Chapter 020

Does a Pint of Chunky Monkey Count?

Thursday, January 20, 2011, 4:40 p.m.

The Gilbert's House

Kol and I arrive at the Gilbert's house a few minutes before Bonnie does so he hides in a neighbor's yard across the street so he can see the front door. He plans to move closer to Elena's house once the two girls go inside.

Even from where he's standing Kol can hear Elena on the phone. I see in his mind that the bratty girl is not happy and when I realize who she's talking to I sigh. This is not going to go how my granddaughter had hoped.

When my baby girl arrives, she takes a deep breath and then gets out of her car. She never thought she'd see the day that she'd have a rolling stomach and a sour taste in her mouth walking up to this door and knocking on it, but she has both right now. Still, she walks up the steps and knocks.

A moment later the door wrenches open, and a heavily breathing Elena glares at her before asking, "What do you want? Oh wait, let me guess, you were stupid enough to fall in love with Kol, and now you're being even more stupid and moving to New Orleans with him."

Bonnie's eyes narrow and her fists clench ever so slightly while she thinks, 'Dammit, I should have figured Stefan would call and warn her.'

Bonnie takes another deep breath and asks Elena, "Can I come in?"

Elena plants her feet, clearly blocking the doorway and says, "Why bother? You don't have anything to say that I want to hear, and honestly, I don't really care at this point. If you want to be my friend you have to give him up, but he's obviously got you wrapped around his little finger, so I'm sure there is no way you'd give him up."

My grandbaby huffs and asks, "Elena, what is your damage? Do you even hear yourself talking or realize what a hypocrite you're being? Stefan's killed way more people than Kol ever has, and before you argue the point, Stefan practically admitted it to me when I saw him earlier. Plus, now you're in love with Damon, and he openly admits he's killed tons of people. We're talking tens of thousands of people, at least. So why do you get to be happy with a homicidal maniac and I don't?"

Elena huffs back and glares before she says, "It's not the same. They've stopped hurting people."

Bonnie nods and tells her, "So has Kol."

Shaking her head, the doppelgänger says with some force and indignation, "You have no way of knowing that!"

Bonnie nods again and speaking slowly as if she's talking to a child, she tells Elena, "I know the same way you know Stefan and Damon have stopped being evil."

Elena rolls her eyes and says, "Whatever, look if you want to be my friend fine, but you can't be with him too, so you have to choose him or me."

Mine and my baby girl's eyes both widen. She's serious. She wants my granddaughter to choose between her childhood best friend and the man she loves? Well, even if Bonnie wanted to pick her, which for the record she doesn't, she did The Linking Spell, so there's no way she can ever give up Kol.

'Besides,' Bonnie thinks, 'I promised Kol 'Always and Forever,' and I meant it with all of my heart.'

She shakes her head and asks, "Please, Elena, don't do this."

Elena frowns and tells her now former friend, "That's what I thought, you're choosing him over our friendship. Well, you've made your choice. Now you have to live with it. Goodbye Bonnie," and then the ungrateful brat slams the door in my grandbaby's tear stained face.

Bonnie just stands there for a minute staring at the closed door and bawling before she wipes at her eyes which are pouring tears down her cheeks and walks to her car.

Beside me, Kol takes a step forward towards Bonnie and then steps back. He does that a few times clearly torn over going to her and comforting her and not letting her know that he's been eavesdropping all afternoon.

I clearly hear in his thoughts that he plans to tell her anyway, but he thinks doing it in front of Elena's house might make matters worse, not better, so he holds his position. Though, I can also clearly hear in his thoughts that if she keeps crying like that he's going to her no matter what and damn the consequences because every sob she lets out breaks his heart a little more.

After getting into her Prius, Bonnie just sits there and cries for the friendship she's now officially lost. She wonders, 'How could she be so heartless? How could she be so close minded? Stefan, as I pointed out earlier, has killed hundreds of thousands, if not more than two million more people than Kol ever did, and he had a much shorter time to do it in, and she has no problem being friends with him. And Damon openly admits he wasn't a nice guy before Elena. He even admits he killed a ton of people before he met and fell in love with her. He also repeatedly raped and abused our other best friend, and, yeah, he apologized, and Caroline has sort of forgiven him, but still, he was a bad, bad man. So why is it okay for Elena to love a killer, two of them even, and I'm not allowed to. She has found happiness with the man she loves despite his previous sins so why can't I forgive Kol like she's forgiven Damon?'

Kol lets out a relieved sigh just before Bonnie jumps when there's a knock on her window. She cautiously looks up to find Caroline staring down at her with a frown on her face.

The blonde asks through the window, "Bonnie, are you okay?" She pauses, and then says to herself, "She's crying in her car in front of Elena's house, of course, she isn't okay!"

Caroline can't stand Bonnie's tears any more than Kol can, so she opens the car door and pulls Bonnie out before she wraps her arms around her friend and tells her, "Whatever Elena did or said, she's not worth your tears, Bonnie. She hasn't deserved you in a long time."

Still sobbing, Bonnie thinks, 'Um, Wow.'

Caroline pulls back before Bonnie can say anything and sticks out her hand, "Give me your keys, Bon. I'll drive you wherever you're going, and then I'll run back here and pick up my car."

My granddaughter, stubborn girl that she is, shakes her head, and Caroline frowns and says, "You're too upset to drive, and if I have to call Klaus to get Kol's number and then call him and have him come and get you, I will, but you are not driving anywhere in the condition you're in. I won't let my best friend kill herself because she tried to drive and cry at the same time."

Bonnie laughs and tells her, "You're a good friend, Caroline Forbes."

She smiles widely and says, "Thank you, now keys!" and she waves her hand back and forth with her palm up expectantly waiting for Bonnie to drop them into her palm.

Still laughing, my grandbaby places the keys in Caroline's hand before she walks Bonnie to the other side of her car and opens the door for her. After she's sat down, the blonde closes the door and then goes around and gets in.

Caroline puts the keys in the console, grabs the box of tissues from the back seat, then turns and hands them to Bonnie, who is still crying.

Caroline looks at my grandbaby before she asks, "So where are we going?"

Bonnie frowns and after she uses a tissue to dab at her eyes she asks, "Can we go to my house? I still need to tell you my news."

The blonde nods while she turns back to face forward and says, "Sure, but I don't have an invite into your house."

Bonnie nods and tells her friend, "Caroline Forbes, would you please come into my house?"

Caroline's ocean blue eyes are wide while she slowly turns to look at her and says, "Bonnie, what did you just do?"

Smiling my precious girl tells her honestly, "I invited my best friend, who has never made any move to harm a single hair on my head, into my house."

A tear slips out of Caroline's eye, and Bonnie smiles wider and tells her, "Hey, please don't cry, or we'll be stranded here outside Elena's house."

Caroline laughs and says, "Okay, but I reserve the right to cry when we get to your house," before putting on her seatbelt, pushing the on button, and driving the little Prius towards my granddaughter's house.

They don't talk on the drive, and when they arrive at the house, both of their tears have dried up. Bonnie leads Caroline up the front porch and inside to her bedroom, and sure enough, when she crosses the threshold of the house, a tear slips out of Caroline's eye.

The two longtime friends walk up the stairs towards Bonnie's room. When they enter it, Caroline drops her purse on the chair in the corner of Bonnie's room before she turns to look at her and asks her, "Do you want to talk about Elena first and leave the happy news to last? That way we'll have something to look forward to."

Bonnie shakes her head, "Elena's story won't make any sense without my news."

Caroline sits on the bed and pulls her friend onto it beside her and tells her, "Okay, then tell me your news, and then we can go raid your freezer for some ice cream, and you can tell me all about how Elena is being a bitch again."

Bonnie laughs despite herself and asks her, "Do you know that Nik is in New Orleans?"

Caroline nods and says, "Yes, he invited me to join him, which is tempting in a way it really shouldn't be, but I don't think I could leave you and Jer behind, so it's just not feasible right now. I might go visit in the Summer after we graduate though."

Bonnie smiles and then tells her, "Well the rest of the Mikaelson's are joining him now, and they asked me to go with them, and, well, I said yes."

Caroline grabs her hands tightly while she squeals, "Really? Wait are you going to be with Kol or just because you're friends with all of them?"

My granddaughter chuckles at her excitement and tells her, "Both actually."

Caroline nods and says, "I can tell that all of the Mikaelsons, but especially Kol and Rebekah, care for you deeply. Especially after spending the holidays with them and then watching them interact with you last night. Plus, I know the only reason Kol would have written that spell to help Jer is that it would make you happy."

Bonnie nods but tells the other girl, "Little known fact: Kol actually likes Jer and probably would have looked for a way to give him back his arms even without me being in the equation."

Caroline smiles and asks, "So have you two kissed yet?"

My grandbaby giggles and tells her, "Um yes, last night. Actually, he kissed me twice before Jer showed up, too, when he found out that the daggers don't… um…"

Oops, she wasn't planning on telling her loose-lipped friend that, but Caroline looks at her and asks, "When he found out the daggers don't what?"

My baby girl thinks, 'Oh well, in for a penny, in for a pound,' then she says, "The daggers don't work anymore. Nik tried to dagger Elijah, and it didn't work."

Caroline's blue eyes are wide when she asks, "Um, wow, okay, do they know why it didn't work?"

Bonnie nods and then begins babbling nervously, "Well, you know the Mikaelsons were witches before they were turned. That the day at the beach, it wasn't just Kol there with me, it was all of the Mikaelsons. And we all did the ritual to return the balance to each of us, so now they have their magick back too. Which you know because you saw Kol and Rebekah do magick last night. Anyway, the reason I'm telling you all this stuff you already know is that we're pretty sure that because them having their magick back is the only thing that's changed that that's why the dagger didn't work."

Caroline nods slowly and says, "And Kol kissed you because you essentially are the reason they now have their magick back and therefore can't be daggered anymore?"

Blushing, Bonnie shrugs and says, "I know you and Jer seemed cool about it last night, but please don't be mad. When I suggested they try the ritual, I figured returning the balance to them would level them out and make them less likely to kill or wreak havoc, so that's why I suggested it, and now it turns out I wound up taking away the only way to stop an original."

Bonnie looks at her friend seriously and tells her, "It was implied last night, but you can't tell the others."

Caroline nods and Bonnie tells her, "I mean it, Caroline, they will freak and probably try to do something stupid if they find out, and they will only end up getting themselves killed."

She nods deeper and says, "I know. I was serious when I said I wouldn't tell any of them. I want them all to be safe more than I want to gossip, so don't worry. I won't tell a soul."

My baby girl nods and squeezes Caroline's hands that are still clutching her own, "I believe you," and she really does.

Caroline grins back and says, "So he kissed you last night when he found out about the daggers and… I get the sense he kissed you again after that?"

My granddaughter giggles like the teenage girl she really is and tells her, "Well, actually I kissed him the second time."

Caroline's eyes are wide, and she smiles before saying, "Oh, Go Bonnie! So, tell me everything."

Still smiling, Bonnie tells her, "After Jer got his arms back I hugged Kol and thanked him, and when I pulled away I just leaned in and kissed him."

Caroline smiles gently and says, "So sweet, so have you kissed him today?"

Even though my precious girl's skin tone is much darker than Caroline's the fact that she's turning eight shades of red at the question is incredibly obvious. Caroline squeals again and grabbing her friend's hands in hers once more she tells her, "Ah, you're blushing that means you did more than kiss, spill Bonnie…"

My granddaughter giggles again and taking a leap of faith that her usually gossipy friend will keep everything to herself she tells her eager friend about her morning including The Linking Spell. When she finishes her tale, she looks Caroline deep in the eyes and tells her, "You can't tell anyone, Caroline."

Caroline, for her part, just smiles and in that 'I'm being compelled' flat voice says, "I can't tell anyone."

Bonnie's eyes widen in alarm, and she thinks, 'Um, did I just compel her?'

She frowns and tells her, "Um, don't get mad at me, but I think I just compelled you."

Caroline nods and says, "I think you did too. Do it again. Only this time tell me that I can't and won't tell anyone your or the Mikaelson's secrets ever again without prior permission."

My eyes are wide while Bonnie frowns and asks, "Are you sure?"

Caroline smiles and says, "Yes, I was going to ask Klaus to do it, but I wasn't sure I could trust him not to take advantage, so this way I won't be able to blab your secrets anymore, and I don't have to worry about what else he might compel me to do. I mean I wish I could keep your secrets on my own, but I can admit I suck at secret keeping, and I hate blabbing and making you mad at me, but I just can't help it. The words just pop out before I even know what I'm saying, so I want you to compel me not to blab because although it'd be nice for me to do it on my own, it's better that it be compelled than I blab everything and make trouble for you and the Mikaelsons."

Bonnie nods and says, "Okay, but I'm not sure how I did it."

Caroline smiles again and tells her, "Look deep into my eyes and focus on my mind. When you connect you'll feel my mind pull yours a little towards mine. That's how you know you've made the connection. Then you tell me what to do or not do, and then you release the connection."

Bonnie thinks, 'Um okay, that sounds easy enough,' so she looks into her friend's eyes and does what she told her to, 'And whoa I really do feel her mind pulling me towards her. That's kind of cool.' She smiles widely and says, "Unless you get our prior permission you will never tell anyone any of mine or the Mikaelsons' secrets or anything you know about the Mikaelsons and me that you think we might deem classified and don't want you telling other people."

Caroline repeats what she just told her and then Bonnie struggles to relax her hold on her mind before it slips away, and Caroline smiles and says, "Perfect, I could feel it working."

Bonnie nods so Caroline stands and tells my grandbaby, who means the world to her, "Let's get some Ben and Jerry's and we can gossip about how good kissers the Mikaelsons are."

My granddaughter's eyes widen at that when Caroline leaves the room and Bonnie hurries after her asking, "Caroline Forbes, how would you know if any of the Mikaelsons are good kissers? Have you been holding out on me?"

Caroline blushes and while she walks towards the stairs and the kitchen she tells her, "Um, Klaus might have come by to tell me he was going to New Orleans, and he may or may not have kissed me goodbye before leaving."

Bonnie giggles when she reaches the bottom of the stairs behind her and tells Caroline who is staring straight ahead to avoid having to look her oldest friend in the eyes, "Caroline, he left days ago, why am I only just hearing about this? If he's anything like his brother, he's good enough that you would want to shout it from the rooftops."

Caroline giggles while she opens the freezer and with a dreamy look on her face she says, "Oh yeah."

Bonnie laughs before she takes the carton of ice cream and gets two spoons out of the drawer. She turns to look at Caroline, and when she reaches for the ice cream Bonnie pulls it back and asks, "Is that the only time he's kissed you?"

Giggling, Caroline smiles wider and says, "Other than a couple of kisses to my cheek and forehead, yes, that's the only time he's kissed me, now hand over the ice cream before I get mean."

Bonnie giggles back and hands the ice cream and a spoon to her friend before Caroline smirks and asks, "So topless talking in bed… Is that as far as you've ever gone or…"

Smiling but blushing profusely my granddaughter tells her honestly, "If I had ever gone farther you would have gotten it out of me long before today, so, yes, that's the first time any guy has ever touched me beneath my clothes, and he's the first guy to see any of my private parts without clothes on them."

Caroline smiles while she digs out a spoonful of ice cream. She licks the bite off her spoon and then hands the carton to Bonnie before she asks, "So it was good then?"

Laughing, Bonnie tells her, "Oh my God, it was so good. He called me beautiful and then corrected himself and said I'm stunning."

Grinning, Caroline says, "Aww, he's a sweetheart."

Bonnie giggles and tells her, "Don't let him hear you say that. He takes pride in being a tough guy."

Caroline giggles back and mimes zipping her lips then she frowns and asks, "So we have ice cream. Do you want to tell me about Elena? I assume you told her you're moving, and she didn't react well."

Bonnie frowns back and tells her, "Honestly it seemed like she couldn't care less, and I didn't get a chance to tell her. Apparently, as soon as I left Stefan at The Coffee Shop, he called and warned her I was coming and why."

Frowning, Caroline asks, "So who else did you tell? And how did they react?"

They head back to Bonnie's room with their ice cream booty and sit on the bed again before Bonnie tells Caroline about her meetings with all their friends. When she gets to the parts about Stefan's body count, Caroline's eyes widen, and she asks, "Wait, he's killed hundreds of thousands, possibly more than two million, in less than 150 years and Kol hasn't even killed half that many in a thousand years?"

My granddaughter nods and tells her, "Honestly, it's worse than it sounds because although Kol was only out of his coffin for a little over 600 years, there are big chunks of Stefan's 146 vampire years that he was on animal blood and not killing humans. According to Nik the 'ripper years' boil down to a little less than half of his time as a vampire, and Nik actually said he was generous with those numbers because it was actually probably a lot less in reality."

Caroline's eyes are wide before she asks, "Does Elena know?"

Bonnie shakes her head and says, "Probably not because Stefan is so careful about appearing to be the guilt-ridden, Bambi eating, good vampire. He admitted to me today that he's not sorry about the deaths he's caused and that his persona he puts out into the world is all a lie."

Caroline frowns again and asks, "Wait, he did?"

Nodding slowly, Bonnie tells her, "He said Kol's older so of course, he's a better liar than Stefan is. Given that we were talking about how Kol has apologized and expressed remorse for the pain and death he's caused Stefan was implying that everything about himself is really a lie and that Kol is the same way, and I'm just deluding myself if I think differently. Oh, and he knows that Kol and company have their magick back. I'm actually kind of surprised Elena didn't bring it up."

Caroline nods and says, "Me too, if she knew, I think she'd have said something."

Just then Bonnie's phone rings so she takes it out of her pocket and frowns at the number on the Caller ID, "It's Damon, but I just saw him," She pushes send and asks, "Damon, is everything okay?"

He sighs and sounds tired, when he says, "You tell me. I just had an interesting conversation with my brother."

While my granddaughter cringes and sighs, Caroline thinks, 'Well damn, apparently Stefan is a freaking instigator. Why and how did I never realize that about him before because it's become glaringly obvious today that he likes to stick his nose where it doesn't belong, and not only that he has absolutely no right to go telling Bonnie's business to anyone else.'

Yes, she knows she was a hopeless gossip until a few minutes ago, but she never did it with an ulterior motive, and we're both beginning to realize that Stefan has an ulterior motive for about everything he ever does.

Caroline thinks, 'He needs to stop having a big fat mouth and let Bonnie decide who should know her information and when they should know it.'

If she wasn't such a moral person, she thinks she might be inclined to ask Niklaus to compel Stefan the same way Bonnie just compelled her.

Damon's not done, so Caroline focuses on his words before he tells Bonnie, "I think you left parts out of the story you told me this afternoon."

Okay, time for damage control so even though he can't see her, Bonnie nods and tells him, "There were parts I didn't mention because I didn't want to upset you, and there is nothing that can be done to change it."

I can hear the scowl in his voice loud and clear while he bites out, "So it's true you gave The Originals back their magick?"

Caroline silently grouses, 'Stefan would freaking make it sound like she had actively given the Mikaelsons back their magick because Stefan has his own messed up agenda.'

Frowning my granddaughter tells him the truth, "I didn't do anything of the sort, Damon. It was Kol's spell out of their mother's grimoire, and they performed it on themselves. The only role I played it them getting their magick back is that I mentioned that they might want to try the spell themselves because when you think about it returning the balance to each of them has seriously mellowed all of them out. You know I've been hanging out with them a lot. I almost immediately noticed that they seemed calmer and less tense. I thought it might just be the joy of having their magick back after a thousand years without it, but the next day they were just as calm and relaxed. It's been that way every day since."

That's true for Caroline as well. While she's only spent a few days hanging out with Kol and Rebekah, she's spent far more time with Niklaus than probably anyone realizes. It was enough time that she noticed a change too.

She even thought about bringing it up to Niklaus, but she wasn't sure how well he'd take that, so she kept her opinion to herself. It all clicked for her last night though when she learned that the Mikaelson's have their magick back.

Caroline wholeheartedly believes part of the reason the originals have found it so easy to keep to the truce is that they have their magick and balance back for the first time in over a thousand years. Of course, she thinks the other reason they've found it so easy to stick to the terms of the truce is sitting next to her on the bed right now.

Both girls sigh before Bonnie adds, "And for the record, Jer now has his arms back because Kol wrote the spell to do it, and while I'm the one who performed the spell, Kol probably wouldn't have bothered writing it if he didn't have his magick back. All I did was help them put themselves on an even keel again. I didn't perform a spell to give them back their magick, they just used a spell they already had and cleansed themselves of their own imbalances same as I did."

Okay, Caroline is beginning to realize something else too, Kol cares for Jeremy. She correctly thinks Kol considered Jeremy to be his friend when they were in Colorado and that he missed his friend when he returned here, and Jeremy and he were now on opposite sides.

She thinks about it for a moment. Kol easily compelled Damon to kill Jeremy. Why didn't he just compel Elena to do the same thing? She thinks Kol decided he really didn't want his friend dead, so he tried a different approach and don't ya know it worked.

He's getting his friend back too because Caroline knows that Jeremy missed him just as much as Kol misses the teen.

Damon is silent for a minute before he says, "To your knowledge have they used their magick on anyone?"

My grandbaby shakes her head while she tells him, "No and they're more likely to compel someone or use brute force than to try to spell them. Their vampire powers still make getting what they want infinitely easier to get than using magick would. All it really did was fill the void inside each of them, which has vastly improved their overall disposition times a thousand."

She means that wholeheartedly too and Caroline and I both fully agree with her on that. The Mikaelsons are far too practical to use the more complicated magick to get their way when they still have a remarkably simple and incredibly easier, not to mention less time consuming, way to get what they want from anyone.

Well, they can use vampire compulsion on anyone except other witches that is, but they're too practical and like existing far too much to risk pissing off a witch by trying to force their will on one. Not that she thinks they've had to deal with any witch other than Bonnie, but she honestly doesn't think they'd use magick against another witch unless the witch were attacking them.

Damon doesn't say anything for another minute then he says, "They're all leaving to go to New Orleans with you right? None of them are staying behind?"

Bonnie nods, and she tells him, "Right, other than coming with me when I visit my Dad and Jer and Caroline, well, they probably won't be coming back, not in this lifetime anyway."

Caroline thinks, 'If we could come up with a way to bring Jer with us I'd move with them, too. Nik did invite me. Hmm, I'll have to think about the moral ramifications of asking one of the Mikaelsons to compel Elena and possibly Damon into allowing Jer to move to New Orleans. He'd probably be safer with the Mikaelsons all things considered.'

Caroline focuses back on her sire before he sighs, "Okay, then the chances of them using it on anyone I care about other than you is pretty slim, and I know better than most that you are perfectly capable of protecting yourself so I won't freak out on you, but I wish you had told me yourself, Bonnie. I know we're not best friends and never will be after the horrible shit I did to Vampire Barbie, but Stefan's being an ass still, and he did not paint a pretty picture. To be honest thinking, even for a minute, that you betrayed us sucked, so I need you to tell me these sorts of things in the future, okay?"

Bonnie nods again and then tells him, "Okay, then, in that case, you should know that I'm now immortal and linked to Kol."

He asks loudly, "You're what?"

"I'm immortal and linked to Kol. Long story short, New Orleans is teeming with Mikaelson enemies right now. Kol was worried they might try to outnumber me and take me out to hurt the Mikaelsons. So, he wrote this spell that gave me all of the benefits of being him without any of the downsides. Now, I have the speed, strength, and senses but no need or desire to drink blood or kill anyone, which by the way, how the heck do you stand all the noise? My head is killing me because I'm hearing everything a thousand times louder than I was yesterday. And I keep having to focus back on what I'm doing because all the little itty-bitty details I can now see like the tiny barely there cracks I can now see in the paint on my bedroom wall keep distracting me.

He chuckles and tells my grandbaby, "The noise thing takes some getting used to that's for sure, but if I recall correctly by the second day I had figured out how to focus on certain sounds or zone other sounds out to the point where I could ignore it all if I wanted to. Plus, I think eventually your body will grow accustomed to its new senses, so it shouldn't give you a headache after a while. As for minute details distracting you, honestly, that still gets me sometimes."

Caroline nods to show she agrees. Even two years later she's still easily distracted by visual details that she was oblivious to as a human. Both girls giggle when Bonnie tells him, "Well at least now I know it's normal."

I can hear the frown in his voice when he asks, "Has Kol not told you all of this? You may not technically be sired to him, but you are his responsibility."

Both Bonnie and Caroline smile at his uncharacteristic worrying and Bonnie tells him, "Relax Damon. I just haven't had a chance to tell him because I literally did the spell with him about two hours before I went to see you, and, well, I was honestly preoccupied with other things at the time, so I just haven't brought it up to him, but I definitely plan to when I see him later today."

Caroline thinks, 'Preoccupied? Is that what we're calling topless talking in bed these days?' She giggles again prompting Bonnie to frown at her before she tells Damon, "You should also know that I can feel all of Kol's emotions, so I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that he loves me back and would never harm me."

He sighs then says, "Okay, so long as he's not neglecting you and your needs. Anyway, I trust you, amazingly enough, so I'm going to trust that you really do know what you're doing and that you're right that you're safe with him, or them I guess."

Caroline thinks, 'Um, wow that's very uncharacteristically big of him.'

Bonnie just nods and tells him, "Thank you."

"You're welcome. Well, I'm going to let you go. I just wanted to get the facts from you because at this point I don't really trust my brother farther than I can throw him."

Bonnie nods and says, "Okay I'll talk to you later," then she ends the call.

Caroline glances at her and says, "That was weird. I would have expected yelling, lots of it, in fact. Instead, he was civil, and did he actually laugh?"

Ordinarily Bonnie would agree completely, so she nods but tells her, "I know, and yes, yes, he did, but I think loving Elena and having her love him back has mellowed him just like having their magick back has mellowed the Mikaelsons. Plus, I know I told you about what happened New Years after you and Nik went upstairs but I think the Mikaelsons were sneaky when they told Elena, Stefan, and Damon that the compulsions Kol placed on them were reinstated. I think they didn't want me and Jer to think too closely about what exactly all the compulsions were. Don't get me wrong, I don't think Kol lied to me, but I think he told me as little as he could get away with."

Caroline nods and asks, "Are you okay with that?"

Bonnie shrugs and says, "I guess. I mean I'm not stupid. If Kol hadn't compelled everyone, then they'd have tried to kill the Mikaelsons a dozen times in the last seven weeks. I don' t think Kol was forthcoming with his information, but I don't think he had an ulterior motive, or at least, not a bad one. I believe whatever compulsions he placed on everyone were put there to keep the peace, nothing more."

Caroline nods before looking at the clock and telling Bonnie, "Well I'm supposed to have dinner with my mom tonight, she's apparently trying to overlook that I'm a vampire."

Bonnie leans over and hugs her before she says, "At least she's trying right?"

Caroline shrugs and says, "Yeah, that's true."

After tossing the now empty ice cream carton into the trashcan, Caroline grabs her purse and follows Bonnie down the stairs and out the door while Bonnie tells her, "I'll drive you back to your car because I need to go to the Mikaelson's house anyway."

Caroline nods but asks, "Are you sure? I mean it's in the opposite direction, so I can just run there."

Bonnie smiles and tells her, "I'm sure Care." She stops beside her car and says, "Get in."

She nods and then she gets in, and a moment later they leave my granddaughter's driveway.

While Bonnie drives, she tells Caroline about the conversation she had with Kol earlier in the day, "So, Caroline, I wanted to tell you about something Kol said."

She nods and asks, "Okay, what did he say?"

Smiling Bonnie glances over at her friend quickly before telling her, "Well I don't recall how exactly we got on the subject of your control of yourself and especially over your bloodlust, but he said that your level of control is second only to Elijah's and that even then it's a near thing. He also said that given your young age and the fact that Elijah had been a vampire for decades at least when he had any amount of control that by the time you're as old as Elijah is now your level of control will far exceed Elijah's control."

Caroline's blue eyes widen, and her mouth hangs slightly open. She thinks, 'He actually said that? Holy Cow! That is a huge compliment.' She closes her mouth with an audible snap then asks, "He really said that? I mean, I know compared to Stefan and even Damon my control seems better than theirs, but Elijah is the epitome of control. I use him as an example, like when I think I might lose control I close my eyes and tell myself, 'Elijah would be calm, cool, and collected.' Usually, it works, and I don't have to try anything else to remain in control. I guess what I'm trying to say is he's my role model, like if he can do it then so should I."

Bonnie nods and tells her, "I told Kol that you have a lot of respect for Elijah, but I didn't realize you were literally using his behavior as a baseline for how you should react to things. That's pretty cool to tell you the truth. I've gotten to know Elijah a lot better since we made our truce, and you could really do a lot worse for people to try to be like. That's true of all the Mikaelsons at this point. It's like now that they all have their magick back they've mellowed a ton, and even Nik's baseline of behavior has improved."

Caroline nods until she gets to that last part, and then Bonnie shrugs and tells her, "Don't get me wrong, he's still an ass pretty often, like when he tried to dagger Elijah yesterday, but it's almost like it's a knee-jerk reaction to fear, his being an ass that is. Like when he feels fear, his defense mechanism is to lash out. It's as if he thinks that if he gets the first shot in the other person is less likely to hurt him. Anyway, I think he's an ass less because he's an actual ass and more because of the PTSD having his wolf side forcefully suppressed and running from Mikael for a thousand years caused."

That makes a lot of sense to Caroline, so she nods before Bonnie tells her, "I don't think I'm breaking a confidence by telling you that his wolf side was always there but just put in shackles. He said that full moons were very painful because his body wanted to shift and follow the call of the wild but that he couldn't do it, and it physically hurt more often than not. 12 or 13 full moons a year for 1,009 years is a lot of pain to feel. Not to mention the trauma of both of his parents turning on him and betraying him and not for anything he did. They turned on him because of their own actions and the fact that they didn't like the outcome that he had no control over."

Caroline nods and says, "I know. We've talked about that stuff a bit. I told him off at the Ball last fall and made a comment about because his father didn't love him he thinks no one will ever love him. I didn't really think of it in terms of it being PTSD, but now that you said it that makes a lot of sense and makes me see his actions in a new light. I mean don't get me wrong I still don't like a ton of the things he's done even just since he came to town, but I think understanding him is the first step to truly knowing and loving him, and I find I want to be that for him. I mean I want to love him just to show him that it is possible and that he's totally worth the effort. Don't get me wrong I'm still a ways off from truly loving him or being in love with him anyhow, but I don't think it'll always be that way. Anyway, I hope that my friendship for now and the love of his family will begin to heal his old wounds, and maybe someday soon I'll wake up and realize that the sneaky bastard hasn't just wiggled his way into my heart, which he's already done, but that he also managed to make me fall for him."

Caroline smiles and then Bonnie something she hasn't told anyone else yet, "He called me yesterday. I couldn't pick up because I was with Elena and Stefan. He left me this really sweet message, though, about him being in his favorite place in the whole wide world and how all he could think about was sharing it with me. I practically swooned every time I listened to it. And before you ask, yes, I listened to it multiple times, and I saved the message so I can listen to it as often as I want to."

My granddaughter giggles and nods before she says, "I totally would have too, and he does have a way with words. All of them do really, and despite their emotional wounds, and major ones at that, they still know how to show that they love even if it makes them uncomfortable to admit verbally that they love someone. They show it in their actions though, and I don' t think they put much thought into acting that way either. I think it just comes naturally to them. Even Nik daggering his siblings, I've heard enough to know that on several occasions he did it to protect either the one he was daggering or the rest of them or in most cases all of the above. I think I've only heard of one instance where he daggered Kol for personal reasons."

Caroline nods, so Bonnie tells her about the second part of her conversation with Kol. "I also wanted to tell you about something you and Kol both do. He has books that he writes all his victims' names in, and I'll admit that when I first heard that I thought he was sick and using the names in place of trophies. He's not, though, it's his way of paying tribute to them. He thinks if he remembers them and their names and how they died then their memory lives on even once everyone who knew them has died. He said that it felt wrong to kill them and then just forget about them as if they never existed, or he didn't just snuff out their lives before their time."

Caroline thinks, 'Wow, apparently I have way more in common with Kol Mikaelson than I would have thought.'

Bonnie smiles gently and says, "I know you have that list in the back of your diary, so I just wanted to let you know that you're not the only one who tries to honor their victims the best they can after the fact."

Caroline's eyes widen, and her jaw hangs open again while she looks at her she closes her mouth and tells Bonnie, "Well now I feel better because Elena said that Stefan kept lists in hidden closets but that it was totally his way of keeping trophies."

She pauses then asks a question she's not sure she should ask, "Uh, I know you said Kol's killed less than half as many people as Stefan has, but do you actually know how many that is?"

Bonnie nods and says, "Unless he's killed anyone I don't know about since we discussed this he said he's killed approximately 333,446 humans and about 1,516 werewolves, maybe 3,318 vampires, and no more than 237 witches. Only seven of the witches were innocent, and they died when he was younger and still trying to get a handle on his bloodlust and anger management issues. The other 230 witches all attacked him or those under his protection first. Anyway, those are the death numbers give or take a dozen or so of each of the others in the 608 years that he was undaggered."

Caroline's eyes are wide again then she narrows them as she thinks hard and does the math then she tells the witch, "One kill a day for 608 years would be just over 222,070, so if he's killed about 333,446 humans, that's not even two a day, not even close actually. It's more like 2 every two or three days and one on the off days."

Frowning my granddaughter tells her, "I think it was less a habit that he did every day or every other day and more or less that he couldn't stop when he was feeding in time to save them plus I think a good chunk of the ones you attributed to every other day were actually in groups. He said it took him close to 300 years to be able to control his bloodlust and an unspecified even longer before he could get angry or jealous and not kill everyone present in his fit of rage. While Stefan actively hunted and then spent hours at least torturing his victims I got the sense from Kol that his victims all died quick deaths unless he was defending or avenging himself or a loved one. So Kol didn't do much by way of hunting other than needing to find a meal. And he definitely didn't set out to terrorize anyone."

Bonnie glances at Caroline out of the corner of her eye before focusing on the road again and saying, "The newspaper articles I read when looking into Stefan's history lead me to believe he actively enjoyed himself and took the time to write letters to the local newspapers. He was a bonafide serial killer complete with crazy letters to the authorities and the newspapers. A lot of the letters couldn't be published back then they were so graphic about what he had done to people and what he planned to do to more people, but the libraries in those areas have scanned the letters, and they're available online, and let me tell you they are sick and twisted."

Caroline thinks, 'Um wow, I had no idea Stefan did that.'

Bonnie frowns then adds, "Plus, if I ever doubted it was Stefan, I actually recognized his loopy cursive handwriting. He played with the whole community every time working to increase their fear long before he ever got his hands on them."

Caroline's eyes are as round as Frisbees while she just stares at her with her jaw hanging open.

Bonnie nods and says, "Seriously, I was not kidding when I told you we shouldn't trust Stefan. I'm more inclined to trust Damon because at least he's honest about the monster he's been. I don't know that Stefan actively tries to hide it, but he certainly isn't upfront about his previous behavior. I mean think about it. He told Elena after he drank her blood that he had 'a little trouble' controlling himself when on human blood. He was very obviously seriously downplaying that. I can't figure out if it's because he didn't want the girl he was in love with to find out he's a ripper in general. It's either that or he was explicitly trying to keep her and the rest of us from discovering the true scope of his psycho ways."

Caroline nods and then tells her, "I think based on what you've just told me and on conversations I had with Stefan right after I turned that it was both. I agree he's not as guilt-ridden as he pretends to be and definitely not guilt-ridden anywhere near as much as he ought to be based on the numbers you're giving me. He said things that didn't make sense when he was trying to talk me into eating animals. I could tell he really wasn't feeling it and that while he certainly didn't want me going around killing everyone whenever the mood suited me I thought that was more because he didn't want to be bothered with the hassle it would cause him if anyone knew there was a vampire or two living in town."

She frowns and adds, "Plus, the way he laughed when I objected to killing Thumper or Bambi, well it wasn't really a humorous laugh but more like he thought I was ridiculously under qualified to be a vampire. Anyway, I'd rather know exactly who is inhabiting our town so if you can forward me the links to those letters and stuff and any other information you found on Stefan I'd really like to look at all of it."

Bonnie nods and tells her, "My laptop is in my backpack, so I'll send it to you when I get to Kol's house."

Caroline smiles and nods back just before Bonnie pulls up to her car and parks. My grandbaby turns and looks at her before she says, "Thank you, Caroline, I meant it earlier when I said you're a good friend. You're the best."

They hug and then Caroline gets out of the car and unlocks hers before getting in.

My granddaughter is smiling ever so slightly when she pulls away from the curb and drives to Kol's house, and honestly so is Caroline when she pulls out and heads home to have mother-daughter bonding time.

When Bonnie arrives, she gets out of her car and walks to the door. Pausing, she knocks before waiting for someone to open the door. A moment later Rebekah answers the door and says, "You know you don't have to knock anymore. You can just come right on in."

Bonnie shakes her head but smiles while she walks past her and says, "There is no way I'm entering your house without knocking, or at least not until we get to New Orleans, and I actually live in the same house as all of you. Until then, though, I'll keep on knocking, thank you very much."

Rebekah tilts her head and looks at her then in a serious, yet curious voice asks, "Why? I mean if I tell you that you can just come on in then…?"

Bonnie laughs and tells her, "Seriously, Kol once told me that Nik would literally tear off heads if someone presumed to enter his house without knocking and waiting for someone to let them in. I may be crazy, but I'm definitely not stupid enough to piss off The Original Hybrid if I can help it."

Rebekah laughs at that so hard she bends over at the waist. She's still laughing a moment later when Kol enters through the front door and stands beside Bonnie looking at his sister with an eyebrow raised, and those lips Bonnie thinks are wonderfully kissable quirked upward.

He watches her laughing for a minute before he asks, "Sister, what has you laughing so uncontrollably?"

She stands up straight and though she giggles a little she manages to control her laughter for the most part before she tells him, "Bonnie actually thinks Nik could manage to best her in a fight."

Kol's eyebrow shoots up even higher before he turns to face Bonnie and asks, "Surely, by now you realize that none of us could get anywhere near you if you don't want us to? That's why I let you fry my brain over and over so you could practice. It's also why I taught you how to freeze people in place. None of us, Nik included, can touch you if we can't move or speak."

Bonnie smiles and tells him, "I know that. However, that does not mean I can just invade his or your personal space any ole time I want without knocking on the damn door and waiting to be let in."

Rebekah opens her mouth to argue, so Bonnie holds up her hand and tells them both, "It's a respect issue. I respect all of you far too much to just trample all over your personal space. Like I told Beks when we move to New Orleans and I reside in the same house as all of you, then I'll stop knocking on the outside door. I do, however, plan to continue knocking on bedroom doors and really any door that might be closed before I enter the room, but I'll only go into the room after I'm told I can enter."

Kol smiles and then moves in front of her before putting his arms on her shoulders and leaning in to kiss her. He pulls back and tells her, "You do whatever makes you comfortable. However, I hate to break it to you, but you're the deadliest most powerful creature that's ever been in this house. So, you can really do whatever you want because all three of my siblings and I are fully aware of that fact."

She frowns and asks, "You don't really believe that, do you? I mean I'm just me, and you're all thousand-year-old vampires, and Nik is a hybrid at that. I mean don't get me wrong I know I'm powerful, but you guys aren't anything to sneeze at either."

Kol bursts out laughing and asks, "I've never heard that phrase before, but I'm guessing based on the context of that sentence that you mean we're powerful in our own right?"

Bonnie smiles and nods, so he grins back and tells her, "Okay I'm not going to argue that. I would, however, like to point out that you now have all of my strength and speed not to mention my senses and abilities and my magick added to yours. For the record, your magick was far more powerful than mine and therefore more powerful than each of my siblings even before we added my power to yours. So, I repeat, you are the most powerful and potentially deadliest creature to ever set foot in this house."

Frowning, Bonnie tells him, "Yeah about that, I compelled Caroline. Once without meaning to and then a second time when she told me to force her out of her gossiping ways."

Kol and Rebekah both laugh at that before Kol smiles and asks, "Is that the only thing you've noticed?"

Shaking her head, she tells them, "No, I actually have a headache from how loud everything seems, and I keep getting distracted by all the minute details I can now see."

Kol nods and asks, "Have you eaten?"

Shaking her head, she asks him, "Does sharing a pint of Chunky Monkey with Caroline count?"

Chuckling, he says, "No, so why don't you come sit with us in the kitchen, and you can instruct us on how to cook dinner, and then when we're done we can go upstairs and lay down for a bit while you try to learn to control what you hear and what you don't hear."

Bonnie nods, so Rebekah leads them into the kitchen where Bonnie sits at the island and takes her laptop out of her backpack while Rebekah goes to the refrigerator and begins taking things out.

My grandbaby opens and starts her computer while Rebekah turns with a package of tortellini in her hands. She tells Bonnie, "So Jeremy mentioned over the holidays that you guys enjoy tortellini with pesto and pine nuts when you've had a rough day. I went out and bought some after you left because I figured you'd need comfort food after dealing with Elena and telling her your news."

Nodding, Bonnie smiles at her, so Rebekah asks, "How'd that go by the way?"

Bonnie's lip quivers slightly, and she fights back tears at the memory before she proceeds to tell them all about her talks with her friends, "Damon was pretty cool. He accepted it and didn't make a big deal out of it."

Kol smiles and tells Rebekah, "She wasn't as firm about her feelings for me as she could have been so when she said she might be in love with me he told her that either she was, or she wasn't because there is no in between. He was remarkably supportive, though."

Bonnie's eyes widen at his words, and she slowly turns her face towards him. He's grinning while she asks, "And how exactly do you know that he said there is no in between?"

Smiling brightly, he kisses her cheek before telling her, "I was worried that your friends might lash out at you so I may have followed you and eavesdropped on all of your conversations."

My granddaughter's eyebrows shoot up into her hairline, and she opens her mouth to complain, but he smiles wider and tells her, "I know I just got done telling you that you're the most powerful creature in the world, but I know you. You would have hesitated if one of your friends or former friends attacked you, and I wasn't willing to risk your safety just so that you could have privacy, so I stayed close and kept my eye out for signs of trouble."

She's frowning with narrowed eyes, so he continues, "Bonnie can you really blame me not only after Elena and Stefan found a way around my compulsions but also after the conversation we had about Stefan earlier? I won't apologize for worrying about you or for staying close enough to do something if someone attacked you. You know my romantic history well enough that you should know by now that your safety is not something I'm willing to risk, not even so you can have privacy. I—I just can't risk you. I know you can't die anymore, but I will tear apart anyone who dares touch you in a way that harms you or causes you pain, and I know you well enough to know that you'd be hurt emotionally and mentally if I hurt one of your friends no matter how much they've been hurting you lately."

He shrugs and says, "So, I made a judgment call, and as I said I won't apologize."

She thinks, 'Um wow, okay, so I can sort of see his point, especially if you consider his family's history with my friends. We usually attacked them after making promises not to attack, so his worry that one of my friends might lose their cool or act impulsively isn't a totally unreasonable worry.'

It's not like she planned to keep any of what her friends said to herself. There are things about each other that they might not know about the other just yet but she doesn't intentionally have any secrets from Kol. She doesn't intend to change that, ever, so while she wishes he had told her up front that he was going to be there, she's not actually angry.

She smiles and tells him, "I'm not mad. I wish you had told me you were coming. Hell, I might have even let you come inside Damon's house and to the Coffee Shop with me."

He smiles back and tells her, "I appreciate the sentiment, but we both know none of your friends would have been comfortable with me there, which is why I chose to do it the way I did. I was fairly certain you would have made that offer, and I wanted you to be able to have as positive an experience as possible, and I knew very well my presence would have impeded that from happening."

Smiling my grandbaby nods before leaning over in her seat and kissing his cheek, "Thank you, Sparkle Pants."

He nods while smiling big before Rebekah frowns while she waits for the water to boil and asks, "He rudely invaded your privacy, and he didn't trust you to take care of yourself, and you're thanking him?"

Bonnie laughs and nods before saying, "I know what happened to Eija, and I know what happened to Chalina. How can I fault him for trying to protect me? He's not wrong that I would have asked him to join me if he told me he would be there, and he's also not wrong about how my friends, especially Stefan and Elena would have responded to his presence. I mean, if he were just trying to be a tyrant, then, yeah, I'd be upset and give him hell about it. He didn't try to control me, though. He let me do what I wanted and just took the steps he felt were necessary to allow me to do what I wanted while keeping me safe without my even knowing."

Kol smiles while she pauses then she continues telling them, "I think we need to work on our communication skills and let each other know what we're doing and thinking, but I think that will come with time as we get to know each other better. Other than his lack of communicating, I don't really see anything wrong with what he did. Honestly, I wasn't entirely sure I'd be safe as evidenced by the fact that I met Stefan in a public place to minimize the likelihood that he'd flip his lid."

Kol's eyes narrow before he asks with some heat in his voice, "You were really worried about his reaction, and you still met with him?"

She nods slowly, "Um, yes. I needed to tell him, and I didn't want him to hear the news from someone else. It's not a big deal."

Kol's eyes flash before he says, "It's not a big deal? It's not a big deal? Of course, it's a big deal. He could have hurt you, and everything that I now know about him says he would have done it and not thought twice about it."

My granddaughter places her hand over his on the counter, but he pulls his hand away. Taking a deep breath, she tries to push down the pain in her chest at his action before she tells him, "It's not a big deal because while I might hesitate to protect myself from some of my other friends, Stefan is not on that list. If he came at me, I would have frozen him and then fried his brain just like you taught me to. I—please don't be angry. I'm sorry. I won't—"

Kol's face falls when Bonnie's lip begins to tremble, so he turns to face her completely and pulls her into his arms before saying, "Stop, you don't need to apologize. I was an arse. I've said a million times that you have good instincts, and I said multiple times today that you're the most powerful creature to ever step foot in this house, and because Stefan is among those who have entered our home and I believe you when you say you wouldn't hesitate with him… well, I told you a couple times through the last couple of weeks that I still have trouble controlling my anger or jealousy sometimes. While I'm not jealous of Stefan, I'm sorry I pulled away from you. I was angry mostly because I was scared after the fact."

Nodding, while he runs his hand up and down her back she snuggles into his arms for a minute before speaking into his chest telling him, "'S okay. I should have planned it all a little better because really if Stefan wanted to blow up in public nothing, not even witnesses would have stopped him. Maybe I got incredibly lucky."

He kisses the top of her head and asks, "Remind me again why I haven't killed him already?"

Giggling, Bonnie tells him quite honestly, "Uh, you haven't killed him because that would break our truce. Then Damon would come after you, and you'd easily kill him, which would cause Elena to lose her mind and come after you, and then she'd be dead. Caroline, Jer and I all much prefer them alive no matter how annoying they've been lately, so you've been ignoring their bad behavior out of love for us."

While Rebekah puts the pasta into the boiling water Kol smiles and says, "Right, I knew there was an excellent reason. I just couldn't recall what it was."

Bonnie giggles again before telling the rest of her story. She only pauses long enough for Rebekah to hand her a plate full of yummy tortellini in pesto sauce with crunchy pine nuts. 'Yay!'

She finishes telling the end of her tale in between bites and then when she's all done relaying the events of the afternoon to them, Rebekah begins telling her all the things she wants to take with them when they move.

When Bonnie takes her last bite, she looks over at Kol and giggles because his face is slack, and his eyes are unfocused. She nudges his shoulder and asks him, "I need to forward some links to Caroline, but other than that are you ready to go snuggle upstairs while I try to get a handle on these new supernatural senses?"

He smiles when his eyes fall and focus on her before he nods so after she rinses off her plate and the dishes Rebekah dirtied making dinner, she puts them in the dishwasher and then takes a moment to collect and forward all the links about Stefan being a grade-A psycho. When she's done doing that, she takes Kol's hand allowing him to lead her up to his bedroom.