Bonnie shivered and pulled her leather jacket tighter around her body as she stepped out of Alaric's apartment building. Living in Virginia generally meant that winters with very little snow. Unfortunately, there was a nor'easter brewing in the Atlantic promising to blanket most of the East Coast with several feet of snow—if not more in certain areas. There was already an inch or more of snow covering the ground and it would only grow worse in the coming days. The good news was that the inhospitable weather would probably keep them safe from Klaus a little longer. The bad news was that everyone agreed to seek refuge at the Salvatore boarding house. It wasn't safe for them to be scattered around Mystic Falls when the roads would soon be impassable by vehicles.

The stark week ahead of them was enough to convince Rebekah to blow town for a few days. The original vampire hopped a flight to Cabo San Lucas as soon as the school board cancelled classes for the foreseeable future. Bonnie hoped that having everyone under one roof would help the group focus. It wasn't as if there would be much to do other than brainstorm for ways out from under the threat of Klaus. Mystic Falls had an old infrastructure and they usually lost power when a powerful storm blew through town. Damon and Stefan had a generator but it was only strong enough to power the essentials like the kitchen appliances. However, the old school gas furnace and numerous fireplaces would ensure that they didn't freeze when the temperature dropped.

She started walking down the street to where she parked her car earlier. The parking lot for Alaric's building had been full when she arrived that afternoon. She had spent the majority of the day helping the reformed vampire hunter decipher the crude drawings from the cave beneath the Lockwood property. They had made a lot of progress today. They now had a full understanding of how the original vampires were created. Thanks to Elena, they had even discovered a way to drive a wedge between Rebekah and Klaus. Rebekah might be willing to forgive her brother for daggering her for nearly a century. It wasn't likely that she would be so forgiving after learning that he killed their mother. However, they were no closer to finding a way to kill Klaus for good. Currently, their hopes were pinned on Katherine locating Mikael's tomb. They hadn't heard from her in weeks but she wasn't really reliable. Bonnie wouldn't have been surprised if Katherine decided to run again.

Bonnie looked down the street to make sure that there weren't any cars headed in her direction. However, the streets of Mystic Falls were largely deserted as everyone prepared for the looming blizzard. She was halfway across the street when she heard a car speeding in her direction.

Everything seemed to slow to a halt as Bonnie tried to get out of the speeding car's path. However, the driver swerved and plowed into Bonnie at full speed. The impact sent the girl flying into the air. Her body crashed onto the windshield the car with a sickening crack.

The driver stepped on the accelerator and then stopped short to dislodge Bonnie's body from the hood of the car. She tumbled to the ground and watched as the car reversed and sped away from the scene.

Bonnie stared at the snow-covered street as blood seeped from her nose and mouth. She knew that there should be pain but Bonnie didn't feel anything at all. A strange wheezing noise caught her attention in the stillness of the night air. It took a few seconds for Bonnie to realize that it was coming from her. Her lungs had been punctured when her ribs shattered.

In that moment, Bonnie realized that she was dying. She might have laughed if she could remember how to do that. However, it seemed that her brain wasn't willing to take any commands right now. She figured her brain was busy trying to keep her alive for just a little longer. Well, even if her brain couldn't admit defeat, Bonnie was throwing in the towel. The irony was that she was going to die because of something as benign as being hit by a car. Since learning that she was a witch, Bonnie had just assumed that she would be killed by something supernatural. Apparently, the universe had a really interesting sense of humor.

Bonnie probably should have been afraid to die but she wasn't. She had been heartbroken from the moment that her grandmother died. The idea of joining her on the other side was more comfort than Bonnie had experienced in quite some time. She would have given anything to feel Sheila's arms around her again. Death seemed a pretty inconsequential price to pay. Bonnie wasn't happy in this world. She didn't feel wanted or loved. Death would be a sweet mercy that she had always been too cowardly to take for herself.

Her eyes fluttered closed as she tried willing her disobedient brain to stop fighting. Her wheezing breaths were coming fewer and farther in between now. Soon she would stop breathing altogether and it would be over. Even her brain couldn't keep fighting without oxygen.

Bonnie heard cursing from a familiar voice. The voice sounded so far away but close at the same time. However, she didn't have the strength to open her eyes again to find out what was happening. It could be someone else's problem for once. Bonnie was done saving the world because in the end she couldn't even save herself.

The voice was talking to her now but she couldn't understand the words. The voice was growing angrier and more insistent by the second but Bonnie still couldn't comprehend. She really wanted to tell the person to shut the hell up. He or she was ruining the last moments of her life with frantic words that meant nothing to her.

Bonnie's eyes opened and suddenly she was standing in the middle Alaric's street once more. However, she could see her broken body lying at her feet. The car had done even more damage than Bonnie had originally thought. The picture was gruesome and it had been a miracle that she didn't feel any of the pain.

"You're not supposed to be here," came a voice from behind her.

She whirled around and smiled when she saw her grandmother. Bonnie rushed into the woman's arms and squeezed with all of her might. "Grams," she breathed.

Sheila hugged her granddaughter just as fiercely but her eyes lingered on Bonnie's prone figure on the ground. She repeated, "You're not supposed to be here."

Bonnie pulled back slightly so that she could look at her grandmother. However, she refused to let the woman go. "But I am here. Isn't that all that really matters? I am here with you. I'm where I want to be."

Sheila's expression saddened as she cradled Bonnie's face in her hands. "My sweet girl, I know that you want to be with me. Nevertheless, it is not your time to join me here. You have so much life left to live. Listen, we only have a few minutes before you go back."

"What?" She pulled away from Sheila with wide eyes. "I can't go back. I died, Grams. I felt myself die. I'm here with you now and I can't go back. I won't!"

The older woman's eyes hardened. "Bonnie Sheila Bennett, not even in death will you raise your voice to me."

Bonnie deflated and her eyes lowered to the ground. "I'm sorry, Grams. I just…I don't want to go. Please, don't make me go back. I miss you so much. Everything is so much harder without you being there. I have tried to be okay without you but I'm not. I need you. If you can't be there with me, then I want to be here with you."

Sheila's eyes watered as she listened to her granddaughter's pain come spilling out. She wiped away Bonnie's tears and said, "I know that you miss me but I am always there, Bonnie. I am always with you. I know that it is hard but you have to keep living. You have so many wonderful things ahead of you…things even I couldn't have imagined. We will be together again one day but not today…and not any time soon."

The girl clung to Sheila and cried even harder. "Please…"

Sheila looked over Bonnie's shoulder and tensed. Her gaze shifted back to the girl's glassy eyes "Listen to me because we are nearly out of time. Klaus's mother is trapped in a coffin but she is not to be trusted. She wants to kill her children but that would mean the end of all vampires. There is a way to neutralize Klaus permanently without killing all the vampires stemming from his bloodline. Go to the hospital in McKinley and look for a doctor named Josette Laughlin. She will be able to direct you onto the right path. Things are going to be difficult for you in the beginning but I promise that they will get better. You will know happiness, Bonnie. Do you understand?"

Bonnie tried to remember everything that Sheila was saying but her heart was breaking. She nodded slowly and choked out, "I understand."

"I am always watching and I will always love you, Bonnie. You just need to start loving yourself, sweet girl."

Bonnie's vision started to get fuzzy around the edges and she dropped to her knees. She could feel her body pulling her back to the land of the living. "I love you!"

"I love you, too." Sheila replied. "Trust Damon….trust him. He'll keep you safe. Stay with him! And you tell him that I've been watching him and that I know about his late night visits."

When Bonnie's eyes opened, she was staring up at Damon's pained face. She couldn't help but notice how much his crystal blue eyes reminded her of ice. It took a moment for Bonnie to gather her wits but slowly she realized that something was different. Everything around her felt more vivid. It was as if she was viewing the world around her through a high definition television. Even sounds were crisper and annoyingly loud in her sensitive ears. She groaned. "What is that stupid thumping noise?"

Damon cocked his head to the side and tried to figure out what Bonnie meant. Realization washed over his handsome features and he said, "That's Ric's stupid heartbeat making incredibly too much noise. Although, the way it is skipping a bit it sounds like he might have an arrhythmia. You might want to get that checked out, buddy."

Ric moved into Bonnie's sight line. "We should get her out of the snow."

The vampire rolled his eyes. "It's not as if she's cold."

Bonnie's brain mulled over Damon's response. He was right of course. Despite lying in the snow, Bonnie didn't feel cold at all. Then she realized that the thumping noise that she was hearing as if played over surround sound was Alaric's heartbeat. She sat up quickly and asked, "You turned me?"

Damon winced. He had hoped it would have taken Bonnie a little longer to figure out what happened. He really wasn't in the mood to deal with a temper tantrum from a baby vamp tonight. This was not how his night was supposed to go. He said, "I didn't turn you on purpose. Your heart was still beating when I go to you. I guess you were a little closer to dead than I realized when I gave you my blood."

Bonnie repeated, "You turned me. I'm a vampire."

He rolled his eyes as he prepared for a classic Bonnie tirade. "Yes, I turned you, Witchy. I gave you my blood to heal you but you croaked anyway. You are going to need blood because you are starting to transition."

Bonnie looked toward the spot where her grandmother had been standing minutes ago. She blinked and then looked up at Damon. "I need blood."

Ric asked, "Are you sure that you don't want to think is over for a minute?"

Damon growled at Ric. "Shut up."

"You can't just force her to become a vampire, Damon. Bonnie deserves a choice on how she spends the rest of her life," the teacher argued forcefully.

"Grams told me to stay with you," she replied. Bonnie was still a little confused. However, she remembered every word her grandmother had spoken.

Ric asked, "With me?"

Bonnie shook her head and said, "No. She told me to stay with Damon…to trust him. She said that she's been watching you and that she knows about your late night visits."

Damon's head snapped around as if he was looking for Sheila's ghost. He growled. "Nosey old witch."

Ric thought that the girl had merely hallucinated a conversation with her grandmother until he noticed Damon's reaction. He lifted an eyebrow and asked, "What late night visits is she talking about, Damon?"

For a couple of months, Damon had been breaking into Bonnie's house at night to check on her. He told himself it was because she was a sitting duck that Klaus could easily pick off since she lived alone. There was no way that Bonnie could know about his nightly visits unless she had really talked to Sheila on the other side.

"I'm hungry," Bonnie's eyes moved toward Alaric.

Damon tightened his hold on Bonnie to keep her from attacking Ric. He said, "I am going to get you back to the boarding house and you can have a nice bag of blood."

Bonnie's eyes were trained on Ric's jugular vein like a heat-seeking missile. She really only wanted a little taste. It would just be a little snack to tide her over until they made it to the boarding house. "I really want his blood."

Ric took a step back and said, "Uh…"

The older vampire laughed heartily as he stood up and pulled Bonnie with him. "You don't want his blood, Bon-Bon. It probably tastes like old man, scotch, desperation, and pent up sexual frustration. That's not a good first meal."

Ric was about to object to Damon's description of him but stopped short when he remembered that they were trying to convince Bonnie not to drain him like a juice box.

"But I'm hungry now," she complained. Bonnie looked up at Damon as her green eyes turned black as coal.

He lifted an eyebrow and said, "Yes, I see that. Let's get in the car, Bon-Bon."

Bonnie let Damon steer her over to his vintage Camaro. However, she kept one eye on Ric as he followed them at a safe distance. She was wondering if she was fast enough to bite him before Damon could stop her.

Ric cleared his throat. "I, uh, I am going to go get my bags. I will meet the two of you at the boarding house."

Damon opened the passenger door and all but shoved Bonnie inside. He could hear the beginnings of a growl starting at the idea of her potential meal leaving. He pointed at Bonnie and said, "Stay in the car."

Bonnie huffed and asked, "Where is fun Damon that indiscriminately bites innocent people? Oh! Where is Stefan? He's still Ripper Stefan! He won't let me starve!"

Damon rolled his eyes to the sky. He said, "Maybe don't come inside the boarding house until I've got Hannibal Lecter settled."

"I can hear you!" she complained.

"I know!" he replied.

"Now who's being judgy?" Bonnie huffed. She thought back to what her grandmother told her to do. She was worried that she might forget the important parts because Bonnie could only really focus on Alaric's beating heart right now.