Chapter 10: Flores Para Muerte (Flowers For The Dead)

Bonnie just did major nodding as the doctor rambled on what was happening with her husband. She knew she wasn't a match but still submitted her blood sample anyway; she was in denial. Her state of mind was completely warped, she was supposed to be confronting Damon right now. Instead, her vows of catering to her husband whether it be sickness or health were being put to the test.

The doctor put his hand on Bonnie's shoulder and looked her in the eye, "He's stable, Misses Salvatore."

Her eyes widened at the news and she nodded appreciatively and the blur of a mother and child in her vision was now Elena and Jackson.

"Thank you, Dr. Kitz."

"I have to run some more tests but I'll make sure to check back in with you soon."

Bonnie smiled weakly and greeted them. Elena, without warning, hugged her longtime friend tightly. The shorter woman was taken aback but wasn't surprised at the brunette's crushing empathy. Slowly, but surely she found herself giving in to the hug. It was the most real emotion she felt in the past 16 hours.

Jackson held a pudding cup up towards his aunt. "For you, mommy said you might be hungry and sad about Uncle Damon."

Bonnie lowered on her knees to be at eye-level with her pensive nephew. She thanked him for the Jell-O and put it in her purse. It was a nice gesture but she had no appetite at the moment. "I'm fine and your uncle is going to be fine," she stood up and wiped her sweatpants off of any dirt from the floor.

"Jackson, can you go be a big boy and sit over there in the nice chairs," Elena directed. He looked halfway convinced to do so. The young mother sighed and rolled her eyes and ended up giving him his iPad mini and headphones to play on. One day his mother gave him the accessories to it so it can drain out "adult talk" as she once worded it.

"The doctor said that he's responding to all the treatment so far," Bonnie informed as she placed her hand on her cheek. It was insanely cold in the hospital, this could not be her career field in any aspect. She yawned helplessly and continued, "There was major of internal bleeding hence the blood request. I'm B-, and of course, Damon is Type O."

"Well I know who to call, I'm AB," Elena said, lightening the mood.

"Yeah, you people are like God-like types for doctors," Bonnie said with a playful eye roll and Elena returned a small smile.

Stefan came up to them and hugged Bonnie.

"Ugh, you're crushing me," She complained.

He decided to stop teasing her and let go. The band-aid on his arm was now visible.

"How much did they make you give away?"

"2 pints. We just got done but I had to go take a leak so-"

Bonnie and Elena put their hand up at the same time. That sort of unfiltered talk wasn't for their delicate ears. He shrugged away and wrapped his arm around Elena. The third-party watched them interact lovingly and raised an eyebrow. Had there been a reconciliation she hadn't known about?

"You shouldn't be peeing after giving blood, you need to drink some fluids," Bonnie said.

The couple looked at each other; they seriously doubted that was even a medical concern.

"I–" Stefan started. He kissed Elena on her forehead and promised that he'd be right back. Bonnie decided to tag along, she was nosy and her own life had been almost reminiscent to a train-wreck. Stefan spun on his heel when he saw the small lawyer trying to get in the elevator. Reluctantly, he held the doors open for her. The stairs would have been a better choice, Bonnie wouldn't chase him on those.

"So," she said stepping on the platform.

"So..."

"If you two are back together I want all the credit,"

Stefan pressed his lips together in thought. He could confirm it right here and now or just leave it up in the air. He didn't want to shift the worry about Damon to his relationship. People talked too much. The elevator dinged and they exited promptly headed to get some water.

"Please, I am begging for some good news."

This was the man's third cup of water he downed before answering.

"Okay, fine we are."

Bonnie's green eyes lit up in joy. "I knew it!" She exclaimed and got glares from bystanders. Stefan was just happy that she was happy, at least at that moment. "Just try to keep it to yourself, for right now I guess," He said and in response, she nodded.

Still her smile wouldn't falter as they headed towards the elevator.

"I wasn't expecting you to take the whole Liam thing well which is why I was like 99% sure you two were back together," She said but soon regretted it when she saw his confused face. "You know what? Just forget I said anything."

..

Katherine Mikaelson spent her night crying, wiping her tears and then binging Netflix. Sometimes, she did all three at the same time, the show she was binging got emotional. But mainly because she crying over the wreckage of her marriage. She held her small baby bump before getting up for the day.

"Miss Katherine, I have your outfit of the day," Cristiana announced appropriately after the woman's shower. It was a black and white two-piece. The pants were elastic, Katherine wanted to barf right there on the spot looking at the material. They were already dressing her suited to her pregnancy.

"Please," She scoffed, looking the outfit over. It wasn't that hideous. "As if I would wear that, besides I am in no state to leave the house today so you can just go home."

"Well, none of the other clothes fit anymore. Anyways, I'm just worried about you that's all," The housekeeper sighed as her employer kept her cold gaze. "I know Mister Mikaelson left you and I just want you to know that I'm here."

Katherine did what she did best: give orders.

"How could you possibly know that it hasn't even been two days! He'll be back, just go home or so help me God I will fire you in the next ten seconds."

Cristiana stared at her with concern again before backing off. She cared for Katherine but she knew her temper was not one to be messed with. Katherine leaned on her vanity and took in her whole features. Her body was changing rapidly - inside and out. She had to sleep a certain way because her breasts were too tender to sleep on. She inched closer to see the results of trying to get some sleep and saw that there were bags underneath her eyes.

Katherine covered them in horror and found her purse to grab her concealer to hide the unholy lines. She also found her phone to be loaded with notifications of messages, missed calls, and voicemails. After reading and listening, she found out about Damon's ordeal. She wanted to call it karma but opted to bite her tongue. Well, now she found a reason to leave the house and eyed the outfit selected for her.

Paired with a few jewels and sunglasses, the outfit could be truly brought to life.

..

The former model strolled in the hospital in her tan Miu-Miu platform clicked away at the white marble tiles of the hospital. She didn't know if Damon was worthy of flowers but she brought some lilies anyways. Her bags may have been concealed but her eyes gave her state of mind away, so stylish sunglasses were a way to fix all of that.

When she got to the waiting room, she saw everyone still sitting there. After all that time, she used preparing herself and they were still outside the door. Her face read impatience but she still hugged Bonnie.

"Please tell me you jumped in glee when you heard the news," Katherine said with a groan.

Bonnie stifled her laughter and looked away. "Katherine please, he's my husband. I was of course upset."

"Not upset enough!" The voice of Lily Salvatore rang throughout the entire floor.

"Hello to you too, Lily," Bonnie greeted with a sarcastic tone and a smile spread across her face.

"Mom," Stefan stood up to quickly hug her. He was sensing an upcoming argument between the two.

"Grandma!"

"Aw, it's a little family reunion," Katherine commented.

"And you still make the most unnecessary statements. With that rude mouth of yours, I don't see how you obtain the luxury you do. That man probably is running for the hills as we speak." Lily said to Katherine before crouching down to speak to her grandson.

"Ma'am," Katherine began with a faux tone of respect. "This mouth has and will continue to bring me a ton of fortune as long as it's warm."

Everyone's face morphed into a strange mix of discomfort and humor, except Lily since she was on the receiving end of the read. Bonnie bit her lip to prevent a guffaw from coming out of her mouth. She turned towards Katherine and said, "Please behave."

"She came for me and then you, I'm not playing nice. You get what you give."

Elena called Katherine over and they sat away from the three who were talking about Damon's state. Jackson was happily tapping about on his device. She groaned every time Elena spoke. It was time for her to go because she would have to sock her and Lily respectively.

"Are you even listening?"

"Sure am."

"Okay, did you get my text about taking Jackson home?"

"That wasn't apart of—"

"Can you just housesit for me, he's just a kid and he wants to go home."

"Why can't you guys take him?"

"Because we want to see how Damon's doing."

"For what? He's stable so that means everyone can go home."

Katherine peeped Elena's unamused face and rolled her eyes underneath her shades. "Fine, I'll take the little rascal home." She turned to the child and poked him so his attention could shift to her instead of the iPad. Elena just shook her head.

"Come on, auntie's taking you out for ice cream."

The woman smirked when he scooted off the black chair and held his hand as they walked off. Sugar was any kid's Achilles. She was so killing two birds with one stone, her craving for the frozen dairy treat had been gnawing at her for the last morning.

Klaus woke up satisfied but sore next to his sleeping wife. Last night after work she'd nearly pounced on him and he was no victim at all. He touched the bruised mark on his upper chest to remind himself of the details.

"Henri is all tired out from the party tonight and she passed out right there on the couch," Klaus said with his hooked around his wife's arm ascending the steps.

Since their child was sound asleep the blonde knew what to do next. In an instant, she pushed him down on the bed causing him to jerk up forward.

"Woah love, let's not get hasty now," He said with a raised eyebrow. She'd never showed that much dominance in bed.

Caroline put a finger to his plump lips and he looked mesmerized. Slowly, she took off her apron Shh, I just miss my husband alright? It's been a long day. Take off your pants. Like now."

She stirred when she felt some shifting on Klaus's side of the bed. Her eyes were immediately fried from the ever blinding sun coming from their grand window. There wasn't much talk of closing the curtains when they rumbling on the bed last night. She grabbed the cover and wrapped it around her body as she walked over to cover the window.

"I'm gonna go hop in the shower," Caroline told Klaus as she sauntered past him. She looked deliciously heavenly with her blonde cascading past her ears.

He watched her walk into the bathroom with the duvet wrapped around her body like a rope. Then he rose to quickly check on Henri only to find out she was still asleep. Klaus returned to his bedroom and checked his phone. Caroline was still steaming away in the shower, he could tell by her singing. He played the voicemail.

"Hi, this is David from Smart Business in the LA area, we'd like to schedule an interview. We're looking for the man who seems to have it all, youth, great work ethic, the golden wife and the 2.5 kids and picket fence. If you could get back to us in a 48-hour time period that would be great."

Klaus took a breath and ran his fingers through his reddish hair. He was honored but wasn't too keen on journalists in his home or his office even pestering the hell out of him.

"Well shit, way to lay it on me."

"Babe, what's going on?" Caroline asked as she stepped out the washroom.

"I–" His phone dinged again showing an urgent message.

"Ah, well our friend Damon appears to be in the hospital. Bad car accident."

Caroline raised an eyebrow. "That's it? His karma getting to him isn't exactly news."

"Caroline."

"You aren't as much as a fan as I am of him, Klaus."

Klaus held the bridge of his nose. "Alright, true but we have an understanding and he's Bonnie's lifemate, she must be devastated."

"More like thrilled," Caroline murmured bitchily as she stepped into her denim jeans. She did a mini-spin. Do these jeans make my ass look rounder? I wanna go shopping on Rodeo Drive and look like Kim K while doing so."

He looked at her behind and gave his wordless approval with his eyes.

"Why do you always change the subject when we talk about your friends?"

Caroline bit her lip and decided to tell him a half-truth.

"There was a falling out and I realized I don't know them as well as I thought."

"What was—?"

Henrietta's voice suddenly filled the room and tipped in Caroline's favor to not continue the conversation.

"Mommy, I'm hungry."

Caroline smiled and walked to the threshold of the door and held her hands out for the reaching toddler

"Klaus," she said and he looked up, totally engaged in her words.

"Yes, love?"

"Give Bonnie my condolences, please."

Damon blinked three times in total before waking up to the never-ending movie of his life. There were his brother and his wife, his mother, and his wife. Then there were his two friends: (if he could call Klaus that at all) Enzo and Klaus. Those two were holding their long-standing feud for him was a rare sight. He wanted to make a wisecrack but his throat was dry.

"W-water," He coughed violently and caused everyone to panic.

"Get him some water now!" Lily yelled while looking at Bonnie who was standing there blankly. It was like she dreamt of this moment, no one could steal this away from her. Not even her pompous mother-in-law. A nurse came with water and cups for Damon and everything returned to normal. As normal as it could be for a wife to not move an inch while her husband essentially chokes.

"You all thought you'd seen the last of me huh?" Damon said with a light chuckle.

"I give great eulogies," Klaus joked darkly.

"I have strong arms, I could carry you out to glory," Enzo said.

"I can carry nothing but emotional weight," Stefan added.

Of course, they could bond over dark humor while Lily was just serious as all ever.

"Sweetheart," She said cradling his face. "You have to drive more carefully, were you distracted?"

"No, ma I wasn't," He looked at his wife. "It's 100% their fault and everything will be covered by their damn insurance."

Everyone hummed in agreement and talked in a group once again. Damon was fine; all his motor skills were intact. Still, his face was pretty banged up from the accident. He wouldn't complain about it to anyone else but his head was hurting badly, he'd have to plead with the nurse for more painkillers.

Lily was the last person in the room with him besides Bonnie. It was obvious to everyone else that he needed a moment alone with his wife. His mother chose to be purposefully oblivious.

"Well do you need anything else?"

"No, mom I'm good, I promise."

The older woman sighed seeing that she was being outnumbered. Her son truly didn't need or want her there. She grabbed her Prada bag from side stand and held her eldest's sons hands. Bonnie rolled her eyes behind the two's interaction.

"I'm always here, just a call away, okay?" He nodded. "Alright bye son," she finished and walked past the third person in the room. "Bonnie."

The bronze-skinned woman gave a faint smile and then a sigh of relief when the door finally closed. Now that was all in the room was a husband and a wife paired with a very strained marriage.

"C'mere," Damon said with playful eyes as he slapped a space on the bed.

"There is so not enough room for me—Ah! Damon, what the hell?" She screamed aloud when he brought her close to him, pinching her ass in the process.

"You're here now might as well just stay put," He said with a goofy smile plastered on his face. Bonnie couldn't see it exactly but imagined it perfectly, seeing it too many times before.

"Whatever," She pouted while playing with his ring finger. "You're wearing it."

"Well duh," Damon said, propping his head up with his right hand. "I always wear it, even when you make me do dishes."

Bonnie chuckled and held her ring hand up for him to see. It was a plain gold band.

"Ah, and you're rocking the old one."

"It's the one that means the most to me, don't get me wrong when I'm out at a party or just some social event I wanna wear my rock and feel like a million bucks."

Damon kissed her shoulder and caressed her hand. "You are a million bucks times infinity, baby."

"Someone failed physics," The woman said in a sing-song.

He laughed and then held her close. "So about yesterday..."

Bonnie took a long sigh, this accident was just prolonging more underlying matters between the two.

"I'm going to put a lid on that. Your health is the most important to me right now."

"I was headed home to you."

"Okay. We'll talk about it later, I'm pretty tired."

Damon breathed in defeat as his small wife closed her eyes and fell into a quick slumber.

Katherine took residence on the front room sofa and hardly moved from it. Jackson was a well-behaved kid, for the most part, so she could be a little lazy. Someone had ruined her blissful, calorie-loving day by ringing the doorbell. She and Jackson were watching Monsters Inc. and she had never seen it before.

"You wanna get that?" The brunette asked as she examined her tan nails. She definitely needed a fill-in.

The small looked at her and shoved a mouthful of popcorn in his mouth that they were sharing.

"I can't open the door for strangers anymore."

She made a face and pointed at him as she stood up. "Anymore? Fine and don't hog all the popcorn."

Katherine opened the door to see a blonde, it wasn't Caroline, no it was the total opposite.

"Oh, God, not you," She groaned loudly.

Lexi walked past Katherine with a suitcase. "Nice seeing you too, Kat."

Katherine closed the door shut. "You can't pop up unexpectedly and when you're not wanted."

"Oh, sweetheart, I'm always wanted."

She walked over to Jackson to greet him. "Boy, you are getting huge."

"My mom said I grew a whole 2 and a half inches, we counted the other day!"

"That's cute," She said, pinching his cheeks. "I got some cool stuff from my trip from Mexico, wanna see?"

Quickly, he left his seat on the couch and went to rummage through the fascinating items in Lexi's bag. Katherine crossed her arms and studied the two. She wished that she had an easy vibe with kids but her despise for them weighed out her wishes. Then she sighed and started to pick up the popcorn pieces and then she saw spilled juice on the floor and in no time was cleaning the entire living room. Lexi was already done showing him everything. They were just replicas clay Aztec masks.

"You and cleaning are Synonymous to oil and water."

"Ugh, whatever Lexi! They have no cleaning staff here so I just lowered myself to the opportunity."

Lexi chuckled. "So where is the lovely but separated couple?"

Stefan and Elena walked in the door which quite answered her question for her.

"Finally," Katherine said dropping the broom in her hand. "I would have been in a better mood if this incessant lesbian hadn't stepped in the house unwarranted."

"Someone's upset about me rejecting their drunk advances a few years back, but if the offer is still-"

"In your dreams, you skirt-chaser."

Elena held her hands up, clearly annoyed. She had heard enough. "I don't need to hear any of this. Thank you for staying, you can go home now Katherine."

Right, they don't know about Elijah. Brave face, Katherine.

The bold woman put her hand on her hip. "I was planning on doing that anyway." She slammed the door behind her.

"Wait, so and you and her–" Stefan began to ask his blonde friend before being dragged upstairs by his wife. Lexi shrugged and plopped down on the furniture next to Jackson."

"Guess, I'm stuck with you buddy."

"Don't worry, I'll be sleeping in no time."

She nodded and looked at the TV.

"Hey, can I tell you something?"

"Sure, who's it about?"

Jackson fiddled his thumbs. "It's about Auntie Katherine, she may be sort of mean at times or all the time but she does care and she's lonely and she's scared. She's like everyone else but puts up an even harder shell."

"I think that's a fair synopsis of her."

Caroline didn't go shopping like she said she would even when Klaus came back from the hospital she still stayed at home. She made butter pecan cookies that would yield around 36 of them. Henrietta asked for a few, Klaus stole some and she the chef had to taste one. They were delicious and Bonnie's favorite.

After letting them cool she packaged them in a Tupperware box. She was just going to take them to Bonnie's and deliver them personally. Klaus's words got her thinking about mending the friendship. Biting words were exchanged that night and she said the majority of them. If placing the blame on herself was a crushing conclusion, she'd just shift it to Sybil.

"You're up late," Klaus noted, leaning against the kitchen frame watching Caroline micromanage cookies. He let out a small laugh at the thought.

She smiled and snapped the lid on the container. "Just making sure these get to Bonnie."

"At this time of night? Just bring them to her in the morning."

Caroline stopped what she was doing and turned around to face him. "It'll only take a second, Klaus."

"I'm sure it will," He said and kissed her forehead. "Be safe."

The blonde did a total of three knocks before sighing. Bonnie probably was at the hospital still helping out with Damon. Swiftly, she pulled out a post-it note and began to write that the cookies were from her and her good wishes before leaving them on the porch. It was a Caroline Forbes quirk. She always kept the sticky notes in cases of troubles like these.

Bonnie opened the door for her in a pink robe and a matching satin hair wrap.

"Hey, you wanna come in?"

"Um, hi. And no, I don't wanna bother you, you're probably exhausted."

Bonnie eyed the dessert in her hands. "Nah, I took a nap at the hospital. I bet those are for me."

Caroline's face gave it away, her smile was too wide and she knew going back home right not was not an option.

..

The two of them sat in the kitchen which was the only room in the house that had its full lights on. They talked and laughed holding their bellies as they did so. Good friends like them could handle a distance and be back spending time with one another like there was no initial conflict. They had touched on the situation with Damon, but Bonnie didn't want to cloud their good time with that. Her day was tiring and sometimes a break or distraction is needed.

"This is totally my 8th cookie," Caroline crunched and drank milk to wash it down.

"And this is my 12th," Bonnie one-upped. "This is why you need a bakery, this is a God-tier level cookie."

"You're only saying that because they were free and they're your favorite."

"Okay, that's partly true." They laughed in unison.

"I missed you," Caroline said placing her hand over Bonnie's.

Bonnie held up a cookie as a peace treaty.

"I missed you too, friends?"

"Friends."