AN: Due to the overwhelming wonderful feedback that I have received I have been motivated to upload another chapter. I hope you will enjoy. In this chapter Bonnie confronts her past. Continue to be great people and stay safe. And thank you for all your kind words and fantastic reviews. Some of you may be surprised when some revelations come to light.

Chapter 4

Bonnie was lost in her thoughts as the door that she was about to knock on opened. Startled, she looked with wide eyes at the person facing her.

"Bonnie? Is that you? It is you, please come in," Alaric excitedly exclaimed as he hugged her while ushering her inside his home.

"Wow...wow...I can't believe it. I am so glad to see you. I knew you would come back...see the errors of your ways and come back to me," he rambled on not giving her time to respond.

In truth Bonnie was at a loss for words. She was in shock, of course, after so many years of not seeing Alaric it was surreal to be standing face to face with him and even more so being in his home, surrounded by his things and his life.

Standing in front of him, seeing the man that she once thought she was in love with and would one day marry and have children with was disconcerting. He was her childhood crush and then he was her teenage crush and although he was older than her by a few years, he seemed to be equally enamoured with her and with her Grams permission, when she turned sixteen they were allowed to date. Bonnie was so ecstatic to be finally allowed to date since all her friends were dating or arranged as early as thirteen.

Bonnie was so happy and blinded by her first experience with adolescent love that she didn't see his flaws which included his need for status and his unyielding prejudices and biases.

Alaric was and had always been firmly planted and unmoving in the ideologies of the witch communities and therefore was a stickler for rules, especially segregation and separation. His clear stance on these matters soon had the rose-colored glasses Bonnie was wearing shattering into thousands of tiny pieces, much like her young heart.

And although the years seemed to have been good to him,he looked really good, she knew that she made the right decision. He could never be to her what Klaus was, there was no comparison. Because with all Klaus' insecurities, trust issues and paranoia, Bonnie never doubted that he loved her for all of her, for everything she was. She never felt the need to hide herself from him.

Thoughts of her kids...her innocent babies brought her out of her silent ruminations. But like old times, Alaric didn't notice because he was too preoccupied by his self-interests, still going on about whatever. "I can't wait to show you around, you look amazing and after a cleaning we can be married…"

"What? What are you….wait, hold on, Alaric." Bonnie said agitatedly, causing him to stop and stare at her with confusion.

"You...you're back...you realized the error of your ways and you are back to embrace the-"

"NO..no, I'm not. I need to talk to you," she curtly responded, interrupting him.

They were standing in the foyer, he motioned her into the study but she refused, "No, what I need to discuss with you can be said here. This isn't a social visit." She looked at him with a tinge of disappointment, realizing he was still the same.

"Then why are you here, if not to come back to me and the coven and make right a horrible wrong? I know that there will be some that will not be happy, but they will get over it and we will do a cleansing and-"

"Alaric I'm here for answers. Nothing more." She interrupted again.

"Why are you here? For what answers?" He asked, confusion clouding his eyes. "I haven't seen or heard from you in ages and just when I think you are back to tell me that you realize the errors of your ways you are demanding answers from me. What the hell is that?" He asked, angry with her and himself for his foolish weakness.

"Really Alaric," she said sarcastically, putting her hands on her hips, she was so not in the mood for this. She stood there looking at him, shaking her head, wanting to say more but she needed to stay focussed. Instead, she retrieved the letter out of her pocket and handed it to him. He read it then handed it back, looking at her with strained confusion, "What does this have to do with me?"

"Did you send it? Did you place a spell on my children? She asked, hoping that he had nothing to do with it, but not sure even if he said no that she could believe him.

Alaric looked flabbergasted then a mask of anger and hostility covered his face,"I can't believe you let that beast touch you. I knew you married him, how could you possibly fuck him and like it? But children, how the hell is that possible? He calmed himself, regaining his composure, "Clearly, I didn't know you had his spawn," he spat with disgust, the anger hiding the hurt that was stinging his heart.

"Alaric, don't. You can say anything about me if you want, but you will not talk shit about my children," she said softly as she felt her magic surfacing, ready to react; she had to calm down, "We were friends once-"

"Friends?" He cut her off, "We were more than friends. We were meant to be married, but you degraded yourself with abominations and now you stand here and tell me that you had children with him." He looked down at her shaking his head.

"How could you? You were supposed to be mine. My wife, the mother of my children, the Regent of this coven." He declared, thinking of all he lost. He hated Niklaus Mikaelson with a pure burning hatred.

"Don't play the victim, Alaric, it doesn't look good on you," she scoffed. "I guess you forgot that I am not a pureblood witch even if I am a Bennett, oh wait no that wasn't something you could forget. I wanted those things with you but I wanted more, to be free to be myself. I wanted you to come with me, remember? I wanted us to go together but, no you didn't want to." Bonnie countered.

"You really expected me to co-mingle with them? Like we would sit around a fire and sing kumbaya? To degrade myself? Alaric scoffed. "You always saw things differently, maybe it was because of your bad blood, but I was willing to overlook that, there were spells we could have used to continue to control and eventually strip that part of you away. But I would never lower myself to live with vampires and werewolves, or other witches that would and certainly not with humans, knowing about us."

"You couldn't help your blood, but you could have stayed home. You could have listened to Sheila and me. You broke her heart and after everything she did for you." He retorted.

Bonnie's eyes started to water, in part, due to the guilt that he laid at her feet and the fact that she did miss her grandmother. She couldn't get sidetracked or continue to go down memory lane.

"I didn't come here for all of this. We have been through it before. I love Klaus and I am happy and I moved on. I need to know who did this to my children and how to break the spell. Will you help me or not?" Bonnie stood glaring at him, waiting for his answer.

"You may not believe me but I didn't do this, but I won't help you. I'm sure it's for the best anyway." Before Bonnie knew it her hand had connected to his face. "When did you become such a bastard or were you always one?" She hissed as she rubbed her aching hand.

Alaric smirked, "When the only woman I had ever loved dumped me for a filthy hybrid and life of lowly status with filth." He walked back to the door, opening it. "You've outstayed your welcome. When he's used you all up and discarded you, please don't come back here, you are no longer welcome. Goodbye Bonnie." He said with finality as he looked at her silently urging her out.

She nodded her head and walked to the door, before clearing the threshold she turned to face him. "If I find out you had anything to do with this I will be back, you can trust that. Goodbye Alaric." Bonnie said softly as she walked down the steps.

Alaric watched her for a few more seconds, realizing that she had broken his heart a second time, but what could he expect, she wasn't a pureblood even if she was a Bennett. Finally he closed the door, figuratively and literally on his past, he would gladly move on now.

"Bonnie, is that you?" A voice asked, in a whisper, from behind a tree. Bonnie turned with a gasp to see Lucy, her cousin. She cautiously walked up to her and tentatively gave her a hug.

The other woman embraced Bonnie fiercely, holding on to her for dear life, it seemed. "I felt you, or at least I thought I did." Lucy grabbed her arm and pulled her back behind the large weeping willow tree. "What are you doing here?" She inquired in awe, taking in the vision of her first cousin and at one time best friend.

"I wouldn't put it past Alaric to be lying to you. He has to be lying to you, I mean who else would do such a despicable thing?" Lucy reasoned after listening to Bonnie's tale. "Follow me. We have to hurry." Lucy ordered.

Bonnie followed her deeper into the woods, to another small cottage that was located on Bennett land. Lucy turned to Bonnie suddenly and with purpose. "Look, since you've been gone and grams passed, lots of things have been changing. News from other communities of supernaturals that are successfully coexisting has been spreading. People are talking and wanting to embrace diversity. To see if it can be done. And they bring your name up as a prime example that things need to change."

Both women sat down at Lucy's small kitchen table as she set glasses and poured them drinks. "Okay, but what does that have to do with Alaric putting a spell on my children?" Bonnie asked, confused.

"Well two things really. First he hates Klaus, all hybrids, really and can't stand the fact that you are married to him, choosing Klaus over him. But more importantly he's being pressured to marry Caroline. The coven wants it, they think it is best for the coven and she's considered the most eligible."

"He's been fighting them for years. He's only willing to do that if he can't have you. You know he hasn't gotten over you. If he was able to get you to come back and renounce your ways, well….then he doesn't marry Caroline, he doesn't deal with baby daddy issues or baby for that matter. Also there has been a lot of talk about change, which could lessen his hold on the community and coven, plus he's not down for change."

Bonnie's head was reeling, she was trying to come to grips with what Lucy was saying, but she just couldn't make sense of it. "Lucy that is the stupidest thing I ever heard. He knows I would never forgive him much less run to him or back to this way of life. Alaric may be a lot of things but he isn't stupid, Lucy."

"Look, if you come back and marry him he puts an end to talks of coexisting and he gets you minus any extra baggage. I know it sounds crazy but I think he could be desperate enough. He doesn't want Caroline even if she pines for him. Like I think if he told her to eat his shit, she would and be happy about it. This all sounds like a win/win for him, if you ask me," Lucy countered.

The idea of it made Bonnie furious, but she wasn't so sure, "That doesn't make sense. Why leave a letter? I never thought he could or would do something like this. I defended him to Klaus. I came here thinking he would help me. I mean there was a small, tiny bit of uncertainty, but...I really didn't think." She reasoned as she shoved the letter to Lucy.

Lucy took the small note, reading it as she gently rubbed her fingers on the soft paper. "Hmmm...you know he never cared that you were a hybrid since your magic was so strong and prevalent. To be fair, I really do believe he loved you, still loves you."

"No, he cared but he thought that I would continue to suppress it and use the unbinding spell to cleanse me, his words not mine. I thought he loved me and maybe he did, but he didn't love me enough." Bonnie said flatley.

Lucy was moving the paper in her hand, trying to feel anything with her magic, hoping she could sense something. Then she felt a slight chill down her spine and the hairs on her back stood up. "The magical signature is familiar in its simplicity and yet different… I think it's Caroline…" Lucy said as she continued to move the letter in her hands. With her senses alert and head tilted as she concentrated, she exclaimed, "It's Caroline's magic, all over it. I can sense her magic, but it feels like she dampened it or camouflaged it."

Bonnie snatched the letter back, holding it in her palm she concentrated on the letter, saying a revealing spell over it. The letter burst into flames sending green smoke into the air forming shapes and symbols. The shapes and symbols formed a hammer inside a circle of viney thorns, embossed on the hammer's head was the ancient symbol for the forge, which was the name of Caroline's ancestral family before they changed it for a proper new world name that didn't reflect the family's long held profession.

Bonnie shook her head, " I can't believe I didn't think of this before. How stupid I am, utter fool." She admonished herself for going directly to Alaric, thinking he held the answers instead of using her magic.

"Stop, you are no fool, just a frantic mother not thinking clearly. But there is no doubt, Caroline's magic is all over it which suggests that she is the creator of the spell and she tried to hide it and implicate Alaric in it."

"I knew that she wasn't my biggest fan but...this...this is..Where is she?" Bonnie demanded ready to confront Caroline.

Grabbing her arm, Lucy chided, "You can't touch her...even if she was here. You know that."

"That bitch hurt my children and if I don't get the spell to reverse this they will die, what do you expect me to do?" Bonnie asked angrily, snatching her arm away.

"First, I expect you to think like a Bennett witch and keep a cool head. Next we will get a counterspell. I think I know where to find one." Lucy said as she suddenly turned, pulling Bonnie with her, leading her to a red door with no handle, down the small hall.

After saying a spell, the door opened. The room was their grandmother's old secret library. Sheila kept her most prized grimoires in this room sealed with a spell and only Bennett blood could pass through.

Lucy went to a shelf grabbing two or three books, "I'm sure one of these will have the incantation we need."

Bonnie looked around in awe, tears coming to her eyes. "I forgot about this...wow. She Kept all of these, I thought she would have given them to the coven collective," she whispered as she traced her finger over some of the books.

Lucy smiled, "No, she said some things were to remain in the Bennett family. I think she secretly hoped that you would come back and take over." Her eyes got sad as she continued, "She really did miss you."

"I missed her, even if she disowned me. I missed you all, but there was so much more that I wanted to explore and learn. And the teachings were so restrictive and one-sided and I felt like an outsider." Bonnie took Lucy's hand, bringing her close," Oh Lucy, I have learned so much and it isn't like they said. I mean yeah there are assholes in every species, of course, but mostly people just want to live in peace and have their own ways of life respected," she said with child-like excitement and wonder.

"And I found love and I am so happy. Things aren't just black and white but many subtle shades of gray and it is that that makes life an adventure worth taking. Sure there are those who think they can rule over others but they get dealt with, but like I said most just want to coexist in peace."

"You know she disowned you because she thought it was the right thing to do. I think she thought it was tough love that would make you change your mind. Although, the coven was heavily in her ear and so was Alaric. She believed that she was right and she didn't want you...embracing your...uhm..other side. And yeah all that 'living in peace' seems great but what about our own kind and our own traditions? I've heard stories of vampires and werewolves keeping witches in bondage. And forcing them to use their magic for their gain. They stop witches from doing our rituals and I heard humans still persecute and kill witches and -"

Bonnie rolled her eyes, "Seriously Lucy, this isn't the dark ages," she chuckled, "Many humans don't even believe in witches and the ones that do think it's cool. And yeah there are some vampires and werewolves that prey on witches, but there are many witches that do the same with their magic. Klaus and his family set up a council, made up of representatives of all species, which keeps balance and order, and deals with troublemakers."

"Well it seems like-"Lucy didn't get to finish her statement.