I do not own Vampire Diaries.

Months after the other side have been destroyed taking Bonnie and Damon with it.
Lyrics by Birdy "without a word"

With a blinding flash of light, Bonnie and Damon were standing in the boarding house where Elena, Stefan, Enzo and Caroline looked on.

"How did we end up back here?" Were the first words out of Damon's mouth before Elena threw herself on him crying.

Bonnie looked on in horror as Caroline and Stefan rushed to hug her, stepping aside for Enzo to do the same.

Bonnie finally pulled away as she saw Lucy and her mother in the background. Lucy seemed worried and her mother... Well she didn't know her well enough to read the expression on the older woman's face.

"I can't believe it worked" Elena finally said as she walked over to hug Bonnie as Bonnie flinched before robotically returning the brunettes hug. She felt off kilter and pissed off that they were suddenly backed in Mystic Falls. They had been gone for three years! Why would they return now?

Lucy left a few minutes later, not before telling Bonnie to come find her if anything seemed weird or out of place. Her mother gave her a key.

"What's this?" Bonnie asked as the vampire smiled sadly "It's your gram's home, I couldn't sell it so at least you have a place to call home"

"Thanks" Bonnie replied as Damon stepped over to them, moving into Bonnie's personal space and taking the key from her before flatly saying "Bonnie's home is here with me so she won't be leaving anytime soon"

Caroline and Stefan looked over at one another while Elena stared at Damon, hurt and confusion in her brown eyes.

Hey you can tell the world
That you're leaving
And you can pack your bags
And spread your wings

"Well let's not make any rash decisions tonight" Stefan finally said as he looked over at Damon who seemed as though he was going to throw Bonnie over his shoulder to prevent her from leaving and Bonnie, who looked extremely uncomfortable, however seemingly comfortable with Damon that close to her. They also seemed to be having an entire conversation based on their eye contact only.

Enzo finally laughed and stated "It's rude to have secrets among friends" to which Bonnie flinched, breaking eye contact with Damon and stepped away from him.

Damon glared at Enzo before grabbing Bonnie's hand "let me show you where you will be staying until we figure out why we are here" and promptly walked out as Bonnie glanced apologetically at her friends.

Elena looked on in confusion as Damon walked by her, not even sparing her a glance. What did he mean trying to figure out why they were there? Didn't he want to return? Didn't he want to be with her? Didn't he realize what she had sacrificed for him and Bonnie to return? They should be having hot make up sex now, not ignoring her and tending to Bonnie's needs. What they hell happened in the past three years?

Later that night Stefan walked in the kitchen where Damon was sitting with a glass of bourbon in his hand. He sighed as he ran his fingers through his hair.

It had taken every ounce of manipulation to ensure Bonnie had agreed to stay at the boarding house next to his room and then he had to talk Elena out of sharing said room stating that he was overwhelmed, tired and not in the mood.

He rolled his eyes as he thought of how dramatic Elena had been crying and bargaining with him when he told her that he didn't want or need her company.

Then he had to act as though the silent treatment Bonnie was giving him wasn't bothering him. She refused to speak to him, as though he was the one who bought them back to this place and as he was leaving he heard her lock the door that was directly next to his bedroom.

And you can tell them all
That it's over
But while you wave goodbye
I'll be getting closer

"It's nice to see that some things haven't changed" Stefan said as Damon looked over at him and smiled "and yet everything has changed. Look at us having a conversation and your forehead isn't brooding"

"Yet," Stefan replied as Damon laughed and Stefan smiled before asking "So want to share why Bonnie is wearing our mothers ring?"

"Well you see… when you meet a girl and decide that you want her…" Damon stopped suddenly and then continued "You know how you always wanted a sister? Well now you have one. Good night" Damon replied as he walked out.

Stand there and look into my eyes
And tell me that all we had were lies
Show me that to you it don't count
And I'll stand here if you prefer
Yes I'll leave you without a word
Without a word

Two weeks later and Bonnie had finally run out of excuses on why she couldn't have lunch with Elena and Caroline. The past two weeks Bonnie had researched possible ways of returning to their paradise. Everyone she spoke to said the same thing- they were back home to stay.

"So have you and Jeremy spoken yet?" Caroline asked after the waiter took their order.

Bonnie snorted as she nervously fingered her ring finger "no and we are not getting back together so don't try to set us up"

"What did you and Damon do while you were away?" Elena asked suddenly as Bonnie choked on the water she had just sipped. Caroline glanced over at her suspiciously. She and Stefan had spoken about the way Bonnie and Damon had returned.

They were holding hands and they both had looked happy until they realized where they were. Caroline had also noticed the ring on Bonnie's ring finger that looked exactly like the Salvatore family ring.

The past two weeks had been different Caroline thought as she glanced at Bonnie who was making up some lame story of what exactly Damon and her did. Any smart person could tell that something major had happened while they were away in a place that sounded like heaven. It made Caroline feel guilty for supporting Elena's belief that Damon needed to be saved, along with Bonnie.

Enzo had just remarked last night after dinner, how Damon's eyes had never strayed from Bonnie as he watched to make sure she was eating. Last week they had ordered pizza and while everyone ate, Bonnie had only picked at her food.

Damon had noticed this and walked out of the dining room. Twenty minutes later he had bought in a dish of fresh pasta with vegetables and placed it directly in front of Bonnie. Bonnie gave him a blinding smile before she picked her fork up. Damon returned her smile, lightly brushing his finger down her cheek and then sitting down.

Stefan cleared his throat and looked over at Elena, who had missed the interchange because she was too busy texting Jeremy. She looked up suddenly and said "Jeremy is coming for a visit tomorrow. I know you said that you two were over Bonnie but I really think you should reconsider and start dating him again. He really loves you"

"Elena, will you shut the hell up about Jeremy? If he is so great then you date him" Damon shouted as everyone looked over at Damon, his blue eyes widening in anger as he unconsciously clenched his fists.

"Damon, Jeremy is my brother so I wouldn't date him"

"He's your cousin not your brother, besides we all know your penchant for brothers"

Elena gasped before she frowned "why are you so concerned about whom Bonnie is going to date? You two hardly get along"

"That was before. We have spent three years together so things are different. You would have realized that if you could get your head out of your ass" Damon coldly stated as he stood up and walked out, slamming the door after him.

Stefan stood up and said "I'll go speak to him"

Bonnie tuck a strand of hair behind her ear taking a deep breath, for one second it seemed as though Damon was going to tell everyone exactly why she wouldn't be dating anyone at all. Obviously everyone needed a stronger dose tonight to forget that their lives all changed three years ago.FlashbackWhen the light diminished, Bonnie and Damon were in a meadow, the sky bright blue, a lake shining in the distance. There was a tiny cottage with a white picket fence ahead of them.

"You can let go of my hand anytime Judgey" Damon stated smirking as Bonnie blushed before removing her hand, not before wishing she had her powers to burn him.

At that moment Damon shouted "I didn't mean it in a bad way, no need to burn me"

"What? I didn't burn you"

"Tell that to my hand" Damon retorted holding up his slightly burnt hand to her face.

"Sorry" she replied in a sing song voice before walking closer to the cottage.

"I don't believe that however I will let it slide since you saved me from going where I should have gone"

"Which would have been?"

"Where ever Katherine went" Damon replied seriously before turning his attention to the cottage in front of them. He walked up the stairs and opened the door, motioning Bonnie to step inside.

The cottage was much bigger than it looked on the outside. The entire room had an open floor plan, with a state of the art kitchen, a piano in the corner and a book shelf that resembled a small bookstore.

Bonnie could see steps leading upstairs that most likely had the bedrooms.

"Well at least we won't starve" Bonnie stated as she looked in the fridge. There were all her favorite foods as well as an enormous stash of blood bags.

"Should we check upstairs?" Damon suggested as Bonnie shrugged "I don't really feel up to it"

Damon looked over at Bonnie carefully. She didn't look sick however they couldn't be too careful, after all she wasn't supposed to bring anyone with her.

Hours later, they explored the rest of the house and found three bedrooms upstairs with a bathroom in each room. When they had chosen their respective rooms, Damon went to the library to read and Bonnie had stayed in the bedroom she claimed as her own.

Present time

It took approximately four weeks putting up with the same crap for Bonnie to realize that she needed to get the hell out of Mystic Falls. Why did she even think of staying when they bought them back to this hell?

This morning she had walked into Elena, Elena who was leaving Damon's bedroom at 5:30 in the morning, clad in nothing but a white shirt.

"Hey" Bonnie said as Elena looked over at her slightly worried. "Hey, I thought Damon had something of mine. I was wrong"

"Oh" Bonnie replied as she felt a rush of anger and betrayal course through her veins before she took a deep breath. It was always going to be Elena Gilbert. She was really a fool to think this time she was the end game.

It was time to move on.

Flashback

"I heard what you said to Elena back there" Bonnie said that night as they sat in the library. Damon was looking into space, a glass of bourbon in his hand.

"Of course you did, you nosy little thing"

"Well I am….was the anchor….It was hard to miss the whole "I love you so much" line"

"That was more for me than it was for Elena. My whole life, alive and dead, I worked so hard to have someone accept me for me. I foolishly believed that was Katherine, and then Elena…..the truth is I knew Elena and I would never have a future. She changed who she was for me….she was never a person with a strong self of sense."

Bonnie snorted as Damon looked over at her "what you don't believe me?"

"Nope"

Damon continued to glance at Bonnie, who became uncomfortable with the gleaming look in his eye. "Haven't you ever thought to yourself why I never made a pass at you?"

"Maybe because I'm not your type, besides I was always grateful you ignored me"

"Oh Bonnie Bennett, so innocent, so refreshing, I never ignored you. Why wouldn't you not be my type? You're hot, intelligent, and powerful, we would look hot together, and must I go on? "

Bonnie raised an eyebrow as she looked on seemingly unconvinced "I never made a pass at you because I knew I would never be able to get you. You always called me on my bull shit, which is a turn on, by the way"

"It never seemed that way"

"Well we had a role to play didn't we?" Damon asked as he looked over at her before licking his lips slowly and continuing "and now, here we are, alone, together and no script telling us how to feel, act or think. I'm going to enjoy getting to know you Bonnie Bennett"

Present Time

"Hey I've been trying to get your attention for the past twenty minutes" Damon said as he stepped further in her room closing the door.

And you can tell the world
That you're tired
But your excuses, they won't work
'Cause I'll know that you're lying

It had taken a lot of convincing to keep Bonnie in the boarding house when they first returned. It had also been tiring to return to the old Damon, the one obsessed and madly in love with Elena. It had taken four weeks for Elena to actually get it through her thick skull that he was married...to Bonnie.

Just this morning at approximately 5:25, she had finally realized it and had thrown a huge fit before threatening to shut off her emotions if he did not get a divorce.

When Damon had calmly told her no, Elena threw everything in reach at him stating how much she hated him and she would never forgive him for corrupting Bonnie.

At least she didn't hate Bonnie. Maybe she really did have a brain.

"What do you want Damon?" Bonnie stated tiredly as she tried to keep the tears out of her voice. It sucked seeing Damon every day and yet not seeing him. At first she thought it would go back to normal, however it hadn't. Damon made sure she had every need attended to, just as he promised her two years ago when they took their vows, using old magic to ensure their bond would be unbreakable and unchangeable.

If she wanted to go shopping with Caroline, she had a card in her name Bonnie Bennett Salvatore to use, if she wanted to go for a drive, she had access to all his vehicles, the only things she didn't have access to was him. Sure he checked in with daily however she hadn't stepped foot into his bedroom and Elena was always around.

Lucy had stated that they couldn't return due to the dark magic that had been used to summon them back from paradise. Lucy had also questioned when she was going to tell everyone that she was a Salvatore.

Every time that I see your face
I notice all the suffering
Just turn to my embrace
I won't let you come to nothing

"I would like my wife to at least acknowledge me"

"Your wife?" Bonnie sneered before turning towards him and stepping into his personal space " I stopped being your wife the minute we returned to this hell hole"

"That's a lie" Damon softly replied as he looked her in the eyes telling himself not to make any move that would frighten Bonnie away.

Flashback

They fought the whole first year. As soon as Bonnie realized she had her magic back, Damon became her personal choice of causing pain on an everyday basis.

The fighting stopped when Damon left after Bonnie called him a selfish excuse of space and that he would never be able to make up for what he did to her.

Damon turned white when she stated that and then calmly replied "you are right. I took a lot from you and I'm sorry" then he walked out the door.

A week later, Bonnie became worried and went out to look for him. She found him twenty miles from the cottage, enveloped in darkness and a dead look in his normally ice blue eyes.

She had to magically float him back to the cottage. It took another week before Damon became aware of his surroundings and then another week to actually feed and then another week to acknowledge Bonnie.

When he started feeling better, he took over the cooking and Bonnie would clean up. They would spend their mornings drinking and looking at things they could do for the day. Some days they would lay out by the pool, with Damon swimming and Bonnie lying reading a book. On the days that it rained, they would have movie marathons, talking about anything and everything. Nothing was ever taboo or off topic.

Soon Bonnie realized how much they had in common and day by day they became each other's closest confidant.

Damon shared his fears, hopes, dreams and regrets with Bonnie and she did the same. They became so in sync with one another that it wasn't much of a surprise when they started platonically sharing a bed and the eventually making the bedroom…theirs.

On New Year's Eve, Damon had made dinner and insisted on Bonnie dancing with him to bring in the New Year.

"What is your New Year's resolution" Damon asked as Bonnie looked up at him through her long lashes smiling before answering "to live each day to the fullest. What about you?"

Damon became very quiet as he spun Bonnie around, his blue eyes gazing intently at her before softly saying "this is the year I woo you and you become Mrs. Damon Salvatore" and with that promptly kissed her on the lips.

Present day

"Damon...I'm leaving. I can't stay here anymore. I'm miserable without you and I'm miserable when I am around you. I haven't slept in over a month. "

"I know it's been rough Bonnie. I haven't been as attentive and I haven't kept my promise however I have kept my vows to you and only you. If you want to leave then we will...together"

"We both know that what we had will never amount to what you can have here with Elena"

"Elena has not been in the picture since we got married; returning here certainly didn't change that. Perhaps if someone stopped cooking memory lapse potions everyone would know the good news by now and Elena would have realized that that ship had sailed sooner than this morning"

Bonnie had the grace to blush before resuming packing.

"Did you miss the part where I said that you weren't going anywhere without me?" Damon asked again as he started pulling clothes out of her bag.

"I want to go back, this isn't what I wanted" Bonnie finally cried, the tears running down her face as she turned and faced Damon.

"I know that, but we are here and we can't just go back. Didn't you tell me that Lucy told you this? Just because we are here doesn't mean that anything has to change between us. If you really want to leave Mystic Falls, then we will. We can go to Italy or France, where ever you want. I just need you to understand that you won't be leaving me behind, got it? I meant what I said three years ago"

Flashback

It was a few days after New Year's Eve. Bonnie and Damon had stopped speaking to one another after she had slapped him for messing with her and "playing with her feelings".

Surprisingly Damon took it in stride, not arguing, just speaking to her with indifference. Bonnie wasn't sure why she was so bothered by this, especially because most times she wanted the vampire to leave her alone.

Maybe it was because with them being the only people there, Damon had let his guard down and proven to be an excellent cook, conversationalist and seemingly interesting person. Bonnie knew she had overreacted however did not want to admit that she was in the wrong.

It took an additional three days of Damon's indifference before she was ready to apologize. She found him in the library, reading a book, with a glass of bourbon in his hand.

As she stepped in the room, Damon willed himself not to turn in her direction. He could smell flowers and the scent of Bonnie. The last few days had sucked because she wasn't sleeping in their bed and he missed her warm body spooned next to him. He even missed her hogging all the covers.

He had spent the last few days angry at himself for making a move and angry at Bonnie for reacting how she did.

It wasn't as though he intended on falling for Bonnie; however he always had a soft spot for her and her ability to hold him accountable whenever possible. He didn't even feel guilty that he had apparently moved on from Elena.

In fact it had been months since he had thought about Elena or his life in Mystic Falls. He did miss Stefan but felt that he was better off without him. In fact, when Damon thought about it, most people they left behind were better off without him…Bonnie on the other hand, they needed her, though they only realized that when they wanted something from her.

"Hi" Bonnie said softly as she stepped closer to where he was sitting. Damon looked up from his book, his blue eyes penetrating before he replied "Hi" and then returned to his book.

Bonnie rolled her eyes as she sat down across from him "I'm sorry I slapped you. That was rude…you took me by surprise and… I don't want to be a consolation prize"

Damon huffed and then placed the book the on the table "You aren't a consolation prize….if anything I'm the consolation prize….besides I would never do or say anything that I didn't mean"

"It's just that…"Bonnie began as Damon cut her off "We have been here, wherever here is, for the past year. In the past year, we have become really close and I enjoy spending time with you"

Bonnie snorted before she replied "yes we have become close and I also enjoy spending time with you, that doesn't mean that we have to get married…..much less to each other"

"Of course that means we get married. That's the one thing I never did because I didn't think I would be any good at it. This year, being with you, I realized it would be a great marriage because you would be my wife"

"You never seriously thought of marriage with Elena?"

"I never seriously thought we would ever be permanent. We all know I wasn't the best choice for her, despite her naivety and my stubbornness, besides now that I know you…" Damon stopped to give Bonnie a blinding smile that had her blush and look down "Elena actually would have to work hard to get me back this time"

"Damon, you really need to" Bonnie began as Damon rolled his eyes and leaned forward softly saying "I think I like you better when you are preoccupied" and promptly kissed her on the lips.

Present Day

Bonnie lowered her head before she glanced over at Damon who sighed impatiently and said "It's been too long" before stepping over to her and gently kissing her on the lips. His undead heart leapt when she finally returned his kiss before she needed air and they separated.

Bonnie glanced up at Damon, his half smirk on her face before saying "You know you can't just kiss me whenever you feel you are losing the argument"

Damon returned the smirk "I can if it makes you remember how much you love me"

Bonnie blushed before leaning into him, her head on his chest as he pulled her closer, kissing the top of her head, smiling as Bonnie confessed "and that's the problem…I will probably always love you"

"That's not a problem in my opinion, especially since I haven't stopped loving you"

Bonnie pulled away a few minutes later and went back to her suitcase "What are you doing?" Damon asked, slightly concerned as he watched her.

"I'm moving my stuff into our bedroom" she replied as she grabbed a few items. Damon grinned as he grabbed her suitcase as well.

"Just one thing"

"Anything" Damon replied seriously as Bonnie smiled at him "there needs to be a new mattress in there tonight before I sleep in it"

"Not a problem" Damon relied smiling before kissing her once more.

Stand there and look into my eyes
And tell me that all we had were lies
Show me that to you it don't count
And I'll stand here if you prefer
Yes I'll leave you without a word
Without a word