The house she sat in was quiet. It had been a while since she was able to sit by herself and enjoy the silence. Chaos had somehow found its way into her life every second of the day. She was grateful Klaus had taken the time to get her her own space. She didn't care how and she didn't wanna know how.
It was comfortable, already furnished when she stepped foot inside. He must've known her better than she thought considering this house was just right for her. Nothing too big and flashy, but definitely beautiful. Soft white couches in the living room. Three big bedrooms, along with two squeaky clean and pristine bathrooms. One huge walk-in closet filled with all the clothes, shoes, and accessories a girl could dream of. All exactly in her size. A big kitchen fully stocked with everything she needed. Blood bags, snacks, and any other foods she could enjoy. He had really taken the time to make sure she liked everything in the house and it was full of her favorites.
Her relaxation was cut short when she heard a knock on the door. With a sigh, she speeds over to the entrance and swings the door open, revealing a familiar witch.
"Bonnie?" She questions. "What are you doing here?"
"Months with no call or texts and all you have to say is what are you doing here?" The Bennett witch scoffs, pushing past the strawberry blonde.
"Hello to you too." Maddy sighs, closing the door behind them.
"Do you have any idea how worried we were about you? How worried I was about you?"
"No, I didn't. I didn't think you cared about me that much." The vampire shakes her head.
"Turns out your presence makes a bigger impact on us than we all knew."
"I'm sure you guys weren't that miserable without me. You've only known me for like eight months." She shrugs.
"Elena cried for you every day for the first month and a half. Damon was a complete asshole to almost everyone. Jeremy sat in your room for hours. Caroline bitched every day about not getting to watch some stupid movie with you. And me... I had nobody around who actually acknowledged how I felt. You were the only person I could breathe freely around and not have to worry about putting any pressure on me." Bonnie explains. "Eight months might not seem like a long time to you, but with us, that makes you family. Especially when we lose people left and right."
"Ok Bonnie, I'm sorry. But I'm here now, alright." She sighs, resting her hands on top of her shoulders. "I think you're just a little shaken up from last night."
"Matt tried drowning himself. Tyler died. Dana and Chad died. Elena almost died and I can't lose anyone I care about because I can't take it." Bonnie breaks down, leaning on Maddy who immediately embraces the obviously stressed-out girl.
"Hey, Bonnie it's ok. None of that was your fault." She consoles the younger girl.
"Then why does it feel like it is?"
"Because you get too much pressure put on you, Bon. Have you slept at all?" Maddy questions, grabbing the girl's face and examining the bags under her eyes.
"No." Bonnie sniffles.
"Here come on, lay down Bon. You gotta get some rest." She demands, leading the teenager to the couch and covering her up with a blanket.
"You're the only one who cares Maddy."
"No, I'm not. I'm just the only one who knows how to show it. I'll be here when you get up, ok?" Maddy questions, memories of when she used to tuck Genevieve into bed flashing through her mind.
The change of Madison's expression didn't go unnoticed by the young witch. "I never really had my mom," she starts. "But I'm sure you were an amazing one."
Maddison smiles down at Bonnie. "Goodnight Bon."
"Goodnight Maddy."
~~~~~~~~~~
Madison stood in the kitchen of her home, making sandwiches for Bonnie. The girl was still asleep, but considering Bonnie wasn't taking very good care of herself, Maddy was sure she hadn't eaten yet. She shook her head as she thought about it. Bonnie was too young to be worrying about everyone but herself. They were all too young for what they had been going through.
Caroline and Tyler would never be able to have kids and grow old. Bonnie and Elena will never get what was supposed to be the best years of their lives back. Poor Jeremy would never get back all those girlfriends he lost to the supernatural. It was sad. Nobody deserved the kind of life they were living.
She was pulled out of her thoughts when she heard another knock on the door. She sighed, stopping what she was doing and walking to the door again, making sure not to wake Bonnie up. How the hell did everyone know where she lived already?
Swinging the door open, her expression turns into a disgusted one when she sees Damon standing there.
"Nope." She shakes her head closing the door, not wanting to entertain him and his insults.
Damon quickly uses his foot to stop the door from shutting and for a brief second, Maddy considers breaking it.
"Is Bonnie here?" The Salvatore questions.
"Yeah, she is," Maddy answers, attempting to shut the door in his face again.
"I need to talk to her." He sighs.
"Well, that's too bad. She's sleeping." She states, giving up on closing the door.
"Then wake her up." He demands.
"No, she needs some sleep considering she's stuck saving your guy's asses all the time. How long has it been since you guys have asked her if she was ok?" Maddy crosses her arms, looking up at the man.
"Bonnie's fine."
"Really? Because the mental breakdown she had here about three hours ago says differently." She raises her brows.
Damon rolls his eyes to hide the shock. "Tell her I need to talk to her when she wakes up."
"If I remember." She narrows her eyes at him.
"By the way, you all of a sudden caring doesn't erase the fact that you abandoned them."
"Yeah, well, you all of a sudden playing the nice guy doesn't erase the fact that you tried killing most of them." Maddy retorts before shutting the door.
A part of her wanted to open the door back up and tear him limb from limb. She hated the way he treated her. She didn't care if he was hurt. When he hurt her, she never treated him shitty. He needed to grow up and get his shit together.
She made her way back to the kitchen and propped herself up on the island, tossing a cherry tomato in her mouth. The sound of Bonnie's footsteps entering made the vampire look up with a small smile on her face.
"Hey." She greets, watching as the young witch rubbed her eyes.
"Hey." Bonnie yawns. "Is this for me?" She questions, pointing to the sandwich and salad that sat on the counter along with a glass of lemonade.
"Yeah, I figured you'd be hungry." Maddy nods.
Bonnie takes a seat on a nearby stool, quickly wiping the stray tear the fell down her cheek. "Thank you."
"Bonnie, are you ok?" She asks, staring down at the Bennett girl.
"Yeah." Bonnie answers taking a sip of the yellow beverage.
"You're crying." Maddy reaches out to her, wiping away her tears. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing. It's just, I haven't had anyone do something like this for me since my grams died." Bonnie sniffles.
They stared at each other in silence. Two broken girls who were expected to have the answers to everything. Two girls who the universe loved using as a punching bag. Maddy gave the girl a look of sympathy before grabbing her hand.
"I'm sorry, Bonnie. You deserve to have someone looking out for you and taking care of you." She states.
"I have my dad, but he doesn't have a clue what's actually going on in Mystic Falls and I don't wanna get him involved." Bonnie sighs, taking a bite of her sandwich.
"You know, there are two extra bedrooms here if you ever wanna stay a while. I'm not going anywhere anytime soon." Maddy offers.
Bonnie's eyes instantly light up. "Really?"
"Yeah," The vampire nods. "I mean it's a pretty big house. It wouldn't hurt having a little extra company."
"I think I might have to take you up on that offer. That was the best sleep I've got in months." Bonnie chuckles.
"Probably because no one was bugging you with their problems," Maddy states, jumping down from the counter and putting away the tomatoes. "Speaking of people bugging you, Damon was here, said he needed you for something." She rolls her eyes.
"I take it you two aren't on good terms?" Bonnie inquires, continuing to eat her food.
"No, because according to him I'm a selfish bitch who abandoned you guys." She sighs, closing the fridge.
"He said that?"
"Yep. Like he doesn't know the whole reason I was there in the first place was to save him" Maddy grumbles crossing her arms.
"He's an ass. Don't listen to him, Maddy." Bonnie shakes her head.
"It's irritating you know. When I was by myself my life was never this complicated, but then I met-" Madison quickly cuts herself off before she finished her sentence, not wanting to make Bonnie feel bad.
"But then you met us." The witch finishes Maddy's sentence.
"I'm sorry. It's just, I'm used to being alone and not having to worry about how my decisions affect other people. Now I have all these people I care about and it's frustrating knowing they hate each other because I'm stuck in the middle and all I want is to be happy." She rants.
"You're talking about Klaus, right? How we all hate him but you don't?" Bonnie questions, her heart warming as she realized Maddy was taking the time to open up and talk about her feelings with her.
Nobody could ever really tell what Maddy was thinking. She was a puzzle that no one could seem to piece together. Bonnie felt privileged to be the first person Madison was speaking heart to heart with.
"I hate him. I hate him so much for what he's done and especially for what he put you guys through last night. But then he goes and does things like this," She walks over to the fridge again and opens it. "All my favorite snacks, all my favorite blood types. This house is full of my favorite colors and books. He does things for me that no one else ever has, not even Damon when we were together and it makes me think that there is a part of him that's still worth saving."
"I'm sorry, that must be frustrating." Bonnie empathizes. "Whatever you choose, I won't hate you. I might be a little upset, but you deserve to be happy just as much as anyone else."
"You're the first person who hasn't looked at me like I'm crazy. Nobody understands what it's like to have feelings for someone all your friends hate."
"He's a bad guy Maddy, but if he makes you happy then who are we to judge? I mean no one is saying anything about Elena obviously falling in love with Damon." Bonnie shrugs.
"What?" Maddy furrows her eyebrows in confusion at the witch's words.
"Yeah. They kissed." She nods.
"When?"
"The night you and Stefan left. To be fair, Elena thought he was dying." Bonnie justifies.
"Right." Maddy nods, her lips kissing her teeth.
"Are you upset?"
"For Stefan, yeah. I hope he doesn't find out. He went through a lot of shit to protect both of them." Maddy sighs. "I don't understand how things get so complicated so fast."
"Tell me about it. A little over a year ago I was a normal teenager and now, I'm a witch with a vampire and a doppelgänger as a best friend." Bonnie chuckles.
"And I'm a vampire banshee who has been stuck at eighteen years old for nine hundred years." Maddy joins in. "But hey, who wants to be normal I guess?"
~~~~~~~~~~
Maddy trailed through the woods, following the sound of Elena and Alaric's voice. She had gotten a text from the Gilbert girl saying that she wanted her to help Alaric train her how to fight. After the incident with Stefan, she wanted to be able to defend herself. It was smart, but only if she was gonna stick to it. So, Maddy left Bonnie at her place came to help.
Her boots crushed the leaves and twigs underneath her feet as she spotted the two humans. Her eyes trailed to the mannequin that she assumed Alaric brought for training purposes.
"So the pressure of your punch ejects the stakes," Alaric states, showing Elena how to use a sleeve full of wooden stakes.
"Easy enough." Elena shrugs, punching the mannequin only for nothing to happen. "That's weird. Must be jammed or something." She states as she tries again.
"Baby girl, it has absolutely nothing to do with that," Maddy speaks up, pointing to the sleeve as she steps closer. "and everything to do with this." She finishes, gently squeezing Elena's upper arm before sliding a sleeve of stakes on her own arm.
The brunette's cheeks heat up at the nickname, her eyes following the vampire's every movement. They watch as she effortlessly punches the life-sized doll, the stakes immediately protruding from the sleeve and embedding themselves where the heart would be. Elena sighs, giving Alaric a pointed look.
"She barely even tried." The doppelgänger huffs.
"I'm a very very old vampire Elena. You're petite little human."
"I'm taller than you." The girl argues.
"You know what I mean. It's gonna take more than just five minutes of practice. Especially with those tiny little arms of yours." Maddy states, slipping the sleeve off her arm, putting the stakes back in place, and tossing the weapon back in Alaric's bag.
"Better start lifting some weights, put some meat on your bones." The history teacher nods.
"Thanks for not sugar-coating it," Elena says.
"You know what this is?" He questions, pulling a grenade out of his bag and showing it to his new trainee.
"A vervain grenade. I've used one before." Elena answers, glancing at Maddy who was leaning against a tree, picking at her nails, occasionally looking at the two.
"Then you know the element of surprise is your only advantage when it comes to a vampire." He informs before pulling the pin and tossing it in Elena's hands. "Surprise."
Elena panics, throwing the grenade in Maddy's direction, who was just now looking up. The vervain grenade explodes in her face, a painful scream escaping her lips. The two humans rush to her aide but step back when Maddy vamps out, fangs protruding from her mouth as her face breaks out in patches of burns. She falls to her knees holding her face, the burning and stinging in her eyes causing her to go blind.
"What the hell?!" She cries out.
Elena freezes, the surprise of how much pain she had just caused Madison setting in. Alaric steps in, kneeling beside the injured vampire and pulling her head into his chest. Comforting her was all he could do as the burns slowly healed.
"I am so sorry." Elena gasps, joining the two of them on the ground.
"I shouldn't have used the vervain while you were around." Alaric spits out, rubbing the girls back, silently hoping Damon didn't find out about what just happened.
The two of them may have been going through a rough patch. But he still cared for her deeply and if he found out that Elena and Alaric were responsible for burning Maddy's face up with a bunch of vervain, they knew he would drop everything and raise some hell.
Maddy slowly pulls away from Alaric's embrace and stands to her feet, shrugging Elena's hand off her shoulder. The strawberry blonde seethed, as her face completely healed.
"Maddy," Elena starts.
"Don't." Maddy shakes her head. "I'm leaving and do not ask me to help you with this ever again." She states before speeding off.
Elena Gilbert had once again found a way to piss off Madison Sinclair...