Hello! Wow, firstly – thank you all so much for the great response to this! Almost fifty follows for the prologue alone is just insane! I'm so glad you all took interest. Thank you to everyone who followed, faved and reviewed! It means the world to me. Here is the first official chapter, so I hope you like it. Please keep in mind that I have no beta, so any mistakes are completely my fault. Haha.

Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize.

Chapter 1

The walls around her felt as if they were closing in. Her hands trembled against the counter top, her eyes focused on a tiny random dot on the wall opposite her. She could hear the faint ticking of the timer on her cell phone, telling her that she was a second closer to sealing the rest of her future. Her mind was completely blank, not able to process that any of this was happening to her.

She was twenty-five, she was single, she had a decent career and an apartment just made for a single girl in her twenties. This wasn't supposed to happen yet, not now. The dreams she had growing up –which didn't include her as a princess in a high tower as a brave prince on his white horse tore through the bushes and fought the fire-breathing dragon - never included this. She was supposed to have had a safe career, a doting husband and a typical house in the suburbs with a tiny puppy running around before this.

In her idle expectations, there'd been an anxious grin on her face and a husband holding her hands with the same anxious grin. She would be wanting this. She would have spent weeks, maybe months even, trying and just waiting for this to happen. She'd be shaking with excitement, not dread. Not in any of her naïve fantasies, was she there praying that there wasn't a baby in her stomach. Hoping so badly that the test would turn out negative and this was all just one massive misunderstanding that she'd laugh back at in five or ten years when her dream actually came home and it was a grin that was threatening to break, not tears.

Trying to control her breath, she clenched her eyes shut as she felt the water behind her eyelids getting closer and closer to spilling down her cheeks every time her phone alerted her that just a second had passed. She needed to know that this wasn't happening. That she'd got it wrong, that mother nature was just playing a cruel trick on her. Maybe.. just maybe, she'd pick up that stick and take a sigh of relief. If any time was a time for her blind optimism, it was now.

It just couldn't happen. It wasn't the right time and it definitely wasn't the right father. Damn it. How could she have been so stupid? Sleeping with some guy at her best friend's wedding, completely drunk out of her mind. Just as they'd agreed, they hadn't spoken about it. Apart from the odd cocky smirk everytime they saw each other, not a word had been spoken about it. As if it never happened. But, this wasn't even just some guy – it was Klaus. Klaus. Freakin' Klaus Mikaelson. The arrogant, British asshole who she was sure looked at himself in the mirror more often than he smiled. Though, it was a nice face and a nice smile so maybe she could understand that...

Did she have a choice to tell him if the outcome turned out to be one she was dreading? No. She couldn't even be selfish and keep him out of it, because he'd see her. He'd see her looking like a freaking whale and put the pieces together eventually. Stefan would tell him that Caroline had gotten herself knocked up by 'Mister Unknown' and there was a guarantee that he would confront her about it. He might not want anything to do with it, but there wasn't a single doubt in her mind that he'd bring it up. Eventually, he'd run into her and a living, breathing child and have to face the fact that it was his flesh and blood. Because they knew each other. They had mutual best friends, they shared the same social group, they lived in the same city. They ran into each other more often than most drunken one-night stands ran into each other and that wouldn't be easy to deal with if the outcome of this was the worst one possible.

She'd have to tell him. Let the words leave her mouth and watch his reaction. Oh, God, she'd have to tell her Mom and her Dad... and Katherine. She'd have to tell them that she got drunk on her best friend's wedding day and hooked up with the best man.

Not only that, but her entire life would be thrown upside down. She had a decent career now as a secretary for a popular Chicago-based fashion magazine. It wasn't the highest position she'd wanted when she'd gone into fashion writing, but she was slowly getting there. This would knock her back down all over again. She'd never be able to contribute to the magazine, not now. She'd never get her own article in their. She'd be stuck booking appointments and taking calls for the rest of her life. Whilst rushing home to spend her money on feeding her child.

She was single but she'd met someone. He'd just recently started work at the magazine marketing side of the company. There were whispers that he'd only got the job because his Mom was high up in the magazine, but she didn't care. He'd approached her by the coffee machine in the cafeteria on his first day, a week after the wedding, and he was nice. He was a nice guy and they'd gone out twice now. His name was Tyler but, hell. No young, attractive guy with a rising career was going to want to raise a child that wasn't theirs with a girl they'd just met. She was pretty much screwed in that department. Until she was, like, forty anyways. Then she'd just have to fall in love with a divorced alcoholic that stunk of cigarettes and rotten apples, with no job and two bitchy teenage daughters that hated her.

The vibration of her cell phone shook violently on the bathroom counter top, pulling her from her over-the-top train of thoughts. She didn't turn her head to look at it though, her heart speeding up considerably. Her eyes clenched shut tightly again, as she took one last deep breath and slowly turned to pick up the test.

The little plus sign burned her eyes, the tears rushing down her cheeks as she let out a loud cry.

Pregnant.

"Okay, cut the crap."

Her head snapped up at Katherine's harsh words. Her eyebrows furrowed, tilting her head backwards. The two girls were sat on the couch, both of them with their feet up and the their heads resting against the back of the couch. Caroline had reluctantly called her best friend and asked her to come over, though only after a dozen voice mails and ignored texts. It had been an entire week now since she'd taken the pregnancy test and found out about the little situation -so to speak- she'd gone and gotten herself into. In that time, she hadn't told anyone. The words hadn't left her mouth, not once. She'd turned down Tyler's offer of taking her out on another date, hastily apologizing and excusing herself. She'd been ignoring her phone completely and she was quite shocked that Katherine hadn't come barging on her door. Well, actually she had, she just hadn't let her up. Eventually, she'd text her and told her she was fine – just busy. Katherine had text back with words that told her that she definitely didn't believe her, but Katherine wasn't one to push. She'd just pressure it out of her when they got together.

"Hm?" She mumbled, lamely. Katherine's face turned into one of annoyance and the brunette let out a sharp exhale. Clearly, her reluctance to talk to her best friend was getting on the other woman's nerves. Quite understandably, probably. But that didn't mean she had to tell her, right? She could keep this to herself for a little while longer.

At the end of the day, she was only six weeks pregnant. Not anything her best friend needed to know, right? Not when the father was her new husband's best friend. Not at all.

"What's going on with you, Caroline?" Katherine asked, raising an perfectly shaped eyebrow in irritation. "You've been a mute for the past week. Usually we can't get you to shut your mouth for more than thirty seconds and trust me, I've tried."

Caroline rolled her eyes, dragging a hand across her face, hoping that maybe Katherine would just drop it. But of course, she didn't. The clearing of her throat was all was needed to know that she was close to slapping it out of her.

"I'm pregnant."

Well, there was no point in covering it up. It wasn't as if giving Katherine a long speech about mistakes and regrets and how positively fucked she was, would make any difference. Spitting it out was the only thing she could do. If she thought about it, she would never say it.

"What?!" Katherine spat, narrowing her eyes.

"Thanks for the comfort, Kat, really." Caroline whispered, shaking her head as she wrapped her arms around herself.

"You're telling me – that I spend three weeks in Sri Lana with a hot husband and you're the one that goes and gets yourself knocked up?"

"Nice to know we're prioritizing here." The blonde bit her lip, turning her gaze away from her brunette best friend. This wasn't the reaction she was hoping for, but it was the one she'd been expecting. If she'd grown to realize that she should expect anything from Katherine, it was bluntness. Not a single hesitation with Katherine, oh no. Sometimes she was glad, but others, she wished she could just get some comfort.

"Care.." She heard Katherine sigh and turned to fix her eyes back on her. The tan woman had a sympathetic expression, her mouth slightly agape and her eyebrows furrowed. It wasn't often that Caroline saw that expression with Katherine, so she couldn't help but appreciate the softer side of her every once in a while. Even if it was under the most serious of circumstances. "No judging or anything, but you know who the father is... right?"

Caroline silently nodded, pressing her lips together as she looked down at her lap. Maybe if she kept averting her eyes away, the entire situation would just disappear before her. She'd be happy and not worrying about her entire future, how she was going to bring up a child. As a child, she never even managed to keep a damn goldfish alive for more than a couple of days. A living person, her flesh and blood? It was terrifying. She had money, but not heaps of it. She had a decent apartment, but not a huge one. This was all so messed up and she just didn't know what to do. The past week had been spent going over all the options she had and she'd realized that she couldn't consider abortion or adoption. Every time that she'd forced herself to think about it, she knew that she'd never be able to go through with it. Whilst both of those options were the right choices for others, it wasn't right for her. That wasn't who she was. She was going to have this baby and she was going to deal with it. Somehow.

Katherine was silent, but the intrigued look on her face told Caroline that she wouldn't be patient with her for much longer.

"I know... Oh, I know." She chuckled, humorlessly. "I know who the father is. Though, I actually think it would be better if I didn't know."

Her words done nothing but inspire Katherine's face to show further confusion. This was the part she'd been dreading, as ridiculous as it may have sounded to even her. It was all so damn complicated. Of all the billions of people in whole world, she slept with Klaus freakin' Mikaelson. No, not only did she sleep with him – she got knocked up by him. His child was inside of her and that was that. It was nerve-wracking because he was such a roller coaster. One minute he was up, one minute he was down. One minute it was left, the next it was right. You never knew what he would do next and that wasn't the type of father she wanted for her son or daughter. But she'd known him for years and she knew that somewhere, there was a side that was good. He wasn't all bad and he wasn't the worst person around. Maybe she could spare him into the 'top ten worst people to be around' folder.

"Klaus..." She paused, taking a deep inhale as she looked up at Katherine. "Klaus is the father, Kat."

"...What?!"

Katherine had spent another two – very, very, long- hours at her apartment. She'd told her everything, every detail that she could possibly give her. Katherine had promised to not speak a word to anyone, not even Stefan, but the chances of her keeping her mouth shut wasn't exactly high. All Caroline could hope was that Katherine understood the seriousness of this and that she didn't let herself go blabbing her mouth off the first chance that she got. The blonde trusted her though, to keep the information to herself until she forced herself to step up and talk to the father of her unborn child. It was just telling him that he was the father of her unborn child that scared the hell out of her.

Okay, so what if he didn't want anything to do with it? What if he did? Which one of those scenarios was even the best one? She didn't even know. Hell, right now she couldn't tell her left from her right. But she knew that she just had to talk to him. If he didn't want to know then... That was his problem. She'd cope. If he did want to know, they'd work something out. Deep down, she knew that she wanted him involved. She'd grown up without a Dad around and she didn't want the same for her child. In all of her fantasies about becoming a Mom, she always knew that her child would have a father. A father that would be there, no matter what. Whilst their scenario would be the same thing as hers was, two different houses for two parents, it didn't matter. Difference being, she'd gotten used to having her Dad around, before one day she'd woke up to find that she didn't anymore. He'd gone, just like that. Left her Mom for another man, left Caroline for a new daughter as far as her eight year old self was concerned.

This child would never -ever- feel like that. Over her dead body.

So, she gathered up the courage to speak to him. Or, well, text him. Reluctantly, she had sent him a text asking him to meet her for coffee the next morning. Thankfully, he'd agreed without any questions. Her asking him to go somewhere with her was such a rare occurence, that she wasn't even sure if it ever happened before. Actually, she knew for a fact that it had never happened before. She thought he was a complete asshole, why the hell would she voluntarily suggest being around him? He was a hot asshole sure, but he was still an asshole. That she hated. Not so much.

Actually, hate was a very strong word. Especially now, after their drunken tryst on their night of their respective best friend's wedding. Though it was a silent connection, something had changed at some point along the line. They didn't talk, barely even looked at each other –besides his usual cocky smirk, that douchebag- but there was a reason he'd approached her that night and there was a reason that she hadn't forced him away. She was still in the progress of working out what those reasons were; be it sexual tension, the alcohol, the entire 'love is in the air' vibe that weddings constantly stank off, or just something that had been a long time coming. Hell if she knew and right now, it was the last thing on her mind.

But here she was, sitting in a coffee shop and waiting for him to show up so that she could tell him that he was going to be a father. The anxiety she felt was overwhelming, focusing on anything other than the reason she was here. All she wanted was to run out that door, go to her apartment, pack a bag and just get out the city to never see him again. Only she couldn't do that, because she wasn't stupid enough to pack up her entire life because of a guy and she knew she wouldn't be able to live with herself if she was raising his child that he didn't even know existed. The guilt would eventually get too much and she'd end up on his doorstep in ten years time with a child on her arm that had her eyes and his dimples. For some reason, she felt as if that was an even worse scenario for her and her child to be. So she'd be staying put and facing the music, for the sake of the baby in her stomach.

Tapping nervously against the table, she took a sip of her decaf as she waited for him. She kept her head down, her eyes stuck to the table. A couple of minutes later, he heard that stupid British accent and knew it could only be him.

"Caroline, love." He greeted, placing his own cup of coffee on the table as he sat down on the seat opposite. "I must admit, I was slightly taken back by your invitation for coffee. But don't worry, I happen to be a fan of surprises personally."

The smugness in his voice made her want to slap him, as per usual. Obviously, he hadn't given her inviting him out for coffee a second thought. Actually, she had no doubt that he was vain enough to think that she actually wanted to ask him out.

As she lifted her head up to look at him, her blonde curls falling in ringlets over her shoulders, she kept her face blank. Every single thing that she'd planned to say to him – and she'd planned it, all night, in detail- was suddenly gone. Her mind was completely empty as her eyes locked with his, and she sucked in a breath. How to crash someone's world down in just two words, she thought. Deciding to go down the same road she did with Katherine, she ditched the speech and exhaled sharply. She kept her eyes on his, both her hands now curled around her coffee cup.

"I'm pregnant, Klaus."

So there it is! Hope it lived up to some expectations. The next chapter will be entirely Klaroline.

If you have a chance, please drop me a review and let me know what you think! I'd love to know how I'm doing with this. Also, you can follow me on tumblr at forbesalvatore or on twitter at koltherine. Thank you for reading!