[Episode 35 - Daddy Issues]

The news reporter drones on about a Memorial organised by Carol Lockwood when Damon comes out of the bath, freshly showered and no more worried about Kat Gilbert. Because she's standing right in front of him with a sheepish tilt of her lip "Sorry"

"Katherine Violet Gilbert" Damon says with a glare and his face scrunches up at the absurdity of what he thought he'll do.

She hugs him, wet and all "I said I'm sorry"

"Don't think I'm ever letting you use magic ever again" he holds her by the shoulders. Just then, Stefan Salvatore chooses the perfect moment to enter without knocking. He looks between them and turns around "Sorry"

"No no! Stefan, it's okay... I was going anyway" she staggers up and about, snatching the glass in his hand and gulping it down, only then realising "Vervain in your whiskey? In the morning?"

Damon speaks from behind "Good, you're a non-witch for the day"

"You've been practising magic?" Stefan brows furrow.

"Just a bit" she forces the next gulp down bravely, making a small hole through her lips to let out the burn of vervain.

"Bit enough to make you faint Kat?" Damon glares, making Stefan's eyes widen "How are you now? You should have told me!"

"Just woke up, really" Kat assures him "I'll catch up, but I need to go home and search for ways to save Elena, the usual" she winks and goes out before Stefan can tell her what's waiting for her at her house.

▹▹▹

"Jenna! Coffee..." Kat yawns a bit more as she comes down the stairs in her house an hour later. The living room was empty when she came home so went ahead and took a long shower.

"Morning Kat... Jenna's asleep, but here's your coffee"

John. John fricking Gilbert, her asshole of a biological father is holding out a coffee mug to her at 9 in the morning.

"Um, what are you doing here?"

He looks at her with raised eyebrows, making her amend "Oh, I'm sorry, hi, how are you, and what the fuck are you doing here?"

"I'm here to protect you and your sister. That's all I can say for the moment..."

"What do you mean that's all you can say?" her face scrunches up incredulously "And how the fuck did you know about the... situation?"

"I'll tell you more when I'm convinced I can trust you" 

Elena comes down, fluffing her hair straight. At the same time, Jenna comes rushing from her room.

"Oh God, I'm late!" she ties her hair, skipping a step and almost falling down. Alaric looks at the Guardian with an amused face "That's what she gets for hitting the snooze three times!"

Her aunt notices John a bit later, but when she does, she comes to an absolute halt with a scrunched up face and narrowed eyes "What the hell?"

More like - welcome to Hell.

"Good morning to you, Jenna. Alaric..." he nods with a small smile. 

"It's okay I'm confused, right?" she looks between the twins with shock and turns to the 'uncle', "Because we were not expecting you, like," she huffs "ever"

"Well, I got in late last night. Elena let me in"

This causes both, Kat and Jenna to swivel their heads towards the unfortunate twin who shrugs with wide eyes.

"You know, I'll uh," Alaric picks his coat off from one of the kitchen stools, hugging a shocked Jenna and Kat at once "uh, probably just gonna take off. Bye"

"I'm still confused here" Jenna holds onto Kat. She was finally peaceful with Alaric. And whenever John comes into town, there's anything but peace for her.

"I decided to come back and stay for a while..." he glances meaningfully between the two Gilbert sisters. One who avoids his eyes and the other who glares. 

"Not here, you're not" Jenna spits, taking a step around.

"Actually..." John pours some more coffee into his own mug "-you can't stop me from living here"

"Actually I can, as legal guardian" Jenna fires right back, eyes still narrowed. Kat backs her up with a confident nod and a threatening step forward. She can't afford for him to be around when they're busy shifting werewolves and scheming to fight off Klaus. Odds are, he'll just end up spoiling whatever plans they have.

"About that...um," he looks to them with a sarcastic smile "-girls? You want me to explain the situation, or would you like to do the honours?"

"Okay, what's going on?" 

No he wouldn't... He can't-

"I'm sorry, Jenna. I should have told you earlier, but-" John cuts Elena right off.

"I'm their biological father. There," he stands up mildly smug "...now you know" He struts away, leaving Elena and Kat alone to deal with a confused Jenna.

The elder twin cringes in anticipation of the loud screech. And she gets it "What?!"

▹▹▹

"You Salvatores are really meddlesome aren't you?" Kat all but growls into her phone.

"I, um, I'm sorry"

"Sorry won't cut it Stefan. Why did you bring him?"

"I, uh, thought he'd, um..."

"He'd what?" she glares at air, eyes fighting to go gold.

"I was trying to reach Isobel-" 

Kat protests but the younger Salvatore stops her right there 

"Listen to me first. I was trying to reach out to Isobel because she might know about Klaus. But I got John instead..."

"Now I have a confused Jenna running off to the Grill for drinks, 10 in the morning"

"What happened?" Stefan frowns.

"John just blew in, announced that he's the biological father of the girls she's been taking care of, and the best part, he just fucking took off!!"

"Are you fine?" she can practically hear his concern. But she couldn't lie to him.

"Stefan... I don't know why you thought either of my birth parents could make this better, but I need your help in something..."

"Viv...." he warns.

"Fine" she huffs in anger "don't help me..."

"No, it's uh, God!" he groans, almost like a human "Will it be painful?"

"Probably"

"Will I regret it"

"Mostly"

"Are you out of your mind?!"

She rolls her eyes "Definitely. Meet me at the Falls in 10?"

"I, uh, I can't... Caroline called me, vampire stuff. How about in 2 hours?"

Just as she cuts the call, she sighs, he may not like this... But she has to connect to her old life.

▹▹▹

An hour later, she climbs up the steps of her treehouse. She kept Alaric's bow and arrows there along with a few paintings that need to go to sale.

Opening the door, something rustles at her feet, making her look down to a bulky book with a paper pinned to it.

Dear Letta,

You were once, everything that held the world for me. I deserve to be tortured every second of my immortal days for letting go of you.

If you would give me a chance, all I would want is for you to not face the same fate when you last left me.

Here is a token of my trust, and if you want to remember, my love.

Always and Forever,

Your Elijah

She takes the bulky book into her hand and settles down beside her paintings to read through. Her Grimoire.

Elijah just gave her the one thing that might save Elena and her lives. Including the ones all around Mystic Falls.

Smiling, she slings her quiver over one shoulder, holding the bow and the Grimoire in her hands.

Some time later, she squints at the makeshift target on the front of the carved bark of the tree. The Falls roar just to her right as she lets the arrow go flying.

Kat sighs, her eyes automatically flitting to her car, where, on the passenger seat, lies the book.

Gritting her teeth, she whips out her phone to call Stefan again. She even has the spells now, all she needs is someone to be there. Though she was not going to admit it out loud, she was scared of what her old life might offer.

The call goes straight to voice-mail "Hey, this is Stefan, you can leave me a message after the beep"

"Okay..." she begins "I can understand if you're bored... But where are you? I'm planning to do it by myself. Can you hear me?" she taunts "I'm gonna get back my previous life memories all by myself.... B-"

A crash goes through the forest and Kat falls down to the grass. A werewolf lifts her up, smirking as he carries her off, splinters digging into the back of her head.

▹▹▹

Kat wakes up in a cage in some caravan. She's tries to get up only to see that she's tied down.

Splinters burn into her cheeks and something wet trickles at the back of her head. She struggles, wiggling her head to side.

"Caroline!" she sees the blonde vampire lying in a cage too "Care wake up please... Caroline!" she shouts now, making the blonde's flutter her eyes open, whimpering and screaming at the bullet in her head.

She takes it out, grunting as a wooden bullet falls onto the ground. Looking around, she sees Kat tied up and bloody haired, all muddy. "Oh my god Kat!" she rushes to the side, banging against the bars separating them both. "Get out" Kat's eyes widen.

Caroline goes to the front of the metal cage, hitting near the lock, when a deep voice makes her freeze "I see you got the bullet out. That was nasty. I got lots of wooden bullets.... and other toys" he smirks to the incapacitated Guardian with her bow in his hand. "It's gonna be a long night, sweet pea"

He shoots Caroline in the chest, inches to the right from her heart. Both the girls scream as he just chuckles with the psychotic twinkle in his eyes.

"Let her go you bastard!" Kat struggles once again, the ropes digging into her wrists.

His eyebrows pucker sarcastically as he shrugs "Okay.... I'll let her go... But you, on the other hand" he flexes his jaw in anger as he steps over Kat's fallen bow and returns with a cattle prod.

"Say hello to your friend Letty" he smirks devilishly, switching on the current. Sparks go to and from the two small arms, casting a glow in his hostage's eyes.

He shoots her with vervain from a water gun, burning her face and neck. She closes her eyes screaming.

Letta screams once again, holding onto Rose's hand "Make it stop! Please make it stop!" she feels her whole spine arching in pain as she writhes.

The Guardian's jutted out of the snap from the past as the man opens the cage, holding the cattle prod like a trophy. He kneels close to her, growing his claws out, his eyes going amber as his hand hovers over the Guardian's chest.

Her golden eyes widen as she growls, struggling her wrists and ankles to get out of there. "Let's see how fast you can heal baby" he plunges the prodder to her collar, making her screech.

"W-Who are you!" she backs away to the edge of the big room, palming her grey charm with trembling hands. A woman stands there, hands raised, eyes wide "It's me Letta! Neraf! Neraf!" the scared Guardian relaxes, exhaling in panic as she grabs hold of the wall behind her "Please, take me home, Elijah, please, I can't take it anymore! Yaaaaaa-a-ah" she screams "-no, I can't breath, p-pu-please" she wobbles until she falls on her face.

"Wow, you really come back fast... Take some rest sweetheart, it's blondie's turn" she sees his blurry form close the cage door with a satisfied thud and take hold of another gun.

For the next eternity, all that keeps her from giving in to unconsciousness is Caroline's screams.

▹▹▹

"Who killed Mason, huh?" the man grips her hair tightly, pulling her head behind. Caroline gets up beside her, whimpering to let them go.

Kat just blinks, trying to make sense of her surroundings. He slaps her on the cheek, shoving wooden splinters harder into her cheek. She grunts.

Jules, the new werewolf in town, comes in with a serious look "Stop vervaining her Brady, we don't have enough to last both of them, just use torture for Kat..." she says, kicking the discarded bow and quiver to the edge of the RV and going out.

Brady takes the prodder again, ripping off the Guardian's shirt with a strong free hand. This makes her chuckle, blood oozing out from her lips.

"What's so funny?" he stings her once with his device, just in the sensitive area around the injury.

"Whoever tortures me wants me out of my clothes, guess it's-" he slaps her. She spits out some blood, licking her metallic-tasting lips. She looks up with drooping eyes, taking a breath.

Jules comes in a minute later, smiling "Right here. Want proof?" she waits for someone's response and puts the call on speaker. She looks at Brady with a raised brow and pouting lips "He needs proof".

She grabs a gun on the table and shoots Caroline. She screams and whimpers, struggling against the bars.

Brady turns from that scene to the Guardian with a smirk. Without preamble, he shoves the cattle prodder into her stomach, making her drying throat screech out in heart-wrenching screams.

"No no no, no... Letta, no!" she hears Katherine cry.

Elijah pleads "No, Letta please... Don't!"

Kat writhes, closing her eyes hard, grunting in pain as stomach burns "No... No! Unh, no!"

She hears her dying whispers to Elijah in her ears, the words reverberating in her spine "L-L-Lu-Lubov... Lubov..."

Kat's eyes go wide open, looking at Brady standing far from Caroline's cage "So, How many vampires are there in this town anyway?"

She doesn't answer, so he shoots her with a squirt gun filled with vervain. She screams, holding her burning face.

"No?"

Caroline kicks at the bars, angry fangs and red eyes bared "Why are you doing this to us?! Why are you doing this? Why?!"

"You're a vampire. Why not?" he shrugs as if that answer justifies his psychotic nature. He fills a blow dart with wooden darts, coating them with vervain. Making a big show of aiming at her with one closed eye, he shoots the blonde in the neck, making both the girls scream. Caroline whimpers as she falls onto the ground.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" he turns to Kat with a glare-smirk.

"Let her out...!" the Guardian's screeches dissolving into a fit of coughs.

"Excuse me? What was that?" he enters her cage, his burly hand fisting around her throat, fingers digging deeper into the red and brown wound spreading from her collar to her heart. Stars and colours roam in Kat's eyes as she gasps, writhing.

"Ni-aaaaah!" he lets go "Hhh, hhh"

"What was that?" he grins again, making her glare through her tears "I said LET HER OUT!" He huffs and struts out.

They hear grunts outside, making both the girls' hearts leap with hope. A crash sounds at the door of the RV, and Tyler enters.

"Tyler!" Caroline exclaims in hope "Tyler! There's a latch on the door and I can't get to it" He just stands there, looking at them with an uncertain look.

"Tyler?" Kat whimpers, "Tyler please"

"Please! Tyler?" Caroline shouts, banging against the rails.

The Lockwood finally walks toward the cage and opens it for Caroline. She gets out, limping at first, but regaining her composure in a second. She goes out, only to look behind.

The werewolf stands in front of the Guardian's cage. The girl who's been there for him since he was a child. The girl who got him through the awful full moon night.

The girl who killed his uncle.

"Tyler" she groans with pain, still struggling "Tyler let me out of these"

He looks at her feet, and then again at cage beside her. He exhales and turns around, leaving Caroline to take care of her. "Tyler?" Kat croaks out "Tyler!"

Caroline doesn't waste time as she goes inside the open cage and frees her out of the tightly cutting ropes. She tears her wrist open, but she denies "Go, I'm right behind you, go!" she pushes her out.

While stumbling out, Kat takes a deep breath and hangs her abandoned quiver over her right shoulder, taking her bow with trembling hands.

Out in the clearing, a war goes on. A werewolf has Stefan pinned down to the ground with a gun to his head and far from him, Damon groans with a bloody knee under a smirking werewolf. Caroline runs out, only to be pinned to the RV by Jules.

Kat takes an arrow and stabs Jules in the back with that, she groans and falls to the ground to be held down by Caroline.

Tears in her eyes with stretching muscles, burning wrists and aching side, the Guardian smiles as she blindly aims at the man holding Stefan down. She turns to the werewolf holding the older brother down, shooting him somewhere, she can't make out where. But at least he falls down.

Just then, Brady jumps out of nowhere to dig his fingers into her wound, taking her pain to an advantage as he shoves her down on the doorsteps of his RV.

She screams, but the wolf doesn't let go.

But suddenly, Brady falls down with a screech, clutching his temples. Kat looks up to see all the werewolves in the same state.

"What's happening?" Caroline stumbles onto her feet, bypassing the fallen wolves to lift Kat up.

"What the hell is going on?" Tyler all but shouts, already distraught that his new family is fallen.

Jonas Martin - the warlock allegiant to Elijah, appears with a focused face, hands held out while casting a spell. Damon and Stefan get up off the ground with their own satisfied and clarified grunts.

"Elijah made a promise to the sisters. I'm here to see it's upheld. You need to go. Get out of here. Now" he looks pointedly at the Guardian. She nods, throwing a look to Caroline and the Salvatores.

The warlock throws a sharp look to Tyler Lockwood "When your friends awaken, give them a message: They need to get the hell out of this town"

Kat limps towards the boy who was supposed to be her brother "Tyle-" he glares at her, kneeling down to look at Jules.

"Kat... " Damon holds her from behind, freeing her of the bow and quiver "Let's go..."

"Tyler please..." she whimpers, trying to jerk free of Damon's grip. The Lockwood doesn't answer, doesn't move, proving one of her worst nightmares to be true - Tyler hates her.

▹▹▹

"So is your mom home?" Kat hears Stefan ask Caroline right outside her house.

"No, she's at work"

"I can come in, if you want me to" Stefan offers, making Kat cringe, please don't, please don't. She crosses her fingers.

"I'm fine, Stefan" Caroline states bluntly.

"You don't have to pretend with me. Anybody would be upset after what you went through tonight"

"I'm okay. I'm not girly little Caroline anymore. I can handle myself. And besides, Kat was there too..." she touches the sensitive topic.

"Yeah... She's with Elena. And besides, sure you can handle yourself..."

"I just really want to go shower so..." she steps into her house.

"Okay..."

"Good night Stefan" Caroline sighs out, closing the door gently after his 'good night'.

Kat waits till she hears Stefan gone. Coming out from behind the couch, she startles Caroline "That was a pretty tough girl act"

"Kat!" she jumps with wide eyes "How'd you come in?"

"You should really check under your doormat" she waves the extra key her friend hides in the same place since she knew about it.

"You need to go..." she sighs out and walks towards her bedroom.

The Guardian looks down at herself in her PJs "I'm sleeping over"

"I don't need you to keep me company Kat, I'm a grown girl"

She shrugs, unbuttoning the top buttonof  her shirt, offering the girl a glimpse of the healing purple wound above her heart. Caroline takes in a breath, lips trembling. The wound brings back a lot of what they went through today.

"Come 'ere" the elder Gilbert, Caroline Forbes' best friend, opens her arms with a sad smile. They're the same person for the night, both lost a friend, both were tortured.

But most importantly, both survived with a brave face.

Without words, the blonde vamps to her and hugs her tight. Kat groans when the wound burns a bit more, but smiles wider. They'll be alright.

▹▹▹

"Hi" Caroline answers the phone as her friend pulls out some wood splinters from her neck.

On the other end, she hears Matt Donovan.

"Hey. Did something happen?"

"Oh my a-" she stops right there when she sees Kat waving and shaking her head. Matt can't know anything even now "I-I'm so sorry Matt"

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah..." she trails off looking at Kat for help with wide eyes. Kat fumbles for an excuse and points to herself "Um, Kat! Uh," she looks again.

Kat indicates to her temples, rubbing with a sad pained face "Uh, something came up with Kat...! And she needed me... a f-friend thing. You understand?" she makes up, earning a thumbs-up from the Gilbert.

"Yeah... so you're with her right now?"

"Yeah. so I'm not gonna make it tonight, but can I see you tomorrow?"

"Yeah, sure. I hope everything works out. Good night..."

"Good night..." she cuts the call and sighs, shoulders drooping immediately. Kat hugs her from the side, chucking the removed splinter into the nearest dustbin.

Just then, someone knocks on the door, making Caroline wipe at her neck to remove the blood. Kat stands behind her as she opens the door to reveal Tyler.

"Are you okay?" he looks at Caroline and then hesitantly at the Guardian.

"I'm fine" Caroline grits out.

"I had no idea they would come for you" he pleads with Caroline. 

"Do you know what they did to me? To us?" Caroline's eyes narrow in anger as she steps back towards Kat, shielding her cringing form.

"I'm sorry, but it's crazy now, okay? I don't know who to trust. You lied to me, both of you, and you" he casts a disgusted and angry look to Kat "-you killed Mason"

"She lied to protect her friends" Kat murmurs guiltily "We lied to protect you. Don't you get that?" she shouts, eyes tearing up with a glare. She comes out from behind her friend and steps closer to the Lockwood "I hated killing Mason, he was as much of an uncle to me than he was to you. You just wanted him to be with to help you with the full moons. But he uprooted his whole life because he didn't want to hurt us!"

She gulps, commanding her tears to go back as she takes a breath.

"Kat...."

Caroline steps up, tears falling freely, she's had enough "You just stood there when they were going to kill us. You just stood there! You didn't do anything!"

"I didn't know what to do!"

"You help your friend," Kat growls out lowly, looking up with her golden eyes, reminding him of all she did for him, all he didn't "that's what you do"

"I'm sorry" he looks to Caroline with a pitiful look, hoping that she'll forgive him.

"No, it's too late," Caroline pins him to the threshold "because we're not friends anymore. And what happened to me tonight, that will never happen again. So, you take that back to your little werewolf pack" she lets him go, pushing him "and you get the hell out of my house!"

He gulps, nodding slowly with his head down and drives off.

Caroline looks to Kat with wet cheeks. The Guardian knew why she helped Tyler. It wasn't just because they were friends. It was because she didn't want him to have the guilt of a murder weighing him hard.

She hugs the innocent girl with assurance cooing out of her lips without demand. After all, they were sisters if not best friends.

▹▹▹

Just as Caroline goes to the fridge, the doorbell rings, making Kat get up. "Oh, I'll get it" she opens the door.

"Hey..." Stefan Salvatore smiles from the other side of the threshold.

"Stefan.... Hey...?" she raises her eyebrows. She wasn't expecting anyone except Liz tonight.

Caroline comes up behind her and waves to him "Hey, what's going on?"

"Hey... I was a bit worried about you, after everything you went through tonight" he trails off with a eyebrows raising into his hero hair.

"I'm fine, really" Caroline lies through her teeth as she puts on a smile for the sake of her best-friend.

"Good..." he smiles sheepishly, doing that thing where he looks down and looks up with a twinkle "But, just in case, I brought some back up" Elena and Bonnie walk from behind him, carrying some pillows and treats.

"We're gonna slumber it!" Elena smiles innocently wide, arms opening for them.

"We haven't done it in ages" Bonnie chuckles with an excited bounce, making Caroline and Kat smile and bite their lips at the prospect. "Aw come here ya'll" Caroline pulls them all into a hug, Stefan standing outside with a small satisfied. Kat cringes in pain wordlessly as Elena's shoulder digs a bit too hard into her injury. 

She looks at Stefan who mouths an 'I love you too'.

Her heart thuds but she feels her sister blow him a kiss from inside the hug. Kat smiles disappointedly, looking down at the group of crowded feet around hers.

They all go inside, but Stefan's voice stops them, or Kat and Elena particularly "Um, could Viv come out, just for a minute...?"

Elena hesitates but the elder Gilbert chuckles humourlessly "I'm my own boss, come on" she walks out, with a nod to encourage the rest of the girls to start inside. 

She looks up at him, her hands in the pockets of her PJs. "So?"

"Let's walk huh?" he asks, starting off the driveway only when Kat does. They walk out of the range of the Forbes' house "Spit it out Stefan"

"Can't you stay out of deadly situations for one day!" he bursts out angrily, turning to her with a glare.

"The fuck did I do! I was in the woods waiting for you with my Grimoire! I can't help that everyone wants my head on a platter!" she bursts out, enunciating her expression with a weak push.

"Everyone doe- wait your Grimoire?" he stops with a confused look.

"Sit" she points to the bench on the side of the road. He protests but she shoves him onto it "Now..." she sits on the other edge of the bench, hands on her elbows "You need to listen with a non-biased ear okay? And please say I'm not crazy"

"Uh.... what?" 

"I asked you to listen!" she twists his ear and he grunts "Okay okay okay, I'm listening I'm listening I'm listening!"

After two whole minutes of the Guardian rambling about all that she's seen about Letta, he takes a shaky breath "Elijah was your lover?"

"Is that the thing that caught your attention! I can sto-" the rest of her words go muffled as he places his palm over her trembling mouth with a shush "Okay, okay.... So you think you need those memories back" She sighs, mouth still blocked. Relaxing, she nods weakly.

"To help kill Klaus....?"

She slaps his palm away "When Klaus killed me in my previous life, I died, but he's a supernatural being. So there must have been something either wrong with me, or made wrong with me"

"You think Klaus got a witch make you normal so you could be killed?"

"And so that I don't do something.... I wanna find out what that something is, because maybe I'll be able to kill him then"

He doesn't speak, he just bites the inside of his cheek, rubbing his palms over his face "I'll help you," she smiles "But... But." he warns her "I still don't trust Elijah"

"Pfft, I may not like him," she says, involuntarily lifting a weight in his heart ", but he's keeping us safe. So until Letta" she makes air-quotes around her past-name "doesn't show up, he's the best bet... Where is he anyway?"

"I don't think we should meet him now, we can talk about it tomorrow...." Stefan gets up quickly, brushing the topic off.

"Thanks" she says out of the blue.

"For what?"

"You came to save us even if you might have been outnumbered... That was brave of you" she smiles and gets up, walking again. The next step, she stumbles forward when Stefan hugs her from behind "Don't ever disappear on me again" he mumbles over her shoulder.

"You know I'll keep doi- ow" she winces and pushes the vampire off.

"What's wrong Viv! Vivi?" he comes in front of her, holding her by the shoulder as she grits out once more "Let go, let go Stefan!" she pushes him off with her right hand, which immediately goes to just above her heart.

"What's wrong? Let me see! Let me see Vi-"

"Just leave it okay! It's" she winces "nothing" she couldn't hide the painful tears anymore.

"Viv... What happened"

She leans onto his shoulder, biting her lip with tears "Can I cry?" she whispers. He runs a hand through her hair, whispering right back "What happened?"

"Did you know what happened in that trailer?"

He goes stiff "What happened?"

She looks around, finding and hearing no one. She unbuttons the top button, making Stefan look away "You wanted to see," she pulls the piece of cloth a bit to her left to reveal purple and brown veins. 

"Wha-"

"Cattle prod, a bitch in the collar" she buttons it up again, the younger Salvatore's brows furrow and he takes his wrist up.

Kat pushes it back with a glare "I didn't tell you so you could heal me" she walks away with a wave as goodnight.

"Why did you tell me then?"

She stops, looking over her shoulder with her sad jade eyes shining in the streetlight "Because I deserve what happened today, and I couldn't go without telling you"

She starts again, only to have Stefan say louder "Where are you going? You need to heal Kat!"

This time, she goes, muttering her response with a resigned shake of her head "I'm going back to your girlfriend Stefan"