Saturday-Portland
It was a gorgeous day for attending a Farmers Market.
Bonnie had been the first to wake and just because she was so nice, she let Kai sleep in while she took her time getting ready (it had nothing to do with wanting more time in that huge ass shower, shut up) By the time she was finished, Kai was stirring. Bonnie flew across the room and landed in a heap on the expansive bed.
"Wake up, we need to get a move on!" She takes a pillow and smacks him in the face. He eyes her for a moment before snaking a hand out, lightning fast and snatches the pillow and proceeds to return the favor.
One hour, two pillow fights, and a quick bite to eat later, they're off to spend the morning at the Saturday Market. Afterwards they'll swing by the cemetery to visit Kai's mom and lay flowers on her grave. Then Kai will take her around to see their old house, and swing by a few of his old haunts.
They were a little late getting started, so there's already a good sized crowd when they arrive. Bonnie stops to take a picture of the sign and send it to Luke and Liv with a smiling emoji. Luke sent back a thumbs up.
Bonnie and Kai wandered from booth to booth, sampling food and drinks, while Bonnie kept an eye out for souvenirs. She wandered away from Kai while he was haggling over the price of a pair of daggers for Liv to an out of the way booth just on the outskirts of the area. She couldn't explain why it caught her attention, except to say it looked a little off to her. Glancing back to make sure Kai was still occupied, she ducked around the corner and walked up to the booth that looked unattended.
It was set up like a stereotypical magic shop, there was a sign that advertised palm reading, as well as various bottles and jars of stuff. There was also an assortment of what looked like handmade jewelry made with gemstones. Liv could be a little hippie like sometimes, so Bonnie felt sure she'd be able to find something for her here.
She was browsing the necklaces when she felt her blood run cold. Right there on the counter was Qetsiyah's necklace. Bonnie straightened and took a step back.
"No need to fear what's rightfully yours."
Bonnie whipped around, eyes landing on a stylish black man who had appeared out of nowhere. "I'm sorry?"
"You just seemed surprised, that's all. Although, I can understand, it must be quite the shock to see a remnant of your old life here." As he talked he walked closer to Bonnie, who in turn, took steps back. "You don't need to fear me. I'm not here to take anything away from you. I was told you'd be visiting."
"How?" The question slipped out before she could contain it. "There's no-"
"Magic here, yes and no. There's no overt magic, you can't actively practice, but it manifests in other ways. Sixth senses, gut feelings, those kind of things." He looks right and left before lowering his voice, "and for a lucky few, dreams that eventually come to pass." He hold out his hand, "I'm Vincent."
"Bonnie." Placing her hand in his, she felt a warmth that she's only felt a few times before. It was the feeling of family. He laughs at her obvious surprise, "That's just a little bleed through. It'll get less and less the longer you're here."
He lets go of her hand and gestures to the necklace, "I think you should take it."
"How much is it?" Bonnie is rooting around in her purse for her wallet when he stops her. "I meant it when I said it's yours. I used to think it was weird that nobody ever looked at it, but I guess it never sold for a reason." Bonnie starts to protest, but he places the necklace in her hands
"Bon?" Kai's voice makes her snap her head around, she hadn't even heard him walk up. "You find something?" She looks down at the necklace and smiles, "I guess I did." Vincent offers to wrap it up for her, so while that is happening she looks down to Kai's empty hands. "No luck haggling?"
He sighs heavily, throwing an arm around her shoulders. "Nope, guess it's for the best. Can't exactly take them on the plane nowadays, can I?"
"You trying to get put on the 'no fly' list Parker? Cause that's how you get on the 'no fly' list." Bonnie teased. Vincent came back and handed a bag. "Thanks Vincent."
"Not a problem, Miss Bonnie. You take care now." Bonnie nods her head, "Same to you."
Kai leads her out and they head back to the hotel to drop off Bonnie's bags and grab the bouquet of roses that she bought earlier, before heading to the cemetery. They had just parked when her phone chimed, she looked at it and laughed.
"I think Caroline is drunk." Kai looked at the clock.
"It's only 2 p.m there, why do you say that?" She held out her phone for him to see. It was a mix of letters, nothing that made sense. He shrugged it off, "She must have sat on it or something." They got out of the car and Bonnie followed Kai as he made his way towards his mother's plot.
Bonnie offers to hang back while he speaks to his mother, but he just rolls his eyes and pulls her along. He introduces Bonnie and she kneels down to bury the trinket that Liv gave to her. She is respectfully quiet as she listens to Kai update his mother on all that has happened since his last visit. It's all normal everyday stuff until she hears him pause then take a deep breath.
"I'm keeping my promise, mom. I'm still seeing my therapist, and taking my meds when I have to." He's facing the headstone, purposefully not looking in Bonnie's direction. He talks more about his treatment and all that his family is doing to help him when he needs it.
Bonnie's mind is racing a mile a minute. Her first thought is that she shouldn't be here to hear this, but then another thought pops up, 'he brought me here on purpose'. The fact that Kai had taken her to his hometown, his mother's grave, and is sharing more of who he is makes Bonnie's heart sing. She reaches over to run her hand down his arm until she reaches his clenched fist, gradually he opens his hand so she can intertwine her fingers with his.
They leave shortly after that, each lost in their own thoughts. Kai had revealed something incredibly important and it left Bonnie thinking she should come clean with her story. They've made it to the car and Kai is discussing possible lunch spots, when Bonnie gently pushes him against the car and holds him there with her body.
"We don't have to talk about it if you don't want, but I am extremely proud of you. You're fighting something that I can't even imagine, and I just want you to know that I'm here if you ever need someone to talk to, or if you need help." She waits while he searches her face for any signs of untruth, before wrapping his arms around her and dropping a kiss on her forehead. "Thank you."
"Thank you for letting me in." Bonnie replies.
Over lunch he tells her about how his mother was Bi-polar and as long as she remembered her meds, everything was fine. All through her pregnancies, she was closely monitored by the doctors to ensure she was getting the best treatment despite not being able to take her usual medication due to it possibly harming her unborn children.
The problem came when she had a miscarriage. She hadn't even known she was pregnant, but became convinced that it was the medication that caused her to lose her child. Unbeknownst to anyone, she quit cold turkey, anxious to get pregnant again. It didn't take long for her to spiral out of control. Kai glossed over her final months, but Bonnie got the gist, it was bad for everyone.
Jo and Kai were in their final year of high school, Luke and Liv were in the 8th grade when their mother died. That was also when Kai was officially diagnosed with being bi-polar as well.
Joshua initially tried to stay in Portland, because that's where his wife was buried, but when Liv started acting out, and Luke started withdrawing from everyone, he knew he had to step up and do what was right for his family. He sold his share of the restaurant that he owned and since Jo had gotten accepted into Duke pre-med, he chose a quiet town that was about a four or five hour drive away.
Bonnie listened in rapt fascination as Kai explained how they came to end up in Mystic Falls. By the timeline Kai just gave, the Parkers had been in Mystic Falls a little over 10 years. That means Luke and Liv probably showed up at the beginning of Bonnie's sophomore year. She knew from past conversations that Kai had gone to a smaller school in Chicago and double majored in Culinary Arts and Business.
They continued their tour of Kai's hometown, he showed her his high school and where he liked to go when he skipped school. He also took her to his home. Bonnie was preparing to see the house in which the massacre occurred, but to her surprise, it was a smaller house surrounded by trees that Kai took her to. All in all Bonnie thoroughly enjoyed their trip down memory road.
They had to hustle to get back to the hotel in order to get ready for dinner. Caroline had talked her out of the sensible cocktail dress she had initially chose, and into a figure hugging dark red dress that made her boobs look fantastic and her ass "absolutely edible" according to Katherine.
She stepped out to find Kai talking on the phone with his back to her, "I'm ready." She called out. He turned, scanned her from head to toe, and abruptly said he had to go into the phone and hung up. He didn't say anything or move, and after a while Bonnie started to feel self-conscious. She bit her lip, "Is it too much? Cause I can change."
He crossed the room in three long strides, "Don't you dare." He backed her up until she felt the wall behind her, and he buried his face in her neck. She reached up to run her nails over the nape of his neck. He groaned and lifted his head to take her mouth in a fiery kiss. She used her grip on his neck to angle his head just so, and deepened the kiss, tangling her tongue with his.
The sound of the phone brought them back to reality, the front desk announced that their car was here. Bonnie was two seconds from saying 'screw the car', but this was also a business meeting and important to Kai, so she sucked it up, freshened up her lipstick and they made it downstairs and into the car.
They had been in the car for what seemed like minutes before it stopped again, the driver announcing their destination.
"Seriously? We could have walked!" Bonnie exclaimed. Kai raised his eyebrows in disbelief, "In those shoes?" He asked, looking at her 5 inch heels that Kat swore went along with the dress.
"….valid point." Bonnie conceded.
El Gaucho was a pricey steakhouse and cigar bar, it was the kind of place where deals were made with the shake of a hand. Bonnie was preparing for a night of man jokes, creepy innuendos, and possibly a stray hand or two.
She really needed to stop being so pessimistic all the time.
The dinner was nothing like she'd imagined. Upon entering the restaurant, they were greeted by the music of the band. "Another place with a live band!" Bonnie was excited all over again. They were lead back to a private room and Bonnie was shocked to see the host was none other than the former Heretic Beau. He was dressed to the nines, and when he greeted them, Bonnie was surprised to learn his voice was very gentle and melodic.
He gestured for them to sit and have a glass of wine, explain that his partner was running a little late. As they sipped and got to know each other, Bonnie learned that Beau and Joshua were friends going back as far as high school. He was regaling Bonnie with stories of Kai as a teenager when the door burst open. Bonnie was alarmed, but Beau just smiled and introduced his business partner Oscar. Seeing Oscar made her hope that Julian was not going to show up next.
He apologized for being late, but explained he had just come from Nora and Mary-Louis's place where they were celebrating the good news that they were expecting. Bonnie's eyes widened, 'is everyone around me having a baby?' she wondered. But that also explained her crabbiness the other night, she imagined it must have taken a lot of outside help in getting pregnant and she'd heard that those extra hormones were no joke.
So the group raised a toast to the expectant mothers and carried on. Bonnie feasted on rack of lamb for dinner and enjoyed wines that she would probably never be able to afford. For dessert, the table agreed on Bananas Foster that was prepared right next to them. As their dinner drew to a close, the group migrated into the Cigar room. Bonnie even took the opportunity to light one up, but it wasn't to her taste at all. Before she handed it over to Kai though, she made him take a picture of her holding both the cigar and a sniffer of brandy.
Her grams would have a fit, but when else would she have the opportunity to do it? Carpe Diem, baby.
Bonnie excused herself to go to the ladies room, she gasped when she entered. Even their bathrooms were top notch! When she was on her way back from the restroom, she took a detour to stop and watch the live band play.
"Do you dance?" Bonnie was so enraptured, she didn't notice Beau had come up and stood next to her. Bonnie shook her head, "No, I just love the music." They stayed like that until the song ended, then he escorted her back to the cigar room. Bonnie couldn't remember the last time she had had so much fun. The foursome ended up closing down the place, and in addition to Kai closing his deal, Bonnie had also done some wheeling and dealing of her own. Oscar happened to collect extremely rare books and was looking to have some restored and translated. Bonnie passed him Elijah's contact info and Oscar assured her that he would reach out sometime in the upcoming week.
By the time they got back to the hotel room, both were slightly drunk and decided to just go to bed. They had nothing planned until Sunday afternoon, and both were looking forward to sleeping in.
Neither bothered to check their phones until the following morning.
Sunday-Portland
When Bonnie woke, she rolled over expecting to feel Kai next to her. All she found was a piece of paper letting her know he went to get doughnuts. Rolling out of bed, she shuffled into the bathroom "Yikes." She said referring to herself. She had done a half assed job of taking off her make up the night before, so one eye was still ringed with eyeliner and her hair was doing god only knows what. She hopped in the shower, then changed into leggings and an oversized shirt to wait for Kai to come back.
She was hunting for her phone charger when he returned. Her phone had died, and she wanted to see the pictures they had taken throughout the night. "Hey, you seen my phone charger? I wanna make some people jealous." When she got no answer she looked up to see him setting the box of donuts down and picking up her cord for her charger, it had fallen behind the desk. "Thanks."
While her phone booted up, she took a good look at Kai. "What's wrong?"
"Did you get any other messages from anyone back in Mystic Falls yesterday?" He asked.
"No, just that key smash from Caroline. Why, did something happen?" He sits on the couch and nods.
"Oh yeah. Liv didn't know all the details, cause she wasn't there, but apparently Stefan had a meltdown, some stuff was said, and basically he's disowned."
"WHAT?" Bonnie dove for her phone, and sure enough there were tons of missed calls and text messages, her eyes landed on a video clip simply titled "Salvatore went OFF!" Bonnie hits play and they both watch as Stefan staggers into the frame and starts yelling about a bear. Its five minutes of him finally exploding and telling Damon what he thinks of him as a brother, calling Elena a whore, his mother an uppity bitch, and that he was done with all of them.
Bonnie watches in horror as Giuseppe steps in the frame and tells him that he is no longer welcome in the family. Stefan laughs and asks "which one? This one, or the one you have two hours away? Yeah, I know about them." Giuseppe roars at him to get out, and finally, mercifully, Caroline and Nik both step in to steer him away. The video ends with Elena bursting into tears and Damon rounding on his father in anger.
"Oh my god." Bonnie looks at Kai, "Have you-"
"He's with Nik, he took him to one of their family cabins." Bonnie sighs, "Thank God." At least he's not alone.
"I think you should call him." Kai prods.
"Why? I have nothing to do with this."
"Yeah but if there's anyone that knows how he's feeling it's you." He continues.
"No, it's not the same. Damon is his brother, as long as he's married to Elena, there's no escape for him." Bonnie argued. "I can walk away at any time, as evidenced by this weekend. It's not the same." She repeated.
Kai jumps up and begins pacing, "I don't get you sometimes, if there is anyone that can understand what he's going through it's you. But here you are, acting like it doesn't bother you."
"Because it doesn't bother me."
"Yeah, I know. And that's what worries me."
"You're worried that I'm not a basket-case?" Bonnie laughs, "What kind of logic is that?"
"I'm worried that you're suppressing your emotions somehow, and eventually, you're gonna explode just like Stefan did."
"The only thing I'm suppressing right now is the urge to scream." She snarks.
"And that! Your whole personality change since your accident! Are you taking something?"
Bonnie recoils, "You honestly think I'm drugging myself? Please tell me when I would be doing that. I was with you ALL DAY yesterday. When would I have had the chance?"
"While you were in the bathroom." He answers promptly.
"When I was….are you fucking kidding me right now with this?" Bonnie doesn't think she's been so insulted.
"Well, something is going on! I've ignored it for as long as I could, but it's always there, in the back of my mind."
"What is?"
"That you're not being completely honest with me."
"What, I have to tell you everything I do now?"
Kai laughs bitterly, "And there you go again. Every time I try and get behind that mask, you deflect, and go on the offensive."
"You keep pushing me to go on the offensive!" Bonnie yelled. She took a step back to regroup. "Look, I know there've been some…..inconsistencies with how I was before the accident, and how I am now. But can't you trust me when I tell you that I'm dealing with it the best way I know how? Don't I deserve that little bit of leeway?"
"I do trust you, but you don't trust me."
"What do you mean? Of course I trust you, I wouldn't be here with you if I didn't."
"Fine." Kai conceded, "You might trust me a little bit, but not enough to tell me everything. What are you so afraid of?" He waits for her to answer, and when she doesn't he scoffs and grabs his coat. "I'm going out for a walk. Please reconsider calling your friend."
"I'm afraid that I'll tell you and you'll think I'm crazy." Bonnie says quietly as he passes by her. He stops but doesn't turn around. "Grams knows. She asked a few well-placed questions and I folded like a deck of cards. I've never been able to lie to her." She sniffed. "I hate lying to you, to all of you. I just…it's such a crazy thing, and on the off chance that you do believe me, I worried that you'd hate me."
"I'd never hate you. I just want…..need to know." He turns and gathers her in his arms and Bonnie holds on for dear life. He settles her on the couch next to him. "I need you to trust me, that's the only way this thing we're trying to build will work."
"Right." Bonnie pulled away, turned to face him head on, and pulled her legs underneath her to sit cross legged. "You remember when we had our T.V sci-fi marathon, and we watched Eureka?" She could see him confused as to why she was bringing up a T.V show, but to his credit he just nodded.
She looked at her hands nervously. "Remember what happened in season 4?"
It took a while, but she could tell the exact moment it hit him. His eyes grew wide and he leaned back. "No, that's not possible. That's a T.V show Bonnie."
"I told you it was crazy." She whispered.
"How? What? When?" He's stumbling over his questions, but he's still here, so Bonnie takes that as a good sign.
"We both died around the same time. Me in my world, she here. Remember that freak lightning storm that cut off all the power in the hospital? That was the moment we switched. I've been here ever since."
"Where did she go?"
"This is the part where I'm afraid people will hate me. She's dead. We were each given a choice, and I chose to keep living, she chose to give up and pass on." Bonnie kept her head down and waited out the minutes. Finally, still saying nothing, Kai got up and walked out the door.
Bonnie burst into tears on the couch.
Saturday-Mystic Falls
"Argh." Stefan woke up to a face full of sunshine. He must have forgotten to close the curtains last night, or rather this morning. Nik had taken him out for a few drinks. A few drinks turned into a lot, and before he knew it, he was being carried into his former room at Salvatore Manor.
He could hear movement downstairs and his mother's sharp voice ordering some poor servants around. Lillian Salvatore was a notoriously demanding employer, Stefan didn't understand why people still agreed to work for her. 'Oh yeah, the money.'
The soft knock on his door pulled him from his musings, he prayed that it would be anyone else but her. Luck, apparently was not on his side today, or any other day lately. He watched as Elena stuck her head in, once she saw he was awake, she invited herself in and took a seat at the foot of his bed.
He took a minute to regard her while she was making herself comfortable. She still wore her hair long, but it was wavier now, not pin straight like she used to keep it. Her big brown eyes still pulled him in, and her lips….
Nope, bad road to go down, he mentally told himself.
"What can I do for you this fine morning….sis?" He asked, pushing himself up to lean against his headboard. She shrugged one shoulder, "I just wanted to see how you were doing. You looked pretty trashed last night."
"Thanks for your concern but, as you can see, I'm fine. Was there anything else?" Elena pouted before brightening. "The set-up is starting downstairs, do you want to go see what's happening?"
He gives her a blank look, "Why would I want to see that, shouldn't you be asking your husband, you know, the father of your baby that?"
"I just thought you might like to be included." She snapped.
"I'm involved just the right amount thank you." He got up, not caring about his state of dress and escaped into his bathroom. Thankfully when he emerged she was gone, but he could still smell her perfume lingering in the air. He thought about texting Bonnie to see how her trip was going, but decided not to, someone needed to have a good time this weekend.
He ran into Damon on the way to the kitchen.
"Brother."
"Dickhead."
Lily was holding court in the dining room, so Stefan switched directions and went straight to the kitchen. He poked around the breakfast platters his mother had set up before breaking away to go eat on the terrace. From his vantage point, he could see the crews setting up the giant tents in the backyard. The gallery had suffered an "unforeseeable" leak, so Lily had to scramble to get everything changed over to hold at the house. Which is where it should have been held all along.
"Scoot over." Kat's voice came from his left side.
He moved over obligingly, "Where'd you come from?" He hadn't see her in the dining room with the rest of the planning committee.
"Do you know how big your house is? I've been looking at your art." Stefan raised an eyebrow, "And by looking at your art, I mean raiding you cellar." She held up a flask, "Care for a pick-me up? Hair of the dog and all that."
Stefan knew he shouldn't, especially after last night, but after his early morning visit from Elena, and running into Damon, he just wanted this day to hurry up and be over. So he held out his coffee and Katherine topped him off. "Bottoms up." They both drank deeply. Stefan offered her some of his pilfered goods, and they both ate and drank from the relative safety of the terrace.
"What are you doing out here? I need your help decorating!" Miranda stuck her head out the door. "Oh good morning Stefan. Katerina, get a move on." She disappeared back inside.
"Oooh, your government name, someone's in trouble." Stefan teased.
"Who's in trouble?" Rebekah appeared next to Stefan. He blinked, then looked at his coffee cup, what the hell did she put in his cup?
"Mom pulled out the Katerina, means she's pissed about something already." She took another pull, and slid the flask in a thigh holster. She looked up to see both Stefan and Rebekah watching her. "What? I can't be the only one pre-gaming here." Grabbing a piece of fruit to mask the alcohol on her breath she went back inside.
"That girl." Stefan shook his head.
Stefan knew no one would be asking Bex to join in on helping set up, so the two stayed outside. Damon poked his head out once to ask Stefan for some help, but Rebekah quickly shot that down. "It's your spawn, you do it."
When Rebekah was called away, he got up and moved his empty plates to the kitchen, fully intending on washing them himself. The servants that his mother hired almost had a fit at the thought of him doing any kind of domestic chore. He started to argue, but realized he wouldn't be the one fired if Lily found out, so he said his thanks and made a quick getaway to hide in the stables.
Or at least he tried to.
Lily caught up to him at the front door, "Oh good, you're up. I need you to help the caterers off load the food and bring them into the kitchen. After that you need to call your father's office and remind them that he has to be out of there by 12:30 sharp in order to make it here on time." Stefan was only half listening until she mentioned his grandmother.
"Whoa, back up, she's not coming?"
"Antonella is unfortunately feeling under the weather, so no she will not be joining us. I thought I told you?"
"No you didn't. You know you didn't, otherwise I would be far away from this place. You know the only reason I was even going to attend this mess was because I haven't seen Nonna Nella in years." Stefan was pissed. Lily had to have known that his paternal grandmother wasn't going to be able to make it. She was too organized to leave anything to chance.
"What's the big deal? We'll take lots of pictures and videos to send back to Italy so they're not missing out on anything." Lily smirked, knowing that he wouldn't want his precious Nonna to think he wasn't there. Stefan shook his head as he walked away. This damn family…..
His mother had ordered enough food to feed a damn army. Which was stupid in Stefan's eyes because he knew none of these women would eat anything heavier than a cucumber sandwich. He walked out just as Luke pulled up and backed into the side entrance to the house.
"You look like shit." Stefan like that Luke pulled no punches, and always said what was on his mind, whether you wanted to hear it or not.
"Huh, that's weird, I could have sworn I was wearing my happy face." He dead-panned. They made quick work of unloading everything, and soon it was time for Luke to leave. He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a flask. "Courtesy of my brother, he thought you'd need something to get you through the day."
Stefan made a 'WTF' face, why was everyone offering him alcohol?
At that moment though, Damon stuck his head out the door, "Are you done fraternizing with the help? I need you to go to and pick up a few of mom's friends from the airport."
Stefan took the flask from Luke and downed half of it while keeping eye contact with his brother. "Can't, I've been drinking." He walked away hearing Luke crack up behind him.
Normally Stefan had an issue with how big their house was, but on this day, he praised its expansiveness. Whenever anyone would come looking for him, he'd duck into an empty room or hide in an alcove.
Needless to say when the party officially started, Stefan Salvatore had a nice buzz going.
He took another shower to sober himself up a bit, then changed into his pre-approved party attire and went downstairs to do his brotherly? uncle-y? (whatever, he'd ask Caroline when he saw her which title would come first) duty.
His mother initially wanted him standing with the rest of the family by the door greeting people, but Stefan said a hearty 'fuck you' to that idea. Instead he ventured out back and took up residence near the table set up for the gifts. Nik found him there after a half hour, "What are you doing back here?"
"Thinking of something petty to do to the gifts. What are you doing here?" Nik sighed and pulled out his own flask, "Bribery. My beloved promised me a weekend where everything is of my choosing." Stefan nodded slowly, Caroline was a notorious control freak, so for her to hand the reigns over to someone else must mean she really wanted him to come.
Nik had started a trend it seemed. Soon almost every male had congregated over to where they were and stood about shooting the shit. Stefan saw Damon look over a few times, and each time he did, Stefan lifted his flask to where his brother could see it and drank.
He left his little corner only a few times, once to refill his (and a few others') flask, and to take the obligatory family pictures. He could tell Lily was pissed at his behavior, but it wasn't like she could do anything while all the town it seemed, was in attendance.
But he had forgotten how crafty and just plain evil his dear mother could be.
In one of the family pictures, she stopped the photographer and pretended to think. "Wouldn't it be wonderful if we took one on one shots of the mommy to be with the aunt and uncle?" Stefan swore his heart stopped. Even Damon seemed to realize this was too far, protesting that they had enough posed pictures, and they should get to opening the gifts.
Stefan looked at Katherine, she looked ready kill Lily, and as nice as that thought was, he decided to suck it up. Katherine went first and the amount of teeth she bared could have been mistaken for a smile…..if you were blind. When it was Stefan's turn, he smiled on cue and played his part, he would not let his mother win.
"Okay, I think we're good. Time to open gifts now." Miranda dragged her daughter away, hissing something under her breath. Grayson just clapped him on the shoulder and followed his wife. Stefan made his way back to his safety spot. Wordlessly, Nik handed him a flask and watched as he downed it all.
The opening of the gifts was well underway and Stefan was starting to think he'd actually make it through this when he heard Elena squeal as she read a card.
"Oh my god! So, okay the card says:
Maybe a knickknack, or maybe a toy
Here's something to welcome your bundle of joy
With lots of love for both of you
And many blessings for your baby too.
There is an audible aww, as Elena reads the card, then pulls out a teddy bear. He sees Caroline gasp and shoot straight up in her seat.
"Who's it from?" Someone yells out.
Elena is beaming ear to ear as she reads out, "With love, Bonnie."
You could have heard a pin drop, it was so quiet, then Stefan hears a strangled sound come from Caroline before she whips out of her chair and leaves the area. Nik and Rebekah follow her and even though he can't hear what she's saying, it obviously has to do with the gift that was just opened. He slides out while everyone else is preoccupied with watching Elena open more gifts to try and find where they went.
He finds them in the stables. Caroline's face is beet red and she is wrestling with Rebekah for her phone. "I just need to ask her!" Caroline shouts. "You're not asking her that, at least not now. Let her come back, then ask her." But Caroline will not be deterred, "It's bullshit, I know it is, Bonnie wouldn't do that."
"Bonnie wouldn't do what?" He asks, leaning on a stall door. Caroline freezes and Rebekah takes the opportunity to grab her phone and check to make sure nothing was sent out. "Thank goodness, it just looks like a key smash or you sat on it. I'm confiscating this for the rest of the night." Rebekah slides the phone into her bra and leaves.
Stefan is way too drunk for this shit, "You gonna tell me what's going on?
Caroline rounds on him, "That lying bitch is what's going on. No way Bonnie gave her trifling ass a gift, and if she did, it sure as shit wouldn't be the teddy bear that her mother gave her!"
"What?" Stefan thinks he might throw up.
"That's the one thing she has of her mom, and we all thought she'd lost it years ago. Bonnie was hysterical when it came up missing. She….WE looked for ages for it. She wouldn't even accept any other teddy bears until she found Ms. Cuddles." She stopped to wipe the tears that streaked down her face, "She must have had it the whole time. I swear I am so done with her." She turns to Nik and asks him to take her home.
The trio head back to the staging area to get Caroline's things, he makes the mistake of looking up at Elena and sees that she has the bear sitting right next to her and something in him snaps.
He walks up to where she is seated, intending to take the bear and give her back to her rightful owner, but Damon intercepts him. "What the fuck are you doing?" He asks under his breath.
Stefan shoves him away, "Get the fuck off me you asshole, I have had it with you and your wife's bullshit." He turns to address Elena, "You know good and well that's not a gift, that bear was stolen!"
"Stefan you're drunk, go sit down." Damon grabs his arm to tug him away from everyone, but Stefan rips his arm away. "Oh so now, you care about me? Let me tell you something, brother, if you cared about me, you wouldn't have been fucking my girlfriend behind my back for months. You are nothing but a waste of skin, and I'm ashamed to call you my brother."
He shifts to include Elena, "it must have been so convenient that we lived in the same house, you didn't have to go far for your whoring. Nope, just right on down the hall." He can hear the gasps behind him, but he doesn't care, this has been months in the making.
"Tell me brother," He sneered, "Did you ever kiss her and taste my dick? Did you ever think about that?" He rounds on Elena again, "When you were sucking his dick could you taste Bonnie's pussy?"
"Stop!" Lily screams. "Stefan you need to leave, I will not have you besmirching our good name like this."
"YOU!" He turns on his mother, "You are nothing but a snobby, bigoted bitch. I'm ashamed to call you my mother. You didn't like Bonnie because she "wasn't the right fit" for your upper crust, country club bitter old biddies, but you welcome her with open arms?" He gestures in the vicinity of Elena. "Bonnie is worth a thousand Elena's, but you couldn't get past her skin tone, could you?"
"ENOUGH!" Giuseppe's voice cuts through the air. "Stefano, since you are so ashamed of us, maybe you shouldn't be a part of the family anymore." More gasps.
Stefan just laughs, "Which family poppa? The one here, or the one you keep hidden two hours away? Yeah I know about them, you are not that good at keeping secrets."
"GET OUT!" Giuseppe roars.
Caroline steps into his field of vision and pleads for him to follow her out. He takes one last look around and staggers away with Nik's help. He reaches the edge of the driveway before he drops to his knees, throws up, and passes out.