I hope you enjoy. But if not thank you for reading anyway.

She is talking about something. He doesn't know what and if he were to be honest he doesn't care. He just knows that she's talking, and unlike the others she knows that it's in vain but she's doing it anyway. And it's not because she thinks it's helping him―it's her own therapy, everyone is so focused on him that they don't realize she's the one that's on the ledge trying to decide when to jump―even though he wishes that that were the case. Knowing everything that he knows now, she is by far his biggest regret. So he decides to listen and let her sadness entangle with his own.

"You have no idea how much I envy you." she says in a voice so low that he barely hears it and yet the shame lining it is loud and clear that shifts into something resembling bitterness as she goes on "You shut down and everyone comes together, the bright idea that you need to hear someone's voice so you don't get lost in your head. I'm the bridge between life and the afterlife, and have to feel every death of those that pass through me to get to the other side and they don't even blink."

The thought of her envying him is lost on him, but he supposes that it's better than pity. He thinks that if their situations had been reversed then maybe he would understand. But as he tries to connect the dots to her thought process…

He thinks that if his childhood friends showed more concern for someone that they've known for a few years than they did for him that he'd feel more than envy.

"Caroline...she was the one in here before me, right?"

Stefan knows that it's not really a question that she expects an an answer to, so he keeps his lips pressed together, letting his fingers glide along the wall as his eye twitches each and every time he hears a raindrop hit the pavement from the storm raging on outside.

He loves Caroline, she's his friend...deep down he realizes along with everyone else that she is his best friend but as far as he's concerned you can only have one and his was Lexi, no one could ever take her place. Caroline was and is always there for him when he needs her but she doesn't know the dark side. She's been through her fair share of pain but she doesn't get it. He doesn't regret their friendship...really he doesn't but sometimes he needs someone that really understands. Not someone who knows the right things to say and do when he needs them but someone who is fully aware that the thing that goes bump in the night is them. Someone that basks in the pain he feels, immerses themself in the tragedies that they allow to happen to them just so no one else has to. And he knows who that person is. She's the one that is five feet away from him, just as she's always been unless a situation was so extreme that it required otherwise, knees pulled to her chest, tears lining the bottom of her eyes as she just...speaks. And despite the thoughts that are running through his mind it's not until she shifts ever so subtly away from Damon when he suddenly appears in the room that he realizes that she is the female counterpart of himself. The tragic heroine to his broken hero.

He's afraid of the water and she's afraid of the cold.

It'd be funny if it weren't so sad. If the catalyst behind the phobias that they didn't even know existed until it happened to them wasn't the reason they could barely talk above a whisper when in its presence. His only happens every so often but she's surrounded by it on a daily basis. He thinks that it might be the reason she clinged onto Jeremy for so long until Liv stepped into the picture, all secret meetings and hushed tones, and let her insecurities and fear of history repeating itself get the best of her.

"Look," Damon sighs as he watches Bonnie shrink into herself, realization dawning on her that he's been listening to every word "I know that you have your...things going on but I really need you to-"

"Blood." Stefan croaks out and Damon lets out a long dramatic sigh before turning to leave mumbling a curse under his breath. He thinks it's strange how his brother barely put up a fight to his sudden request but figures that maybe the fact that it's the first thing that he's said since the storm began might have had something to do with it.

Stefan's smile is sad when he sees Bonnie let out a shaky breath of relief before she forces her features to go back to their default stoic and turns her gaze to meet his.

When Bonnie turns to look at Stefan she frowns seeing the sad smile on his face before he shifts until he's on his hands and knees crawling until he's at her side. The sight of it all is so strange to her that she can only stare at him in stunned silence as approaches her and pulls the hoodie over his head.

"Stefan…"

He silences her with a look, and gently takes her hands in his, lifting them above her head before carefully sliding it over her small frame, pulling the sleeves until they are well past her hands.

Bonnie looks at him eyes wide as he gently pushes her back to the position she was in before, then turning to rest his head against her chest. Only being able to watch on in stunned silence as he lies against her, holding her breath as she waits for him to move again just like he had before―each of his movements held a brief pause afterwards as if he were waiting for her protest―and when he does nothing but crane his head to meet her eyes she knows that he's asking for her permission, wanting to know if he had gone to far and when she does nothing, she feels his body start to relax as he curls closer to her, his hand finding hers, linking their fingers as they rest against his stomach.

Bonnie does nothing but stare at their now intertwined hands as she feels a new set of emotions twist within her own, the most prominent being content. And without thinking she raises her free hand to his head, absentmindedly running the pads of her fingers along his scalp. Raising an eyebrow when she hears something akin to a purr. A small tug at the corner of her mouth when she hears a suppressed moan when she gently drags her nails along the crown of his head. It's strange to her how easily this came. With the exception of Caroline and occasionally Elena it's the first time since her resurrection that she's felt warmth from a vampire's touch. Which eventually leads her to the conclusion that now that she's dead in a sense as much as they are, maybe the cold doesn't come from their skin anymore as opposed to their intentions or feelings towards her in general.

He's not sure why but he expected her to push him away so when he sees that she doesn't mind he feels a wave of warmth run through him, a small smile on his face as he listens to the rhythmic beating of her heart. Closing his eyes, he lets it drown out the sound of the rain that is pouring down outside. Forcing his breathing to remain steady once he feels Bonnie running her fingers through his hair. When he feels her nails lightly drag along his scalp he nearly moans but manages to fight it, forcing out a breath to steady himself when he hears her break the comfortable silence.

"Thank you." She whispers, resting her head on top of his as her hand drops down to his shoulder, frowning when she feels him shiver as if he were missing something.

"For what?" He asks his voice slightly husky.

"Not holding it against me. And for noticing." She adds after a brief pause.

"Just like with you, I just needed the right person."

"You needed someone that you knew would never be a mirage." Bonnie nearly scoffs.

Stefan flinches picking up on her own self-deprecation, clearly thinking that she's not someone that he thinks would want to help him on their own volition or need.

"Bon-"

"I'm sorry I never…" she trails off but figures that she succeeded in changing the subject going by the way that he doesn't jump at the chance to cut her off "I should've checked-"

"I should've known that something was off. You never included yourself when you talked about the future. You were just happy that we made it."

"Because we did." Bonnie insists.

"No we didn't." He argues, and if Bonnie hadn't seen and felt it firsthand she's sure that she would have believed him.

"Stefan, I'm not 'we' until someone needs something. And I get it."

Bonnie tenses when he suddenly breaks all contact to sit up and look at her and she has to fight back the emptiness she feels from his actions, feeling annoyance slowly take its place at his response.

"That's not true." He denies with a shake of his head.

"They didn't realize my story was bullshit until I didn't drop everything and come back to help them. Because that's what I do. I help. So for me to all of a sudden just...not. It was their wakeup call. I know that they can be a little caught up in themselves sometimes but I thought that someone would be like...wait. Bonnie hates when I say that. And I was really hoping that Jeremy would call out of that dumb ass charade for once but...no." Bonnie huffs but stops and takes a deep breath remembering that she had an active part in his decision. Even pleaded for him to not drop the act and realizing that the rain has started to come down harder though Stefan doesn't seem to have noticed. "I'm sorry," she apologizes breathing out "This is about you. I'm supposed to be here for you. Not me." she shakes her head "How are" she stops and clears her throat putting a stop to the question when the answer is right in front of her "Is it getting better?"

"It was."

Bonnie looks down "I'm sorry." and pushes herself back into the corner, not surprised when he's immediately in front of her but makes no move to retake his position and she swallows when she feels his finger under her chin tilting it upwards until she's staring into a pair of intense green eyes.

"Stop apologizing. I'm not asking you to forget your problems just so you can focus on mine. And you shouldn't feel like you have to." Stefan adds when she finally meets his gaze again and his heart aches at the pain he sees there. He wishes that there was a way that he could take it on for himself just so she's spared for once.

Bonnie sucks in her breath when she sees his eyes drop from her own to her lips and tenses when he meets her gaze again. She parts her lips when she sees them darken, starting to tell him to stop, neither of them are in a good place right now, but before she can his lips are on her's, and they're away just as fast. Leaving her to shiver at the loss of contact despite how brief it was. It was the first time that everything was quiet, silenced the constant reminder of what she was sentenced to for the rest of her life.

"Bon, I'm sorry I-"

Bonnie frowns and shakes her head, raising her hands to pull him back to her, "I need this." She breathes her hands on either side of his face as she holds his gaze, his eyes seeming to reflect the want, need and understanding at what she feels. After weeks of nothing but pain, she needs to feel something, even if it won't mean anything by the next morning. She forgets about Damon. Forgets that Elena, Caroline, Jeremy, Tyler and Matt are supposed to be back at any minute as soon as Stefan closes the space between them. And soon the only sound that can be heard is mutual moans as heat starts to fill the room, the occasional soft thump of clothes hitting the ground before a sharp gasp and a throaty growl echoe simultaneously throughout the room as he slowly pushes himself inside of her, planting several kisses along her neck, smirking at her impatience when he remains still in what was originally an effort to let her adjust to his size but now to tease her.

Bonnie wiggles her hips, lifting them slightly when he doesn't take then hint only to roll her eyes when he raises his head from her neck to stare down at her, a smug look in his eyes. She slides her hands to his chest, ready to push him away but he chooses that moment to move, and going by the way he smiles down at her, he's clearly delighting in the moan that falls from her lips. Ducking his head down to plant a hungry kiss to her lips, feeling a sense of pride run through him when he feels her nails dig into his shoulders while her legs lock around his waist as she returns his kiss just as hungrily before flipping them over so she's on top.

"This is for me." Bonnie says against his lips, waiting until he nods in understanding before sliding her hands down his chest as she starts to move, smirking when she sees his eyes roll into the back of his head as his hands grip at her hips.

…

"No, your bestie decided to go off script and somehow brought out his Hero Hair." Damon says popping open the blood bag Stefan decided that he 'needed', taking a long sip as he reclines in an arm chair. He had just been on his way back to the basement when he had overheard "You needed someone that you knew would never be a mirage." He thought Bonnie was only capable of lashing out at him. He wanted to go in and stop them before it got nasty but he decided against it. Knowing that no matter how mad the former witch got she wouldn't actually hurt his brother, at least not today.

"So he's okay?" Elena asks, concern clear in her voice. She had been there earlier but had to rush off to help Alaric along with Jeremy.

Damon sighs but decides to check in on the two self sacrificing dimwi...

His thoughts trail off and a frown settles on his face when his ears are greeted by the sound a soft smack followed by a gasp. He figures that he has to be imagining things but when he scents the smell of Bonnie's blood become more potent along with a smell that he's never picked up before he knows that he isn't. He can't help but wonder what happened since the last he heard it sounded like they were more likely going to come to blows than anything else.

"Damon," Elena calls his name when he doesn't answer.

Damon tunes out when he hears a moan and goes back to his conversation "Stefan's fine." He answers the question with a smile, his eyes going to a wide eyed Caroline and a clearly amused Tyler as they walk pass the threshold into the living room "It seems like Bonnie still has a bit of magick left in her afterall." Watching as Tyler swiftly catches the box that slips from Caroline's grasp as her hands fly to her mouth, unsure if it's because of his statement or due to the sounds coming from the basement.