time to confess: damon or stefan?
"Stefan, obviously."
"--although, Damon does have a certain something a girl just can't seem stay away from, doesn't he?"
If Katherine had ever been telling the truth about one thing: she really did love them both. Otherwise there would have been no point in risking Stefan to run around with Damon. She remembered finding them both so handsome, and then they were equally romantic but in very different ways. Damon was exciting, passionate, and he kept her on her toes. He saw her exactly as she was and he didn't care. It didn't matter that she was selfish and cruel, he even seemed to sort of like her that way. Stefan, on the other hand, was a true lover. He was soft and sweet, and he made her heart flutter like a girl. One that had long been dead and buried in a five hundred year old grave. Katherine hadn't even bothered to give her a funeral, and here this human boy was making her heart beat.
The problem was, Katherine was only that girl in pieces. It was her own doing, but it was also the result of a woman who had decided she would always choose herself. If she died now, she would have lost them all for nothing. It means he wins. She was young and naive once. That human girl would have never sacrificed her family if she had known Klaus was going to slaughter them, but hindsight always was a bitch. Katherine really thought she was outsmarting Klaus when she ran and turned herself. She figured as a vampire he would have no choice but to let her go. But in her weak innocence, she made the fatal mistake of underestimating the one thing Niklaus Mikaelson was loyal to, above even family: vengeance.
The truth was, it didn't matter how much Katherine loved either of them. For as long as she had Klaus in her shadow, she couldn't have anyone. But, yes, if she had to choose? It was Stefan. Even if they were just a dream. It had been one Katherine fought to make real, but her mask cracked and crumbled and when he saw past the girl she wanted to be, he hated her. Katherine had never really meant to sell him a fairytale. She hoped he would still love her once he knew the truth. And a little part of her had also hoped she could still be her. That's why Elena stung so badly. He had gone off and dug up the girl she buried and decided to love her instead. The thing Stefan hadn't learned is that the world isn't kind to girls like Elena and they don't last long. They're like blossoms left to shrivel beneath the desert sun. And, even in a meadow, all it takes is one greedy hand to come along and pluck them off their stem.
"That's enough of you, now." Katherine waved a dismissive hand at her inquisitor. "Off you go, I'm tired."
