The house was quiet, almost silent. Her footsteps seemed to echo across the entrance hall, yet no one emerged to greet her.
Perhaps they were all outside, enjoying the summer sunshine.
She ascended the stairs gracefully, no sign to suggest that she was not the respectable lady of society she appeared to be, just one small drop of blood glistening in the corner of her mouth.
As she entered her quarters, she called out to her handmaiden. "Emily, Miss Pearl will be visiting in an hour. I shall need to …"
A clatter and a thump from her bedchamber stopped her in her tracks.
"Emily?"
There was no answer.
She stepped towards the door, pushing it open, and froze in place, her mouth opening in a silent scream.
Damon was sprawled on the ground, his blue eyes wide with shock and fear, a gaping hole in his chest marking where his heart had once resided.
She backed up hastily, colliding with a solid body, and spun around to meet another set of blue eyes, these cold and calculating.
One hand held Damon's heart, blood still dripping to the ground, and his lips curved into a cruel smile. "Hello Katerina."
With a cry, Elena bolted upright in bed, her heart racing.
Just a dream, she told herself.
Why she was dreaming about being Katherine she didn't know, but it was still just a dream.
A tapping on the door warned her a split-second before Damon stepped in. "Are you alright?"
"Fine," Elena said, getting out of bed. "Just had a weird dream, that's all."
"Weird?" Damon repeated.
Elena shivered. "Yeah, I think I was Katherine. And I was at your old home and got home to find that Klaus had killed you and was waiting for me. Her. Whatever."
Damon frowned. "Have you dreamed about being Katherine before?"
Elena shook her head. "Never. Unless it's because we're in close proximity or something. But I don't know why I'd …"
A scream elsewhere in the house made her jump again and a horrible thought crossed her mind.
"I didn't," she whispered. "She's dreaming. I just saw it. I woke up but she didn't."
Damon's frown deepened. "Okay then. Go back to sleep, Elena. I'll talk to her."
"Are you sure?" Elena asked dubiously.
Damon gave her a smile. "Yeah, it'll be fine. Go back to bed."
Almost reluctantly, Elena did so, hearing the soft click of the bedroom door closing. She half-expected to stay awake for a while, shaken as she was by the dream, but the initial shock seemed to have worn off, and she found herself drifting off easily.
The next time she opened her eyes, she was standing in her back yard. The back door was wide open, and there was a young girl sitting on the grass.
For a second, Elena wasn't sure who she was, and then she realised - it was her.
A ten-year-old version of herself, admittedly, but still her.
But that meant …
Elena hurried up the steps to the back door, but found she couldn't go any further than a step into the kitchen.
If she wasn't kept out because she was a vampire, she must have been bound by the constraints of her own memory.
It didn't matter that she couldn't go further; her parents were sitting at the kitchen table, and Elena drank in the sight of them, reminding herself of all the little things that had started to fade from her memory - the way her mother tapped her fingers against the table when she was agitated; her father's habit of chewing pens.
Then all of a sudden, their voices became audible.
Elena glanced over her shoulder to see that her younger self had come up the steps a little way, near enough to hear the conversation.
"… too soon," Miranda said.
"Miranda, she needs to know," Grayson said softly, holding her hand. "If she finds out some other way …"
"She's not going to," Miranda said firmly, pulling her hand out of his. "She's my daughter, Grayson. End of story."
"Elena needs to know she's adopted," Grayson said. "We both know that John's going to tell her at some point; she should hear it from us."
Elena found herself being pulled away from the back door at that point, and she spun around to see her younger self sprinting down the garden, tears streaming down her face.
Elena followed, her mind racing. She knew she had never heard this conversation, which meant that someone must have compelled her to forget.
But who?
And why?
Young-Elena continued to run, into the woods, and adult-Elena followed, practically floating over the ground like a ghost.
When the young girl came to a stop, she threw herself down on the ground, buried her face in her knees and began to sob.
Adult-Elena hovered beside her, wanting to tell her that everything would be alright, that she should treasure her parents while she had them.
Someone suddenly appeared beside them.
"Oh dear. Someone's having a bad day."
Adult-Elena's gaze snapped up. "Katherine?!"
Obviously Katherine didn't answer her, instead crouching down beside young-Elena. "Hey sweetie. Where are your parents?"
Young-Elena sniffled. "I ran away."
"You ran away?" Katherine asked. "You don't even have a bag, kid. You've never run away before, have you?"
Young-Elena lifted her head, her face tear-stained. "I just found out my parents aren't my real parents."
Katherine tilted her head. "They kidnapped you?"
"No! But I'm adopted and I didn't know!"
"Oh." Memory-Katherine was quiet for a moment. "Do they love you?"
Young-Elena wiped her eyes. "Yes."
"Do they look after you?"
"Yes."
"Will they be really worried when they find you missing?"
Young-Elena winced. "Yeah."
Katherine nodded. "Sound like real parents to me. You should go home. It's not safe out here."
"It's Mystic Falls," Young-Elena said. "Nothing bad ever happens here."
Katherine smiled slightly. "Even so. They'll be worried."
Young-Elena looked down at the ground. "I don't know how to get back."
"That's alright," Katherine said, straightening up. "I do."
Young-Elena eyed her outstretched hand. "Mom says I'm not allowed to speak to strangers."
"I'm Katherine," she said. "There, now I'm not a stranger."
Young-Elena thought about this for a second, and then accepted her hand. "Okay. Thanks."
They set off through the trees, Adult-Elena close behind them. She was somewhat relieved to note that Katherine was indeed taking her back the way they'd come.
But if Katherine hadn't done anything, why had she compelled away the memory?
At least, she assumed it was Katherine who compelled her.
It would certainly explain why Katherine had asked her about getting memories back.
"Katherine," Young-Elena said, "why would my other mom have given me away?"
Katherine was quiet for a few moments. "Let me tell you a story about a girl who wanted to find love. She was lonely and she dreamed of the day when she would meet her Prince Charming, and live happily ever after. But then someone she trusted hurt her, and left her with a baby. She was young, and scared, and not sure how to be a mother. But then she met two wonderful people who wanted a baby more than anything. So she asked them to raise her little girl, because they would be far better parents than she would."
Young-Elena was quiet for a few minutes. "Am I the little girl in the story?"
"You could be, Elena," Katherine said.
They were nearly home now, within sight of the tree-line.
"How did you know my name?" Young-Elena asked.
Katherine stopped, turning to look at her. "You told me."
"No I didn't," Young-Elena said.
Katherine was quiet for a second. "No. No, you didn't, did you. Maybe it was a lucky guess."
"Or maybe," Young-Elena said, "I am the little girl in the story, and it's your story because you're my mom."
Katherine was clearly thrown by this, and Adult-Elena waited for her to tell her otherwise, but she said nothing.
"Were you looking for me?" Young-Elena asked. "Do Mom and Dad know you're here?"
"No," Katherine said, bending a little to look Elena in the eye. "No, they don't know. And they're not going to."
"But …"
"I was looking for you," Katherine said softly, "because I've watched you grow up, and I got worried when you ran off. They think you've just gone down the street at the moment, but you need to get home soon."
Young-Elena's lower lip quivered. "But Mama …"
"Your mom," Katherine said firmly, "is Miranda Gilbert. Your dad is Grayson Gilbert. They love you very much. Whether or not they biologically created you is irrelevant."
"Don't you love me?" Young-Elena whispered.
"Oh, Elena," Katherine said with a sigh, her voice so low that Adult-Elena had to step closer to hear her. "Of course I do, my darling. That's why you need to go home." Her pupils dilated. "You heard nothing of your parents' conversation. You were playing in the yard and wandered away for a bit. You will not remember seeing me or this conversation." She pressed a kiss to the child's head, then straightened up, stepping out of sight as Young-Elena wandered out of the trees and back to the back yard.
A few moments later, Miranda stepped out of the back door with two glasses of lemonade, ushering Young-Elena up to the porch for a drink.
Adult-Elena blinked, the ceiling of Maria Salvatore's bedroom coming back into focus as she woke up.
That … was not what she expected.
As Elena's bedroom door closed, Damon's smile faded almost immediately. What was going on with Katherine at the moment?
He had overheard her conversation with Elena about the chair, and he knew that she knew why it was important to him.
Hanging on to the chair where Katherine had first fed from him seemed stupid, even to him, but he just couldn't seem to get rid of it.
He hadn't been expecting Katherine to remember.
She had made it very clear it was Stefan she was in love with … so why was she having nightmares about Damon dying?
When he reached the spare room, which Katherine had claimed, he knocked lightly out of habit, and let himself in.
Katherine was still asleep, incredibly, her body almost rigid as she screamed.
Damon approached her warily, reaching out to touch her shoulder. "Katherine?"
Her eyes shot open and her screaming broke off into a gasp as she bolted upright.
Damon waited a few seconds for her to regain her composure. "Katherine?"
Still breathing deeply, though she didn't need to, Katherine faked a smile and patted his arm. "I'm fine."
Her hand didn't leave him, gripping his bare forearm like a lifeline, as though reassuring herself he was still there.
Damon raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, you seem great."
"It was a nightmare, Damon," Katherine said, with an airy laugh. "Shame no one told my head that."
"You were screaming," Damon said flatly. "Elena saw your nightmare, thought it was hers."
"We're doppelgängers," Katherine said, running her free hand through her hair. "We have a connection. I'll apologise tomorrow."
"Strange nightmare to have," Damon said. "1864. What brought that on?"
"Memories, I suppose," Katherine said, releasing his arm hastily. "Goodnight, Damon."
Damon stood up, recognising the dismissal. "Why me? You never loved me. Why me?"
"Goodnight, Damon," Katherine repeated, not looking at him.
Damon sighed, and made for the door. "Goodnight, Katherine."
Katherine did not go back to sleep.
Instead, she left the lake-house and went for a walk, wandering through the trees until she reached the town.
She couldn't bring herself to be mad at Elena for giving Damon the details of her nightmare, not when she thought it was her own - and why would she think anything different?
The fact that Elena had seen her nightmare was a little concerning, but then vampires were able to enter others' dreams, Elena was very new, and they were doppelgängers on top of that.
Katherine would just need to teach her how to control it.
She found herself outside the Gilbert house, quiet and dark in the early morning light.
An idea struck her, and Katherine made her way up to the porch to check the front door. It was unlocked - because people in Mystic Falls trusted way too easily, even the ones in the know - but Katherine couldn't cross the threshold.
For a second, that was a surprise, but then it hit her.
Jenna had invited her in.
And Jenna was dead.
"Elena?"
Katherine turned automatically, but she knew as soon as she did that Caroline knew it wasn't Elena. "You're up early."
"What are you doing here, Katherine?" Caroline asked warily.
"I could ask you the same thing."
Caroline rolled her eyes. "There's an alarm on the house. Jeremy's staying with us, until Elena's back. Mom assumed you were Elena so sent me, just in case. Now what are you doing here?"
Katherine sat down on the porch swing. "Figured I'd grab Elena's journal for her."
Caroline frowned. "You're with them?"
"Oh, didn't Elena tell you?" Katherine asked, even though she knew Elena hadn't.
"I haven't spoken to Elena since the day she turned," Caroline said. "She said she'd call when she was ready, and I respect that. Why is she letting you help?"
Katherine chuckled. "Do you think she could stop me?"
Caroline's hands clenched into fists at her sides and she took a step towards her. "I won't let you hurt her."
Katherine's smile grew. "Ease up, honey. You can't take me in a fight and you know it. And it's really not necessary. Klaus is dead."
Was it her imagination, or did something akin to grief flash in Caroline's eyes?
"So, what, you've decided to stop being a bitch all of a sudden?" Caroline asked bitingly.
"Everything I did was to protect myself from Klaus," Katherine said, mostly honestly. "He's dead. You do the math. Can you grab Elena's journal? I can't get in."
Caroline hesitated. "Only if you promise not to read it."
Katherine didn't roll her eyes, but it was a close thing. "Obviously."
Caroline narrowed her eyes, but ultimately let herself in to the house. She was back a second later with a leather-bound book. "If you read it, she'll be so mad at me."
"I'm not going to read it," Katherine said, tugging it out of her hands. "How's Jeremy? She'll ask."
"He's coping," Caroline said. "He misses Ric, but that grieving process had already started, so it's mostly worry about Elena."
"She's doing brilliantly," Katherine told her. "She'll be home before he knows it."
Caroline gave an abrupt nod. "Thanks." She disappeared in a blur before Katherine could say anything else - which was probably a good thing.
Katherine wasn't heartless, whatever people might think of her; she had just learned to put her survival ahead of anyone else's, which sometimes meant turning a blind eye to other people's distress.
She had somehow not known about Caroline's relationship with Damon - it had happened during one of her blind spots - but now was not the time to speak to her about it.
Katherine would likely never speak to her about it.
Still, she knew what it was like to be lied to and manipulated by someone.
When she arrived back at the lake-house, the sun was just rising, and Damon was in the kitchen.
"Thought you'd left."
"Needed to clear my head," Katherine said.
Damon might have said something else, but they were interrupted by Elena, who still hadn't left her room.
"Katherine, we need to talk."
Katherine sighed. "Great."
"Probably about that nightmare," Damon said flatly.
"I'm not mad at her," Katherine said, rummaging in the cupboard. "She thought it was her dream." She found what she was looking for and fetched a bowl.
"Sage?" Damon asked.
"Bit of magic even a vampire can do," Katherine said. "We can't hear past burning sage."
"Katherine …"
"If I wanted to hurt her, I'd have done it by now," Katherine said, rolling her eyes, "and long before you ever knew she existed. I'd rather," she added, before he could say anything, "have this discussion in private. Is that a problem?"
Damon didn't answer, presumably - sensibly - sensing that he wasn't going to win that argument, and Katherine made her way upstairs.
Elena was already dressed, and she met Katherine's eyes with strange mixture of emotion, and something inside Katherine twisted uncomfortably.
This was not about the dream.
Katherine set the bowl of sage on the dresser and lit it. "I'm guessing you don't want Damon overhearing this either."
"Not really," Elena agreed. "I had a weird dream last night."
"I heard," Katherine said, although she was fairly sure that wasn't what Elena meant. "I'm sorry you picked it up. We'll need to teach you compulsion, that will help you keep out of people's dreams."
"I wasn't talking about that dream," Elena said. "Although I'm sorry that I told Damon what it was about."
"Not your fault," Katherine said.
Elena gave a little shrug. "Still. No, I had a dream about when I was ten, learning I was adopted. Meeting you."
"Ah," Katherine said softly. "I was wondering when that would happen."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Elena asked.
Katherine raised an eyebrow. "Would you have believed me?"
Elena was quiet for a moment. "Yes, actually. I get a gut feeling when you're lying. Doesn't always help; you tell half-truths most of the time. But I would have believed you."
Katherine grimaced. "Okay, in which case, I apologise for not giving you a warning."
"Were you lying in the memory?" Elena asked. "I couldn't tell second-hand."
Katherine had to think for a second, remind herself of the conversation she'd compelled Elena to forget. "Well, the story I told you about a girl giving a baby up wasn't entirely true. It was kind of a mixture of my story and Isobel's."
"But the rest of it was true?"
Katherine hesitated. "Yes."
"I don't understand," Elena said bluntly. "If you knew where I was, why not just hand me over to Klaus?"
Katherine sighed, coming to sit beside her. "Honestly? I was going to. When I started tracking down my descendants, I was looking for the doppelgänger so I could buy my freedom. After you were born, I realised that it wouldn't help me. Even if I did help him break his curse, Klaus would never let me go. At best, I'd buy myself a quick death."
"But you didn't go anywhere," Elena said. "You said you watched me grow up."
"I told you," Katherine murmured. "You're the last piece of my daughter that exists." She sighed. "You'll get more memories, Elena. I was around a lot, and I always compelled you to forget. I didn't want your parents to worry about a stranger around their kids. That was the last time. You called me Mama and … I realised I was in too deep."
"Why didn't you correct me?" Elena asked. "And why compel me to forget that I was adopted?"
"I didn't want you to go looking for Isobel," Katherine said. "And I didn't want to tell you the truth either."
"Was she …?"
"She wasn't a vampire yet," Katherine said. "She turned in 2007. But she … She was starting to become obsessed. I think she did love you, Elena - that's why she turned her humanity off - but I didn't know that then. All I knew was that she gave you up, when I would have given anything to keep mine. I didn't want her to break your heart."
"So given all of that," Elena said softly, "why did you hand me over to Klaus in the end? Why did you try and kill me?"
Katherine sighed. "First of all, I didn't hand you over to Klaus." She held up a hand to keep Elena from interrupting. "When I realised handing you over would do nothing, that I couldn't do that, I started working on a plan to save you. It was Isobel who gave me the answer, actually. The curse of the sun could be broken with just a few drops of your blood, and it would destroy the moon-stone. If the moon-stone was destroyed, Klaus could never break his curse, so you'd be safe." She grimaced. "I didn't trust that Damon and Stefan's plan would work, so I found Isobel again. What I hadn't realised was that Klaus got to her first and she was already under compulsion. She broke my neck, Elena. That's how Klaus got the moon-stone. Not me."
Elena closed her eyes, but not before a tear escaped her.
Katherine gave in, wrapping an arm around her granddaughter's shoulders to tug her closer.
Elena allowed her to do so, turning her head to cry into Katherine's shirt.
"She was compelled," Katherine repeated.
"I know," Elena said with a sniff. "She took me out to her grave not long after. Took off her necklace and burned in the sun."
Katherine had not particularly liked Isobel, although she had to admit that her feelings stemmed from the fact that Isobel had willingly given up her child, but the revelation caused a small spark of pain. "Oh, darling, I'm sorry. I didn't know. You did as you were told, I was hoping maybe he'd let her go."
"You compelled Jenna to stab herself."
Katherine grimaced. "I know. I knew that Stefan would be in danger. Not just because of me, but because of his old friendship with Klaus. I was hoping if he thought you were in danger because he was near you that he'd leave town. And if he was nowhere near you, Klaus wouldn't find him again. I do wish Jenna hadn't gotten involved, Elena."
"John died," Elena whimpered. "John died so I wouldn't become a vampire, and now I am …"
Katherine could feel Elena beginning to spiral, and she tightened her hold. She didn't want to get Damon, not yet, not when he would automatically blame her. "John was an idiot. You would have been fine one way or the other, and Jeremy needed him. He made that choice, Elena, not you. He asked Bonnie to cast that spell, not you. I meant what I said that day. Miranda and Grayson were your parents, Elena, and they would be so proud of you."
"But …"
"They would," Katherine said firmly. "And anyone who knew them would say the same."
"But you didn't know them," Elena said.
"I saw enough watching you grow up," Katherine said. "And I know that John loved you in his own way. You are not responsible for the decisions of others, Elena. If you try to be, you will drive yourself mad."
"How do I deal with the emotions without turning it off?" Elena asked.
"Honestly?" Katherine glanced over towards the sage, wondering if she could blow out the flame without letting go. "Let it all in. The more you try and block it out, the worse it gets."
Before she could ask if Elena wanted her to get Damon, the younger woman had dissolved into tears, apparently releasing every emotion she had been clinging to since her transition.
It was probably only a matter of time before Damon came to check on them anyway. In the meantime, Katherine let her doppelgänger cling to her and cry.
She'd deal with everything else later.
You can read Katherine and Elena's first meeting in my other story, First and Last
