He stares down at the seemingly normal town below him from the bluffs bordering the edge of his hometown in melancholy.

It's still here.

He's hasn't stepped foot into the southside of the states in over a century but for some odd reason he felt the urge to do so. Now as he stands on the edge of the cliff he thinks that maybe he wanted to see if it burned to the ground leaving nothing but ashes in its place. That maybe he wanted to see if something had felt pain or faced complete destruction at his absence. But the deceivingly quiet town below him still stands. Yet the call still resounds deep inside despite the voice screaming at him to leave while he can before he's sucked back into it.

He's turning on his heel to leave, yielding to common sense and back into the arms of self preservation before he can ruin the years of progress he's made since he left in the dead of the night without as much as a goodbye.

He finds himself in Richmond walking along the rows of shops, stops for a moment to duck inside of an old bookshop. A first edition copy of The Great Gatsby in the window display having caught his eye, and wonders what else they might have their hands on. He's turning down one of the aisles when he runs right into a tiny frame, an apology on his lips as he steadys them before they fall but it dies as soon as his eyes take in the sight of them.

He watches frame by frame as recognition settles on their features until they're left just as stunned as he is. Both only staring at each other in silence as they try to regain their bearings.

He can only blink when their arms are around him, head buried in his neck.

He's not sure how it happened but now he's walking into her home with bags of groceries in his hands while she smiles at him looking the same as she did the day he left. Save that her skin has a nice, healthy glow, her green eyes are brighter than he's ever seen them, her long dark curls traded in for a flattering bob and she's wearing clothes that don't hide her body as if it were something that she were ashamed of.

He wants to ask her why he's here, what he ever did to earn such a warm greeting from her. Unless he was mistaken he was the reason behind everything that went wrong in her life. But she never gives him the chance to. Only telling him to place the bags on the island before she waltzes over to a cabinet, looking over her shoulder as she asks if he wants a drink.

He doesn't deny her offer, one because he think it would be rude to not accept. Though mostly because he needs one if he's ever going to gather the nerve to say anything to her at all.

"I'm sorry,"

He looks at her in surprise, completely taken back by her apology considering if anyone owes the other an apology he thinks it'd be him.

"I've just been going on and on about nothing and haven't really given you the chance to say anything. It's just so quiet around here lately."

That effectively gets his full undivided attention. They're not in Mystic Falls, though not that far away from their old stomping grounds either. But just the word quiet was a foreign concept when he was anywhere near the town that he still feels a draw to even after everything that happened there.

"I guess I should savor it while I can," she continues "the girls will be down here in a week or so."

"The girls?" He parrots in confusion.

"My granddaughters. It's the last summer that they'll be excited to spend time with me. They'll be starting middle school later on in the year and I won't be cool enough for them anymore." she says with a smile and a lift of her shoulders as if she were speaking of something as mundane as the weather. The girl before him doesn't look a day over eighteen and yet she's speaking of her grandchildren. He can only blink and out of curiosity his eyes drop down to her hand, letting out a breath he didn't even know he was holding when he doesn't see a ring.

Noticing where his gaze has shifted to she smiles "No ring, marriage just doesn't seem to be realistic to me anymore. In case you haven't noticed I quite literally haven't aged a day."

"I did, actually." He says, his eyes trained on her features watching as a small blush colors her cheeks under his stare.

"Bonnie, what happened?"

She stares at hm for a moment before reaching out and taking one of his large hands in between two of her own, waiting until he looks back up to her, "You left." And she says it as if that should have explained everything.

A/N: Last new story I'm starting until I finish at least one of the others, promise. Also this story has absolutely no plot, just a free write. Setting wise it picks up after season 5. Stefan never came back post Prison World. Not sure if Elena will be in this but will be alluded to, in this fic she never erased her memories. Any other questions as for where cannon is concerned, don't hesitate to ask.