AN: I must confess that this story had a completely other outcome. It was a full on lemon pie with more Katherine and Elena action and other D/S/E/K foursomes. All happening as Damon helped Elena and Katherine to put Stefan through a month of Elena detox as he transferred his feelings from Elena to Katherine. There was also a whole other "making sure Stefan got used to human blood without becoming full ripper" tangent that would bring a lot of insight into Damon and Katherine's relationship with Stefan.

… Unfortunately I really I couldn't find it in me to write this right now but the good news is that I might write it later as a "what happened between chapters 11 and 12" kind of thing. I'll probably call it "Detox" or something like this, so don't be too mad or disappointed ok?

The reason for my writer's block and consequent future disappearance from FF for the month of April is that real life has pushed the train off the tracks and I have to concentrate on the derailment. Or in simpler terms, I need to work like a mad woman so that I can make a descent appeal so that my MA application to a certain renowned Art school gets a second chance. You should see my studio, it looks like a battlefield – and so it should, I am waging war!

So maybe this ending went all puppies and rainbows because that is what I need right now both in my life and in the TV show.

********************I want things to go smoothly the right way, the way they should be.*****************************

So I hope you don't mind going the happy la la land route for once. I am sure the TV show will provide us with ample amounts of angst anyhow.

See you at the other end of April. Xoxo

As Elena promised, after a month had passed, Stefan was well on his way to being ok – not perfect, but ok. A part of his heart would always be broken, pinning for the human girl he lost to his brother, because, truth be told, Stefan truly loved Elena.

He loved her so much that he decided to let her go, for it was what Elena wanted. He had learned to accept that she was happy with Damon and that the two of them together were meant to be. True, Stefan still was a bit uncomfortable when he caught one of their PDA's, but the more time passed the more resignation and acceptance set in.

Without a doubt, Katherine played a huge role in this new and improved Stefan. She was kind and doted on him, made him laugh and had, slowly, renewed his faith in her love for him. Under her attention Stefan really blossomed and he returned her love tenfold. He had spent so much time pretending he didn't care for Katherine that it was a physical and emotional relief to finally allow himself to feel love for his maker again.

As Stefan allowed Katherine in his life he realized more and more how much he had missed her, how much he had longed for her in the simplest most ordinary things. She was right, he had loved her once and he had loved her since, he just couldn't admit it back then. She was just that: right, she was the right one for him.

Katherine's presence brought about another surprising development that changed Stefan's existence completely. Having stopped denying his love for her and letting his true nature breathe seemed to allow Stefan to be in better control of his vampiric nature. He now drank a healthy mixture of animal and bagged blood - he wouldn't tempt himself with blood from the source yet - and he didn't feel the need to go into ripper mode anymore. He had his theories about why that was. His favorite was that Katherine's presence kept him centered, calm and cool. Or maybe that her presence gave him the confidence to push himself knowing she would be there for him, to rein him in, if things got out of control. Damon, as always, had other theories. Something along the lines that if he hadn't been trying to be such a broody spoil sport denial junkie for over 160 years, that he would have been able to be a good little vampire like the rest of them. Stefan smiled thinking about his brother; they had slipped into a new easy friendship that was reminiscent of their human days. There was still a lot of damage to fix, and some of the wreckage was just that, not salvageable. However, as they were each being coddled in the tender embrace of their respective doppelgangers, they seemed to have no reason to fight or resent each other any longer - what a relief that was.

Stefan though about what an exquisite couple his brother and his ex-girlfriend made. Elena and Damon, now free from the stigma of shame and betrayal, rejoiced in each other like only true lovers could. One look at them together and Stefan knew he had never had a chance. Damon and Elena were destined to be, his own relationship with Elena had been a means to an end, and the end was Damon. Oh, they still bickered and argued - their banter as sharp as ever - it was all part of their dynamics, just as the marathon love making you couldn't help but hear, the heartfelt love declarations, the going everywhere together and practically finishing each other's phrases.

As a tease, they had all started calling them DElena since it was impossible to separate them at any given time. Alaric bitterly stated once that Elena had deprived him of a drinking buddy and, to make amends, Elena had started going with him and Damon to the Grill for booze binges. Those nights, a biweekly occurrence at this point, normally ended with a very drunk Alaric, a buzzed Elena and a highly amused Damon.

Caroline and Bonnie had voiced their own complains that they had lost their confidant and friend. To appease them Damon had started using earphones and listening to his playlist when the girls came over. He was still by Elena's side, playing with her hair, caressing her tight, interlacing their fingers, but at least everyone could get their share of her without him eavesdropping. Even when she went to school, Elena knew that if she looked out of her classroom window she would see Damon sitting outside waiting for her.

In reality, Damon and Elena had become so joined at the hip that Elena even went as far as going hunting and helping him to get more blood bags. She claimed it was because she wanted to learn for when the time came but no one was fooled. The truth was that having denied indulging in their feelings for each other for so long neither Damon nor Elena could bear the pain of the physical separation for more than a few necessary hours. There was also the dread that something might happen to Elena, fragile human that she was, whilst they were apart. The possibility alone had Damon feeding Elena his blood everyday just for insurance. It was crazy, they both knew, borderline pathetic, but they had sworn that this would be the way things were going to be until she turned and everyone knew better than to challenge them.

Well, almost everyone... Caroline had once staged a kidnapping, or "Damon Detox" as she called it. She had pushed Elena into her car, taken away her mobile and driven at full speed out of Mystic Falls. When Elena came to she was so hysterical and angry that Caroline had no choice but to return her phone and drive her back to the boarding house. Elena made Caroline stop a kilometer away and told her to drive home and stay there until she could convince Damon not to rip her throat. Elena had then called Damon, let him bellow at her before managing to explain where she was. When he got to her he would kiss and scream, scream and kiss and so forth for an hour until he calmed down. Elena made him promise not to harm Caroline, but that didn't stop Damon sending her three or four threatening text messages to her a day. After that everyone definitely knew better than to challenge them.

On her 21st birthday Elena's human life finally expired in the safe arms of the vampire she loved, surrounded by the rag tag family she had accrued and officially turning her birthday party turned into a merry wake.

When she woke up, Damon hadn't moved an inch, but her best friends Caroline, Bonnie and Katherine all had hands on Damon, each trying to reassure him that Elena was going to be fine. Elena didn't know that vampire's could hyperventilate!

She received many gifts at her birthday/wake, none as great as eternal love and eternal life from Damon. Although Bonnie's beautiful daylight ring was at the top of the list after Damon presented it to her when asking for her hand in marriage. Caroline, as predictable as ever, gave her the non refundable gift of being her engagement and wedding organizer. Alaric's present was an engraved sterling silver pocket flask that read "You are only 21 once". Tyler's gave her a silky smooth leather jacket to match Damon's and, the power couple, Stefan and Katherine gave her a mind blowing red Maserati Gran Turismo that made all the boys jaws unhinge. The gift that made Elena cry though was Jeremy's. Her brother gave her an awkward sized box with a big red bow on top of it. It was heavy and Elena couldn't figure out by the shape what was inside. Damon grinned at Jeremy knowingly as Elena pulled the lid off and a furry little body jumped at her. As Elena held the kitten in awe, she noticed the name tag around its cat collar. Jeremy had named the ginger ball of fur "Brutus" and that had sent Elena crying and smiling like a child.

Katherine and Stefan watched the turn of events with very confused expressions. Everyone seemed to be in the secret except them and Katherine couldn't help being herself.

"So we give you a Maserati Gran Turismo, Damon proposes and the flea bag is what gets you crying?" – she asked bewildered.

Damon looked over at her with a scowl, acid words dying on his tongue at the reassuring squeeze of Caroline's hand on her shoulder.

"When we were little Elena and Jeremy rescued a ginger cat but they had to give him away because her mom was allergic. She was going to name him Brutus but she didn't get to keep him for more than 3 hours before they gave it to a family's friend." – Caroline explained and shot her friend a tender look –"Lena was crying for a month. Bonnie and I practically moved in to take care of her."

Katherine still looked at Elena like she was a science experiment, probably wondering how they could look so much alike and be so different. As usual, her interest waned quickly and she slipped her hand in Stefan's, whispered something in his ear and they walked towards the door.

"See you later Kat." – Elena shouted after them.

"My turn to make pancakes tomorrow darling" – Katherine winked back as she passed through the front door.

.

.

.

THE END

Well, I hope you like it and are not wanting to kill me for this. Be good and review. xoxo