Hey guys, thank you so much for the reviews and story alerts. I really appreciate the support since I took almost a decade to update this story. It means a lot to me. I wrote this chapter as quick as I could just for you guys! Enjoy!

The tomb vampire leapt at Damon who moved out of the way just in time. He picked up the branch that had been in his stomach just a moment ago and jammed it into the unknown vampire's thigh with all the strength he could muster.

The vampire cried out and Damon took the opportunity to stumble over to Bonnie. Bonnie watched wide eyed as he limped and grunted in agony all the way down the path to her. When he got to the threshold he fell to his knees in pain.

"T-there's still some of the branch i-in me. There are ch-chunks of it that I can't reach." He gasped out while looking up at her, wincing with every breath. He looked as if he were about to pass out.

"Please Bonnie?" He begged softly. "Please?"

In that moment he didn't look like the Damon Salvatore she knew. No arrogance. No rage. No agenda. She knew what he was asking and she could have easily done nothing to help him. She had fantasised about killing him many times but now when he could actually die in front of her she couldn't let it happen.

"Yes," she whispered. "Yes Damon, you can come in."

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Damon had practically crawled through the doorway clutching his stomach and Bonnie had watched as the tomb vampire glared at them and then hobbled away out of sight.

She closed and locked the door and helped Damon up and led him to the spare room where she had always slept when she had stayed over at her Gram's place.

He grunted as he fell onto the bed.

"I-I need t-to get it out," he stuttered softly. "Help me!" He pleaded looking directly into her eyes. She stared back transfixed. She had never seen him so vulnerable.

He reached out and grabbed her hand and a vision of him came to her as their fingers made contact. It was a quick flash but it was enough to shake her to her core.

It was the smell that came to her first. The smell of war.

Blood, sweat, piss, shit, mud and gunpowder. Then came the sound of shots being fired. Damon was lying on the battlefield in a grey solder's uniform with bodies around him. He was bleeding from his shoulder where he had been shot. Bonnie watched him as he reached a shaking hand to his wound and cried.

She had never thought about Damon being in the Civil War in his human life. She had felt the sharpness of his fear, his desperate longing for home and also the belief that he shouldn't be fighting for the confederacy because he didn't believe in their cause.

She wondered what he had believed at the time. Bonnie had learnt about the Civil War at school of course, but having felt what it was like for barely a moment made her realise that she really had no idea what Damon had been through in the course of his life.

He was still grasping her hand and she looked into his eyes and saw the same soldier he had been as a human.

She then gently pulled her hand away so she could think clearly.

"What do you want me to do?"

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Bonnie watched as Damon's blood gathered in the sink basin as she washed her hands. She couldn't believe she had just cut him open with a kitchen knife and fished out pieces of the branch with just her fingers and a spoon of all things.

After, she had bandaged him up the best she could. He had said thank you and passed out after that.

Now that there were no pieces of wood in his system she surmised that he should be able to start healing soon even though he had lost a lot of blood.

She was still pumped with adrenaline from the excitement and terror of it all that she couldn't sit still. She set to cleaning the towels she had used to mop up the blood. She would have to clean the bed sheets later.

After loading the washing machine she realised she should call Stefan to tell him what happened. Both he and Elena came. They arrived with blood bags for Damon to drink to regain his strength and to help him heal. Stefan convinced her to to let him stay with Damon while Elena took her home.

Elena didn't ask her any questions which she was grateful for. The adrenaline was wearing off and her eyes were droopy. When she got home she peeled off her blood soaked clothes, showered and crashed and when she woke up a few hours later Elena was laying right next to her writing in her journal.

"You're awake," she said with a soft smile.

Bonnie blinked as the days events came flooding back to her.

"There are two vampires in my grandmother's house." she stated.

Elena's smile faltered.

"It's your house now Bonnie," She replied gently.

Tears welled up in Bonnie's eyes as she stared at her best friend but she blinked them away. She was so tired of crying.

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The next morning at school Stefan had met her at her locker. He returned her grandmother's house key letting her know that Damon had healed quickly and was now back to normal. She had been relieved to hear it but then became angry at herself for caring.

She didn't want to see him differently. He was the reason her Grams had died, he was the reason the vampires had escaped from the tomb, he was the one who had almost drained her of her blood when Emily had possessed her, he had used Caroline as a blood bag, he had turned Vicki into a vampire and was the reason she was dead... the list of his unspeakable crimes could go on and yet she was still haunted by the two visions she had had of him when he had been human.

No, she decided, no amount of visions showing his humanity should change her opinion of him. He is a monster!

Bonnie found that this renewed anger helped her get through the day. After school she decided she should go to her Gram's place to clean up the sheets. When she arrived she didn't feel the same anxiety she had felt before. It was easier to walk through the door. At least what had happened yesterday had somehow helped with that.

She went to the spare room only to find that it was spotless. The bed had been stripped. She went outside to check the washing line to find the sheets and towels hanging there drying. She smiled. Stefan must have taken care of it.

She felt the sheets and they were dry so she brought out a laundry basket to bring them inside. As she unclipped the first peg he appeared.

"Well don't you just look all domestic?"

Startled she whipped around to see the older Salvatore brother a few feet away smirking at her. He was dressed in all black as he usually was. She swallowed nervously, then felt her anger bubble to the surface.

"What are you doing here?" She growled.

His eyes danced. "You invited me remember?"

She felt her heart begin to race. Was it out of anger or something else? She grit her teeth.

"This is my grandmother's house!" She spat out. "You're not welcome here!"

His smirk wavered slightly but he hid it well. "It doesn't work like that witch and you know it. Besides, I come all the way here to check that you're ok and this is the welcome I get?"

Bonnie felt a sense of energy suddenly course through her body at his words but she ignored it and let the anger she had been feeling gather like the winds of a storm.

"You came to check that I was ok?! You came to check that I was ok?!" She raged. "You can't be serious! I don't know what you want from me but I officially don't care! Get out!"

He sped up to her with his vampiric speed, stopping just before their noses touched.

"You know, you'd think you'd be nicer to me considering I saved your life yesterday." He hissed.

The witch recoiled and her eyes flashed dangerously. Instead of screaming she pinned Damon to the spot with her eyes and spoke in a low tone that was dripping with distain.

"You really are a psychopath! I thought - I thought with what I've seen of your human life that there could be something redeemable in you. Something more than just the selfish monster. But that person, that man that I saw doesn't exist anymore."

Damon didn't respond, he just listened, transfixed.

"You're right, you did save my life yesterday - from a vampire that was released from the tomb you forced us to open. Am I supposed to be grateful for this? Or that my Grams died opening the seal for you? Should I be grateful for that? Or how about that one of my best friend's is grieving over his sister's death? Or that you used one of my best friend's as a blood bag?

Damon still said nothing.

"After all this you want what from me? To be nicer to you? The fact that I invited you into this house to save you isn't good enough? You need to take more from me? Drain me for all I've got like you did to your own mother? Is this how you honour her memory Damon?"

Damon visibly flinched. His eyes filled with remorse and unshed tears.

Then he was gone.

Oh man! Bonnie twisted the knife there! More Bamon goodness to come! Please review! You know you want to! Xxx