Last one. Thanks for being along for the ride. I am grateful for the kind feedback.

Guest: thank you! I hope the ending will be okay for you. But as is always the case with endings, it might not be good enough for everyone. If you have any questions left, I'm happy to reply on my profile page - or maybe I'll update this last chapter with a note for you…

Or I'll get it into my head and post the cheesy peak into the future I've started writing just for myself...

Anyways. Here it is:

…

They left the hospital late. It was almost two o'clock at night, and in any other case Bonnie would have insisted they wait until morning now, but Enzo was already so restless and on edge that she was worried it'd soon start interfering with his finally recovered breathing ability, so she decided to stick with the initial plan.

He was holding her in a sideways hug, tucked against his left side as they were walking, and Bonnie looked up at him with a smile, her own arm circling his waist.

"Klaus said to use the Eastern entrance," she informed him, and he shot her a glance, opening his mouth to speak, but she shook her head.

"Nuh uh. No talking, babe. Give your throat some rest."

His bemused look made her chuckle. At least he did heed her words and kept quiet. But since she knew what was on his mind, she added, "He says there's less chance of us running into anyone that way…"

She didn't have to elaborate, they both knew that she meant the reporters of course, and she saw him clench his jaw at the mere mention. The timing for another hospital stint couldn't possibly have been much worse. So soon after the goshdarn press conference the media would be all over this.

Tightening her grip on Enzo, Bonnie smiled at him encouragingly.

"Come on, let's go. We'll be quick, and if we do encounter any unwanted attention, you have the best excuse for not commenting. - And I am bound by doctor-patient confidentiality."

"Which in itself will make them-"

"Shh," she interrupted him, gently tugging at the arm he had lifted to hold a hand over his throat because it was clearly still painful to speak. "It doesn't matter what they think or what they'll write. What matters is that you're okay, and that we'll get you to bed now, stat. The sooner we get you home, the better, and with any luck you might be back for the third or fourth game." Shooting him a glance, she put a hand over his mouth quickly, anticipating him to argue despite her warning not to speak, then she continued, "And I know you want to play the next one, too, but that ain't happening. Too early. So you better get used to the idea now."

"They need me," he rasped, his voice hoarse but oh so hot and Bonnie felt an answering tingle of her body. It was like his bedroom voice had come out to play...

Shaking her head to stay focused, she looked at him reprimandingly. "And I need you to shut up already," she said. "What did I tell you? - If you do want to play again soon, listen to what I say."

He mouthed a grudging "fine", scoffing, and she leaned in to him more.

"It'll be better in no time. You just need a little patience…"

Which of course he didn't have.

...

They managed to get out of the hospital and into their apartment undetected, and by the time Enzo had finally taken a real shower and put on some fresh clothes - just some sweatpants and a t-shirt, he felt like a real person again - an extremely tired real person.

Letting himself fall into bed, he closed his eyes, his legs still firmly planted on the ground, but he didn't care. He could probably fall asleep just like that.

"Enzo…"

Blinking, he looked up at Bonnie. The amusement in her voice had been rather obvious, and the big smile on her face only highlighted it more.

"You know we'll have to make you sleep elevated, right?"

A sigh escaped him and he gave her a look. He didn't like sleeping like that. Maybe it helped with breathing, but it did not help with sleeping, and he was so bloody ready to just shut his eyes and doze off with her.

"Come on, love, lay down with me," he muttered, patting the spot beside him, ignoring her words for a moment and when she climbed into bed, stretching out beside him, laying an arm over his chest, her head nestled in the crook of his arm, he smiled over at her, and she smiled right back.

Closing his eyes again, he enjoyed a few minutes of peaceful snuggling with her, before his throat's reminders of the punch became too strong to ignore anymore and with a sigh and a grimace, he grudgingly pulled himself up, Bonnie following along.

She was kind enough to keep the "I told you" to herself, although he could see it written all over her face.

"Come on," she said with a grin, "Let's get you comfortable."

"I'm always comfortable with you by my side…"

Scoffing, she rolled her eyes, but her smile betrayed her, growing as she went to work. "Well then... let's make you even more comfortable. How's that sound?"

Climbing into the bed, where she was already busy piling the stupid pillows up, he came over to her, nuzzling her neck, and she began giggling, urging him to stop.

"You need rest, Mister." She shot him a pointed glance, their faces a mere inch apart as he tilted his head to look at her, her nice soft lips, her gorgeous green eyes, that beautiful skin… Leaning in, he kissed her, slow, careful, before he felt her hands pressing against his chest, felt her shake her head, even though she was still kissing him back for a moment longer before finally pulling away.

"Enzo…" There was a chiding undertone in the way she said his name, then she gave a sigh. "We can't do that…"

"Why not?"

Scoffing, she gave him this look that made him smirk and frown at the same time, his mind not quite willing to work rationally.

"'Why not?' - Enzo St. John, you were this close to having to spend the entire night at the hospital!"

"But I didn't."

"No, you didn't. And I'd like to keep it that way. You need rest now. Sleep."

"I need you…"

Bonnie chuckled, cupping his face as she placed a gentle and too chaste kiss on his forehead.

"I need you, too, hence my insistence on you getting sleep."

"You're no fun, love," he said, reluctantly allowing her to push him against the pillows, but pulling her with him at the same time, making her laugh.

"I don't need to be fun. But clearly I need to be the voice of reason." Her finger came up to his mouth as he wanted to argue yet again and she shook her head. "Shhhh," she made, one of her hands caressing the side of his neck, careful not to touch the bruised area, and the look she gave him, the smile, slowly faded off her face, making room for something else, and he could hear her sigh before she slowly came closer, leaning in until her lips touched his, not quite a kiss yet, but his body was already responding. His heart thudding, he abruptly pushed himself up a little more, with his hands swiping her hair back before he cupped her chin, kissing her for real, ignoring the signals of discomfort coming from his throat because other parts of him wanted this more than they minded the pain, wanted this woman…

"Enzo, we really shouldn't-"

Her meek protests ebbed away as he continued to kiss his way down, and soon, she hadn't just given up reprimanding him, but was even actively helping him get access to her body.

"Promise me you'll stop if it's too much," she breathed at some point, when their clothes had already ended in a pile beside them, before she gasped out with pleasure as his fingers felt their way between her legs, trailing up the soft skin, his eyes now on her as he watched her features soften.

"Giving you pleasure could never be too much, Bonnie Bennett," he breathed, then pulled her closer until she was sitting on him, until he could see all of her, every last gorgeous inch of her body, and…

.

With a shudder, Bonnie fell back on the bed, feeling a giggle making its way out of her.

"What was that?" she asked, eventually rolling to the side where Enzo was lying, smiling at her in a rather cocky way. The bastard knew that he was good. Too good. Because she had totally lost herself in him and the way he had caressed her body, had made her cum, not just once, either… She felt another wave of heat make its way to her cheeks at the thought and she touched them with her cooler hands. "Is that your idea of rest?" she asked a little breathlessly, looking at him with a disbelieving grin. She should have really been more insistent about the rest and sleep, but…

Oh gosh, it had been so nice...

"Uh huh…" His nonchalant reply made her chuckle, then kiss his forehead.

"Okay, Mister St. John. - But now put some clothes back on and sleep! It's almost morning! Geez, how long did we-"

"Make love?"

"You're such a romantic," she told him, "I was gonna say 'have sex', but yeah… that. I should have never let you do that. What kind of doctor am I, huh? Clearly a selfish one…"

"You're the best doctor, love. You're mine…"

She smiled at him, noticing that his eyes were closed now where he still lay beside her, stark naked just like her, and when she gently nudged him, he moved his arm and pulled her closer toward him.

"Let's get dressed," she muttered, caressing his cheek, but he still wasn't looking, his breathing already evening out, and she couldn't help but smile as fondness washed over her. He was so exhausted… Intertwining her body with his a bit more, trying to pull the blanket over them both a little, she settled on just letting him be. There was no need for clothes now. That could wait till later.

Now it was time for sleep. Finally…

…

For two games the team had to make do without Lorenzo, falling back on Damon, and Klaus had to grudgingly admit that the Vampire had been good, had saved their asses. Still, once his fellow Brit was fit to play again, the coach let him play from the start again, just like Klaus had insisted he do - if for a restricted amount of minutes. Bonnie Bennett hadn't lied. She took her job seriously, and she didn't make exceptions for her own boyfriend.

The kid had been desperate to play, Klaus had heard him argue with Bonnie over the return, but she had stayed her ground, and Klaus… had had her back.

"Listen to your girl, Lorenzo," he had told him, "I made the mistake of not doing that before and it didn't end too well. So…"

"You're on her side."

Klaus had winked at him. "I've always been on your side - just like her," he had muttered into the other man's ear with a pat on the back, then he had walked away, letting a disgruntled Lorenzo come to terms with it, and that had been that. But now he was glad that his best three-point shooter was back, in time to keep the small chance up that they could still beat the Rockets.

… And when that actually happened, when they not only made it to a seventh game but actually won it, too, he knew it had been the right decision to listen to that girl. Bonnie Bennett knew her stuff, and Lorenzo knew his. The kid even seemed to be getting better and better, despite all the troubles he had had to go through within the last months, and it made Klaus's heart do some rather strange things. He really did care about this boy, who wasn't a boy anymore...

"You okay?"

He turned, jolted out of his musings by the most gorgeous girl, and smiling, he gazed at her: Caroline Forbes."

Of course, luv. Couldn't be more okay."

"Great," she said, beaming, and something told her that this woman had an agenda today. Sure enough, she continued, "Then I hope you'll help me with something."

Raising an eyebrow, he pulled her toward him until he could put his arm around her, and she grabbed his hand, chuckling when he asked,"Am I going to like this?"

"Um…"

Rolling his eyes, he shook his head at himself when he realized that he was totally going to grant her whatever wish she could possibly have. This woman… had made him fall head over heels in love, and it was changing him in unexpected ways. He was growing soft, wasn't he?

But maybe that wasn't so bad. Maybe it was time to focus more on the good things, to allow himself to enjoy life and not just see it as a constant competition. Because he had already won the biggest prize anyways: this woman he was going to propose to soon…

"Alright," he therefore said, breathing in the scent of her hair, "try me."

...

They'd have to play the Warriors next. Everyone already knew that they were probably not going to be able to beat them and make it to the finals. But the Hybrids had come so far, and they were not going to give up without a fierce fight.

They wanted this win. Enzo wanted it, Damon wanted it - it would be such a nice ending of his stint with the team. They all wanted it. And Bonnie was no exception. At some point during her time with the team, she had truly become a part of it, and she wanted to win just as much as the players themselves.

So when she and Enzo made their way over to the stadium on game night, she was elsewhere with her thoughts, for once not minding the attention, the cameras. They had become background noise, and people had finally begun to focus back on the game and leave Enzo alone with their too personal questions about his past torments.

But then, when they had just made it into the building and down the hallway, an all too familiar voice suddenly piped up somewhere behind her, and she froze, Enzo immediately aware that something was going on.

"Are you alright, love? What is it?" He frowned, looking from her to where she was staring now, her heart beating up to her throat. She felt his grip on her tighten, and it was strangely soothing. Because right there in the hallway, wearing a Golden State hoodie, was Jeremy Gilbert, her ex-boyfriend.

As if to taunt her, her phone was beeping just then and when she absently checked it, she almost had to laugh.

The message had been sent half an hour ago but had only been delivered just now, a message from Elena, Jeremy's sister and her good friend.

~ Hope you see this in time! Jer is in town. Apparently he's working for Golden State as a press liaison kind of guy. ~

Then another:

~ So sorry, Bon. I only just found out! Elijah and I were so busy with the clinic! - Hope you won't run into him ~

~ I love him, but I'll never forgive him for what he did to you ~

Yeah, Bonnie thought, that made two of them. Of course she couldn't blame Elena. Jeremy was family. But… Bonnie would have rather never seen him again.

"Bonnie?" Enzo asked, tugging her arm lightly until she looked up to him at exactly the same time that Jeremy spotted her.

"Bonnie?!" he exclaimed, breaking into a too big grin, and she cringed inwardly, making a bemused face. "I didn't think I'd see you here! Of course I read that you and…" Jeremy trailed off as he walked toward them, with his gaze scrutinizing Enzo beside Bonnie, "Lorenzo, is it? That you two are dating, but… I guess I didn't think it was actually true..." He moved to hug her, and for some reason Bonnie let it happen, finding herself awkwardly patting her ex's back before they finally parted. "It's so good to see you!"

"Yeah," Bonnie made, quickly shrinking back against Enzo, feeling his arm come around her and pull her to his side. Leaning down toward her slightly, he muttered a suspicious sounding, "He a friend of yours?" And she almost had to chuckle before she bit out a mere, "Cheating ex…"

"Ah," he made, straightening to his full height again to squint down on the much shorter Jeremy, and Bonnie had to bite her lip to keep from grinning at seeing his alpha male spiel displayed.

"So, you guys think you'll have chance?" Jeremy asked, looking slightly flustered as he was rather desperately trying to keep a conversation going that didn't involve their awkward past, and Bonnie clicked her tongue when he added, "I mean, we've won the last few years, and with five All-Stars we're pretty much unbeatable…"

"Didn't know you were playing," Enzo said before Bonnie had a chance to reply, and she could barely suppress a snort at the resulting expression on Jeremy's face.

He let his gaze wander from Bonnie to Enzo, looking up at the other man with an awkward half-grin, when he replied with a weird little chuckle, "No, I'm not a player on the team, I just… do press work for them? That kinda stuff. Have only been doing the job for a couple of months…"

"So you have had nothing to do with their wins. Certainly not in 'the last few years.'" Enzo's cold conclusion made Bonnie want to laugh, but she managed to compose herself enough to not do it, nudging her boyfriend beside her to take it easy, but the way he still held her protectively - maybe even a little possessively - in his arm, showed her just how serious this was for him, and she had to admit to herself that it felt kind of nice.

"Well, no," Jeremy admitted just then, chuckling that chuckle again. It was so obvious that Jeremy was starting to grow rather uncomfortable and Bonnie almost felt pity for him. Almost. "But yeah, anyways. I was just… it's good to see you, Bonnie. I guess we'll see more of each other again." He licked his lip, fidgeting a little when she didn't say anything in return, when Enzo still stared at him. Then he continued, "Maybe we can catch up after the game. I do owe you an apology, and I'd like to take you - you guys? - out for a drink somewhere perhaps?"

"Jer…," Bonnie started, already trailing off because what the hell did he think he was doing? Did he think they could be friends now? After he had cheated on her with another girl, had left Bonnie for her, too?

No, she didn't need this kind of drama in her life. The things she had been through with Enzo had been enough to deal with, she did not need to add any drama of her own. Abso-freaking-lutely not.

Enzo gave her a gentle nudge, when she stood there, all frozen and mute, and the way he looked at her, so full of concern and… love, it made her smile up at him.

"Want me to take care of him?" he muttered so quietly that Jeremy wouldn't hear, but Bonnie chuckled softly as she shook her head. That he was willing to do it was enough. But she got this. Then, turning toward her ex again, she shook her head in a more pronounced way.

"I don't think so, Jer. Thanks for the apology, though, I do appreciate that. But… Honestly, if it weren't for Elena, I wouldn't even be talking to you right now. You and I… I have absolutely no place for you in my life anymore." She felt Enzo squeeze her, and out of the corner of her eye noticed the proud look he gave her and it made her square her shoulders a little more as she leaned into him even more. To hen she looked at Jeremy before her, who seemed a bit shaken by her words.

"I guess I deserve that," he allowed, grinning a sad grin, and Bonnie had to smile at him.

"You kinda really do. And now excuse us, we need to get ready."

Then she and Enzo turned around again, Enzo gently pulling Bonnie with him, and when they both continued their way down toward the lockers, he suddenly pulled her even closer, kissing her so passionately that her heart skipped a beat, then, when he pulled away again, she had to steady herself against his chest for a few seconds, chuckling.

"What was that for?"

He wagged an eyebrow at her. "I love you, Bonnie Bennett, what other reason do I need?"

Smiling, she got on her tiptoes to kiss him yet again.

"Thank you," she muttered, then intertwined her arm with his as they kept walking away - away not only from the demons of his past, but hers too.

It wouldn't all be better overnight, she knew that, but eventually they'd be free of the people that had hurt them so much. Eventually it would only be him and her, the doctor and the baller, Bonnie and Enzo, and nothing and no one could ever come between them.

Whether he'd be able to help his team beat the Warriors, whether she'd really stay on the medical staff for another season, all these things didn't really matter. They'd deal with them, they'd find their way. As long as they had each other.

…

...

And that's it! I'm sorry for leaving this so "in medias res" - but there's so much still to explore with these two that I felt this was a fitting ending for this story that can now be spun on in my mind - and yours too, if you feel so inclined.

I'd be so happy to hear what you thought, but I realize that only a few brave and kind readers ever leave a review.

Special thanks to Guest and Jade(dcorn), but also deenew and DancesWithButterflies for leaving the most reviews. You guys are amazing!

I do have the beginnings of another idea for Bonenzo whirling around my head, but we shall see…

Thanks!