…and her lovers will harvest
honey and thyme
and the woods will be wild
with the damn wonder of it.
- Lucille Clifton
Bonnie hadn't meant to end up on his lap on the porch swing. She knew it was a bad idea that would get them in trouble with Ms Ruth.
(Ms Ruth, the old witch they were staying with, insisted her household was an "old-fashioned" one where unmarried couples absolutely did not conjugate. It was an edict that Bonnie accepted meekly, having spent most of her life around strait-laced southern femininity. Klaus...not so much.)
And Klaus has a way of making the worst ideas seem enticing. Especially when his mouth is all over her neck and he's murmuring how sweet she tastes, how much more of her he wants to taste -
- the screen door bangs open and there's Ms Ruth, tapping her foot and reminding Klaus that the weeds in her garden won't pluck themselves, and did he catch the gator that's been eating her chickens yet, and when Bonnie tries to hide her smile it's her turn to be reprimanded, and she quickly nods her head, "Yes ma'am", and. "No ma'am", when Ruth reminds her tartly that she wasn't friends with Sheila Bennett so she could let her granddaughter be debauched on her doorstep.
"Worse than teenagers," Ms Ruth clucks as Bonnie steals another blushing glance at Klaus before hurrying inside the house.
Bonnie still feels her neck tingling from his mouth. They still had a week left at Ms Ruth's place.
Klaus winks at her before being chased off the porch.
Oh, they were in so much trouble.
Klaus visited Ms Ruth once a year, he informed Bonnie. He helped her with chores that required extra strength, and in exchange he got first dibs on her homemade wildflower honey.
Bonnie was skeptical that any honey could be that good, until their first night at Ms Ruth's when Klaus snuck her down to the kitchen, found a jar, and had them both knuckle deep in the sticky golden sweetness before their hostess came downstairs in her nightgown and satin bonnet and scolded Klaus for his impatience.
"And I expected better from you, little miss," she chided Bonnie before shooing them both back to bed (in separate rooms of course).
Klaus waited until they were out of sight before grabbing Bonnie's wrist and licking the honey residue off her hand. Bonnie whispered that Ms Ruth was right about his impatience, but his mouth was hot and lush around her fingers, and he was sucking on her skin like she was made of honey, and she wanted that mouth on other parts of her body -
"You both better be in your beds when I come upstairs."
Klaus had groaned in protest as Bonnie quickly extricated herself and pushed him towards his room
Bonnie thinks maybe it's the bayou that has her so hot and bothered all the time.
All that glistening swamp-green around her every day. The thick fragrance of water hyacinth that Klaus keeps hauling out of the water. The steady, pulsing heat like a tongue on her skin.
Especially the heat.
And especially when it compels her to wear nothing but cut off shorts and cotton mini-dresses and Klaus is always devouring her bare skin with his eyes and stealing kisses when he thinks Ms Ruth isn't looking.
Like the afternoon she dispatches Bonnie outside with a glass of honey lemonade for the hybrid.
"Come right back now," she instructs as Bonnie heads out the door. She intends to listen, but of course Klaus looks her up and down as she approaches like maybe he would drink her, and he takes just one sip of the lemonade before pulling her in for a kiss, and his lips taste sweet and his free hand is full of her ass and she can't help scraping her nails down his bare chest and -
- it isn't Ms Ruth that interrupts this time but the wild squawking of her chickens . The gator's made off with another one.
This of course brings Ms Ruth barreling out of the house, sucking her teeth at Klaus. "A thousand years old and driven to distraction by a pair of legs."
She shuffles Bonnie back inside the kitchen and gives her a good natured scolding. "You keep wearing those shorts around him girl and I won't have any chickens left."
"Sorry, Ms Ruth," Bonnie says contritely.
The older woman shakes her head. "Damn heat makes everything harder."
Bonnie thinks about how Klaus felt pressed up against her thighs just a minute ago and stifles a smile.
Of course it's Klaus knocking at her window. Of course he's climbed up to her room in nothing but jeans, looking for all the world like he's spent his life in the backwoods of Louisiana.
Of course she's wearing the shortest nightie she owns (because Ms Ruth believes in central air even less than she does in pre-marital copulation), which makes it even easier for Klaus' hands to skim her bare thighs.
"What if we get caught?" Bonnie giggles against his lips.
"Mmm what if I can't get you out of my head?" his hands on her waist guide her towards the bed.
"Klaus...," she murmurs in fading protest.
And Bonnie's never quite understood the thrill of having a boy sneak into your room until she's pulling Klaus on top of her on the creaky twin bed, muffling her gasp against his shoulder when he settles between her legs. They grind into each other like the teeangers Ms Ruth accused them of being and just when Bonnie, thinking she can't stand another second of this torture, reaches down to undo his jeans, there's a sharp loud knock on her door.
Klaus growls into her neck. "How does she always know?"
"Well...she's a witch."
"You both have five seconds to fix yourselves before I open this door."
Bonnie runs a hand through his hair, pecking him quickly on the lips. "You better go babe."
Klaus slides off her with a long-suffering sigh and disappears from whence he came. Ms Ruth checks on Bonnie and, satisfied that all is in order, returns to her room.
Bonnie lies awake, her body still pulsing in all the places she was ready - so ready - to be touched. Her hand glides over her pelvis and dips between her legs, strokes the wetness she finds there until she's writhing quietly on the bed.
Her phone buzzes.
Sweetheart, you smell so good I could break down your door.
Bonnie bites her lip, using her free hand to type.
She'll just make you fix it again.
Her other hand moves faster, picturing Klaus' mouth there, his tireless tongue.
Another buzz.
You'd be worth it.
She can practically hear him saying the words.
She comes, wet and shuddering and sweet as the small break in a long fever.
Klaus comes up behind her as she's setting the breakfast table, large hands pulling her hips into him as he nuzzles her hair. "Good morning."
"You're going to get us in trouble again," Bonnie whispers.
"You in this dress are trouble."
"Horndog."
"Tease."
Bonnie slips out of his grasp when Ms Ruth comes in carrying a pan full of grits. Klaus, shameless hybrid that he is, winks across the table at Bonnie and nudges their feet together under the table.
"Could you pass me the honey, love?" he asks innocently, running his foot up her calf.
Ms Ruth rolls her eyes. Bonnie picks up the jar and walks around the table to stand next to him and pour it in his morning cup of blood. She curves her elbow subtly, letting his gaze roam the curves of her breasts and waist.
"That's enough honey for one cup," Ms Ruth says dryly. Bonnie moves to resume her seat but Klaus grasps her hand, dropping a kiss there before letting her go.
"Thank you, love." His voice travels along her spine, all the way down to her toes. She flushes warm.
When she sits down again, Ms Ruth pushes a glass towards her.
"Have some water."
"You on birth control girl?"
Bonnie almost chokes on air.
Ears burning, she concentrates hard on the collards she's chopping for their lunch. "Umm, no...I mean, I drink raspberry leaf tea because Grams used to say it's good for your uterus-,"
"Yes yes," Ms Ruth waves a dismissive hand, "but I meant something more...preventative."
"Well, I used to but umm...Klaus isn't -" she coughs a little, scrambling for words delicate enough to convey that she and Klaus have been sexually intimate for a couple of months now and no, they didn't use any birth control because why would they need to. She finally says timidly, "Vampires can't procreate so-,"
Ms Ruth spoons honey over a tray of fresh biscuits,"I know about vampires girl. But Niklaus isn't just a vampire anymore is he?"
Bonnie frowns a little. But surely -
"You ever notice things are different around the full moon?"
"Wh-what do you mean?" Bonnie clears her throat.
Ms Ruth gives her a sidelong look, "Missy, you know damn well what I mean. You get much done on the full moon that isn't on your back?" She laughs while Bonnie prays for the floorboards to swallow her up. "That's what I thought."
Full moon nights were intense. Last time, they didn't leave the house for two days. Bonnie remembers Klaus returning from the woods, naked, with blood in his teeth and dirt under his nails, and how they never made it past the foyer. Her thighs press together at the memory.
"There's never been a vampire that could procreate the human way. But, there's never been a hybrid either," Ms Ruth says thoughtfully. "Put a hybrid and a witch together...who knows what magic can conjure up. You best be careful girl, or you'll find yourself with a little wolf pack."
Bonnie looks out the window where Klaus is uprooting an old tree stump with his bare hands. As she watches, he starts breaking it into smaller pieces that Ms Ruth can use. And a sudden wistfulness takes hold of her, and she thinks about standing in a different kitchen - her own kitchen - looking out at a small garden, far away from the city, just her and Klaus and their own "little wolf pack", curly-haired children turning brown in the sun, dimples like their daddy that get them out of all kinds of trouble.
She blinks and the image fades. Ms Ruth nudges her. "Quit daydreaming girl. Greens aren't gonna chop themselves."
"Yes ma'am."
"And here, eat this." She gives Bonnie a honey-smothered biscuit. "You're too damn skinny."
The gator finally runs out of luck.
Bonnie almost has a heart attack when she sees Klaus dragging the dead animal by its tail before sitting down to skin it.
Ms Ruth cooks the meat that night. She keeps the skull for magical use and tells Klaus to give Rebekah the skin for a new pair of shoes.
Bonnie finds she doesn't mind the taste of gator meat, especially when flavored with Ms Ruth's homemade spice rub.
The old witch goes to bed earlier than usual, reminding them both, again, about the "house rules".
Bonnie stands on the porch and looks at the bayou by moonlight.
"I kinda like it here."
Klaus drops a kiss on her shoulder, "And I'm glad of it. But I can't say I'll regret returning to the Quarter." His arms tighten emphatically around her.
Bonnie turns and toys with one of his necklaces, "I was thinking, what if we had our own house out here? With...our own rules?"
He raises an eyebrow, "Why Bonnie Bennett, are you trying to make an honest man out of me?"
"Hmm, well let's just say Ms Ruth's given me a lot to think about...," she teases, pulling him down the porch steps with her towards their parked car.
"Has she now?"
"Oh yes," Bonnie unlocks the back door with a quick flick of her wrist and hops onto the seat. "Like how I'm a good, southern girl." She leans back and lets her thighs fall open, hitching up her already short, white babydoll dress. "And good southern girls don't break house rules."
He licks his lips and there's a hint of wolf-amber in his eyes.
She rolls her shoulders and the straps slip off. "Since we're under your car roof, we technically wouldn't be breaking-,"
Bonnie never quite finishes that sentence, because strong hands pull her forward by her thighs, and he's kneeling on the ground, pulling her panties down and off her legs. She braces a knee against the door to allow him easier access. She's warm and honey-wet for his mouth, wound up after days of heated longing.
She moans trance-like, grabbing his hair and grinding into his tongue. "Nik...,"
She's still shivering from her first orgasm when he pushes her further into the car, closing the door behind him and pulling her on his lap. Both their hands are clumsy with frantic lust. It takes them almost five minutes to unbuckle his belt. At last he slides inside her with a deep, almost agonized groan. Bonnie bounces shamelessly up and down, riding him with as much abandon as the constricted space will allow. His mouth ravages her neck and breasts. His hands push hard on her hips.
Bonnie lowers her face to his shoulder. "Harder...," she pleads.
The waxing moon melts against her skin, fills the back of her eyes.
Two months later
"I don't know Luce, must have been some magical loophole-"
On the other line, Lucy Bennett snorts at her cousin, "Helluva loophole to let a vampire get a witch pregnant."
Bonnie looks out the window of the Mikaelson house and recalls a small kitchen by the bayou.
"Bon? You there?"
"...yeah, yeah I was just thinking about something Ms Ruth said."
"Ms Ruth? Wait... old Ms Ruth who lives out in the swamp? The one that Aunt Sheila knew?"
"Yeah, why?"
"What'd you eat while you were there?"
Bonnie answers almost immediately, "Honey, lots of honey. We had honey on everything. Why? What does that have to do with Klaus getting me pregnant?"
Lucy chuckles for a long time. "Damn. Nothing like some old bayou magic."
"I don't get-,"
"Ms Ruth's honey is famous. Cures all kinds of ills and ailments. And...helps women conceive."
"Oh..."
Realization washes over her. Of course. The old witch had planned the whole thing, feeding them all that honey, the "house rules" so they wouldn't suspect her true goals.
She and Klaus had played right into her hands. Bonnie has to laugh. A Bennett witch and the Original Hybrid, collectively hoodwinked by a little honey.
"Well...Grams always did say my sweet tooth would get me in trouble."
A/N: During a Skype convo, Chelle said "what if there's an old witch Klaus does favors for once a year who lives in the swamp" and this AU came tumbling out. Shoutout to her for being certified Klonnie trash with me 24/7.
I hope y'all enjoyed fam!
