Operation Granger

If you had asked him back when he first returned to Mystic Falls where he would be in six years, he never could have foretold being in an honest to god relationship with the pain in his ass Bennett Witch.

He might have claimed he could bang her, but even that would've been a stretch back then.

And now? Now he found himself 'in love' again, for the third time in his entire life. He was learning to open himself up again in ways he hadn't before, not even with Elena. Especially with Elena.

With Elena he felt he was constantly defending himself to other people; her friends and his. He lived in the constant shadow of the epic romance of Stefan and Elena, always worried she would come to her senses and go back to his little brother. All of his happiest memories with her were tainted with judgements; Stefans, Elena's, his own.

Of course, those judgements never stopped him from doing what he wanted and being with her for as long as she would have him, but he did acknowledge them.

But now, everyone in his life was happy for them.

Stefan thought they were oddly good together.

Caroline couldn't wait to go double dating.

Alaric almost didn't want to be around them; he said they were so cute it made him nauseous.

Enzo was still Enzo, being dodgy and secretive but Damon figured he was probably just jealous.

And Damon was happy. It was freaking him out a little, just how pleased he was. He was trying hard not to wait for the other shoe to drop and disaster to arise because that's how his life went; brief shining moments of happy followed by everything turning to shit. In the very back of his usually dark and twisty mind, he suspected something was coming, but for now he was content to roll with it.

For now, he was busy being the Best Boyfriend Ever to the Busiest Witch Ever.

Bonnie told him she was having a tough week, catching up with her schoolwork and such and Damon understood. As much as he wanted to monopolize her time, he knew she needed to finish school. He wanted to help in any way he could, and if that meant being there to help her relieve stress every chance he got then so be it.

A few nights after the Demon Debacle, Bonnie came over to his place after finishing up late at the library or Ric's office or wherever it was she did her thing. Damon had already turned in for the night when she called to tell him she was on the way. He stayed on the phone until she pulled into the driveway, asking about her day, talking about nothing really.

And when she tiptoed into his room in the dark he had to laugh.

"Why are you sneaking into my room at…gasp, one o'clock in the morning? Who are you, Dracula?" He teased, throwing her own words back at her.

"Very funny. I'm not sneaking in, you were awake on the phone just two minutes ago." Bonnie shimmied out of her clothes and underneath the sheets.

"Then why are you whispering?" He whispered back, mocking her as he opened his arms and she curled herself into his side.

"Because I don't wanna wake anybody else up. Caroline wasn't at the room when I stopped by to grab some clothes, so I figured she's here with your brother."

Damon tilted her head back to kiss her lips and even in the dim moonlight shining in the window he could see she looked tired.

"And I thought about climbing in your window, but I wanted to save my energy for other things," she kissed his neck and moved to cover his body with her own.

"Oh, and what other things did you have in mind, pray tell?" Damon rubbed her back and shoulders as she continued kissing a trail down his neck.

"Some of this…. some of that." She hummed when his hands started massaging her in earnest, "Damn, that feels good."

He worked over the tight muscles of her upper arms and rubbed circles down her back. "You like that, huh?"

"Mm hmm, don't stop," she whispered.

Damon's hands worked further south to her hips, "How bout here?"

"Mm hhmmm."

He massaged her thighs down to her knees, "Here?"

He moved back up her ass. "I know you like it here," he grinned. He ran his hands all over her back when she didn't respond. "Bon? Bon-nie?" Damon wiggled around trying to shake her awake, but she was already gone. She'd fallen asleep right on top of his chest in the middle of 'this and that'.

"Well, that was certainly worth waiting up for," Damon griped.

As much as he needed to take a cold shower he didn't want to wake her so he pulled the sheet up over her bare shoulders and tried to sleep.

He'd have to settle for make up sex in the morning.

….

Bonnie waited a whole week before moving forward with the plan (Code Name: Operation Granger). She really did want to find another way of getting her life together, but over the next couple days she realized how deep in trouble she really was.

She was so grateful to have friends that cared about her enough to compel her back into school each time her life went off the rails, but they weren't doing her any favors in the long run; because now she had so much catching up do.

Bonnie wanted to earn her degree the right way, she just need a little extra help with her finals, and she tells herself it's not like she was cheating or anything by getting assistance from… herself. It's not like she was taking performance enhancing drugs to gain an edge while a lot of her classmates were into that.

Falling asleep on Damon was the deciding factor for her. She couldn't believe she had dozed off in the middle of sex. Not even in the middle, apparently they hadn't even gotten that far. She was mortified. Damon was really good about it, of course he teased her and wouldn't let her forget she owed him one, but he didn't seem to take it personally. Bonnie thought he would make a bigger deal about it, but Damon was surprising her often these days. He just wasn't the guy she had met all those years ago who had threatened her life and done horrible things with no remorse. He was thoughtful towards her now, sweet and charming. No way was she messing up a good thing by alienating him just for schoolwork.

She reasoned away all her doubts and decided she could handle this. This is what witches do, they use their magic to solve their problems and to help people, and when she earned her degree she could do just that, help people.

…

Bonnie had a plan. She thought of everything: she altered the wording of the spell to only bring out her helpful, Super Nerdy, Judgy side and she would reflect Bonnies true form. So nobody would tell them apart.

She duplicated her cell phone so she could stay in contact with the Other Bonnie. She listed out all the tasks she needed help with and figured 24 hours should be enough time to sort everything out, finish all her assignments, and get her back on track.

She was ready.

She sat in front of the full length mirror in her bathroom and began reciting the spell. The lights flickered, the air changed, the candles blew out, but when Bonnie came to, she was alone in the room.

The spell hadn't worked. Her Judgey inner self didn't appear in a puff of smoke like she had anticipated.

Bonnie reread the incantation, checked the herbs spread out on floor, and recast the spell.

Again it didn't work.

She tried one more time to recast the spell and after the third time she was left with a massive headache and a nosebleed, but no duplicate of herself.

Bonnie couldn't understand what was going on with her magic. She felt fine, she could light candles with a flick of the wrist. Her magic was definitely intact. She just couldn't perform this particular spell.

Bonnie sighed in frustration. I'll just try again later, she thought as she cleared away the remnants of the unsuccessful spell.

She cleaned herself up, got rid of any trace of the ritual, grabbed her bag and headed for the library, dreading the workload ahead of her.

As she approached her study room she felt someone else inside. Another supernatural being.

She sighed. It must be Damon here to surprise her since she had to blow him off again last night. As much as she loved seeing him she didn't have time for this. Her failed spell had set her way back.

She paste a smile on her face and opened the door.

Her face dropped immediately.

Inside sat not one but two doubles of herself.

"What! A-are you guys real?" she asked in awe and relief.

"Real enough," one of them answered.

"We are perfectly real and you are late," Bonnies other double said.

"Wait, why are there two of you? There's only supposed to be one of you, the Superego One," Bonnie looked back and forth between the two newcomers in confusion, trying to figure out what went wrong.

"That would be her. And don't think I didn't notice this whole little costume change either; I don't appreciate you cramping my style." Bonnie's extra double complained from her seat by the window where she ran a finger over the place where an eyebrow piercing used to be.

Wait, window? Bonnie finally looked around the room and noticed it was four times as big as it usually was and well lit from the windows on three sides letting in the bright mid-morning sunlight shining across the campus.

"What are you doing here and what the hell happened to this room? You spelled it?" Bonnie's eyes bugged a little.

"First off, you summoned me, so don't give me that attitude. And second, she's the one who spelled it, not me," the extra double cocked her thumb at the first Bonnie duplicate.

"Studies show providing an environment conducive to studying encourages the creative process and minimizes stress. And we, my dear, are in desperate need of anything to lower your stress levels. That's why you called upon us, correct?" The Busy Bonnie didn't even bother to look up from the laptop she was tapping away on. Bonnie didn't even know whose laptop it was; her head was spinning from the overload of elements arising because of a spell she thought she had screwed up.

"Okay, time out." Bonnie shook her head, trying to gather her whirlwind of thoughts together. "First of all, I thought the spell didn't work, why didn't you guys appear in the room? And seriously, why is she here, I didn't summon my evil twin. In fact, I specifically told you not to come!"

"Uh hunh, that's what you get for being ugly; why you tryna leave me out? What did I ever do to you?"

Bonnie looked at her like she was crazy. "Is she serious?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," Judgey muttered.

"Okay, how bout you attacked my friends, stole my body, and hooked up with a random dude!" Bonnie tried not to shout but she close to losing it.

The FunBon rolled her eyes at all of that. "Nobody's holding on to that except for you."

"I'm holding on that, too," Judgey chimed in.

"Ugh, of course you are. Look, sue me or get over it. I'm here now. Put me in coach, I wanna play!" Fun stood to her feet with wide grin on her face.

Bonnie could stand here arguing with… herself, or she could get to work. "Okay, fine whatever, the more the merrier, just don't go sleeping with anyone, we have a boyfriend now."

"Ooh, can I sleep with him?" FunBon's eyes lit up.

"No! Don't talk to anyone, no one can know you're here," Bonnie pulled her books out of her bag.

"So what am I supposed to do here, sit twiddling my freaking thumbs? You know I get bored easily!" she whined.

"Okay, you know what, you are not conducive to my learning environment," Judgey Bonnie finally looked up in irritation. "Why don't you have her go to the studio and work on your Modern Dance piece?" Judgey suggested. "It's a creative outlet and the likelihood of her ruining that is very slim."

"That is a great idea… me," Bonnie didn't know what to call her selves to their faces. "Do you think you can handle choreographing it and annotating the steps?"

"Yes, I can handle that," FunBon rolled her eyes. "Is it okay if go back to the room to change or don't you think I can handle that too?"

"Just go. Try not to talk to anybody," Bonnie begged.

"Sir, yes, sir." And with a salute, FunBon left the building.

"I'm gonna regret that later, aren't I?" Bonnie asked of her studying counterpart.

"That is very likely."

Bonnie sat down and started working on her Medieval Magics paper.

…

Damon was planning the best first date ever. Dinner at an expensive restaurant and…. well, that was really as far as he had gotten. He couldn't decide if they should go dancing or go see a show. He was in the middle of debating with himself when his phone rang.

He looked down and saw that it was the Sheriff's office. Since Liz died a couple years ago he didn't get many calls from her office anymore.

"Hello?" He answered.

"Yes, is this Damon Salvatore?"

"It is."

"Well, sir, you asked to be notified immediately if Bonnie Bennett's name ever came up in an investigation."

"I did, yes." Damon had compelled the new desk clerk to be his eyes and ears on the whole Scooby Gang right after Liz died. It had been a while since anything had come up. "What's going on?"

"She's here. She needs someone to come get her."

"She's at the Sheriff station?" Damon was alarmed now. "Is she okay? Is she hurt?" he spat out questions as he rushed down the stairs.

"She's perfectly fine. She was a bit upset when they first brought her in, but they've calmed her down."

"Upset? What, is she under arrest or something?" Damon couldn't understand what was going on, he didn't know if this was a funny situation or a dire one. If Bonnie had been picked up for public indecency or murder.

"Of course not! She's here and she's safe. She's just been asking for her grandmother. Or her father."

"She's asking for who now?" Damon stopped altogether.

"Her grandmother. Our records show Sheila Bennett died several years ago, but that keeps upsetting her."

"Ok, ok, I'm on my way, just don't let her leave!"

Damon ran into Stefan on his way out. "Hey, where you running off to?"

"The Sheriff's station. Apparently they picked up Bonnie and she was freaking out about her Grams or something, I don't know. My informer at the station sounded just as confused as I was."

"Something up with her?" Stefan asked, following Damon from the house.

"She sounded fine when I talked to her-" Damon checked his phone, "- an hour and a half ago. She said she had to work all day today and declined my invitation for a study break this afternoon."

"When's the last time you actually saw her?" Stefan climbed into the passenger seat of Damon's car, not bothering to ask if Damon wanted him to tag along.

"When she left here yesterday morning. She stayed on campus last night to get something or another done. I don't know, she's been busy with school lately."

"Yeah, Caroline's been interviewing for internships all over the place, freaking out about 'The Impending Future'."

"Interviews? Like job interviews? She's looking for a job?" Damon was shocked, he hadn't thought about what would happen after the girls graduated, he was just ready for them to be done with school.

"No, no, she's looking for a career path. Apparently there's a difference." Stefan shrugged.

"Wow. Well let's deal with my girls problems today and yours tomorrow, okay?" Damon pulled to a stop outside the station and climbed from the car.

When they walked in he saw the clerk he compelled sitting at the front desk.

"Hi, I'm here to pick up Bonnie Bennett," he told the lady.

"She's right back here," the woman walked him and Stefan back to a office.

"She's not in cuffs is she? And is there a mugshot I can get a copy of?" Damon grinned.

"No, no she was such a good girl." The clerk opened the door to the office.

Damon looked inside. "So where is she?"

"Daymo!" a small voice called out right before someone tackled him around the knees. "You're here!"

Damon looked bewildered from Stefan to the clerk and back to the small girl hugging him for dear life.

"Bonnie?"

A/N: Well she did it! She got some help, its just not exactly the help she asked for and it came with one little consequence nobody saw coming!