hi, everyone! thanks for all the support on the last chapter! it makes my day! soooo, i'm still kinda developing natalia's personality, and she's kind of all over the place right now, but i promise she'll be more consistent later on. the next chapter is going to be the later years of her childhood, then after that we get to the pilot! woohoo! enjoy!

Chapter 1 - Baby Bennett

I feel like I'm trapped in jello. Natalia thought idly as she tried to wiggle her fingers for the gazillionth time.

After her siblings - she could call them siblings, right? - snapped their fingers promising her that she'd be reincarnated into The Vampire Diaries of all things, she assumed that she would be thrust right into the TVD world, but it looked like she was going to be spending the next couple months in a womb.

She guessed that the pregnancy was around four months along. Before that she probably wouldn't be able to think so clearly (though, that was mostly due to the fact that she was actually a seventeen year old girl).

She had never been more grateful to her middle school bullies. Without them she would've never done that random extra credit report on pregnancy for health class instead of going to the school dance.

Natalia quickly noticed another presence in her womb. So, I'm going to be a twin?

She listed the options of who she could be reborn as. She hadn't watched the show in a few months, but when she did watch it her obsession was intense. She was genuinely in love with half the characters.

Maybe she would be the twin of an Original? Maybe she would be born in a completely different country and have nothing to do with the plot?

As long as she wasn't a Donovan, she considered it a win. She just hoped she had some sort of magical powers. Preferably a siphoner or a witch. Being a werewolf would hurt too much. Plus those anger issues? Sheesh.

All that time she spent thinking about her new life passed by, and she didn't realize that she could now move her fingers! Hooray!

Sometimes she fought with her womb mate. Whoever was in there with her had a strong kick. Also, she heard noises from outside quite a lot. She had a really noisy family.

Soon, Natalia grew bored. Life in the womb as a teenager wasn't fun at all. She just wanted out.

Her prayers were answered soon.

"Rudy, my water broke!" She heard a muffled voice shout from outside the stomach.

Rudy.

Who the hell was Rudy? She searched her mind for that name but it was coming up blank. The stress of being born was getting to her.

She was still trying to find the name when she started feeling like she was being sucked into a vacuum. It was a very uncomfortable situation.

The details after that were a blur. Her most prominent memory was being given to her new mother.

Being in her arms felt warm and safe. Well, it felt warm and safe until she looked her little baby head up and saw Abby freaking Bennett.

"What are their names, Ab?" A slightly familiar voice asked.

Oh gosh. Rudy. Rudy Hopkins. Bonnie's dad. No, no, no, no.

Natalia had always been a panicker; worry came easily to her, and that moment was no exception.

"Rudy, I think the baby's hyperventilating!"

After the doctors calmed her down (they chalked it up to her learning how to regulate her breathing), they came up with the names.

"Bonnie Sheila Bennett and Natalia Abigail Bennett."

Why does my middle name have to be Abigail? She's an abandoner!

After being held by both of her new parents, she finally got a glimpse of Bonnie. She was precious. Already, Natalia knew she had to protect her.

She had a hunch that Grams knew what was up with her because of the look on her face as she held her for the first time. Even if Grams knew about her rebirth, the warm feeling that washed through Natalia when she was in Grams' arms proved that they would get along well.

2 years old, 1994

She giggled as she levitated a graham cracker towards herself. She was at the kitchen table with Abby, Grams and Bonnie, and she wanted a graham cracker but nobody could understand her babbles.

She had to resort to magic to get her cracker. She'd been practicing her magic for a while, but this was her first witchy display in front of people.

"Great job, Nattie!" Grams exclaimed. She gave Natalia a big kiss on her cheek.

Abby looked horrified.

Bonnie clapped her hands, not really understanding the situation but since Grams was happy, she was happy.

Natalia and Bonnie were now two years old. Being a baby was tough. She was used to taking care of herself since in her last life she had absent parents, but now that she was a baby she couldn't do anything. She couldn't talk (well, at least not in the fluent way she'd like to), she could barely walk, she couldn't even feed herself. Breastfeeding was a nightmare.

But finally, Bonnie and Natalia had each mastered the art of walking. And talking. Bonnie's first word was 'Nat' and Natalia's first word was 'Occult'. Rudy and Abby were both freaked out.

That was the thing about their parents. They were scared of anything that wasn't normal. Or at least the societal definition of normal. It sucked because their family was marvelously abnormal and because of Abby and Rudy's restrictions, they couldn't embrace that.

4 years old, 1996

Abby was growing distant. She would leave for days at a time. Natalia accidentally tipped her over the edge when Abby caught her reading a grimoire.

"Put that down, Nat! That's not for kids!" She hollered.

Nattie's only response was to scoff and go find Bonnie.

Speaking of Bonnie, she and Natalia were thicker than thieves. Natalia had always been shy, but since Bonnie was timid as hell, Nattie had to be the extroverted one.

When they started daycare, Bonnie wanted to play in the sand box, just the two of them, but Natalia had to force her out so that they could find their canon friends.

"I don't wanna make friends! Can't we play alone?" Bonnie whined.

"No. I promise that this will be a good thing." Natalia said firmly.

"Fine, but I'm gonna stay here and you can bring friends to me."

Natalia nodded. At least she was agreeing to making friends in the first place. That was an improvement.

First, she found Tyler on a bench by himself. She was sure it was him with his perfectly gelled hair and fancy golf shirt. He looked lonely.

"Hi, can I sit next to you?" Natalia asked softly.

He nodded and scooched over. When he didn't talk, Nattie made another move.

"What's your name?" She asked.

"Tyler." He replied quietly.

"Nice to meet you, Tyler. Why are you sitting all by yourself?"

"Nobody wants to play with me." He answered quietly.

Her heart broke. "That's not true. You can come play with me and my sister!"

His little face lit up. "Really?"

"Really. Come on." She led him back to the sandbox and he sat next to Bonnie. The two of them started playing together.

Okay. Tyler, check. Who's next?

Her eyes swept the playground and landed on Caroline. It was obviously Caroline, I mean, what other little blonde girl would be going around chattering to everyone she saw?

When she approached Caroline, she was sitting with Matt. She was talking to him a hundred miles an hour while he just played with his truck and ignored her.

"Hi, guys. Do you want to come play in the sandbox with us?" Natalia inquired, motioning to the sandbox where Tyler and Bonnie were giggling.

"Sure, I'll play! What are you playing? Can I be a princess? I love princesses. Who's your favorite princess? I like Belle, my mom says she's a good example…" Caroline rambled.

Nattie chuckled. "I don't know what we're playing. Why don't you go ask?"

"Okay!" She smiled and skipped off to the sand box.

"What about you?" She asked Matt who was still playing with his truck.

"Can my big sister Vicki come? She doesn't have a lot of friends."

"Of course." Natalia replied.

"Cool." He said and sauntered off to Vicki who was alone on the swing set to tell her to go to the sandbox.

Okay. Matt, Vicki and Caroline down. Who am I missing? Oh, duh, Elena and Jeremy.

The Gilbert's were on the monkey bars. Jeremy was only three, so he was wobbling around while Elena tried to steady him.

Natalia didn't love Elena on the show, but she wasn't going to hold her behavior from when she was older against her as a child. Maybe she could change her.

She had met Elena and Jeremy before since their moms were friends, but they had never played together.

"Elena, Jeremy, do you guys want to come play in the sandbox?"

"Yeah!" Elena exclaimed. "What do you think, Jere?"

Jeremy just babbled something incoherent and they took that as a 'yes' and brought him over to play.

After a little while, they were getting along great. Natalia was happy that they had made friends, especially when they'd go through so much in the future. It was good to have a support system.

6 years old, 1998

Natalia watched with tears glistening in her eyes as her mother tiptoed down the stairs, suitcase in hand. She knew what was going to happen, yet she couldn't look away.

"Where are you going?" She asked Abby quietly.

Abby gulped and turned around. "You know."

A rogue tear fled down Natalia's face. "I don't know." She lied. She didn't know why she lied, but she did.

"Yes, you do. You know I can't stay here." Abby cried.

Natalia knew from the second she came out of that uterus that Abby was going to leave. So why did it hurt so much? Was it because she had a tiny hope in the back of her mind that she could change Abby's decision? That she could prove that she was worthy of a mother's love? Twice she'd been abandoned by a mother. Only this time she was dumb enough to believe that she could actually change it.

Abby being here wasn't going to be good for her. It wasn't going to be good for Bonnie. The six year old took a deep breath and swallowed her sobs. "Close the door on your way out."

thanks for reading! keep those end game pairing suggestions coming! i've gotten a lot of requests for stefan x natalia on my ao3 account, but i'm still not sure. i might just do a harem to save myself from my own indecisiveness, lol. thanks again!