SPOILERS for "The Cell" if you haven't seen it.

Some of you have requested more Stefan/Katherine stories. I don't have much time to write lately which makes me sad but here's a small one-shot. It's a fluffy piece, something that would probably not happen in the show but that I'd like to see. So I wrote it.

Reviews are always great ;)

"How… How did you know?"

Katherine looked up at him, puzzled.

"How did you know what was wrong with me?" he clarified.

"Five hundred years teach you a lot of things, Stefan. Especially to understand how the mind works."

"You said I still loved Elena."

"So? Don't you?"

"Well, yes I… I think I'll always love her. But… I just—I'm not sure of these feelings anymore."

"What do you mean?"

"What if it's not natural? What if it's all part of that curse?"

He disentangled himself from Katherine and got off the bed to put his pair of jeans back on. Katherine watched him unashamedly with a smirk, then she remembered that he had actually asked her a question and was probably expecting an answer. She sighed.

"You know Stefan, that is a possibility. And even though it kills me to say this, maybe your feelings for her are also just natural. I mean, you were first drawn to her because she looked like me, so I should be the one you'd be cursed to fall in love with, yet you are not."

Stefan heard something in Katherine's tone that made him turn to face her. She seemed defeated, somehow, even after what had just happened between them. He walked back to the bed and sat on its edge.

"You don't believe it anymore. That I fell for Elena because she reminded me of you. Because she looked like you."

"I don't need to. I know that you loved me back in 1864. But it didn't last. Your love for her… it's just stronger, I guess."

"Yet she's in love with Damon. So were you."

"I was never in love with your brother."

She sat beside him, unconcerned with the fact that she was only in her underwear. Stefan looked at her and she could see the confusion in his eyes.

"I'm not used to caring for people. I try to avoid it like the plague. And sometimes, the line between caring for someone and being in love with them blurs. I loved Damon, yes, in the sense that I cared about him. But I was in love with you. Not Damon, not Elijah, but you, Stefan. And maybe this love was fated and not natural, but it's the most natural thing I've ever felt."

The vampire felt something stir deep within him and warmth enveloped him. Slowly, he raised a hand and let it rest gently on Katherine's cheek. She watched him silently.

"I don't care if it was forced or not. You were the first woman I ever loved, Katherine. Why I spent so much time denying it, I don't know. I should feel guilty about what just happened between us, but I don't. When I'm with you… I feel different. More like who I really am, more like who I want to be. I used to feel that with Elena but I realize now that I haven't felt this way in a long time. Ever since I left with Klaus, actually."

Katherine could feel her insides tremble with emotion. She was sure that if she was still a vampire she would have fainted, so strong was her connection to Stefan in that exact moment. She brought her own hand on top of Stefan's.

"I don't have much time left. But I'd like to spend it with you, Stefan. Please."

The reminder that she was dying felt like a slap in the face for Stefan. He got up suddenly and turned his back on her. Two seconds later, her hands were on his shoulders, rubbing soothing circles to calm him down.

"Look at me," she asked. "Stefan, I'm here now."

He faced her once more but his eyes were red and surrounded by small veins.

"Stefan."

"I won't let you die. You helped me. I'm going to help you."

His hands grabbed her forearms forcefully and Katherine almost winced in pain.

"You are not dying on me, Katherine Pierce, do you hear me?"

She wanted to say that it was not like she had a choice, but it was obviously not the right moment to be a smartass.

"Then save me," she whispered. "Save me, and if you can, love me. That's all I want."

The veins disappeared and Stefan pulled Katherine into a hug that surprised them both. Here they were, in his bedroom, wearing almost nothing and they were clinging to each other as if it were their last embrace. Maybe it would be.

"We'll find a way. Together, we'll find a way."

This episode was hooot for Stefan and Katherine! I would be even more ecstatic if I wasn't so sure that Katherine is going to die very soon (my guess is 5x11 "500 years of solitude" which is coincidentally the 100th episode of the series...)

Tell me what you think!

OTH-FOQ