Part 5.2: Will you Still Love Me?

Shit! Bonnie thought to herself. She hadn't meant to take things that far and hurt his feelings. She was struggling with the lack of freedom and lack of a solution. She knew how much of a risk going to see Virginia would be, but she had no idea what else to do. And Enzo was doing enough, she just meant that they could do with some help. She had another shot of Bourbon then went to sit at the breakfast table. Looking at her cell-phone she contemplated calling Caroline. She wasn't going to ask for help. Caroline had enough to deal with. She just wanted to talk. Bonnie still hadn't told Caroline that she and Enzo were together even though she sensed Caroline was dying to ask her about it. Now seemed like the right time to get it all off her chest. She used the burner app on her cell-phone to create a new number and make the call.

"Hello?" Caroline answered after a few rings.

"Hey, Care."

"Bon?"

"Yeah it's me."

"Good to hear your voice. It's been a while. You must be keeping busy."

She's starting already. Bonnie thought as Caroline began her typical subtle insinuations regarding Bonnie and Enzo's relationship.

"Just been doing research as usual."

"Ok. Any leads?" Caroline queried.

Bonnie sighed heavily. "No."

"Are you ok?"

"Not really." Bonnie admitted before telling Caroline about her argument with Enzo.

"I'm with him on this one Bon. It's a huge risk. There has to be another way to figure this out. I'll speak to Ric when he gets back with the girls. He might know something or have some ideas on how to help."

"Thanks, Care." Bonnie said, not disputing anything Caroline said as she was right on all accounts. "There's something else I need to tell you." Bonnie added.

"Yeah?" Caroline responded. Bonnie could hear the excited anticipation in her voice.

"Me and Enzo are together."

"As in a 'couple' together?" Caroline asked awaiting confirmation.

"Yeah." Bonnie answered putting an end to the secrecy.

"FINALLY!" Caroline said, almost deafening Bonnie over the phone. "Been waiting for you to fess up for months!"

Bonnie laughed. "So how come you didn't say anything? Not like you to keep your suspicions to yourself."

"Things have changed, Bon. We're older… Sometimes a situation can be complicated." Caroline told her.

"Like with you and Ric."

"Yeah."

"Or you and Stefan."

"Let's not even go there."

"Sorry, Care. I know you're still pissed about that."

"Well, anyway…" Caroline began. "Sometimes the last thing you need is people judging you and interfering. I just thought I'd let you tell me when you were ready."

"Thanks, Care. So you don't think I'm crazy?" Bonnie asked her.

"Look, Enzo's no saint. He's done some crazy shit and I'm still trying to forgive him for it." She said referring to him kidnapping her amongst other things. "But we've all gone off he rails at times… like me when my Mom died. I'm not making excuses, but, part of being a vampire is that things can get pretty extreme. Anyway, if I could tolerate Damon for Elena's sake I can definitely accept you and Enzo." They both laughed at that last comment.

"That means a lot to me." Bonnie told her.

"I know you Bon. You wouldn't be with Enzo if he wasn't good to you. And I think it's pretty obvious from the fact that he even decided to protect you in the first place that he cared about you way before you got together. It's a pretty big deal taking care of someone the way he's taken care of you when you were barely friends to begin with." Caroline paused before asking, "So exactly how long have you two been together?"

"About 6 months, give or take." Bonnie answered.

"6 MONTHS!" Caroline exclaimed, almost deafening Bonnie again. "You kept the fact that you're in an actual relationship to yourself for 6 months?! I mean, I had a feeling you two had a thing for each other way before that, but I thought maybe you'd just accidently fallen into bed together as a one off or something…"

"Caroline?!"

"What? You were single for a long time, he was busy with the Armory. You put two hot people alone together in a secluded cabin for long enough… something's bound to happen. I know one-nighters aren't your style, but all that sexual frustration… I guess you two must be pretty serious though. I mean, I wouldn't have thought you'd ever wanna get involved with a vampire in that way much less be in a relationship with one. And, as much as Enzo can be a flirt, I couldn't see him going through all that trouble to help you just to use you for sex." Caroline explained.

"We are serious." Bonnie admitted. "And I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner. I just didn't wanna curse it by putting it out there and I wasn't exactly sure how you'd react. I just wasn't ready."

"Well now you have told me I want all the details." Caroline insisted.

Bonnie told her everything from New Year's Eve to her and Enzo's trip to New York, leaving out the saucier details. She explained how her frostiness towards him in the beginning changed due to his patience and understanding. Caroline was impressed by Enzo's change in behaviour after all of the irrational, destructive things he had done before.

"You never told me how he got you to the cabin in the first place." Caroline said.

Bonnie hadn't told her originally as Caroline was already worried enough about her hiding out from the Armory. The twins had only just been born and Caroline had moved to Texas. Bonnie knew that if she told Caroline about the anti-magic sedatives and that she'd basically been kidnapped, Caroline would be on a mission to find her and probably castrate Enzo! Bonnie didn't want to put her through that kind of stress or for her to leave the twins. But now that it was history she reluctantly explained that part of the story.

"Seriously, I'm gonna have to have words with Enzo next time I speak to him. What is wrong with these guys? That sounds like something Damon would do. He should have called me. I could have helped. You could've come to Texas with us."

"Like I said before Care, I wouldn't wanna put you Ric and the girls in danger." Bonnie reiterated.

"Just wish I could do something to help." Caroline responded. "Maybe Matt could help, or Tyler since he worked for the Armory too?"

"Matt and I aren't exactly as close as we used to be. We haven't spoken in so long. I couldn't even be there for him when Penny died. I don't exactly think he'd be too thrilled about me and Enzo either."

"True. Matt's gonna shit a brick when he finds out about you two!" They both laughed at that. "Well, if nothing else maybe you should speak to Matt just to clear the air, he might be able to put you in touch with Tyler too. Let me get Matt's new number for you." Caroline added.

After taking Matt's new number Bonnie changed the topic of conversation. "So… you and Ric…?

"We're fine." Caroline told her.

"Mmmhmm…" Bonnie responded.

"We both know Ric is never gonna be the love of my life, but what we have is solid."

"And what is that exactly?" Bonnie queried.

"We have a family. The girls need us. They need a mom, and, a vampire might not be anybody's first choice, but I love them more than anything. Their lives are gonna be affected by the supernatural world eventual, at least I can protect them." Caroline explained. "Ric and I understand each other. There's no drama. There's a lot of respect there… and isn't friendship always the best foundation for a good relationship?"

Bonnie knew exactly what she meant, because her relationship with Enzo began with friendship. Unfortunately, a little bit of the respect which was such a strong element within the relationship had been lost during their fight. But she wanted to fix things and she knew he would too.

"Anyway, enough about me and Ric. Want are you gonna do about you and Enzo?" Caroline asked.

"I dunno. Just talk it out I guess. We'll have to compromise." Bonnie answered. "He needs some space and so do I. But he'll come back when he's ready. He always does."

Enzo parked his car near a lake about 30 minutes away from the cabin. He got out of the car and sat against the bonnet going over the argument with Bonnie in his mind. He had hoped that the sound of the water and the greenery would help to calm him down but he was still wound up. He still felt some guilt for introducing her to Alex in the first place, but as he and Bonnie had discussed ages ago, Alex was so determined when she wanted something that even without the introduction she would have tried to get to Bonnie. And that's precisely why they had to figure out what she wanted fast. Maybe Bonnie's idea of going undercover was the best option. But he was terrified of losing her and Alex could not be trusted, or underestimated. He didn't see how they could make contact with Virginia without Alex finding out. So far Alex had hardly provided Enzo with any information about his background. God only knew what she wanted from Bonnie. If it involved anything even remotely like his experience in the Augustine cells he'd die before he let her do that to Bonnie. The Armory were big on 'experiments' so that was the obvious assumption, especially with Bonnie being one of the last living Bennett witches.

When Alex had said that Bonnie was a priority on the Armory's 'acquisition' list Enzo knew not to ask too many questions. But his first instinct was to stop them from getting anywhere near her. Alex didn't trust many people. She revealed very little about the Armory's 'projects' and she certainly didn't trust him to bring Bonnie in again when he failed to keep her there after Damon almost ended Rayna Cruz's last life. He only found out that the Armory was going to capture Bonnie because he used his vamp hearing to listen in on a conversation between his 'colleagues'. At that point the 'hate' between Bonnie and himself had been a blessing as Alex didn't suspect that he'd helped Bonnie to evade her and so far he'd played the double agent role successfully.

Bonnie was one of the few people in his life who made him feel like he was worth something. She made him feel valued and respected. She made him feel like he belonged. She gave him hope. He'd spent a long time running around like a delinquent teenager, causing trouble as a way to let out the anger and frustration he felt at being alone. Not even being in the army made him feel like he belonged. But Bonnie was there for him as much as he was there for her. And, as old fashioned as it seemed he felt that as a man it was his job to protect his girl. That's what hurt him so much about their disagreement. It was as if she'd lost faith in him.

What would Damon do? He thought out of nowhere. Well maybe not nowhere. Damon, like Lily and Maggie, was one of the other people who had made him feel like he was worth something at one point in his life. Damon would probably kill Alex, which Enzo wouldn't object to too strongly, even though she was his blood. But of course there would be consequences and they'd almost certainly still be after Bonnie.

Enzo had been angry with Damon for hurting Bonnie, but as his main focus was now protecting her the anger became indifference. He'd accepted Damon's selfishness a long time ago, he was who he was. Enzo had also gone through a phase of feeling jealousy towards Damon as it seemed that no matter what he did he was always loved and forgiven left, right and centre. By Elena, Stefan, Bonnie. Of course Damon didn't have the privilege of Bonnie's forgiveness anymore. He fucked up royally when he abandoned her. But Enzo would never leave her.

Enzo's cell-phone rang interrupting his thoughts. When he saw Caroline's number on the screen he immediately assumed something had happened to Bonnie.

"Caroline?" He answered anxiously.

"Hey, Enzo…." She began in her usual sunny tone, before the yelling started. "Wanna tell me what the hell was going through your mind when you drugged Bonnie to get her to the cabin?!"

Clearly Bonnie was fine and she'd recently spoken to Caroline, who was now about to bust his balls.

"So…?!" Caroline persisted.

Enzo sighed before answering. "Caroline, you don't have to tell me it was a dickhead move. I've apologised to Bonnie and I know that doesn't make it right. But at the time I thought it was the only way I could get her to come with me so I could keep her safe."

"You could've talked to me before you did it, I could've helped you." Caroline said not 100% satisfied with his explanation.

"There was no time. You had enough on your plate and frankly, all that was on my mind was getting to Bonnie as quickly as possible so that the Armory wouldn't get to her first."

Caroline was silent for a few moments, as if she was contemplating whether or not to forgive his indiscretion. "You know you still have a lot of sucking up to do before I can forgive you for this…and other things." Caroline told him bluntly.

"Yeah, I know. I'm sorry." He said sincerely.

"So, anything else you wanna let me know?" Caroline asked him.

"I'm guessing you and Bonnie had a long talk."

"Yeah, we did."

"What did she say?" He queried.

"Just basically that you were acting like an asshole, but she didn't mean to piss you off and obviously she still loves you."

So Bonnie had finally let the cat out of the bag. He couldn't help the sense of pride that hit him as Caroline acknowledged that Bonnie loved him. He'd wondered how long it would take Bonnie to start telling people about them. He, on the other hand, didn't care who knew, he was proud to be with her. But then again she wasn't the former screw-up in the relationship.

"Should I be prepared for you to start shouting at me again?" He said referring to the fact that Bonnie had been upset enough to call her friend after their fight and the revelation that they were now a couple.

"Well, firstly, I figured you two were doing something together months ago. I'm still shocked you kept it to yourselves for so long, but anyway good for you two. Bonnie deserves a real man who puts her first and that's exactly what you've been doing for the last few years. Getting back to your fight, I'm with you. It's too dangerous."

"Glad someone agrees."

"That said, Bonnie is very self-sufficient and if she really wants to do something, she's gonna do it. Arguing with her about it isn't gonna help. She knows that going to the hospital is dangerous, but you telling her she can't do it is pushing her to go against you." Caroline told him.

"So what do I do?" Enzo asked.

"You both just need to calm down and listen to each other. Once you do that, you'll find a resolution."

Caroline was right. Bonnie could be stubborn as hell at times. She wasn't irrational though. He was still frustrated by the argument and by the whole situation, but he was calm enough now that he wanted to talk it out. He was sorry for undermining her, but he'd been angry about her willingness to put herself at risk and hurt by her lack of faith in him. He wanted to do what was best for her but he wouldn't let her walk all over him. There was too much respect and understanding between them to let one argument ruin everything. After spending so much time trying to decide where his loyalties should lie, with Bonnie, Enzo had finally found someone who was genuinely on his side and he wasn't about to lose her. It was time to go home.

TO BE CONTINUED…