Chapter Ten

Katherine woke up slowly, then sun hurt her eyes, her body ache, and she had the desire to throw up. She had a hangover, that part was clear. She forced herself to sit up even though what she most wanted to do was crawl into a hole and die.

Katherine looked up and realize that she was completely naked, except for the trashy underwear that Caroline had conned her to wear. Her dress was on the floor, but her shoes were nowhere in sight.

She rummage a hand through her messy hair. "What the hell-"

She tried to remember what happened, but everything was a complete blur to her and only seemed to raise more questions. The only thing she remembered was going to Bonnie's birthday dinner at the palace and drinking like a bunch of lunatics.

But after that everything was a complete, ugly blur. How had she gotten home? Who had taken off her dress? More importantly what had she done?

Feelings of shame and annoyance spread to whole body as she wobbled towards the kitchen. Her cell phone was there along with her heels, well that solved a few questions. Katherine hastily dialed Caroline's number while preparing herself a cup of coffee.

After the third ring, Caroline grumbled a bleary. "Hello?"

"Caroline, why aren't you at work?"

"Me? Why aren't you? Ow, and don't shout Kat I already have a bad headache." Caroline groaned. "So I'm guessing neither of us went to work today, I woke up around six and then managed to call in sick before I passed out again."

Katherine closed her eyes as she poured herself a cup of coffee. The strong smell seemed to wake her up. "I think I messed up. Bad. Can you remember what happened last night? To me, at least? Who took me home?"

Caroline didn't speak for a moment and Katherine knew it was bad. "Kat, I was drunk, but you were beyond drunk."

Katherine rubbed her temples. "I figured as much. Just spit it out, Caroline. I can take it."

"Elijah."

"Yeah, I know Elijah is going to kill me for missing work. But who took me home?"

"Elijah." Caroline said exasperated. "That's what I want to tell you, Katherine. Elijah was the one who took you home."

Katherine hung up without another word and sunk to her knees. She lowered her head and hugged her knees. She was so embarrassed, she could have died. Why did she always have to be a mess when Elijah was involved? It was so humiliating.

After a moment of self-pity she stumbled back into her room. She noticed a slip of paper that she hadn't noticed in her vanity before. She opened it and much to her horror there was a note from Elijah-You don't have to come in tomorrow, :)

Smiley face? Katherine shut her eyes. Smiley face. He couldn't believe that straight laced Elijah had added a smiley face and he had let her miss a day of work.

Yep, she was totally fired.

She looked at the clock it was almost one' clock in the afternoon. She would have to wait a few more hours until Elijah came home so that she could apologize. It wasn't something that Katherine was looking forward too.

Elena and Elijah were kissing on Elijah's couch in his penthouse later that night. Elijah had taken off his coat and his shirt and was only wearing pants. Elijah fondled Elena's breasts as Elena kissed his neck and let out a little moan.

Elijah was unhooking her bra when the doorbell rang.

"Don't answer," Elena said in a breathy tone.

"It might be someone important." Elijah murmured as he kissed her cheek. "It won't take long."

Elena nodded as she stood up, she threw him a flirty smirk. "I'll wait for you in your bedroom."

Elijah didn't even bother putting on a shirt as he answered the door. He looked back startled. "Katerina?"

Katherine didn't bother correcting him this time. She was wearing a wool skirt, a cardigan, and boots. Her hair was a soggy brown mess and she was completely wet from the rain. She noticed that Elijah was half naked. She gaped. "Oh, you're busy, I'll come back later."

"Katerina," he mumbled, but Katherine had already turned around to leave. "Wait-"

"Really, Elijah this can wait." She flushed as she walked down the stairs and Elijah followed her down the stairs until they reached the lobby of the apartment building.

Elijah grasped her wrist and turned her around. "Katerina, wait-"

"Ok, just answer me this Elijah. What happened last night?" she fumbled.

Elijah hesitated. "Well, you got drunk, I took you home, you kind of took off your dress, and then you kissed me." Katherine flushed even redder as she buried her face in her hands. "Really, Katherine it was no big deal."

"I kissed you and I stripped for you?" Katherine raised an eyebrow. "How is that not a big deal, Elijah? I'm so embarrassed."

"There's nothing for you to be embarrassed about." He insisted.

Katherine shook her head, but no words came out. "Let's just not talk about it anymore, please? You don't mention it and I won't mention, ok?"

Elijah nodded. "All right." He noticed that she was shivering. "You're cold. I have an umbrella upstairs, or can I hail you a taxi?"

"No," she eyed his naked chest. "I wouldn't want you to catch a cold and you're probably busy with Elena. I'll see you tomorrow, Mr. Mikaelson."

So we're back to Mr. Mikaelson, "All right, Miss Pierce."

Katherine turned around and was about to leave when, Elijah suddenly reached forward and squeezed her hand. "Katherine . . . I'm sorry . . . for everything."

-End of Chapter Ten-