"...Seven...eight...niiiiiiiine...come on, Matt, you can do this," Bonnie looked on with keen interest as Matt finished out his final set. "Ten!" she jumped up and mimed waving a set of pom poms.

Matt laughed despite the sweat dripping into his eyes. "Thanks, Cheerleader Barbie. When you said you wanted to help me work out, I didn't think you'd actually stay the whole time." He chuckled, but Bonnie just shrugged. She'd come into the basement gym intending to just do some cardio on the elliptical to clear her head, but ended up staying and motivating Matt through his entire weight-lifting session. The Lockwood mansion was huge and beautiful, but she could see how Tyler had had such a hard time growing up- it was also very lonely. Even more so when you're avoiding Elena, said a little voice inside her head. She made a mental note to kindly tell that voice to shut the hell up and turned to help Matt wipe down all the machines they had used. As far as she knew, Elena had taken Bonnie at her word and stayed away. She was usually at her parents' house except at night. Or something. Bonnie wasn't exactly sure, and didn't exactly care. She'd been spending a lot of her time of her own at The Grill or at the library.

Bonnie realized that the reason she'd clung so fiercely to the group even though they didn't do the same for her was simply because she had no one else. Her Grams was gone, she effectively had no parents to talk to, no siblings, and no other family who would understand. But how could that be? Given that the Bennett witches were such a powerful coven, as she'd been hearing time and time again, how could it be that she was all alone in the world? Where was her family? So she'd been at the library trying to trace her ancestry, trying to find out who she was, where she'd come from, and most importantly- who else was out there.

"Hey, Matt? Where's the- ?" Elena stopped one stair short of entering the basement when she saw Bonnie.

"Uhhhh, never mind.." Elena looked at the floor.

"No, it's fine," Bonnie said coolly. "I was going to go take a shower, anyway." She strode past Elena without a second glance and headed upstairs.

"Bonnie…" Elena attempted, but the other girl didn't turn back. Elena ran a hand through her hair with a sigh and turned to Matt, who looked at her expectantly.

"What am I supposed to do, Matt? She hates me."

"She doesn't hate you," Matt refuted, dabbing his forehead with a towel. "She doesn't trust you. There's a difference."

"Okay, and what's that?"

"Trust can be rebuilt," he said simply. "She thinks you're not there for her, that she doesn't matter to you. So...prove her wrong. Show her that's not true."

...

"So," Klaus was saying (to Caroline mostly, thought Stefan) "Did I do well?"

"I mean, this house is amazing," Caroline admitted in awe, looking around her at the formal dining room. True to his word, Klaus had shown them his new home with gusto and pride, and displayed a remarkable knowledge about the property and its history that could only be described as...tender. Guess beauty can be added to the short list of things Klaus cares about, Stefan mused. The problem was that they had seen so much of it; they had spent all of their first day on idle chit-chat, and it appeared that was how they were about to spend the second. Stefan also didn't miss the fact that while Caroline was looking at the original 19th century sconces, Klaus was only looking at her. Although Stefan knew that would only head nowhere fast, he also knew Caroline was the only person Klaus would take it seriously from. He stood up from the table and cleared his throat. Loudly.

"Problem, Stefan?" Klaus asked, without a trace of concern. He remained seated and sipped his mimosa lazily.

"Um, yeah. We didn't exactly come here to chat about antebellum architecture, so if we could just…"

"Yes!" Caroline snapped out of her spell and shot up, too. "You know why we're here, Klaus. We need to find out what you know about sire bonds."

"Ah, yes. Your precious Elena is no longer yours." Klaus smirked at Stefan.

Stefan glared but wisely said nothing.

"Tell me," Klaus continued breezily. "Where is Elena now?"

"Away from Damon, is all you need to know," Caroline informed him. "He told her to stay away."

"Well then, she will do as he says. And unless that worries anyone for some reason…" he threw Stefan another look then went on. "...she will be perfectly safe provided Damon doesn't go back on his word. Which gives us plenty of time to tour the fountain garden outside. A true delight in this heat, believe me."

"We don't have time for you to play realtor, Klaus," Caroline said exasperatedly, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Oh, now that is a shame," Klaus said with mock disappointment. "Because after that I was going to show you Rebecca's collection of recreated antique gowns. Each one is a perfect replica of its historical cousin, for an authentic experience."

"Experience?" Caroline asked, her interest piqued.

"Of course, love. I assumed you might like to try a few on?"

Caroline was wearing the constipated expression of someone who's just been offered ten million dollars- but in exchange for her soul.

"I- we, um...no…?" she finished weakly.

"Well, that's too bad," Klaus smiled. "Because Rebecca just so happens to be gone for the day. She would never even know."

Caroline's eyes went wide for the second time that day. She silently spun around to Stefan.

"Absolutely not," he almost cried out.

Klaus ignored Stefan entirely. "Caroline, what say you?"

"I...I mean, well- that is…" Caroline stuttered. "Oh, Stefan, couldn't we just peek? Elena will be fine, Damon promised!"

"Yeah, because that's gone well in the past..."

"You know, Stefan, you don't actually need to accompany us," Klaus pointed out. "I very much doubt you would be interested. It would all just be art and intellectualism, that sort of thing. It would probably go right over that big hair of yours."

Stefan threw Klaus a look that clearly indicated that had they both been human he'd love to punch Klaus in the nose just once - really hard- just to get the point across.

"Count me in."

...

Damon copied down the address from the glaring computer screen and slipped the paper in his pocket. Bonnie was going to be so pleased, forgive him, and go back to being Little Miss Judgeypants in no time. He smiled and cracked his knuckles with satisfaction. Then he paused, realizing he hadn't considered the alternative. But of course she would, he reasoned. It was Bonnie. And with that thought in mind, he grabbed his favorite leather jacket (not the black one, but the other black one) and sped out to his car. No time like the present.

(A/N: Thanks for patiently awaiting this chapter! I love reading your reviews!)