It was another hour before Bonnie and Caroline managed to leave Caroline's house, but it was still a few hours before her mom would be home so it was fine. She left a note on the table in the entryway and also sent a text, both saying the same thing. 'Staying with Bonnie for a few days to help her with some stuff'. The note was just in case something happened to her mother's phone and she couldn't get the text. Caroline was getting a lot more freedom these days, but still had to check in and let her mother know where she was if she would be gone late or overnight. Caroline had also packed a bag for a few days, which had taken her less than a minute at vampire speed. The majority of the hour had been spent calming Bonnie down.

"You have to teach me how to do that," Bonnie said as she watched Caroline zip around the room.

"I will," Caroline chuckled. "I have a lot to teach you." She was rather glad that one of her friends had joined her in vampirism, selfish as she felt to think that. "We should learn the speed outside though at first. No problem if we break the trees."

"Yeah. Makes sense," Bonnie said amusedly as they got in Caroline's car. She wasn't going to drive until she'd had at least a day or two to get used to the reflexes. And the emotional swings. Having a breakdown behind the wheel wouldn't be good. Once they got to Bonnie's house and went up to her room to drop her stuff off, Bonnie couldn't help but pull Caroline into a tight hug, finding herself getting teary again. "You know I love you, right? I can't thank you enough for this," she sniffled on her best friend's shoulder.

Caroline smiled brightly and hugged her back, glad that this emotional swing was a good one at least. "I know, Bon. I love you too."

"Sorry," Bonnie pulled back wiping her eyes. "I'm a mess. I know."

"It's totally normal," Caroline assured her. "Your emotions just got blasted up to eleven. No, more like a hundred. You're gonna be a mess for a while as you get used to it. I'm sure you remember how much of a mess I was."

"Yeah. You were kinda," Bonnie chuckled. "I could have been more understanding than I was," she said regretfully.

"It's okay. You were dealing with a lot yourself. I get it," Caroline rushed to reassure her before the waterworks could start again. "You feel up for going for a run?"

"Yeah, definitely," Bonnie almost bounced in her excitement.

"Okay, so you'll want to try and be careful of the trees," Caroline said on their way downstairs before stopping. "Actually, I should probably go get some more blood from Damon's first. In case you need healing from crashes."

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea," Bonnie nodded.

"Will you be okay alone for a while or do you want to come with me?"

"I'll be okay alone," Bonnie assured her. She really wanted to surprise Damon with her new state by putting him on his ass in the morning. "Don't tell him yet. About me being a vampire."

"I won't. Promise." Caroline grabbed her purse and told her, "I'll be back in about half an hour. Just relax and try not to break anything." She stopped in the doorway before turning back. "You can always try and practice moderating your strength while I'm gone. With things that can be fixed or you don't mind breaking."

"Yeah that's a good idea," Bonnie nodded. Anything to keep her from losing herself in thought and having another emotional fit. Unfortunately, that didn't work so well. Between the frustration of breaking things and the fact that it didn't exactly keep her mind occupied, she ended up breaking down anyway and Caroline had to calm her down again when she got back before they could go for their run.

Bonnie had more fun than she could have imagined on the run. The feeling of freedom from moving so fast was exhilarating. After a few minutes she did a jump as high as she could and it felt almost like flying. She did another one and tried to do a few flips, but misjudged the distance and landed flat on her back halfway through the fourth flip. Caroline waited a second to make sure there wouldn't be tears before she laughed as she reached a hand to help her up. "Ow," Bonnie groaned.

"Don't feel bad. I did the same thing about a dozen times before I got the hang of it. I'd stick with three flips for a while and work on sticking the landing before trying to add a fourth," Caroline suggested before they got back to running and Bonnie followed the suggestion. She fell on the landing the first few times, but not nearly as bad as landing flat on her back had been. She finally got it though and Caroline cheered before getting a happy bouncy hug from Bonnie. They ran around the forest playing for a while longer before running back to the house. "Follow me," Caroline grinned and then jumped up to the roof when they got there.

Bonnie jumped up after her and skidded a bit in the landing, but otherwise did okay. "This is amazing," Bonnie said breathlessly, taking the blood bag Caroline offered gratefully as Caroline sipped on one of her own. "I mean, I can see why it's a curse and all, but there are awesome parts about it too."

"Yeah. There really are," Caroline said as they sat back and watched the sunset. "It's not really worth everything I lost. At least for me. I wanted to be a mom someday. And I could do without all the danger. But it's not so bad overall. Once you get used to it."

"Yeah, I can see that," Bonnie nodded.

"So, no regrets yet?" Caroline asked, hint of worry in her voice.

"No. No regrets. This is still my world. I just had to find a new place in it. I can live with this one," Bonnie assured her.

"We're gonna have so much fun," Caroline grinned. "What do you want to do tomorrow?"

"Well I have an appointment with Damon in the morning," Bonnie smirked. "He's been teaching me how to fight."

"And he doesn't know you're a vampire yet?" Caroline laughed. "That's gonna be hilarious."

"That's why I didn't want you to tell him. His face when I put him down is gonna be priceless," Bonnie grinned.

"Just be careful. With your emotions a swing like they are and you know how Damon is..."

"It'll be fine. He won't hurt me, even if I lose my temper with him," Bonnie said confidently.

"So you and Damon are like, what? Friends now?" Caroline asked with a frown. "Even after everything he's done?"

"Once I was put in that situation for myself, I got it, you know? You realize that I basically killed John Gilbert. To trade his life for Elena's."

"Okay, but you didn't have a choice," Caroline pointed out.

"And how often does Damon have a choice when he's put in those situations? We ask him for help, he does the best he can, and then we hate and blame him for it? How is that fair?" Bonnie pointed out.

"He had a choice not to treat me like crap when we were 'dating'," Caroline pointed out.

"Yeah. He did. And I'm not saying he's perfect or that he's never done anything wrong. But he's saved all our lives. More than once. That earns him a little leeway I think."

"Yeah, I see your point," Caroline admitted. "He doesn't have anything to do with this whole wanting to be a vampire thing though, does he?"

"No. Not at all," Bonnie shook her head. "Unless you count his offer to help protect me when the many enemies of the Bennett witches realize I'm powerless and come for revenge."

"You think they will?" Caroline frowned, realizing more of her reasoning now.

"I would be very surprised if they didn't," Bonnie said seriously. "And when they do, I want to be able to protect myself rather than having to rely on other people to protect me."

"I get that," Caroline nodded. "And I can't really blame him for offering to protect you either. That's why you started learning to fight with him?"

"Yeah. It is," Bonnie told her. "And I plan to keep learning to fight as a vampire now too."

"That's smart. As a newbie you're not as strong and fast as other vampires, so you need an edge if you're going to be fighting for your life. Maybe I should start learning to fight too," she said thoughtfully.

"It probably wouldn't hurt," Bonnie told her. "If you want, I'll teach you as Damon teaches me and we can work out and practice together." She didn't want to give up her alone time with Damon even if Caroline would be okay with learning from him.

"Yeah, that would be awesome," Caroline agreed. She didn't really want to have to deal with Damon on a regular basis but working with Bonnie she could totally do. Since vampires didn't need as much sleep as humans, they sat on the roof watching the stars and chatting long into the night before they jumped down and went inside to bed. Bonnie had one more blood bag before bed at Caroline's suggestion. As a newbie she would need more blood for a while and she didn't want to wake up starving. The steadier she could keep her diet, the easier keeping control would be.