A/N: Just a quick FYI to anyone reading this now! I'm currently working on revamping some stuff in this chapter, so by the time the next chapter is up there may be some slight changes. I wasn't too happy with some of the scenes to be honest. Feel free to read it anyway, but the edits will make it better, I promise! :D

His eyes followed her as she bustled about the room, arms loaded with clean plates from the dishwasher. Without a word, he set his mug down on the counter and moved to help, storing the still warm forks and spoons in the silverware drawer.

He grabbed the wine glasses next and gave her a knowing wink. It had become a ritual over the months that they had spent together. At first, she had simply looked embarrassed while asking if he could handle putting the glasses away every morning. He never questioned why until he caught her once as he came out of the shower. She knelt atop the counter, her arms reaching to push each glass into its place.

Being short had definite disadvantages, she told him.

He responded by asking why she even kept them on the top shelf then. She shrugged. Her father always had at home, and it seemed like that was where they belonged.

And now he witnessed that firsthand, living in her father's house. And now she was glad she could grab Stefan instead of a stepladder.

His arm brushed her shoulder as he reached up to nudge one of the glasses onto the shelf. She remembered those same arms tight around her as he threw himself into the sparkling water the night before, taking her with him whether or not she was ready.

He saw her smile and wished he knew what she was thinking about. Her eyes were a placid murky green in the morning sun that poured through the window above the sink. The night before, they had been bright emerald awash in the luminous glow of fireflies and moonlight. Then and now, their tilt was mischievous and uncharacteristically carefree.

Without thinking, he used his descending arm to tuck a strand of her messy morning hair behind her ear. An endearing blush crept across her skin.

She realized then just how close they were. It seemed that he towered over her, his hand lingering in her untidy curls. His face was angled towards hers, and she imagined that if vampires needed breath she would have felt his upon her skin.

Given their proximity, she couldn't help noticing that his lips looked soft, his mouth relaxed in blissful distraction. She also couldn't help recalling with a flush of longing the way those lips had once felt against her own.

He knew he needed to draw his hand back from where it twined in her soft tresses, but for the (un)life of him he couldn't seem to remember how. He heard her heart racing, thumping wildly from where it was buried inside her.

He remembered her hesitance after they had kissed in DC and suddenly wondered if her heart was frenzied with excitement or fear. He took a step back, his hand falling to his side awkwardly.

She exhaled.

"I should go hunt, we're almost out of blood." He smiled, and she dazedly nodded as he walked away.

A few minutes later the dishwater was empty, her hair was tied back, and a small mountain of sugary cereal was in her bowl. She opened the fridge and reached for the milk, stopping short at the sight of two full pitchers of animal blood.

Her brow furrowed in confusion.

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The door of the abandoned building was already broken open. Calling it a building was generous really, Stefan thought. It was basically just a wooden shack hidden among the gnarled trees that draped across the craggy rocks that signaled a cavern entrance nearby. The trees grew at odd angles, their exposed roots coiling protectively around the ramshackle structure.

Stefan wondered how long it had been there. He wondered how long Klaus knew about it before telling him to check it out.

Most importantly, he wondered why the door was hanging off its rusted hinges.

The last question was quickly answered when he stepped into the doorframe and found a figure standing motionless a few feet before him. The figure turned his head just barely to eye the newcomer, a shock of black hair shivering atop his head with the slight movement.

"Damon." Stefan spoke flatly.

"Brother." The vampire replied, his lip curling into a relieved half-smile. "A little help?"

Stefan noticed the quarrel embedded deep in Damon's shoulder blade, and thin wires affixed to the shaft extended to some kind of sensors mounted on the walls. Only his brother would find himself in the precarious situation where any excess movement would be set to detonate a vampire-scorching explosion. Again.

Stefan chuckled, and a now familiar darkness twisted in Damon's gut as he recognized the bitterness lurking in the sound.

He winced when his brother tugged the arrow from his flesh. Silently handing the bloody bolt to him, Stefan began moving around to survey the musty place.

"Fool me twice, huh?" Damon smirked. He disengaged the wires to neutralize the detonator, and shook a fist dramatically skywards. "Point for you, Hunter. You're in Hunter heaven now though, so I still win."

Stefan said nothing, his eyes scanning a collection of dusty books in one corner.

"So…" Damon was clearly uncomfortable in his brother's quiet apathy. "I'm thrilled for your company and all, but why the sudden interest in the affairs of Ye Olde Mystic Falls again? It's not like you have to keep yourself in Elena's good graces anymore."

Stefan gave no indication that he heard a word the older vampire had said.

"Hmm, too soon then. So noted." As usual, some part of Damon had decided it would be better to say the wrong thing than say nothing at all.

Wrapping his hand around a particular tome and tucking it into his jacket, Stefan finally spoke. "I'm here to do what's right, as foreign a concept as that might be to you."

With that, he was gone. Damon watched him walk away, finally able to name the visceral darkness he felt roiling wildly inside: regret.

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Caroline couldn't stop fidgeting, Bonnie noticed.

When she first sat down on the sofa in the Salvatore parlor, she wrung her hands. It seemed that she caught herself though and stopped. Soon after, her crossed leg was bouncing restlessly.

Bonnie put a hand on her friend's knee to stop its motion. "This is going to work."

Neither of the vampires sitting before her looked convinced.

She handed the hot mug of Shane's herbal tea to Elena. "Drink this. All of it."

She sipped the brew tentatively, her face screwing into a grimace. "Just drink it, Elena!"

Pouting like a reprimanded child, Elena drank the strange concoction obediently.

Caroline would have found this amusing a month ago. That was before she'd reached her breaking point with the new vampire. Sometimes she bitterly wondered why her friend seemed so intent on believing she was the exception to every rule.

It must have been the end result of so many years of being the center of attention, and often in life or death situations lately. Often in death or death situations, honestly.

Maybe she just started believing her own hype. Believing that the sun and moon and earth all actually revolved around her and none of the rules counted for anything when your name was Elena Gilbert. Not the "Don't feed on your friends" rule or the "Don't make out with your boyfriend's stupid brother" rule or the "Vampires like to drink blood" rule.

Or maybe it was the doppelgänger thing.

Caroline huffed with annoyance. She sounded like Old Caroline. She was a badass vampire now with her own life and love and excitement. There was no reason to keep getting dragged into Elena's orbit.

She'd walked away, after all. But here she was again.

That was Bonnie's fault, obviously, though she couldn't really blame her for it. Good old Bonnie, still trying to fix everything and everybody, even the ones who went absolutely batshit and couldn't stop crying, like ever. Even the ones who were dating Damon of all people. Caroline shuddered.

Maybe Bonnie just loved a lost cause, Caroline thought. She must, to come back to Mystic Falls when she'd gotten so close to escaping for good.

Elena set the empty mug on one of the end tables. "Ugh, okay. Now what?"

Bonnie sat on the coffee table to face them both. She had pulled the heavy drapes shut across all of the windows in the massive room, cloaking the parlor in near darkness.

She lifted a single candle from her satchel on the floor, watching as a flame appeared on the wick with a hungry whoosh. It burned with an odd, silvery light.

She held the strange candle between herself and Elena. "Stare into the flame, try to clear your thoughts."

Elena leaned forward, her doe-like eyes trained on the wavering lick of fire. They were all silent for a moment before Elena spoke. "I dunno, Bonnie. I don't feel any different."

"Give it a minute."

Elena stared into the flame more intently, and after a while Bonnie realized she wasn't blinking. Did vampires need to blink?

"Elena?"

"Hmm?" her friend replied hazily.

"Nothing can hurt you right now." Bonnie spoke softly as she held the candle, careful to keep it still.

"Okay." Elena slowly nodded.

"You're with me and you're with Caroline, and you're safe. Okay?"

Elena nodded again.

"How do you feel?"

"Soft." Elena smiled into space and Bonnie couldn't help smiling back.

"There's nothing to worry about here, okay? Any time you feel anxious, just let it slide off you, and me and Caroline will be right here to catch it and take care of it. Okay?"

Elena's head bobbed sleepily.

"Can you drink from a blood bag?"

Elena wrinkled her nose and shook her head.

"Will you try it? For me and Caroline?"

The vampire hesitated.

"Remember, you're safe with us. No worrying."

Elena nodded, just barely.

Caroline wasn't sure what to make of the unfolding scene. It was all a little too hocus pocus for her, even knowing Bonnie was a bonafide kickass witch. She held a blood bag towards her friend, and moved to offer it to her.

"Slow, Care. Everything slow."

The blonde nodded, cautiously extending the hand holding the blood towards Elena.

"How do you feel, Elena?" Bonnie asked as the vampire lifted small tube attached to the bag to her lips.

Her friend's reply was muffled by the hand holding the blood bag. "Warm. Like shining."

Caroline bit back a laugh and Bonnie's eyes darted towards her in reproach.

A few minutes later, however, the blood bag was half empty. Elena's eyes were closed, framed by raised red veins. The ghost of a smile clung to the corners of her lips, and she was the picture of contentment.

"Holy crap, it's actually working." Caroline's voice broke through the haze, and the silvery flame flickered.

Elena's eyes flew open. She stared at the bag in her hand, throwing it onto the coffee table in panic. "I don't… I don't feel…" She leapt to her feet and ran for the bathroom.

Caroline blushed and began to apologize, but Bonnie just shook her head. "It's okay, that went better than I thought it would for being the first time. At least now it seems like the problem is emotional instead of something else. If we can help her reign in her fear, she might be able to get past this."

Caroline leaned back, falling into the plush cushions with a heavy sigh. "Has anyone ever told you you're kind of amazing?"

Bonnie grinned, rolling her eyes.

Caroline frowned at her friend. "I'm serious. Next maybe you could fix Jeremy. And then Klaus. And then maybe Damon."

"I don't think there's any fixing Damon, Care. Wait." Bonnie turned to Caroline. "What about Jeremy?"

She and the younger Gilbert had grown apart after the painful collapse of their ill-fated relationship, but there was a time when Bonnie had been willing to sacrifice everything to save him. That kind of love was not something that a person like Bonnie took lightly, and traces of it endured despite all that had happened since then. She knew that no matter what, she would always care about him.

"Yeah, Elena said before you got here that he keeps going missing, and he's acting all weird."

"She did call me when he wasn't home last night..." Bonnie flushed, remembering why she'd missed that call at the time. "He's going through a lot with Elena's transition and the Hunter's mark and stuff, though. I'm sure he'll be fine."

"Hope you're right." Caroline's crossed leg was bouncing again.

Bonnie made a mental note to check in with Jeremy.

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She didn't have to wait long for her chance.

Walking to her car with her arms burdened by grocery bags, Bonnie bumped into the Hunter later that afternoon. She gladly relinquished a number of the heavy bags when he offered to help her. She watched him carefully for any strange behavior, but as he loaded the bags into her trunk, everything seemed rather normal.

He smiled at her a little less than he used to, perhaps, but she somewhat guiltily imagined that that might be because they'd grown apart.

Other than that though, he was the same old Jeremy. All awkward laughs and chatter and sweetness.

"I heard Stefan's living with you at your place." He placed the last of the groceries into the car as he spoke, punctuating the vampire's name with the heavy whoomph of the door closing hard.

Bonnie smiled and shrugged. "Yeah, staying at the boardinghouse wasn't really an option anym – "

"Are you fucking him?" His eyes bore into her face with a suddenly piercing glare.

Whoa. That's not the same old Jeremy. Bonnie stared at him. "Where is this coming from?"

A low growl rumbled in the Hunter's chest, and Bonnie's eyes widened as he grasped her arm, sharply yanking her to him. He thrust his face towards hers, the words spilling from a twisted sneer that looked completely foreign on his soft features. "You of all people should know better than to keep messing around with them."

Her mind worked frantically, trying to remember if any of the defensive spells she knew to ward off vampires would work on a human without killing him. Tugging her arm futilely and unable to escape his cruel grip, she replied, "What do you even mean by 'them?' Let me go, Jeremy, you're scaring me."

He laughed, dropping her arm forcefully as he turned to stalk away. "Maybe you ought to be more scared, Bonnie."

She wanted to rub her bruised arm but didn't. Instead, she climbed into her car, locking the doors. In her rearview mirror, she watched him until he was gone.

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"Good news, mate." Klaus sauntered into the spacious living room of the Mikaelson mansion.

Stefan didn't move from where he sat on one of the lavish armchairs. "Do tell, you know I live for your good news."

"Impertinent," Klaus muttered under his breath. "You really should consider adopting a better attitude. After that little fiasco with the Gilbert boy, you've no place to be cocky." He smirked.

Stefan ignored him. "So, you gonna tell me this good news or…? I've got other places to be."

"Lucky for you, it seems we won't need the slippery Hunter after all. The grimoire you found in Connor's den of evil is our loophole."

Stefan kept his face impassive, saying nothing.

"So gather up your witch and let's get started."

The younger vampire frowned. "You have your own witches."

"Bennett witches, mate. Spelled the curse, break the curse. Seems a quick way to get your entire bloodline slaughtered if you ask me, but you know witches. Stubborn little martyrs." Klaus lifted the grimoire in question from his desk, flipping it open nonchalantly. "But just think, if she happens to die like the one who bound them, you'll have killed both her and her mother. You have to admit there's a pleasing symmetry to it."

Stefan knew the Original had caught on to his discomfort. He was taunting him. "Forget it, Klaus."

Klaus feigned surprise. "But what of dear Elena? Just a year ago your love for her was strong enough to counteract compulsion, my compulsion mind you, and now you abandon her for some little witch? Be still mine unbeating heart, what is this betrayal?" He gripped his chest dramatically.

Stefan smiled, his eyes cold. "Curing Elena is the right thing to do, but not at the expense of innocent lives. Especially Bonnie's. Find another way."

Klaus was clearly unimpressed. "Get your act together, mate. Or I'll take care of things myself."

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He told her everything that night. The comfortable familiarity of sitting together on her couch watching the Daily Show was interrupted by his confession, and she pulled away from where she'd been leaning against him. But he was unwilling to leave her in the dark when she might be in danger.

She was quiet. "So that's where you went this morning?"

"Klaus asked me to check out one of Connor's old safehouses."

She nodded, tracing the pattern on her throw blanket.

He pinched the bridge of his nose, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees. When he spoke, his voice was tinged with weariness. "Maybe we never should have left DC. The lease isn't even up for another 6 months."

She struggled to pinpoint the hurt she felt at discovering his secrecy. Was she upset that he left her out of the loop, angry that he had dropped another scenario in her lap where she'd need to choose between saving Elena and saving herself, or worried that he was willing to go to such lengths again for Elena at all? All three, she decided, and she wasn't sure what exactly that meant.

"Are you going to go through with it?" Her voice was tight.

He raised his head to stare at her, surprised. "Of course not. Not if it means sacrificing people."

Her eyes remained on the blanket draped across her legs.

He leaned closer to her, his hand grasping her knee. "Not if it means sacrificing you."

She blushed but didn't meet his gaze.

"Bonnie, I know I haven't always given you good reason to trust me with your safety, and I regret that more than I can even say. I'll never let anyone put you in harm's way again. Not Klaus or me or anyone."

She shook her head. She lifted her eyes and asked a question she felt she already knew the answer to. "Why were you so desperate for it? Why need the cure so badly that you'd work with Klaus behind our backs again?"

The anger in her words wasn't lost on him. "Elena… she isn't herself anymore." He saw her raised brow and continued. "No, I know there's no going back for us. But I can't let her get lost in that darkness if there's a way to help her find light again."

She shook her head again. While a part of her was relieved to hear he wasn't trying to revive their old relationship as she had suspected, his words still filled her with frustration. Even after all his time away from Elena, he hadn't found perspective on her. He was still putting her on some pedestal that she never belonged on to begin with, holding her to some idealized version of herself.

"Stefan," she spoke, laying her hand over his where it still rested on her knee. "She's not a different person now, and being human again won't turn her into the Elena that's in your head. You and I both know that becoming a vampire doesn't change who you are. I learned that lesson the hard way and hurt Caroline a lot while learning it."

"This is who Elena is and always was. Yes, she's more emotionally volatile from the transition, but her personality isn't drastically altered the way you're thinking it is."

She nudged his hand and slipped her own underneath instead, letting their fingers intertwine. He watched their hands silently. "I know Elena better than anyone else, we're sisters. She isn't perfect by any means and never has been. She's compassionate and thoughtful, but she's also prone to worrying and martyrdom and self-centeredness. And those things are amplified just as much as her empathy and compassion."

"Now that she's a vampire, she feels like she's weathering her worst nightmare. The anxiety and stuff is even more prominent."

He wanted to defend his vision of his ex-girlfriend, but when he looked at Bonnie he saw that there was no resentment or bitterness in what she had said. She stated everything as simple fact, the truth she'd clearly gleaned from years of observation.

"I know it feels like she's floundering, but she'll find her way. She's stronger than she seems, she always has been. And she's lucky enough to have people like you who care so much about her after everything."

Stefan saw her mouth twist sadly. He brought their hands up and placed his lips on the center of her palm. Despite the coolness of his touch, she felt heat radiate from where his lips met her skin, pulsing through her.

"She's lucky to have you, Bonnie. We all are, and we don't deserve it."

Her lips spread in a smile. "You keep saying that. If you don't deserve good things, who possibly could?"

"You, obviously." He returned her smile, intertwining their fingers again as a muted Colbert went unnoticed on the screen across the room.

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"So you can tell me the truth, Bonnie. Is there something going on with you and Stefan?"

The question made Bonnie feel strangely defensive. She didn't want to say no, even though it was sort of the truth. Maybe the "sort of" was the problem. Either way, saying no just felt wrong.

"Why do you keep asking me that?" Bonnie dabbed at her bleeding wrist, preparing to bandage it once more.

"Well, is there?" Elena had a little blood at the corner of her mouth, but she didn't seem to notice. She eyed her friend unhappily.

The witch sighed, handing Elena a fresh towel and motioning towards her lips. "No, we're just close friends."

Elena's stare didn't soften. "I know you're just being a good friend, but I guess you wouldn't tell me anyway. I don't need to be protected anymore, Bon."

Bonnie stopped cleaning her wrist, feeling annoyance bubbling up inside. "There isn't anything going on, okay? We just take care of each other. Like friends are supposed to do."

Elena let out a breath. "Okay then."

Her friend was visibly relieved, and Bonnie suddenly realized that that reaction bothered her. A lot.

Elena continued, "And then can you promise that you'll never go there with him?"

The witch's eyes snapped up to stare at the vampire. "Why would you ask that? You already have your own boyfriend."

Elena crossed her arms and defensively replied, "It's not like that. Things are just… touchy for me about Stefan."

Bonnie suppressed the urge to roll her eyes and said nothing.

"And isn't that like part of the sister code, you don't date your best friend's ex?" Elena shifted her weight, the growing tension clear in her taut, jumpy muscles.

Bonnie sighed, shaking her head.

Elena leaned forward, grabbing Bonnie's shoulders. "Just promise, Bonnie. If you aren't together, then what's the big deal?"

Bonnie shook free of her friend's grasp. "I'm not promising anything like that." She glanced back up and took an involuntary step backwards. Angry veins had begun to form around Elena's eyes as they flickered down to Bonnie's still-bleeding wrist.

In less than a moment, Elena was vamped out and Bonnie was shoved hard against the wall with the vampire's snarling face inches from her own.

In even less time than that, Elena found herself moaning on the floor, suffering from a wave of brain-crushing aneurysms. As the pain subsided, she sat up and looked at her friend as if having woken from a trance.

Heavy tears collected and tumbled down the vampire's cheeks, the skin smooth and pale again now. "Oh my god, Bonnie, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

Elena's arms were immediately wrapped around Bonnie's frame.

Bonnie was dazed. She rubbed Elena's back comfortingly as she stood in her friend's embrace, trembling.

Elena had attacked her. Elena. Her sister.

She felt lost and somehow strangely lighter.

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A/N: Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! I've been kind of driving myself crazy over it the past couple of days, writing and rewriting things over and over.

I realized there wasn't as much Stefonnie as I wanted in the last couple chapters, so I hope you liked there being a little more this time. There'll be even more from here on out, thanks for being so patient with the slow build you guys!

And wow, your reviews were so fantastic after the last chapter, thank you so much for reading and taking the time to leave a note, it honestly means a TON to me. Y'all are amazing (: