Our Love's The Perfect Crime

First TVD story, yippee! (Well first that I actually upload :)

Well, this is basically me analyzing season 2 in Katherine's and then in Stefan's view, because they are my favourite couple on the show and there's just not enough fic of them.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Katherine Pierce has been many things over the years. Daughter, mother, traitor, outcast, survivor, killer, sinner, mistress, doppelganger... But until she met him she's never been a lover. A friend.

She's done many things in her long life. Ran, hid, killed, lied, cheated, manipulated, played, loved. But until him she's never put anyone's life before her own. She's never cared about anyone more than herself.

She's felt many things in the years. Anger, pain, fear, happiness, sadness, hatred, satisfaction, emptiness... But until he came along she'd never known jealousy. She's never known compassion and safety.

But now she knows all these things.

She's been his lover, because it was real. His love was always real, she never had to compel him. And it wasn't an obsession, an unhealthy obsession like Damon's love had been. It was true.

She was his first love and he was hers, and she just knows they're going to be each other's last love too. Nobody can take that away from them, not Klaus, not even Elena.

The name causes her to feel somehow nauseous and she becomes irrationally jealous. Irrationally, because she knows he has no future with her. Because he's a vampire and she's human. Because she can't love him like Katherine did and he can't love her like he loved Katherine. But most of all, because she has eyes and she's no blind like him, she sees what's going on between the older brother and that stupid girl. Sooner or later they won't be able to control their feelings anymore and they'll end up hurting her Stefan.

She hates them for that.

Sometimes she thinks she hates him too.

For everything.

For making her fall and not being there to catch her. For loving Elena. For not wanting her back. For attempting to kill her and then leaving her all alone in that tomb after she helped him. (And she doesn't help anyone. She detains them. See what he makes her do?)

She doesn't want to love him, but she's given up long ago on trying not to. It's impossible.

So she might as well make the best of the situation by trying to win him back.

She comes waltzing back to town, tells him she wants him, came back for him (which isn't a complete lie) and loves him. He tells her he hates her.

(That hurts more than she's willing to admit.)

She tells him the truth, tells him she's never compelled his love. She's confident, knows he still loves her and not Elena. It doesn't work. He tortures her, doesn't believe her, chooses Elena.

She lets him know that she's never really abandoned him, followed him, made sure he was safe. He lets Damon lock her up in that dark, cold, lonely tomb.

(She's really starting to grow tired of fighting for him. It should be the other way around. It's her who's always being chased and persuaded by men.)

She helps him, tells him what he wants to know. He leaves her locked up in the tomb, tells her goodbye.

That's what changes things, she guesses. That's when she gives up.

Not for good, of course, because giving up is a phrase that's not in her dictionary, but for a little while at least. Give him time, make him want her, miss her. Make him jealous.

So she plays her cards right, gets out of the tomb and focuses her energy on Damon. It's fun to play around with him, mess with his head.

It's not so fun to find out that he's over her, doesn't want her anymore and couldn't be more in love with Elena.

She's Katherine Pierce.

Nobody gets over Katherine Pierce.

But now it seems like both Salvatore brothers did just that. And who's fault is it?

That's right, Elena's. It all comes back to her, doesn't it?

(She wonders when did she start sounding so damn bitter.)

She's mildly surprised to realize she can't even properly look at Stefan without feeling hurt, cheated or betrayed. She can still see him walking away from her and (if he had his way) out of her life. She can still hear him telling her he hates her. She can still feel the pain she felt when he did all these things.

Doesn't he see the sincerity in her eyes when she tells him she loves him? Doesn't he know he's the only one she really wants? That he's the only one she'd be willing to do just about anything?

If he does, he doesn't care. He doesn't care that she was left to desiccate and die, he doesn't care that she's back now, doesn't care that she's all over Damon and not him, and doesn't care that she's gone again and probably for good this time. He's too busy trying to save Elena from Klaus to care what the oldest vampire in history has in store for her.

Maybe he really doesn't love her anymore.

Maybe everything he said and did were honest actions.

She hates feeling like this. Uncertain. Unloved. Doubting.

(She never doubts herself, because she's always right, but now...)

The last time she felt unloved was when her own father disowned her and that was a long time ago. She stopped caring after that. She couldn't afford the luxury of giving a damn about what other people thought of her. She is who she is and that's all.

But Stefan changes everything.

She cares about what he thinks.

He makes her feel like some stupid, hormonal teenager with a crush on someone who'll never be hers.

But now she's locked up again, this time with Klaus there to torture her and she knows it's all over. He'll never let her go. He'll make her pay and suffer and then he'll kill her.

And nobody, not even Stefan, will care.

She didn't expect things to turn out the way they did but she shouldn't be surprised. After all, it's the Salvatores and Klaus, why would anything go according to the plan?

Not that she's complaining because if things did go the way they were supposed to, she'd either be dead by now or on her way there.

But now Stefan's paying the price for everything and she just can't be okay with that.

He's not a puppet, especially not Klaus' puppet. He's Stefan Salvatore. He can't just be played around with like that. She won't allow it.

She's risking her life for him, you know. She never would have thought this day would come (nobody would have thought this day would come), she never thought she was capable of putting someone else's life before her own.

But it's Stefan.

The only person who's ever made her feel alive again.

He deserves something in return, even if he hates her, even if he wants nothing to do with her.

If she ever had three wishes, she would wish to see Klaus dead. She would wish to avoid death forever, and she'd wish for Stefan to love her again.

That's all she really wants from life. Money, sex, blood don't compare. (Okay, so maybe blood is close enough.)

"I didn't let love get in the way."

That's what she tells everyone. That's what she tells herself. She's a liar, everybody knows that.

But she's only now beginning to think she's lying to herself too.

He used to think she was an angel. He used to think she was perfect and she couldn't do anything wrong. He was young, he was in love and he was naive.

But now he knows better.

Now he knows her wicked ways and cruel tactics. Now he has Elena and Elena really is an angel. She really is perfect and can't do anything wrong.

(You see a pattern here? You see how he just doesn't learn from his mistakes?)

And no, he's not trying to replace Katherine with Elena. He loves Elena for who she is and not for how she looks. He's in love with her and not with her body.

Until...

Until she arrives back to Mystic Falls and everything starts to fall apart.

She pretends to be Elena, she thinks she can fool him. She can't. He knows both of them too well to fall for her trick. So he throws her at the wall, holding her by the neck tightly, while she looks highly amused, because really, what else is there to do?

(Yield into her wish and kiss her, that's what else he could do. But he can't. That would cause too many unnecessary complications. He can't.)

They meet again in the Lockwood's mansion. She invites him for a walk and he agrees, although reluctantly, because she's Katherine Pierce and he always had troubles with refusing her. She smirks, satisfied with herself, like she knew he'd cave in. She probably did.

He has to realize she hasn't changed at all. Of course. She flirts with him playfully and he'd be lying to say he doesn't like it a little. Just a little. But he doesn't show it, doesn't give her the satisfaction of knowing she still has some kind of hold on him. He does the opposite, calls her names, tries to hurt her the way she's hurt him in the past.

She tells him she came back for him.

He'd like to believe that. It would be so great to believe that. But he can't, because if he does she'll break him again. That's what she does, she breaks people and she enjoys it. So he tells her he hates her, even though it's not completely true, and suffers the consequences when she stabs him in the stomach. That's okay, though. Physical pain he can deal with it. But heartbreak over Katherine... he's not sure he can go through that again.

She doesn't give up on him. Of course.

She keeps chasing after him, tells him she wants him, loves him. He ignores it because it's all a bullshit and tries to get the truth out of her, tries to figure out why she's here. (Because it's not for him, he knows that much.) He tries to ignore the way she's looking at him and the tears in her eyes (which seem so real, but are obviously fake; she's a great actress) when she tells him their love was real, but it's harder than it should be.

She wants him to break up with Elena. She threatens her and her friends and family. He uses that as an excuse to hurt her, but her screams don't satisfy him as much as it should.

He tells Damon he wants to be the one to kill her. The words leaving his mouth shouldn't disgust him as much as it does.

He thinks that maybe if he kills her he can finally end this, kill his lingering feelings for her too in the process. If there's no Katherine Pierce in this world anymore, maybe he can finally move on, give all his love to Elena.

(But what would be his world like with no Katherine Pierce in it?)

He finds he's not at all surprised when they can't manage to murder her after all. She's smart; smarter than them, stronger than them, knows better than them. And she's a fighter. She always has something up on her sleeve.

They get stuck together in a room and she calls him the brother who didn't love her enough. He wants to yell at her for that.

He wants to tell her that he loved her enough, he loved her more than he should have. That she was everything for him, he did everything for her and gave up even his own life for her, but she was just playing games with him all along. He doesn't say anything though, because he's trying to remain calm, keep his cool in front of her, act unaffected and disinterested, but he almost claps when his brother calls her an evil slut.

(Not that she's really insulted by that, she just looks kind of amused. She's having fun, he realizes. It sickens him that she's so clearly unbothered by the whole situation, carelessly playing with their feelings and emotions. He briefly wonders how many men also fell for her tricks and looks and flawless acting like them and Mason Lockwood, and he feels sorry for the poor guys. She's probably killed or turned them too.)

She tells him that she's practically stalked him in all these years. He didn't expect that. This new discovery honestly shocks the hell out of him. (And flatters him. Just a little.) He can't come up with any logical reason as to why she'd do that.

She mouths 'I love you' and he feels himself softening a little. (Out of the corner of his eyes he can see Damon rolling his eyes disgustedly, but he's too wrapped up in Katherine to feel sorry for his brother.) He tries to regain his composure, act like he doesn't care, sees right through her lie, keeps questioning her, but there's some kind of honesty in her eyes that excites him and terrifies him at the same time. He doesn't want to feel this way about her. He'd give anything not to feel this way about her.

The terror wins over and he lets Damon lock her up in the tomb. (They say they do that to punish her, because death would be too kind, but they both know they do it because, when it comes down to it, neither of them could kill her.) Damon specifically insists on doing it himself and Stefan's more than glad for that. He's afraid he wouldn't be able to do it.

Scratch that, he knows he wouldn't be able to do it. She'd beg and plead and say all the right things, all the things he wants to hear and he'd cave in. His resolve is embarrassingly weak when it comes to her.

So instead he finds Elena, tells her the great news, tells her they can be together again and he's hurt when she refuses to. He understand her reasons, even agrees with them. But...

He's just lost both of them, hasn't he?

They get stuck together again, this time without Damon there and in a less lovelier place. She plays her usual mind games on him and he tries to resist it with everything he has. It's almost becoming a routine for them. A routine that tires him and drains him from all his energy. But he can't let her win. Because he knows what's she playing at.

She seduced Damon, made him hers and when she knew he wanted her and her only, she threw him away. Just like that.

Now she wants Stefan but only because he's not hers. He's Elena's and that's what bothers her. The fact that he doesn't want her anymore, that he's found someone else, that he's just fine without her. She's not used to that, she can't stand that and she's always liked challenges so now she's made it her mission to destroy him. Make him want her, love her again, and as soon as he gives in, she won't want him anymore. That's why he can't and won't let her win this game.

He leaves her alone in the tomb the first time he gets the chance.

It seems cruel (she deserves it, he tells himself) because he's just not this person. He's not his brother, he's not cruel, he's not someone who doesn't feel compassion and doesn't help the indigent even if they've done bad things, but this is Katherine. He's trying so hard to hate Katherine and helping her is not the way to do that. Leaving her is the way to do that.

And maybe part of him does hate her.

For everything.

For making him fall in love with her and sleeping with Damon at the same time. For not returning his love. For ruining his good relationship with his brother, possibly for good. For faking her death and leaving him alone, abandoning him. For being the one to turn him into this monster he is now. For claiming to love him when she doesn't, for lying. For ever meeting her.

And for loving her. For still loving her.

Because part of him may hate her, but another part of him is still in love with her.

He's in love with a woman he hates.

He's in love with two women.

(Wow, sometimes he really hates his life.)

But that woman, that woman whom he also hates doesn't love him back, doesn't deserve his love, so he walks away, trying to forger her hurt, betrayed expression, trying to forget her.

He knows she'll be back. She always comes back, always. You cannot hide from her, she finds you.

It seems like an impossible task but one way or another she'll get out of the tomb, he feels it in his guts.

She's Katherine fucking Pierce. This isn't the last time he sees her.

He's right, of course. She does come back, once again playing her silly little games that she loves so much and, here comes the interesting part, doesn't try to win him back at all. She doesn't even really acknowledge him, she's too preoccupied with Damon. He wonders why the sudden change.

Maybe she's decided she likes Damon more after all. Maybe she's hurt he's left her in the tomb. Maybe she's finally given up on him. He should be glad for that. He is glad.

(Except he's not. But don't tell anyone.)

He's got other things to do anyway, like trying to save Elena from her impending death. Or being with Elena. Or you know.. just loving Elena.

(Except that he's not blind. They think he is, but he's not. His brother is in love with his Elena and he knows she has some sort of feelings for him too. Whether she loves him or not, she's considering.)

Klaus has her now.

Guess this is the end then. For her, at least, because Klaus will kill her. He won't back down like they did and why should he? He's never been in love with her like they were. He really does hate her. (Understandable.)

He tries to pretend he doesn't care, doesn't hurt and he think he's doing a great job in this whole acting thing. (Learned from the best, after all.) When Damon asks him if he thinks he's killed her he answers with an emotionless 'probably'. He probably has. And if he hasn't yet, well then, he will.

It's hard to believe that, hard to imagine he won't see her again, she won't ever come back again. She's Katherine Pierce. She always comes back.

But this time is not always.

It's not like it even matters to him. (It does.) One less problem.

"It's not like she didn't have it coming," says Damon.

Yes, she did have it coming. But that doesn't mean it's okay by them. It doesn't mean they wanted this.

It doesn't mean they were prepared for it.

He shouldn't be surprised she actually manages to get away from Klaus in the end, but he is.

It's Klaus, the big bad vamp-wolf hybrid (or whatever they're calling it), the evil in the story and he wants her dead. If even he can't murder her, then who can?

But then again, this is Katherine Pierce. Master of lying, queen of manipulation. She always gets what she wants, doesn't she? (So not fair, by the way.)

She walks away with the cure for Damon in her hand, completely unharmed, and he's left being Klaus' new play toy, hoping to every God out there that she actually gives the cure to his brother. If she has just an ounce, an ounce of humanity left inside of her, she will.

He gives up everything, stops caring, stops worrying, just feels. He has fun. And it feels good.

He can finally hate Katherine.

He's free.

With his emotions turned off he doesn't give a damn about anything. About her, about Elena, about Damon.

He's free.

(He should have done this sooner, he muses. Everything is so much easier; no pain, no pressure, no problems. Just blood.

Well, later is still better than never.)

He knows he'll see Katherine again. Of course he will. He was right all along.

No matter the situation or the circumstances, she's Katherine Pierce and she always comes back.

And Klaus still wants her dead, so he knows it won't be too long before their paths will cross each other's again.

He doesn't know what will happen then. Will he still be like this? Will he not care at all? Will he watch Klaus tear her apart without a word or will his emotions catch up with him again and help her?

He doesn't know, but he doesn't even care right now. He feels good like this, lives in the moment, doesn't think about the future.

What will happen will happen and until then... he's gonna make the best of it.

He used to think she was an angel. He used to think she was perfect and couldn't do anything wrong.

He knows better now.

He knows she's not any of these things. She's the devil. Technically.

But for him, just for him, she'll always be an angel. A fallen angel.

His angel.

She'll always be his first... everything.

And he hates himself for that.

She used to love herself.

She used to not care. She used to rip people apart, make them bleed and laugh as she watches them trying to put their ruined lives back together.

He changed that. He changed all of that.

She cares and she can't love herself because of that. She doesn't love herself anymore.

She hates herself.

For loving him, she hates herself.

Elena's great.

She's kind, warm, friendly, selfless, smart, funny, beautiful inside and out. She could be anyone's dream woman.

She is his dream woman and he's in love with her.

But at the end of the day it all doesn't matter, because there's this other woman who's all wrong and dark and nothing like Elena, but she came first, and Elena or no Elena, in a way, she'll always be first in his heart.

She'll always be the One.

Katherine Pierce has always and will always have him.

You know what, I think I actually like this story... huh. Well, what do you think?

By the way, if you love S/K as much as I do, stay tuned cause I'm working on a multi-chapter fic for them. It's basically the first season rewritten with Katherine being there from the beginning. :)