A Tree Called Life

Chapter 1

Caroline sat in her dorm, watching her former roommate pack up the last of her things. She almost hated to kick the girl out, but Bonnie and Elena would be coming back to school tomorrow, and she seriously doubted that Elena would be okay with her thousand-greats grandmother doppelganger living with them. Scratch that, she knew Elena wouldn't be okay with it. It was Katherine, after all... A newly-human and utterly miserable Katherine. The aforementioned sat down on the bed and looked at Caroline.

"So that's it." Katherine crossed one booted ankle over another.

"Not quite." Caroline said. She smiled at the arched eyebrow she received in response, and jumped up. "Petrova, we're throwing you a two-person send-off party! Bonnie and Elena won't be here until tomorrow afternoon, so that leaves us plenty of time for hangover recovery. Besides, you weren't a terrible roomie, and every roommate deserves a going-away party..." She rummaged around in the mini fridge and under her bed before bringing out a bottle of bourbon and a couple of cups, shaking them happily.

"Isn't that like...against University policy, or something?" Katherine asked, giving her a haughty look.

"Absolutely. But what can I say? I like my alcohol. Besides, when did you start caring about rules?" Caroline laughed.

"You just like Damon's liquor cabinet." She smirked, before shifting into a matter-of-fact tone. "I started caring about rules when I became human and they started applying... I hate my life."

"Damon's an ass, but he certainly knows how to pick his whiskey. Now come on, let's get drunk, bitch about how much our lives suck, and then pass out." Caroline said. Katherine shrugged, reached for a cup, and poured a few fingers of bourbon in.

"Works for me." Katherine tossed back the alcohol like it was water, and then sputtered, groaning. "What I wouldn't give for my vampire tolerance back."

A couple of hours later the bottle was finished. Katherine was moping, Caroline was giggling, and both were absolutely drunk. Well, Katherine was. Caroline, with her tolerance and healing, was merely tipsy. They had gone over pretty much every topic under the sun—parents, how much it sucked being a human, Caroline's breakup with Tyler, and where exactly Katherine bought her shoes—before they came to one that Caroline had never heard Katherine talk about before.

"I got dumped." Katherine blurted out, her inhibitions lowered to a ridiculous level.

Caroline's ears perked. "You got dumped? It was the first time, wasn't it? Who did it?" She loved juicy information, and the fact that Katherine Pierce got dumped was almost enough to make the tabloids. Did vampires even have tabloid magazines? No, wait, of course they didn't. Duh.

"Ssecond. The first wasss my boyfriend in Bulgaria when I was human. The first time, that iss. He knocked me up and left. Asssshole." Katherine pouted, crossing her arms, sloshing her cup in the process. She was remarkably articulate for her level of inebriation, only lightly slurring her words every so often.

"Um, yeah... Douche. I hope he married a troll of a woman." The blonde giggled.

"He married my former bessst friend Evangelia. She was almosst as pretty as me. But that's a moot point." Katherine commented, shrugging slightly, clearly not even caring anymore.

"Well then... Who was it this time? Have I heard of him? You can't just leave me hanging! Give me details, Petrova!" Caroline was practically jumping up and down on her bed.

"Calm your panties, Forbess. It was Elijah." She sniffled slightly into her cup. "We were together when everyone was... Ssearching for the cure, but he dumped me when Klaus went to New Orleans. My doppelganger planted liess in his head, and they all piled up, and we never got a chance to work it out." Katherine moaned, and flopped backwards. "He just... He's the only man I've ever loved. I don't think I ever stopped. But my one happy part left me because some witches are conspiring against Klaus. And I was the idiotic one who told him about it."