Oh...mg. When the inspiration hits you know?
Month 1, Day 3
A sharp pain woke Bonnie from her oversaturated dreams. She shifted uncomfortably and the pain dug deeper into her hip. She shifted again, this time away from the source of discomfort, and bumped into something solid.
Maybe she could have fallen back to sleep if it weren't for the puffs of air hitting her face every four seconds. Bonnie tugged her tired eyes open to find herself sleeping mere inches away from Damon.
They had fallen asleep looking at each other because they were talking, but there was at least half a foot of space between them before she had dozed off.
"Time to get up!" a gruff voice shouted. He followed the command with a crisp crack of a whip that rang through the air, jolting Damon awake.
He and Bonnie stared groggily at each other before another crack of the whip sent them scrambling off the bare floor. Men and women- strangers to them- gathered their things and tried to refresh themselves as much as possible, but you could only do so much after a week of hiking through wetlands.
Damon and Bonnie had dropped into their current reality's bodies two nights before and were already miserable. The rest of the travelers looked downright dead inside.
A third crack sent everyone lining up two by two. A second horseman trotted around the edges of the sad excuse for a campground. A fourth crack had everyone walking.
"I'm exhausted," Damon whispered harshly. "Exhausted and sleep deprived. The last time I was this tired was when Rebekah was torturing me in the Mikaelson formal living room."
"Good times," Bonnie joked in a hushed voice.
She glanced up at the first horseman; he was around Damon's height and just as pale, but what Damon had in dashingly good looks the other had in impatience…although Damon was pretty impatient too. Bonnie and Damon had narrowly missed a whipping their first night.
"I hate being human," Damon complained. "Is this our life now? Refugees going God knows where?"
Bonnie sighed, her feet squishing in thick black mud. "Maybe. I hope not."
Being Back, Day 2
Croaking frogs and twittering birds lifted Bonnie from deep slumber. She teetered on the edge of reality and turned on her other senses. Damon's heart beat softly against her left arm and his breath drifted across her cheek languidly. She cracked her toes and shifted her legs; the hairs on Damon's legs gently scratched against her calves.
Bonnie sighed contentedly and let herself be lulled under, sinking into her down mattress. Her senses ticked off one by one. She lifted her right hand to the top of her flat stomach and her awareness came back full force. Sleep had protected her from circumstances, but she had to face reality.
She slid her hand down her stomach like she did every morning. Today there was no curve. Her hand did not lift up the further she went down. There was no more baby bump. Hot tears prickled behind her lids. They used to wiggle once she got to her belly button as if to say, "Good morning, mommy!"
There were no babies. But there was Damon's hand resting right below her navel. Her pinky finger bumped into his thumb and her hand stalled before covering his. His fingers lifted in between the gaps of Bonnie's and interlaced them.
Relief released some of her tension. "You're awake." Bonnie craned her neck to look up at him. He was propped up to hover over Bonnie with his elbow sunk deep into the pillows.
"You didn't sleep," she said in realization.
"Didn't need to," Damon said quietly. He placed a lingering kiss on her forehead.
"Were you watching me sleep the whole night?"
"Just about."
"Did anything interesting happen?"
Damon pursed his lips in thought then asked, "You were planning a surprise party for my birthday?"
Bonnie smiled lightly. "Yeah…"
Damon watched her close her eyes and breathe deeply for a moment.
"Is this really happening?" she asked.
"I think so."
She opened her eyes. "Now that the initial panic has worn off- what are we really going to do?"
"About the Gilberts?"
"They're a part of it, yeah."
Damon smirked as if he had all the answers. "Well its not like we're still with them. We broke up with them before we died."
"Uh- I broke up with Jeremy. You gave a speech Elena couldn't even hear."
"Well I'll go break up with her right now then!"
Bonnie's eyes widened. "No, don't!"
She forgot how fast he could move as a vampire again. She barely had the reflexes to grab his arm before he buttoned his pants. Her grip was a little tighter than intended.
"Don't leave me," she whispered. "Let's just- let's just stay here and figure out what we're going to tell them."
Damon rolled his eyes and unzipped his pants. "First you want me to break up with Elena, now you don't. Make up your mind, woman."
He was back in bed in less than three seconds bringing Bonnie as close as possible.
"You know they're going to come looking for us."
Bonnie shrugged. He rubbed her shoulder as she traced random patterns on his hip and wiggled their toes together.
"We should figure out what happened after we disappeared first," Damon decided. "Figure out if everything is the same as we remember."
"Okay," Bonnie agreed. "We have to thank them...for getting us back."
"I guess..." Damon whined.
"Then you can break up with Elena."
Damon's response was to squash Bonnie against him as he kissed her. "And tell them we're married," he added when he finished.
"We're not married, Damon. Our dopplegangers just happened to be married."
Damon blinked. "Alright, let's get married," he suggested.
Bonnie's left eyebrow quirked. "Is that you proposing?"
He shrugged nonchalantly.
She deadpanned. "No."
Damon laughed out loud and Bonnie couldn't help but giggle. They shared a comfortable silence.
"We can tell them everywhere we've been...except the last one."
Damon nodded solemnly. Bonnie worried her lips and then asked, "Do you think its possible to get back?"
"I don't know," Damon said honestly. He didn't even want to hope. "I don't want to overthink it, Bon. I'm just glad we landed in the same place. Remember Turkey?"
Bonnie shuddered. Memories of the three months spent there still tainted her dreams. Damon didn't let her reminisce for long.
"Being together has always gotten us through- kept us alive." His hand covered the back of her neck; his ring finger rested against her carotid artery. "We don't worry about anything but us in the here and now."
Bonnie nodded. "Okay."
"Right. Now what are we going to do about food? Your stomach is growling."
"Breakfast in bed?" Bonnie suggested.
Damon was on the verge of saying no, changed his mind, but never got to answer. Bonnie threw off the covers and crawled over Damon and off the bed. "I changed my mind. Let's go cook together."
Bonnie slid into Damon's v neck as he climbed back into his pants. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder, and she around his waist, as they traveled down the hallway.
Bonnie entwined her free hand with the hand Damon hung off her shoulder as she looked at the gleaming family photos hanging on her wall. The photos were the only evidence that was left of this Bonnie's family. They turned and dropped to the first stair in unison.
"Aren't we going to have to go grocery shopping?" Damon asked. "Nobody has been living here for- how long were we gone?"
Bonnie tried to recount the number of months being thrown into parallel universes. "Maybe like a year?"
"No one has lived here for more than a year. At best I'd expect cereal." Damon crinkled his nose.
"I think I had waffles in the freezer," Bonnie replied unconvincingly.
Damon flicked the light switch at the bottom of the stairs on and off. "I didn't think about it last night, but has the house been getting water and electricity the whole time?"
"You're right..." Bonnie said. "It's really clean too."
They entered the bright orange kitchen with contrasting dark brown wood cabinets and floor. There was still a faint smell of Pine-Sol and a half used air freshener was plugged into one of the walls. Damon opened the french door to the stainless steel fridge. It was full of food- fruit, vegetables, eggs, bacon, even a rotisserie chicken and more.
Bonnie pulled open a drawer stocked with yogurt parfaits and a single folded pink note. She gasped, "Oh my god. It can't be..."
She pulled out a cup. "Peanut butter cookies and s'mores crumble. They stopped making these years ago."
She quickly ripped the top open and used a finger to spoon a dollop into her mouth. "Oh my god," she moaned. "My favorite." She grabbed a spoon from the silverware drawer and shoved several spoonfuls in her mouth.
"So attractive," Damon said. Bonnie paid him no mind. He pulled the note out. When he unfolded it, it was a pink heart full of curly lines and bubble letters. He guessed it was from Caroline.
"You're finally back!" Damon read aloud in a squeaky high voice. "Life just isn't the same without you, but now you're back and the hole in my heart has been refilled. Consider today the new first day of your life. C'est la vie! XOXOXO Love with all of my heart, Caroline. P.S. sorry this note looks awful. It was really last minute. The others were way better."
Bonnie stopped licking her spoon clean to take the note from Damon and read over it again. She stared at the full fridge and then back at the note. It was Caroline who cleaned the house, stocked the fridge, and kept the electricity and water running- since Bonnie had disappeared. She had never given up. She had made sure Bonnie had a home to return to.
"Wow," Bonnie breathed. She sniffled a bit and wiped a tear from her eye.
"What's wrong?" Damon asked.
"After all the jumps we made...I forgot what's it's like to have someone who knows the real me waiting for me. Besides you." She pressed the paper to her chest.
A loud whine erupted from her stomach.
"Guess the yogurt wasn't enough," Damon quipped. He shuffled items around in the fridge taking stock of their ingredients. "For today's breakfast," he said grandiosely, "how about we have some...pancakes?"
Welcome back, readers! It's been so long. I'm happy to return with a chapter for something :'D
I can't promise this is a real return but at least there's a new chapter?
Until next time! xoxoxoxoxo