Notes: Just a drabble, intended to follow 2.09 'Katerina'.

Fractal Logic

...

"She blames herself for all of this," he overheard Stefan telling Rose that night.

"As if she asked to be born a doppelganger," Rose replied. "No one would wish that on themselves."

And he tried telling himself numerous times to let it go, really he did.

But the whole not-caring thing was going about as well as expected. As in, not at all. Which is how he found himself lurking in Elena's bedroom for the second time in a week.

She wasn't there to see - the bathroom door was closed and he heard the shower shutting off just as he came in through the window. Weird how similar the setting was to the other night, when in reality everything about it was different. This time he wasn't here for himself.

A few minutes later the door cracked open, steam from the warm bathroom escaping. She hesitated there on the other side of the door, almost like she knew he was there, before opening it fully and stepping out.

She was wearing a towel and her eyes landed on him lounging against the wall by the window seat with only a small amount of surprise. Her arms wrapped around herself, clutching the towel closer to her chest.

"What are you doing here?"

"You know, friendly neighbourhood watch or whatever, checking to make sure all is well, everything secure..."

"Right, and you have to do it while I'm in a towel." She moved to grab the pyjamas she'd left at the foot of her bed.

He pushed away from the wall, coming closer. "Doesn't really bother me what you wear. If you think about it, I've already seen you naked plenty of times."

He threw it out there so casually she almost couldn't believe she'd heard it. "What?"

"I mean, not you you. But I've seen Katherine naked. Sure it was a while ago, but I've got a very good memory."

"Good for you. I'm... going to get dressed." She retreated back towards the bathroom. She felt unsettled, in a way that had little to do with being practically naked while he chatted about seeing her actually naked.

It didn't make sense. She almost felt like she'd been here before, with him, like this, but the reason why escaped her.

She was turning at the doorway when he spoke again behind her. "You have a tiny mole high up on the inside of your left thigh, don't you?" She caught his trademark smirk from the corner of her eye. "Katherine does."

Her jaw set tightly. She didn't want to know where he was going with this. And she definitely didn't want to think about him having such intimate knowledge of her body without her having any say in the matter. Not least of all because it just really didn't seem fair.

"I guess you'll just have to wonder about that," she said finally.

"No, I don't, that's the point." He wandered closer, passing the foot of her bed. "See, I've known identical twins, some of them very well. But with twins, the closer you get, the more obvious those tiny, subtle differences are that make them unique. With you and Katherine, it's a whole new level of crazy clone hijinks going on. Kind of creepy, actually, I bet you even have the same fingerprints."

"Is there a point?" She still didn't want to know. But if he got around to it, finally, then maybe he would leave, and she could get dressed already.

He stopped barely a yard away from where she was hanging uncertainly halfway in and out of the bathroom. "Apart from the whole 'nature versus nurture' theory getting a giant kick in the balls due to your very existence?" he said. "Simply this. You are just like Katherine, Elena, in many ways, but especially because you will both fight like hell to protect what you love. It's just that with Katherine, all that she loves is herself. See how that works? For the sake of everyone you care about, given that they love you just as much in return - you shouldn't ever be sorry for being you."

Her jaw trembled slightly, and she swallowed down the sudden emotion welling up in her eyes.

He knew how she was feeling tonight. Maybe he'd seen her with Stefan on the porch earlier - she didn't care. He was trying to reach her, to make her feel better. And in a way that was completely different to how it felt being wrapped in Stefan's comforting arms - it worked.

As he lifted his hand he added in nothing more than a murmur, "There is no substitute for greatness."

And she closed her eyes at the achingly brief touch of his hand on her face, because it felt so familiar when she knew he'd never touched her like that before.

Just as she was sure that when she opened her eyes, he'd be gone.

So she kept them shut a little longer.