A/N: Thank you, thank you, thank you for the reviews for last chapter. Here is the latest! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: These characters are the creative property of LJ Smith and The CW. No copyright infringement is intended.

Increase is a product of progress. Bonnie's powers, with time and practice had expanded like a rubber band, so she could do more than float feathers and light candles. She could bring a thousand year old vampire to his knees, could search the minds of werewolves, could engulf an entire house in flames.

Now…she could affect the weather.

For days it was nothing but a torrential downpour. No one wanted to leave their house. Mystic Falls drew to a standstill until miraculously the clouds parted, the sun beamed, and the puddles were dried up.

Everyone returned to their mundane routine and activities as if nothing was ever wrong in the first place.

How Stefan wished he had that ability to float through life only worrying about paying bills on time, not falling into debt, and living a pretty dull existence.

The sound of his boots scuffling against the hardwood floors of his room magnified just how silent everything was without Bonnie there. Stefan stood underneath the threshold casting his gaze over everything in his room from the bed, to the bureau, to the table that was pushed along the window littered with junk.

Peeking out from under the bed was one of Bonnie's stilettos. He remembered unbuckling the intricate heel with his teeth while she laid there on her back giggling. Just thinking about the sound of her laughter made his ears ring with remembrance. When he inhaled deeply he caught whiffs of her: sunshine, sandalwood, and burning embers. Her scent was enshrined in everything, on every surface, and when he tried hard enough, he could smell her on his skin.

There were a few items of clothing scattered around the floor and though Stefan typically would have left them were they may, he could hear Bonnie's voice harping about being neat and tidy because you knew when company might show up. Hell the boardinghouse was so used to having invited and uninvited guests he and Damon didn't even bother to keep the front door locked. Besides it wasn't like they needed a high-tech security system. Whatever threat entered the premises they were more than equipped to handle it.

Stefan pushed himself forward and stomped his way to the bed. One of his plaid shirts was on the floor and he scooped it up. On the collar was a lip stick stain. He swallowed heavily and tentatively brought the shirt up to his nose and inhaled deeply.

Memories flooded his mind like a mud slide, like an avalanche. Bonnie had wanted to return the favor and give him a hickey although she already knew he didn't bruise—at all, but he didn't stop her from nibbling on his neck.

He chuckled as he thought about the morning she woke up thinking it would be a routine kind of day as she prepared for school in their bathroom. He no longer thought of his room just being his room. Since he fell in love with Bonnie and she agreed to spend certain nights with him, it became their room. But Bonnie stood in front of the vanity mirror about to brush her teeth when she noticed several bruises around her neck.

When he innocently entered the bathroom, she glared at him, pushed her hair off her shoulders, and pointed at her neck.

"Stefan…?"

He put toothpaste on his toothbrush and stuck it in his mouth before answering. "Yes?"

"Why do I look l lost a fight to a curling iron?"

Stefan inspected the fresh purple and red bruises and shrugged his shoulders. A little concealer should do the trick and when he suggested it, Bonnie almost made him swallow his toothbrush.

That had been the last time since last week that she used violence against him.

He twisted the shirt around his hands. It needed to go in the laundry but he didn't have the heart to wash his shirt or any other piece of clothing that Bonnie wore and/or touched. He didn't want to lose her scent.

He thought fighting the bloodlust was hard, but living without Bonnie, not being able to touch her or see her…it was a freaking nightmare.

However being alone at night was probably the hardest. Since they became an official couple they never spent the night without each other. If she wasn't in his bed, he was in hers.

The threat of tears began to choke him. So many questions hounded and harassed him that Stefan was fairly sure he had gone crazy because one night he did spend a majority of it talking to himself trying to figure something's out.

After the ER doctor told him Bonnie had been six weeks pregnant he mentally replayed the night they conceived. It had to be the week before Bonnie was kidnapped. He remembered that night because right before they went upstairs, Bonnie was out on the terrace sipping hot chocolate while staring up at the moon. He had asked her if she was going to come in, and that's where she remarked that there was a red circle around the moon. Stefan had had no idea about the significance of that, but Bonnie turned to him and said when the moon has a red circle around it anything that was once impossible could become possible.

So apparently he had been filled with some magical sperm and it was all she wrote.

So that answered the question of how Bonnie was able to conceive with him-maybe. The other question that was bothering him was: did she know she was pregnant and had shown up at the boardinghouse to tell him the good news and everything went downhill from there?

Stefan wasn't sure because he was fairly certain Bonnie would have brought it up during their argument. She might have said something like "Well get your check book ready to pay child support." Or "Just my luck I'm having an idiot's baby."

Okay maybe she wouldn't have said that but maybe she would have said. "To think I came over here to tell you that the one thing you never thought could happen, did happen and we're going to have a child and I find you sucking on your ex-girlfriend's neck."

If she knew and was about to tell him…he couldn't ask her because Bonnie was not speaking to him. And he found out the hard way by bouncing off a shield as he attempted to climb the stairs of the Gilbert house that she put a restraining spell on him, so he couldn't see her either. Now that hurt.

Stefan had lived through unimaginable pain before but nothing could ever explain the magnitude of his grief. He would have been a father.

There was no other being on the face of the planet more special than a child. And to have the knowledge he'd never hold his son or daughter, get to read to him or her, or play with him or her, or merely watch him or her sleep…

Whoever said you don't miss what you have until you don't have it anymore was right. Stefan never imagined himself as a father and didn't have that great of an example of what it took to be a good one to begin with. Giuseppe was a prick, but if the opportunity ever arose to have children Stefan vowed to be the total opposite of his dad.

Now his one opportunity might not ever happen again. That was simply a reality he didn't want to face.

Sheila walked through his legs, hopped up on the bed, and curled herself into a tight ball. She stared at him with an almost accusatory expression on her face if that was possible.

The two creatures stared at one another. "I'm going to get her back."

Did that cat just roll her eyes at me, Stefan thought. He approached the bed and leaned over it.

"I'm going to do whatever it takes to get our girl back."

She yawned as if to say "Yeah I've heard this shit before."

Stefan could do nothing but shake his head. Talking to a cat…he really must be desperate for someone to talk to if he had to resort to this, but what were his other options? There wasn't another vampire around who could commiserate with him, not even a human. But he meant every word he said to Sheila. Whatever it took, he was going to get Bonnie back. The first step was convincing her not to set his balls on fire upon seeing him. He flicked his eyes at Sheila one final time before picking up the rest of the room.

He was surprised Sheila didn't leave him any tokens of her affection in the form of droppings in his shoes, or using his underwear and shirts to sharpen her claws. In fact this was his first time seeing her since Bonnie…

Stefan trounced those thoughts. He could mourn…just not right now because he needed to convince Bonnie this was something they needed to do together.

Something's were just easier said than done.

Her friends were beyond worried for her. They were petrified. They could understand the silence. Her refusal to move only when she needed to use the restroom, and her constant sleeping. But they couldn't handle her not eating or drinking.

Seven days ago was when Bonnie suffered a miscarriage and had been discharged from the hospital, and for those seven days it was like the earth stopped moving.

Up was down, down was up, black was gray, and gray was white. Nothing made sense to anyone. It was like whatever madness was playing itself out in Bonnie's mind was manifested through the weather. There were electrical shows that lit the sky all hours of the day and night. Monstrous winds blew at high speeds causing Elena to think the roof to her parents' house was going to be ripped clean off. And it rained so heavily that it became an almost life or death dash just to check the mailbox.

Then suddenly everything returned to the way it had been before. It was still gloomy outside—naturally the sky never officially turned blue just gunmetal gray, and from time to time a strong wind would blow but would only last for a few seconds.

They had achieved the impossible by getting her out of bed and out of the house. She was now on the back patio staring out into nothingness.

Caroline and Elena threw looks at one another afraid to speak their thoughts because they weren't sure how Bonnie would take their suggestions. Right now the girls were whipping up a culinary breakfast that would make any professional chef proud but they might be the only ones eating it.

Caroline lifted her brows and pointedly looked at Elena's cell phone. Elena shook her head and drew her brows together.

The blond sighed, reached across the kitchen island and picked up Elena's phone. Bonnie didn't have super-hearing…Caroline didn't think…so there was a good possibility she might not hear who she was calling.

Damon answered on the next to final ring before his voicemail clicked on.

"How is she?" was the first thing to come out of his mouth.

"She's out of bed so that's progress."

"Blondie," Damon's tone said he hadn't expected to hear Caroline's voice.

Caroline for her part did not utter the retort that was clinging on for dear life to the tip of her tongue. "The next step is to get her to eat and drink, but we don't think she'll be receptive to us. In fact I believe wholeheartedly that Bonnie is sick of me and Elena."

"I don't blame her. You two are increasingly irritating when you want someone to do something."

Eyes rolled, and hands were propped on hips.

"Are you done with the ribbing? The only reason why I'm calling your ass is because I know she doesn't want to see or talk to Stefan. Consider this our olive branch. Now…you might be the only person in this town Bonnie might remotely listen to since she isn't speaking either. How soon can you get over here? Hmm?"

There was silence for a while but Caroline could hear Damon getting up from whatever he was sitting on, and she clearly heard the jingle of his car keys.

"I'm on the way."

The line went dead.

Not ten minutes later the front door to the Gilbert residence opened and closed and Damon was strolling through the kitchen.

The smell of bacon frying and eggs being scrambled caught his attention. If he were still human his saliva glands would have been producing spit like overtime, but the smell only vaguely appealed to Damon.

He first made eye contact with Caroline who was busy at the stove. "Blondie." He then reluctantly forced his gaze on Elena who had some serious bags under her eyes. "Doppelganger. Where is she?"

Elena pointed to the French double doors that led to the patio. "She's been out there all morning."

Damon passed both young women a look and then removed his trusty leather jacket. He spotted a pitcher of orange juice and poured a glass.

"Do you have any ginger ale? Bonnie likes a little ginger ale in her OJ."

Elena moved towards the fridge.

Damon could feel Caroline's eyes on him and he could already hear what she wanted to say to him about knowing what Bonnie prefers but for the moment she was remaining mum.

Elena handed him the unopened bottle of ginger ale and merely watched Damon pour a third of a cup into the OJ. He said not a word to them as he disappeared to the patio.

It was a mild day for March. The temperature soaring to a comfortable fifty-seven degrees. The birds were singing, a few children in the neighborhood were terrorizing one another.

Damon had his attention rapt on the woman standing as still in a statue wearing her best friend's clothes, her long chocolate locks thrown up into a messy knot on the crown of her head.

He purposely strolled over to Bonnie although he was fairly certain she already knew he was there.

"So I heard you were knocked up," Damon began.

Bonnie snapped her head to glare at him, her emerald eyes glowing for a moment. He was fully prepared to be lit on fire or being the victim of a knee-crunching aneurysm, but Bonnie did nothing, merely burned him with the intensity of her eyes.

Silently Damon handed her the glass of orange juice. Bonnie looked down at it and then up at Damon. She turned her head away.

"I haven't seen or bothered you for a whole week so you know you're long overdue to hear a snarky comment."

Silence.

"I can't imagine what you feel. I've never been in your situation before because obviously I'm not a woman…"

Silence.

"But I do know what it feels like to lose something you love. Kids…they never made a blip on my radar and I'm sure that was the last thought on your mind…and out of everyone I know, you Bonnie would have made an excellent kick ass mother. And you will be a mom. I can see it. And I know it. But…this living corpse thing you should leave to the experts."

Damon took a sip of the juice. "Because otherwise what are you accomplishing? I'm not saying you can't be mad at the world—you should be, or that you shouldn't mourn what you lost—you have every right, but you don't have the right to simply give up. That's not the Bonnie I know. You would have sacrificed yourself to save the lives of your friends and I know that fire is still somewhere deep down inside you. And I know it's hard to find it right now, but you have to try. For you. And you only. Your grandmother is right…you are stronger than all of this…and I'm proud of you."

A tear rolled down her cheek. Bonnie turned to look at Damon again. Their eyes met and held. He moved just a tad bit closer.

"So for your future kids…will you..?" he held the glass out to her.

Bonnie dropped her gaze to the glass again. The wind blew, the birds hadn't stopped singing, and Caroline and Elena were peaking out at them through the blinds.

Bonnie woodenly reached over and accepted the glass. She reluctantly brought it up to her lips and took a small, tiny sip.

Damon beamed as if she were a child who just took her first step.

"That's my girl."

More tears rolled down her cheeks and Damon and Bonnie were standing shoulder to shoulder.

"I…" Bonnie began, "I feel so empty, Damon."

He wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

"With time you'll feel full again."

Bonnie shook her head in the negative. "I don't think it'll be that easy."

"And that's where you're wrong because sometime's it can be that easy."

"I can't bring…my baby back."

Now it was Damon's turn to be silent. He'd just let her talk.

"Vaguely I knew I was pregnant but I didn't want to believe it because the father is a vampire and I'm a witch. Conception shouldn't have been possible, but my baby was magical and then…she was gone like she had never even been there. How am I supposed to accept that?"

Damon had no answer for that and he typically had an answer for everything. "No one says you should," he said after thinking for a moment.

Bonnie grew quiet again. "I feel so guilty. Maybe I hadn't done enough to protect her."

Damon couldn't help but smile as Bonnie referred to her unborn child as a girl. He could definitely picture her raising a mini-Bonnie. But his poor niece would have had Stefan's forehead, of that he was sure.

"You did all that you knew to do, Bonnie. You kept yourself healthy…"

"But I was pregnant when I was kidnapped."

"And you survived that like you do everything else."

"But I couldn't save my child."

Damon shifted until he was standing in front of her. He clasped her by the shoulders. "Bonnie listen to me…circumstances happen sometimes beyond our control or within, you can stand here and drive yourself crazy by going over all the variables as to why this had to happen, but it won't change a thing. And I know that sounds harsh, but you are not to blame for this. This is not your fault. Do you understand me?"

He had firsthand knowledge of how Bonnie liked to shoulder the blame for everything. If Elena got a paper cut it was her fault because she failed to have a vision about it. Or Blondie left her head on the school bus, and that was Bonnie's doing because she forgot to call Caroline and remind her not to forget it.

It was enduring, he could say that much. Yet in this case it was irrelevant. No one person was to blame for this.

Bonnie didn't answer. She just cried some more. Damon shifted until he brought her flush against his chest. He blindly reached for the juice to free up her hands which she decided to bring up to her face.

They remained that way for a few minutes before Bonnie pulled back. Damon looked down into her eyes, wiped the tears away with the pads of his thumb.

"Please tell me that helped just a little bit?"

She attempted to smile, it didn't reach her eyes but she did nod her head.

"Good."

Wordlessly they moved back inside the Gilbert house where the kitchen table was laden with food.

Caroline pulled out a chair for Bonnie, but the young woman hesitated before sitting down, reached over and hugged her friend.

"Thanks for putting up with me," Bonnie said and then turned to Elena. She reached out her hand and Elena eagerly took it. "Thanks."

"Bon…"

Bonnie shook her head. She knew Elena was about to apologize for the umpteenth time for allowing Stefan to drink her blood. Bonnie had made it over one obstacle and she wasn't quite ready to face the others just yet. Besides she had more important things to do like eat.

"How is she?" was the first question Stefan asked Damon the minute he returned from Elena's.

Being as dramatic as ever, Damon slipped off his leather coat, threw it on the back of a chair and strolled over to the wet bar to pour himself the first of many drinks. Stefan's jaw ticked but he knew Damon was his only recourse in hearing news of Bonnie because her friends were on the same Boycott Stefan mindset and wouldn't drop him any bread crumbs.

Although he wasn't quite sure how Elena factored herself into that team when she was just as guilty as he was, but he was done thinking about her entirely. Lord knew that girl caused him enough pain and drama in the past.

"She's…on the mend," Damon said and took a seat in one of the high back chairs. Stefan joined him by sitting on the arm of the sofa.

"Did she talk to you?"

Damon sagely nodded his head. "She's very hurt, Stefan, but with time she'll make it through this like everything else. It's in her blood. Pun fully intended."

"I just wish she'd talk to me or if she doesn't want to talk, yell at me, try to rip my spinal cord from my body, something! This endless silence is the worst."

Damon took a sip of his whiskey. "Well, what did you expect would happen, Stefan? Not only did she catch you drinking Elena's blood straight from the source, but she lost a child. If I were in her shoes I wouldn't want to talk to you either. At least for a couple of years."

Stefan looked at his older brother drolly. "Okay so if you were me…"

"Thank God I'm not."

The younger Salvatore growled. "If you were me how would you fix this?"

"It would take a lot of groveling, ass-kissing, and pride swallowing to get back in Bonnie's good graces. Be lucky she still loves you or otherwise, I'd sleep with both eyes open from here until…eternity," Damon snorted and took the rest of his drink to the head.

Stefan perked up a bit when Damon said that Bonnie still loved him. He felt a sliver of hope that he might not be buried all the way under the doghouse.

"Not to sound…narcissistic like you, but did she say anything about me?"

"No."

Sails deflated and the ship began to sink again.

"So how do you know she still loves me? I was terrible to her."

"Not as terrible as I suspect you could have been, but terrible all the same," Damon agreed. He sighed. "It's in her eyes, Stefan. Her most expressive features. That girl still loves you, why, I have no idea."

Suddenly Damon rose from the chair. "Now stop wasting time with me and go formulate a plan to get your girl back."

And that would probably be the only time Stefan quickly did something his brother suggested.

When Bonnie returned to school her first class of the day was Spanish III. She and Stefan shared this class along with three others and Bonnie was fully prepared to ignore him and sit on the opposite side of the room. However, her heart was ready to escape her chest cavity and go scampering off down the hall without her. Caroline told her to text her if she felt uncomfortable and wanted skip or ditch school altogether. But Bonnie wasn't a runner.

Bonnie felt very privileged to have a friend like Caroline in her life. It was sad that she couldn't exactly include Elena in on their plan. She still felt some kind of way by catching her in a semi-intimate moment with her boyfriend, yet Bonnie chucked it up to reaping what you sew.

Other classmates rushed inside before the final bell rung, and Bonnie hesitated. Her grip on the leather strap to her satchel was seconds away from becoming ribbons if she didn't release some of the tension in her hands. Bonnie took a deep breath, reared back her shoulders, tilted up her chin and marched inside the room.

Her assured steps slowed when she saw a single red rose lying innocently on her desk. There was a card attached to the stem. At first her suspicion flared to life because this was how things began with Tobias Fell, but when Bonnie looked to the immediate left of her desk, Stefan was nowhere to be found.

The bell rung and Bonnie hustled to her seat. She ignored the bud but picked up the card. She licked her lips nervously and read the elegant script.

Let me not to the marriage of true minds

Admit impediments. Love is not love

Which alters when it alternation finds…

Hun?

Shakespeare. He was going to apologize by being romantic and dipping back into his roots? As much as Bonnie wanted to tear the card to pieces and turn the rose into potpourri, a tiny, small, minute, almost microscopic part of her felt a little giddy that he was putting in the effort to begin with.

One of Bonnie's classmates turned to her and asked who gave her the rose. Bonnie merely shushed the girl and told her MYOB. Her concentration was pretty much blown from that point on.

About mid-day when she had to exchange her books there were two roses and a card in her locker, except these roses were white. Bonnie read the words on the card, but tramped down anything resembling a smile, smirk, or grin.

Or bends with the remover to remove:

O no! it is an ever-fixed mark

That looks on tempests and is never shaken;

She slammed her locker closed and stomped off to her next class.

Carrying her tray into the cafeteria Bonnie searched around the mess hall looking for two familiar faces. She spotted Caroline who was in the middle of having a very animated conversation with Dana and two other cheerleaders. Elena was not at the table, so Bonnie strolled over there. She really wasn't in the mood to be inundated with talk about clothes, hair, or prom which was only a month and some change away.

Bonnie smiled at the girls at the table, opened her cranberry juice and began to nibble on a carrot stick. Not a minute later someone tapped her on the shoulder.

It was a freshman guy who stared at his feet as he handed her three pink roses and a card.

"Thanks," Bonnie said and turned the card over.

It is the star to every wandering bark,

Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.

Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks

Bonnie searched around for the culprit yet spotted him nowhere.

And there was of course four more roses waiting on her desk in her final class; they were lavender.

Within his bending sickel's compass come:

Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,

But bears it out even to the edge of doom.

By the time the day was over Bonnie was marching across campus with her small bouquet. She felt her cheeks burning as people stopped to stare at her like she was a delivery person from 1-800-Flowers or something. Really? This is what they wanted to make a great deal about? A girl carrying a myriad of roses in her hands as if they were dragons heads? Bonnie ignored them and unlocked her car. She sighed and tried to keep a stern expression on her face when she spotted yet another rose propped up against the driver's seat. It was a dark, unusual purple. She had never seen a rose that color before. At first she thought it might have been red at one point, suffered the elements and died, but when she ran her fingers over the petals it was as soft as cotton candy.

She plucked the card off the stem.

If this be error and upon me proved,

I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

She read aloud, "From your faithful and humble servant, Stefan Salvatore."

Bonnie felt herself melt just a tad bit.

This continued for three days. On the fourth day Bonnie looked around her living room. If anyone were to come over they might mistake her home for a funeral parlor.

Her father shook his head on his way to the office. "Whatever the boy did, forgive him already. I'm not running a greenhouse, Bonnie."

Bonnie did a slow three-hundred and sixty degree turn around her living room, sighed, closed her eyes and mumbled a few words.

There, the restraining spell was broken. If Stefan felt it…she'd know soon enough.

Now that some of the fog was clearing from her mind Bonnie was able to realize she wasn't the only one who lost a child. Stefan was a hundred and sixty-two years old and figured his chances of becoming a father were lost to him forever. And though neither one of them ever talked about hard topics such as marriage and starting a family, she knew it was just as hard on him to lose their child as it was for her. Instead of shutting him out, she needed to open herself up. She was allowing her anger over Stefan drinking Elena's blood to hold her prisoner, and cloud the issue. And she was missing the point entirely.

The blood incident didn't matter. It wasn't on the same spectrum as her miscarriage. As much as she wanted to hold on to it, let it cook and simmer in her gut, she couldn't.

Not saying she was ready to let bygones be bygones, but they needed to talk.

Bonnie dashed upstairs and changed into one of Stefan's flannel shirts, threw on a pair of skinny jeans, and her favorite loafers and headed over to the boardinghouse.

Stefan was stretched out on his bed, one leg bent, the other straight with his arms folded under his head, staring up at the ceiling. Sheila was beside him whacking him every so often with her tail. His mind was noticeably blank except for his thoughts about Bonnie.

He was at school but chose to remain hidden in the shadows. Considering he didn't have much of a choice it did allow him the opportunity to watch Bonnie. He knew her facial expressions like the back of his hand and could tell with each small bouquet of roses and card that a small piece of her icy exterior was melting. Now all he'd have to do was calmly wait it out.

Suddenly Sheila meowed loudly and shot off from the bed. At first he suspected that Damon was home. Chasing him around the house was a favorite past time of hers. While she was busy doing that, Stefan continued to stare up at the ceiling.

Man, I really need to dust, he thought. Soon his nostrils were infiltrated with a very familiar scent and he jolted up from the bed and looked towards the open door to his bedroom. He couldn't blink. For if he blinked it could mean that the vision he was staring at might disappear. He was afraid to move because if he moved the woman might take it as a sign to leave, and he certainly didn't want her to leave. There standing just underneath the threshold was Bonnie. She was running her tiny fingers down the curve of Sheila's spine as the cat purred in total contentment.

The two of them caught and held gazes becoming familiar with one another again. He hadn't been able to see or speak to her for days and now that the opportunity arose the cat literally had his tongue.

Within one eye blink he stood before Bonnie, drinking over her features. Her face was beautiful but looked younger somehow, and her scent was sweeter. He didn't realize until now just how much he truly missed having her around, and now his palms were practically itching to touch her.

No matter how many times Bonnie replayed the photograph of Stefan's face in her mind, it never did measure up to the real thing. His bluish-gray eyes sparkled underneath his long eyelashes, and his perfectly styled caramel hair had flecks of gold in it. Silently she sat Sheila on the ground who brushed up against her legs once and then disappeared.

Note to self, buy Sheila a fresh ball of yarn to play with, Stefan thought as he opened up his arms at the same time Bonnie jumped into them.

She buried her head between his neck and shoulder, he did the same and they began speaking simultaneously.

"I missed you so much."

"Can you please forgive me?"

"I don't want to fight with you ever again."

Stefan walked them backwards to the bed, and the minute they lied down together, Bonnie used his chest for a pillow; he wrapped his arm around her shoulders, and their joined fingers made a steeple.

They were silent for a while. There were so many issues they had to address and it wasn't going to be an easy conversation.

They began to speak softly to one another.

"I should have been totally upfront about my hunger with you. Then maybe what happened wouldn't have happened."

"Why didn't you tell me? Why did I have to find you drinking your ex-girlfriend's blood?"

"I was blood drunk, and unfortunately when that happens the only thing strong enough to cure it is supernatural blood. And I didn't care about the source. Call it exercising poor judgment."

Bonnie figured as much but it was still a hard pill to swallow walking in and catching Stefan and Elena like that. It was all of her worst fears being played out in front of a live viewing audience. Stefan hadn't given her any reason to feel insecure about their relationship until she caught him drinking from Elena. And she couldn't help but correlate what she saw to what could happen if the compulsion is broken.

"I want you to know it wasn't sexual for me."

Well it looked pretty sexual from Bonnie's viewpoint but that's only because Elena's expression of bliss was all she had to base her assumption on.

He hesitated before asking this question. "Did you think I was going back to Elena?"

Bonnie never really considered that. "No. Despite what I saw deep down I knew it was just about the blood, but..."

And he hated buts for a reason.

"It made me feel like I wasn't enough for you."

Stefan shifted until he could face her more. "Bonnie you know that's far from the truth. You're everything to me."

"Yet you couldn't stop feeding."

"My addiction has nothing to do with you. You've helped me rein it in more than I've indulged in it. I know it doesn't seem that way, but it's the truth."

Bonnie searched his eyes for sincerity and found what she was looking for. He was telling the truth.

"And I was out of line for what I said about you and Damon...I know you would never do that."

Stefan felt Bonnie stiffen for a minute and as a result he tightened his arm around her.

As out of line as he was, Bonnie understood Stefan's problem with her friendship with Damon. He was afraid of history repeating but that had never been an option for Bonnie because she only viewed Damon in one light. Yet a few weeks ago Damon had made a comment to her about he and Stefan being a packaged deal. With most people in relationships, you not only dated that person but their family as well so it came with the territory. That wasn't anything unusual, in their case however they were vampire siblings who had a long history and an even longer rivalry that centered around loving the same woman. Bonnie not was looking to be inducted into that particular Hall of Fame or it should be more aptly titled Hall of Infamy, but she knew that with Stefan came Damon—unfortunately.

However, it was still no excuse for what he said to her.

Yet...perhaps his comment wasn't totally unjustified.

"Then I can't lie to you, Stefan," Bonnie dropped the other shoe. "I do care about Damon."

He sooo didn't want to hear this, but at the same time knew that it needed to come out.

"I care about him in the same respect that I care about all my friends. And I love my friends," she let that sink in. "Because he is your brother that makes him my brother. And as my brother, I love him. Like a brother," she reiterated the important part.

Stefan mulled over her confession for a moment. "Like a brother?" he wanted clarification.

"Yes, I love Damon as my brother."

Well he guessed he should be happy with that. Not like he'd have much choice otherwise. Bonnie wasn't like Katherine who got off on the fact two brothers were in love with her and dallied with them behind closed doors; and she wasn't like Elena either using the guise of friendship to hide innermost feelings and desires. But Stefan had warned Bonnie long ago that when he wanted to be Damon was charming, and had the power to make you equally care for and be repelled by him almost at the same time. It was a skill Stefan sometimes envied.

"So I don't have to worry about you imagining him naked?"

Bonnie pulled a face. "Eww. Don't make me lose my lunch, Stefan."

He chuckled ruefully and pulled her just a little closer.

Now it was time for them to address the really big elephant in the room.

"I shouldn't have put the restraining spell on you, Stef. The baby I lost was just as much yours as she was mine."

"She was a girl?"

Bonnie shook her head. "It was too early to tell the sex...but in my mind she was a girl. We take so much for granted that it had to take a miscarriage for me to realize how badly I wanted to be a mother. Not like I had a great example of what a good mom is, but I still want to be one just the same."

"Then you and I are in the same boat in that respect. But how was conception even possible...being what I am?"

"I don't know." And she didn't know. For days Bonnie poured through Emily's grimoire and the Martin's grimoires with a fine tooth comb looking for some variable as to how it was possible she was able to conceive a vampire's baby. The research turned up fruitless, and Alaric had promised to look more into when he had the time, but the materials here in Mystic Falls were varied so he'd have to take a trip up to New York to search their historical public libraries.

"I have a theory," Stefan said.

Bonnie placed her chin on his chest and stared up at him.

"Do you remember the night you were standing out on the patio and there was a red circle around the moon and you told me that when that happens anything which is impossible could become possible? Maybe that's the reason why I was able...why we were able to make a baby."

Mentally Bonnie searched through her files trying to retrieve the memory of that night. After a moment or two she was able to nod her head in the affirmative. It made sense.

"Well I guess I can use that as a starting point for research. You know I've thought of nothing for days...but sometime's I think I lost the baby for a supernatural reason."

Stefan glanced down at Bonnie waiting for her to explain.

"The balance...never would have accepted a vampire/witch/human hybrid. Our lives are complicated as it is and if I had been able to carry the baby to term we might have spent the rest of our lives running to protect our child. And no child deserves a life like that."

"I wholeheartedly agree. So are you saying you're glad the..."

"No, I'm not saying I'm glad I miscarried," Bonnie replied sharply. "It was the worst feelings in the world. I rather bleed through my nose for the rest of my life than to have to go through that again."

Stefan felt relief wash through him. For a minute he thought Bonnie was going to say she was glad she wouldn't be giving birth to his seed. He had lived to be a hundred and sixty-two years old and only on a few occasions did Stefan think about losing the ability to procreate. After living his vampire lifestyle he got over the disappointment in knowing he could never have a living heir. Besides it would be too dangerous.

"However, it did open my eyes to the fact that if we were to remain together, to have a future...that would be one rite of passage I'd never get to experience," Bonnie said. She felt her throat closing in.

"And I don't want to take that away from you, Bonnie."

"And I don't want to miss out."

"In all honesty," Stefan continued, "vampires should never take responsibility for children. It would be too difficult to out live your child."

"So...you never want to be a father?" she asked quietly.

Stefan sighed. "I would if the circumstances were right."

Then they were facing a major obstacle.

Stefan switched positions until Bonnie lied flat on the bed. He loomed over her and pulled up the hem to his shirt. Yeah, he had to smirk at the fact she was wearing another one of his shirts. The minute her belly was exposed he kissed it.

"I want you to be the mother of my child."

Bonnie choked up. He said it with such conviction that she could do nothing but lace her fingers through his hair when he used her belly as his pillow. A tear escaped the corner of her eye and coursed down her cheek. It wasn't long before she felt something wet drip on her skin.

Stefan had joined her in mourning the loss of their miracle. They simply watched the afternoon light fade into dusk.

April

There were several ways to increase ones endorphins. You could eat a tub filled with chocolate. Or engage in invigorating sex, or exercise. Bonnie had already indulged quite heavily in the invigorating sex. She had to giggle because she and Stefan had behaved as if they were sex deprived amateurs, but in their defense they had been without loving for close to a month so a marathon was long overdue.

So she had no choice but to go with option three.

Activating the alarm to her Prius, Bonnie plugged the ear buds to her iPod into her ears and did some preliminarily stretching. It had been at Ric's suggestion that she take up running as a way to build her endurance so that when she had to pull off a heavy duty spell it wouldn't literally steal the life out of her. She was all fine and good with his suggestion but felt he was trying to say she was stretching out more horizontally than vertically. Bonnie could admit to being more of a couch potato her weight lifting consisting of stuffing her face and lifting the remote to change the TV channel. But Stefan didn't mind the extra padding and as long as her man was sat-is-fied she didn't give a care what anyone had to say.

It was a beautiful mild Sunday and a few people loitered about which gave Bonnie a modicum of peace about being out here in the park about to run.

She smiled at two women who ran by, their ponytails swishing in beat with the rhythm they set. One day she'd get on their level but for now she'd set her own pace.

Jogging in place for a few seconds Bonnie took off down the rocky path.

Her lungs were not going to forgive her nor her legs, knees, ankles, or feet, but she'd push through this and endure it like she did with everything else in life. Not too long ago she had been a top athlete. She just had to remind her body of that so it was safe to say it was in for a rude awakening.

With each quarter mile she passed she increased her speed until she was flying down the path. Bonnie breathed evenly inhaling through her nose and pushing the air out her mouth.

There was a sharp curve up ahead so she slowed her speed and made the proper adjustments, once she cleared the curve she saw a man standing in the way, his back to her. She was fully prepared to run around him when he chose that precise moment to turn around.

Bonnie slid to a stop. Her already racing heart began to triple in speed. She gulped the pool of spit that had accumulated in the bottom of her mouth.

The man smiled revealing a set of dimples she never knew he had. If he weren't such a psychopath Bonnie could focus on how hot he truly was with those full blood red lips, and sandy blonde curly hair. And as lean as he appeared she knew there was a strong, muscular body underneath his plain clothes that belied his strength.

"Klaus," finally broke through her lips. Bonnie turned around ready to run back in the direction in which she came, but knew it would be pointless. There was no way she could outrun the Original Vampire.

And just as she suspected he was standing right in front her blocking the way of escape.

Bonnie jerked backwards to avoid running into him. "W-what do you want?" stammered from her lips.

"There's no need to be afraid, love," he said in that thick British accent.

Bonnie wanted to snort but she couldn't remember how. All she could think about was the last time she saw Klaus. It was prank night and he had showed up demanding she find a way to save his hybrids in all of twenty minutes. Seriously the man should go into the military since he was so fond of giving people such a small window of opportunity to perform an operation.

What would Damon say in this situation? "Fear is for pussies." Yeah, that sounded like something he would say. No, this is what he'd say, "Fear is for guys named Jeremy." Yeah that sounded more like him.

Focus, Bonnie because you have a much more important problem on your hands.

Just as she was about to repeat her question, her back was thrown up against the nearest tree. Klaus had entered her personal space; he stood so close that when he moved his jacket brushed against her lycra outfit. Over his shoulder Bonnie spotted a couple running towards them.

She was fully prepared to scream but then a soft pair of lips covered her mouth taking her one arsenal from her. The couple ignored them.

Bonnie shut down. She underwent total sensory deprivation. She didn't want to see, touch, hear, taste, or smell. And she certainly didn't want to focus on the softness of his lips-like pillows they were. Or the fact he fluttered his tongue against hers in a blatant invitation one she had no plans to RSVP to. She kept her eyes open the whole time and sighed heavily when the ordeal was over.

"They are as decadent as they look," he said in praise of her lips.

Bonnie wiped the taste of him off with the back of her hand. All it did was make him smile.

Her back felt like it had adhered to the tree, that's how far she was braced up against it. Klaus hadn't taken a step back and she searched his eyes.

Again she asked her earlier question. "What do you want?"

He smiled again. "I'll tell you everything but first...I have a secret."

Chapter end.

A/N: Once again, thank you guys for reading! Love you.