Kai wouldn't shut up.

Jenny was sure that Damon was going to murder him if he continued while she sat there patiently watching the whole thing. But the vampire had to show restraint or else they wouldn't be going home.

"Oh my god, just answer the damn question. How are we going to get out of this Twilight Zone?" Damon interrupted the long rambling.

"I got a question for you, first. Why do you think we're stuck on a repeating loop of May 10, 1994?" Kai asked. "Doomed to relive a solar eclipse forever and ever, and ever."

"How the hell should I know?" Damon sipped his bourbon.

"Well, I heard you tell Bonnie this place was your own personal hell. I'm kinda curious why," Kai said. "I mean, I know Jenny knows because she's like the yin to your yang and you might be in love with her..."

Her eyes widened in surprise because she was under the impression that Damon was over her. If anything, she thought Damon felt something for Bonnie with the way they argued. She looked over at Damon but he avoided her gaze.

"Oooh, sore subject," Kai smirked. "Sorry."

Bonnie finally walked into the tension-filled room, "I found everything you asked for: can-opener, shower drain, grinding wheel, jam, pocket knife, volume 'O' of the encyclopedia, a nail and a black marker."

Bonnie walked over to the table in front of where she and Damon sat and dumped out the bag full of items.

"Now what?" Bonnie asked.

"Yeah. How is this pile of crap going to get us out of here?" Damon added on.

"I'll explain... as soon as you tell me what you did on May 10, 1994," Kai said before his eyes widened. "Oh, and I want a hug from Jenny."

"What? No," Damon shook his head. "Not happening."

"Why do you want a hug?" Jenny asked, confused.

"I imagine your hugs make people feel all warm and fuzzy inside," Kai explained. "I've never felt that before. So I'm curious."

Jenny rolled her eyes but stood up from the couch, "Fine."

"Jen, what are you doing? No," Damon said.

"It's a hug, Damon. Relax," Jenny advised. "I can't be the reason you don't make it home."

Damon furrowed his eyebrows. She spoke as if she didn't expect to make it home. Bonnie thought it was curious as well.

Kai had stood up and had a wide smile on his face as she approached him before she wrapped her arms around him, hugging him.
Her hold was soft and gentle, an embrace he could melt into as he rested his chin on her shoulder. Damon was glaring the whole time and Kai winked just to frustrate him further.

Jenny let him go and stepped away while Kai marveled, "Wow. That really does work."

"I feel all warm inside," Kai rubbed his chest. "It's weird."

Damon rolled his eyes, "So are you going to tell us how to get out of here?"

"Hell story first," Kai responded.

Damon groaned while Bonnie spoke, "Just tell him your story."

"Whose side are you on?" Damon questioned.

"The side where we go home to the people we love," Bonnie answered.

Jenny thought it might be easier if she told the story so she blurted it out. "He killed a group of people including a pregnant lady," she sighed. "There, now you know."

"You don't even sound bothered, Jenny," Kai pointed out (compared to Bonnie who was shell-shocked). "That's what I like about you. You're so understanding."

"It's great," Kai smiled.

______

"Okay. To get home, we'll harness the power of the eclipse using a mystical relic. It's called an Ascendant, and it looks like this..." Kai held up a model of the ascendant he built out of the items Bonnie had retrieved. "The last time we had it was in the Pacific Northwest—Oregon."

Kai opened the encyclopedia to a map and set it on the table.

"We?" Bonnie asked.

"It belonged to my family. So," Kai picked up the pocket knife and slit the tip of his finger. "...here's a little blood to get you started. Now all we need is a locator spell to pinpoint its whereabouts."

"Think you can find our ticket out of here, Bon-Bon?" Damon gazed at Bonnie and spoke her nickname fondly.

Bonnie smiled, "Hell yeah."

_____

   Bonnie is doing the locator spell for the Ascendant inside the boarding house, while Damon makes paper airplanes out of the newspaper and throws them in the front yard. Jenny joined him.

          "So...you ready to go home?" she asked nervously.

             Damon sighed and cast his bright, blue eyes onto her, "Don't do that."

              "What?" she questioned before she realized his eyes were stormy and angry.

             "Stop acting like you aren't going home," he turned his body to face her.

             "I know you're hopeless right now which is completely unlike you and it's not in me to keep hope alive or whatever..." Damon argued. "But there isn't a universe where I leave you behind, okay?"

              "Okay," she gave him a reassuring smile but she was a still a ghost and she knew she wasn't meant to be in the living world. If it came down to it, she wouldn't let him give up going home for her.

               _____

            After Bonnie did the location spell, they found out that Kai had the Ascendant all along. They were now outside where Kai was looking at the sky through a small hole in the device.

       "You're wandering around like a crazy man, why?" Damon said.

       "Looking for the exact right spot. We need to find where the power of the eclipse is focused," Kai answered. "Hey, Jenny, can you come here and hold this?"

           Jenny sort of floated over to him and took the Ascendant from him. "What am I doing?"

            "Yeah, just hold it up," he said.

              Jenny held up the Ascendant towards the sky like he'd been doing.

               "You know, I imagine in the real world, your eyes are a light brown that kind of sparkle in the sunlight," Kai smiled cutely. "And they're really beautiful."

            "Hey, stop flirting with Jen," Damon stepped between them and grabbed the Ascendant before shoving it towards Kai. "And let's get this nature walk over with."

             "Jeez, fine," he said and started walking. Jenny began to follow after giving Damon a careful look.

              Damon stayed for a moment, watching after Jenny, before Bonnie stopped next to him, teasing, "Aren't you Mr. Brightside?"

               "What?" Damon furrowed his eyebrows.

              Bonnie sighed, "You still love her, don't you?"

             Damon shrugged and his eyes pierced hers, "Why do you want to know?"

               "I - I don't," her cheeks burned before she crossed her arms. "I just thought maybe you wanted to talk about it."

              "But you clearly don't...about anything," she said before walking away while Damon smirked before following after her.

              The truth was, Damon wasn't in love with Jenny. But he was always going to love her.

            _____

       When they got back from their nature hike, Bonnie noticed one of the paper planes Damon made from newspaper earlier laying on the ground. She picked it up and unfolded it so she can read the article on the page.

      Bonnie whispered, "Oregon."

"What?" Damon questioned and Jenny gave the girl a curious look.

Bonnie read the paper aloud, "Family massacred in Portland. The only one missing was the oldest boy, a 22-year-old named Malachai."

"Who names a kid Malachai? It's like they expected me to be evil."

"All these kids were murdered!" Bonnie exclaimed which made Jenny's eyes widen.

"Hello! Not everyone died," Kai responded. "I had a soft spot for one of my sisters. 'Cause otherwise, I would've cut her lungs out, and not just her spleen."

"What?" Jenny said in disbelief.

"You can survive without a spleen," he explained like he was taking to a child.

"Something tells me you're not speaking hypothetically," Damon said.

Kai pointed at the photo on the front page, "Look, well, these two, I, uh, hung off a stairwell railing. Then I put a hunting knife in her abdomen, and him, I drowned in the pool. But, he kept fighting me. I was like, 'I saved you for last, you ungrateful little...' Anyway, that was that."

Jenny looked at him fearfully. She wasn't going to be a hypocrite but the way he said it so nonchalantly made her very afraid. She dealt with kids like him before with zero empathy and she knew to be cautious. (Her hands ghosted over her neck without her knowing.)

Kai noticed her fearful look and tried to reassure her, "Hey, no need to be scared. I wouldn't kill you. I like you."

"But you killed your family?" she asked.

"Coven, to be precise," Kai responded. "Oh, you know, family of witches. I'm not like a regular witch, of course. Oh, and the Gemini Coven did not take it too well when they heard what I did in Portland. It's why they banished me here."

"This place is a prison," Bonnie said. "They created it for you."

"Yup. This place isn't your hell, Damon," Kai responded. "It's mine."

______

They were now inside the Salvatore Boarding House where Bonnie and Damon were arguing. Again. She was staying in the living room listening to it all.

"We're not letting Kai out of here, okay? He just said he's a serial killer," Bonnie argued.

"I don't care! I wanna get out of here."

"How can you not care? Maybe because of the horrible things you have done? Maybe 'cause killing a bunch of kids is not a big deal to someone who's murdered a pregnant woman?" Bonnie said and Damon looked hurt. "Am I wrong?"

Damon finally came clean to Bonnie about what he did. He was finishing up his story when Kai interrupted.

"Ouch," Kai said. "Poor nephew-uncle Zach."

"Stefan compelled Uncle Zach to forget about the girlfriend and the baby. But, he couldn't cover up all those murders. Founder's Council was restarted, and Stefan took off. Left Mystic Falls for about fifteen years. We both did. And when I saw Uncle Zach again, I couldn't look at him without remembering that I ruined everything. So it was a nice relief when I got to kill him. Okay, can we go back now?" Damon said.

"Oh, come on, Bonnie," Kai pleaded. "You wanna go home to your friends, I wanna go back and give the rest of the Gemini Coven an excruciating death. Win-win."

"You're not killing anyone, Kai," Jenny spoke in a stern voice as she reentered the kitchen.

"You know, in that tone of voice, I actually want to listen to you," Kai said and Damon rolled his eyes. "It's strange."

"Look, Bonnie, I know this guy's not a model citizen, okay, but I gotta get back. For my brother," Damon said.

"I'm sorry, Damon," Bonnie said guiltily.

"Sorry doesn't work for me," Kai went to grab Bonnie but Damon vamp sped and pushed him against the wall.

"We may be having a bit of an disagreement, but don't ever lay a hand on her."

"Kind of a non-issue now. We missed the day's eclipse. Rain check for tomorrow?" Kai said as he left.

____

It was later in the day. Damon walked into the kitchen and found Bonnie eating dinner at the table. Damon thought Jenny went to her room but she was sitting on the stairs.

"Shame-eating?" Damon asked.

"Thinking about that pregnant lady," Bonnie said. "She had a thing for pancakes."

"That's what you remember?"

"You remember it, don't you? You make pancakes every day."

"'Cause I'm bored."

"No. 'Cause you're punishing yourself. You call this place your hell, and it means you feel remorse. That makes you different from Kai," Bonnie said before she teased playfully. "Maybe there is hope for you."

Jenny was surprised. She had never caught on to that over the two months she'd known the story on why it was his hell. Maybe Bonnie knew Damon better than she did. She genuinely smiled at the thought before a shadow loomed over her and she frowned.

"Don't frown," Kai uttered quietly. "Someone could be falling in love with your smile."

"Look, we can still get outta here, Bonnie. We can steal that 'Descendant' contraption, find out what Kai knows and we'll ditch him, because he doesn't have any powers unless he takes magic."

Kai appeared on the doorway with Jenny in his grasp, his hand glowing red as it was wrapped around her wrist. Damon became defensive and went to use vamp speed but Kai flicked his wrist and sent him flying. Bonnie started to chant but Kai uttered a spell that made her unable to speak. Damon got up but was unable to move.

"My family callled me an abomination and they locked me in here. That hurt my feelings. I will kill them," Kai said. "So, we can work together and all go home as friends. Or I can kill you both, and go home with Jenny. What's it gonna be?"

Kai sat down at the table and made her sit next to him before he started eating the pancakes. Bonnie and Damon shared a look. They were all going home, as friends.

AN: this is probably terrible but I just want to get through it and get to the good stuff.