Bonnie could hear the sound of the wind roaring nearby and felt an icy chill blanket her skin. She fought internally to lift her limbs or open her eyes – make some type of movement but it felt like she was trapped underwater; each part of her body cemented into the ground that had to be physically forced up. Focusing on one body part at a time she felt herself slowly coming back to life, opening her eyes to light shining through overhead. Squinting and lifting her arm to cover her face, she tried to piece together where she was and how she ended up there.

Bonnie's most recent course of action started playing out in flashes before her eyes; walking to the cave with Kai, doing the protection and resurrection spells on him and proceeding with the chant to leave the prison world – the brightness illuminating the room being the last thing she saw. She shot straight up as fast as her achy limbs could manage and looked to her right at Kai's sleeping silhouette.

"Kai!" she croaked; her voice sounding as beat up as her body felt, "wake up!"

Not sure if they had passed out during their attempt and failed to get home or if they did in fact succeed, she leaned over and shook him with a blend of fear and excitement. His face didn't change under the momentum and she moved her hands around his neck, lifting his head closer.

"Come on, I'm not waiting all day again for you to finally get up – focus on my voice. Wake up Kai."

She said the words sternly and was close enough to his face that he would have either broken character and started laughing, or – shaking her head she placed his back on the ground and leaned her ear against his chest. Her eyebrows drew in concern hearing his slow heartbeat; similar to what she felt when she was chanting but somehow right in the middle of how it should be – both strong and steady or nothing at all.

There were two possible outcomes Kai could fall into in their attempt to return to present day; his father succeeds in stopping his heart like before and either spells kick in to bring him back to life, or his father isn't able to break through the spell's barrier and Kai comes back healthy. What she wasn't prepared for was the inevitable Russian roulette of option three – his father still having a hold on him from unsuccessfully killing him during their escape. Now he was stuck in the center of both power sources wrestling against one another struggling to break free.

Bonnie lifted her head off his chest and flexed her fingers, placing her palms where her cheek was resting and muttering the chant to fill his lungs with air. She felt his chest expand as he breathed deeply on the next inhale and his heartbeat was starting to become more frequent. Looking over his face and not seeing any change she rubbed the side of her head in frustration, scooping his hand off the ground and intertwining their fingers.

"Concentrate…" she muttered, closing her eyes and focusing on the hand in hers.

Bonnie tried to imagine magic flowing out of her hand into his and rejuvenating his entire system; much like the moments Kai has done it willingly to her. She squeezed his hand so tight she could feel her ring digging into her skin and yelled out in frustration when no jolt of magic charged out of her. She wondered how many times Kai had come up against scenarios of needing magic in the moment and the anger and disappointment he must have felt after each and every defeat. Witnessing with her own eyes and hearing a handful of terrible memories he's had to endure, she couldn't imagine the rage and inadequacy that must have overcome him during his darkest times.

Looking over his profile she had the urge to do two distinct and opposing acts; slap him, or kiss him. Both would hopefully get a reaction and stir him from his slumber but was split equally on which road she'd prefer to take. Slapping him would be more effective, quick and easy and almost certain to wake him but her mind hovered over the opposite end of the spectrum. Bonnie promised herself and vocally announced that there would be no more flirting or intimate gestures between the two of them and had every intention in sticking by it. She did not want anyone to know of the secret rendezvous her and Kai had gotten into over the months and was especially not eager to hear their opinions on the matter.

Shrugging she brought her palm up and gave him gentle but firm taps on both cheeks, gripping his chin and nudging it slightly to see if the motion would shake him.

"This is ridiculous," she huffed to herself, looking behind her at the cave's opening and having the urge to run the half mile through the woods and see if she stumbles upon another person.

Drumming her fingers against his chest she leaned over his shoulder and face, looking at his calm and boyish features and still had trouble wrapping her head around how an innocent face could enact such truly terrible deeds. Shaking her head at her last ditch effort she leaned forward and pressed her lips gently against his; soft but secure as she snaked her hand up to rest on the side of his neck.

Bonnie left small pecks against his, attempting to coax him out of his subconscious and felt her dexterities tingling at the contact. Her fingers ghosted across his neck leaving a charge in its path causing Kai to hum in the back of his throat. The noise enticed something within her and the tinging heightened her senses; her lips just barely vibrating against his.

Kai let out a sound between blowing out a gust of air and a groan, cupping the back of her neck to pull her closer. Bonnie breathed out a sigh and internally smacked herself for letting this happen – already – but wanting to hold onto the feeling that comes with it. Before letting herself fall into the moment she turned her head away from his, resting her temper on his forehead to catch her breath before lifting her head to stare into his sapphire eyes.

"Well that was a nice way to wake up," he rasped through an equally battered voice.

"That was the only way to wake you up," she corrected "shaking, slapping, and chanting were all failed attempts; I was running out of options."

"So you saved the best for last," he nodded "smart."

"I'm a real genius," she said sarcastically, her mind thinking back to all the situations she's gotten into while being in the prison world "can you get up?"

Kai scoffed at her question and tried to lift up with ease, making it halfway before he hissed out a painful breath.

"What is it?"

"My chest," he murmured rubbing over his heart, shaking his head and looked back at her with a vibrant smile "you didn't kill me."

She snorted and rolled her eyes, reaching for his arm to help him stand as his legs almost gave out from under him.

"I wouldn't be so sure," she huffed as she tried to hold his bodyweight.

"I'm still standing," he boasted proudly.

"Barely," she stressed, reaching for his stomach to keep him steady driving her point home "what's going on; why are you not healing? Or doing your usual dying and coming back to life trick?"

"Maybe my mojo's running low," he suggested flexing his hand by his side "or maybe it's a natural reaction to arriving in present day – the nausea of reality and all that."

"That would be preferable; then I can push you off on the closest doctor I can find," she taunted.

"And miss out on my own personal nurse taking care of me? That would have to be one hell of a doctor."

"Well if we just so happen to bump into another living person that will be our first stop. Think you can make it back to the house without passing out?"

"I'll manage," he said sardonically as he pulled her in around the shoulder and she secured her arm around his back before they walked out of the caves entrance.

The walk back took longer than she anticipated; both with carrying half of his weight and needing to stop to catch her breath – by the time she reached the front door she was feeling as winded and lightheaded as Kai's pale features. Squeezing her eyes tight with a quick prayer of finding somebody in this God forsaken house she turned the handle and slowly entered the premise. She glanced down both hallways and took the few extra steps to the living room – movement catching her peripheral off to the left.

Bonnie's eyes widened to the scene playing out in front of her; a guy's naked back facing her as he peeled a skimpy shirt off of the girl underneath him and leaned back into her. Her eyes took in all of the little details and felt her heartrate rising at the instant recognition.

"Huh," she laughed in disbelief, their lips separating as he turned and locked eyes with hers.

"Bonnie?"

She felt Kai looking back and forth between them, trying to place who he was before his smirk spread like the Grinch.

"Oh please tell me that's who I think it is."

"Jeremy," she responded to his pleading eyes as he jumped off the couch towards them almost knocking her and Kai over.

"Are you really here? How did you make it back? Are you okay?"

Jeremy held onto her shoulders as he asked questions at a rapid pace, glancing over at Kai on her right and back to her.

"Why is he here, did he hurt you?"

"What no, he – listen it's a long story. I just got back this is the first place I could get to, I expected to find Damon or Stefan, maybe Elena – but this is definitely a surprise."

She looked around his arm and he followed her gaze to the half-naked girl on the couch staring back at them; Bonnie's raised eyebrows a clear indication saying put your clothes on that she picked up on quickly.

Jeremy looked back at Bonnie and crushed his chest against hers; his frame bulkier than Kai's throwing her off balance as she stumbled back a few steps.

"I can't believe you're really here," he murmured against her head and her heart warmed at the statement; wrapping her arms around his back and savoring the moment of feeling missed.

"This is sweet," she heard Kai say beside her "a reunion between the Mr. and Mrs.; truly heartwarming. Perhaps we should ask the mistress if she'd also like to be involved."

The girl took that as her cue and got off the couch quickly; zooming past them to the front door as Jeremy went to step towards Kai. Bonnie stopped his movements and looked into his eyes, tilting her head in confusion.

"Have you been drinking?"

Jeremy's glazed eyes stared back down at her without speaking and she looked around him again landing on the half bottle of bourbon on the side table.

"Starting off a little early today, are we?" Kai hummed "you know happy hour isn't for at least another four hours."

Bonnie shook her head at Kai's harmless banter but Jeremy was once again storming towards him, forcing Bonnie to stand in between.

"Judgement coming from the one who murdered his own family – that's funny."

"Okay – relax. The drinking we will talk about later, and you-"she turned and stared Kai down "cut it out."

Kai raised his hands up in mock-innocence.

"I'm harmless."

"Far from it," Jeremy snapped.

"Bon has nothing to worry about," he said casually and she could see the gleam hinting behind his eyes.

"I doubt that; I've heard enough about you by now to know everyone has something to worry about when you are around."

"Always nice to meet the fans," he said with smile and Bonnie closed her eyes briefly at the realization that this is just the first of many grand introductions Kai was going to be making.

"Do you ever stop talking?"

"Not usually-"

"Never-"Kai and Bonnie said at the same time, her sigh triggering a chuckle out of him "just tune him out, you'll get used to it. Where is everybody?"

"They-" he hesitated with scrunched eyebrows "they haven't been able to get back into Mystic Falls since the night you told me that you never had any intention of coming back."

"Jer," she sighed.

"When you were too busy saving everyone else – leaving me here."

Bonnie felt her expression shift and searched his eyes; reading the pain and anger – maybe even heartbreak – behind his glossy complexion and felt her heart pang with guilt. It had been so long since she was first sent to that prison world that the memories leading up to it ended up getting blocked out to keep her sanity in check. Bonnie was already on the Otherside, battling her way to get back when it started collapsing with her and her friends trapped in its hold. She had managed to pull a handful of her friends back through to the living including Elena, Stefan, and Alaric but her attempt to save Damon was executed too late and they were left behind.

"You told me I had lost you before you were even gone, how did you expect me to move on from that?"

Bonnie fought the urge to arch her eyebrow; the irony of the scene she walked in on playing in her mind.

"With time," she said calmly, trying to relax her expression in hopes it would cause him to do the same. "I'm sorry Jeremy, I tried everything I could to come back but… there was never a way to save me. I had accepted my fate I just couldn't bring myself to tell you or anyone else-"

"We could have helped!" he intervened.

"No," she smiled sadly "If you could I would have told you – but what would that have done? Given us a deadline on what I already knew was coming and ruined the rest of our time together. I did what I had to do."

"It's all my fault," he let out in a rush, pulling her into his tight embrace "I'm the reason you were on the Otherside in the first place and ended up locked away with some deranged child murderer-"

"Nice," Kai cooed.

"He could have hurt you, or worse."

Bonnie could hear Kai's snickering behind her and clenched down so hard her teeth were grinding. She hugged Jeremy closer resting her head on his shoulder and felt his self-loathing radiating off of him, wanting to appease it in some way.

"I don't blame you," she confessed in a small voice and fought the urge to let her eyes water knowing she would quickly unravel.

"I do," he said in a sad tone that had her subconscious playing out the last few memories she had with him and his unsuspecting look of torment when she broke the news to him.

Bonnie opened her mouth to object when he turned and pressed his lips to hers, letting out a small gasp of shock before her mind could process what was happening. Once she was up to speed she tried leaning back but his hand on the back of her head held her in place, putting her hand on his chest to push him back before he let out an agonized noise.

Jeremy broke the kiss and hunched forward holding his temple groaning, her eyes shooting back to Kai's angry expression as he looked down at Jeremy. He glanced up at Bonnie and his features smoothed into a smile, Jeremy's pained noises easing as she helped him back up.

"Are you okay?" she asked concerned.

"Yeah," he shook his head slowly "It felt like my head was exploding, like-"

"A migraine from Hell?" Kai offered "drinking can really damage the mind."

Jeremy looked over, a realization flashing that Kai was still there and Bonnie gripped his shirt to halt any sudden movements.

"You?" he asked incredulously "You're back five minutes and already hurting someone? She should have left you to rot."

"Well I can't rot, technically – I mean look at this young face – but I understand the reference."

"You look pretty rotten to me," Jeremy argued and Kai laughed into a cough, shrugging in agreement looking himself over.

"Speaking of which, we need to get him to the hospital and see if a doctor can tell us what's going on; he was sick during the spell getting home and it seems like it's still got a hold on him."

"Good," he said glaring in Kai's direction.

"Do you want to come with us?"

"I'm not letting you out of my sight," he said sternly "or leaving you alone with him."

"Oh right," Kai snorted "because I'm such a danger to her and all, I forgot. I wonder how we survived this long."

"Jer really – I'm fine; if he was going to kill me he would have by now-"

"It's true," he chimed in.

"So why don't you head out and we'll be right behind you."

Jeremy looked skeptically between her and Kai.

"He's slow, he needs help moving around; just trust me."

He glared over at Kai again before nodding and walking out the front door.

"What the hell was that?" she hissed walking towards him.

"Funny, I was going to ask you the same thing," he said back with equal irritation.

"You're mad at me?"

"Oh I'm just idly standing by watching your boyfriend fawn all over you."

"Ex," she corrected "and he's happy to see me… being back from the dead and all."

"He looked like he was about to get down on one knee."

"Haven't you ever missed anyone before?"

Kai's lack of a response had her raising her eyebrows taken aback; his quick wit to anything thrown at him telling her he was intentionally not answering. Bonnie shook her head and reached for his arm to rest it around her shoulders but he grabbed her waist and pinned her to the wall behind him.

"Stop it."

"I'm just making sure you remember," he said with a dangerous undertone.

"Remember what?"

"That I'm not sharing."

His voice dropped and she felt it shoot straight down her spine; her body responding to the husky directive. Kai hovered so close his nose was grazing against hers and his refusal to break eye contact had her breath coming out in small puffs, pushing against his chest to create some breathing room. Kai took a step back but didn't make any effort to move towards the door and Bonnie shook her head, snaking her arm around his lower back and steadying him before heading outside.

"Keys?" he asked and Bonnie scoffed in response. "I'm well equipped to drive Damon's Camaro; I've been doing it for years now."

"Somehow I don't trust your driving skills in your current state," she said and walked over to the driver's side, opening the door and pulling the front seat back.

"I don't even get shotgun?"

"Quit whining," she huffed and pushed him halfway inside.

Putting the seat back she made sure everything was all set and started off towards the hospital.

"Do you know where you're going?" she heard from behind her.

"Yes, there's a hospital that was near my college – maybe twenty minutes from here if we take the highway."

Bonnie felt Jeremy's eyes on her before looking over his shoulder at Kai and back to her.

"What?" she wondered glancing over.

"Nothing," he answered, staring at her a moment too long like he was trying to read her and looked back at the road.

"Okay…" she drawled out "So what's been going on in your life? Who was the girl you were with; your girlfriend?"

"No," he let out harshly, sounding insulted at the mention of it "she's just someone I've hung out with a couple times. I couldn't even think about dating anyone; I can't imagine caring about anyone else like that – especially this quickly."

Bonnie bit down on the inside of her cheek and gripped the steering wheel harder; her guilty conscious rearing its ugly head again as flashes of her sexual encounters with Kai came front and center. Her mind drifted to more intimate and genuine moments; like the way he opened up about his family and chased her nightmares away that were undeniably alluring. She glanced up at the mirror to Kai's dark eyes staring back at her, dropping them back down to avoid his gaze and tried to physically shrug it off.

"I don't know," she offered "I did tell you that I was dying and it would be the last time you'd see me, and it's already been, what – 8 months? I'm not saying I wanted you to go out of your way to find it but if it did happen to fall into your life then I wouldn't be hurt or angry with you over it."

"Well you don't have to worry; you and Elena are the only women I care about."

"Elena," she sighed happily, missing her best friend some days so much to the point of physical pain. This was the girl that she had talked to just about every day and spent more or less their entire lives together. Not being with her and gossiping over every little things that's happened in their lives is a little blessing she took for granted, the realization coming to her now that there were facets of her life she had to keep hidden.

"Yeah she's going to be shocked to see you; our last attempt to get you out of there didn't go quite as planned."

"Yeah," she let out slowly, relaying the vivid encounter of Kai's father possessing him and threatening to end his life "that could have gone better."

"What happened? Damon went to Portland to find the coven leader and when he came back he was pissed – saying the man blamed you."

Bonnie cringed internally picturing how that altercation turned out when Joshua came back unsuccessful and running out of time; and the over the top dramatization Damon would have displayed in his usual manor.

"To be fair his father was to blame for some of it; his cut and dry outlook on life and responses just rubbed me the wrong way."

"What happened?"

"He... possessed Kai and when he was going to kill him in front of me I… stopped him."

"You should have just let him and come home."

"Hey," Kai interjected from the back and Jeremy turned to face him.

"Damon told us all about you – what you are, what you did to your family, and how you treated Bonnie. I can't even imagine what you've put her through since he left."

"No, you can't," he said flashing a bright smile and Bonnie felt a sinking feeling thinking about all of the innuendos she's going to be hearing.

"If you think you're going to continue whatever forced association you had with her – you're wrong."

"You're funny – telling me what I'm going to do when you couldn't be farther off."

"You're no friend to Bonnie, you're a murderer."

"Wow, bet she's never befriended one of those."

"Guys I'm right here," she chimed in, feeling oddly invisible in a topic involving her.

"I see you," Kai smirked and Bonnie's glare met his gaze in the mirror "jump in any time you like."

Kai went to clear his throat and it turned into a coughing fit, holding the center of his chest with his eyes shut tight. Bonnie had the distinct feeling that this illness was more supernatural than scientific leaving the doctors with more questions and limited answers. The spell his father casted on him last time was meant to suffocate him to the point of his death; his loophole being able to come back to life in the prison world and it wore off.

"What if you have to die?" she thought out loud, both turning to look at her signaling it was said vocally. "I'm serious! The spell wore off last time because you died and came back; this time you were on the brink of death but were able to cross over to present day. I think your body is still being attacked like a stomach virus and you need to reboot your system to flush it out."

"So you're saying the only way to save me – is to kill me."

Her non-response had him falling into a heap of laughter.

"Just when I think it can't get any better. Too bad we aren't still trapped in an alternate universe where I can be killed and brought back to life within hours."

"No, but we did hit with you two different types of resurrection spells; one of them has to work."

"I'm not itching to find out," he grumbled and she could read his sour expression by a quick look.

"Fine, then we'll see what the doctor has to say; see if soup and rest is the answer."

"It's helped before," he sighed and she couldn't help smiling out of the corner of her mouth.

Bonnie turned off the next exit and the hospital was right around the corner. She pulled up to Whitmore hospital parking close to the entrance and hopped out. Kai slowly untangled his way out of the back seat and leaned against Bonnie as the three of them made their way inside.

"There's a free clinic upstairs, we can get your vitals checked and go from there."

"So doctorly," he teased "she can do the job and knows the information behind it."

"Well when half your friends are vampires you pick up on the medical side of things pretty quickly. Plus, Elena came to Whitmore to work in the hospital so I spent a lot of my free time last year helping her study. Maybe she's here today."

"I'm going to give her a call – let her know you're here – I'll meet you up there," Jeremy said and walked back out the front entrance.

Bonnie lead Kai up the stairs and down the winding hallways until she heard a screech from behind her; halting her mid-step.

"BONNIE?"

Her eyes watered instantly at the voice, spinning around to see Elena sprinting full speed at them. She let go of Kai's waist just in time as Elena's momentum running into her had her stumbling backwards.

"I can't believe you're really here," Elena cried into her shoulder and Bonnie felt the tears falling down her face "I've missed you so much."

"I missed you too," Bonnie muttered squeezing her best friend tighter.

"But I always believed I would see you again; no prison or alternate universe could keep you away. Or the prisoner that kept you trapped there longer," Elena added leaning away to glare at Kai beside her.

"Hi," he said with his brightest smile and winked.

Elena stared him down before looking back at Bonnie with sheer joy.

"So what was it like? What did you do? How did you get through it after Damon left?"

"Yeah Damon really was the glue that held us all together," Kai added.

"And how did you survive months with just him?" she asked dubiously.

"With a lot of patience," Bonnie laughed "and when that didn't work – arguing."

"Yeah we had a few ways of dealing with each other," Kai said behind barely contained mischief.

Bonnie was convinced if looks could in fact kill Kai would have keeled over from the daggers shooting out of her eyes. Kai looked between the two, his smile widening when he landed on Bonnie and shrugged leaning against the wall. Elena and Bonnie continued chatting through their long overdue reunion when she noticed Kai lean off the wall closer to her.

"That sign says the clinics down the hall, I don't want to break up our Three's 'Company vibe but I'm going to check if anyone's down there - I'll be right back."

"Okay," Bonnie nodded and both watched him walk down the hall and turn the corner, looking back at Elena wearing a knowing grin.

"What?"

"He's pretty cute."

"Oh my God," she scoffed rolling her eyes.

"He is; sociopath and dangerous murderer yes but he definitely has the looks going for him. Damon didn't say anything about that – only that he looked like he was 14."

"Well that's a stretch," she snorted "maybe eighteen but he does look young; ironic that he should be almost 40 by now."

"Yeah, Damon's almost 150 years older than me so I guess you can't really judge someone based off their outer beauty."

Both looked at each other and laughed until there were tears in her eyes; overwhelmed with happiness over being able to laugh with her friend again.

"Where is he, by the way?"

Bonnie saw a flicker of something in her eyes and her smile froze, forced to stay in place as she glanced behind her.

"He should be here any minute, I was already here but he is on his way."

"Why were you already here?"

"Caroline's mom," she sighed "she's sick – cancer – and she's running out of time."

"No," Bonnie let out in a tormented noise; flashes of growing up with Sheriff Forbes as a surrogate mother along with Elena's playing out through countless scenarios "where's Caroline?"

"Out with Stefan, trying to keep her mind off of it."

"But she should be here," Bonnie argued "what if something happened to her, or she got worse and she wasn't here for it?"

"I know," Elena said sadly causing Bonnie to be hit with another realization.

"She already is worse isn't she?"

Elena looked up at her equally emotional stare and her eyes were brimmed with tears, nodding slowly.

Bonnie let out a gust of air and felt her chest ache in response, the heartbreak of losing another mother transcending into physical pain.

"I need to see her," she said without a second thought and started down a random hallway.

"What about Kai?"

"He's in the clinic how much trouble could he get himself into? I'll be ten minutes."

Bonnie looked over at Elena and took note of her wary expression before it quickly faded.

"Unless you know something I don't?"

"No, just thinking about everyone that's going to be meeting at a hospital – a lot of vampires," she laughed and Bonnie joined in, linking her arm through Elena's as they turned the corner to go back downstairs.

"I think I've heard a joke or two about a vampire walking into a hospital and turning it into a blood bank."

"They should be so lucky," Elena added and they chatted aimlessly, her mind momentarily drifting to Kai wondering if he found a doctor as they made their way to Liz's room.