❝i'm me❞

"JOHN GILBERT OFFERED ME A DEAL."

Damon looks up from one of the last Gilbert journals he and Katherine had yet to get to, a frown on his face. "What?"

Katherine folds into the couch across from him, crossing her arms over her chest and avoiding his gaze. It's the first time Damon remembers her being so human looking, besides when she attempted to impersonate Elena. "John and Isobel offered me a deal because they want you and Stefan out of Elena's life."

"That's old news," Damon scoffs. "And I'm not willingly in her life, I'm trying to end it."

Katherine gives him a passive aggressive smile that looks much more familiar on her face instead of the hesitation. "He knew that killing Elijah would get me out of the tomb, so he gave me a choice. Either I stay and help with Klaus, or he kills Stefan."

"That doesn't explain why he still tried to have me killed. Or why you would let him, knowing I was with the Originals."

"I was relying on my infamous Petrova allure to get me out of that one,"

Damon snorted, able to recognize the sarcasm in her tone. He closed the journal and gave Katherine his full attention, making the vampire let out a long sigh. "That was part of the deal. I could only save one of you."

A realization dawns on Damon and he can't resist the slight smile that grows on his face.

"So you chose Stefan," Katherine nods. "You were hoping I'd dagger Elijah just to keep up appearances and end up dying in the meantime, because you didn't know I planned on killing John the entire time."

She shrugs, a silent, what can you do?  written on her face. "I wasn't betting on you being able to deal with Alaric finding anything out. He's your butt buddy, for some reason."

Damon sat up, ready to respond, but stopped short when his phone rang on the coffee table between them. He grabbed it before Katherine could, glaring at her as he answered. "What, Caroline?"

"Stefan killed Luka,"

"What?"

"Jonas is at the bar trying to find Elena. I won't be able to stop him from killing her unless I give myself away. I need your help, Damon."

Katherine and Damon share a look of panic, and Damon drops the Gilbert journal into her lap and walks toward the front door, grabbing his jacket off the coat rack. Katherine stands, holding the journal in one hand, giving him a dubious look. "Where are you going?"

He sighs, glaring as he hangs up on Caroline. "To kill a witch."

Katherine speeds in front of him, stopping him with a hand on his chest. "Wait. Let me help, please."

He hesitates, but nods, already dialing Elijah's number into the keypad on his phone.

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Damon swung the door open to the grill, pushing past the scattering humans. His eyes immediately flew to the flames lighting up the bar and the tables. "Caroline!"

Damon's eyes darted frantically around the Grill, finally landing on the witch holding his hands against Caroline's head, giving her an aneurysm. "Jonas, stop!" He yanked the witch away from Caroline, throwing him back into the wall. Caroline crumpled to the ground, grabbing her head with a hoarse scream of pain.

"I'm not leaving without Elena," Jonas growled, pinned beneath Damon's threatening hold. "My son is dead because of your brother."

"Trust me, I'll handle that," Damon muttered back, his eyes searching the angry man's face. "But you can't kill Caroline or Elena. Klaus will kill your daughter without hesitation."

"The only way I can get her back is if I have Elena!"

"We already have Elena!" Damon looks over his shoulder, his eyes widening when he sees Caroline kneeling over Matt, muttering hysterically to try to get him to drink her blood.

"Doctor Martin, I'm afraid you've become a liability," Elijah's voice comes over the chaos as he and Rose step into the bar, the latter of the two hurrying over to Caroline and Matt.

Jonas's eyes fill with fear amidst his mourning and his vengeful rage, and briefly he realizes what he's done.

Damon lets go of the witch and shares a nod with Elijah before rushing over to Caroline. He pulls the sobbing teenager off the ground while Rose grabs Matt and throws his arm over shoulder, helping him stumble haphazardly towards the door.

"Caroline, we have to go, come on," Damon wraps his hand around her waist and tries to pull her towards the exit before the entire bar goes up in flames, but in her wavering stream of consciousness, she lunges for Jonas, who's standing before Elijah silently.

Damon pulls her back before she can attack him, and he grunts lowly when her elbow digs into his ribs. "Hey! He's being dealt with. We have to go, now."

She slumps against him, her head throbbing, and nods in surrender. Damon sighs as her eyes roll back, and he wraps a hand around her waist, picking her up with ease and carrying her out of the bar as pained screams follow behind him.

Caroline leans her head against his shoulder, her rapid heartbeat finally calming as the pain begins to dull. "Elena," She sighs out, drawing Damon's attention. "Did he... did he get Elena?"

Damon frowns at her concern. "Caroline,"

"We need her," Caroline looks up at him with hazy eyes. "For Klaus."

Relief floods him when he realizes she hadn't slipped back into her old ways and signed a death sentence by betraying them. "Elena's still alive, for now. Katherine decided to help out."

Caroline huffs a laugh, the sound dazed. "Katherine helped?"

Damon can't help but laugh, too. "I know, Barbie. Anything's possible."

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Damon laid Caroline down in one of the guest bedrooms, covering her up with the blanket folded at the end of the bed. She sighed, immediately cuddling into the pillows and falling asleep after the action from earlier.

"You would've been a good dad."

Damon tenses at the words, and he turns around to face Katherine with a glare. She looks more like herself now, instead of Elena, with her hair curled instead of straightened and her usual revealing clothes back in place of the plain ones Elena usually sported.

"I thought we were done talking about feelings, Katherine." He deadpans his words, careful to leave his bitterness out of them. He was tired of wasting his breath on her, but the comment hit a sore spot he wasn't willing to visit right now, if ever. Especially with her.

She sighs, letting him push past her out of the bedroom before turning on her feet and following him down the hallway. "We are. But I'm starting to feel a certain way about my actions. It's like this pit in my stomach that makes me nauseous, and I want to apologize to people, and actually mean it. It's awful."

Damon frowns at her, stopping to get a drink from the minibar in the study. "Guilt. You're feeling guilt, Katherine."

The vampire stops short, her face coated in shock. "I don't feel guilt, though. I don't feel anything– I'm– I'm me. Why do I feel guilty, Damon?"

"It's called being human, it's something most people experience, I'm sure you've heard of it before,"

Katherine falls down on the couch with a dull thud, and a frown on her face, completely disregarding Damon's sarcastic response. "It's horrible,"

He hums, taking a sip of his drink. "Tell me about it,"

He sits down next to her, heaving a sigh as the exhaustion starts to creep in and make him sink further into the couch. Katherine takes his drink from him and sips at it gingerly, making him glare silently at her.

"Why am I feeling human things all of the sudden?"

Katherine's genuine curiosity makes him huff a quiet laugh. "I don't know, Katherine. Maybe someone's finally managed to make you feel real things."

Her frown only deepens. "But who?"

Damon doesn't have an answer for that.

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author's note; I love Katherine but she's still a bit of an antagonist in this story srry

edited and published; 6.19.22.

- liz