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Picking Up Shattered Glass

Book Two in the Shattered Glass Trilogy

A The Vampire Diaries (TV) Fan Fiction

By Lilly Gray

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Story Synopsis: This is the sequel to 'Shards of Shattered Glass.' Kol Mikaelson needs only three things: to save Bonnie Bennett from dark magick, give her back her spirit magick, and win her heart forever. But her friends keep insisting she use dark magick to save the day, the spirits wish to punish her use of dark magick by keeping her spirit magick from her, and his millennia-old reputation as a ladies' man prevents her from trusting him with her heart. How can he save Bonnie and win her love before her use of dark magick kills her and destroys them all? Part two of a trilogy.

Pairings: The relationship in this story is mostly Kol/Bonnie, with a very slight side of Klaus/Caroline and a little Damon/Elena and very minor inferences to Rebekah/Jeremy, and Sheila Bennett/Finn Mikaelson. There are also extremely broad mentions of Caroline/Tyler, but mostly regarding that relationship coming to an end or being over.

Genre: drama, het romance, family

Rating: This story is Rated M (to be safe) for references to violence, some naughty language, and very slightly sexy bits.

Purveyors of Plot Bunnies: Luner Kat and pyrodaemon

Betas/Pre-Readers: laurenj15, velezmunoz4, Luner Kat, pyrodaemon

Banners by: Lilly Gray, except for the banner for Chapter 010, which the amazingly talented Kittyinaz created as part of one of her writing challenges.

Words: 250,368

Chapters: 24

Prompt/inspiration: this is the sequel to 'Shards of Shattered Glass,' which was inspired by Cuinawen's story 'A Shadow in the Mirror' ( s/10795831/1/A-Shadow-in-the-Mirror), and the prompt 'I woke up to hear knocking on glass. At first, I thought it was the window until I heard it come from the mirror again.'

Status: Complete

Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries or any of its characters or locations. They belong to Alloy Entertainment, Ltd., Bonanza Productions Inc., Warner Bros. Television, CBS Television Studios, Kevin Williamson, and Julie Plec, et al. I'm making no money from this story, which I wrote just for fun, and I intend no copyright infringement.

Author's Notes: So, this story picks up the morning after the end of Chapter 008 of 'Shards of Shattered Glass.'

Chapter 001

I Might Resemble That Remark

Sheila Bennett's POV

The Morning after Chapter 008 of 'Shards of Shattered Glass'

Friday, December 03, 2010, 6:35 a.m.

Kol's Bedroom

I've been spying on my friend Kol Mikaelson for about half an hour when his older sister and oldest brother, Freya and Finn Mikaelson, show up. Apparently, when an original is daggered, or a witch is in a magickally induced slumber, they temporarily die and like all supernatural beings when they die, even a temporary death, they find themselves on The Otherside.

Finn spent just under 900 years on the other side before briefly returning to life for less than a month, so when I arrived here on the Otherside on the night of December 12, 2009, the original was one of the first ghosts I met.

Freya has spent all but a year every century on The Otherside and has gotten quite friendly with her siblings while here. The three of us have spent quite a bit of time watching our loved ones together. I even spent just under a year with Kol, and Rebekah, and about five months with Elijah.

Most everyone grossly misunderstands the Originals. Don't get me wrong, some of their actions sicken me, but I can also see that most of the time the situations the Mikaelson children find themselves in and their resulting responses to those situations are usually the products of other people. For instance, their mother, who gives a bad name to all witches and mothers everywhere, has caused multiple situations that her children reacted to the only way they could and still survive.

Kol, Rebekah, Elijah, Finn, and Freya explained a lot about their family, which has only slightly appeased my worry about Kol's plans for my unsuspecting granddaughter, Bonnie.

Now that I am dead I find that without Finn, Freya, and Henrik keeping me company watching paint dry would be more fun and entertaining than being stuck on The Otherside alone. Finn agreed and told me, "I should know because I've spent countless hours through the centuries watching Niklaus paint and therefore have been forced into watching paint literally dry."

The ancient ghost said that it usually drives home the fact that he's a spirit now, and no one he loves can see or hear him anymore.

The youngest Mikaelson child, Henrik, approached us recently. After insisting that I call him Henri he told us that he kept himself hidden from his siblings while they were daggered, but he decided once his oldest brother was dead for good that he would reunite with Finn.

When I was still a new ghost, I was surprised that Finn, Freya, Rebekah, Kol, and later Elijah began showing up while they watched Niklaus and Bonnie and her friends interact. I've managed to grow friendly with all of them, though, and now that the oldest is permanently dead, Finn, Henri and I have bonded over the fact that we won't be able to interact with our loved ones until they die.

If Kol gets his way, Bonnie and I will never reunite, but I suspect that there are larger forces at work here.

The good news is that because we are ghosts we can hear the thoughts of the living, so at least we're not stuck with questions and no way of getting answers.

I still wish I could talk with the living, though, and be heard by them. The fact that I can't doesn't stop me from talking to them even though they can't hear a word I say, or scream in the case of last night while Finn, Freya, Henri and I watched unable to help their brother who almost got himself killed.

While we four wholeheartedly agree with Kol's assessment regarding Silas, The First Immortal, and despite how much Finn, Freya, and Henri want the ability to touch and speak with their siblings, none of us want any more of their siblings to join us here, so we were all screaming and wishing Kol could hear us.

My beautiful baby girl burst onto the scene and saved the day or night as it were in just the nick of time.

She effectively prevented disaster. Bonnie made the right decision and helped Kol make sure that no one will ever find The First Immortal, or at least not the Gilberts that is. Silas has remained hidden this long, so I expect that our chances are good that he'll stay hidden from anyone searching for The Cure provided no one goes looking for him too intently.

Finn informed Henri and me that Kol has a contact that might be willing to hunt Silas down and use The Cure for its intended purpose, to turn the first vampire mortal and kill him. I'll have to pray for Kol to think of it and then think long and hard about the risks involved in that. Finn knows his brother well enough after all the years they spent on The Otherside together that he has no doubt that his younger brother plans to visit Atticus when he is released from custody, though that won't be necessary because Bonnie, thankfully, already killed my former friend. I have no doubt though that if it came down to it, Kol would have made sure Atticus never found nor told another soul about Silas ever again.

Kol's eyes flutter while he dreams about my granddaughter, who is far too young to be doing the things he's dreaming of doing with her. I'm studiously avoiding his thoughts because I really don't want to see my granddaughter doing those sorts of things even if it is just in the mind of her admirer.

Kol moans and slowly begins waking from his dream. Rolling to his side, he then bunches up his pillow, slowly blinking while he wakes up.

Without Bonnie's interference last night, he'd be dead. He wouldn't be undead like he is right now, and he wouldn't be temporarily dead like when he was daggered or even finally dead as in permanently dead and on The Otherside but rather some sort of body snatching dead.

The fact of the matter is, when push comes to shove, Kol much prefers his own body over even Niklaus' despite his older brother's added strengths and fewer weaknesses, so I'm not surprised by his whispered, "Thank you, God, for sending Bonnie that premonition."

I smile. Bonnie was amazing last night at the high school before Kol went to the Gilbert's house and almost got himself killed. Her one desire was to protect herself and those she cares for. That desire was ever present even though she was scaring herself with her out of control abilities while Kol attacked her and she fought back.

He boxed her in and then had a moment of doubt about killing her, in part because he genuinely considers me a friend from our brief time together on The Otherside, and he didn't want to betray our friendship by killing my granddaughter.

That hesitation gave my baby girl the opportunity to fight back. I'm not stupid. He still could have killed her despite the incredible pain she caused him. I've heard enough stories about Kol to know that he has ended dozens of witches who all ganged up on him and gave him aneurysms and broken bones all at the same time so he could have easily killed one witch and been done with it.

However, my friend's thoughts told me why he hesitated, and by the time Bonnie fought back he already had another plan taking formation in his mind, so he let her momentarily beat him so he could go stop the Gilberts from finding Silas without having to harm my precious girl, for all our sakes. He heals much quicker than she does, and we both were, and still are, quite confident that his harming her would set his plans back quite a bit.

The plan was for him to let her flee, and then he would go and stop the Gilberts. Then he planned to do everything in his power to make my granddaughter his mate.

Honestly, based on everything Finn, Freya, and Henri have told me about him and the brief time I spent with Kol on The Otherside, he might very well be the perfect match for my grandbaby. If you believe his siblings, and I find myself believing every word they've told me, his history indicates that Kol will love and cherish Bonnie the way she deserves to be loved and cherished.

After her brilliant interference at the Gilbert's house, Kol is even more sure of his chosen path now than he was back in the high school. She is incredibly intelligent, and she is observant, not to mention a quick thinker who not only can evaluate a situation and then quickly devise a workable strategy to bring her chosen outcome into being, but she also managed to get disputing factions to come to a reasonable arrangement that should allow all parties involved to survive peacefully.

I know she doesn't realize just how remarkable she is either, but Kol plans to change that very soon. Bonnie will know her value, and Kol will cherish her and she will know that too, but above all else my granddaughter will be his in every way. Kol will also be hers, but the important part in his mind is that she'll be his, and he'll never let her go.

Kol thinks back on the previous evening after he left the Gilbert House, so I know he's already taken steps to make making Bonnie his easier for himself. Finn, Freya, and Henri followed behind him when he left the Gilbert's house. He smirked and mock saluted at their dumbfounded brother and then walked down the front path before he turned right on the sidewalk heading towards my granddaughter's house.

I can see in his thoughts that he knew the location of her house because shortly after Esther tried to kill him and his siblings he did his homework on Elena and Bonnie and all their friends. When he left the Gilbert's house, Kol walked a little faster than humans could but not so quickly that he would attract unwanted attention.

Once he arrived at the modest home my grandbaby shares with her father, he walked up to the front door and rang the bell. My tall, middle-aged, well-built, if not slightly overweight, bald, former son-in-law opened the door and said, "May I help you?"

All Kol's plans rested on the off chance that compulsion might work, so he sent up a little prayer, 'Please let this work, God,' just before he caught Rudy's eyes and told him, "Invite me in and then stand still and silent until I tell you otherwise."

He released him, and Rudy barely blinked before he said, "Please come in." I almost scratch my head at Kol's memory because the incongruity of the man who put Vervain in the town's water supply not drinking it himself is so absurd it's almost comical in its oddity. Oh, it's helpful to my friend and his cause for sure, but very odd, none-the-less.

While he was speaking my selfish daughter spoke from inside the house, "Rudy, no."

The original stepped over the threshold. When Abby came into view, he caught her eye telling her, "You will remain still and silent until I tell you otherwise. Nod if you understand."

She nodded and didn't say another word. Kol could obviously compel Rudy because he wouldn't have invited Kol inside his house if he couldn't compel him. However, Kol needed to discover if he could actually compel Abby.

He figured Bonnie would frown on his biting her mother to see if there was Vervain in her blood, so he instead walked through the house and into the kitchen where he began opening drawers until he found a metal skewer and then walked back into the living room where Abby was still standing motionless.

I tend to agree with Kol that Bonnie would take a greater exception to his biting her absentee mother than she would to what he did next. He handed my daughter the thin metal rod and then compelled her, "You will stab yourself in the eye with this skewer until I tell you that you can stop."

She spared no time lifting her hand, and although her hand shook and her lips and chin were trembling, she began slowly inserting the thin metal rod into her left eye. She opened her mouth to cry out but made no sound when the metal touched and then breached the surface of her eye but continued to stab herself. Kol waited and watched while she slowly continued inserting the skewer. The fact that my daughter didn't cry out led him to believe that he was successfully compelling her. I'm sure only his compulsion could keep her from crying out when the metal stabbed her eye because she has always had an exceptionally low tolerance for pain. Despite not knowing her penchant for being a wimp Kol agreed.

She was holding the skewer so tightly her knuckles were white, and she was trembling uncontrollably making it clear even without my being able to hear her thoughts just how scared she was. Frankly, it was rather poetic because my grandbaby has lived in fear her whole life due to my daughter's selfish inaction.

A few minutes later the skewer seemed to be in as far as it should probably go, so Kol then told Abby, "Pull it out a little and then push it in deeper," and she pulled it out maybe an inch and then began pushing it in even deeper. Even without being able to hear her thoughts I can see her tense stance and narrowed unskewered eye in my friend's memory and know that it not only hurt deeply but that she was incredibly scared and desperately wanted to stop, but she didn't, or actually couldn't is the more correct term. When he was convinced that it wasn't an act and he was actually compelling her, Kol told her, "Stop and remove the skewer."

She let out a deep breath when she stopped and removed the metal rod. Kol took it and took the time washing it off and returning it to its spot in the drawer he got it from. When he returned to the living room, he turned so that he was facing Rudy whose wide eyes and rapid blinking made me believe he would have frozen in shock even if Kol hadn't compelled him into standing still.

Kol caught Rudy's muddy brown eyes again before telling him, "You will never ingest nor wear Vervain again though you will think that you have been regularly consuming it. If you taste something that has it in it, you will immediately spit it back out." His subconscious should recognize the Vervain even when he doesn't consciously sense it, so that should keep him Vervain free and completely compellable.

Because Kol and us ghosts all overheard Bonnie speaking with her father and Elena on the phone at the High School just before Kol attacked her we knew about the Vervain in the reservoir, so Kol asked, "Who put the Vervain in the water supply? Was it you, or did you have someone else do it for you?"

Rudy's voice shook slightly, but he dutifully told him, "Liz supplied the Vervain, and I personally put it in the town's reservoir."

Kol nodded and continued compelling Rudy by saying, "You will also discontinue putting Vervain in the water supply though you won't tell anyone you've stopped and will actually lead the council to believe that you are still adding the Vervain to the reservoir. Instead of putting it in the water you will bring it to my house whenever you're supposed to be putting it in the water supply, and then once you leave my home, you will promptly forget that you gave it to me and will believe that you put the herb into the water."

After pausing so my former son-in-law could repeat everything back to him, Kol finished with, "The only other Vampires you may invite into your home are my siblings, Rebekah, Elijah, and Niklaus Mikaelson. You will not invite any other vampires into this house ever again even if they try to compel you to do so unless I tell you that you may."

He pauses again and allows Rudy to repeat everything then continues, "You will be reluctantly supportive of any decisions Bonnie makes regarding non-dark magick or me, Kol Mikaelson, and my family. You also will not directly nor indirectly advocate any harm to, nor personally attempt to harm my family or me, and you will no longer have any knowledge of any member of my family being vampires. If anyone gives you back the information, then the moment they leave your presence you will forget it again."

My eyes are wide while I watch Kol's memories of the previous evening, but I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that he is so very proficient at compelling given all the practice I'm sure he's had through the years. I smile when the memory of my good-for-nothing ex-son in-law repeats the last bit back to Kol. Once the last word passed Rudy's lips, Kol turned to Abby and gave her the same compulsions save the ones about inviting vampires inside and his family being vampires then he added, "You will never attack, threaten, nor harm Bonnie in any way."

I nod because that was a wise choice on Kol's part. Abby obviously has an invitation into my baby girl's home. The fact that my daughter is only a little more than a month into being a vampire means that there is nothing to say that she won't lose her temper and lose control, so Kol's compulsion should keep Bonnie safe from her mother even if Abby gets angry and loses control.

After my daughter repeated the compulsion back to him, Kol compelled them both, "When I leave, you will forget that we've met and that I was ever here or that I compelled either of you or that I needed and now have an invitation into the house."

The moment they both finished repeating the compulsions back to him Kol released them and then hurried out the front door.

He ran back to the Gilbert's house at vampire speed hoping he would make it back before Bonnie left, so he sighed when he arrived and saw her car still parked on the curb with the driver's side door still wide open and the keys still sitting in the console from when she hurriedly ran into the house. Kol closed the car door and then walked around the vehicle before leaning against the passenger side door, so he could wait for my grandbaby to exit the Gilbert's house.

Waiting, according to Finn, Freya, and Henrik not to mention Kol himself, is not a strong point of his, but Bonnie was only in the house for a few minutes. He kept himself busy going over every detail of his plan and managed not to become too bored or restless.

When she exited the house, Kol thought my baby girl seemed slightly skeptical of his offer of assistance, but we both know that she'll be taking him up on his offer to help her regain her natural powers. The hole her magick left behind when it was taken from her is, if the Mikaelsons' are any indication, too painful and empty to resist the possibility of filling it back up. That's why she got involved in dark magick in the first place: She needed to fill that hole back up any way she could to stop the pain.

Niklaus and Elijah had already compelled Stefan, Damon, Tyler, Matt, and Caroline to never consume or wear Vervain. They did this shortly after they arrived in town and Niklaus renewed the compulsions Elijah had placed when he returned to Mystic Falls the second time before Damon undaggered Elijah, though, none of the Mikaelsons have really had to make use of the foresight. That foresight, however, will prove very helpful to Kol and his family while he executes his plan to make Bonnie his.

When he finished speaking with her, Kol went and compelled all of my grandbaby's friends into not trying to physically harm himself or his family ever again, so they should all keep to the truce thus keeping Kol and the rest of his siblings from having to hurt any of them in self-defense.

In the hopes of setting up the perfect scene for himself so that he can comfort my granddaughter Kol also compelled Damon so that the younger vampire will do his best to make my precious granddaughter cry this morning when they go remove Kol's compulsion to kill Jeremy.

I can't say I'm pleased about his making my baby girl cry, but I understand why he did it. He wants to give himself an opening to show her that he's not the monster her friends have portrayed him to be.

After Kol compelled most of her friends and gained himself an invitation into Matt's house, he revisited the Gilbert residence and compelled Jeremy and his annoying sister. Niklaus and Elijah hadn't compelled Elena to remain Vervain free while she was human, which was fortunate for everyone involved or she would have remembered the compulsion when she finished the transition. However, Niklaus did compel her to stay clear of Vervain shortly after she became a vampire, so he had already covered that base. Kol did compel Jeremy last night though. Because his becoming a hunter undid Niklaus' compulsion to remain Vervain free Jeremy, along with Bonnie, was the only member of their group of friends that the originals hadn't compelled or in Jeremy's case recompelled.

When Kol got there, Jeremy was laying on his bed, fully dressed and on top of the covers. His shirt still had blood all over it from when Kol chopped off his arms earlier in the evening. Jeremy's eyes widened when he knocked on the door and then entered. As soon as his eyes met Kol's eyes, the original grabbed hold of his mind and told him, "From this moment forward you will keep your word and adhere to our truce. You will not try to harm anyone in my family nor advocate anyone else doing so. If you hear of anyone else conspiring against us, you will call me and let me know, but when you hang up, you will forget that you called and warned me."

He paused so Jeremy could repeat his words to him then he told his former friend, "You will avoid Vervain. You will not consume it nor wear it, though you will believe that you are consuming it regularly. If Elena or any other vampire compels you, you will believe that Elena has been supplying you with your Vervain water and has secretly been giving you regular water so that she can compel you whenever she pleases."

I chuckle slightly when Kol remembers that part of the compulsion because honestly there is little I enjoy more than people messing with Elena Gilbert. She is a selfish, self-absorbed brat who has caused my granddaughter's life to be in danger far more than it needed to be, not to mention most of the dark spells Bonnie has done were to help Elena. The childish girl drives me batty, so I figure it makes us even.

Pausing again, Jeremy repeats Kol's words then Kol tells him, "You will be reluctantly and cautiously supportive of Bonnie and any decisions she makes regarding her use of non-dark magick or my family and me until we give you a legitimate reason not to be supportive. Therefore, you will give my family and me a fair and honest shot at proving ourselves worthy of trust, friendship, and not being killed simply for what or who we are."

Jeremy, despite the compulsion, nodded while he repeated that part. Clearly, his subconscious agreed with Kol's sentiment.

Elena was already snoring in the other room so after Jeremy repeated Kol's words Kol helped him get off the bed and then led him into the bathroom. He helped his former friend shower off all the blood covering him where his arms had been and then change into his pajamas before leading him back to the bed. The comforter had blood on it, so Kol took it off the bed and went to the closet Jeremy directed him to and got a spare one before helping Jeremy into bed and tucking him in.

Just before he left Kol made Jeremy forget that he had helped him but told him, "You will forget that I just helped you, but you will know in your soul that everything will work out for the best and have hope for your future. When nurses contact you tomorrow, you will be receptive to their help. You won't ask who is paying for them or even think about it. You will just be grateful for the help and not ask too many questions."

Jeremy repeated Kol's words to him and at the end added, "Thank you, Kol."

Kol smiled at that because while it is rare for a person's will to assert itself like that while being compelled, it does occasionally happen if a person believes something strongly enough. It's not enough to keep the compulsion from sticking in most cases, but they can still sometimes add their opinion. This time Jeremy's thoughts on the matter are in line with Kol's compulsion, so he pats Jeremy on the shoulder gently and tells him, "You're welcome, Mate. Consider it my payback for allowing your arms to be cut off which saved my life even if that wasn't your main goal."

Jeremy nodded so Kol told him, "You won't remember that I was here tonight after I left the first time and you won't remember any of my compulsions or even that I compelled you at all. Now get some sleep and hopefully tomorrow will be a better, less traumatic day."

Once Jeremy repeated his words, he released him and left the room and entered Elena's bedroom to compel her. After waking the brat up, he compelled her so that she will also keep the new truce, regardless of how reluctant she might be about it. Then he made her forget that he was there or that he woke her up and compelled her.

I doubt the self-centered Elena will easily forgive my granddaughter for helping cut off her brother's arms or for Bonnie's role in preventing her from finding The Cure and becoming human again. Kol obviously isn't really inclined to change that either. The fact is Elena drives my ancient friend insane too. However, he doesn't wish for Bonnie to lose all of her friends only the ones who won't be accepting of him and his family and their future role in her life. That's why he not only compelled Jeremy to give him and his siblings a chance, but he gave Caroline the same compulsion. She was nodding, too, which Kol thinks means he didn't really need to compel either of them into giving his family a chance, but he'd rather not leave it to chance, so he left the compulsions in place.

Once he was secure in the knowledge that none of Bonnie's friends will break the truce and that not a single one of them will have any memory of his ever being there, he walked home with a slight skip in his step because life was, in his not-so-humble opinion, finally looking up.

Bringing his thoughts back to the present, Kol rolls over onto his back and looks at the other side of the bed and the clock sitting on the nightstand. It's 7:05 a.m., which gives him plenty of time for a shower and grabbing a bag of blood before heading over to the Salvatore Boarding House where he will ostensibly remove all his compulsions from Damon Salvatore.

He flips the comforter off his body and hops out of bed absentmindedly scratching his chest while he walks naked across the room entering his bathroom.

Despite being dead for a year, I'm still not used to seeing everyone naked, so I look up at the ceiling while he walks past me. Freya also looks up at the ceiling. Finn chuckles at both of us and says, "You would think that given the number of years both of you have existed that you'd both be used to nudity by now."

Shaking my head, I give a little giggle and just before I follow Kol into the bathroom I look at Finn and tell him, "Other than my daughter and my granddaughter, my husband was the only one I ever saw naked so why should I be comfortable with everyone walking around in their birthday suits?"

He just chuckles at my back before I think myself past the bathroom door that Kol just closed.

Niklaus is nothing if not paranoid, so he prepared for the eventuality that the town's people might put Vervain in the water supply. Therefore, when he was renovating the house, he had a powerful water filter installed to clean the tap water of all impurities before it enters their home.

Turning on the shower as hot as he can stand it, Kol runs his hand through the stream of water to make sure that the filter has removed most, if not all, of the Vervain from it. I smile. His hand doesn't even blister, so it's diluted so much by the filter that it won't bother him. He uses the bathroom, and then he steps up to the sink, and after washing his hands, he shaves his 5 O'clock shadow at vampire speed. Then when his face is smooth and hair-free, he steps into the steaming shower where he quickly washes his hair and then his body before taking care of the result of his dream picturing my granddaughter joining him in the shower and doing things I'm not comfortable with my baby girl doing just yet.

I stay out of his mind and stare up at the ceiling while he pleasures himself, and a few minutes later he moans, "Bonnie, ooohhh." Standing there leaning against the shower wall he takes a moment and catches his breath while staring at the water swirling down the drain. The hot water continues to pound on his back and slide down his body causing the tension left over from the previous night's almost disaster to slowly loosen.

After his breathing has returned to normal, he rinses off and then steps out of the shower, drying off before he heads towards his closet so he can pick what he'll wear.

Before she realized who he was, Bonnie's heart gave a little skip when she saw him in the hallway at the college the other day. That means she enjoyed him in his green P-Coat.

With his lady love's tastes in mind, Kol grabs a long-sleeved Henley that's light blue with dark blue sleeves and his dark wash jeans the woman at the store insisted he should get several pairs of. He throws them on without bothering with underwear, and then he takes his green jacket that my granddaughter seemed so fond of off the hanger. He carries it with him, and then he heads down the stairs entering the kitchen before getting a mug of blood.

He must play this very carefully. He shouldn't have compelled Damon into making her cry, but there's nothing he can do about it now except make the most of the situation it creates and help her pick up the pieces.

He agrees but thinks, 'If I'm careful and play it the right way, it will end up being advantageous for me.'

Despite my displeasure from him manipulating her, I agree with his thought, and I know he has the best of intentions where my granddaughter is involved, so I choose to overlook his slight lapse in judgment. After all, no one is perfect, not even Kol Mikaelson.

He barely tastes the blood when he drinks it, too focused on the variables he has no control over. For instance, will Stefan Salvatore stay home from school to supervise the removal of his compulsion from Damon? If it were him, Kol would stay home and watch. Stefan's been a vampire long enough, and he understands how compulsion works well enough that he's likely to notice if Kol words himself in such a manner so that he only removes specific compulsions and not all of them.

Frowning he thinks, 'Damn, I should have compelled the ripper into attending school today no matter what, but I didn't think of it, so that is an opportunity missed.'

I didn't think of it either, not that I'd have been able to tell him if I had thought of it.

He says a quick prayer, "Please, God, please don't let Stefan mess with my plans."

I look at the clock on the microwave while Kol rinses out his mug and places it in the dishwasher. He has twenty minutes before he's expected at the boarding house, and it'll barely take him three minutes to get there on foot. He puts on his P-coat and paces in the foyer for a few minutes before Elijah comes in through the front door rolling a suitcase behind himself.

Kol knows that as of 3 a.m. this morning Elijah was still in Pennsylvania, so he chuckles and asks the same thing I would if I could, "Brother, it should have taken you close to six hours to get here and yet it took you less than four. Did you follow any of the speed limits to get here so quickly?"

Elijah laughs lightly and with a small grin tells him, "I may have broken a few traffic laws and may have even compelled myself out of two speeding tickets, but I felt it best that I return as quickly as possible."

Kol, Finn, Freya, and I all nod and smile at that before Elijah asks his younger brother, "What has you up so early and fully dressed not to mention pacing in the foyer?"

With an even bigger smile gracing his face, Kol quickly fills Elijah in on what will be happening today including his plans for my granddaughter.

Elijah nods while his brother speaks before he tells Kol, "Niklaus might have mentioned your plans when I spoke to him last night. If you have need of me for anything, do not hesitate to ask. I will assist you in any way I can."

Kol smiles and tells his older brother, "Thank you, I will take you up on that if I think of anything you can assist me with." He pauses, and then an idea comes to him, so leaning slightly towards Elijah he asks him, "I just thought of one thing that would be incredibly helpful. I planned to do it myself after I remove my compulsion from Damon, but it would be extremely helpful if you could search for and hire a nurse or two to help Jeremy out around the house. He'll be stuck there 24/7 until he and his friends can come up with a cover story for why and how he lost his arms, and I'd hate for him to be stuck unable to do anything."

Elijah nods and tells Kol, "I have a contact that should be able to assist us in getting the appropriate help for young Mr. Gilbert."

Kol nods and shifts back and forth on his feet before he tells him, "Thank you, Brother." He genuinely cares for Jeremy, or I know he wouldn't bother asking Elijah to find nurses for him. Too bad Jeremy likely hates him. Kol needs a good friend. Maybe if his plan to capture Bonnie's heart works, she'll be able to talk Jeremy into giving his friendship with Kol another chance. Jeremy thanking Kol last night gives me hope that all hope is not lost.

The incredibly impatient Kol looks at his watch while he finishes speaking and with a smile, firmly on his face he then tells Elijah, "Well, I should be going lest I arrive late after having cautioned Bonnie on the perils of making me wait."

Elijah laughs and tells his ever-restless brother, "I may not know my future sister well at this point. However, I think she would handle waiting far better than you would."

I chuckle and nod deeply before Kol grins and tells the prim and proper Elijah, "Hey, I waited for five whole minutes last night and didn't get into any trouble while I waited for her to finish dealing with Jeremy and Elena."

Elijah smiles at his brother in that, annoying if it's directed at you, 'I know everything' way and tells Kol, "I'm impressed, Kol, you actually managed to wait for five whole minutes? That must be a new record for you because I've never known you to be able to wait two minutes never mind five without getting into some sort of mischief."

I laugh loudly at that. Kol just chuckles and responds with, "I might resemble that remark."

Elijah just laughs at him while Kol walks out the door. Before he closes the door behind himself, he turns back at the last minute and tells Elijah with a broad smile on his face, "I'm glad you're back, Elijah."

He smiles and nods before he says, "As am I, Kol, and I'm grateful that Ms. Bennett saved both of my brothers last night."

Kol nods again and then closes the door before speeding over to the Salvatore's home.