"Wake up sleepyhead," I heard a voice coo, and I shot upwards out of bed startled.

Sitting at the end of the bed was Damon Salvatore, smirking at my bedraggled state.

"Get out of my room!" I shrieked, throwing a pillow at him, which he easily caught.

"Um, actually, you're in my room," he reminded me, setting the pillow on the bed.

Oh right, I accidentally fell asleep in his bed. Oops.

"Where did you sleep?" I asked him, curiously.

Even though I was slightly mad at him, I couldn't help but feel the same childish adoration I did 146 years ago.

"On the couch, didn't want to wake you," he said matter-of-factly, and I nodded. "Donovan called your phone like 5 times."

I groaned. "Why does he always call me when I'm asleep?!"

I picked up my phone from the nightstand and saw that I indeed had 4 missed phone calls. I pressed his number and put the phone to my ear.

"Finally, you answered," came his cheery voice on the other line. "I was wondering if you wanted to go with me to the hospital. I'm just checking up on Caroline."

"What happened to her?" I asked in alarm.

"Kaitlyn, tons of people got injured yesterday. There was some crazy fire in Mystic Falls. Tyler was driving away and somehow lost control of the car. Caroline got unlucky."

"Right, that," I said, quickly covering up for myself. "Sure, I'll come. But I don't think she'll want to see me."

"Please come with me. Maybe you guys will bond," Matt begged, and I rolled my eyes, unable to refuse.

"I doubt it. But okay, fine," I sighed. "I'll meet you at the hospital in 30 minutes."

"Visiting Blondie?" Damon asked curiously, and I nodded.

"Well, thanks for letting me sleep here, but it's never happening again," I warned him, getting off the bed and grabbing my phone with me.

He reached for my arm, and I blinked rapidly at the touch.

"Hey did you by any chance go out of the house yesterday?" he asked suspiciously, and I shook my head.

"No. Why?"

"Because the door was slightly ajar and the house smelled like perfume," he remarked, and I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion.

"That wasn't me," I told him, easing my arm out of his grip.

He noticed my discomfort and gave me a questioning glance.

"Look, you're going to have to give me a few days to warm up to the idea of you guys being undead bloodsucking creatures. I still can't believe this is actually real," I explained, and he nodded understandingly.

I walked downstairs, Damon trailing me until I reached the front door.

"Hey, you have a good place to stay right?" he asked as I stepped out.

"Why are you so worried about me all of a sudden?" I laughed, and he shrugged his shoulders.

"Remember I haven't seen you in over a century either. This whole thing is a little weird," he pointed out.

"Yeah, I have a rental apartment uptown," I assured him.

"Damon," I heard Stefan hiss, pulling his brother away from the door. "She slept here?"

"Okay, that's my cue to leave," I said uncomfortably and walked away.

∆ ∆ ∆

"Hey," Matt greeted as I walked into the hospital, grimacing at the smell. "She's in this room."

We walked into the room to see Caroline looking extremely disheveled, and on the complete right side of her bed.

"Um, are you okay?" I asked tentatively, seeing that she had closed all the curtains and any possible opening to sunlight.

"Yeah! Totally okay!" she seemed so nervous, that for a split second she forgot her dislike towards me. "Wait, what is she doing here?"

There it was.

"I just joined Matt to see how you were doing," I said brightly, trying my best to take the high road.

"Okay," she shrugged, turning her attention to Matt.

Feeling awkward, I walked outside to the vending machine to get some food, since I had once again had a puny breakfast.

A dark-skinned nurse walked by me, looking slightly nervous, and I noticed a huge bandaid on her neck.

"Hey, you," I called, stopping her. "What happened to your neck?"

Her hand flew up to touch the plaster on her neck, and I could see her hyperventilating.

"My boyfriend likes to get freaky," she stuttered and walked away, not even waiting for a response.

That was weird.

Why was she acting so strangely? The only other explanation was that a vampire bit her. I internally smiled. Maybe I should have been a detective in another life.

Now, I didn't have much experience with the creatures, but one thing I knew for sure, it was the stereotypical thing to bite from the neck.

Was there a vampire in the hospital?

I walked back to Caroline's room after I got a corny bar, only to see her screaming at Matt to close the curtains, which he had opened to let some light into the musty room.

"What happened?" I asked curiously, but Matt just shook his head in annoyance.

"I don't know, but she clearly doesn't want me here right now. I'll see you when you get out Care," he said in exasperation, leading me out of the room.

"Does she always act that weird?" I inquired, and he shrugged.

"I don't know, I mean, it's Caroline, she's a little strange sometimes," he commented, and I agreed.

"Are you going to the carnival today?" I changed the subject.

"Yeah, I'm helping Bonnie and Elena," he said.

"I think I'll come as well," I told him, interested in meeting more of his friends, especially Bonnie.

Now that I knew about the supernaturalness in Mystic Falls, I was eager to find out if there were any other supernaturals.

"Okay, I'll meet you at 19:00," he told me, and we parted ways.

∆ ∆ ∆

I arrived at the carnival a little early, hoping to maybe meet Bonnie before all her friends swarmed around.

I saw her blushing and talking to some guy, while Elena smiled on the sidelines.

As I walked up to them, Bonnie left with the guy, and I inwardly groaned. Great, Elena had seen me.

"What are you doing here?" she asked me emotionlessly, looking me up and down.

"I just wanted to see the carnival," I defended, and she nodded unconvincingly. "Listen, I get that you probably don't like me, because I kind of just barged into your life, but can we at least try to be friends?" I asked desperately.

"It's not that I don't like you, I just don't know you. For all I know, you could be some kind of bad guy plotting against us. Before you ask, that's been happening quite a lot lately." she explained.

"Okay, that's fair," I admitted. "So I'll just have to prove to you that I'm one of the good guys."

She smiled a little at that and walked away.

I walked around a little bit, getting some cotton candy and watching couples on the Ferris wheel.

Sometimes I wish I had stayed in a place long enough to develop a relationship. Most of the time, I had been closed off and paranoid, afraid that I was going to put people in danger. I had never really had friends or any kind of romantic relationship.

"Hey, you're Kaitlyn right?" I heard a voice behind me and turned to see Bonnie walking cautiously towards me. "Elena told me about you, about everything."

"Oh, so you know about that...," I whispered, and she nodded secretively.

"Kinda crazy huh?" she laughed, and I laughed as well.

"You have no idea. My whole life I thought I was a freak, and I only got confirmation yesterday that I wasn't alone," I clarified, and she nodded understandingly.

"Yeah, I felt kind of freaky as well when I found out I was a witch," she admitted, and my eyes widened.

"You're a witch? That's so cool!" I exclaimed, and she giggled.

"Yeah, it is pretty cool," she bragged, and we both laughed again.

"Hey, do you know where Caroline went?" she suddenly asked.

"She's out of the hospital?" I asked in surprise.

"Yeah, she got out early, said that she was all better," Bonnie said, quoting with her fingers. "It was a little weird."

"I noticed that as well. She was acting very strange in the hospital," I pointed out. "Let's go look for her."

On the way, we met up with Elena and Stefan, who looked just as worried as us.

"Are you guys looking for Caroline as well?" Bonnie questioned, and Elena nodded, while Stefan's face seized up.

"What's going on Stefan? What is it?" Elena asked urgently.

"It's blood," he gasped. "I can smell blood."

He started marching forward and we all followed him uneasily, anxious to see where he would lead us.

We arrived at a very complicated scene. There was an unconscious man laying on the ground, and Caroline was sobbing. Damon was embracing her, and at first, I thought he was comforting her since he was stroking her hair and whispering that it was going to be okay, but then I noticed the stake in his hand.

"Damon don't!" Elena yelled, while I just froze in shock.

Stefan dashed forwards, pushing Damon away as Caroline ran to Elena.

"Get away from me," she shrieked hoarsely, pushing the brunette away. "You killed me!"

"No no no," Elena protested. "That wasn't me! You know that that was Katherine!"

My heart lurched at the revelation.

Katherine killed Caroline? That wasn't the girl I remembered.

"Then why does she look like you?!" Caroline accused, looking scared. "And why?! Why did she do this to me?!"

"Caroline..." Bonnie gasped in horror, taking in her bloodstained friend. "No, you can't, you can't be."

She rushed forwards, grabbing Caroline's hand, and breathed in sharply.

"Bonnie," Caroline whimpered, but Bonnie shook her head, staggering away.

"We need to get her inside," Elena murmured to Stefan, and I stepped forward.

"I'll go with her," I spoke up, wanting to do something useful for once.

They didn't look very happy with the idea but didn't do anything as I gently gripped Caroline's arm, leading her into the school.

"She WILL die," Damon commented knowingly. "It's only a matter of time."

I drowned out his voice by shutting the bathroom door with a little more force than necessary.

"Don't listen to him," I soothed. "You're strong, I know you can survive this."

"She hates me," Caroline choked out, looking in the mirror and hyperventilating.

"No, she's just in shock!" I reminded her gently, getting a slightly wet tissue and starting to wipe the blood off her face.

"I'm a murderer," she hissed in self-hatred, trying to get her hands clean. "I'm a monster."

"No, you're not!" I protested. "You just made a mistake, okay? A mistake that you won't make again, because you're going to survive this. You will get through this! Do you hear me, Caroline?"

She turned around and looked at me, her eyes shining with tears.

"Why did she do this to me?" she panted, and I shook my head in sorrow.

"I don't know," I admitted, angry with myself.

I took her in my arms and she hugged me back, gripping me hard.

"Why are you being so nice to me?" she asked in my shirt. "I've been nothing but an insecure jerk."

"Because I know that's not who you really are," I whispered.

"I'm sorry," she sobbed, stepping back. "I'm sorry I was so horrible to you."

I smiled and took her hand.

"It's already forgotten."

∆ ∆ ∆

I fumbled clumsily with my keys, opening the door and stumbling inside my tiny apartment. I was very tired, and couldn't wait to just fall into my bed.

"Lyn," a figure stepped out of the darkness, and I jumped in fright.

"Katherine," I breathed as her face got illuminated in the moonlight. "How did you get in?"

I had learned that vampires could only come into people's homes with an invitation from the owner.

"No one owns this piece of crap," she answered crassly. "I had to see you, Lyn. Aren't you happy to see me?"

"Don't call me that," I yelled, and she flinched. "So in all of the 149 years that I ran away from home, you didn't want to find me?"

Her mouth twisted downwards. "Kaitlyn, I wanted to be with you, but I was on the run."

I jeered. "It's always an excuse isn't it Katherine. Excuses when I asked you why you were playing the Salvatore brothers. Excuses when you said you needed to leave. Excuses when people started getting killed! Always excuses!"

She didn't answer, avoiding my gaze.

"You know what I learned today?" I shouted. "That you killed Caroline Forbes. An innocent girl! And even worse, you turned her into a vampire!"

"You know about that?" she asked nervously, and I scoffed.

"Of course I know Kat, I mean, Katherine! I've gotten involved with them!" I reminded her.

"Please Kaitlyn, don't be angry with me," she pleaded, stepping closer, but I staggered back.

"No, you need to stay away from me! I don't know who you are anymore, and I don't want to," I spat harshly, and visible hurt crossed her face.

"You don't know what I've been through," she began defensively, but I cut her off.

"Just get out Katherine," when she didn't move, I screamed, "GET OUT!"

With a blur, she was gone, and I sank down into my couch and sobbed.

∆ ∆ ∆