Entry tags:

!complete, jeremy gilbert, katherine pierce

Who: Katherine & Jeremy
What: Jeremy's got some awkward news to break to his older sister
When: Before the Reaper Plot, sometime in March
Where: Katherine's condo
Rating/Warnings: Relatively low
Status: Complete!

Dread. It was an emotion Katherine detested but it sat at the bottom of her stomach, heavy and merciless, as she awaited Jeremy’s arrival - because some things weren’t meant to be discussed over something as impersonal as texts. That was how Elijah had broken the ‘surprise, you’re going to be a vampire’ news and while she’d apologized, the bitter taste never left. Really. Who does that?

Blaming him was moot. He was processing, dealing with his own changes his own way, but both were blind mice navigating what had been thrown at them. Meanwhile everyone else around them, the people they knew, they were months ahead - even years. Deeply steeped in it to the point that it was life and nothing but normal, and she was still coming to terms with what it meant. What it could mean, and if even her own flesh and blood was worth staying through all this.

It was selfish, and cowardly, but the instinct to protect herself came as natural as breathing.

Her things at least remained unpacked. That was worth noting, wasn’t it? At least she was getting as much as she could from the beachfront condo, which was a cozy one-bedroom layout with glass walls for windows facing the Pacific waters, a patio with a small dinner table, and a compact hot tub meant for two.

“Come in,” she called once she heard someone at the door - Jeremy, no doubt - and the first area he’d seen when he walked in would be the kitchen she was standing at. Tonight’s snacks were dates with almond butter, and she was carefully flipping through the pages of an old, old book.

Its spine spelled ‘Petrova.’ It was mostly translated from its original Bulgarian text.

When Katherine had asked if they met on decent terms in the dreams, Jeremy hadn’t been sure exactly what to tell her. He didn’t want to lie to her, because she’d know the truth eventually, but he also hadn’t wanted to tell her over texts that when they met, Katherine impersonated Elena and essentially turned Caroline into a vampire. He also didn’t want to be like Damon and just come right out and tell her everything without her consent.

So when Katherine had suggested he come over, he thought that was good idea so he had headed over. He hadn’t been to Katherine’s new place yet, so at least he was going to get a chance to see it while delivering the bad news to her.

Reaching her place, Jeremy knocked one the door when he reached it and upon hearing his sister’s voice, he opened the door and stepped inside, “Hey. How’s it going?”

“Just looking through some old history,” she informed, flagging him in with a wave of her hand - he could kick off the shoes and relax if he wanted to, Jeremy was always welcome here. “Got a heavy biographical book on the Petrova bloodline from the dreams.” And how funny, she thought, that there was no mention of the offspring she birthed out of wedlock. Papa Petrova really did make sure no one knew of her child, didn’t he?

Wedged in the pages was an old, brittle piece of art - a drawing centuries old of her father, mother, sister. Her heart hurt for them. Katherine didn’t think it made sense, but feelings weren’t logical. “You want something to drink?” she asked, closing the tome on the kitchen counter. “If I had planned ahead I would have gotten you bagel bites.”

Gourmet poison in a box, mmmm.

Jeremy headed over to join her, brows raising slightly when he saw the book, “That reminds me of the journals I got from one of our Gilbert ancestors, in the dreams. I should bring those over for you to see.” Jeremy didn’t know much about the Petrova line other than Elena was descended from it, in the dreams and somehow Katherine’s daughter, Nadia, had been turned into a vampire. Exactly who had turned her and how she had found out about Katherine was one thing they had never learned before they both had died. “Whatever you have to drink is fine.”

No beer in the fridge for him to belch over, but she did have berry water - that whole trend of leaving berries in a container of spring water so the juices could be soaked, that sort of thing. Katherine had to drink a lot of water as part of keeping up that figure, duh. “The Gilbert’s keep journals now,” she scoffed, brows crinkled in some sardonic amusement, and she poured him the water. “Water it is, baby brother. Unless whatever ‘truth’ you’re about to preach requires something stronger. I’ve got tequila. Wine too, I think, but I’m trying to not bloat so much.”

Jeremy wasn’t surprised that Katherine had water infused with fruit and he thanked her as he took a sip, which wasn’t that bad actually. Katherine might want a glass or tequila after what he was going to tell her, but for now that water would do. “Wine makes you bloated? I didn’t know that.” He suspected that that was a thing that only girls would have been aware of.

Yes, Katherine was acutely aware of what would make her bloat and how much of it - and while she ate what she wanted she also knew moderation was key, and she was moderating her intake by using naturally flavored water as a filler and dates to satisfy the sweet tooth craving (natural sugars as opposed to processed, that kind of thing).

A glass was poured for herself and she sat on a stool, motioning to him. “Drink enough of it and it does, but go on, little brother - you’ve got things to say and I’m willing to listen. I trust your judgment.”

Jeremy had also been dreading telling Katherine about their encounters, but she wanted to know, “Alright. So, what was the last thing you dreamt about?” It would be easier to figure out what to tell her if he knew that. She obviously knew that they didn’t meet until centuries after she’d been turned, but he wanted to know if she knew about Stefan and Damon yet.

“I turned,” she started, clucking her tongue - she could remember that split second of her neck snapping, before it went dark and she awoke in transition. “I figured out what Klaus and Elijah were, got desperate, and did everything I could to make sure he didn’t sacrifice me. I escaped, he killed my family, I looked for my daughter after I dodged him, no luck there.”

Katherine hoped wherever she was, she lived a long, happy life. What kind of life would she have been able to offer, anyway, with Klaus after her?

A sip was taken of the water before continuing. “It’s been three hundred years of avoiding him so far. I’m in France in the 1700s about to snap someone’s neck.”

“Alright, so we don’t meet until the late nineties.” Since Katherine hadn’t dreamt about Stefan and Damon yet, she didn’t know about the stuff he’d read in Jonathan Gilbert’s journals about her and Pearl and Anna. “Basically, you tried to kill us. A lot.” There really was nothing else that he could say that wouldn’t spoil her for the big things to come. He couldn’t even tell her about Nadia.

That had taken Katherine off guard a bit. Her blink expressed confusion, and the tilt of her head curiosity.

“I tried -” Alright, in the scheme of things her and murder went well together. In the dreams she had no issue ripping spines out of people’s backs if it got her what she wanted - there was no one she could turn to but herself, no one to protect her but herself, and her running away from Klaus had a tendency to develop a couple of bad habits due to paranoia and wanting to stay alive. “Why?”

Jeremy knew that it couldn’t have been easy for Katherine to hear any of this, but at least it was him telling her this and not Damon. Damon wouldn’t be as cautious. “It’s a long story, but the short answer is, cause of Elena being your doppelganger.” He wondered if he should tell her exactly how her and Elena were related in the dreams, because she would get there eventually, but then that would lead to telling her about Isobel and John in the waking world too.

“Elijah’s given me the scoop on that part already,” she groused, rolling her eyes in exasperation - she was assuming he and Klaus would be hot on her trail, readying for the sacrifice that would undo the psychotic bastard’s curse. There was a sense of protectiveness that stirred. Things weren’t always (at this rate, never) right with her twin but don’t fuck with her little sister (Elena may have come out five minutes after her but it still counted).

Though now that he said it, the gears turned in her head. “Let me guess - along with Klaus gunning after her, I’m ready to serve her up on a platter to him for my freedom?”

Leverage. That’s what Katherine had been looking for throughout the years. A way to barter her freedom.

Jeremy nodded, “Yeah, pretty much.” It was a little strange, sitting there across from his sister, who in the dreams had fed off him at least once and had even contributed to one of his deaths. Unlike a couple of years earlier, Jeremy was able to differentiate dream!Katherine from real life!Katherine and wasn’t on the verge of a nervous breakdown. He hated to think what it would be like if he weren’t able to be around his sister.

Her nod implied understanding, but in the most sarcastic way - the smile played on her lips was mirthless, brows flaring in an exasperated way. Typical me. Three hundred years of running had taken a toll, and Katerina knew she could either keep running, or find something to get herself out of the situation.

Another doppelganger was the ace in the hole.

It was a good time to drink something stronger but she continued to settle for her fruit-infused water. “And are mom and died alive in all this? Do they know what’s going on? Or did they meet their tragic demise, too?”

Jeremy shook his head in response to her questions, “No, they’re not alive. They died just before my dreams started.” He too could have used something stronger for this conversation, but he was going to stick with the water for now, “Car accident. So, you can imagine what it was like when they died here.” Their parents’ deaths in the waking world had been much more gruesome than in the dreams and every now and then Jeremy still re-lived discovering their bodies, but for the most part he tried not to dwell on it too much for fear that he’d slip back into the depression that had taken over for awhile afterwards. “Jenna became mine and Elena’s guardian after that.” Eventually Katherine would get to the part when she’d compelled Jenna to stab herself and he wondered if he should tell her before she did.

“Not something I relived exactly,” she mumbled against the rim of the glass, quietly - the Petrova family were different. No Gilberts. Their death had been gruesome with the way Niklaus handled it, but she mourned her shit father there too the same way she mourned hers here. Quietly, and hidden behind her apathy. They had both played a part in losing her daughter so the feelings were a little complicated there, you could say.

Katherine cleared her throat a little, ridding herself of that uncomfortable pressure. “I have a hard time seeing Aunt Jenna play parent with her boozy floozy tendencies, anyway. Glad I dodged that bullet.” Good thing she was pretty with idiots gaga over her - she had charmed one right up, and shacked in with him straight out of high school. Anything to get the hell out of the house. “But maybe I...should have been around more. At least for you.”

At the announcement of their death she went completely cold shoulder, the funeral and memorial services lacking her presence and her contact with her siblings was almost non-existent. Moreso with Elena.

“It was….I try not to think about that night.” Jeremy had been out getting high the night their parents had been murdered, in the waking world, and for awhile he’d wondered what would have happened had he been home instead, “I’ll be honest though, for once I’m glad you weren’t home. Or Elena.” He wouldn’t have wanted either of them to have seen that.

He couldn’t help but chuckle at what Katherine said about Jenna and he nodded a little, “She stepped up and did a pretty good job. I like to think she would have done the same here, but since Elena was eighteen, we didn’t actually need her or John or anyone to move out here with us.” At the time though, Jeremy could have used Jenna or John around, especially with everything that had gone on with Damon in the months that had followed.

John? Katherine’s lips created a drastic frown of disgust, very a la Grumpy Cat. “You mean the weird uncle that we hardly ever here from? Yeah, alright.” She could hardly recall the family being all that close to him - she’d prefer Jenna ten times over him if the scenario was different and the choice was theirs. “Glad we dodged that bullet.”

Jeremy nodded, “Yeah, he’s not that much better in the dreams,” Now was his chance to bring up John and Isobel. Katherine was going to find out they were Elena’s real parents in the dreams eventually and then probably put two and two together and if she asked him if he knew, he didn’t want to have to explain why he never told her, “So, speaking of John, there’s probably something you should know. Something that has to do with the dream world and waking world.”

Odd person to have that dream association with, but okay? Katherine shrugged, lackadaisically spinning in her barstool, curls flying about. “Still listening,” she announced. “What oh what should I know that involves dear Uncle John? Does he turn out to be a serial killer? He always gave me that vibe.”

Jeremy took a deep breath before speaking, “So, not long after mom and dad died, Elena found something. I don’t know if she tried to tell you or not. Anyway, it turns out you and Elena were adopted. Uncle John is your father and your mother is a woman named Isobel, who in the dreams, is actually part of the Petrova line.” Jeremy knew how crazy it all sounded and he wouldn’t blame Katherine if she didn’t believe him or got mad that he didn’t say anything sooner, but he knew that in the long run it was better to tell her.

Katherine almost wobbled off her chair there for a second, but regained that modelesque grace that allowed her to not faceplant into her ceramic floors, because what the fuck did he just - ?

Briefly, there was surprise. Then doubt, which was overshadowed by a flash of what could be construed as angry, and then came the skepticism in form of narrowed eyes. Similar to a glare, but it didn’t hold the promise of a threat.

“Oh,” was her response. Katherine was flabbergasted. How was she supposed to react? “Elena didn’t - Elena didn’t tell me.” Not that she had given her sister the chance to contact her to begin with, anyway. Her throat felt dry in a way that water wouldn’t cure. “Does John know that she knew?”

Jeremy watched as the various emotions played over his sister’s face and he briefly wondered if perhaps he shouldn’t have told her, but in the long run, he was sure that he had done the right thing, “As far as I know, she never contacted him after she found out. A lot of stuff happened after that. All the shit with Damon.” He really wouldn’t have been surprised if Damon had convinced Elena not to tell Katherine, but he didn’t know any of that for sure. All he knew for sure was that Damon had been incredibly manipulative for quite awhile when it came to Elena and Jeremy wasn’t sure exactly when it all had started. “There was a while where I wasn’t really talking to Elena either, so…” He shrugged, hoping Katherine could figure out what he was getting at.

Katherine got the gist of what ‘all the shit with Damon’ meant. There wasn’t sympathy towards her sister - what did she expect, anyway, when she went hot for teacher? That’s what happened when someone remained stubbornly doe-eyed and wanted to see all the good in people, even if that good was barely there.

“Glad to see I’m the last one in the loop,” she chuckled, mirthlessly, and rubbed her palms over her knee. “Well, it’s not like John -” ‘Uncle’ didn’t roll off the tongue right anymore, “is interested in taking up the parent role. That’ll make it all less awkward.”

Meaning nothing needed to change, did it? Katherine preferred it that way.

“Hey, I only found out about it cause she told me, in the dreams. I asked her about it afterwards, here.” Considering everything else that had parallelled the dreams and waking world, it had only made sense that it would be true in the waking world as well. “So, you’re not the only one she didn’t tell here.”

“That’s classic,” she sourly retorted, but there was still just that uncomfortable block in her throat that made her antsy. Maybe she needed tequila to sear it away. “I’m not going to bother looking into it - the only parents I know are gone, that’s it.”

Katherine scooted off the stool, selecting her agave poison. “Anyway, you want a shot?”