Summary: Bonnie/Jeremy. What it was like growing up with each other, losing each other, etc. Oneshot.
Disclaimer. I do not own The Vampire Diaries, the characters, the settings, and so on. One could only dream.
Bonnie was going to play and have her first sleepover with little Elena Gilbert. They had met at preschool the year prior and had become very close friends, but they had never visited one another's houses before. Mr. Bennett knocked on the door. Within seconds the door was opened by a tall woman, while Elena ran towards them.
"Bonnie!" She squealed in delight.
"Elena!" Bonnie exclaimed. Elena gave Bonnie a quick hug before deciding she needed a tour. Bonnie followed Elena into her home, shouting a quick goodbye to her father, not really paying attention to him. She was too excited to be nervous.
"Dis is da kitchen. Mommy's making pizza for dinner." Elena said excitedly, pointing to the oven. "And dis is da wivving room. Dis is my brudder Jewemy." She explained, pointing to her three-year-old brother, who was watching a children's show on TV.
Later that night, as Mrs. Gilbert was sending the girls to bed, Bonnie heard sobbing in the other room. "Elena, does your brother always cry so much?" She asked Elena.
"Onwy at night. He's afraid of da dark." Elena replied.
Bonnie sighed as she tried to fall asleep.
Three years later, Bonnie was over at the Gilbert's house after school one day. She and Elena were eight, and Jeremy was six. Bonnie had come over so that Mrs. Gilbert could help them with their homework, as Bonnie's dad was working until late and wouldn't be able to help her.
"Multiplication is so hard." Bonnie sighed as she started at her math worksheet.
"What's multapiction?" Jeremy asked her.
Elena rolled her eyes and snapped, "It's pronounced multiplication, and it's third-grader work." Looking back down at her paper, she groaned in frustration. "Mom, what's seven times nine?"
"Jeremy, multiplication is when you take a number and multiply it by another number." Bonnie said, hoping to be helpful. But she couldn't help but notice Mrs. Gilbert chuckle at her explanation.
"How do you multiply something?" Jeremy asked.
"For example, three times five means three multiplied by five." Bonnie replied.
"Times?"
Mrs. Gilbert piped up, "Jer, multiplication is third-grade work, and hard for the girls to explain. Just work on your addition, you'll be big and understand multiplication in time to come." Jeremy frowned and nodded.
Two years later, Mrs. Gilbert was taking Elena, Bonnie, Caroline, and Jeremy to the mall for school clothes. "Mom, do I have to go in here?" Jeremy asked, frowning as his mother dragged him through the skirt section for the girls.
"I'm sorry, honey, you're not old enough to roam on your own." Mrs. Gilbert said.
"Mrs. Gilbert, I already have a couple of skirts at home that fit. I can keep Jeremy company for a few minutes in another section of the store." Bonnie piped up.
"Okay, well please stay in the store, and don't go too far. You are only ten, Bonnie." Mrs. Gilbert replied, a worried glance flashing across her face.
"Okay." Bonnie smiled.
Jeremy started running out of the girls section. Bonnie rolled her eyes and followed him. "Thank you Bonnie!" He said, slowing down as he reached the boys clothing section.
"You're welcome. I have too many skirts as it is." Bonnie said.
"You know, you've always been nice to me. Why?" Jeremy asked her.
"Because you're not annoying. Usually." Bonnie smirked.
"Usually?
"Well it's not like you haven't gotten on my nerves before, but you're usually pretty cool." Bonnie smiled at him.
"Thanks. You're pretty cool too." Jeremy smiled before racing towards the t-shirts with cartoon characters on them.
Three years later, Bonnie was at Elena's house, getting ready for her first "date".
"Bonnie, you look so pretty!" Caroline practically yelped. "Todd's going to think you're so hot!" Mr. Gilbert was walking by and stopped for a second as he heard the words, poked his head in, and caught Elena's eye. Elena mouthed, 'Sorry', pointed at Caroline, and shrugged. Mr. Gilbert walked away, shaking his head as he realized the girls were growing up.
An eleven-year-old Jeremy bounded in nearly shouting, "Elena! We're going to New York tomorrow!"
"We've known for months now, Jer, I know." Elena smirked at him, trying to hide her excitement, since this was Bonnie's night, not hers.
"I'm just excited, I guess." Jeremy smiled. "Bonnie, I hate to ask, because I don't really think I'll care, but why are you all dressed up?"
"I'm going on a date!" Bonnie cheerfully said, smoothing her dress down.
"With who?
"Todd Brennan." Bonnie proudly smiled. Todd was a pretty popular kid and she was psyched to be going on a date with him.
"Andy's older brother? He's ugly." Jeremy replied, scrunching his face up.
"Jer!" Elena threw a pillow at him.
"What? He is! Bonnie's so…what do you call it…out of his league." Jeremy defended himself.
"Aw, Jer, are you saying I'm pretty?" Bonnie asked, smiling brightly.
"Oh be quiet." Jeremy glared at her. "Anyway, I think he's ugly, but I guess it's only your opinion that matters." He shrugged before leaving the room.
Two years later, Todd was history, and the girls had just gotten their permits. Elena was driving, while her mom was in the passenger seat, and Bonnie, Jeremy, and Matt were in the backseat.
"Lena, you're doing great! You haven't hit the curb at all this time!" Bonnie smiled widely at her in the mirror.
"Great? I'm pretty sure we're going to die." Jeremy said. Bonnie smacked him in the chest, rolling her eyes.
"Okay, Elena, when we get to that gas station, turn in and you and Bonnie will switch spots." Mrs. Gilbert said.
"Thank God…I actually trust Bonnie." Jeremy said, right as Elena hit the curb. "See, Bonnie wouldn't have done that."
"Shut up, Jer." Elena muttered.
Another two years later, Bonnie sat in Elena's room and held her as she cried. "I'm so sorry, Lena." Bonnie said, tears streaming her cheeks too.
"And it's all my fault, I know it is!" Elena sobbed. It had been two weeks since the accident. Bonnie had been staying at the Gilbert's house, as Elena was in a horrible mental state and Aunt Jenna didn't know what to do.
"Deep breaths, E." Bonnie said softly, not knowing what else to say. She contemplated calling Matt, but that probably wouldn't do any good, considering Elena had tearfully dumped him the day before. "I'll be back."
Bonnie got up from Elena's bed and walked down the hallway to Jeremy's room. "Jer?" She called as she knocked.
Jeremy opened the door, his eyes also red and puffy. "Is she okay? I can hear her sobbing." He murmured.
"Sorry…I just don't know how to calm her down." Bonnie said, biting her lip, feeling as if she should wrap him up in a hug too. He looked miserable, more-so than she had ever seen him. His hair was messy, his eyes and cheeks were red from crying, his voice was shaky, and he looked like he hadn't slept since it happened. Despite his own sadness, Jeremy nodded at Bonnie and walked into Elena's room, wrapping his sister in a hug. Elena kept crying and clung to her little brother's shirt. Elena was so vulnerable right now. So breakable. As Elena shook with sobs, tears slid down Jeremy's cheeks as well.
"I'm…I'm so sorry Jer….I'm so sorry." Elena said, staining his shirt with tears.
"It's not your fault…shh…" Jeremy said, ruffling Elena's hair.
Not four months later, Elena was slowly healing. Jeremy, on the other hand, had gotten worse. Way worse. Bonnie sighed as Elena explained to her and Caroline that she had run into Vicki Donovan early in the morning at her house, wearing Jeremy's shirt.
"I don't know what's gotten into him. He's depressed all the time, and not handling it well at all. Vicki's a terrible influence…I know for a fact he's gotten into illegal substances, and I can't count how many times he's come home drunk. He's only fifteen. I don't know how to help him." Elena said.
"Have you gotten him to talk at all yet?" Caroline asked.
"I've tried, but he just blows me off, or ignores me. He's not this person, I know he's not. You guys know he's not. He was the sweetest kid. And now…" Elena trailed off sadly.
They continued the conversation, trying to lighten the mood by laughing over how long Elena had kept her lisp as a kid, and how Caroline had worn her seventh birthday tiara for an entire month, but all Bonnie could think about was Jeremy.
A year later, he was better. He had been clean for at least seven months. After Vicki went "missing", he went back to being Jeremy. He wasn't depressed like he had been, he wasn't getting drunk every night, and he certainly wasn't doing anything remotely close to being illegal. He and Bonnie had gotten progressively closer, and Bonnie was actually beginning to worry about her developing feelings for him. And now, she stood in the kitchen with him as he put a patch over the spot where Katherine bit him.
"I don't need an escort to my room." He said, frustrated that she had followed him all the way home, just to keep an eye on him.
"I don't know, between here and there, there's still time for you to do something stupid." Bonnie said, worriedly looking at him.
"I already feel bad." He said. Bonnie continued ranting, and Jeremy sighed. "I didn't want you to get hurt."
"Jeremy…" Bonnie whispered. She knew she had to say something. And out came the first thing she could think of, "You can't feel that way about me."
"Don't act like this is one sided, like I'm some kid who has a crust on his sister's friend. You could've died tonight." He argued. He walked forward and caressed her face.
"You almost did." Bonnie replied, tears filling her eyes.
"That was a chance I was willing to take." He said. He started to lean in for a kiss. Bonnie braced herself, almost letting him kiss her. Jeremy Gilbert. She almost let Jeremy Gilbert kiss her.
"I can't." She whispered, walking away from him.
But somehow, only a couple days later, she was kissing him in Caroline's foyer, giving into the temptation of kissing him. Where he learned to kiss like that was beyond her comprehension, but she certainly went along with it.
Bonnie was crying. Sobbing, almost. She never thought Jeremy would be the kind to cheat. He barely cheated…maybe she was being too hard on him. For Christ's sake, in the past three months, he had died, come back, seen the ghosts of dead-girlfriend's past, and even been able to communicate and touch them. Why wouldn't he want to kiss a girl that died on him while he was in love with her? Bonnie knew she should cut him some slack, but she couldn't get the picture out of her head. She didn't know what to do.
She had ignored him for far too long. She had ignored him nearly up until the day he died. Then she sobbed, endlessly. She couldn't wrap her mind around him being dead. He was her "little brother" for so long. And then he was her friend, and then more than a friend. Then she hated him, but just as he was beginning to become more than a friend again….he was dead. They say you don't know what you have until it's gone, and that applied here completely.
He was alive again. By some miracle, her spell worked. Jeremy was breathing. But she wasn't, as those were the consequences of doing a spell that big. They kissed and she knew she had to go. As she began to walk away, she turned to face him, taking in his face, sad and confused. His brown eyes were slowly filling with tears. His hand was rubbing his jaw in stress, and his tense muscles were showing through his shirt.
"Smile Jer." She said.
"Why?" He asked.
"That's how I want to remember you. Purely Jeremy. The little boy I met when I was five. The kid who wanted to know what multiplication was when he was six. The kid who hated the girls section of the department store. The preteen who though my first boyfriend was ugly. The first person to trust me to drive. The guy who managed to make it through his parents passing. The first person I truly loved. The only person I will ever truly love. I want to remember that Jeremy." She told him. Tears trickled down Jeremy's cheeks, but he smiled at her. She smiled back, and continued softly, "The person who would smile when he was sad, if that made me happy."
"I love you." He softly told her.
"I love you too." She replied, before giving him a last smile and turning, disappearing.