Chapter Text
The last three months had been the most miserable of Damon’s life. And that was saying something. He’d thought he’d be walking into his happy ending when he finally made it out of the prison world. Instead, he found that his girlfriend had decided that she would rather remember him as a monster than remember their love. And one of his best friends had helped her rewrite her memories. Oh, he didn’t /completely/ blame Ric. At least not after he’d told him how much Elena begged for it and wouldn’t let anyone talk her out of it. He’d loved her more than life itself, but she couldn’t even be bothered to remember him. At least not in a good way. He wouldn’t have blamed her if she’d just moved on. Granted four months was pretty quick to move on, but still. It would have been better than erasing him completely. When he found out how adamant she’d been for it, he felt like a fool for ever giving her his heart. Clearly she didn’t care about it.
While that was clearly the worst hit, it was far from the only one. He was finally able to get home at least. After almost two months of crashing at a freaking hotel, so that one was fixed. Ric had become human again and found love. Good for him. It was just another friend he would have to lose eventually though. Another mortal he cared about that he would be putting in the ground. Just like Liz. That was what brought on his current melancholy. He was just coming back from her funeral. He’d given the eulogy for her as she’d asked, no matter how much it ripped his heart out to do so. Elena had been there and tried to be all supportive, but dealing with her was the last thing he wanted to do in that moment and he told her so.
The person he really needed was trapped in the stupid prison world. He’d done everything he could to save her, even going as far as to work with a freaking psychopath to do it. And not a psychopath like people always accused him of being. A real one. A dangerous one. Not that Damon couldn’t be dangerous when the occasion called, but Kai was always dangerous. He didn’t even understand the meaning of positive emotions. Even after all that, she was still stuck there.
He’d started to fall in love with Bonnie during their incarceration and he’d felt insanely guilty about it. Like he was betraying Elena with just the thought. He never even considered acting on it though. Because no matter what he’d been starting to feel for Bonnie, he still loved Elena with an all-consuming passion. He thought he always would. If Elena had been who he thought she was, those fledgling feelings for Bonnie probably would have died out soon enough. Smothered by the heat of Elena’s love. But no, Elena betrayed him and he couldn’t find any love left in his heart for her. That gave his love for Bonnie free rein to take over his every thought. To grow unchecked with every moment he spent missing her. Praying for her to make it home. Even if he could never have her. Even if she went back to Jeremy or ended up with someone else he just needed her in his life. However he could get her.
He walked into the boarding house with a heavy heart and furrowed his brow. He smelled something…pancakes? And…there was someone in the kitchen? Who would be making pancakes of all things in his kitchen in the afternoon? He went in there to see and his breath hitched. “Bonnie…”
“The one and only,” Bonnie said with a smile twitching onto her face. Seeing him again was enough to take her breath away even without the sexy suit. She knew that she could never be with him, but their time together in the prison world had been enough for her to see in him what Elena saw. To fall in love with him. Not that she would ever act on it. He was her best friend’s guy. And he loved Elena just as much, if not more, than Elena loved him. That didn’t mean that seeing him again meant any less. When he held out his arms for a hug as a smile broke onto his face, she couldn’t help but make a running jump into his arms.
Damon wanted nothing more than to kiss her right then, but he knew that she would slap him for it. And rightfully so since for all she knew he and Elena were together. Not to mention her complications with Jeremy. Instead he just hugged her tightly, swinging her around as his joy bubbled out of him in the form of laughter. “You made it!”
“I made it,” she replied, burying her face in his neck and just breathing him in. “I made it,” she said again, still trying to believe it. Once he finally put her down, she asked teasingly, “So are you going to eat the pancakes I slaved over?”
“Of course,” he chuckled, all the weight of the last three months falling off his shoulders as he made his way to the table. “No vampire smiley face?” he pouted.
“You know I hate that,” Bonnie said amusedly. “But for you…fine.” She arranged the blueberries and then grabbed the whipped cream. “Just this once.”
“Best pancakes ever,” he grinned.
“So what are you all dressed up for?” she asked as they started eating. “Little early to be home from a hot date.” Just like that the smile fell from his face and reality crashed down again. “Uh-oh. I just stepped in something didn’t I?”
Damon took a deep steadying breath before breaking the news. “Liz’s funeral.”
Bonnie sucked in a sharp breath. “Liz as in Sheriff Forbes?” Damon nodded. “Oh god. How’s Caroline? How are you?”
“Stefan’s checking on Caroline. I’m…not so good to be honest,” he admitted. Only to her.
“I’m sorry,” she said sympathetically reaching a hand across to his arm. “Of all the days to come home.”
“I’m glad you did,” Damon said with a sad smile. “I could use a little good today.”
“Where’s Elena? I would think she’d be here…or is she helping Caroline too?”
“Elena is…no longer in my life,” Damon said evenly.
“What? Why? You two were like…eternal. And…it was only four months. She couldn’t have moved on that fast. Unless…did time work differently there or something?” Bonnie asked completely confused.
“No, time worked the same. And yes, she has a new boyfriend now. Because she had Alaric compel her to forget everything good about me. To forget that she ever loved me. To remember me as a monster.”
“Oh my god,” Bonnie breathed out. “God, I’m so sorry, Damon. He…can’t give her the memories back or something?”
“He promised her that he wouldn’t unless she wanted him to. He tried to talk her into taking them back when I got back, but…it wouldn’t have mattered. Just the fact that she did it in the first place. Just erased our love like it was nothing…I could never forgive that.”
“No, yeah. I get that. I just…can’t believe she would…I’m so sorry,” she said again.
“I’m not,” Damon shook his head.
“You’re not?” she asked surprised.
“No. I’m glad that I found out how little we meant to her before it went any further. I’m glad I found out when I could still move on. Still find love with someone else. I mean, it hurt like a bitch, but…I’m over it now. I’m over her. She wasn’t who I thought she was. The Elena that I loved would never have done something so…callous. You know?”
“Yeah. I do,” Bonnie said sadly, leaning over to hug him. “I brought something for you to give to her, but I guess I can.”
“What did you bring?” Damon asked curiously.
“The cure. I went and got the nineteen ninety four version. I was going to let you decide whether to give it to her or not what with the whole vampire/human relationship difficulties and all, but…”
“I’ll give it to her,” Damon decided. He wanted to make a deal with her for it and he didn’t want Bonnie to know anything about it.
“You’re sure?” she asked worriedly and a little suspicious. “Like really give it to her, not just hide it for revenge? Not that I’d blame you if you did of course, but I still can’t let you do it.”
“I swear to you Bonnie that I will give it to her. I just have a few things I want to say to her when I do is all,” Damon told her.
“Okay then,” Bonnie nodded. “I’ll get it for you when we’re done eating. You can go get your closure.”
“Thank you,” Damon said gratefully.
“And I’m gonna go find Caroline when we’re done. Make sure she’s okay. And let her know I’m back,” Bonnie said.
“That’s probably a good idea,” Damon agreed.
“Anything else I should know about what I’m walking into around here?” she asked and hesitated a minute before asking, “How’s Jeremy?”
“Applying to art school believe it or not,” Damon huffed a laugh. “Getting far away from Mystic Falls. Though I’m sure he’ll change his mind now that you’re back.”
“He shouldn’t,” Bonnie shook her head. “I’ll talk to him soon. And Elena. After I check on Caroline.”
“You don’t want to get back with him?” Damon asked, hating how much he hoped she didn’t. He shouldn’t be hoping for Jeremy’s broken heart.
“I’ll need to talk to him and see how it goes,” she said noncommittally. There was every chance that he wouldn’t /want/ her back after the way they left things, which would make it easier. If not for Damon and Elena splitting up, she might have wanted to get back with him, but if she had even the slightest chance with Damon, she wanted to be free to see what happened.