. You don't manipulate them by kissing them when they are vulnerable."

Damon tensed. "You honestly think that low of me? That the only reason why I would kiss you is because I was scheming?"

"I don't know, and frankly I don't care because nothing you can say will convince me that you are nothing more than a manipulative piece of-"

"Dear Bonnie," he interrupted her causing her fall silent, "I could say that writing this letter is the hardest thing that I ever had to do, but that would be a lie. Leaving you behind is the hardest thing I ever had to do, but in order to keep everyone that I love safe, I have to remove myself from your lives. The last thing I want to do is hurt you, but at least this way, you will be alive and you will be able to live the life you deserve. What you deserve is happiness, love and a life where you don't have to constantly put yourself on the line to protect people from danger. Knowing you have been one of the highlights of my immortal existence. I have spent so much time being on my own and alone, and you came along and changed that. We had our ups and downs but you showed me what it meant to be accountable, to be loyal and to care about someone other than myself. You taught me what it meant to have a friend, because you are my best friend and the best person that I have ever known and I will always be grateful for your presence in my life. I hope one day you will find it in your heart to forgive me and know that the act of leaving you wasn't done out of fear or cowardice. It was done out of my love for you. . When you love someone, you can't be selfish with them and I can't be selfish with you. Someone once said that love is a friendship that has caught fire, and you are my inferno, Bonnie Bennett. In more ways than one. If you don't believe anything that I written, I hope that you believe that." Damon swallowed deeply. "With great admiration and respect, Damon Salvatore."

"That was the letter you left behind," she whispered swallowing the lump of tears that had been stuck in the back of her throat.

He smiled and rested his hands on her shoulder before staring down into her tear-filled eyes. "I meant every single word."

Bonnie was speechless. She knew that there had been something important in the letter that had left Enzo distrustful of Damon's alleged platonic, but she never imagined it to be something of this magnitude. It was one thing for Damon to say he loved her. On some level when their friendship had progressed beyond killing and maiming each other, she had known that they had a simple kind of love between them. However, in the letter, he described love as a friendship that had caught on fire and he had referred to her as an inferno. A large fire that was dangerously out of control and if he really felt that their friendship was that intense, maybe her safety wasn't the only reason why Damon had anxiously scramble into the coffin where he had desiccated.

"I know that you have every reason to hate me and not trust me after everything that has happened, but I need to know that you aren't going to give up on me," he said, his voice quiet and filled with desperation. "I don't know what I would do if you weren't in my life. I'll do whatever you want to make it up to you but just tell me...tell me that I haven't lost you for good."

Bonnie felt her heart flutter in her chest as she saw the sincerity and the desperation reflecting in Damon's methane blue eyes. He had made himself vulnerable by being honest with him so she figured that she could do the same and be honest with him.

"You haven't lost me, Damon. When it came to choosing my best friend, I chose you. You are the person who I am going to fight and make up with for the next eighty years. You are the person who is going to give me away at my wedding one day when I get married. You are the person who is going to look after my future kids and grandkids long after I'm gone. I didn't chose Stefan to be that person. I chose you. My friendship with Stefan won't change what you and I have. It will never replace what we have. You have my word."

"Do you really want me to be there for all of those milestones in your life?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

Bonnie stared at him confused. "Of course I do. When I think about my future, I always imagine you being in it."

"Why would you want someone in your life that you could never love?" he asked bluntly with traces of bitterness in his voice.

Bonnie eyes widened and she felt guilt and regret coursing through her as the harsh words she had spat at Damon earlier came back to haunt her.

"I shouldn't have said that I could never love you," she said after a moment of silence passed between them. "The truth was that when Enzo accused me of having feelings for you, I became defensive because he wasn't exactly wrong. When you desiccated, I did feel like my heart was broken and it took me a long time to figure out why it hurt so bad when you abandoned me, and I finally came to the terrifying conclusion that I did love you." She inhaled deeply as she forced herself to find the courage to continue. "It wasn't some all consuming, earth shattering, rom com type of love. This love made me calm, it made me feel secured, it made me feel like I was apart of something greater than myself. It's that love you have for someone that you consider family and would do anything and everything in the world for them. You are my family, Damon. No matter what you do and what you say, I don't think there is anything that could ever make me stop loving you, and maybe that's why I think that is why I was so angry earlier. I was mad at you for the things you said and done, but I was more angrier with myself because I know that at the end of the day, I was going to love you regardless."

There was a long moment where Damon stood silently and just stared at her. She knew she had said a mouthful and he was simply processing everything, but she couldn't help but feel somewhat nervous.

She bit back a smile as she felt Damon arms wrap around her pulling her into a tight and possessive embrace.

"I don't deserve you," he said honestly as he pulled back stared straight down at her affectionately.

"I know," Bonnie smiled sweetly as she flicked the tip of his nose lightly, "I'm just sticking around until the day you realize that you do."

(Flashback Ends)

"You are doing that thing again."

Stefan's flat voice caused Bonnie to shift her gaze from staring out the window at the darkness of the sky to the brooding vampire in the seat next to her. She had been so distracted by the memory of her earlier conversation with her best friend that she hadn't noticed when Stefan had returned from his little tryst with the flight attendant. Her moss green eyes narrowed as she noticed that his caramel colored hair was messy, his lips were puffy and his black button down shirt was half opened exposing a flash of his bare chest. He was the perfect image of a man who had been completely and thoroughly satisfied by a woman and she couldn't help but feel a flash of contempt go through her. It was bad enough that Stefan had happily put his mouth on another woman after he had kissed her senselessly less than twenty four hours ago, but now she had to deal with the fact that he was sitting next to her reeking of sex, sweat and nauseating perfume.

"Doing what thing?" Bonnie cleared her throat softly as she tried to ignore how Stefan's beautiful post coital glow was having a slight effect on her.

"Thinking about Damon," he said reaching over and lazily playing with a loose dark curl of her hair, "I can tell because you always have this particular expression on your face when it comes to my brother. It's a mixture of annoyance, amusement and something else that I can't quite put my finger on. Your eyes glaze over and your adorable mouth twist into this brooding pout. I have always secretly referred to this specific look as being your "Bonnie-got-Damon-on-the-brain-face."

Bonnie shrugged as she shapes on the window where her breath had left a patch of fog on the glass. "I was just thinking how nice it felt when Damon and I worked out our differences before I left. It would have sucked to spend the entire trip being mad at him."

Stefan smirked and shook his head.

"There really isn't anything that he could do that you wouldn't forgive him for, is there?" he mused aloud as he studied her closely, "I mean, he did commit some pretty unforgivable slights against you."

"Who hasn't?" she sighed wearily.

"True, but Damon ranks pretty high on the list of people who have wronged you," Stefan continued to push, "He tried to kill you, he was responsible for Sheila's untimely death, he literally snapped your mother's neck, he abandoned you for three years and he lies to you about Enzo being held hostage by Sybil. At what point do you realize that Damon doesn't really respect you and he is completely taken advantage of your friendship and loyalty?"

Bonnie shifted him in her seat so that she was staring at him directly.

"Damon isn't perfect and yes, my friendship with him can be problematic at times," she admitted softly causing Stefan to snort rudely, "But for all the bad things that Damon has done, he has done a lot of good as well. He was the one who came up with a plan to save my life when Klaus had taken control of Alaric's body and tried to kill me. He also stayed behind on Nova Scotia and found me during the whole Silas nightmare when he could have easily given up searching for me to be by Elena's side. He fed me his blood when Ric attacked me the night of the twenty's decade dance, he fought to bring me back when I died and was a ghost for an entire summer, he bought me back when I was trapped in the prison world. When Kai linked my life to Elena's, Damon chose to save me and keep me alive. When I was dying from the anti magic pills, it was Damon who made a deal with the Armory to save my life, despite the fact that I openly hated him and when I was the Huntress and tried to kill him, he was willing to die. So. Yeah. Damon may not be a Saint, but out of all the people in my life, he was the one person who came through for me when I needed to be saved."

Stefan stared at Bonnie as she inhaled sharply after her little rant. There was something about the way Bonnie so passionately defended his older brother that left a bad taste in the vampires mouth.

"You and Damon are thick and thieves and the worlds greatest besties. Great. I'm bored. Let's talk about something else," Stefan grumbled annoyed.

Bonnie swirled the small amount of Don in her glass before a devious smile crossed her lips.

" I'll stop talking about Damon under one condition," she said in a sing song voice.

"What?" he asked flatly.

"You have to tell me what you said to Damon when you two were arguing in Italian earlier today," she pressed as she propped her chin on her fist and stared at him with droopy eyes.

Stefan sighed as he smiled patiently. "Trust me. You really don't want to know."

"If I didn't want to know, I wouldn't have asked," she insisted slurring slightly feeling light headed from the mixture of the motion sickness drug and the champagne.

"I asked Damon what annoyed him the most? The fact that I wanted to make love to you or the fact that you would let me? He told me to go fuck myself, and I..."

"And you what?" Bonnie asked with a coquettish smile on her lips.

Stefan eyes darkened noticably. "I told him that I'm going to make love to you, I'm going to make you scream my name, and I'm going to fill you with my seed...just like I did Elena."

Bonnie blinked owlishly as she felt her mouth grow dry and her stomach do backflips. The intensity and heat that she heard in his words was enough to make any red blooded woman jump his bones.

He leaned forward with a impish smile on his face. "Now that I told you something that you wanted to know, it's your turn to tell me something that I want to know."

"What do you want to know?" she murmered rising from her seat and standing on her tip toes as she stretched deeply.

He wet his bottom lip with his tongue before staring at her seriously. "Who is the better kisser? Me or my brother?"

Bonnie bit the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing. "Seriously? I'm not answering that question."

"Typical Bonnie Bennett. All buisness and absolutely no pleasure," Stefan rolled his eyes before leveling her with a pointed look.

He was hoping that the dig would get under her skin, but he was surprised when she giggled and shrugged nonchalantly. "What do you want me to say, Stefan? That kissing you and your brother made me weak in the knees to the point where I saw the stars dance behind my eyes?"

"If you are just going to wax poetry on me, forget it," he huffed agitated by the fact that she was attempting to mock him.

"Oh no. You deserve to hear the truth and the truth is that while a lot of women may have bragged about being kissed by a Salvatore, I have to admit that from my first hand experience, it left a lot to be desired," She purred as she bent over and rested her hands on his knees while staring straight into his eyes. She smirked as she tensed beneath her touch. Secretly pleased that she had managed to get under the vampire's skin, Bonnie continued to press his buttons. "Kissing Damon was a real eye opener, but you were a little underwhelming," she lied softly. "Not only was it boring, but it was painfully unforgettable. Totally nothing to write home about. In fact, I would go so far as to say-"

She was cut off when, Stefan hands flew out and grabbed Bonnie's hips before pulling her down on his lap causing a small and undignified squeak to escape her lips.

"See, I can totally believe the fact that you weren't all that impressed by Damon's kiss, but when it comes to me, I know better," he grinned holding her tightly in his arms as she tried to wiggle off his lap, "I happen to know for a fact that you enjoyed kissing me." He pressed his nose against the soft curve of her neck and inhaled sharply. "I could tell from the way your pulse raced and the smell of your arousal that you loved how my tongue had its wicked way with you. You can pretend to be indifferent about what happened between us all you want, but we both know the truth."

"And what's that?" she growled glaring down at him, ignoring the way her body reacted to him rubbing his thumb against her bare hip bone.

"This whole big production of you being disgusted and turned off by me is all an act. If you were honest with me, you could admit that you want me just as much as I want you," he said huskily, his eyes lingering on her lips.

As she felt heat rise in the back of her neck, she tried her best not to let her anger and annoyance show, but it was extremely difficult. She felt offended that he thought she was so desperate and weak that she would so easily succumb to his charm. She may have slipped up and allowed herself a single moment of weakness when she had reciprocated the kiss that he had initiated, but she had zero plans whatsoever to pursue anything romantic or sexual with the arrogant ass vampire.

She was tempted to give him a severe tongue lashing for thinking so little of her self esteem, but she decided to go a different route. Licking her lips, Bonnie pressed her mouth against his cheek and instead of feeling pleasure, Stefan grunted as he felt the familiar sensation of desiccating. He squirmed in discomfort as she continued her pain inflicting spell. While he was more than capable of man handling her and forcing her off of him, a large part of him was extremely turned on. Her violence towards him was appealing to the masochistic streak that he had inside of him. As his face began to turn a light shade of gray, he groaned loudly before squeezing her thigh causing her to hiss before removing her mouth from his face. Almost immediately, his flesh began to return to its normal color and he panted heavily while he stared up at her with black veins crawling around his dark green eyes glowing with anger and desire.

"Does that feel like I want you?" she asked batting her eyelashes innocently.

"You are such a tease," he muttered as she climbed off of his lap and made her way back into her seat.

"That's what you get for thinking that I would be desperate enough to drop my panties for you," she taunted as she smiled smugly.

"Fair enough," Stefan chuckled quietly as he quietly tried to talk down the erection inside of his pants. He knew that seducing Bonnie wasn't going to be easy, but he was looking forward to the challenge. Bonnie would wave off his advances and pretend to be offended by his interest in her sexually, but he knew that she would eventually give in to him. Every woman he had ever pursued always gave in. It wasn't arrogance. It was just facts.

For the next couple of hours, the vampire and witch laughed made small talk, both supernatural creatures taking care to avoid subjects that would force them to confront the sexual tension hanging over their heads like cheap perfume. He listened patiently while she answered questions about her favorite books, preferred music and personal politics. She laughed when he told embarrassing child hood stories about Damon, she rolled her eyes when he made cheap digs at Elena and she glared daggers at him whenever he made thinly veiled sexual innuendos. Stefan secretly took pleasure in the fact that he knew which buttons to push to annoy her and which buttons to press to charm his way back into her good graces. When they finally ran out of things to talk about, they settled into a comfortable silence that was actually more preferable than aimless chit chatting. Eventually, Bonnie's exhaustion got the best of her and she quietly drifted off into another light sleep. Stefan tried to focus on reading an article in Forbes about the richest rappers in hip hop, but truth be told, he couldn't really bring himself to care. Sighing softly, he closed the magazine and tossed it aside before turning his bored gaze onto the sleeping witch next to him.

This was the second night in a row that Bonnie had fallen asleep next to him. The first time, he had been a little high on her blood, so he didn't pay much attention to the little things that he was noticing at the present. Things like the way her heart beat was slow, soft and hypnotic. The sound of her mumbling in Latin in her sleep, the sight of eyelids fluttering ever so slightly as she dreamed and the way she nuzzled the side of her face into her blanket like a new born kitten seeking comfort had him quietly intrigued. As his gaze trailed across her face, he began to wonder how she would look pinned beneath him as he fucked her until she went hoarse from screaming his name. Would she be the type of girl who would hide her face behind her hands because she was afraid of looking too vulnerable in the moment, or was she the type who would throw her head back and allow the freedom of her climax to reflect in her stormy green eyes? Starring down at her passion swollen lips and the soft curves of her face, he knew It would be so easy for him to go inside of her head and plant the most filthiest wet dream imaginable to play out in her dreams, but he knew that it would be crossing the line. Not only would Bonnie probably set him on fire for that putting his perverted thoughts inside of her head, but she would probably never trust him again, and if she didn't trust him, that mean that there was no chance on him ever satisfying his curiosity about how her snatch would taste with his tongue buried deep inside of her.

Groaning softly, he dropped his head back against the head rest and tried to push the steamy images of screwing Bonnie out of his head, but he was finding it extremely impossible to do. He thought that banging it out with Maria the very flexible flight attendant would curb his sexual appetite, but truth told, he had ended up coming to completion feeling less than satisfied. Marie had been a very generous and open minded lover, he would give her that, but something about her had been all wrong. Her eyes were the wrong shade, her skin the wrong tone, and her kissing ability had left a lot to be desired. On some level, Stefan knew that he was being petty and unfair given the fact that he had been the one to initiate sexual relations with Marie, but the truth was that she was a poor man's substitute.

Staring at the object of his quiet affection, he lightly trailed his knuckles across Bonnie's cheek and subconsciously licked his lips. There was a part of him that knew that he should just respect Bonnie's boundaries and keep his lust and affection in check, but it was hard to ignore the fact that he wanted her. One way or another he was going to use his newfound friendship with Bonnie to get closer to her. He was going to be her champion, her friend, her shoulder to cry on, her confident. When she got around to letting her walls down, he was going to pounce and the tragically amusing part of it all is that the little Bennett witch was never going to see it coming. Just the thought of achieving his goal made a dark smile cross his handsome face. Stefan was a man who made it a habit of always getting what he want, and what he wanted. He wanted to ease his way into Bonnie's good graces. He wanted to earn her trust. He wanted her to make her believe in him, but most importantly, he wanted the Bennett witch and he was determined to have her by any means necessary.

End Note: This is the end of the first Arc of the story. The second Arc will pick up the pace with more action, drama and smut.