Katherine had walked around the Salvatore estate but decided now was not the time to be going back into that house. She didn't want to face them all, she felt as though every ounce of pain had been brutally stripped away from her and she couldn't deal with being a fragile, weak and vulnerable human. She felt tears prickling in her eyes. She took in a deep breath. No, she thought. She was stronger than that. She wasn't going to allow herself to cry. She had to be stronger than that. She was Miss Katherine Pierce. Not Elena Gilbert, the doppelganger who cried at every element that went wrong in her life.
She found herself at the edge of the forest. It was dark and she couldn't see much ahead of her. Yet, it looked almost inviting. The dark invitation had drawn her into the forest and she found herself stepping over and snapping various twigs and branches, leaves rustled beneath her and the moon shone down through the gaps in the trees.
She began to think about her life. Where did it all go wrong for her? When did she become the enemy? The one that no one wanted to be around? She couldn't even think of a single person who wanted her alive! Except for Klaus, that is. But Klaus didn't want her to alive for her personality. He wanted her for her blood. He wanted the Petrova line to continue again.
She had always wanted another child. She never got to the stage of actually looking after and raising one. Her father ripped away that opportunity without a second thought and she hated him for that. At the time, anyway. And years after that. Yes, it wasn't tolerated at that time to have a child out of wedlock and yes, she was only a teenager but her daughter was still her own flesh and blood, her father's granddaughter. It wasn't until a few decades after her baby was taken away, just how how much she missed her mother and father. Right now, she would do anything to bring them back. Even if it was just for a few moments. It was one thing being a vampire and not having any family but to not have family when you're human was upsetting. Katherine felt useless in the world. She also felt played and cheated too. Her shadow self had managed to catch up and beat her in the survival game. They had literally swapped places. She hated the word. She hated to think of herself as...mortal. She forced herself to be strong all of those years ago. Five hundred years of putting herself first, keeping herself alive, ended with the cure. And whose fault was it? She heard footsteps behind her and she turned around quickly to see... Elena. She should have guessed it would be her doppelganger, always ruining things.
"What do you want?" Katherine sulked and turned around on the tree stump she was sitting on to face away from her, bringing her knees up to her chest. "There's a reason I came out here, you know. There's this amazing thing called giving people privacy. You should really try it one day."
"You're upset." Elena stated.
Katherine laughed in return. "And what makes you think I'm upset, exactly? And even if I were upset, why should you care? You've never given a damn about me before!" She buried her head into her knees, feeling humanity kick in. She could feel those horrible human tears coming again.
Elena didn't want to admit it but what she was about to say was the truth and she had been denying it for so long. "We're family." Elena let that sink in for a few moments, for both of them. Katherine seemed surprised at what Elena said too. "You asked me earlier if we could be family. The truth is, I was taken back at first. It upset me to think about my family, having lost so many of them." Katherine couldn't help but think the same about her family. Her and Elena were truly the same when it came to certain elements in their lives. She had also lost so many of them. "It didn't seem like you either... But I thought about it... And we are family at the end of the day and I know you don't have anyone else out there."
"So you're okay with it? You don't think it's weird or anything?" She was wiping tears away from her eyes but she was eager and excited. She wanted to feel like she belonged again.
"I'm fine with it on two conditions." Elena said, firmly.
Trust Elena to come up with conditions for welcoming someone into her family. Katherine rolled her eyes. "And would what they be?"
"Well, first of all, you can't go around plotting to kill me. Ever! I know you want to because I forced the cure down you but in return, I won't hurt you either. Family don't do that to each other."
"Fine." Katherine sighed. She felt defeated in that department because she knew she would never be able to have killed her anyway. Elena was a vampire and Katherine was now human. Elena was stronger and quicker than she was. "What's the other condition?"
"You include Jeremy in this. He's family too."
"Jeremy's been dead for a while, Elena."
Elena smiled. She felt really happy in saying this. "No, he isn't. He phoned me earlier. Bonnie managed to bring him back. Permanently."
"Oh." Was all Katherine managed to say. She was responsible for Jeremy's death and if she was going to include Jeremy as family too, things would sure be awkward between them both. "Okay." She managed to say slowly. "Well, that's good. I'm glad he's okay." He had been killed in order for her to get the cure to win her freedom back and in the end, the cure was used on her. How pitiful. "And I'm sorry about Jeremy." Elena couldn't decide whether she wanted to accept her apology or not so she just gave her a small smile instead, acknowledging her apology. "I have a condition too."
"Go on" Elena beckoned.
"Could you help me find Stefan, please?"
A/N: Sorry for the slight delay in updating. Can't promise anything, of course, but I can promise that they'll be up as soon as I can. I'm back with my summer job tomorrow and I have my part time job as well as Textiles work but I'm doing my best! :)
So what do you think? I know Elena is sort of out of character here and Katherine kind of is as well but that's just the way of the story. I wanted them to come to an understanding of some sorts and putting them together as family seemed like an interesting idea for me to write about. Stefan will be back soon (hopefully!) ;) and I hope you're still enjoying my fanfiction. I'm enjoying writing it! :) Please leave reviews, I appreciate every single one of them!
