It was a dismal night, as a human Kat lay on the shoulder of the road, having escaped a prison world, an ascendant not far from her, her vision going dim from her injuries Kai had given her. She'd ended up in the prison world after the last time that she'd been killed. Despite how Kai had treated her, she didn't blame them all for what they'd did. She'd tried to get rid of Mystic Falls, after all, and everyone that resided there. However, at the time, she'd been peeved and had been the queen of hell, and demons usually didn't have any remorse whatsoever. She knew it was her fault for what had happened to her last time, so she didn't blame them for ending her. Plus, she was Katherine. She always managed to come back from being dead, no matter how long it took to do so.

Damon had been minding his own business after recently healing from the loss of Elena twenty years ago, when he suddenly appeared by a sign, letting him know the town he'd ended up in. Then he saw the scene. Katherine was alive, human, and injured. Judging from the ascendant and the arrow in her leg, she'd had to deal with Kai. And after everything, deep down, he still cared. He'd just hid it, so she wouldn't hurt him again. And even a distance away, he knew she needed help. He could see that her lower stomach had been injured, but the more serious injury was that the arrow in her leg had opened up her thigh artery. He could tell from how her leg wound was bleeding, despite the arrow still in her leg. Listening, he could hear her breathing growing shallow. He knew she'd die if he didn't help her.

After debating for a few minutes, he blurred to and knelt at her side. Then he gently took her jacket off, as she began to go under. Then he quickly pulled the arrow out and used her jacket to apply pressure to her wound.

"Hey. Stay with me, Katherine," he gently encouraged her, trying to keep her awake a little longer. He then tied her jacket around the wound. He then gently pulled her into his arms and blurred towards the town for a hospital. She'd lost a lot of blood and still was losing a lot of blood, so he knew he had to get to the hospital as soon as possible. Otherwise, she may not make it, he knew.

About ten minutes later, he got to the hospital and, soon, watched her be rushed down the hall. She wasn't in the best of shape, though. She also wasn't awake anymore. He hadn't been able to keep her awake long enough to get her to the hospital.

A few hours later, Damon was seated on her bedside, waiting for her to wake up. She'd made it through, so he knew that she'd be okay now. However, since she was human, he knew how bad she was at surviving as a human, so he knew that he had to stay, despite what species lived in Beacon Hills. While she'd been taken care of, he'd been doing some snooping around and knew what kind of town this was. It was like Mystic Falls, but instead of being mostly populated by vampires, it was mostly populated by werewolves and other creatures that weren't to be messed with. He knew that this meant that he had to be less threatening. After all, without Klaus' blood, Damon was dead if he got bitten by a werewolf.

A few hours later, she finally woke up to see Damon on her bedside, a hand on hers.

She gave a smile.

"You saved me. Thanks."

She sat up in bed.

"Well, I wasn't going to leave you there. Besides, we're in an unfamiliar town. We have to look out for each other. Don't make it a habit, though," he replied.

"Well, considering I recognize this hospital, it's unfamiliar to you, but I know at least one wolf here. I was here when I was a vampire, before I went back to Mystic Falls when you found out that I wasn't in the tomb. He can be kind as long as you don't do anything he doesn't want you to. He was my only semi-friend back then. When I get out of here, I plan on going to see him, rather than pestering some others that may not really want to see me right now."

"Well, in that case, let's get you out of here," he replied. If she was a semi-friend to a wolf, then he wouldn't be in danger if Katherine was with him. It would even give them a place to stay for a while.

She gave a smile at that.

"Let's."

About an hour later, she was released and dressed, and they were on their way to where she assumed the Hales would now be living at. She knew that Derek wasn't living at the old burnt Hale house anymore, after all. She also knew that his uncle had a loft. Therefore, that's where they were headed to.

Half an hour later, they arrived at the loft and, since she was human, she had no problem entering without a problem. However, Damon had to wait at the threshold.

"You might want to invite Damon in," she informed her favorite wolf whom was by his table by the big window. "And before you ask, it's a long story," she added, knowing he was likely to want to know how she was human and why she was back.

"Come in," he invited Damon. Then Damon entered, closing the door behind himself. Then Derek put his attention back on Katherine whom seemed to be human now. "Let me guess. Now that you're human, you want to stay here. I don't care what you do. However, this is Peter's place who was recently resurrected. You'll have to take it up with him," he informed her, before heading out, having something better to do than to hang out with the former vampire that had years ago, not been very cooperative with keeping the town out of danger. She'd been a danger to humans being a vampire, which he hadn't cared for, but considering his style of action, he hadn't wanted to kill her for it. Plus, feeding on people was the way of being a vampire. They'd eventually reached an agreement though, and she'd had to eventually leave town anyway. He hadn't been in contact with her since she'd left town.

Kat watched Derek leave. Then she saw someone come down the stairs. She assumed he was the presumed dead uncle that had suddenly been known as the alpha a while back. They'd never met, but she liked his style. He was a lot like her when she'd been a vampire. However, as a human, she was different. She wasn't on the ball game to killing others unless there was no other way.

"Peter, I assume," she greeted.

"The one and only. You must be the vampire that disappeared out of town years ago. My kind of vampire. Though, you're not one anymore. You're welcome to stay here all you want. We don't get many guests," he replied.

"Species doesn't matter. I can still kick your ass if you go back into your homicidal ways as Derek would put it," she informed him. "Thanks," she added. "So, anything we can help with? I know this place is like Mystic Falls is. There's always something coming," she then asked, needing to know if there was a present threat in town. As a human, if there was something in town, she would help get rid of it.

Peter looked at her, as he stood where Derek had stood not long ago.

"As a matter of fact, quite a few people in this town are looking for Malia. You know I wasn't a great person for quite a long time. I kept the secret, along with my ex, the Desert Wolf, about Malia. She's my daughter. However, she doesn't know I exist. She was adopted. And at the time of her apparent phasing, I was slowly healing cell by cell after what happened when Kate set our family home on fire."

"She may not know you exist and all, but you should be out there looking for her. It would take humans forever to find whatever she turned into, but her being your daughter and all, it would take you less time. If she's been doing anything like a wild animal tends to do, then you should be out there to protect her, even if you don't bring her home. I know if my daughter was out there, alive, and in a form other than being a vampire, I'd be going out there to go get her," Kat replied to him. "So, why aren't you?" she then asked him, wanting to know.

"Because she probably won't even respond to me. Not in a good way. And I don't want a first impression to be a daughter-fathering fight. Besides, she doesn't need me or want me to be in her life after all these years. She already had one set of parents. She doesn't need more. Especially, not a dysfunctional family," he answered her.

"You don't know much about me, apart from whatever Derek told you, but my daughter spent her entire human and vampire life without me. Sure, she had a good home I'm sure, but they lied about why she was given up. I was forced to back then. And you know what happened when she and I finally met when she finally tracked me down? She had many questions that I was happy to answer for her. Sure, she was okay without me, but she wanted me in her life, because she was denied her real mother. I'm sure Malia probably will have questions too, but unlike my daughter, she probably won't actually admit that she even wants you. She may seem like she hates you, but deep down, she doesn't. Maybe the first time you see each other and meet, she may fight with you, but it's worth a shot. Nadia and I fought the first time we met too, but we got over it and connected," she informed and said to him. Then she added, "You may not want to go find her, but maybe I'll go find her myself. No one should be alone, even if they think they have no choice but to be."

Damon knew that talking about Nadia had to still be a sore subject, but if it gave the wolf some insight and maybe some persuasion in finding his daughter, it was worth it, so he wasn't going to stop her. He didn't know what it was like to lose a child, but he sure as hell had had many heartaches from losing people he loved throughout the centuries. If that's what it felt like to lose a child, then he knew that would be one reason that Katherine didn't want Peter to lose his own daughter. Plus, he knew that Katherine had had too much loss in her life. He knew that if she didn't want someone else to lose their daughter, then she was doing what she could to help someone that was similar to her and Nadia's situation.

When Katherine finished talking to Peter and headed for the door, Damon knew that that was his cue to follow her, so that's what he did. Besides, if she was going to be in the woods, he wouldn't let her be out there by herself. She was human. She needed to be protected. Even with a town full of wolves, and even though she was descended from Travelers, he wouldn't leave her to her own. She wasn't good at surviving as a human.

After a while of searching through the woods for her, they found an old as can be car and old doll. They could also see a cave nearby that looked like a possible place that an animal would be living in. Then they heard growling, so they both turned around. That's when they saw a coyote growling, teeth showing.

"Malia?" Kat inquired, since she was the only coyote that had ever been spotted in these woods. It had to be Malia, she knew. Especially, when she saw her eyes glowing blue. She knew to be cautious, but she also knew that she needed to bring Malia back. "Everyone's looking for you, Malia. I know you feel alone and afraid, but you don't have to be. You were just a scared, alone little girl back then. You didn't know what you were doing. It's not your fault for what happened to your adopted family. You didn't have anyone to be there for you that understood what you are. I'm sure you don't even know what you are. You're not alone. Your real family is here and I'm here. I know what it feels like to feel like it's your fault that your family is dead, but it's not your fault. Even your dad is in town. And your uncle. Your uncle is out here somewhere looking for you. Your dad's not, but he's afraid that you don't want him in your life after all these years. He's been through a lot of pain and suffering and he's done a lot of killing himself. You need to understand that not being normal is okay. Once in a while, you may end up hurting or killing someone, but that's only because you may not be able to control your urges. It's okay. You don't have to be scared, alone, or suffering anymore. You can come home and we'll all help you. Right now though, you have to phase human. To do that, you have to really want it and think about doing it."

After Kat calmly told her all of that, werecoyote Malia actually calmed down. And upon instruction on how to turn herself back into her human form, she concentrated on turning herself back, wanting to be human again after she'd told her all of that. Then, after a few minutes, she was able to become human again.

"Let's get you home," Kat told her. Then she had Damon do the calling to inform the sheriff and them to call the search off, because they'd found her.

Once she got back to the loft with Malia and found her some clothes she could get dressed in, she had her do that. By that time, Peter wasn't in sight anymore, so she was alone with Malia, which helped with getting her adjusted. She didn't know what it was like to be in the form of a coyote or a wolf all through your childhood, but she knew how hard it could be to adjust to the new century. She knew it could be confusing if you hadn't been around exactly for years or centuries. Therefore, it was easier for Kat to help her and catch her up with things if they were alone. She knew it would take time, but she knew that Malia would be okay now.

After a few months had passed, Malia had fully connected with the real world and gotten used to being in her human form. She and Peter had even met and eventually had connected. Damon and Katherine had even gotten back together as a couple. The peace didn't last long though, because they had to deal with a few threats here and there. They'd eventually been able to get rid of the alpha pack. However, they didn't realize that there was another threat looming close to home.