Changing For The Better

Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Drive me home

"I'm gonna go check on Katherine," Stefan announces before leaving the room. Caroline looks at Damon expectantly, but Damon's eyes for some reason are on Bonnie. 

"I guess I'll go check on Elena then," Caroline announces and sighs before going after Elena.

As Damon looks at Bonnie, he remembers what one of the witches said as they were leaving. "You're pining after the Petrova doppelganger, but she's not your soulmate. You're missing what's right in front you."

'She couldn't have been talking about Bonnie, could she? Bonnie hates me,' Damon thinks. When he closes his eyes, he can almost feel her breath on him, just as when he caught her. 

'No. No. No. This is insane. I love Elena, even if I'm not with her. And Bonnie is with Jeremy. We just had a weird moment, that was it.' Damon tries to assure himself and push away thoughts of a woman that definitely isn't Elena.

Suddenly he feels a tapping on his shoulder, and he opens his eyes to find Bonnie right in front of him. "Can you drive me home?" Bonnie asks, "I got a ride here... Matt is still playing video games and I'm really tired, so I don't feel like waiting an hour for them to finish."

Damon gulps. "Yeah, uh sure, let's go."

Bonnie places a chaste kiss on Jeremy's lips and tells him Damon is giving her a ride home.

Meanwhile Stefan enters the room to find Katherine lying flat on the bed looking up at the ceiling. "Are you okay?" Stefan asks. Katherine gives him a look. "Right. Stupid question."

"I went from dying to basically getting told I have nine months to live and another child of mine will grow up without me," Katherine looks at the floor.

He lifts her chin up. "You're Katherine Pierce. You're a survivor. If anyone can beat the odds, it's you."

She smiles at him. "Well, I'm glad to know that this baby will be in safe hands."

"And so will you," Stefan says looking into her eyes.

She moves closer to him and plants a kiss on his lips. "Come on," Stefan says, "Let's get you to bed." He picks her up and places her on her side of the bed before grabbing the covers and covering her with it. "Do you need anything?"

"I'm a little thirsty," Katherine admits. Stefan nods. 

"I'll be right back." He goes downstairs to get her a glass of water.

Caroline catches up to Elena. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Am I okay?" Elena laughs, "My friends all forgot about me, I just got dumped and my ex-boyfriend is screwing my enemy and now my enemy is having his baby!"

"Look we didn't mean to forget... Everyone was just really stressed about this prophecy stuff. And as for the Stefan thing, it's not really your business who he sleeps with considering you jumped into the sack with his actual brother less than a day after breaking his heart. And yeah, Katherine is pregnant, but that's not changing any time soon, so you just have to find a way to get used to it."

"Don't you get it Caroline? It's a doppelganger prophecy! That baby could have been mine! It should be mine, not hers!" Elena argues.

Stefan overhears them arguing and is angered when he hears Elena's words. Nevertheless he calmly walks into the room and stands before Caroline and Elena who are surprised by his presence.

"Well, it's not your baby Elena. You chose to be with Damon over me," Stefan says.

"So, what you're just settling with Katherine now?" Elena asks bitterly.

"I'm not settling for anything... How I feel about Katherine is none of your business. But you are going to have to get on board with the fact that we're having a baby together."

"But Stefan, Katherine is evil!" Elena protests.

Stefan laughs. "I literally invented the word Ripper. Damon was still continuing his revenge fantasy on the Whitmores, most of which were innocent, while dating you. You've killed people in the name of saving Damon. Are you saying that we're all evil too?"

"It's different," Elena argues.

"No, Elena, it's not. We've all done horrible things. Katherine is trying to make up for some of those things. You gave Damon a chance to redeem himself, so why can't I offer Katherine the same?"

"Because Katherine took advantage of you and Damon! She tried to kill us multiple times!"

"You mean like how Damon took advantage of Caroline or tried to hurt Bonnie or actually did kill Jeremy?"

Elena opens her mouth and closes it.

Stefan sighs. "Look I'm not asking you to be happy about it, but this... this is my one chance at being a father. It's a chance I thought I'd never have and if you ever cared about me, you'll let me be." He walks out the room with a glass of water in his hand.

Elena groans. "I just wish he could see everything how it really is."

Caroline shakes her head at Elena in disbelief. "Maybe you're the one that doesn't want to see." She walks out the room, leaving Elena all alone.

Stefan gets to his room to find Katherine already asleep. He places the glass of water on the bed side table next to her and kisses her forehead. He takes off his jeans and shirt and gets into bed.

As soon as he gets into bed, she turns and snuggles against him. Katherine sighs contently. Stefan can't help thinking about how much she looks like an angel, just like she did all those years ago.