Bonnie leaned against the railing as she shamelessly ogled Tyler. He had shed his t-shirt when he began digging the fire pit in the backyard. She assumed the blatantly provocative move had been for her benefit. Tyler was invulnerable to the fluctuations in temperature that affected normal humans. No matter his motivation, she greatly appreciated the view. They were waiting for Lucy and Damon to arrive. Both were approximately 30 minutes away from Mystic Falls. The good news was they had acquired enough ingredients to ward the entire town against the travelers. The bad news was Katherine missed her nightly check-in with Nadia. The 500-year-old vampire was actively looking for her mummy.

Matt volunteered to meet with Nadia. He was the only member of their group that had any sort of relationship with her. Matt asked Nadia to meet him at Whitmore's quad. He hoped that she would at least listen to him before doing anything drastic. Jeremy went with Matt to ensure that Nadia didn't kill their friend for his trouble. Bonnie had given them two bottles of the immobilization potion as a precaution. Diplomacy was the goal but a plan rarely survived first contact with the enemy. Meanwhile, she had lit a fire under Stefan. They needed him to find Katherine's new vessel sooner rather than later.

A noise inside the house caused Bonnie to look over her shoulder. However, she quickly realized that it was just Caroline trying to maneuver a large cast iron pot through the narrow doorway. She was about to tell her friend to flip the pot sideways, but Caroline figured it out a second later. "Thanks for bringing that upstairs for me, Care."

She sat the heavy pot down on the deck with an audible thud. The dust covered pot stood tall enough to reach the blond vampire's waist. Caroline looked at Bonnie with a raised eyebrow. "It's no problem. I volunteered because I wanted to help in some way. Do you seriously own a cauldron?"

Bonnie chuckled at her friend's exasperation. She shrugged her shoulders and flashed an amused smile. "Well, I am a witch, Care."

Caroline couldn't resist laughing at Bonnie's tongue-in-cheek reply. "Where does someone even buy a cauldron? It's not as if you can just drop by the local Home Depot or Crate and Barrel to pick up one."

"The cauldron actually belonged to my grandmother. It has been in our family for a very long time. I have no clue where I would buy a replacement if something happened to this one," Bonnie admitted

She joked, "Maybe there is a supply store for witches."

"There are a few stores that cater to witches but none of them are particularly close to Mystic Falls. My grandmother used to take me to this apothecary in a little town called White Willow. I just thought it was a great place to get candy from the nice old lady behind the counter. She always had fresh fudge or salted caramel on display. I didn't realize at the time that Grams was going there to stock up on supplies for her spells and potions."

Caroline asked, "Do you know if the shop is still open?"

Bonnie shook her head with a sad smile. "No, it has been turned into a bric-a-brac store. Damon and I drove out to White Willow a couple months ago. I had been making potions and salves using ingredients leftover from Grams' stockpile. It wasn't until I used everything that I realized the local market wasn't going to have everything I needed. I was lucky that Damon had connections."

"Do you know his connection? She has to be a witch, right?" she asked curiously.

"No, I have never met her. Damon can be secretive about certain stuff. All I know is that she was a friend of his once upon a time. They reconnected when he was looking for a way to free me from being the anchor. She is actually the person that pointed us in the direction of the Gemini Coven," she replied.

Caroline chuckled. "It is hard to imagine Damon having friends. Then again, the two of you are friends now. I still don't understand how that happened."

Bonnie leaned against the railing and shook her head. "Sometimes my friendship with Damon is surreal. You would think with our history that we would be mortal enemies."

"You used to be…"

"True."

She asked, "Is it just because Damon brought you back?"

Bonnie smiled wryly. "I guess that is part of the reason Damon and I have become so close, but it is more than that. I was in such a weird headspace after I was resurrected. I felt…wrong. Damon saw that I was retreating into myself and he wouldn't let me. He made a point of annoying me every day but mostly he just made me laugh at his utter ridiculousness. Damon was there when no one else was."

"Bon, I'm sorry…"

She shook her head. "You don't need to apologize, Caroline. Regular life is complicated but our lives are twenty shades of weird. There is no handbook on how to be supportive of a friend that died and came back to life."

Caroline sighed quietly. "I should have tried harder. If Damon was capable of being there for you, then I could have been there, too. I just thought that you would snap out of it eventually. I guess that was pretty dumb of me."

"No, it wasn't dumb. You were just expecting me to follow the same pattern that I always have. I just decided that I couldn't do that anymore. Life is short, at least mine is anyway," she quipped.

"Are you happy?" Caroline asked.

Bonnie nodded and smiled. "I am deliriously happy."

"Because of Tyler?" Caroline asked with a knowing smile.

Bonnie laughed and looked toward Tyler as he finished digging the fire pit. She knew that he could hear every word they were saying. She said, "He's part of the reason. What about you and Stefan?"

She sighed happily. "I think I am going to steal your phrase…I am deliriously happy, too. I can't believe that it took me so long to see how perfect we are for each other. I guess that I just didn't want to betray Elena."

"I know that feeling well. I ignored what I felt for Tyler for months because I didn't want to betray you," she admitted.

Caroline laughed. "Well, I am glad that we both smartened up. We deserve to be happy."

"Yeah, we do," she replied.

"Did everyone really know about us the entire time?"

She bit her lip to keep from laughing at her friend's exasperation. "I love you, Care, but you two were so obvious that it was painful. I mean Damon spilled the beans early on because he likes to gossip… a lot. But I already knew the truth. I am happy for you and Stefan. I think you are good for each other."

Caroline's eyes strayed over to where Tyler was stacking firewood in the newly dug fire pit. She looked back to Bonnie. "How much does he hate me?"

Bonnie squeezed Caroline's arm in support. "I think that it would be good if you tried talking to him, Care. You hurt him but he doesn't hate you."

"It feels like he hates me," she admitted in a small voice. "I wasn't trying to hurt him. Klaus was probably the biggest mistake I have ever made. I would take it back if I could, Bon. I was just lonely and it felt really good to be wanted. Tyler broke my heart when he chose his vendetta against Klaus over being with me. Tyler and I weren't even together at the time. I didn't think that he would be so jealous."

"I can see how that would hurt you deeply, Caroline. I understand what it means to have the person you love disregard your feelings completely."

Caroline studied her friend's face. "I feel as if there is a 'but' coming…"

Bonnie had promised herself that she wouldn't get involved. Caroline and Tyler were old enough to sort out their own problems. However, it seemed as if Caroline was never going to understand why Tyler was so upset. She still believed that his anger stemmed from jealousy. As much as Tyler liked making Caroline and Stefan squirm, she knew that he didn't like the tense relationship. He still cared for Caroline and ideally, he would still like to be friends with her. Moreover, perhaps Bonnie's motivations were just a little selfish, too. She wanted to be able to hang out with her boyfriend and Caroline without all the tension.

Bonnie said, "You might not have agreed with Tyler's vendetta against Klaus but you should have tried to understand it. This wasn't some petty squabble, Care. Klaus turned Tyler into a hybrid and forced him to do his bidding. He killed Tyler's pack. Those hybrids were his friends and the only other people in the world that were like him. Then just because he is a petulant bastard, Klaus killed Tyler's mother and made him an orphan. Until recently, he believed his mother was his last blood relative. Klaus left him completely alone in the world. You had sex with the monster that did that to him and you didn't even have the decency to recognize why it would cut Tyler so deep. Then instead of putting on your big girl panties and admitting that you did something hurtful and callous, you have allowed Stefan to play your knight in shining armor. I am not saying that you should apologize for doing what made you happy in that moment. You and Tyler weren't in a relationship at the time. However, as a friend and as someone who claims to love him, you should apologize for your actions hurting him. Because what you did made him feel alone, too. The difference was when you felt alone, you still had a mother that loves you to fall back on. Tyler doesn't have that anymore."

Caroline felt increasingly worse with each word Bonnie spoke. It wasn't as if she didn't know the terrible things that Klaus had done to Tyler. She hadn't let herself think about it too much because of the crushing guilt that would follow. However, for the first time she actually thought about the fact that Tyler had been completely alone. His entire family had died in Mystic Falls through one catastrophe or another. She blinked as tears welled up in her eyes. "You must think I am the absolute worst person on the planet."

Bonnie shook her head. "You're not even close to being the worst person in Mystic Falls. You are a good person and you have a kind heart. You are also young and you made a decision that hurt a friend. We are all guilty of doing that. I know that you aren't cruel like Katherine is. You never set out to hurt Tyler."

"But I did…"

She nodded. "But you did."

Caroline looked across the yard at Tyler. He had his back to the two women while he started the fire. "I should probably talk to him."

"I think that would be a great idea. I am going to go inside to fix myself a snack. I promise not to eavesdrop on your conversation," Bonnie swore with a smile.

"Thanks," Caroline replied.

Bonnie squeezed her arm gently and then walked into the house. She was glad that Caroline was going to talk to Tyler. She only hoped that he would be receptive. Bonnie knew all too well that receiving a desired apology didn't always have the intended effect. Stefan had apologized for his part in killing Abby and turning her into a vampire. Bonnie had accepted his apology because it was expected of her. However, Bonnie had resented him and Damon until she started to heal. Most of all, she had to let go the fairy tale that her relationship with Abby would be any different if she hadn't been turned. Even if Damon hadn't turned Abby into a vampire, there wasn't some great reunion in the cards. The simple truth was that Abby was incapable of being her mother. It was a heartbreaking revelation but it was an important one.

She opened the refrigerator and stared at the dwindling contents. She would need to go grocery shopping soon. For now, Bonnie was going to take the leftover brisket from last night and make a couple of sandwiches. Frankly, the smoked meat was so delicious that she didn't even need to reheat it. She had eaten a few pieces of cold brisket earlier while she cooked breakfast.

Bonnie made quick work of assembling a couple mouthwatering brisket sandwiches with too much cheese and BBQ sauce on them. Then she took her meal out onto the front porch. The weather was turning colder as they barreled into the month of December like a freight train. However, the cold wind had little effect on Bonnie. She had always preferred the cold weather months. Bonnie hated hot temperatures despite having lived in Virginia her entire life. Frankly, she did not really like being warm either. Bonnie was her happiest when the temperature dropped below sixty degrees. Grams would always get after her for wearing flip-flops and open-toe shoes well into the winter. Now that she had triggered the werewolf curse, she ran ever hotter than normal humans did.

Bonnie enjoyed a quiet lunch on her front porch. She lazily watched the gray clouds looming in the distance. Bonnie could already smell the rain in the air even though not a single drop had fallen yet. The sound of flapping wings caught her attention. She smiled as Russell swooped down to land on the railing. "Hello, Russell."

The large bird gave a few loud caws before settling down.

She cooed, "Has Damon had you watching my house since last night? I bet that he has. He worries too much. Doesn't he?"

The crow cawed as if he understood what Bonnie was saying to him.

She saw the way he was eying the last portion of her lunch. She smiled. "I'm sorry, buddy. I don't think that you can have any of my brisket because of the spices in the rub that Ruby uses. I wouldn't want to make you sick. Damon acts like a curmudgeon but he would be very upset if something happened to you."

Bonnie easily devoured the rest of the sandwich before standing up. "I'll be right back."

She went into the house and washed her hands. Afterwards Bonnie grabbed a container of fresh blueberries and went outside. She sprinkled a handful of blueberries onto the unusually green grass.

Russell took to the sky briefly before swooping down to hunt after the blueberries in the grass.

Bonnie popped a few berries into her mouth as she watched him. If Damon was around he would surely tease her for sharing organic blueberries with an animal just as content to eat road kill.

She looked up when a car slowed to a stop in front of her house. Bonnie didn't recognize the vehicle, but she knew the driver. Bonnie sprinkled the remaining blueberries on the ground before walking out to the curb.

Lucy climbed out of her car and smiled at Bonnie. "It's good to see you, cuz."

Bonnie said, "It is good see you, too. Thank you for driving all the way here to help us."

The older witch smiled. "Well, the travelers are a threat to all of us. Truthfully, I should have made this trip sooner. I have just been…busy."

Bonnie's eyes widened when Lucy opened the back door. There was a baby sleeping in a car seat. "Busy might be an incredible understatement. You have a baby?"

Lucy chuckled as she slowly removed the little girl from the car seat. She wrapped a purple knit blanket around the baby. Then she hefted a diaper bag onto her shoulder and closed the car door with her hip. Lucy walked up to Bonnie and said, "I do. Bonnie I would like for you to meet my daughter."

Bonnie peered at the sleeping baby's face. "She's gorgeous, Lucy. What's her name?"

"Her name is Mari."

She sobered immediately. Bonnie said, "I would not have asked for your help, if I knew that you had a baby."

Lucy chuckled. "I am a mother and a witch, Bonnie. One does not preclude the other. Besides, this isn't the sort of situation that I can sit out. The travelers have seriously underestimated the lengths our ancestors will go to stop them."

Bonnie was unnerved by the seriousness of that last statement. She knew from experience the lengths the spirits would go to maintain the balance. She said, "Well, let's get you and this little sweet pea in the house. Do you have bags in the car? I can bring them inside for you."

Lucy walked around to the back of the SUV and unlocked it. She grabbed a couple of bags.

The younger girl said, "I'll get the rest of these."

"Thank you," she replied. Lucy walked toward the house but slowed down when she saw the crow. She focused on the bird for a long moment before she continued into the house.

Bonnie collected the rest of Lucy's bags and closed the liftgate. She followed Lucy into the house and kicked the front door closed. "I can show you to the guest room upstairs."

"That would be great."

She led the older woman upstairs to one of the guest bedrooms. She had prepared the room just in case Lucy wanted to stay with her. Bonnie pushed open the door and put Lucy's belongings down on the floor. "Can I help you with anything?"

Lucy asked, "Do you know how to set up a portable crib?"

Bonnie shook her head. "No, but I am sure that I can figure it out. How hard can it be?"

She laughed and said, "Famous last words. Just hold Mari for me."

She gently took the sleeping infant into her arms. Bonnie sat on the edge of the bed and asked, "How old is she?"

Lucy put down the diaper bag and moved over to the portable crib. She said, "Mari is ten months old."

"Wow," she uttered softly.

Bonnie couldn't help but to think about her own future as she held the curly haired infant. She didn't know how long it would take to find out if the mating cycle had been successful. Ruby had explained how the process normally worked for werewolves. Unfortunately, nothing about Bonnie and Tyler was 'normal'. If she did conceive, they had no idea how the pregnancy would progress. She was nervous. There hadn't been time for Bonnie and Tyler to really discuss what that would mean for them. There were travelers, mad scientists, and doppelgangers demanding their immediate attention.

Lucy walked over a few minutes later and took Mari from Bonnie's arms. She placed the little girl into the portable crib. Afterwards she sat beside Bonnie on the bed. "I owe you an apology."

"What?" she asked in confusion.

"My grandmother might be dead but she gave me a very pointed lecture last night. I knew what was coming for you after that first night we met. Instead of sticking around to help you, I got the hell out of dodge as soon as possible. That is not how Bennett witches behave…not the good ones anyway. I could make excuses about how crazy my life was at the time…for the record it was insane. However, that is a story for another day."

Bonnie shook her head. "You didn't owe me anything, Lucy. We are like second cousins but it isn't as if we know one another. I mean I know that your mom and my grams are sisters but it doesn't seem as if they were particularly close."

Lucy rolled her eyes thinking about her mother and aunt. She said, "My mom and Aunt Sheila were always like oil and water growing up. I don't think that you could have found two sisters more different from each other. Those differences caused them to have a falling out about fifteen years ago—give or take. They were never able to mend what was broken between them."

"That's horrible," Bonnie replied. "Do you know what the fight was about?"

"They always argued about Abby. My mom always thought that Aunt Sheila was too hard on her. She had these lofty expectations for your mother but she was never going to be the type of witch that Aunt Sheila was or that you are. Abby and my mother are kindred spirits in that way. My mom was always different because she is a siphoner."

"A siphoner?" she asked. "I don't know that that means."

Lucy laughed softly. "I forgot that you are still a baby witch. A siphoner is a witch that does not have his or her own magic. They siphon magic from witches and other supernatural beings in order to perform spells. In some families, siphoners are shunned but Bennett witches do not behave so recklessly. We see the function that every creature, living and dead, serves in the universe."

Bonnie shook her head. "There is still so much for me to learn. Are you a siphoner?"

"No, I am a regular witch. Siphoner witches are rare. There is no rhyme or reason for why some witches are born siphoners. There is an old wives' tale that Grandma Amelia believed. She said siphoners were nature's way of balancing power within a family. It is only anecdotal but most families that have a siphoner child also have a very magically gifted child. Aunt Sheila was probably the most powerful witch this family had seen in decades…until you came along."

"Me?" she asked.

Lucy blinked when she realized the young girl didn't understand her own power. She said, "You have to know how powerful you are, Bonnie. You faced off with the Original Hybrid and lived to tell the tale. You are young and nowhere near the height of your potential. The spirits are afraid that you will become too powerful for them to control. They punished you by taking your powers because they fear you."

Bonnie looked down at her hands. "They gave them back to me last night because they need me. I am scared that the spirits will take them from me again once we defeat the travelers."

The older witch chuckled and said, "Let them try. There is a spell that binds a witch's power to her life force. I will have to do some research but it shouldn't be hard to find it. Grandma Amelia used it on Aunt Sheila when she was a little girl. My mother couldn't control her siphoner powers in the beginning. If she got angry or overly excited, she would siphon magic from the nearest witch without even trying. There was really no remedy for that but Emily Bennett had created a spell and a potion to protect witches from siphoners."

"You would do that for me?"

"We're family and Bennetts look out for their own," she said.

Bonnie shook her head with a wry smile. "That's what Katherine said last night."

"Well, she has known enough Bennett witches in her very long life to know that is true."

Bonnie looked up when she heard footsteps approaching the room. She relaxed after recognizing her mate's scent.

Tyler knocked on the door. "I'm sorry to interrupt."

"Is something wrong?" Bonnie asked.

He shook his head. "No, everything is fine. I just wanted to let you know that Damon is here."

Bonnie smiled. "Okay. We'll be right down, Ty."

He nodded in Lucy's direction. He said, "Hi. I'm Bonnie's boyfriend."

Bonnie playfully rolled her eyes at the way he introduced himself. "That was subtle."

Lucy smirked at the younger man. "Hello. Nice to meet you."

Tyler said, "Nice to meet you, too."

Lucy waited until Tyler walked away from the door. "He's hot."

Bonnie laughed heartily. "He's also a werewolf so he totally heard you."

Lucy said, "Oh, I know. Grandma Amelia filled me in on what you have been up to lately."

The younger girl's face heated up in embarrassment. "How much do you know?"

Lucy's gaze swung to the portable crib for emphasis. "Frankly, probably more than you do."

Damon bellowed from the bottom of the staircase, "Get down here, witchy!"