Liaison [Sequel to Captured Hearts]

IV

   It was light outside when Bonnie finally got home, and after an argument that lasted almost half an hour at her doorstep, she finally got Kol to leave her and go home. He'd been reluctant at start, and told her that he had wanted to make sure everything was alright with Bonnie and her father. But Bonnie knew that the conversation she was going to have would only involve arguing and a lot of yelling. Bonnie didn't even want her best friends to witness the fight let alone a guy she actually liked.
Bonnie bit her bottom lip nervously as she bent down to pick up the spare key hidden crudely beneath the old 'welcome' mat, and let out a breath as her shaking fingers pushed the key into the lock.
  "- Months! Months, Rudy, and you didn't think to call me earlier?"
  "I'd been on a business trip."
  "Business trip? Your daughter was missing, and you were on a business trip?"
  Bonnie let out a heavy sigh. Abby Bennett and Rudy Hopkins. Her parents.
  "Don't sound too worried," Bonnie shrugged, and she felt both her parents eyes fall on her as she walked into the lounge. Her father was sitting on one of the couches, and he wore a shirt so rumpled that it looked like he hadn't taken it off for days. Abby had been pacing the room, but she stopped where she stood in front of the window to stare at her only daughter. "You did abandon me after all. Abby."
  "Bonnie -" Rudy started to say and he pushed himself off the couch. 
  "Save your breath. I'm too tired for the discipline speech."
  "You're tired?" Abby exclaimed. She sounded outraged, and Bonnie winced. "Bonnie Bennett, you have been missing for months! Nobody knew where you were." 
  "I was in New Orleans," Bonnie said, and she sat down in the space that her father had once occupied. They both stared down at Bonnie as if they had never seen her before. "I was kind  of kidnapped, actually. It wasn't like I could refuse. He is a vampire after all." 
  "What is that matter with you?" Abby shouted, and Bonnie couldn't help but glare.
  "What's the matter with me? What's the matter with you? You left me. All by -"
  "You want to bring up this again?"
  "Do I - No. I don't," Bonnie shrugged, and she sat back up again. Her father had gone oddly quiet, and even when she cast a glimpse over at him, he didn't utter a word. "Now you know I'm home. I hope you can sleep easy tonight."

  She hadn’t known what she’d been expecting that afternoon. Bonnie had slept through the entire morning, and woke up in time to catch the aroma of burgers and fries. She cast a look at the small alarm clock decorated with small Hello Kitty stickers she’d stuck on when she was a child, and stifled a groan when she caught the time. Four P.M. Her stomach grumbled, suddenly recalling that she hadn’t eaten for at least two days, and Bonnie rolled over onto her back. Her hair was a frizzed mess around her head, and she stared up at the fan on her ceiling as it moved in steady circles.
  “Go. Away,” Bonnie demanded out. She didn’t care how hungry she was. She was not in the mood for guests, and especially not in the state she was in.
  “We come bearing gifts?” Elena.
  “And food,” that was Matt.
  “I wasn’t allowed to bring vodka,” Caroline added.
  Bonnie rolled her eyes. The only one of her friends missing was Tyler, but then again, the hybrid had taken a hike and left town when Klaus ordered him too. Another reason why Bonnie hated the Mikaelson family. Should hate them. Slowly, Bonnie pushed herself off the bed, and she let her feet touch the carpeted floor. Her ankles ached for some odd reason, and when she tilted her head to the side she heard a loud crack from inside her neck. She brushed thick, curled hair out of her face and pulled it back into a ponytail, reaching for the hairband on her bedside table. She would have to buy some product to sort out the madness that her hair had decided to take form of. She couldn’t tame it now.
  “Not hungry,” Bonnie lied, and she trudged towards her dresser. She was thankful for her door being locked. She didn’t know what she might do if one of her friends barged into the room without her permission.
  “Bonnie,” Elena pleaded. She sounded closer now, and Bonnie paused with her hands at the waistband of her pyjama shorts. “Please. We haven’t seen you for so long. We miss you.”
Maybe Bonnie was supposed to feel upset about the fact that her friends had missed her. Maybe she was supposed to miss them, but she just didn’t. She couldn’t. It was like a switch had been flipped in her mind, and she bit down on her bottom lip. She didn’t want to feel the way she did, she really didn’t. She pushed her shorts down and tugged off her shirt and changed into fresh underwear in silence.
  “Bon?” Matt asked. “Are you alright?”
Bonnie could stay silent, and maybe they would think that she was crying. Maybe if she stayed silent, they would suppose that she was feeling sorry for herself, even when she wasn’t. Bonnie let out a sigh, and she walked reluctantly over to her door.
  “Matt –” She stopped when she opened the door, and her eyes went wide. “What is that thing on your head?” A batted and ripped hat the colour of sand with ‘Bats’ written in red sat proudly on top of Matt’s blonde head, and he gingerly raised a hand to touch it.
  “It’s a baseball cap?” Matt said, though he sounded just as confused as Bonnie.
  “You play ball now?”
  “You’ve been gone for a while.”
Bonnie felt a small jolt of offence at Matt’s words, and she felt her lips part in slight surprise at the sudden blow of emotions. She looked to the carpeted floor, and at her dark blue toenails, before looking back up. Caroline and Elena had joined Matt at the door now, and Bonnie let out a small breath. Elena looked like she was on the verge of tears, but Caroline looked sceptical. Bonnie wondered why she hadn’t already brought up the whole Kol Mikaelson thing. 
  “Yeah,” Bonnie nodded and managed a shrug. She felt something churning inside her stomach, and her palms had begun to grow clammy. For the first time since Bonnie Bennett had been brought back from the dead, she felt guilt. “Doesn’t matter.”
  “Doesn’t matter?” Caroline blurted, and she suddenly pushed past Matt to engulf Bonnie in a tight hug. “Seriously, Bonnie? Of course it matters.”
Bonnie let out a sigh, and she wrapped her own arms around Caroline’s body. Her head started to throb again, but Bonnie didn’t utter a word about it. For the first time in what seemed like forever, Bonnie felt human again, and she didn’t want to lose that feeling over something as silly as a headache. Her eyes stung, and she wiped at them frantically when Caroline finally released her.
  “Are you crying?” Elena asked. Her voice sounded light and caring, and Bonnie felt a knot of regret in her heart.
  “No. I’m not, I just – Caroline flicked me with some of her hair.”
It was an obvious lie, but it got a smile out of her friends. Bonnie looked across at Caroline, and if she were mad for encountering Bonnie with Kol, she hid it well. Bonnie was surprised that none of them had confronted her about it already, but she wasn’t going to risk asking them about it.
  “Get dressed,” Elena smiled, and she tucked a seamless strand of straight hair behind her ear. Somehow, it made her look older. “We’re taking you out.”
  “I don’t feel like going out,” Bonnie said softly, and the good feeling that had begun to swell in her chest suddenly stopped.
  “Come on, Bon,” Matt begged. “It’s just to the Grill. Think of it as a welcome back party?”
  “It’ll just be us?” Bonnie asked with a sigh.
  Elena nodded. “Just us. Just like old times.”

  “So where have you been?”
  “What do you mean?” Bonnie asked, although she knew exactly what Elena had asked her. She found a stray lock of hair, and curled it around her finger as she looked around the Mystic Grill. It seemed smaller than she remembered it to be, and the smell of alcohol and salty pretzels were starting to make her feel queasy.
  “I mean you disappeared one night. We didn’t see you again for a month, and then you were gone again.”
  “New Orleans,” Bonnie said, and she risked a glance over at Elena. She was watching Bonnie carefully, but smiled when she realised she was being watched. Caroline seemed unusually quiet, and she kept glancing down at her mobile phone.
  “What were you doing there?”
  “Needed some time away,” she lied, and smiled cynically. “You didn’t call or text once.”
Caroline looked up then, and her pale eyebrows rose.
  “Bonnie,” Elena started to say. “What do you mean? I – we all texted you.”
  “I didn’t get the messages,” she said abruptly.
Without a word, Caroline lifted her mobile onto the table, and she scrolled through her contact list until she came across Bonnie Bennett.
  “Is this your number?” Caroline asked. Bonnie nodded. “Do you have your phone on you now?”
  “Yeah.”
Caroline pressed her thumb to the small green button, and then clicked on the speaker button. It dialled once, twice. Three times, and then it was followed by a small beep. Bonnie glanced down at her bag. She hadn’t heard her phone ring once.
  “Oh. He didn’t,” Bonnie said through gritted teeth and she clenched her hands into tight fists. She should have known that her friends would have tried to call her, or message her. She should have known that they would have tried to contact her when they realised that she was missing. Bonnie rummaged through her handbag, and pulled out her mobile. She immediately slid the back of her phone, and let out an irritated sigh. Her sim card was missing.
  “What’s wrong?” Elena asked her, and she leant across in the booth to try and get a look.
  “My sim card is missing,” Bonnie growled, and she dropped her phone back into her purse. It explained why she hadn’t got the calls and messages. They had never been sent to her mobile in the first place. “Bloody Kol.”
  "Who?"
  "Kol. He must have taken it in New Orleans. Explains why I hadn't heard from any of you."
She felt her two friends go silent next to her, and Bonnie didn't realise why until the reason finally squeezed its way back into her mind. Elena and Caroline still thought that Bonnie knew nothing of Kol Mikaelson.
  "Bonnie," Caroline scooted closer, and Bonnie looked innocently up at her. "There's something we need to tell you about Kol."
  Bonnie would play along. Just out of curiosity. "What do you mean?"
  "There's no easy way to tell you this, but Kol's not who you think he is. He's an original, Bonnie. A Mikaelson. I know it's hard to believe, but you've met him before. He's compelled you to forget, or something and we don't -"
  "Drinks on the house?" Matt interrupted happily, but his smile dropped when eh caught the glare Caroline shot him. "What'd I do?"
  "Actually, Caroline," Bonnie announced, and she reached over for her Coke Cola. "I'm aware of who Kol is, and it was actually Klaus who compelled me to forgot about him. I don't know what Kol actually did to make you all hate him, but I'm sure I'll remember eventually."
Bonnie leant back in her chair, and she sucked the cool, sweet liquid into her mouth through the straw as she glanced to and from her three friends. Caroline's eyebrows were raised, Elena looked as if she were still trying to process what had just been said, and Matt looked completely shocked.
  "What?" Caroline asked.
  "Oh yeah. I found out ages ago. Actually, last night. The Mikaelson's couldn't really avoid not telling me though. They tried, but Klaus blurted it out over dinner."
  "Over dinner?" Elena repeated, and Bonnie nodded blissfully. "Bonnie, what were you doing over their house for dinner?"
  "Rebekah invited me," Bonnie glanced over at Matt. "Maybe we can double date? You and Rebekah and Kol and myself?"
  "Wait, I dont -" Matt started to protest, but he was interrupted by Caroline.
  "Bonnie, are you crazy? What the hell is the matter with you?"
  "Have you ever thought that maybe there isn't anything wrong with me?" Bonnie asked her, and she put down her drink to look Caroline straight in the eye. "Ever since I've got back, all I've heard is how everybody thinks that I've changed."
  "Bonnie," Caroline seemed speechless. "Do you know what you remind me of when you act like this? A vampire with no humanity."
  "But, Caroline," Bonnie smiled slightly. It wasn't pleasant, it wasn't even friendly. "I'm not a vampire. How could I have lost my humanity?"
                                       

I think this may be obvious that this is more of a filler
type chapter, so I'm sorry about that.