Yeeeeesss I'm still updating this! Hope there's still a few of you around.
"Hey, guys! Sorry that I'm late," Bonnie apologized, sliding into the booth at the Mystic Falls Grill. Elena was sipping her tea and scrolling on her phone and Caroline was drawing something on a kid's menu for the girls. It looked fairly magical in nature, though Bonnie couldn't glean exactly what.
"No issue," Elena said cheerfully, sliding her phone into her purse, "I mean, we're all so busy lately."
Wasn't that the truth? The last two months had been a whirlwind. Bonnie had all but poured herself into magic and her skills as a witch, grumbling through her part-time job as a receptionist but thriving at her night-work making potions, pills, and spells for those who needed it...magical or not.
Apparently, Mystic Falls couldn't keep a secret forever.
Oh, she doubted half the people that contacted her on her Etsy truly believed she was a witch. They'd scoff if she told them that Damon had once been a vampire and the Lockwoods had been werewolves. They'd probably send her to a mental ward.
No, more likely, people were intrigued by the idea of it and would order what they believed to be silly tchotchkes or vials with lake water instead of a certifiable potion, laugh with their friends, and forget about it.
Some more puritan witches may claim Bonnie was sullying the pot by even allowing these types to order, but Bonnie would sharply respond that something needed to pay her bills. Plus...she never handed out anything that, if used incorrectly, would lead to some true damage.
And, plus, even if they used it correctly, it was always a much more mild dosage than she'd give anyone 'in the know'. Chances were that if someone recognized that her potion had indeed grown their hairline back or made that one plant in their garden blossom or cured their strange pains in their muscles, the average human would merely accept a more scientific answer. They'd only believe 'magic' as a last result.
"Why the sudden interest in such a business venture?" Caroline asked suspiciously, tilting her head. Nothing got past the blonde in life, even less in death.
"Just…" Bonnie licked her lips, inhaling. She wondered if this would be the moment. That moment she'd tell her friends the secret lingering beneath her skin.
Well, not the big secrets, the tiny secret. The one that was, as of this moment, quite small. Or, so she believed.
She and Kai had sex so many times that she honestly couldn't keep track, and that wasn't just to boost his ego. Lord knows he needed less ego-stroking. She would pop back home at night, exhausted and sore but still unwilling to share a bed with him (she didn't trust him and his fangs), brew herself a pain reliever potion, get good sleep, and then go back. All week she did this, reminding herself that it had to work this time.
Or, err, so she hoped.
When her usual time came around last month, there was no blood.
This, in itself, was not completely telling. She often missed periods and, as far as she knew, had never been pregnant before. Spells and Walgreens tests revealed nothing.
She hadn't gone back. Her headache was gone. She hoped that in itself was a sign.
Now, it was a good month after that. Three days late, so yes, Bonnie had to wonder…
"Just figured I should put my talents to use," Bonnie finished with a casual shrug.
The words wouldn't come out, even in uncertainty.
"I think it's great!" Elena squeezed her hand, "And I heard your magic is even stronger than ever!"
"Elena, how's your dental school going?" Bonnie sighed, hoping to shift the conversation away from her bursts of magic. Now, more than ever, Bonnie wished her grandmother was still around. Or any female witch that had carried a child. Was a boost in magical ability due to her usage or the possibility of a child?
"It's so much fun! So yesterday, I was on my rounds, and there was this guy…"
Bonnie's mind faded out a bit as she listened to Elena jump into a wild tale of her residency horror stories, complete with over-the-top hand gestures and fake voices. She hadn't seen Elena this happy...well... since her parents were alive. It was good to see some color returned to her cheeks and the light sparkling in her eyes.
The waitress came and dropped off five dishes.
"We ordered for you!" Caroline smiled brightly at Bonnie, "Being predictable is sometimes nice," She teased, nudging her friend.
"Hey, I know what I like!" Bonnie winked, reaching down for her tuna melt. She had been craving this for ages, in the normal food craving way that is, and her mouth was salivating at the very presence of it.
Until she lifted it to her mouth. The smell hit the back of her throat and, like a switch, she felt the urge to vomit.
She hardly managed to throw the sandwich back in the plastic serving tray as she scrambled for the bathroom.
Her friends jumped up after her.
She made it to the garbage can, not the sink or the toilet.
Elena held her hair back, making soft cooing noises. Caroline sent the twins back to the table, telling them that Aunt Bon was just feeling sick today. She pressed a cold hand to Bonnie's face and, gosh, it felt positively heavenly.
Caroline frowned.
Bonnie came up, wiping her lips, and gave a long sigh. She had to tell them now, didn't she? And then go home and take a proper pregnancy test, and then some magical ones.
However, Caroline spoke first, "Bon...god, don't freak out...but I'm pretty sure you're pregnant."
Bonnie blinked at Caroline.
"What?"
"There was something off about you when you arrived, but I just chalked it up to witch weirdness. But Bonnie...I can hear it now. Three heartbeats."
Bonnie felt the world fuzz around her. She stumbled a bit and Caroline, quick as a whip, was helping her stand, pressing her hands all around her face.
"You poor thing! Totally blindsided, weren't you! I thought...oh, I really messed it up." She groaned.
"Three?" Bonnie just repeated, her voice high and her eyes still slightly out of focus.
Three heartbeats...that meant…
"Twins?" Elena spun, her head snapping between her two friends.
Bonnie bit her lip, waiting for someone to connect the dots. I mean, what group fathered twins so regularly? However, it seemed both of her friends took her anxiety for confusion or fear.
"Bonnie, oh!" Caroline wiped at her eyes, reddening with blood, "You're going to be a great mother. I didn't know you were seeing anyone!"
"I'm not," Bonnie said tensely, starting to regain herself.
"Was it a one-night stand then?" Elena asked, tilting her head, "I mean, I know that you went home with a couple of guys about a month ago when we went to Williamsburg."
"Yes!" Bonnie jumped on this, though in reality, she'd gone through with none of those dates, "Could be any of the four, I guess," She shrugged, furrowing her brows, trying to look a bit concerned.
"Damn, did you save any info?" Elena asked.
Bonnie gave a slow shake of her head. It was best this way. She hadn't been planning on telling them about Kai unless they guessed it themselves. So far, so good. Exactly to plan.
"You don't need a man," Caroline harrumphed, "We'll all be perfectly fine together. IT takes a village, right? I mean, a village has almost basically raised the twins. My twins." Caroline laughed, "Two more Bennet witches or warlocks. Can you imagine?"
"No," Bonnie said, but this too was a lie. Because, from the moment the magic pulled her to Kai, she saw the theoretical children behind her eyes when she drifted off to sleep. And oh...how they were powerful, "But I guess I'll have to get used to it."
XXxx
"Boooonnieeeee!" Kai's piercing warble echoed through the house, "I hope you brought some better blood. All you left last time was O-! Blech!"
Bonnie set down the bags on the kitchen counter. Per their agreement, she popped in and left Kai blood bags, food, and anything else (within strict reason) that he wanted per week.
"Oh, I'm quite aware," She gave a half-cruel giggle. They'd all had Caroline rate blood types a long time ago, and well, she had a lot to say on it, "Apparently it tastes like the underside of a fat man's shoe."
"Well, yeah," Kai appeared, looking frustratingly good in his shirt and jeans, "You're doing it on purpose, aren't you?" He pouted.
"Can't have you enjoy your time too much. If you're good, we'll work up to other, tastier, blood types." Bonnie teased.
"And you say you don't have a power kink," Kai said, sliding up behind her, pulling her hips to his for just a brief second, enough to make her inhale sharply, "So if I'm really good is your blood my prize at the end of the rainbow?"
"Ha! No."
"If you really wanted to motivate me one way or another...well, that's it," Kai said as he began to unbox the bags, "And you went for the dollar-tree macaroni? I'm wounded, Bon. Hurt."
"You'll live." She said without thinking. Kai turned, giving a dark laugh and a wink that was near flirty.
"Little late for that."
Bonnie took two steps back, hating how his rough laugh sent tingles all over her body. She had sincerely hoped that once magic had done its job, and job it had done, the attraction she had felt towards Kai would vanish.
If anything, it seemed heightened.
Damn it all.
If she were listening to logic, that may indicate an attraction that went deeper than just magic's mission. Something lingering, growing, existing. But Bonnie was very much not in the mood to listen to logic that would basically tell her that it was her own stupid brain that wanted Kai, not magic influencing that.
"So you might wonder why I dropped in personally."
At most weekly drop-offs, Bonnie shoved the items in his mailbox and went on her merry way.
"Not really." Kai said, stocking shelves, ever so casual, "I mean...it's obvious, isn't it?" He said. She could hear the smugness even with his back turned.
"Obvious?" She sputtered.
"I would have asked you to get a 'congratulations, buns in the oven' balloon as a surprise for you, but well, the mechanics of that seemed sorta off. Obviously, you can't get yourself a surprise balloon!" Kai laughed, "And tried making one. Still a bit rusty."
"How did you know-,"
Kai was next to her within a blink. He grasped her hand, and though she could pull it away, it was as though she were hypnotized.
"One; No headaches or tinnitus." Kai lifted one finger on her palm up, "Two; vampire hearing. I'm guessing you just figured it out within the week, but I could have told you two weeks ago. I'm guessing you already know that it's-,"
"Twins. Yeah. Got what you wanted," Bonnie snapped, hating feeling like she was so behind the ball on her own body.
"Good. Where was I? Oh, three; smell. Maybe other vampires wouldn't notice, but your blood smells different now. Better. Fuck, Bon, if you knew what I was experiencing on my end. Four;" He held up her fourth finger.
"Kai, you don't have to count," She huffed, sorry she even asked in the first place.
"Four," Kai said meaningfully, pressing his forehead against hers. It was such a soft, almost domestic, and normal thing for him to do that it terrified Bonnie. It felt almost intimate, in a near romantic way, "Can't you feel them?" He asked, genuinely surprised.
"I...well…"
"Those threads, that connection we talked about…" Kai continued, placing her nearly open palm on his chest, where his heart should have been beating but wasn't. Still, even this contact opened back up that channel and she felt foolish for not thinking to reach out to this, "They're there."
He was right...again.
Not clear as day, a little muddled, but beneath their Kai's magic signature that was intertwined with hers, there were two new ones that were both Gemini and Bennett. She must have missed it because it was so similar, just a notch different.
"I wasn't exactly trying to open that connection," Bonnie said, peeling away from Kai, "So."
"Well, if you're here just to give me the good news, we're good. My list is over there," Kai waved a hand.
"Yes. And no." She paused, "You're just giving up? No seducing me? No…" She had expected more of a fight. Kai liked to push her buttons and it had been shown in the days they conceived he was insatiable.
"Are you going to offer?"
"No!" Bonnie bristled.
"Then honestly, I'm not in the mood today," Kai shrugged his shoulders out, "Maybe next week." He said, grabbing his pork rinds and walking to the living room.
"Kai! There was something else," Bonnie followed him, "Now that you've gone and given me not one, but two, I feel like you need to support me in some way." She said. Kai looked her up and down, raising an eyebrow.
"I thought you weren't going to let me near 'em?" Kai said, and she may be totally off-base, but she swore he seemed a bit...excited?
"Money," She clarified, "I, uhm, I need a place for them and my studio just isn't cutting it. So…" She couldn't very well get money from a bank here. The numbers would be fishy if two versions of a bill were circulating out there. And yeah, she could grab items to pawn for cash, but she felt that Kai owed her something.
"Technically, since you're carrying my heirs, the Gemini compound is all yours."
"In...Portland?"
"Yep," The 'p' popped off his tongue, "Well, not yours, but theirs," He said, making a circle in the air at the direction of her still-flat stomach.
"No offense, but I don't really want to live in Portland."
"Hell, neither did I," Kai waved a hand, "But there's lots of money there. Magic too. You might find it interesting. Take what you need. Here." He said, sliding off one of his many rings and throwing it at her, "The key."
"Just like that?"
"Just like that, Bon-Bon," Kai said, "That key is whole lotta magic there. That's all you'll need to access any of it. But...I don't know if I'd go until they're born," He frowned, "Wasn't baby-proofed, weird as that is, or...pregnancy proofed? Point being, there might be some nasty stuff there I don't think you'd want to mess with."
"Then how will I get the money?" Bonnie sighed impatient, feeling like for all his grandiose offers, he was leading her in circles.
"We occupied time here for a long bit." He waved a hand around, assumedly to indicate Mystic Falls, "Still have an account open. Should be more than enough to get a house, hell, a mansion if you want it. Ask for Mr. Agrote. Show him that ring. He'll know what it means."
"Oh. Thanks."
She wasn't sure she entirely believed him, and wouldn't until she had the money in her hand, but he was extremely forthcoming in helping her. She had really expected to have to pry and pull to get more help. Or that he'd be demanding something in return.
He turned on the TV and started munching. After a few moments in which she didn't move, Kai dramatically sighed.
"Yeess?"
"I just...that's it?"
"You basically asked that before. Yeah." Kai said, shrugging.
"I just...you just…" Bonnie crossed her arms, "Are you alright? Can heretics get a fever?" She asked, standing in front of him, pressing her hand to his forehead. Icy cold.
"What's with you?" Kai grouched.
"You're being uncharacteristically nice. Stop." Bonnie said through gritted teeth, "Not bothering me for sex. Throwing me the keys to the vault. Seeming to be excited about the kids. Not in the mood to mess with me?" She shook her head, "Whatever mental mind games you're playing, knock it off!"
One second she was standing above Kai, the next she was being pushed down onto the couch.
Kai's eyes were dark and his fangs popped.
"Bonnie, you have just dissolved my last self-control. Oh, why couldn't you just...walk away?" He asked, nosing down her throat, grazing just barely over her jugular.
"Wh...at?"
"I told you, you smell better. It's driving me mad Bon and well, we both know I'm not a good guy. I'm the sort of guy that you get with to piss off daddy during your teenage rebellion. I'm the type of guy who-,"
"Kai!" Bonnie hissed, partially to shut him up, and partially in surprise as a hand snaked under her shirt to grasp her breasts, pausing only momentarily over her stomach.
"Right. Yeah. We both know it. And usually, I'd already have you screaming my name," Kai took her hand from under her shirt, but only momentarily it lingered above her, because he just as craftily slipped it between her legs, licking his lips as he felt her wetness, "But I was trying to control myself. But I can only go so far."
"Why haven't you?" Bonnie asked, jutting out her chin, trying not to shudder a breath as he teased her.
"You're carrying my kids. Gotta show some respect. Plus, I'm half worried that the magic that be will smite me for...taking," He said delicately, snorting, "Though, fuck, I want to take."
Bonnie inhaled sharply as he nearly pressed a finger inside of her, but he retreated. She made a noise in the back of her throat, unwittingly so.
"But I won't. You gotta ask me, Bonster." He whispered in her ear, "Beg."
"Uhm, excuse me?" Bonnie seethed, rolling her eyes, "You're delusional."
"Hmm, disappointing," Kai said with only a hint of emotion. He sat back on the couch, rolling out his shoulders. The hand in her underwear continued to tease, however, never quite satisfying her.
She realized even if she up and left now, she'd be frustrated and turned-on all night. She doubted this would be any different than usual; her toys, fingers, or men off Tinder would be only a hindrance.
"Kai, please," She finally muttered.
"What's that?" Kai asked with a wide, triumphant grin.
"You know," Bonnie said, pointing her hips, trying to create more friction, but Kai pulled his hand out completely.
"I don't think I do. Spell it out for me. Explicitly."
Bonnie bit her tongue hard, weighing her choices. Finally, the thing that won her over...well, who was he going to tell? He would sit her alone forever, head big as the moon that he'd gotten Bonnie to ask him for sex. No one besides the two of them would ever know.
"Kai, I want you to have sex with me," Bonnie said, forcing the words out as she wondered why magic was so intent on making her crave such an annoying figure.
"Just have sex? Vanilla, sweet, and loving?" Kai cruelly teased, sliding her pants and underwear down her legs.
"I doubt you have that in you," Bonnie gave a sharp bark of laughter, "Do your worst." She said, a challenge. Though Kai obviously wanted to get more out of her, have her extrapolate on her request, he could never turn down something like this tangled over him.
He grabbed her throat, not hard enough to break off air, but maybe to protect it from his own fangs as he freed himself and she saw the moment where he wanted to...where he was moments away from sinking his fangs into her throat, but he pulled back. He just looked at Bonnie for a second, with an expression she couldn't place before he was lining them up. The moment of contact was rough, aching, and bruising...exactly how Bonnie needed it.
"Oh, Bonnie, I'm sure as hell gonna try."