Changing For The Better

Chapter 19

Chapter 19: All's Well in Mystic Falls

Katherine wakes up and turns to find the other half of the bed empty. She frowns but then finds a note on the bedside table.

"Headed out for a bit. Will be back later," Katherine says, reading the note aloud. She throws the covers off and heads into the shower.

Meanwhile Stefan arrives at a cabin in the woods. "Qetsiyah?" He calls out.

"Stefan? What are you doing here?" She asks curiously.

"I need your help. May I come in?" He asks politely. She nods and he enters the cabin. He begins to explain the whole story to her.

"Wow. So, this is the prophesized baby, huh?" Qetsiyah asks.

"How did you know?" Stefan asks curiously.

"Because it was my prophecy," Qetsiyah smirks.

"Is there any way to save her? Please?" Stefan begs.

"There is, but I don't think you're going to like it," She replies in a sing song voice.

"I'll do anything," Stefan pleads. She explains exactly what he'll have to do, and he swallows, knowing how difficult this is going to be and how much Katherine is going to hate this and may try to kill him for doing it.

Finally, after a long conversation with instructions and warnings, Qetsiyah asks, "Are you sure you want to do this?" Stefan nods and takes the vial from her.

"I'll see you in a few months," Qetsiyah says and Stefan hugs her before leaving.

Damon sips his bourbon while trying to figure out what to do about the whole Bonnie situation. "Still thinking about Bonnie, huh?" Katherine asks. He groans.

"Look, first thing's first, we need to find out how her date went," She explains, "I think we should ask Caroline."

"She hates me," Damon rolls his eyes before his expression becomes serious, "And for good reason." Katherine squeezes his shoulder in comfort.

"She forgave me for literally killing her, I think she'll find it in her heart to help you," She smiles before calling Caroline and asking her to come over.

Stefan returns to find Caroline, Damon, Katherine and Jeremy in deep conversation. He looks at them curiously, "What's going on here?"

"We're plotting," Katherine smiles mischievously. Stefan raises his eyebrow.

"For good, not for evil," Katherine pouts.

"Okay," He kisses her forehead, "I'm going to change my clothes and I'll help."

They fill Stefan in on Damon's problem, and he doesn't look the least bit surprised. Everyone bounces ideas, but they conclude that Damon needs to play the long game, regardless of how Bonnie's date went because she'll never believe anything else considering his playboy history.

Over the next few months while Bonnie dates the loser from the bar as Damon calls him, Damon works on being the best friend she could ask for. They do movie nights, grab coffee, really everything people do in a relationship minus the physical stuff – not that that stops Damon from picturing the physical stuff. He bides his time, waiting for the loser from the bar to mess up so he can swoop. He grows increasingly frustrated while waiting but she's worth waiting for.

Bonnie likes Derek just fine – He's handsome and sweet and caring and so very boring. He just doesn't ignite a spark in her... Not the way Damon does. She's been hanging out with Damon daily, and he's pretty much become her best friend despite their regular banter. She misses him when he's not around. Sometimes it feels more like Damon is her boyfriend not Derek.

Stefan and Katherine spend more time together, falling more and more for each other. When Katherine isn't with Stefan, she's playing videogames with Jeremy or having a girls' days with Caroline and occasionally Bonnie or bantering with Damon in a completely platonic way. Stefan grows closer to his brother now that they aren't fighting over the same girl, and weirdly enough bonds with Tyler when Caroline is spending time with Katherine.

The new and improved gang has a game night every week which has mandatory attendance, and everyone starts getting closer. Elena disappeared from everyone's lives. At first Bonnie and Caroline tried to keep in contact but being around them reminded her of Stefan and Damon and made her so unbelievably angry and jealous that she was hard to be around. The only ones who see her anymore are Jeremy and Matt though it's usually once, maybe twice a week.

What the gang doesn't know is that Elena is busy doing her research to 'fix' the problem. She wants that baby gone because for her that's when everything went wrong. She's researching everything from the possibility of time travel to magic spells and potions to get rid of 'it' (as she refers to it). As a last resort, she plans to call Klaus, but she's trying to exhaust every avenue before resorting to that since who knows what collateral damage comes along with bringing Klaus into the picture.

All seems to be well in Mystic Falls, but how long can that really last?