Important A/N Please Read: So you all probably remember that super long gap in the show when Katherine wasn't on the show at all. Just a refresher, she disappeared after the episode in the third season Homecoming to run away from Klaus as far away as possible and be free and on her own, and didn't come back until the episode in the fourth season Down the rabbit hole, when she came to the island to feed Jeremy to Silas, which killed him. She was gon for like, 24 episodes! :0 Well, they never really explained what had happened to her while she was gone, so I am giving you my take on what happened. Please enjoy!

"Charlotte! Where are you?! What are you freaks doing to her?! Charlotte!"

Katherine Pierce could feel herself screeching her name as she felt the vervain slowly seep into her system. She wasn't sure how much longer she could stay conscious and continue screaming her name. She was about to lose the one thing she loved, even more than herself, in the entire world.

"Shut up, you stupid, brunette bitch," she heard the woman mutter into her ear behind her, suddenly grabbing Katherine by her hair. "Your little Charlotte is going to be just fine."

Katherine barely had enough energy to respond- the vervain was affecting her quickly. "I'll kill you, and you're little pack of jerks, too," she muttered weakly.

Letting go of Katherine's dark hair, she sauntered away, chuckling. "Okay, Katerina. Whatever you say."

Katherine struggled to get out of the vervain-soaked ropes that tied her up, but it was no use. She had developed a tolerance for vervain over the many years of being alive, but nothing strong enough to tolerate this.

No matter what happened, she wasn't going to let anything happen to the one of the only things that mattered in her life. Even if she had to die to make sure it happened.

Some time before...

Katherine reached over and turned up the volume of the radio on the dashboard. She chuckled, thoroughly enjoying the window rolled down, the wind whipping through her hair and being free. After all of those years, hiding from Klaus and trying to deal with her... emotions for Stefan, she finally felt like she had nothing to worry about.

Breakaway by Kelly Clarkson was blasting over the radio. The road slowly began to change from vastly open, to the occasional tree, to a sparse forest. Katherine began to nibble on her fingernail, a smile escaping from her lips. She didn't have anywhere to be, anything to do. All she cared about was driving in her old, light gray Chevy Impala she had recently stolen from some guy in Maryland that was selling old cars. He was so old himself, he barely realized what was going on when Katherine turned the key in the ignition and drove away, leaving her other, much uglier car behind in the parking lot.

But Maryland was far behind her. She had left it in her review mirror a while ago, and smiled bigger as she passed the green sign.

NEW YORK: 110 MILES

She was sick and tired of tiny towns, like Mystic Falls. They were boring and usually had the biggest population of vampires. Katherine liked being unique, and in Mystic Falls she felt like she was suffocating under the piles of local vampires. So she wanted to go somewhere populated, somewhere incredible, somewhere exciting. Somewhere where she'd be the only vampire. San Francisco was her first choice, but she didn't want to drive that far. So she took her second choice- Manhattan, New York City. Everything she had heard about it sounded magical, and she seriously needed to see it for herself. She sighed, so lost in thought she barely noticed that the sparse forest she had been driving in had quickly become dense, lush, and incredibly green.

Katherine frowned as the car, suddenly lurching forward, awoke her from her thoughts. It began to slow down, and flung her forward a few more times. She heard a loud pop somewhere from the front of the car and, to Katherine's horror, her car stalled and ran out of gas.

Katherine threw her head back and let out a groan. "This is not happening," she whined. She was so close, but without a properly functioning car, it was going to make everything more complicated. She took out her phone, but to her complete dismay she didn't have a single ounce of cell reception. As she stepped out of the car and slammed the door angrily, she began to consider her options. She could run all of the way to New York, leaving the car behind in the middle of the road. 110 miles wasn't so bad for a vampire, especially when running at full speed. Besides, if what she heard about Manhattan was true, she wouldn't really be needing a car anyway. On the other hand, she didn't want to leave such a cool and beautiful car behind. She had become quite attached to the old thing. Katherine walked over to the hood of the car, her heels clicking on the hard road. A breeze tousled her dark, curly locks, and rustled through the lush green trees that seemed to swallow everything around her. She had entered such a dense forest she could barely see the cloudy sky above. Gingerly opening the hood, she pouted. She didn't know the first thing about running a car. Driving them was the limit to her knowledge. She stood there, staring at the inner workings of the car for a good 15 minutes before seriously considering pushing the car all of the way to New York.

She felt her ears perk up slightly as she heard a soft noise, somewhere far in the distance that her vampire super-hearing was picking up. It was the sound of a car, slowly making its way in the direction she was standing. Katherine said a silent thanks as she breathed out in relief. She waited the few minutes it took until finally the rusty white pickup truck was in her view. As the truck got closer, she waved them down.

"Getting help from a human," she muttered to herself, cocking her head to the side. "This is definitely a new low for you, Katherine."

The girl driving the truck was young, maybe 18 or so. She looked around the age Katherine looked when she died all those years ago (and how she still looks now). She slowly pulled her sputtering car over to the side just behind Katherine's and turned of the engine. She got out of the car and closed the door.

"Having car issues?" she asked as she walked over. She was a couple inches shorter than Katherine (but, in this case, the girl was many inches shorter, because Katherine's heels caused her to tower over the other girl) and she wore black high top converse, baggy ripped jeans and a gray tank top. Her hair was very long and dark at the roots, but quickly became sandy blonde as it traveled down to the tips, almost in a sudden ombre effect, where most of the hair is dyed sandy-blonde.

Katherine smirked. "You could say that," she said smartly.

She walked over to the open hood of the light gray car, bending over to look into it. "What's the problem?"

"Ran out of gas," she said in an obvious tone. "Duh."

The girl looked up at her and raised an eyebrow. "I... was just asking."

Katherine scoffed. "And I was just telling."

The girl straightened up, crossing her arms and scowling. "Do you want me to help you with your car or not? Because you're kind of making me wish I hadn't of pulled over to help you."

It was Katherine's turn to scowl. "Look. I already know the problem. I just need gas. And I need you to get me some."

The girl chuckled sarcastically, going back to leaning over the open car hood. "Maybe if you asked nicely, and told me your name, I would think about it."

Katherine sighed, walking over to the girl and standing next to her, putting her nimble fingers to her forehead in distress. "You're right, you're right, I'm sorry. I'm just pissed. I'm, like, 100 miles away from my destination."

The girl smiled looking over at her. "It's alright. I get it." She began moving and fixing something inside of Katherine's car. "Let me guess- you're finally free from wherever you came from, probably some small town down farther south, and you want to forget high school, and you're heading straight for Manhattan for a fresh start?"

Katherine smiled. "You're good," she said. But I think I won't mention that you left out the part about how the reason I'm running is because an ageless vampire-werewolf hybrid bastard has been hunting me for over 500 years and my annoying doppleganger bitch Elena stole away the guy that was in love with me first.

She turned her body towards Katherine, putting her hands on her hips. "And your name is..." She put a finger to her chin, looking up. "I'm going to go with... Sofia."

Katherine raised an eyebrow. "Sofia?" she laughed. "That's not even close!" Katherine liked this girl. She was humorous and light, but also seemed like she had a whole backstory that made her even more interesting and exciting.

She continued guessing. "Maybe... Haley? Or Tamara?" She suddenly snapped, her eyes widening along with her smile. "Samantha! You totally look like a Samantha! But you'd go by Sam, just to make yourself sound more badass than you already look."

Katherine chuckled deeply. She liked that last part. "Katherine," she said. "My name is Katherine."

She nodded, her sandy hair moving with her head. "Yeah, yeah, I can definitely see that," she replied. Her eyes widened once again. "Can I call you Katie?"

Katherine gave her a fake scowl. "No way in hell," she hissed.

She laughed. Katherine watched as her freckled nose crinkled, and the dim, cloudy light danced in her hazel eyes. She stuck out her hand, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear with her other hand.

"Nice to meet you, Katherine. I'm Charlotte. Welcome to Pennsylvania."

Please review and tell me what you think so far! I really appreciate reviews so I know if I should continue or not :)