Authors Note: This chapter explains a little bit about Kol and Bonnie's past life together before Seattle through a brief flashback. It also explains why she thinks he's changed if he has. I wanted to write some background about their relationship since we don't have Kol's POV in this fic. (Wink: this fic)
Note: I apologise to Klaroline fans in advance but this is after all, Bamon and Kennett ; )
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Bonnie's old Mazda rocked, rolled down a few inches and stopped, barely hitting the bumper of the mustard sedan in front of her.
"HONK IF PARTS FALL OFF! "Bonnie read the bumper sticker out loud, drumming her red nails on the steering wheel "How I about I honk if my life's falling apart?" she said to no one in particular. She was toiling with the buttons of her old radio when a sound startled her, a green and white Seahawks flag skittering and dancing across her dirty windscreen.
She remembered the game that was supposed to be played later in the evening; Seattle Seahawks versus Denver Broncos and she had absolutely no desire to see it which was tragic because the Hawks were having a great season.
Kol had ruined her or she had ruined herself, she wasn't sure which was which. What she was sure about was the fact that she still loved him. What she was also certain of was the undeniable fact that she was exhausted. Bonnie was tired of bending over backwards for him, tired of trying so hard to fit into the impenetrable Mikaelson clan.
She was Bonnie Bennett, a blazing firestorm and to hell with the Mikaelsons if they didn't want to accept her. She squeezed the steering wheel in her hands, pressing her weary head against the wheels frayed surface.
#
Flashback
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Blue Moon, you knew just what I was there for
You heard me saying a prayer for someone I really could care for
-Nat King Cole
#
May 29, 1995
Martha's Vineyard…
Kol hunkered down at third base in the middle of a sprawling white beach, his muddy blond hair ruffling in the early summer breeze. Slowly Elijah cocked his arm, rolled the baseball with his thumb before pitching a barrelling fastball at Klaus.
"That's it babe, "Bonnie cheered for Kol, hands cupped around her mouth "third base to home plate!"
"Hit it good sweetheart" retaliating back with a peal laugh, Camille brought her hand up to shield her eyes from the buzzing sun as Klaus blasted the barrelling ball with a cracking hit. Klaus sent the ball spiralling through the hissing yellow air right over Marcel's head.
"Marcel!" Rebekah shrieked much to his amusement as he jogged along the spangled sand, kicking white grains in the air.
"Are you listening to the game through that?"
Bonnie wasn't happy at all when she noticed the white wiry cords of his stereo climbing down to his rugged tan Abercrombie shorts.
"Not fair, totally unfair"
"Bloody hell, I don't remember the vineyard being this hot last year" Rebekah blew a blond tendril from her face; kicking a tiffany blue alpaca throw off her leg and watching it fall onto the grey buffed wooden sundeck.
"Who's playing?" Camille asked leaning deeper into the white wooden sun lounger, her long legs threatening to brush the wooden balustrade draped with blue forget-me-nots.
"Who's playing, seriously?" Bonnie pulled down her cat eye sunglasses, spying Camille over them "No blue blooded New Yorker would dare to ask that"
"Technically she's French sweetheart and you know the French, "Rebekah winked before she added "Chiennes avec la culture"
"The Yankees are playing, obviously "
"Who's winning? "Bonnie yelled out to Marcel.
"Seattle Mariners!"
After the final out, the girls streamed onto the pearly sand with a chorus of chants and cheers. Bonnie slammed into Kol, clasping her arms around his clammy neck and kissing him.
####
"Haley, would you like a snack?"
Taunting the tall limber brunette, Rebekah proceeded to lick peanut butter off an ornately decorated platinum spoon while Elijah wandered around the kitchen in his neatly pressed khaki shorts and the latest issue of Pianist Magazine.
"She never eats, "she called as Hayley existed "I think it's a ballerina thing"
"I thought she was some hotel heiress or something" Bonnie shrugged watching Camille pour wine into deep glittering crystal glasses, the purple glug gushing in and swirling along the inside of the glass before settling into a shimmering pool.
Jesus, she was a drunk, Bonnie mused smiling to herself and pressing her knuckles to her cheeks as she leaned onto the vast scraped wood table.
"Her family squandered the money and her trust fund with it, poor thing had to marry Elijah"
"Cute t-shirt "Rebekah said, "Is it Elvis?"
"It's Johnny Cash"
"It's Adorable"
"Isn't it though?" Bonnie shot back, cocking her head to look at the blonde through her heavy eyelids" I think the crickets are calling you outside"
"Don't mind Rebekah" Camille offered with a generous smile after the younger blonde had left, "she has Daddy issues" she finished with a wink.
"And here I thought she was just being a cunt" Bonnie smiled cupping the wine glass in the warmth of her hands.
"I think the words you're looking for are Chatte miserable"
"How did you and Klaus meet?" Bonnie peered at her curiously, draping a grey chunky cable knit throw around her prickly arms.
"We met under a Rembrandt, both being fascinated with the same piece.
"The Anatomy lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp" Klaus contributed as he strolled into the kitchen.
"He, being an artist himself was captivated with the significant piece"
"And she, being a doctor, "Klaus grinned pressing his nose against her cheek "has always been enchanted with corpses"
Camille laughed turning to kiss him.
"And it's not true sweetheart, it wasn't the Rembrandt that won me over"
"There you are darling" Kol strolled in with a glint in his eye and mischief in his dimpled boyish grin.
"Kol, I know that look, "she shook her head giggling and backing away from him before he scooped her up and tossed her spry body over his naked shoulder, squirming and laughing with her fists gently pounding on his tanned back.
He carried her out to the sand, not far from the boathouse. The beach was now pink with the onslaught of a red sunset and the cawing seagulls.
"Kol, what are you doing?" her voice was a shaky rasp, her palms a clammy mess and her curls a tangled sun- soaked –salt-dampened nest. She could feel every gritty sand grain stuck to her feet as Kol kneeled in front of her, a feisty blush of colours frisking with his hair. He's so all American, Bonnie thought as he kneeled before her, blue blood, right down to the star spangled banner tossing in the breeze not far from the winding porch. For a brief moment, fear curled around her belly binding it into a billion topknots.
"Bonnie Bennett, "he grinned, eyes twinkling in that masterpiece of light "darling…"
"Yes, Kol"
"Will you, "he breathed "move in with me?"
"It's been five minutes"
"Who gives a damn, I cannot imagine dining on fruit loops and red wine with anyone else but you"
"Yeah?" she simpered.
"Oh yeah, you're it" he grinned rising to his feet and prying her hands away from her mouth "you're the girl. You're the one" he murmured dipping his head to kiss her giddy smile.
They tangled into each other laying outside on the swaying hammock, his warm fingers coiling into her windswept hair, his soft lips grazing her sweltering forehead. They listened to the merriness of his family inside the cottage, the stereo sounds wafting out into the sea breeze, draping and tingling around them like a warm island spell.
"At last…the skies are blue; my heart was wrapped up in clover…"
Bonnie closed her eyes to the lazy swaying, draping herself around him, sun-soaked arms and sun-drenched legs and all of her.
"The night I looked at you…I found a dream…"
Her languid fingers unbuttoned his red tattered Pringle shorts at a snail's pace, soft, dizzy, tipsy and unhurried just like the summer breeze in Martha's Vineyard.
#
We have both been broken, bent into painful shapes
-Amel Larrieux
There was no more air in their apartment, just fragile ghosts dancing in the wind. Kol looked exhausted and so did she, weathered, drained, spent…done.
"I'm just-"
He spoke twirling his key around his lazy fingers.
"Yeah, I get it"
"You shouldn't have to get it"
She nodded.
"I'm just-" he shrugged again" there's so much going on right now…so much changing and I'm just-"
"Tired" they both said it at the same time and she felt the weight of the world lift off her shoulders.
"I don't know how to stop loving you," he whispered not looking at her.
"I -don't- know- how- not- to- love- you" her eyes fixed on him, stooped and withered.
"You don't have to stop, we don't have to stop"
Someone said and in her fog, she couldn't comprehend who. The phrase lingered…trailing around the room until his voice shattered the air around them.
"We just need to take a break" he said, eyes still fixed on his key.
"That's what they call it," Bonnie croaked back, an empty feeling rising from her knees, surging through her like burning ice.
"I'm being unfair; I've been unfair to you for a long time. Dragging you to Seattle…you giving up Rolling Stone …"
"It was just an interview"
"But you see that's what I mean sweetheart; you're always taking yourself for granted" he looked up now, rising to his tired feet.
"Maybe I've been partly to blame but I need to change that"
"I love you" Bonnie said, not a plea but a statement.
"I need to let you go, "he moved closer, holding her "let you go for now"
"I love you" she repeated shutting her eyes trying to feel him against her, trying to mould his hollowness into something whole.
She was not sure who moved first, who grew bold first but they were kissing. It was a soft searching kiss, teasing at their immortality. Bonnie breathed into his warm mouth, desperate to feel his warmth, desperate to feel his soul palpitating inside of her. The rhythm of his heart understood, his mouth responded, seeking and soothing as it melted with hers. They bodies moulded together, tangling in exquisite agony as he unpeeled her dirty party dress, peeling away the beer and cigarette smell from her. Their scents melted into each other, her bourbon and his matured whisky and cigar smell. He was a dizzy concoction of chocolate and wood, coffee and leather. He was an insurmountable power delving deep into her depth, seeking and soothing. No one had ever touched her like Kol, or felt like him when he was deep in her warmth.
Slowly she unbuttoned his filthy white dress shirt, his hands resting steadily on her hands, their mouths unwilling to part. They poured their hopes and dreams into the kiss, clothes pooling to the floor around them and lips giving and taking. The stifling ache in her chest crawled to her throat, a pulse his hands felt as they cupped the back of her neck, the ache driving into her warm mouth. Kol's lips delved deeper to taste the new sensation, to taste her warm salty tears.
She felt Kol's arms around her waist as he scooped her up and set her on the mattress.
Fingers wound into his soft soft hair, as she kisses him and treasured him. Kol's thumbs fingered her lace panties, easing them down her undulating hips. He tensed when she scraped his bottom lip with her teeth, a sharp groan escaping from his raw mouth. Bonnie was growing impatient, needy and desperate for him. His lips never left hers, always gentle, soothing and pacifying her dull ache. Hooking his hand behind her shaky knee, Kol lifted her leg and pressed her thigh over her left breast. Bonnie's stomach quivered as he slowly eased himself inside of her, gentle and easy as if would break her if he didn't tread softly.
Bonnie rolled over on top of him, her hips dancing, her heart palpating and her mouth hot and wet over his.
"I love you" Kol groaned into her as she came and he came.
He stayed inside her a while longer, limbs entwined, feeling, breathing and listening to their synchronized breathing. Then slowly Kol peeled himself off, his eyes dropping to their clothes strewn on the floor.
She watched him ease each leg into his rumpled tuxedo pants and glide each arm into his shabby dress shirt. He still smelled like warm coffee, vanilla and leather.
"I love you"
Someone said again.
They stood there standing together, one at each end of the cold apartment, each one breathing their own separate air. When she felt like her quivering knees could no longer hold her, Bonnie sank on the bed. She sat with her shoulders hunched up, her hands at her sides scrunching up the cold crisp white sheets that forever smelled like bleach. They smelled of bleach, they smelled of her and they smelled Kol. She would never be able to get that smell out.
When Bonnie eventually looked up from her fog, Kol was gone.