Title: Let it Burn

Rating: Pg-13 for swears.

Summery: Katherine has been perfecting her ability to imitate Elena…and tries it out on Damon one night. Damon/Katherine, Damon/Elena oneshot. Takes place following 2x15.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of them, please don't sue.


"Damon, your Camero's on fire." She says, her silky voice not betraying her thoughts of the situation.

"Fuck it. Let it burn." Damon replies, not moving from his spot on the couch. He's a solid bottle and a half into what he's hoping will be spectacular drunkenness and he'll be damned if he lets that stupid brunette whore ruin his mood. He passed the talkative drunk stage half a bottle ago and is enjoying his current level of numb. Her stare burns into the side of his face and it's annoying. "Go." He demands, instantly regretting even speaking.

He hears the rustle of clothing and then feels the couch sag under her weight. She never could accept a simple request. Not willing to break the silence anymore he ignores her, drinking deep from his bottle. Maybe if he ignores her enough the bitch will just go away.

"Do you want to talk about it?" She offers. Clearly she didn't get the memo on the whole not talking thing. "C'mon Damon" she coaxes. "We're friends. We can talk about things. After all," She smirks, "You're letting me stay with you, I owe you."

He turns to her intending on giving her his meanest glare but notices she had her hair straightened. Like Elena. Hell no, he's not going there. "Not in the mood for your games tonight Katherine." He pours the remainder of the bottle down his throat, silently willing her to lose interest and just leave.

"This doesn't have to be a game, you know." She offers. "We have a common goal, destroy Klaus-protect Elena. We could be a team." The lack of sarcasm in her voice is off-putting and Damon has to quell the urge to laugh at the ridiculousness of the situation.

"You don't do teams." He reminds her, because even drunk he remembers that all too clearly. "Wearing your hair straight now?" He asks, changing the subject. "It doesn't suit you." He stares straight into the flames of the fireplace and refuses to look at her. But she's silent for a moment, too quiet for her really, and he looks over. She's toying with a straight strand of her hair when she catches his gaze. She looks down and then back up through her lashes and he's reminded of his human life, when a look like that sent him into hearts and flowers mode.

" Well, you're always nicer to Elena than me…I thought the hair might help." She reached over to place a hand on his arm but he's off the couch in less than a second and back at the bar. He gets another unopened bottle from the cabinet, not trusting any open containers with her around.

"Fuck off Katherine." He spits out, tearing the top off the new bottle and drinking straight out of it. He watches her gracefully leave the couch and glide over to him in that innately Katherine way she has about her. She stops a foot from him and her entire demeanor changes completely. Her eyes loose their seductive tilt and widen slightly; Her arm cross in front of her, rubbing at the plain sweater she wears. She seems to hesitate slightly before speaking.

"Damon, what's wrong?" She asks her voice slightly deeper than before. He has to hand it to her, the transformation into Elena is pretty flawless. She has it dead on. Fuck.

"You really wanna play this game?" He asks, trying to control the twitch in his arm that just wants to throw her through a wall. And then maybe another wall. And then maybe a floor.

"Why is your car on fire in the driveway, and why aren't you doing anything about it?" She asks, her voice laced with the perfect amount of confusion.

"Well, Elena…" He drawls, deciding to play along for the moment. "Vampire Barbie is blaming me for her wolfy boyfriend taking off, and decided to torch my car." He shrugs carelessly "That girls seen too much 'Waiting to Exhale' and not enough 'Girls Gone Wild' if you ask me."

"I'm sorry Damon, do you want me to talk to her?" She asks quietly and he closes his eyes for a moment. If the real Elena ever took his side on anything, well, he'd probably spend a lot less time drunk. "Is that why you're so upset?" She ask in that same quiet voice, tilting her head perfectly.

"Nope." Damon heads back to the couch. Katherine follows and sits right next to him this time.

"Well.. Is there anything I can do to make you feel better?" Her voice is too sickly sweet, too overtly coy and he winces. That was nothing like Elena. He tells her so.

"Losing your touch there Kat." She tenses in anger at his comment. "Elena doesn't ask things like that. Ever." He stares dejectedly into the fire. He can feel her purposely relax and she moves to sit on his lap, a leg on either side of him. She places a palm on either cheek, not needing to press hard to make his look at her. She cocks her head to the side and bits her lip light, just like he's seen Elena do a million times.

He tries to ignore the fact that she's even wearing Elena's clothes. He attempts to distract himself with the thought that she either stole them from her own doppelganger…or else she went all out and bought her own Elena style wardrobe. Maybe she'd even taken Elena to the mall with her. Imagine that. Elena and Katherine going from store to store, laughing over their shared Damon history. His life sucked just enough for that to be true.

"What can I do Damon?" She asks in a hushed voice. She's giving off just the right amount of nervous energy and determination, that the situation once more feels too real. He puts his hands on her hips intending to push her away, but gets distracted by the sliver of skin he feels in the space between her jeans and shirt. "How do I make it better?" She asks again, sliding her palm over his cheek to behind his ear where she strokes his hair lightly.

He knows this isn't real, that any moment Katherine will be back and she will take advantage of the situation. He knows it…and yet he closes his eyes anyway. For the first time ever, Katherine is exuding comfort and damn if he doesn't need it. He feels her shift slightly to lean forward and barely brush her lips against his cheek. He holds his breath at the contact. "I'm sorry." She whispers, her lips brushing against his skin once more. "I lied." She softly kisses his other cheek when he winces at her words. "It was always you Damon. Only you."

"Don't." He chokes out, confused. He can't tell if she's being Katherine again or if she's still Elena, because they've both played that card with him before. She tilts her face and he can feel her lips hovering barely above his own. She murmurs one more 'I'm sorry' and then kisses him. This isn't the Katherine 1864 kiss, this isn't the porch fake out kiss, this…is something else. It's light, it's oddly sweet and when she finds no resistance, she deepens it. He's just drunk enough, just confused enough that he starts kissing her back.

He's not sure how long they sit on the couch in front of the fire kissing. She hasn't taken it any further and he certainly doesn't want to get any more entangled. It's bad enough that he's allowed himself to be in this situation, that he's actually taking comfort from this manipulative bitch. In the morning he'll blame it all on the alcohol.

The moments ruined when the front door slams and he hears Stefan call out. Katherine pulls back slightly, whispers 'I'm sorry' one more time and gets off his lap. He keeps his eyes closed but hears her walk away slowly. He isn't sure what just happened, what game she's trying to play. His head is confused, his body is left aching, and he wants to kill something. But he doesn't move off the couch.