hi, everyone! chapters for this are going to be out pretty fast (a chapter a day is the pacing i'm going with) because i'm just copying and pasting from my ao3 account. on ao3, i've gotten up to chapter 6 (i think) so those are all prewritten. but once i get all of those chapters uploaded to , it'll be a little slower. with that said, enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 2 - Friends and Waffles

"Bon, it's my dad… he had a heart attack."

After Katherine weakly croaked those words, the night was a blur. Bonnie remembers pulling her friend into a hug, the hot weather feeling strangely cold in the moment.

She remembers Katherine clinging onto her throughout the whole car ride to the hospital. She remembers seeing Katherine try her hardest to hold in her tears but failing eventually. Giving into the grief and sobbing in Bonnie's arms.

Now, they were sitting in the dull waiting room in the Mystic Falls Hospital ER. The doctors rarely gave updates, Mr. Pierce was alive and recovering from the emergency bypass surgery they just performed on him.

Bonnie checked the clock on the wall. 12:30 AM.

Hm. It felt like it had been 10 minutes since they abruptly left The Splash, but in reality it had been seven hours. When the news that Katherine's father had a heart attack, all of their close friends made their way to the hospital. Katherine may not have gotten along with most of them, but they were like a family no less.

Matt, Tyler and Jeremy were all knocked out, empty cups of coffee in their hands. Even the caffeine couldn't keep them up. Stefan and his brother Damon went out for another coffee run. Caroline was barely awake, and still a little tipsy from The Splash. Elena was sitting next to Caroline, texting somebody. Probably her mother, who was Mr. Pierce's sister-in-law. Rebekah was sitting next to Bonnie and Katherine. Katherine had been alternating between sleeping in Bonnie and Rebekah's arms, and Bonnie's shift was almost up.

Bonnie looked down at her friend who was snoring in her arms. Katherine's eyebrows were furrowed, even in her sleep.

It was easy to tell that Katherine was worried about her father. She didn't like to show her emotions, she kept a facade of cool and nonchalance, but Bonnie could tell that she was scared.

Mark Pierce was a workaholic. He was rarely free, refused to take care of himself, and was always on a work call, but anyone who knew him knew that he cared. He cared very much about Katherine (and by extension, Rebekah and Bonnie). Katherine's mother, Sarah Sommers, had died a couple years ago. Her car flipped off of Wickery Bridge. After that, Katherine and her father depended on each other a lot more. It was like they had their own secret language.

"Hey, Bonnie, um, can we talk?" Elena's voice interrupted Bonnie's musings.

Bonnie looked down at Katherine's sleeping figure. She didn't want to wake her but she also didn't want to impose on Rebekah's resting time.

"You go talk. I got her." Rebekah mumbled. She carefully took Bonnie's seat and laid Katherine's head in her lap, smiling tiredly at the brunette in her arms.

"What's up, Elena?" Bonnie asked when they turned the corner to a more private setting.

"I was a jerk." Elena said.

"Huh?"

"At The Splash. You were talking to Stefan and I interrupted. I didn't even acknowledge you." Elena explained. "That was a jerk move. I'm sorry."

To be honest Bonnie hadn't really thought about how Elena was acting back at The Last Splash. She had bigger fish to fry since then.

"It's okay, Lena. It's no biggie." Bonnie replied. She started to turn away, but her friend caught her arm.

"I know you love Stefan." Elena blurted. She meant to ease into that, but she had never been good at hiding her intentions.

Bonnie turned back to Elena slowly with wide eyes. She was flabbergasted. "Um, what-? What are you even saying, I don't love Stefan, why would-,"

"Bonnie, it's okay. You don't need to lie. It's like the most obvious crush ever." Elena reassured.

Bonnie didn't know what to say. "How- uh, how long have you known?"

Elena sighed. "For a long time. Since we were like six." She chuckled. "Whenever you looked at him, I think your pupils actually shaped into hearts."

They both smiled for a moment, but then realized what they were talking about and sobered.

"But you knew that I liked him so you backed off." Elena said. She took a deep breath. "I really like Stefan. But I love you more."

"Elena, babe, get to the point." Bonnie snapped. Oops. Elena's words touched her, but Bonnie had never been a patient person and her friend being cryptic as hell wasn't helping out.

Still, she gave Elena an apologetic glance. She really needed to work on her temper. Elena just let out a little laugh. She was used to Bonnie's crankiness.

"Bonnie, what I'm trying to say is that if you like Stefan, go for it. I won't stand in the way."

Bonnie almost choked. This was the last thing she expected to hear that night. She appreciated the sentiment, but Stefan would never go for her. He liked Elena. Everybody liked Elena. Besides, she was already feeling overwhelmed with Katherine's dad in the hospital and senior year coming up and absolutely having no clue what she wanted to do with her life, so a relationship really wasn't what she needed.

"Lena, really, thank you, but I can't be in a relationship right now. Even if I could, Stefan would have to like me back." Bonnie said as if it were the most impossible thing in the world.

Elena gave her a smile that seemed both sad and knowing at the same time.

"Don't feel pressured to make a move on him or anything. I just don't want you to hold back because of me."

Bonnie smiled gratefully at her and they embraced in a long hug.

"Bonnie. Hey, Bon. Wake up." Jeremy's constant poking of Bonnie's shoulder is what sent her over the edge.

"What in the fresh f…" She realized that she was still in a public place. "Heck do you want, Jeremy? I was sleeping, god damn it."

"Damon's gonna take us all out for breakfast. He claims he can pay for it with his, and I quote, 'money paying job'." Jeremy replied.

"Damon has a job?" Bonnie asked, amusement overpowering her tiredness.

"Hell yeah he does." Damon answered, waltzing his way over to them and into their conversation.

"I'm surprised." Bonnie said genuinely.

"I'm sure you are, little witchy. You, like many others including my own father and brother, doubted my maturity. How does it feel to be proven wrong, Bennett?" He said.

"It feels… hungry. I guess I'm lucky that somebody here has a 'money paying job'." Bonnie quipped.

"Mockery. Cute." Damon replied flatly as he strutted over to go bother someone else.

Bonnie checked the clock. It was 9:45 AM. She hadn't seen this hour since school ended.

She must've fallen asleep after her conversation with Elena.

Pretty much everybody else was up and buzzing, with the exception of Tyler, who was still sleeping. He took up three chairs and was snoring like a pig.

Stefan was chatting with Matt and Caroline was on a phone call in the corner of the waiting room. Elena had whisked Jeremy away to call their parents who were planning on visiting the hospital later that day.

By the looks of it, Katherine was visiting her father in his recovery room.

There were some strangers in there, most of them clearly annoyed with Tyler and his snores.

"Coffee?" She turned to Rebekah who was holding out a cup for her to take.

"Thanks, Bex." Bonnie said, greedily taking the cup and downing half of the contents in it. She needed a booster.

"Easy." Rebekah mused. Bonnie hummed in response.

"Should we call Essie and Papa?" Bonnie wondered. Essie and Papa were the names she created for Esther and Mikael Mikaelson when she was little. She had already called Grams and told her she would be spending the night at the hospital.

"Oh, that's right. I forgot to call them." Rebekah let out an entertained laugh. "They're probably worried sick."

Bonnie shot Rebekah a disappointed look. Rebekah put the phone on speaker. It rang twice before Esther picked up.

"Look who decided to call." Esther said disapprovingly.

"I'm sorry, mother. You know how spacey hospitals make me… oh, of course I'm not in the hospital. Katherine's dad had a heart attack and I decided to stay with her overnight." Rebekah replied.

"And you didn't think to give your dear old mother a call before gallivanting around the ER with the children of heart disease patients?" Ah, that was Essie. She didn't have much of a filter.

"You sound more irritated than concerned." Rebekah remarked.

"Sheila called and told me where you were." Esther said. "But if she hadn't I would've thought you were dead or worse, Rebekah." Esther's tone became stern.

Rebekah sighed. "I know, mother. I'm sorry."

"I bet you are. When will you be home?" She asked.

"Soon. Damon's taking us out to breakfast." Rebekah answered.

"Huh. How is he going to pay for that? Did he rob a bank?"

"He got a job."

Esther snorted. "Tell him good luck with that. And send Katherine and her father my love. Is Bonnie with you?" Esther asked.

"She's right here." Rebekah answered, handing the phone to her sister.

"Hey, Essie." Bonnie smiled.

"Hello, sweetie pie." Esther said fondly. "You and your Grams are coming over for dinner tonight. Sheila, Mikael and I have a surprise planned for you and Rebekah."

"Ooh, like what?" Rebekah implored.

"Well if I told you it would be much of a surprise, now would it?" Esther sang. "Listen, I have to get back to work, but I love you both. See you tonight."

"Bye, mother." Rebekah said.

"Later, Essie." Bonnie hung up the phone and handed it back to Rebekah.

"Ready to go waste Damon's money?" Rebekah asked.

"You betcha."

There was a diner a couple blocks from the hospital, so the group decided to walk.

Katherine visited her dad briefly. He was doing much better. There was still a tube down his throat, the doctors said they would remove it around 24 hours after the surgery he had, but they also said he was healing quickly which was great. He would be discharged from the hospital around a week and a half later. He wouldn't get back to normal life completely, he probably never would, but at least he would be home.

Katherine was a bit hesitant to leave the hospital, but eventually decided that she needed a distraction. Just for a little bit.

Wearing nothing but a bathing suit that you slept in and a barely helpful cardigan that you got from the hospital lost and found in public wasn't Bonnie's favorite choice of attire, but the walk was pretty short so she didn't mind too much.

In fact, all of them were dressed down. The only people who had time to change were Stefan and Damon who stopped by their house while picking up the coffee.

They reached the diner. It was very cute. The booths and walls were all pastel pink. The floor and pretty much everything else were light turquoise. There were ten of them and none of the tables were quite big enough for them, so they all crammed together in one of the smaller ones.

Katherine was at the head of the table, Bonnie was to her left and Rebekah was to her right. Stefan was next to Bonnie and Elena was next to Rebekah. Next to Stefan was Matt and next to Elena was Caroline. Damon was at the foot of the table and Jeremy and Tyler were next to him.

They were all so close that their elbows were touching.

"Hi, welcome to Mary Anne's, my name is Vanessa. Can I get you guys anything to drink?" The waitress asked them.

After she left, they started a conversation.

"So, Damon, are you ever going to tell us exactly what your job is?" Matt asked.

Stefan did a little dance. "I already knooww." He sang.

"Shut up, Stefan." He turned to Matt. "What my job is isn't important. What is important is that I'm rich now."

"C'mon, Damon. At least give us a little hint." Bonnie pouted.

"Yeah, don't leave us hanging." Caroline added.

Damon sighed. "Fine. I'm the mysichimascot…" He mumbled and trailed off.

"A what?" Tyler asked.

"A mysishischoolmascot…"

"Say it louder, Damon." Stefan grinned. He was thoroughly enjoying himself.

"I'm the Mystic Falls High School mascot! There!" He shouted.

There was silence and then everybody broke into harmonious laughter. Rebekah literally fell off of her chair.

"You mean you're the dog?" Katherine wheezed.

"It's a timberwolf, Katherine, and you know that!" Damon scowled.

The fact that he had to wear that heavy ass costume wasn't the funniest part, nor was it the fact that somehow the school trusted Damon to be around high schoolers as a job, but it was because of the tradition associated with the high school's mascot. At every game, the school's timberwolf had to perform a dance. It was a great dance. At least for the people watching.

Caroline could barely be understood through her laughs. "How- how the hell did you-" She wheezed. "How did you land that job?"

"The last guy quit and I swooped in. I started three weeks ago. They must've been really desperate because they pay well." He answered.

"Why are you working so much before school starts, Damon?" Stefan asked, despite already knowing the answer to that question.

"Because, Stefan, I have to… rehearse." Damon said through clenched teeth.

"Rehearse what, Damon?" Jeremy inquired innocently. Too innocently.

"I have to rehearse something. For the homecoming game halftime show."

"Something… something like a dance?" Elena asked with a sly smile on her face.

"I don't want to answer that question." He grumbled.

That was all the answer they needed. Bonnie laughed so hard that she thought her lungs were going to burst.

After a few more minutes of relentlessly teasing Damon (lovingly of course), they decided to stop picking on him because he was paying for them.

Vanessa the waitress came back and took their orders for food. Bonnie got some waffles. You can never go wrong with waffles. She also ordered a milkshake which had just arrived.

All of their mouths watered as the waiters placed the breakfast foods on the table. None of them ate at or after the splash, so they were famished.

Bonnie got her waffles and looked over at everybody else's food.

"Bonnie, keep your predatory gaze off of my breakfast burrito." Katherine quipped.

Bonnie rolled her eyes. Her lovely friends liked to make fun of her because she always ate other people's food but never shared hers with anyone else. Hey, at least she was self aware! At least she knew that she was a food hypocrite.

"Yeah, you look like a shark hunting a seal or something." Caroline remarked.

"Be careful guys, she's about to pounce." Tyler said with mock fear.

"Let's chill with all the animal metaphors. I'm just looking." Bonnie hissed.

"Looking turns into tasting, tasting turns into taking more, and that turns into you slapping me for trying to take a bite of your ice cream when you just finished mine!" Damon chastised.

"That was one time, Damon!"

"And I'll remember it forever."

"Oh, and let's not forget about the time she ate all of the cranberry sauce at thanksgiving and then refused to let anyone have the gravy she made specially for herself." Elena mused.

"I feel very targeted right now." Bonnie said.

"Good. Now you know how our food feels." Stefan mumbled.

Bonnie smacked his arm.

After a little while, the group broke into separate conversations, though since they were so squished together, none of them were very private.

"Bonnie,"

"Stefan," She echoed.

"Why are you staring wistfully at my curly fries?" He asked. Bonnie kept her eyes on the fries.

"No reason." She replied, though on the inside, she was fantasizing about what they would taste like. She just finished her pancakes and milkshake, but she was still hungry.

"You can have one if you want." The soft spoken boy said.

Her eyes snapped to him. "Really?"

"Really." He nodded. "But don't go too crazy."

"I seriously love you." She squealed.

He chuckled and took one curly fry, dipped it in ketchup, and fed it to Bonnie.

She closed her eyes as she chewed and Stefan laughed a bit at her expression.

"What?" She peeked an eye open.

"Did my fry really make you that happy?"

She shrugged. "It's the little things."

They shared a laugh, neither noticing Elena watching their interaction with a conflicted expression on her face.

After breakfast, everybody went their separate ways. Katherine and Caroline were the only two left.

Katherine decided to go home and take care of herself before visiting the hospital in the evening. Caroline was going home as well, her house was in the same direction as Katherine's.

Things between them were strange. Not awkward, just different from what they were used to.

Normally, they would pick at each other endlessly. When they were alone together (though they rarely ever were) there wouldn't be a quiet moment. There would be constant chattering, constant insults and roasts, both girls clawing at each other and trying to tear each other down. If they could, they would argue forever.

But now that Katherine's dad was in the hospital, Caroline didn't have the same motivation to knock her off of her pedestal. Caroline never thought she'd see the day where she looked at Katherine and she didn't feel annoyance, anger, jealousy; she just felt sorry. It was weird. It had never been like this between them. Not even when Caroline's dad left.

Katherine on the other hand, just didn't have the energy to be mean to Caroline. Not emotionally or physically. She just wanted her dad to be alright and to take a damn nap.

So for the first time since they met, they walked together in comfortable silence.

Neither of them were willing to admit it, but they both thought the same thing:

We should do this more.

thanks for reading! i knew little to none about heart attacks before writing this, so i had to do a butt load of research. still, it might not be completely accurate, so just let me know if there's something wrong so i can edit it.