Save Me (Deratherine)

Summary: Set in VD S5 and TW S4 After turning human and finding out that Derek is alive, she goes to Beacon Hills for protection. What will ensue? Will she and Derek get back together?

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It was a nebulous night, as a human Katherine drove a car she’d stolen in Mystic Falls. After Elena had shoved the cure down her throat. She knew she couldn’t stay. She had to leave town. In fact, she knew exactly where to go. She would go to Beacon Hills, where it was safer for her. If she was lucky, maybe she’d find Derek alive. The last time she’d seen him, they’d broken up and then he’d died. After that, she’d left town, needing to get away from the pain.

A few hours later, Katherine arrived at the Hale residence. She hadn’t expected anyone there, but she sensed a presence. A very familiar one.

She turned around to see him behind her.

“You’re alive,” she stated.

“Well, you didn’t stick around long enough to find out if I had come back, did you?” he replied. Then he asked, “What are you doing here?”

“This is the safest place for me now that I’m human. I have a lot of enemies, but I doubt they’d come to a town with werewolves. This town is my best protection,” she explained to him.

“How are you even human? Last time I saw you, you were a vampire,” he wanted to know.

“I got bested by my doppelganger. She shoved the cure for vampirism down my throat,” she informed him.

When she told him that, he felt sorry for her. He knew what was coming. Now that she was human, she needed someone to look out for her. Since he was alive, she knew she was going to ask him for protection, so he beat her to the punch. Besides, he wanted to protect her. He didn’t know what he’d do if she died.

“Don’t worry. I’ll protect you,” he promised.

He stood just inches in front of her now.

She was happy that he was willing to keep her safe, but she didn’t want him to feel like he had to do it.

“You don’t have to, you know. I can always ask someone else. You don’t have to feel like you’re obligated to protect me.”

“I want to,” he told her. “I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to you,” he confessed, a hand on the side of her face.

She gave him a smile at that.

Neither of them would say it, but even though they were broken up, they were still very much in love.

After looking at each other for a few minutes, she broke the silence.

“I missed you.”

“I missed you, too,” he replied.

In the same room, in the same house, they felt connected again. It felt like they’d never broken up. Like they were still together. It was such a moment that, not knowing why, they began to kiss.

A few weeks later, they had made up for lost time and were back together.

Katherine looked at herself in the bathroom mirror, thinking of how to tell Derek the depressing news. She hated this. She was losing hair and some of her hair was turning gray. She didn’t understand why it was happening so soon, but she knew she was aging rapidly. This wasn’t normal. She knew she had to tell Derek, but she wasn’t sure this was the right time to do so. She was afraid now. She didn’t want to die. She was afraid of who or what would be waiting on the Other Side. She’d done so many horrible things for centuries. She felt like this might be her punishment. She didn’t think she could hold off much longer, though. This had been happening for the past week and a half. She didn’t know how much longer she had to live.

After looking at herself for a few more minutes, she left the bathroom and went to the living room. She knew Derek wasn’t home, so she curled up on the couch and waited for his return.

When Derek came back home, he smelled the scent of fear, so he looked for Katherine.

When he found her curled up on the couch, he sat by her on the couch. He could smell her fear but didn’t know why she was afraid. Coming from her, he knew it could be anything.

He looked at her.

“Hey,” he greeted. “What’s wrong?”

She looked at him.

“I’m dying of old age rapidly. I should’ve told you when it started. It’s getting worse,” she explained.

“We’ll find a way to stop it.”

He knew he had to be strong for her. She was so afraid of dying, she didn’t see any way out. Even though he was afraid for her, he couldn’t let her see it. He was afraid that it might break her if she saw him afraid too.

“I don’t want to die. I’m scared,” she confessed. He was the first she’d ever admitted being scared to.

“Hey.” He put an arm around her in comfort. “I’m here.”

She let him try and comfort her, but she knew it didn’t matter. She was dying of old age and she knew it was because of the cure. She didn’t think that there was a way to save her. If there was though, she knew Derek would find a way.

A few months passed of Derek looking for a way to save Katherine’s life. He hadn’t found one, though.

That night, she was heading down the stairs, when she felt pain travel up her left arm and to her chest. She assumed this was it. Then she fell down the rest of the stairs and landed at the bottom of them, and everything went black.

Derek was in the living room, when he heard a noise, so he went to investigate, only to find her at the bottom of the stairs. Upon further investigation, he realized that she’d had a heart attack. When he realized that, he took her to the hospital.

When she woke up, she was in bed at home, Derek on her bedside. She assumed that he’d taken her to the hospital which had saved her, and then had taken her home.

She slowly sat up in bed.

“Hey,” she greeted, still feeling weak from what she’d gone through.

Derek looked at her. He didn’t show it, but he was afraid. He’d been looking for a way to save her but hadn’t found a solution. He didn’t want to lose her, but he knew she was slipping through his fingers.

“How do you feel?” he asked.

“I think you know,” she answered him. “You haven’t found a solution, have you?”

“No. Not yet,” he admitted, knowing if he lied, she’d see right through it.

“Then I guess I’ll die. I can’t drink vampire blood, which means I can’t turn back. There could be another way, though.” She couldn’t believe she hadn’t thought of it earlier. She gave him a look, hinting at the idea.

Derek looked at her for a few moments.

“No. It could kill you,” he reminded her.

“I’m going to die without it. At least this way there’s a fifty-fifty chance that I’ll survive. You’re an alpha. Your bite could save me. Besides, you know I’ve always been a fighter. I don’t want to die, but at least if I do, we tried our best to save me. I love you and I’m asking you to bite me. Have faith that I’ll survive this,” she reasoned with him.

He looked at her in silence, debating, and gave a sigh. She was very stubborn and a fighter. Could she survive his bite, though? Would his bite save her? Should he take the risk? Was it really worth it? He knew she was right. She was dying anyway.

As he debated, he could hear and see that she was slipping away. The doctors had been right. She didn’t have much time left to live.

As darkness began to close around her, she closed her eyes, knowing that fighting death was something even she couldn’t do.

After a few minutes, Derek finally decided that it was worth the risk. He took her arm, brought out his wolf face, and gently but deeply bit her. Then he let her go and stayed there, waiting for a reaction.

An hour later, it had worked. His bite had saved her life. They were both happy, since he hadn’t wanted her to die. Neither had she.