Prologue

❀ "Please...give me a reason to fight" ❀

"How do you feel?"

The question was delivered softly, so soft that she almost missed it.

Sheila spoke quietly. Slowly. As if any sign of pity would set the young girl before her into hysterics. But Bonnie only lifted her chin to look into the deep worried lines on her grandmothers face, gaze large and cold and quiet.

"Bonnie..." Sheila repeated, her brown eyes searching. "How do you feel about this...about seeing your mothers new family? Your new family?"

The older woman was relentless. But she didn't look as firm as her voice might imply.

Instead she looked sorry that she had to ask at all. Heavily lashed eyes studied Bonnie's face as the young girls hands clasped and unclasped at her favorite book.

If it had been anyone else, the silence would have been drawn out as long as possible. The atmosphere would be cold and uncomfortable and she wouldn't do anything to change it because that's how empty she felt.

She was cold. Uncomfortable. And she felt sickeningly afraid.

A feeling she hadn't had to encounter for years. The day her mother left her at her grandmothers doorstep, none of it had really sunk in until many years later. She hadn't realized she'd been abandoned- hadn't known what all of it had meant. And for the longest time she didn't feel like anything strange had occured, because she was too young to realize.

By the time Sheila felt Bonnie was old enough to be told the truth, the girl had already numbed herself to the pain. It had been so obvious. The pictures that hung on the walls of her mother as a child, sitting on Sheila's lap with a man beside them- it had not been Bonnie's face on that young girls portrait. And it had not been Bonnie's smiling eyes that stared back at anyone who ever took the time to look at the picture.

She didn't let thoughts of feeling unwanted cloud her head though, because Grams had given her too much love throughout the years for her to ever feel that way. Her mother didn't want her? That was fine. Her father had been no where to be found? That was fine too. Because she had Grams, and she was the only one Bonnie needed.

For the past ten years Bonnie grew up in the town her Grams had been born in...amongst an odd but warm band of people who accepted her. And she felt like it was home. As quiet as she was, it didn't stop the warmth that she felt in the small town, where everyone knew everyone and secrets didn't stay secrets for long.

Now it felt like she was being torn apart from the inside out against her will. She had turned twelve only a few days ago, and after her friends left the party and she helped her grams clean up the house, things had gone back to their normal, simple routine.

Knitting, reading, walking along the park, beholding nature, and studying mythical legends...that's what they did in their free time and rarely did they ever stray from that path.

Other children would have found it odd that Bonnie rarely spent time with the other girls in town, but eventually fewer began to mutter amongst themselves and fewer more asked questions.

Sheila Bennett already had quite an infamous reputation to precede her, and her grandchild being a quiet, mysterious thing didn't surprise much of anyone. So their days were paved in a way that befitted both of them. They were calm, they kept to themselves most days, and they were happy with what life provided them. Bonnie had never been more content...and she expected things to stay that way.

That day however had been... different. Bonnie knew from the second she woke up to help get breakfast started and found her grandmother sitting in the living room, her lips thin and her hand against her forehead as if pained, that something was strange. And not at all in a good way.

So when Bonnie approached her and tried to find out what was wrong, both of them only sat there in silence for what seemed to be forever. With the young girl staring at her grams in worry, while Sheila stared into the distance as if she were trying to will whatever had distressed her away. And then the silence was broken, and her grandmother finally told her what news had been ailing her all morning.

Her mother was coming to take her back. And Abby Bennett wasn't one to take no for an answer.

"How do you feel..." The words were like a haunting mantra. Echoing in Bonnie's mind with no intention of going away.

If it had been anyone else Bonnie would have stared at them coldly. She would have tried to intimidate them away. Because when she didn't know how to cope with her emotions, she would shut down before they could hurt her.

But this was her grams. She could never hide her feelings from her grams.

"I don't know." Bonnie murmured. And it was the honest truth.

She didn't know what it was she felt. Just that it didn't feel good.

Bonnie tried to ask her why she didn't fight this. Why her calm, collected, and most of all stubborn grandmother looked ready to shatter into a million pieces. Abby had called the night before, while Bonnie had been sleeping. And it had been a convenient time ironically, as Sheila had struggled with keeping her voice down once she realized just who was calling and why.

Her daughter would be coming to see Bonnie that night, and welcomed or not Abby was determined to take her daughter back.

"You made me a promise twelve years ago." Abby had murmured over the phone, her voice quiet but firm. "And I'm going to make sure you honor it."

Sheila hadn't been able to sleep after that. And it pained her to see her granddaughter looking at her with eyes as huge as saucers, her mind still letting everything sink in.

"Why is she coming back now?" Bonnie whispered, her eyes frantically searching the older woman's face. "You said she left me here. She didn't want me then... Why is she coming back now?"

"I never told you she didn't want you." Sheila's voice was just as quiet as Bonnie's. But her expression didn't change. She didn't look into Bonnie's eyes, refused to even turn her face away from the wall. And this fact made Bonnie's heart all the more heavy in her chest.

"But you never said she did either, you said she didn't want to take care of a child. I don't understand why you aren't fighting this...are you really going to let her take me away?" Her green eyes grew bigger with every word.

The tears that welled up in Bonnie's eyes surprised both her and her grandmother. But she couldn't stop them from trailing down her face and clouding her vision. She couldn't stop her voice from trembling as she asked if she was going to be abandoned once again.

She never cried, and it seemed the worst time to start. But nothing seemed to be real right then.

"Sweetheart, listen to me." Sheila's voice was different now as she edged closer to the trembling girl beside her, pulling her into a tight embrace. "I know this may seem hard to understand but your mother didn't leave you because she didn't care..."

"Then why..." Bonnie choked against her tears, her nails digging into Shiela's arm. "Why did she leave at all..."

"People make mistakes honey. And your mother...well, I won't lie. Even as a child, she had a penchant for drawing trouble to her. She left because if she hadn't, you would have lived a very difficult life. But she wants a second chance with you...and I'm not in any authority to refuse her."

"I don't want to go..." Bonnie whispered, her chest rising and falling in shuddering breaths. Her eyes slid close, full of unshed tears as her grandmother stroked her long black hair. "I don't want a new family...I don't want a new home...I want to stay here."

Shiela could only sigh as she held the child close, her own eyes growing wet as she pressed a kiss to Bonnie's head.

"I love you dear...and I'm sorry."

When she finally managed to stop crying, Bonnie felt her grandmother remove her embrace and move away to head for the kitchen. No doubt she was going to prepare breakfast, and would be trying to block out her breaking heart while doing it.

If she had been a stronger, Bonnie would have tried to comfort her. But as she stared into space, sunlight flickering through the window and highlighting the dust that floated around her, she realized that she would never be able to help her Grams. After all, she could barely help herself at the moment, let alone the strong woman that had spent the last 10 years raising her.

'This isn't fair...' Bonnie thought, her face twisting in pain as she brought her knees up on the couch. 'None of this is right...'

She would have been perfectly willing to curse fate, her mother, and whoever else was responsible for this turn of events. But then, to her relief, another outlet revealed itself.

"Bonnie." Sheila's voice called from the kitchen a few minutes later, the sound of sizzling and a delicious aroma wafting into the living room. "I know you're upset, but you've never refused deviled eggs before. Come and help me?"

And just like that, Bonnie felt a small smile form on her otherwise tear streaked face. Grams had never been one to wallow in her troubles, and rarely did she stand for anyone else moping while in her presence. The news may have shocked her, but just like the day- she would keep moving. And Bonnie knew she was trying to cheer her up in the process. She would never let her drown in her problems alone.

"I'm coming Grams." Bonnie replied, lifting her hand to wipe away at her eyes. Her fingers felt numb from squeezing them so hard, but Bonnie ignored that as she stretched her legs and trotted to the kitchen.

She didn't know how she was going to handle seeing her mother again...but even if just for one more morning, she was going enjoy herself with the person who mattered to her the most before everything she feared crashed and fell around her.

Diclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries franchise (as it is the property of L.J Smith) and will not be reminding anyone of this in further updates. ^ ^