A/N- Because there can never be enough Kelena in the world! I'm really enjoying writing these fluffy fics, so you might be seeing more of them in the near future. I hope you like this one, leave a review if you can letting me know what you think.
Thanks to Ivonna and Bella for encouraging me and feeding my Kelena obsession.
"You're joking right?" Katherine asked incredulously, taking one cautious step towards the vampire in front of her.
"I never joke about baking, Katherine," Elena deadpanned, the sunlight shining bright on her face through the kitchen window. She was holding an apron in her right hand, and Katherine could see it plain as day. And it was… unique to say the least.
"But why is it… pink?" Katherine questioned, more than a hint of disdain in her voice. Technically it was pink and yellow. One or the other would have been bad enough, but both?
Elena tossed the cheery apron to Katherine, crossing her arms in front of her. "I thought it would look cute on you," she answered with a shrug of her shoulders.
Katherine narrowed her eyes at her doppelganger. "I don't need an apron to be cute," she quipped.
Elena shook her head slightly and said, "That's the only one I have." She walked over to the supply box in the far corner of the kitchen and rummaged through its contents before finally finding what she was searching for. "…unless you want mine," she said, unfolding and then holding up her own apron for Katherine to see.
Elena's apron was black and white which seemed perfectly harmless, but upon further inspection Katherine realized what the print was: tiny white kittens that were curled up into themselves, sleeping. Katherine couldn't help but laugh when her brain recognized the pattern, and she just shook her head. Leave it to Elena to get an apron covered in kittens.
"So what are we making?" Katherine asked, as she pulled her apron over her head, tying it carefully behind her back. She marched towards the kitchen island, almost afraid to hear what Elena's answer would be.
Elena grabbed a stick of butter that she had taken out of the fridge to soften, and started to unwrap it. "I thought we'd try red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting," Elena said with a childlike smile on her face, dropping the butter into the bowl in front of her. "They're my favorite, ever since I was a kid."
Grrglrrrrrrrrggg
Elena put her hands up to cover her mouth. "Was that… your stomach?" she asked, already knowing the answer. Katherine was horrified, her hands instinctively moving to her abdomen in attempt to quiet it down. Elena tried to suppress a giggle, but failed miserably. Katherine's jaw stiffened as she glared at Elena.
"Okay, let's get started," Elena laughed, rubbing her hands together. "It says we need to mix the cocoa powder, flour, baking soda and salt together. Why don't you do that and I will beat the butter and the sugar."
"Whatever you say, Elena."
Elena measured out the sugar and added it to the mixing bowl with the butter. She quickly got to work combining and then beating the two ingredients together. Katherine found the flour, the baking soda and the salt easily enough but the cocoa powder was nowhere in sight.
"Elena where is the…?" Katherine started to ask.
"In the cabinet behind me to the left," Elena interrupted, not even bothering to glance up from the mixing bowl. Katherine made her way around to the other side of the island, being sure to ghost her fingers against Elena's back as she passed by her. She knew the effect that she had on the young vampire, and she hadn't been able to test out her charms on Elena as a human yet. Based on Elena's reaction, she hadn't lost her touch, not completely anyway.
Elena wasn't surprised that Katherine was starting to be up to her old tricks again, but she hadn't counted on the way they would affect her. Even though Katherine no longer had supernatural strength and power, she still knew just how to tease Elena, and it made her feel on edge.
After a few minutes, Elena turned off the beater and set it down on the counter. Katherine had finished with her job and poured the contents of her bowl into Elena's. After adding a few other ingredients, Elena turned the beaters on. Katherine was watching Elena intently, enjoying how focused she was on the task before her.
After the ingredients were done being mixed, Elena put the drops of food coloring in. The batter turned blood red and Katherine felt herself tense.
"Is it supposed to look like that?" she asked, not quite sure if maybe they had messed up somehow.
"This was my mom's recipe," Elena said quietly, almost to herself. Katherine wasn't sure if that was supposed to be the answer but she decided against saying something else until Elena spoke again.
"My mom always said if it's too thick you can add some more milk, but it looks fine to me."
Katherine shifted her weight slightly. She felt a little awkward, which was a new feeling for her these days. She didn't mean to bring Elena's parents up, not today anyway. She knew it was still a pretty touchy subject, even after all this time.
"I think we are ready for the next part," Elena announced after a couple seconds, breaking the silence. She carried the bowl over to the cupcake pans, which she had Katherine line with white cupcake liners. Katherine took her place next to Elena, picked up the bowl and started spooning its contents into each individual liner.
After the tenth liner was filled, Katherine's arms began aching painfully. Elena could see Katherine grimace and her arms start to shake as she moved to fill in the eleventh spot. "That gets better in time," Elena assured her. She moved to alleviate Katherine's tired arms but Katherine shook her off, gently. "I can do it," she stated simply, her eyes darting to Elena's briefly, and then back to the task at hand. She took a few deep breaths, steadied her hands and continued working until she had filled the very last liner.
Katherine handed the bowl off to Elena, and wiped her brow with the back of her hand. "How long are these supposed to be in for?" she asked over her shoulder as she carried the pans over to the oven on the other side of the kitchen.
"I believe it's… twenty minutes" Elena answered, double checking with the recipe, as if she hadn't memorized it at the age of ten.
Katherine set the timer for twenty minutes and reached behind her back to untie her apron.
"Wait!" Elena shouted. "We have the make the frosting now."
"Do we? Do we really?" Katherine asked, her hands on her hips, tired from the work they'd already done.
Elena gave her a warm smile. "You don't have to do anything, you can just watch," she offered, starting to reach for the powdered sugar. Katherine swatted her hand away, and Elena looked up at her, obviously amused.
"I believe that's my job you're trying to do, Elena," Katherine said snatching the bag of sugar from Elena's reach. Elena held her hands up as if she was surrendering. "Okay, okay. You do your job then," she responded, enjoying the feistiness that was coming out of Katherine in full force.
After Katherine had successfully retrieved the cream cheese, the vanilla, the milk and the butter, she shot Elena a look that so clearly said she was proud of herself. Then Elena beat the butter and the cream cheese until it was smooth. As she worked, Katherine could hear that Elena was singing something, but she couldn't tell what. She cursed her human hearing and waited until Elena turned the beater off to add the last of the ingredients.
"Drop everything now meet me in the pouring rain
Kiss me on the sidewalk and take away the pain
Cuz I see sparks fly whenever you smile"
Katherine had heard this song before. She had heard it a lot, when she used to watch Elena do her homework in her room, or have a dance party with herself. She hadn't heard her sing it in a long while and it was nice that she was in the mood for this particular song. She knew that for what seemed like an eternity, Elena had not been happy. And she also knew that Elena only sung Taylor Swift when she was happy, or at least content with life.
How does she do it? Katherine wondered absent mindedly. How does she keep herself together after all that's happened and still have a smile on her face? How can she stand to be in the same room as Katherine, after everything the now-human had done to her as a vampire? Forgiveness. It was one of those qualities Elena possessed that had always intrigued Katherine. It was one of Elena's signature traits, and Katherine wondered how she had come to know Elena's forgiveness. But it didn't matter. Katherine was here with Elena in that moment and nothing else mattered.
Katherine broke herself out of her daze when Elena turned the mixer off. She felt herself take a few steps forward, positioning herself next to Elena. Katherine watched her hand move seemingly of its own accord up to Elena's face, using her thumb to attempt to wipe away some frosting that had collected on her cheek.
"You have some frosting..." Katherine trailed off as she found herself staring into Elena's eyes.
Elena looked down and hesitated for the briefest of moments. She dipped her finger into the bowl, lifted it up to her mouth and placed some frosting onto her lower lip, her eyes finding Katherine's once more, challenging her.
Without a moment's hesitation, Katherine's right hand still caressing Elena's face, she reached for Elena's hip, and pulled her doppelganger closer. Her tongue darted out to Elena's lips, slowly and teasingly licking the frosting off them. Katherine took her time, knowing perfectly well what her motions must be doing to Elena as she worked. Finally, she pulled back a little and swallowed, locking her eyes on Elena. Not wanting to waste another second, Elena put her hands on the back of Katherine's neck and closed the distance between them. She pressed her lips against Katherine's, careful to remember to be at least somewhat gentle, though she couldn't promise anything.
The kiss was slow and sweet, Elena still tasting of sugar, mixed with the scent of her coconut shampoo. Elena was warm and soft beneath Katherine's hands and she wondered why it had taken so long for this to happen. She didn't know how they had gotten here, to this moment in time but as Elena nibbled on her lower lip, Katherine decided it wasn't something she should be focusing on right now. Elena drew her doppelganger's lip into her mouth, enjoying the way Katherine's pulse was beating faster and faster.
Beep Beep - Beep Beep.
Katherine broke the kiss, pulling away and trying to catch her breath. But Elena pulled her back towards her and continued, not wanting to be interrupted. After a few seconds, Katherine pulled away once more and managed to say, "Elena…the cupcakes…"
The vampire brought her lips to Katherine's and kissed her again, once. Then twice.
"Let them burn."