... REDO

14

Caroline and Bonnie sat and chatted for a little while, coming to terms with things a little more as Bonnie explained more of Damon's point of view, but then Bonnie got up. "I really need to go talk to Elena today too, preferably before her session with Damon where she tears him a new one and sets him off again."

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea," Caroline agreed. "I'll come too?"

"If you're willing then yeah. I'm not gonna put you in a position to argue for his side right now though if you don't want to," Bonnie told her.

"I don't plan to /argue/ for his side. Just make it clear that I accept the facts as they are," Caroline shrugged.

"That's good enough. But there's more that happened after you left that you should know. I can explain that on the way." That meant they were riding together to Elena's house and they found her on the porch writing in her journal and partially lost in thought.

No sooner than they came up and sat down, Elena asked, "Do you think I'm trying to turn Damon into Stefan?"

"Yeah," both girls said without hesitation in unison.

When Elena looked a little betrayed at the quickness of the answer, Bonnie said apologetically, "Sorry, but you kinda are. Damon isn't the type to lay down for threats like Stefan is. And it's a good thing too because we would all be dead many times over if he was. If someone comes after him or the people he cares about, which includes all of us, he's going to handle it however he has to whether we like it or not."

"She's right," Caroline sighed. "The fact is that he tried to compel my father, who it turned out was immune to compulsion naturally. My father, rather than let things lie, came after Damon, but Damon wasn't going to kill him. He was trying to send a message. Because since everyone kept calling him down and he kept listening, my father made the mistake of thinking that he was tame and no threat and that he could hurt us all without consequences. I'm not going to say that Damon was right to do what he did. I'm not objective there and I know it. But I will say that there was no good answer. It was a lose-lose situation."

The fact that Caroline of all people thought that was enough to give Elena pause. She hadn't known that Mr. Forbes was immune to compulsion or that Damon had already tried that. She hadn't known that he was threatening them all. She hadn't known that Damon wouldn't have killed him. Would that have made a difference in how she reacted if she'd known all that? No, probably not. Because he was still using violence as an answer. He was still feeding on a living person, whether he intended to kill him or not. So why did that bother her so much more now than it used to. When she realized the answer, she sighed heavily, only admitting it because it was her two best friends. "I think I'm developing feelings for Damon."

Bonnie winced as Caroline just gaped at her. "You really don't want to go there, Elena. I'm serious," Bonnie said with a frown.

"Okay that came from a different person than I expected," Elena said confused. "I didn't think you had any problems with Damon."

"I don't. I just...don't think you two would be good together."

"Why not...oh!" Elena's eyes widened. "You /like/ him."

Bonnie blushed and looked away, but that was enough of an answer in itself. "Wait, she's right?!" Caroline asked Bonnie incredulously. "You have a thing for Damon?"

"Yeah. I do, okay," Bonnie said with a shrug.

"Like how much of a thing?" Elena asked. "Like you just think he's hot or..."

"I'm in love with him," Bonnie admitted, also only because it was her two best friends.

"Holy crap, how did I not see this coming?" Caroline gasped. She was used to being the one that could spot stuff like that a mile away and she'd missed it in her own best friend.