Request from Jacpin2002. "This is without a doubt the stupidest plan you've ever had. Of course I'm in!"

Bonnie Bennett was back in her hometown for the Christmas holidays. She only ever visited on the holidays because she hated Mystic Falls, but the one upside to the trips was that she got to hang out with her best friend from when she was a kid. Kol Mikaelson was a professional baseball player and Bonnie, who worked as a doctor in New York city never got to see him. The exception was during the Christmas holidays when they were both at home.

They were having drinks at the local bar, the Mystic Grill. It was a dump compared to the bars she was used to in New York and no doubt Kol had become used to better hangouts travelling the country with his team.

Kol was halfway through a bottle of scotch and she was on her fourth cocktail. She was starting to feel a little lightheaded.

"So my bossy sister is insisting you come over for Christmas dinner."

"What?"

"Your Grams passed last year, face it the only reason you came to this hellhole is to see me."

"I am not spending Christmas with your family, Kol. Do you remember what they did last year?"

Kol furrowed his brow in concentration. "Was last year when I accidentally burned down the kitchen because I was fighting with Nik because he is a control freak, who won't let anyone help him cook or was that the year Rebekah drove drunk through the front of the house, turning the front of our living room to smithereens?"

"I thought Elijah was driving."
"Elijah would never drive drunk, but Rebekah would if her and I went racing down the street."

Bonnie rolled her eyes. "Kol, you're my best friend and I love you, but when you and your siblings get together all kinds of stupid things happen."

Now it was Kol's turn to roll his eyes. "That's not what why you don't want to spend Christmas with us."
"Okay, fine I can't stand Klaus or his new girlfriend. I don't like how Elijah stares at me and is all formal."

"Then there is Finn's hypochondria."

"I don't want to spend Christmas treating symptoms that are all in his head. You go. I'll be fine on my own."

"Bon, I am not letting you spend Christmas alone," Kol put his arm around her shoulders and gave her a squeeze. She sighed and leaned into his shoulder. He was strong and warm. "So since you are completely against spending it with my family and in all honesty, I don't want to spend it with them either we ditch them."

"You can come over to my place. I'll cook or more likely order Chinese."

Kol slammed his hand on the table and she jumped.

"I have a brilliant idea!"

"Oh, no, nothing ever ends well when you say that!"

"Would you trust me a little, alright?" Kol told her ruffling her hair. "Here's the deal, you and I skip town to go to Vegas. We tell my family we decided to elope and instead spend the holiday drinking ourselves silly and gambling. They'll never know!"

"Kol! Your family will show up in Vegas if they think we are getting married."

"We'll tell them that same day and I'll book us a suite. Burn a hole in some of that baseball money."

"Don't be ridiculous –"

"Think about it, the perfect Christmas. You, me, food, booze and gambling, amazing right?"

"This is the stupidest plan you have ever had!" Bonnie exclaimed and burst into a broad smile. "Of course, I am in!"

"Fantastic," Kol's answering smile was dazzling.

XXX

The next morning, Bonnie was on a plane to Vegas. She had a terrible headache, but fortunately Kol had paid for first class tickets. She had her head on his shoulder as he snored. He jerked awake and blinked at her.

"Are we there yet?"
Bonnie eyed him. "Are you still drunk?"

"No," he looked appalled. "How dare you accuse me of such a thing?"

"Because I know you, probably better than you know yourself," she told him with an eyeroll. "And you're the kind of idiot that dares your brothers to go skinny dipping in the Delaware in the middle of the winter and then insist on staying in the water for longer than any of them."

"That happened once and no one was hurt!"

"I had to treat you for hypothermia. You're just lucky I was in town so you didn't have to explain your stupidity to an ER doctor."

"One thing I have learned, Bon doesn't matter what idiotic thing I do, you'll be there to join in or fix me."

"Seriously? What am I your personal doctor?"

"Speaking of," Kol lit up like someone, who had just remembered something, but their plane landed and he was interrupted.

It wasn't until they were checked into the hotel and downstairs at the card table when he remembered. He just sat there staring at her like a fool with a goofy grin. At first, Bonnie thought he was just trying to distract her from the black jack, but then he didn't give up.

"What?" she exclaimed.

The rest of the table, mostly older men, who looked like business men and old drunks looked between her and Kol and chuckled.

"She's feisty," an older southern man said with a drawl and a wink.

Bonnie gave him a look of disgust before refocusing her attention on Kol.

"I have some good news for you."

"That'd be a first."

"You've been offered the position as team physician."

"I have?"

"Hey, I know you!" one of the older men interrupted looking at Kol. He had salt and pepper hair and was wearing an Armani suit. Yet here he was, spending Christmas in Vegas. Bonnie would have guessed a man like that would have a family. "You're Kol Mikaelson. Ball player for the Red Sox, right?"

"Yeah, that's me," Kol slanted a sideways look at her. She knew what that meant. He only liked being recognized when it was pretty young women. "So what do you think?"

"What do I think? I think I'm surgeon general in New York. What would I want to follow your butt around the country for?"

She asked the dealer for two cards. She was a young woman, pretty with blonde hair who blushed whenever Kol looked her way.

"Girl's got a point," the southerner said. "I'm Joe," he held a hand out to Bonnie.

She shook his hand.

"Bonnie."

"Now, not to date myself, but in my day, the men followed the women, not the other way around."

"I second that," a third man said. He was what her Grams would have called 'a silver fox'. "And if you want to trade this good for nothing baseball player in for a real man, let me know, sweetheart."

"He's not my boyfriend," Bonnie said trying to get back to the game.

But the rest of the table, seemed to have lost interest in the card game.

"You can count on me too. I'm a southern gentleman, and I know how to show a lady a good time."

"I am right here!" Kol exclaimed.

"Seriously?" Bonnie hissed at him. "I am not your girlfriend Kol. I'm a friend, who is a girl."

"Is there a difference?"

Bonnie snorted. "You know, you're dumber than you look."

"Thank God I have my looks," he said with a laugh.

Kol had never had a real girlfriend, which was why Bonnie was sure sometimes, he forgot they weren't a couple. He didn't know how they worked, his parents had split up when he was a kid and none of his siblings were exactly a good model for relationships. So Kol really had no idea what a normal relationship looked like. As a doctor, she could understand how someone like that would confuse their longest and most caring friendship for a relationship. But Bonnie knew it took more than that. It required passion, romantic feelings. All things she might have felt for Kol when they were teens, but she had always known he wasn't boyfriend material so she had stuffed those feelings so far down, she barely remembered them.

By the time the card game ended, Bonnie had wiped the table with all of them. She collected her winnings with a smile and a smug look solely reserved for Kol.

As they walked away from the table, Kol wrapped his arm around her shoulder. He pulled her close and flashed a smile. It was a look she knew all too well. He thought it was cute, but she knew he only used it when he wanted something.

"Since you won, are you buying a few rounds at the bar, Bonnie my sweet?"

"I knew it," she laughed. "You only make that face when you want something!"

Still laughing, she pointed accusingly at his face.

"This face?" he said pointing to his own chin and making his eyes go big.

"No," she laughed. "The other one. The I'm so innocent, please Bon won't you do this one thing for me face."

"My face is very chatty," he told her with a laugh.

They took a seat at the bar and Bonnie bought them two rounds. Bonnie hadn't paid any attention to the stage with the karaoke bar until three little old ladies got on the stage. They started belting out the lyrics to Whitney Houston.

"I just wanna dance with somebody!" they bellowed in unison.

"Yikes," Bonnie said watching them with a smile.

Kol followed her eyeline and laughed. "They look like the Golden Girls, don't you think?"

"You think all old ladies look like the Golden Girls."

"And have I ever been wrong?"

"Yes, almost every time."

She smacked his arm and laughed. He laughed too and had a sip of his scotch. Bonnie was halfway through her mojito and knew she would be in for a wicked hangover in the morning. It was always like that with Kol. They saw each other so rarely, they always went overboard when they got together. And she never cut loose when she was in New York. Never felt as free or safe as she did hanging out with Kol. Anyone else might hold it against her if she drank too much or leave her alone at the bar. Elena and Caroline used to do that a lot in college until she stopped going out with them.

Kol went to the bathroom and Bonnie ordered another drink. The bartender was young and cute. He was a tall, black man, who wore his hair in dreadlocks tied up in a bun. He smiled at Bonnie as he mixed her a cosmopolitan. Bordering on drunk, Bonnie smiled back and leaned forward to make conversation.

"How long have you worked here?"

"Almost ten years, I'm the manager."

"Wow," she grinned. He was older than he looked that was good.

"How long have you and your boyfriend been together?"

"Since we were kids and he isn't my boyfriend."

"But you just said –"

Bonnie giggled. "I mean, we've been best friends since – God, I can't even remember anymore. But we've never even dated. It's not like that."
"Good," he turned red. "I mean, I'm Bryan."

"I'm Bonnie."

"What do you do?"

"I'm a doctor."

"Oh, wow," his smile faltered just a little.

Bonnie sighed and accepted the cosmopolitan he offered her. She knew that look all too well. Men that didn't have a fancy degree or a high paying job found her intimidating. Those in similar careers spent too much time trying to prove they were smarter or more successful. It was exhausting and the reason she was still single in her thirties.

Kol came back just in time to catch the tail end of her conversation with Bryan before he went back to work in a different section of the bar.

"Struck out, love?" Kol asked glancing in Bryan's direction.

"It was going great until I told him I was a doctor."

Bonnie stared at her pink drink unhappily. Kol put his hand on her shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"It's alright, Bon. You know men are too stupid to realize when they see a good thing."

She snorted and shot him an amused smile. "It just sucks, you know? Because I love my job and I can't imagine doing anything else, but it's such a drag on my love life."

"Being a ball player, not a lot better. I meet so many women that only like me for my money and fame."

"You forgot your good looks."

"That's true," he smiled and his dark eyes twinkled. "I am devilishly handsome."

"Whatever."

"Round of shots on me."

Bonnie's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Why would we need shots?"

"Because I signed us up for a duet."

"Oh my God."

She put her head down on the bar. She hated singing in public. Kol had always told her she should be a singer, but she had never wanted to go for it. She was more comfortable in the role as wallflower. She had never felt any great need to be the center of attention and it let her sit in the background and just do her thing.

"And you'll never guess the song."

She groaned. "Remember when I said Vegas for Christmas was your stupidest idea like ever? I take it back, this is the stupidest idea you've ever had."

"Which means you are in," he grinned. "But come on, guess the song!" he nudged her knee with his.

"Could it be I got you babe?"

"No, try again."

Bonnie actually gave it some thought this time. What song could Kol possibly choose for the two of them?

"It's the Pokemon theme song. Isn't it? You giant dork!

"Of course! It's perfect, we can be dramatic and your voice will make it sound even more epic as I caterwaul my through it."

"Fine, but I am going to need another shot."

Kol signalled for two more tequila shots. They touched the glasses together and downed them. Bonnie was starting to get drunk. She had a nice buzz going. Her vision was blurring and her head was starting to swim, which was the perfect way to distract herself from the fact that she was celebrating Christmas in Vegas.

The bartender came over and told them it was their turn to go on stage. Bonnie had to hold onto Kol's arm to stay steady as they walked on stage. Kol wasn't actually doing a lot better himself.

They each grabbed a microphone and listened to the first tunes of the music. The bar was nearly deserted. It was just them, the older ladies, the bartender and a couple of drunk business men, who looked ready to pass out in their whiskey glasses.

Bonnie kept her eyes glued to the screen as the lyrics appeared. Kol was the exact opposite, he was out in the front of the stage. He was smiling at the audience and had even started to dance along with the music.

"I travelled far and wide," Kol sang in a loud pitch.

Bonnie grimaced and sang her part. Kol came over, took her hand and spun her around in a circle.

"I want to be the veryyyy best like Bonnie is," he winked at her as he changed the lyrics.

Bonnie buried her face in her hands until it was her turn again. She ignored him deliberately as she sang her part.

By the time it was over, the bartender was killing himself laughing. More than a little drunk, Bonnie grabbed Kol's arm. She pulled him out of the bar and tried to remember the last time she had been this mortified. The answer came easily enough, the last time the two of them hung out.

Kol picked her up from behind and swung her around. When he put her down on her feet, they were both laughing. He pulled her into his arms into a tight bear hug and put his head on top of hers.

"That was fun, right?"

"If by fun you mean totally embarrassing then yeah, that was great."

"Come on," he pouted. "This will make for a great story when you get back to New York. I sang the Pokemon theme song with Kol Mikaelson, Red Sox player."

"Kol," she laughed and hit his chest playfully. "You never change. Your ego is as big as Texas and you're hilarious. The problem is you know it."

She put her head on his chest and closed her eyes. She wished she could see him all of the time. She missed this, missed having her best friend around.

"You know, you're the best, right?" he said giving her a squeeze. "Second only to me of course."

"Of course," she laughed.

She pushed away from him and looked up at him. He put his hands on her waist and looked at her more seriously than he ever had before.

"We should get married. For real not just say we did to get out of dinner with my family."

"Kol, have you lost your mind?"

"I'm serious. You're like the best girl I've ever met and I've met a lot of women," he told her with a grimace that was almost apologetic. "And none of them can hold a candle to you. So what do you say?"

"I think you have officially reached a new level of stupid."

Kol started walking, he draped his arm around her shoulder and dragged her along with him.

"Probably, but here's the thing, remember when we were like twenty and we agreed if we weren't married by the time we were thirty, we would marry each other?"

Of course, that stupid promise, Bonnie thought. They had been at Klaus' first wedding. He had now divorced Tatiana and been married like three or five more times. Bonnie had lost count because she stopped going after the second one. Now he had some new girlfriend and by his usual schedule, he should be proposing in about three months.

"Yeah, I remember."

"So we're thirty-three now and I say we get married. We're in Vegas, it's what we said we were going to do here, so give me one good reason why we shouldn't?"

Bonnie tried. She really did. But she couldn't think of a single reason not to.

"Alright, I've come along for the ride on all your other stupid ideas, what's one more?"

"Yeah, that's my girl!" Kol cried and whooped.

They got dirty looks from a few of the other people at the casino. But most of the guests smiled and laughed. They all probably thought they were a nice young couple. Not a couple of idiots about to get married because they had a lot to drink and Kol was stupid enough to propose and Bonnie was too stupid to think of a reason to turn him down.

Vegas as it turned out was still filled with chapels. By the time they found the next one, they had drank half a bottle of vodka each. Bonnie couldn't stand without hanging onto Kol anymore and he was slurring his speech. Bonnie was pretty sure she was doing the same because her tongue wouldn't uncurl properly every time she tried to speak.

So Bonnie found herself standing in front of a minister hanging onto Kol as he drank vodka straight from a second bottle.

"Do you Kol Mikaelson take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife?" the minister asked.

"I – I do," Kol said with a squinty eyed look at the minister.

"Do you Bonnie Sheila Bennett take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

"I do," Bonnie said and almost tumbled off the alter.

Kol caught her just in time. She laughed and fell into him.

"Then I now pronounce you husband and wife by the power vested in me by the state of Nevada and God. You may now kiss the bride."

Bonnie started to laugh and Kol chuckled. But he pulled her to him and kissed her. She was caught off guard by how passionate the kiss was. It took her a moment to catch up, but when she did, she kissed him back.

It felt like hours later, but it was probably only minutes when they broke apart.

XXX

The next morning back at the Nevada airport, Bonnie's head was pounding. She was eating greasy food, drinking a large coffee and deliberately not speaking to Kol. Her memories of last night were fuzzy to say the least however, one was still as clear as day. Kol had proposed to her and she had said yes.

When they woke up this morning in Kol's hotel room where they had passed out on his bed. They were both dressed and had discovered the signed marriage certificate. Once Bonnie remembered this was his fault, she started ignoring him.

It was cruel. She had such a bad crush on Kol when they were teenagers and he had proposed while drunk. He wanted to marry her because she was the best girl he had ever met, what a load of bullshit. And it picked at an old wound, she hadn't thought of in years, feelings that she now realized had never truly gone away, they'd just been buried.

"Bon, come on you have to talk to me sooner or later."

"No, I don't," she told him still staring at her coffee. "As soon as we get back to Mystic Falls I am filing for annulment then getting on the first plane back to New York. After which, I won't see you for another year, which suits me just fine."

"What about the job?"

Kol wasn't even eating, he was just staring at her with those pleading puppy dog eyes. It was hard to take.

"What job?"

"The one for my team."

"I am not taking that. You have no idea – just none. So just leave me alone."

XXX

Kol watched Bonnie walk away from him. The idea that she might want to walk away from him permanently broke something inside of him. She was his best friend and he loved her as more than a friend. He always had, but Bonnie always appeared to disinterested in him as anything other than a brother and so scared of losing her, he had never voiced his feelings. Then like a fool last night, they had all come rushing out.

There was something about the way Bonnie had looked at him when she walked away as if she was heartbroken – it made him think. It was time for a big swing, show her, he meant it and even if she didn't accept maybe they could still salvage their friendship.

Kol rushed to get to the one jewellery shop he had seen at the airport. He hurried inside and started scanning the rings at the counters. He wanted something like Bonnie, beautiful, but humble. If he tried to get her the sort of ring, Rebekah regularly showed him (when she was flipping through bridal magazines as she did every time she had a new boyfriend), Bonnie would reject him simply for not knowing her well enough.

There was one that caught his eye. It was a green emerald, perfect square cut and surrounded by perfect white diamonds. The band was silver and plain. It was maybe a little more ostentatious than Bonnie would have liked, but the color was too perfect to pass up. He wasn't even sure if it was an engagement ring.

A sales clerk approached him.

"Good morning," he greeted with a professional smile. "What can I help you with today?"

"I want that ring," he tapped on the glass.

"Certainly."

The price almost floored Kol, but he swiped his card easily. It would put a dent in his savings, which was impressive. Between the family money and his career, most of spending never seemed to make a difference to his bank balance. It was one of the reasons he tried to pay for everything when he was with Bonnie. He was absurdly privileged and he knew it. It was also why he donated a lot of money to several charity organizations a month.

"I have a ring here for sizing," Kol slipped a ring out of his pocket. It was one of Bonnie's. He'd palmed it back at the hotel when he saw the marriage certificate. He had been hoping to use it because she was as excited about their drunk marriage as he was, but no such luck.

Kol waited patiently as the clerk compared the sizes and he finally smiled. "The ring shouldn't need resizing, you're in luck."

"Thank you."

Kol accepted the rings back from him. He tucked the jewellery box in his front jacket pocket. The clerk smiled at him.

"Best of luck this season, Mr Mikaelson."

Of course, he was recognized, Kol thought. He smiled and thanked him again before rushing off.

Bonnie was waiting at the gate for the flight. Kol approached her feeling nervous. If she shot him down, he might lose her for good, but that was just a risk he was going to have to take.

Bonnie looked up at him and went back to her book. Kol got down on one knee and that seemed to get her attention. She put the book away with a long suffering sigh.

"What are you doing?"

It was now or ever. He took a deep breath and hoped for a home run. He took the jewellery box out and opened it. Bonnie's eyes widened as she looked between him and the ring.

"Bonnie Sheila Bennett, I have known you were the girl for me since the first day of kinder garden."

People were gathering around them. He could hear the buzz of their excited whispers and did not need to look to know people were recording it. That was bad, if Bonnie rejected him he would have to live with the gossip magazines showing the rejection clip over and over for weeks on end. But it was too late to back out now.

Kol carried on as if they were alone. "I knew because when I pulled on your braid, you sucker punched me. And I knew in that moment you were the coolest girl I was ever going to meet."

Bonnie giggled and covered her face with her hands. "Oh, Kol."

"Just like I knew when I took you to homecoming. We were voted King and Queen and even though we were just friends, the way you smiled at me, I wanted to see that smile for every day for the rest of my life. So will you please do me the honor of becoming my wife?"

"Kol," she repeated even as a smile was starting to form.

"For real this time? Not some drunk Vegas shotgun wedding?"

"Yes," she said and then covered her mouth with her hand as if she couldn't believe what she had just said. She laughed.

Kol pulled her into his arms and Bonnie threw her arms around his neck. He swung her around and kissed her cheek.

"Let me see the ring," she exclaimed still laughing. He laughed too and held it out for her to see. "Oh, it's beautiful. Where did you get this?"

"Would you believe me if I said right here?"

"You're such an idiot," she sighed and smiled at him.

XXX

Kol's kiss caught Bonnie by surprise. She gasped and when he deepened the kiss, she pressed herself closer, wrapping her arms around his neck. The people in the crowd watching burst into applause. Embarrassed, she broke away from him and buried her face against his chest.

Kol ran his hand along her spine and kissed the top of her head.

"I love you," he whispered in her ear.

She grinned and blushed. "I love you too."

The words came so easily. They had said them a hundred times over the years. But now they meant something more or maybe they always had. She didn't know, she just knew she never wanted this moment to end.

Kol took her hand and slipped the ring on. She smiled when she saw it fit perfectly.

"Looks you'll be taking that job after all."

"Shut up," she pushed him playfully.

He pulled her back to him and hugged him. "Admit it, you love me."

"I do, but I have no idea why," she rolled her eyes at him.

"Because I'm your best friend," he told her and gave her a squeeze. "And do you know what the best part is?"

"What?"

"Next year, we'll have to spend Christmas with my family and Thanksgiving and 4th of July and –"

Bonnie put her hands on either side of his face and kissed him to shut him up. Heat flared through her at the contact and Kol kissed her back with a passion that took her breath away.

Hope you like it! I had a lot of fun writing some light and fluffy for a change so please, please let me know what you thought of it. If you want to leave me a request for Kennett, dramione or bonkai please leave me an ask on tumblr. My username is fireismyelement97. I was having a problem with my tumblr asks, but I think I've fixed it now and if I haven't let me know.

Izzy