hi! here's the newest chapter! i was half asleep when i finished editing it, so there might be some errors.

Chapter 3 - Family First

"Hey, Grams, I'm home!" Bonnie shouted as she shut the door to her house. Shrek and Lucifer scurried towards her.

"Hey, munchkins." She cooed, petting her kitties. "Is Grams home?"

When they didn't answer (which she half expected them to, she knew they were cats but sometimes she thought they were a bit more aware of what was going on than they let on), she figured that Grams decided to open up the shop.

Sheila Bennett was her own boss, so she liked to randomly pick up shifts at her shop. She refused to let anybody work there except for Bonnie and herself, and the store opened and closed sporadically. Whenever she felt like working, she opened the store and when she didn't it was closed. Sometimes the store would go weeks without opening because Sheila simply didn't feel like it.

That made the shop pretty unreliable and Bonnie had no clue if randomly opening and closing your store was even legal, but nobody called Grams out on it.

The store kind of represented Grams in a way. She was impulsive, quirky and witchy. The store was her.

Owning a witchy themed shop had been a little dream of Sheila's since she was young, but it was completely hypothetical because it was so unrealistic. Not many people had the same taste as Grams. In reality, the shop only got 2-3 customers per day, max. Except during the holidays. People loved crystals during Christmas, what can I say?

The only reason the shop was still kind of afloat was because of Grams retirement savings from being an occult studies professor, and the large amount of money that Pops (Sheila's late husband and Bonnie's grandfather) had left towards the store in his will. He knew how much Grams wanted it.

Bonnie walked into the kitchen, fed her cats, and read the note that Grams left her on the counter.

Hey, baby. I'm working at the shop right now. I was feeling inspired ;). Come stop by when you get this!

Bonnie gave her cats one last pet before she headed off to the shop. It was a seven minute walk.

She opened the door to the little building, the bell at the door chiming lightly.

The shop was small but it was packed with items. The walls were painted white and there were plants on almost every possible surface. The shelves were stocked with crystals, potions, herbs, perfumes - anything that could be deemed witchy.

"Welcome to Sheila's Enchantments! How can I help y- Oh, Bonnie, babe. There you are." Grams greeted, waltzing over to her granddaughter.

The heavy necklaces Sheila wore around her neck clunked as she pulled Bonnie into a warm hug.

"How's Mr. Pierce doing, baby?" Grams asked into the hug. Grams' hugs normally lasted a couple minutes long, but Bonnie never complained.

"He's doing better. I honestly think Katherine's taking it harder than he is."

"Oh, that poor girl. It's really a shame what happened to her mother. And now her father too." Sheila said sympathetically.

"I know. She doesn't deserve it." They finally pulled away from the hug.

"Alright, sweetie. Enough of the sad talk. Can you work the register while I put some things away in the back?"

"Sure. Just holler if you need help." Bonnie replied.

"Psh, I can handle myself." Sheila dismissed with a wave of her hand.

Not ten seconds later, there was a loud bang that came from the back.She totally can't handle herself.

"Grams, you good?" Bonnie shouted. She rushed over to the back room where she saw her grandmother carrying two large boxes in her arms. Another was on the floor. She must've dropped it.

"What made you think that carrying three huge boxes full of yoga equipment all by yourself was the way to go?" Bonnie asked, picking up the box on the floor.

"I told you I don't need any help, Bonnie." Sheila scolded.

"Grams, come on. You're sixty years old. You can't keep putting yourself in danger like this."

This wasn't the first time they'd had this conversation.

"I have you." Sheila reminded her.

"I may be young but I'm not athletic at all. Sometimes I have trouble going up the stairs because it's too hard."

"Stefan helps out."

"Occasionally." Bonnie replied as they carried the boxes over to the shelves in the right corner and set them down.

"All I'm saying is that help isn't a bad thing, Grams."

"I know, baby. And I appreciate you for caring for me. But I can't hire somebody else."

"Why not?" Bonnie asked.

"Because not everybody's a witch." Sheila replied with a mischievous smirk. Bonnie rolled her eyes but had to chuckle.

After breakfast, Stefan went to Matt's house, so Damon went home by himself. He was feeling pretty good about himself. Even though everybody made fun of him, his new job was making him really happy. He got to buy a meal for his friends, he had something to do other than go to the bar and his parents were happy for him. His parents were never happy for him.

For once, he didn't feel like he was the twenty-four year old college dropout who lived with his parents and whose only friends were seventeen year olds that went to school with his kid brother. For once he didn't feel like a failure.

But his good mood was soured when he walked into the boarding house and heard sobs coming from the living room. He rushed in to find his mother on the couch, crying into her hands.

"Mom? What's wrong?" He sat next to her, rubbing circles on her back.

"I think…" She sobbed. "I think your fathers having an affair."

Damon froze. "Why- what makes you think that?"

"He's just been so distant lately. He makes weird late night calls. I don't want to jump to conclusions… I just…"

"Shh, mom, it's okay. It's going to be okay." Damon soothed.

Honestly, he wouldn't be surprised if his father were cheating. As much as Damon hated to admit it, Giuseppe Salvatore was definitely the type to cheat.

He was cocky, privileged and selfish. By all means he thought he owned the world. All of Damon and Stefan's negative traits came from Giuseppe; Damon's arrogance, Stefan's need to be in control - it all stemmed from their father.

Lily and Giuseppe were an arranged marriage, but down the line they learned to love each other. Or at least Lily learned to love him.

After a bit, Lily's cries died down and she spoke up. "Damon, I don't know what's happening with your father, but please don't tell Stefan about this. He's sensitive and he's just going to worry about me."

"Mom, you know how Stefan is about lying…" Damon started.

"You won't be lying. Just not telling him something. Please, Damon. He's too young."

Damon sighed. "Okay. I promise."

Bonnie and Grams opened the door to the Mikaelson Mansion with their key. This was practically their second home, so ringing the doorbell or knocking wasn't necessary.

Sheila insisted on bringing something, even though Esther told her not to. She was raised right, what can she say?

As soon as Bonnie and Grams entered the foyer, Anita (the Mikaelson's maid) greeted them with a big smile.

"Hello, Sheila, Bonnie." Anita said, taking the dish that Sheila brought.

"Hi, Anita." Bonnie said and kissed her cheek. "I'm gonna go find Bex, okay?"

Sheila and Anita nodded before they went off to go meet Esther.

"Rebekah?" Bonnie shouted as she navigated around the large rooms and hallways that she had memorized like the back of her hand. "Bex?"

She bumped into somebody's chest. She looked up to see Klaus. Her eyes widened before her face lit up like a Christmas tree and she jumped into his arms.

"You're back!" She exclaimed.

He chuckled and hugged her back, squeezing her tightly. "It was supposed to be a surprise. Mother will have my head if she knows you saw me."

"I won't tell." She said, her face still buried in his chest.

She rarely ever saw Klaus - he was an aspiring entrepreneur and decided to go to college halfway across the country.

"When did you get here?" She asked him as they eventually pulled away.

"An hour ago. Mother told me to wander the halls and avoid you and Rebekah until dinner started." He said.

"You broke the one rule she gave you. Some things never change."

"Hey! I am wandering the halls, so I'm doing something correctly." They both chuckled.

"At least there's that."

"I've missed you." He said.

"I missed you, too." She replied. "So are you the surprise that Essie was being so cryptic about?"

"Oh, there's more." He answered with a grin. "You'll just have to be patient."

"You and I both know I'm not good at that." She scoffed.

"Yeah, asking you was kind of a shot in the dark." Klaus remarked. She playfully hit his arm.

"I'm gonna go find Bekah."

"I was never here."

"You were never here." Bonnie echoed.

Bonnie barged into Rebekah's room. She found her sister sitting on the bed, reading a magazine.

"Ah, there you are, Bon." Rebekah said. Bonnie flopped onto the bed next to her. "So, are we going to talk about it?"

"Um, talk about what?" She asked, confused.

"The elephant in the room!" Rebekah said like it was obvious.

"I didn't notice an elephant."

"Ugh, I'm talking about you and Stefan, of course! You were all over each other at breakfast! Oh, and Elena practically had smoke coming out of her ears. It was priceless."

"What? Why would Elena be…" Bonnie sighed, "You know what, let's talk about this another time."

"Okay, but we will talk about it, Bonnie."

"Eventually. So…" She smiled suggestively. "Do you want to talk about you and Katherine?"

Rebekah groaned and rolled onto her back. "I don't know. I don't know if she likes girls and even if she did I don't know if she would like me back. It's just so complicated."

Bonnie followed Rebekah's lead and rolled onto her back as well. "If she does like girls she will come out when she's ready. But are you saying that you like her?"

"I think so." Rebekah smiled.

Rebekah had known she was lesbian for a long time. She knew for sure when she kissed Tiki during spin the bottle in seventh grade. Living in closed minded Virginia, there were many people who didn't approve of her sexuality, but all of her close friends and family did and that was all that mattered to her.

They smiled at each other and laid in comfortable silence until Esther knocked on the door. "Ladies, it's time for dinner!"

"Coming!"

When Bonnie and Rebekah made their way downstairs to the dining room, they were happily surprised to see all of their siblings at the table.

Unless it was a holiday, they were never all together.

The table seated Klaus (who Bonnie had to pretend to be surprised to see… Esther saw right through the act and shot Klaus a dirty look), Elijah and his girlfriend Hayley, Kol, Finn and his wife Sage, and Freya and her girlfriend Keelin.

Esther sat at the head of the table with Mikael and Sheila to her left and right.

After all of their excited greetings, Esther clinked her fork to her glass to signal a toast. "Everybody, thank you very much for coming to our family dinner. We haven't all been together since Kol's graduation which was months ago. I'm so happy that we're all here. Thank you."

They all raised their glasses and began to eat. Of course, the Mikaelsons hired a chef to do the cooking and the food was spectacular.

Bonnie was sitting next to Rebekah and Kol, and she kept randomly hugging Kol. She missed him. After he graduated, he decided to spend the summer with his girlfriend in Costa Rica. Bonnie hadn't seen him since he left. He was going to Whitmore for college, so Bonnie would be seeing a lot more of him.

"Bon, you know I love you, but if you keep hugging me while I chew I'm going to choke." Kol said after she randomly embraced him again.

"Sorry. I just missed you a lot." She apologized.

"I missed you too, darling, but I'm here now. Whitmore is only a half an hour away." Kol replied.

"Yeah, I guess." She nodded.

"Are you excited for senior year?"

"Yep. Are you excited for college?"

"Eh. I'm excited for the parties." He shrugged.

"Please, you've been going to the Whitmore parties since your sophomore year of high school." Bonnie said.

"I know." He said smugly. "I was the most popular student at Whitmore before I even got in."

"Don't let it get to your head." She chuckled.

"Too late."

During the dinner, Bonnie noticed Klaus' weird behavior. He was sitting right next to Elijah and Hayley, who were being especially lovey dovey. Maybe he was just sad because he was single? He had just broken up with his high school sweetheart, Cami, so maybe that had something to do with it.

Elijah and Hayley had met three years before at a charity event in Georgia. They started dating immediately and their relationship excelled quickly. Bonnie liked Hayley. She thought she was a good match for her brother.

In fact, all of the Mikaelson sibling relationships had the Bonnie and Rebekah stamp of approval.

They were especially happy for Freya and Keelin. Freya was the oldest Mikaelson sibling, and she and Keelin were a match made in heaven.

Finn and Sage had been together for a long, long time. Since Rebekah and Bonnie were five. They had gotten married two years before, though.

Before Klaus broke up with her, they really liked Cami. She always took them shopping and she was a therapist so she was great to talk to.

Clink, clink, clink.

There was that noise, signaling another toast. This time, Elijah stood up.

"Before we get into dessert, Hayley and I have an announcement to make." Hayley smiled widely and pulled a box out of purse. She opened the box, took out a dazzling ring and slid it onto her ring finger.

"We're engaged!" She squealed.

Bonnie gasped happily as the couple beamed at each other. Esther jumped up from her seat and marched over to Hayley and Elijah and wrapped them into a big hug, Mikael's face broke into an uncharacteristic smile, Grams started crying; everybody was happy. Or at least that's what Bonnie thought until she saw the heartbroken look on Klaus' face.

She would've thought he'd be overjoyed - he and Elijah were very close. When Elijah was happy, he was happy and vice versa. She wanted to talk to him about it, but decided to wait and take this moment to celebrate Elijah and Hayley.

After dinner, everybody gathered in the living room.

When she got up to go to the bathroom, she noticed that Klaus was sitting on a bench in the foyer. He had a glass of bourbon in his hand as he stared solemnly at the ground.

She held in her pee (a very hard task to do), to go talk to him.

"Nik?" She called gently, "You okay?"

"Just peachy." He replied sarcastically as he took another sip from his glass.

She sat next to him. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"No."

"Do you want me to leave?"

"…No."

"Okay." She said quietly. She put her arm around him and he leaned his head on her shoulder.

After a few moments, she heard him sniff and felt a tear roll down his face and drip onto her shoulder. He was crying. Klaus never cried.

They stayed like that until she couldn't hold her pee any longer and he felt well enough to go congratulate Elijah.

thanks for reading!