A/N: so I know I've said this before, but this one was really hard to write because the episode was a little...blah, I guess. I think they're doing too much too fast. Don't me wrong, I still love it, but they're losing the believabilty they had in season one. Anyone else think the whole thing with Rose is just stupid? Sure, us Delena fans don't like that she slept with Damon, but I just think it's a little strange that the Salvatore's are trusting her and letting her stick around Mystic Falls. She did kidnap Elena and almost get her killed, right? Anyway, enought about that, I needed to vent somewhere.

I really wish this chapter could have been longer considering there will be THREE WEEKS of nothing, but I liked where the show is going from the previews for the next episode and I didn't want to mess up the story line...so I'm sorry in advance. BTW, you guys totally blew me away with the amount of reviews from Ch. 9 and each one of them made my day so thank you all a million times over for that!

TEN

Elena stood in front of the tomb, staring at Katherine as she sat with her back to the human, flipping through the pages of their family history. A question popped into Elena's mind, one that she had been wanting to ask since Katherine had come back to town. "Why did you keep both of them?" she asked, knowing the vampire would know who "they" were.

Katherine shut the book and set it on her lap before scooting around so she could see Elena. "Why not?"

"No, I really want to know. If you claim to love Stefan so much, why did you start something with Damon?"

Katherine flashed her a wicked grin. "I'm sure even you can figure out the answer to that," she said in a tone that made Elena blush. "You've been with Stefan. You know how shy and sweet he is. I had to be very patient with him," Katherine added, her grin turning into a smile that people get when reflecting on a fond memory. "I don't like to be patient."

Elena gave a small nod, letting the other girl know she understood her meaning.

"Damon made it very clear from the beginning that he was ready and willing. So while I waited for Stefan to come around, I took Damon up on his non verbal offer. He really is fantastic in bed."

This time, Elena looked away and Katherine smirked with satisfaction. "Why not just compel Stefan?"

Katherine didn't answer right away, causing Elena to look at her again. She instantly became puzzled at the sight of several emotions shining in the vampire's eyes. "I wanted it to be real with him," she answered, looking Elena straight in the eye. "From the moment I met him, I knew there was something about him. People always used to talk about soul mates; that when you meet yours, you know. There's that spark; something about you draws you in and no matter how hard you try to stop yourself from falling, you fail."

Elena swallowed over the lump in her throat at Katherine's words.

"The worst part about soul mates is that they are your other half. They complete you in a way you never would have thought. Opposite's attract rings very true. Stefan was everything I wasn't. He was good, loyal, sweet and I knew it was love at first sight."

"Then why did you even bother with Damon?"

Katherine sighed and adjusted herself so she was sitting more comfortably. "I already told you, Damon knows what he's doing. Even as a human he hit the spot every single time." She loved watching Elena squirm at her words. "I'm clearly no saint, but Stefan was. So while I waited for him to come around, I did what I wanted. Once he told me he loved me, I made the decision to put as much distance as I could between Damon and myself."

Elena snorted at that. "It didn't seem to work all that well."

"That's because the eldest Salvatore gets obsessed. He's loyal, a trait I admire most, but he and I were too much the same. It would never have worked out," she replied and sighed as she reminisced about her days with the Salvatore's as humans.

Elena scowled at that. Damon was nothing like Katherine. "I still don't think that you love them. Or that you ever did."

"Why not?"

"If you did, you wouldn't have waited a century and a half to make up your mind and tell Stefan how you really felt."

Katherine got to her feet and slammed her fist into the stone wall. "Weren't you listening to anything I told you earlier? I was on the run! I left to protect them! Then I finally get my chance to stop running and be with my soul mate only to find that they had moved on with you!" She paused and glared at Elena with anger. "I was mad at Stefan for making Damon complete the transition. I decided it was best if I moved on with my life and let them think I was dead."

"Then why did you give both of them your blood?"

"I told Damon I would turn him, but I already knew I wasn't going to. After I escaped from the tomb, I was going to come back and turn Stefan. They weren't supposed to try and rescue me!" she raged, smashing her fist into the wall again.

Elena let Katherine have her moment, watching as the vampire got control of her emotions. Feeling a bit sorry for her, Elena bent down and reached for the bottle that was now half full of blood. "I have a few more questions and then you can have the rest."

Katherine's eyes fluttered as she stared at her doppelganger. "What do you want to know?"

"How did you know it was love?"

It was silent as Katherine thought about how to answer Elena who saw her lips tremble. "I knew it was real love because after all the games I've played, out of all the people I've manipulated and killed, I couldn't get Stefan out of my head. Even though I was trying to protect him, I didn't care; I had to come back and tell him how I felt." She paused and shot Elena a menacing glare, the blue and red veins surrounding her eyes as her fangs extended just a little. "But you had gotten in the way."

The signs of blood lust faded and she sank to the floor, looking utterly exhausted. "My advice to you, Elena, is this; if you come across someone who is so completely wrong for you, but makes you feel more alive than ever, don't let them get away from you."

Elena's lips parted, wanting to tell her that that was exactly what she felt for Stefan, but nothing came out.

Katherine reached out with her hand and curled her index finger in a beckoning motion. "I know that you understand who I'm talking about," she said quietly as Elena squatted down to roll the bottle across the barrier.

As she drank the liquid hungrily, Elena let her words sink in and shuddered. How could the woman she had come to associate with the devil say things that made perfect sense? Today had changed her opinion of Katherine. She knew she couldn't trust anything she said, but at the same time, the vampire had no reason to lie anymore. It got her thinking of Damon and the fact that he had compelled her. It stirred the anger she had been trying to ignore.

"There is another way to break the curse," came Katherine's voice, pulling Elena from her thoughts.

"How?"

Katherine extended both arms and ran her nail over her wrist, moving it as far as she could, letting the blood trickle out of the wound. "You become a vampire."

As Elena weighed the pros and cons of that decision, the wound closed. Just as she had healed completely, Stefan made his appearance, looking back and forth between the two of them. He saw how shaken Elena was and looked angrily towards Katherine. "What did you say to her?"

"I told her everything she needed to hear. She got her answers, Stefan. There's nothing left for me to say," she said and slowly turned to walk back into the depths of the tomb.

Stefan turned to Elena and then pulled her into his arms. It was then that she knew Katherine hadn't been lying. She had found her soul mate and it wasn't him.

Damon closed his eyes and leaned back against the chair. He wasn't sure how or why it happened, but it had. And there was nothing he could do to take it back. He remembered seeing the need in her eyes and it drew him in. He thought- hoped- that it would be enough to take his mind off of recent events, but it had had the opposite effect. Now he was filled with regret and guilt; two emotions he hadn't let himself feel in the longest time.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of fingers snapping close to his face. "It's a good thing I'm not the jealous type," Rose said with a small smile.

"What?"

"I know you're not thinking of me," she said and tucked her hand under her head, her elbow propped on the couch near his head.

"How do you know?" he asked, not really in the mood for banter.

"Because generally, men don't look so unsatisfied after sex with me," she boasted and used her other hand to cup the side of his face. "But I know what you really wanted and I can't fault you for trying."

"What are you talking about?"

"You wanted me to be Elena," she said with a shrug and turned so that her back was resting against the couch.

"I-"

"I know you're in love with her. I could see it in your eyes when she came over this morning. I could see it in your eyes when you saw her for the first time after Trevor and I took her. I see it in your eyes every time you think about her, every time you talk about her, and every time you look at her when you think no one else can see you."

He frowned at her and shut his eyes. It was all true and he hated himself for it.

"Why don't you tell the girl?"

"I did," he groused.

"Ah."

"Ah, what?"

"That explains her sour mood and your distractions."

Damon stared at her for a moment and shook his head. "I told her and then compelled her to forget."

Rose smirked at that. "You chickened out is what you did."

Having had enough of this conversation, Damon stood and scrounged around for his pants. "I knew this was a bad idea."

"Oh come on," she said and watched him redress. "You should tell her and see what she has to say. She might surprise you."

Damon shook his head and started moving to the door, buttoning up his shirt as he went. "I already know what she's going to say. She's in love with my brother," he said as he grabbed his keys from the table by the door and left Rose under the blanket on the floor of the boarding house.

Elena's movements were sluggish as she finally got her hands to stop shaking enough to unlock the front door. She hated that Stefan had witnessed her meltdown, but at the same time, she was glad he was there. All the way to her house, he had been silent, waiting for her to say something first. It made her wonder how much he had heard of her conversation with Katherine before he decided to interrupt them.

Elena made it to her room and gathered her pajamas before trudging over to the bathroom. Everything Katherine had said was still being processed in Elena's mind. She felt bad for the vampire. She couldn't imagine what it would have been like to have a baby and then be forced to give it up without even getting to look at it. Thinking about it made her shudder; she couldn't even imagine what Katherine felt every time she remembered that night.

As Elena looked at her reflection, she thought of Katherine's options. Elena knew that if she chose to turn, the curse would forever remain in place. She was the last of the Petrova's, but for all anyone knew, there could be more out there and turning would just lead to Klaus ruining someone else's life. Elena's eyes burned with unshed tears as she recalled the look on Katherine's face when she told Elena about going home to find her entire family dead. That was the hardest part of this decision. If she turned, she knew her friends and family would be killed. Then again, if she stayed human, the chances of the same outcome were very high.

Elena sighed heavily and pushed herself away from the counter. She was exhausted both mentally and physically. Right now, she wanted to curl up in a ball under the covers and sleep. She wanted nothing more than to block the thoughts and images that plagued her, running through her mind on a constant loop. She reached for the comforter and turned it down before lying down on the bed. It was then she realized she didn't have the energy to reach for the covers. With another sigh, she rolled onto her side, drew her legs up, tucked her arms under her head, and closed her eyes.

Unfortunately, sleep didn't come. She was able to relax and her breathing became deep and even, but every time she started to slip into unconsciousness, her mind would bring up something about Katherine and she was awake again. Even after a few hours of lying there, she was still unable to sleep.

Sometime during the night, she felt the air in her room stir and her heart skipped a beat. She knew Damon was in the room; she could feel it in her bones. She knew if she opened her eyes, she would be angry with him and she didn't have the energy for that. Instead, she kept her eyes closed and pretended that she was asleep even though she knew he could tell she wasn't.

Even though Damon knew full well that she was awake, he couldn't seem to stop himself. He moved to the side of her bed, the one where he could see her face, and began removing his shoes. Once he had pushed them beneath the bed, he laid down next to her on his side, his head propped up on his elbow. With his free hand, he reached out and cupped the side of her face, gently stroking her cheek with the pad of his thumb.

He knew he shouldn't have come, that the whole point behind compelling her was so he had a reason to put some distance between them. Needless to say, that hadn't worked out. As he was leaving the boarding house, Stefan had been coming home. His brother had told him about Elena's day with Katherine. If Stefan had heard any of their conversation, he hadn't shared the knowledge. He had only said that Elena was in a bad place right now, but she had sent him away. Leaving Damon with only one option; he had to see her. The fact that she was awake at this hour proved that she was hurting whether she knew that or not.

Damon removed his arm so that he could get the comforter that she had folded down earlier. He pulled it over both of them and was surprised when Elena moved closer to him. She draped her arm over his side and placed her head on his shoulder, forcing him to lie flat on his back. He placed his arm around her and held her tightly as he had done the night before the Masquerade.

Elena was mad at Damon, but she craved the safety in his arms. She knew it was a bad idea, but she could already feel herself being lulled into sleep just from having him near her. She wondered what he had come over here for in the first place, but figured it would be best to ask him another time. As she drifted off to sleep, she thought about what Katherine had said concerning soul mates. Damon's arms tightened a little and Elena knew instantly that hers was Damon.