A/N: Thanks to everyone that has left a review on this story! I can't believe that we have already reached the 200 mark. I have enjoyed all of the feedback from everyone.

A ringing phone awakened Bonnie from a vivid nightmare. She hugged her midsection protectively as she slowly sat up on the couch. Bonnie began to panic when she did not recognize her surroundings immediately. It was as if the nightmare she had awakened from was coming true. However, her heart rate slowly returned to normal as she remembered that she was at Abby's house. She looked around the room for her mother but found that she was alone. Bonnie wondered for how long she had been asleep. She had only meant to rest her eyes for a few minutes. Unfortunately, sleep hadn't come easy for her since she received Niklaus' gift a few days ago. Some nights she couldn't sleep at all. While other nights her sleep was restless and full of nightmares.

Bonnie's phone started ringing again just as the haze of sleep began to lift from her tired mind. She searched her purse for the phone and frowned upon seeing that the incoming call was from a private number. Her mind automatically went to the call she received from Niklaus earlier in the night. Part of Bonnie wanted to send the call to voicemail. She felt steadier than she did earlier but Bonnie was in no shape to go another round with him. However, she knew how persistent Niklaus could be. He wouldn't give up until he got her on the phone again. He had no reason to be discreet since Damon was likely still at his party. Klaus probably figured that she was all alone.

She steeled herself in hopes that she could remain calm. Bonnie did not want Klaus to know that he had rattled her in their earlier conversation. She couldn't let him think that harassing phone calls in the middle of the night was the way to get under her skin. Bonnie wanted his lasting memory of her to be that brief moment tonight when she had held his life in her hands. It would have been so easy to sever his carotid artery with that switchblade. She had grown up in the five years that he spent in prison. Bonnie was no longer the little girl too afraid of him to protect herself.

She answered the phone on the last ring. "Hello?"

"Good evening, love," Klaus said. His smirk was practically audible over the phone.

She was grateful that Klaus sounded less impaired than he did a couple hours ago. Bonnie hoped that meant he had stopped drinking for the night. Trying to forecast Niklaus' moods while he was intoxicated was a fool's errand. His highs were as tall as skyscrapers, but his lows could be deeper than the Grand Canyon. One never knew if Klaus would lock himself in his room while in the throes of a meltdown or if he would lash out and brutally beat someone within an inch of his or her life. The latter had landed him in prison for five years after he accepted a plea agreement for assault with a deadly weapon.

Bonnie glanced at the time on the phone and quipped, "I would think that 'Good morning' would be more appropriate considering the time."

He hummed in agreement. "I suppose you are right about that. Unfortunately, my night is only beginning. There are just so many sycophants here to congratulate me on my release from prison. I despise them all. I am avoiding the lot of them for now by sitting in my office. Elijah will surely come to fetch me sooner rather than later."

She rolled her eyes at Klaus and his perpetual pity party. She understood that his life sucked. There was a time when Bonnie would have felt sympathy for him. She might have even been willing to commiserate with him because her life sucked, too. However, he had killed any goodwill in her heart a long time ago.

"What do you want from me, Niklaus," she asked in an even tone. Bonnie was annoyed but there was no sense in antagonizing Niklaus when he was calm.

There was a long pause. "I am sorry, petal."

Bonnie found herself flummoxed by Niklaus once again. She had expected many things from this phone call but an apology certainly wasn't on the list. Initially, she wondered if this was some sort of trick. However, she could hear the sincerity in Niklaus' somber voice. Apparently, feeling guilty about what he had done to Bonnie was part of his pity party. She genuinely wondered if a psychiatrist had ever evaluated him. Were alcoholism, frequent drug use, and general sociopathy the cause of his violent outbursts? Perhaps an underlying diagnosis could explain Niklaus' dual nature. For all the pain and terror he had caused Bonnie, she knew that he was capable of love and compassion.

She licked her lips nervously and asked, "What exactly are you apologizing for?"

"I am sorry for what happened at my brother's house tonight. I should not have been so rough and unkind to you. It has been such a long time since I have had to handle someone so delicate and precious. I forgot my own strength. You know that I would never try to hurt you on purpose, petal. I was just frustrated. It was infuriating watching you on Damon's arm all evening."

Bonnie rolled her eyes at his half-ass attempt at an apology. This was par for the course for Niklaus. He always apologized profusely for being rough with her. When Bonnie was a young girl, his words had been so convincing that she would forgive him. Niklaus had gifted Bonnie five beautifully illustrated original poems in the days following the assault after Mikael's funeral. He swore that their love was true because she was the only one that could understand him.

She replied, "Damon is my husband now. I am sorry if that upsets you. I understand it must be difficult acclimating to a world that has moved on in your absence."

"You must see how unworthy Damon is of you. He never gave you the time of day until your ailing grandmother dangled the keys to the kingdom in front of him. It is power that he covets…not you."

Niklaus had just targeted the major conflict in her marriage. Damon had been too old to show any romantic interest in Bonnie before they were married. He treated her as if she were a younger sibling that needed his protection. Marrying him had complicated their relationship. They were expected to behave as a married couple would but Damon didn't know how to merge the disparate strands of their past and their present. Now the couple found themselves in a relationship where he jealously asserted his claim over Bonnie but didn't actually desire her. She often wondered if she divorced Damon would he mourn the loss of power more or the loss of his trophy wife.

However, Bonnie couldn't be truthful with Klaus. It would only encourage his delusions of them continuing what they once had. No matter what happened in her marriage to Damon, she would never allow Niklaus to touch her again.

She countered his argument with a simple reply. "I love him, Nik."

"You love him?" he spat out bitterly.

"I do. He loves me, too. We are happy together, Niklaus. I know that might be hard to hear but you will find someone else that can be yours—completely."

Niklaus gave a sharp bark of laughter. "He loves you? Are you really so blind that you don't see that he is making a fool of you? I have been out of prison for less than a week and even I know that he is cheating on you with several women. You are letting that imbecile take advantage of your kind nature! You deserve better than the likes of Damon Salvatore."

Bonnie knew that the message was accurate even if she despised the messenger. She hated how easily he dented the armor that she had carefully built around her life. However, Bonnie's insecurities about her marriage lived close to the surface.

"You have a lot of nerve accusing my husband of taking advantage of me. Damon has his flaws but he has never hurt me physically. He has never made me do anything that I didn't want to do. There are worse fates than having a husband with a wandering eye."

The line went silent for a moment. Like a wounded animal, Klaus roared, "And you are saying that I have? What manner of brainwashing has Damon subjected you to in my absence? I have never placed an unwanted hand on you. I would never!"

Bonnie was taken aback by Niklaus' vehement belief in his innocence. He truly believed that he hadn't done anything wrong. In the past, Bonnie would have believed him, too. She would have begun to doubt herself. Not anymore, she knew better now.

Something inside Bonnie snapped and she screamed, "I can't tell if you are delusional or if all the booze and coke you have abused over the years has left you brain damaged. You raped me, Niklaus! You raped me repeatedly that summer. Every time you have ever touched me, it was unwanted. You forced yourself on me when I was sixteen years old and I just took it. I couldn't accuse a Mikaelson of rape! Who would have believed me? What would have been the consequences if they did?"

He sputtered, "Who has put this fiction into your head? I have never had to force any woman in order to get her to lie with me. Do you know how many women would willingly drop to their knees to please me?"

Bonnie steamrolled right through his questions because there were a few things she needed to get off her chest. She asked, "What exactly do you think happened tonight at Elijah's house, Niklaus? I wanted to leave the room and you would not let me. You didn't ask if I wanted you to touch me. You just took what you wanted from me. It is what you have always done! You have never once asked permission. You have just taken from me as if my body belongs to you."

The line went quiet again for nearly a minute before Klaus spoke again. "You make me sound as if I am some sort of monster."

"Sometimes you were monster to me, Niklaus. I made so many excuses for you. I blamed the drinking and the cocaine. I blamed your screwed up childhood. I blamed Hayley and Elijah for hurting you. Most of all I blamed myself. I thought maybe I had done something to deserve what you did to me," she replied in a broken voice.

He swore, "I never meant to hurt you. You were the first person after Hayley that I thought understood me. You knew that I was the Big Bad Wolf and you didn't run from me. I wanted you long before the night of my birthday party. You were just this beautiful burst of pure goodness and I thought being with you could make me better. You were going to be my salvation. I still think that. We could be happy together, Bonnie."

"I believe that you truly think that. But you don't hurt someone the way you have hurt me if you care for them, Niklaus. I get that Mikael really fucked you up. My parents really fucked me up, too. But at some point, you can't keep blaming other people for your bullshit. You raped me—not Mikael or Esther. Maybe it's partly my fault because I never asked you to stop."

Klaus asked, "Why didn't you? If I was hurting you so much why did you never ask me to stop?"

Bonnie said, "Because I was terrified that I would make you angry. I thought…it might somehow make everything worse."

He went quiet again because Bonnie had just turned his life upside down. "I can't begin to count the amount of time that I spent with my head between your thighs, Bonnie. Have you rewritten our history so much that you have forgotten how many times I made you cum in my mouth?"

"It just made things more confusing for me. I couldn't control the way my body responded to what you were doing…"

Loud music blared in the background as someone opened the door to Klaus' office. Briefly, the phone went silent as he muted the call. A few moments later, he said, "I have to go, love. I am afraid duty calls. Maybe we can talk…just talk again soon. I feel this is a conversation that we need to finish."

Bonnie stared at the phone after the call ended abruptly. She sat there as still as a statue while trying to process the conversation. Did Niklaus truly not understand how badly he had hurt her?

Abby cleared her throat and said, "Bonnie…"

The girl's blood ran cold when she saw Tyler and her mother standing a few feet away. She had been so focused on her conversation that she didn't hear them walk into the room. Bonnie tried to recall the last few minutes of her conversation with Klaus. However, everything felt distorted because of the sheer intensity of her emotions.

She choked out, "How much did you hear, Ty?"

Tyler was visibly shaking with rage. Through gritted teeth, he said, "I heard enough."

"I'm sorry, baby girl. I know that you wanted to keep what happened between the two of us. I invited Tyler inside because I didn't know how long you would be asleep. I could not just leave him out in the car all night. I didn't expect…"

She shook her head stoically. "This isn't your fault, Mom. I am the one that decided to have that conversation out in the open. I'm lucky that I didn't wake up one of the kids."

Abby couldn't have planned for Tyler to overhear the conversation between Bonnie and Niklaus. However, she was happy that it played out that way. Her daughter was stubborn and brave to a fault. Bonnie needed protection from Klaus. Abby had no doubt that Tyler would keep Bonnie safe by any means necessary. The Lockwoods were loyal to her family but it was more than that. Abby had not missed the longing looks Bonnie and Tyler had shared over the Thanksgiving holiday. There was something more than business and friendship brewing between the youngsters.

"I need you to stay calm, Ty. Just hear me out before you do anything crazy," she implored in a soft voice.

He had a murderous look on his face. "You've got to be fucking kidding me, Bonnie. You want me to be calm?"

Bonnie prayed that a bottomless pit would open beneath her feet and swallow her whole. She didn't know if she would ever be able to look Tyler in the eyes again. It had been difficult sharing something so personal with her mother. She chose Abby because Bonnie trusted her mother to keep her shameful secret. Moreover, she knew that Abby had made too many mistakes to judge her too harshly. Her relationship with Tyler was much more complicated. He was unquestionably Bonnie's best friend and most trusted confidant. However, he was also her employee. She didn't know how he could ever respect her after learning how easily Niklaus had taken advantage of her.

She said, "I can explain."

"There is nothing to explain. I am going to fucking kill him!" he swore. Tyler's mind was racing as he thought of ways to kill Klaus tonight. "Is he still at the Full Moon?"

Bonnie stood from the couch and rushed over to Tyler. She knew that his words were not an idle threat. She grabbed onto his leather jacket to prevent him from leaving the house. "You know that you can't kill him, Tyler."

Tyler barely even heard Bonnie's desperate words because his brain was on autopilot. All he could think about was ending Klaus as slowly and painfully as humanly possible. He would make what Mason and Brady did to Freddie look like a walk in the park.

"No, you aren't talking me out of this, Bonnie. You said that he raped you—more than once. Now he is out of prison and thinks that he can pick up where he left off? He's out of his fucking mind and you are too if you think that he gets to live after what he's done to you!"

Abby interjected, "Maybe the two of you should talk about this in private. There is a guest suite just down the hall. Either Jamie or Cooper is bound to wake up if you keep arguing out here."

Bonnie looked properly chastened. She was only in this mess because she didn't have the foresight to talk to Klaus in private. She took Tyler's hand. "Just hear me out, please."

Tyler was out for blood but he couldn't deny Bonnie's request. He had never been able to say no to her. He nodded. "Fine…"

Bonnie squeezed his hand in gratitude and led him down the hall. She expected Tyler to pull away from her in disgust but he just squeezed her hand tight. She walked into the first floor suite and turned on the overhead light.

He closed and locked the door so they wouldn't be interrupted. Tyler was very aware that Alaric could return at anytime.

She sat down on the loveseat in the suite's sitting room. "Will you sit with me?"

Tyler took a deep breath and sat beside Bonnie. He could tell that she was nervous and upset. He didn't want to burden her with his anger. However, he didn't know how long he would be able to contain it. He was practically foaming at the mouth but there was also this horrible feeling of guilt. Maybe Bonnie would have told him the truth years ago if he hadn't been such a hothead.

Bonnie took a deep breath and said, "The best thing for everyone is if we just leave the past in the past, Tyler. It was all water under the bridge until Niklaus was released from prison. He got a little too close tonight after Erik's christening but it didn't go too far. I was able to stop him."

Tyler's eyes darkened but he kept his tone mild. "You should have never been put in that position, Bon. How did you get him to stop tonight?"

She looked down at her shaking hands. "I pulled my switchblade and threatened to kill him. Damon came looking for me before I had to make good on my threat. But Niklaus was already backing off at that point."

Tyler tensed when he learned that Bonnie had taken a switchblade to the christening. It meant that she had been expecting Klaus to accost her. "What if he goes after you again?"

"I think I really got through to him just now on the phone. He seemed seriously surprised that I viewed what happened between us as rape. Besides, he has only ever been violent with me while he was drinking or using cocaine," she explained. She wanted to downplay everything to soothe Tyler.

He ran a hand over his face. "Mother of God. I can't believe that you kept this from me, Bon. I can't protect you if I don't know what I am protecting you from. I knew that something was up when you got those fucking books. I have never seen you look so scared. I used every contact that I have trying to figure out who sent them to you. Klaus is a rabid animal. He's dangerous and needs to be put down, Bonnie."

"The alliance…" she started.

He bellowed, "Fuck the alliance! Fuck Niklaus Mikaelson and every other fucking Mikaelson. They can all burn with him for all I care. Who else knows about this?"

Bonnie flinched involuntarily when he started yelling. "I told my mom tonight. Years ago, I confessed to a priest. No one else knows and no one else can know. You know that Niklaus is untouchable. People learning the truth puts us all in an awkward position. Do you think I would be able to live with everyone knowing that he raped me? Can you imagine how Damon would look at me? Do you think he wants a wife that is damaged goods? He barely wants me now."

Tyler softened when he saw the tears falling down Bonnie's face. He felt like such a jackass for raging instead of focusing on the fact that she was hurting. He shouldn't have been surprised that Bonnie would have kept something like this a secret. She was always trying to live up to her family's insane legacy. Tyler knew a little something about living up to the family name. Some children wanted to be doctors or firefighters when they grew up. However, from a very young age Tyler knew that he would one day follow in the footsteps of his father, uncles, and grandfather.

He gently wiped away her tears. "Don't talk about yourself that way. You are not damaged goods, Bon. What Klaus did to you was not your fault and doesn't change how amazing you are. Damon is lucky to have you even if he's too self-centered to realize that."

"Come on…you know how this goes. Men can fuck as many women as they want but we aren't given the same kind of freedom. Damon isn't going to want a wife that was assaulted by someone he hates. If Damon learns the truth, he won't want to be with me anymore. Then all of this would have been for nothing," Bonnie replied in a broken voice.

"Let me kill Klaus and no one will ever have to know what he did."

Bonnie shook her head. "If you get caught, Damon will execute you to preserve the alliance. It's the only thing that would appease Elijah."

He shrugged.

"No, don't pretend as if it's not a big deal. You know I wouldn't let Damon execute you. I would have to make him understand why you would do something that would risk plunging us into a mob war. Either way my secret would be revealed."

Tyler asked, "Do you remember when I took the oath?"

"Of course I remember."

He said, "I swore that I would give my life for this family. I meant it then and I mean it now, Bonnie. I would die to keep you safe. Others would step up in my absence. Matt would go to the ends of the Earth for your family."

Bonnie said, "I don't want you to die for me, Tyler. I would go crazy if I lost you. You are the only person in the world that I know loves the real me. You overheard me talking about my weakest moment and you are still loyal. You are still here willing to die for me. After Giuseppe attacked me, it was you that I sought out—not my husband. I could never replace you with anyone else."

"You are talking bullshit now. You are not weak, Bon. You are one of the strongest people that I know. Life keeps dealing you knockout punches and you keep standing back up. I don't know if I would be able to keep going the way that you have. You deserve better than this life, Bon. If I could take you away from all of this I would."

She sniffled softly. "You're a good friend, Ty. You make all of this bearable."

He caressed her back and sighed. "Life isn't just supposed to be bearable."

"We both know that happiness was never really in the cards for me. I was just too stupid to realize that in the beginning. I had a fairytale in my mind. Damon was supposed to be my prince charming. But he's no prince and I am certainly not a princess."

"You aren't stupid, Bon."

She asked, "What would you call it? Damon was never going to love me. He is not built for it…at least not in a way that would be satisfying to me. After everything that has happened, Damon is going to see Katherine before he goes to Milazzo. I told him once that he makes me feel as if I am the other woman. I have come to realize that I am. He always puts his own gratification above what I need."

Tyler replied, "Wanting to be loved isn't stupid. And no matter how Damon feels about you, I can say with certainty that you are loved, Bonnie. I know this because I love you. I always have and I always will."

"Don't say things like that," she pleaded.

"Why can't I tell you the truth? It's not as if I am saying something that you don't already know in your heart," Tyler said as he placed his hand over her heart.

"You're going to make me want something that I can't have. My grandmother suffered years under the cruelty that Giuseppe called love to put me in this position. To walk away from all of her plans would be to dishonor the woman that raised me. For what? She didn't promise that Damon would love me. No, she warned me that he was a broken man that would cheat on me with Katherine and anyone else that smiled at him prettily."

Tyler looked into her eyes and asked, "Who says we can't have what we both want? Haven't we both given enough for our families? There is more than one way to take over the Salvatores' business. You don't have to stay married to someone that makes you feel worthless."

Bonnie lifted an eyebrow. "I'm not going to kill Damon."

He chuckled. "I wasn't suggesting that we kill him. There are other ways to take the family from him. Trust me. I have been thinking about this for a long time. If you are honest with yourself, I know that you have, too. You're too smart not to have an exit strategy."

"How long is a long time?" she asked curiously.

"Probably since the moment my old man sent me to Milazzo for the summer to keep me away from you," he replied.

Tyler had never been so angry with his father than he was that year. Richard had sent him to stay the summer with the Loiaconos in Milazzo. It was under the guise of strengthening his ties to the old country. In truth, Richard had learned that Tyler and Bonnie were talking on the phone every day while she was at home in Shadow Hills. Sheila always intended for Bonnie to marry Damon one day. However, ideally it would have happened when Bonnie was in her mid-20's. Richard and Sheila had both been concerned that the teenagers would fall in love and ruin a plan that had been years in the making.

"No matter what you decide, I am always going to have your back, Bon. I just want you to be happy and safe," he replied.

"Does this mean that you won't go kill Klaus tonight?" she asked. Bonnie traced shapes on the back of Tyler's hand. She would call Richard to stop him if necessary.

Tyler frowned but shook his head. "No, I won't kill him tonight."

"And tomorrow night?" she asked. Bonnie slid into Tyler's lap and relaxed when his arms tightened around her.

"Ask me tomorrow night," he murmured into her hair.

"You won't tell anyone else, right?"

Tyler looked into her eyes and said, "I won't tell anyone else. This stays between us. I promise. But Niklaus is going to pay for this. The world is a safer place when that animal is locked away in a cage."

Bonnie relaxed more and rested her head on his shoulder. Sending Klaus back to prison was a novel idea. She stifled a yawn.

"You're still tired. Why don't you try to get some more sleep?"

She shook her head. Bonnie wanted to be close to him. "I'm comfortable right here."

Tyler said, "There's a bedroom right through those doors. I promise to stay until you fall asleep. You and the kiddos need rest, Bon."

She tucked her face against his neck and murmured, "My mom might come in…"

"That's why they invented locks."

Bonnie slowly stood from his lap and said, "Okay."

Tyler walked over to the door and double-checked the lock. Then he followed Bonnie into the bedroom. He kicked off his shoes and climbed into the queen-sized bed. "C'mere."

She snuggled into his outstretched arms and closed her eyes. Bonnie's mind lingered on something Tyler said a few minutes ago. "You know...I love you, too," she whispered.

He stroked Bonnie's back soothingly. "I know…"