Bamon

"He clutched at her as if he needed her for blood, as if they were in a hurricane tossed sea and to let her go would be to lose her."

- Damon and Bonnie, The Return: Nightfall

Bamon is the het ship between Bonnie Bennett and Damon Salvatore from the The Vampire Diaries fandom.

Season 1
Bonnie and Damon first "met" when he dropped Caroline off at school for cheerleading practice. Bonnie surmised that Damon was the mystery guy from the grill that Caroline had talked about, and Elena informed her that he was Damon Salvatore, making Bonnie realize he was related to Stefan. Throughout Season 1, Damon tried everything he could to to steal the Bennett Talisman but his plans were foiled when it ended up in Bonnie's hands. In Haunted, Damon walked up to her asking about Caroline's whereabouts, and after Bonnie warned him to stay away from Caroline, he noticed that the she was wearing the talisman around her neck. When she refused to give it to him, Damon tried to take it by force but the necklace burned his hand, and a frightened Bonnie ran away. Because of the necklace, Bonnie began experiencing hallucinations and dreams about her ancestor, Emily. In History Repeating, Damon approached Bonnie and told her it was her last chance to give him the talisman, and Bonnie (unsuccessfully) tried to get away from him. Damon managed to stop her and said that whether she wanted to believe it or not, he wanted to help her. After Damon allowed Bonnie to leave, Bonnie drove Elena home and told her about her encounter with Damon, saying how he really scared her. She stopped the car and threw the talisman into a field, removing Emily for good.

As it turned out, Emily could not be removed so easily. When Caroline, Elena and Bonnie had a sleepover, the talisman was inside Bonnie's bag, angering Caroline, who had thought Bonnie lied to her. After Caroline and Bonnie made up, Caroline managed to convince her and Elena to hold a séance to communicate with Emily. During the séance, Emily was able to possess Bonnie and use her own more mature powers to destroy the talisman and to prevent the release of the vampires sealed in the Tomb under Fell's Church. After Emily was finished, Damon tried to kill Bonnie and almost succeeded had Stefan not interfered.

After some brief interactions and mentions, Bonnie and Damon were seen together again in Isobel, where after learning that the Gilbert Device was dangerous to vampires, Bonnie offered to dispel the device, which would make it useless. Damon doubted Bonnie's abilities but she proved him wrong, much to his amusement. During Founder's Day, Damon came to "watch the parade" but instead followed Bonnie after she walked away feeling annoyed by his presence. Despite Bonnie's reluctance to talk to him, Damon stopped her and thanked her for what she'd done.

However, she only pretended to dispel the device because of her dislike of vampires. When Elena asked for Bonnie's help to save Damon, reluctantly, Bonnie helped her and Stefan and saved him from death. After he was saved, Bonnie went up to Stefan and told him that if Damon ever spilled another drop of innocent blood, she would take him down and wouldn't hesitate to do the same with him if he tried to do anything to help Damon.

Season 2
After Damon tried to kill Caroline thinking she couldn't survive the effects of vampirism, Bonnie was angered by what he had done, and almost succeed in killing him had Elena not stopped her. The two shared a brief moment together in The Return where Bonnie proved Damon wrong about her abilities yet again, giving him an aneurysm with a simple look. She caused Damon to almost look fearful. In Plan B, Bonnie bumped into Mason Lockwood and got a vision of him and who she thought was Elena (but was really Katherine) kissing. Stefan realized what it meant, and informed Damon. Together, Bonnie and Damon incapacitated Mason and took him back to the Salvatore Boarding House where they tried to find out where the moonstone was and what he and Katherine wanted with it. Bonnie helped Damon tie up Mason and he protected her when Mason scared her, and before leaving, the two shared a moment where Damon called out, “Hey judgy...thank you.”

With Klaus arriving in Mystic Falls, Bonnie prepared herself to fight him by harnessing the powers of a hundred dead witches, but at the cost of losing her life. Upon finding this out at the Decade Dance, Damon cut in between Jeremy and Bonnie's dance and asked her to dance with him instead, Bonnie agreed, and the two decided to talk. There seemed to be tension between the two and Damon almost seemed hopeful that maybe the chance of her survival would be possible. Bonnie teased him, saying, “Careful, Damon. I'm starting to think you actually care.” and Damon sarcastically replied, “We wouldn't want THAT.” When Bonnie realized Klaus was possessing Alaric and was trying to provoke her into using too much of her power (which would kill her), she informed Damon and he reassured her that Klaus was not going to win. He asked Bonnie if she was still willing to do everything she could to beat Klaus, and she nodded. When Stefan and Elena returned, they found Damon alone and Bonnie in the cafeteria fighting with Klaus. After a few striking blows at Klaus, Bonnie sank to the ground and presumably "died". Damon cut in and told them to leave and that he would take care of the body, stating that the Sheriff couldn't find out about it. He was seemingly upset and caressed Bonnie's face before picking her up and taking her back to the house on the witch burning site. She woke up soon after, revealing to a devastated Elena that she had only pretended to die in order to give the group more time to formulate a plan to kill Klaus. Damon and Bonnie decided not to tell anyone because the only way that Klaus would think she was dead was if everyone else did as well.

Novels
In the novel series, Bonnie and Damon have a very deep, complicated romantic relationship. Damon strongly cares for Bonnie and has a very strong connection with her, and they were hinted to be soulmates in the Evensong trilogy. He is shown to be very affectionate, gentle, loving and tender towards her and is very overly protective of her. Bonnie is Damon's established weak spot and berserk button. It was established that Elena could never bring out this side of Damon that Bonnie had brought out. While Damon's feelings for Elena were purely lust and a way to compete and upset Stefan, his feelings for Bonnie were confirmed to be much more deeper than anything he ever felt for Elena. In contrast to the show, their relationship dynamic is very different. Damon is often portrayed as a dark, brooding character, whereas Bonnie is the "sunshine" in his life.

Bamon and Stelena were originally going to be the endgame ships of the novel series, but due to L.J Smith not wanting to make Delena canon (and to align the novel series to the show), Harper fired her and replaced her with a ghostwriter (and later Aubrey Clark) who wrote Delena for the rest of the story. Fortunately, L.J Smith began writing her own series for Bamon and Stelena, Evensong.

Fanon
Bamon is one of the most popular ships in The Vampire Diaries. It has been popular ever since the 90's trilogy came out to the CW's first season of The Vampire Diaries. It is Bonnie's most popular ship and Damon's second most popular. Many ship them because of their dynamic, development and depth throughout the show. Many fans often prefer Bamon over Delena, and were saddened by the show's decision to not make them be together like they are in the novel series.

Many Stelena fans also support the ship over Delena.

On AO3, Bamon is Bonnie's most written ship and Damon's second most written.

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Trivia

 * Damon calls Bonnie many nicknames in the novel series. That includes: Little Redbird, Redheaded Bird, Sweetsinging Redbird, Sweetsinging Songbird, Brown-Eyed Enchantress, Little Redhead, Little Witch, Redheaded Witch, Red-Haired Maiden, Red Songbird, Little Red-Haired Songbird, Little Bird, Baby Bird, Little Human, Human, Sleeping Maiden, Sweet Baby Bird, Sweet Red Bird, His Bird, His Bedraggled Little Bird, His Maiden, His Witch, The Redbird, Fiery Little Fury, Kitten, Sweet Songbird Bonnie.
 * Kat Graham posted "Bamon ;)" on Twitter.
 * Ian Somerhalder held up a sign that said "TEAM BAMON.. SHHH.. DON'T TELL ELENA."
 * When asked which relationship was healthier for Damon, and which he preferred between Elena and Bonnie, Ian Somerhalder chose Bonnie.
 * Bonnie and Damon won Popsugar's poll of the Hottest Sexual Tension of 2015.