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Chapter 2

the more things change

What has a man to do with fear?
Chance rules our lives, and the future is all unknown.
Best live as we may, from day to day.
—Sophocles

Bonnie woke up because someone was shaking her, hard. Abruptly she became aware of loud voices surrounding her. The loudest came from directly above her and was attached to the arm shaking her. It also topped the list of voices she did not want to hear.

Why was Damon Salvatore, of all people, the one who found her? She thought she would have at least had managed to go back far enough that he wouldn't be in Mystic Falls yet.

"Come on, wake up!" This was accompanied by a particularly vigorous shake. Bonnie tried to rouse herself enough to swat him away, but both of her arms refused to follow her brain's instructions.

If Damon were here, it meant the spell probably hadn't worked at all. He and Stefan had somehow followed her into the woods. Had they known what she was trying to do? Or were they here for revenge because she didn't de-spell the Gilbert Device?

"Do you think she's a runaway?" And there was Stefan. Bonnie recognized his voice, though his tone sounded strange, and his words made no sense.

"There haven't been any notices up or anything about one who looks like this. And look, she's hasn't got a mark on her. No dirt and certainly no scars."

"Well she's pretty enough not to have any scars, probably kept in the house."

"You think anyone would let her into the house wearing this?"

"Maybe she stole the pants off a field hand. Probably would let her move faster than in skirts. Maybe it's not her first attempt?"

A new voice cut in, light and feminine. Elena?

"No, she has no scars, it would have to be her first go at it." How long had Bonnie been unconscious? They'd managed to get Elena here. It registered with Bonnie that she had just heard Stefan call her pretty. It hadn't sounded like a compliment.

"Come on wake up." With this last entreaty from Damon, Bonnie managed to make her mouth cooperate, even if her arms would not.

"Leave me alone Damon, I can get up."

Damon immediately jumped back, as if he had been burned. The correct reaction obviously. He couldn't know exactly how much control over her powers she had at the moment, or how vindictive she felt about him touching her.

Bonnie struggled to sit up, resting on her elbows, and opened her eyes. Her head hurt, and it only grew worse with the light shining through the trees.

"How does she know you, brother? Do not tell me you—?"

"No! No, I've never seen her before in my life!"

"Of course you have!" Bonnie interjected. Elena and both brothers were here, which means even if her spell had nominally worked, she would only be far back enough to cause drama, not to remove herself from the storyline. Bonnie groaned, in pain and frustration.

"Can you help me up, Stefan? I just want to get out of here." And Stefan touching her wouldn't cause the hair at the back of her neck to stand up, alert for danger.

Stefan's face, just swimming into view, suddenly looked terrified.

"Why Stefan, she says your name so boldly. You must be quite familiar with her." What was Elena talking about?

"Elena, what are you guys on? Of course you know me, we've known each other since—"

It was at that moment Bonnie actually looked at her friend, and her two paramours. They were dressed like they were still on Caroline's Miss Mystic float. But this wasn't the dress Elena had worn that day, and she wasn't wearing her vervain necklace.

"We are standing on the ground. Who is this Elena?"

Neither Stefan or Damon were wearing their rings. The sun was shining brightly. They were dressed for the Founder's Day parade. They knew no Elena. They didn't know Bonnie. May become displaced for a few days, Emily's Grimoire had warned. More like a century.

"Oh fuck."

"Pardon me?"

Bonnie shook her head, ignoring the shocked exclamations at her expletive. This could not be possible.

"No, no no. God no. How am I going to get back?"

"We could easily bring you back to wherever you have run from if that is what you are asking. Are you from the Lockwood estate?" Stefan suggested. The familiar name pierced through Bonnie's panic. Lockwood? Why would she want to go to Tyler's house?

Then her entire body filled with dread. Her arms felt like lead and her throat seemed to close. If her panicked hypothesis was correct, she'd far overshot her 3 month goal. Instead, she now stood in antebellum Virginia. 1864. The Civil War was still being fought; the north had not yet won. Slavery was the law of the land and Bonnie was black.

They'd been debating if she was a runaway. Stefan's comment on her prettiness stood in sudden, sharp clarity. A comment on her viability to be in the house, a house slave. The shock, horror, and the pain in Bonnie's head coalesced. She leaned over and vomited.

Bonnie thought as fast as she could, playing out a few more wretches, that soon turned real, in order to buy herself another moment to feverishly patch a plan together. Swallowing, she looked up at the three people that wore familiar faces, but did not know her. And, Bonnie mused, she did not really know them either. They were far above her, physically, standing while she still lay on the ground, but more than that as well. They were white and Bonnie had landed herself in 1864. She felt a sob tear itself out of her throat, and swallowed it back with some difficulty.

"I apologize. I must have disturbed you. The sun," Bonnie gestured above them all as she spoke slowly, "the heat. I'm not used to it yet. I'm afraid it's affected my head." Bonnie didn't know how she was supposed to speak, or what she was even going to say. She wasn't prepared for this. But she wasn't about to bow and scrape and say Master. Not only was it repugnant to her, but she doubted she'd be able to play that part convincingly for longer than five seconds.

"Miss Katherine Pierce, I presume? Your miniatures haunt the ballrooms of Boston, and many of the city miss you greatly."

Katherine, narrowed her eyes, further distancing her face from Elena's in Bonnie's mind. Bonnie would have to say more, before the vampire snapped her neck and compelled the brothers to forget it all.

"My mother sent me here as something of a pack mule I'm afraid," Bonnie let out a laugh here. As if she didn't have a real care in the world, and it was completely normal for a young black woman to travel alone when dogs and slave catchers roamed the woods and battles were fought over the rights of people, people who had skin the color of hers, to call themselves people at all.

The laugh was strained, but hopefully they couldn't hear that.

"It's a set of stones for you, Miss Pierce. I was planning to deliver them to an Emily Bennett, but it seems the Virginia heat has landed me in your path instead." Bonnie hoped that Katherine and Emily had not yet made the daylight rings for the Salvatores. She would think that Bonnie was carrying lapiz lazuli to Emily for enchantment. As Bonnie had hoped, Katherine's eyes lit up and she nodded eagerly.

"Why of course! I've been eagerly anticipating their arrival. I can't say that I expected their bearer to be—" she paused for a delicate moment. "quite like you. But what is your name dear girl?"

Bonnie startled. What kind of hell was this, that Katherine Pierce was calling her dear? And what was she supposed to say? Would them knowing her name affect the future? Would her being related to Emily Bennett be a help or a hindrance?

"Bonnie McCullough." Bonnie so she could still be herself, McCullough to remember that despite the lies and the work ahead of her and the grind of the society she'd landed herself in, she was still a person of value. If she could have said King or Turner without crying, she would have.

"Bonnie! Of course." Katherine enthused, as if they were already friends, and smiled widely. Bonnie shuddered at the glint of the sun off her white teeth.

"You've come all this way, and we've done you a great disservice by leaving you on the ground like this. We were on our way back to the house when we came upon you, just follow us." She practically picked Bonnie off the ground, though she concealed how much of the witch's weight she was taking on with an elegant swish of her hoop skirt. She brushed a few leaves from Bonnie's hair and back.

"I must say these pants are quite daring, even for one of your—" The vampire seemed to a master of the suspenseful pause, "profession. But I find I quite like them. Maybe I'll commission a pair for myself for riding." With a wink, Katherine turned, and let out a sparkling laugh. Damon and Stefan quite forgot Bonnie was there, entranced with the laugh and the woman.

"Let's go then boys!" The so-called boys each mounted one of the waiting horses. Stefan helped Katherine on to the back of his own, not looking at Bonnie. Did they expect her to follow on foot?

"Here, take my hand. You can ride with me." Bonnie looked up to see Damon Salvatore, asshole extraordinaire, holding out his hand for her to take.

"Damon, do you really think that is wise, she is—"

"Oh brother, do lighten up. Besides, do you expect her to run behind us the whole way back home?"

Bonnie grasped his hand gratefully, for once happy to touch him. She'd braced herself, ready for it to feel different from the few times she had touched him in the past, well, in the future. But he wasn't Edward Cullen, and his hands were the same as ever. Warm and firm, and carrying the same shadowy psychic imprint. Perhaps they now sported a few rougher callouses, but Bonnie thought that probably had more to do with his lack of work in the future than his undead status.

He went to pull her sideways into saddle, but Bonnie swung her leg high over the horses neck. She was wearing pants, so there was really no need for the modesty of side saddle. Besides, it was uncomfortable.

Bonnie hadn't been on a horse in years, and had never ridden double before. Still, couldn't help her smile as the familiar motion of a horse beneath her began, and she looked out into the forest from feet above her normal vantage point. Damon, surprisingly, kept silent. No rude comments, and no attempting to push her off the horse. Bonnie glanced back, and grew slightly worried. She was sure the horse knew the terrain well, it had a sure step, but Damon was not paying attention at all. Instead, he stared at Katherine. Stefan shared his preoccupation, which was even more worrying as Katherine was seated directly behind him in the saddle.

"How about a race, little brother?"

Bonnie would have rolled her eyes at Damon's ridiculousness if she wasn't so annoyed. Riding double on a one-man saddle was already uncomfortable, for both her and the horse, and now he wanted to race?

"Game on, Damon!" With that, Stefan kicked his horse, rather hard Bonnie thought, and galloped off. Katherine was laughing her head off behind him, taking advantage of the situation and clinging to the younger Salvatore's broad back.

Damon took off after him, focused on regaining their lost ground and bemoaning Stefan's cheating under his breath. Bonnie knew they were going to lose at this rate. She had a giant rock in her bag, and Katherine's skirts, while voluminous, hardly made up the difference. Plus, Damon considered her about as much as one would a sack of flour, that is, not at all.

Bonnie secured her bag, wincing at the bruise she surely had gained on her thigh from the bloodstone thumping against her leg as the horse began its gallop. She leaned forwards, for aerodynamics, and also to try and gain a few inches between her back and Damon's chest. He leaned with her, so that part of the plan failed.

Stefan and Katherine were still five or six horse lengths ahead of Bonnie and Damon, and each trill of Katherine's laughter caused Damon to tense further.

"Ease up, Salvatore." Bonnie probably should have included a mister in there, but she was more concerned for the horse Damon was digging his heels into than forgotten courtesies.

He ignored her, determinedly looking ahead, knuckles clenched white around the reins.

"Oh, honestly." Bonnie had the wind in her hair, a competitive spirit, and more confidence in her ability to think clearly and steer their horse straight. She snatched the reins from his grasp. She didn't bother trying to remove his feet from the stirrups, her legs were much shorter than his and could hardly reach.

Damon stiffened, shocked at her action.

"Stop kicking our horse if you want to win. And hang on." For a moment Bonnie thought he would refuse, and wrestle control of the horse back from her. But he didn't. He trusted her enough to let her have control of the steed, which, while not intelligent given she was a mysterious stranger, Bonnie appreciated. He must really want to beat Stefan.

Bonnie leaned forward, giving the horse much more free rein. Damon, again, mirrored her action. At their speed, the other couple would hardly be able to tell which of them was steering and which was the passenger.

The horse sped up, much more eager to follow an encouraging hand. As were most people. Not, Bonnie thought disparagingly at her companion, that Damon would learn that anytime in the next century.

Their horse outstripped Stefan's easily. Bonnie held back her own laugh at Stefan's shocked face, but Damon didn't bother. His human laugh was nice, not edged with the cruelty and bitterness it would later hold.

Bonnie and Damon flew through the arched gateway, up the long and manicured drive. Bonnie pulled back on the reins, slowing the horse, and the great house loomed large over them. She could see men and women discreetly trimming the plants along the front of the house, or bustling into a darkened doorway beneath the bright stone of the mansion's façade. They were slaves, and she was on the back of a horse with their owner. The nausea returned immediately, and Bonnie handed the reins back to Damon and slipped from the horse.

He hurriedly followed and gestured for her to wait.

"I don't know how you did it, Miss McCullough, but I'm very appreciative. Stefan has been beating me at every race since father bought him that new horse." Damon said earnestly.

Bonnie nodded, and tried to smile back at him.

"The horse wants to win too, you just have to let her."

Damon's grin widened. Bonnie valiantly ignored how handsome he was.

"I'll have to remember that in the future. But for now," He swept into a brief bow, reaching for Bonnie's hand, "I am in your debt." His fingers were warm against her palm, and his breath ghosted over the back of her hand before he pressed a kiss to her knuckles and stood.

"Perhaps I'll make it up to you with a pair of gloves."His face hovered over her bare hand for another moment, before he straightened and took a step back.

Bonnie's face heated with embarrassment. She was pretty sure he was hinting at her impropriety, no dress, no gloves, and no hat. But it wasn't like she came prepared for this.

Stefan and Katherine's thundering arrival saved her from any necessary response. Stefan pulled the horse to a halt right next to Damon and Bonnie, kicking up dust, before leaping from its back. As he turned to lift Katherine down, he spoke.

"I am shocked that you won brother. My horse surpasses yours by far usually."

"Well, the horse's legs do the running, but the rider must be equally skilled to win the race." Bonnie hadn't meant to speak, but Stefan's unexpected smarminess shocked her into doing so. Besides, that was also kind of an insult to Damon, because she was really the rider who won them the race. It wasn't easy to insult both brothers at once without resorting to cheap shots at all vampires, so she'd take the chance when she could.

"I would watch how you—!" His angry exclamation was interrupted by Katherine. She rested a hand on his arm with a smile.

"Wise words, Bonnie. Now, come with me. We have to get you cleaned up, you look dreadful." Her familiar use of Bonnie's name and warm tone were belied by the ending insult. Still, Bonnie believed the critical assessment of her looks. They had found her unconscious on the forest floor after all.

Damon and Stefan handed their horses' reins off to a black groom without a word. Expectant, unthinking, and unappreciative. Bonnie looked away and followed Katherine into the house.

Katherine let a young girl fill a copper basin with steaming water, filling the room with talk of flowers and fashions. Then she sent the girl to find Emily, and stopped bullshitting.

"So, what set of stones could you possibly be carrying Bonnie McCullough?" There was a sneer of emphasis over Bonnie's fake last name, and Bonnie knew the vampire had heard her heart stutter over the word. "Because I've already received the two I was expecting, and I don't like surprises. Tell me, who really sent you here?"

Bonnie thought she caught a splinter of fear in Katherine's eyes. But that hardly made sense, what did this woman have to fear from Bonnie? And that question was an odd one, the witch thought. Did Katherine expect she was here to harm her, or sent by some mysterious other power?

"It's not exactly a stone for you, Miss Pierce. It's for Emily Bennett, and it comes with a warning for one of her descendants." Of course, since that descendant was Bonnie herself, she could be sure it wouldn't be received.

"Is it a threat? Because I warn you, the Bennett line is a well-protected one."

Bonnie shook her head.

"It is no threat. I know what kind of people protect the line and I know they will for at least another century and a half." First Katherine would protect the Bennetts, then Damon. Vampires were bodyguards for Bennett witches.

A quick knock sounded, and Emily entered the room. She nodded subserviently towards Katherine before turning towards Bonnie.

Bonnie could feel her curious gaze and, even more clearly, her curious magic. It probed at her, and Bonnie felt the moment it recognized her as a Bennett, as a family member not yet known. Now was the time to come clean. Or as clean as she could.

"My real name is Bonnie Bennett. I'm your granddaughter, or rather the great-granddaughter of your great-granddaughter. I've had a bit of a spell mishap and ended up here."

Katherine and Emily both stared at her, eyes wide. Katherine spoke first.

"You're from the future." It didn't sound like a question, but Bonnie nodded. She didn't like Katherine, but she was powerful, and could help her more than anyone else in this time, especially if she was working with Emily. "And you know me, and the Salvatore brothers, in the future?"

Emily, who just was coming around to having her descendant from the future in the room with her, looked confused again. Bonnie just nodded, wanting to allow them processing time.

"But you didn't call me Katherine, you called me Elena." The vampire mused.

Bonnie thought of Elena and Katherine's shared features and focused on keeping her heart steady.

"When I first saw your face, that's what you were calling yourself."

Katherine accepted this easily, despite the odd phrasing.

"Not the first name change I've had. Elena…I like it."

Bonnie smiled, that was something, she was sure, that would change. Katherine seemed playful again.

"Think of it! Me, in the future, with both Salvatore brothers and a Bennett witch still at my side. Good to know these good times will last. Though—" She sat up from where she'd flopped back onto the bed. "It does seem a bit boring. That's at least a century away, and I'm still doing the same thing." Bonnie focused on the cloth provided with the basin of steaming water, rubbing it into her skin and wishing for a hot shower.

"You all weren't together for the whole time. And I didn't meet you until pretty recently." All true. Katherine's smiled returned. Emily was still frowning.

"But why are you here? You said there was an accident? What were you trying to do? What spell did you use?" Emily's voice was chilling, not purposefully, but because it reminded Bonnie of her possession.

Bonnie explained as quickly as she could, without saying anything about why she had wanted to go back three months in time. She handed over the bloodstone for inspection at Emily's request, and yielded to Katherine's hands pushing her behind the trifold room separator.

"Get out of those ridiculous clothes. To think, we abandon skirts for trousers in the future. And skin-tight ones at that. I cannot wait to see it!" Drawers and cupboard doors were rapidly opened and closed, too rapidly for a human. "Luckily, I have nearly a full wardrobe of clothes I haven't worn here yet- I have to keep up some appearances of wartime scarcity even if they all think I'm a union supporter with Emily here and free. And you'll confirm that of course, a negro friend! How they'll gasp!" Bonnie winced. Emily looked up from the stone.

"Your gowns, Katherine? Surely I can just take her below stairs while we figure this out?"

"No, not possible. I need Bonnie at my side at all times, I can't let you learn all about the future without me, Emily. Besides, she hardly knows what she's doing, and you know those below stairs are much better at catching people in a lie than the idiots up here. And she implied to the Salvatores that she was someone of society in Boston and knew me from my travels there. And she's shown herself a horsewoman to Damon. There's no helping it, she will be my northern friend come to visit."

All of this was said, despite both Bonnie and Emily trying to interrupt. Bonnie thought the decision had rather less to do with her words about ballrooms and ability to ride a horse, and more to do with Katherine wanting to separate the two Bennetts.

"But what about…" Bonnie trailed off, unsure how to broach the subject. "I'm black. Slavery is still legal in this time. Also, don't call me your negro friend. It's offensive." This last bit was directed at Katherine who hardly bristled. Bonnie guessed that there were two types of vampires, one stuck in the social mores of their human times, and ones that eagerly anticipated the next wave of society to adapt to. Bonnie had no idea where Katherine came from, or how old she was, but she knew that she was definitely the second type of vampire.

"I assume from your words the north will win this war, how useful your knowledge is already! But don't worry about a thing. We'll draw up some papers, easy enough. I've rather a deft hand at forging, and compulsion can take care of the rest. I'll tell the boys we met and greeted each other as old friends, and we'll just explain later, once they remember today truly." By this, she meant, once they were vampires and remembered everything that they had been compelled to forget. Bonnie knew that they would wake up changed, without Katherine and certainly without Bonnie, to explain this away. What would they think?

Maybe they wouldn't remember her at all. They hadn't said anything to her about a past twin with her same name when she met them in the 21st century. But maybe they hadn't known her then. Maybe she was changing the past and the future she would hopefully, with Emily's help, get back to, would be completely different. The pounding in her head, long subsided, returned with a vengeance. Bonnie wished she'd paid more attention when her freshman boyfriend made her watch Back to the Future.

"I don't think I'll be able to pull it off. Things are different in the future, we have different rules, I even speak differently."

"They'll write everything off as you being from the north, or black, or simply eccentric. This town is full of outsiders right now, some of them who are idiots who insist on speaking like old Liz is still on the throne. You'll hardly stand out at all." Bonnie doubted this, but also doubted further denials would succeed.

"You could do with some accomplishments though, if only to keep me entertained. Obviously, you have magic, but that has to stay secret, unless you want to perform silly seances all day. Can you play an instrument? Embroider? Sing? Dance? Recite with perfect elocution?"

Bonnie shook her head.

"Not a big thing in the future, and I doubt doing a round off back handspring is appropriate now." Bonnie said. She was proud of her cheer ability, but doubted it would be coming in handy any time soon. Katherine looked disappointed and intrigued. "I can speak Mandarin, and some French."

"Well French is standard, but Pearl will be so pleased at the Mandarin! I've been meaning to learn for decades to please her, but I'm no good at languages I don't live among. Wherever did you pick that up?"

"Mandarin? School mostly. I'm hoping it will look good on my applications to university."

"You want to attend a university!" Katherine seemed positively appalled. Bonnie used her distraction to fully pull on the ridiculous bloomers that had been tossed over the barrier. The corset was a lost cause without assistance, so she came out into the room, holding it up and looking rather pathetic. Katherine began lacing without prompting.

"Is that normal in the future, a woman going to university?"

Bonnie winced at how tight Katherine was pulling the corset but nodded.

"As normal as a man going now. School populations are about evenly split."

Finished with the corset, Katherine pulled a green silk gown over Bonnie's head.

"I cannot wait to hear more of this glorious future Bonnie. But for now, we're expected downstairs."