Chapter 008

The Feeling is Mutual

Friday, December 03, 2010, 5:50 p.m.

Bonnie's House

When I get back to Bonnie's house, she's standing inside leaning against the front door. I frown and wish I could ask her what's wrong but then the teen sighs and I hear in her thoughts, 'Thank God, no one was waiting for me to get home.'

She pauses her thought then continues, 'I'm actually surprised, given how my friends usually act towards me that no one was lying in wait ready to jump out and accost Kol.'

She sighs again and then thinks, 'Well, why ever they're acting out of character I'm grateful for it. Rebekah's presence would have pissed off my friends, and they're apt to overreact when the Mikaelsons are involved."

She tilts her head, 'I wonder what it is about the older vampires that pushes all my friends' buttons so perfectly? I mean Klaus not being their favorite person makes sense, but Kol was right. Other than Klaus none of the Mikaelsons attacked us first. They always reacted to our actions. So why did we all feel so compelled to attack first and ask questions later, or not at all if I'm honest.'

She pushes off the door with a deep sigh and walks into the kitchen still thinking, 'I'm glad that the Mikaelsons are giving me a second chance to prove myself. I know I made a big deal out of my giving Klaus a second chance, but they're all giving me a second chance, too, and for that I am grateful.'

She smiles while she begins moving around the room making and cooking a quick dinner of fresh tortellini's and pesto sauce, which I know from experience is her comfort food.

Is she in need of comfort because of what Caroline did or is there some other thing that's bothering her? Her thoughts don't imply that she's in need of comfort at all, 'I actually had fun with The Original Family today. Even Klaus was fun to hang out with. I get the sense that it's been a long, long time since they last just hung out with someone, not a Mikaelson. They all seem lonely, especially Klaus and Rebekah. I hope Rebekah takes my olive branch and calls me sometime. She's obviously in desperate need of a girlfriend she can trust. I can't imagine being the only girl in a family of six siblings. Although, I guess she's really one of two, but Freya was long gone by the time Rebekah was born.'

My grandbaby frowns and says, "Just one more reason to hate their mother, selfish bitch. Who barters their own freaking child? I mean who the hell does that? Kol made it sound like Freya is still around, but I think he said something about a magickally induced sleep. I wonder when she's scheduled to wake up."

She surprises herself when she utters softly, "I kind of hope I get to meet her someday, but more importantly, I hope Rebekah gets to reconnect with her sister, so she won't be the only girl anymore."

I jump in place startled when Freya says from behind me, "Sheila, you really did an excellent job raising your granddaughter. She's a remarkable and incredibly compassionate individual. I can't imagine any of her friends would even think about me any farther than how my existence would affect their mission to destroy my family."

I nod and tell her, "Thank you, but I can't take all the credit. Most of it belongs to Bonnie herself. She was born caring about other people."

Freya smiles and nods before she tells me, "Niklaus is busy painting a memento of this afternoon. His quick sketches tell me it's going to be of Kol, Bonnie, and Rebekah sitting on their towels talking with big smiles on their faces."

He's incredibly talented, so I know it will be a beautiful piece of art when he's done with it.

She smiles and tells me, "I hope you don't mind, I thought I'd come and join you in your vigil over Bonnie because I enjoy watching paint dry about as much as my brother does."

Laughing at her reference to an earlier conversation with Finn about how boring The Otherside can be without other ghosts to talk with I nod and tell her, "I don't mind at all."

We turn and look at Bonnie while she collects what she needs to cook her meal and waits for the water to boil. Her thoughts seem focused on Caroline at the moment before she texts her friend, "I'm still mad at you, but I want you to know that I'm home safe and sound without so much as a single hair out of place."

Caroline texts her back less than a second later prompting my grandbaby to think, 'Damn vampire speed.'

I laugh at that while Freya and I lean over Bonnie's shoulder and read her friend's message, "I'm sorry I told Klaus and Tyler your personal stuff. I'm glad you're okay. Did the spell work? Do you have your magick back?"

My baby girl smiles and tells Caroline, "I know you're sorry. I need time to get over it, but I will get over it. BFF. Yes, the spell worked, so I have my magick back, and before you ask, Kol was a perfect gentleman and didn't make any move to harm me in any way."

The water begins to boil, so she throws her pasta into the pot and then because Caroline responded lightning quick again she reads, "BFF. Good, I'm glad he didn't hurt you. And now I can relax a bit because you have your magick back, so now you can kick vampire ass without needing a bodyguard." An emoji of a man performing a karate kick follows the word bodyguard.

We all laugh, and Bonnie sends a smiley face with its tongue sticking out then she tells her best friend, "It's been a long ass day, and not only did I get less than an hour and a half of sleep last night, but I must have cried like a million times today, so I'm beat. I'm going to eat then head to bed as soon as I wash the beach off me. I'll talk to you tomorrow, okay?"

I can see Caroline's frown in my mind's eye when I read her reply text, "Wait, why did you cry? What did Kol do?"

My granddaughter frowns at her friend immediately jumping to the conclusion that Kol did something. She tells Caroline, "He didn't do anything. The first time was because of something Damon said. Then I cried a few more times when talking to Kol about Grams and my magick, but he didn't do anything, nothing bad anyhow. He held me the first time and just let me cry myself out. Then the second time I was hyperventilating over my hurting Grams, and he talked me down off the ledge while holding my hand."

Caroline sends back a picture of two smiley faces kissing so while laughing Bonnie sends back another smile with its tongue sticking out before telling her slightly neurotic friend, "I'll tell you the rest tomorrow, okay? I need sleep."

Caroline sends back, "Okay, love you, Bon."

Smiling my grandbaby types back, "Love you too, Care." Then she puts her phone on the kitchen table at the same time the timer for the pasta goes off, and she takes it out of the water before tossing it in with the pesto and pine nuts.

She quickly eats her dinner and then puts the rest into a Tupperware container with a note telling her father, 'Tonight's dinner if you haven't eaten already,' which is far more than the ass deserves.

Grabbing her phone off the table when she's done, Bonnie then heads to her room. After collecting her night clothes, she showers before staring at herself in the mirror. She pokes at several mottled purple and ugly yellow bruises that are in the process of healing.

Freya frowns and asks, "Did my brother do that at the high school last night?"

I frown and shake my head and tell her, "No, so far as I know he didn't hurt her at all, simply scared her. Those are all from her father."

My granddaughter thinks, 'Thank God I have that suit that covers most of the bruises. I would not have wanted to have that discussion with any of the Mikaelson's but definitely not with all of them present, even if I am pretty sure they'd understand.'

I have tears in my eyes while I watch her sigh before turning away from the mirror. While she's putting on her flannel pants and a tank top and climbing into bed, Freya is clenching and unclenching her fists before she says in a low voice, "Forget Kol overreacting. I think it's best that I don't ever meet my future sister's father on that side of The Veil or I might not be responsible for my actions."

I just nod before Freya says, "I've heard the stories of how Mikael was with my siblings, but it's always been more of an abstract knowledge in the back of my mind. But this right here, there is no denying your granddaughter has more in common with my siblings than she should ever have had to experience."

I shrug and tell her, "I know, but I think the similar experiences will actually help them grow closer to each other. Your brothers and sister will understand that part of my baby girl's life far better than anyone else ever would."

I pause then confide in my friend, "I'll be honest, Rudy is damn lucky I was on this side of The Veil when I found out what he's been doing to my precious girl. The fact I'm dead is the only reason he's not."

She nods and says, "Agreed."

I smile slightly and look at my granddaughter in her bed. She fell asleep quickly despite the incredibly early hour.

She spends most of her night dreaming of the 'bright as the shining sun' smiles on the Mikaelsons' faces when they realized they had their magick back after a thousand years without it. The memory of it brings smiles to both Freya's and my faces.

The next day is Saturday, so Bonnie sleeps in and only wakes up because her cell phone rings. She grumbles and curses, "If that's Caroline I'm going to kill her twice, once for telling my secrets and once for waking me up from that scrumptious dream of wet half naked Kol rolling around in the sand with me."

She grabs the phone off the table beside her bed, and without looking at the caller ID, she pushes send and asks gruffly, "What?"

She frowns a moment later because it's not Caroline's voice that greets her but Rebekah's cautious voice that says, "Bonnie, Hi. Um, I was wondering if you maybe want to come over and maybe play with our magick?"

My granddaughter is still cautious, so she thinks, 'Do I want to go over and play with my magick with the Mikaelson's?'

She's slightly conflicted, so she stalls for time by grumbling, "Rebekah, do you have any idea how comfortably asleep I was when you called?"

Rebekah chuckles and tells her, "Um, sorry. I figured based on how tired you were last night that you would have gone to bed early and you'd be up by now. So, do you want to come and play with Kol and me?"

At that loaded question Bonnie's brain jumps back to her dream of her wrestling match with Kol in the sand, and she just sits there for a few minutes smiling like a ninny while the images play out in her mind before Rebekah asks, "Um, Bonnie, are you still there, or did you fall back to sleep? You can go back to sleep and come over later if you want to."

My baby girl snaps out of her daydream induced stupor and laughs at herself before telling Rebekah, "That won't be necessary. Um, what exactly will we be doing if I come over?"

I can hear the smile in her voice when she tells my grandbaby, "Little spells, like a levitation spell, and I wrote a make-up spell this morning that I want to try out that will make it unnecessary to wear conventional makeup."

Bonnie is, thankfully, still a little cautious, but she figures why not, so she tells Rebekah, "Give me 45 minutes to get ready and drive over."

I can hear the smile in her voice again when Rebekah says, "See you then. Oh, and don't bother with breakfast because I decided to try donuts, so I have a whole box of them."

Bonnie thinks, 'Yum,' before asking, "You got any chocolate frosted with sprinkles?"

Rebekah laughs, "Yes I have four of those, and I already told Kol he can't have any of them because I remember you having a conversation with Caroline about your favorite donut at Cheer Practice a couple of weeks ago."

Smiling widely Bonnie tells her, "Thanks Rebekah, you're the best."

She laughs back and says, "Go get ready, and I'll have your Iced Mocha and two donuts waiting for you when you get here."

My granddaughter's jaw drops, "Did I hear Iced Mocha?"

Rebekah laughs again and says, "God, you're as easily distracted as Kol is. Yes, Kol came with me when I got the Donuts, and we stopped at The Coffee Shop and got him a Hot Black Coffee, boring, and you and I got Iced Mochas. Now go get dressed before I drink your Mocha."

Bonnie laughs and tells her, "Step away from the Mocha, Rebekah."

She laughs but says, "Stop delaying and I will."

Still smiling Bonnie flips her blanket off her legs and sits up before she tells her, "Okay, I'll see you soon," then she hangs up and goes and inspects her wardrobe.

My baby girl thinks, 'Hmm, what should I wear? Rebekah probably won't care what I look like, but she mentioned Kol being there, and I want to look my best for him.' Her thoughts grind to a halt before she thinks, 'Wait, what? Why do I care what he thinks about what I look like?' Sighing she mentally berates herself, 'God, I'm in trouble. I think I went and broke that promise I made yesterday because I definitely have a raging crush on one Kol Mikaelson, Bad Boy Original Vampire Extraordinaire. Damn, now what do I do?'

She's just standing in her bedroom staring sightlessly at her clothes hanging in her closet, so she visibly shakes her head and shoulders and then in a stern mental voice orders herself, 'Get dressed, Bonnie.'

Freya and I laugh at her inner monologue while she flips through her clothes taking out and then putting back several tops before she catches what she's doing and grabs the purple one she just put back and throws it on. Still, she looks in the mirror after she puts on her stonewashed skinny jeans and high heels and double checks that her look is tasteful and not crossing that trashy line Kol kept mentioning yesterday.

Then she thinks, 'Damn I'm focusing on pleasing Kol again,' so she frowns and heads back into the bathroom to put her make-up on while grumbling to herself. "What is so great about Kol Mikaelson anyway? He's a killer Bonnie. Get a grip."

She pauses her rant and then reluctantly admits, "Okay, yeah he seems genuinely sorry for all of the death he's caused but does being sorry really make it okay?"

She frowns at herself while she applies her foundation, "What would Grams say? Hmm, she'd probably say that we're all sinners and no one sin is greater or worse than any other. They all have equal weight. Then she'd give me that look and tell me, 'If God forgives those who are genuinely sorry for their sins then don't you think we should too.'"

I laugh and tell Freya, "She's not wrong on any of it."

Freya smiles and nods before my granddaughter continues her rambling, "Okay, so he's sorry, and I'm unaware of him actually killing anyone other than those vampires Klaus tried to turn for Jeremy to kill. Those deaths fall on Klaus, not his brother because someone was going to need to kill them. Kol just got to them first, and it's a lucky thing too because I've come to believe Silas is everything the original thinks The First Immortal is."

She shakes her head and then says softly, "But back to Kol. So far as I know, he hasn't been going around killing people. Sheriff Forbes or even my dad would have mentioned if drained bodies were piling up missing all their blood. Neither of them has said anything though so I'm pretty sure none of the Mikaelsons have been out killing willy-nilly. That means Kol is actively trying not to repeat his sins, so that implies he's truly sorry for his crimes. So that begs the question, is that enough?"

While she puts her mascara and eyeliner on she frowns and tells herself, "Honestly who am I to judge? I killed Shane, and despite my heavy guilt, I'd do it again. What's that say about me?"

She puts the eyeliner down when she finishes and then stands with her hands pushing against the counter while staring into the mirror. She nods once and says, "Every single last one of my friends has killed someone at least once so if I'm willing to remain friends with them then I should be willing to befriend Kol and his siblings. My friends and I are truly no better than the originals so provided the Mikaelsons don't start killing people indiscriminately then I should have no problem with them. I have no room to throw stones."

My precious baby girl nods at herself again before putting her lipstick on and then she leaves the room while she says, "So I guess I'm now friends with the Mikaelsons, so there really isn't anything wrong with crushing on one of them. He is a hottie after all. All my friends have either crushed on, dated, or even slept with killers, so they have no room to throw stones either. Besides since when have I relied on other people's opinions to form my own or take action? Since never that's when. So, I have a crush on Kol Mikaelson. Sue me. I have perfectly working eyes thank you very much, and he's definitively cute, and anyone, like Elena, who says otherwise is a liar."

She nods at her words and says, "Well either that or they're blind."

Freya and I laugh while my grandbaby picks through some of Jonas Martin's books and then grabs a few of them. Once she's ready for the day, she goes over to the Mikaelson's house with her pile of books and a clear conscience.

My granddaughter sits in her car for a few minutes when she arrives at the Mikaelson's Mansion silently asking herself, 'Is this a good idea, Bonnie? I mean being friends with The Original Family? The others will freak.' She frowns at herself while she looks at her reflection in the windshield. 'Again, who cares what the others think? The Mikaelson's are obviously misunderstood by, well, just about everyone.'

She nods at her internal statement then continues the thought, 'I spent a good chunk of yesterday with all of them and not only did not a single one of them try to harm me, but I had fun, too. And don't you know, I actually like who I'm beginning to realize they are beneath the masks they show the world.'

Nodding at her reflection again she takes off her seatbelt and gets out of the car before grabbing her purse and her pile of books from the back seat.

Bonnie appreciates that Rebekah and her brothers don't 'hang out' with just anyone. They rarely give out the opportunity to spend time with them, but it was freely given yesterday, and she appreciates that they are offering her something they have never offered anyone else before.

Rebekah doesn't even let Bonnie try maneuvering to knock before she throws the door open when Bonnie's about ten feet from it. She smiles and asks my grandbaby, "Convinced yourself you're not making a terrible mistake by spending more time with us?"

My granddaughter blushes but tells her honestly, "Yes. I decided that 1.) My friends have all killed at least one person each, so they shouldn't judge you all because they're just as guilty of bad behavior. 2.) What the others might think doesn't matter because I had fun yesterday and I kind of like you guys when you're not trying to kill my friends or me. Therefore, my other friends can go shove it if they don't like my choices. Lord knows they do things I don't approve of all the time, so it's time for them to accept that we need to agree to disagree."

She frowns slightly and adds, "Now I'll be honest, my friends probably won't take the high road where you and your siblings are concerned, but I have a clear conscience. I have decided that you all, even Klaus, are just as deserving of my friendship as my other friends. Well, if you actually want it, which you at least seem to because you invited me over so anyway, my friends' opinions have been noted and discarded as overly judgmental and therefore inadmissible."

Rebekah laughs and nods before telling Bonnie, "Good, because we kind of like you, too, when you're, you know, not trying to kill us back."

Bonnie laughs and follows Rebekah into the house. They walk through the foyer and down the hall into the den. Rebekah takes Bonnie's books from her hands and places them on one of the coffee tables then she says, "Follow me, I have a strict rule about sweet drinks being drunk anywhere but in the kitchen, where if they spill it won't be such a big deal. I've already had to deal with Nik's ire when I ruined the leather couch twice by spilling my Iced Mocha when the lid popped off."

Laughing again Bonnie follows her and tells her, "I have the same rule for my car because I've had to scrub sticky coffee out of the rug three times now. Never let it be said I don't eventually learn my lesson."

When they walk into the Kitchen, Kol stands like the gentleman he is and smiles at my granddaughter before he says, "Little Bella, it's nice to see you. You look well rested. Have any interesting dreams?"

Rebekah rolls her eyes at her brother while Bonnie's green eyes shoot up to his and her cheeks burn with embarrassment, but Rebekah slaps her brother's chest when she walks by and tells him, "Oh leave her be, Kol. She can't help it if her subconscious likes the idea of half-naked wet you."

My grandbaby's eyes widen, and she stutters out, "H-how?"

Rebekah smiles at her gently and tells her, "You spoke in your sleep while we were running back here from the beach."

Bonnie's hand slaps her forehead before she says, "Oh God." Her eyes are closed and then she peaks them open and tells a widely grinning Kol, "Don't be getting a big head, Kol. Your body is very nice to look at, and you damn well know that, so it's not my fault I noticed."

He laughs and nods before telling her, "Just as it's not my fault that I am definitely noticing how lovely you look wearing red. That purple blouse looks exquisite on you, too, especially because it complements the crimson in your cheeks at the moment."

Bonnie's blush deepens, but she doesn't respond verbally instead she walks to the counter and steals a donut out of the box and takes a bite before closing her eyes and moaning, "God, I love these."

Rebekah nods deeply while she takes a bite of her own donut. Meanwhile, Kol laughs and tells Bonnie, "You can ignore me all you want, Little Bella, but I'm afraid I'm not going away."

Hiding her smile behind her donut, she tells him, "One can hope though."

His hand comes up and rests over his heart before he says, "Oh that hurt, Little Bella."

Laughing my granddaughter tells him, "Truth hurts sometimes, Kol."

Rebekah frowns and interrupts, "God, are you two going to do this all day? Maybe Bonnie and I should go elsewhere."

Kol frowns back and sits up straight before he says, "That won't be necessary 'Bekah. I'll behave."

She smiles and nods, so they sit and eat their ooey-gooey donuts and drink their sweet drinks before they head out to the den and collect Bonnie's books and then head up to Kol room.

When they enter his study, my granddaughter moves to one of the chairs in the corner, and after setting her books on the floor by the chair, she sits and smiles when Rebekah follows her and sits in the seat across from her.

The first spell they do is the levitation spell Rebekah mentioned. The blonde whispers the words intending to float a pen but all the furniture in the room pops up off the floor. Bonnie's eyes are wide while she looks around and then tells Rebekah, "Maybe not so forcefully next time."

She nods before she whispers The Reversal Spell and the furniture floats back to the floor, and then she tries again, and this time she says the words softly and only the pen floats. Smiling she then says, "I'll have to remember that. It didn't use to be so easy."

Kol smiles and tells her, "'Bekah, think about it, we may not have had access to our magick all this time, but it's been growing in strength every year we survived just as we and our other abilities have. Just because we couldn't use it doesn't mean it was stagnant. Our magick is just as old as we are and as such it's now far more powerful than it was when we were 17 and almost 20 respectively."

That makes sense to the two girls, and they both figure that if anyone would know it would be him because he was undoubtedly the most magickally proficient and well versed of them through the years. All the Mikaelsons stayed involved in magick, befriending witches as they met them, but Kol actively kept learning as much as he could and then solidified that knowledge in his mind by then turning around and teaching what he had learned to witches who didn't have anyone else to teach them. They, like Bonnie, usually had suffered at least one loss and no longer had a teacher, and he would step in and show them everything he knew for as long as he could.

Rebekah was around a couple of times when friends of his got involved in dark magick and he never once advocated using it. He always cautioned his students about the dangers, but some of them just wanted the easy way, not the way they'd have to work at to be any good. In her humble opinion, they were weak and weak minded. From what her brother has told her of my granddaughter's experiences Rebekah knows my baby girl only got involved in dark magick to save her friends and then Atticus exploited her weakness and taught her expression for his own gain.

Bonnie took extraordinarily little prompting from Kol to accept the help of her mother's friends and allow the spell to remove her addiction to the dark magick to be performed, so Rebekah knows she is not like most of the others her brother has known who got involved in that crap.

She nods at her brother's words and then says, "You try it, Bonnie."

Bonnie frowns and stands before concentrating and then whispers the words, although she does it with a little more force than she intended. The teen blushes when everything in the room except the three of them shoots up to the ceiling. Sheepishly she whispers, "Um, oops."

Kol laughs and says what they're all thinking, "We really need to find out just how far back your line of firsts goes because your magick seems even stronger than ours, and as I said your line of firsts at the very least goes back to Ayana and ours is a thousand-years-old. While one would expect that your magick would only be a few hundred-years-old at most due to the incredible rarity of every one of your ancestors being the oldest child for more than a few hundred years, I think it's probably significantly older than even we are, double it maybe."

With wide eyes, Bonnie frowns and asks, "Really?"

He laughs and says, "Look around you, Bonnie, you said that spell far less forcefully than Beks did and your magick reacted far more strongly than hers did, so yes I think it's a very real possibility that your magick is several thousand years old at least."

I know who the first first was in our line, so I know he's correct. Our magick goes back to about 3,775 years ago. I had recently given the book of our ancestors to Bonnie when I died, so I'm sure first chance my grandbaby gets she'll begin reading through the ancient tome and try to discover who our line of magick started with.

In the meantime, Bonnie nods slowly and then softly reverses the spell watching while everything slowly floats back to the floor.

Next Rebekah smiles and says, "I want to try the make-up spell I wrote this morning."

She whispers the words and then smiles and asks, "Well?"

My granddaughter giggles even while Kol bursts out laughing so hard he doubles over at the waist and tells her between bouts of laughter, "You… you look… like a clown."

Rebekah frowns and walks into his bathroom to look, and then she gasps. She looks like she painted the make-up on with a trowel. The eyeshadow is blue and purple and so bright it hardly resembles the blue and purple in her blouse. The blush on her cheeks looks like she's mortified, and her lipstick looks like a small child painted it on. With wide eyes she quickly says the reversal spell sighing when it immediately disappears.

When she comes out of the bathroom, my ever-optimistic baby girl laughs lightly and tells her, "On the plus side, at least you thought to make the reversal spell first instead of doing it after trying the spell."

Rebekah nods but pouts and asks, "I wonder why it did that?"

Kol is still chuckling, but he manages to tell his sister, "Think about it, 'Bekah, you're not used to the strength of your magick yet, so naturally, anything you try is going to come out stronger and faster than what you want it to. I think with practice you'll be able to make it do exactly what you want, but it'll take time."

Her pout deepens so Bonnie guesses at the reason and tells her, "You didn't just start doing the hard spells from the get-go when you were human. It took time and practice to get the power to do what you wanted it to do, so now it's going to take time to tone it down because you very suddenly have much more power than what you once had. I think it's going to take work on all our parts to get used to it. It's like I can feel it buzzing just beneath my skin just waiting for me to use it, and it's kind of scary how badly it seems to want to be used. What if I use it for bad things? I… I don't want to hurt anyone."

Kol walks to my teary-eyed granddaughter and pulls her out of her seat and into his arms before smoothing his hand down her hair and telling her, "Don't worry, Darling. You've got all of us, and we'll help you okay? And I personally promise not to let you go down the wrong path again without putting up an incredibly hard fight, okay?"

We all know he is not making that promise lightly. Even if he didn't want her for his mate, he would keep his promise and do everything in his power to keep her from going against The Laws of Nature again.

She seems to understand because she nods and snuggles deeper into his arms clearly enjoying his warmth and the spicy scent that floats off him. Kol for his part is also enjoying the soft scent of jasmine that wafts off my granddaughter every time he touches her hair. Her softness is also pleasing to him, and he has a gentle smile on his face while he holds her. At this point, nothing is more precious to him than Bonnie.

Rebekah shifts softly from foot to foot reluctant to do or say anything to break the moment between the two, but the choice is no longer theirs when there is a knock on the door to Kol's bedroom, so he reluctantly releases Bonnie and goes and answers the door.

Kol comes back into the study with his two older brothers in tow. Elijah smiles and says, "Good morning, Bonnie."

She smiles widely and tells them both, "Good morning, Elijah, Klaus."

The hybrid nods in response and then practically vibrates out of his skin while he walks to the rows of books on his brother's bookcases and starts running his hand over the spines looking for something. He makes a pleased sound a moment later before pulling a book off the shelf and flipping through it. When he finds what he's looking for he says, "I think we should do this spell."

He hands the book to Bonnie, and while she reads, Kol and the rest of us read over her shoulder. A moment later Kol and Rebekah laugh and Kol says to his nearly bouncing brother, "God, Nik, you're still obsessed with this spell?"

Bonnie looks up at her newly appointed mentor, so he smiles and tells her, "When I first got this book, Nik looked through it and began bitching about how he wished we still had our magick, so we could do this knowledge spell. None of the witches he approached were strong enough to pull it off without possibly harming us, so he had no choice but not to try it. He bitched about it for years, and every so often he'd remember that he couldn't do the spell, and he'd spend a few weeks bitching again."

Niklaus is smiling when he nods and says, "But now we are all probably strong enough to do it for each other, so I think we should do it."

Bonnie looks up at Kol again and asks, "Uh, what exactly will it do that has him wanting to do it so much? It looks like all it does is give you information out of the book or books you anoint before placing the spell on the person."

Kol smiles a pleased smile and nods before he tells her, "That's exactly what it does, Darling."

Rebekah giggles when Bonnie frowns and asks the obvious question, "Uh Klaus, why do you want to know whatever so badly?"

He smiles and tells her, "Well, Luv, I've always wanted as much knowledge as I can gather. I'm like my siblings in that respect. And now it'll be useful for you and 'Bekah in that you can do your school books and all the textbooks Elijah and I have accumulated through the years, both as college students and as professors. Although, except for four years as a Nordic History Professor at Oxford I mostly just taught Art, so I have fewer textbooks. Even still, we have a sizable collection so you won't have any trouble taking tests or writing papers because you'll already know everything you need to know. Just think, you'll have to put in significantly less effort to graduate, which given how little time I suspect you and your friends actually spend studying because of all the supernatural hi-jinx you all get up to that actually would probably be a pretty welcome release of the stress placed upon you."

My grandbaby narrows her eyes and asks, "Why are you so invested in me graduating and having less stress? I mean, forgive me, but that seems out of character for you."

He smiles gently, and her eyes widen when she realizes he actually looks handsome when he's not trying to kill her and her friends. Don't get me wrong, she definitely prefers Kol's good looks over Niklaus' good looks, but he actually looks nice when he's not giving his evil smirk as I've taken to calling it.

Niklaus is still smiling that pleasant and what she thinks is a very out of character smile when he tells her, "Consider it my way of trying to begin making up for all the bullshit I've put you and your friends through in the last year or so. I know it's a pebble dropped into a wide and bottomless ocean, and it'll take many more of them to pile up and mean anything substantial, but I figure I've got to start somewhere right? So, I'll do my best to make sure you graduate especially because most of that hi-jinx I mentioned was a direct result of my actions."

He seems genuine, so we all smile before Bonnie looks at Kol and asks, "Is it safe to do the spell or…?"

He smiles, too, and nods, "I see no reason it should be unsafe to do, especially with the amount of power we've been exhibiting since our magick was returned to each of us. The spell certainly isn't even remotely dark, so it's definitely safe in that respect."

My still cautious grandbaby nods but physically braces herself for him to blow up at her before she asks, "Not that I don't believe you, but will any of you object if I call Abby and double check that it's safe to do?"

They all shake their heads while Kol beams at her and says, "Very good, Bonnie. That's exactly how you should have reacted, and while I can't speak for my siblings, I certainly won't be insulted if you double check that the spell is safe to do."

It's Niklaus of all people who tells her, "We all know firsthand how dangerous dark magick is, and I think I can speak for all of us when I say none of us want you to go down that road, so I certainly won't be offended if you call and ask your mother for a second opinion. In fact, I'm inclined to congratulate you on being wise and making the right judgment call, and given who I am, that's saying something."

She nods slowly with wide eyes because he's absolutely right, so she takes her phone out of her pocket, but before she can dial, Elijah speaks up and hands her a book open to a spell, "I would suggest you also ask about this spell. I think it will make you rest easier about your interactions with each of us."

My eyes widen when I read it over her shoulder. It's a truth spell. It will give a person a green glow if they're telling the truth, a yellow glow if they're bending the truth but not outright lying, and a red glow if they're flat out lying. I agree she'll feel more confident about her interactions with them if they do this spell, and so does Bonnie, so she nods and then dials.

After my granddaughter gives her a quick recap of the results of her doing The Balance Spell sans anything to indicate that the originals also did the spell, Bonnie reads both spells to her mother, and then my daughter says, "I see no reason either spell shouldn't be done. They're certainly not dark, so if you want to do them, I won't object."

Smiling Bonnie nods despite her mother not being able to see her and then tells Abby, who is barely more than a stranger to her, "Thanks, Abby. I'll talk to you later and tell you how they go okay?"

My selfish daughter reluctantly agrees so Bonnie hangs up and then they go about doing the two spells. Apparently, Niklaus already gathered all his and his older brother's textbooks and classics into the living room for ease of use, so once they collect all of Rebekah's school books which are the same as Bonnie's it doesn't take long to cast either spell.

So far as The Truth Spell, my baby girl's shoulders relax almost as soon as the spell is cast, so I know she really does feel better about her interactions with the Mikaelsons now. Not once all day after they cast the spell does she see them have anything other than a green glow. Well, that is, except when they test The Truth Spell, and they say things like 'the sky is green,' 'the grass is purple,' 'the ocean is pink,' 'Elena is my most favorite person in the whole wide world,' and other stupid stuff like that. Bonnie bursts out laughing when Rebekah says the bit about Elena and promptly gains a solid red glow.

Bonnie spends the rest of Saturday just hanging out and talking, getting to know them all better. It turns out she thinks they're pretty interesting, and the feeling is mutual.