This is wonderfully AU
When Damon Salvatore first met Bonnie Bennett she was a tiny little girl with two chocolate colored pig tails sprouting from the sides of her head who arrived late to their church picnic. She wore a agleam yellow sundress that matched her mother's. They were showing more skin then what was normal for women in their church, but they were new. They had lots to learn. His father had met Bonnie's mother at the supermarket where they had struck up a conversation about God and about his father's church. It had ended with the man inviting them to this function hosted at their home and his sermon the following Sunday.
His father had told him all about it as he overseen their cleaning the day before. His father had obviously been smitten and eager to make an good impression. He and his siblings had stayed up to the wee hours of the morning making sure the house was presentable for guests.
So on that Saturday afternoon he had been dog tired. He had been standing with his younger brother Stefan back near the new shed construction, as far away from the grill and the group of men standing around it as they could be. Other children ran around and played games, including their younger brother Nathan, who had somehow found enough vigor to play. Damon watched his brother carefully, softly calling out to the six year old when he became to rowdy.
When Bonnie and her mother walked in, despite being a day over eleven years old, he had been transfixed. He couldn't exactly voice why. Just that he thought her skin was pretty and that her eyes were his favorite color. She and her mother had a light to them. They drew attention to them by simply walking into the backyard.
When his father had abandoned the other men at the grill and made a quick bee line to the woman and girl, he knew that Bonnie's mother was the woman who had his father so filled with energy. When both mother and daughter gave Giuseppe matching brilliant smiles, Damon began to worry about the light they excluded. His father didn't relish in bright things. The man tainted beauty, he killed it. That's what had happened to their beautiful mother, Giuseppe's taint killed her.
He and Stefan shared a frown that day.
(GR)
The next time Damon saw Bonnie was three months later at the Children Choir Competition Showcase, which was something created by one of his father's friends who was also a pastor of a church but resided in Georgia. The showcase consisted of three churches putting on a show. It wasn't really suppose to be a competition, everyone always got the same blue ribbon at the end no matter who was deemed the winner. But they all knew the truth, the adults were very competitive about it. The winning church always had bragging rights for a year.
Damon had been nervous for that very reason that day, because they had lost. They hadn't even placed third out of the four competing. He was sure his father would be angry. But he had found his father smiling after weaving through the crowd of people, his younger brothers on his heels. Beside the man was Abby and Bonnie Bennett, smiling their brilliant smiles at them.
"Look who made it, children." His father had said.
"You guys sing beautifully," Abby complimented. She was dressed more modestly on that day. Her arms were properly covered and her skirt was long.
"You were great," Bonnie chimed in with a bright smile. Her hair had been loose that day and she had been dressed in a pretty white dress with a sweater.
"Thank you for coming, Ms. Bennett, Bonnie," Damon said, his brother's echoing. They hadn't talked much the last time they had met, but Damon was aware that his father had gone out with Ms. Bennett a couple of times.
"How does ice cream sound to you guys?" Giuseppe asked, his hand reaching out to grab Abby's.
Damon was confused, so he stared dumbly. Not by his father taking Abby's hand, they had been courting at that point, but by his father suggesting they go out to have ice cream after a poor performance. His father hated failure.
"That sounds great, papa." Nathan beamed happily.
"Thank you, papa," Stefan spoke up because Damon obviously wouldn't be. The younger boy lightly nudged the older one. "We just have to go talk to Mrs. Births real quick about our performance with the others."
"Great," the large man frowned in warning at the gawking Damon, "we'll be waiting at the car."
(GR)
Damon's favorite ice cream was chocolate mint chip, but he never ate it again after the day his father announced he and Abby were going to get married. His father had been inflated with pride while Abby was nearly pink with giddiness.
Bonnie had sat across from him, looking as shocked as he felt, but not as horrified. A white spoon full of rocky road just at her lips. She should have been. She got over her shock much quicker then he had and had actually managed to smile happily and gush right along with her mother.
"I guess I have brothers now." She had said, smiling that bright smile of hers at him.
"Yeah," he had managed to get out.
(GR)
The wedding had been beautiful and a month and a half later. All of their family came but none of Abby and Bonnie's did. He didn't think they had been invited. He had overheard a big speech his father had given Abby a week before the wedding about cutting out certain people from her life because they didn't go well with what they were trying to build, they weren't moving in the right direction; they weren't believers in the same principles they were.
So it had been mostly church members and the few members of Giuseppe's family who still spoke to him. Despite all of that, the crowd was still pretty large when all of the other people form the other churches arrived.
There had been dancing, cake, steak and potatoes, but no alcohol. His father said they didn't believe in drinking and it tainted you and was a sin. But his father drunk every night, bourbon, he kept in the top drawer of his desk in his office. That had been a secrete though, one of many Damon wouldn't have dared to tell.
Church members whispered about his father's new bride at the reception, not good things. They didn't believe she was good enough. Being unmarried, never married, but with a child. The fact that she had come from outside of their church when their was so many worthy and willing women in it. They whispered about her values and judged her morals. But all of this was done behind whispered hands and behind the backs of the bride and groom. They just didn't notice the little girl dressed in a pink, flower printed dress standing behind them as they said such mean things. But he had.
He had noticed his new step-sister's glassy eyes and trembling bottom lip, and he couldn't help but step forward. He had smiled at her and stepped in front of her, blocking her view of the gossiping adults.
"What's the problem, sis?" He had asked. He shifted awkwardly in his shiny black shoes and too large blazer. He tugged at his dark green tie.
She had stared at him for a moment blankly before bringing her hand to her face and angrily rubbing away signs of tears from her face, looking embarrassed. "Nothing, I dunno wha-"
He had cut her off by stepping a closer to the shorter child, squinting at her face. "Looks like you're crying, Bon-Bon. What's wrong? Someone make fun of your dress? Can you blame them, that thing's enough to give someone a sinus infection." He had actually like her dress, rather he had thought she looked pretty in it. But this was always how he distracted Stefan when their father was being hard on him, teasing.
Bonnie had looked appalled at first before looking down at herself quickly before looking back up at him, an angry little glare on her face. "First of all," her small hands went to her nonexistent hips, "don't call me that ever again. And second of all, my dress is beautiful, what would you know about beautiful dresses, Damon?"
He held his hands up in surrender, a smile still on his face. "It was just a question, geez, Bon-Bon."
Her green eyes narrowed into slits and her lips parted.
Damon made his getaway before she could respond.
