"The best place to cry is on a mother's arms."
― Jodi Picoult, House Rules
The Boarding House
2013
:::
"What is that thing?" Damon asked as he started down at the sleeping child. Matt had been sitting on the arm of his couch and when Damon saw him he knew the vampire was going to have some words with him. Instead he caught a glimpse of a familiar bear and found a tiny child with muddied clothes and wet thigh high socks curled up on his couch, clutching Ms. Cuddles in her sleep.
The blonde frowned. "That is a child."
Damon fixed him with his best glare. "I know what a child is. I want to know why this little creature is sleeping on my couch."
"We saved her from your crazy mom and your former prison buddy." Jeremy chose to chime in at that moment. He had a blanket with him and he draped it over the little girl. "She clung to Matt the moment she saw him."
The former quarterback developed a divot in his forehead. Uncle Matt she had called him. He turned his head as Caroline and Bonnie came into the room. He had called them the moment the little girl had fallen asleep in the patrol car. His gaze never left Bonnie though.
For some reason, the little reminded him of Bonnie when they were ten years old. She was just as tiny. Ms. Cuddles only added to the childhood memory of his best friend walking around clutching the bear. But it didn't answer the questions he had racing around his mind.
Who was this little girl?
Was she one of their future children? He honestly never saw any of them making it out alive to have kids. Even if Elena wanted them too as her last request, Matt couldn't see himself becoming a father. It just wasn't in the cards for him.
He glanced down at the little girl again.
"I want my Papa. I want my Mama. I want Auntie Caroline!"
Auntie Caroline.
She wasn't Caroline's daughter then. He looked at Bonnie again.
They had the slanted jaw.
They had the same soft hue of brown to their skin.
"Why the hell does this kid have the bear?" Damon asked and went to grab Ms. Cuddles. He flew back a second later, slamming into the wet bar. The noise caused the little girl to jolt away. She screamed aloud, the humans watching as the three vampires in the room started clutching their heads as their brain cells were set aflame by the girl's powers.
"Bonnie," hissed Stefan. "Make her stop."
Bonnie moved to help the girl when Matt knelt down in front of her, cupping her face in his hands. "Hey there kiddo, it's okay. They aren't going to hurt you. They're friends."
The child blinked, looking into Matt's eyes. "Uncle Mattie...?" her voice was soft. Sleep was still swimming in her eyes but she focused on his voice. She cupped his face, her fingers mapping out his features. She frowned softly. He looked like her godfather, save the light scruff that her uncle always had and the laugh lines. He has the same blue eyes, the same blonde hair. She looked down at his left hand. There was no ring.
This was her uncle Matt, but not her uncle. He didn't stay up late with her to greet Auntie Sarah after a long day at work. He wouldn't play in the leaves with her in the fall. He wouldn't celebrate Halloween with her.
Not yet.
She dropped her hands. "You're not my uncle Matt."
Matt frowned and she gave a smile. A tug of her lips that matched Bonnie's to a T. "You are my uncle, but not the right one." She explained and reached for her bear. She turned when she couldn't find it. "Where's...?"
"Looking for this?" Damon's voice called.
It didn't go unnoticed by anyone in the room that the little girl's entire body language changed. She drew into herself, sliding until she could almost become one with the couch. Her eyes were filled with fear but she never took her eyes off the bear.
"Damon, when did you get the bear?" Caroline asked.
"When the kid was analyzing the quarterback." He answered. Ice blue eyes looked into familiar green. "Alright kid, tell me this. Why do you have this bear?"
"It was a gift."
"Uh-huh sure it was." Damon shrugged. "So if I go upstairs right now, the one I have will still be there."
"Damon," Stefan sighed and then pinched the bridge of his nose. "Give her back the bear. Matt brought her in and she had it. Yours is upstairs, I already checked."
He didn't have any time for his brother's trust issues right now. This little girl had been attacked by their mother, almost made a victim out. If Matt and Jeremy hadn't been there she would have been dead. He snatched up the bear, walked over to the couch and handed it to the child.
"Here you go," Stefan said.
"Thank you Uncle Stefan."
"What's your name?" Matt asked, drawing her attention back to him. He didn't noticed Bonnie walk around to them but the little girl did.
It was her.
Her mother.
Her mother was alive.
Rhea could see why her family said she looked like her mother. They really did look alike.
"Can you tell us your name, sweetie?" Bonnie asked.
She always envisioned how meeting her mother would go. Tears would flow, she's be too overcome with emotion to say anything other than embrace her. But Rhea knew that wasn't how things were going at the moment. So she cleared her throat and spoke. "Hello, I'm Rhea Bennett," she said. "I know this is the last thing you want to hear, but I'm your daughter."
Mikaelson Estate
New Orleans
2028
:::
Bael Mikaelson had been starting his first year (technically his sixteenth first year) and his first class had been Mythology and the Occult with a Mr. Alaric Saltzman. He had come in about fifteen minutes before and taken a seat in the middle row. He had taken out his folder, highlighters and everything. Except for a pen. He remembered swearing very colorfully in Aramaic when a warm chuckle had startled him. He had looked to his left and found himself staring into malachite eyes before his attention moved to a pair of cupid bow lips and he remembered instead of asking for a pencil, he had asked for a kiss.
That had been the first time he had made his future wife laugh.
The first time had made Bonnie cry had been the night she learned of his connection to the Mikaelsons.
It had been about four months after they had met. Two months after they had started courting each other and only two minutes after he had finally gotten the kiss had asked for on the first day of class.
"You're one of them."
She hadn't spoken to him for days after that.
The next time they spoke, he had taken a hex for her from a Heretic. He could remember shielding her from it. Despite his age, he had let his guard down in the moment. All he had cared about was protecting Bonnie.
"Why?" she had asked.
His response was because he wanted to.
He chuckled bitterly as he walked through the garden grounds of the estate. His brother had always been a man of beauty. But sometimes, even the most glorious ivory or shiny polished marble was nothing compared to the beauty of love.
Bael had grown up with that.
Love was beautiful.
His mother had had him out of wedlock, an affair with a married man. Her husband, his stepfather, had raised him with love and compassion like he was his own. The warlock had been happy for that. Had he been raised with his birth father, pride would have been his downfall.
He could be prideful.
He could be cruel.
He could become the spiting image of his father - sadistic, mysterious and manipulative ;if you threatened his family.
His little display of power had been a sample of it. Damon had never liked him, something nonsense about how his blood was tampered with Mikaelson genetics. He had rambled about how he had a psycho parent. Pot calling the kettle black.
"Have you found her?" he turned to see Caroline. She looked worse for the wear. He felt for her. Rhea was a large part of the blonde vampire's life. She had been there for her birth when Bael could not. She had held her once his darling wife passed onto the afterlife. Caroline had been the one to give him his daughter.
"I haven't," he answered. "I don't think Rhea is in this time anymore."
She frowned. "I don't understand."
"You know of time travel, correct?"
She nodded.
"I feel a spell sent her back. But it wasn't one she casted. Rhea isn't that advanced in spells. She can't fully control her powers," he paused and sighed. "She is her mother's daughter; a prodigy."
"Why did you leave Bael?"
Caroline, as much as I know I deserve this, it isn't the time."
"Yes it is!" she snapped. "She asked for you every year! Why now? Almost three years after you left her in the hands of Matt, Sarah and I, why did you decide to come back into your child's life now? With your father no less?"
Bael sighed. "I'll answer those questions in due time. Right now, we have to inform the others."
He walked past her heading back inside. Caroline frowned as the smell of dirt, roses and lilies permitted from him.
Boarding House
2013
:::
The entire room froze.
It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Hell it was so quiet if a Heretic attacked now, they'd have a clear opening for each of them.
The first to break the silence was Damon. In true Damon fashion, he broke it with a laugh. He laughed nice and long while everyone else stared down at the small child. Bonnie's daughter? Bonnie had a daughter? Bullshit. Absolute bullshit.
Bonnie wasn't pregnant.
Hell, she wasn't even dating anyone to get pregnant.
Well there was that weird college douche from her Mythology class. Ric said they were pretty close, considering the idiot was ballsy enough to ask Bonnie for a kiss the moment he met her. Bonnie had said he hadn't meant to say it. Damon had called bullshit on that too.
"Nice one kid," he said. "Real good joke."
The kid turned to her. She showed a strong face despite the fear in her eyes. "I'm not joking."
She even put up a good front like Bonnie used to. Back when they first met, he remembered. He was just about to open his big mouth when Bonnie bent down and cupped the child's face, turning her attention on her.
They had the same eyes; bright green like a malachite gemstone.
Her lip shape and coloring.
They both had slanted jaws. The way she blinked reminded her of Bael, a few flutters of the eyelashes before she squinted her eyes to try and examine you. Bael did that when he was listening to Alaric's lectures sometimes.
Right before he corrected them.
Her hair was curly, a warm chestnut hue that felt soft against Bonnie's fingertips. But as Bonnie looked closer, she could see some things that only a Bennett could see. She reminded her of Bonnie in her youth, but the look she had given Damon had been all Shelia Bennett.
Bonnie moved her hands down to the child's. Rhea's. Her name was Rhea.
Their palms touched and Bonnie shivered as she felt a rush of magic. Warm against the first layer of skin before it seeped in through her lifelines. It felt like her magic. Hot and burn, passionate and protective.
It was like she was being warmed from the inside out by a flame.
Twin malachite eyes looked into each other.
"Can I?" Bonnie whispered.
Rhea nodded her head. Bonnie wrapped her arms around her, pulling her against her chest. The little girl wrapped her arms around her as well and cried. She cried and cried until she couldn't. Once her body stopped shaking, Bonnie looked down to see she had fallen asleep.
Bonnie smiled down at her. She looked at Matt. "Help me with her?" she whispered. The young cop smiled and took Rhea from Bonnie, picking her up. They walked up the stairs and to Bonnie's room.
Matt tucked her in before turning to Bonnie. "Do you believe her?"
"She's definitely a Bennett," Bonnie muttered.
"But," Matt said sensing one coming.
"She's also something else. Another witch line," Bonnie sighed. The fact the girl reminded her of Bael was rattling her brain. But that face she also reminds her of Klaus scared her. But she didn't want to tell Matt that just yet.
"So what are we going to do?" Matt asked.
"Protect her," Bonnie said instantly. She walked over to Rhea and planted a soft kiss on her forehead. "Goodnight little one."
They left her there, Matt keeping the door cracked. A soft glow surrounded the child and she smiled into the warmth. A soft chuckle sounded in the room.
"Sleep tight my sweet, sweet girl." A voice whispered into Rhea's ear. "I'll look out for you."
