All ages and grade levels will be at the end of the chapter as well as posted on my profile page. Finally.

Hello, my lovely readers. There are more secrets that will be revealed in this chapter. Grab some tissues cause this part is one on the harder bits 'cause emotional pain is the theme of this chapter. However, I promise the next two chapters are lighter. On with the show…

Chapter 2: Everybody, Stop Saying Things I Don't Want to Know

After the disaster of the party at Caroline's house, I wanted to throw a party of my own that would reunite the remaining members of our club. It would also give me an excuse to spend time with Caroline who was avoiding me. I wasn't sure why she hadn't been coming to visit me or had not been taking my calls but I was determined to find out for sure tonight. There were hand written invites sent to everyone and now I just needed to make sure that everything went as planned.

It was a Saturday. I had all day to get the house in some kind of order for a party with over fifteen kids of various ages attending. Thankfully, I had helpers. "Bekah, Kol," I yelled into my brother's and sister's room. "Wake up." Wrinkling my nose when Bekah appeared with her short locks shooting up in all directions that made her look like a) Peter Pan or b) Stefan Salvatore on a bad day, I looked away. Kol was right behind her, popping out of their room in his Ninja Turtle PJs.

"I'm going to chop you," Kol announced before kicking at the air and then slamming his hand down on my arm, causing pain to shoot through my shoulder.

"Kol!" I shouted in annoyance as Elijah appeared from the bathroom in his boxers with a toothbrush in his mouth.

Withdrawing the toothbrush, Elijah folded his arms over his bare chest. "Kol, stop it! Now!" Elijah demanded. "This is a mad house this morning," he told me as he shoved the toothbrush back into his mouth and began brushing vigorously.

"Elijah," Rose called as she appeared in the hallway and then saw our little group. "Oh," she said and gulped when she noticed Elijah in his boxers. "Oh, my! Ummm… I'm here because Klaus called me for help." Seeing me, she placed her hand to her temple and let out a nervous laugh. "There you are, Klaus. Your mom told me that you would be down here."

"Hey, Rose," I called and placed my hands on Bekah's shoulders, directing her toward the stairs. "I need help getting ready for the party." I informed the teenage girl who was shoving her hands into the back pockets of her jeans and trying to avoid looking at Elijah. "Come on, Kol," I yelled over my shoulder. We headed down the hall and into the kitchen.

Stepping into the kitchen, we found a sight that made me feel curious. My mother was standing in an apron and cooking. "Good morning, children," she called, then turned to look at us. "Oh, good morning, Rose. I made breakfast. You're welcome to join," she said, waving a hand toward the table and my eyes widened at the food spread across the table. I had no idea that my mother could cook like that. Taking a seat, I began to fill a plate with pancakes and fruit.

"Thank you, Mum," I called in between bites. My mother walked over and kissed me on top of my head. That was something else that rarely happened.

"You're welcome, darling," Mother whispered into my ear before ruffling my hair that was growing too long with my curls hanging in my eyes. I made a note to ask Elijah to cut my hair for me. But I had too many other things to do right then.

"Mum, could you bake a cake?" I called and Mother raised an eyebrow but nodded.

"Yes, Niklaus. What's the occasion?" she inquired while placing another plate of waffles on the table as Elijah came down the hall in his Mystic Grill uniform.

"No occasion," I said with my fork waving around as I spoke. "It's just that a bunch of my friends are coming over and we never really had a party to celebrate the fifth anniversary of…" I trailed off and looked at the table top.

"Of your top secret club that no one is supposed to know about?" Mother replied and everyone became quiet as she looked at us with an amused smile. "I'm a mother. It's my job to know things. Don't worry. I promise I won't breathe a word to anyone else."

"Thanks, Mum," I said, getting up from my seat, I stood on my tip toes to press a kiss to her cheek. At eleven going on twelve I still wasn't as tall as my mother. One day I would be. Hopefully taller. Grabbing a pancake off a plate, I waved for the others to follow me as Elijah moved to leave the house.

"Be home by seven," I shouted to Elijah as he waved good-bye and was gone. I noticed that Rose was watching him go and blushed when I looked at her.

"Alright," I said while clapping my hands together. "So, we're going to have this party in the backyard and I wanted to have an area for dancing and one for music and one for food," I told them and they stared at me. "Which means that we have to clear out the backyard," I said as if it were obvious and Kol and Bekah rolled their eyes at each other. They knew that I was pointing out the fact that most of the toys outside belonged to them.

Going outside, we gathered up baseballs, stuffed animals, and other little kids' toys that we found. Some of them belonged to Henrik and I did not expect him to pick them up. At that moment, the youngest of us was at some kind of baby get together thing that Anna had taken him to so that Mother could have a couple of hours to herself. We were all still a little tentative around Mother, especially now that we had moved into a one story home that was little larger than a cottage with three bedrooms and two bathrooms, one of those being in the basement which is where Elijah had moved his belongings. It seemed as if we could not turn around without running into one another.

"Okay, now we need tables," Rose pointed out. I bit my lower lip. We didn't really have extra tables, or extra anything really. That was when a horn honked and Alaric appeared with Mason.

Katherine was driving a truck with Jenna in the passenger seat and the two male members of the club sitting in the back. Kat hopped out and asked, "Did anyone say that they needed furniture for a party?" she called and I grinned and bowed to her with my hands pressed together. "You're welcome, Klaus," she said with a smirk.

Alaric and Mason unloaded tables while Kat and Jenna brought folding chairs.

"Did you happen to bring a band?" Rose inquired with a laugh.

"Yeah," Kat replied, waving her hand at herself, Rose and Jenna. "We can be the entertainment for the night."

"But I can't sing," Jenna groaned. "Please, don't make me do this!"

"I know a girl who can sing," Mason said and Kat narrowed her eyes but tossed her hair over her shoulder.

"Fine. Give her a call and have her come," Kat said before returning to the truck to pull down more chairs.

"I don't think they're getting along," Jenna whispered to Alaric who rolled his eyes. "Is there anyone who gets along with Queen Kat?" I smirked at the banter. It was like old times before everything went to hell. We took about four hours setting the party up to my specifications. Jenna grumbled that the only person that was this bossy was Caroline. But she had been taking lessons from Katherine from the crib.

I was tired when seven rolled around and the rest of the group started to arrive. Bonnie was one of the first. She was wearing a dress and seemed happy as she came in with a potted rose plant for my mother. Tyler came with Matt. Ty and I started joking about no longer living together. Jeremy came with Elena and his first words of greeting were to ask me where Kol was. Hayley was the next to arrive with a large, ornate, glass cake plate that was covered. "Hey, Klaus. I brought your mother a gift for the new place," she announced with a grin.

"Thanks," I replied, taking the plate because it looked heavy and hoped that she hadn't carried it from the Forbes residence to our house which was twenty blocks away. Looking over her shoulder, I noticed the Sherriff who waved before driving away. "Where's Caroline?" I asked Hayley, whose cheeks flushed and then she turned sideways so that I could see Caroline who was standing by the curb, kicking at the dirt with an angry expression on her face.

"She's kind of like that," Hayley replied, folding her arms over her swollen middle. "Do you want to get her or should I?"

I blew out a long breath, "I'll do it," I told her. "How is the baby?" I inquired while looking at Caroline who was staring out at the darkening street still frowning.

"Good. You're going to be an uncle to a little boy," Hayley told me, rubbing the baby bump.

"Oh," I said, my attention momentarily wavering toward the bump. "Kol will be happy. He wanted the baby to be a boy. But don't tell Bekah. She was not looking forward to another boy in the family."

"Okay," Hayley told me with a giggle. "Did you want me to take the cake back?"

"No," I replied as Stefan appeared on a bike. "Hey, Stefan. Can you take this to the backyard?" I called as Stefan dropped his bike in the lawn and came to collect the cake.

"Sure," Stefan said. "Is Bekah here?" His eyes were glowing when he asked the question and I rolled my eyes.

"Yes," I told him as I walked away from the front porch to talk to Caroline who was kicking more dirt. "You know you're going make your nice dress all filthy," I called to Caroline with a smirk as she turned to pin me with a glare. My eyebrows knitted together at the sight of her glare. "Did I do something wrong, love?" I asked Caroline, feeling my heart squeeze painfully.

"It's not what you did, it's what you haven't done," Caroline retorted with another death glare that made my heart squeeze again. "You promised me that you would bring him back. You promised and now you're a big, fat liar and I don't like liars!" Caroline cried out, her eyes beginning to pool with tears and I felt my jaw tightening. How could I tell her that I was doing this for us?

"I swear to you that I am trying to find a way to bring Damon home," I swore to Caroline.

"Really?" Caroline snapped, wiping away her tears with an angry swipe of the back of her hand. "Because from my perspective you're doing a sorry job of it!" She was still yelling and I looked at my shoes, feeling my face flush. I did not want to tell her that I was afraid that I would lose her if Damon came home. I was not sure what was going on between the two of them, but I was sure that it wasn't just friendship. What I was not sure of was which side it was coming from.

"I can't believe that you would do this to him!" Caroline shouted at me. "He's your best friend. That's supposed to mean something. But apparently best friends are expendable to you. Is that right, Nik? Am I next? And if you think for one second I would ever do that to Lena or Bonnie, you are so wrong," she continued as her face turned red and her teeth became exposed as her upper lip curled backward in a growl. "I can't believe that I was ever friends with you. You're not who I thought you were, Nik. And I want to go home."

Groaning, I rocked back on my heels and looked at the ground. "Now!" Caroline snapped at me with her arms crossed and her foot tapping. She was lovely even when she was angry. I wanted to just take her into my arms and hug her until she calmed down.

"Okay," I whispered, feeling defeated. "I'll take you inside and my mother can call yours to pick you up."

Caroline did not thank me as she stomped up to the front porch and I followed her inside the house. We found my mother in the kitchen with a piece of cake and a glass of milk. She was talking to Henrik who was balanced on her hip. "Nik," Henrik enthused, clapping his tiny hands together. "Me up," he requested, holding out pudgy arms to me but I shook my head.

"Sorry, Hene," I replied. "Can't right now."

"Me up," Henrik yelled, his eyes filling with tears until I gave in and took him.

"Mrs. Mikaelson, can you please call my mom and ask her to take me home?" Caroline asked my mother in her best "talking to adults' voice."

"Yes," Mother replied, giving me a curious look before picking up the phone receiver from the wall and dialing the Forbes' residence. After a moment, she looked at Caroline. "She's not there, sweetie. Why don't you go outside and say hello to your friends? I'll try your mom again in about half an hour if you still want to go home."

Caroline forced a smile and walked out of the room. "I hate you," she muttered to me as I walked with her out to backyard. Watching Caroline make her way toward Elena and Bonnie, I gulped down the bile in my throat. "Henrik, my, look at how big you're getting," Jenna cooed as she made her way toward me with Alaric at her side. She took Henrik from my arms and began to dance with him on her hip.

"Hey," Alaric greeted me as he looked around. "Where's Caroline? You were talking about her all afternoon. I thought that you two would be attached at the hip." His grin slipped when he saw me scowling in Caroline's direction as she talked to Elena. "Or not."

"Not would be the right word," I told him as I strode toward a table and grabbed a glass and filled it with Coke Cola. "She bloody well hates me."

"What for?" Alaric asked and I shrugged.

"I do not have a clue, mate," I told him as I picked up a slice of pizza and then slumped into a chair.

"Girls are funny. Sometimes they love us. Sometimes they hate us. You should see Jenna when she's got her period. She's all 'Grrrr… I want to rip your head off," Alaric informed me and I wondered if Caroline could possibly be having that problem as I shoved my pizza into my mouth and then downed my drink. Unfortunately, I had been drinking all day and now I needed to pee. Badly.

Getting up, I dusted my hands off and walked away from the trash. It was my bloody party and I could leave a mess if I wanted to. Heading into the house with Alaric, because he apparently had been drinking too much as well, we headed toward the bathroom when I saw Katherine following Hayley inside.

Gritting my teeth, I held up my hand to pound on the door and demand that Katherine leave the room. If she wanted to try to kill Hayley, she would have to wait until after my niece was born. Then I heard Hayley, "Okay, what was so urgent that you needed me to come in here with you? Couldn't you tell one of your many minions?"

Kat growled in response. "The only reason I came to you is that you're not my friend. I don't want to talk to someone I actually like about this."

"Do you actually like anyone other than yourself?" Hayley quipped.

"Gee, big words. Are those hormones kicking in, little momma?" Kat snapped.

"Whatever! I'm leaving," Hayley said loudly and then she cried out. "Get your hand off of me."

I lifted my fist to begin pounding when Kat started speaking quietly. "I don't have anyone else to talk to. You're the only one that would get it since you have that skeazy step-dad," Kat began when Hayley interrupted.

"Adoptive dad," Hayley said quietly.

"Yeah? Okay. Who cares? This is about me. So, I was at this party. You know, the one at the end of the summer that wasn't at your house. The last last bash that didn't involve people playing with guns." Sighing, Katherine could be heard racing through the rest of the story. "So, when I got there, there was a keg and everyone was wasted. Totally not your scene. Plus, there were cool people there. So, again, not your scene. So, this guy gives me a drink. I don't look at him because he's just some guy. Not someone that I would invite to a party. I have no idea what he was even doing there."

"Does this story have a point?" Hayley inquired with a yawn.

"Yes," Katherine snapped. "Now, just shut up so I can finish. So, I'm drinking and this is like really good beer because I feel like I'm flying. Literally! Everything is great and I'm so happy. I love everyone and I'm twirling and dancing and everything is wonderful. This is the best night ever and I want it to go on forever. But then my head starts swirling and the room is flying too and I have no idea what is going on when my face hits the floor. The next day I wake up and I don't have any clothes on. I have no idea what in the hell is going on and then I look up to find that I'm under the bleachers of our high school. My clothes are laying in a pile next to me. Getting up, I find I can barely stand because my body is sore all over and I'm bleeding…"

"What?" Hayley cries quietly.

"You know... here's the funny thing. I always thought that my first time would be in one of those fancy hotels after prom with Elijah. Because in spite of what some people think, I'm not a giant slut and Elijah and I never had sex. We just did a lot of other stuff. And the best part of the story is where I took a pregnancy test this morning and it was positive," Kat finished and then there was silence.

"What are you going to do? You have to tell someone," Hayley whispered.

"Why? Because you did. Or so that some loser can claim they're the one who had Kat Gilbert under the bleachers. My life would be over," Kat scoffed.

"But… Are you going to have the baby?" Hayley asked.

"Are you having yours?" Kat snapped.

"Yes," Hayley replied.

"Well, my family doesn't believe in the A word. So, yeah, I guess my life is going to go to hell anyway. Whatever! The point is that I needed to talk to someone. Okay? Now, I shared and I'm out of here. One last thing, if you tell anyone I told you this I will kill you in your sleep," Kat added. Before Alaric and I could walk away, Katherine walked out of the bathroom and glared at us. "What are you two skulking around for?" Kat demanded.

"I needed to pee," I told her as Hayley came out of the bathroom.

"Whatever," Kat said.

I really wished I hadn't heard any of that as I walked into the bathroom and tried to pee without any success. Why couldn't everyone keep their problems to themselves? And why wasn't Damon here to help me laugh it all off?

Okay. All ages are approximate i.e. sometime in the year they will be such and such an age.

Elijah, Kat, Hayley, Jenna, Andie, Rose: 16.

Finn, Alaric, Mason: 15.

Sage: 14.

Klaus, Damon, Marcel and Enzo: 11.

Caroline, Elena, Bonnie, Stefan, Matt, Tyler: 9.

Kol: 8.

Jer and Bekah: 7.

Henrik: 3.

Aiden: (TO character who is now Hayley and Elijah's child in this story. Go with it!): not born yet.

Kat's yet to be named baby: not born yet.

Hit the review box to let me know what you think of the newest bombshells because they're just going to keep coming with each new chapter!

Thank you for all the lovely reviews, favs, follows and for reading!

Answers to reviews:

Red08: Thank you for reviewing.

Prettylittlewitch: Thank you for reviewing.

Gams2000: Esther is badass. I kind of love her even when I want to scream at the crazy things she does to her babies (more on the show than in this books, but sometimes in the books, too…) From Klaus' point of view, Mikael is over the top. There might be a point that Mikael come to regret his actions in chapter one of this book but we'll have to wait and see. Thank you.

Ferrylis: Thank you! I'm happy that you're still enjoying the story 'cause I think it could go on for some time. Yes, I love cute and cuddly Klaroline although they're entering a rough patch that will go on through a looonnnnng period in this story which is painful to write a major Klaroshipper. :/

Guest: ?

Melissa: Thank you so much Melissa. I hope you enjoy the ride, I'm going for the major rollercoaster effect this time.

ObsessWithElijah: Esther's appearance was one of the most awesome plot twists that my twisty brain could conjure up. Yes, Mikael is trying to stay in control of things outside of his new home for the time. He's kind of a villain in Klaus' eyes for this part of the story which is an interesting change from when he was little and worshipped his dad. Of course Klaus' attitude toward his dad in consistent with how he thought of him after Mikael sent him away.

.girl: Thank you for reviewing.

Tippy093: Thank you. Nope. Klaus is not going to meet someone new. There might be something between him and someone that he already knows. Maybe. I have yet to get there. (In case anyone else is reading this note: I can say it will not be Hayley. Never, ever Hayley. Friends? Yes! Romantic potential. Zero! And I'm only saying that because there's a total friends bonding moment with Klaus and Hayley in the next chapter where they do something special for Kat.)

I'm glad you asked about the what will happen with Hayley and Elijah's baby, Aiden who borrowed from TO season 2. I LOVE his character. Anyway, I don't really know. I do know that it will depend on whether Hayley and/or Elijah go to college and which one will the custodial parent. We'll know for sure by the end of the story because this the big send off for Elijah, Kat, Hayley, Jenna, Rose and Andie who will be graduating from college at the end and I have no idea where they're going.

I'm so slow on the age thing. :/

LoonyTunes: Yes, Esther is not evil. Depressed, yes. Evil, not so much in this story.

Mikael can be an ass, yes. Not always but he has one hell of a temper.

Thank you!

CB4389: Yes, this story starts out cooking with fire and doesn't really slow down because the bombshells just keep going off over and over again. The shock factor and sometimes how brutal the shocks are would be the number one reason that this story is under the drama listing. We've still got comedy but there's some hard bits that are moving us closer and closer to adulthood. Ugh.

Peace,

Jessica