running you with red

fandom: the vampire diaries (tv)
characters: bonnie bennett, stefan salvatore, klaus mikaelson.
summary: 'can you keep a secret?' she can certainly live one/ bonnie & stefan, the friendship that should have been- until Klaus intervenes. klefonnie. 3x10 au.
a/n: churned this out without much contemplation after seeing the deleted scene with these two characters. I was absolutely fuming that it wasn't included! it got me thinking on the potential shared by stefan and bonnie. title inspiration from blood bank by bon iver.

When vampires were confined to nightmares, witches to an annual fest of trick-or-treating, and life in Mystic Falls was suburban purgatory, Bonnie Bennett was notorious for three things.

One. The two plaits that her grandmother twisted her raven black hair into every day.

Two. The fact that she was always by Elena's side (and not the other way around).

Three. The truth that everybody seemed to know: Bonnie was terrible at keeping secrets.

Eventually she outgrew the hairstyle. That and her grandmother's nimble fingers trembled too much to weave the silky strands into delicate arrangements.

Elena started dating a boy- the boy who'd once pulled her ponytail in first grade and snapped the elastic of her bra strap in the sixth grade.

And, eventually, Mystic Falls was rife with secrets around every corner- with Bonnie feeling like she was at the heart of them all. Spilling secrets was not an option- instead, she was becoming defined by them.

The dilapidated house looks like something out of a low budget horror film. Broken shutters, shattered windows and overgrown with weeds. And yet, Bonnie can't shake the sense of belonging.

Despite the complete lack of life, it feels more homely than the empty house she sleeps in every night. Her father travels, and trusts her to stay at home alone.

His sweet little Bonnie wouldn't lie about any misdemeanours. His sweet little Bonnie doesn't keep secrets from him.

She wishes her heart would race and her eyes would widen and she would feel something, anything.

Bonnie is convinced that numbness is worse than fear, worse than pain, worse than heartbreak. She doesn't think anyone would believe her if she tried to explain the feeling.

(She doesn't think she would try in the first place).

She wishes she wasn't surprised to see the coffins, neatly arranged in the basement. They've been plaguing her nightmares for so long that she would have been more shocked if they weren't there.

Bonnie reminds herself that surprises aren't for people who have been pushed to the brink of death and back. Surprises aren't for people who see visions in their dreams or numbers in their head.

Surprises aren't for people like her- aged beyond her seventeen years by a mere twelve months' worth of occurrences

"Can you keep a secret?"

Bonnie whirls around, her hair slipping into her face. "Stefan." she breathes, quickly regaining her equanimity.

He is closed off in his stance: hands slipped into the pockets of his jacket, shoulders slightly hunched forward, eyes green as ever and yet unforgivingly blank.

For a moment, out of sheer instinct, Bonnie is tempted to smile. But there's no softness or warmth in Stefan's eyes and she is reminded of what he's done in the past three months.

"You shouldn't be here. Damon and Elena…"

He cuts her off unceremoniously.

"Have been looking for me. I assumed as much. You didn't answer my question, Bonnie." His words are abrupt and monotonous, as though pieced together by a machine instead of a man.

But he's not a man, Bonnie reminds herself. He's a vampire. He's a monster.

"You didn't say why you were asking." she deadpans, warily pacing through the cellar. "I've seen these before." Bonnie pauses, wondering if she can trust Stefan with the truth that has been burdening her shoulders ever since the nightmares started.

It wouldn't alleviate the load, but she would take her chances at getting some answers.

"In my dreams." she clarifies, gently tracing her fingers over the smooth wood of one of the coffins. She looks up, careful to keep herself from giving too much away. "Why are they here? Why are you here, Stefan?"

For a moment he falters, but it's a moment so fleeting that with a blink of his eyes he's back to his stony composure.

"I'll show you."

A thousand questions are lingering in Bonnie's mouth as she leaves the witches' house.

Why should I help you? Why did you ask me? What do I owe you for?

She mentioned Elena, and the anxiety he was putting her through- but there wasn't a flicker of recognition across his face.

She wonders if in his dehumanised state he remembers the tentative friendship they'd once managed to build (on the god-damn ashes of her grandmother's corpse).

She decides that she spends far too much time wondering these days.

"If I'm going to help you, I'm going to want some answers." Bonnie announces as she storms back inside the witches' house. Part of her expected for him to have disappeared by the time she walked back through the forest, but he's still standing there, contemplative and still.

He looks at her and folds his arms, wordlessly inviting her to continue.

"Why are you doing this? Do you really think that taking Klaus' family is the best route to getting your humanity back?" Bonnie is breathless, but it was a relatively short walk. She feels nervous. She's aware that the Stefan in front of her is erratic, impulsive and close to evil- that if she crosses one wrong line, his teeth will be in her neck faster than she can give him an aneurysm.

"I don't care about my humanity." Stefan quips unflinchingly, before turning back to the coffin.

"You're a liar, Stefan."

Though she stands, unmoving from her position, Stefan's shoulders seize up as though she'd just threatened him. Bonnie freezes. The moment stretches into a second and then-

BAM.

His hand is around her neck, and he's holding her up to the wall of the basement. "I do not need a psychiatrist, Bonnie. What I need is for Klaus to get his hybrids out of Mystic Falls, and you're going to help me do that."

Struggling under the force of his hand, Bonnie exhales a horrified breath. Alarm bells are ringing in her head, but she's been through too much and seen too much to really give a damn.

"Who are you?" she struggles to get the indignant words out, but they have the desired effect. Stefan takes a staggering step backward, dropping his hand.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you and your brother are a lot more alike than I initially thought." Bonnie spits, touching her hand gently to her neck where he'd clutched her. "Fortunately for you, I do know better. Good-bye, Stefan. Good luck with your game of capture the flag."

Turning on her heel, Bonnie brushes up the stairs, without the intention to return.

Except she does return.

Of course she returns.

Because there's some sort of force always pulling her back into the world she wishes she could escape- or maybe she is the force. Maybe she is this world, and there's little she can do to rid herself of it.

She sits on the floor of the basement in the witches' house, grimoire in her lap, gently mouthing the words to spells as she reads. Her hair hangs loose and covers the side of her face.

"Bonnie." The word is simple, hesitant. She looks up, and Stefan is standing there. For a moment she thinks he looks guilty, but then she realises that she's just imagining what the old Stefan would look like.

He blinks, seemingly unfazed as his green eyes take in the faint purple bruising around her neck. She'd attempted an antidote made from some herbs found in the dying garden outside of her house, but it had only numbed the pain for a short while. The bruise remained.

"Did I do-"

"What do you think, Stefan?" Bonnie rebuts tiredly, before returning her gaze to the book. "Before you ask, no one's seen. Luckily for you it's scarf weather."

Hesitant, Stefan gives a slight nod. "Thank you." There's a lack of sincerity in his phrase, Bonnie notes, but she lightly shrugs her shoulders instead of pointing it out. "I'm sorry."

Before Bonnie has the chance to deny his apology, he's kneeling beside her, his wrist inches from his mouth. "Here." he says, but before he has the chance to draw blood, she holds up a finger.

"Look." Pointing at a symbol in the corner of a page, she casts her gaze out towards the coffin in question, where an identical symbol is engraved into the corner. Standing up suddenly, she walks past the coffins of Klaus' siblings and pauses in front of the one that simply won't open.

Glancing down at her grimoire, Bonnie begins to mutter the incantation under her breath. She continues to do so for a couple of minutes until there's a great jolt that originates from somewhere within the coffin that shakes the walls of the basement.

She's about to whirl around to ask Stefan if he felt it, but he's by her side before she has the chance.

"Keep going!" he commands, eyes slightly widened.

"A 'please' would be nice." she mutters under her breath, but complies.

It's her own curiosity that's got her going now.

Two days and frequent trips to the witches' house later, there's no proof of success.

She's standing in front of the coffin with her eyes closed, her hands outstretched when she suddenly hears something slam into the wood.

"Stefan!" she screeches instinctively, taking a step backwards as he slams a water pipe he'd undoubtedly wrenched from somewhere underneath the pipe into the coffin.

"What the hell are you doing?" she demands, reaching out to put a hand on his shoulder to restrain him. He shakes her off immediately.

"What you obviously can't!" he seethes, smashing the pipe repeatedly into the coffin to no avail. "We have to get this open. We have to kill Klaus."

Bonnie shakes her head. "That's what I am trying to do!"

"Then try harder!" he rages, beating his knuckles against the side of the coffin until they begin to bleed and break.

"Stop- Stefan, stop!" Bonnie drops her hands to her side. "Why are you acting like this?"

"Because I can't live like this anymore!" he suddenly roars, whirling around to face Bonnie with the pipe in his hands.

Her eyes, green and somehow innocent, widen as she braces herself for the blow that doesn't come. Instead, she hears the pipe clatter to the ground. Panting heavily, Stefan clutches the back of his neck with his hands, wincing at the pain.

Calm and assured that his episode is over, Bonnie gently rolls the pipe out of the way with her foot as she approaches him. "Give me your hands." she orders, holding his in her palm while she closes her eyes and mutters.

"This spell…I couldn't get it to work so well for me, but it should speed up the healing process for you." she murmurs under her breath as she concentrates. When she opens her eyes, his hands are completely healed.

Stefan retracts them quickly, examining them with an incredulous expression of awe on his face.

"Why would you do that for me?" he manages to ask quietly after a good thirty seconds.

Bonnie is almost tempted to roll her eyes at the fact that he can't even muster the integrity to thank her. Instead, she turns back around to pick up her grimoire.

"Because I'm a witch. And that's what we do. We help and heal the people we…"

Bonnie pauses, the air still with her contemplation. "The people around us." she finishes, before ascending the stairs and leaving him alone.

It's been a few days since she's been to the witches' house, and strange things have been happening to her.

The dent in her car has mysteriously disappeared. There's a completed essay on the recurring themes in Macbeth in her locker. She checks the mail one morning and sees that her electricity bills have been paid.

She's not haughty or proud, but Bonnie doesn't take kindly to charity either. Somehow, she finds it within herself to make an exception.

Elena asks her why she's been behaving so distantly.

"I just…" Bonnie hesitates. "Actually, maybe there is something I need to tell you." Whilst struggling to find the words that would soften the blow (I've been conspiring with your blood-sucking ex about killing a monster that's threatening everyone in town), she blinks and sees a pair of green eyes, green eyes that trusted her looking at her.

Elena stares at her blankly, and Bonnie shakes her head. "Never mind. You've got enough on your plate…I have to run."

"Do I need to file for a restraining order?" Bonnie asks, apparently speaking to thin air as she walks up the steps to her door. Juggling the textbooks in her arms, she unlocks the door and steps inside, leaning her petite body on the doorframe as she waits for Stefan to reveal himself.

There's a moment, and then he's standing there. "Just thought I'd look out for you." Stefan admits, a slightly sheepish expression on his face.

She thinks it's the closest thing to a smile she's seen on him in months.

"I don't need it, Stefan. You don't owe me anything. I haven't the coffin open."

He shrugs gently. "Yeah, well, seeing as you're my only hope, I figured I'd make sure you're up to the job."

She thinks that's the closest thing to a joke she's heard from him in months.

Bonnie sighs. "I'll come by tomorrow, Stefan. Have a good night." He nods wordlessly, and Bonnie closes the door.

An hour later, the doorbell rings, and she's certain she knows who it is. Wrenching the door open, she feigns annoyance. "What do you-"

Bonnie freezes.

Klaus smiles. "Bonnie. How lovely to see you. You have a beautiful home. I must say, as much as Stefan has been trying to maintain his secrecy, subtlety was never a strong suit of his. Standing on your doorstep in broad daylight hasn't been his smartest move."

Instinctively, Bonnie takes a step back, thankful that he can't cross the threshold of her house. "What do you want?" she demands, feigning bravery.

"No need to be rude, little witch. Now, I suggest you invite me in, or I'll have one of my friends pay a little visit to the high school. I know for a fact that the Gilbert boy is in the library studying right now. And your friend Matt is playing football. I'm sure Tyler would love to take care of him if I asked."

Bonnie feels something in her chest clench and speaks through gritted teeth. "I don't own the god-damn house. Sorry. Any other requests I can acquiesce to?"

"Oh, Bonnie. Fortunately I always keep my options open, love. Looks like you and I are going to take a little walk."

Klaus' house is full of gaudy interiors and antique furniture.

"Now, I'd offer you the grand tour, but it seems as though we have more pressing matters to attend to. So you'll have to excuse my rudeness." the Original vampire says cheerfully, and Bonnie feels tempted to retch at his overt politeness.

"You're going to tell me where Stefan's keeping my family, or my previous offer regarding your friends still stands."

Bonnie shakes her head. "I couldn't even if I wanted to." she retorts. "He asked me to help hide something from you, but I refused. He's been trying to convince me ever since." she lies fluidly. "I didn't realise it was your family."

Klaus chuckles humourlessly, speaking directly into her ear. His breath sends shivers down Bonnie's spine, and she clenches her fists. "Now, now. You're a smart girl, Bonnie. You know what happens to people who cross me."

She remains silent, refusing to give him the satisfaction.

"Alright then." Klaus announces. "Bring him out."

Bonnie's eyes widen as one of Klaus' hybrids drags a chair across the ballroom, the shriek emitted by the wooden legs piercing her ears.

"Stefan." she murmurs, looking across to Klaus with a questioning expression on her face.

"Snatched him right off your doorstep." Klaus smirks. Stefan's mouth is taped shut, his hands bound behind his back.

"Now, if you're telling me the truth Bonnie, by my deductive skills I would find it rather useless to kill Stefan if he's the only one who knows where my family is." Klaus says conversationally. "Unfortunately for him, his voice seems to be evading him." Walking over to Stefan's stationary position, Klaus rips the tape off of his lips. A pained scream escapes Stefan, and Bonnie realises that the tape was soaked in vervain. "Perhaps if I threaten to kill you, it will return to him."

Klaus reaches out an arm and positions his teeth above Bonnie's jugular vein. "Clock's a'ticking, Stefan. Where are the coffins?"

"No." Stefan forcedly mutters. "I'll…I'll tell you."

"If you kill me, you'll never find them!" Bonnie spits suddenly. "They're spelt." she admits. "No one can find them without my help."

Klaus pauses, holding Bonnie at an arm's length away and peering at her face closely; undoubtedly attempting to determine whether she's lying or not. "Is that so?" He looks across to Stefan, who nods slowly.

"Well then. Looks like we're going on a little field trip!"

Bonnie can feel her heart beating in her chest. Klaus hoists her over her shoulder and instructs one of his hybrids to do the same with Stefan in his weakened state as she directs them to the witches' house.

As they pause outside, Bonnie warily turns to eye Klaus, carefully avoiding Stefan's gaze. "If I show you, we strike a deal that you adhere to."

Klaus chuckles. "And what might that be?"

"Get out. You, and your hybrids, and your coffins. Get out of Mystic Falls for good and never come back. That, or I'll set the spirits of a hundred dead witches on your ass."

Examining his fingernails, Klaus holds his hand out to shake. "We have a deal, Bonnie Bennett."

Stefan attempts to argue, but Bonnie silences him with an aneurysm.

"Now that all of my affairs are in order, I'd say it's high time I get going. My hybrids will deal with the coffins." Klaus proclaims. "One last thing…" He reaches out, and takes Bonnie's arm. "Say good-bye to your town, love. You didn't think I was leaving without leverage, did you?" Klaus turns to Stefan. "Heed the warning next time, Mr. Salvatore. Your attempt to cross me was above pathetic, but below paltry."

"Let her go, Klaus!" Stefan snaps. "You got what you wanted. Quit playing games."

Bonnie struggles against Klaus' iron grip, attempting to tug away from him. "You son of a bitch!" she seethes.

"Shan't. Things are about to get a lot more interesting on the chessboard now that I have your Queen- who, by the looks of things, doubles as your Knight. So long, Stefan."

Klaus skitters away, holding Bonnie close to him by the arm, leaving Stefan in the dust with the echoes of Bonnie's scream ringing in his ears.

The doorbell rings in the Salvatore home. Elena is the one to open it.

"Stefan!" her eyes widen. "What are you- how dare you-"

Stefan cuts her off instantly.

"Klaus has Bonnie, Elena. I need your help. Damon's too."

Bonnie isn't entirely certain as to whether she fell asleep or Klaus knocked her out when she wakes. "Where are we?" she mumbles groggily, unaware of whether the lights she's seeing are in front of her eyes or in her head.

Klaus chuckles. "Far away from home. Go back to sleep, Miss Bennett. It's high time you learnt how to treat both your superiors and your inferiors."

"Why don't you just kill me?" she manages to choke out.

"Well," he murmurs, "where's the fun in that, love?"

a/n: yeah, this really isn't that I expected it to be, but I hope you enjoyed reading! I'm tempted to continue with a more klonnie orientated sequel so let me know what you think :-)