The Blonde Princess

Phobias

"Kol,"

"Hm?"

"Get me down, now."

"What's the magic word?"

"I'll fry your brain like an egg if you don't get me the hell down, you sadistic ass."

"Didn't quite hear a 'please' in there, darling. How about we try that again?"

Her eyes drifted over to where Elijah had his arms full, carrying groceries into the house. "I will kill him," she warned.

He let out a sigh. "Just don't get any blood on the driveway." Elijah had assessed the situation keenly when he exited his car. He was well aware that his youngest brother was capable of being absurdly childish, but he also knew that he would sooner dagger himself than let any harm come to the Bennett witch, so he decided to mind his own. Besides, he had a dinner to cook. So, with only a moment's regret of leaving the poor girl up there to deal with Kol's antics, he made his way into the house to begin preparing a meal.

"Looks like you're on your own there, darling." Kol remarked, crossing his arms and squinting up at her. He did not think she would have lasted this long, if he was being honest. He figured that either Caroline would get her, or Elijah just now, but he was rather pleased they did not come to her aid.His young, blonde friend had clearly been distracted by his brother poking fun at her fear of arachnids, and if he knew her well- which he liked to think he did, she probably deemed Bonnie's current predicament revenge for laughing at her phobia.  His older brother seemed pacified by his culinary exploits, so it was just him and Bonnie.

She had been in Caroline's room, fixing a lid onto a cup that contained a spider, and laughing at her friend who was crouching in a corner, terrified. Never one to enjoy being the butt of a joke, Caroline had glared at Bonnie and made an offhand comment about how she had a crippling fear of heights. Kol and Klaus had been on their way to check on the girls- well, Klaus was, Kol was only going so he could amuse himself with whatever it was that made Caroline scream bloody murder. Upon their arrival, it was clear that the only threat to the girls had been neutralised, so to speak. Kol found himself intrigued by the witch's apparent fear of heights, and a devilish smirk crept onto his face.

So, Kol, being Kol, took it upon himself to grab the witch by the shoulders and vamp her up to the roof of their mansion, hoping to help her get rid of her fear, and maybe get a bit of entertainment out of watching the usually unperturbed witch squirm. It was a win-win situation really, but he found himself feeling a slight amount of guilt when she wrapped her arms around herself and her breathing quickened.

The girl in question let out a sigh and lowered herself to the clay tiles that covered the roof, careful not to move them around too much. She grit her teeth together in an attempt to hold back the wave of nausea that overcame her and focused her eyes on the leaves that had gathered on a patch near her foot, swearing with every breath that she would commit murder when she finally got off that damned roof.

A flash of worry passed over Kol's face when she was out of his vision, but she quickly stood up again and squared her shoulders.

"Kol, please get me down." Bonnie growled through her teeth.

"As nice as it is to hear you begging, darling, that's not quite how this works. You have to jump down." Kol responded, bringing a hand up to shield his eyes from the sun.

"Are you out of your f-"

"Before we go around yelling profanities, you should know I plan to catch you. I can't very well let you fall to your death, otherwise who would be around to irk Niklaus as much as you do?"

"I can't jump down, Kol." Bonnie admitted, her gaze travelling worriedly to the ground. Her voice had lost all its anger, but fright had replaced it. 

It was odd for him to see her so scared. She had always been so brave and unfased by the goings on of Mystic Falls. She never faltered, never cowered and never flinched. Not even when faced by his family. It was what he liked most about her. She had backbone to spare. So at this moment, when her body recoiled and her legs trembled beneath her, he felt almost guilty for depositing her up there in the first place. 

"Sweetheart, its only about fifty feet. And I'll catch you, alright? Just close your eyes and jump." He coaxed her softly, willing her to move closer to the edge. 

"What if you don't?" Bonnie asked, lower lip quivering. She just wanted to be on the ground already.

"Do you trust me?"

She managed to get the look of utter terror off her face long enough to fix him with an even stare. "You put me up here in the first place."

"Bonnie, do you trust me?" He asked again, ignoring her statement and looking up at her with a serious expression.

She contemplated his question for a minute, took note of the conviction in his voice, the set of his jaw, the softness of his eyes, and nodded once.

"Okay. Good. Now, sweetheart, just walk right up to the edge, that's it. Close your eyes." Bonnie followed his instructions carefully and took a deep breath. "I'm going to count to three, and then I want you to jump. One, two-" Kol watched with pleasant surprise as she stepped off the roof before his countdown was done, eyes screwed tightly shut, and letting out a sharp scream. Her legs flailed wildly in a desperate call for solid ground and her arms stretched out to her sides instinctively for purchase. He caught her easily, effectively silencing her. She waited a second for the air around her to settle, and when she opened her eyes, he was staring right at her, with a mix of awe and pride. 

"Three." He whispered. She knew deep down, that he was only pretending that his motive was to torture her, but he was only trying to rid her of her fear the best way he knew how. And that made her feel warm and fuzzy inside. But she was nowhere near ready to dissect that right now, so she gave him a big, goofy grin instead.

Bonnie shuffled out of his arms quickly, her eyes lighting up with excitement from the adrenaline rush. 

"I want to both never do that again and do that again right this second!" She yelled, shaking him by the shoulders. She felt like her body was buzzing with electricity, and she almost felt light-headed with the energy burst. She felt like she had been falling for five minutes, but she knew it had only been about three seconds. In the first, she'd worried that he wouldn't catch her. In the second, she enjoyed the rush, and in the third, she'd absolutely relished the feeling of falling, knowing that he'd be there to catch her. She'd felt free.

Kol's expression slowly morphed into amusement at her glee. "Well what is it going to be then?" 

Bonnie circled him quickly, and tapped his back for him to crouch low enough for her to piggy back. "Don't you dare drop me."

"That's my girl."