Happy birthday, Enzo

"Alright… you can go now", Alex said with a smile, clearly satisfied with Enzo's successful mission. "Here, take this.", she finished as she handed him an envelope.

"What's this?", Enzo eyed Alex with a mix of confusion and suspicion. In all these six months working for her she never gave him anything but headache and trouble. Except for that one time she revealed they were related. Also he didn't recall telling her his birthday. But then again, this was Alex. Of course she knew.

"See for yourself", Alex replied with a smile as she turned her back on him and walked inside a car.

"Happy birthday, Enzo.", she finished before closing the door.

Enzo opened the envelope. It was money. Quite a lot of it. Enough to provide for a couple years living with Bonnie in the cabin. He got paid every time he went on a mission to retrieve something for Alex, but this was an extra. Perhaps she wanted to compensate for her absence or maybe for her lack of family bond. There was also an old photograph of him as a toddler. One, maybe two years old. He couldn't remember the occasion of this photography, but he could surely recognize himself in it.

Enzo put the envelope in the inside pocket of his jacket and walked back to his car.


"Mail!", a familiar voice yelled from the outside.

"Oh, finally!", Bonnie stood up and ran to the door as fast as a bolt of lightning. It was twilight already so she had given up hope of receiving any mail today. Bonnie opened the door and retrieved the package from Porter's hand.

"Thank you, Mr. Porter", she said with a smile.

"You're welcome, miss", he replied, making his way back to the woods.

Bonnie closed the door and put the package on the kitchen table. It was the first time she would ever give any present to Enzo, so she didn't know if she chose the right gift. She went to her room to get some wrapping paper she still had somewhere, then carefully gift wrapped the package.

Bonnie started to have a few flashbacks of the last time she actually celebrated birthdays with her friends. It felt like ages ago. She thought about Elena, who she would never see again in her life, she thought about Caroline and about how much her friend was struggling with her new life as a mom of twins and still having to deal with Stefan not being around. She thought of all those she loved and had lost. Her grandma, Jeremy, her father…

Bonnie was brought back to reality when she heard the door closing behind her. She jumped a little as she was caught off guard. She looked behind her shoulder instinctively.

"Hey", Enzo greeted her.

"Hi there", she greeted him back.

"Are you…cooking anything?", he asked, even though he knew the answer to his question.

Bonnie's eyes widened as she remembered she forgot a cake baking in the oven.

"Oh no ohnonono pleasedonburn pleasedonbuuuuurrnnn", Bonnie said desperately to herself as she hurriedly took an oven glove in her hand.

"Yeah, of course you DID burn", she said to herself, really disappointed, as she retrieved the dark, almost carbonized cake out of the oven.

"…What did you do?", Enzo asked. He couldn't contain his laugh.

"What I did NOT do was to bake this cake. I always do it right…oh, man", she replied, "I even got candles for this…"

Seeing that she was really upset at her failure, Enzo tried to dismiss the subject.

"It's fine, Bonnie. At least you didn't burn the house to the ground.", he replied, unable to resist. She squinted her eyes at him. He laughed at her reaction.

"Well…at least your present survived.", she said as she handed him the carefully wrapped package. "Happy birthday, Enzo", Bonnie said with a sincere yet discreet smile.

Enzo had not noticed the package when he entered the house, even though it was in plain sight. That actually took him by surprise.

"Oh…", he started, "thank you, Bonnie". Enzo regarded her for a second before unwrapping his present.

"You are welcome", she replied.

"Oh? Music scores?", he said, a bit surprised. As he sifted through the pages there were some songs he knew, but there were a lot he did not.

"Yeah", Bonnie replied, "since you were held as a test subject for so many decades I realized you have missed a lot, not being able to experience the world and all…freedom is something quite new to you, comparing to the amount of time you spent imprisoned, isn't it? Aaaand, since you can play the guitar, well…I thought it would entertain you."

That was actually very thoughtful. It wasn't a gift just for the sake of his birthday, it was actually something planned considering his life story. Or at least what she knew of it. Enzo could not hide a warm smile.

"Thank you, Bonnie. I really appreciate it.", Enzo said sincerely. She just smiled in return. It seems like they were finally getting civil with each other.

"So…where are we going?", Bonnie asked him. He furrowed his eyebrows.

"What do you mean?", he asked, confused.

"Well…I meant to bake you a cake. But it turned to coal. So…we have to celebrate elsewhere.", Bonnie explained.

"I see", Enzo replied, "and I thank you for your thoughtfulness. I really do. But it wouldn't be wise, Bonnie.", he tried to convince her.

"Aw, c'mon. What harm can it do? I'll be with you all the time. We are in the middle of nowhere and it's been, what? Forty six days since you brought me here. Everything's fine. Allow yourself to celebrate your birthday, Enzo!", she tried to reason with him.

Enzo deliberated for a moment. The nearest town was Grafton. And of course he knew pretty much everyone there. AND, he would be with her, the sole vampire in the region. Nothing really bad could happen, he reasoned.

"All right, college girl. Where do you want to go?", Enzo asked Bonnie.

"What do you mean? It's YOUR birthday, Enzo. It's your call.", she replied.

"Fine", he conceded. "Shall we?", Enzo asked, holding the door open for Bonnie.

"I'll just grab my jacket!", Bonnie replied, clearly satisfied.

As he closed the door behind them, Bonnie breathed in happily, making her way to the car. That didn't go unnoticed by Enzo.

"You sure are happy. WAY too happy, might I add.", Enzo pointed out, thinking there was more to Bonnie's behavior than just his birthday.

"That obvious, huh? Well…I was tired of staying here and not being able to do pretty much anything. So if I have a chance to go out, I gladly take it.", Bonnie explained as she got inside the car. Enzo started to drive away.

"Of course. OF COURSE it couldn't be just because of my birthday", Enzo thought to himself, a bit disappointed. But Bonnie had a point. She was a young woman and she nearly bored to death. Could he really blame her to be so eager to get out?

"Ouch. And here I thought you were that happy because of my birthday", Enzo wined in a playful manner, with a smirk on his lips.

"I still haven't forgotten when you knocked me out at The Armory, you know. It won't be so easy for you to have the best of me.", Bonnie replied with a small laugh.

"You think that was harsh? What about my hand, witch?", he turned his face to her, showing his right fist.

"You've been through worse, don't whine about it! Besides, I really had to do that…You know I had.", Bonnie protested. "And I got you a present. That's the nicest of me you've seen so far."

"Can't argue with that", Enzo replied with a smile. He had to admit he was growing fond of her company.


"Yes?", Tyler Lockwood greeted as he picked up his phone. It was Alex calling him.

"You want me to FIND Bonnie Bennet? Didn't even know she was missing in the first place. What do you want her for? Of course it matters. Bonnie is a friend." There was a pause.

"I know…you don't have to remind me. I know what I am working for. But there are boundaries, Alex. If you're not telling me why you need her, then count me out of this. You can go find her yourself.", Tyler hung up with a growl, frustrated.


"Thank you", Enzo said sincerely.

"What for?", Bonnie asked, confused.

"This. My birthday party.", Enzo replied with a warm smile.

"Oh. But two people hardly make a party, Enzo. We just had food and a few drinks. You might call it your private birthday celebration. That would be more accurate, don't you think?", Bonnie asked Enzo.

"Perhaps. Probably. I…don't really know.", he replied.

"What do you mean?", Bonnie asked, unsure.

"I don't really remember ever having a birthday party. Or even a private celebration, as you call it.", he explained, somewhat sad. Bonnie didn't reply. She didn't really know what to say to him.

"The orphanage wasn't really a place for bonding, so we didn't have any parties or celebrations. Actually, there was a time I didn't even know when my birthday was. By fourteen I was on the streets, no friends, no family, so there was no one to celebrate with. I lived my life the way I could. Always moving, always going to wherever it was that could employ me. That didn't allow me to stay long enough to make friends. Then Lily turned me…and when I woke up from the transition I was alone, again. I managed to come to America and spent my years here and there, before I went to war in the 1940's. After that…well, you know the rest. I was imprisoned by the Augustine sickos and only got out recently. So…I have never really celebrated a birthday. Not mine. Not anyone's. It doesn't really make much sense when you're a vampire, anyway." Enzo was bit surprised at him. He had never opened up like this before. Especially not to such an unlikely friend like Bonnie. There was a long, awkward pause.

"That's…" Bonnie started, "…of course it makes sense. Life is supposed to be celebrated, Enzo!"

"Technically not really alive, love", he replied, pointing at himself, laughing at the irony. Bonnie just rolled her eyes.

"You KNOW what I meant. And since you completely ruined the mood of an event that was supposed to be happy, I say we celebrate every year from this day on.", Bonnie offered.

"You sure are looking forward to be stuck with me for a long time, are you not?", Enzo replied with a laugh, trying to lighten the mood. Bonnie just squinted her eyes at him. He laughed.

"To Enzo. Immortally painful to have around.", Bonnie said as she rose her glass.

"Here's to celebrating with friends from this day on.", Enzo replied as they toasted.

/

Author's note: Hi there! Thanks a lot everyone for your kind reviews. I hope you like this chapter as it starts to change the dynamic of Bonnie and Enzo's relationship. Again, sorry if I make any mistakes and feel free to point them out! Thank you :)