Here's an update. Thanks for the reviews guys.
A small foot pressing into her side caused Bonnie to wince and shift further towards the corner of the bed she was laying in. Taylor's tiny arm was wrapped around her neck, almost choking her.
Three days. They had been stuck in this place for three days. Three days of of changing diapers, avoiding hostile step-fathers, and scrounging around for something to put in their stomachs. Worse of all, however, was that they were no closer to finding a way home.
Bonnie sighed softly and closed her eyes, blocking out her view of a water damaged roof. She could hear the even breathing of her 'fake-real' siblings as they slumbered away. She glanced behind at the bed across from the one she and Taylor slept in. Damon laid spread out on the bed, mouth wide open, Tubby laying across him.
Despite herself, Bonnie felt her lips twitch. It was a cute sight.
Her stomach growled and Taylor dug her foot deeper into her side. Bonnie once again sighed. She removed the sleeping child's arm from her neck and rolled her to her side of the bed. The child was starting to smell, she supposed they all were. The water was still shut off. Bonnie grimaced.
Hearing footsteps outside the bedroom, Bonnie held her breath.
"I told you to pay it four fucking days ago," Ray's gravelly voice slipped underneath the door, "I ain't touching you until you wash your funky ass. Get the water turned back on then go get the stuff."
"Where are you going?" Beth's shrill voice and lighter footsteps followed the man down the hall.
"Work, Beth, someone has too," the man said bitterly. "Clean up in here will you, shit, this place looks like a zoo. And damn it, make sure those damn kids of yours go to school. I don't want no more damn truancy officers showing up here again this year."
"Maybe if you'll stop beating them," the woman shot back, "I can let them go without rousing suspicions."
The man snorted loudly. "Right, because I'm the one that broke the boy's arm a few months ago."
"It doesn't matter," the woman said dismissively. "Anyway, its summer, they're out of school."
"You really are a horrible mother, damn." The man chuckled. "They aren't even my damn kids and I know school starts back in two days." The front door opened. "Just make sure they get there. Can you pull yourself away from that shit for a little while just to do that?" The door slammed shut.
"Bonnie," Beth yelled for her, "get in here."
Bonnie groaned and opened her eyes. Not wanting to make the woman who she was temporarily stuck with angry at her, Bonnie slid from the bed and exited the room. She found the woman standing in the center of the living room smoking a cigarette, dressed in a slutty, silver dress. She and her husband had gone out clubbing last night. The green eyed girl wanted to scoff.
Bonnie came to stop in front of her. The woman crossed her arms underneath her chest and stared at Bonnie, eyes judging, reminding her of a catty high school girl. She was sizing her up.
Bonnie obviously wasn't intimidated. She wasn't really an abused fourteen year old girl who was afraid of her psychotic mother, she was a grown woman. A witch who had face vampires and werewolves, she wasn't going to be afraid of some druggy.
"Why are you looking at me like that, girl?" She asked hotly, obviously intimidated by Bonnie's stare. "Do you have something you want to say?"
Bonnie's expression grew blanker. "I'm waiting for you to say something," she replied shortly, "ma'am," she tacked on at the end. She might not be afraid of the woman but she wasn't stupid. The woman held the power here. She was the adult. The woman had already displayed that she held no issue about hitting her children and there wasn't too much she could do about it besides get into a full on fight with the woman.
The woman blew smoke into the air through slightly pressed lips. "Clean up in here. I want it done before I get back." The woman rolled her eyes and started heading back towards her bedroom.
"Taylor and Tubby need food," Bonnie spoke up before the woman could get away, "you can't not feed them."
The woman stopped short and stared at her. "You telling me how to raise my kids now, Bonnie?" She advanced on her. "Did they come out of your pussy? Do they call you mommy?" The red-haired woman scoffed, standing directly over Bonnie, a whole foot taller. "You would like that, huh? You're always trying to tell me how to take care of my babies. If you want kids, Bonnie, go out and have your own."
Bonnie snapped. This woman was absolutely horrible. "I don't want that. What I want is for you to take care of your own damn kids," she shouted. If she hadn't been so outraged, maybe she would have seen the slap coming. The woman racked her long nails across Bonnie's face.
The girl stumbled back a couple of steps, her face throbbing. The woman then grabbed her arm with surprising strength and pressed her lite cigarette into her bare arm. Bonnie cried out and tried to pull her arm away, but the woman held on strong, twisting the butt into her flesh, distinguishing it.
Rebellious tears sprung to Bonnie's eyes as she finally recovered her arm from the woman. She held the burning arm to her chest and stared at the woman with wide eyes. Despite everything, she had not expected the woman to do that.
"Thanks for being my ashtray, honey." Beth said, dropping the used cigarette to the floor. The woman shrugged. "I'm going to get a few more hours of sleep before I leave. Keep things quiet, will you?" With that the woman turned and continued her trek to her bedroom.
Bonnie felt her legs wobble as she stared after the woman. She sunk to her knees, still holding her arm close to her chest, angry and pained tears in her eyes, completely overwhelmed. Her hands shook.
Once the woman was gone, Bonnie allowed her arm to fall from her chest and her eyes to drop to the burn on her arm.
She never thought she would be burned by a cigarette.
She could see bare feet appear in the corner of her eye. She froze.
"I thought we agreed not to make them angry?" Damon bent down beside her and grabbed her arm without permission, examining the wound. "How horribly cliché of our dear mother, huh?"
"I can't do this," Bonnie whispered. She felt helpless, truly helpless for the first time in a long time. Her parents, her real parents, hadn't been anything like this. Neglectful and disinterested, sure, but never anything like this.
Damon stood to his feet, pulling at her wrist until she also rose. He lead her into the home's tiny bathroom and made her sit on the bathroom toilet. Bonnie watched him rummage around underneath the bathroom cabinet. Neither of them spoke.
He sat a bottle of alcohol onto the counter before unrolling some toilet paper. He took her arm again and once again studied the wound. "Its not so bad," he observed.
Bonnie shifted awkwardly. "Yeah, say it with a straight face when you're the one being burned with a cigarette by someone who's suppose to be your mother."
"I've been through much worse," Damon shrugged. "Vampire, remember?" He pointed at himself.
"That's when you were a vampire." Bonnie reminded. "You're just a weak, fragile, human child now." She frowned a little, thinking of something. "How does it feel, being human again?" She asked curiously. A second later Bonnie yelped in pain because of Damon pressing the alcohol drenched toilet paper to her arm. "Damon," she shouted, trying to pull her arm back. Damon didn't allow her to have her arm back.
"It is not real," Damon said, answering her question Bonnie assumed. "It doesn't feel real because none of this is real." He explained with a careless shrug.
"Strange," Bonnie deadpanned, "this feels awfully real from where I'm sitting."
Damon shrugged again. "We aren't going to be here long."
Bonnie wanted to point out that he was in denial, but decided against it when she realized that saying so would reveal her growing pessimism.
Damon slapped a large band-aid onto her arm, finally letting go of her arm. Bonnie brought the limb to her chest again, staring at the young face of Damon Salvatore. She was surprised by his kindness. "Thanks," she bit her lip.
Damon shrugged once again. "If anything happens to you I'll never get out of here." He stood fully. "I don't know what it is you want, Bon-Bon, but I don't want to stick around here being the product of that bitch, destined to follow in her and gram-gram's footsteps."
"You're adopted, remember?" Bonnie mumbled.
Damon didn't seem to hear her. "You're suppose to be cleaning the living room," he stared at her.
Bonnie smiled at him weakly. "Wanna help?"
YW
After cleaning up the whole house, instead of just the living room, Bonnie decided she would use the money she had gotten from this dimension's Bonnie father to go buy food, since it was pretty obvious Beth wasn't going to do it.
She told Damon her plan and she and he got the children and headed into town. They had been avoided venturing into town, afraid what they might see. Who they might run into. Damon hadn't seen the point since he was sure he wouldn't be here long enough for it to matter.
They had been in the grocery store in town for ten whole minutes before they ran into someone that was more than just a familiar acquaintance.
Bonnie had been leaning against the buggy, with a babbling, drooling Tubby sitting in the basket, watching Taylor and Damon argue over cereal. Literally argue. A five year old vs. an over one-hundred year old vampire.
Annoyed, Bonnie finally spoke up. "You do realize you're arguing with a child, Damon, over fruity swirls."
"This child is insane," Damon continued to rage, "Fruity Swirls don't even compare to Coco Stars." He stared at her as if he was willing her to agree. As if she really was going to join this asinine argument.
"Coco Stars taste like poop," Taylor yelled at him.
"Does not," he yelled back.
"Does too"
"Does not, short-stuff, and that's finale. I am your elder and you have to listen to me," Damon poked out his chest.
"Right, her elder," Bonnie mumbled dryly, disbelief clear.
"Nie-Nie," the child, the real one, whined. "Tell Day-Day he has to stop being mean."
"Hate to break it to you, small fry, but I don't have to listen to her."
Bonnie sighed loudly and shot the babbling baby a suffering look. He grinned at her cutely in return, reaching for her.
"We're getting these," Bonnie interrupting the argument that had started up again between the children, she meant the child and Damon. She held up a cheap box of frosty oats.
"No," the two cried out together, "those are yucky."
Bonnie stared at Damon and he pouted in return. She shook her head after a minute, dropping the box of cereal into the buggy. She started down the aisle, deciding she would simply ignore them.
"Damon," a familiar voice called out after them. They all stopped and turned, watching as Matt jogged towards them. "What happened to coming to practice camp after your cast was off, man?" He glanced at Bonnie. "What's up, Bonnie?" He glanced down at Taylor. "Hi, Tay."
"Matt," Bonnie breathed out, shocked to see someone she knew, looking exactly how she remembered - maybe a little younger.
"Bonnie," Matt chuckled as he copied her tone, "you alright?" When Bonnie only stared, he pulled a confused face before glancing at Damon, obviously expecting him to speak.
Slowly, a shit eating grin spread across Damon's face. "You and I are friends, huh?" A laugh tumbled from his lips.
Matt stared at him. "Okay," started the blonde slowly, "what's that suppose to mean? If you're still mad about that damn Snicker bar I stole from you, I'll buy you another one, man."
"You better," Damon responded awkwardly. He looked at Bonnie again, pressing his lips together and shrugging.
"Right," Matt said slowly again, glancing behind him. Bonnie noticed a woman who looked like Kelly Donovan, but also didn't, standing near a pyramid of canned soup. This Kelly, unlike the 'real' one, wore mom jeans and a pale pink cardigan. She looked like a respectable soccer mom instead of an easy cougar. "I'll see you guys later, gotta help my mom. And by help, I mean stop her from buying all glutton free and organic food." He nodded at them before turning and walking away.
"Well," Damon whistled, "this place keeps on getting-"
"Stranger and stranger," Bonnie offered, apprehension filling her. If Matt was here, than so was everyone else. But things were obviously different, here. Damon Salvatore was her brother for one.
"I was going to say fun." The boy shrugged. "Who would of thought I would be besties with oh Matty boy in any reality."
Bonnie bit her lip. "Let's just finish this and get back," she started pushing the buggy down the aisle again.
"Can we have chicken nuggets today, Nie-Nie, ones shaped like the puppies from Paw Patrol," Taylor skipped beside the buggy, hand holding onto the side like Bonnie had told her too. "Oh and french fries," she added. "Can we get cookies? No cake? I hate apple juice, why are you getting that."
"That's right," Damon chimed in, "we hate apple juice."
Bonnie ignored them.
"Nie-Nie," they whined loud and simultaneously.
Bonnie stopped suddenly, annoyance peeking and boiling over. She whirled around on the pair, making them stop and stare at her with mirroring looks of alarm. "I think it would be best if you two waited outside," she gritted out. When they only stared at her, she pointed at the bag of barbecue chips in the buggy. "If you two still want those, I think you should do as I say."
"Meanie," Damon mumbled loudly and grabbed Taylor's hand and starting to pull her towards the grocery store's doors. "Don't forget the cookies, Bonnie."
Once they were gone, Bonnie's eyes found the blonde baby in the basket. "You're the only mature one in the family," she told him, unable to stop herself from smiling at the cute, smiling toddler.
YW
"Where did you get the money for all of this food, Bonnie?" Beth asked as she leaned against the kitchen counter, popping one of the chicken nuggets from the pan into her, red-painted mouth. Damon and Taylor sat at the kitchen table, eating.
"Grandma," Bonnie lied, placing her empty plate into the sink.
Beth snorted. "Yeah, right, and I'm the queen of England." She waved her hand dismissively. Bonnie glanced at the woman, but focused most of her attention on washing the dishes. She was thankful Beth had indeed gotten the water turned back on. The woman's eyes were bloodshot and she smelled distinctly of weed and liquor. The woman was obviously, very, very high. "My mother didn't give you shit." The woman snatched up a handful of french fries. "I don't really give a damn where you got it from, as long as you don't go selling your ass. There ain't going to be any whores living in this house."
Damon coughed loudly, pulling their attention to him. He tried and failed to cover his laughs. Taylor lightly patted his back.
Bonnie rolled her eyes. "You don't have to worry about me doing that."
"Oh, that's right," the woman nodded pushing clumps of red hair out of her face, "you've always been sort of a prude."
Bonnie didn't bother responding, instead she tugged at the edges of the band-aid on her arm with wet fingers.
"Foo Foo," Tubby waddled into the room, dressed on in a diaper, rubbing his eyes sleepily.
"Oh, look at mommy's baby," Beth staggered towards the baby lifting him into her arms and placing sloppy kisses to his face, hugging him tightly. "I missed my little, sleepy baby. Did you miss mommy?"
The baby was obviously not happy with this. He began to cry as he reached for Bonnie, wanting away from the drunk woman who was holding him too tightly.
Beth frowned. "What's wrong? Come on now, shush, shush," The woman slurred. Her face contorted with anger as the child continued to try getting to Bonnie. Seeing the agitation on the woman's face, Bonnie stepped forward, thoughtlessly, reaching out to take the child. The older woman glared at her darkly, holding on to the wiggling child tightly. "You've turned him against me." The woman accused hotly.
"He's just tired," Bonnie said nervously, noticing the woman's hold on the baby growing tighter. The baby's tippy cries turned more into shrieks of pain. "He's cranky and he hasn't eaten yet." Her fingers twitched to take the child from the woman, but didn't want to risk the woman hurting the baby more. She glanced at a now standing Damon, for help or what, she wasn't sure. He took a step towards them.
"Here," the woman finally released the child with a scoff. She harshly passed the child to Bonnie. "I don't care. I didn't want to hold your stupid ass anyway. You can have him, Bonnie." The woman spun around on her heels and stalked from the kitchen.
Bonnie hugged the child to her, rocking and shushing him. The sound of Beth slamming doors and throwing things could be heard.
"Crazy, bitch," Damon spoke up over the noise.
"Hush, Damon," Bonnie whispered quickly. She did not want the woman to have a reason to come back into the room more angered then she already was.
She was surprised when Damon actually listened to her and said nothing else. Instead he stared at her, blank expression looking odd on such a young face.