Bonnie woke up to a mini Christmas tree on the corner of the mint wall with presents underneath. She looked around but spotted no one and found it pretty strange since someone is always there whenever she seems to wake up. She was going to lay back down when the door opened and in ran Thomas with Stefan telling him to slow down because "you can wake up mommy", but when he walked in he saw that she was already up.
"You're up early." He greeted with a kiss.
"Am I?"
"You usually wake up around ten and it's eight."
"Well it's Christmas it's tradition."
Stefan smiled and sat his coffee in the beside table.
"Can we open presents now?" Thomas asked pulling on his fathers sleeve.
Stefan looked over at Bonnie who nodded and he turned to his son to nod as well. Thomas' face lit up and went to retrieve his first present. Ripping the wrapping paper open Thomas was excited about each gift that he had received and made sure to thank his parents after they were all opened.
Stefan reached in the bag on the floor and pulled out a box handing it to Bonnie as Thomas was playing with his new truck.
"Is it a necklace?"
"Damn, how'd you know?"
"Cause I'm-" Bonnie gasped as she opened the box and spotted the ring. "Bonnie Bennett and I know everything." She finished with a whisper.
Stefan smiled and took the ring out the box carefully switching the old for the new.
"I want us to have a fresh start and I figured a fresh start needed a new ring."
Bonnie had tears lining her eyes as she looked down at the ring and over to Stefan. He leaned in and kissed her only to pull away when Thomas expressed his disgust. They laughed but Stefan quickly kissed her again before standing up to clean up the wallpaper that looked like a pile of leaves on the floor.
"What's the plan for you guys later?" Bonnie asked.
"Chillin," Stefan shrugged, "with you."
"Did Damon cancel dinner? I was hoping you bring me back a plate."
Stefan chuckled. "He didn't cancel it per-say..."
"Then why aren't you going?"
"Because you're here and I want to spend my Christmas with you…and Thomas."
Bonnie stretched out her good arm and Stefan walked over to her placing his hand at the side of her face making sure to not apply too much pressure. Bonnie hugged his neck and kissed his head.
"But it's boring here."
"We'll make it fun."
"I want you to go and have fun."
"I ain't going anywhere. I'm having fun with you."
Bonnie smiled and released him from her hold and pressed a kiss to his lips.
"I love you."
"I love you too."
They shared one more kiss then the door opened in walking in Caroline, Elena, Bella and Damon.
"Merry Christmas!" Caroline said smiling.
"Merry Christmas,"
"Merry Christmas, Elena."
She smiled and knelt down. "Merry Christmas Tom."
He walked a little closer to hug her and Bonnie looked over at Stefan who could only shake his head.
"What are you guys doing here?" Bonnie asked with a smile hugging each of her friends.
"Well," Caroline started, "since you ruined our plans by getting hit by a car, we decided to spend Christmas here."
Bonnie laughed. "You guys do realize that you can't stay here all day, right?"
"Sure we can." Elena said pulling up a seat. "We paid one of the nurses off."
She laughed again and shook her head at her friends. "I love you guys."
"We love you too, Bon Bon, which is why we're choosing to spend our Christmas in this boring ass hospital room."
"Watch your mouth," Stefan warned.
Bonnie smiled but Damon rolled his eyes. After talking for a bit, they decided to open gifts that they got for one another. Bonnie felt a little bad since she left everyone's gifts hidden in their apartment but she made note to either ship it to them or make a trip the next time she got a chance.
"I bet all your plans with Stefan were ruined for tonight, huh?" Bella said filling the seat beside her friend.
The boys were out making a trip to Damon's packing as much food as they could in containers to sneak in leaving the girls alone for a bit.
"Yeah," Bonnie pouted. "But in a way it's okay because I was still trying to decide between a sexy Mrs. Clause or a naughty elf."
"Go with the elf, the Mrs. Clause thing to too used up." Elena said.
"Maybe next year"
"Yeah and who knows maybe you guys'll make a baby." Caroline wiggled her eyebrows.
Tears immediately filled her eyes and she tried to hold them back and the once joyous mood shifted to sadness.
"Little did we know, I already was."
"What?"
"Yeah," Bonnie wiped a tear away, "I was pregnant but when I got hit I lost her… or him."
"Bon,"
"Is that why you were so sad yesterday?" Elena asked to which Bonnie nodded. "I'm so sorry, Bon."
"When I told Stefan I just knew that he wanted to cry but he stayed strong for me. We've actually been trying for a few months now, but I guess this was for the best."
"Why?"
"We're not ready for another. Not yet. We're planning to move soon and with the stress of that and the wedding, it would've all just been too much."
Her friends sadly nodded and just as Elena was about to speak, the door opened and Thomas came running in.
"Thomas, this is the last time that I tell you to stop running in here, alright."
Bonnie bit the corner of her lip. It was something about Stefan in daddy mode that just turned her on.
"Sorry, dad."
Thomas soon went to the bathroom and Bonnie swears that if they were alone she would called him over and showed his lips just how turned on she was.
They started to unpack the food and plates and Bonnie had to ask Thomas if he washed his hands before went to eat. Stefan fed Bonnie her food since it was her right arm that was broken and even though she told him that she could eat with her left, Stefan argued otherwise and fed her a fork full of macaroni and cheese.
Caroline snickered at the two who were obviously having eye sex the entire time and even shared a fork. She was glad to see her bestie happy and in love even with all the things that she's been through.
When lunch was done, Rudy decided to make a visit and was surprised by how many people were in the room.
"Hey everyone."
Various greetings responded such as: hey, dad;hi grandpa; hi Bonnie's dad;what up.
He chuckled and walked over to Bonnie kissing her head. After wishing her a happy holiday, he handed Bonnie her gift and she thanked him before she opened it. A smile came her her face as she spotted a photo album. Flipping through the pages, she was hit by memories of her childhood. Her mother, passed sister, father and herself all together looking like one big happy family.
"Who's that?" Stefan said referring to the baby in the picture.
"Riley. My sister."
"I didn't know you had a sister."
"Well she died when I was five and she was one, so I don't really talk about it."
Before she cried, Bonnie turned the page and quickly coved the picture she saw hoping that no one else saw it either.
"Let me see,"
"There's nothing to see."
"Then why is your hand covering the picture. Let me see."
Bonnie slowly slid her hand off the picture and watched as Stefan's expression went from anxious to a full on smile.
"That is the cutest thing I've ever seen."
"Let me see," Caroline said taking the album out of her friend's hand.
"Aww! Your choice of clothing is a bit off, but everything else I love."
"Even my major Afro? I look like I'm in a mixture Roll Bounce and Grease."
"Even back then you were a model, Bon." Elena demonstrated her pose by putting a hand on her hip, shifting her weight to her left leg, straightening the right and added a smile.
"Elena, your form is all wrong it's like this," Damon demonstrated with a duck face causing everyone to laugh.
Soon Stefan demonstrated his pose followed by Caroline then Bella and Thomas, and lastly Rudy. Bonnie had tears streaming from her eyes laughing so much that she cried.
"I love you guys." She said wiping away a tear still giggling.
Her ribs were hurting so she tried to calm herself by breathing deeply.
"And who said this Christmas would be boring?"
"I think that was everyone."
Laughter came from the adults and Bonnie sat back and sighed thinking about how blessed she was.
She couldn't believe that she stayed in the hospital for close to two months before she was released. New Years was spent just like Christmas, everyone showed up and counted down with New York by the second until it was midnight. Thomas got his first kiss, from someone that wasn't his parents, by Elena who kindly kissed his cheek causing him to blush and act shy the rest of the night. She wasn't sure how he managed to stay up until midnight, usually he's out like a light, but Bonnie assumed the excitement in knowing that Elena would kiss him kept him up.
Bonnie breathed in the fresh winter air the car ride home and smiled once she was in the comfort of her own bed. She heard Stefan and Thomas playing for a bit until her two boys joined her on the bed and Stefan placed a kiss to her neck.
"How's the arm and wrist?"
"They're better, I'm somewhat glad that it's the same arm so at least I can do some things."
Stefan chuckled and kissed her lips this time. He sat on the left of her and she wrapped an arm around his waist as his head rested on her collarbone, his chin slightly grazing the start of her breast and whenever Bonnie would breath in, the two parts would make contact. Stefan exhaled and placed his hand on her stomach gently running his hand down her healed ribs before placing his hand between the rib cages. If her arm wasn't in a cast, Bonnie would've covered his hand with hers, but for now she just tilted her head to the left connecting her cheek with his silky hair. Thomas giggled at something on the television causing his parents to ghostly smile at the sound. They stayed like that for God knows how long just enjoying their time together.
Having a broken arm sucks, Bonnie thought trying to make herself a sandwich. Stefan offered to help, but she argued that she better get used to it because she'll be in a cast for a few more months.
"I got it," Bonnie smiled then did a little dance causing Stefan to smile.
Carefully, she carried the plate to the table and smiled again when nothing fell.
"I think I can become an ambidextrous,"
Stefan squinted. "We'll see."
Bonnie gave him a look then lifted the sliced half of the sandwich in her mouth.
"D'you think you can have sex with me with your broken hand?"
Bonnie chocked and grabbed the glass calming the cough with the water.
"What?"
"Do you think-"
"Yeah, I know, but why?"
"To know if you're ambidextrous."
Bonnie laughed. "Does my broken arm turn you on?"
"I'm not saying that we should," Stefan shrugged leaning in a little closer. "But you know, if we wanted to, I'm just wondering."
Bonnie held the corner of her bottom lip captive between her teeth then released when Thomas ran in. Stefan warned Thomas about his running around the house like he seemed to be doing a lot lately.
"Why are you so excited lately?"
Thomas shrugged. "I don't know."
"I just want you to be careful around mommy, alright? Her arm still hurts."
Thomas nodded then hopped on his fathers lap. Bonnie watched the two with a ghostly smile as Stefan started playing with his hair stating that he needed to show him how to use his hair products. Bonnie frowned, the last thing she needed was Thomas to look even more like Stefan because she knew soon he'll be talking about a girl he likes in daycare and any two year old girl with a right mind would take Thomas up on his offer.
She finished her sandwich carrying the plate to the sink as rinsed it off placing it in the dishwasher only to turn around and find her boys nowhere in sight. She heard some giggling from down the hall and went to go check it out and found that the sounds of joy were coming from the bathroom. She smiled and leaned on the threshold watching Stefan give Thomas a lesson on Hair Care 101, …alright, after you put the product in, you want to style it. Watch me. Thomas watched Stefan carefully then started the same motion to his own hair. Thomas' hair was a bit curly, but the style worked all the same and she couldn't believe it but her son looked even more handsome than before. Bonnie smiled then pushed herself off the frame to answer the door. Damon greeted her with a smile and they shared an awkward hug before Thomas ran in to greet his uncle like he always did.
"Not now, Stefan, I'm trying to look for my nephew."
"Uncle Damon it's me! Daddy's over there." He pointed to his father who was making his way towards Bonnie who wore a wide smile.
"Oh! Thomas, my apologies. Nice hair." Damon bent his knees embracing his nephew in a hug.
"Thanks." Thomas then scratched the back of his head and leaned in a little closer. "Do you think Elena will like it?"
"Forget about Elena, we need to find you someone your own age. Is there anyone you like in daycare?"
Bonnie didn't like where this was going seeing Thomas' wheels spinning until a light bulb appeared above his head.
"I think Emily is cute… she was the snowman in the play."
"Oh yes," Damon said not really remembering, "she was a cutie. How about you invite her to your birthday party this weekend and you can show off your new hair?"
"Okay," Thomas smiled then ran back to his room to fantasize about this weekend.
Damon straightened his legs and stared at his brother and his girlfriend…or fiancé…or wife or whatever until the untitled woman narrowed her eyes at him.
"What?"
"You look good for a girl who just got hit by a car."
"Thanks,"
Stefan placed a hand in her hip and pulled her into his body giving his brother a look. Damon held up his hands in peace then sat down at the table.
"So since it my job to be the barer of bad news," Damon played with the placemat, "we've been spotted. Or more so Stefan's been spotted."
"What do you mean?"
"I was at Mystic Grill the other day on a hot date," he winked, "when I overheard some guys talking and at first I didn't pay much attention but then I heard your name," he look up at his bother, "and I thought, damn."
Bonnie sighed running her hand threw her hair. "What exactly did this person say?"
"I can't give it to you specifically, but these dudes were going back and fourth, one swore that they saw you and the other called him a drunk because it was impossible."
"If I didn't get ran over by a damn car we'd be more than likely in Atlanta right now and this wouldn't have happened."
Damon offered a shrug and Stefan rubbed her back calming her down some.
"So what does this all mean?" Stefan asked.
"It means," Damon answered, "that you need to stay in hiding for the time being or at least stay out of large crowds."
"Then what the hell am I supposed to do for Thomas' birthday because I'm not missing another one."
Damon and Bonnie exchanged looks both coming up with a blank.
Since Stefan was practically banned from anywhere besides their apartment and Ms. Julia is with her family, Bonnie had no choice but to have Thomas stay with her father who agreed to drop him off at daycare every day even though it was twenty minutes away from his house. The night before Thomas left, Stefan and Bonnie helped him with his party invitations so he could pass them out to everyone in his class. They came out great if Bonnie says so herself. All she hoped was that people showed up and more importantly that Emily shows up.
Half of her is mad that Damon even put Emily in her son's mind because she knew that they couldn't stay in Mystic Falls all that longer but the other half knew that he was just being uncle Damon.
Rudy arrived at six a.m. giving him just enough time to drop Thomas off. Stefan kissed him goodbye and walked back into the room finding Bonnie looking like a pretzel under the sheets. He felt bad, her sides started hurting last night and it took some time for the pain killers to kick in having her shift uncomfortably in her sleep. He pressed a kiss to her forehead and smoothed out the top of her head moving her to rest on his chest. He wished that he could take this pain away from her, he hated to see her in pain but he knew that the only thing that he could do was to be there for her.
His hand caressed the slide of her face staring down at her then couldn't stop his eyes from traveling down her gorgeous face down to her stomach. The same stomach that had once carried another fetus that he didn't get the chance to watch grow into something more. He stopped a tear from escaping his eye and instead took a deep breath that caused the woman on him to stir.
"Did Thomas leave yet?"
"Yeah, I gave him a kiss for you."
The smile on her face went away just as quickly as it came. "Thank you."
"No need to thank me, I'm just doing my fatherly duties."
Her smile lasted a second longer this time. He felt a stiffness strike her and he knew exactly what she was thinking.
"I'm s-"
"Shh," Stefan ran his hand over the side of her face. "You should get some rest."
"I love you."
"I love you more."
He kissed her head once again and decided to get some rest himself.
Bonnie woke up she doesn't know he many minutes or hours later and sat up noticing that Stefan was still asleep. His hand slowly slid down her stomach but she stopped it before it slid completely off and held it where it was and rested back on his chest. She placed her fingers between his and breathed out, her head rising and falling in sync with his breathing. She felt him pop up slightly then rest his head back on the pillow letting out a breath.
"Bad dream?"
"Kind of. But I'm a big boy, I can handle it."
Bonnie chuckled and looked up at him and pressed a kiss to his lips and rested her head in the crook of his neck. She breathed in his scent and kissed him there. Stefan smiled and turned his body towards her placing his chin on top of her head and wrapped an arm around her making sure to not hold her too tightly.
"I love you, baby."
"I love you too." Her lips softly grazed his neck.
"I don't know what I would do without you."
"You would've survived. If I could do it, you could do it."
"How are you felling?" Stefan changed the subject.
"Much better. I miss Tom though."
"Yeah, me too. We'll see him in a few days though for his birthday party."
"What are we supposed to do until then?"
"We should FaceTime him all day when he gets back from daycare, it'll be as if he never left."
Bonnie smiled longer than she's had that morning. "That'll be nice."
Stefan moved his head down and connected their lips. He knew that if Thomas was here, he would've ran in right about now having them to break away but without any interruptions, they've got to kiss longer than they have in a while. Her soft, sweet lips against his creating small smacking noises before his tongue entered. Bonnie pulled on the hair at the nape of his neck and turned her head to the side for a better position. Knocks on the door filled the quiet apartment but Stefan kissed her longer until he got up, kissed her again, then headed to the front door.
"Hey, Stefan is Bonnie around?" Adam asked.
Stefan could tell that he was worried then realized that he's probably heard about the accident. He led him to their room and saw Bonnie grow a smile sitting up and rested her back against the headboard.
"Bonnie, I heard about the accident I just wanted to make sure that you were okay."
"Thanks Adam, I'm doing better."
"What happened?"
"Well, I was picking Thomas up from daycare and he ran out in the street and I saw a car coming so I pushed him out of the way and before I had the chance to move, I got hit."
Adam shook his head. "I swear people need to be more careful. I'm glad that you're okay, Bonnie."
"Thanks Adam."
Bonnie stretched out her hand and Adam chuckled but walked up to her to give her a hug. He wasn't sure about her injuries only the obvious broken arm so he made sure to not hold her too tight afraid that he would make something worse.
"Alright, I should go."
"Wait, Thomas is turning three this weekend… you and Angie should come to the party at the park."
"Yeah, absolutely, uh text me with the details?"
"Yeah, sure"
Adam nodded and after shaking Stefan's hand he told him that he could see himself out but Stefan shortly followed behind so he could lock the door. When he got back, he joined Bonnie on the bed again and rested his head on her chest.
"Is this what we're gonna be for the next month? Lazy bastards?"
Stefan chuckled. "Lazy, yes. Bastards, no."
"You think there's a difference?"
He chuckled again. "Of course there's a difference maybe lazy jackasses would be a better combination."
"But jackasses stink."
"So do lazy people."
"Touché."
Stefan listened to her heartbeat for a while against his ear before he looked up at her.
"Where's my Christmas gift?"
Bonnie chuckled. "In the corner of the closet."
Stefan got up and walked over to the closet and searched around a little until he spotted a box and underneath, a card.
"Merry Christmas," Stefan read the card out loud, "love, Bonnie... Really you couldn't think of anything more special to say?"
She laughed. "You're lucky I even got you anything, you're far too old for Christmas gifts."
"You're never too old for Christmas gifts."
Stefan sat beside her and tore away at the wrapped box until he read the word Rolex. A smile grew on his face and he looked over at Bonnie who smiled too. He opened the box and instead of a regular nice watch like he was assuming, it was customized. Instead of the three different clocks with the different time zones, each circle was instead a black and white picture. One was of him and Thomas playing and thinking back, he remembered that it was taken around the time when Bonnie had her photography project. The next was a picture of Bonnie and himself that he doesn't remember being taken but it looked fairly recent. They had matching smiles in their faces, their foreheads were connected and they simply looked happy. The last was a picture with him and Damon. Their hands rested on each other's shoulder, they weren't smiling but they weren't frowning either.
"How?"
"Antonio's good at that stuff, I asked him to try and he made it happen."
Stefan stared at the watch longer then took it out the box to place around his wrist. Bonnie smiled up at him and they shared a kiss.
"I love it, thank you." He spoke against her lips.
"You're welcome."
They smiled and kissed again before Stefan pulled away and ran his fingers through her hair and kissed her again.
Thomas was ready. He had given out all his invitations to everyone in daycare and decided to save the best for last. Emily was currently coloring with her best friend Effie and was glad when the teacher called her over so he could talk to her alone.
"Hi, Emily,"
"Hi, Thomas,"
He smiled glad that she knew his name.
"I um, am having a birthday party on Saturday and I was wondering if you could come."
"I have to ask my mom first."
"Okay. Here's the invitation."
Emily smiled and took the paper from his hands, placed it beside her then started coloring again. He was going to just walk away but he remembered what his grandfather said, Don't just hand it to her and leave, talk to her, get to know her. Sucking in another breath, Thomas occupied Effie's seat.
"So, what's you're favorite color?"
"Purple."
"Me too, my mom likes purple too."
"My mom likes red but my dad likes purple. What about your dad?"
"Um, I don't know maybe blue."
"I like your hair."
Thomas smiled and touched it some. "My dad's hair is like this."
"Cool."
Thomas scratched the back of his head coming to a loss of things to say. He was saved when one of the teachers announced that it was recess time. He knew that she loved to go on the slide so he'd figure that he could give her a push.
Bonnie sat on his lap in front of the computer looking for houses in Atlanta big enough to accommodate their family. A four bedroom house was what was on their minds but if all failed, they would settle for three bedrooms.
"What about this one," Bonnie pointed, "four bedrooms, three and a half bathrooms and it has a nice yard too."
"Let's see how it looks on the inside."
"It looks nice." Bonnie said as Stefan clicked on the pictures given. "I love the kitchen and the rooms are a good size… You think we can afford it?"
"Yeah, I mean we'll have to get jobs but we have enough saved up for us to get settled in and look around. Thomas will be going to school this year so we don't have to worry about a sitter or daycare."
"Speaking of school, is it a good elementary around there?"
Stefan opened Google and searched for the nearest school near the house.
"Yeah it got a four out of five star rating."
"Sweet,"
"I think we should still take a trip down there you know, check out the neighborhood, get a feel of the place."
"When?"
"When you're feeling better, I don't want the trip to wear you out."
Bonnie nods and meets her forehead with his chest. Stefan rubs her back and kisses her head.
"Truth?"
"Go for it,"
Bonnie looks up at him and pouts. "I'm scared."
"Why?"
"This whole moving thing. Everything's going to be so different, things are going to change, I just… I'm scared."
Stefan hugged her. "We'll be together, yes, things will change but the most important things are staying the same; you, Thomas and I, we'll all be together living under one roof. I'm not going to lie to you, it will be a struggle but we've been through far worse and look at us, I say we're pretty damn great for a couple of lazy jackasses."
Bonnie chuckled and kissed his neck.
"Oh how I love you."
"I love you more." They kissed. "Now come, Thomas should be home from daycare so let's FaceTime him."
Bonnie grew a smiled and joined Stefan on the bed ready to see her son's cute little face.