The Chosen

Before

After a day of wandering the city, somehow they'd managed to make it to a beach. The sand soft and warm beneath her feet. The water clear and clean. Birds flew above them. Colorful and nothing at all like Bonnie had seen in her life. Bright green and blue.

Elena and Borra walked a few feet in front of them. Borra pointing and explaining things to Elena as she listened intently. Bonnie almost smiled as she looked at the pair but stopped herself.

"What's wrong?" Elijah asked softly. His deep, dark, eyes looking at Bonnie. His gaze was so warm Bonnie almost melted at the sight. He was so sweet.

"I just have...a lot on my mind" Bonnie admitted lowly. She did. From the men in her life, her friends, her life, an entire realm that rested on her shoulders. What would she do? She hasn't lived. She hadn't done anything but try to survive. Now she was expected to stay in one place her whole life. To rule when she could barely take control of her own life. She didn't want to. She didn't want this. Yet the longer she stayed the more she loved this place. The comfort it gave her. Like she belonged. For the first time in her life.

"Sometimes, thinking out loud can help, and if it doesn't I've been known to give decent advice" he told her. His voice gentle. Not wanting to push her one way or another. Bonnie smiled at him.

"I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do here" Bonnie admitted. Elijah watched her as she stopped, turning to the sea in front of them. "Tomorrow is my birthday, and in a few weeks I'm supposed to figure out if I'm gonna stay and become Queen, which means leaving EVERYTHING and everyone I've ever known behind, including my dad, or leave this place and let an evil, horrible, man keep his power" She started explaining. Her heart constricting in her chest at the thought.

"I haven't been here long but, it's like from the minute I got here, I've felt connected to this place, the people around me, I've felt calm in a way that I haven't in forever" she told him. Her voice low. Elijah nodded as he listened to her. Her eyes far away.

"I've never felt so connected to anything in my life" she admitted softly. Elijah tilted his head as he looked at her. The far off look on her face as she thought of the place her ancestors once called home.

"Even us?" He asked. His accented voice low but she heard him. Bonnie chuckled slightly at that. Shaking her head she sighed.

"Don't even get me started on your family" she said shaking her head at him. The way she said it made him frown at her slightly.

"What do you mean?" He asked her. Shaking her head Bonnie turned back to him. Her green eyes looking up into his brown.

"I mean that your brothers have completely caught me off guard in the last two days and I'm not entirely sure what to do about it" Bonnie admitted, figuring Elijah was safe. After all the only woman he'd shown any interest in since they met was Elena. He did have a thing for Petrova women. Or rather doppelgängers.

Absentmindedly Bonnie wondered what it was about them that kept drawing these men in. The same over and over. Stefan and Damon with Katherine then Elena. Then Elijah with Tatia first, then Katherine and finally Elena. Klaus was a different story. She knew he loved Tatia but he simply used Katherine and his annoyance when Elena was around was clear. He seemed to be the only one that could see the clear difference between all these women.

"What do you mean?" Elijah asked, breaking Bonnie from her train of thought. His brown eyes filled with worry for the small Bennett. Bonnie sighed as she pushed away the feeling of awkwardness. If anything Elijah may be able to lend a hand on how to deal with his brothers.

"I mean, in the last 48 hours, 3 of your brothers have had their lips on mine" Bonnie told him, forcing her tone to be playful to push aside her feelings of awkwardness and guilt. She'd spent the night wracking her brain trying to figure out a way to deal with this without having any of them feel like she'd led them on or didn't care about them. In all honesty she cared about them all. A lot. Which caused her even more guilt. The thought of hurting or losing any of them hurt her in a way she couldn't explain.