... REDO

Chapter 1

Bonnie had health monitoring spells on both Damon and Elena, with their permission. Ostensibly so that she could get there if they were hurt. Since they were in hiding and couldn't actually go out anywhere without disguising spells, if they needed medical attention they could be in trouble. And since Bonnie was their contact to the outside world, since she could use her magic to hide herself too, it only made sense that she would need to know if they were in trouble. Her main reason for it though was because she suspected that Elena was abusing Damon and she wanted to be there to help him. Like Damon probably had, she'd hoped that him giving up his vampirism and becoming human like she wanted would make things better. Would get her to stop judging everything he did and stop accusing him of ulterior motives and awful behavior.

Bonnie wasn't around a lot. It wasn't safe. But she saw enough to at least suspect that those hopes had been unfounded. Every time she saw them, Damon was a little more cowed. A little more painstakingly careful in his words and actions. He watched Elena's reaction to everything he said and did like he was waiting to be scolded. Bonnie hated it. She hated seeing someone so vibrant and full of life diminished to just a shadow of himself. No, the old Damon wasn't perfect. He had his issues and had a tendency to cross the line sometimes, but like with anyone else, one had to take the good with the bad. Something Elena clearly didn't understand.

It was twenty years into their marriage before she got an alarm that Damon was hurt and she went running, remembering to disguise herself first. She dropped the disguise as she walked in the door and quickly found Damon groaning and attempting to sit up in the living room, surrounded by broken glass and bleeding from his head. She moved to help him up, and suspected what had happened, but still had to ask. "Elena?"

"Upstairs. She's fine," Damon told her, as she got him to the couch. He had to lean rather heavily on her as the room spun and he was fighting the urge to vomit.

"Easy, let me take care of that concussion first and then we can take care of the cuts and bruises," Bonnie told him, and then cast a quick spell to ease off the swelling on his brain. "Feel better?"

"Much," Damon said relieved. "At least there's only one of you now," he chuckled.

Bonnie's return laugh was more than a little tense, but she got the hint. He didn't want a serious talk right now. He just wanted to brush it off. And she would let him. At least until she was finished healing him. Then all bets were off. "You've got a little glass still in some of these cuts," she said as she gently cradled his face in one hand and the other carefully went to remove them. "Stay still," she said, trying very hard not to notice the intimacy of the position. Not to get lost in his deep anguished eyes. Not to let her feelings for him overtake her. She managed to last until she had the last of the glass out at least before her eyes met his and they both got caught in the trap.

Damon found himself leaning in to kiss her before he even knew what he was doing. The worse things got between him and Elena, the more he realized how much he loved Bonnie. It was too late now though and this didn't change anything. He caught himself right before their lips met though and jerked away, getting up and moving quickly across the room. "Fuck," he breathed out as his hand ran through his bloody hair, trying to pull himself together. He was /not/ going to cheat on his wife. Period. Not even for a single kiss. No matter what she'd done or how much she deserved it. It wasn't about her. It was about him and the person that he wanted to be.

Bonnie took a deep steadying breath, agreeing with his unstated words completely. She wasn't going to go after a married man, no matter how miserable his marriage was. It was no excuse. She got herself under control and went to grab his arm. "Come on. I need to finish healing you," she coaxed him back to the couch.

Damon hesitated a minute before nodding and following. He could feel the blood dripping and knew that he probably shouldn't lose any more than he already had. He was already starting to get a little woozy. "I'm sorry," he said softly as she healed up his worst cut, neither of them noticing Elena coming down. At his words she decided to wait around the corner to try and figure out what he was apologizing for.