I fell into a burning ring of fire,
I went down, down, down and the flames went higher...
And it burns, burns, burns,
The ring of fire!
...The ring of fire!


"What?" For a minute she had sat in a stunned silence, and when she finally found her voice, a question was all she could manage. "How is that even possible? I mean..." Her voice trailed off, and her gaze flicked from her knees to his eyes, confusion evident in them. "You're dead!"

Klaus shrugged, a smile tugging at his lips, though it faded quickly. "Witches seem to think it has something to do with my werewolf lineage." He offered, though neither of them seemed any less confused.

Caroline looked around then, smiling. "Am I being punk'd. This is a joke, isn't it?" She laughed, perhaps a bit hysterically. "Wow! You really had me going for a minute!" She laughed, shaking her head, standing as she did so.

"Caroline," Klaus began, his voice gravely serious as he rose and walked over to her, spinning her to face him. "This isn't a joke. I'm... Going to be a father." He nearly struggled with the words, as though they were bitter tasting on his tongue. Caroline didn't pay too much attention to it, however, she was too busy grinning from ear to ear, her laughter returning to something more happy then hysterical.

She didn't say anything then, just smiled, and without properly thinking, pulled him into a hug. Now it was his turn to be stunned for a second, but soon enough he was hugging her back, beginning to wonder if this was some sort of twisted dream. When she pulled away, he knew it was reality. If he had been dreaming, they would never have broken apart. "Klaus... That's amazing!"

He grabbed a bottle of wine as she hauled herself into a bar stool and crossed her legs. "I don't know about that, love." He sighed, pouring wine into a glass for each of them, leaning against the counter as he took a thoughtful sip.

"Oh? One thousand years and you've never even considered wanting a baby?"

"There's never been occasion or reason to consider such an idea."

"Well, consider it now." She smirked, drumming her fingers along the tabletop. "What isn't great about it? Aside from the obvious fact that Haley's the mother... Ugh, how could you sleep with that bitch?"

"Jealous?" Klaus smirked, tipping back the rest of his wine and returning the bottle to the cupboard.

"No!" Caroline replied too quickly, rolling her eyes to conceal that faint blush on her cheeks. "But you could have done better."

"Yet the best remained out of reach."

She felt her cheeks flushing again, and she spun in the barstool, plopping to the ground and taking her glass to the sink. "So Marcel wants to kill your baby?" That thought hadn't surfaced, and now that it had? Anger didn't describe it. "What a... A... A terrible person!" She shouted, her wine glass shattering in her palm, the shards falling into the sink. "Oh, I'm sorry, I should have..."

"Don't worry, love. There are plenty more where that came from." Klaus said softly, grabbing her wrists and pulling her hands from the sink, where they bleed profusely as she scurried to collect the broken shards. They starred at each other for a moment, then his eyes flicked to her hands, watching as they healed themselves in moments.

He still held her wrists as he looked back to her gaze, which now just held the aire of anger. "So, what are we going to do about him?"

"We?"

"Yeah, we're in this together now. No one's laying a hand on her precious little head."

"Her?"

"Well I'm not referring to your baby as an it."


"So... That's it? You're just... Leaving?" Elena asked, her right hand wrapped around a cup of coffee, her left hand drumming against the table she and Elijah sat at. "Because your brother, who's done nothing but cause issues, needs you, even though he won't admit it?" She truly couldn't fathom it, considering everything Klaus had done, to Elijah especially.

"Family remains together." Elijah drawled, quoting himself, though his voice lacked emotion and certainty as he spoke to the girl across the round table. "Forever and always."

Elena leaned forward, her voice barely a whisper. "So is all this really true?" She mumbled, before leaning back, taking a sip of her coffee.

"I wouldn't lie about such a tale, Elena." Elijah smirked, watching as their waitress shuffled past, dropping a check in front of him on the table. "Would like me to return you to your home?"

"Not just yet." Elena smiled, jumping from her chair and shoving it haphazardly back into place, tugging Elijah along with her as he dropped a wad of cash onto the table. "I need to talk to you... About Silas."

Elijah followed along after her, his dress shoes scuffing along the ground as she hurried forward. "Elena, I don't know much about Silas, only that he's older then I, therefore more powerful."

Elena shook her head as the two sped away, stopping when they reached the lake they commonly walked around whilst "having a talk." "Before Alaric died, he was teaching me how to fight." Elena explained, continuing when she noted the look of confusion on Elijah's face. "I've asked Damon and Stefan to show me some more moves, but they both make excuses. I know Silas is after Caroline, he'll probably come after me too... I want to be able to fight, and stand a chance."

Elijah smirked, tugging the sleeves of his suit jacket to just before his wrists. "It is wise that you want to learn to defend yourself. And even wiser that you've chosen me as your teacher." He smiled, and she rolled her eyes, laughing a bit. "I'll teach you what I know."

"Thank you, Elijah." She smiled, rolling her own sleeves up. "Elijah... In her note, Caroline said she spoke with you before she left. Do you know why Silas is after her?"

"She mentioned his thinking she had the cure, which I know isn't the truth, as you force fed it to my girlfriend," Elena looked down, suddenly finding the grass very interesting to look at. "However I think it goes deeper. Perhaps we shall figure it out."

"Perhaps we shall."


Author's Note- I'm not sure I like this chapter, but ehhh... Sorry this took some time to upload, I've been busy! And sorry it's short, I'll make the next one longer to make up for it. xD I'm in need of a beta reader, if anyone's interested, please PM me! AND OH MY GOD 100+ FOLLOWERS?! PARDON ME WHILE I DIE OF HAPPINESS. I AM NOT WORTHYYYY. Seriously though, thanks for reading, it makes my day. I'm still debating what to do with Haley... This author notes just progressively get longer. Pretty soon you're going to know my life story. :3 Well, that is all. Follows are beautiful, reviews make me so inexpressibly happy! :D Have a nice few days, I shall "see" you soon!