For a few seconds, the three of them stood in silence. Then Elena cleared her throat. "I … I didn't know he was there," she said awkwardly. "I'd have …"

"Yeah," Katherine said. "I know."

"I'll … I'll leave you two to talk," Elena said slowly, hurrying back inside, closing the door behind her, resisting the urge to eavesdrop.

Once safely ensconced in the kitchen, Elena let go of the breath she was holding, almost doubling over as she did.

She had held her suspicions for months, but never did she think that Katherine would just admit it like that.

Would it be enough for Damon, she wondered.

Perhaps selfishly, she hoped it would be.

The front door opened and closed, and she stiffened, allowing her fangs to extend again. She wasn't as self-conscious about her vampire features now, and they were the best weapon she had.

"Push off with your best foot as hard as you can."

In a split-second, Elena had blurred into the hallway and pinned the intruder against the wall. "What do you …?" She trailed off, loosening her grip, her face relaxing. "Stefan?"

"Elena," Stefan greeted weakly. "We need to talk."

Elena let go of him and stepped back, even as her body screamed for contact. "Yeah. Yeah, we do."

Katherine still hadn't turned around. She wasn't planning to either.

The best thing for her to do was run.

Her body tensed, but Damon's hand closed around her arm before she could take so much as a step. "Don't you dare."

Katherine lifted her head and looked back at him. "I thought you wanted me to leave."

"I want the truth, Katherine!" Damon snapped. "After everything you've put me through, you owe me that much."

Katherine hid her flinch. "You're right. I do owe you that."

"Good. Then …" Damon trailed off, listening intently.

Katherine did the same, hearing Stefan's voice inside the house.

"Come on," Damon said, leading her back inside. "I need to talk to Stefan before he puts his foot in it again." His grip on her arm didn't loosen until they found Stefan and Elena standing in the living room. "Kitchen, brother," he said tersely. "We need to talk."

"I am getting so sick of those four words," Elena said, rolling her eyes. "Damon, don't you think Stefan and I need to talk?"

"Yeah, you do," Damon said, handing Katherine into one of the chairs. "Don't move." He looked at Stefan. "Kitchen. Now."

Stefan sighed, looking at Elena. "Do you mind?"

Elena waved a hand, perching on the arm of Katherine's chair. "Go on. It's probably a good idea."

Stefan nodded, faltering slightly at the way Katherine leaned into Elena's side, but followed Damon through into the kitchen.

As soon as the adjoining door was closed, he found himself pinned against it, Damon's hand around his throat.

"If you ever make Elena cry again," his brother hissed, "I will go back to making your eternity hell."

"Implies you stopped," Stefan choked out. "And I'm not going to." He finally managed to shove Damon off him. "I'm not going to," he repeated.

"Good," Damon said sharply. "I'm not in love with her, Stefan. I never was. Even if I was, she's not in love with me."

"I know," Stefan said, staring at a point over his head. "I know that now. I was being an idiot. I was projecting after what happened with Katherine … and I didn't even realise it until she pointed it out to me."

"Katherine?" Damon asked, distracted. "What did she have to do with it?"

"Turned up at the boarding house last night and apologised for 1864," Stefan said with a shrug. "Said that it was never her intention."

Damon glanced at the door as though hoping he could see through it and into Katherine's head. "Huh."

"She's up to something," Stefan said. "I just can't figure out what."

"She was around when Elena was a kid," Damon said. "Elena said she was like a second mom for a while. Maybe that's why."

"She … What?" Stefan asked.

Damon heaved a sigh. "Yeah, I'm still trying to get my head round that."

Stefan took a moment to consider that, then shook his head. "I'll ask Elena later. You just drag me in here for that?"

"No." Damon cleared his throat. "I … I wanted to …"

Stefan raised an eyebrow. "I think this is the first time I've seen you lost for words."

Damon sighed. "Oh, screw it. I'm sorry, alright?"

Stefan's arms dropped to his sides. "You're what?"

Damon scowled at him. "Don't make me say it again."

"What, exactly, are you apologising for?" Stefan asked slowly.

Damon rolled his eyes. "Everything. But if you're looking for a specific … Lexi."

"Lexi?" Stefan repeated. "You already …"

"No, I didn't," Damon said. "We both know that was a load of crap."

"Why now?" Stefan asked weakly.

"Because she was your best friend and she's dead," Damon answered, staring at the floor, "because of me. When I thought Elena was dead … And's she's only been in my life for a year, you had Lexi for over a hundred."

"She's your Lexi," Stefan murmured, something clearly settling into place.

"I know I promised you an eternity of misery, but …"

Stefan's hand landed on his shoulder. "Stop. I know why you killed her. And I still can't forgive it, Damon - I don't know if I ever can - but I've forgiven you. You're my brother. And the eternity of misery was my fault in the first place …"

"The hell it was," Damon interrupted. "Yeah, you made me turn, and yeah, I was angry with you, but I should've realised why you did it. You're my little brother, I'd always looked out for you, and that changed - God only knows why …"

"Katherine," Stefan said darkly.

"Yeah," Damon muttered, knowing there was one hell of a conversation coming. "I guess what I'm trying to say, Stefan, is that I want to start over. Give that brother thing another shot." He held out a hand, smirking. "After all, we did it oh-so-well once upon a time."

Stefan cracked a smile, remembering his 'impression' of Damon months ago, and clasped his brother's hand. "I think we were already doing that."

Damon shrugged. "Probably." He hesitated for a split-second, but Stefan beat him to it, pulling him into a hug for the first time in over a century.

They released each other with no embarrassment; no more words were exchanged, unneeded by a bond that had never really fractured over time, even if their relationship had.

Stefan pulled open the door to the living room to find Elena where they'd left her, talking quietly to Katherine. "Elena?"

She looked up with a smile, but the trepidation was clear in her eyes.

Stefan held out his hand. "Would you take a walk with me?"

"Of course," Elena answered, rising to her feet and taking his hand. Their fingers automatically entwined, remembering the other's grip after so long apart.

Hand in hand, they left the house, leaving Katherine and Damon alone in the living room.

"You're not going to run again," Damon stated.

"No, I'm not," Katherine agreed, standing. "I agreed that I owe you the truth, and that's exactly what you'll get." She took a deep breath. "My humanity was off when I met you, you know that. To start with, I didn't care what I did, who I hurt. It had been off for three hundred years, and I wasn't about to start feeling again … but you got under my skin and into my head and into my heart, and before I knew what was happening, I'd fallen in love with you and flipped the switch."

"And Stefan?" Damon asked, approaching her.

His approach was slow, predatory, and she backed up at the same pace. "I loved him, Damon. I cared about him. Much like Elena cares about you. I was too selfish to lose him, so I pretended I loved him like he loved me."

"You turned him," Damon said.

"I didn't want to lose him," Katherine repeated. "And I could never have condemned you to an eternity without your brother."

Damon snorted. "That backfired, didn't it?"

Katherine's eyes flashed. "You can blame me for an awful lot, Damon, but not that. I did not make you turn your back on him."

In a blur of movement, her back had collided with the wall and his face was inches from hers.

"Do you know why I turned my back on him, Katherine?" He didn't wait for an answer. "Because he made me transition."

"He made you …" Katherine stared at him in confusion. "But … you wanted to turn …"

"I wanted to be with you," Damon bit out. "I thought you were dead, Katherine; I couldn't fathom life with out you, I wanted to die." He lowered his voice. "But do go on. You were about to tell me why you faked your death and didn't bother telling me."

"Klaus would have killed you," Katherine whispered, her face deathly-white. "I was being selfish - so selfish - I was dragging you into a fight you couldn't hope to win, and … I was trying to protect you, Damon. You weren't suppose to turn. I'd lain a compulsion over the town so everyone would forget me; you were supposed to be okay."

"Well, that explains why no one thought you were missing," Damon said. "So why not say all this five days ago? Klaus has gone now. We're both safe."

"I assumed you wouldn't believe me," Katherine said. "Besides, after everything I put you through … It's probably selfish."

Damon let out a bark of laughter. "That's to be expected with you, sweetheart." The endearment sounded bitter and sarcastic, and she flinched at the sound.

"I protect myself," she said, almost inaudible if it weren't for his vampire senses. "You know that."

"You're scared," Damon said softly. "Did it ever occur to you," he murmured, running a finger down her cheek, "that you ripped my heart out without a second thought earlier this year?"

"Yes," Katherine said. "That's the other reason I didn't tell you. You deserve closure, you deserve better. I wasn't going to say anything - help Elena, and then disappear, and you'd never have to deal with me again." She lifted her head with more confidence than she felt. "But now you know."

"Yes I do," Damon said darkly. "I should walk away. Let you go. Make you leave, tell you I never want to see you again. Trusting you, Katherine, is like handling a grenade; I never know when it's going to blow up in my face." He sighed, resting his forehead against hers. "But I can't."

She lifted her hand, but before she could touch him, he took a step back.

"So here's what's going to happen," he said firmly. "I'm going to go upstairs, and you are going to make a decision. If you leave, I will pretend this conversation never happened. I won't use it against you; it'll stay between you and me. But I never want to see you again. If you stay, I will do what I said I would do when you first came back to Mystic Falls. I'll forgive you for everything that's happened, all the years I spent searching for you, all the betrayal - everything. But I don't do things by half, Katherine - if you stay, you are mine for eternity, because I don't let go."

Katherine didn't move as he left the room and went upstairs. She wasn't sure her legs would support her just yet.

She knew that Damon thought he had changed since becoming vampire, but she didn't.

The man he was now had always been there, hidden behind the sweet, innocent boy she'd fallen in love with. In 1864, he hadn't appeared much; now he was a constant presence.

He had given her a choice, but there really was no choice to make.

Katherine Pierce was sick and tired of running.

Steadying herself, she followed his path up the stairs to his bedroom, her undead heart pounding with each step.

The room was empty when she walked in, and she frowned slightly, wondering if she had misjudged his destination.

Then the door clicked shut behind her and she felt his hand run down her spine. His touch sent shivers running through her, and her head fell back, resting on his shoulder as his hard body pressed against hers.

"You, of all people, should know the foolishness of baring your neck," Damon murmured, his breath ghosting over her skin.

Katherine's stomach clenched, and she reluctantly stepped away, turning to face him. His eyes seemed sharper than ever, boring into hers, and she swallowed hard. "Do you remember the night I first fed from you?" She asked huskily.

Damon tilted his head slightly. "How could I forget?"

"You started to say that I wasn't truly yours," Katherine continued. "I was," she said, before he could respond. "I am." She swept her hair from her neck and tilted her head back, a gesture of trust that scared her, even as she did it. "I always will be."

Damon rested his hands on his waist, hesitating over her for just a second, before his fangs sunk into her skin.

Katherine's legs buckled almost immediately, Damon's arm snaking around her waist to keep her upright. She had fed from before as a vampire only once, when she had woken Mikael, but it certainly hadn't felt like this.

After that, she had dismissed Pearl's stories about blood-sharing being intimately personal as romanticised myth.

There was nothing mythical about this.

He pulled away, blood coating his lips, gasping for breath. "Guess the rumours about blood-sharing are true."

"Guess so," Katherine murmured, feeling the wound on her neck close over.

Damon took her face in his hands, his eyes searching hers. "Say it, Katherine. I need to hear it."

Katherine smiled a little. "Damon Salvatore, I am completely in love with you."

"It's about fucking time," Damon muttered, his mouth crashing against hers.

Outside, Stefan and Elena walked in silence. His hand still gripped hers, and she took some comfort in that. His touch seemed to burn through her, every nerve end tingling, and she forced her mind to stay clear.

No matter how good it felt to have him touch her again, even as innocently as this, they needed to talk before anything else.

"Where are we going?" She asked, breaking the silence.

Stefan smiled. "Just a little further."

Sure enough, a few minutes later, they stepped into a clearing by the trees, a small stream bubbling through it, leading to the lake.

Lit by the stars and moonlight, it was one of the most beautiful sights Elena had ever seen. "Wow …"

"I found it by accident when I was fifteen," Stefan said quietly. "Father brought me out here to teach me how to hunt and fish … and pretend that Damon wasn't at war." He turned to her. "But that's not why we're here."

"No, it's not," Elena agreed, releasing his hand reluctantly. "Stefan …"

"Before you say anything," Stefan interrupted, "I need to apologise."

Elena was a little surprised, but acquiesced. "Alright."

"I'm sorry, Elena. I'm sorry for everything I've done to hurt you. I'm sorry for everything the Ripper did to hurt you. I'm sorry for blinding myself to everything on some half-cocked quest for revenge. I'm sorry for not listening to you."

"Why didn't you?" Elena asked. "I can understand why you'd think something was going on, or that my feelings had change, Stefan, I do, but why would I lie to you about it? Especially when you were being so infuriatingly reasonable about it?"

Stefan sighed. "I know it sounds stupid, Elena, but I never made that connection. I know that you'd never lie to me, which should make things easier, but I never connected the fact that, for you to be in love with Damon, you'd have to either be lying about it or completely oblivious to it."

"Why were you so convinced I was, then?" Elena demanded, her heart pounding. "I mean, I want to believe it was because you felt guilty about everything and were trying to push me into Damon's arms to make me happy, or to punish yourself, or both, but I'm starting to wonder if it's just because you weren't lying in Chicago, and you don't love me anymore, so …"

His mouth cut her off, pressing against hers urgently, and she responded immediately, threading her fingers into his hair. His hands grasped her waist, pulling her closer, and she whimpered a little at the loss as his lips left hers.

"Elena Gilbert," he said seriously, "I am so in love with you. You're right. It was guilt. I don't deserve your love after everything I've done …"

"It's not your place to make that decision for me!" Elena retorted. "That's my decision and my choice." She rested her forehead against his. "Stefan, I love you."

"You shouldn't," Stefan whispered.

"No, I shouldn't," Elena agreed. "I tried not to; I really did. Hanging on … it hurt so much, and I wanted to stop. I tried to stop. But I couldn't Stefan; I couldn't stop loving you and … Honestly, I'm so glad I didn't." She smiled, her eyes bright with unshed tears. "I knew you'd come back."

Stefan's smile matched hers, and he brushed a kiss against her forehead. "I'm never leaving again, Elena. Living without you …"

"I know," Elena whispered, catching his lips in another hungry kiss. Her emotions had been on some kind of rollercoaster since she turned, which she had been assured was normal, but now they seemed to be on overdrive.

Her back collided with one of the trees, eliciting a deep moan as Stefan's body pressed against hers, and she arched into his touch. It had been so long, too long, since they had been together.

Stefan broke the embrace first, stepping back to hold her at arms' length. "Wait," he said breathlessly. "Brief pause while I have the control."

"I don't mind you losing control," Elena said. "In fact, I'd prefer it."

Stefan chuckled. "In a minute, sweetheart. I have something from Bonnie." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a silver ring, embedded with a dainty midnight-blue stone.

"A daylight ring?" Elena breathed. "She said days."

"She should give herself more credit," Stefan said. "May I?"

Elena nodded, holding out her right hand, and he slipped it on to her finger. "It's beautiful."

"Yeah, it is," Stefan agreed. "Never dreamed it'd be used for this though."

"What do you mean?" Elena asked, her heart racing.

"I bought this for you months ago," Stefan admitted. "After the sacrifice, before the funeral … before I found out about Damon's bite. Then Damon was dying, and I needed to save him, and I didn't give it to you, because I think part of me knew that I wasn't coming back - at least not for a while - and I didn't want it to be a lie."

"What was it for?" Elena asked. "Obviously not a daylight ring, given what you just said."

"No." Stefan took her hand, running a thumb across the ring. "That it was the right kind of stone was a coincidence. Incredible, really; the woman in the store had no idea what it was. I won't lie and say that it didn't cross my mind that one day it could be used for that, but … you'd made your feelings on the subject very clear - not that I could blame you."

Elena sighed. "Stefan … I didn't want to be a vampire. But standing there before the sacrifice, knowing that it was happening without my consent, saying 'I don't want to be a vampire; I never did' does not mean that one day in the future I wouldn't feel differently. You are the only reason I would even ever consider it, but you and I had only been together for about eight months, which is not a long time to start thinking about forever, you know? If someone had turned around and said, 'right you need to get married tomorrow' my immediate reaction would be, 'but I don't want to', however much I love you. You see?"

Stefan nodded thoughtfully. "I think so."

Elena sighed. "What's done is done. There's no point standing here and saying that it's not my choice, and it wasn't what I wanted, and I'm not supposed to be this way." She gave him a meaningful look. "Especially when that can be taken in so many ways."

Stefan laced his fingers with hers. "I meant that you didn't want to be this way."

"I realise that now," Elena said. "That's not how I took it at the time." She lowered her gaze. "I took it to mean that you didn't want me like this."

Stefan tilted her face up to meet his eyes. "I'm sorry, Elena. I never stopped to think about how it sounded to you, especially that recently turned. Your emotions end up all over the place."

"Tell me about it," Elena muttered. "So what was it for?"

"A promise," Stefan answered.

"A promise of what?" Elena pressed.

Stefan shrugged. "Whatever you want. It can still be that. What do you want me to promise?"

Elena didn't need to think very hard. "The only thing that will make any of this okay."

"And what's that?" Stefan asked.

"You," Elena answered. "I can live with eternity, Stefan, but only if it's with you."

Stefan pulled her into his arms again, kissing her deeply, and she melted into his embrace. This time when the kiss broke, it was so he could kiss his way along her jawline to her ear. "I'm yours for as long as you want me," he murmured, his fingers gripping her hips. "I know Damon's your best friend, and I just want you to know that I'm absolutely fine with it."

"I appreciate that." Elena's hand fisted in his collar. "But do you really think I want to talk about Damon right now?"

Stefan chuckled against her skin, pinning her back against the tree. "No."

Elena wrapped her arms around his neck. "Smart man."