15. Gone Girl

"Nadia?" Katherine called out.

"Please, I need to know" Nadia whispered, hallucinating because of Klaus's werewolf bite.

"Nadia? I'm right here" Katherine assured, walking over to her daughter, "I'm right here".

Nadia looked at Katherine, "I was dreaming, how I searched for you from village to village".

"I know, I heard you, you said that I abandoned you" Katherine said, "You were ripped from my arms as a baby, it's completely different".

"Not for a child without a mother" Nadia said.

"You know, all this guilt is really taking all the fun out of this mother-daughter outing" Katherine said, "I'm sorry Klaus bit you, but you're not going to die".

"Did you at least try asking Klaus for his blood?" Nadia asked, "He would always give his blood to Aria".

"Oh, my, you really are delirious" Katherine replied, "Nadia, he would love nothing more than to watch my daughter die".

"And you don't want to risk being outed" Nadia realised.

"No, I don't" Katherine agreed, "So that's why I called him".

"Nice to meet you, I'm Dr. Maxfield" Wes introduced, walking over to the mother daughter duo.

"And luckily for us, he'd love nothing more than to study your blood" Katherine told Nadia.

"Well, werewolf venom isn't easy to come by" Wes informed, kneeling by Nadia.

"Get away from me" Nadia snapped.

"It's okay" Katherine assured, "Nadia, it's okay".

"Listen to your mother" Wes said, "The venom in your blood is a toxin with basic chemical properties, once I study its makeup, I can create the antidote".

"It's okay, come on, come on, there you go" Katherine said, rolling Nadia's sleeve up, and Wes easily taking some of Nadia's blood out.

"If I'd known I just had to die to drag your attention from Kol, I would have tried it a long time ago" Nadia told Katherine.

After taking Nadia's blood, Wes turned to Katherine, "We had a two part deal".

"I know" Katherine said, pulling out a test tube out of her jacket, "Aria's blood, as promised".

"Great" Wes said, taking Aria's blood, "I'll see you two soon".

"If you're trying to make me feel guilty, it's almost working" Katherine told Nadia, after Wes had walked away.

"I'm just glad you're here now" Nadia said.

"Me too" Katherine said, "I'm going to be a better mother starting right now, I promise you, I'm going to save your life".

***

"Are you kidding me?!" Caroline snapped, "All this time Katherine has been hovering around us, and the minute we find a way to bring Aria back, she disappears?!".

"Calm down love" Klaus said, "She's going to have to come back sooner or later, because she doesn't know that we know she's not Aria".

"And if she wants to keep her act up, she's going to have to show her face eventually" Elijah said.

"Elijah, are you sure the knife won't harm the babies?" Kol asked.

"I'm sure" Elijah replied, "The traveler that gave us this knife--".

"You mean the traveler we tortured to give us the knife" Rebekah interrupted.

"Same thing" Both Kol and Klaus said.

"That traveler told us that, Aria and Damon's babies are meant to be born, nothing will stop them from being born, not even stabbing Aria with the traveler's knife" Elijah assured.

"Still, we should be gentle" Caroline said, "It might be Katherine's soul we're trying to stab, but it is still Aria's body".

"Agreed" Rebekah said.

"Let's get ready to attack that bitch" Kol said, "Without hurting Aria".

"Wait hold on, guys, this is Katherine that we're talking about" Caroline reminded, "She's gonna see a sneak attack coming from a mile away, we got to get her to come to us, get her guard down, corner her".

"Well, with me biting Nadia, I doubt we'll see her tonight" Klaus reminded.

"Klaus is right, Katherine is not going to leave Nadia's side, unless not leaving compromises her identity" Caroline said.

"English, Caroline" Rebekah said.

"We got to invite her to something that Aria can't say no to" Caroline said, "Say, Rebekah's surprise birthday party?".

"But it's not my birthday" Rebekah said.

"Well, we know that" Caroline said, "Katherine doesn't".

"Fine, but I'm not calling her" Rebekah said.

"Me neither" Kol said.

"Definitely not me" Klaus said.

"I don't thinks she will believe I'm throwing a surprise birthday party for Rebekah" Elijah said.

Caroline rolled her eyes at the siblings, "Fine, I'll call her".

***

"A surprise party for Rebekah?" Katherine asked, through the phone.

"Yeap" Caroline replied, "Please tell me you're coming".

"Yeah, I don't think Rebekah would want a big party for her birthday" Katherine said, trying to get out of attending.

"Of course she does, she's Rebekah, so when can you get over to the boarding house to help us set up?" Caroline asked.

Katherine sighed, "I can't".

"You can't?" Caroline asked shocked.

"I would love to, but I just--I can't" Katherine said, "I'm making arrangements for Aaron Whitmore's funeral, the only reason Damon killed him was because we broke up, so I kind of feel like I owe it to Aaron, you understand, right?".

Caroline rolled her eyes, "Of course" she lied, "No, that's really nice of you".

***

"Aria, you're so popular today" Nadia said, as Aria's phone started ringing again.

"Hey, Jeremy" Katherine answered, frustrated that Aria's phone won't shut down.

"Hey Aria, how's it going?" Jeremy asked, sitting in his bedroom at the boarding house, with April.

"You sound tired" Katherine observed.

"Uh, yeah, me and April broke up" Jeremy lied, looking at April, who nodded her head, "It's been a rough couple of hours and I needed someone to talk to, so I called you, hope you're not busy".

"No, it's okay, I'm not busy at all" Katherine said, really wanting to hang up on Jeremy.

"I was wondering if we could do one of our movie nights?" Jeremy asked, "I could really use my best friend's company tonight".

"Yeah, well, this is gonna sound crazy, but I'm actually at the day spa right now" Katherine replied, "Buying Rebekah a gift certificate for her birthday, I'm not sure I'll be able to make it".

"Well, if it's for Rebekah, how could I stop you?" Jeremy asked, exchanging a look with April.

"Hey, look, I'll check in with you later" Katherine assured.

"Okay" Jeremy said, as Katherine hanged up him.

"Why are they being so clingy today?" Katherine snapped.

***

"What are you doing?" Damon asked, veins appearing under his eyes, as Kol bit into his wrist, and started pouring his blood into a glass.

"Drink" Kol said simply, handing Damon the glass, which he gladly took and downed it in one go.

"I need more" Damon said.

"You're not getting more" Kol said.

"That was nothing" Damon retorted.

"That my friend, is exactly four ounces of vampire blood" Kol informed, "You told me that when you were out murdering vampires, one vampire kept you good for eight hours, so our two favorite blonde's, Caroline and Rebekah, they did a little bit of maths--".

"Caroline and Rebekah?" Damon interrupted.

"Trust me, I doubted them to, but I saw they had a calculator, so now I believe their calculations, which is that four ounces of yummy vampire blood, three times a day, should be enough for you to mange your hunger" Kol informed.

Damon glared at Kol, he smashed the glass and slowly stood up, "You mean mange me".

"Yeap, that's exactly what I mean" Kol said, "Now, I'm going to get Ri back, and then I'll deal with your disease".

"I'll deal with my own disease, listen, you just let me out of here" Damon said, "I'll find Wes, I'll get the antidote".

"And let you skip town without facing Ri?" Kol asked, "Leaving good old me to tell Ri that you walked out on her and her babies, despite knowing that Katherine was inhabiting her? Yeah, that's not happening" he said, pulling out his phone.

"Who you calling there, buddy?" Damon asked curiously.

"Katherine's been making stupid excuses to not come here, but with her kissing me in the motel, I have a feeling she won't say no to me" Kol replied.

"She kissed you?" Damon asked shocked, "In Aria's body?".

"Did I forget to mention that?" Kol asked, "My bad".

"You--", Damon tried to lunge at Kol.

"Hey!" Kol snapped, "She kissed me, I didn't kiss her, so save your anger for her, not me, now shut up and let me try to bring the girl we both love back, since you're being useless", but before Kol could call Katherine, Damon's phone, that was in his pocket, started ringing, "Well, looks like the she-devil is calling you".

Damon took the phone from Kol, and answered it, "Aria, hey".

"Hey, how are you?" Katherine asked.

"Well, you know, strung up, hungry" Damon replied, "Same old same old".

"Now that the dust has settled, I was hoping that, I don't know, maybe, we can talk about us and our future" Katherine said, "Can I see you?".

"Okay, sure" Damon replied, "Why don't you come to the house and we'll talk about it here".

"Perfect, I'll see you soon" Katherine said.

"Okay, bye" Damon said, hanging up the phone.

Katherine turned to Nadia, "Damon knows that he tried to attack me and his babies less than 24 hours ago, and if it wasn't for these pesky babies, he would have killed his little family of four" she said, "There isn't a single vampire-craving bone in his body, that would risk putting his precious Aria and his precious unborn babies back in that kind of danger again".

"And yet he's desperate to see her" Nadia realised, "Just like her other friends".

"They know" Katherine realised.

***

"This doesn't make any sense" Kol said, "She refused to come here when Caroline and Jeremy called her, but now all of a sudden she wants to come here all by herself?".

"Unless--" Damon trailed off.

"Unless--", Realisation slowly started coming over both Kol and Damon.

"She was testing me" Damon realised.

"And something tells me that you failed her test" Kol said.

 "She knows" Damon whispered.

***

"She's been on the run for, 228 years" Nadia whispered.

"You passed out in the car, I didn't want to wake you" Katherine said, placing a blanket over Nadia.

Nadia lets out a weak chuckle, "Perfect" she said, realising they were now in a church, "I can make my peace with the universe".

"Don't talk like that" Katherine warned, "I brought you here so that I could hide you until Wes finds a way to heal you".

"You should leave now" Nadia said, "While you can, there's no point in trying to save me".

"I didn't raise you to be a quitter" Katherine said, "And I promise, as soon as you get better, we're leaving, together".

"You're going to take Damon's kids away from him?" Nadia asked.

"I have no choice" Katherine replied, "Since they can't die, I'll just give them up for adoption once they are born".

"The worst thing for a kid is to grow up without their parents" Nadia whispered, "I would know".

Katherine sighed, "We'll figure it out once their born, we have a few months till then, so just relax".

***

Kol and Caroline stood outside the cellar door, Kol having informed her about Katherine knowing that they knew she wasn't Aria.

"Of course, the farther she gets, the worse our chances are of ever seeing Aria again" Caroline said, "We just blew our only advantage".

"Except I have a plan, for which we're going to have to involve your mother" Kol said.

"What's the plan?" Caroline asked confused.

"I'm going to need your mother to track down Ri's phone" Kol replied.

***

"Caroline! Kol!" Jeremy yelled, running to the living room.

"Jeremy, what's wrong?" Caroline asked.

"I don't know how, and I don't know when, but somehow Damon escaped the cell" Jeremy replied.

"What do you mean he escaped?" Kol asked.

"He's no longer in the cell Kol" Jeremy replied, "He somehow managed to rip the chains off".

"He's gone to find Wes" Kol realised.

***

"You leaving?" Nadia asked Katherine.

"I'm going to check on Wes, he's taking too long" Katherine replied, wearing her jacket.

"Be careful" Nadia said, "They're all out looking for you".

"That's never stopped me before" Katherine said, walking out the church.

***

Wes was in his lab, working on the antidote for Nadia, when he suddenly heard a noise, "Hello?" he called out, when no one answered, Wes took out his phone to call someone, but before he could, Damon came behind him, he grabbed his phone from his hand and destroyed it.

"What's up, doc?" Damon asked.

"How did you find me?" Wes asked shocked.

"Well, I called my friend Enzo, asked him about the little adventure he had with you" Damon replied, "Gotta say, long way off then tenure track, huh? I take it the Augustine Society hit a bit of a rough streak?".

"There is no Augustine Society, Damon, it's just me" Wes replied.

"Well, then I guess you're my guy" Damon said, "You see, I have this long road ahead of me to win my ex-girlfriend and kids back, but I don't have a chance in hell if I'm lusting over her blood, you follow?".

"Even if I did cure you of this virus, what difference does it make?" Wes asked, "So you stop feeding on your friends and you go back to feeding on innocent people? Is that really gonna impress Aria Connor?".

Damon grabbed Wes by his collars, "Look at me, you did this to me" he snapped, showing Wes his veins.

"I didn't do this to you, you are this" Wes said, "I simply held up the mirror".

Damon shoved his hand into Wes's chest, and slammed him on to the table, "Now it's my turn to play doctor, this is what you get for trying to harm Aria and my kids", Damon grabbed a knife, and started cutting out Wes's eye.

***

"Wes! What the hell is taking so lo--?", Katherine entered Wes's lab, and to her shock, she was met with Wes's dead body, "No, no" she whispered, "No, no, no, no, please, no, no", before Katherine could do anything, her phone started ringing, taking it out, she realised it was Nadia.

"Nadia, I'm coming back to the church now" Katherine answered.

"Well that sucks" Kol said, "Cause your daughter is no longer at the church, she's with all of us at home, how stupid of you to leave Aria's phone in the church with your daughter, you realise how easy it was for the Sheriff to track it down?".

"Kol, what are you talking about?" Katherine asked, pretending to be oblivious.

"Cut it out, Katherine" Kol snapped, "I know you're not Aria, I've known for a long time, we all have, now your daughter doesn't have much time left".

"I don't know what you're talking about" Katherine lied.

"Before you possessed Aria, she managed to tell me the truth, I've just been trying to find a way to bring her back, and now that I have, you're going to come to the boarding house, or I will mail you your daughter's heart" Kol said.

"Prove it" Katherine snapped, "Put her on the phone".

"Or here's another option, go to the church and see if your daughter's there or not" Kol said, "Ticktock Katherine, your daughter's time is running out, what's it going to be, are you going to chose to see Nadia one last time or are you going to run like you always do Katherine?".

***

Katherine entered the boarding house, to see Kol, Caroline, Rebekah, Jeremy, April, Klaus and Elijah, all waiting for her, while Nadia was laying on the couch.

"I'm here to see my daughter" Katherine said, ignoring everyone and walking over to Nadia, she held her hand in hers, "Nadia" she whispered.

"You came back for me" Nadia cried.

"I won't leave you again" Katherine promised.

"Did you find a way to save me?" Nadia asked.

Katherine glanced at Klaus, "Klaus' blood would've saved you, if I'd asked for it".

"You would have outed yourself" Nadia said.

"Turns out, they've known since the beginning" Katherine said, "And I know if I ask now, he will just say no for what we did to Aria".

"Damn right" Klaus whispered, making Caroline elbow him to stay quiet.

Nadia started gasping for air, "My mother's name is Katherine" she hallucinated, "I'm looking for her".

"You found me" Katherine assured, "Nadia, I'm right here".

"She is a liar" Nadia said, "And a murderer, she manipulates, she betrays, she'll do anything to survive".

"Nadia--No, I'm--I'm right here" Katherine said, "Nadia, look at me, look at me, I'm here, I'm right here".

"I'm looking for my mother" Nadia repeated.

"This is not what your life should have been" Katherine said, "Five hundred years, searching for a mother who ended up, being me, let me show you what your life should have been, what your perfect day, would have been like", Katherine closed her eyes, and showed Nadia her perfect life, "You and I had a little cottage, it was an ordinary summer day, you've been playing outside, so you were tired, and it was time for bed, you told me about the fort that you'd built, out in the woods by the river, and so I asked if I could visit, and you said when the sun came up in the morning, and I said, good night, Nadia, sleep well", A small smile came over Nadia's face and she slowly closed her eyes, as her body started desiccating, "Your mother loves you".

***

After putting the blanket over Nadia's face, Katherine stood up, and faced the group.

"So, this is it" Katherine said, before anyone could react, she tried to speed out the door, but as soon as she opened the front door, she saw Damon.

"Hello, Katherine, you didn't think I'd miss this, did you?" Damon asked.

Damon entered the house, and closed the door behind him, not letting Katherine escape.

Katherine scoffed, "Okay, so who's got the knife?" she asked, "Which one of you is gonna get, to kill the elusive Katherine Pierce once and for all? What? Suddenly everyone's speechless? When I was on my deathbed you all had plenty to say" Katherine turned to Klaus, "Is it you? Klaus?" she asked, "Because I didn't let you sacrifice me for your great good?".

Klaus smirked, "Don't pretend you're not scared me of me Katherine, specially since you spent five hundred years running from me".

Katherine rolled her eyes, and turned to Caroline, "I'm not worried about you offing me" she said, "Because we both know I made you better by making you a vampire".

"Goodbye, Katherine" Caroline said, simply.

"Bye-bye, Caroline" Katherine said, walking over to Elijah.

"I know you won't believe me Elijah, but I did genuinely love you once" Katherine said, "If anyone was going to stab me in the heart, I'd be happy if it was you".

"Goodbye, Katrina" Elijah said.

Katherine sighed, and then walked over to Jeremy, "Well, little Gilbert, it was nice to have a best friend for a second there" she said, "When you weren't being so damn annoying", Katherine then turned to Damon, "Damon, oh, how you would love nothing more, than to drive that blade right through me".

"We've already done this, Kitty Kat" Damon said, "I've said all I needed to say".

"I know, but I never got to say what I needed to say to you" Katherine said, "I'm sorry, you blame me for who you are, and I'm sorry, I'm sorry that I turned you, I'm sorry that you didn't get to die, as a forgotten nobody on a bloody battlefield, and that your father didn't get to live another day to be disgraced by you, Damon, I'm sorry that I gave your life purpose, passion, drive, desire, I'm sorry that you are who you are, because I'm the one that taught you how to love".

"You didn't teach me how to love Katherine, you taught me how to hate" Damon said, "I'll see you in hell".

Katherine turned around and came face to face with Kol, "Kol" she whispered, "You know, I always wondered what it would be like, to be loved by you, sucks I never got to find out, I really wish you and I had a chance to be something epic", Katherine started leaning in to kiss Kol, but before she could, Kol stabbed her in the back, not wanting to stab Aria in the stomach, "Then I guess this is how, our story ends".

Katherine stumbled back, but before you could fall to the ground, Elijah grabbed her, and gently sat her on the floor, not wanting the babies to get hurt, right by Nadia's body.

Katherine watched everyone hover around her, the group watched Aria's eyes turn black, then turn back to her normal brown eyes, and after a moment, she fell unconscious.

***

"Why is she not waking up?" Damon asked, as he and Kol sat in Damon's bedroom, waiting for Aria to wake up.

"Have some patience" Kol replied, "She will wake up, till she does, how about you tell me what you did?".

"Relax, I'm fine, on my way to Wes, I found Tyler Lockwood, and with his friendly donation, I'll be fine for a couple hours" Damon replied.

"You attacked Tyler?" Kol asked.

"Yeap, don't worry he's alive" Damon replied.

"I wasn't worried" Kol said, "So what's the plan after the few hours?".

Damon looked Aria, "Tell her everything I did" he replied, "Let the chips crash and burn where they may".

"She's going to be heartbroken" Kol said, looking at Aria.

"Well, I don't want to be another Katherine Pierce" Damon said, "Katherine spent her whole life running from her problems only to die here, old and alone".

Before Kol could say anything, both Damon and Kol heard Aria wake up.

"Mm" Aria groaned.

"Aria?" Damon asked.

Aria slowly opened her eyes, "Damon?" she whispered.

"Are you, you?" Damon asked.

"Aria Connor, daughter of Amelia and Lucas Connor?" Aria asked.

"Yeah, are you?" Kol asked.

"Should I be hurt that you guys can't tell when it's me?" Aria asked, slowly sitting up.

"Careful" Damon said, as both Kol and Damon helped Aria sit.

Aria looked at Damon and Kol, a huge smile on her face, "You both saved me".

Damon and Kol exchanged a look, not knowing how to tell Aria the truth.

***

Presenting 5x15 of The Vampire Diaries . . .

How was the chapter?

Thoughts on Katherine realising everyone knew that she wasn't Aria?

Thoughts on Damon finally killing Wes?

Thoughts on Kol killing Katherine?

Thoughts on Aria finally waking and thinking both Damon and Kol saved her? 👀

Disclaimer: In the show, Katherine injected Elena with the ripper virus, she didn't do that to Aria, originally she was supposed, but I realise who we meet in the next two chapters, and I really want Aria to meet him so screw the ripper virus.

Next chapter: Heartbreak for Daria, and Aria finds out about the one she was originally meant for 👀