I do not own The Vampire Diaries, I do not own the characters who inspire me. What a shame.
Chapter 7
Bonnie was not alone.
In the month since she had sent Damon back to the present (or was it future?) a year had progressed in the world she now shared with Kai and… someone a little bit smaller.
Well, scratch that. Kai was no vampire, so he didn't know what was going on when he stabbed her for the second time and stole off to the present day (again future?).
She had spent the remainder of her newfound power on sending Miss Cuddles back, so she had to do this all alone now. She had dissolved their marriage when she sent him back, she had expected to die here, but now she had a reason to live.
A reason with big hazel eyes and soft curly black hair and skin like decaf coffee with four creams and four sugars. Her name was Mina and she was Damon's daughter.
Mina was everything Bonnie could have ever hoped for in a daughter, everything about her was precious. Her laugh, her smile and the sparkle in her eyes, they were what made her days worth living. As one year turned to two and then three she celebrated her daughters 3rd birthday.
"Happy Birthday to Yoooooooouuu" she sang loudly taking pictures and clapping as little Mina blew out her candles.
Bonnie had long since learned the craft of baking and so she had made her daughter a beautiful princess Ariel cake. The Little Mermaid was her favorite.
Mina was Bonnie's whole life, but even she could see that something was missing. Her little girl showed no early signs of vampirism and so she felt a little bit safer because of that. But still, there was no one else in their little world, they were playmates and schoolmates, and each others constant companion.
Mina would need social skills, she would need friends, the bears and dolls they played with everyday could only be enough for so long, soon she would need boys, soon she would need her father.
She watched Mina, playing happily with the gifts she had given her. Some were handmade while others were from a store from the next city over.
"Mina, smile!" she said holding up the old camcorder she and Damon had used. She had found some more tapes to use and since had become quite the paparazzo, recording hundreds of hours of footage of their most precious moments. She saved them all in a box under her bed, the one she had shared with her husband.
It seemed like a lifetime ago that she had held the love of her life in her arms and cried, now she cried alone.
But that was only late at night, when she was sure her daughter would be asleep.
Shaking her head she pushed those thoughts aside for now. Today was the day.
Putting the camera down she called to her daughter softly.
"Mina, honey, come here I want to show you someone."
If the tone of her mothers voice had tipped her off, Mina didn't let it show. She put down her toys and softly padded over to where her mother sat in the big sofa by the fire.
Patting the seat beside her Bonnie motioned for her daughter to come up and sit next to her. She watched her as her little curls danced with the effort. She watched her because that's what Bonnie always did. She wondered if she would ever see any manifestations of the Power she had been given that day, so many years ago.
Mina was quite the faith filled child. Bonnie had taken her to church and taught her how to pray, but she wondered if that was enough. The Bible stories she had been reading her every night was her favorite time of day so she was encouraged enough by her response, but still… she wondered.
"What is it Momma?" she asked, and Bonnies heart was sure to melt at her expression, all doe eyes and mischief, half her, half her father.
Speaking of her father.
Damon had left a couple videos on the tape they had made together, and she had picked through his best ones to find the best way to introduce him to her daughter. Correction, their daughter.
"I want you to meet your daddy."
"My daddy? But Momma, I don't have a daddy."
"Mm-hmm honey, yes you do."
"I do?"
"Mm-hmm, and I'm going to show him to you"
"Okay"
Bonnie held up the camera and pressed the play button.
What filtered up on the screen was and edited version of what he had actually said that day. In the video Damon walked around the mansion talking and jesting with Bonnie. At one point in the video he wrapped his arms around Bonnie and gave her a kiss.
The video stopped there, because Damon's camera habits were voyeuristic at best and she was sure he'd never meant for a daughter he didn't know he could have to see it.
She looked down at little Mina's pretty hazel eyes, they were wide and round now, peering with interest at the man who stood with her mother.
"Would you like to see it again?" she asked gently.
Mina nodded her head mutely, and Bonnie rewound the tape to the last place and started it again.
Later on that night Bonnie felt something within her quiver. Seeing that video again with her daughter had awakened something within her. She missed her husband, there was no doubt about that, but she also missed the company of other people. She had spent seven years in this place, and she figured it was about time she got back, she would find a new way, somehow, she had to. Not just for her, but for Mina as well.
And so she began to tell her about the real world, one where the other houses have all kinds of people in them, where there are other little boys and girls for her to play all kinds of games with. Where there were new movies and full shopping malls, and dancing and music and laughter. The stories she told her daughter at night filled them both with a longing to see that world, they didn't know that their adventures were only just beginning.
In present day Mystic Falls, Damon had broken up with Elena, she was still sore about it, but he didn't care. Eventually she would have to learn to get over herself.
They had tried to bring Bonnie back a few months ago, after she sent Miss Cuddles over. Since then Damon had only had a one track mind, but he refused to speak on it, growing more and more desperate to see his wife as time flew by.
On their first attempt, Elena had went with him, and had gotten so wrapped up in herself that they were pulled back before Damon could even send a page to Kai's beeper. When they were brought back, the found out that Kai had broken out and that Bonnie was all alone, he told them that as he burned the ascendant.
After some ridiculous shenanigans he was back living in the boarding house and working on their second attempt at retrieving Bonnie. Kai's spell proved useless as always. He decided to absorb a conscience but not better skills, and so they arrived back in 1994 but there was no sign of Bonnie anywhere. Rather than wait for her to come home, they had to leave because Kai wasn't very strong and they needed to keep more powerful company, seriously.
Sitting on his bed that night after Elena left in a huff over Jeremy and his Art School he was finally able to have a moment to himself to think rather than be bombarded by her looks and her fake sympathy, which mostly included some pouting, hair flipping, feelings and attempts at sex. None of which Damon was up to tonight, or any other night for that matter.
He had told her it was over but she just wouldn't quit.
Standing to take off his jeans, he emptied his pockets for the night. As he did, a quarter fell out of his hand and rolled under his bed. He was going to leave it but he thought, what the hey.
Leaning down on all fours and stretching his hand under the bed he felt a box. He knew he didn't regularly keep any boxes under his bed, so naturally that made him curious.
Pulling the box up on to the bed with him Damon took his time and examined its contents. There were plenty of old looking tapes and a camcorder he recognized as the one he used with Bonnie.
It feels like a lifetime ago he thought to himself.
Perusing the box he found most of the tapes marked to depict something about some girl named Mina. They must have been from some old stuff a boarder had brought with them back in the day. The handwriting looked suspiciously familiar so he popped in the next one he could find. It was marked Mina's 3rd Birthday.
The old tape started playing.
"Happy birthday to yooooooooouuuu!" a disembodied voice was singing.
There was an adorable little Frappuccino looking girl standing at the dining room table that was decorated for a large party, even though no one else was there.
Poor kid he thought.
The little girl giggled and the tape cut to another scene. This time of the little girl (whom he suspected was Mina) opening presents.
"EEEEKKKK" She screamed, as she unwrapped it, apparently it was exactly what she wanted. "Oh my gosh Mommy I love it"
"Aaaannnnndd?" came the response.
The little girl blushed and she looked away coyly. Something about the mischief in her pretty hazel eyes was too familiar.
"Mina Diana Bennett-Salvatore, don't you have anything else to say?"
If his heart could beat it would have stopped now. His ears itched, his hands were sweating, and his breath was shortening.
"Thank you, Mommy." The girl said.
"Mm-hmm, now come and give Mommy a kiss for the camera."
He could hear the papers crumpling as the girl made her way over to where her mother sat. The woman was turning the camera now so he couldn't see her yet. But his eyes were glued to the screen.
"I love you Mommy," the girl said kissing the woman's cheek, kissing her cheek.
"I love you too Mina" the woman said, and the camera cut to black.
His thoughts were blinking like a broken digital clock.
She was alive.
Bonnie was alive.
And he had a daughter?
A/N
Hope you all liked. Smile, Jesus loves you.
4GMK