VVVVVVVVVVVV

Chapter 27

Bonnie made her way to Kol's room and bypassed him on the bed heading straight for the balcony. She wished that she could hide her feelings from him - from all of them. Why did everyone take to Elena and Caroline no matter what they did but when she did what was asked of her she was the pariah? With a deep sigh she looked out at the stars.

"What's wrong Bonnie?" Kol asked her as he stepped outside to stand behind her.

"I don't want to come between you and your family. I know it's been a long time since you've all been together like this. It was so surreal when you all lost your memories and we were all getting along together. I should have known it was too good to last. Everyone loves Elena so she doesn't even know what it's like to be on the outside and apparently Caroline has charmed her way in as well but I don't make friends easily and I don't want you to be ostracized for being with me."

He let out a breath of air. "I'm not going to be ostracized by my relationship with you. As for the girls? The only reason Elena managed to charm her way into the family was by doing the sacrifice twice for Nik and Elijah's thing for doppelgängers." He smiled at her. "Caroline is a breath of fresh air for us."

This was put to the test the next morning when Rebekah took Caroline out shopping with her. Bonnie decided to settle at the dining room table and dumped out a 3000 piece puzzle. Elena was sipping coffee and sorting edge pieces one at a time. They were still working on the border when Klaus passed through.

"Good morning Bonnie and Elena."

"Morning," both girls replied.

"Decided not to go shopping?"

"Yeah," Bonnie said before Elena had to admit that she couldn't handle it. "I decided to work on this. I can't wait to see what it's a picture of."

"You know the picture is on the front of the box," he said moving for the lid.

"Don't tell me. I kind of consider that cheating." She put together one whole edge and smiled with accomplishment.

"I think it's a building..." Elena turned her head to look at the pieces, "maybe..."

"I think you're right...it definitely does look like a building." Klaus said before his phone went off. "Excuse me ladies." He said as he left them doing their puzzle.

"At least this isn't about cats that look alike." Elena giggled.

Bonnie groaned. "That was bad."

"And we did it while sick with the flu remember?" Elena got out.

They both nearly fell off their chairs, hugging and laughing.

It was this sight that Elijah and Kol walked in on.

The two girls and an unfinished puzzle.

"You know it's not done until all the pieces are together right?" Kol teased.

"We're just thankful it's not a bunch of look-a-like cats," Elena said.

"You know the picture's on the front of the..." Elijah reached for the box lid.

"No! That's sort of cheating," Elena said with a smile to Bonnie.

"Why don't you join us?" Elena offered. Kol settled at the table and started trying to put together some of the edge pieces that Elena had sorted out.

"No I don't think its cats...but this could be the ocean and the sky...see the different blues..." Kol mused as they worked.

"Maybe..." Elena couldn't stop giggling from earlier.

"Why were you both hugging and being thankful that this wasn't about a bunch of lookalike cats?" Elijah asked as he moved into one of the chairs. Elena quickly moved into his lap.

"When Bonnie and I had the flu when we were younger," Elena was saying. "We stayed up in my room and tried doing this five hundred piece puzzle on cats and it turned out that all the cats in the puzzle looked alike."

"Who bought the puzzle?" Kol asked, quite curious.

"Jeremy."

"He knew that we liked puzzles and cats so he thought it would be a good challenge to keep our minds off how bad we felt," Elena added, "unfortunately all the cats in the puzzle were like from the same litter or something and they were white with black spots. With our fevers it took a lot longer and we got a couple of the pieces stuck together wrong. It kept us occupied but it was definitely a challenge. Bonnie and I were together the whole week while we were sick so at least it wasn't so bad."

"Where was Caroline when this happened?" Klaus asked as he appeared behind them.

"Visiting someone in her family." Bonnie tried thinking of who it was but it escaped her.

"She was with her aunt and they were going to see her grandmother." Elena said to him, noting how Bonnie was stuck. "Her parents were really sick like Bonnie and I so they sent her to the next town over where her aunt and grandma lived to watch her."

"She called like every twenty minutes though," Bonnie remembered with a smile. "Finally your mom just left the upstairs extension of the house phone in your room."

"Ugh, I was just remembering how awful that medicine tasted," Elena made an awful face and Bonnie joined her as she also remembered. They put the last edge piece of the puzzle together by then and started trying to put together parts of the interior.

While the girls were doing their puzzle, Rebekah and Caroline were shopping.

"Do all women dress like sluts?" Rebekah asked. Every single woman they've come across was dressed in little pieces of fabric they called clothes.

"Not all." Caroline answered.

"I'd like to think Elena, Bonnie and I don't venture into the slut category," Caroline defended, "but yes too many women think they have to have everything on display to be sexy."

"No, sexy is an attitude," Rebekah smiled, "and you can do it with a pair of jeans and a long sleeve button-up shirt on. Besides men like to wonder what is underneath...what's more fun - unwrapping the presents under the tree Christmas morning or seeing that someone else already has?"

"I agree with you on that." Caroline smiled at her. "Sexy is an attitude and not a look." The two blondes giggled and walked off into other stores.

By the time the two blondes returned home Elijah, Elena, Kol and Bonnie were putting the finishing touches on their puzzle which had turned out to be a photo of homes on a hillside in Italy with the ocean at the bottom and sky up above.

"Wow, great puzzle," Bonnie smiled, "thank you everyone for putting it together with us."

"I thought for sure it was a clay pot with flowers there for a while," Elena commented.

Bonnie turned to stare at her. "Are you remembering that one other one we ended up doing with Caroline?" Caroline groaned and they turned to see her.

"Don't mention the daffodil puzzle ever again!" She ended up walking towards them. "It was the worst one ever!"

"The lookalike cats beat that one though." Elena countered and Caroline groaned again, remembering that one.

"Lookalike cats?" Rebekah frowned while Kol and Elijah were laughing along with the girls.

"It's kind of a long story but Bonnie and I were sick with the flu and the puzzle was black and white spotted cats that looked all alike," Elena explained. "It took us forever to get that thing together but after several mishaps we finally did it!"

"Who would buy you such a thing?" she asked as her frown deepened. Elena and Bonnie smiled at each other.

"Jeremy did." Caroline told her with a smile. "I was with him and I tried telling him to get the flowers but he said no." She huffed. "I'm still annoyed with him for choosing that cat one!"

"Why didn't you do the puzzle with them?" Rebekah shot her question at Caroline in curiosity.

"I was staying with my aunt and we were 'visiting' my grandmother which was basically her dropping me off there so the woman could watch me."

"Her family didn't want her to get the flu from us," Elena added.

Rebekah nodded, that made sense. "We picked out clothes for all of you." she said as she held up the bags. "Here's a bag for you," she passed one along to Kol. "It also has some clothes for the witch." She added as her eyes met Bonnie's. "A bag for you," passing it over to Elena she nodded. "One for you," she shoved it into Elijah's arms. "It's not suits as you seem to live in them!"

Caroline began laughing. "I had no idea what she picked out as I did the shopping for the girls."

"Thank you Rebekah," Bonnie smiled. "That was very thoughtful of you."

"Yes thank you Rebekah," Elena added. The girls rummaged in the bags. Kol got two more pairs of designer jeans and some t-shirts with prints on them. Bonnie quickly fell in love with another pair of her favorite jeans - because they had 'just the right fit' and an emerald green dolman sleeved blouse. Plus there was a heather grey, knee length Jersey dress in there.

"This is fantastic! Thank you!" Bonnie enthused again. Elena had gotten her favorite kind of jeans, a red, knee-length one shoulder dress, a navy, sleeveless top with a keyhole neckline and a purple blouse.

"Thank you Rebekah and Caroline. I appreciate you thinking of me when I couldn't go out...so what's in your bag?" She looked to Elijah curious.

Elijah pulled out jeans, button up shirts and boots. "Really sister?" he asked but Elena hugged Rebekah. That threw her for a loop.

"Thank you!" grabbing Elijah's hand, she flashed them upstairs to their room and ordered him to dress semi casually for the day.

"Klaus are we going to have those lessons this afternoon?" Caroline asked pointedly. It took Klaus a moment but he finally realized she was talking about vampire lessons.

"Of course," he smiled.

"BonBon I thought we'd head to the woods and see what kind of balance we can get between your vampire side and your witch side," Kol suggested.

"That sounds like a good idea. I want to know what I can and can't do if we get into trouble," Bonnie said. "Elena do you and Elijah want to join us? We could call Matt and get him to help with your training. I know I could still use some practice at all this vampire stuff and two originals couldn't possibly hurt..."

"We'll be there soon!" Elena called while she was on her sire's lap, kissing him and smiling. God, even without suits on, he was still hot.

VVVVVVVVVVVV