Yellow Ledbetter

All the way back to his house Kai debates the pros and cons. Killing Damon is drastic. Not to mention the fact that when Damon goes missing Bonnie's going to automatically be suspicious of the only other person in the world- when he eventually introduces himself. Unless he kills Damon in some sort of freak accident and makes it look like he killed himself. The best way to do that would be after one of their fights. He starts planning. He's so sick of planning. But Kai has enough self-restraint to know that it's necessary. This time he makes sure to observe Damon's behaviour carefully as well as remaining close to Bonnie.

Since their catharsis in the cave they haven't been arguing as much, no matter how many doors Kai slams, objects he moves, or candles he lights. Bonnie is outright ignoring him and he's starting to feel a little pathetic. He's got to do something she can't ignore so he siphons her deeply one night, taking as much magic as he can get without waking her and ignoring the way she frowns in her sleep. Wandering through the house, scratching at the walls with his fingertips, he contemplates just ripping Damon's heart right out and then throwing his corpse in the river. Maybe write a pretend suicide note.

Sorry Bonnie, I just couldn't take it. You're better off alone than with me.

By the time he reaches the parlour the vampire's asleep, begging for Kai to do it. He moves over to him and perches on the table in front of Damon's slouch. Breath reeking sour as he snores softly, bourbon bottle clutched to his chest like an infant. But as Kai readies his fingers- how much strength does it take to break through ribs- Damon wakes up with a quick jolt, dropping the bottle, sloshing liquid and looking around in a panic. Then in a blink he's gone. Heading towards some unknown noise that Kai can't hear with his human ears. There's only one reason Damon would get up that fast.

Bonnie.

Kai's already running down the hall to her bedroom, expecting to find something terrible. And he does, in a way. Bonnie, sobbing once again, wrapped up in Damon's arms.

'Shhh, it's okay. I promise.' He coos, stroking her hair. Kai doesn't feel. He can't feel. It's the one thing about him that he likes about himself. 'Spit it out Bon.' Softly he adds, 'You'll feel better I promise.'

'It was a nightmare.'

Nightmare?

She doesn't show it, no tossing or turning when she sleeps.

'How many?' He's asks keeping his tone irritatingly soft as he pulls beneath the surface of what she isn't telling him.

She looks down. More than one then.

It's not jealousy. It can't be jealousy when Kai has nothing to be jealous of. Why would he be jealous of how she lets Damon touch her without recoiling? How, despite his best efforts, they seem to have bonded and they share a deeper understanding of each other that Kai isn't privy to.

'Of what?' He urges her on.

'Of when I was the anchor.' She sits up and elaborates and allows him to untangle from her. 'I'll be deep in sleep and then suddenly I start to relive the pain of when someone used to pass through me.'

'When did it last happen?'

'Other than now...' She thinks hard. 'Last week, the week before that... Pretty much at least every few days.'

Huh... These nightmares seem pretty consistent with when he's been siphoning her.

Kai frowns as he thinks only for the lines to straighten once more as he comprehends.

Maybe it isn't as painless a process as he thought. Why is she able to feel it when no one else has? It never hurts people unless he wants it to. Unless... Unless he wanted it to? No. That's not it. If that's not it then it must be her. When people are sleeping they let their guard down, they practically give their magic away. But even in her sleep she holds onto it. Her magic is so strongly apart of her in that way. Goddamn Bennett witches have to be difficult.

Kai Parker doesn't have feelings. But there is a slight pit in his stomach when he hears that he's the reason for her state right now.

The bedroom seems too small for the three of them and he's leaving before the walls close in on him, seeking refuge in the kitchen. Palms together, he rests his elbows on the table, chin atop of interlocked fingers. He's the bad guy even when he isn't trying to be.

Maybe that's all he'll ever be.

Maybe that's why he couldn't get Bonnie to hate Damon. Damon isn't the villain in this story. And it's a villain Bonnie needs. Someone to hate to get her strength back.

In his thoughts he picks up the black pen rolling on the wooden table and pulls the carelessly strewn newspaper to him. There it is. 27 across, glaringly empty with letters scratched everywhere but. Bonnie's able to guess everything but the one thing he knows and it's gratifying- one more secret he keeps from her. Time for honesty then.

Under the blanket of stars he leaves the house and begins to enact his plan, the months of planning coming into fruition with one small change. No more hiding. A blue camaro stands out in the bay of the hospital car park, keys nowhere to be seen, but Kai's had enough practice hot-wiring. On the drive over to the supermarket he starts to think about the best way to get Bonnie's magic back. She's stronger when she's angry so maybe it would be best to keep Damon alive. Her's and Damon's relationship is too far gone for Kai to make her hate him so that's out of the picture. Anger is still his best bet. One final argument between them. The mother of all arguments. He'll give Bonnie hope, and Damon will inevitably try to squash it. But then in an additional twist, he'll give Damon hope too, in the form of his precious car. Only to rip it away from them again. As he fills all the bourbon bottles with vervain, Kai hopes Bonnie won't come back this time. Let her leave and run as far away as she can. Run from Damon, run from him. Just run little girl.

He's done in time to join them for a late dinner to calm Bonnie's nerves. She's made chilli and for whatever he's missed, they're both looking particularly somber.

It's Bonnie to break the silence.

'I miss them too you know.'

Damon gives her a lopsided smile and picks up the newspaper beside him by way of acknowledgement.

'Look who got 27 across.'

She digs around the bowl looking wistful and Kai sits at the head of the table, leaning back to watch the interaction.

'I wish, 27 across is a rock I am pushing up an endless mountain.' He appreciates the poeticism. Especially when he's smashed the proverbial rock for her.

'An old tongue twister Eddie turned top 40. Eddie Vedder. Pearl Jam.Yellow Ledbetter. Good work.' He chucks it over to her for inspection and the expression on Bonnie's face is delicious. Green eyes blown wide. He really tried his best to make his letters look similar to hers but in his rush his 'E's still look a little squarey.

'Are you messing with me?'

'No. Are you messing with me?'

'I didn't finish this.'

'Well neither did I.'

Then she says it. All those times she felt watched, mysterious sounds, unexplained objects moving and that feeling- the feeling of someone touching her when she saw no one.The result of all his hard work. Months of goosebumps all rolled into one realisation. From his seat Kai leans forward to catch a glimpse of the first step to his freedom, handwriting stuffed into suffocatingly small boxes.

Yellow Ledbetter.

'There's someone else here.' She realises.