||act one||

"so your daughter lit a candle with her mind and unceremoniously mentioned the fact she had a dream of kai?"

caroline's bewildered tone did little to ease cora's raging nerves. although she had gotten emerson to finally go to sleep, she was sure the surge of power that shot through her daughter's veins had wore her out, cora sat down with caroline at the dining table worrying about her daughter to no end. with her head in her hands, she hesitantly continued to tell the story of the night's events to her sister.

bonnie had left a few minutes prior to caroline's arrival to deal with damon's nonsense. cora was unsure of the circumstances, but bonnie's wide eyes following speaking with damon on the phone worried her more than she'd like to admit. she had refrained from mentioning to her older sister how much her daughter's words had honestly affected her. anytime somebody was to mention or speak of kai, grief settled deep within her bones.

"it-it all happened so suddenly." cora slowly sipped on her coffee, savoring the flavors stemming from the warm mug as she contemplated her next words carefully, "the words about him tumbled out so quickly. neither bonnie nor i could keep up." cora's eyes noticeably dulled and any trace of happiness was eradicated from her demeanor. she wasn't mad, or even sad, her emotions were confusing and hard to classify. even the older forbes girl could not read her, which was arguably quite rare for the pair. however, it was easy to see she was not content with the current situation.

"did she say anything else? i mean, besides provide a brief description of him and the fact that he supposedly taught her the word," caroline spoke with suspicion evident in her voice. caroline was annoyed, because she believed it to be a very "kai" thing, for him to teach emerson the incantation, though she did not know the entirety of the story.  she had never been overly accepting of cora and kai's relationship, nonetheless, she was desperate for her sister to be happy, and if that be with kai, than so be it. luke's emotions added to his personality after the merge helped drastically. that she was more than willing to admit to her little sister.

"no, no. just that. bonnie and i reiterated that she never dare speak that word again, but we didn't touch the subject of kai," cora acknowledged her sister's comment reluctantly and tore her eyes to the phone placed upon the wooden side table. she had told bonnie to call her with information, made her promise it,  from damon as soon as she had a chance. so far, she had heard nothing from the bennett.

caroline frowned in obvious dismay. she sighed and ran her hand through her vibrant blonde curls, shaking them out lightly and let them settle. cora looked down at her lap, finding a distraction in the fraying hem of the pillow she had been clutching.

"look sis, i promise you it's going to be okay," caroline extended her arm to collect her sister's trembling hands in her own, "i don't know when, and i might not know exactly how, but it will."

the older forbes ran her thumb over her little sister's knuckles in comfort. a manageable silence fell over the pair as worry enveloped the both of them. it seemed neither had any idea of what was to come in the future. cora knew in her heart that the vision emerson had of kai was not of his doing. kai had no idea that she had even been pregnant with emerson, ergo he would have no compelling feeling to contact the toddler. however, magic worked in mysterious ways. the contact had to have been initiated on emerson's half, she believed and knew in her heart that much. emerson's subconscious must have conjured up kai or something, she though to herself within these moments of quiet, calm before the storm. something. the word's void could never be filled.

unbeknownst to both of the girls and even emerson, kai parker would find them sooner than expected. if they even had expected his return at all.

||act two||

"what do you need?" bonnie asked damon in a forceful tone, after hearing him say it was urgent she called him in their prior conversation.

"i-i'm just calling to make sure you're okay," damon responded to who he considered to be his best friend in a lighthearted tone, laced with concern. bonnie knew his statement to be false, for he would not have pressed her to call him so persistently if that had been the truth.

"i'm not, but with what you said earlier and all the messages you left, you obviously want something." bitterness swept through the brunette's words as she spoke with damon. anything relating back to enzo, even if was as simple is checking up on her, was quick to turn into a sore subject.

"no, i don't want anything. i'm just.. i'm here for you." damon's wary voice worried bonnie, but she swallowed her fear. "unrelated, um have you made any progress getting enzo out of hell?" damon asked her inquisitively.

"what?" bonnie sighed and pushed aside her fears for the time being. she could never find time to worry anymore, which was both good and bad. it distracted her from the worse parts of her life, but left her swept up in what seemed the never ending madness that was her life.

"i'm just saying cade got out of hell why shouldn't enzo?" damon's comment alluded to more than he was letting on, that much bonnie could tell, though she could read the elder salvatore brother quite well.

"cade used the maxwell bell, which is kinda a non-starter now unless you want to risk nuking mystic falls again," bonnie's reluctance was evident as she spoke to damon, "i'm not a practicing witch anymore."

"but you're also not a quitter bonnie," damon reiterated how highly he thought of bonnie, albeit it was uncertain to the girl whether or not he was truly complimenting her or he needed something.

"you know what, why don't you call me back when you're not so-" bonnie attempted to get her words in before damon swiftly cut her off, in order to stop her from ending the call.

"woah woah woah, wait don't hang up. bonnie i'm sorry, i didn't mean to be rude. i just um-i was just hoping you had a solve for enzo because i might need a solution for someone else, too." damon's words flew from his mouth rather quickly and the importance of the mentioned words came across quite clear to bonnie on the receiving end.

"someone else like," bonnie raised an eyebrow, and willed damon to go on so she could know exactly what this whole "hypothetical" situation really entailed for her.

"well let's just say i had a semi-ghost situation. someone halfway in our world who really wanted to stay here for real," damon told bonnie as he tried to ignore the incessant noise and pestering coming from the backseat.

"can i speak to her on the phone?" a brunette man sitting behind damon in the blue car whispered. damon waved him off and tried to continue his conversation undisturbed, but it was to no avail.

"this is all hypothetical, bonnie, but what if there was a way to unlink your life from elena's and what if the very small price to pay was us freeing a soul from hell." damon continued to reiterate his point, desperate for answers from the witch he could not conjure up on his own.

"first of all, by us, you mean me. second of all, it's crazy because the only person who could break that link is kai and he's been dead for years," bonnie answers annoyingly. her ears picked up on repeated noise from inside the car that was indeed not damon, so she questioned the vampire, "who's sitting next to you?"

"nobody?" damon's answer came as more of a question, which pushed bonnie to push further for her desired response.

"really, because i just had the weirdest feeling," bonnie told damon in what he liked to call her "judge" tone, which caused him to wince and know he was definitely screwed, "there's someone there with you, someone you don't want me to know about."

"look, lemme be clear. even if there were someone else here with me, i wouldn't want you to know, because of a certain mind reading devil that's on the lookout for escape souls and what you don't know, can't hurt us," damon's true motives for his secrecy were made known with these words, and bonnie sighed, but then, the very unfortunate answer came to her.

"oh my god, tell me you're no talking about kai parker."

"of course not, why would you even say that."

"because i know you, and because i have this incredibly strong feeling that i can't explain."

a/n

uh bonnie wyd i'd talk about kai parker any day. also bonnie and damon's convo was taken right from the show, but i altered certain parts.