I'm gonna need someone to hold me while my hysteria ebbs away.

This one shot was all I could do to not turn into a snivelling hot mess. Lawd help me.

This sort of goes with the plot but also not. Lemme know what you guys think X

I disclaim everything except my equal love and loathing for Bonnie's incessant selflessness

"You were talking in your sleep again." Damon said as he took the mug of fresh coffee from Bonnie as she sat down in front of him. Her eyes shot up to meet his, apprehension and fear as clear as day in her malachite eyes.

"I had…I had a bad dream." She muttered lamely, trying her best to play it off, which was pointless considering how well the dark haired vampire now knew her.

"Wanna share with the class?" Kai called out as he jogged into the kitchen, grinning widely as he plonked himself down next to Bonnie who immediately got up on her feet to move away. Damon's eyes narrowed and he growled lowly in the back of his throat. "I get it, Damon." Kai said with his hands raised, "I won't touch her."

"I'm gonna go ahead and add don't go near her to the list as well." Damon hissed through his teeth when Bonnie's small hand dropped onto his shoulder.

"Damon –" Bonnie's voice cut off when a sharp scream left her mouth and in a flash Damon's eyes darted between her and Kai as he moved to his feet with that unnatural agility to get Bonnie into his arms. There was blood oozing out of her stomach, why.

"Bonnie!" Damon yelled out, his eyes zeroing in on an arrow that had appeared out of nowhere and he pulled it out without thinking twice. He sank to his knees as he cradled her, her mouth opening and closing as her face contorted in pain. He ripped his wrist open roughly and poured the blood down her throat, lifting his eyes from her face only then to search for an explanation. They were underground. Kai had a crossbow. Damon felt a soft pressure at the back of his mind, a memory, a feeling…something was calling to his attention but he couldn't focus on anything outside of healing Bonnie and them getting the hell out of hell. "Bonnie," He hissed, ignoring the fact that Kai was still aiming the crossbow at them as he scoured her face for a sign that the blood was working and Bonnie coughed and nodded, already trying to sit up. He helped her and pulled her back against his chest with his one hand while raising the other as a sign of cooperation. "Kai, think about this, she's the only way to get us all back. You can't kill her."

"Make another move and the next arrow goes in her heart." Kai swore his childlike face darkening with the promise of death. Damon nodded, tightening his grip on the witch who had her small hands gripped on his forearm around her waist like a vice.

"You got it, whatever you want, just no more shooting arrows at Bonnie." Damon called out and Kai's face twisted in a humourless smile.

"I wonder when you'll both realise that this isn't a game; that you two ran out of options the minute you ended up here with me. You can only cheat death so many times before you find yourself cornered with the hounds of hell snarling in your face." Damon was hardly paying attention to what he was saying, his ears were too acutely trained to rhythm of Bonnie's heart – he had to make sure she was healing. They were running out of time. "I won't hesitate to kill you both if you don't take me with you." Bonnie whimpered as she moved to become more upright, Damon couldn't see her face but he could feel her determination in her body; the way her shoulders were tensed and raised, the way her hands had stopped shaking. Without warning she sent out a pulse of magic and sent the crossbow flying and Damon took that chance to speed toward Kai to get the ascension device. He could hear someone calling to him, it could have been Bonnie, it could have been Stefan or even Elena – he didn't know in that moment. When he got the device everything seemed to slow down and he watched with aching clarity as Bonnie's face warped as a bright light shot down on him. What was happening? Why wasn't she coming with him?

Damon knocked softly on Bonnie's door and peeked in to see her roll to her side to face the entrance of her bedroom. She smiled and her teeth shone in the moonlight that poured in through the open windows. Damon walked in and sat at the edge of her bed with his back to her.

"You said something in your sleep just now." Damon said softly, forgoing any formalities and he felt Bonnie's body move and the mattress dip and shift as she came closer to him. She threw her feet over the edge of the bed and rested her head against his shoulder with a soft sigh.

"You know I can't control me talking in my sleep Damon, as much as it annoys you." Bonnie said with a low chuckle.

"It doesn't annoy me," Damon corrected her; "I just pointed it out as something you didn't know…Though I'm sure someone had told you that before." Her head moved as she nodded.

"What did I say?" She prompted him as she yawned delicately and something twisted in Damon's chest as the image of her bleeding and gasping assaulted him…Wait, had that happened?

"You said that I was leaving you." Damon said quietly, "You said that you wouldn't make it but I would and then you let me go."

"Are you sure you're not the one having bad dreams?" Bonnie teased as she rolled her head around and looked down at his chest, patting the space above his heart reassuringly.

"Don't do that," Damon scolded softly, "Don't downplay the danger of all of this, or how badly we both need to get home."

"Damon you are home." Bonnie said, lifting her head to look him in the eye. She cupped the side of his face with a warm smile and nodded. "You're home, you're safe." Before he could say anything the door swung open and Kai stood tall in the dimly lit hallway as he grinned at Bonnie who was alone in bed and sleeping. Damon could see it all but he couldn't see himself there anymore, couldn't feel himself, couldn't feel Bonnie's dainty fingers ghosting over the side of his face.

"Damon" Stefan's voice called, in its usual surly, parental demeanour.

"…Damon." Bonnie's voice echoed in his head, full of judgment.

"Damon!" Alaric yelled out, in shock.

"Damon?" Jeremy whispered, horror slicing through his husky voice.

"Damon!" Bonnie exclaimed and he could hear the smile in her voice, the amusement.

"Damon." Stefan's voice came again, more serious this time, "Damon, wake up." Damon's eyes fluttered open and he locked eyes with his brother and his confusion increased by tenfold. "You were talking in your sleep." Stefan explained.

"Where's Bonnie?" Damon demanded hotly, pushing the bedding off of his body and moving to get out of bed. Stefan pressed his mouth into a thin line and shook his head. This had been happening every day since he'd gotten his brother back.

"You came back without her." Stefan said sadness clear in his voice. The sound of a man used to mourning something, simply adding another thing to the list and Damon felt his stomach bottom out as he heard it.

"No." Damon hissed, "No! She was just here with me!" He insisted, even though that feeling was rearing its head again, the knowledge that he'd lived and once again she hadn't. "NO!"

"I'm sorry." Stefan said, even though there was nothing Damon's younger brother could have done.

"No!" Damon snarled, his eyes wide and wet as he shoved Stefan away from him, "I wasn't supposed to leave her there, she isn't safe without me…he, he won't stop until, Bon – Bonnie!" Damon tried moving again and Alaric appeared out of nowhere and held him down.

"You need to calm down." The original vampire instructed but it fell on deaf ears.

"You need to let me go." Damon growled as he pushed Alaric away. "I need to find her."

"Damon there's no way to access the dimension you were in from here, it's impossible." The blue eyed Salvatore's face warped into something monstrous then, without even reverting to his vampiric state.

"I'm going to find her!" Damon spat as he flashed to his feet. "You're either helping or getting in my way; I won't let her die for nothing. Not again."

"She died saving you." Alaric said sombrely and Damon spun around, murder in his eyes.

"Like I said, I won't let her die for nothing. You're either helping me, or you're in my way." The manic look in his eyes silenced the two vampires in front of him but one voice called to him.

"I'll help you." Caroline said her eyes still bloodshot from the realisation that her best friend was still gone. Enzo appeared next to her.

"Count me in mate." the accented vampire said with a smirk, "Nothing worth sticking around here for in any case." Damon ignored the heated look between Enzo and his brother and nodded.

"We leave in half an hour."

Please excuse ay grammar/spelling flaws, literally wrote this in 20 minutes – it had to get out.

Stay excellent