In Another Life • The Vampire Diaries

Chapter Seven

* Outfit - jeans and a black top with the mystic grill logo. 

The next morning, Bonnie went to the Mystic Grill in her uniform. She had work today, but had an hour or so to kill before hand. She immediately saw Anna sitting alone at one of the tables, and when Anna saw her, she smiled with a little confusion.

"I didn't know you worked here." She said as Bonnie sat down in the chair next to her.

"Yeah, it's new...and a whole thing." Bonnie said. "But it's okay, I have like an hour before I have to start.

Anna nodded. "Well, I have about an hour before I have to meet my mum, so I guess that's perfect."

"So, how long have you been a...vampire?" Bonnie asked, whispering the last part.

Anna cleared her throat in discomfort.

"Sorry." Bonnie said.

"No. I just didn't realise we were going to get straight to the dirty."

"Is that okay?" Bonnie asked, and Anna nodded. She then told her about the supernatural part of her life. She was born in the fifteenth century and had three siblings. When she was sixteen, her siblings and father died of malaria. Her mother, who had been friends with Katherine at the time, asked her to change her. Anna was given the chance to turn too, and she took it, wanting to be with her mother.

"Wow." Bonnie said, leaning back in her seat. "You've been alive since sixteen twenty-four."

"Yep." Anna pushed her hair off her shoulders. "I know, I still look amazing." 

Bonnie smiled. "You've had a pretty astonishing life."

"More astonishing than being a teenage witch." Anna said.

"Fair enough." Bonnie chuckled. 

"So yeah." Anna said, standing up from her seat. "I'm just here with my mum, so you can take our orders once we've sat down." Bonnie was completely confused as she watched Anna take her jacket off the back of her chair and pick up her bag from the floor. A second after she walked away, Bonnie got a text on her phone. Mum, Anna sent.

Bonnie turned to the door of the restaurant to see the woman she'd seen Anna carry out of the tomb. Although this time she was missing the grey skin and tattered clothes, she was beautiful with an expensive looking dress on. Anna walked up to her, and the two talked for a moment, and then turned to leave. They were stopped by Mayor Lockwood before turning back and joining him and Tyler with walking towards a vacant table. 

Bonnie watched them for a few moments, unsure of what to do before finally getting up. She might as well start her shift. She went to the staff room and clocked in. Walking back into the dining area, she waited a few tables, her eyes passing over the unlikely foursome as they ate. Eventually, Tyler and Anna left their parents to their own business. Anna went to play darts. Bonnie looked around, because of the storm the restaurant was pretty bare today, so she didn't have much to do.

She pulled out her phone and typed 'You're mum doesn't know about us.' and then sent the message to Anna. She wasn't mad, it wasn't like she was jumping to tell Grams. It was just a conversation starter.

Her phone beeped. 'I didn't know there was an us to tell her about.' Bonnie smiled and glanced at her.

She hesitated for a second and then typed back. 'Maybe there should be." Anna read the message and met her eyes, she smiled.

...

ANNA'S POV

Anna was in the Mystic Grill bathroom washing her hands. When she looked into the bathroom mirror and saw her smile - she hadn't realised was so wide - she chuckled to herself. For the past century and a half, everything she'd done, every person she had spoken to for more than five minutes was on account of saving her mother. Bonnie Bennett had become the first person she wanted to know just for herself.

Anna turned around to leave the bathroom and was met with her mother standing in front of the door. She looked at her with a stern look.

"Bonnie Bennett." Her mother said. "Is that what you've been up to?" She turned around and slightly pushed opened the bathroom door, checking to see if anyone was approaching. Then she closed it again.

"She's my friend. What's the big deal?"

"Her family is the reason the humans were able to figure out what we were." Her mother said, stepping towards Anna. Her stern look didn't waver. "Because of Emily, I was stuck in a tomb for over a century."

"You're right, but Bonnie's not Emily."

"She's a witch. It's in their nature to hate our kind."

"And it's our nature to kill anything with a beating heart, but you taught me that isn't who we are." Anna said. "She's the reason I was able to save you, she's different."

Her mother faltered for a moment before she returned to disdain. "She'll turn on you Anna, I want you to stop seeing her."

Anna exhaled and stepped back. "No." Her mother looked shocked, Anna had never been able to say no to her in her life. "I've been on my own for a long time. I can make my own decisions." She moved to go around her mother, but she stopped her.

"Then stop acting like a child." She snapped. "We can not let history repeat itself by trusting the wrong person again." Her mother looked at her with so much pain and something Anna hadn't seen in her eyes in a long time, fear. Desiccating for so long had to have scarred her, Anna couldn't make healing harder on her, so she reluctantly nodded. When they went back into the dining area of the restaurant, she and her mother grabbed their jackets and bags. She followed behind her mother as she walked towards the door, but right before passing it, she saw Bonnie through the corner of her eye. She quickly pulled out her phone. 'Tomorrow, how about you give me a tour of Mystic Falls high.' She could do this without her mother knowing. When she saw that Bonnie could be trusted, everything would be alright.