"You know Bonnie, sometimes you really piss me off."

Her abrupt summon to Bonnie's home came as a surprise and as such she had mistakenly believed that this signaled the end of Bonnie's need for space. But to her disappointment it turned out to be a mere means to put everything—what Bonnie wanted her to know and vice versa if they're both to be honest with themselves—out into the open. A simple lay of all cards being put onto the metaphorical table. And what Bonnie had shared made her head spin. Through all speakings and claims of her bad calls throughout the past year. Bonnie was not faring much better. And she's not sure if it's nerves or if it's her concern for all that Bonnie has gotten herself into but the words were out before she could stop them.

Caroline blinks once then twice, glancing to gauge her green eyed best friend's reaction to see if she had imagined it, only to find that her doe eyed best friend had in fact uttered the words. It almost makes her wonder if Bonnie finally managed the time spell she always spoke of before things had gotten as bad as they had but the amount of skin she's showing and the two heartbeats resounding in her ears quickly cancels that rationality of the current situation out. The vampire currently sitting across from her cementing it and gives her some hope of pulling one of her childhood friend's off of the other if this ends in either deciding to clear the obstacle of the table separating the two.

"Excuse me?"

"I said," Elena speaks slowly "that sometimes you really piss me off."

"I piss you off," Bonnie repeats through a laugh "That's surprising, considering I'm the one who's always cleaning up whatever mess you've decided to make."

Elena smiles "I'm not a child, Bonnie."

"So is that why Elijah's condition was that you stay clear of everything?"

Elena looks at Bonnie, surprise evident on her face. She hadn't once said the Original's name in her part.

"Yeah, he all but threw your little alliance in my dad's face when he went after him."

"What?" Both vampires in the room speak up but are equally ignored.

"Elijah went after your dad?" Elena says numbly, her demeanor suggesting that that was never even a passing thought or possibility to her. And it wasn't being as Elijah had promised her that he would make sure that no one she cared about would be harmed.

"Yes, Elena, the man that left you—someone that he actually seems to like—in a cave with someone that has made it no secret that she would love nothing more than your death. Went after my dad who has done nothing to him with his homicidal little brothers as his backup. Why is this so surprising to you when he put a hit out on me and my mom and used you as a life insurance policy a month ago?"

"He said-"

"He said what?" Bonnie abruptly cuts her off "That he wouldn't go after anyone? Just how he said he was going to kill Klaus?"

"Yes," Elena breathes out.

"What is it going to take for you to realize that he is no better than the rest of them?"

"So are we pretending that Rebekah isn't one of them?"

"Are you really going to play victim right now? Like she doesn't have a reason to have it out for you?" Bonnie stares at Elena "Okay fine, I'll play along. Rebekah is a Mikaelson. But she never lied or pretended to be anything that she wasn't. Her reasons for not liking you or not trusting you aren't petty." Bonnie pauses "Well aside from that you basically stole her boyfriend while she was daggered. She has it out for you because you quite literally stabbed her in the back, Damon because he pretended to be more interested in her than he really was and Stefan because he wouldn't give her the time of day and playing both her and her sociopathic brother for months. Rebekah's fault is being loyal to those who don't deserve it. Elijah is Klaus in a suit that has heart eyes for you because you remind him of the woman that he loved when he had a heartbeat and a conscious."

"So that's what this is about?" Elena looks at Bonnie, completely exasperated "Bonnie, I have no control over him. Over any of them."

"Elena, I'm only going to say this once. I do not care about how many men you have or do not have in your little harem. If you want to believe that I'm jealous because you attract homicidal men that you would toss to the side as quickly as you do your friends if they didn't look like Calvin Klein models. That's your business, I'm not going to waste time trying to convince you otherwise. You have your hands full at the moment with what is literally the easiest choice someone could ever have." Bonnie pauses "Maybe I am jealous of that. Well, was." she quickly corrects herself "After I turned in my resignation letter I found that all I had to do was simply stop thinking about you. In our time apart I realized that you're very time consuming. I know it's not intentional on your part but still."

"Whether it's running around trying to fix whatever mess you've gotten yourself into. Like the time where you literally had one job. Keep your mouth shut and stay home. And then you didn't. And now my mother is a vampire and I can barely stand the sight of you."

Caroline's eyes widen as her mouth becomes reminiscent of an "O" while Stefan swallows and looks away.

Tears spring to Elena's eyes at Bonnie's confession but she forces herself to straighten her spine and remember Bonnie's own choice of company as of late. She chose to believe in Elijah but Bonnie didn't come out much better than her. Between Katherine, Rebekah, Damon and…

She tries to let that particular train of thought trail off but his presence and the way he barely looks at her leaves her no choice but to address it. Especially since she seems to be the only one affected by his attendance. As both Bonnie and Caroline don't seem to mind and this wasn't even the first that she'd seen them together. The way his eyes linger on Bonnie even after she's done speaking or even when she's not speaking at all bothers her more than she cares to admit.

"But you can stand Stefan's just fine." Elena throws out, bitterness clear in her voice.

She waits for guilt...or some kind of emotion to grace her friend's face but all she gets is a quirk of Bonnie's lips before the witch leans forward, both arms on the table that acts as a barrier between them.

"If you have something you want to say to me just say it."

And the fight leaves her just as quickly as it appeared. Though she has to admit that it wouldn't have been much of one to begin with. And despite her feelings, Bonnie was one of the very few—if not only—people that she never wanted to be at odds with. Contrary to what her actions have led others to believe, she does care about Bonnie and regrets how her choices have affected her friend.

"I don't want to fight with you, Bonnie. Everything you said to me...it wasn't anything I didn't deserve. If you haven't gotten everything out of your system then I will gladly take it but not here. Especially not in front of them." she says missing the hurt look on Caroline's face "Just tell me why you wanted me here." Elena requests looking around Bonnie's home.

Bonnie stares at her former best friend for a full minute waiting for her to do one of her telltale signs of when Elena was only playing politics, to save face when she felt that she was backed into a corner. When she finds none she nods her head and rises from her seat at the table when one never comes. Unsure if she's disappointed Elena folded so quickly or momentarily dazed with the prospect of her childhood friend clawing her way back to the surface.

"This is the only place where I can control who walks inside." Bonnie answers "The boarding house, Caroline's and your home are all Original friendly."

"Ugh," Caroline groans "Don't remind me,"

"I'm not going to go into detail because you can't seem to help yourself around Elijah." Bonnie continues, as she moves to retrieve something from her cabinet.

Elena rolls her eyes at the barb but tenses when Bonnie returns to the table, placing a bronze chalice onto the wooden surface. Along with a blade with various symbols carved into the handle and words she can't read in elaborate writing along the steel that she can see her own reflection in between the intricacies following shortly after.

"If you're worried about-"

"Take what you need." Elena interrupts Bonnie, extending her hand until it's hovering over the chalice, eyes closed as she waits for the searing pain. Seconds turn into minutes and she's yet to feel a thing but when she opens her eyes she sees blood oozing from an open wound from one side of her palm to the other. A glance to her left reveals Stefan staring at her intently as if he's waiting for any sign of discomfort. While a glance to her right shows Caroline flipping through a Grimoire in between glancing at the contents of the steadily filling chalice. The blonde directing Bonnie to stop once she finds what she was looking for and Elena watches as her wound suddenly closes and Caroline reaches over to clean her hand after handing the Grimoire over to Bonnie.

"That's it." Bonnie says not glancing up from the Grimoire in front of her the moment Caroline has gone to deposit the rag into the trash and Elena scoffs before rising from her seat. She's just about to pass the threshold when she stops. Not looking over her shoulder as she says,

"Ten o'clock." she takes a breath to steady her voice "I'm calling it."

Bonnie stills and looks up but is only greeted to the sight of Elena's back as she leaves the room.

-X-

Tables are overturned. Various pieces of furniture are broken in half. Glass along with what were sure to previously be priceless artwork litters the floor. A wrought iron chandelier shattered to pieces. Holes mar each and every wall, some stained with what appears and what smells to be blood. Along with one scent that makes each vampire wish they hadn't bothered to check to prove their suspicions assaults their enhanced senses.

"Well it's the right place." Damon remarks through a grimace.

Katherine doesn't bother to ask how he knows. Opting to let her eyes roam across the room until they land on the one area that seems relatively intact. A lone painting tilted slightly to the left and walks over to it, placing one perfectly manicured finger against the frame, ignoring the burn of vervain as she pushes it to the side until a hole is revealed and she quickly grabs the vial inside.

"Fifty years," she says turning to face Damon who shifts his eyes away from the vial to meet her own "You'd think he'd had learned something from me. At least your hiding place kept me entertained for a day or two. And you had less than a year under my wing."

"Between your legs." Damon corrects his ex.

Katherine's features twist in a way that suggests she's in pain "Unfortunately,"

"Your point?" Damon nearly snarls, annoyed by her constant blatant disdain of their past.

"They're not talking until Bonnie is. Looks like you pushed her right onto her throne. Luckily for you, little Bon Bon doesn't know that yet."

Damon stares at his ex for a moment letting the prospect sink in "What makes you so sure?"

"She's still asking and not telling."

"How long?"

"I don't know," Katherine admits with a shrug and it's a bit jarring to Damon to hear the words without sarcasm dripping from his ex's tone "I didn't let Emily get that far."

-X-

She hates stakeouts.

They make her antsy. They require waiting and after centuries of doing such, her newly granted freedom has resulted in a loss of patience that she's painfully learning they require. The enclosed space doesn't help as its yet another thing coming to remind her of her former prison and she lets out a long breath that does nothing to ease her frustration.

There's an odd mixture of relief and annoyance when she feels his hand come to rest on top of hers, fingers settling between the spaces of her own. Giving a gentle squeeze that to her surprise erases the annoyance at her current position and lets her head loll to the side. In an effort to fight the tug at the corner of her lips at the adoring look that awaits her she opens her mouth to fill the silence.

"I can't do this anymore." Kisa confesses "I know that you and even Katerina trust her but the waiting when you already had a plan. A good plan." she pauses "How can you be okay with this?"

"Because it's never a bad thing to have more than one. Also never hurts to have a witch on your side. Malvado has several but he's never managed to get a Bennett. The most powerful line in history. A Bennett witch, doppelgänger blood, and the Mikalesons are pretty major. Through Bonnie, we've managed to secure all three. With my plan, we secured your revenge, Malvado's death but with Bonnie...death isn't your only option. She could do to him what he did to you. If you want, she could make that temple his prison. Any attempts on his life at his hand or yours or any others can result in his resurrection and you can do it again and again and again. Malvado dying is going to be disappointing no matter how you go about it. But making the Twister to him what it was to you…"

"Sounds too good to be true." Kisa states, trying not to get her hopes up at the prospect.

"Most of Seth and I's plans do but Bonnie can make it happen."

"Seth?" Kisa says making her disbelief at him wanting to help her loud and clear.

"Believe it or not, he wants to help you."

"He wants to save you from me," she corrects "and get in Bonnie's pants."

"Same thing," Richie concedes with a shrug.

"That doesn't bother you?" Kisa raises an eyebrow.

Richie smirks "She'd make a fun sister. But my brother has never had great timing." He remarks shifting his eyes back to where they should be and spots Scott Fuller strolling outside in a suit that looks to have been made for him. His brown eyes doing a quick sweep of the area before motioning to something out of Richie's line of sight.

"Looks like he's making his way up the ladder." Kisa observes once Narciso Menendez comes to a stop beside the newly turned culebra. Both talking amongst themselves until they stop when a vintage black Rolls Royce comes to a full stop in front of them. Scott stepping forward to open the door and they all watch as Malvado climbs out and adjusts his jacket to his liking before walking past the two men with neither a word or glance.

"Hey Seth?" Richie says into his phone the moment he hears the line make a connection.

"On it," Seth replies.

-X-

Katherine looks up from her examination of her nails when she hears footsteps approaching and spares a quick glance to Damon, who is already on alert but seems to relax and she turns to see Rebekah Mikaelson strolling into the room. Blonde hair mused, pouty lips swollen, clothed in nothing but a white button down that has slidden down her shoulder. Marcel following closely behind in a similar state, save the lack of hair and bare chest littered with various marks and black sweatpants preventing her from further inspection. She waits for the blonde's reaction to her silent appraisal of the vampire since she once again has failed to react to her appearance alone but it never comes. Only a thorough once over before she casually makes herself comfortable between the space at her feet and the leg of the couch she's lounging on.

"My silence comes at a price." Rebekah puts an end to the quiet of the room and turns to Katherine who raises an eyebrow "Whatever deal it is that you have going on with Bonnie has nothing to do with me. Just as my mine has nothing to do with you. You stay out of my way, I will agree to stay out of yours. But if you wish for me to keep your secret from my brothers I need you to do something for me."

"I'm listening" Katherine replies, careful to keep the apprehension out her voice knowing that for all the fear surrounding Klaus, his temper had nothing on Rebekah's.

"Bonnie's end of your deal will not have anything to do with my brother's or my own death. If you want to put Niklaus down, so be it. It's nothing that he does not deserve. Between the death of your family and his fondness of daggers when we do not abide by his wishes. I can live with it. But I will not have any part in the death of his or any of my brothers. If you have already made that your end then you will change it or I will see that you have no choice." she pauses then turns to meet Katherine's stare "Are we clear?"

"It has nothing to do with your family. Bonnie already told me that your family was off limits."

Rebekah blinks making her confusion and surprise evident "Then what does she want?"

"Don't know, don't care. As long as I get what I was promised, what happens to Klaus will not matter to me." Katherine replies then shifts her attention to Marcel "Where is he?"

"He left as soon as he got the ring." Marcel replies and frowns when Katherine nods in what seems to be approval.

"It's infused with Bonnie's and Kisa's blood. He's useful until he isn't. Just like everyone else." Katherine says rising from her place on Marcel's couch "Well my part here is done." She makes a show of pocketing the vial then struts towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Damon calls after her.

"Like I'm going to tell you." She snorts then quickly makes herself scarce.

-X-

It was strange.

Once upon a time Caroline was the reason she and Bonnie couldn't talk as freely as she wanted or needed. Now it appeared that their blonde friend was what made things feel as if nothing had changed between them. With Caroline gone, Elena couldn't help but face the fact that she and Bonnie were strangers. They went back a long time, at the other's hip since day one. Bonnie was the first friend she could remember having. All of her earliest memories were somehow attached to the girl pushing herself back and forth in the old swing set. Just as she was. At the small observation she couldn't help but feel the flutter of hope that maybe things weren't as lost between them as it felt in the silence hanging heavy in the air between them.

"Vanessa Henderson," Elena says suddenly and watches as Bonnie turns to her, the look in those emerald eyes making it clear that Bonnie was questioning her sanity "That's her name, the girl that pushed me off the jungle gym and land on Caroline."

Bonnie breathes out a laugh that shows in the cold air of the dead night.

"Bonnie, I don't like this."

"What?"

"That," Elena breathes out a laugh of her own that unlike Bonnie's lacks even one ounce of humor "The fact that you even have to ask me what I'm talking about. I don't like how tense things are between us. I feel like you hate me…" she pauses "If you do then I understand, really I do. And if this is really the end for us I don't blame you but I can't take not knowing where we are."

Bonnie sighs "I thought we talked about this already."

"We did," Elena acknowledges "But you're talking to Stefan and once again, working with Damon behind my back. If you can deal with them, why not me?"

"It's nothing personal,"

"That too," the doppelgänger waits until Bonnie finally turns to meet her eyes "We never lied to each other."

"We never would have if you didn't start first."

Elena scoffs "I didn't want you anywhere near this. I thought the less you knew, the better it would be."

"So you thought that Stefan and I would be able to get along and you'd never have to worry about his addiction that could have led to him draining me?"

"He never did it to me."

"Because he's in love with you." Bonnie says exasperated at Elena's constant defense of her ex boyfriend "And that night proved that no one matters to them except for you. They will kill anyone as long as it means you will live."

"I didn't know then."

"You still don't." Bonnie replies dryly.

Elena frowns, her lips parting to point out how that clearly doesn't matter since she can look past it enough to work with them and shut her out. But her estranged friend seems to read her mind and she's not sure if it's a witch thing or simply a "them" thing since it was something that Bonnie has always been able to do long before her powers came into play.

"They're not doing any of this for me. They're doing it so they can live another day to fight over you. I'm not going to bother asking you to choose. You're not ready to admit that you made your choice the first time I mentioned that there was one. That's not going to change. Especially now that you've allowed yourself to look past all that Damon has done and what they will do to keep you safe. I'm not even upset with you over that. I've made peace with it the first time you chose them. I just can't allow myself to be okay with that and pretend that you're still you. That we're still us. I refuse to be okay with living the rest of my life in your shadow. I don't want my legacy to be keeping everyone but myself alive and happy. I'm not saying that you all don't deserve that but what I am saying is that I don't deserve for it to be at my expense."

"I have dreams and a life to live too. I want to go to college, get a degree. I want to find someone, grow old, have kids. I don't want my line to end with me, to die alone. Be okay with always being a bridesmaid, or a side character in my own life. Through all of the bullshit no one else around here was on that path except for me. If you can be okay with what I want then I won't cut you out. But if you expect me to live up to what has become one sided loyalty, fifth place in your priorities then that's what has to happen. I won't apologize for it anymore than you will apologize for loving them and putting them above us."

"But I am," Elena insists, tears in her eyes "I am, if I could take it all back…"

"I shouldn't blame you, I know that but I do. I blame you for everything that they've done. You may not have wanted it but you allowed them to come into our lives."

Elena scoffs "It hasn't stopped you."

"It hasn't stopped you either. Difference is I'm not letting myself believe them."

Elena presses her lips together and looks straight ahead knowing Bonnie enough to know when there was no getting through to her "Where do we go from here?"

Bonnie's eyebrows knit together in confusion.

"I understand why you resent me and blame me but I can't live with my best friend hating me. I need something. Anything,"

"I don't hate you, Elena." Bonnie says and it's the truth. Resentment, anger, betrayed and even humiliated but hatred wasn't something she could find in herself anymore. And while she did blame Elena for what happened, she knew that through it all, Elena had good intentions. And if she hadn't gone off with Elijah that would have resulted in the loss of Caroline and Tyler.

"Just give me something, Bonnie. I can't say enough how sorry I am. For all that I took from you. I can't thank you enough for all that you've done for me. I can't ask you to trust me again. Or ask for your forgiveness but I need something. Because this can't be it. It's the most selfish thing I've ever done when it comes to us but I can't lose you."

"...and even though we'll never be the same again, I know that when she finally manages to force herself back into my life…"

Bonnie closes her eyes at the words biting her a bit too soon for her liking and draws in a deep breath "I'm leaving,"

"What?" Elena chokes out.

"After I do what I needed your blood for. I'm leaving and I'm never coming back. Bonnie Bennett will become nothing more than a ghost. Like I never existed at all." she pauses "No one knows. If you want to make it up to me then that's what you can do. Help me make that happen."

"I don't understand," Elena shakes her head.

"You know how Klaus was before he came here?"

Elena nods grasping onto the chain links to anchor herself. While Klaus had been a bit watered down during his time here, his build up beforehand was one for the books. But what Bonnie was asking...it didn't seem as if she wanted to even be a footnote. She didn't want anonymity or a thing of folklore, someone known to actually exist to only a handful. Bonnie wanted to not be known or mentioned at all.

"That's what I want."

"And you want me to keep them away before they realize you're gone."

"Yeah,"

"I'll never see you again,"

"This life was sending me to an early grave. At least this way you'll know that my next one won't. And if this goes my way, you will be able to do the same." Bonnie pauses "It just won't be together like we always thought it would."

"And if I can't live with that…"

"You're not hearing me." Bonnie turns to meet Elena's waiting stare "I'm not asking."

A/N: Don't know if anyone is still here but if you are…

Hi, and thank you for reading. Also Happy New Year!