Hey Everyone! Thank you for your wonderful reviews! Just to answer some of your questions, I haven't decided whether I want the mystic falls crew to come down to NOLA. Here's the next chapter! :)
Disclaimer: I don't own TVD/TO
Caroline awoke when she felt her phone vibrate as the alarm she had set, went off. She placed pillows on both sides of the bed making sure that they wouldn't fall off and then went to the bathroom and washed her face. She needed to be on guard at all times and prepared to take care of two babies. She then walked out of the bedroom and into the kitchen. Though she didn't need coffee, it just gave her that feeling of being awake and functioning. Caroline wouldn't be lying if she said that she was a bit scared of taking care of two babies on her own. It would be like being a single mom; she could almost feel the panic sweep through her. 'No Caroline! Focus. She needed to be ready and confident.' She walked over to Saharina's bedroom and knocked on her door. The door opened and Saharina stood there if an annoyed look on her face.
"Can I help you?" she said.
"Hey, sorry but I'm just going to step out to go to the nearest gas station. See if they have any emergency baby materials on hand. I want to be prepared when they wake up," Caroline said.
"Okay, and what do you want me to do?" Saharina said.
"Just keep an eye on them. They won't wake up for another hour," Caroline said, "but just in case."
"Sure, but hurry," Saharina said as she made her way to the babies.
"Thanks so much! I won't be long, I promise," Caroline said.
Caroline zoomed out the door and into the night. She was good for blood thanks to Klaus. She found the nearest gas station about fifteen blocks down. She walked in and asked at the counter if they had baby things. The lady pointed to the back section of the store. Caroline thanked her and walked to the back of the store. She picked up diapers, baby formula, bottles, baby wipes, and some baby Tylenol just for emergencies. The two babies weren't that far apart so one diaper size would be fine. She even picked up two baby teething toys that she saw along the way. She paid at the counter and made her way back to the witch's house.
She walked in to a silent house. It was still really early. She made her way to her room and opened the door. The two babies were on the bed sleeping. Saharina was on the chair and seemed to have dozed off. She walked in and set the bag down on the side and awoke Saharina thanking her. Saharina yawned and made her way back to her room.
Caroline then took out the baby formula and bottles and made her way to the kitchen. Caroline quickly prepped two bottles and tested the temperature. She walked into the room and over to the side of the bed to look at Emmett and Hope. Emmett was still asleep but Hope was looking around the room.
"Hey you," Caroline whispered as she picked up Hope. Hope rested her head against her chest as Caroline rubbed her back. "You're up early. Are you hungry or do you need a diaper change?"
Hope didn't much noise; she simply just kept resting her head against Caroline's chest. Caroline felt Hope's diaper which felt a little heavy so she placed Hope carefully on the bed and got a diaper and baby wipes out of the bag. Hope was looked around the room as Caroline changed her diaper.
"There we go! That wasn't so hard," Caroline said. Hope smiled and but then whimpered a little. "What happened?"
Hope, again, leaned against Caroline. Caroline decided to give her a bottle. It had been long since Hope had anything in her stomach. Caroline grabbed one of the bottles and sat down on the bed with Hope. She placed Hope in her lap and brought the bottle to Hope's mouth. Hope eagerly sucked on the bottle.
"Oh, you were hungry," Caroline said as Hope stared up at her. Caroline looked down at Hope and smiled. It was as if she were on her best behaviour knowing the circumstance they were in. It pulled at a string in Caroline's heart. Tears formed in Caroline; she was just a baby. She didn't have to take the burden of all this. Soon Hope was done the bottle. Caroline quickly burped her and placed her back in her lap. Hope smiled at her and reached out with her hands. Her small fingers touched Caroline's face. Caroline smiled back and then picked her up so she was at eye level with Hope.
"Now listen princess, I don't know if can understand what I'm telling you right now but you're safe. I will do everything in my power to protect you both. But our situation doesn't mean that you need to grow up and take responsibility. You're a baby and its okay to cry if you want something or how will I know? I know magically you two are very powerful but right now, you just need to be a baby," Caroline said.
Hope giggled like she understood her. Hope googooed back like she was talking to her and pointing to her. Caroline went with it and talked back.
"Oh really," Caroline said.
"Well I know you are a very special little girl, missy," Caroline giggled as Hope's small hands traced her face.
Caroline was so engrossed with playing and talking to Hope, she didn't notice Emmett wiggling around. Emmett then gave a wail.
"Oh look Emmett's awake now. How about we finish this girl to girl conversation later? I have to attend to Emmett right now," Caroline said and with that she placed Hope on the bed and picked up Emmett.
"You definitely need a diaper change," she said as she wrinkled her nose and then picked up a clean diaper and baby wipes.
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Elijah watched Katherine as fell asleep on her bed in their old apartment. It had been a long night. He felt very helpless as he watched her mentally deteriorate at the mere thought of losing of their son. But she was a strong woman. He had seen that from the first day he had met her five hundred years ago. He was happy when she had embraced him but knew that she was not ready to forgive him yet. He would still have to work for it. He slowly covered her with a blanket and left the bedroom. He walked into the front room to see Klaus with a drink leaning against the ledge of the fireplace, Davina reading through her grimoire with Freya and Marcel sitting on the couch with drink as well.
"Here you go Elijah, you need this too," Marcel said as he handed him a glass of Bourbon.
"Thank you," Elijah said as he took the glass and took a seat near on the chair near the fireplace.
Hayley then walked in and sat down beside Marcel. There was complete silence for a moment.
"So what do we do now?" Hayley said not being able to bear the silence any longer.
Klaus looked towards the corner to make sure that the sage was still burning.
"As we had decided, we're going to pretend to mourn as we wait for Mikael," Klaus said as he looked at Freya.
"And what about Hope?" Hayley said.
"Hope is safe," Klaus said.
"Just because you trust that blonde girlfriend of yours doesn't mean I do," Hayley said. Everyone was shocked at Hayley's outburst. Klaus clasped the glass harder in his hands.
"Don't you dare talk about Caroline like that," Klaus growled.
"Niklaus, Hayley, enough," Elijah said.
"I will not have my daughter with her, Elijah. For all we know, she could kill her, blame Dalia for it and we would never know," Hayley said. "I want to go to my daughter right now."
Klaus walked towards her angrily but Elijah stepped between them.
"That's very cruel of you to think such things about a woman who has saved your daughter, Hayley," Elijah said. Hayley looked away from him not being able to look him in the eye. "I'm sorry you feel like that but you cannot go to Hope."
"Why not?" Hayley said.
"Because if you leave, Dalia will know something is up," Elijah said. "We must all stay here and pretend to mourn and stand against Dalia."
"I don't care what you think Elijah but I will take my daughter from her and will be as far away from New Orleans and Dalia as possible. Now, knowing that Klaus and her have some kind of bond, what if she thinks my daughter's a thorn in her path," Hayley said. "I don't care but I want that blonde slut away from my daughter."
"You BITCH!" Katherine stormed towards Hayley and slapped her hard across her face. Elijah immediately grabbed Katherine and placed himself between Hayley and Katherine. "How dare you talk about Caroline like that? She protected your daughter from burning to death! She could've died and now she's on the run with two little babies. Do you know how difficult it is to be on the run with one child? You don't because you've always had these two plus Rebekah protecting you and making sure you have everything," Katherine said from behind Elijah.
"I don't care for or believe anything you have to say. I've seen it in her eyes, that jealousy when she came with Emmett to see Hope. The way she would look at Hope, it was as if she were in some kind of dilemma. And why don't you come out from behind Elijah and we could end this now," Hayley said. "You and that blonde walked into New Orleans and ruined my daughter's life! She would have been safe if you two hadn't come along."
"How dare you?" Klaus said as he sped to Hayley and grabbed her neck.
"Niklaus!" Elijah said and then looked at Marcel for help.
"Come on Klaus let her go," Marcel said. "We shouldn't be fighting amongst ourselves."
Klaus reluctantly let her go. As much as he wanted to defend Caroline, he would've ended up ripping Hayley's throat.
"Wow! Just because you're a hybrid and I'm a human, you want to show who's more powerful? I should've ended you back when I had the chance. You know what, it has been hard for Caroline too, but this wasn't her choice. She didn't want to be bonded to Klaus, but she is. You haven't seen her in the push and pull between going to this psycho hybrid or restraining herself. I think you know who won there and I think you're jealous that the attention has been shifted away from you since Caroline and I came here. And you know who the slut is? You are! You slept with the one person that, all of Mystic Falls knew, liked Caroline," Katherine said.
Klaus couldn't help it but feel a little ashamed. He was grateful of the turnout from that one night. He now had a daughter but Katherine was right, somewhere along the way he had let Caroline down. Now that he thought about it, he had put in so much effort to woo Caroline but he didn't tell her about Hope when he went back to Mystic Falls. He couldn't imagine how hurt she must have felt knowing that he had hidden some things from her; that all his efforts of attaining her weren't completely faithful.
"How dare you?" Hayley said as she flashed her golden eyes.
"No how dare you! You are one confused little were-slut. You are jealous of Caroline because Klaus is enamoured by her and now you find out they are bonded. But, you still have feelings for Elijah and can't see him with me and Emmett. I used to be in the same place as you once upon a time. I believe it was with the Salvatore brothers. Not the greatest place to be. You need to figure out your shit. Caroline is million times the person you could ever be. Do you know why she left Mystic Falls?" Katherine said.
This caught Klaus's attention; he wanted to know why she left Mystic Falls and with Katherine of all people. She loved her friends and her mother too much to just leave everything.
"Caroline lost her mother from cancer. She left after the funeral wanting to get away for awhile so she can heal from the loss of her only family. At least you should know what it's like being alone. Were you not looking for your family once?" Katherine said.
Elijah looked at Katherine as she tried to go around him to talk to Hayley. He was amazed at her reasoning. Usually, she resulted to snapping the person's neck but now being human had changed her. Not to have the wrong impression of her, she was still feisty like spitfire. Katarina still had that sassiness to her and she knew how to burn with her words.
"I understand that you're worried about your daughter but thinking that Caroline would kill her is incredulous. Caroline can't even hurt a fly," Katherine said. "When there were travelers in Mystic Falls, they sent Caroline to kill Stefan's doppelganger to ensure that there was only one in the world or they would kill Stefan instead. But when she found him, she couldn't do it. Instead, she compelled him to run away. At the end Enzo ended up killing him but regardless, Caroline is so much more human than vampire and she's the strongest person I know," Katherine said and then started yelling and swearing at her in Bulgarian.
Elijah picked her up and took her to the bedroom while Hayley stared at them trying to figure out what Katherine had just called her. Klaus smirked hearing Katherine swearing at Hayley but his thoughts reverted back to Caroline. The sheriff had passed away and she hadn't said anything. Caroline had carried that entire burden alone. He wanted to be with her; to comfort her letting her know that he was there for her. But how? How can he acquit himself?
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Caroline and the two babies were done shopping for a stroller that could hold two babies. She walked along the street to come across a small auto shop. There were so many cars on sale and she needed one. She walked in the office and over to the receptionist.
"How can I help you?" she said.
"Hi, I just wanted to inquire about some of the cars outside," Caroline said.
"Absolutely, please have a seat. The sales rep will be here momentarily," she said.
"Thank you," Caroline said and sat down in the waiting area. Soon a man wearing a red tie and white shirt walked over to her.
"Hello there ma'am, thank you for waiting. I'm Marty, how can I help you today?" he said.
"Hi Marty, I'm Carmella and I just wanted to inquire about some cars outside," Caroline said as she shook his hand.
"Absolutely, let's go outside and take a look," he said leading the way out.
Caroline walked about with Marty looking at car after car. She needed something that would be good for the three of them. Then she came across a black Acura RDX.
"Our newest addition in fact, it's the newest car in the lot," he said. "A 2016 luxury car, perfect especially for people with children, plus its elite."
"It's perfect," Caroline said. "I'll take it!"
"Great, how about we go inside and take care of the paper work," Marty said.
"Sure!" Caroline said as she pushed the stroller with the two babies.
Once they were inside and sitting at Marty's desk, Caroline looked down at the car papers and bit her lips. How was she going to go about this? Then a brilliant idea struck her. She smiled and started filling out the paperwork.
Name(s): Nicholas and Carmella Michelson
Everything after that just flowed spontaneously.
"Marty, we won't need any leasing or payment plan. The whole amount will go on my husband's credit card," Caroline said. Marty looked at her dumb founded.
"Sure however, you will have to remain here until we put the whole amount through," he said.
"For sure!" Caroline said. "If you don't mind, can I call my husband from here? Unfortunately, my phone is dead. He'll be so excited to hear that I found a car that I like and that it's suitable for the kids. We've been looking for awhile."
"Yes, here you go," Marty handed his phone to her.
Caroline took the phone and quickly dialed Klaus's number. After a few rings, he finally picked up.
"Hello?" Klaus said.
"Hi honey," Caroline said in a sweet tone.
"Caroline?" Klaus said not being able to believe that she had called. "Is it really you?"
"Mmmhmm, sorry I couldn't call earlier. My phone died," she said.
"Caroline what's going on? Are you okay?" Klaus said. She would never call him honey. It was as if she was pretending to do something or stuck somewhere.
"Yes, perfectly! Here do you want to talk to the kids?" Caroline said as she pointed the phone towards the kids and tickled their tummies. The little babies giggled. Klaus smiled from the other end.
"Hope? Emmett?" he said.
"Now, I finally found the car I want and it's perfect for the kids so can you give your credit card to this nice man here?" Caroline said as she handed the phone to Marty. "Here you go."
"Yes, this is Marty from Corner Auto Shop, Mr. Nicholas Michelson, your lovely wife here, Carmella, found a beauty in our little auto shop and said that you would give your credit card over the phone for the full amount," Marty said as he read their names off the paper.
Klaus couldn't help but smile at Caroline's little plot.
"Yes of course," Klaus said as he read out his credit card number. "Anything else Marty?"
"No that is all. I believe Mrs. Michelson will sign the papers?" Marty said.
"Yes that's correct. Now if you don't mind, may I speak to my wife again?" Klaus said. For some reason he loved the way it sounded.
"Yes, of course," Marty handed the phone back to Caroline.
"Yes Nick," Caroline said. Klaus couldn't help but smile. He loved the way it sounded from her lips.
"I just wanted to say thank you sweetheart, stay safe and I'll find you soon," Klaus said.
"Okay sounds good," Caroline said and hung up. "Did it go through?"
"Yes, the payment went through and we are almost done. If I can get your signature on these papers here please," Marty said putting the papers in front of her.
Caroline quickly signed them and Marty handed her the keys as well as the necessary papers. He then walked her to the car.
"Thank you again Mrs. Michelson," Marty said.
"No, thank you!" Caroline said as she gave Marty her biggest Miss Mystic Fall smile. He didn't give her much problem and it worked out perfectly.
"No, the pleasure was all mine," Marty said. "Is there anything else I can do for you today?"
"No that will be all, thank you!" Caroline said as she finished fastening the two car seats into the back seat. She then put Emmett and Hope in and stored the stroller in the trunk.
This made her job a little bit easier than walking around with two babies. They can finally be off on their way as far away from New Orleans and Dalia as possible.
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Elijah brought Katherine back to her bedroom and placed her on the bed. He then shut the door behind him.
"Katarina, please," Elijah started.
"That woman is pathetic!" Katherine said. "How could she possibly think that Caroline would hurt a small child?"
"Katarina, try to understand, she misses her daughter. She's worried," Elijah said.
"And I'm not? I can't believe you like her Elijah. She is..." Katherine then started yelling in Bulgarian.
"Had feelings for her," Elijah said.
"Huh?" Katherine stopped yelling in Bulgarian and looked up at Elijah.
"Had feelings for her," Elijah said as he looked into her eyes. Katherine didn't have words to say. She was dumbfounded.
"I don't know what..." Katherine started but Elijah put his finger on her lips stopping her.
"You don't have to say anything Katarina. Now, get some sleep," Elijah said. Katherine nodded and slipped under the covers. Elijah then slowly stepped outside. He had heard Klaus talking to someone on the phone.
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Klaus looked down at his phone and smiled. He felt relief hearing her voice. It just confirmed that all three were okay. He heard Elijah walk into the room.
"Big brother, done taking care of your mad Bulgarian?" Klaus said and smirked.
"Niklaus please do not start with me," Elijah said. "Anyways, what happened?" Elijah said.
"It was Caroline. She bought a car to drive away from New Orleans. The kids are good too," Klaus said. Elijah let out a breath he didn't really need to release.
"Did she say anything else?" Elijah said.
"No but I was thinking that perhaps I could go find her and stay with them for their protection and get them settled," Klaus said.
"No, that would give away our secret," Elijah said.
"No I can make it look like I'm angry," Klaus said.
"Niklaus, what are you saying?" Elijah said.
"Well, I already set a trail," Klaus said pointing down at his clothes. "We could make it look like I've lost control due the 'deaths'."
Elijah sat there and thought about it for a moment.
"How about we don't tell anyone else where you're going as well," Elijah said not wanting to deal with Hayley.
"Perfect! Because people who know would believe that I vent my anger and despair in such ways. I'll make sure to go near Dalia so she gets the picture," Klaus said.
"Very well, give Emmett a kiss from me," Elijah said. Klaus nodded.
"Elijah, if you could rebuild our home," Klaus said.
"Yes, of course," Elijah said.
"Excellent, see you soon brother," Klaus said as he walked out. He was going to enjoy his meals.
I hope you enjoyed that chapter! I want to focus on Katherine and Elijah's relationship as well as Klaroline. Please let me know what you think by leaving a review! :)