A/N1: Uh so, R.I.P. Kol, I guess… We hardly knew you… So much for you showing up in New Orleans this fall.

Chapter 12

Kol didn't believe in love at first sight. Never had. Growing up in a household filled with abuse and hate hadn't exactly encouraged a deep belief in love. He had lusted at first sight though, and second and third… He had definitely lusted a lot.

But love never came easy. He wondered if he was just as damaged as Nik in that department. He sometimes envied their other siblings for being able to love so truly and completely. He had seen Elijah give his heart to that filthy trollop Katherine, despite being spurned by her ancestor, and Finn had only ever had eyes for Sage. Rebekah, who had always craved love the most and always received it the least, had been so destroyed by Alexander's betrayal that Kol had worried she would never recover. As it turned out, she hadn't. He had raged at Nik when he discovered that he had allowed her to fall in love with that dilatant Stefan Salvatore, only to remove all his memories of their relationship. What crueller fate could there be than to love someone who couldn't even remember their time with you?

Kol thought for a time that he loved Mirela. He had certainly lusted after her enough to almost drive him insane. Everything about her was made to lure him in, from her soft voice to her fiery green eyes. She was perfection and she was forbidden and that was enough. He had been enthralled and begged her endlessly to just forget her family and come away with him. Nik, ever the helpful brother, had of course removed the obstacle of her family for them. Kol had found her hanging in a tree two days later and that had been it.

He didn't like dwelling on her. It made him feel uncomfortable for loving her and not really loving her and the fact she had killed herself because of his infatuation. It was one of the things that were buried now, along with Esther and Finn and Mikael. He thought it was a little ironic that his family was so special yet just like everyone else in that they had things they couldn't talk about in order to keep the peace.

Bonnie was different, though. He liked witches, well, as much as witches were willing to be liked. And they always had the best parties. Unfortunately, Nik had an unfortunate habit of burning them out rather quickly. Especially the young ones. So when he had found out that a little Bennett witch had stood up to big, bad Nik more than once, naturally he was intrigued. He'd watched her, at first, and determined that this witch definitely didn't have the best parties and that she was also quite possibly borderline depressed. Her friends were horrible to her and Damon Salvatore had apparently made it his life's mission to torment her on a daily basis.

It had tugged a little at his dead heart to see her like that. At first he wasn't sure why, but then it hit him. She reminded him of Rebekah. His poor sister, who had been so neglected by her entire family, that she was starving for love and went looking for it in all the wrong places. Obviously, Kol wasn't blind to the fact that Bekah was a sociopath, they all were, well maybe except Elijah, but he was definitely dealing with some other issues, but he could still remember his innocent sister begging them all for attention and never really receiving it. Bonnie was like that in a way. Her mother had left her when she was young and her father spent more time out of town than in it. Her friends were so caught up in their own supernatural high school drama that they often forgot her and Jeremy Gilbert was a huge twat that definitely deserved to be introduced to the hard end of a baseball bat. Repeatedly.

Yes, Bonnie Bennett had been ripe for the taking. So, he took. He just hadn't expected her to take back. It wasn't on purpose, he knew, but she had taken possesion a little part of his heart and refused to let go.

Even after everything that had happened, he hadn't been able to let go either. He had followed her to Seattle, just to make sure she settled in nicely and that she wasn't hanging around the wrong people. Bekah had showed up a few weeks later, yelling and screaming about how pathetic he was and had finally managed to drag him off to Vienna. They had spent a year there, partying and doing what not, but neither of them had been truly happy. Sometimes Elijah would check in with them, acting as their moral compass and scolding them for making a scene. Nik had tried to reach out to Bekah, but she had ignored him and needlessly, Kol wasn't interested.

Truth be told, he wasn't sure he liked this century. Well, there were some things he liked. Bekah had gifted him with a small musical device, an iPod she called it, and it was truly marvellous. Also, the Black Keys and Kanye West were definitely up there on the list, but… There was something not right about this time. People were wrong, somehow. Too absorbed in petty things like this Facebook phenomenon, and too impersonal. Kol liked to be personal…

Rebekah had cracked eventually. It wasn't anything profound like one might have expected. One day she simply stopped eating, stopped smiling and then stopped going anywhere altogether. Kol had ignored it at first, simply because it was easier, but it soon became clear that it wasn't something that would pass like all her other infatuations usually did. This was something else. He thought about calling Elijah or maybe Nik, but what were they supposed to do? He'd seen his sister be angry, hurt and insolent countless times, but this was something different. The only other time she had been this distraught had been when Alexander had betrayed her. And then he finally understood.

"Are you tired yet, sister" he has asked one day. They were sitting in their spacious kitchen in their expensive apartment in the better part of Vienna. Everything was as it should be, yet it wasn't.

"Aren't you, brother" she has asked hollowly.

"Well, it's early…."

"I'm tired of running." She'd turned her empty stare at him. "I'm just tired."

"Bekah…"

"Mother is dead, father is dead, Henrick is dead, Finn is dead…"

"Alexander is dead."

"Yes. Alexander is dead too."

"But this is old news."

She scoffed. "We're the old news, Kol. Don't you see?"

He sighed. "Okay, Bekah, I'll play along. What's wrong now? Did the mailman look at you wrong or did someone not ask to see your ID when you bought wine last week?"

"Shut up, Kol" she sighed, getting up from her chair. "You'd never understand."

"Well, you're just gonna have to use your small words and gestures then, because you're the one that insisted I come here with you and now you're miserable and no fun."

"Life isn't fun."

"Is that what you think?"

"Well, are you having fun, dear brother? Huh? Are you having the time of your life, living it to its fullest with everything it has to offer?"

He didn't answer.

"Answer me" Rebekah suddenly yelled. "Are you having fun, are you amused, are you…"

"No!" He had pushed her into the wall hard enough for it to crack. "No!"

"Me neither" she whispered.

"What do you want me to do, Bekah? Take you home to Nik so you can be his little pet again? Find you a new girlfriend?"

"I want you to kill me."

He laughed. There was no other response, because his sister had just asked him to kill her. "You are joking, right?"

"I'm not."

He collapsed back into his chair. "Bekah…"

"Please…" She kneeled down in front of him with tears in her eyes. "I don't want to be miserable anymore."

"You can't ask this of me."

"You're my brother."

"Bekah…"

"If you love me, you will do this. I don't want to be like this anymore."

He had called Natasha, an old witch he had used to run with in Russia in the nineteenth century. She was pretty deep in the black magic, but they went back and she owed him a few favours. Natasha had talked to Rebekah, talked to him and then talked to Rebekah some more. For days, it seemed like all they did was talk. But it didn't change anything.

"Will it hurt" Rebekah asked. Her eyes were wet, but she was holding back the tears.

"I spelled the stake dear" Natasha assured. "You'll feel a small stab and then…"

"Nothing" Rebekah said, nodding.

"I can't believe you're making me do this" he said, staring at the stake in his hand.

"Thank you" she whispered, kissing his cheek. "You always were my favourite."

"Liar" he muttered, trying not to cry too. "You hated me."

"I always loved you" she said with a small smile. "Which is why I want you to go back to your little witch and be happy."

"She hates me too."

"She doesn't hate you, Kol. She's just confused. Go back and make it right."

"It won't matter" he told her quietly. "It'll end anyway. She'll never let me turn her."

Rebekah looked at her hands. She was wearing the ring Alexander had worn. "There's a cure."

"What?"

"If you really want to be with her. There's a cure…"

"Bekah, I…"

"Just, promise me you'll think about it Kol. This isn't living. I want you to be happy." She looked at Natasha. "Everything ready?"

"Ready when you are, dear" the witch confirmed.

"I really do love you, Kol" Rebekah told him. "And I want this. It's right. I'll be with mother again, and Finn and Henrick and maybe even Alexander."

"I hope that for you, baby sister" Kol said, lifting the stake.

He'd buried her as she wished. With their family scattered all over the world, there was only one place Rebekah had an anchor to in the other life: Alexander. He'd stayed a while, after sending Natasha away, to mourn her and ponder about her last words. There was a cure.

Seattle was a mess of noise and smell as usual. It didn't take him long to find Bonnie though. She stood out in even the biggest crowd. She was living her life like she always wanted, being normal and happy. He didn't have it in him to intrude on that, so in stead he watched from afar. He compelled himself a job that would allow him to be in the know about most things and making it easier for him to keep an eye on her.

That's when he discovered Damon Salvatore was also sniffing around. At first he thought it was because that dreary doppeltganger was also in Seattle, but it soon became clear that the eldest Salvatore had other interests.

He had been aware that Damon Salvatore had a complicated relationship with Bonnie, if one might even call it that. He was also aware that he most certainly did not like Damon Salvatore and his complicated feelings for Bonnie. It was yet another case of transference for the stupid halfwit, of that Kol was certain. He couldn't have Katherine, and he couldn't have Elena, but he might have the next best thing: Elena's best friend since childhood. Beside, a sociopath like Damon was a sucker for routines: he liked the hard-to-get type of woman because he knew that kind of love, the complicated kind where you fight and he would be rejected again and again. Rejection was a stable in Damon Salvatore's life, why should he change that now?

Bonnie was silent for a long time after he had told her that there was a way for her to have her boring normal life. Then she finally sighed and rubbed her eyes. "Vampire isn't normal."

Kol almost swerved the car off the road at that. "What was that?"

"I know what you're thinking, but… I can't be a vampire, it would never work. Abby was barely managing and she didn't have any powers left at all."

"Well, neither do you, according to yourself" Kol pointed out righteously.

"It's not the same, Kol. They're there, they're just… blocked or something. But I still feel it sometimes. To be a vampire would just be wrong, it would go against everything I am."

"Is this really the time for this conversation?"

"You started it" Bonnie said angrily. "And your whole apartment is full of vampires with super hearing."

"Alright" Kol sighed, pulling the car over. "What do you want, beside your boring normal life?"

"Normal doesn't have to be boring" she defended angrily.

"Do you want me" he asked, cutting through all the tension there had been between them since they had reacquainted themselves.

"I do" she answered honestly. "But I don't see how we can make this work." There were tears in her eyes now.

"There's a cure."

"What?"

"A cure. For vampirism. Allegedly."

"That's not funny."

"I wasn't aware I was trying to be funny."

"Kol…" She wiped her eyes in a distracted fashion. "How do you even know this."

"Rebekah told me, before she… Well, before I shoved a stake in her chest."

"How did she know?"

He could tell she was back to her old witchy self, full of judgement and suspicion. "A long time ago, she met a man, Alexander, and she fell in love." He chuckled. "Of course, this being my darling sister, he turned out to be a part of a mythical vampire hunter group and tried to kill us all."

"And he had a cure?"

"He had a tattoo and a sword that led to the cure, he told Bekah."

"But if he knew she was a vampire, why would he tell her?"

"Because he loved her too. But love is a fickle thing, as you know. He hated her more than he loved her."

She stared at her hands. "Why did she tell you?"

"I guess she wanted me to have the option."

Another tear rolled down her cheek. "Can we just go home? I need to think about this."

"Of course" he answered, starting the car again. Maybe springing this on her in the car after dinner with her father wasn't the best idea? Especially since he'd practically bullied his way into joining them for dinner. But he needed to know what was happening now. He liked to have fun, but he was quickly discovering that he didn't particularly enjoy playing these emotional games with Bonnie. Not when he was risking his own heart.

They drove in silence and she ignored him as they walked back up to the apartment. Damon greeted them from the living room when they opened the door.

"Ah the lovebirds return. Have a good night?"

"Did someone accidently forget to lock the door" Kol asked, staring at the most annoying vampire he had ever met. If Katherine wasn't already dead, he'd have half a mind to go find her and punish her for this epic failure.

"Klaus let me in" Damon helpfully supplied with a smile.

"Of course he did" Kol growled. His brother would never miss a chance to piss him off.

"Kol, you have returned." Elijah appeared from the dining room. "Hello Miss Bennett."

"Bonnie is fine, Elijah" Bonnie said, discarding her jacket and disappearing into the kitchen.

"Did you have a good evening" Elijah asked cordially. He had been playing extra nice since arriving; probably hoping it would somehow rub on him and Nik.

"It was informative" Kol offered, dumping his own jacket on a chair and knocking Damon's feet of the table. "Out."

"What did I do?"

"You're here!" Kol grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him up. "And now you're leaving!"

"What?"

"There's a very nice homeless shelter a couple of blocks from here. I'm sure you'll feel right at home." He pushed Damon out of the door and slammed it shut.

"Very diplomatic" Elijah noted.

"Why did you let him stay" Kol asked angrily. He felt like pacing or punching something, anything really. He wasn't sure he could sit still right now.

"I wasn't aware that it was an issue" Elijah answered coolly. "Are you alright?"

"Like you care" Kol muttered.

Elijah sighed. "Kol, I am still your big brother, if…"

"Spare me" Kol interrupted, finally sitting down. He immediately got back up, though, when he heard Bonnie dropping a glass in the kitchen.

"Sorry" she yelled, but he could hear her voice was somewhat wobbly.

The front door opened a moment later and Elena entered, carrying a grocery bag. "Hi, I think I got the right kind of juice that Bonnie likes, and also, I got some…" She looked at Kol and Elijah. "What's going on?"

Elijah took a step forward, holding out his hand. "Perhaps we should leave, Elena."

She looked between Elijah and Kol. "Is everything okay?"

"Fine, but I think we need to give Kol and Miss Bennett the evening alone" Elijah said smoothly, already guiding Elena back out of the door. Kol frowned a little; he could hear Elena jabbing on about the bloody juice on the other side of the door. His brother truly has atrocious tastes in women.

"We'll talk later" Elijah shut the door behind them, effectively shutting the annoying doppeltganger up. There was a bloodline Kol definitely didn't mind dying.

He rubbed the back of his neck and walked out into the kitchen where he found Bonnie on the floor, picking up pieces of glass and trying her best not to cry.

"Stupid glass" she muttered angrily.

"I'll be sure to buy smarter glass in the future" he told her, squatting down and helping her with the shards of glass.

"I can't do this!"

"Pick up glass?"

"Ask you to take the cure."

"Okay, then don't" he told her calmly, still picking up pieces of glass.

"I'm serious!"

"So am I" he countered, finally giving up pretences that they weren't in fact having this conversation right now. "I'm not asking you to become a vampire either."

"Then what now, then? We just carry on until I'm some creepy cougar-looking old lady and you still look nineteen." She wiped away a tear. "It's not fair."

"That's life, and there's no point crying about it either." He discarded the glass in the trash bin.

"I can't be a vampire" she repeated her statement from earlier. "But I can't ask you to change when I'm not willing to do it either."

"Do you want to leave?"

"No."

It was such a simple statement really, but it was what he needed to hear. To know for certain that she had finally made up her mind, that they were done playing these stupid games they both hated anyway and that she wanted to work this out, somehow.

He gently wiped another tear away. "Alright. Then we will work this out somehow. I have no idea what my crazy sister really knew about this cure, but I'll look into it and maybe that will be the right thing. Maybe in a few years you'll change your mind about being forever young."

"Maybe I'll just stick to botox" she joked through the tears.

He kissed her. "You'll look beautiful no matter what."

"So that's it" she asked quietly. "We just…" She shrugged, "wait?"

"Well, I was thinking we could do a little more than just wait."

"What about Sara and the dead witches? We're still no closer to figuring this out."

"I'm sure Nik will keep on looking and Sara is obviously no threat now. The only thing she'll be good as is a headless rider now."

"That's not funny."

"I think it's a little bit funny."

"I might just do that to you if you're not careful."

"No, you like me far to much. You'd miss my pretty eyes."

"Meh" she said with a fake shrug, but smiled when he kissed her again.

"And you're moving in here."

"What?" The smile on her face disappeared just as fast as it had appeared. "Why?"

"Because anyone can just walk into your dorm room at their leisure and kill you."

"Well gee thanks, I'm sure I'll sleep fine tonight now."

"I'm serious."

"So am I" she said. "Moving in together is a big commitment."

"Then commit."

"It's not that simple."

"Are you sure you're just not making it harder than it's supposed to be?"

"Kol, I don't think we're ready for this."

"You do know you practically live here already, right?"

"But that's different."

"Enlighten me."

"I don't actually live her, I have somewhere else to go."

"So the problem is that you don't have enough space?"

"No the problem is that I'll be here all the time and all my stuff will be here and you'll be here…"

"So the problem is me?"

"No, but…" She made an annoyed grunt. "Moving in together is a huge step."

"Think of it this way: no one's going to stake you here." He caught his own words and smirked. "Well, not in the deadly sense at least."

She blushed and gave him a push. "I'll think about it."

"The staking?"

"The moving in part. You're such a guy!"

He grabbed her and kissed her neck. "Definitely."

Bonnie didn't so much change her mind as Kol just sort of didn't bring it up again and emptied a few drawers for her when more stuff started to appear. She still had the dorm room, but he was pretty sure she hadn't been by it since he had dropped her off there when she was first reassigned to it. He was already talking to a lawyer about signing the apartment over to her so uninvited vampires would at least be barred. That way, he would also be rid of Damon Salvatore for good.

Nik and Elijah were still hanging around. Elijah would often get this soft look in his eyes when he was observing Kol and Bonnie together, something that truly bothered Kol, but he didn't want another invitation to talk about his feelings with his older brother, so he let it pass. Nik was still chasing down leads for the dead witches and currently obsessing over Sara's coven that he believed held the answers he wanted. Kol almost felt sorry for the stupid tarts.

He hadn't shared Rebekah's fate with either of his brothers. Bonnie had let him talk himself dry about it and that was enough for now. He hadn't told them about the cure either. It could wait until he knew more, he told himself. Right now, they didn't need to know.

"Kol, I'm home" Bonnie called from the hallway.

He put the book he had been reading (Beautiful Creatures) down and got up. "I feel like you should be calling me honey."

"Would you like me to call you honey" she asked with a smile.

"No you know I prefer Lord Almighty or Master of all things."

"Yeah, I think you're more of a pooh bear too" she laughed.

"You'll pay for that" he muttered, kissing her. It was so easy to fall into a seemingly normal life with Bonnie. Something about her ways calmed him and he didn't mind so much that he was living a mostly human life now.

"I'm sure you'll come up with something inventive."

"Don't I always" he asked with a smirk. "So, did you have a nice day?"

"Yeah it was okay. I'm starting a new class in January."

"Anything exciting?"

"A professor Atticus Shane."

"Atticus Shane? Did his parents smoke pot?"

"Your name is Kol!"

"And it rolls very nicely off your tongue."

"Anyway, he's teaching a class about the occult and witches through history and I thought I might check it out."

"How intriguing."

"Liar, you think it sounds boring."

"Well, considering I lived through history with the occult and witches, perhaps it would be better for you to just stay home in bed and listen to me."

Bonnie rolled her eyes. "That's your solution for everything."

"It's a great solution!"

She tossed a head of lettuce at him. "Get to work, Mikaelson. Elena and Elijah will be over in a few hours."

"Yes Master" he smirked, kissing her again. In these moments, he could easily tell himself that everything was fine and that they'd make it through

A/N2: So, that's that. Thank you for joining me on this little adventure into my weird and sugar-high imagination. I thank each and every one of you for your time, attention and especially your reviews. It means a lot.

I originally planned to take a long vacation from fanfiction and spend some time with my much-neglected thesis, but my brain is already working on several oneshots featuring Kol and Bonnie and I've also been fiddling a little with a Teen Wolf story that I might just end up posting at some point. So I'm afraid you haven't seen (read?) the last of me just yet.

Lots and lots of love, hugs, sunshine and rainbows to you all

Anne