Yellow Ledbetter

The Bodyguard

Her name is Bonnie. Kai almost slaps himself when he hears Damon yell it. Bonny-looking-Bonnie, the very heavy sleeper. The sun rose three hours ago and Damon finished making blueberry pancakes half an hour ago. He's called her three times. On the fourth he's yelling her whole first name. Kai's sitting on the desk chair of the room she's picked. It belonged to someone called Stefan and he had a habit of writing some seriously depressing journals, but they kept him entertained for most of the night.

He's cloaked now but for most of that time he went magicless, sticking to observing from a distance lest she wakes up. When she finally does stir he's siphoning the moonstone he has stashed away, at the last possible moment. It's occurred to him that he's blowing through a supply of magic that was supposed to last him years. Not ideal, but that's a problem for him to worry about when he's onto the last item. A problem for Kai in about six months, if his calculations are correct.

By the fifth yell she's blinking herself into consciousness, replying

'I'm up,' hoarsely and turning over in the duvet, taking a few minutes to collect herself as she wakes. In those few minutes she just stares into the ceiling with doe eyes that get bigger the longer she stares. When she sits up he holds his breath out of a reflex unknown, and for a moment her eyes (ocean green in the daylight) land on the spot he's sitting in. She gets up slowly with her attention fixed on the space he's in and moves towards him. By the time she's two steps away he's digging nails into the arm rests and readying himself to run. But she stops there, looking satisfied in whatever her train of thought was- he has yet to figure that out- and makes a beeline for the shower. His heart's still pounding far too quickly in his ears for him to give due process to the idea of checking in on her while she's in there. The idea of a naked girl, dripping wet, five feet away doesn't calm him down, funnily enough, and he suddenly feels grossly his age at incarnation. It's a good job he's cloaked. When she steps out, white towel wrapped around her torso and barely covering the tops of her thigh, he allows himself one good leer before turning around. It's decided that he won't reveal himself until he's got a better handle on his emotions.

'Oh good, another one.' Bonnie slips back into the chair she ate dinner in as if she never left it. A creature of habit then. Casually strewn onto the table is a newspaper he's all too familiar with. One of Dad's little guilt trips, magically turning up no matter where he goes.

'Fresh from the magic mailman.' Damon replies, plopping a stack of dry blueberry pancakes before her, dumping his own opposite. Kai settles onto the kitchen counter, swinging his legs as he tunes in to what's quickly becoming his favourite show. She reaches for the maple syrup and begins dousing her breakfast to make it slightly more edible, as she eats she flicks through the pages.

'Supermarket has a sale.' She muses aloud.

'Let me guess, one day only?'

Unless they're arguing they tend to spend the days together, only separating to sleep or other mundane activities. But they're never apart for long and it's starting to irritate him. When Damon's with Bonnie he dominates the room, he's all brooding comments and sarcastics snipes. Not to mention the fact that Kai doesn't like how close they're getting. But on the seventh day, like rain after a drought, they argue for the fourth time. It seems like a whammy.

After finally running out of supplies they take Foodmart up on its spectacular sale.

'We should make a list next time.' Bonnie comments, searching the aisles for things she can remember that they need. Damon's commandeered the trolley without even offering her the option to push it.

'What's the point?' He's extra snippy today, the lack of fresh blood and time away from his girl is manifesting.

'The point is, that way we know what we need.' Bon Bon's keeping her cool.