I realize there's been a mass 'cleansing' on this site lately. Never fear, I have this fic saved to an external site. If it does get deleted off this site, it won't be deleted forever. I'll probably end up posting it on adultfanfiction or livejournal or something.

"Elena, please," Katherine said quietly. Her voice was like steel, but her eyes were tender.

"You lied to me, Katherine," Elena's fingers were going numb from balling her fists so hard at her side.

"Will you listen to my side of the story?" Katherine's voice raised a little. Elena didn't respond and Katherine took her silence as a cue to continue. "I was scared. Okay?" her voice had returned to a normal volume. It had also lost a lot of his harshness.

"Scared?" Elena stared at her twin in disbelief. Since when did Katherine get scared?

"Yeah. I care about you, Elena. I know it's so difficult for you to believe. Especially after all the bull shit the Salvatores have probably spoon fed you." Katherine crossed her arms and leaned against the frame of the kitchen door. She didn't like this distance between her and Elena. She didn't want Elena to push her away just because she made a few mistakes in the past. All she wanted right now was to cross the kitchen and pull Elena into a warm hug and feel the warmth that only a mortal could give off. But right now Elena was glaring at her with her fists clenched at her sides. She looked more likely to punch Katherine than to hug her.

"If you cared about me Katherine you would have let me talk to them. You would have let me know they were okay!" Elena's voice wavered a bit at the last word and she swallowed hard and tried to regain her composure.

"So you could go back to them? So you could forget everything that's happened between us and go right on back to your precious little Stefan and Damon!" Katherine was shouting now. Elena wanted to shrink back into the corner of the kitchen and assume the fetal position. She didn't like the wild fire in Katherine's bark colored eyes. Katherine looked more murderous than angry.

"Katherine-" Elena started.

Katherine held a hand up to silence her, she hoped Elena wouldn't notice that it was shaking. "Stop right there. Don't pretend that for one second you would choose me over them," she snarled.

"Katherine-"

"Hell, you can barely choose between them. How do you think a third choice is going to add to that?" Katherine continued almost completely drowning out Elena's interjection.

"Katherine!" Elena's voice matched Katherine's in volume now. "You're writing yourself off before you truly give yourself a chance! You don't know who I love!"

"Right, and take the risk of getting denied. Of being rejected," Katherine spat, "No thank you."

"So you were just going to eliminate the 'competition'?" Elena knew she shouldn't be surprised. Katherine had the reputation of being selfish and conniving, after all. But she couldn't fight the feeling. Somehow she wished that Katherine had…changed. She wished that Katherine had somehow assumed the gentle, tender persona that she had shown Elena recently.

"Does that surprise you?" Katherine asked darkly. She knew the answer already. Elena's heartbeat was shouting at her from across the kitchen, and it had recently quickened.

"Why didn't you just…compel me to love you? Just like you did to-" Elena seethed.

Katherine's hands were around Elena's throat before she could finish her sentence. She was hoisted from the ground and pinned to the wall. She struggled against Katherine's grip and she could feel the air in her lungs begin to burn. She had struck a nerve.

"You seem to have a very low opinion of me," Katherine's voice was low and dangerous.

"You're a monster," Elena gasped. She didn't know whether it was the lack of oxygen or her anger that had driven her to say it.

Katherine freed her and she tumbled to the floor and lay there in a pathetic heap. She gasped a few times to take in the air she had been deprived of.

"You're right," Katherine whispered harshly, "and how could anyone love a monster."

x~x~x~x~x~x

Elena lay in her bed that night and watched the shadows cast by a tree outside her window swirl on the ceiling. She hadn't spoken to Katherine since their fight and she couldn't help but reflect on it. In some ways, Katherine was right. How was Elena supposed to make a decision? She cared for Stefan and Damon, but now she also felt herself caring for Katherine too. She didn't want any of them to be hurt, and she was especially concerned about Katherine's reaction to being hurt.

Suddenly her cell phone rang from the bedside table. Katherine hadn't bothered taking it from her. Elena rolled over and grabbed it. The caller ID made her veins turn to ice. It was Alaric. She paused for a moment before answering. "Hello?" she said shakily.

"Hello, Elena," Alaric's familiar voice responded.

"What do you want?" Elena asked. She tried to keep her voice down because she didn't want Katherine to suspect anything.

"I want you to come home Elena," Alaric's voice reeked of false emotion, "I really miss you!"

"No thank you," Elena replied emotionlessly. The voice may have sounded like Alaric's but the behavior was totally alien to her. It was eerie.

"Oh, I see. Too busy galavanting with your girlfriend," Alaric clicked his tongue, "I would expect more from you Elena. What would Stefan say?"

"She's not-"

"Oh please. I saw the way she helped you make your escape the other day. The fact that you haven't been home since only solidified it."

"I expected more from you, Ric. You're being childish. If you don't mind I think I have some sleep to catch up on," Elena replied cooly.

"If you hang up on me, I'll just snap Jeremy's neck right now," Ric responded instantly.

Elena froze, "You're bluffing."

"Am I?" Alaric replied. He was silent for a moment but Elena could make out a quiet noise in the background. The noise became louder and louder until Elena could recognize it. It was someone breathing. Jeremy. Her blood went cold.

"Jeremy! Jeremy! Wake up! Please!" Elena forgot all about her goal of not waking Katherine. She was shouting desperately into the receiver.

"Quiet down. You'll wake the dead," Alaric hissed.

"What have you done to him?" Elena could feel tears stinging at her eyes. She swallowed once, hoping to keep them at bay.

"I haven't done anything with him," Alaric replied innocently. "He's just laying here. In his bed. Sleeping. I could do something to him, though. That is if you don't agree to come home."

Tears escaped the corners of her eyes and the door to her bedroom burst open. Katherine was at her side. "Okay," Elena whispered and the line went dead.

"What?" Katherine cradled Elena's face in her hands. "What happened?"

"Alaric," Elena inhaled. The tears were falling more quickly now and she was having difficulty holding back sobs. She was shaking. It wasn't the first time someone she loved had been threatened, but the fact that it was an old friend made everything more terrifying.

"It's okay," Katherine cooed. She was rubbing Elena's back and holding Elena against her.

"Alaric's going to-" Elena sobbed, "hurt Jer if I don't go back to Mys-"

"Okay."

Elena looked up at her with wide brown eyes. She could barely make out Katherine's face in the dark, but Katherine could see her twin perfectly. "Okay?" Elena breathed. Katherine nodded in response. "You aren't, going to forbid me to go?"

"Elena, your brother is in danger," Katherine said softly.

"But what about earlier?"

"I'm not always a selfish, manipulative, bitch, Elena," Katherine laughed humorlessly. "You need to go back. I-" she licked her lips, "love you enough to let you go."

"Are you feeling okay?" Elena managed to smile a bit.

"So I have a little bit of a soft spot for you," Katherine rolled her eyes, "It's not a big deal."

"Why?" Elena asked. She was truly confused. What had she done to make Katherine care about her in the first place.

"Well, at first I thought you were just some Bimbo," Katherine admitted and Elena's smile grew, "then I was completely intrigued by you. I guess I wanted you. I assumed that would fade eventually, but it really hasn't. Then back in the kitchen, you stood up against me. Very few stand up against me." Her last words had a certain tone of respect to them.

"What about the whole choosing thing?" Elena asked quietly.

Katherine smirked playfully, "Well obviously you're going to choose me." This incited a laugh from Elena. She had almost forgotten about the whole Alaric situation entirely.

"Katherine," the urgency was in her voice once again.

"Hey, don't worry," Katherine said reassuringly, "I'll pack up. You call the Salvatores, let them know what's going on. We'll cook up a plan. It will probably fail. But everything will turn out right in the end," she said brightly.

Elena picked up the phone and dialed urgently.

x~x~x~x~x~x

"Hello," Stefan answered groggily.

"Stefan it's Elena," Elena's words were hurried.

"Elena Elena or Katherine pretending to be Elena?" he asked irritably.

"It's Elena."

"I don't know where you are, but it's a little late to be checking in-"

"Stefan I have to come back to town because Alaric's going to hurt Jeremy," Elena explained quickly.

Stefan sat up, "When are you coming back?"

"As soon as possible."

"Okay, so I'm assuming it's a kind of now or never situation," Stefan replied.

"Yes. Start trying to think of a plan. I'm coming home soon."

"Hey," Stefan interjected before she could hang up.

"Yeah?" Elena replied.

"Drive safe."

Yes! Long wait for this one. Sorry D