Just wanted to apologize for the length of time this update has taken. This story is not abandoned I just have an insanely busy real life and must write and update when kids, jobs, dogs, husband, house and service work allow time.

Please let me know how you are liking the story so far and to all those who have taken the time to read and to review, my deep thanks.

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It wasn't particularly unusual for Kai to wander in the early hours of the morning. In truth it wasn't unusual for him to wander at any hour. After all, time didn't have much meaning when stuck in a never-changing prison world. After Bonnie zombie-walked her way back to bed, he wandered down to the basement level and played with the air hockey table and shot a few games of pool. He thought about liberating a few of the better bottles of liquor from the, very nicely appointed, wine cellar but honestly, unless he was trying to off himself, he just wasn't much of a drinker. Yesterday being somewhat of an exception.

It seemed drinking, like most things, was more fun with company. He also figured Bonnie wouldn't be much interested, at least not for a few days, til the memory of her epic, post binge party retch fit had faded anyway.

His stomach chose that moment to growl angrily and remind him it had been at least 2 or 3 hours since he'd last eaten. So sue him, he had a fast metabolism. The upside is it kept him nice and slender without much effort. Of course, living in a world where you literally could. Not. Fucking. CHANGE. also had that effect so…yeah.

Food.

He ambled his way to the ginormous, awesome kitchen and began to gather what he needed for breakfast. He was thinkin big this morning. Bacon. Sausage. Quiche. His personal favorite, French toast. Maybe some fruit. He nosed through the fridge and pantry, finding the fixins for everything he wanted.

He poured himself a glass of orange juice to tide over the angry monster that was his stomach and set to work. God, he loved this kitchen. It literally had it all. SO much easier to cook awesomely when you had awesome tools and awesome ingredients. It was one reason why he had liked staying here so much in the beginning. Kai always liked cooking, even BEFORE. Just one more thing that annoyed his father about him. He never could quite figure why. After all, most of the best chefs were guys. Of course, after his mom had died, it annoyed him a lot less because then he wasn't stuck doing it or hiring someone else to do it. Jo had been hopeless in the kitchen and none of his other siblings were much better, too busy focusing on learning REAL magic.

Kai had to settle for making magically awesome food.

Which he did.

Totally.

And even better than awesome now that he'd had nearly 20 years to practice on it.

The thought hit him a little harder than usual and he froze, his hand dropping the bowl he had been whipping the eggs in. He watched as if disconnected as the bowl hit the floor and slung egg against every available surface.

20 years.

Alone.

God, so alone.

The chasm was yawning in front of him again and he could feel himself tipping toward it, like a drunk Bonnie towards the bed.

Bonnie.

He took a deep breath and leaned forward, grasping the edges of the counter in white knuckled hands as he rested his forehead against the cool granite.

Not alone.

Deep breath.

Another.

He closed his eyes and pushed off, then walked over to the paper towels and grabbed the roll.

He had a mess to clean up.

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Bonnie wasn't sure what time it was when she woke but the bright sunshine was streaming in through the bank of windows on either side of her bed. She yawned and stretched, wiggling her toes and fingers and collapsing back to enjoy the sensation of being immersed in soft, fluffy, warm bed. She rolled to the side and grabbed a pillow, taking in a deep breath as she snuggled down further.

Damn.

That pillow smelled good.

She buried her face into it and sniffed again. It smelled….sexy.

She peeked around the room and wondered if this was the room of some married couple or something. If so, she was so envying that woman. Dude must be smokin, it would be a crime of nature for some skeezy, dad bod to smell this good. It totally didn't look like a single man's room. No way a single dude would go for this much floral. Not even her gay cousin would go for this, and he was more feminine than her!

She took another huff of her pillow before remembering that she should feel a whole lot worse this morning. She slowly sat up, taking stock and surprised to note that she wasn't nearly as hung over and miserable as she thought she should be.

Huh.

Maybe Kai was onto something with the cracker and Gatorade bit.

Bonnie carefully made her way to the edge of the bed and slid off.

No dizzies. Good.

She made her way into the bathroom and was hit with a visceral memory of clinging to the toilet she now needed for other purposes. Practicality won out and as she washed her hands she looked in the mirror and was dismayed to find how rough she looked. She thought it may take a minor miracle to untangle her hair, her clothes were rumpled and stained with blood, understandable since she hadn't changed clothes since Mystic Falls. She took a delicate sniff and yep, she even smelled bad.

Bonnie wasn't particularly vain but she had standards and right now she was barely registering on her own meter. She looked around despairingly.

And then….came face to face with a minor miracle.

It was the coolest shower she had ever seen. A giant, walk-in, multi-nozzle monstrosity. She didn't even think they had things like this back in the 90s! She started slinging clothing as she walked toward it. A quick rummage discovered her the towels and washcloths and there were all the necessary basics on a giant shelf inside the shower. A quick lookover to see what turned on what and soon, she was losing herself in a blissful, steamy cloud of sweet scented heaven.

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Wrapped in the fluffiest towel she'd ever used, Bonnie stood looking balefully at her pile of clothing on the floor. She really, really didn't want to put the dirty things on her body but didn't know if there was anything in this house she could use. A quick peek out the bathroom door showed the bedroom to be empty. She scurried across to what looked like the closet door and opened it.

Nothing.

Same with the chest of drawers across from the bed. So weird. She was sure this had to have been the master suite. Stamping her foot in a fit of frustration, she looked toward the hall door.

Dare she?

A glance toward the pitiable pile of clothing on the bathroom floor gave her the answer. Shuffling toward the hall door, she turned the handle quietly and stuck her head out the door. No sign of Kai had her sliding out the door and hurrying to the nearest available door down the hall. She spared a moment to be impressed with the ornate mouldings and super soft carpeting under her feet. Reaching the door, she turned the handle and looked in. What was obviously a child's room met her gaze. Sure she would find little to suit her in a room decorated with dinosaurs, she shut the door and looked around. At the other end of the hallway, past the stairs, was a set of double doors. She shot off in that direction, sure that doors like those must contain a master suite behind them. She hesitated as she neared the stairs, listening for signs of Kai. When all was silent, she moved around the corner, somewhat in awe of the grand staircase before her. She had never seen anything so fancy, not even in the Lockwood mansion or that time they toured the state capital. Firmly reminding herself she could look after she had actual clothes, she hurried across the landing and arrived with a rush of relief at the double doors. Hesitantly, she grasped the handles and pushed them inward.

She couldn't help the gasp of surprise that escaped her. The room was magnificent. This…well, if it wasn't the master, she couldn't imagine what could be fancier. She walked dazedly in, unable to repress a small thrill at the idea of being able to walk into a place like this the way she was. Normally she would be beyond intimidated at such luxury, but right now….

Right now, she couldn't resist the urge and ran forward, jumping onto the massive bed and flopping into the middle where she sank into the luxuriously thick duvet and bedding. She wiggled a bit and laughed aloud at the sheer, childish exhilaration she felt. After a moments thought, she climbed to her feet and began to bounce a bit, testing. Her bounces got higher and higher and before she knew it she was jumping up and down wildly and laughing like a loon.

"Having a good time?"

Bonnie shrieked and collapsed onto the bed, scuttling up toward the headboard and grabbing a pillow that she brandished like a weapon as she turned toward the door. There stood Kai, or more correctly, there leaned Kai in the doorway, arms crossed, a look of fiendishly amused glee writ across his face as he laughed quietly at her.

"Damnit, Kai! You scared the shit out of me!"

His eyebrows rose as did his hands into the classic male pose of innocence.

"Totally unintended, I promise! I was just coming up to tell you I got breakfast and heard the madness in here. Thought maybe we had either gotten a new inmate or you found the stash of weed and porn they keep in here."

"Oh. My. God. Kai! Really?"

He nodded his head, eyes wide like an enthusiastic child. "Really, really! It's over there," he nodded toward a large chifforobe in the corner, "they keep the sex toys there too." He added tongue in cheek.

Bonnie wanted to die as she sank deeper into the bed in mortified embarrassment.

Kai couldn't help it. He had tried to rein in his laughter at Bonnie's childish antics but her mortified and shocked expression as she hid her face in the pillow she held was just too funny. He burst out laughing. God, it felt good to laugh! He couldn't remember the last time he had laughed like this and gave himself over to it. He was sure he was probably laughing a lot more than the situation warranted but he couldn't help it.

Hearing Bonnie's breathier giggles begin just sealed the deal for him. He staggered into the room before collapsing on the long bench at the bottom of the bed. He made effort to rein himself in and leaned back onto the mattress, staring at the ceiling as he calmed down. He could hear Bonnie doing the same and rolled over to his stomach so he could prop himself up and see her. She was wadded into as small a ball as she could make herself at the head of the bed. Surrounded by white pillows and bedding and engulfed in a white towel, she looked almost child-like with her wide eyes filled with laughter. Her slim, brown shoulders and face and dark hair stood out in stark contrast. A contrast he couldn't help but find extremely appealing.

No, Bonnie definitely wasn't a child. His libido was making damn sure he was aware of that fact.

"What are you doing in here?" he blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

She grinned rather bashfully, an expression that he found to be oddly cute.

"Originally? Looking for some clothes. Mine were a little bit…worse the wear."

He couldn't help his eyes as they automatically scanned her body. He wondered what was wrong with him that it just now registered she was naked under that towel.

"Ahhh," he cleared his throat somewhat embarrassedly, "I know there's some lady's clothes in the closet. Sorry but not a clue if they would be your size or not." He was rather proud his voice hadn't cracked once saying that.

She smiled. Holy fuck, she was pretty when she smiled. Had he ever seen her smile? At least, at him? He wasn't sure but he was pretty sure he might be drooling.

God, he was such a spaz.

"Thanks for the info. Food sounds amazing, I'm actually kinda starving." Bonnie said. She waited a beat, wondering if he was going to move but he just kept sitting there, looking at her.

"So…I'll just, uh, go see if I can find anything that will work." She said in the hopes he would take the hint and leave but he seemed to have zoned while still staring at her. Bonnie was beginning to get a bit creeped.

"Kai?"

He blinked and shot backwards off the bench, stumbling a bit but recovering well.

"Yeah, uh, I'll just, uh, go..out and uh, wait? Should I wait? You want me to wait for you? Or you can just come down when you're dressed and…yeah."

Bonnie's eyebrow skittered up her forehead as he rambled. Was Kai….nervous?

She fought the grin as she instead nodded and answered, "Yeah, if you wanna wait that might save me some time wandering around til I found the kitchen. But," she couldn't resist and shot him a smirk, "I'd really prefer you waiting outside."

Instead of the nervous stumble she expected though, he had recovered his aplomb enough to return a mischievous smile of his own, biting his lip and staring up through his lashes in a way at her that made her stomach drop before he winked and, laughing, spun on his heel walked out the door.

It didn't go far, but throwing the pillow after him made her feel a little better.

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It was a quieter Bonnie that sat across the table from him eating. Kai kept sneaking looks at her as she kept her gaze firmly on her plate. He might have thought something was wrong with her except for the rate she was shoveling the food in.

Apparently she wasn't lying about being hungry.

She had managed to find some shorts and a top that hung slightly big on her but in a cute, hip kinda way. He was starting to realize she had that way about her, of just looking good in anything. Of course, it could be because she was just hot but he thought it could just be a Bonnie trait too.

When she had come out of the room earlier, he had wanted to comment on how cute she looked in the red top and white shorts with her hair all frowzy but decided to hold his tongue at the weird look on her face. He had instead lead her downstairs into the kitchen where, he was gratified to note, she had taken a deep, obviously appreciative sniff before noticing the spread of food on the table. Her green eyes had gotten huge and she turned to look at him, a look of disbelief on her pretty face.

"You cooked all of this?"

"Well, yeah, who else you suppose did it?"

A small grin quirked the side of her mouth before she turned her attention back to the table. She moved toward it and he followed, slipping around to the other side to grab a plate and start filling it as she did the same.

"You realllly do like cooking, don't you?" she quizzed.

"I like eating, and I like eating good stuff, so yeah. Its kinda calming, you know? Everything has to be done in the right order and if it is then, BAM! You get the right results, which is awesome food and a happy stomach."

"Well, I won't deny the awesome part," she said as she forked a bite of quiche into her mouth, closing her eyes at the burst of flavor.

He grinned and settled down with his own plate. And now, here they both were, eating, silent.

He would say that silent didn't bother him, after all, he had lived with it for years, but he was finding it really grating now.

"So what do you wanna do today?" he blurted.

Bonnie paused in her eating and looked up at him, wide-eyed, before narrowing her gaze thoughtfully as she continued chewing. She swallowed and took a sip from her orange juice before answering.

"Not really sure what there is to do here, although some clean clothes that fit would be good." She smiled wryly.

Kai looked down at his plate and took a bite, chewing it completely and swallowing before looking back up at her.

"Well, would you be interested in seeing the Witch Castle?"

Bonnie stopped chewing, looking at him in shock, before recovering and swallowing. "Witch Castle? Oh my gosh, there is a witch's castle here? Like, a for real castle?"

Kai grinned. "For sure! I take it you're interested then?"

Bonnie couldn't help the grin that broke out across her face. "Oh my gosh yes!"

Kai's grin bloomed into a full on smile. "Cool! Give me a chance to get cleaned up when we finish eating and I'm in."

They spent a moment sharing a smile before embarrassment caught up with her and Bonnie looked down to her plate. They finished eating, this time a comfortable silence stretching between the two. Kai finished first, standing and taking his dishes to the sink. He turned around, rubbing his hands against his jeans as he walked back towards Bonnie. He nodded toward the doorway.

"So…I'm gonna just head up and get cleaned up. I won't be long."

Bonnie gave him a smile and a nod and he turned to head up. Before she could overthink it, Bonnie blurted out, "Kai!"

He turned around, head tilting in that look of curiosity that was uniquely Kai.

"Yeah?"

Bonnie took a deep breath. "I just wanted to say, thanks. For last night. I really appreciated your help…and I really appreciated not waking up with a massive hangover."

Kai gave her an indecipherable look for a moment before nodding his head. "You're welcome," was all he said before turning and heading up the stairs.

Bonnie leaned back into her chair, huffing out a sigh. She had pondered the whole time she was showering on whether or not to address Kai about last night and how to do it if she did.

She still didn't fully trust him. She reckoned she would have to be an idiot to do that, but…she had promised to try and start over, to give him a chance. Not for his sake as much as for hers. She knew they were stuck together and she knew herself well enough to know that she wouldn't be able to handle the total aloneness of separating herself from him entirely. Bonnie just didn't do alone.

Therefore, she needed him on as even a keel as she could keep him. She needed to figure out what made him tick, his triggers, cause she damn sure didn't need him going psycho on her. She didn't fancy another round of hide and go stab with him and she was honest enough with herself to realize that in a battle of strength, she would lose. He had her by nearly a foot and, despite his slender physique, he was terrifyingly strong. She has spent some time in the shower going over all their past interactions and had to admit, some of the escalation of hostility has been her own fault. (ahem, axe to the chest)

And…since she was being honest with herself, she had to note that, after she had lost her magic, he truly could have done so much worse to her if he had wanted to.

He could have killed her. She had kinda halfway been expecting him to really.

But he hadn't.

And that was the clincher. It had dawned on her that, he had realized as well that just as he was her only companion, so was she his as well. They only had each other. And Bonnie was literally, betting her life than Kai absolutely didn't want to be alone any more than she did. And while that knowledge would help her now, she needed a long-term plan for how to deal with him. She needed to figure out how to get into the head of crazy person. She needed help to figure him out.

She needed a library.