@dhruvi...as much i dont want to get into the whole quoting thing especialy since this seems to be a topic that has been discussed much, but i feel i have to state WHY I think Damon feels protective of Bonnie because shes Elenas friend, one who is unlike Matt or Meredith.
"He opened his eyes again in annoyance. Now things were getting loud down there. Humans yelling. Why? What was the point? The rabbit always squeals in the jaws of the fox, but when has another rabbit ever rushed up to save it?
There, a new proverb,and proof that humans are as stupid as rabbits, he thought, but his mood was ruined. His mind slid away from the fact, but it wasn't just the noise below that was disturbing him. Milk and honey, that had been'a mistake. Thinking about that had been a blunder. Elena's skin had been like milk that night a week ago, warm-white, not cool, even in the moonlight. Her bright hair in shadow had been like spilled honey. Elena wouldn't be happy to see the results of this night's pack hunting. She would cry tears like crystal dewdrops, and they would smell like salt."
Result of the Night packs hunting=The outcome of Matt, Mere, and Bonnie. He wants to ignore their plea for help but can't because he knows Elena won't like the outcome.
Furthermore, Meredith says to bonnie that Damon's never wanted us dead because he knows it won't help him with Elena. So we know now that Damon has an interest in saving the friends because they are very close to Elena, and they're basically his ticket to her. And Meredith is saying this ONLY because she knows Damon is listening to her and she also stops Matt from saying ANYTHING that would upset Damon and prevent him from helping them, although it doesnt work because he hears everything from the tree. lol He then looks at the three of them and decides to save Bonnie "...But he was going to save this one. Because it was his whim. Because she had called for his help so piteously."
He then brings her to do the boarding house and Stefan assumes Damon has hurt her, "Normally, Damon was always up for a fight, but right now he could almost hear Elena's weeping over her human friends, and something inside him felt tired. Very old'centuries old'and very tired"
Before putting bonnie is the bathtub, damons brain is shooting questions as to how he should help her and if he should ask Elena for help in case someone thinks otherwise, and then he catches Elenas eyes and all the questions disappear because he heard Elena say "please, help her."
And then, Damon is upset at the maloch because it tried to hurt 'his humans' and then it dawns on him that he has started to consider them 'his.' "Slowly, inside, Damon could feel something growing. It had sparked when he thought of the audacity of the malach, hunting his humans right under his nose. It didn't ask the question of when the group in the car had become his humans—he supposed it was because they had been so close lately that it seemed they were his to dispose of, to say whether they lived or died, or whether they became what he was."
"Bonnie had called for his help for nearly half an hour before succumbing to the darkness.
That was what needed to be said. Needed to be examined. Bonnie had called for Stefan—who had been too far away and too busy with his angel—but she had called for Damon, too, and she had pleaded for his help. And he had ignored it.
With three of Elena's friends at his feet, he had ignored their agonies, had ignored Bonnie's frenzied pleas not to let them die." Damon feels joy and pride that Bonnie called him also, and not just Stefan. he felt they finally accepted him for who he was and not just Stefans evil brother. And he saves bonnie because she wasn't overly judgemental like meredith and matt.
And the joy he feels after saving her is simply because he saved her and not Stefan. Damon saw a different side to himself, one that was actually helping a human and not slurping from one. He calls Bonnie his bird. "When Bonnie said, "But I'm alive!" with an abrupt 180-degree turn in mood, her heart-shaped face flushing suddenly with joy, the fierce pride Damon felt in response was intoxicating. He and he alone had brought her back from the edge of icy death."
I dont see anything here that would indicate that he had feelings for bonnie other than protecting her either as someone who was vulnerable and perhaps a friend, or as Elenas friend. My conclusion is that Damon CARES for Bonnie. I'll even go as far as saying that MAYBE he even likes her, but its nowhere near love, or what he feels for Elena. Elena is his driving force.
ANd plus, how are we to know that Bonnie even likes Damon?? Bonnie has pretty much flirted with everyone! Shes even had thoughts about Stefan on various occassions.
