Chapter 12

Elijah was shocked that she would do such a thing. Several possibilities shot through his mind, but as her hand wandered down under his bed sheet toward his groin area, the name Katherine immediately came to mind. How could this be? She was dead. Well, so what? He had been dead, too, and now he was here.

"Katherine?" he managed to say around her lips. He gripped her other wrist. He wanted to know for certain who he was with before getting into some intimate touching.

"Hmm. Mmm," she murmured, still kissing him. Her tongue probed his mouth since he had opened it to speak her name.

Okay, so this was the woman he thought she was. He had been intimate with her for years, off and on. He let go of her arm, and she touched him in a way that made him respond. Wanting her to give him some answers first, he pushed her up and away from the kiss.

"What are you doing here?"

"I came to see you, of course."

"But how did you know where to find me?"

"I don't know. I just did. Does it matter?" She ran her fingers through the dark hair lying on his forehead.

"Do you know who is responsible?"

"Nope. And I don't care. Were you thinking of me? Maybe that was the trigger."

"I was not. Elena is here, however."

"Whoopee." She did not sound pleased. In fact, she removed her other hand from under the sheet.

"That does not mean that I am not glad to see you." He found he was smiling in the dim light.

"You mean since you can't have Elena. I'm so flattered," she snarked.

"I do not have desire for Elena. And besides, she is with her love Damon. May I assume you are not attached at this time?"

"Is that your way of saying you still desire me?"

"You are most desirable. You always have been, Katerina." He didn't mention how often he had been most angry with her for one reason or another. He was sure she was as self-centered as always.

"I was alright on the other side. My daughter and I were at peace. But as soon as I arrived back here, I wanted to see you."

"That is nice. A surprise, but nice."

"I was hoping for more than 'nice.' You could say 'wonderful.'"

"It is a wonderful surprise to find you here. Feel free to continue what you were doing before."

"Are you up to it?"

"Up, yes. I must be ready for something."

"I meant your condition. You're in a hospital bed, you know."

"I was shot. Collapsed lung. See, there is a tube stuck in the side of my chest."

Katherine took the time to notice. She found the tube with her hand and then noticed that it went to some sort of receptacle at the bedside. There was bloody fluid in it.

"I am no longer a vampire," he said. "Are you?"

"I didn't notice, but now that you mention it, I don't think I am either. Being human is alright. Although I can hardly see well in this dim light. Human vision, I guess."

"Then it is a good thing that you came into my room instead of that of some other man. He would have been quite surprised by your greeting."

Katherine chuckled. "I guess he would have been. But somehow, I knew this was your room. I thought I was asleep, but I opened my eyes and I was standing in the corridor outside your room. If you didn't summon me, who did?"

"I do not know. We seem to be pawns in someone's game."

"So, do you think we are being observed somehow?"

"I suspect so. I do not like it." He hated the idea of such invasion of his privacy.

"Let's give them something to enjoy." Katherine looked at the side rails of the bed. They were in two parts on either side. The ones by his legs were in the lowered position. She could easily climb into his bed, and she did. She was wearing a flared skirt which she pulled up to her hips.

Elijah could see well enough to note that she had no underpants on. He lay still while she did the work of pulling down his sheet and pushing up his hospital gown. She straddled his legs and moved up until she found the position necessary for what she wanted. He reached up and felt for her breasts. No bra there. He grinned and hoped no one came in to check on his condition for the next few minutes.

His hope was not to be. A shadow soon appeared in the doorway and a man gasped. "Dr. Gilbert!"

Elijah, at the point of sexual satisfaction, froze and groaned.

Katherine, also at the same point, kept going, ignoring the voice. She was determined not to miss those few seconds of ecstasy. She managed to accomplish her goal, although she was aware that her partner's enthusiasm was fading away. Completely. By the time she looked at the doorway, the man was gone.

"I suppose this is going to ruin the reputation of sweet Elena," she said with a chuckle.

"I do not believe so, as soon as I explain that you are not she," Elijah said through his embarrassment. "On the other hand, I am mortified."

"Oh, come on! The great Elijah mortified? You have a poor, but famous, reputation, love. You have never let it bother you before."

"Things are different now. This is a new day and I do not want my old reputation to cling to me. Many of these people never knew me. Get off me. Now."

"You didn't like what we just did?" Katherine easily left the bed and straightened her skirt. She sat down in the chair beside the bed.

"I was holding back and then I did not finish. That is frustrating, not pleasant. I noticed that you did not stop."

"Why should I? Don't be a prude, Elijah. I don't know why I say that. You've always been a bit prudish."

"I am not a prude. I am reasonably modest." He knew he had, on occasion, indulged in sexual excess, but he had considered the circumstances and who had been present; most often it

was his brother Klaus. Of course, that had been when they were both vampires and sometimes had combined feeding and sex in orgies. He wasn't proud of that.

They heard footsteps in the hall and in a moment two people appeared. The light switch was hit and the room brightened. The man was a patient care technician and the woman the night supervising nurse. They looked at Elijah and then about the room. No one else was there.

Elijah blinked at them, the bright light bothering his eyes for a moment. He didn't know where Katherine had gone. If she was not a vampire, she couldn't move in a blur. Had she ducked into the bathroom, located as part of his room?

"Hello?" Elijah asked, playing along.

"Where did she go?" the man asked.

"Who?"

"Dr. Gilbert. I'm sure it was her."

"Dr. Gilbert was not here. I have not seen her since she stopped by earlier this evening." Elena's visit had been brief, but she had been glad to see him and concerned about his wound.

The two staff members moved close to the bed. Both of them sniffed the air. "I smell perfume. Do you smell it?" the nurse asked.

"I think so," the man said.

Elijah knew Katherine had been wearing some subtle scent, but he had barely noticed it. She often wore something like that.

"Who was here, Mr. Mikaelson?" the nurse asked.

"As you can see, I am alone."

The nurse looked into the bathroom, even moving the shower curtain. The technician looked under the bed.

"Someone was here," the tech insisted. "I saw her on top of you."

"You would have seen her in the hall if she left. And I doubt she could jump out the window. Do these windows even open?" Elijah asked, glancing at the big windows that now showed only the dark of night.

"Are you sure this is the right room?" the nurse asked the tech.

"I thought so. Now I'm not sure of the room or if I imagined a woman here. I'm sorry, Mr. Mikaelson. I must have had too much coffee after I came to work."

"It is alright."

The two people checked various things attached to the patient and then they left, turning off the room light.

Elijah lay there for a long moment. He reached under the sheet and gown and was sure Katherine had been there and done what he thought she had done. He felt relief that he had not just been having a vivid, very realistic dream. But where had she gone?

A/N Where did Katherine go? Will she be back? Thanks again for you guys who are reading and following, etc.