I'll Always Save You (Datherine)

Summary: Set in future S8. Kat wakes up to find that Damon's also a human now. Instead of her being in danger though, it's him. Can she save him? Will he heal and wake up from the coma his injuries put him in? What will ensue?

It was a dismal night, as a human Kat woke up in what looked like tunnels. She'd escaped from a prison world that had had Kai in it. Seeing that there were tunnels, she assumed she was back in Mystic Falls. Then she saw what looked like her elder childe. Since she was human again, she couldn't see from the distance. All she had was light from the opening above them, allowing a human to see a little bit. It was moonlight though, so she didn't know when it was going to run out. That's what told her it was night time.

She approached and knelt by him, where he lay on his side. That's when she saw that he was injured, which told her that he'd taken the cure like he'd promised a long time ago.

"Damon," she called, a hand on his arm.

She looked at his injuries to see blood on either side of his head, a lower stomach wound from a piece of wood, and a gash on his right leg that looked like it had opened up his leg artery. It looked like he'd lost of lot of blood and was pale. Judging from what it looked like, there'd been some kind of earthquake.

She moved her hand from his arm and instead, put her hand where his shoulder blades were, before gently getting him on his back. Then she took her jacket off, tying it around his open leg artery, knowing an artery could be worst than anything else. She didn't want him dead. She never did, nor would she ever.

She rested her left hand on the right side of his face, her other on his chest.

"Damon, can you hear me? I need you to open your eyes for me," she called to him. She could tell that he was still alive thankfully, but she wasn't sure for how long. She could feel from underneath her hand, his slow heart. As a human though, she couldn't get him out of here very easily. Not like she could've if she was a vampire still. "Come on, Damon. Wake up for me," she tried again.

After getting hit from some rocks and falling, resulting in feeling pain from something stabbing into him when an earthquake had struck, he vaguely heard a familiar voice. It took a little while, but he finally opened his eyes. His vision was blurry, and he couldn't focus on anything. Having been with Elena for a long time before she'd died of old age, he knew he was injured. It had to be bad for Katherine to look concerned. He felt weak though, so he couldn't do much.

"Damon, stay with me," he vaguely heard her tell him. "No. Damon. Look at me. I need you to stay awake. I'm not letting you die."

As he lay there, despite barely hearing her calling to him not to die, he began to lose his sight.

Eventually, Kat had found a beaten up first-aid kit, which had helped her tend to his wounds and patch them up. He'd lost a lot of blood, though. She knew what to do, because if her life had turned out differently, she would've followed in her mother's footsteps as a nurse or doctor. She'd learned what she knew from her, but also from the centuries of seeing the change of times. She didn't have any blood to restore the blood loss, though. He'd eventually woken up a little, but she'd known she couldn't keep him awake. She'd been able to call Caroline to help get him out of here, but she didn't know how long it would take for them to be found.

"Come on, Damon," she called, holding in as much of her emotions as she could, as she started to do heart compressions. "Breathe for me." She bent down and kissed him, giving him some air. "Don't die on me now. I didn't escape a prison world to watch you die." She did some more heart compressions, before kissing him, giving him some more air. She wasn't giving up on him. She would always love him, no matter what. Besides, she liked to think if their positions were reversed, he'd do the same for her.

After what felt like ten minutes or so, she felt him breathing, which relieved her. She didn't know what she'd do if he ever died before she died for the very last time.

She rested a hand on the side of his face.

"You don't get to die on me. You hear me? Stay with me."

Several hours later, he was out of surgery, a human Kat seated on his bedside, her hand on his right one. She'd done all she could while she'd been in the tunnels with him, but he'd been in really horrible shape when she'd been pacing, waiting for an answer if he'd live or not. He was alive now, had survived surgery, and now just had to recover. After the whole ordeal, she didn't know when he'd wake up. Neither did the doctors. With the cure in him though, Caroline hadn't wanted to try any blood on him. All Kat could do was stay with him and talk to him, even though she hated one way conversations.

"I'm here, Damon. I'm not abandoning you," she assured him. "You made it to the hospital and through the surgery. You just need to heal and wake up. You might be wondering what I'm doing alive. I escaped Kai's prison world. It doesn't matter how I'm here, though. All that matters to me right now, is you're alive."

Many months later, he woke up to find himself in the hospital, just as he'd heard Katherine say he was. She was also still there, seated on his bedside, a hand on his.

"You saved me," he stated, slowly sitting up in bed.

"Of course, I did. I couldn't just let or watch you die. I lied when I said I never loved you. I was protecting your well-being. I knew Klaus was coming to town. It was the only thing I knew how to save you. I'll always save you if you need it. Besides, you probably would've done the same if our positions were reversed," she replied and confessed to him.

Several months later, she'd been staying with Damon for a long time. After everything they'd gone through for those several months, they'd eventually gotten back together, Damon having fallen back in love with her. They'd worked on their grudges from the past, so they'd moved on from all of that. He'd forgiven her eventually, even. And so, they got a happy ending with each other.