Jenny-Elijah Mikaelson

02

        Jenny sat on the floor with her legs criss-crossed in front of her as she stared down at the checkers board. Damon sat across from her. They would've played chess but neither of them knew how to play.

Boredom had ensnared them both. She moved her last white piece into a corner, the only move she had left which ensured Damon won the game; he'd trapped her.

"And I won. Again," he smirked. "God, you suck at this."

"My knowledge rests in books; not board games," she said.

"Whatever," he said as put the pieces back on the board along with her but Damon looked towards the door.

"Is it Bonnie?" she asked.

"Yeah. We'll play later and I expect you to win at least once," he said which made her roll her eyes as he got up from the floor. "Remember, don't make a sound. Don't move anything through the air."

"Why don't you just tell Bonnie? It'd be a lot easier."

"Yeah, I'd just tell her I'm being haunted by my dead best friend in my own personal hell," Damon said sarcastically as they started to leave the room. "Like I want Bonnie Bennett to hold that over my head."

She sighed, "Okay."

           ______

          Time moved slowly and two months had passed. Bonnie still didn't know about her presence. Jenny got Damon to spill why he thought it was his own personal hell.

       Damon thought she'd hate him but she didn't have it in her to hate or be angry; she wasn't even disappointed. She was just sad, constantly, but Damon pierced with his blue gaze like he needed her to piece him back together. So she offered him a little smile even though it took all her strength to do so.

            "So you killed a bunch of people and a pregnant lady?" she stated. "That's really bad, Damon."

           Her words didn't chastise or judge, they were just simply a statement. He nodded to it and took a deep breath, "I know."

             "Do you hate me?" he looked over at her for the first time since he began the story like he was afraid her gaze would scold him somehow.

            "Why would I hate you? You forget I dated an Original," she said and then gave him the smallest smile she ever had. It seemed like she couldn't ever bring herself to smile anymore; all she had to offer were frowns. "Right or wrong, Damon, I'm going to stick with you."

            And that was that. Their friendship could not be killed. It was precisely their friendship that kept her from fading into oblivion; that kept her from becoming the mad woman that called out one name.

        This same day they were stuck in had turned to night. Bonnie had started staying over and she cooked something. She set down his bowl where he was sitting at the kitchen table before sitting across from him.

           Damon had a sad look in his eyes. He'd gone into Stefan's room that day which she could tell brought up a lot of memories.

        "I miss them too, you know," Bonnie noticed the look.

        Damon looked up in surprise and nodded in agreement. Bonnie looked back at her food and began to eat. Damon grabbed the newspaper on the table and stared at it curiously.

       "Look who got 27 across," Damon was impressed. Bonnie had been working on that crossword for months.

        "I wish," Bonnie smiled bitterly. "27 across is a rock I am pushing up an endless mountain."