Abby watched, slightly confused, as the black-haired vampire paced before her daughter's bed.

She had sensed some level of attraction or at least affection for Bonnie on his part when she'd visited the boardinghouse those months ago to explain the desiccation spell and its dangers, but she did not expect anything like this. He was beside himself.

She remembered the frantic look on his face as the front door blew open and he carried Bonnie into the house, demanding she help her. She was glad Rudy wasn't home for any of this, he'd never had the stomach for stress. She marveled at that stray thought... 14 years away from her family, and yet she was in Mystic Falls for one week and it somehow felt that she'd never left. But then Bonnie wouldn't agree with that, she knew.

After Damon had hurriedly explained the confrontation with Klaus, and reinforced her knowledge that her daughter was practicing Expression magic, the pieces began to fall into place for Abby.

"She saved you, didn't she?"

Damon frowned but nodded. "On the island. What's it to you? And what does that have to do with what's happening to her now?" An edge of worry or possibly guilt crept into his tone with the last question, nearly imperceptible.

"Everything. It has everything to do with it." Abby sighed, sitting on the edge of the bed and turning away from Bonnie's pale face. "It's consuming her."

"What is?"

"Expression. The same thing that bound you to her when she saved you with it. It's an immense amount of power, and every time she accesses it, it wears her body out a little more. "

"Okay, take about twelve steps back, Witchy Mama. I'm not sired to her."

"Not a sire bond, don't be an idiot. But a resurrection bond, yes, powerful in its own way. And only ever brought by the type of magic that's going to eat away at her if she doesn't stop abusing it. She shouldn't be dealing with this alone."

They both turned in surprise as Bonnie's voice broke into the conversation. "Maybe you should have thought about that before you left. Again. Instead of showing up now like I owe you anything."

Abby flinched at the bitterness in her daughter's tone. "Bonnie, you've had a rough day. We'll talk about this later tonight."

"No, we won't. Because I don't need your help. You don't know me, and you don't know what I can and can't do."

Blue eyes were trained on her in concern. "Hey, if this magic is hurting you, then maybe - "

"Shut up, Damon."

"I'm just saying that - "

"I said shut up, Damon!"

In a flash of motion, he was in her face. "You listen to me, Bonnie Bennett. You don't want her help, I get it." He hooked a thumb towards Abby. "But she's not the only one with connections. You're a badass witch, and if anyone can learn how to play with fire without getting burned, it's you. But messing around blind is stupid, and I'm not letting you do that."

Bonnie was speechless. Damon never lauded her abilities, or put so much effort into worrying about her. She thought about what she overheard Abby saying about a resurrection bond, and began to realize it might just be true.

"Pack your bags, Judgy. We're going to New Orleans."

"I can't believe I let you talk me into this," Bonnie murmured just low enough for the only vampire in the room to hear her.

Damon smirked.

The cramped shop was dimly lit and cluttered with vials and dishes of various common and exotic herbs. Small signs were lettered to proclaim the properties of each type.

Nandi stood on the other side of the counter, eyeing them both.

"So this is the witch who's been dabbling with Expression?" Her lip curled in derision.

Bonnie frowned. "Not dabbling, but that's not the point. What do you know about it? How can I use it safely?"

Nandi snorted and glanced at Damon. "I figured she must be stupid to mess with Expression and spend time with vampires, but I never would have guessed it to be this bad."

Damon glared at the witch, but Bonnie spoke first. "I'm right here."

"So you say."

Bonnie took a deep breath. "Look. I didn't know what Expression was when it was taught to me. My magic was gone, and my... my mentor told me there was another way to access it. He was a liar and he was manipulating me, and I was in too dark a place to see that."

Damon's eyes flickered to her, reflecting something like regret. She didn't see, and she continued. "I don't want to hurt anyone, not even myself. So if you know anything then just tell us, or we're done wasting our time."

Nandi gave a small shake of her head, her eyes softening with resignation. "Child, there's no safe way to practice Expression. It's a plague, borne of death, and all it will bring into this world for you and anyone around you is suffering."

Bonnie sighed. "What do you know about resurrection bonds?"

"Witchy, that's not why we're - "

"Just... just, what do you know?" Her eyes didn't stray from the face of the witch before her.

"Resurrection bonds are even more rare than vampire sire bonds, which was why you last came here, if I recall," Nandi answered, glancing at Damon who was obviously unhappy about the current flow of the conversation.

"Witches who dare to use Expression are uncommon, and among those the ones who ever utilize its power to create life rather than just destroy it are even fewer in number," she continued. "And then there are still conditions that must be met for a resurrection bond to take hold, namely feelings from the bonded for the witch existing prior to their death and resurrection."

Bonnie looked up at Damon in realization, only to find that his dour expression had quickly turned smug.

"Like I've told you a million times since we got back, I always cared."

She rolled her eyes. He would take this moment to say I told you so. She turned back to Nandi. "And how do you break a resurrection bond?"

Damon's eyes snapped to meet hers, his self-satisfaction immediately melting away.

"It isn't as simple as a vampire's sire bond, where you can tell the person to forget you and extricate yourself from their life so that they can move on. A witch bond is more subtle." Seeing a matched set of raised eyebrows staring back at her, Nandi explained further. "A sire bond is about the sired pleasing their creator. A resurrection bond isn't about making the witch happy so much as it is about protection. A witch telling the bonded to go away won't matter if the bonded believes the witch is safer with him there. With a witch bond, there are deeper hooks to untangle and greater sacrifices to make."

Bonnie sighed, unsurprised. Nothing's ever easy when you're a witch.

"The only way to break the bond based in Expression magic is to break your bond with Expression magic itself."

Meaning she had to sacrifice her powers.

Some time later, she and Damon walked down the street to his car, and she suggested that they should consider breaking the bond.

"No. No way, witchy."

"It isn't right, Damon. Plus you've kind of been driving me crazy."

He made a face. "There's nothing wrong with it, if it's even true. I've always protected you, I promised Emily I would protect her bloodline so it's my duty already. What's wrong with a little magic sealing the deal?"

She started to protest, but he continued, speaking over her. "And without your magic, you're defenseless. That's not an option, there are too many baddies that you've got locked away looking for revenge for that to be a real option. No, you can get a handle on this Expression stuff and then not use it unless you really need it, and you'll be fine. We'll both be fine."

"It isn't that simple, Damon. You may not see it, but you're not yourself anymore."

"I'm still me. I'm just freer to express some stuff I used to keep hidden."

"Well why did you keep it hidden? Why is it suddenly okay to express it now, when the old you would have staked himself before being so nice to me?"

He bristled at her words. "I don't know, Bonnie, it doesn't even really matter. I feel liberated. I can tell you that I want you to feel shielded, and I can tell you that I want to be the one who makes you feel that way. That's all there is to it, and is that really so bad?"

He'd grown defensive, unable or unwilling to articulate that the real reason he kept that side hidden was that he didn't want to make any promises he was afraid he couldn't keep. It was always easier in his life to be the bad guy that no one anticipated anything good from. That way, if and when he failed at least no one was holding it over his head.

Much of the ride back to Mystic Falls was quiet, as the witch and the vampire considered all that they had learned from their trip.

Damon was clearly unhappy, certain that his solution was the best given their position, wedged firmly between a rock and a hard place. Bonnie was tempted to agree, but given her memories of waking up to Damon snuggled against her ankles and her memories of what a betrayal it had been when Damon was unable to release Elena from the sire bond, she knew she couldn't.

Still, the hours passed in relative peace despite the turmoil of their thoughts. At least it did until her phone buzzed.

She glanced at the screen before answering the call. "Hey Elena, what's up?"

"Elena can't come to the phone right now, love. But perhaps you'd like to take a message."

"Klaus... what are you doing with Elena's phone?"

"Funny thing happened to me earlier today. Did you know that I have one brother and sister remaining whom you haven't murdered yet in cold blood? I know it's shocking, I'd almost forgotten it myself."

"Get to the point, already."

"Now, now. Patience, sweetheart. Anyway, let's just say that my siblings have their own witches who know fancy tricks like manipulating barrier spells. And let's also just say that I've seen to it that Elena and Jeremy are all set to move back into their lovely home."

She felt panic rising like bile in her throat. "What have you done to them? Klaus, if you've hurt them, I swear I will kill you."

"Whispered promises and pretty words, love. Now let me tell you how things really stand, outside of your deluded threats. I have Elena and Jeremy Gilbert, and seeing as how they figured they could decide the terms of Kol's death, I'm prepared to do the same for them. And believe me, my terms are far more epic than the pathetic display they managed. Unless of course a certain witch has something to say about it?"

She knew he was taunting her, and she knew it was a trap. But she had no choice, it was Elena and Jeremy. "We're still at least 4 hours away, Klaus."

"As you must realize, I'm not patient man, Bonnie. I suggest you have your vampire boyfriend break some traffic laws."

She frowned as she heard the click, followed by silence.

A thousand fears and worries crowded in her brain, milling and shoving and ready to riot. Elena and Jeremy might already be dead, she wouldn't put it past Klaus given the roles they played in Kol's death. "You need to drive faster," she urged Damon, already knowing he'd heard every word of the phone conversation.

Soon enough, her assumption was confirmed when Damon swerved left into a highly illegal u-turn that swept across the grassy median of the highway.

"What the hell are you doing, Damon? We need to get back to Mystic Falls, now."

"No, we need to get you as far away from Mystic Falls as possible. We can go underground if necessary."

"I can't believe you. It's Jeremy and Elena."

"You think I care? I don't care about them."

Rage swelled in her chest like a roiling thundercloud. "If you claim to care about me, then you have to care about them."

"I could white knight this and save them to show you I care about you while putting you in danger, or I could be the bad guy and save you instead. The second one sounds way more like actually caring about you, maybe that's just me."

She growled in frustration. "We don't have time for this, Damon!" She spun around in the passenger seat to stare at him directly.

"It isn't about protecting them to impress me or because it's what you think I want you to do. It's about knowing that Elena and Jeremy are the only family I have, Damon. If something happens to them, it would break me. I wouldn't be the same person I am now. So if you care about this person that I am now, then you'll care about them too. There's more to protecting a person than shielding them from physical harm!"

She was surprised when he didn't speak for what seemed like a rather long time. She was even more surprised, though, when he did.

"Okay, it makes sense that way, I guess." He pulled towards the left, turning the car back around.

"W- what? That's it?"

He shrugged. "Sometimes when you say things, they make more sense."

Her brow furrowed in thought as she tried to suss out how much of this current plot twist was caused by their bond. He saw the hesitation in her face.

"It was always like that, this has nothing to do with our witchy bond." His blue eyes met her green ones, and she found something unfamiliar there, a kind of warmth.

Still, she looked unconvinced.

"Do you remember that night you told me that there's always a choice, just that whenever I make one someone else suffers?"

She nodded and glanced away, cringing to recall the hurt and betrayal she'd felt after the Salvatores had turned her mother.

"You have no idea how those words haunt me, even now."

Her head whipped back as she stared at him, confused.

"I've just, I've always been messed up, okay? Even before I was a vampire, I knew I was a bad person. People told me I was a bad person, it was that obvious."

Bonnie remembered one time that Elena had told her about the cruelty of the Salvatore patriarch, and she realized he must have been referring to his father.

"Becoming a vampire wasn't my choice, but it still fit me like a glove, like some kind of natural progression. I always defined myself as wicked, and that identity was a self-fulfilling prophecy, you could say. I did bad because I did bad because I did bad. All this time, it was just who I was, and anyone who wanted me to change was fighting a losing battle, whether that was my brother or Elena or whoever."

She frowned to hear Elena's name, and glancing at the speedometer she was only slightly appeased to see they were pushing 95 mph.

He continued, as if not noticing her concern. Almost as if he was talking to himself. "You were different though. You didn't tell me to change. You just pointed out that I'd always had the choice to be good. Like that potential was always there, if I was brave enough to access it."

His fingers tapped on the steering wheel nervously. "And I'm ashamed because even after that, I didn't always have that courage. After so long, I guess it was still easier to believe that my being bad was unavoidable. I mean, I even accidentally influenced Elena's transition because I needed to believe that being a real vampire meant something so specific."

He rolled his eyes and continued. "And then all the sire bond crap, I almost managed to convince myself that it was a foregone conclusion that I'd take advantage of that. Like I couldn't be the good brother who chose her happiness over mine, that I was literally incapable of that. And after that failed attempt I made to free her, I got even closer to really believing it again. And yet your witchy little voice echoed in my head. I was still making all the wrong choices."

His eyes found hers again, and she felt the urge to place her hand over his on the gear shift. She didn't.

"And that's why I was so invested in finding the cure. Because of you and what you said."

Bonnie was amazed to see this open side of Damon. She had to admit that she felt affection for this side of him. "So how are you now that the sire bond was broken?" She left unspoken the fact that the breaking of the sire bond took Elena finally away from him after all.

"It... wasn't unexpected." He was silent after that, but she could fill in the blanks.

He never expected Elena to choose him of her own volition. Bonnie could understand that in him because she knew what it was like to always expect to be everyone's second choice. Family, friends, lovers. Everyone had ulterior motives with her and priorities that were more important than her. Independent Bonnie Bennett who could take care of herself. Who had to take care of herself.

"Do you still love her?"

He didn't pause. "These past couple of weeks I haven't missed Elena so much as I've missed having someone to love. Maybe that's what it came down to, all this time. I obsessed over Katherine with 150 years because I hated myself enough to believe I loved her, and then I fixated on Elena because I didn't know how to live without that kind of fixation."

"Maybe you need to learn how to live without it," she suggested gently. She realized he couldn't do that while under the influence of the resurrection bond. Part of her regretted that she wouldn't get to see this side of him anymore.

But at the same time, seeing this side of him only firmed up her resolve. As deeply buried as it sometimes was, there was good in Damon. Damon was always worth saving.

Between the danger inherent to her use of Expression magic and now her resolve to save Damon, she recognized that giving up her powers was clearly the right decision. Her fingers traced the bone amulet Shane had given her that had once belonged to her ancestor Qetsiyah.

But what would that mean for her? Who was she if she wasn't a witch, if she never again had such a connection to the elements around her?

Her thoughts were interrupted as Damon nodded distractedly, as if to himself. "You might be right, Witchy. But that's another talk for another time. So, what's the plan for dealing with the Wonder Triplets?"

The powder blue Camaro finally pulled up in front of the Gilbert House. Bonnie breathed out in relief. "They're all in there, I can sense them. Elena and Jeremy are still alive. And the witch is upstairs."

The two men in the car with her nodded. They all knew what they had to do.

The three Original siblings looked up from their nonchalant repose in the Gilbert living room as Bonnie burst through the front door with her arms outstretched. Elena and Jeremy were huddled in one corner. A weak, bloodied and drained Elena had her arms wrapped around her unconscious brother.

The Originals crumpled to the floor in pain as their insides were squeezed and broken by Bonnie's magic, though she struggled to maintain her grip on her power as a disorienting haze overwhelmed her mind. Klaus grunted triumphantly to see her difficulty.

Just as quickly as the sensation had began, it ended when Damon zipped through the front door and up the stairs to snap the neck of the witch hiding there.

Through clenched teeth, Klaus growled, "Did you know it took three broken ribs before the Hunter would invite my dear siblings into his home? Southern hospitality just," he grimaced as his patella shattered, "Isn't what it used to be."

"Stefan! Hurry!" Bonnie shouted, ignoring him. She began to feel the caustic burn of the power coursing through her body.

The younger Salvatore swept into the living room, gathering up Jeremy and Elena. He threw a brokenhearted look to Rebekah before speeding out the front door as Klaus roared from his knees. "Where is he taking them?" he snarled.

"Somewhere safe." Bonnie was able to hold the spell for a few more moments before the magic began to push back too hard. She wobbled, and Damon was there to lift her up.

He carried her out the door at vampire speed as Elijah, Klaus and Rebekah climbed to their feet to give chase.

Soon they were flying through the dark Virginia wilderness, past trees and brush. The siblings were quickly on their heels, and Rebekah taunted, "Damon, you do realize we're faster than you, right?"

Damon ducked beneath a low bough and replied, "That's why I've got her."

One by one, the chasing vampires were tripped by bursts of Bonnie's magic as she fractured their legs again and again. Though they would quickly heal and catch up, it slowed them down long enough for Damon to reach the caverns under the old Lockwood property. They rushed inside, and it seemed that no one followed them.

Deep inside the twisting tunnels and loamy caves, Damon set Bonnie down, and she leaned against the rock wall. The sensation brought back memories of leaning against the wall of the cave on the island as Silas merrily fractured her bones.

"I'm going to see if I can figure out their positions," he said, handing her a flashlight. "Just stay here, keep quiet, and do your thing."

Bonnie rolled her eyes. "I know the plan, Damon."

He winked at her with a smile, but his tense gait belied his ease as he moved down one of the dark pathways cut into the rock.

Bonnie trained the beam of the flashlight along the familiar walls of the cave. She took a deep breath. Closing her eyes, she began to murmur wordlessly to conjure a spell, manipulating the air around her.

Moments later, she heard his voice whisper breathily against her ear. "You can't hide from me, love."

Her eyes flew open. "Klaus."

Her flashlight revealed his brother and sister standing behind him in the dark cave before it clattered to the floor and she was shoved hard against the wall. Her head snapped back from the force, crashing into the hard rock, and tiny flashes of light peppered her vision.

His fingers were tight around her neck, and she struggled to breathe as he lifted her off her feet, sliding her body painfully up the jagged wall.

"You're too weak for any more bone breaking, aren't you?" he jeered unpleasantly. "I'd thank that idiot professor for thoroughly ruining you, if he weren't so very dead."

She squirmed in his grasp, and he laughed.

"It was always you, you foolish little girl. Why was that? Why didn't I kill you after that first attempt to kill me? It was always you and you alone, standing between me and what I wanted."

"Wrong." Damon's voice echoed from the other side of the cavern. "It was always her, and me."

He sped towards the siblings, carrying two heavy buckets of water from the well at the edge of the property. He doused them with the vervain water, and they were distracted as their flesh was scalded by the herb. Damon swiftly caught Bonnie as Klaus' grip loosened and she began to fall. He zipped back into the tunnels, and Bonnie released the spell she'd been holding, allowing the barriers that protected the cavern to fall back into place.

In the darkness Bonnie was blind, but Damon could see Klaus' mending flesh as he raced to follow them. He could see the Original hybrid's face twisting in rage as he crashed against the barrier futilely, again and again.

Damon and Bonnie both smiled to hear the three siblings, trapped forever in the place that chronicled with runes their very family history, their roars of anguish fading into the distance as he carried her back up to the surface.

Bonnie was still a little weak when Damon set her down on her front porch. He frowned, wrapping an arm around her waist to steady her.

"I didn't realize it would drain you this much. You need to drink some of my blood." His free hand traced her hairline, gently sweeping across the matted blood there.

"I told you, I'm fine." She stopped his hand, grasping his wrist. "We're both fine, we won, remember?"

She smiled at him, and she noticed with a jolt the humming thrill in her chest when he returned it with one of the sincere smiles she'd grown to anticipate.

What she didn't anticipate was his face tilting towards hers, or his lips pressed soft against her own.

The kiss was gentle at first, and she knew she should stop him, but she couldn't. When his tongue brushed against the part of her lips, she allowed him to deepen the kiss. The kiss was languid as their tongues moved gracefully, their hungry mouths savoring every moment of the sultry dance.

She had never been kissed like this. She had never felt like every inch of her was alight, like if she opened her eyes she would find herself glowing.

She felt a distinct and oppressive loss when he finally pulled away, tempered only slightly by the second smile she received from him on her porch that night.

"Good night, Judgy."

"Good night, Damon."

"Are you sure you don't want me to guard your room?"

She rolled her eyes. "Go home, Damon."

She sat on her bed in her pajamas. Qetsiyah's pendant rested in her palm, and she ran her fingers along the carvings etched into it.

Why did he have to kiss her tonight? She could have gone forever not knowing, and they both would have managed just fine.

But she knew that wasn't true. She couldn't have gone forever not knowing that feeling, and even if she never felt it again, she was glad that she had at least for that one time.

Cradling the amulet between her palms, she inhaled. A sharp pain resonated in her chest as the bone was split by tiny fractures, finally crumbling into dust and shards.

She fell back onto the bed and drifted to sleep as tears rolled down into her ears.

Tomorrow everything would be normal again with Damon Salvatore.

Bonnie sighed softly in her sleep, the daylight tickling her closed eyes teasingly. Her warm blankets swathed her in a cocoon of comfort that she was tempted to never leave.

Sudden movement across her legs snapped her firmly awake.

Damon was sprawled at the foot of her bed, his arms wrapped around her blanketed ankles.

She inhaled, wondering what went wrong. She waved her hand carelessly, expecting Damon to fly off the bed and onto the floor, but he was still there contentedly embracing her legs.

Her powers were gone.

He woke, sensing she was awake. He crawled up the length of her body until his face hovered over hers, finally lowering his lips to brush sweetly against hers.

"Do you... do you feel different?" she asked hesitantly.

"If you mean do I realize that you broke our witchy bond, yes I felt that." He glared at her. "And it was excruciatingly painful, thanks for the heads up."

Well that was more like the old Damon. But then his lips covered hers again, and though she moaned into his kiss, she was confused.

His features softened as he pulled away once more. "How could you give up so much?"

"You deserved to be free." Her eyes moved up from his lips to meet his gaze.

He lay beside her, one hand reaching for hers as their fingers intertwined. "What do you deserve then?"

She felt the sting of tears in her eyes, and she had no answer for his question.

"Thank you, Bonnie." He brought her hand to his lips, placing a soft kiss on her palm. "I was trying to protect you all that time, and in the end it was you who saved me, yet again."

His hand reached up to caress her cheek, and she looked at him questioningly, clearly afraid to even ask.

He smirked at her. "I did tell you what I felt existed before the bond. Our latest little adventures just... opened my eyes to some things."

She smiled uncertainly, but when he smiled back with the earnest smile she'd come to love, she rolled over against his body and kissed him without doubt.

Epilogue –

The friends gathered one Friday evening for a horror movie night at the boardinghouse. Elena arrived bearing the apologies of Matt and Jeremy, who were stuck working their shifts at the Grill.

Damon grumbled the whole time as immortal teenagers piled into his house and stole his Bonnie-time, but secretly he was surprisingly content to find he could fit into such a normal, domestic scene.

The lights dimmed gradually, seemingly of their own volition. Bonnie beamed, and everyone erupted into murmurs of shock and approval. She was slowly regaining her natural powers again, the ones that came with all the spirit baggage but didn't tear apart her body. Abby visited once a week to tutor her burgeoning magic, and the two were cautiously rebuilding the relationship they never really had. Rudy and Abby were not thrilled about Damon Salvatore being such a focus in Bonnie's life, but they tolerated him because he truly did protect her and put her first.

With Klaus out of the picture and after having witnessed Tyler laying it all out on the line for Caroline with no hesitation, Caroline and Tyler were going stronger than ever. They sat basically on top of each other in one of the plush armchairs, a mess of cuddling, tangled limbs.

Elena and Stefan were both exploring the single life, processing their own changes and losses, but over time they were growing close again. They sat side by side on the sofa without touching. Still, given the glances they kept throwing to each other, Bonnie was tempted to just shove their faces together and make them kiss already.

Damon placed a quick peck on her lips as they were snuggled together on the other armchair, waiting for the movie to begin. He tweaked her nose, and she rolled her eyes. They were taking it a day at a time, but as they smiled at each other, Bonnie knew that it was a promising start.

A/N: Did you like it? I know, I'm a total dork, such a sucker for a happy ending. But I hope you enjoyed it too! Please R&R! Love you guuuuys :D