By the time they made it back to the house it was somewhere in the middle of the night. Neither stopped for food or the bathroom as they headed for his bedroom, barely giving themselves enough time to pull back the sheets before they flopped onto the mattress and drifted to sleep.

Bonnie woke to the light hitting her eyelids from the open curtains, groaning and rolling over. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before replaying the events from the day before, popping one eye open to see 10:30AM on the clock next to her. Rolling back over to look at Kai she frowned; his pale face was coated in sweat and he had worry lines across his forehead. She waited a moment and didn't hear any pained or anxious noises triggering a nightmare but he still looked like he was in discomfort.

Sitting on her knees and unzipping his sweatshirt she felt his heat all the way through it, his shirt slicked with sweat in certain areas and she had to do a double take at how much worse he looked now compared to before he went to bed. Pulling one arm out of the sleeve and then the other, Bonnie moved him back when she noticed a mark on his wrist picking it back up to examine it closer and could have sworn it looked like a fresh brand, pink and raw. She tried to recall if she saw it the night before but knew she wasn't paying much attention to his wrists.

"Hey!" she smacked at his chest, him moaning in the back of his throat.

"Wake up," she smacked him again. "What's this on your wrist?"

"Hm?" he murmured

"Your. Wrist." She enunciated. "Have you always had this?"

Kai opened his eyes slowly, rubbing them before lifting them both in front of his face. He looked at his left under his leather bracelet and sat up.

"It looks fresh," she said looking back down at a skin-toned brand. "Oh – it did look fresh. It was pink and looked like it just happened. Have you seen that symbol before? It kind of looks like a Roman numeral, or-"

"Gemini," he answered.

Bonnie studied the basic symbol of two straight lines down with a curved line for the top and bottom.

"What does that mean?"

"Probably not anything I'm gonna like," he shook his head.

He glanced at his shirt and pulled the sticky cotton off his chest.

"I'll be right back," he murmured as he headed to the bathroom.

When she heard the water turn on she hopped off the bed and paced the room, most likely going through the same thoughts as Kai.

Where did that symbol come from and why? What is his father up to? How is that going to affect him?

After last night it is safe to say she feels somewhat invested in this person and his life, and she doesn't plan on watching him die again any time soon.

--x—x—x—x—x—

A couple of hours later her grumbling stomach pulled her out of her thoughts as she headed for the kitchen. She hadn't seen Kai since he got out of the shower but he seemed to be in a fog all of his own. When she turned the corner she found him leaning against the counter with his head down. His posture was tense and his eyes were closed, unaware that she was in the room. She stepped closer and saw the mark on his arm was burning red.

"Kai, your wrist-"she started as she went to touch his arm but he was quicker and had her pressed up to the fridge.

She saw someone she didn't recognize in his eyes as hatred flared back and his hold on her arms tightened.

"Stop it!" she yelled, pushing against his chest and kneeing him in the stomach when that didn't work.

He coughed and stepped back losing his grip on her, blinking a few times before looking back at her with wide eyes.

"What happened?" he asked, looking her over.

She stepped towards him and grabbed his wrist, noticing the mark was back to his skin-tone color.

"Okay, this symbol is messing with you. Or it's messing with me. This time I am positive it was red hot right before you – and you didn't look like you. What do you remember?"

"I don't-"he hesitated. "I thought I saw a flash of someone but then I blinked and it was you."

"Who did you see?"

His eyebrows drew down and he shook his head then checked his wrist.

She stood there anxiously from one foot to the other, unsure if she should move towards him, or away. The flash of anger that she caught a quick moment of was enough to leave her feet seared into the floorboards as he backed away.

"We don't have much to eat I'm going to run to the store, I'll be back soon."

She stayed silent, staring at the door minutes after she heard the car drive off.

By the time she heard the car pull up it was closer to dinner as the sun was setting, choosing to spend the day outside in her new little Oasis archway garden and spent most of it switching between reading and drawing in her notebook. Bonnie made her way inside and found him pulling things out of the bags and putting them on the island. She sat on one of the chairs and stayed silent for at least five minutes as he put things away, de-thawed the burger in the microwave and set up what he needed near the stove.

"So how was your joyride?"

Kai kept his back to her as he flipped a patty and sizzled. Her fingers drummed impatiently against the countertop, trying to be reasonable but her anxiety kept her on edge. She looked at the cup of utensils in the center of the island and picked up a small wooden spoon, chucking it at his back.

"Well hello," she said when he finally turned to face her. "Wasn't sure if you forgot I was in the room."

"How could I?" he smiled, walking up to the island to set the plates in front of him with the buns and lettuce.

Kai looked back and flipped the burgers once more before putting a piece of cheese on each and letting it melt. He pushed the condiments within her reach along with a bag of chips, putting both burgers on the buns and walking to where she sat. Putting down the plates and pouring two glasses of Coke Kai joined her and she decided to take a bite before trying to converse again – her mouth watering from the look of it and mm'd in delight. Glancing to the left at him and checking his skin-tone brand before looking at his face, she picked up a chip and tossed it at the side of his head.

"Want to let me in on what you're thinking?"

Kai stayed staring straight ahead before looking down at his plate, letting out a deep breath and turning his head towards her.

"I think something's wrong."

"Something like what?"

"I think I'm losing time."

She stared at him, the uneasiness creeping back into her.

"Why do you say that?"

"Well," he shrugged "its dark out, for one – not too sure of how my hour trip turned into an all-day task. And earlier, with you... something feels off."

"So," she tried to keep him talking while her mind flat-lined trying to figure out what was going on. "What do you remember about today?"

He shrugged. "Woke up, went to the kitchen, and went for a drive... four hours later found myself standing in the market."

"I don't understand."

"Nope," he bit into his burger, his eyebrows down in concentration.

"Do you think this has something to do with your dad?"

"Yep."

"What do you think he's doing?" he shrugged. "Are you just going to respond in noncommittal gestures and one word answers?"

Kai glanced over at her, a smile in the corner of his mouth. "Maybe."

Bonnie rolled her eyes, going back to her burger and grabbing a few chips. She didn't say much else for the rest of the meal, glancing out of the corner of her eye at his rigid posture and far-off look like he was lost in a daydream and hopped off the chair to wash her plate before scooping his up when he didn't make any attempt to move.

"Now what?" she asked leaning back against the counter.

"I'm so tired," he mumbled.

"You're always tired," she leaned off the counter and walked over to entrance. "Do you want go up and sleep, or watch a movie? It might take your mind off everything for a minute."

Kai swiveled around in the chair and walked towards her and past without breaking his stride.

"Okay but I'm picking the movie."

"Let me guess, something scary from the 80s?" she asked keeping in step with him.

"Now you're getting it," he laughed.

Placing herself in her usual spot on the couch and pulling the blanket off the top and over her legs, Kao bent down and flipped through the movies before laughing and putting one in the VCR.

"Not quite like the one's you're used to, but this should make you feel more at home in The Lounge de Salvatore."

Watching the credits roll over open water as The Lost Boys displayed across the screen; followed four guys instigating trouble with people on a carousel and getting kicked out.

"Vampires and their emotions, never could figure out why they had to freak out over every little thing. You're dead, what's left to worry about?"

She laughed at his answer, replaying the countless over the top reactions out of Damon and all of her vampire friends.

"Guess they're trying to hold onto their humanity by stressing out over the inevitable."

"Sounds exhausting," he smirked.

They settled in and watched the first ten minutes without much chatter and she noticed he was leaning against his left fist with his eyes closed. She stared for a minute longer and watched the symbol start to heat up.

"Kai-"

Letting out a pained grunt he grabbed onto the side of his head, leaning forward and continuing his sounds.

"Hey-"she scooted forward touching his shoulder and he turned his head to look at her, eyes turning frosty before turning the rest of his body and pushing her back.

Trying to scramble backwards and falling off the couch Bonnie jumped up and spun around, Kai gripping the side of his head with clenched teeth and could see the burning red symbol staring back at her.

"Stop the spell!" he yelled.

Bonnie jerked back a step at his tone, the sound seeming to reverberate off the walls and felt her real first real jolt of fear since her nightmares – maybe even before.

"I'm not doing anything!" she shot back, her hands raised in front of her to block any oncoming attack.

Looking over to the door on her left Bonnie went to take a step but he was faster, pushing her up against the wall and putting his hands around her throat.

"I won't let you kill me."

Reaching for his hands to break his hold with a sad attempt Bonnie stomped on his foot but without being able to lift her knee into him she felt her vision getting hazy and let go of his hands locking her elbow and driving it into his jaw.

"Motus," she said weakly when his hands loosened enough to get a breath of air in.

Kai flew backwards and went crashing onto the coffee table, shattering under his weight. Groaning and coughing he tried to roll himself off the table and landed with a hard thud next to it, turning to look at her as she felt her feet involuntarily walking backwards into the next room away from him. His eyes wandered from her to the wall she was just up against and pushed against the floorboards trying to stand.

"Wait-"

Bonnie was out of the room and down the hallway before he finished his thought.