Chapter 11: Pop Up

Katherine and Bonnie were supposed to hang outside the vicinity of their home but other things simply got in their way. Katherine's feet were swollen beyond her shoe size. So, the 5'10 tall woman sat comfortably as she could in Bonnie's kitchen. Two weeks had passed making it near Thanksgiving and this had become routine for the duo to lounge twice a week.

"So I was in Givenchy the other day and-"

"Given-chy," Damon casually corrected walking by with his crutches. "The 'ch' is actually an s." He was only walking in the kitchen area for apple juice.

"You're annoying, Bonnie when is it leaving us alone?"

"I could say the same for that demon infiltrating your uterus but you're just naturally a b-"

The woman of the house set her drink down on a coaster. "Damon please. I'll see you at five when I start dinner, okay?"

He leaned all his weight on his left crutch and used his free hand to point at his cheek. Bonnie smiled and got up while Katherine watched them interact in bewilderment. She got up to kiss his cheek and then face after Damon puckered his lips afterwards. Bonnie quickly walked back to her stool and drank her lemonade quickly as if nothing happened.

Her friend tapped her shoulder. "What the hell was that?"

"Just practicing more PDA, our therapist says a small peck here or there can help our disagreements out more."

Katherine did a double take. "Did you mean therapist as in like, a real doctor? I can't believe he or even you agreed to that."

Bonnie sighed. "Her name is Dr. O'Connell, she specializes in major shifts in marriages like ours. This accident really put a damper on things."

"To be fair, the wreckage was way before the accident," Katherine noted, stirring her drink.

"Pardon?"

"You were talking about grilling him just a month ago, now it's 'Aw, baby c'mere give me a kiss'. You two are nothing short of insane."

Bonnie looked at Katherine. "The doctor also covers a range of marriage problems, infidelity is one. I'm not paying her 400 dollars an hour to talk about some of my problems."

Katherine leaned forward. "So, what are the sessions like?"

"I'll just say they're interesting. You're the only person besides my Grams who do know. If I tell the other wives they'll just give me a look of pity and pretend like they don't need the help just as much as I do."

Katherine chuckled and her face straightened out in serious expression. "I can't even drag Elijah out, he's not even at home." She looked at her growing stomach and tears welled up in her eyes. Her first instinct was to reach for some Kleenex but she sulked even more when she saw that they were gone. Bonnie left her seat in a flash to return to her expecting guest with a paper towel.

"Thanks," Katherine sniffled. "These are kind of abrasive on my face but at least my mascara isn't running."

Bonnie disregarded the vain comment and placed her hand on her leg and asked genuinely. "Katherine, where's Elijah? You told us he was on some campaign in Italy."

"Look, he found out, okay?" Katherine said, holding back her tears. She shook her head and looked down, ashamed."I don't know, I haven't seen him since the party. He has this man in an SUV sit outside my car at night. He has to still care, right?"

Bonnie pressed her lips together and scanned her friend's distraught face.

"He cares, that man adores you to be precise, he just needs more time to deal, Kat. Everything will be alright."

Katherine discarded the used paper towel by tossing it in the bin besides them. "It's just so hard being alone now that I'm pregnant, I just want him to come home I don't care if he just operates in silence when he's there. The quietness is just too much, I feel like I'm suffocating." She took a breath and let out a dry laugh. "So, I'm guessing you haven't told Damon?"

Bonnie was knocked off of her high horse. "I—we're not at that point yet." She looked up to see her friend leaving. She tilted her face in disbelief.

"You'll see it's different when we do it. I wish you two the best with therapy," Katherine finalized with a faint smile.

It was Friday evening and Damon and Bonnie were in the doctor's office. They had to reschedule even though he wanted to cancel the session altogether. Their morning appointment was missed since Bonnie stayed out late for a charity event for college tuitions. It was in West Hollywood and there was apparently an afterparty that she failed to inform him about. The black-haired man with a height of 5'11 stood with his arms crossed watching the sun dimmer.

Bonnie sighed and opened her cosmetic mirror, re-applying lipstick. They had been there for 45 minutes and not a single word was uttered from

the two.

"So, I sense some distance." Dr. O'Connell stated after putting her pen and pad down.

"You think?" Damon asked sarcastically.

Bonnie closed her mirror. "He's just mad because I slept in and he plans tonight. I wonder if the plans are bigger than the issues in our marriage."

He whipped around this time and pointed to emphasize his point. "I had court-side and I'm saying court-side seats for a Clippers game tonight."

"Does it anger you that Bonnie went out last night and now you can't even the score?"

Damon's face frowned. "Why does this matter?"

"It matters because had she not missed the original appointment you would be doing what you wanted to do right now—sitting courtside and eating overpriced popcorn. Marriage is about sacrifice, there will be other games to attend together I hope."

"A date night would be nice," Damon mumbled.

"Not when you're on crutches," Bonnie reminded.

The doctor looked between the two and took a glance at the crutches. Were they necessary or just a distraction? She had private sessions with both of them and Damon tended to gloss over the fact that he could walk without them.

"Well, what did Dr. Kitz say about them?"

"That Damon still needs them but that was a couple weeks ago."

"Damon?"

He scratched the back of his head and faced the doctor. "What?"

"Nothing," Dr O'Connell said and stood up. "Our session has ended."

Bonnie rose from her seat and helped Damon grab his crutches.

"Thank you."

"Try watching the game together tonight, your evening isn't completely over just because it isn't at the Staples Center."

A little while after they left, she took the opportunity to make a call.

"Hi, This is Camille O'Connell and I wanted to speak Dr. Kitz if he's on duty."

A few minutes later she was on the phone with him.

"Hello, Dr. O'Connell, what's going on?"

"Cut the shit, Frank."

"Why do we always have to argue?"

Cami rolled her eyes. "Is Damon Salvatore supposed to be on crutches, it's an important question for my evaluation of him."

"Ah, lemee check my files. This is illegal by the way I thought that I would let you know." He added.

"You don't have to give me the information but he told his wife that you said he needs to use them."

"No, he was supposed to get off them on our last visit on Tuesday."

"This Tuesday or the previous one?"

"Previous."

She hung up the phone and shook her head. She knew for a fact Damon was lying but now had to tell Bonnie. Now that they had a private session Monday, she could somehow slip the hint in.

Stefan took photos of his wife and child making sandcastles at the edge of the water. It was a relaxing and warm weekend so they decided to go to the beach. Elena left her phone back on the towel since she had to place to hold it. A big tan sunhat covered her face from the sun and she made sure everyone else had on sunscreen.

Elena called his name and waved for him to come over. She was sitting pretty in her red halter top swimsuit. It had been a while since she's shown some skin since the miscarriage and she was still insecure on how her body looked. Of course, her husband was there to reassure her that she looked amazing. He was going to get up and meet them but his attention shifted to the beep on Elena's phone.

Liam: I know it's stupid and I'm stupid for even sending this since I broke things off. I saw post on Instagram at the beach and I just wanted to say that you're gorgeous.

Stefan's hand shook in anger as he held the phone, scanning the message over and over again. He didn't want thjs guy contacting Elena ever again and to find out he ended the relationship made it sting even worse. Quickly he typed out a message posing as Elena.

E: Don't message me ever again, I'm with my husband and I am happy because it's going to stay that way. Always.

He quickly sent it and deleted the messages afterwards, tucking the phone. Just in time, Jackson and Elena ran up to him with beaming smiles on their faces. It was a perfect site to see, actually.

"The ice cream man is leaving, I need at least tenbucks—"

Stefan interjected playfully, "Oh okay, I don't even a proper question or even a please."

"I'm sorry, dad, can I please have twenty dollars instead?"

He shook his head as Elena laughed. "It went up $10 but here keep the change," He gave him a $20 which the boy gleefully took and ran the best way his feet would let him on the sand. Elena kept her smile spread across her face as she lowered on the sand in front of her husband.

"I love you," She reached out to stroke his features and kissed him. "More than earthly possibly."

"Yeah, I hope."

She decided to let the comment pass. "Aren't you

excited for our date tonight? You can say it back then."

He straightened up and looked away. "Yeah, about that...I have a thing tonight."

"And that thing is?"

"There's a really important."

Elena shrugged. "Record it."

"Since you have a solution for me I'll suggest one for you: take someone else."

"What are you even saying to me right now?"

"Just cancel it because there's no way I'm going anywhere tonight." His voice was cold, detached even and she didn't understand why. She dusted off her legs, grabbed her purse and towel preparing to leave.

"Okay, well when you stop acting like a brat, you can tell me the real reason why you would choose a basketball game over your wife."

Caroline wiped off her brow of sweat as she dealt with a store filled with customers. The shop had a bit of a slump without Enzo there. This was his third call off this week and she knew that she would have to talk to him extensively.

Then, she saw him bursting through the doors looking displaced. His hair was ruffled and his uniform wrinkled and stained. She wanted to send him home on the spot.

"Enzo," Caroline called out. "Come with me."

"Ah, you want to get me alone," He lamented as she shut the door behind them. They were in the cooler.

"I don't have time for your jokes. Your attendance has been shitty and you come to work late and looking like..." She stares at him and coughed. "You just don't look right. I think I have to suspend you."

"What, no," He panicked. "I need to work, Caroline, just work with me."

"No," she said firmly. "You messed up too many times."

It's a last ditch effort for his job but Enzo places his hand on her wrist. His eyes take a glance at her ring finger and purses his lips and removed it. Caroline felt ashamed, contrite even and hurriedly crossed her arms in an effective way to hide it. She snapped, "Tell me why I shouldn't fire you right now."

Enzo's eyes softened. "I've been evicted, Caroline. I need this job, so I'm begging you for another chance."

The blonde kept her arms locked. "Fine." She took off her apron and pointed towards the front of the store. "I need to go home so take care of this, will you?"

The Brit can't get a word in edgewise while her heels stump the floor in her glorious stride out the door. She was completely flustered over a simple graze on her arm. He put his hand over his chin in thought. Caroline Forbes-Mikaelson had him under her spell for sure.

Elena needed a boost from her argument earlier today with her husband. So, the next step for her obviously was to tell her girls via text message to go to an impromptu dinner.

Katherine: Ugh, you better be paying since you want to drag us out tonight.

Bonnie: I could go for a night out and since Katherine says you're paying that's nice too.

Texting their group chat was risky for her since no one had been in contact with Caroline. She was pleasantly surprised to see that the blonde happily replied saying that she would be there. Elena maybe got ahead of herself because she was already dressed and her face was beat. She wore a dark red dress that was fell above her knees.

"Mommy, you look really pretty," Her son admired from turning around on the couch.

"Hey, what did I say about digging your knees in the furniture; it's meant to be sat on, remember?"

"Right! Sorry, mom." The boy quickly obeyed her request.

Elena put her hands behind her back as she stood on the side of Jackson who was seriously into his TV show at the moment. Popping her glossed lips she spoke in a casual tone, "So, where's Daddy?"

"Oh, he's downstairs with Uncle Damon discussing 'grown up' stuff."

The brunette kept her composure but she was fuming. He left their child alone so he could go gossip with his brother. Everyday she thanked the heavens that Jackson was an easy child and could handle being alone. She cupped his face with her free hand.

"I'm going out with a friend, so go tell your dad that he either has to come up or you go down because you can't be by yourself?"

"Okay," He nodded and they began to go their separate ways. "Wait," the little boy called out and his mother turned around to face him. "Yes?"

"When are you and dad going to be happy? You were just happy and...now you're just not!"

Elena's eyes widened in total shock; "I'm sorry, baby sometimes happiness is like a light switch it can't always be on or off. What can I do to make it better?"

"I was coming back to you guys to show off my ice cream it had three flavors and a cherry on top, I asked for 3 cones so I can share it you and dad and you just weren't there. All I saw was you yelling at him over, I don't know what. Can't you stop being mad at him for one second!"

Her eyes began to water and she managed to utter out, "Just go downstairs with your dad, right now!" She waited until he disappeared and walked outside and leaned against her door, sinking to sitting position stair and sulked. She pulled herself together and stood tall.

"Ugh, I'm pregnant why do I have to ride in the backseat," Katherine complained.

Bonnie turned around to reply, "You were the last one to come out, no one reserves seats in cars."

"My left lash wasn't cooperating. I don't have a full on glam team to help me out with these things—anymore."

"And just like that your reliability disintegrates," The lawyer said.

"I can't help that He destined for me to be a very beautiful, and may I add gracious model."

Elena drove silently as the two bickered. She noticed Caroline keeping to herself and glancing at her phone. She couldn't come up with a conversation that wouldn't sound forced for the blonde and her to participate in. Truth was, she'd really hurt Elena's feelings at Sybil's housewarming party. Their blur of playful banter becomes more clear when they address Elena directly.

"You've been super quiet, what's up?" Bonnie asked.

"Yeah, I'm also curious to see why my anti-self is so uncharacteristically quiet today."

"I just need a drink or several," Elena sighed. "Is that wrong to say?"

"No, I could totally get drunk tonight," Caroline piped out.

The two laughed and Elena looked at her backview mirror to see her face light up.

"You go first."

"Jackson currently hates me, favors his dad whatever it's boy things I guess. You?"

"Elena, sweetie, he doesn't hate you," Bonnie placated. "Kids are just gullible I guarantee you it's because he's been around his dad more."

"Yeah, Henri's probably joining forces with Klaus as we speak," Caroline added to reassure her friend.

Katherine smiled as the three of them just ranted on about children. This was going to be her life in years to come. For some explainable selfish reason, she had always greeted motherhood with crossed arms and an eye roll like some petulant teenager.

Soon, they reached their destination. It appeared to be some sort of skyscraper building with blue windows. The place was downtown LA and it looked familiar to them. Katherine squealed as they headed for the elevator. She was glad she chose a short scarlet dress to wear.

"This is 71 Above, I had no idea you could pull something like this off."

Elena just smiled modestly, not saying a word. Originally, the table she reserved had a lovely view of the Dodgers' stadium. Not that either of them were avid baseball fans, it was just a great sight to see. Telling everyone else about it seemed like boasting and her wounds from earlier would be reopened since Stefan did cause her to give up their seat.

Caroline held onto the handles in the elevator and realized that the restaurant was up. All the color in her face vanished. The blonde had a very slight fear of heights and was trying to play it cool. This was no standard elevator and it was going to take awhile until they were on the 71st floor.

"This is one of the few places downtown that I haven't dined, it's so hard booking a reservation," Bonnie noted.

"Oh, me and my friends used to go here after our gigs. We never ate though, half of them went to the bathroom to do coke while the rest of us drank mimosas."

Caroline, Bonnie, and Elena stared at Katherine with titled heads. They never really understood her complicated history with the model industry nor did the woman want to openly disclose her experiences with it. Random stories like those were the scraps they received on Katherine's past.

The elevator dinged and Caroline jumped a little. This signaled that they were officially a 1000 feet in the air. Her mind was racing as the group headed to the host so that they could be seated. The windows, oh God, not the windows fuck, we're going near the windows, Caroline rambled in her head. She was sweating profusely and it wasn't until Katherine poked her she was able to return to the real world.

"Sweetie, are you okay?"

"Uh, yeah, I'm just a little bit scared of heights."

"Oh lord."

Damon and Stefan were in the basement throwing darts. It was a pretty calm activity compared to the topic they were discussing. Damon was throwing his darts angrily since he was annoyed that his younger brother was beating him. He went to go collect the darts from the board.

"Why are you so damn good at this?"

"Practice, patience, sight," Stefan said with a shrug. "Where are your beloved crutches? You shouldn't even be playing something as dangerous as this with your injury."

"Very funny," The older Salvatore said sarcastically. "And I can get off my crutches but they're my only reminder that my accident happened and it...man, I just keep flashing back to that moment where everything was fine and then it wasn't. So much shit was happening on the phone call with Bonnie saying she knows everything."

"That accident was a blessing and curse," Stefan muttered. "So, you think she hasn't forgot?"

Damon was placing the darts on the end table. "We're in counseling and it hasn't came up yet, thank God."

"C-counseling? Like an actual licensed doctor is talking to you about your problems and you're letting them?" Stefan could hardly question his brother without falling out in laughter. His brother taking any sort of professional help without contest had to be some sort of fucking joke. Damon just rolled his eyes.

"I never say anything of substance in the sessions, I just go because it makes her happy."

"But if you're not changing, what's the point of going at all?"

"I'll change eventually," Damon carelessly said as he threw another dart that landed on the wall.

Stefan's attention shifted from Damon's foolish spiel to his son who was passed out on the couch. He remembered him running downstairs and talking a lot about his mom before falling asleep. He definitely knew Elena had left and wasn't exactly sad to see her (not really since he didn't even see her) go.

"Hey, buddy, you gotta get up," He told him while sweeping stray hair out of the boy's vision.

"Dude, just pick the kid up he can't weigh anymore than 60 pounds since his diet consists of Elena's cooking," Damon said and earned a glare.

"She tries," Is all Stefan responded with and picked Jackson up. Damon decided to end his practice with the darts and followed his brother upstairs and then to the second floor. They never really has this kind of hands-on parenting growing up. The most affection their father gave them after the age of 5 was a handshake. That sort of emotional disconnect could have been passed along, but Stefan stopped it dead in its track. And Damon knew he would have done the same if he had a kid too.

"God, I need a drink," The older Salvatore announced as he descended the steps and headed to the kitchen to rummage through the cabinets. He needed something dark and strong. Clearly, he was comfortable in his brother's home.

The doorbell rang and Stefan answered hesitantly since it was particularly late in the evening. On the other end was a guy in khaki pants holding a folder of some sort.

"If it's a Jehovah's Witness just ignore it, they'll ignore it," Damon advised aloud.

"I don't think it is."

"Stefan Salvatore, you've been served."

The man on the other end handed Stefan a piece or paper — more like several as he flipped through the stapled pages. He retreated back to his car without a word and drove off. Stefan was left in a total shock and was confused. "What the hell?"

Damon pulled out a bottle of whiskey. "Found it! Finally, I thought you went completely sober on me." He eyed the open door and Stefan staring down at a sheet of paper. His mood totally deteriorated because whatever information on that paper could not be anything beneficial to their lives.

"Well what does it say?"

"Someone is seeking child support from me, this isn't adding up."

"Shit...what should we do? It's too late to even call a lawyer for this, I'm just going to go back to making that drink."

"I can't believe I'm saying this but make it two," Stefan told him.

Sybil looked out of her window in boredom. Her husband was always working and she was left at home alone. Also, things started to die down since Halloween and Thanksgiving was such a wholesome holiday to stir drama, at least that's what Cade said. She put a persian cat on her mental shopping list to keep her company.

Then it occurred to her that he never said anything about causing chaos before the next holiday. She thought about Damon's accident and even seen him hopping around with an over decorative cane twice or so. Of course, he sent a nasty glare her way and she deserved it for sure.

She dialed a number and waited for the person on the opposite end to answer.

"Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, how can we help you?"

"Hi, I'd like to anonymously report a crime."

"Okay give me a second." Sybil could hear a pen rustling in the background and tried to stop her snickering. "What would the crime be ma'am?"

"I believe there may be foul play in my neighbor's, Damon Salvatore, accident."

"And why would you say that?"

"There's some motive there," Sybil peaked out of her window again. "Bonnie Salvatore is having an affair and wanted to maybe get her husband out of the picture—permanently so she can run off with her lover."

"Thank you for your cooperation, if you don't mind me asking are you in any relation to them? I want to commend you for your bravery."

"I'm just a neighbor," Sybil said with a wicked smile.

After Elena's fifth drink it was obvious that she wouldn't be the designated driver. She said she needed to drink and made good on that saying. Caroline wasn't much behind her being on her fourth and her shaking throughout the night settled. Maybe being so high off from the ground wasn't that scary.

"You know, I am so tired of being uptight. I was never this uptight before I was married with a kid. I wanna do something out of the ordinary, like...like rob a bank!" Elena exclaimed.

"Just stop being uptight, you don't to have to commit a felony to do so," Bonnie said.

"Ugh," Elena put her hands over her head. "I need a nap."

Katherine eyed the attractive waiter who was going from table to table. "God, he's so cute, I'm wondering if we could trade tips."

Elena asked, "Don't you like have a husband?"

"I don't know, Elena, don't you like have a boyfriend?" She shot back. "I can't wait for Elijah to come back from his trip. I miss sex sooooo much, my hormones make me more hornier than I actually am and I can't drink myself into oblivion because of this thing in my uterus."

"Pregnant sex is the best," Elena stated in a happy, drunk daze.

"Don't say that, you're going to love motherhood," Caroline promised. "And where's Elijah?"

Bonnie and Katherine eyed each other warily.

"Business trip. Yep, Italy." Katherine had only told this lie twice in her life and hoped to never utter it again. Elijah's absence hurt her every being everyday he was away from her.

"And he didn't want to take you?" The blonde pressed.

"You're digging," Bonnie told her and followed with a wordless 'stop.' By Katherine's tone, it didn't seem like the truth and Caroline could sense it wasn't. She decided to let her suspicions die down for the night.

After trying to make sense of the papers Stefan received, Damon decided it was time to go home. His crutches were safe and sound in his room. After all the time he spent away from his wife, he did come to the conclusion that lying about needing them was a bit wrong.

"Damon, I'm home," Bonnie said aloud from the bottom of the steps. She walked in the room to see his bare-chested and hunched over the bed. It caught her off guard but she was able to recuperate. He didn't say anything and neither did she as she began to unzip the back of her off shoulder dress.

"Please don't tease me like that, baby," He pleaded.

The woman was already in her lacy undergarments and her dress was some corner of the room. She rotated while staring at her mirror in the bathroom and emerged back in their room with one of her signature robes on her body.

"Too late, Mr. Crutches."

"What if, and this is a huge hypothetical I didn't need the crutches anymore."

Bonnie sat down on the bed and said in a joking tone, "Then you and I can go at it like rabbits."

Damon straightened up in an excited matter. "Really?!"

"You are such a damn dog. You know what, goodnight Damon."

He grabbed her arm desperately. "Wait, I need your most confidential legal advice."

"Okay...what is it?" She asked hesitantly.

"Bonnie, I am so serious, this has to be between us." She nodded and he sighed before giving her his phone. "Just look at the last 4 photos and tell me what that means."

She squinted and zoomed in on the pictures. She handed Damon back his device. "When you mean this stays between us, that's just codeword for 'Don't tell Elena', right?"

Damon nodded slowly.

"I can't do that, this is not ethical! Stefan needs to tell her that–"

"He can't! Let him just get in contact with this woman alone and they squash it privately."

Bonnie shook her head firmly. "Nothing like this should not be dealt without your spouse's knowledge, we're talking about paying someone off."

"Well, we're not implicated."

"Their marriage is going to fall apart–again may I add."

"Piuttosto loro o noi," Damon muttered. (Translation: Rather them than us)

A/N: This took forever (2 months of on and off writing, mixed with being a full-time student) and it still feels lackluster? I will try to get the next chapter out next Sunday.