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."

       "It's an old tongue twister Eddie turned top 40, Eddie Vedder, pearl jam," Damon said. "Yellow Ledbetter."

      He set the newspaper down and Bonnie looked confused. Then she grabbed the newspaper and looked at the puzzle. 27 across is filled in: Yellow Ledbetter.

       Bonnie looked up at Damon, "Are you messing with me?"

       Damon responded, "No, you messing with me?"

        "I didn't finish this," Bonnie said.

         "Well, neither did I," Damon stated.

          "There's someone else here."

             Damon gave Jenny a questioning look who was standing behind Bonnie, dusting the shelves when she wasn't looking. The ghostly woman shrugged, "I didn't do it."

             "What are you looking at?" Bonnie looked over her shoulder.

                "What?" Damon averted his eyes from Jenny. "Nothing."

              "Real smooth, Damon," Jenny commented.

                "You were looking at something," Bonnie pointed her eyes at him.

              "No. I was staring off into space. There's a difference."

              Bonnie huffed and dropped the subject. She'd noticed he'd been doing that a lot lately. Staring towards the wall even though there was nothing there. Or so she thought.

_____

Damon refused to believe another person was with them which was why it was morning and Bonnie was still trying to convince him. They were at the grocery store; Damon was pushing the cart while Bonnie piled things into it.

"Okay," Bonnie sighed as she looked at the list. "We need strawberries."

Damon hummed as Bonnie continued reading the list, "Eggs, milk and--ooh candles." She picked one up and set it in the cart.

"I know it's been awhile, but you couldn't do magic as an anchor, so I'm curious what momentary lapse of reason makes you think you can do it now?" Damon said as they turned the corner to another aisle.

"You know, when all this started, you sucked at making pancakes but now they're somewhat edible," Bonnie shrugged. "Milk."

"It's true," Jenny commented as Damon grabbed milk out of the fridge. "I had to tell you how to make them better."

Bonnie went over to the rack of sunglasses and Damon gave Jenny a look while mouthing 'whose side are you on?' which made Jenny let out a small smile.

"There's no reason to be Peter Pessimist," Bonnie said as she set the blue shades on her face. "We have proof we're not alone."

"First of all. Don't nickname, that's my thing..." Damon pointed to himself as he strolled over to Bonnie with the cart. He snatched another pair of sunglasses from her. "...And this proof..." Damon put the blue sunglasses on his face, so now they were both are wearing them. "...This mysteriously filled in crossword, could very easily have been you."

Damon looked at her when he said that. He refused to believe that she didn't fill it in. He thought that she was somehow trying to lift his spirit like a 'friendly ghost' would do but her spirits were just as low as his.

Jenny sighed, "I didn't do it, Damon."

Bonnie leaned on the cart, "I didn't. Fill. It. In."

Damon redirected his attention to Bonnie.

"No. You don't know you filled it in. You also don't know that you talk in your sleep," Damon argued. "Eggs."

Bonnie opened the fridge beside them and grabbed the eggs, "What are you saying? Are you saying I sleep crossword?"

Damon took the glasses off, "I'm saying it makes more sense than the alternative." He snatched the eggs and forcefully put them in the cart. Bonnie took off her glasses.

"I get what you're doing," Bonnie said.

"What am I doing?"

"You refuse to have hope that you'll see Stefan again so you don't have to be disappointed."

They turn the corner again as
Damon responded, "I refuse to have hope because there's nothing to hope for."

"That's not true, Damon. You wouldn't have seen me if you didn't have hope," Jenny commented.

Damon looked at Jenny while Bonnie stopped and pointed out, "Pork rinds."

Damon averted his gaze from Jenny and dug into the cart to pull out the shopping list, "Not on the list and eww."

"No, Damon, there were pork rinds on this shelf. There have been pork rinds here on every shopping trip we've had for the past 4 months," Bonnie said.

Damon knew that this time it couldn't have been Jenny. She didn't even eat and, something they had in common, she hated pork rinds.

Suddenly an electronic chime playing a melody came on. Bonnie stated, "You hear that?"

Bonnie hurried out of the store while they followed. There is a small horse carousel outside the door, playing. Jenny looked on shocked; was there another ghost they didn't know about?

Bonnie looked satisfied as she hummed, "You hear that, Damon? That's what hope sounds like."

Damon quickly looked for a realistic option and opened the switch box of the horse carousel. "It's gotta be a short, faulty wiring, something," Damon responded.

"What if I brought another ghost here somehow?" Jenny questioned and Damon thought for a moment.

"Or someone put a quarter in it and turned it on," Bonnie said.

"You know I'm a little confused with all this misplaced hope," Damon stated. "All right, let's just say there's someone here. How do you know we're gonna get out?"

"Well, you say that this is your hell right? If there's someone else here, that means it's not your hell, and if it's not your hell that means Grams put us here, and if Grams put us here, there's a way out."

"I really don't think it's your personal hell, Damon. I don't think I could be here if that were true," Jenny said and Damon ignored her. He had to.

"That's a hell of a logic knot you've tied for yourself."

"Thank you. So now that we have properly placed our hope, let's play a game. When we get out, what's the first thing you're gonna tell Stefan?"

Damon thought for a moment, "Sorry I killed Bonnie. But she was the most annoying person in the world." He started walking towards the car lot as he continued. "She wouldn't shut up. She just kept talking. I mean, it's a wonder I made it as long as I did, but here's the thing, I think it's better this way because she didn't have magic, and she was pretty much useless."

Bonnie and Jenny noticed something in the car park and they called his name at the same time.

"What?" he said a little loudly, exasperated.

"Your car," Jenny said.

"I don't know, you still think I'm useless?" Bonnie pointed to where his car was.

Damon looked at the car and the number plate before he spoke excitedly, "That's my car. That's my car."

______

Damon had been sitting in his car for awhile and she sat in the passenger seat while Bonnie stood close to the driver door. Jenny had figured out as a ghost that she didn't have to open doors; she could just appear where she wanted to.

Damon pretended like he was driving and was making engine noises like a little kid. It was very cute and she smiled a little.

"How much longer are we gonna listen..." Bonnie started to speak but got cut off.

Damon shushed her, "This sound is the opposite sound of your voice, and I so enjoy it.

"How did it even get here, Damon? Did you leave it here in 1994?"

"I don't know, Bonnie. It was 18 years ago. Had a lot going on that day."

"Gosh, that just reminds how old you are," Jenny commented and Damon tried to hold in the small smirk that wanted to form.

"Apparently, not old enough for you," he joked in a whisper.

Jenny couldn't help but chuckle and whacked his shoulder, "Not funny, Damon."

"Okay," Bonnie pointed her eyes at him; she couldn't be sure if he said something, he said it so quietly. "So you admit that it's pretty unlikely that you did leave it here."

"Very unlikely."

Bonnie wanted Damon to admit she was right, "Which would stand to reason.. that..."

"Someone may have put it here, Bonnie. Yes, I admit that."

"I'm gonna tell Stefan that I don't wish him an eternity of misery," Damon said suddenly and Bonnie smiled. "And then I'm gonna apologize for killing you."

Bonnie noticed something move, "Wait. Did you just see that?"

Damon and her turn to see what Bonnie was looking at and this time they all clearly notice a figure speeding behind a parked car.

"So maybe not a ghost," Jenny said. The figure didn't seem ghostly enough.

"I did that time," Damon responded to Bonnie. "Let's go meet our little friend."

_____

They had all been trying to find the figure with no such luck.

"It was behind the pickup," Bonnie said.

"No," Damon argued. "It was in the front."

"Are you sure?" Bonnie and Jenny both asked.

"Yes. Absolutely I'm sure. It was right there."

Suddenly the wind picked up and they notice part of a tarp flying from the back of the pickup truck they were inspecting.

"It was a tarp. We saw a tarp," the hope in Damon's eyes drain as the horse carousel turned on and music started playing. "And that... that is on a timer. That turned on by itself."

"But your car...." Bonnie pointed out.

"I left it here in '94."

"And the crossword?"

"You filled it out, Bonnie. Which means we're alone in my own hell with no Grams escape hatch. We're never getting out."

Bonnie became frustrated with the vampire, "Give me your ring."

"What?"

"Give me your ring," Bonnie grabbed his hand and tried to snatch it while Damon resisted. "All I've heard you say is that you have no hope and that this is your hell, so if it's so bad, why don't you just end it?"

Damon looked at Jenny. She was the only reason it wasn't so bad. That, and he wouldn't leave her all alone.

Damon pushed Bonnie away and she kept talking, "Hope is the only thing keeping me going, Damon, so if you're really done, if you have none, then be done because this isn't helping."

Then Bonnie stormed off.

"Is being optimistic really so bad?" Jenny asked.

"Don't start," he pointed his finger at her. "Don't give me that crap about being hopeful. You gave up, too, when you left your Prince Charming."

She clenched her jaw, "That's different. I didn't have a choice."

Tears gathered in her eyes, "I'm dead, Damon. I'm not ever coming back. But you might."

Damon shook his head and sighed before wrapping an arm gently around her. He ushered her back towards the store, "Come on."

He dropped his arm once they came to the wine section. "Why I am not surprised?"

"When are you ever surprised by my actions?" he said as he picked up a bottle.

"Well, nowadays, never," she responded which made him smirk but that went away when they both heard a sound. Damon put the bottle back and they both went to investigate. Behind the rack of umbrellas was a man lounged on a chair munching pork rinds.

"Rough day, huh, Damon?" the young man said. "Sorry. Manners. I'm Kai. Nice to meet you. Pork rind?"

Jenny looked at Damon for what to do but he was just staring in shock. What woke him from his shock was his irritation from the annoying sound of munching, "That is gonna have to stop."

"Oh, you think this is annoying? Hmm. Try listening to you and Bonnie bicker every 5 minutes."

Jenny chuckled a bit but covered up her chuckle with a cough when Damon looked at her out of the corner of his eye. It was true.

"So you've been following us."

"Of course I have," Kai responded. "You two are the closest thing I have a to a TV. I mean, you're no 'Baywatch,' but...Remember "Baywatch"?

Jenny noticed how he said two. Did that mean he didn't see her, either just like Bonnie? She wondered how he even found out Damon and Bonnie were in this realm or whatever the hell they were in.

"No, I do not."

"Oh. Oh, man, you got to watch it. You like lifeguards, like... Hot ones?"

"This has been a monumentally bad day in a sea of bad days, so I'm gonna need to know who you are, what you're doing here, and how it relates to me, or I'm gonna rip your throat out."

"Temper's gonna get you in trouble, Damon. It's already driven Bonnie away how many times?" Kai said. "Oh, oh, oh, wait. I know. 13."

"You think my temper's bad with her? I like her. You, not so much,"Damon uses vampire speed before he's suddenly holding Kai up by his collar.

"Ok. Ok. Sorry. Seriously. I'm just kind of rusty on the face-to-face type human interactions."

Damon drops him down, "Answers now."

"Maybe you should have a drink. That usually calms you down."

"Thanks."

"Damon, maybe, not now," Jenny advised but she was ignored.

"Then makes you angry, then sad, then calm again. It's a weird cycle, and look, if you really want to know the reason I'm following you..." Kai said as Damon took a swig of bourbon. "...it's because I want to kill you."

Damon suddenly coughed it out as he falls to his knees. The skin around his mouth started burning while she stood next to Kai in shock.

"Vervain in your bourbon. Who didn't see that one coming?"

"Who buys patio furniture from a grocery store? I mean, somebody must. Otherwise, it... it wouldn't be here," Kai picked up a beach umbrella and broke it's wooden end into two. "But now I'm a little unfamiliar with vampires, but from what I've gathered, a stake in the heart should do it, right?"

Damon reached his hand out but Kai stabbed it with the broken end of the umbrella. Damon cried out in pain as Kai talked. Jenny quickly took action and picked up the other broken end of the umbrella.

"You're not staking anyone," she responded as she went whack him upside the head with it.

But he had quickly turned around and stopped the stick from hitting him with his hand. He smirked, "Hi, Jenny."

"You can see me?" she uttered quietly.

"Well, duh."

"Good, then you can see this," she brought her knee up and hit him where the sun doesn't shine.

Kai fell to his knees, "Ow."

"I really didn't imagine that you were violent."

"Then you imagined wrong."

Kai suddenly reached out and grabbed her arm. A red glow erupted around his hand and she felt a pull inside herself like she was being drained and her form started to flicker.

"No!" Damon shouted as he ripped his hand from the stake and got up to attack Kai.

Kai flicked his hand out and the bottles on the shelf all erupted and Damon got burned by the vervain and he fell to his knees once again. Kai let go of her and stood up. She put her hand against her chest; she wasn't flickering anymore but she felt a vortex had been opened inside her chest.

Kai patted her shoulder, "Sorry about that."

She squinted her eyes at him. How was he sorry after all that occurred?

Bonnie suddenly came into view and warned, "Stay away from him."

"The useless one is here. Thank God. I've watched you try to do magic for months now. What are you gonna do, fail at me?" Kai said. "It's embarrassing. I'm embarrassed for you."

Bonnie looked at Damon on the ground who looked back at her. She then glanced at a candle on a side shelf and it lights up. Damon is relieved while Bonnie is happily surprised.

"Uh-oh," Kai said.

"Run," Bonnie addressed Damon.

Damon vamp sped out of there but Jenny stayed while Bonnie chanted, "Phesmatos Incendia."

A fire lit up around them and even though Jenny was so close to the flames, she didn't feel any heat. She wasn't sure if they'd even burn her.

"Ok. Ok. Ok."

"Giving up so soon? I'm embarrassed for you."

Suddenly, Damon knocked Kai out from behind. "Sorry I called you the most annoying person in the world. I hadn't met him yet," Damon said and Bonnie smiled.

_____

They took Kai back to the Salvatore Boarding House. Damon tied him to chair. He asked Jenny secretly if she was okay; she told him she was fine but she lied. For once, she wanted to sleep.

It took awhile for Kai to regain consciousness. Damon immediately, took notice, "You're awake. Good. Now for the Q&A portion of the evening."

"Let me guess. I answer right, I get a pork rind. Wrong, I get a poker."

"What? No, no, no. These are for me," Damon held the pork rinds away from Kai. "You just get the poker."

"Yeah. You don't have to do that."

"No?"

"We're on the same team."

"Really?" Bonnie questioned. "Do you always try and kill your teammates?"

"Well, for one, I didn't try to kill Jenny. She's my favorite so she's the last one I'd kill," Kai answered.

"Jenny?" Bonnie asked and looked at Damon. "What is he talking about?"

"He's seeing his dead best friend," Kai said. "There. Now you know."

At the thought of Jenny, suddenly Bonnie could see the aunt-like figure and she jumped. "Oh my god."

"Hi, Bonnie," Jenny smiled slightly and Bonnie ran to Jenny, hugging her black-and-white figure.

"You're here. Oh my god. You're here," Bonnie was so hopeful and optimistic now. "No wonder Damon's cooking got better."

"I did give him some tips."

Damon noticed Kai had a bitter or maybe jealous glint in his eyes as he looked at the reunion. So he stabbed Kai with the poker.

Kai hollered with pain, "Ow, what the hell? Why did you do that?"

"Call it payback."

Jenny and Bonnie had broken up at the scene. Bonnie was so happy to have her; Jenny was a bit like everyone's aunt since she grew up with Elena.

"Back to the important question: why did you try to kill me?" Damon said.

"The important thing is that you have your magic back. It worked," Kai revealed which made Damon and Bonnie look at each other. "What, you... you didn't really think I'd kill Damon, did you? Heh heh. In what universe does that make sense? Who would kill 1/4 of our population? I'm not a monster."

"I knew Bonnie would show up. She always comes back, all 13 times, and I knew with the right motivation she'd be able to access her magic, although I-I did get a little worried with all your bickering that Damon's life wouldn't be enough motivation..."Kai continued and the three of them look unamused. "...but turns out it was. I guess that's just how you two show your love."

"So you did all that just to make sure I would have my magic?" Bonnie said.

"Of course I did. Because your magic is the key to getting us the hell out of here."

Jenny was unaffected by the revelation unlike the other two. She was a ghost and they weren't; she didn't think she'd be able to get out.

"But what did you do to me?" Jenny asked.

"Oh. Oh, that," Kai smirked. "Well..."

Kai flicked his hand and the bindings holding him to the chair broke. He stood up and prodded at the shoulder that was stabbed before holding his hand over it for a moment. When he pulled it away, the blood was gone and the wound she guessed healed.

"I just channeled you. You have an unlimited amount of spiritual energy around you because your, you know, dead," he smiled at Jenny. "I told you that you're my favorite."

"So you're a witch?" Bonnie asked.

"No. I can channel magic temporarily," he said before smirking. "Which means you're not the only special one around here, Bonnie."

AN: sorry this took forever to get out. I'm not entirely sure it's good but there was some important info in this chapter. Just to clarify, Damon is not with Elena and won't ever be in this book.