I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, it's a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a teloscope. Which is what I do, and that enables you to laugh at lifes realities.

-Dr. Suess.

-0-

"Damon's upstairs studying, Katherine."

Katherine closed the front door behind her with her foot. The Salvatore boarding house had never been her favorite place to hang out- too big, too open, too vulnerable- but she made the occasional stop when Damon was being stubborn and refusing to answer her calls. Son of a bitch. He was probably sulking over the Bennett witches arrival. The thought made Katherine tense up a little. This whole situation was... stressing her out, to say the least.

She didn't know what to do- Tyler had been right. This girl, Bonnie, was innocent to kill. She clearly knew nothing of her capabilities yet and had caused no harm to her or the coven. Still, Damon bumped from leader wasn't an option. She refused to let it happen.

So, what to do?

She made an effort to smile at the maid. "Thank you, Maria. Do you need any help?"

Maria shook her head, pausing in the act of fluffing cu shines- that Katherine knew for a fact were never sat on- to shoot her a fond smile. Maria liked Katherine, she always had. Not so much Elena, though, which had been something of a shock to Katherine. Everyone liked her sister. It was, like, one of the rules of the Universe. Not Maria though, not after Elena screwed with Damon's head. That kind of behaviour just didn't sit with the woman.

Katherine admired that about her.

"No thank you, dear. Go up and visit Damon. I know he'll be happy to see you."

Damon? Happy to see her? Katherine suppressed a snort. Damon wasn't happy to see anyone these days, least of all Katherine. She didn't let him get away with wallowing. She forced him to have funnand he hated her for that. Just a little bit, though, and she could live with that.

She nodded at Maria as she began to mount the stairs, her hand gliding lightly across the surface of the banister.

The house really was beautiful, all warm woods and roaring fires but if felt... cold. Vacant. It may have been the boys home, but Katherine knew that they spent as little as possible time in it. Their father was never home either, which just added to the emptyness. It was a shame really, since the house was one that would be a pretty amazing family home.

She stopped outside of Damon's door, feet hesitating for just the barest of seconds.

Did she want to get into this right now? Because of course, she knew what would happen next. She would tell him of her plans. He would disagree. They would argue. One of them would end up leaving. And it wouldn't be Katherine.

She sighed, hand on the doorknob. Here goes nothing.

She pushed the door open, a strategically place scowl pinching her lips together as she strode into Damon's room. He was sat on his bed with his legs tucked up under him, and there were books everywhere. She could see history books, hidden in a cluster of grimoirs. German homework placed beside a lit candle. English reading books, shoved underneath Damon's own handwritten book of spells. Clearly, he had been trying to balance out his everyday life with his magic and it had all gone terribly wrong. The magic always won him over in the end.

He didn't bother to look at her when she stormed into the room. Head still bowed over the grimoir in his lap, he flicked his wrist in a careless sort of way and she flinched when the door slammed behind her.

"You always forget to close the door." he admonished quietly.

Katherine sighed. "You and your freaky obsession with closed doors."

"There's less chance of being over heard if the door's closed. You know that, Katherine."

She hated that he sounded so disappointed. Worse, she hated that she cared whether he sounded disappointed or not. Damon was probably the only person in the world who could get that sort of reaction out of her, and she wondered briefly what made him so darn important. It certainly hadn't been her decision to put him at such a high prestige.

"Yeah, yeah." she rolled her eyes, feigning indifference, "Listen, I didn't come here to be chastised by you, Damon. I came here to tell you have a plan."

He still didn't look up, so she added, "About the Bennett witch."

That got his attention.

Slowly, he placed a bare sheet of paper between the pages of the book he'd been reading- another grimoir? Katherine didn't know, she couldn't see it's spine from the angle she was at- and pushed it off his lap. Then, tilting his head to the side slightly he glanced up at her, polite interest masking his features.

"Oh? Do share." he jestured to one of the chairs nearest his bed. "Sit down if you want. Put the books anywhere."

She gritted her teeth at his formality, but moved towards the chair anyway. It was littered by books- thick books, the kind with a font of, like, nine and, carefully, since she knew how important they were to him, lifted them under her arm and placed them beside his bed. She dusted the chair down with her hand and sat, hands in her lap, feeling like a scolded child. Damon was in a mood. She knew that without even asking.

"Your plan?" he asked softly, eyes penetrating. He was focused, she realized, really focused and totally not as indifferent towards the situation as she'd previously assumed. He wanted to keep leadership.

Katherine swallowed. Hard. "Your against killing her, right?"

Damon nodded his head once, firmly.

"Well, after meeting her, I am too. Tyler was right when he said she was very.. innocent." An image of Bonnie humming nervously crossed Katherine's mind, and she forced back a sigh. "So, that leaves us with only one other option."

Damon arched a brow, genuine curiosity glinting in his blue eyes. She had him hooked.

It all rested on this- pleasing Damon, getting everything back to normal, repairing her fracturing world- it all depended on whether or not he accepted her idea. Mentally crossing her fingers, Katherine took a deep breath and looked Damon dead in the eye.

"We bind her magic, Damon."

-0-

"Bonnie... what are you doing?"

I didn't look up at the sound of my fathers voice. Elbow deep in dust and grime, I wasn't sure I could actually manage it without bursting into tears. This was disgusting and I was tired and depressed, which just made it that little bit worse. Kol wasn't there to comfort me either, to cheer me up with his snarky banter and cheeky grins. Tears pooled in my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. If he wanted to be such a... douche, then let him. I didn't need his help.

"Looking for grandma Bennetts address." I responded shortly.

It was the only place I could think of to look. Dad always shoved old documents and pictures- mainly one's of mum that he couldn't bare to look at, but refused to throw out- in the attic of any of the houses we lived in, and I was hoping to find some answers in them. Old letters or birthday cards would have been a great find, but I wasn't fussy. Even a picture with her address on it would have been great.

"Your grams?" Dad sounded confused- and a little vague, but that didn't worry me too much. I was willing to bet he'd only woken up, so that seemed pretty normal- and he couldn't disguise the hurt in his voice. "Why do you need to find her address?"

"Because I want to talk to her." My own voice was cold, clipped, and it surprised me a little. It wasn't like me to be so tempermental. "I know nothing about her, dad. You won't tell me anything, and I'm tired of having faceless family members."

I deliberately didn't mention the fact that this was something that I felt instinctively had to be done. My fathers face from the dream had haunted me from it had occurred and I didn't want to give him reason to look at me like that ever again.

"Bonnie..." he sounded wounded. My heart flinched in response and the tears that had been gathering in my eyes fell, but I still refused to look up.

"I'm sorry, Bonnie." he said quietly, "I know I haven't been the best dad in the world, but... I do love you. You know that, right?"

I didn't respond, didn't know how to. My heart was in my throat at his admission and his nexT words only proved to astonish me further.

He sighed. "You're grandmother lives here, Bonnie. She lives in Mystic Falls. 83 Scotch Street."

He walked away. I sat there for a moment, frozen, and listened to his footsteps fading away. She lived here. She lived in Mystic Falls.

"See, Kol?" I whispered to myself, wiping the dusty knees of my jeans as I stood, "I don't need your help."

-0-

A/N: Short and sweet. This chapter was a set-up for what's to occur next in the story. Also, I hope y'all aren't too mad for the lack of bonnie/damon interaction- it is coming very soon, I promise!

Very, very big thank you to dawnkind and rainne.200.16! Your feedback meant so much to me, so thank you!

On a more serious note though, as much as I appreciate all of you who have read, followed and favourited the story, I would really love to hear some feedback guys! It means that y'all can give me some advice on what could be improved, what you would like to happen in the story and what you're liking about it. Even if it is a brief little message, it would really help a lot :)

I hope you all enjoyed your holidays and had some time to unwind. Personally, I feel like I may have took the whole, 'eat, drink and be merry' thing a bit too far. My waistline hates me right now.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this and look forward to hearing your feedback!

Thanks for reading,

-lolitaxo