This chapter was inspired by a very unfortunate incident at work last week. Shout out to the guest who left the kissing prompt in the reviews! Feel free to leave more, and I'll try to incorporate them. Enjoy!
One night turned into three, and the trio fell into routine. Bonnie took care of bedtimes and night feedings, and Damon took the early morning shift, getting Mary her morning bottles and making breakfast. Bonnie was still sleeping in Damon's bed, neither of them could be bothered to get her situated in one of the guest rooms.
She walked into the kitchen, in another one of Damon's shirts and a spare pair of his boxers, grinning widely at the fresh pot of coffee sitting on the counter. Mary sat in a high chair at the table, playing with a sippy cup, and Damon stood at the stove carefully flipping an omelette.
Damon pointed his spatula to the table. "Sit," he instructed. "It's almost ready."
Bonnie helped herself to a mug and filled it to the top-Mary was up about six times that night-before joining the baby. Mary reached for her, gurgling happily, and she pulled her out of the high chair, sitting her in her lap. Mary picked up the spoon that was laid out in her chubby fist, and waved it around gleefully.
Damon plated their breakfast and sat across from the girls. "I need to go home to get some of my own clothes," Bonnie announced between dodging Mary's swinging spoon and keeping her breakfast just out of reach of the baby.
She watched his face blanche at the thought of having the baby to himself, and stifled a laugh. Since Mary arrived at the Salvatore house, they'd approached her as a team. Neither of them were responsible for her on their own without the other a few rooms and a shout away before.
He shrugged it off. "We'll be fine, right, kid?" Mary tossed the spoon, and laughed as it clattered noisily to the floor.
Finished with their breakfast, Bonnie gathered their empty plates and left them in the sink. "I'll be back in a hour or so, are you sure you'll be okay?"
Holding Mary facing outwards, Damon nodded. "I can handle it," he assured her. Everything that could go wrong flashed before Bonnie's eyes, but she shook them out of her head quickly.
"Okay," she said. Grabbing another mug of coffee before getting changed, she kissed Mary's forehead.
"Where's mine?" Damon asked with a smirk. Bonnie rolled her eyes and landed a gentle peck on his cheek, which startled the grin off his face real quick. She disappeared upstairs to get changed, and left to pick things up from her own place.
Damon turned his gaze down to Mary. "So what are we going to do?"
Bonnie shifted her duffle bag onto her shoulder, satisfied she packed enough to last for a few weeks and walked back to the car. Feeling her phone buzzing in her pocket, she pulled it out and answered.
"Hey Care," she greeted. "How's the honeymoon?"
"It's amazing! We're having such a good time." Caroline's voiced gushed from the other end. "I just wanted to check in. How are you guys doing?"
Bonnie felt a smile spread across her face thinking of the last few days. "Things are great. Everything's… great." Her heart swelled.
"Good! So baby proofing the house went well?" And just like that the smile vanished. Baby proofing?
"Uh, yeah. Yes! The house is totally proofed, baby wise. We… did that." The words fell out of Bonnie's mouth as quick as she could form them.
"Oh thank God. Honestly, that house is such a death trap for a baby."
Bonnie laughed stiffly, anxiety suddenly spreading through her chest thinking about Damon and Mary alone in the Salvatore house. "Yeah… look so I'm just doing some errands. I've gotta go. Love you, bye!"
She hung up, quickly pulling up Damon's number and called. "Afternoon, Bon Bon," he answered.
"Is she alright?" Bonnie asked.
"Mary? Yeah she's fine. She's, um, she was right here. Hold on." Her eyes widened in horror as she heard him pull the the phone away from his ear to look for the baby. "Here she is. She was just playing in the fireplace."
Bonnie stiffened, thinking of every single way Mary could have been hurt. "Damon, we never baby proofed the house. We have to baby proof the house," she said anxiously. "Mary could get hurt and it will be all our fault. We are horrible temporary guardians. Caroline was right, what are we supposed to do with a baby-"
"Bonnie, you're spiralling. Mary is a vampire. Nothing can happen to her," Damon interrupted and Bonnie inhaled deeply, catching her breath. "And I never want to hear the words 'Caroline was right' come out of your mouth ever again," he added, thankful Bonnie couldn't see him prying the fire poker out of Mary's fat baby fists.
"Just because she can heal doesn't mean we should let her get hurt in the first place." Bonnie told him, but the fear in her chest settled immensely at the reminder. "I'm stopping by the hardware store to pick things up for the house. Don't let her out of your sight until I get home, okay?"
"Deal," he agreed, and they ended the call. "Alright Mary, no more scaring Bon-" Damon said and looked down at his feet to see the mischievous baby had crawled away. Swearing to himself, he set off looking for her. Again.
Bonnie returned an hour later with several bags filled with contraptions to keep Mary away from all the dangerous things in the house. She walked into the living room to drop the bags on the couch and found Mary sitting upright on the floor, surrounded by stacks and stacks of pillows.
"Baby jail. Inescapable." Damon beamed at his work. Mary knocked over one of the towers gleefully, crawling over to Bonnie, who raised an unconvinced eyebrow in his direction. "...A work in progress," Damon admitted.
"I'm going to put Mary down for her nap. Can you get started on that?" Bonnie gestured to the bags on the couch. Damon dug through them, pulling a few out, staring at them quizzically.
"Did you pick out 7 of everything?" He asked, checking all the other bags.
"... Maybe." She said, adjusting Mary on her hip, before defensively adding, "I wasn't sure what we'd need! I panicked."
"Do we even have this many cabinets?" He teased, counting the magnetized cupboard locks out loud.
Bonnie rolled her eyes, picking a bag from the couch. "I'll take care of upstairs while she's napping. You do down here," she instructed, but when she got to the top of the stairs she yelled back to him. "Clear the toys away from the stairs too! Somebody's going to trip on them."
Two hours, one nap, and a baby proofed house later, Bonnie was lounging on the bed with Mary sitting on her stomach, leaning back against her knees.
"Done," Damon announced, appearing in the doorway.
Bonnie clapped Mary's hands together with an enthusiastic "Yay!", causing the baby to erupt into giggles. "Did you get the toys from the stairs?"
"It's just a few blocks, Bon. We've both been walking past them all day. They're fine," he said. Bonnie pulled a face making her disagreement clear, but didn't say anything. "They're fine. I'm going to make her a bottle." Damon gestured to Mary, and disappeared into the hallway again.
Exactly 4.5 seconds later, Bonnie heard crashing coming from the stairs and a very unhappy, elongated, groan coming from Damon, who, presumably, was currently lying at the bottom of the steps amid several letter blocks.
Mary clapped her hands together bursting with laughter once more, and Bonnie couldn't help but join in.