'If you ever want something badly, let it go. If it comes back to you, then it's yours forever. If it doesn't, then it was never yours to begin with' (Indecent Proposal -movie)

 How to describe all of the emotions that were screaming from everyone present in this place in New Orleans in Algiers.

Bonnie was happy for Elena that she decided to finally face all her demons and feelings, but at the same time a strange kind of sadness enveloped her. She looked at Damon, who was not reacting. 

Elijah felt that he was for some reason a vampire too many and let them deal with it all. But before he swished away he glanced at Elena just one more time his heart tearing up in small pieces. Having seen her again, all that she had once before brought up in him came flushing like a storm into him. And he thought he had put the Petrovas behind him he was gravely mistaken. Her kissed had just confirmed  that his heart only beat vivaciously when those lips touched him. And he had to let her go.

"Can we go?"- Damon now said- "we found Elena- have you forgotten that we still have heretic lunatics with a deadline hanging over Stefan and Lily??!!"

It was obvious that the kissing stuff and now Elena breaking her compulsion was to be swept under the virtual carpet. All four of them acted as if nothing major happened. It was strangely awkward. 

Caroline now asked what deadline was hanging over Stefan's and Lily's head. Bonnie then explained about a compass device the heretic witches were after and that there was a coffin with Damon's grandfather that needed to be open, so they all agreed that that was priority and they soon were on their way back to MF.

Bonnie opted to go in the car with Caroline, as did Elena, leaving Damon to drive on his own. 

All the way to MF, the girls kept quiet for some reason, although there was tones to share. Each of them were busy with their own thoughts of all that occurred in New Orleans. And all the songs that were coming on the radio were actually not helping but enhancing the love turmoil.

And in New Orleans, Elijah and Klaus, having been hit or rather kissed by the Mystic Falls beauties also were in quiet pensive mode. The kisses had a boomerang effect on their ancient hearts.

Elijah knew that only Elena filled his heart with life, love and immense feeling that world is a good place. He let her go yet again. Mistake. One of many. But she had to resolve her feelings, where she is at. If he pushed her, all would go pear shaped. And then if she doesn't come back it was not meant to be.

He now turned as he heard the very familiar swish of wind coming on. Klaus stood in his apartment- 

"What is it that  you want, brother?"

"What were they doing here?"- Klaus said in a not so bemused manner.

"By they you mean Caroline Forbes and her friends, I gather?!"- Elijah said giving Klaus the same look back. 

"I am not in the mood with petty small talk, Elijah?!!"-

"You never were... well, they have a problem with a strange occurrence- a new hybrid creatures that came from a prison and they were asking for some assistance."- Elijah lied.

"And so, are you going to assist them? I presume not!"- Klaus shot back.

"As a matter of fact I will, but I stayed on to resolve a personal problem."- Elijah then added.

"And what might those be?"

"I have no obligation to share them with you!"- Elijah said and swished away.

*************

In Mystic Falls - some eight hours after they set off from New Orleans

"Finally!!"- Stefan said as the four of them got into the Boarding House- "we only have till midnight!"

"I am here now"- Bonnie said- " so where is the coffin?"

"Cellars"- Stefan said.

Lily could sense that something was very irregular as all of them were so tense and it had nothing to do with the heretics and the deadline. 

Damon glanced now at Elena- and then only said to her- "Later?"

Elena nodded. And he went to the cellar- Lily followed him.

"Good"- Bonnie said to Damon- "need your blood as well!"

He bit in his wrist vein and let the blood fall on the coffin. 

Bonnie slit her palm and her blood now fell on the coffin and she said-

"Aperta cum sanguine filiorum tuorum!"

It was like magic, the coffin made a strange squeaky noise and now both Stefan and Bamon moved the top of the coffin aside- and to their amazement next to their grandfather's remains was not only the compass device that looked like an old waistcoat watch pocket and his Grimoire. 

Lily now swished to grab it out of the coffin but quickly had to take her hand of it as it burnt her like she put the hand on a hot kettle.

"Granpapa took precautions"- Damon remarked snarking at his mother.
Now he tried to take it in his hands and there was no problem.

"It's about the blood I guess"- Damon added-"what is this thing anyway??"

Bonnie now took the Grimoire looking for the explanation about the strange compass.

"We need to take it to them!!"- Lily urged them and told them the time is draining like the sand in the hourglass.

"First we will find out what it is so we can throw some more leverage at them!"- Damon said.

"They don't negotiate!!"- Lily now said agitate.

"They don't negotiate?!! And who says they will keep the deal?"- Stefan said looking at her.

"This all stinks!"- Damon concluded suspicious about the whole thing. He just didn't trust his mother and it was clear his grandfather didn't either.

"This not the time to play a leverage game!"- Lily shot back at her sons.

Bonnie found the part about the compass, but it wasn't written in English.

"Seriously, you witches just have to complicate things for the fun of it or what?!!"- Damon now looked at Bonnie signaling another silent question -can you decode it?"

"I need some time- it's like an enigma code- but, believe it or not one word is very clear"-Bonnie replied.

"Which?"- Damon was impatient.

Bonnie now showed both Stefan and Damon the core symbol and the German word  for twins- Zwillinge.

"That so points to Gemini, right?"- Damon asked for confirmation from Bonnie.

"Makes a lot of sense!!"- Stefan then said sarcastically.

"We are going to stall till Bonnie translates Gramps' enigma!"- Damon said putting the compass device in his jeans pocket. 

Lily went upstairs not happy at all with the momentary development. Damon now signaled to Stefan to leave him with Bonnie. Stefan excused himself somewhat clumsily- and Bonnie now looked at Damon saying-

"You told him?! Whoa- is he your cheerleader now??"

"Somewhere inbetween heretics talk and Lily's history it slipped- it's a long drive from New Orleans to Mystic Falls-"- Damon said 

"I need some peace doing this- and I will need a dictionary-"Bonnie then said holding the Grimoire and making her way up.

"My room is -"

"I'll be in your father's study."- Bonnie then said.

He was peeved that she remained distant, but he knew it was Elena's memory retrieval that hang above them like a dark cloud.

And talking about Elena's memory retrieval, she and Caroline took off after a little while, as Elena felt awkward for some reason to be in the Boarding House.

"Is it me or was it all just way to awkward in there?!!"- Caroline now stopped Elena as they were half way into the town.

Elena turned to her friend and sighing a little made a pensive kind of a look as if she was trying to pinpoint the moment and then said- "It was actually liberating!"

"What??"- Caroline didn't expect that kind of an answer.

"Yeah! All the way in the car I was thinking about all of my feelings, Damon and me and then  mostly me - well- and the memories played them- and then it all went in a shot like something kicked me from the inside-and it felt  like a wake up call- maybe it had something to do with me kissing Elijah- I just couldn't get that feeling out of my -"

Caroline now cut her there- "Wait- you kissed Elijah??"

"Yep. Kissed him- and he kissed me back and- yeah!!"- Elena said smiling thinking of the kiss.

"Was that before or after he had decompeled you?"

"Before."- Elena specified.

"Ook- and then- that kiss has made you erase all what you felt for Damon? I know he is an Original...but- seriously??"

"That's exactly it- I mean- not the kiss itself- and it was an amazing kiss- no- just- everything- questions like- what is it that I really feel? Damon and I - yeah- sex was good and we - like- it was sex- fatal attraction- but..."

"But?"- Caroline was impatient to hear-

"It was like a bad drug."- Elena then said- "you know that he said that we had a toxic relationship- and he was so right. We never talked- and even when we had talked it was like I was saying one thing and he another and it was like we are walking in opposite directions- and with Elijah- I can- that's it-with Elijah it felt so good to talk- and it felt so good- being with him"- Elena finished and her eyes shone with happy realization.

"Are  you sure he didn't compel you to thinks so?"- Caroline said.

"I never felt good with Damon- it was always a weird anxiety there- I was miserable with him and I was miserable without him- and I compensated it with sex"- Elena elaborated.

"Since when are you a psych- student?"- Caroline remarked

"And then we got to the Boarding House- and Damon didn't give a damn about  me- did you not see the way he looked at Bonnie?!"

Caroline then slipped innocently- "Bonnie?!"

"Something more was there- the usually bicker like mad- especially when he wants something done- it was a look of like- we have to talk-"

Caroline knew that the thing with Bonnie and Damon was hot- she didn't want to be the one to cause mayhem- at least not this time- so she turned the conversation to her-

"Talking about kisses- I kissed Klaus!"

"You did?!!? Seriously?? I thought that was like so over?! And you and Stefan?"- Elena looked less surprised at her friend though after what she had done.

"It's like he is under my skin and I just- makes my blood boil"- Caroline admitted- 

"Klaus makes your blood boil?!"

Caroline nodded and then said- " And I so don't want to-"

"But you went there to see if he makes your blood boil??!!!!"- Elena remarked

"This is why you kissed Elijah- cos you two had those looks like he never locked you in the caves but something else was going on?!!"- Caroline now looked at her friend fishing for a plausible answer.

"We...he kissed me before!"- Elena said and nudged with her eyebrow.

"Whoa- Everyone kissed everyone"- Caroline then said.

"What do you mean?"- Elena said.

"Ha?"- Caroline now gulped a bit-

"Damon and Bonnie!?!"- Elena then clicked on.

Caroline gave a little smirky smile and by her wide eyed expression gave out it was so.

Flashback

"She is my best friend, but to you she is something else, isn't she?"- Elena said to Damon.

"May 10th, 1994 I had a day. I was mad at Stefan for something I don't even remember what it was and in typical Damon fashion I acted out- people died. A lot of them. Believe it or not ever since that they I felt horribly guilty. So, I thought this was my hell, Elena. You know who didn't? Bonnie! She had hope for both of us. She is the reason I survived, reason I made it out. Who knew - turns out you spend time with someone and don't kill them you actually become friends. I am doing this for Bonnie, Elena. Not for you. That's it."- Damon says.

"Damon and Bonnie- who would have thought!"- Elena says.

"Don't make this any weirder that it needs to be."- Damon says.

Elena reminded herself and told  Caroline about that moment in the fake world.

"He said that  they went there to be close to me- but - I saw in his eyes that Bonnie mattered so much more to him, especially when we returned- the pain in his eyes when we had to leave and she stayed out there- in his heart he so was broken- and I know how it feels- I felt it too- when we were to kill the Originals!"

"For  Elijah?!" - Caroline uttered.

"Yeah- we have to go back- I have to tell them."- 

"What?"

Before Elena could answer she already swished away back to the Boarding House.

It was ten minutes till midnight. 

Lily was a bundle of nerves and tried to convince Stefan not to play games with the heretics demand.

In Giuseppe Salvatore's study, Bonnie had just completed the translation of the page about the compass when she heard the commotion in the lounge. 

"I have all the memories back. I acted lost and cowardly and that's not me. Not the real me."- Elena was now talking in front of Stefan, Lily, Caroline looking at Damon, who wanted to say something, but she asked him to let her finish.- 

"Yeah- I was so drawn to you even before the sire bond. But, inside of me I knew that it was not right, it was not love. I am sorry, Damon. But you knew- you were right- I have always defended your bad actions and bad choices to convince myself that it's ok for me to be with you. It wasn't. And- all these months- I see you and Bonnie- even before - even when you bickered- you so understood each other-and - I officially want to say that- we were over a long time ago- even before Katherine broke up with you  for me-"

Bonnie now walked a little bit towards Elena-

"I didn't want ever to-"

"Bonnie- hey- it's all good!"- Elena said and smiled a little reassuringly-  The two women now hugged. 

And all seemed to be right in the world -like it all came into place- an onlooker could see Caroline, Stefan breathe out a bit- 

Damon was quiet, which was like a new thing, but everyone could see that now Elena and him exchanged an - everything is fine- look and a silent- appreciative nudge.

And then midnight struck and five Heretic witches came in the Boarding House asking for what they claimed was theirs. 

Everyone seemed to regroup naturally feeling the threatening mode the witch-vamps were exhibiting. 

And of course Damon being Damon was not willing to hand over the compass to them as he also saw Bonnie indicating that the compass really was hot property.

Everything following happened in a split second someone would say- Lily swished away in the moment  the Heretics went for the attack.

Rewinding to 15 minutes before midnight in Giuseppe Salvatore's study.

"Have you got it? Why do they want this damned thing?"- Damon asked Bonnie.

"It's something to do with the source of magic"- Bonnie said- "I am doing my best- you are always so impatient"

" Cinderella - effect time!?"- Damon reminded her.

"Don't you think I know that?!!"- she shot back at him raising her head now throwing darts with her eyes at him.

"I'm sorry."

"When have I let you down?"- Bonnie's voice was now mellow again.

"Never."- he said in the same tone of voice remembering how many times she had come through for all of them.

"When we are done with this tonight- I will speak to Elena and clear things up - although things are clear for a very long time now between me and her. I don't care that she got her memories back - it's her own thing. We are not betraying her."

"I need to do this, Damon"- Bonnie went back to the text. Again she ran back to her little snail house  of emotions away. It was true what Damon was saying- it's not like they went behind Elena's back. He was not with her for eight months. Should they wait eighty years till she makes her feelings finally known- now she looked at him again-

"Damon?"

She caught him just before he was about to get out of the door.

"What? Cracked it?"- his eyes now shone at her waiting for the answer.

"I love you, too"- she now said and gave him the serious look with her eyes twinkling a smile.

"So, that's what my Gramps wrote?!"- in said in a typical Damon fashion- smiling back at her with his soul now illuminated with gladness. 

This love- Damon and Bonnie- it was true, although enveloped with bickering, inappropriate sarcastic remarks at the best of times, yet  it was understanding, caring, underlined with great friendship as a foundation that brought honesty, loyalty and sincere love through.