Chapter 3
The List

"No, I'm not getting homeschooled Damon, I am not a freak!" Katy yelled.

"Well you don't have much of a choice." Damon stated, following her down the stairs, "You're skipping classes, flunking out, getting into trouble. You may not be a freak but what you are is in need of some damage control."

She sneered, "Oh what are you gonna do Damon, have a montage of us studying together and eating cookies while the Rocky music plays?"

Damon rolled his eyes, "Don't mock me Katy, you know very well why I have to do this."

Katy didn't answer; instead she just started braiding her red hair in preparation for the funeral they'd have to attend. It's not like Katy didn't know why, hell she'd anticipated that her behavior at school would get her kicked out or pulled out. That had been the plan originally, when she'd wanted to get taken away from Damon and avoid the bullshit of the council.

Old habits die hard though.

"Why are you so against this?" Damon asked, checking his appearance in a mirror, "I thought you were homeschooled with your parents back before I scooped you up?"

Katy rolled her eyes right back at him and said, "Could you find some way to make it clear that I'm your daughter and not one of your hook ups. I don't know if you know this, but there's a big difference!"

"I'm well aware girlie. Now spill, what's the problem with homeschooling?"

She shrugged, "I just don't want yet another thing to change. Everybody's either dying or getting their fingers chopped off, or otherwise we're always looking over our shoulders for the next bad guy to come out and bite."

"Sounds to me like change is the best thing for us with that line up." Damon smirked. Katy looked at him in slight exhaustion when he added, "I seem to remember the last big change for you involved an obnoxious amount of paper work marked ADOPTION that had a pretty good outcome if I do say so myself."

Katy looked at Damon like he'd grown an extra head, "This-" Her fingers twirled around in reference to their predicament, "was the best possible outcome? I've heard of World War Declarations that had peppier outcomes."

"I swear to God Katy, if you make a Hitler reference to anything regarding our current predicaments I will toss you upstairs in your room right now and bar the door."

"Well, I don't have to now that you've already made the reference for me." Katy smiled innocently at him.

"Don't be a snot, girlie."

They both let out a small chuckle as they made their last minute touch ups in the mirror. Katy didn't really own any black dresses or anything, but she made due with a dark colored butterfly shirt. Her hair was in its usual tight braids and she was convinced to leave the jean jacket at home today. Her vervain ring dangling from Jeremy's shoelace still hung in its proper place.

Damon noticed this as he grabbed his jacket, "I'd be willing to get you a chain for that, no need to resort to defiling an innocent shoe."

"Its fine." She said simply.

"Might be safer, even when dealing with vampires a good sturdy chain is harder to lose."

"If any dumbass of a vampire tries to kill me I'm gonna go all Van Helsing on him." Katy said, "Big ass stake through the heart, 'Power of Christ Compels You!' and all that jazz."

Once again they laughed and chuckled together for a bit. Damon stood there looking affectionately at Katy as he placed his hand on her shoulder, her eyes meeting his now.

"We won't be there long, girlie." He promised, "I just need to get what information I can on the late Mayor Lockwood and we'll go home. Alright?"

"Okay, fine." She said stiffly, her eyes drifting to the ground for a minute before Damon lightly shook Katy's shoulder to regain her attention.

"Katy Weston, I want you to hear me. Right here and right now." He said seriously, "I may not have raised you originally, but that's what I'm doing now. And while you're under my roof, you are not gonna run away from me when you feel like it. You are my daughter, my responsibility, and I'm going to be setting the rules here. That means no more bullshit, from now on you're gonna be putting your best foot forward here. This is our home. I won't let anyone take it away from us."

Katy gave him a look, "I don't believe you." Damon sighed as she continued, "I'm sorry I don't. Everything is crashing down and you're not stopping it because you can't."

"Ye of so little faith." Damon said, the lightest touch of a smirk gracing his face. He pat her shoulder once and pushed her out the door, "Let's go girlie."

"Okay… Dad."

The two stared at each other for a moment before Damon said, "Yeah that's still kind of weird."

"No, let's never do that again." Katy said, shaking her head.

***Katy's POV***

When future historians look back on our time, they will declare one thing about this funeral: The phrase "Tensions Were High" would not nearly explain how awkward this event was.

For me, it wasn't so much terrifying as it was uncomfortable. Sticking people in coffins and crying over them was sort of yesterday's news for me, but what I'd never learn to cope with was the wakes and the parties afterwards.

I don't understand this, why have a party at all? And even in the realm of possibility where having people over for comfort is something you wanna do (clearly you know which school of thought I follow), why invite people you're not close to and probably haven't seen or heard from since the last time someone croaked.

I get it for the actual funeral, when they're paying respects to the body and all. But inviting people into your home, of all places, during time of stress—such as a death—makes no sense. Because there are only two types of guests at a funeral: The Obligated Mourners and The Obligated.

The Obligated Mourners are the people who immediately walk up to the family with their sympathies, declare exactly how the family is feeling, and pretty much make every effort to force their "help" on everybody.

You'll find these people later going up to other guests and giving self-congratulatory lectures about how to treat the mourning family properly.

I fall into the second category, The Obligated. They either don't know enough about the deceased person to really be there for them but want to show respect, or they're people like me who have been through mourning and know their presence is only vaguely helpful.

After enough funerals, you find a method of getting through it. Some find comfy chairs to sit in and overplay grief, some find a person they can talk to, and I sit in a corner by the appetizers and eat anything that looks appealing.

So I sat in an uncomfortable, antique chair eating a handful of crackers and people watching, as per my custom. The tension making me so antsy I wanted to run out of the room and never come back. But Damon needed me to stay put while he sorted things out with the Lockwoods and for that matter Katherine was back in town so running off is like being the dumb blonde in a horror flick.

Besides, since last night I didn't want to start anything with Damon. I was barely able to look him in the eye today, though that got easier with a full stomach.

The frustrating thing is, all that pain I felt last night as I worried about Caroline's recovery was just gone. Like that! And that bothered me.

I was used to pushing feelings down for the sake of appearances around strangers, like when I'd first arrived in Mystic Falls, but this wasn't natural. I didn't make any efforts to do this, I don't think. I could have sworn I felt like absolute shit yesterday but now I was just normal, uncomfortable from the funeral but normal.

Does that mean I don't care about her? I'd asked myself, No, it can't be. No one cries for no reason. But what does this mean? I felt this with Lexie too, what is wrong with me?!

My thoughts had been interrupted by Damon, Mrs. Lockwood, and the Sheriff coming through and talking in hushed tones. I turned my head down to pretend I was focused on my food, as opposed to eavesdropping.

"I want to know exactly who's responsible for killing my husband."

"I'm looking into it but you have to be straight with me. Is there any reason Richard was affected by the vampire device?"

"What are you implying?" I heard Mrs. Lockwood hiss, "That he was one of them?"

I heard Damon try and pacify her (ever the peacemaker! Seriously though, when did that happen?), but she just kept going with her accusations.

"Your deputy screwed up, plain and simple which makes you responsible."

"Carol..."

Sheriff Forbes practically recited my opinions on the matter, "Your husband is the one who helped John Gilbert execute his idiot plan in the first place."

"Liz..." I could hear the masked impatience in Damon's voice at this point.

"Someone got my husband killed."

"We're all on edge here. You've suffered a great loss. The whole town has." I scoffed lightly to myself at this, "We have to stick together, okay? Trust each other, we'll get through this."

I looked up to see Damon had placed his hands on both women's shoulders, with them looking on at him like he'd been quoting Holy Scripture. When he finished talking to them he came over to me.

"You know with some bagpipes and drums that might've been a very patriotic speech." I told him.

"Be nice." He chided me, "Mrs. Lockwood has suffered a terrible loss. I'd think you of all people could relate."

"My Dad wasn't and abusive prick wearing a tie." I muttered.

Damon looked at me disapprovingly, "Where did you hear that?"

"From Jeremy. He told me that Mayor Lockwood took him and Tyler outside and demanded they fight to settle their differences."

With a scoff he said, "Dick. Well, in spite of that you're gonna behave remember? After all, with a little change of fate it might've been you sitting here an accepting apologies."

I quirked a smile and let out a breathy laugh at the truth of that statement, "I'm gonna go hide in the bathroom for a while."

***Third Person POV***

Bonnie had tracked down Damon later, clearly on a mission by the determined look on her face that poorly tried to convey a casual look, "Did you know the Gilbert device affected Tyler Lockwood?"

"Well," He popped a grape into his mouth, "I know it took the mayor down."

She pressed on, "Don't you want to know why?"

Finally, he turned fully to her, "Yes Bonnie, I would love to know why a non-vampire was tortured by the vampire torture device that you let John Gilbert use against us." He shrugged sarcastically before continuing, "Speaking of your guilt, how's Caroline?"

"She's much better." Bonnie assured.

"You're welcome."

"No, you're welcome."

"Why am I welcome?"

"You live to see another day."

"No good deal goes unpunished with you, does it?" He smirked.

"Doesn't undo the bad." Bonnie replied as he carelessly ate another grape, unaffected by her threats, "I know what you are Damon, you might have Elena and the sheriff and everybody else—inluding that innocent little girl you claim to care about- fooled but not me."

"Hm."

"One wrong move and I'm gonna take you out." She whispered.

Damon was practically grinning at her display of confidence, "Now you need to stop with the witches' brew. You're starting to believe your own press."

Bonnie held her gaze on Damon, and within seconds he felt pain surge throughout the head. Little vessels popping and healing and popping again at her will. Even for a vampire it was a lot to take and he found himself holding his head in useless self defense.

"Oh," Bonnie said mockingly, "I'm sorry, you were saying?"

With that she stepped around Damon and walked out, both her confidence and her inner frustration heightened. Though she was only frustrated because he was right about her guilt. If it hadn't been for her, Caroline, Tyler, and Matt wouldn't have been in the accident.

But this was Damon fault, she tried to assure herself. But was it really?

Bonnie needed to vent, or else she'd think too hard about that possibility and right now she couldn't deal with it. Not after everything. Thankfully, she'd spotted Elena up ahead.

Or at least, someone she thought was Elena.

"Oh my god!" She groaned through her teeth, "Damon drives me crazy. He's walking around like he's some kind of hero for healing Caroline, when it's his fault all of this happened in the first place!"

"I'm sorry Bonnie." Katherine mimicked her doppleganger's sweet tone, "What Damon's done is just awful."

"Okay, better." Bonnie breathed with a slight smile, "Hateful Damon moment over."

Katherine laughed back as Bonnie attempted to give her a friendly pat on the arm when a jolt of electricity shot up her own. Her face turned sullen for a moment as she examined the girl's face, only noticing now that she didn't have the same tells as her best friend.

Bonnie tried covering, "I've got to find Tyler and pay my respects. I'll be back."

"Okay." Katherine smiled, watching as Bonnie walked away with a predatory gaze at the witch's back.

When she thought she'd lost the suspicious Elena-look-alike Bonnie dialed quickly with a look of panic on her face. When she answered, Bonnie asked,

"Elena? Where are you?"

"Bonnie, I know I'm late. I'm getting in the car now. I'll be there in five." The girl said over the phone before she hung up. Bonnie slowly brought the phone down from the side of her face, blankly looking ahead of her until she turned to run and found Katherine standing passively in front of her. Bonnie gasped.

"We haven't officially met." The doppelganger said, "I'm Katherine."

Bonnie collected herself, trying to keep a stone cold look as she faced down the woman she'd only, until now, come to know through description of her victims,
I know who you are."

Katherine laughed, "Of course you do. You're the best friend right? I've been putting all the pieces of Elena's life together. Isobel told me it was a bit of a puzzle." I do know who Jenna and Jeremy are, my little namesake Damon likes to play house with, and I met that delicious ex-boyfriend Matt-" She shrugged disappointedly as she added, "Who's sweet on Caroline, and then there's you, the vampire-hating Bennett witch."

There was a pause before Katherine asked with a smile, "Did I do good?"

Bonnie tried to run past her, but Katherine appeared right in front of her before she could make it to the door. She stopped, concentrating her energy on Katherine and imagine the blood in her head boiling. Katherine seemed to bend over in pain, giving Bonnie some relief until she seemed to shake it off.

" I've been around a long time Bonnie;" Katherine practically yawned, "You're gonna have to do better than that!"

Katherine grabbed Bonnie by the throat, her fangs gleaming in the sunlight before she heard the doors slam open. She retracted her fangs and shrugged in modest approval at the clear work of witchcraft.

"Nice."

"Katherine." The girls heard Stefan as he came forward calmly.

Katherine smiled, "Stefan."

"Leave her alone."

She looked him over briefly before cheerfully agreeing and pushing Bonnie aside like she was nothing.

A few minutes later Elena, Jenna and Jeremy arrived at the Mansion. Jenna carrying some food and the two teenagers walking with intense looks beside her.

"Looks like the whole town has turned out. "

"Yeah, well he is..." Elena paused awkwardly, "He was the mayor."

Jeremy finally spoke, "Why don't they save it for the funeral?"

"That's what people do. The Lockwoods were here for us when we went through this." Jenna said before assuring her niece and nephew, "It'll be quick; we'll drop off the food and pay our respects and go."

"In and out? It sounds like a plan."

While her brother and aunt talked, Elena caught Damon's eyes looking over at them. She said distractedly, "You guys go ahead, I'll be right there, okay?"

They nodded, each parting ways as Elena made her way over to Damon, "Hey, where's Katy?"

"Hiding." Damon said as if it were obvious, "She's feeling better since last night though, thankfully."

She nodded back, taking a moment to breathe. "How are you doing?"

"Great Elena. Walking on the sunshine, thanks for asking." He said dully.

"Damon."

"Elena."

"We should be able to talk about this. Damon, we're close enough now." Elena urged, "I really want to know how you are doing."

He took a moment before Damon got down to brass tax, "I kissed you; I thought you kissed me back. Doppelgänger hijinks ensued. How do you think I'm doing?"

"I think that you're hurt."

"No, I don't get hurt, Elena."

"No, you don't admit that you get hurt. You get angry and cover it up and then you do something stupid. You can't afford that, not with Katy around. It's irresponsible."

"You're scared. You think Katherine is gonna send me off the deep end, don't you?" He observed, "I don't need her for that."

As he went to leave, Damon suddenly stopped and turned back with a curious expression on his face. Elena still looking more or less, sullen as usual.

"You know, why is it such a surprise that I would kiss you?"

"That's not a surprise." She said, "I'm surprised that you thought I would kiss you back."

Damon looked over her face, looking for some sign or tell of hers to know if she was lying. But Elena couldn't tell if he'd found any.

"Now I'm hurt." Damon quipped as he turned again to leave, only now finding a shaking Bonnie blocking his path.

"Elena!" She said with heavy breath.

"Bonnie, what happened?"

***Katy's POV***

I'd spent a total of twenty minutes sitting in the overly posh bathroom according to my cell. Not really doing anything but sitting and staring at a wall or a crystal duck sitting ontop of the toilet, which by the by looks ridiculous!

Though despite the laughable décor of whichever French-German interior designer Mrs. Lockwood hired, the bathroom was actually soothing and helped me clear my head.

Maybe I ought to give more credit to Jaun-Von-What's-his-face for his work.

When I thought about leaving to face the swarm of discomfort outside these tiled walls, I opened the door only to hear Jeremy's voice resounding from down the hall.

Annnnnd pivot! I thought sarcastically to myself.

"I remember when my dad died; I had a house full of strangers telling me what a great guy he was. Anyway, I know how hard all this is." He had said to Tyler.

As I closed the door I heard Tyler reply to him, "The difference is in your case it was true. My dad was a dick."

I chuckled to myself once the door closed.

Preachin' to the choir bro.

I thought for a moment about Damon's words earlier. If a few things had changed I might've ended up Tyler's adoptive sister, or hell maybe even Caroline's, or Jeremy and Elena's!

What would my life have been like if I'd ended up there? I speculated.

The Lockwoods: They'd throw me out in a second.

The Forbes: I'd run away.

I'd probably do alright with the Gilberts, but I also think I would've ended up with the Salvatores no matter what now that I think about it. Elena is so intertwined with them at this point, she'll probably never be able to separate from them if she wanted.

I heard my phone go off and suspected that it was Damon telling me to get my ass downstairs, or hopefully telling me we were leaving and to get my butt downstairs. I could feel the confusion etch across my face as I looked down at the unfamiliar number on caller ID.

Hesitantly, I answered, "Hello?"

"Delivery." I heard a voice that I knew was specifically not Elena, "You know public delivery nowadays is much better since my day."

"Dinosaurs not reliable transport?"

I heard her tutting over the phone. Who the hell does this bitch think she's talking to? I groaned inwardly. "Damon got all your parents' storage delivered to the Boarding House. I suspect he wants to make you feel all comfy during your stay? He was always so thoughtful like that."

My lower jaw trembled as I ground my teeth together, "If you even think about putting your hands on my parents' things you are gonna be so-"

"Oh!" I heard her say sarcastically, and then followed by a loud thump in the background, "I just thought I'd help unpack. But alright, if you tell me where your parents' client lists are."

I paused, and then said stiffly, "I'm sorry, my parents weren't prostitutes, you must be mistaken."

"Come on Little Katherine. Play along, help a sister out."

I actually burst out into laughter when she said that, a full minute later I replied, "Okay, I can actually forgive you using my full name for that. Oh boy, did I need that. Thank you."

"Not a joke sweetie. I'm serious." I heard her chide.

"Then you're one crazy bitch, Petrova. Even more so than your description leads on. I'm not helping you with anything but an intestinal amputation for touching my things."

"Crazy? Nah. I'm not crazy, just a woman on a mission." I could hear the smirk in her tone, "Like you."

I groaned, rolling my eyes before she added, "More than you know actually. See, I'm not interested in just any client of their's. I'm interested in one particular client."

"I have no doubt. But you should, about why I'd ever surrender a useless list of vampires, no matter who you're looking for."

She seemed to pause briefly,"You don't know, do you?" I quirked an eyebrow, "Wow, I really thought you would've figured it out."

"Figured what out?" I demanded, "And don't toy with me, Katherine."

"You're really not as smart as you think you are, kid." She said, "Your parents' killer is on that list. Klaus Mikaelson was a client of their's."

I found myself falling down to sit on the side of the bathtub, the obvious conclusion ringing in my ears.

"So we now have a common goal." Katherine paused again, "Oh wait, found it. Too bad though, sweetie. Better luck next time. Bye."

Click.