Previously in "I'll Still Be Here", Tyler reunites with Meghan and gets to know his son.
Chapter Six
Stefan looked around at the interior of the old Mikaelson mansion, finding it hard to believe it was still standing and in such good condition too. Still, it seemed like the best place to keep himself hidden. He turned when he sensed a presence nearby then walked to the front door, opening it again and spotting the last person he expected to see that day for a second time. "It's always nice to see you, Katherine, but why the sudden need to help me?"
"Are you kidding me right now, Stefan? I'd always be the one to want to help you, no matter what the situation is," she replied with a smirk. "Now…do I get a kiss from my favorite Salvatore brother or do I have to wrestle it out of you?"
He chuckled then stepped into his part of the doorway. "Please, Katerina Petrova, come in," he said softly. She smiled then stepped into the house, where Stefan embraced her, backing her into the wall next to the doorway.
"Ooh, someone's eager," she said with another smirk.
Stefan returned her smirk. "You know it." He kissed her softly. "How did you get away from Damon? You two were headed to the quarry before."
"We drove separately, so I told him I needed to get something from the car once we got there, but ended up driving off to head here," she replied.
Stefan shook his head. "Damon is going to be furious when he gets to the quarry and you're not there."
"Damon is moving to Italy, did he tell you that?" Katherine remarked, stepping back from Stefan's hold on her and walking further into the interior of the Mikaelson mansion.
Stefan raised an eyebrow. "No. How could Damon tell me something like that when you're hiding me from him?"
"Well, he is. And he's taking his favorite person with him." Katherine makes a face when she refers to Elena but continues to walk around the mansion.
Stefan went after her. "Whoa, whoa, Damon and Elena are moving to Italy? When did they decide this?"
"My best guess is it was after Bon Bon's funeral," Katherine said. "You know how emotional my doppelganger can be when it comes to her friends, and to make her feel better, Damon suggested moving to Italy so that she doesn't have to stay where her loved ones have died."
"I still don't get it. Are you positive that's what they agreed on?" Stefan asked.
"I live at the boardinghouse, under Damon's protection. The walls aren't exactly able to keep voices from floating out, Stefan," Katherine told him.
Stefan raised an eyebrow. "He's letting you live at the boardinghouse?"
"In case you haven't noticed, Stefan, I'm not a vampire anymore. I'm vulnerable now, so yes, I need protection. Damon may be angry toward me, but deep down, he's every bit the kitten he was when we knew each other in 1864."
"Still, if you need someone to…lean on, I'll gladly be there," Stefan told her.
Katherine smiled at him. 'Thank you, Stefan." She kissed him softly. "I knew I could count on you."
He smirked. "How about we table this discussion for now and have a little bit of fun?"
Katherine giggled. "That definitely sounds like a plan to me, Stefan."
He grinned even bigger then sped them off upstairs into one of the bedrooms, where he gently tossed her down onto the rumpled bedcovers and moved over her gently, kissing her softly and passionately. Katherine returned Stefan's kiss and pulled his shirt up over his head, tossing it to the floor and running her hands across his bare chest.
Stefan returned the favor by stripping away the blouse and leggings she wore, leaving her scantily clad in a barely there lace bra and underwear set. Katherine smirked at him and undid the belt, button and zipper of his jeans, throwing them by the rest of their clothes. "I'm going to enjoy this."
"Not as much as I am," Stefan said as he then ripped her underwear and bra away before leaning down to close his mouth around one of the tender, aching orbs on her chest.
Katherine moaned as she felt his lips on her breast. "Oh, Stefan…"
"You like that? How about this then?" he asked as he let one hand drift down her side until it was stroking into her moist folds, his hand pushing deeper when she arched her hips into his touch.
Katherine felt what he was doing and panted heavily, letting out a scream of pleasure. She liked this side of Stefan, she really did. Where had it been this whole time? Perhaps he learned a few tricks over the century since he was turned.
Pushing on his chest, Katherine rolled them over until she was the one on top. "I do like it, but now it's my turn to have my fun," she said.
Stefan smiled. "Have all the fun you want, Katherine."
"Good. I will," she said with a smirk as she then glided herself onto his hard member, her walls clenching around it in a vice-like grip. She lowered herself further down onto it until he was buried to the hilt inside of her.
Stefan groaned happily and began to thrust against her. Katherine moved her hips as well, moaning quietly as the thrusts picked up in speed and tandem before she gasps in surprise when Stefan suddenly blurs them into the nearest wall, thrusting furiously in and out of her. "How does it feel, Katherine? You feeling good right now, hmm?" he asked with a smirk.
"Fu…harder, Stefan…deeper," she moaned out. "More!"
Stefan nodded and kissed her passionately, grinding his hard body against hers, lifting her hands and holding them over her head.
Two Hours Later…
Katherine woke up to her phone ringing and she quickly reached out and picked it up then answered it, "Hello?"
"Katherine, Katherine, Katherine…always the trickster," Damon's voice on the other end said. "Where is my brother!?"
Katherine panicked slightly. Judging from his tone, he must've found the safe and didn't find anyone inside it. "He wasn't in the safe?"
"No, he wasn't," he replied. "And I have a pretty good idea of why. You have him, don't you? You found him first and you've been keeping him from me this whole time, haven't you?"
"Okay! Fine, you caught me. Yes, I pulled him out of the safe, Damon. Are you happy now?" Katherine sneered at him through the phone.
Damon rolled his eyes, even though she couldn't see it through the phone. "Where are you? I want to see my brother."
"Well, you'll have to ask some other day. I want him for today," she said before ending the call and turning off her phone.
Stefan stared at her. "You know that's only going to make him angry, right?"
"Yeah, I figured. But, I haven't had you to myself for a while, Stefan. I also know that I have to turn you over to your brother," Katherine said as she held her phone firmly in her slender hand.
Stefan nodded and pulled her closer to him. "Maybe you won't have to."
"What? Stefan, your brother has been out of his mind worrying about you," she replied. "And so has my doppelganger, Elena, who is clueless that Damon has gone searching for you by himself, once again."
"Elena doesn't know that he went to search for me?" Stefan asked.
Katherine shook her head. "No, she doesn't."
"Why would Damon keep that from her? Doesn't he trust her?"
"I'm not really sure why he didn't tell her. He was the one that said it, not me," Katherine replied.
"Still, it's not right," Stefan said. "Elena is going to be furious if she finds out she's been deceived. She's a lot like Damon in that regard."
"Well then, I shall call her," Katherine said, turning her phone back on and dialing Elena's cell phone number.
Salvatore Boardinghouse…
Elena heard her phone ring and looked at the screen, seeing Katherine's number. Unsure why she would be calling, she pressed SEND and put the phone to her ear. "What do you want, Katherine?"
Katherine pouted, even though she couldn't see it. "Awe, that's not nice, Elena. I expected better phone manners from you."
"Just tell me why you're calling before I hang up on you."
"Okay, since you asked so nicely, I'll tell you," Katherine said. "That loving boyfriend of yours hasn't exactly been upfront with you about his activities, and that includes looking for his brother and not telling you about it."
"What?" Elena said. "Damon is looking for Stefan and he's not telling me? Why? I thought he would be upfront with me about everything?"
"I'd give him a call if I were you, Elena. Maybe then you'll change your mind about that little move you're making halfway across the world," Katherine said before ending the call and turning her phone off a second time.
Elena put her phone down, thinking about what Katherine said. After thinking about it, she dialed Damon's number and after he picked up, she said, "When were you going to tell me you were looking for Stefan?"
"Elena…" he started to say but Elena cut him off.
"No, Damon. I'm sick of the sneaking around and the lying. You want to know who told me that you were looking for Stefan?" she asked. "Katherine did, Damon. Katherine was the person who told me."
"Of course Katherine would tell you that, Elena," Damon said. "She was the one who found him."
"What?"
"Yeah, she already found Stefan," Damon said. "To make matters worse, she's been hiding him so that she can have him all to herself. That's how Katherine operates, Elena. So, before you start accusing me of lying to you, you might want to consider your primary suspect."
"We're done, Damon. Good bye," Elena said through gritted teeth before she ended the call.
Damon growled as she hung up on him. Damn that Katherine, this was her fault. Though, part of the blame was mostly on himself for lying to Elena. In fact, he couldn't help but be reminded of what happened on Elena's eighteenth birthday. He had lied to her and had gone to find Stefan on his own, mostly because she was still human at the time and he didn't want her to get hurt. It was that same night that he lost Andie, the reporter he was distracting himself with. Even though he didn't love the woman, her loss still affected him. Looking up toward the sky, he said, "Ric, buddy, wherever you are, I screwed up. You told me not to screw things up with Elena and guess what? I screwed up…royally."
Alaric, who is next to Damon, gives the vampire a sympathetic smile even though he knows that Damon can't see him and says, "Yeah, you need to learn to remember that truth works great in relationships."
Knowing that he couldn't see Alaric next to him, Damon sighed. "How the hell am I going to fix this? I love Elena so much."
"Don't keep the lies up," Alaric coached him, even though Damon couldn't see him.
Damon ran his fingers through his hair. "I don't want to lie to her anymore. I've done enough of that to last me five centuries."
Alaric smiled. "Good. She needs you now more than ever, and if you keep up the lying, you'll only both end up with shattered hearts," he said.
Back at the boardinghouse, Elena was fuming, mostly at Damon for lying to her about looking for Stefan. It was bad enough the first time he did it and now she was going through the same thing again. And he expected to move to Italy with him? He had another guess coming if he thought that was going to happen.
She decided to call her brother to see what he was up to then thought better of it and dialed another number, this one belonging to her step-mom, Meredith. After several rings, Meredith picked up. "Elena?"
"Hey, Meredith," she replied. "Do you have a minute? I need to talk to you."
"Sure. I'm at the Lockwood mansion right now, if you want to come here," Meredith replied.
"I'm on my way," Elena said before ending the phone call and blurring quickly out of the boardinghouse, heading to the Lockwood mansion and spotting an unfamiliar car, but Meredith was in the driver's seat.
Meredith saw Elena the moment she arrived, unlocking the door so she could get in. "What's on your mind, Elena?"
"It's Damon," she replied. "He lied to me. I found out through Katherine that he's been looking for Stefan and never told me about it. This isn't the first time either. He did it once before when I was still human."
"Ah yes, the infamous lying session," Meredith said. "Well, the best way to get him to weasel out why he was searching for Stefan would be to confront him in person. I know that it won't help, but it won't hurt to try."
"But, what do I say to him exactly?" Elena asked.
"Just ask him the truth, and see where it gets you. Oh, I heard that you were planning to move to Italy," her step-mom said, smiling over at her.
Elena rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well, that depends on what happens with Damon."
Meredith glanced over at her. "Your father and I had plans to leave Mystic Falls a few years ago, before Christopher was born," she said quietly.
"John never told me that," Elena said.
"Yeah, we did. But, they got put on hold when he almost tried to kill Damon and Stefan in that fire after the pageant for Miss Mystic Falls," Meredith replied.
Elena nodded. "I remember that fire. That's the fire that killed Tyler's dad."
"Hmm, it was," Meredith nodded in agreement. "We had a very huge and heated argument that night. I almost walked out on our marriage because I got tired of his vampire hunting and the lies that came with it. Of course I went back to him, because he pleaded with me to give us a second chance. I know that's not a good example for you, Elena, but I sincerely hope that it helps you and Damon."
Elena nodded slowly. "Yeah…" She sighed. "Oh God, Meredith, this is just so hard."
"Love is never easy, Elena," her stepmother replied. "There are many challenges that we have to face every day in order to keep the ones we love close to us." She placed a gentle hand on the brunette vampire's shoulder. "But I know you, Elena; you never give up on anything, which is why you can't give up on Damon. You love him, don't you?"
"I do," Elena said. "I love him with everything that I am."
"Then, go to him. Ask him what made him lie to you in the first place, and beg for his forgiveness. Get down on your knees if you have to," Meredith said with a smile.
Elena laughed, tears in her eyes as she leaned toward the older woman and hugged her fiercely. "Thank you, Meredith. I really appreciate you, even if we haven't always gotten along. Ever since John died, you've been the one there for me," she said on a soft, choked sob.
"I know it's hard losing someone you love, Elena. But, I wouldn't be anywhere else," Meredith said, pulling back from the hug to wipe her step-daughter's tears away.
Elena smiled through her tears. "I'm going to head back now. I think Damon should be getting home and I have an apology to make."
"Okay. I'll talk to you soon, Elena," Meredith said, hugging her stepdaughter one more time before the vampire climbed out of the car.
Elena got back to the boarding house and found that Damon had in fact returned before she did. Before he could say anything, she said, "Damon, we really need to talk. Why did you feel the need to leave me out of your search for Stefan?"
"I didn't want to. But, Katherine did call me first," Damon said. "And, I'd already been heading out the door anyway, so…"
"I still would've liked to have been involved," Elena said. "I've been just as worried about Stefan as you have. Hell, I even had dreams about him all summer." She sighed. "I'm sorry I jumped to the wrong conclusions, Damon. It's just that I thought you didn't trust me. I mean, I've known you since before I was turned, and in that time, we've been through a quite a bit."
Damon opened his arms, and Elena immediately stepped into them. "I'm the one who should be apologizing to you, Elena. I'm always destroying something in my life, whether it was my relationship with Stefan or ours," he said softly.
Elena returned his hug. "Maybe we can work on rebuilding our relationship. It's going to take some effort on both our parts, but I think we can save what we have. Meredith said that her marriage to my father was nearly ruined because she didn't like the vampire hunting he was doing, and lies that came with it. Fortunately, he was able to convince her to give their marriage another shot. If they can do it, hell, so can we."
"And you think that Italy will help us make our relationship stronger?" Damon asked.
Elena nodded. "I think so. This move will be good for us."
Author's Note: So, Elena went to her step-mom for advice. I really enjoyed writing that part with Erin, and I hope she did too, with me. The next chapter will probably start off with possibly an appearance of someone in the lovely Dr. Fell-Gilbert's dream, so be on the look-out!