Chapter 5: Bonnie's Return
It would have been a massive understatement to say that the students were excited to see Bonnie. Everyone secretly knew, adults included, that Bonnie was their favorite teacher. Not only was what she had to teach incredibly valuable (especially to all of the growing witches), but she always brought fun things back from her travels, never forgetting a single person. She travelled frequently - sometimes for research, sometimes for fun - and had friends and contacts all over the world. Bonnie Bennett had grown well beyond the boundaries of Mystic Falls.
That day at school had been difficult for everyone - they'd have rather been hearing everything about where Bonnie had been and what she'd been up to than learning about, well, anything. Finally everyone came around for dinner, which Bonnie had helped Damon cook. They'd come a long way since their daily pancake ritual during that whole Kai situation.
At the end of the night, Bonnie, Caroline, and Elena took a bottle of wine up to Caroline's room. They all felt a sense of comfort when they were together in the same place - it was never taken for granted, especially considering how long they went thinking that Bonnie and Elena would be in a one-in, one-out situation. They were lucky to be together, and they knew it.
"Soooooo, Bonnie, how was California REALLY?" Elena asked suggestively, taking a swig of her wine.
"Yes, and photos please," Caroline added.
Bonnie sighed and rolled her eyes. "It wasn't that great."
"Come on, pleeeeease," Caroline begged. "You're the fabulous, single, childless friend we're living vicariously through. And unlike our blissfully married counterpart," she continued, gesturing to Elena, "I don't exactly have anything going in the romance department."
"Fine," Bonnie replied, whipping out her phone. Caroline and Elena snuggled in on either side of her as she pulled up some photos. "His name is Phoenix."
"HOT! Bonnie he's super hot," Elena said.
"Seriously," Caroline added. "How old is he?"
"I don't remember...like, 23?" Bonnie guessed, biting her bottom lip.
"Bonnie Bennett, you are robbing the cradle!" Caroline teased. "Seriously though, is that his real name?"
"I didn't ask for his license, Care. We went out a few times, had some fun, and that was it. We were pretty clear from the beginning that we just wanted to have a good time. I didn't even keep his phone number."
"Well, good work," Elena said, finishing her wine. "I am NOT on call tonight, so I'm going to go home and get some sleep. I'll see you tomorrow." She gave Bonnie a peck on the cheek.
"Mmhmm, sleep, whatever you say." They all knew better.
"Yes Elena have a restful evening," Caroline teased. Elena stuck her tongue out at them before closing the door.
They were lying on opposite ends of the couch, feet overlapping in the middle, covered in Caroline's quilt. "I'm so glad you're back, Bon," Caroline said. "I missed you so much."
"I missed you too, Care. Are you ok? You've seemed a little less...Caroline today." It was true. It had been going on a while, actually - Bonnie just hadn't been there to see it. Driven, go-getter Caroline was still her hyper-organized self, but there was something lacking.
"I'm fine, really."
Bonnie rolled her eyes. "Can we skip the whole part where you pretend you're fine and just talk? What's going on?"
"I feel stuck, Bonnie. I love the school, I love the kids, I love our weird little family, but I feel like something's missing."
"Caroline, when was the last time you got laid?" Bonnie asked frankly, arching an eyebrow.
"Ughhhh are we really going to go through this again?" Caroline kicked Bonnie's feet under the blanket before dramatically looking up at the ceiling.
"Care! You can't do this forever. You have to live your life. One of the last things Enzo told me was -"
"I know, still so many things to see and do et cetera. And I AM doing things -"
"You're doing LOTS of things, but what are you doing for yourself? When was the last time you went somewhere?"
"Ric and I took the girls -"
"CAROLINE. Mother of the year, headmistress extraordinaire, responsible for any and all things. When was the last time you went somewhere you wanted to go and did what you wanted to do?"
"I don't know," Caroline responded quietly. "I have too many responsibilities, Bonnie. I can't really leave here."
"If you could go anywhere and do anything, what would you do? We're talking wildest dreams."
"I don't even know anymore," she squeaked out, trying not to cry. "I've spent the last few years working to get the school functional, and trying to raise the girls in the most normal way possible. The last time I had sex was with Stefan, so that was obviously a while ago. I don't even remember the last time I had blood that didn't come from a bag. And I know I have such a good life but sometimes I just feel so lost."
Bonnie reached to squeeze her friend's hand. "You have to realize that living your life isn't betraying anyone." They'd had a similar conversation before, before the first time Bonnie had met someone after Enzo. "You have a lot of life left to live -"
"And that's the other thing, Bonnie. I'm the only vampire left. Which means I'm going to outlive everyone - you, the girls, Elena - everyone I love is eventually going to die."
"Okay, Caroline, morbid," Bonnie responded. "Not a psychologist or anything, but it sounds like you need to find yourself again. You've given everything to everyone else, and everyone is SUPER grateful for it - but you need to get back in touch with sassy badass Caroline."
Caroline sniffled and patted under her eyes. "I actually had a dream last night where I got to kick some ass and feed. It felt pretty good."
"What else happened?"
"It was so weird. I was in Mystic Falls going through my locker, then I tried to find you and Elena, and I was wearing this dress I wore to a ball at the Mikaelson house. Then I found this guy in an alley by the Grill trying to rape a girl, so I took him out. I still couldn't find anyone, and then Klaus showed up and walked me home."
"Wow," Bonnie replied. "Well, a few semesters of psychology at Whitmore and some vision quests in the desert make me think you're repressing some pretty important parts of yourself. I know you don't want the kids exposed to all the violence and craziness, but it sounds like you're neglecting some of the more...vampire parts of your personality."
"You don't even KNOW how much I've been repressing the vampire parts," Caroline laughed.
"And Klaus. Why was Klaus there?" Bonnie wondered.
"I don't know, Bon. It was weird. He said we were 'sharing a dream.'"
Bonnie bit her bottom lip and furrowed her brow. "Hmm. That's interesting."
"What? What's interesting?"
"So, I don't know if this is what's going on, but...there are things called 'psychic dreams.' Where you can communicate with other people through a dream state. But they're really rare, and not everyone has access to that plane. Usually there's some kind of magic involved."
Caroline wasn't sure how much else she wanted to share - should she tell Bonnie about the bracelet suddenly showing up after the first dream? Waking up that morning with her hair done for a ball? About Klaus kissing her before she woke up? She decided to keep that to herself for now.
"Is there anything about it in your library?"
Library was an understatement. The amount of books, grimoires, and talismans Bonnie had accumulated during her travels and research the last few years was staggering, likely one of the largest collections of supernatural information and items in North America. While she kept some things in her room, most of it was stored in what they referred to as "the library," which was a heavily protected, climate controlled room in the basement of the main house.
"I have a few things on dreams, so probably," Bonnie yawned. "I'll do some research in the morning. In the meantime, I'm going to bed, and so should you." They both stood up and Caroline wrapped herself into the cocoon of her quilt. "I love you, Care. Everything is going to be alright."
"I love you too, Bonnie. I know I already said it, but I'm glad you're home."
"Me too," Bonnie smiled. "Oh, if you have another dream tonight - write down as much as you can as soon as you wake up, okay?"
"Okay. Thanks Bon."
"Night Care."
"Night."
Bonnie shut the door and Caroline shuffled to bed. She opened the drawer to her bedside table and could smell the faintest hint of cologne from the note she'd tucked away. She pulled out some paper and a pen and closed the drawer. If she had another dream, she'd be ready. She wondered what weird, out of place thing she'd be wearing or where she'd turn up - if anything, hopefully it wouldn't be high school again.
She wondered if there would be some part of the dream that stuck around after she woke up. And if she would see him again.
Caroline turned off the lamp and drifted off, open to what the night would bring her.
Hey all! One of the things that prompted me to write this story is the exploration of how the characters move on from the insanity they dealt with over the course of the show. Caroline is basically invincible, and while that seems awesome, there's a huge drawback. Bonnie, Caroline, and Ric are all widows/widowers figuring out where to go from here. In the show we rarely see the characters deal with their trauma, and with the shitstorms they were frequently dealing with, I don't think they really had time to. So now that things have calmed down, they're healing and moving on, but Caroline has some extra burdens to bear.
Thanks to everyone again for reading/following/favoriting/reviewing - I appreciate all of it so much!