Caroline's eyes snap open, as she rises up from the bed with a gasp, looking around wildly and recoiling at the sight of Elena perched on a chair next to her. Her eyes narrow. Not Elena. Even though she looks just like her, the vibe is all wrong, an odd smugness floating through the air. What did she say her name was?
"Katherine," comes out of her mouth as soon as the thought is finished.
"Hello Caroline," she replies with a grin. "Sleep well?"
Caroline only blinks at her, head still foggy, it feeling like she's been asleep for days. Katherine tilts her head, expecting an answer, that grin still prevalent on her mouth. Something flashes in her mind, the words game on, and a pillow smothering her face.
"Did you," Caroline starts, eyes flashing red as she recalls muffled screams against the linen. "Did you kill me?"
The grin stretches to a smile.
"Well, aren't you an intuitive one."
Caroline shies away as Katherine leans forward.
"How am I-"
"Alive?" Katherine finishes. "Vampire blood in your system. It's why you healed so miraculously."
Caroline laughs brokenly.
"Very funny."
Katherine's smile never fades.
"You are joking, right?"
Suddenly Caroline's attention shifts elsewhere, her stomach rumbling in a way she's never felt before, a sweet succulent scent carrying through the air and enticing senses set on fire. Her hands claw at the bed sheets, this unforeseen hunger demanding to be fulfilled, teeth aching with a shift that makes her toes curl.
Katherine's delight at this shines in her eyes, placing a hand atop one of Caroline's, the other dropping a plastic bag into the blonde's lap.
"What is that?" she asks.
"Something that will make the pain go away," Katherine answers.
Caroline picks it up cautiously.
"Oh my god, is this blood?"
"Drink it."
"Are you crazy?"
Katherine's hand squeezes Caroline's hard enough to make her wince.
"Doesn't it smell delicious?" she taunts.
The rumble in her stomach turns to a roar.
"Yes," comes out a whisper.
"Drink it," Katherine repeats. "I promise you will feel much, much better."
Caroline pulls her hand away, picking the blood bag up with both, twisting it so that the little tube at the end can be used as a straw. Something, she manages to note, that stirs up amusement on Katherine's face.
One sip, one little taste, and Caroline ignores the straw ripping into the bag with teeth that feel much sharper than normal. She doesn't know what's happening. Why blood feels like heaven on her tongue. Why this mirror image of one of her best friends, watches the disgusting act like a proud mother. Why the thirst seems to double despite this desperate attempt to quench it.
Blood spills from the edges of her mouth, down her chin, as she drains every last drop.
"More," she cries with a gasp, the empty bag dropping into her lap.
Katherine's grin comes back like a Cheshire cat, playful and mischievous, as she leans closer to place a chaste kiss atop Caroline's hair.
"We're going to have so much fun together."
/\
There's a dead carnival hand laying on the back of a flatbed truck, and she's in a dingy bathroom getting her face cleaned off by Stefan, who is talking calmly and rationally even though she can see in the reflection of his eyes he's anything but.
Katherine warned about the hunger taking over, that she wouldn't be able to control it at first. A warning Caroline's type A personality readily ignored, knowing without a doubt she could handle this, even if her emotions betrayed such a guarantee.
"I'm sorry," Stefan is saying softly, rinsing one paper towel after another, until her face is only slightly stained by red. "I'm so sorry. I never meant for you to get dragged into... I never should have stayed here."
"If you never stayed," Caroline replies, eyes catching his in the mirror. "I'd be just as dead in that hospital bed. You wouldn't have been here to heal me with your blood."
His brow creases together.
"How did you-"
"Katherine filled me in. Though I might have figured it out. Or I hope you would have told me when I woke up."
Stefan nods silently. "I would have."
"If you never stayed," Caroline repeats. "We never would have fell in love."
Stefan looks torn at the statement, guilt that by simply being in her life he had a hand in ending it, more guilt that he might not even be sorry because she's made him happier than he's ever been.
"Is that why she did this to you?" He asks. "Because you love me?"
"Maybe," Caroline concedes, thinking of how strange Katherine acted in the hospital. Still the psychotic, manipulative bitch, but somehow a doting mother? Kind of? "Maybe not. I think... I think she's lonely. I think she's so lonely she can't stand it."
Stefan's arms wrap around her.
"I know the feeling."
A smile pulls at Caroline's mouth despite the circumstances, wanting to kiss him then but doesn't let herself.
"I'm a murderer," she says calmly. "A monster."
Stefan opens his mouth to deny, but she cuts him off.
"I killed that guy. I wanted to. And worse? I enjoyed it."
"Caroline-"
"I don't want that though," comes out quietly. "I want to be good. Can I just be good?"
"You can," he assures. "I'll teach you."
For a moment they remain there in silent comfort.
"Katherine might have other plans," Caroline says once the moment is over.
"How so?"
"She told me we were going to have so much fun together. What do you think she meant by that?"
Stefan looks pensive.
"I have no idea," he answers. "But knowing Katherine it can't be good."
Caroline twists in his hold, so that they finally face each other, pressing one soft kiss against his lips before letting her head fall to his shoulder.
"I knew dating you would have its risks," she says against him. "I don't regret it. Not a single second."
Stefan squeezes tighter.
"I love you."
"I love you, too."
/\
"Do you hate me?"
The question catches Caroline off guard. For one, she's just barely opened her eyes, Katherine once again appearing from the ether at her beside. She groans, rolling onto her side, the sight of her visitor perched at the window slowly coming into focus.
It's too early to be pondering such a loaded inquiry, even if she has all the reason in the world to loathe the crazy, selfish bitch. For killing her. Turning her into a monster. An insecure, neurotic control freak on crack whose boyfriend tried to get her to eat bunnies. A girl who hasn't been in the sun for nearly a week and is kind of getting cabin fever. Still. There's a confidence growing inside of her. She feels it with every day conquered. With every drop of blood that slides down her throat, not taken from some innocent bystander.
"No," she offers. "I don't hate you."
Katherine laughs softly, hands idly playing with the recently purchased black curtains before flicking them away, leaving a sunbeam to slash dangerously across the room and rising from her seat toward the bed.
"Good," she replies, knees leaning into the edge of the mattress. "Part of me couldn't stand it if you did."
Caroline's face pinches with confusion.
"Why?"
Katherine reaches out a hand, picking at a random golden lock, smoothing out the curl between two fingers.
"There's something about you I can't quite get a hold on," she responds enigmatically. "A kind of poetry."
An odd blush creeps into Caroline's cheeks, tucking her knees to her chest, as she turns her head so Katherine won't see.
"Does Stefan hate me?" Katherine asks after a moment.
Caroline ponders this.
"I'm guessing yes," she replies. "You did kind of murder the girl he loves."
Katherine tilts her head.
"But I made you stronger. Better."
"Still killed me, though I feel weirdly better off. Plus there's all that baggage between you two before I ever came into the picture. I mean, Elena was all over him when he came to town, and he wouldn't even look at her."
Caroline offers a hand up to Katherine's face.
"For obvious reasons."
Katherine laughs.
"Does it bother you? That we look alike?"
"A little," she admits. "I mean, it is weird to have a twin without actually being one, isn't it? How does that even work?"
"It's a long boring story," Katherine sighs, reaching into her pocket. "I have something for you."
Caroline's head perks up immediately. Being a vampire enhances the person you are, and she is a girl who loves getting presents. Katherine reaches for one of her hands, turns the palm upward, and places a simple silver ring inside of it.
"Are you proposing?" she can't help but joke.
Katherine smirks, takes the ring back, and places it on Caroline's finger for her. Her breath catches when Katherine doesn't let go, grabbing hold of her wrist and pulling it precariously toward the sun.
"No," Caroline pleads, but the light already catches her skin, as she winces with the burn expected to come.
"Don't be frightened," Katherine coos, thumb rubbing the top of Caroline's hand. "I'm not going to hurt you again."
/\
"This is what she does," Stefan warns. "Gets close, makes you feel like, like-"
"You matter?" Caroline fills in.
"That," he agrees. "Exactly that. But it's not real. She doesn't care about anything, or anyone, but herself."
They're standing in front of the fireplace, fickle flames flickering across their faces with a golden glow, the setting so very dramatic. Stefan stands with his arms crossed, features pinched in a smoldering scowl, but the eyes are soft and pleading.
"Really did a number on you, didn't she?"
He looks down at the fire.
"She lied to me," he says evenly. "Everything she ever said. Lies. Claiming to love me, that I was the only one in five hundred years who mattered, but the whole time we were together kept my brother on the side. When we were alone, it was nothing but milk and honey, but anytime prying eyes looked our way, I was expendable. My life, yours too, gone on her whim."
Caroline blinks for a moment, taking it in, this the first time he's ever opened up about Katherine. It's not the whole story, that much is clear, but she's not so cruel as to want to pry more out of him. Still, she can see the ghost of their relationship continues to haunt him. A hundred and fifty years passed, pushing onward to a hundred and fifty more, and he'll never truly be over her. She tiptoes toward him, both metaphoric and literal, placing one hand on his chest and the other upon his cheek.
"It's a good speech," she compliments. "Except, you forgot one thing."
"What?"
"That I know you," she continues. "I know your heart. You don't hate Katherine because she broke it. No, you say hate because no matter what she did, part of it will always belong to her. You hate that she has that power over you. You hate yourself for letting her."
He's taken aback at the statement, wanting to deny so quick and clean, both of his hands closing around her wrists.
"Caroline I-"
"Love you?" She finishes. "I know that. I don't doubt it either."
She chuckles softly to herself.
"Isn't that the funniest thing? I'm not girly little Caroline anymore. I'm done being insecure about the boy I love. Even when his number one ex comes stalking around."
"Caroline," he tries again, but she cuts him off with a kiss, soft and sweet.
"I love you," she says earnestly. "Maybe even more than I ever could as a human. I think... I think I can see forever, with you, and the thought isn't as terrifying as it should be."
His arms wrap around her, her head shifting to rest in the crook of his neck.
"She wants to see you."
His body goes rigid.
"Why?"
"Duh," Caroline chides. "She misses you."
"Why would you," he starts, but stops. "How are you okay with this?"
"Because," she answers after a moment. "Part of me belongs to her too."
She feels his nod of understanding.
"So, you'll do it?"
He sighs long and deep.
"Because you asked me to," he replies. "Not because it's what she wants."
She kisses him again, and keeps kissing him, until it feels as if the weight of the conversation lifts from their shoulders.
If only for a little while.
/\
"Stefan," drops from her mouth, throaty and breathless.
His name a prayer for forgiveness, her eyes seeking atonement for all her sins. For her failures as a star crossed lover, who cut and run the moment things did not go her way. Stefan is a statue before her, offering none of the things she seeks, here only on the request of the one he loves now.
Katherine dares a step closer and he doesn't move, so she dares another off his indifference. Caroline stands off to the side, angled away from where she'd given his back a little push, eyes focused on their exchange.
He stares daggers at his former paramour, though Caroline wonders if it's just for show, an act put on for her benefit. Katherine inches ever closer to him, testing, curious as to how far he'll let her go. One hand braves to tease the line of his hard set jaw, he doesn't recoil, but his head turns back to Caroline. She offers the faintest of smiles. It's okay not to be strong, she doesn't say.
Katherine leans into him then, cheek pressing against his shoulder, arms sliding between his and around his back. His eyes go wide, but Caroline senses it's not from fear. Nostalgia, so deft and dangerous in Katherine's touch, chipping away at his facade with each lingering second of contact.
"I missed you," she whispers, though all can hear.
It's the arrow that finally pierces the armor, as his head dips into the crook of Katherine's neck, finally hugging back as if he just melts into her.
"I hate you," he whispers, though all can hear.
A false statement realized by all parties involved, but he has to say it. She needs to know what a hundred and fifty years of hurt and confusion becomes. That forgiveness will not be offered so easily.
"I know," she replies.
Caroline doesn't interject, letting them have their moment as long as it carries.
Stefan lifts his head when it passes, pulling back from Katherine, and pushing her away.
"Why are you here?" he asks.
Katherine is disappointed, but covers up quickly, Caroline notices.
"Three reasons," is her answer. "You. You. And you.
Stefan doesn't believe it. Not for a second.
"You turned my girlfriend into a vampire," he rebukes. "Was that for me?"
Katherine looks to Caroline then, that Cheshire grin of hers coming out.
"No," she admits. "That was for me."
Stefan looks back to her, confused.
"It's easy to see why you fell for her," Katherine continues. "All rainbows and unicorns. Such the antithesis to your morose, woe is me, lifestyle."
She wanders toward Caroline, circling like a lioness, one hand reaching out to flick a curled lock.
"Coupled with all those dreaded insecurities, parental issues, and the like. Just enough darkness to keep her interesting. Really, the kind of girl they write sonnets about."
She bops Caroline on the nose.
"Shall I compare thee to a summers day?"
Caroline laughs, which only makes Stefan's confusion run deeper.
"She's a keeper, Stefan." Katherine goes on. "Maybe I just wanted to keep her."
"I don't understand."
"She's perfect for you," Katherine admits. "Maybe, just a little, she's perfect for me too."
Katherine lifts Caroline's chin, so that their eyes meet.
"Aren't you, baby doll?"
Caroline looks to Stefan, before nodding silently.
Katherine smiles, placing both hands upon Caroline's cheeks, and presses a kiss onto her forehead.
Stefan watches on stunned into silence, as Caroline disengages herself and moves toward him, pulling him into an embrace.
"So," Stefan wonders aloud. "What happens now?"
Caroline doesn't have to see Katherine, to know there's a telling smirk on her face, because she has one to mirror it.