Bonus in this chapter! Can anyone name the toon I'm crossing over with VD?
Disclaimer: Characters, places, and the like from the Vampire Diaries are the property of LJ Smith. I'm just borrowing them to create this tale. All other characters that have no ties to any other fics or shows belong to me!
Chapter Eighteen
Bonnie grabbed her belly as she shrieked out in pain. Something was seriously wrong!
The pain shattered the witch's focus, which released the werewolf she had in her mental hold. Tyler easily felt the slip and turned back into the wolf from the pup she had reduced him to. Angered and ready for revenge, he leapt at the pregnant vampire witch.
Stefan barely pulled Bonnie out of danger as his great grandfather, elder brother, and nephew all viciously attacked Smallwood. Filled with frustration and hate, he would have joined in the fight – but his sister-in-law was in danger.
Bonnie was on her back panting hard. Goddess she was in so much pain … she didn't want to lose the baby! It was the first boy she'd ever had in her belly, and she could feel that he had a very special destiny. What was causing the contractions?
And then came the trio of laughter's just over Bonnie's shattering scream. The three sisters were all together and focusing their now stronger powers onto Bonnie's aching body.
"Told you we'd get our sissy back." Anastasia jumped up and down in her excitement.
Lareyne's stance and smug look mirrored Katherine's. "Oh, and thank you so much for giving us such wonderful sources of strength, it ties in perfectly with that we already have. We use it well, as you can feel Bonnie."
Katherine extended her open palm and Bonnie screamed harder. "This will be fun. And as soon as we are done here, I believe that we have an old friend to visit. I hear that sweet Elena is a mother too. And I haven't met any of the little ones. I'll bet that they are so sweet."
"Shut up! We won't let you touch them!" Bonnie shrieked in her pain and fear. Taking a couple deep breaths to focus her mind and power. "Sister moon … the sovereign of night, Protect my family and I until dawn's first light!"
It eased Bonnie's pain, but she could still feel the powers hitting her body. Katherine chuckled. "Oh, you think that will keep you safe. Maybe from our given powers, but not from the power my friend has given us."
A new sense of pain ripped through Bonnie's hurting body. "Goddess, please help me! I don't know what to do anymore. I can't think … of any counter spells … it hurts so bad!"
Suddenly, the image of a man's spirit stood between Bonnie and the three sisters.
The man was surrounded in a glimmering mist, and dressed in royal finery. A red cape that was white within and edged with a strange lace Bonnie had never before seen. His coat was lavender, and held closed with a white belt that had gold medallions every few inches. The medallions were carved with the same intricate symbol – easily a royal seal.
He wore white gloves and tights. His brown hair was long, he had a moustache and beard, and he had the air of a King. He looked at the vampire sisters with such a look of anger and hate.
"You may have Haggar's help, but you will not harm this family! This boy will one day take care of my daughter, and restore my planet. I will not allow you to harm him." The man's voice was airy but powerful enough to frighten back all three vampire bitches.
Katherine's eyes glowed with hate. "I'll get him yet, Alfor! He won't change my goals to rule the Universe! My future son will take your daughter as his own!"
~No he won't! I'll guard her with my life and beyond!~ Bonnie and Damon's unborn son vowed from within his mother's womb.
Damon pulled his wife into his arms as Alfor raised his hand above his head. In the King's palm an orb of bright white light shimmered and sent out a shield of the same light outwards. It had only to touch Katherine and her sisters to hurt them and send them all back into the shadows.
"We'll get you yet witch!" The three sisters growled as they ran off.
Bonnie softly panted as the pain dissipated. "Thank you, your majesty."
"I have little time left with my own wife before I lose her. Please take good care of this boy, and raise him to the honor I sense within his heart. The daughter I see coming soon is the herald of my planet's worse years, but will also pull my people from that darkness with the strength your son will give her, and with his aide. I only ask that you will never forget this battle, and that he will not forget how important he is."
~See you soon, majesty.~ the little boy piped up cheerfully.
Alfor smiled a sad smile. "You will see me, but not in my lifetime. Take good care of her. You will know her without question the moment you two first meet."
The King faded from sight.
"That was unusual … even for our family." Shawn sighed as Damon gathered a weary Bonnie in his arms.
Stefan nodded in agreement. "Another planet? I think some bad times are ahead of us all."
"Then now is not the time for worry. Now is the time to live each day as if it is our last." Damon said coolly as he walked off with his beloved wife.
Elena held her son close to her chest as she paced back and forth in front of the door. She had no sense of danger now, but she also couldn't sense what was going on.
Was Stefan safe? Were Bonnie and her unborn son all right? Were Damon and Shawn able to get to her?
"Child, pacing and worrying is not going to help you or bring them home any sooner." Sabrina gently chided as she rocked little Stephanie.
All of the women had been taking care of the children and fixing dinner for the group. But it hadn't been enough to calm Elena. "I want to know what is going on!"
"Well, currently everyone is walking through the front door. And I hope a certain little boy has behaved while we were gone." Stefan chuckled as he was immediately caught in his wife's anxious embrace, at the same time being presented with his son.
~Hi daddy! Mommy was scared. So was I! Aunt Bonnie okay now?~ Jeffery whimpered.
"I'm just fine little nephew. And so are the rest of our family." Bonnie chuckled. "How's mommy's baby girl? Were you a good girl, Stephanie?"
~Yeah, but I was scared momma! Auntie Elena says I'm gonna be a big sister! Am I?~
Bonnie and Damon both chuckled, but didn't get to answer themselves. The unborn baby announced it himself. ~Hey big sissy!~
~Goodie! I'm not the baby anymore! Hi little brother! What your name?~
Damon smiled at his wife. "That is a question you alone can answer my dear."
"Keith … mostly because then he'd have your name, but also because it means 'from the battlefield'. Now it is your turn my King." Bonnie chuckled at the 'I'll pay you back' look Damon was giving her.
At first Damon was in a teasing mood, but after all his wife had gone through (not to mention what losing her had done to him) he decided to forgo taunts and teases. "Garin. It means guardian. Fitting choice given the vow he has already made for himself."
"Well, like father like son. Running head first into a fight he doesn't know a thing about yet." Bonnie smiled sweetly as Damon growled.
He didn't like the insinuation. "I always choose my battles Bonnie. It's Stefan that runs head first into everything. Now unless you are suggesting something …"
"Innocent me … suggesting anything? Now there's a twist." Bonnie adopted a grin shockingly similar to one her husband often used.
"Bonnie, you are becoming as annoying as my dear brother-in-law! What vow? What are you guys talking about?" Elena ranted. She knew that Bonnie was only teasing, but could sense that Damon wasn't as sure.
Bonnie sat on the couch and pouted. "I'm only now becoming like my husband? And here I though I was just as annoying at the least."
Damon saw clearly that she had been playing, but wondered at how she was already so good at playing him – as he once played her and all of their friends. "You Bonnie are a simple tease, and will have to work at it a bit longer to beat the master of toying."
"Is that so? I wonder who that would be. Have I ever met him?" Bonnie calmly asked as if she was the same innocent teen Damon had first fallen in love with.
All of their friends burst into howling laughter. However Damon was still wearing the same chilly mask he often wore before opening his soul to his family and friends. How becoming a husband and father had changed him (not to mention that Klaus business). Still it silenced the rest … except for Sabrina that is.
"Enough all of you. Bonnie, you and Damon see to feeding that little girl of yours. I'll bring your two's plates in later. The rest of you go to the kitchen table now. I'm sure that Jeffrey will catch all of us up on what happened."
Jeffrey playfully growled as he grabbed onto Sabrina's sides and rubbed up against her (to the shock of the younger ones). "And here I thought that we would have time to play ourselves."
"Later Jeffrey. Now supper's on children."
Stefan winked over at Damon as he allowed Elena to drag him to dinner. "Well we know where you get your attitude from, Damon."
"If we could just figure out where you get yours, little brother."
Before he could utter a single word, Elena pulled Stefan through the door and out of the main living room.
Bonnie casually sauntered to her husband with an innocent eyebrow raised. "Are you done playing? Or do I get mean?"
Damon taunted her by softly pulling his nails up her back. When Bonnie let her head flop back from the pleasure he was inflicting, Damon grinned wryly and quickly scraped her neck with his fangs. Bonnie couldn't help the gasp that shot from her mouth. It had only been a few hours since he had pleasured her, but after what she had lived through it felt more like years. She wanted him bad.
But someone else wanted Bonnie for a very different reason, and whimpered in warning of the hungry cry that was building in her lungs. Both parents gave Stephanie an annoyed look. ~I'm hungry momma.~
"Duty calls beloved. But, when she is asleep, you will pay for teasing me." Bonnie growled low as she enticed Damon by gently scratching his chest with her own nails.
A week passed and Bonnie's pregnancy went well. It was three in the morning when Damon was roused out of sleep by a whimpering sound.
At first he had thought it to be Stephanie having a bad dream. Ever since they nearly lost Bonnie a second time, the baby was having horrid dreams of her mother's funeral. So it wasn't unusual for the baby to be whimpering in her mother's arms that early in the morning.
Turning over to help the best he could, Damon noticed that the sound was coming from Bonnie herself. "What's wrong, Bonnie?"
"It hurts. Oh, Damon it hurts so bad. I can't get comfortable at all."
Damon was silent a moment before it hit him. Bonnie was going into labor!
"Come on. Let's try walking you around a little." Damon tried to feel some sort of excitement that their second son would soon be born, but all he felt was dread.
Their last birthing experience hadn't gone right at all. And although Bonnie had made it to the baby's due date without any troubles, Damon was still worried. Part of him doubted that he would ever get his wife with child again. But, right then he had to focus on helping her through this delivery.
She rested her head on his chest while his cool hands rubbed her aching lower back. For a few minutes it seemed to help slightly. And then Stephanie woke up.
~Momma … dada, I wet.~
Damon could tell that Bonnie couldn't hold her own. ~Shawn, can you come take care of your sister?~
~Yeah dad.~ Shawn had obviously been asleep the way his words slurred.
Stephanie on the other hand was cranky. ~No! Want momma or dada!~
~Stephanie, momma is hurting right now and dada has to help momma.~ Damon growled.
That made the little girl whimper before crying. She didn't say anything, but everyone could feel she was hurt by her father's words and cold attitude.
Shawn was in the room a moment later and held her close. ~Sissy, mom is feeling bubby getting ready to come out. Dad's worried, so don't take him literally right now.~
Stephanie simply whimpered as Shawn carried her out of the room. Bonnie felt awful for their daughter. "Damon, I want the kids here when the baby comes."
Damon was cold and uncommittable. "Let's focus on what is going on now."
"Promise me." Bonnie gasped as another contraction hit.
Damon shut his eyes for a moment. What had he done to her? "Promise."
Bonnie panted as the pain dissipated. She was trying to focus on loosening her muscles to make later easier. Groaning seemed to help as well. Often she and Damon had to stop so she could close her eyes and groan.
After about a half hour Bonnie looked up and couldn't read her husband's emotions. That scared her more than any other time since they met. "Damon talk to me. Maybe I'll stop focusing on the pain then."
"What do you want to talk about?" Damon continued the cold shell he once used on everyone.
Bonnie knew him better than that. "About when we made this baby. Our first night out together. We never talked about that night. Were you surprised by the form I chose?"
"More like intrigued. Why a wolf?"
Bonnie could feel her idea cracking that façade of his. "More earthy … more intense … and it's always how I fantasized you hunting me."
Bonnie groaned as another contraction ripped through her back and belly and down into her thighs. Damon was surprised by this confession. "You fantasize about me hunting you? Did you enjoy out game of tag?"
"Mostly I liked how we ended it. That is one game we have to play again and very soon." Again Bonnie groaned as a contraction hit.
"But we will have to be more careful." Damon said with a finality that worried Bonnie.
She looked up and saw the hardness return to his face. Bonnie knew she would lose him. And she didn't know how to feel about it. Another contraction hit, this time it took too much for her to get through it to talk. And she knew that it was hopeless – Damon had made up his mind, and only he could change it.
An hour later, she felt the pain drop into her hips and legs. And then her water broke. That was when the pain started getting worse. Tears were flowing down her cheeks, and Damon was still so cold and distant.
~Have you changed your mind?~
That startled Damon. Where would she get that kind of an idea? ~It's a little too late now to be having second thoughts, Bonnie.~
Bonnie growled in his mind as a contraction tore through her body. ~Not just the baby! Everything! Have you changed your mind about everything … including me?~
That was when it hit him between the eyes. She thought that he didn't want her. ~Bonnie, I love you. No, I haven't changed my mind about anything. We are a family and I'm taking us all on a vacation once the threat is over.~
~Then why are you being so cold? Aren't you happy that we're going to have two boys in a few minutes?~ Bonnie whimpered as she panted through the last of her contraction.
~You almost died last time.~ Damon said with a finality in his thought.
Bonnie looked him in the eyes. "That was different. I was attacked, and we didn't have King Alfor's intercession. Yes, our Keith was a surprise we thought wouldn't come this soon, but that doesn't matter to me. He was made from our love, and that makes him wonderful."
"I thought Keith is wonderful because he's from me." Damon grinned that predatory smile that first captured Bonnie's heart so long before.
"Never let anyone say that you're not observant. Oh Goddess! Now we'll have you in large, medium, small, and kiddie size!" Bonnie rolled her eyes in mock disbelief.
That pulled a chuckled from Damon's chest. "As always my wife, you have gotten your way."
"Now if you would just stop fighting me on that point and submit at the start we wouldn't ever have an argument or hurt feelings." Bonnie smirked.
"My dear, you will never force me into a total submission without a heavy fight." Damon warned.
Bonnie grinned one of his smirks. "Never say never, my husband."
~Sorry daddy.~ Stephanie whimpered from the living room.
Damon only then realized how badly he had hurt his daughter. She was feeling as bad as his own father had made him feel after that incident with Felicity. He had become the one man he still despised – his father.
~Stephanie, you did nothing wrong. Daddy's only worried about mommy and Keith, and I didn't mean to snap at you.~
It felt strange saying those words, but he swore long before that if the stories were true and he somehow became a father that he would not treat his children as he had been treated. Even if that meant he'd have to humble himself.
Funny how he had changed in the years since he first stepped foot in Fell's Church. Once he would have sneered at the girl … hell, he probably wouldn't have stuck around to see her be born. He would have used Bonnie and walked.
He only stayed to watch his little brother's back once again. And only to honor his mother and great-grandmother's memories.
Damon tested, teased, and tried to seduce Elena – simply to see if she was that bitch Katherine made completely over. And then Tyler threatened Stefan's safety. Damon couldn't just leave. Plus the strange deaths and attacks caught his curiosity. And of course there was Bonnie.
He had seen her now and again. Mostly with Elena. But the night of that party was different. Her eyes seemed to lay claim to him unlike any other woman's ever had. She was innocent and shy, but also giving and more powerful than she still knows to that day.
When Elena died to save them all from Katherine, he cried … but not out of longing as the others figured. He was weeping for his brother. Elena had been the perfect choice for Stefan, but she was gone from them … seemingly forever.
As always he protected Stefan after that, but this time it was also for the sister-in-law he might have known. That was why he left Bonnie the first time, to honor his vows.
Then she called out for help. Stefan had went on and on about how he knew Damon wouldn't go with him. Pleasantly, Damon saw that little brother was stunned to see him waiting in the driver's seat ten minutes later.
He remembered how Bonnie looked good enough to eat the moment he first saw her dragging his brother into the parking lot. When he offered the ride, he was only talking to the scared rabbit that was now his wife. That would have been a long and interesting drive.
Finally he realized why he had wanted to feed from Bonnie that night the weak girl died. He didn't just want to taste her and read her, he was out to mark her as his, protect her from Klaus. That way he could leave without wondering if she'd be safe. But Matt had to intercede.
And then all seemed lost. He couldn't save his brother. He couldn't save her. The others were pretty much a lost cause. Klaus had won. At that point he didn't even give a damn about his future wife's safety. He had failed in his promise to keep the brat safe. Stefan laid there dying and was trying to get him to leave with the others!
Damon remembered toughening at that moment. He didn't want anything else but to finish his vow to get the others out of there, and then die himself trying to end the threat Klaus represented.
When Klaus came back, he saw that there was nothing left. The others were as good as dead, Stefan was dying, and he couldn't fulfill the boy's dying request. He attacked with all that was within him. And then the ripping pain, he barely heard Bonnie's mental cries and anguish before he finally passed out.
When they were trying to convince him to remain with them, he fought hard. But, when she called out his name so softly. He felt the longing in Bonnie's voice, he wanted her to want him … to free him of the pain Felicity and his father had caused – but, he thought that Matt wanted her.
So, he put on his mask and left. But, he had to make sure that this time he'd leave an opening for her to contact him. Hell, he had to admit that he really wanted to say goodbye to her – to hold her intimately if only that once.
Now she was his wife, they were about to birth their third child, and he realized how right all of them had been so long before.
Bonnie groaning in agony snapped him back into the present. "It's going to be fine, cara. He'll be born soon."
"I know." Bonnie panted. "And now I know you better than ever before."
Damon winked at her. "But, do you know everything there is to know about me?"
"Damon, I don't even think you know all there is to know about yourself." Bonnie sighed just before another contraction hit.
Another hour later, Keith Garin Salvatore was born.
At the same moment on a ship heading for a dark planet light years away, Katherine consummated her marriage to the planet's evil ruler – conceiving Keith's soon to be worse enemy.
Okay, will some one like to tell us what toon is being majorly hinted at? Also I have to say that soon this will be moved over to that toon's area on ffn. Doesn't anyone have the nerve to guess at it or are you all SPACE MICE? Another hint! Ally will never let me live giving so many hints away! Another hint! I'm outtie before I tell all of you too soon! * GRINS *