Disclaimer: I do not own the vampire diaries.

Elena was getting on her nerves. Her decision to take a break from the Salvatore brothers has apparently left her with a lot of time on her hands and she has decided to spend the time by meddling in Bonnie's love life. Lack of it is a better term but whatever.

She keeps going on about how Jeremy is not the same ever since they broke up. How he watches her with so much longing when she's not paying attention. How he regrets what happened with Anna. She even goes on to tell Bonnie that she understands that Bonnie wants to wait and be with the right guy but then she urges her to give Jeremy a second chance because he cares about her so much. Sometimes, she even makes Caroline add her unwanted two cents and she would encourage Bonnie by telling her to just take a chance with Jeremy or anybody and that the perfect guy is not always ideal. Then they would stress how important love was especially in their situation when everybody was trying to kill them. If that was the selling point for getting back with Jeremy then she would rather be single. Besides, Elena is probably blowing his trumpet because he's her brother!

She was getting sick and tired of their unwanted encouragements and had taken to avoiding them. But she realised one thing though, her friends believed she was still a virgin waiting to be with her ideal guy and Bonnie let them maintain that mistaken belief else they would question why she was being so difficult and probably take a more active and intrusive role in getting her hooked and justify it by saying they had her best interests in mind.

The summer that Elena's parents died, she had been on vacation outside of Mystic Falls and she met a guy, Caleb, who had just graduated from high school. She was 16 to his 18 and they were attracted to each other and for once she decided to let go and relax. The sex was fun, not the first time though, that shit was painful the first time but practice makes perfect however, a few weeks before the end of summer break, Caroline called with the news that Mr and Mrs Gilbert were dead in a car accident and that Elena was the only survivor. She spent the rest of summer providing emotional support for Elena and it seemed cruel of her to talk about her fun summer. When school started, Elena met Stefan and before Bonnie knew it vampires, werewolves and magic became part of her daily life. She never did tell Elena and Caroline about Caleb but, sometimes she thinks of the time they had and she misses how carefree and happy she was. She didn't love him but she enjoyed being with him.

Jeremy on the other hand is a different case entirely. The involvement of the supernatural world in their lives just made their relationship more complicated than it ought to be. It started out by keeping him protected even though it meant keeping him in the dark, when he eventually got to know about the supernatural world, their relationship evolved to ensuring he had a friend in her in the chaos their lives had become. From there they started hanging out more and after a while they decided to take the next step in their relationship but it all crumbled when he decided that kissing a ghost was much more worthwhile than being faithful to her.

She's realized that knowledge of the supernatural has made it easier for her friends to rationalize the questionable behaviours of their significant others. She was not about to jump on that bandwagon. Elena's relationship with the Salvatore brothers is a prime example of how explaining away certain behaviours can lead to more heartache and Bonnie did not want that for herself. Better to learn from Elena's mistake than to experience it herself. So there was no way she getting back with Jeremy in the nearest future.


Another person who was getting on her nerves was the original hybrid. Unlike Elena, this was not as a result of continuous interaction with him but because the conversation she had with him on that fateful night was still playing on a loop in her mind.

That fateful night

She opened her door for the original hybrid and he walked in like he owned the place. After a sarcastic greeting, he rummaged through her kitchen, got two tumbler glasses, took a sit in the living room and poured what she was told was scotch in the glasses.

After he had finished playing host, complete with telling her to have a sit and despite her annoyance, the first thing to come out of her mouth was; "you do know it's illegal for me to drink, right?"

"Compared to the other illegal things you do, for instance, kidnapping, aiding and abetting in torture, this is pretty tame don't you think?" he answered with a playful smirk on his face.

She had nothing to say to that and before she got sidetracked, she effectively nipped that conversation in the bud by taking a sip from her glass of scotch. It burned but she refused to grimace which only served to amuse Klaus.

"So what is this favour you desperately need from me?"

Bonnie rolled her eyes at his exaggeration but answered nonetheless.

"I need you to...instruct me on ways I can better perform magic as well as what I should expect from the supernatural world."

Klaus was silent for a while, processing her request, then "you want me to train you?" she purposely refused to use the word 'train' but in reality that was exactly what she was asking him to do. "Yes." She answered.

"To what end?" she did not expect the question nor did she fully understand the meaning behind it and at her confused expression, Klaus elaborated. "What purpose do you hope to achieve from this training?

The first thing that came to her mind was that the question sounded like one a prospective employer would ask a prospective employee during an interview but since he did not immediately refuse her, she answered sincerely.

"I want to be better equipped in protecting the people I love." She realised that she was asking him to teach her how best to deal with anyone who might mess with her and her friends and although there was no conflict between them now, this could very well include him and his family.

She was sure he would refuse her and this filled her with disappointment, the Salvatores had limited knowledge and experience. Even Damon who was charged with protecting the Bennett line knew next to nothing about her heritage except Bennett witches are powerful and can do anything when they put their minds to it. That was so bloody unhelpful, normal human beings can and have achieved their dreams when fully committed and Damon made it sound like commitment was strictly a Bennett trait.

Klaus sighed. "Even if I wanted to instruct you like you said, your foundation is flawed."

At first she was surprised that he would consider instructing her but everything he said registered and she frowned.

"What do you mean my foundation is flawed."

He took as sip of his scotch as he considered her then he said, "Your relationship with magic is just like your relationship with your friends."

Bonnie was gobsmacked especially when she knew for certain he didn't mean that as a compliment.

"You love them and they might love you but that love they might feel for you has been taken for granted. Most of the time they only call on you when they need help or answers to whatever problems they find themselves in and from what I've observed, you're beginning to resent it. Your need to protect them, which used to be borne out of love now feels more like an obligation, something you think you are required to do. Am I right?" He asked with that infuriating smirk on his face.

"Of course not!" she exploded. "You're wrong and even if you were right, which you're not, my relationship with my magic is not flawed." Bonnie was so angry at him and with his analogy, she could not believe his nerves.

"You think so?" Klaus asked, clearly amused by her anger.

"I know so." She snapped. Already regretting asking him for help as he clearly had not idea of what he was saying.

"Tell me then, how did you feel when your powers were taken from you?" Klaus asked, he had a point to prove and he was going to knock her down a peg or two in the process.

"I felt like a part of me was ripped out." She answered through clenched teeth. If he was trying to provoke her by psychoanalyzing her and reopening old wounds, then he was succeeding.

"And when you got your powers back, when that ripped part of you was later restored, what did you do? Did you nurture it? Did you spend personal time trying to get to know it better? Or do you take it for granted, only calling upon it when you need it? Do you now consider a good day as one where you did not have to perform magic?" Klaus asked leaning forward, his gaze daring her to answer.

Bonnie was stunned into silence but Klaus was not done.

"Your magic is obligated to answer when you call but that's the level of loyalty it owes to you right now. It's natural to feel protective of someone you know and love but since you haven't given your magic the chance to bond with you on a personal level, the natural inclination to protect you is absent." Klaus leaned closer to her and now he was speaking in a quiet but firm voice.

"That's why you have nosebleeds and bouts of dizziness after you conduct your spells. After the spell, your magic retreats back until you call on it again, it doesn't take the time to caress you because if it did, you wouldn't suffer from post spell problems like nosebleeds or dizziness, the caress would have taken care of that."

Bonnie looked at him, a heavy feeling within her, searching for signs that might indicate that he was lying to her and found none.

"It doesn't matter what I teach you, if you do not take the time to get personally acquainted with your magic, your true potential will remain dormant. Remember, every relationship where the parties love, understand, respect and cherish each other is in most cases, a strong and healthy relationship. So do you love, understand, respect and cherish your magic?" He asked but it was a rhetoric question meant for her to ponder on.

Klaus finished his drink and stood up.

"I'll leave the bottle for you love, think about what I said." He said and the next thing she heard was her front door closing indicating that he had left.

End of that fateful night

A few days have passed yet the events of that night continue to play in her mind and if she didn't know better she would think she had been compelled to continue thinking about it.

Klaus had forced her to really examine the way she treated her magic and she is ashamed to admit even to herself that she was guilty of neglecting and failing to nurture her magic. It burns her to know that she treats something that is inherently a part of her the way her friends have treated her on occasion. She may not have admitted it to Klaus, but she knows that her relationship with her friends is not what it used to be like ever since they got sucked into the ambit of the supernatural world. However, she has no idea on how to begin bonding with her magic, she doesn't know any other witch that could guide her or explain the experience to her. She thought of her mum but Abby had a worse relationship with her magic and she was not ready for the woman to abandon her again.

Her only hope is Klaus and at this stage she desperately needs his help. Damn it!

A/N: Hey readers! I really enjoyed writing this chapter and I hope you enjoy reading it! Don't forget to let me know what you think about this chapter and the story in general. Constructive criticism is always appreciated!