Author's Note: Hi, guys! I know that I took a long time to update, but I can explain! I've been preparing myself to begin something new, and it will be in the author's note at the end of this chapter! Also, today, you guys will find out the answer to a question that you've all been waiting for…
The plane ride back to Mystic Falls felt agonizingly long as the three prepared themselves for Bonnie's return. Eliza was restless throughout the entire ride, causing everything to feel terribly congested.
While Enzo couldn't get enough of the child, Damon refused to even look at her. He was merely disgusted with the idea of Bonnie and Enzo sharing a child together, and he refused to entertain the circumstance.
Finally, the plane reached its destination. It was late in the afternoon as they approached the boardinghouse, allowing the hum of the wind to fill the awkward silence. Bonnie held Eliza close as Damon unlocked the doors, revealing the presence of Caroline, Stefan and Angelina.
"Bonnie!" Caroline shouted instantly as she rose to her feet. As Bonnie slowly entered the house, silence fell over the atmosphere.
"Hi, guys…" she whispered, swallowing thickly. Enzo and Damon stood closely behind her as everyone's eyes averted to Eliza.
"Is that a baby?" Stefan questioned, mirroring the prior words of Damon. Bonnie nodded slowly as she handed her off to Enzo.
"It is. Her name is Eliza," she told them, watching as their faces twisted confusedly.
"She's yours?" Caroline gasped.
"Yes. Mine and Enzo's," she responded, even though she knew how bizarre she must have sounded.
"That's not even possible," Angelina threw in. Bonnie looked to her with narrowed eyes.
"Who are you?" she questioned with slight attitude to her tone.
"I'm the witch that brought your ass back," Angelina snapped. "Though, I might say, I wasn't expecting you to bring back a child."
"Easy, Angelina…" Enzo warned, watching as she clamped her mouth shut. Bonnie was prepared to haul off on the sassy stranger, but she refrained.
"Bonnie, what's going on here?" Stefan asked, averting the attention away from the sudden tension.
"I disappeared a year ago because I found out that I was pregnant. I was scared… I didn't understand how Enzo had gotten me pregnant, but somehow, it happened. The only thing that kept running through my mind was that my child would grow up with the same responsibilities as me if she were to be here, in Mystic Falls. I just… couldn't let that happen. So I made a dumb decision, and I ran away. I'm so sorry that I put you guys through all of this, but I thought I was doing what was right for my baby," she confessed.
Caroline walked up and wrapped her arms around her best friend, pulling her in close. Bonnie sighed with immediate comfort at Caroline's touch, whom she missed dearly.
"Angelina, we were wondering if you could do us one more favor," Enzo said as Caroline and Bonnie pulled away from each other. Angelina let out a noticeable huff as she locked eyes with Enzo.
"What is it?" she wondered.
"Could you help us determine how I was able to conceive this child?" Enzo pleaded. Angelina panicked slightly as she ran her fingertips through her long hair.
"I mean… I could try. I've technically never dealt with something like this before," she responded honestly.
"Thank you. I truly appreciate everything you're doing to help us," he thanked.
"I appreciate it, as well," Bonnie threw in, forcing a smile to the fellow witch. Angelina nodded slowly and cleared her throat, looking away awkwardly. For some reason, the sight of Enzo and his girlfriend made her feel incredibly uncomfortable.
"Well, let's welcome the new baby the right way! We should have a baby shower," Caroline gasped excitedly.
"Isn't it too late for that?" Damon spat. Everyone looked to him with narrowed eyes.
"It's never too late," Enzo added. "It'll be a nice way to welcome baby Eliza into the family."
"I like that idea," Bonnie said, smiling genuinely for the first time that afternoon. Knowing that her friends openly accepted her apology comforted her incredibly, and she was glad that she was able to have them in her life again.
…
The Next Day
Bonnie followed Angelina into her attic as she held Eliza close to her. The plan was to figure out exactly how Eliza's conception occurred, and they were going to need some help from a few of magical tools that Angelina possessed.
Angelina walked over to a dusty desk that sat in the corner, and pulled a Grimoire from the drawer.
"Let me see the baby," she said, opening the book to a page in the middle. Bonnie hesitantly walked up to Angelina and handed her the child. Eliza looked up at her with wide eyes as she slowly laid her down on the desk.
Angelina looked down at the book for a few seconds before hovering her hands above Eliza's body. She lowly recited an unfamiliar spell, lowering her hands until the rested directly above Eliza's tiny head. Bonnie watched with worried eyes as Eliza opened her mouth to cry.
Angelina ignored the cries as she continued her spell; Bonnie could feel the vibration in her tone, and she knew that whatever Angelina was doing, it was working.
Suddenly, the spell stopped. Angelina took a deep breath and flipped the page a few times, listening as Eliza's cries died down.
"What did you just do?" Bonnie wondered.
"I summoned her genetics," Angelina explained nonchalantly as she continued to flip the pages.
"What does that mean?" Bonnie asked; she couldn't deny that she was completely confused at those words. Angelina paused and looked over at Bonnie.
"I just did a spell that doctors wish that they could conjure. I went into her body—every inch of it—and pulled all of her DNA, Organ statistics—all that good stuff. Now, I'm looking for a spell that is going to transfer all of that information to my dreams, so that I can be aware of exactly how she was brought to life," Angelina explained. Bonnie nodded slowly as her eyes averted to her baby.
"Was that painful for her?" she whispered.
"Most likely," Angelina responded. That sent a ping down Bonnie's stomach, and she was slowly growing to dislike the fellow witch.
"Why couldn't I have just done this? I am a witch too," Bonnie told her. Angelina rolled her eyes as she located the page that she was searching for.
"You wouldn't have even known where to start. If you would have, you would have done it by now," she said, forcing Bonnie to clamp her mouth shut. It was true, whether she wanted to admit it or not. Angelina studied the page for a few seconds before gently placing her hands on either side of Eliza's face. Once again, she recited an unfamiliar spell as Eliza's mouth twitched once more.
"Don't hurt her," Bonnie whispered harshly as her eyes pooled with tears against her will. She couldn't fathom the thought of her child being in pain. Angelina shushed her as she continued her spell.
After a minute of Eliza's continuous cries, Angelina finished her spell. She slammed the book shut and looked up at Bonnie with a triumphant smile.
"It's all done," she told her. "Now, when I go to sleep tonight, the information will be transferred to my dream. I'll know exactly how little Eliza was conceived by tomorrow morning."
"Thank you," Bonnie muttered as she scooped her baby off of the table. Eliza continued to cry as Bonnie rocked her gently. "My baby shower is tomorrow, so you can stop by."
"Will Enzo be there?" Angelina wondered. Bonnie stared at her with narrowed eyes as she nodded slowly.
"He's the father… so yes, he'll be there," she responded.
"Then I'll be there," Angelina smirked, brushing past Bonnie.
"Excuse me, but how do you know Enzo?" Bonnie spat. Angelina turned around and shrugged her shoulders.
"He showed up at my door one day… he was begging me to find you," she answered. "Since you abandoned him."
Bonnie didn't respond as she let her words soak in. She quickly moved to exit, not wanting to be in Angelina's judgmental presence any longer.
"I'll see you at the baby shower!" Angelina called after her.
Bonnie hurried to her car and strapped Eliza in, slamming her door shut. Angelina was beginning to make her more and more uncomfortable, and she wasn't sure what to make of her. The one thing that she knew for sure was that she was going to need to watch Angelina closely around her boyfriend.
…
Caroline set up the baby shower herself, refusing to let anyone help. She had a very specific idea for the decorations, and she didn't even allow Bonnie to see them until they were completely finished.
Bonnie walked into the living room of Caroline and Stefan's new apartment, gasping at the animated display. She reveled in the beauty of the bottle-shaped decorations and colorful streamers, smiling widely.
"It's beautiful, Caroline," Bonnie said in awe as she sat Eliza on the couch.
"I'm glad you like it," she said, smiling internally at her work.
"You definitely put in a lot of hours for this, didn't you?" Bonnie said as she stared around at the many decorations.
"It was worth every second. Where are the guys?" Caroline wondered.
"They're picking up all of the food and cake from the boardinghouse," Bonnie said as she walked over to the mirror. She admired her sundress that Caroline had picked out for her special occasion.
"They'd better hurry up and get here before the rest of the guests arrive. I want that cake over by the photo booth stat!" Caroline whined. Bonnie chuckled; she missed Caroline's theatrics dearly, and she couldn't have been happier to be home.
…
Damon and Stefan carefully picked up the cake from the table as Enzo quickly placed saran wrap over all of the bowls.
"Okay, let's hurry up and walk this to the car before it falls," Stefan said as they slowly backed up into the living room. They paused when they saw Angelina standing by the door.
"Didn't hear you come in," Damon said as he struggled to hold the cake upright.
"I'm looking for Enzo," she stated.
"He's in the kitchen," Stefan told her. She quickly hurried into the kitchen as the Salvatore's walked the cake outdoors. Enzo looked up as Angelina stopped in the kitchen.
"Angelina," he acknowledged as a small smile played at his lips. He was surprised to see her.
"Hey, I came to deliver my analysis to you guys. I know how Eliza was conceived," she told him. His smile grew wider as he stopped what he was doing, walking over to the witch.
"What did you discover?" he wondered.
"Well first things first, when did you take the cure?" she asked. Enzo was completely caught off guard by her question.
"The cure?" he questioned.
"Yeah… the vampire cure?" she affirmed.
"I didn't take any cure," he told her, confused at her sudden question. Her face fell at his words.
"Enzo… the only way that this baby was able to be conceived was due to a vampire who took the vampire cure…" she whispered, watching as his facial expression shifted drastically. Enzo slowly allowed himself to remember a situation from year's prior when Damon allowed himself to share half of a cure with Elena in hopes of turning themselves into humans. His stomach plummeted as a nasty snarl etched its way onto his face. Before he could properly dwell on the situation, he heard footsteps coming toward the kitchen.
"You guys need any help in here?" Damon questioned, completely oblivious to the situation at hand. Enzo slowly looked up at him as his breaths came out shallow and short. He could feel the heat coursing through his body as he balled his hands into fists.
"You," he growled, watching as Damon narrowed his eyes confusedly.
Author's Note: So there you have it, guys! For all of you that guessed that Damon was the father, you were correct! There's still a lot in store, so stick around for the rest of the story!
Furthermore, here's my big news…
I have started a creative writing/reading blog, and I would LOVE for all of you to check it out! There's tons of fun in store, and you guys won't want to miss it!
You can find it at: the literary diary [d o t] webs [ d o t] c o m ! (Combine all of that and replace the dots with actual periods. I had to put it this way because FF doesn't allow actual links to be posted.)
Also, follow me on Twitter at ashleykurns for updates (I follow back) and subscribe to my YouTube channel: The Literary Diary!
BTW, you'll find an excerpt of "Decisions" featured on there. (;
Thanks, guys! I love you all very much. Leave me a review and let me know what you all thought of the father reveal! Xoxo!