TITLE : Eyes Open
DISCLAIMER : I don't own TVD or any of the publicly recognizable characters. Sadly, the series belongs to L.J. Smith, Kevin Williamson, Julie Plec, Caroline Dries, et al., and CW Network. I just use their universe as my playground.
AUTHOR'S NOTE : Basically, this is me channeling some of my anger and frustrations over the past few episodes of TVD S6, and letting them come out of Bonnie's mouth.
SUMMARY : What happens when Bonnie comes back to the people she loved and protected, and finds out what's been happening while she was gone?
WARNING : Angry Bonnie; Slightly Bamon, but hardly a love story; Parker women (I don't like them, and I'm not sorry.)
Bonnie slowly descended down the stairs of the Salvatore boarding house, her every step quiet and careful not to wake up the others who were still sleeping. Damon was kind enough to let them stay in his house overnight, after they ran late trying, and failing, to come up with a plan to beat Kai.
Speaking of whom, Bonnie smiled when she saw Damon's sleeping form, curled up in the sofa next to the barely lit fireplace, his fingers clutching one of the grimoires to his chest. They have all been pouring over both the Bennett's and the Parker's family grimoires, searching for a spell to stop, or at least weaken Kai. It seems that Damon continued to do so, even after everyone had gone to bed, and had fallen asleep doing it.
She then remembered the reunion she had the day before, when Elena, Caroline, Tyler, Matt and Jeremy, had all tried to crush her with a tight group hug, after she had come from the other Other Side. She did her best to hold back the tears, right up until she saw Damon. As much as she hated to admit it, she had grown accustomed to his face, after being trapped with him for months inside Kai's prison world. She wouldn't say it out loud, but she missed the blue-eyed vampire after he went away when she sent him back to the real world. So, the first time she saw him again, she ran into his arms, and cried on his shoulder. Surprisingly enough, he didn't care that her tears soaked his expensive shirt. No smirk or smart ass one-liners. He just held her close, and let her cry. And then, he told her that he was glad that she was finally home.
She recalled their times back in the prison world, where she got to see another side of Damon...the side that he rarely let other people see. The side that Elena must have seen, which is why she fell in love with him. Bonnie saw that there is hope for Damon. That he was more than just a vampire, a monster, or the evil brother. That he was a friend that she can count on.
She gazed at him affectionate, as she slowly pried the grimoire from his grip, and sat it down on the table. She then took the throw blanket, and covered him with it, worried that he might be getting cold not that the last embers have died on the fireplace. She felt silly for worrying over Damon, considering he's always claimed to be this big, bad vampire, but she was concerned about the sad look he had in his eyes when she saw him again yesterday.
She continued to stare at him, and the weird angle he was sleeping in, and tried her best not to giggle. She swept her fingers to brush stray strands of hair away from his forehead, and noticed the uneasy look that he had. She wondered what could be the problem that he even carried it while he sleeps. She was jarred out of her thoughts when she heard someone clearing her throat. She turned to see Elena, watching them from the foot of the stairs, with a weak smile on her face.
"Shhh..." Bonnie whispered, putting her finger on her lips. She slowly walked away from Damon, and moved towards Elena, before motioning to follow her into the kitchen.
"Good morning, Bonnie," Elena greeted her once they were in the kitchen.
"Good morning, Elena," Bonnie replied with a smile.
Bonnie quickly moved around. She turned the machine on and started to make coffee. She then rummaged through the cupboards, getting a large bowl, a whisk, and some other kitchen utensils, and setting them on the counter.
Elena watched her in awe, as Bonnie moved around the kitchen with great ease. "You seem to know this place pretty well," she observed her friend, as Bonnie took some baking powder, flour, sugar and salt from the pantry.
"Well, this house hasn't changed much since 1994," Bonnie replied. "They still kept everything at the same place," she added, as she went to the fridge and got some eggs, milk and butter. She looked at Elena and smiled. "I'm making breakfast. Any requests?" she asked her brown-eyed friend.
"No, I'm sure that whatever you're making would be great," Elena answered.
"Are the others awake yet?" Bonnie asked curiously, while she mixed ingredients together in one big bowl.
"I heard some 'movement' earlier," Elena said, giggling. Suddenly, her ears perked up at the sound from upstairs. "Jeremy's awake."
"As well, he should be. He was the first one to go to sleep," Bonnie pointed out. "He even went to bed before you did," she added, as she scooped some batter into the lightly oiled griddle.
"Sorry, I crashed on you guys last night," Elena apologized. "I was so tired."
"That's okay. It gave me some girl talk time with Caroline. She caught me up on most of the drama that went on while I was away," Bonnie told her, as she slowly turned over the pancake to brown the other side, frustrated that she can't flip them as expertly as Damon does.
"Where is Caroline?" Elena asked curiously, as she got up to set the table.
"She got up early to go to the hospital," Bonnie replied. "It's Liz's first day of radiation treatment. Stefan came with her for moral support."
"Poor Liz," Elena said, shaking her head. "And Caroline, she hasn't been handling this whole thing very well."
"I promised her that I will look for ways to cure her mom, once we've solve the Kai problem," Bonnie told her.
"Thanks, Bonnie. We can always count on you," Elena answered with a grateful smile.
Bonnie tilted her head and looked at Elena pensively. "What about you? Are you okay?"
"What exactly did Caroline tell you during your little 'girl talk'?" Elena asked, raising an eyebrow.
"She did mention about what Kai did to you," Bonnie answered, sighing deeply.
"I'm fine, Bon," Elena reassured her friend. "It was a good thing Damon rescued me right on time."
"No nightmares or any trauma?" Bonnie pressed, as she piled more pancakes into a serving plate.
"Oddly enough, no," Elena revealed. "Well, I did, at first...but not since I started staying here at the boarding house with Damon."
"You sound surprised?" Bonnie wondered. "It's a tried and proven fact that Damon Salvatore will kill or die first before he lets anything happen to you," she reminded her.
Elena turned her face away to avoid Bonnie's gaze. "I don't remember that," she muttered under her breath.
"What was that?" Bonnie strained to hear her. "Elena, I don't have vampire hearing," she pointed out.
"I said I don't remember that," Elena repeated in a slightly louder voice. "I can't remember the life I had with Damon."
Bonnie brought her hand to her mouth to hide her shock. "What do you mean? Surely you remember Damon. I mean, you must know him, right?"
"I know him...mostly from what people have been telling me," Elena replied with a sigh. "But as far as memories go, I only remember him as a monster who terrorized me and Stefan. The evil vampire who snapped Jeremy's neck."
"Elena...that's a huge memory gap," Bonnie told her. "A lot has changed since then. What happened?" she asked worriedly.
"I'm surprised Caroline didn't tell you everything," Elena said with a weak smile.
"She said that there are stories that weren't meant to be told by her," Bonnie scoffed. "That's gotta be a first for Caroline Forbes!"
"She's right though," Elena sighed, sitting down on the nearest chair. "I needed to tell you myself. I did something..."
"What is it, Elena?" Bonnie asked worriedly, as she sat down beside her.
There was a long pause, as Elena gathered enough courage to push on. "I had Alaric compel me to forget that I ever love Damon."
"WHAT?" Bonnie asked incredulously. "Elena..."
"I had to, Bonnie," Elena began to explain. "Apparently, I couldn't handle the grief of losing him. I guess, when he died, a part of me died with him."
Bonnie brought her hand to her mouth to stifle a gasp, as she looked at Elena with huge disappointment. "And the the best solution you could come up with was have Alaric erase from your head every good thing that Damon ever did? To make him a monster in you own mind?" she asked, still not over the shock.
"It was the only way I could stop loving him," Elena answered softly without looking Bonnie in the eye.
"But I sent Damon back to you! That was a while back!" Bonnie pointed out.
"Yes, I know," Elena replied, still avoiding Bonnie's eyes. "At first, I didn't want my memories back. And when I decided that I did, it was too late. Alaric became human again, so he couldn't compel me to remember. And now, the magic border is gone, so I can't even use that if I wanted to."
"I still don't understand..." Bonnie whispered, shaking her head.
"I was in so much pain, Bonnie-" Elena tried to explain.
"Yes, I get THAT," Bonnie snapped. "What did you think...that Damon and I were just on an island vacation somewhere? You didn't think that he suffered all that time that he was trying to make it back to you?"
"I thought you were both gone," Elena reasoned with her friend. "Nobody knew if there was a way to get you guys back."
"You lost hope," Bonnie said accusingly. "You gave up on him. You gave up on me."
"Bonnie..." Elena said with pleading eyes.
"What do you want from me, Elena?" Bonnie asked her, her voice filled with disappointment.
"I need you to understand that I did what I had to do," Elena answered in a quivering voice. "Please, Bonnie...I really need my best friend right now."
Bonnie remained silent for a while, searching for the right words to say. Finally, she spoke. "I can't pretend to understand, Elena. I mean, I wasn't Damon's biggest fan, but I wouldn't make you forget that you ever loved him. As crazy as it may sound, your love for Damon made you stronger. Bonnie shook her head and sighed deeply. "I don't get it...why would Alaric even agree to this? I thought he and Damon were friends?"
"Because you weren't around to stop me from asking him," Elena replied without thinking.
Bonnie stared at her disbelievingly. "That's too bad! Because I would have stopped you if I were here! And I would have found a way to bring Damon back to you. Because that's what I do for the people that I care about. I make sure that all of you are safe and happy."
"Bonnie, I really don't want to fight with you on your first day back. I'm sorry...I didn't mean to make it sound like this was your fault," Elena apologized profusely. "I need your advice. I need my friend."
"Advice about what?" Bonnie asked, slightly calmer now.
"Damon suggested that we make new memories..." Elena revealed to her.
"Don't you want to?" Bonnie asked her.
"I think I do," Elena replied in an unsure voice. "I don't know. What if giving us another try turns out to be one huge mistake? A life without Damon...I can probably safe and successful."
"But will you be truly happy, knowing that there's a huge part of you that's missing? That's the real question here, Elena," Bonnie pressed. "Do you have feelings for him, other than contempt?"
"I-I do," Elena admitted. "I can't shake him, Bonnie. And I'm afraid that if I give in, that he'll consume me. What do I do, Bonnie?"
"Stop asking other people permission on how to live your life," Bonnie snapped at her. "Be honest with yourself. What do you feel?"
"I don't know!" Elena snapped back.
"Yes, you do!" Bonnie told her. "If Damon disappeared from your life right now, how would you feel?"
"I-I...I would miss him," Elena answered honestly.
"You said that you had nightmares about Kai, until you stayed here with Damon. Why do you think that is?" Bonnie persisted.
Elena had to think long and hard before she answered. "I just feel protected when I'm around him."
"Why would you feel protected around Damon if you truly believe that he is just a monster who snapped your brother's neck?" Bonnie pointed out.
"I don't know! Just tell me!" Elena hissed.
Bonnie shook her head in disappointment. "Elena...all Alaric did was compel the memories away. But everything that you felt for Damon? All of it are still there, inside your heart. You love him that much. No amount of compulsion can erase that. There's no magic spell that can break somebody from loving too much. Listen to your heart, Elena. Stop being so afraid. Quit taking the easy way out. Your life with Damon, it wasn't ideal...it wasn't easy...but it was real. That picture you have inside your head right now, that's not real. You shouldn't run away from what's real. It only makes you a coward."
Elena sat there, speechless over everything that Bonnie had said. She couldn't find her voice to form a sentence to make a coherent reply. It was during this awkward silence that Alaric, Jo , Tyler, Liv, Matt and Jeremy, all decided to join them inside the dining room.
"Good morning," Alaric greeted them with a smile. "Are we interrupting?"
"No, Elena here was just filling me in about what you did to her brain," Bonnie scoffed.
"It was MY decision!" Elena argued.
"A decision you wouldn't have made if you were in the right frame of mind," Bonnie reminded them. "He could have waited."
"She needed my help," Alaric explained.
"And you did it by mentally lobotomizing her?" Bonnie said angrily. "Wow...remind me not ever ask you for help," she scoffed. "Oh, wait...you can't because you're too busy helping other people you just met."
"That's not fair, Bonnie!" Tyler interjected.
"Says the one who's new girlfriend screwed us over a few times too many in the past," Bonnie retorted.
"Hey!" Liv reacted. "I've helped you in the past!"
"You tried to kill Stefan and Elena!" Bonnie reminded her.
"Bonnie, we are not your enemy here," Jo attempted to calm her down.
"Your family have been nothing but a pain since I've met them," Bonnie told the witch doctor. "Any chance you can just grab all of them and leave town?"
"Bonnie! Enough!" Alaric said sternly. "You're being unfair. Be a little more reasonable."
"Reasonable?" Bonnie retorted. "Big word, Professor Saltzman! Easy for you to say. You got out of The Other Side right before it collapsed. You didn't get sucked into some void. Something you people haven't thanked me for."
Alaric looked her straight in the eye. "Thank you."
"I was expecting it to sound a bit more sincere," Bonnie mocked him.
"Bonnie..." Matt scolded her.
"I'm sorry, was I being 'unreasonable' again?" Bonnie sneered.
"Bon, you're not being fair," Elena tried to reason with her.
"Wanna know what else is not fair?" Bonnie taunted them. "Making sure that everyone else got out of The Other Side, alive, when you already know that you have no way out for yourself. That's not fair," she said sarcastically. "Then you find out that the people you've helped in the past, just gave up on you without even trying. Also not fair."
"Bonnie, I'm so sorry-" Elena tried to apologize.
"You're always sorry! Do you even mean it?" Bonnie snapped at her. "Funny thing is," she continued. "The only man who lobbied for my speedy return was the same vampire whose brains I've been trying to fry for years. Not the guys who I've been friends with since childhood. Not the man I've looked up to as a wise mentor. Not even the boyfriend who I sacrificed everything for, just to bring him back from the dead," she scoffed, with tears of anger filling her eyes.
Bonnie kept her chin up, as she continued to speak. "So...those two were busy helping the girlfriends who they've only known for fifteen minutes," she said, pointing to Alaric and Tyler. "Jeremy was either too drunk or too busy pushing himself in between the legs of the slut population of Mystic Falls," she said, dripping with disdain. "Matt has more than enough on his plate, playing vengeful vigilante," she continued. "What have you been up to, Elena?" she turned to ask her best friend. "What am I saying? You were probably the first one to give up!"
"Bonnie," Jo said warily, as she moved closer to the Bennett witch. "I can understand why you're very upset."
"You've never seen me very upset," Bonnie warned her.
"What's done is done," Liv told her.
"Did you get that from a fortune cookie?" Bonnie retorted.
"We all want the same thing here, and that's to stop Kai," Alaric reminded them.
"Points for stating the obvious," Bonnie muttered in reply.
"This guy is bad news," Tyler said.
"You don't have to tell me that," Bonnie responded in frustration. "I know!"
"Then help us!" Jo pleaded. "Help me beat Kai at the merge."
"You have no idea the extent of you brother's ruthlessness." Bonnie told her.
"Actually, we do..." Liv derided.
"No, you don't," Bonnie disagreed. "You saw him kill your siblings ONCE," she told Liv. She turned to face Jo. "He ripped your spleen out, ONE time!" she reminded her. "You don't know what it's like to suffer by his hands day after day, over and over again. You know what an eternity of suffering feels like? I do! Your brother made sure of it!"
"I'm trying to make things right by beating Kai at the merging," Jo replied calmly.
"Your evil twin just absorbed all the Traveler magic in all of Mystic Falls!" Bonnie screamed in frustration. "And from what I've heard, you haven't practiced magic in almost two decades. Do you really believe you can beat Kai at the merge? Or are we just putting our faith in the wrong person?"
"Bonnie, that's enough!" Jeremy scolded her.
"Ah! He speaks," Bonnie laughed humorlessly. "About time too. I was beginning to think you were a statue, Jeremy."
"You're mad at me," Jeremy said. It wasn't even a question.
"Cows get mad, Jer. People get angry," Bonnie snapped.
"I thought I lost you! And all I got was a lousy goodbye over the phone!" Jeremy replied angrily.
"That's it? That's your excuse?" Bonnie scoffed. "You're angry because I said goodbye to you over the phone? You didn't even lift a finger to try to find a way to get me back! I was stuck with a psychopathic serial-killer in some prison hell hole world, while you were banging sluts and drinking yourself into a stupor every night!"
"I was lonely!" Jeremy yelled.
"Get a dog!" Bonnie hissed.
"You sound just like him," Jeremy said, shaking his head.
"Who? Damon?" Bonnie asked. "Of course, I do. That's what happens when you get stuck with someone for months in Groundhog Day, The Twilight Zone Edition. Your personalities sort of meld with each other, as you bond over your shared suffering."
Jeremy was about to scream something back, when Damon suddenly entered the dining room, yawning and stretching his muscles. Bonnie's face instantly brightened up at the sight of him.
"I can't believe that you people just let me sleep in the sofa the whole time, after I've allowed you to stay all nice and cozy in my house," Damon said, as he cracked his neck. "Do you have any idea how uncomfortable that is?"
"It can't be worse than being in here," Matt muttered under his breath.
Damon looked at around at everyone present at the dining table, who suddenly went silent the moment he entered the room. "You called a family meeting in the kitchen?" he asked to no one in particular, as he lazily made his way towards his chair.
"Nope...no meeting," Bonnie answered. "Just a power-breakfast," she said, glaring at everyone.
"Nice," Damon said as he sat down. "You made pancakes! I thought you hated pancakes? You told me that...everyday," he reminded her.
"Yeah," Bonnie replied, as she poured coffee in his mug, then puts three sugar cubes in it. "But you love them," she said, as she served him pancakes. She took the can of whipped cream and made a smiley face with vampire fangs in it. "So...bon appetit," she told him, as she placed the plate in front of him.
Damon proceeded to dig into his plate when he noticed something. "Why isn't anybody else eating?"
"Just...thinking of ways to beat Kai?" Elena lied.
"That can wait till later," Damon told her.
"Actually..." Bonnie interrupted. "I found a way to defeat Kai," she announced. "But I can't do it without your help," she told Damon, while staring deeply into his eyes.
"Does it involve puréeing my brain?" Damon asked her while eating.
"No," Bonnie answered.
"Does it entail my beheading, or dismemberment of any way, shape or form?" Damon asked again, while he continued to chew.
"No," Bonnie giggled.
"Does it require lighting me on fire?" Damon pressed.
"No," replied, trying to stifle a laugh.
"Okay," Damon told her.
"Okay...what?" Bonnie asked him.
"Okay, I'll do it," Damon repeated.
"You don't even know what you have to do," Bonnie pointed out.
"I trust you," Damon told her.
Bonnie's smiled grew wider, before taking Damon's hands in hers, and stared him straight in the eye.
"Kai won't know what hit him," Bonnie declared, as she laced her fingers with his.
Then, their hands began to glow.
~FINI~
A/N :
*I'm horrible, I know. But I thought the ending was best left to the readers' imaginations.
*Like I've said, this was my way off letting out some of my frustrations over the present storyline. It follows the current plot, but not strictly compliant to the series.
*Be honest, are some of you frustrated with the direction the TVD writers are going? Yes? No? Maybe so? Let me know by clicking the REVIEW button.
*Thank you so much for bearing with me in this long rant.
*I received a prompt for a Christmas story, so be on the lookout for that one.
My Dearest Readers,
I know I have other stories pending, and I know some of you have been anxious for updates. The thing is, some time during the PCA voting, my POS computer went all out FUBAR on me. Lost all my data, research, outlines and all the chapters that I have written so far. It will take me a while before I can update, seeing as I am rewriting them from my own memory. So if you or someone you know are a fan of my previous stories, I implore you to be patient. I will update them, I just don't know exactly when. At the moment, I have no choice but to write stories from the plot bunny drawer. I hope you enjoy them just the same. Thank you kindly for your patience.
Love, IcyJadeXOXO