Title: Lapse

Rating: M

Genre: AU/AH

Pairing(s): Bonnie/Klaus, Kol/Lucy, Elijah/Abby, Stefan/Meredith, Bonnie/Damon (One-sided), Caroline/Tyler, Matt/Katherine, Marcel/Rebekah, mentions of past Bonnie/Jeremy etc.

Summary: "Taking advantage of the situation will be easy," Klaus said, "We can turn her into anything we want. The real beauty of it all is as long we keep her happy; meaning fed, fucked, acknowledged, and oblivious to anything involving Elena Gilbert, all the things that she was deprived of while in the company of the Salvatore, even if she begins to remember she won't think of asking any questions." An accident leaves Bonnie with no memories and the Originals use the fact to turn her into someone that no one is prepared to handle, least of all them. Guilt pushes the Salvatore to help Bonnie get her memories back; but along the way their motivations change. Whose side will Bonnie be on when she remembers, the Originals, the Salvatore, or her own? Post 3x18.

Warnings: Non-Canon, Dark!Bonnie, Character Death, Violence, Graphic Torture, Dark Magic, etc.

Author's Note: This is a repost. Please don't message me about other stories. Everything will be back up in due time. So everything is pretty much cannon in this through 3x18 with the exception of the following; killing the Originals does not kill the vampire race as I feel like it was bullshit writing to keep them alive when they could have just had them destroy the rest of the stakes and they ended up killing two of them any damn way, Sage is alive and instead of going in for revenge on her own she with Rebekah's blessing joins with the Originals, instead of offering Klaus the stakes in exchange for Damon, Stefan sneaks in an frees him when Rebekah takes a break from the torture when Sage asks to meet with her and Klaus. The rest will be explained along the way. Basically the premise of this is Klaus kidnaps an amnesiac Bonnie, claims to be her protector and helps her enhance and use her powers, all while manipulating her into protecting him and his family from her former friends. This has been edited to an extent but there are likely going to be some errors here and there. Happy reading!

PART ONE: CRASH

"If one is to be called a liar, one may as well make an effort to deserve the name."

~A.A. Milne

Niklaus Mikaelson stood amidst the ruins of Fell's Church, alongside his sister Rebekah, both listening intently to the tale of their brother's demise. Klaus was numb. Perhaps he should have felt something for the loss of his brother, but his brother had wanted to die and so his fate was not entirely a sorrowful one as far as Klaus was concerned. Though, his main concern was the fact that their enemies now had the means to end them at their disposal.

He had grown too soft, he realized, too complacent. He had let too many things cloud his judgment. His friendship with Stefan that would never be obtained again. His infatuation with Caroline Forbes, which would never be returned. The person that he could have molded her into, the things he could have shown her, it all seemed laughable now. She was weak, they all were weak, none of them had true potential save for one. The witch; spending the day with her had shown him what he should have seen all along, something that she had shown him time and time again; she was powerful to the point of being threatening.

It was amusing to think that he had once thought that if any of the doppelganger's merry little band of men were able to kill him it would be, Bonnie Bennett. However, despite the times that they had used her before, it would seem that they now had the means to kill him without putting the witch on the front lines in order to do it.

Klaus was fearful, as he always was when there was a threat to his survival, but more than that he was angry. There was a time when he was feared, a time when there was a reason to fear him, a time when he wouldn't let a group that was essentially made up of high school children be considered a threat. He could have killed them all, should have killed them all. But now that they had the means to kill him within their grasp, his need for survival and that crippling fear took hold. They were not the only ones that were weak, his weakness was even more shameful.

"What do we do, Nik?" Rebekah asked, her eyes lost and pleading. It had been a while since she had come to him for guidance, since she had allowed herself to be vulnerable around him. Things were no longer the same in their relationship, they were fractured, broken, and it was his doing. Everything was his doing.

"We leave town," he said, "We contact Kol and Elijah. We plan and then we return and burn this place to the ground until every stake is destroyed and the doppelganger and all her friends are nothing more than bloody piles of flesh."

Rebekah looked at him, skeptically, and worse he could not blame her for it. How many idle threats had he made in the past few months? They should have all been dead hundreds of times over already. Should have been disposed of by his hand the first or the second or the third time that he had threatened to do it. "Why not go after them now?" Rebekah asked.

"They managed to kill, Finn," he said, "Despite him being so welcoming of death not too long ago given what we are that is no small feat. You've seen what happens when we underestimate them. Besides that, they have the witch to fall back on. I'm done playing games. This will end and it will end on our terms. When we strike there can be no loopholes, no chance for them to escape."

Rebekah nodded, stiffly. Her grief was palpable, her fear was consuming. She had let herself be preyed upon by those that were beneath her, they all had, and this was the price. It was time they remembered who they were, what they were capable of, it would mean death if they didn't. "There's no reason to return to the manor," Rebekah said, "There is nothing of value left there. If we leave then we leave now, we leave tonight."

Klaus nodded in agreement.

"I'm coming with you." Both siblings looked to where Sage stood, having forgotten that she was even there. Klaus opened his mouth to object. "You owe me," Sage said, "I told you everything that you now know. I have to avenge Finn, you must let me avenge him."

"And why?" Klaus asked with an eyebrow raised, "Would we do that?"

"My power for one," Sage said, "The resources that I have at my disposal and the influence that I have over Damon to name a few other things."

"You're right," Klaus sneered, "We could use you. Or perhaps we could do the sensible thing and kill you."

"Like you killed the Salvatore brothers?" Sage asked, "Or the Gilbert girl? Or Katerina? Or the Bennett witch?" Sage ignored the lethal look on Klaus' face. This was not about him, this was about Finn, the only man who had ever truly loved her. This was about avenging his death, which she would do with or without their help, she owed him that much. "Excuse me if I am unafraid, Niklaus," she said.

Rebekah sighed as Klaus looked as if he might attack. There was no time for this, they needed to focus. Besides they could always accept her help now and kill her later. "As you seem to be more upset about my brother's death than even, Nik," Rebekah said, giving Klaus a look, "I say that you can feel free to join us. Just don't expect any loyalty on our part."

"Wouldn't dream of it," Sage smirked, "And thank you."

"Save the soft sentiments for when everyone involved in this is dead," Rebekah said, "Let's go."

:::

Bonnie Bennett knew that she shouldn't be behind the wheel of her car. But it was a better option than staying in the driveway of Mikaelson manor and having a nervous breakdown in enemy territory. Still she couldn't stop crying. The tears would not be ebbed.

Bonnie gripped the steering wheel tightly, sobs making her body shake. Spending the day being threatened by Klaus was the straw that had broken the camel's back. The worst part was, outside of the threats, it was almost exactly how she was treated by the Salvatore men and her supposed friends.

Taken against her better judgment and sometimes against her will, and used for her powers. Being roped into something that she wanted no part of. But the Salvatore brothers didn't have to threaten her, did they? They had taken so much from her already; the life that she had before their arrival, her Grams, and her mother. She was beyond refusing any of them even with the brewing hatred and resentment that bubbled and threatened to overflow underneath the surface.

Even tonight when she had managed to summon the courage to leave Damon to his fate, to force him to atone for his sins in some sort of way at Rebekah's hands, she had ended up calling Elena and getting him help anyway.

She was weak. Anytime she wanted to say something now, she kept her mouth shut. Any bravado that managed to leave her lips was never backed up. She had nothing and no one. No family, that cared enough to stick around, the only one who had now being dead. No friends who gave a shit for longer than the time that it took to ask her for a spell. But even now she would die for them.

Even after he had cheated on her with the ghost of his ex-girlfriend Jeremy was important enough to her to get her do what Klaus wanted in order to keep him alive. No one was there for her in the same way that she was there for them, but she didn't care because as long as she tricked herself into believing that she still had someone left….but she couldn't do that anymore. Everything was so fucked up. Who she once was, was gone, and she had nothing to show for it but emptiness, and loneliness.

Bonnie knew that she should pull over, it was raining now and the roads were slick, and the sobs would not stop. The self-deprecating thoughts would not stop and the shaking would not shop. The voice in the back of her mind that told her that she was foolish, abusing powers that she didn't even fully know how to use and sacrificing herself even without really knowing who she was. She had been willing to die for Elena once, but now death sounded welcoming for another reason. She could have release, the freedom that she was not strong enough to give herself. She could see her Grams again. She wouldn't have to wonder whenever she woke up, if today would be the day that she would die at the hands of some known or unknown supernatural threat.

No one seemed to care whether she lived or not, not outside of her powers. Her mother had not cared enough to stay. Her father could not even make the time to give her a phone call, let alone come to town long enough to spend time with her. But he would have to come back for her funeral wouldn't he? There would be a morbid sort of justice in that.

She had been the last of the Bennett line, a line that was supposed to be so powerful, and a line that so many had threatened to end. But what power was there in servitude? Every Bennett woman she had known of had suffered serving the very abominations that they were meant to destroy. Esther had accessed their line and sponged off their power through Ayanna after breaking the balance with no real consequence. Emily had been Katherine's slave, and she had burned so that she could protect her secret. Her Grams had died for the sake of Damon Salvatore. A life debt had forced Lucy to do Katherine's bidding years after their ancestor played the role of her handmaiden. Now Bonnie was playing servant to the Originals and the Salvatores alike, all while dealing with the consequences of abusing her power when the others around her seemed to face none. Where the fuck was the balance in all of that? "There is none," Bonnie whispered aloud, her voice broken, "So all this time I've been fighting for nothing."

Making her decision Bonnie let go of the steering wheel of her car. Her foot stayed planted on the gas petal. She leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes. She began to hum lowly, a lullaby that her Grams used to sing her when she tucked her in at night.

Her car jerked and began to swerve across the road, still Bonnie didn't stop humming, the tears streaming steadily down her face. The car skidded across the road, slipping on the damp asphalt. Her eyes shut tighter and she gripped the sides of her seat as she finally took her feet of the gas. The car spun around in circles and finally skidded off the road and crashed hard into a tree, the front smashed in like an accordion. The broken glass on windshield splayed and cut Bonnie's face, as she moved forward her head hitting the dashboard even with her seatbelt still firmly in place.

Bonnie felt the blood trickle from her temple and she smiled. When the blackness came, she welcomed it.

:::

Despite Rebekah's declaration that there was nothing important left in the home that he had built his family, the home that they had never gotten to live in as a true family, there were still valuable things that Klaus had hidden within the many rooms and walls. Things that he didn't want to leave behind, it was bad enough he was forced into running, running from people who were not worth running from. And so they resolved to retrieve those items before their journey out of Mystic Falls.

It was on their route out of town as they were leaving, that they saw it. The witch's car on the side of the road, so damaged that it was barely recognizable. Klaus was about to drive past but something stopped him, something he could not quite define. "What are you doing?" Rebekah, asked as he pulled the car over, "Stopping to make sure that she's dead I hope. If they lose the witch then they lose their edge so I suggest if she's not that you finish the job."

Klaus ignored her as he got out of the car and walked out into the rain. The hybrid walked around the wreckage of the witch's car to the driver's side door. Even with his enhanced strength it took some effort to pry the door open, once he did, he wound up ripping it clean off the car; not that it mattered given the state that the rest of the car was in. He tossed the door to the side at the smell of blood.

Klaus examined the damage. There was dried blood at the witch's temple, glass littered in her lap and cuts and gashes on her face and her neck. The worse of the wounds seemed to be a large gash on her leg that was still bleeding. He continued to scan her closely to make sure that none of glass was lodged into any of her open wounds. He could hear her heartbeat but it was faint and her breathing was hollow.

He had always thought, with all the times that she had bested him and all the times that he had threatened her that seeing her life slip away from her would be a pleasing sight. In reality it seemed like a waste, more than once he had seen what she could do and so he knew that in the right hands she could be molded into something rather close to perfection. He had come close before with others, and he would be lying if he were to say that he had not thought about it once or twice. Even with his dislike for her and the Salvatore's influence, it was a seductive notion.

Klaus reached out and touched her hair, blood made the strands sticky. He pulled his hand back and let the rain wash the blood from his fingers. Without thinking, he began to tug up his sleeve. He bit into his wrist, watching his own blood flow. "Be thankful that I want to be the one to kill you, Miss Bennett," he said.

Forcing her mouth open Klaus pressed his wrist over her lips letting his blood flow inside. He used his other hand to massage her throat to assist her in swallowing. He pulled his hand away once he saw the gash on her leg beginning to close. He ignored the pouring rain and waited for her eyes to open.

He wanted to see the look on her face when she realized that it was he who had saved her. Even with spending the day tormenting her, it wasn't enough, she was the only one that he could "bother" as she had put it, anymore within her group it seemed. The only one who seemed to truly fear him, when, until that night, she had been the only one who had had any hopes of destroying him. The irony did not escape him.

He knew that given the fact that he had held her captive for most of the day, it was unlikely that she was involved in his brother's death or the plans now being made against him; it would be idiotic to leave her out when she was the most powerful among them and so he was even more sure that the Salvatore had done just that, but it didn't matter. She was the one that he had access to, the one who did not know her own power or how to wield it, the one too broken to fight him back, and so she would pay for what they had done. She would pay for his own weakness even in saving her life, and it would start the minute she opened her eyes and saw that the abomination had been her salvation.

When the witch's eyes opened however, Klaus knew that something was off. The darkness made her eyes appear a dark forest green, and she seemed lost, empty, and unaware. He could see her fear, smell it, taste it, but it was not fear of him; as she looked at him there was absolutely no recognition.

"Miss Bennett?" Klaus asked. He took a moment to wonder if perhaps she was playing some sort of game, but the look on her face wasn't one that one could fake. She didn't even recognize her own name. "Bonnie?" He tried, and still there was only that blank stare full of confusion and fear.

Bonnie studied the man hovering over her in the rain. Bonnie. Was that her name? It felt right, she supposed. She tried to think, to remember. Who was she? Where was she? How had she gotten there? Hadn't she been hurt just a moment ago? But this man, he had done something, he had saved her... "You saved me," she said, voicing her thoughts, "You know who I am."

Her voice sounded unfamiliar and foreign to her own ears. She wasn't sure whether she wanted to curl up into a ball or whether she wanted to run.

She could remember how to speak. She could remember what things were. She knew that she was in a car, that there had been some sort of an accident. That she was a woman, and he was a man. She knew the color of his eyes, they were blue, a familiar blue that seemed far away at the same time. All of those things she could remember. But places and people seemed completely lost to her.

He looked momentarily stricken at the thought of her not remembering, before he began to wonder what else she didn't remember. Klaus blinked at her a moment and then a thought occurred to him. He had been thinking what a waste it would be, about what he could make her, now that she had no memory of him couldn't his thoughts come to fruition?

They would need protection after all, the same way that they would need to take away any protection that the Salvatore and the others had. It would be like killing two birds with one stone. It would take time to train her but they would have time while they were laying low and planning. He would have to lie and lie well, but he had always been called a liar, even when telling the truth, especially by Mikael.

He schooled his features, doing his best not to smirk. "Yes, Bonnie," he said, over the rain, "I know you. You got into this accident after leaving my house in fact." His tone was vague. He wasn't lying, though he would soon start. "It's a good thing that I followed you after you left," he continued, being sure to sound concerned, "You've been going through a lot recently and you were very distraught when you left. I tried to stop you but, you're not the most agreeable when you're upset." He looked around him, and saw his sister looking at him seemingly close to getting out of car. "It's raining, love," Klaus said. Bonnie's eyes widened at the term of endearment and he wondered if her cheeks were flushed from the rain and the cold or something else. "If you would allow it," he said being almost unnecessarily gentle in his tone of voice and his manner, "I would like to take you somewhere safe, somewhere warm, somewhere that I can protect you."

"But you haven't told me…," Bonnie said carefully, not wanting to upset him, "I do not know…Who are you?" Not that it would matter if he gave her a name, she wouldn't be able to associate it with anything. She was tired and weak, and confused. Somewhere warm and safe sounded perfect, she felt like she had never known such a place. Was that because she didn't remember or because she really had not? "To me, I mean," Bonnie said, shaking away her thoughts, "Who are you, to me?"

"A friend," Klaus said, bending down slightly. He reached over Bonnie's lap and he could hear her heart rate increase. He looked at her warily, to see if it was because of fear, but there was something else in the witch's haunted eyes, something that he could not place. He unbuckled her seatbelt, had she not been wearing it she might have died. When he turned again, their faces were closer than he expected, so close that he could feel every rapid breath that left her mouth on his damp skin. He swallowed hard as the look in her eyes became somehow more intense. "Niklaus is the name that my father gave me," he said, "But you can call me Klaus."

"Kl-aus," Bonnie said slowly as if she were tasting the name on her tongue. It was odd hearing her say it without the hint of disgust or malice her tones usually held when addressing him or speaking of him.

"Yes," Klaus nodded, their noses touching as he did so, "Will you come with me?" Even though the question was giving her a choice, what choice did she really have? What other options? The only other thing that would be left to do would be to wonder the streets alone in search of someone else who knew her.

"Yes," Bonnie agreed. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he picked her up bridal style. It was odd, the way that he looked at her, as if she was something to eat, or perhaps a prize he had won. "Klaus?" Bonnie asked.

"Yes, love?" Klaus responded, trying to hide the triumphant feeling he had. She would be his, no theirs, and the Salvatore would be none the wiser. They might think they had the upper hand, but they would regret leaving the witch out of their plans. If they had let her in on their scheme she would have been with them all day instead of him, she wouldn't have been on the stretch of dark and slippery road, she would still remember, and she would not be such easy prey for him to devour.

"Do you call all your friends 'love'?" She asked.

Klaus grinned as he began to walk toward his car. "Some friends, some enemies, and some to whom I am indifferent," he said, "Would you rather me call you something else? By your name perhaps?"

Bonnie shook her head slowly, her fatigue showing as her head rolled onto his shoulder. "No," she said simply, giving no other explanation but that. She felt as if she had been deprived of love once, perhaps because she could not remember ever feeling it. It was nice to hear the word, so nice, even if it wasn't literally meant. "Klaus?"

"Yes, love?" He said, this time putting emphasis on the word. He watched as her eyes closed. She would be unconscious soon. The rain falling on her face was doing rather little to keep her awake.

"Where are you taking me?"

"Somewhere warm and safe," he said, "My new home." It didn't matter how much he told her, he realized, as she would have no one to tell his secrets to. "The old one," he said, "The one that you were leaving from, it is no longer safe."

"Was that why I was upset?" Bonnie asked, "Because we're friends, and you told me that you were leaving?" She sounded as lost and confused as she felt. In truth she would have accepted any information that he would give, she was starved for it. She wanted to fill in the huge gaping hole that her mind had become.

"Perhaps." Klaus said, not confirming it or denying it. Bonnie opened her mouth to ask more questions but he shook his head. "Sleep now," he said, "Questions later. I will answer anything that you want after you get some rest. Close your eyes." As the witch listened to him without even the slightest argument, Klaus thought that he could get used to the easy acquiescence, especially if it was coming from her.

:::

Klaus settled down on the couch in the sitting room of his new place of residence next to his brother, Elijah. Kol and Rebekah sat across from them. Sage was off somewhere brooding over his dead brother, Finn, not that Klaus cared what the hell she decided to do with her time anyway.

Once Elijah and Kol, had done their own mourning for Finn and had taken in the gravity of their situation, it had gotten rather quiet. Still it was nice to have them all in one place once more.

"Brother," Elijah said breaking into Klaus' concentration.

"Yes?" Klaus asked. He knew what was next from the look on Elijah's face. He didn't see why he would even have to explain after telling them what had occurred prior to their departure. Besides that he was tired as he and Rebekah had just spent sixteen hours on the road.

"Would you kindly explain why Miss Bennett is asleep upstairs in your bed?" Elijah asked, as he leaned back on the brown leather couch, kicking his feet up onto the glass coffee table. "She is loyal to Miss Gilbert and by extension the Salvatore brothers, is she not?"

"Yes," Klaus said, "But as the accident wiped out her memory of either I doubt that it much matters. She's our witch now."

Kol smirked as he shifted in the high back armchair in which he sat. "Since when?" He asked.

"Since, Nik, decided it would be a good idea to kidnap her and use her amnesiac state to his advantage," Rebekah said, "We all know how he loves to manipulate, convert, and control witches, almost as much as he loves to fuck them. Or at least he did before his taste went to more degrading territory." She rolled her eyes as she thought of Caroline Forbes. "I think it's a nice little plan myself. Makes me remember the good old days; when the women Nik seduced actually had something more to offer than what some would call a pretty face as well as what some would call confidence, and what I call plain looks and a big mouth. When power was his biggest aphrodisiac and he could smell magic from twenty miles away."

"I remember," Kol said, "While I, myself, hold witches in high esteem…it's nothing compared to Niklaus here. When did it stop, I wonder?"

"When he found a witch that he could not have and instead of jumping at the challenge he simply stomped down his desire for her and replaced her with an easier target that he still couldn't hit," Rebekah said, with a shrug. Klaus winced at the truth in her statement but she ignored his discomfort.

"Really?" Kol asked, enjoying the smell on Klaus' anger and the enraged expression on his face, "And this witch he could not have, where is she now?"

"I believe," Elijah said, looking pointedly at Klaus, his gaze assessing, "She is upstairs asleep in Niklaus' bed." The more he thought about it the more Rebekah's words rang true. It was the only reason that Niklaus would not have killed the Bennett witch already, as she had bested him enough times and he had made enough threats on her line. Then there was the fact that he continued to seek her out even with having more experienced and more complying witches at his disposal; the threats, the demands, the targeting of her loved ones, all excuses to be near her; all ways to best her in the only way that he could. He was like a little boy who dipped his crushes pigtails in ink, a child that threw tantrums and lashed out when he couldn't have what he desired. Niklaus would deny it, he knew, but they all knew him too well for him to say otherwise now that his motives were clear.

"I hate to say this Nik," Kol sighed, "But it is kind of sad that her having brain damage is the only way that you could actually get a shot. Though, I do understand the sentiment, the ignorant prey is always the most tempting and the most fun."

Klaus moved to attack him and it was only Elijah holding him back that stopped the attack from occurring. "I am doing this for all of us," Klaus hissed, once he had settled back down into his seat, "Those stakes were not their advantage, she was. When I mold her, when I shape her, and she is loyal to us she will destroy them and turn those stakes into ashes. I've done this before, with stronger women, stronger witches that had their memory intact. They all succumbed to me and she will be no different."

"And if she regains her memory before you are able to accomplish this great plan of yours?" Elijah asked, ever the practical one.

"We could always just kill her," Rebekah shrugged, smirking as Klaus frowned at the thought, "Even if Nik managed to pull this off we would have to kill her after she destroyed the others anyway. Just in case she remembered and decided to pay us back for making her rid the world of her worthless little friends. What does it matter whether she dies sooner or later in the grand scheme of things?" She watched with interest as Klaus's hands clenched into fist. He opened his mouth and then closed it seeming to think better of himself. He had been about to protest in spite them all knowing that under any other circumstances Rebekah's train of thinking would be right on the money. But Nik wanted the witch for himself and so Rebekah suspected that Bonnie would be alive for as long as Nik wanted her to be. All on the car ride over she had suspected other motives behind him saving the witch but he seemed to be blind to his own reasons even if she wasn't.

Klaus chose to ignore his sister. "Taking advantage of the situation will be easy," Klaus said, changing the subject from Bonnie's imminent demise, "We can turn her into anything we want. The real beauty of it all is as long we keep her happy; meaning fed, fucked, acknowledged, and oblivious to anything involving Elena Gilbert, all the things that she was deprived of while in the company of the Salvatore brothers, even if she begins to remember she won't think of asking any questions."

Kol grinned. "Fucked you say?" he beamed, "Well, since you have no interest in the witch in that manner and you are the one that threw out that tantalizing option then I suppose you wouldn't mind if I was the one doing the fucking then, brother?"

Klaus moved to rise again and again Elijah stopped him. "I suggest we go with Rebekah's option for now," Elijah said, "If we go through with this and she remembers, she will likely lash out or seek retaliation. Our best bet in to earn her trust and use her power while we can and then we cut our losses when it is no longer advantageous to do so."

Klaus knew he couldn't argue with their logic and he knew what it would look like if he tried to. "Very well," he muttered, his words sounding empty. In his mind he was formulating other plans of his own.

Though the others knew him well enough to know exactly what he was thinking they remained silent. He had already claimed sole ownership of the witch they knew, in spite of his claims that she was theirs as well. "This witch is ours until her memory returns and then we'll give her back to the Salvatore brothers in pieces."

:::

Bonnie awoke with a start. She was covered in sweat, and panting. The last thing she remembered was Klaus telling her that he would bring her somewhere safe. She hoped that this was the place.

Bonnie vaguely remembered waking up for a few moments and a blonde girl helping her change her clothes.

Bonnie looked down at herself. She was wearing pink pajama shorts, so perhaps they were hers. The black shirt was much too large to be hers, however. She wondered if it belonged to Klaus, the thought that it might belong to him pleased her. Drawing back the covers, she climbed out of bed.

She looked around the room that she was in. It was done in blacks, tans, and browns. She had woken up in a painted, iron four poster bed. There was a storage ottoman at the foot of it, and a crystal chandler hanging from the ceiling. There was a dark oak nightstand on either side of the bed, a bed much too large for one person. There were large windows with brown and tan striped drapery. There was a fireplace against the far wall. It was small with a large antique mirror hanging over it, and two tan plush antique chairs in front of it. The room was obviously meant to be shared and Bonnie felt cold and alone all of a sudden.

She wished that there was a fire in the fire place, to perhaps keep her warm. Almost just as the thought occurred to her the fireplace flared to life, flames licking the logs stacked in the hearth. Bonnie frowned, looking around her to make sure that she was in the room alone. "How?" She asked aloud.

She looked at the thick white candles that dark antique candlesticks held on either side of the fireplace mantel. She concentrated on one and then the other, both times the wick lit. Bonnie tried not to panic but she didn't know who she was and now she was finding out that she didn't know what she was, what she could do, what she was capable of. She was some sort of freak, she couldn't remember names or places or faces, but she knew that this was not normal, not typical for humans.

Bonnie panicked even more as her emotions seemed to make the flames grow larger. She tried to stay calm but it seemed impossible. She took a deep breath and did the only thing that she could think of. "Klaus," she yelled, calling the only name she knew, the only face that she had seen, the only person who while she didn't know, claimed to know her.

Klaus burst into the room seconds later and Bonnie tried not to burst into tears the moment she saw him. Bonnie began biting her lip and wringing her hands, the tears refusing not to come.

Klaus had never seen the witch look so vulnerable before. She looked like a child that had lost its parents. He looked her up and down, momentarily admiring the view that Rebekah's shorts afforded him of her legs, becoming amused at the way that his shirt seemed to swallow her, before he stepped forward and began to walk toward her.

His shirt looked good on her, and even after her ordeal she was beautiful, almost distractingly so. He would kill his siblings for putting these cursed thoughts into his head. It didn't matter now, she was upset and she was not good to him when she was upset. He stopped in front of her and carefully placed his hands on her shoulders. "Bonnie," he said, hoping that she hadn't already started to remember, "What is it, love?"

"I-I did something….," Bonnie stammered her eyes wide as she pointed to the fire place, "I-I know it was me…I could feel it happening. How? I'm some sort of freak…an abomination."

Klaus almost laughed at her choice of words. An abomination, a servant of nature, he had never thought he would see the day. He squeezed her shoulders reassuringly and she seemed to calm at his touch. "No, you're very special, love," he said, only part of his words a manipulation, most if not all of them true, "Very powerful. You're a witch. If anyone is the abomination it's me."

"You?" Bonnie asked, and then, "Witch?" There was an odd feeling, an odd energy surging through her. Was it her power? Was he telling her the truth? It felt right, and she had no other plausible explanation. "I'm a witch," she said. He nodded. "But that isn't natural," she said, "I'm not human then. What would make me more natural than you? What are you?"

Klaus sighed. He would not like this part. It would make or break their plans. If she thought that she was unnatural then there was no way she would accept him. No one ever really had. But he would have to tell her the truth, have to explain what they both were to train her, and to convince her to protect him from her little friends.

"Your powers are of nature, Bonnie," he said, "They are the most natural thing in the world." He wanted her to accept who she was, he couldn't work with a witch who was afraid of herself. "You always knew that," he said, "You were strong, on your way to being masterful." Klaus paused, wondering how he should put what he was about to say next. "My siblings are vampires," he said, "The first of our kind."

Bonnie was confused again, he had said 'our' kind and yet he had purposefully left himself out of the statement. The fact that vampires existed didn't bother her, now that she thought about it, a part of her had known they had, just like she had felt her powers and had known they had made her a witch. She didn't know what those things meant, she had power but she obviously didn't remember how to use it. "Explain," she said.

"A vampire," he said, "Is a creature, an undead creature, that sustains itself on the blood of humans." He said. Bonnie nodded as if she had known that, perhaps in a way she had. "There are also werewolves. Cursed humans who change into wolf form after the first time they kill. I am both. I should not exist, that is what makes me an abomination."

"Both? Have you killed before then?" Bonnie asked, her tone more curious than accusatory.

"Yes," Klaus said feeling no reason to lie to her when he would have her doing as much when it was all said and done, "Sometimes out of pleasure and other times out of necessity." She seemed calm, too calm, and almost understanding.

"It's in your nature," she stated.

Klaus nodded. "It's who I am," he said. He was waiting for the disgust, for her to cringe away or lash out.

There were things coming back to her, things about vampires, about werewolves, about witches. None of it would connect itself or take root in her brain, none of it made sense. "If you kill," she said, "Then why save me? How did you save me?"

"My blood," Klaus said, "A vampire's blood can heal." Again she nodded and seemed unsurprised. "As for why," he said, "I told you before, love, we are friends."

"But if you wanted to," she said, carefully, "You could hurt me." He nodded. "But you won't," she continued, "You won't hurt me."

"No," Klaus said, shaking his head, "I won't." At least not for the time being, he thought. "You should know," he said, "That you could hurt me as well….if you wanted to."

"I know," Bonnie said, causing him to raise a suspicious brow, "I don't remember ever hurting you, I don't know that I would, I just…feel that I can…that I have the power to." He looked at her oddly but she ignored the look, it was just one of many that he had given her that she found rather hard to interpret. "Show me," she said, "I want to see."

Klaus was about to ask her what she meant and then he realized to what she was referring. If his words hadn't scared her, he knew that seeing this would; and then he would likely have to kill her anyway. Klaus frowned. He didn't want her dead; and not just because of her use to him.

This new her, this blank her, who still had her traits but lacked her knowledge, who didn't look at him in horror because she didn't know she was supposed to, he was intrigued by her. In many ways she was the same, smart, suspicious, and he expected he could name others over time, but she was also different. He had a fresh start with her, a clean slate, and how many times had he secretly wished for one? How many times had he seen what she could do and think it a shame that he hadn't gotten to her first?

"Show me," Bonnie demanded once it was clear that he was hesitating. Even in her head her name didn't feel like her own, but when he said it, she knew that the name belonged to her.

Klaus nodded and let his face distort and his fangs descend. She watched him, her green eyes surprisingly apt with attention as he became a monster. She didn't flinch away, she seemed fascinated, and there was no abhorrence, no fear. She was amazed by him, she who had thought him a monster only hours before. His siblings may have enjoyed taunting him but he could see in her eyes that he could have her if he wanted her, like so many others before. Her power, her body, he could have it all. And when she remembered the look on her face when she realized what she had done would be a part of his revenge as well. Even if she could accept him while she was like this, this was not who she really was; she was someone who hated him, who judged him, who wanted him dead.

Bonnie reached out her hand and touched his face, her tiny fingers tracing over the blue black veins that had formed beneath his eyes. His newly yellowed eyes seemed to glow as they looked upon her. "I understand now," Bonnie said, as her other hand moved across his face, "The reason that we were friends. That we are friends."

Klaus attempted to hide his amusement at the fact that she had found a way to explain something that had never occurred. "What have you come up with, love?"

"Because we're different," she said, "And powerful. You said that I am and I can feel that from you too. It makes sense, us being friends. We must have had a lot in common."

Klaus looked surprised a moment, but as he thought of it, they had. They were both powerful and different, in different ways, but still different. But the similarities did not end there. They had both done things, things that they had not necessarily wanted to do to protect people that didn't necessarily show their appreciation. Then there was the loneliness, it ate away at both of them he knew. He could tell, and it was how he had known what to say to her, what to do to push her buttons, to get under her skin, when she still remembered who he was. It was easy to know someone's weaknesses when they were so much like your own. "Indeed," Klaus agreed his face returning to normal.

"Do I have family?" Bonnie asked.

Klaus frowned at the abrupt change of subject. "None that give a damn about you," he said. It was the truth from what he could tell.

"Other friends?" Bonnie asked.

"My siblings," he said, "They respect you. I am not sure that I would call it friendship." He thought of Bonnie's friends back in Mystic Falls. Friends that had used her at their convenience. He would not call them friends. Even with the list of virtues he had begun to place on Caroline's head, he could not include the blonde in that category; and it was not simply because of the fact that her plotting to kill him was diminishing his affection toward her. She had used the witch as well, and even if Klaus was planning on doing the same it was not him that owed her anything. The sad thing was that even with what he was doing, he would take better care of her than her lifelong friends had. "There are not others," he said.

"It wouldn't matter if there were," Bonnie said, "I was just curious. I've already decided that I want to stay here, at least until I remember. If you will let me." She felt connected to him and now that she didn't remember anything a connection was hard to come by. She didn't know when or if she would remember but she felt safe with Klaus, even knowing he was capable of killing. He knew what she was and accepted it, she didn't know that she could find that kind of acceptance anywhere else and with no memory she didn't know where to look.

Klaus reached out and tucked a dark curl behind her ear. "You can stay as long as you wish, love," he said, "And if I start to bother you then you are welcome to leave." Something akin to recognition crossed her face before it went away almost as quickly as it came.

"Where is here?" Bonnie asked. She didn't even know where they had left from and as she had slept the entire drive to where they were now she didn't have a clue.

"New Orleans," he said, "One of my properties just outside of the French Quarter. We could do some exploring tomorrow if you like." It was a good a place as any to teach her to hone her magic. There was enough magical myth there, and he wanted her to learn about the dark arts, and perhaps even the elements of Louisiana voodoo that might be of some help to her in the future, the real thing and not that bullshit that the elder Salvatore liked to spew about. There was so much to learn, so much he could teach her and not much time to do it in.

Bonnie nodded, she didn't remember her old surroundings and so she hoped that these new ones would give her some sort of a fresh start. "I'd like that," she said.

Klaus wondered at how easily she trusted him. He thought that it was mixture of his blood being in her system that was connecting her to him and the fact that he was the only one that she was being exposed to. Whatever the case he would have to do whatever it took to keep that trust.

Bonnie smiled but something was still bothering her. "You said that the place we left…," she said, "Where was it?"

"Virginia," Klaus said, without elaborating.

"You said that it wasn't safe for you anymore," Bonnie said, "Why is that?" She was almost certain now that it was him leaving that had caused her to be distraught enough to get into an accident. Or perhaps it was some danger that had gotten her upset, yes; that felt right. Still there was something about their relationship that he was not telling her and as he was being so openly kind to her even after admitting to being a monster and a killer, and the idea of his departure had upset her in some sort of way according to him, she was beginning to think that she knew what it was.

"I've killed before," he said, "I've terrorized, as have my siblings. Now people who have done the same things in their time want me dead. We all have the same problem, playing God, deciding who lives and who dies just to get what we want." He had meant to lie, but this Bonnie would not judge him, it had been so long since someone had not judged him. Telling the truth to this Bonnie was almost seductive.

"If they have been doing the things that you and your siblings have been doing then they are no better or worse than you," Bonnie stated, as though it were fact, "If they want you dead it must be personal. But I suppose if they are the way that you say they are then there must be those who want them dead as well."

"Yes," Klaus nodded, "And as they are so hell bent on killing me and my family, I am among those people."

"You protect your own," Bonnie said, "That's something that I can understand." Bonnie considered him carefully. She knew that she was jumping the gun but something was telling her that she had to protect the people that she cared about, that that had been a part of who she was. She was not sure that she could say she cared about him, but he was a tie to the life she had and she felt connected to him and grateful that he had saved her life. "These people," she said, "Who are they? Are they strong?"

"Some vampires," Klaus said, "There is another hybrid amongst them as well. Some are hunters, some mere humans. All of them possess the only weapon that can kill an Original vampire. None of us are safe. We have already lost one brother, Finn, he died tonight and so we fled."

"What if they come after you?" Bonnie asked.

Klaus shrugged. "Then we fight," he said, "We survive, after being alive nine hundred plus years; that is all we know how to do."

Bonnie's mouth dropped open. "Nine hundred plus?" she exclaimed. Bonnie bit her lip, he didn't look over nine hundred years old, but a voice in the back of her mind told her that vampires didn't physically age. "How old am I?" Bonnie asked.

"Seventeen," Klaus replied.

She was so young, perhaps she had been wrong about what her mind was beginning to assume about their relationship. She wondered when her birthday was. Shaking her head she returned to the subject at hand. "My powers," she said, "Could they protect me or you if these people came?"

Klaus smiled, this was almost too easy. He nodded. "They could," he said, "But as you don't remember how to use them, then I would have to show you. I would protect you until you can learn of course, though it would require a bit of isolation from the outside world. With me is where you will be the safest…you understand?" The lying was somehow becoming easier and harder at the same time.

"I can handle that," Bonnie said, fiercely, "I can trust you." There was no one else, trusting him was all she could do now.

Klaus felt something at her words, something close to but not quite reaching guilt. But he was done showing weakness, the witch had this coming as did the others, he wouldn't back down.

He pulled her toward him, wrapping his arms around her. His, yes, the witch was his now. "Yes, love," he said telling her the biggest lie he had ever spoken, "You can trust me."