You are my Freedom

Memory Lane

Damon is fresh out of the shower when Clara gets home, he gives her a playful whistle appreciating her new look and comes up behind her holding her body against his damp naked one.

"Who are you and what have you done with my wife?" he whispers as he starts placing kisses along her neck.

Clara lets her head fall back on Damon's chest, "hmm, are you sure you care?"

Damon twirls her around, "So, I take girls night went well? Please tell me there was a lingerie pillow fight?" Clara giggles making him pout,

"Sorry to disappoint... anything I can do to make that pout disappear?" Damon thinks for a second then gets a devious little grin,

"Oh no."

"How about having a naked pillow fight with me... now."

"I feel kind of gross," Damon is ready to hear a flat-out rejection but Clara surprises him, "mind if I take a shower first?"

"Hmm, hot water might be gone... I might have to join you, help keep you warm in there."

Down the hall Stefan is in bed he wakes up with "Elena" sleeping next to him with her head on his chest.

"Hey, are you okay?"

"Yeah. Yes, bad dream. Get back to sleep." Stefan finds it weird he was just having a dream about Katherine unless...

He gets out of the bed at vamp speed. He realizes it was not Elena but Katherine in bed with him, she must have gotten in his head.

"Katherine."

"You have to admit I am getting better at this... It was easy to get inside of your head. Have you completely forsaken your nature?"

[He rushes over her but she easily pushes him away and he falls.]

"Are we really gonna do this again? You and I both know I could rip you to shreds and do my nails at the same time."

"What do you want?"

"I wanted to see you. I missed you, Stefan. Indulge me for a little while, please?"

"Why are you back in town?"

Katherine smiles, "3 reasons: you, you and you."

"You see, I can't quite get that down. Just kind of...gets stuck in my throat," Stefan tells her not buying whatever she's trying to pass off as charm,

"Well, you know, it's the truth. Deep down inside that gorgeous body of yours, there's the Stefan that fell in love with me too."

Katherine gets up and leaves sauntering downstairs. She can hear Damon and Clara happily enjoying each other's company and it makes her want to rip their heads off.

Stefan puts on some clothes and joins Katherine downstairs determined to get a straight answer out of her.

Katherine is sipping Damon's bourbon and reading Stefan's journal lounging on the couch like she owns the place.

In Stefan's journal she finds the picture of herself, she takes it and shows it to Stefan.

"Why did you keep this picture? Why not burn it? Tear it up? You want to know why I came back. Well, I have a better question: Why did you? For Elena? No. You came back here to fall in love with me all over again, didn't you?"

[He rushes toward her and gently touches her face.]

"What is it about you that makes me still care?" Hope bubbles up in Katherine, she's happy she at least made one Salvatore brother really fall for her, but before she can celebrate Stefan uses a kiss to distract her while he puts a vervain dart in her back.

She falls unconscious on the couch.

Stefan doesn't waste the opportunity and quickly takes Katherine to the cells in the basement and chains her up.

Damon and Clara finally out of the shower hear Stefan starting to interrogate Katherine, they start getting dressed so they can quickly join him.

Katherine wakes up restrained and furious,

"Now, where were we?" Stefan asks, "That's right; you were going to tell me why you came back to Mystic Falls, weren't you?"

"You don't have to do this."

"Answer the question."

"Yeah Kitty Kat, answer the question." Katherine looks behind Stefan to see her one failure and his bothersome wife have come to join the party.

"I came back for you." She says looking back at Stefan, "and you." she says gazing over again to Damon.

"Wasn't interest then, not interested now."

"Plus now you can't force him with compulsion," Clara adds.

"Trust me, I didn't have to compel all those moans, he might not have chosen anything but he sure as hell enjoyed it." Katherine's taunting was getting to Clara and she has to be held back

"We're gonna play by my rules now," Stefan says taking back control,

Stefan puts on gloves and grabs some growing vervain, he goes toward Katherine and puts the vervain on her cheek, burning her skin.

Her screams bring a smile to Clara's face.

"Answer the question," Stefan tells her again as he gets another bundle of the harmful plant,

"You're going to torture me now?"

"I'll do whatever it takes to get you to tell me the truth."

"I'll do it just for fun," Clara adds,

Damon smiles at his wife, "I'll help, couples are supposed to enjoy shared interests after all."

Stefan sighs, "you know, we can sit here as long as you want. And when you start to desiccate, there's a tomb with your name on it."

"Do you pretend to be human when you're with Elena? Is that the appeal?" Katherine asks,

"Actually, I don't pretend to be anything when I'm with her. That's the whole point. I get to just be myself."

"Does she know that you love me?"

"I don't."

Damon smirks, "No one does, no one ever did."

Katherine shoots Damon a look, "that's where you're wrong, Damon. Stefan, Don't you remember bringing me home that night? Your family had taken me in..."

Flashback Salvatore Estate 1864:

"I had a lovely time, Stefan."

"How long do you plan on staying in Mystic Falls?"

"As long as I'm wanted. Your father has been very kind to give me a shelter."

"How could he not? Losing your family in the fire, gratefully you made it to Atlanta."

"So, I gather I'm wanted?"

Stefan blushes, "uh, very much so. I know...we've only known each other for a short while and I know I'm in competition for your affections but I've never met a woman quite like you. I look at you and I see an angel. I touch your skin and my entire body ignites. I kiss you and I know that I'm falling in love."

He leans in and kisses her, "I am in love with you."

Katherine looks serious for a moment, "there's so much you don't know about me, Stefan."

"More to learn and love."

"I must say good night."

"I have upset you?"

"No, you haven't upset me, you've just surprised me. Until tomorrow."

[She goes in her bedroom. Damon is there. He goes toward her and kisses her.]

"What are you doing here?"

"You told me to come."

"Right... well, I'm tired, you should go."

"Did my little brother's confession overwhelm you?" Damon asks,

"You shouldn't eavesdrop."

"Is my love not enough?"

"It might be, if you gave it freely, look I told you, I'm tired."

"I wish to be alone tonight. Please leave," [She compels him.]

"Goodnight Katherine."

[He leaves. She touches her lips remembering Stefan's declaration.]

Back in the "present":

"Go ahead, Stefan. Torture me, keep me captive, drain me of my blood until my body turns to dust. It'll never change the truth. I never compelled your love. It was real and so was mine."

She looks at Damon, "yours might have been too if I had gotten a little more time with you before that pesky counsel caught on."

Stefan clears his throat, "well, whatever feelings I had back then, they all turned to hate."

"Love, hate, such a fine line, I can wait. Anyway back to my story, it was George Lockwood that cut our time together short, he was causing all sorts of trouble.

He used the vampires to cover up his own tracks by telling the founding families about us. Luckily for me, he was willing to strike a deal."

"What kind of a deal?" Damon asks finally interested,

"A deal to rid the town of vampires."

1864:

Katherine and George are walking in the grounds of the Salvatore estate.

"I just spoke to Giuseppe Salvatore. The roundup happens tonight."

Katherine nods "good, insists that they do a body count before the church is set ablaze."

"I will."

"27 vampires."

George nods, "once the flames create chaos, crawl to the exit under the quire loft. I'll be there to set you free."

"Make sure you're not followed. I need everyone to believe I perished in that fire, and I have the perfect person to send in as my replacement."

"Present":

Damon stares at her with unmasked rage, "I'm going to enjoy ripping your heart from your body."

Katherine smirks, "any excuse to get your hands on me? What's a matter, already bored playing house with wifey? Face it, Damon, you were never meant to be domesticated I was trying to set your free."

Stefan steps in front of Damon, "you knew that they were gonna burn the vampires in the church?"

Katherine just rolls her eyes at him, "I practically lit the match."

"They were your friends, they were your family and you just sold them out."

"Without blinking."

"What did George get in return?" Clara asks, "For giving you your freedom."

"Something he wanted desperately."

Stefan picks up on Clara's thinking, "so you sent 27 of your friends to their death, just to fake your own? No, you were running from something. What was it?"

"Everyone has a past, Stefan. Mine needed to stay far far away but thanks to you my plan nearly failed before it even began." She said looking at Clara,

"You just couldn't leave it alone! You kept coming around, even going to Giuseppe getting him suspicious of me. It was easy enough to take you out of the picture but the seeds of doubt you planted were harder to weed out. Once George told me that the roundup was imminent, I made sure I could see Stefan one last time,"

She turns to Stefan, "but your father used your love for me against you, he poisoned your blood."

"We came for you, we tried to save you."

"I didn't want to be saved."

"So then Damon and I died for nothing! Clara locked away for a century and a half for nothing!" Stefan screams at her,

"No, Stefan, you died for love! and Clara... picked a fight she never had a chance at winning, she paid the price."

"I want what I want, Stefan, and I don't care what I have to do to get it. My list of victims is a long one, and I have no problem adding one more name to that list."

"Come on Katherine. If you wanted Elena dead, you would have done it by now."

"Still can. If I have to, I will snap her neck like a twig and you know it."

[He rushes over to her with a stake that he pulled from a chair and hovers over her with it but he regains control of his senses and throws it.]

Katherine giggles, "I guess you don't hate me as much as you thought you did."

"Well I do." Clara announces as she rushes over to Katherine and strangles her.

Damon comes at her his face deadly as he has grabbed the stake Stefan discarded, he is ready to end her once and for all.

Katherine seeing that Damon is serious snaps the restraints and throws Clara off her causing Damon to miss and get her shoulder.

Katherine takes out the stake barely flinching and throws it into Damon's stomach. Stefan comes at her as Clara races to Damon, she easily holds Stefan up against the wall. Clara helps Damon get the stake out of his wounded abdomen.

"I have been sipping vervain every single day for the last 145 years. You caught me by surprise once, I wasn't gonna let it happen again. It doesn't hurt me, Stefan."

"What? Why?"

"I told you, I missed you, Stefan. I just wanted to spend some time with you, them I was not expecting to be part of the deal." She motions to the couple behind her.

Elena comes in and walks into Katherine as she's leaving

"You must be Elena."

Elena is in shock, "how is this possible? How do we look exactly alike?"

Katherine doesn't answer but looks at her from top to bottom. She touches her neck with one finger as she speaks and walks behind her.

"You're asking the wrong questions." Stefan hears Elena and races up

"Elena?!"

[She turns her head. Katherine is not here anymore.]

"Are you okay?"

"Not really. Are you okay?" She asks in return,

"Not really."

Damon, supported by Clara, walk in and rest on the sofa still recovering from Katherine's attack.

"We're just dandy over here, thanks for asking," Damon says sarcastically.

Clara's phone rings, she see's it's Caroline

"Hey, Caroline. Now's not a good time."

"I need your help, against Katherine... she's making me spy on Elena, she's threatened Matt."

Clara looks to Elena,

"Ready to hear my plan now?"