Hello, my lovely readers. Here we are again with a new chapter and I hope to see you again soon. No promises though. On with the show…
Chapter 4: Why? Oh, Klaus, Why?
Within mere seconds Caroline was dressed and whirled back into her room with Klaus to find neither men with an accent in the room. It was eerily empty. Speeding out into the hallway, Caroline felt her jaw tighten and her back stiffen as she found everyone who was living in the house was standing in the hallway. Enzo and Damon were looking happily at each other. Rebekah, Elijah and Marcel were standing a few feet away from them looking wary. Klaus was standing in the middle, glaring at Enzo. "Who are you and what makes you believe that you can simply walk through my doors and that I will not rip your throat out?" Klaus hissed.
"I don't know, mate," Enzo replied with an easy grin. "Something tells me that you have a few more problems going on around this town to worry too much about me."
Klaus narrowed his eyes before reaching out and slamming Enzo into the wall causing Enzo's head to slam painfully into the wall behind him. "Do you have any idea who you are speaking to?" he snarled as his eyes began to glow golden.
"Klaus," Caroline whispered. She was not sure why it was that she was about to ask Klaus to not kill the crazed vampire but Damon looked panicked. If Damon were panicking he could potentially kill someone like Hayley. Rolling her eyes inwardly Caroline could not believe that she had been in New Orleans for all of five minutes and suddenly she had joined the "Keep the Mommy Safe" campaign. Seriously? Whatever.
Squaring her shoulders, Caroline walked over to Klaus. "Look, I don't really know why Enzo is here but he is. Maybe he can be useful… somehow…"
Klaus frowned as he thought about what Caroline was saying. "Caroline, you do not seem to understand. I am the king of New Orleans. I cannot allow anyone to walk inside my home like this. They will think I am weak. They would be wrong."
"Well, Klaus, maybe you should consider getting some better security around here," Hayley suggested with a frown as she massaged her middle.
His head whipped around and Klaus gave Hayley a lethal look. "Little wolf, do not forget your place within the household or you will wake one day wishing you had minded your tongue."
The pregnant wolf opened her mouth as her eyes narrowed. "Why don't you go to -"
Placing a hand on her shoulder, Elijah sighed heavily. "Hayley, please, this is not the time."
Whirling around, Hayley glared up at Elijah. "Why do you always do this, Elijah?" Without another word, she stormed away and Elijah followed her.
"This is all your fault," Rebekah snapped at Caroline and then gave Damon an icy glare. "Both of you. We had enough problems without the two of you roaming about making things even worse. And look at you, you're bringing in even more problems and as usual you're not trying to take responsibility for what you've done. No wonder you're with Nik." The Original sister stalked off with Marcel at her side.
Damon rolled his eyes. "You know the women around here are grumpy? I need something to eat." He began to walk away when Klaus let go of Enzo long enough to slam Damon into a wall sending the younger vampire into an unconscious heap on the floor.
"Klaus!" Caroline yelped and Enzo took the distraction as his opportunity to attempt to flee. As Enzo was running Caroline picked up a painting off the wall, broke the frame. Taking the newly made stake, Caroline threw it. The piece of wood impaled itself right below Enzo's heart.
Growling, the older vampire grabbed the piece of wood and started to try to pull it out. Caroline stepped behind him and took ahold of the shard sticking out of his back. Yanking it upward, Caroline stood over Enzo and glared into his eyes. "While you are here you are a guest of the Originals. You will behave as a guest. That means that whatever jackass behavior you planned for your stay here, stop, now. Do we understand each other?" Caroline demanded, staring at Enzo as Klaus smiled proudly.
"Perfectly. Now, may I take this piece of wood out of my bloody chest?" Enzo inquired, forcing a smile as he looked from Caroline to Klaus.
"Why not?" Klaus replied when Enzo pulled out the bloodied piece of wood. Caroline watched as Enzo started to drop the piece of wood on the floor. When he noticed the looks he was getting from Caroline and Klaus, he sighed.
"Is there any way I can dispose of this?" Enzo questioned the pair and then rolled his eyes.
"There is a trash can downstairs in the kitchen that the maid should be disposing the contents of today," Klaus informed his newest annoyance.
"Off I go then," Enzo told them. Just as Enzo began to walk away, Klaus appeared before him. Holding out his hand, Klaus waited for Enzo to hand him the piece of wood. Breaking off a smaller piece that was just longer than his middle finger and slightly wider, Klaus inserted it in just under Enzo's ribs and pressed his finger until the piece of wood could not be seen. Enzo's breath became shallow but he did not cry out.
"You will not remove that piece of wood until I tell you otherwise," Klaus informed Enzo. "Call it my insurance that you will mind your place during your… vacation." Giving Enzo one of his wide grins that meant that you should remember he could rip your head off your shoulder before you could blink, Klaus took a step back and extended the piece of wood. "Off you go."
Klaus watched Enzo walk away before his eyes moved back to Caroline. "What would you like to do today, love?"
"Don't you have duties to perform as the king or something?" Caroline replied, folding her arms over her chest and giving Klaus a pointed look.
Grinning, Klaus came over to stand in front Caroline and placed his hands on her shoulders. "What is wonderful about being the ruler of a city, Caroline, is that I can come and go as I please. This is my city. If I choose to take a day to show you around then I shall. If you'll have me."
Rolling her eyes and smiling in spite of herself, Caroline's gaze slid over to Damon's boy lying on the floor. "What are we going to do with him?"
"Chain him up in the basement?" Klaus suggested with a smile.
"As tempting as that offer is I'm not sure that that would be a good idea. What if he gets out and disappears? Who knows what kind of damage he's capable of doing," Caroline said thoughtfully.
Thinking about it, Klaus sighed heavily. "You are suggesting that we babysit the lesser Salvatore for the day, are you?"
Caroline widened her eyes and placed her hands on either side of Klaus' face. "Please!" she pleaded. "Damon has been working on being less… Damon like. I think that he needs us. Don't tell me why I think that this is a good idea. I just do," she whispered. "So, can we please try to help him today?"
Staring down at Damon's limp body, Klaus tilted his head. "I think that we could place him in the garden for a bit. He might enjoy having a bit of time where he has no one to talk to but himself."
"No!" Caroline said emphatically.
"Why?" Klaus questioned her as he looked into her wide and frightened eyes.
"You don't know what happened to Stefan this summer, do you?" Caroline told him. She had been sure that he would have an informant who would have kept him informed of everything that was happening to the Mystic Falls gang. But if the puzzled expression on Klaus' face was anything to go by then she knew that she would have to tell him the story.
"Silas was lost all summer. We thought he was inside the safe that Nadia placed Matt when you came to visit us. It turned out that Silas was not in there; Stefan was. He spent the entire summer in the locker in the reservoir until Damon figured out that the person that we thought was Stefan was actually Silas because Silas' true face is Stefan's. Or Stefan looks like Silas because Stefan is a doppleganger of Silas." Caroline stopped speaking when Klaus stopped frowning and his eyes lit up at the word doppleganger. "Klaus…"
As Caroline called his name it was obvious that Klaus' mind had drifted far from her. "You know that Stefan is a doppleganger of Silas. Well, that would explain a few things. Hmmm… But that still does not tell me why exactly you are concerned with whether I place Damon in the garden. Really, it would be for his own good. That way he would not hurt anyone." He reasoned with the baby vampire who shook her head.
"No. Nope. Not going to happen. I will take him back to Mystic Falls and not come back for another hundred years if you so much as lay a finger on him," Caroline warned. She hated acting like this. She was by far not Damon's biggest fan but she could not stand by and see him hurt like his brother had been.
Grimacing as Damon began to stir, Klaus exhaled and relaxed ever so slightly. "I will warn you, love, that if Damon causes a problem that I will hold you responsible." Smiling when he was finished speaking, Klaus watched Caroline roll her eyes at his threat.
"Klaus, believe it or not, I'm not sure there is much you can do to me that you haven't already done," Caroline told him with a sneer.
"You're lovely when you're defensive, Caroline," Klaus informed her, titling her chin upward he pressed his lips lightly to hers.
"Uh huh," Caroline mumbled against his lips. When Klaus pulled away, Caroline found that Damon was glaring up at them.
"Is there a good reason that you had to knock me out," Damon snapped at Klaus before pushing himself to his feet. Placing his hands on either side of his neck, Damon twisted quickly and then smiled. "Yup, that's better. Now, King Dick, can I go anywhere without you killing me or should I stand here until Blondie is ready to go, huh?"
Taking a step forward, Klaus laced his fingers behind his back. Placing his face close enough to Damon's that he noticed the elder Salvatore brother stopped in the infinitesimal instinctual desire to jerk away. "Damon, I want to make something clear here. I am extending to you my mercy. This is due to my feelings for Caroline as you well know. After all, how is it that you used to refer to her," lowering his head and then smiling widely, Klaus stared into Damon's eyes. "Ah, yes, The Little Blonde Distraction. Well, you see, Caroline is no longer simply a distraction for me. She is more of an equal to me, a companion, my queen." Giving Damon a hard look, Klaus moved closer. "As my queen I extend to her certain privileges that I extend to no one else such as allowing her to decide whether I punish you for your insolence. Under ordinary circumstances I would have killed you, however, my queen has asked me to extend a pardon to you."
Damon opened his mouth to reply but Klaus was not finished. Holding up his hand, Klaus continued to speak. "As I informed your lovely friend, if you make a mistake while you are here she will be the one who is punished. Now, something tells me that this would not do well in sight of your darling Elena and Stefan." Closing his mouth, Klaus waited for Damon's reply as he raised his eyebrows with an expression of glee.
"Elena and I broke up," Damon snapped. "How do you think I ended up becoming a freakin' ripper anyway?"
"I have not a clue," Klaus said lightly. "You are making the mistake of thinking that I care."
Groaning, Caroline stared at the ceiling. "I am going downstairs. When you two are done with the pissing contest, you know where to find me." Walking down the hallway quickly, Caroline could hear the sounds of Klaus and Damon insulting each other. Feeling her lips twitch upward, Caroline wanted to giggle. It was the oddest feeling but she felt like it was old times. That was bad. She could not believe that she was reminising about Damon and Klaus jumping down each other's throats. Next she would be looking forward to Rebekah insulting her and Hayley doing something that smacked of being a backstabbing bitch. Oh, yeah, she had almost allowed herself to forget the crap that Hayley had done before she disappeared. If they met at that moment she would for sure give that wolf a piece of her mind.
Feeling righteous anger overtaking her, Caroline was not shocked when she walked into the kitchen to find Hayley by herself. "And the opportunity presents itself, now," Caroline thought with a smirk. Then Hayley looked up and Caroline saw that the wolf was sobbing. "So-rrrrr-yyyyy," Hayley sobbed. "I'm… damn it. It's the damn hormones. Someti-mmmmes I ju- ju- just can-n't st-op cr- cr- cry-ing."
Blowing out a long breath, Caroline strode over to the fridge and took out a tub off ice cream. "Where are the bowls?" She demanded of the crying wolf. Hayley pointed at the cabinet and Caroline pulled out two. "Spoons?" Hayley pointed to a drawer to Caroline's left. Pulling out two spoons, Caroline walked over to the counter. Scooping out ice cream quickly she pushed a bowl toward Hayley. "Why are you pregnant?"
Hayley's jaw dropped and then she stared at her middle. "Drunken mistake," she murmured. "Hey, I'm not stuttering," she said as her eyes widened in amazement.
"Good for you," Caroline snapped back, her tone no more biting than she meant for it to be.
Frowning, Hayley placing her hands on the counter top. "What exactly is your problem,, right now, Forbes?"
"Nothing, Marshall," Caroline replied with a big fake smile.
"Are we going back to the teen drama crap because one of the wonderful things about the hormones is that my attitude can change on a dime, and honey, right now, if you want a fight we can do that, too," Hayley informed Caroline narrowing her eyes at the vampire.
"Hayley. Hayley. Hayley, I don't want to fight you. You're in a delicate condition. Maybe after birth. Until then I just wanted to remind you that I did not forget the role you played in Tyler nearly getting killed, in the sacrifice of Klaus' hybrids, in Tyler having to go on the run, all leading up to the resurrection of Silas and now this, you, here, pregnant with the baby of my…" Caroline stopped herself before she said too much. She might be able to admit to Klaus that she had feelings for him, she might even be able to live with him for a month but to admit to others how deep the well of her emotions toward him ran was a step she was not comfortable with taking yet.
"You're in love with Klaus," Hayley said slowly and deliberately, watching Caroline flush as much as someone with borrowed blood in their veins could. "You're in love with him and now you're pissed because I'm pregnant and you're not."
"I am not," Caroline snapped back, feeling irritable as the werewolf continued.
"You so are. You're jealous because a vampire can't have a child. That's it, isn't it. Well, Caroline, it's not exactly fun being the mommy to this little bundle of joy. Do you have any idea how many times I've had people try to kill me in the last couple of months?" Hayley smiled in spite of her words. "But I understand. If I were in your position I would be hurting, too."
Feeling infuriated, Caroline slammed her hand down on the counter her eyes glowing with rage. "I was tortured so many times you would not believe. And this is not a competition, Hayley, this is about owning what you did."
"I do own it," Hayley yelled. "Every freakin' day I own that stupid shit I've done. Okay. Are you happy now? I hurt people. I screwed Tyler over. If I die I probably deserve it but right now I'm going to be a mother and my first priority is this bun in my oven. If you don't like that then I suggest that you take it up with the jackass in your bed." Breathing hard, Hayley placed a hand to her stomach as she took deep breaths.
Sucking in a deep breath herself to calm her own shaking nerve endings, Caroline sat down in one of the seats. "I'm glad we had this talk."
"So, am I," Hayley replied, deflating and sitting down. "Caroline."
"Uh huh," Caroline replied.
Hayley sucked in another deep breath before tearing up again. "I don't know why I did it. I mean I know that I wanted to find my family but there had to be another way. A better way and I have done some pretty terrible things but I have never betrayed wolves the way that I did in Mystic Falls." Sucking in a shuddering breath, Hayley lifted her eyes to meet Caroline's. "I don't know… I don't know what happened back there. I don't know how I could have done the things that I did when I was there…"
"It was Silas," Caroline whispered and Hayley frowned.
"He was controlling all of us, Hayley. I killed twelve witches to save my friend, Bonnie. I… I killed, too. I'm not proud of what I did. It was a low point. But you, me, Klaus, Bonnie, even Shane and poor Reverend Young, we didn't have choices. Silas stripped away our free will. He took something from us, Hayley. He took away our ability to make decisions. The monster got into our heads and manipulated us and used us to do his dirty work. It wasn't our fault. It's taken me until now to get that. We did not have choices."
Hayley's eyes filled with tears again and she began to sob even harder. Getting up, Caroline rounded the table and wrapped her arms around the werewolf. Hayley was right. It would be horrible to be pregnant and have people constantly trying to kill you and your baby. This was not something that Caroline would ever have to worry about but because of her feelings for Klaus protecting this baby was important. "Thank you," Hayley whimpered into Caroline's shirt.
"You're welcome," Caroline whispered. She still wasn't going to become Hayley's friend since she did make a play for Tyler and they did not have the greatest start but they could find a way to get along. If Caroline came back one day she would have to accept that Hayley was a part of this family now. To be willing to say that she wanted Caroline to be part of the family would mean that they would have to come to an understanding.
Hearing a sound that Hayley did not seem to, Caroline lifted her head to find Klaus standing in the doorway. He was staring at her with gratitude and she saw that he looked proud of her. It was funny that if someone told her a year ago that seeing that look on Klaus' face meant anything to her more than making her want to retch she would have laughed. "Thank you," Klaus mouthed.
"You're welcome," Caroline mouthed back.
"I'm hungry," Damon called as he stepped into the kitchen.
"Too bad," Hayley snapped at him. "There is nothing on the menu in this kitchen. So, keep your mitts to yourself, you weirdo."
"Whoa there, Mama Wolf, I think that baby is doing something to your brain because your insults don't have a certain bite to them," Damon replied with a grin.
Hayley sneered at him. "Oh, my insults don't have to bite when I always have my fangs," Hayley informed him in anger.
Damon took a step toward Hayley when Klaus placed a hand on his shoulder and Caroline instinctually placed herself between the wolf and the ripper vampire. Damon rolled his eyes. "You're all so boring. Can we get some air? I think that I can find a snack around here somewhere. This place is crawling with vampires."
"Do you honestly believe that I will allow you to feed off the vampires in my kingdom?" Klaus questioned Damon who shrugged.
"No idea but I've got to eat sometime unless you want Momma Wolf to begin to look like a Big Mac of legs," Damon informed Klaus who scowled. Taking his wrist he place it to his mouth and opened a vein. Pouring his blood into Caroline's ice cream bowl, Klaus shoved the bowl toward Damon.
The non-rippers watched as Damon took the bowl between his hands and slurped the blood down. Caroline and Hayley could not keep their disgust off their faces. Klaus, on the other hand, could not help but stare on in fasciation. "Damon, how exactly did you become this… this creation of sorts." Klaus's eyebrows knitted together as he looked at Damon. His look of concentration made the women in the room trade a look with each other.
"Not a long story. Pissed off a crazy doc at Caroline and Elena's school after killing his nephew," Damon began stopping to sneer at Klaus. "Sound familiar. You're really the pro at killing people's family. I should have asked you for tips while you were still in town but seeing as you were always trying to kill me, my family, my friends, other people in my town that I didn't care about -"
"Get to the point, Salvatore," Klaus snapped at Damon who frowned.
"That is another thing that always bugged me about you, Klaus. You're like one thousand and, what, a hundred, two hundred…" Damon watched as Klaus' eyes glowed with barely concealed rage. "Yeah. Anyway, So, I pissed off this doctor if that is the right word for him and he had been experimenting with vampires. I got turned into his latest pet project after he injected me with this virus that made me into a vampire who can only feed on other vampires."
"Interesting," Klaus said slowly steepling his fingers beneath his chin.
"Interesting?" Damon yelled indignantly.
"Well, if he did this to you then surely he can cure you," Klaus stated. "If that is what you desire."
Caroline was about to object when Damon rolled his eyes. "I killed the doctor."
"That's fine. We will find a new one. I have my ways of convincing people to do things and we will get you cured," Klaus said and Damon looked shocked. For once he had nothing to say.
Caroline moved quickly, crushing her lips to Klaus'. When she pulled back, Klaus looked down at her. "What was that for?"
"Because you are wonderful," Caroline informed Klaus who grinned happily.
I heart reviews.
Thank you for reading, faving, following and reviewing: Sanaya1995, EyesLikeLiquidFire, pleasesaycaroline, Guest, Kedesh13, AnnabyBlood, jessinicole, BSLover 1812, Klaroline-lovegames, Ellavm 18, imstormborn, xxxLeanniexxx, L, MrsLeaMorgan, Hollywoodlove09, redbudrose, Aeiryls and Jeremy Shane.
EyesLikeLiquidFire: I agree with everything you said and it is a good thing that Hayley decided that she still did not like Klaus and fell in love Elijah. Otherwise, there would be problems coming out Klaus' ears.
Laoise: I hope you liked the Enzo/Caroline/Klaus confrontation. I had planned in it one way and then another. Finally, it came out like this. :P
Kedesh13: Sometime soon we'll probably see more of flirty Enzo, right now he's just going to be a little wary of Klaus and Caroline after that little encounter.
MrsLeaMorgan: I really wanted to show that Caroline and Hayley could have some type of relationship. Of course, they would have a lot of issues to work out and they might get into fights from time to time but that overall they can find a way to get along for the sake of the family.
Redbudrose: I think that want I want to say is that you can either chalk it up to my not being able to remember what I wrote, again, or that Caroline knew but she didn't want to know know so she it hit her later on "OH, so that's what that was." Stefan might show up at some point. You never know…
Hollywoodlove09: I hope you enjoyed Enzo getting punished.
Aeiryls: My secret to writing Damon is that I love him. He's my favorite so I pay way too much attention to him and I love to write snarky comments and just say just about anything. As for Caroline knowing about the Klayley baby. You know when there's something that you know but you don't want to know so you shove it away into a mental closet but then it hits you at some point "OMG." That's pretty much what happened to Caroline, the Queen of Repression.
Peace,
LL