"So, was that little dinner of yours worth it?"
"For the last time, yes. Now stop being bitter about it." Damon and I were sitting in the parlor of the house, watching the crackling fire throw random streaks of orange light around the room. We'd gotten done with the Thanksgiving dinner a few hours ago, which had ended up being mostly uneventful. "Nothing bad happened, Damon."
"You still didn't have to invite Rebekah or Finn...She hates you and he practically reveres you...It's not right." I chuckled a bit.
"Other people will have their own thoughts about me, there's no way to avoid it."
"Unless you spell them." I looked up into his bright blue eyes with disdain.
"That's not fair Damon. You know I can't use my powers for anything bad."
"I know...It's just a thought. You know I can't have proper thoughts." I laughed, only because I knew it was definitely true. I sometimes picked up on his thoughts by
accident, and they were almost never proper. "Do you think the baby will have those powers too?"
"Definitely." Tiny things had happened during dinner, nothing big enough to alert all the guests of what the baby was doing, and I decided it was time to tell Damon. "The baby is already doing magic by itself."
"What?" He pulled away a bit and stared at me. "Since when?"
"Since we were in Scotland...That's why I didn't die, and why some other stuff has been happening too...It hasn't been able to do anything major yet though."
"Why didn't you tell me before?"
"People might think something bad...What if they think the baby is evil?" Damon scoffed.
"I didn't say tell people, I said tell me. This is my baby too, remember?" He put his hand on my stomach as he said this. "You're good, and I'm good now, so relax. You're always telling me not to worry that you'll die again, so you stop worrying about the baby. You're just letting people bother you."
"Since when did you start being right all the time?" Damon grinned and pulled me close again.
"Oh, you'd be surprised at how often I'm right..." He ran his hands down my body and I shivered with delight, and he chuckled. "You're so much more sensitive now...I'm gonna enjoy this."
"You know Stefan's gonna hear us, right?" He shrugged. "You deviant!"
"Oh, you know you love it." Damon leaned in and started biting at my neck, and an uncontrollable bout of giggles came over me.
"Damon..!" As he nibbled and I giggled like a little girl, a brief flash of pain shot through my midsection. I froze and Damon, sensing my tension, stopped.
"What?" He looked down at my hand on my stomach and said in a panicked voice "The baby?!"
"I...don't know...It just hurt a lot for a second or two...I don't know if that was him or just me." Damon sighed.
"Your body weirdness had better stop after you have my son, or I'm gonna go insane."
"It's not my fault..." I sighed and pulled away from Damon and stood. "I'm gonna go downstairs and get some blood."
"Why? You always feed off of me now."
"Well maybe it's just my body weirdness, but I don't want to drink from you right now." Damon looked surprised as I sniped at him and stomped off towards the basement.
Down there in the big fridge, I took out one of the pouches of stolen blood and tore it open, sipping greedily at it. The baby, which had begun moving restlessly within me, now calmed and I sighed deeply. The pain must've been his way of telling me he was hungry.
I really needed to get used to this pregnancy stuff.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Where is she?"
"Why? And what are they doing here?" I could easily hear Damon's voice over the TV show I was watching, on the flatscreen in his bedroom. We'd bought it and a few other things awhile back, but none of that was drowning out the sound of Damon and Caroline arguing.
"We can't have a girls day out without all of us girls, duh." When Caroline said that, I knew she had Bonnie and Elena with her, and were probably planning on taking me somewhere. Oh yippee. "Come on Damon, Carrie needs at least one day away from you."
"Who says?"
I got up and quickly pulled on a pair of clothes and sped downstairs. Damon looked about ready to hit Caroline, but since he was human it wouldn't have done a thing to her. I pulled Damon gently back and saw that Bonnie and Elena were indeed with Caroline, and they all looked ready for a day out together.
"What're you three doing here?"
Caroline responded with "I don't know if you heard, but we're going into town and we wanted you to go along." I looked between the three of them and sighed; if I said I wasn't up for going, they'd most likely stay here at the house, and Damon would probably go insane.
"Well, I haven't had a real day out in awhile, so why not?" She smiled wide and I just pursed my lips sheepishly. "Just let me get dressed quick."
"No, that's okay, we can buy something while we're out!" I looked down at the old jeans and black T-shirt I wore, both of which were Damon's, and shrugged.
"If you say so. I'll see you later Damon, okay?"
He muttered an unintelligible word and we hugged tightly. Before he could ask, I said "Yes, I have my phone, and I'll call you then. Okay?"
"Fine..." He shuffled to the parlor and I headed out the door with the girls.
We got into Caroline's car, me and her in front, Bonnie and Elena in back, and took off.
Elena said "It looks like you're getting kinda big there...How far along is it again?" I looked down at my stomach, which admittedly did have a curve to it now.
"I'm not that big..." They laughed. "And I don't even know how far...It definitely can't be more than a month or so...Before that, I was still...dead."
"Well, either way, it's...great that you're gonna be a mom." I sensed Elena's hesitation in saying that.
"Come on, we don't even know what the baby is...or if I'll even be able to keep it until it's born..." The car went deathly silent. "Sorry guys...I just don't know any more about it than any of you do."
Bonnie finally broke the awkward silence as we got closer to town. "It's okay Carrie, we get that this is all new and weird for you; it's new for all of us. If you want, we can stop by the hospital later and get you an ultrasound."
"Would a doctor do that, or are we relying on me compelling one?" She was silent, and I sighed. "Well, I don't do it often, but I'll give it a shot."
Caroline drove us into town then, to a little store near the one I'd gotten my Thanksgiving dress at. We all got out and went into the store, which I saw sold the upscale kind of clothing Caroline always liked to wear.
I picked out a few things; a couple of new shirts and a pair of shoes were all I felt like getting. Caroline whined a bit, but when I mentioned about my stomach getting bigger, she suggested we go to the maternity store down the street next. I groaned.
In there, it was practically baby madness. I couldn't decide what, if anything, to get so I let the other three drag me around and buy me stuff.
It did get fun when we started picking things out for the baby, trying to decide if it was a boy or a girl.
"What do you want it to be?" I shrugged at Elena's question.
"I'm okay with whatever we have. Damon really wants a boy though." They all looked interested. "Don't even ask me what he said about that." They laughed.
Bonnie asked "Do you think it'll look like you?" I shrugged again.
"Maybe...But do you really want another Damon look-alike walking around?"
She apprehensively said "No thanks...One is good enough for me."
Caroline chimed in with "Me too. Luckily it'll have you for a mom, so Damon can't teach it to be completely like him." I laughed.
"Okay, I definitely agree with you there...But come on, he has gotten a lot better since I got here, right?" I looked at Elena. "Tell me he's been bugging you as much as before."
She shook her head. "Yeah, he doesn't bother me nearly as much anymore...So whatever you're doing to him, keep doing it. New Damon is much better than Old Damon." There were resounding agreements and I smiled, but it was a tight smile.
Yes, some of what Elena said was true, but she didn't have to be that harsh. Damon was okay back in the old days...Even if he did do a lot of bad things.
I had half a mind to remind her of how exactly she was involved with Damon in his old days, but I didn't want to spoil the mood.
Instead, I said "How about I take these bags out to the car?" I took all the bags in my hands. "Is the car unlocked Caroline?"
She nodded. "Could you lock it when you're done? The trunk button is in front."
"Okay." I made my way out of the store to the little parking lot beside it, and popped open the trunk of the car.
I dumped the bags in and shut it, and leaned heavily against the car. I rubbed at my abdomen, particularly at the small throbbing pain there. It happened whenever the baby tried to use magic. I think it was his way of signaling me.
I looked down at asked out loud "What? Why do you have to start up when I'm out trying to have fun?" There was nothing, and I groaned. "And now I look like I'm talking to myself like some kind of idiot...Please, refrain from making things any more insane for me."
"Aw, arguing with yourself? It's not you, love." I didn't have to look up to recognize Klaus' voice, but I did anyway. His green-eyed self walked up and perched beside me on the trunk of Caroline's car, hands knit together. "So, why do you think you're going insane?"
"Because I'm standing in public trying to talk to my baby, that's why. And don't patronize me with some silly little saying Klaus..." He grinned.
"Alright, love. How about I try to talk to Damon's little spawn?" I glared and he chuckled. "Just because I've agreed to protect you and your new lover doesn't mean I can't harbor the same hatred for him. You know my stance, and I'm not changing it."
I sighed. Him and Damon would never give up on their hatred for each other, would they? Probably not. No, definitely not.
I felt something touch one of my hands and I flinched; I looked down and I saw it was Klaus' hand feeling at my stomach. I looked at him with disbelief, but he ignored my expression.
"Are you sure this is Damon's child?" I was thrown off by his question. "No, of course it is...We haven't been together since before you went and offed yourself."
"What..? What are you saying?"
"Nothing, love." His eyes turned up from my stomach to my face. "Just that you and Damon's happiness has made me think about my own...Or rather, my lack of it. I realize I've promised you I would leave you alone unless something happened to Damon...But I don't think I can keep that promise, dearie."
My eyes widened. "Klaus...What the ? You promised!" He shrugged a shoulder. "You know what'll happen if you and Damon start another little war over me...Can't you try not to be selfish just this once?"
"I have been trying, love. But imagine surviving for a thousand years with nothing to live for, and when you finally find it, she breaks your heart. You've no idea how I've tried, truly you don't." I sighed.
"You don't have to make me feel so bad about it...But I've tried so hard to make everything good between everybody, and knowing you, you'll mess that all up to get what you want...Am I wrong?"
With a smile and a chuckle, he said "No, I can't say you are. But you knew what you were getting yourself into, Carrie love."
"And then you promised to let me and Damon alone and I thought you changed. But I guess I shouldn't have had that much hope for you..."
"Well, disappointment is just a part of our relationship, now isn't it?"
I glared at Klaus until he jumped off the trunk of the car and took several steps back. There was another twinge of pain in my stomach and Klaus twitched. I stopped, not even aware that I was advancing on him, and covered the small bulge of my stomach with my hands.
"I get that you may not agree with my decision Carrie...But you don't have to use magic on me."
"I didn't..." He looked at me oddly. "I swear!"
There was another twinge and I almost doubled over, the pain shooting through my legs and making my grab onto Klaus for support. I inhaled a ragged breath and he held me up, his face showing his shock.
"Carrie?!" I pointed to my stomach. "I'll take you to your Damon."
He picked me up in his arms and I didn't argue, mostly because I didn't think I could use my legs with the pain rolling through my lower half. Just as Klaus was about to speed off, Caroline, Elena, and Bonnie came out of the store and froze when they saw us.
"Carrie!" Caroline sped over and I held up a hand, and she looked at me wildly. "What are you doing?! Why are you with...him?"
Ignoring her obvious disgust and confusion, I said "There's something wrong...with the baby. I need to go to Damon..." She still looked uneasy.
"Fine...But you call me as soon as you get home, okay?" I nodded and Caroline was gone in an instant.
We blurred through the forest at an incredible speed, but as soon as I whimpered Klaus stopped and set me on my feet. His eyes were filled with worry and, regrettably, love. I bent over and took several deep breaths, trying to calm myself down before I did something stupid. I could feel the wolf side of me already itching beneath the surface, and begged desperately that it wouldn't come out.
"Why...does it have to happen...now?" I leaned against a tree and put my hands on my knees, breathing slowly. "I can feel the wolf coming out...I can't lose control...I never lose control!"
"Just try to calm down love...Your little one is making this happen, all you have to do is take control."
"How..? How do you know about him!?" Klaus scoffed.
"I'm not an idiot, remember love? I suspected your child had magical abilities, and you just confirmed it back in that parking lot." I stared at him until another wave of pain rolled up and down my body and I was knocked to the ground.
I was back in Klaus' arms in an instant, running through the trees again. I heard him chuckle nervously and say "That was my fault. I'm sorry."
"You're apologizing...Where did the real Klaus go?" He chuckled again, but as my eyes closed and my body suddenly became too heavy to move, the chuckle turned into him shouting my name.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I looked around at my foggy, almost nonexistent surroundings and cursed aloud. I knew immediately where I was, because I'd been there once before.
I panicked and tried to run, but my body didn't want to move or take me anywhere.
"Dammit!"
"Carrie!" I spun my head, because I couldn't move my legs, and saw the weirdest sight I'd seen in a long time. Three people came up to me, two of them blonde, one brunette, all people I recognized. Blair, Godwyn, and my dad.
"What. The. Hell. Why do I have to die to talk to any of you guys? And why do you always try to help me after you're dead? You two tried to kill me! One succeeded!" Godwyn and Blair bowed their heads slightly and my dad chuckled.
"Well, it's good to see recent events haven't affected you much. How's my favorite daughter doing?" I frowned. "Don't worry, you're not dead. At least, I don't think you are..." He looked at Godwyn, who then looked at me.
"You're not. We just needed to talk to you."
"So you make me pass out in the middle of the woods and pull me into some creepy limbo world? Thanks dad..."
"We didn't make you pass out...That was your son." I stared blankly at him. "You suspected it yourself, didn't you?"
"Well, yeah...Well, at least I know what color clothes to buy him now. But what's so important that you had to wait til I was passed out to try and contact me?"
Blair stepped in. "It's your son."
I glared at her. "And why would I accept your help? You don't even have any power anymore."
"No, but you do. Too much for you and your son to handle, that is very evident. Even Esther's bastard son could tell, and he isn't the brightest of individuals." I narrowed my eyes.
"I suggest you keep out of this. Just because you're dead doesn't mean I can't do something to you." Blair quieted, and I turned confidently to Godwyn. "You and my dad, I'll hear out. Now tell me why I'm here."
Godwyn nodded. "You're a werewolf, a vampire, and the most powerful witch ever, all in one person. There probably isn't any way you could ever be killed now, and there's never been anything like you in...history."
I nodded. "I know all of that...Is there a point to repeating it?"
Godwyn and my dad looked at each other. "Well, we don't really know how to say it...It's something we'd have to show you." Now they looked pleadingly at Blair and said "She knows this part of it..."
I begrudgingly allowed her to speak. "You have to find 's something that was made very long ago..."
"Sending me on a wild hunt now?" She paused. "Before or after you?"
"After, but now by much. A few generations after, maybe a couple of hundred years at most. The power of the witch was spreading and so was the wolf curse, and the two began to encounter each other...One particularly gifted witch was bitten by one of my werewolves but survived, and was in a state of delirium. Just as vampires lose their minds when bitten by a wolf, so did this witch."
"Why do I need to know about an insane witch?"
"Because, after you killed me and I arrived in the afterlife, she contacted me about a vision she'd had while she was alive. A vision about you." This, I didn't criticize. I knew powerful witches could sometimes see into the future, especially if they were unstable like that. I listened on. "She recorded the vision down, and has since lost the memory of what she wrote...The only reason she recognized me was because I looked exactly like the girl she saw."
"So...I have to find a thousands-year-old record of what this witch saw? How am I supposed to do that? I don't even know who she is!"
"Her name is Kenna."
The name sounded familiar to me, though I knew I'd never heard it before. I thought back to some time I might've forgotten about, but as unfamiliar scenes began to flit through my mind, I realized I was searching through the memories of my family members.
I stood quiet in my foggy almost-there surroundings, delving back through hundreds, then thousands of years' worth of memories. My head started to hurt the farther back I went, but I felt I was nearing what I needed, so I pressed on. There, the name 'Kenna' popped out in my mind, and I saw the image of a brunette girl locked in an old room, some type of hut, scribbling into the dirt and rock at her feet.
I snapped back to the present, and though I knew I wasn't yet back in my body, my head felt heavy and my stomach turned.
My dad was at my side, and said "Carrie...are you okay?" I nodded, woozy.
"Yeah, I'm fine...And I saw that girl. But with how long ago that was, how am I supposed to find wherever that was?"
"Think: everywhere you've been so far is a place related to your family. Ireland, Scotland, even here in Mystic Falls; every one of these places is a place our family has been. So where do you think Kenna's prophecy is?"
I glared at Blair. "How do you expect me to find out? There are no records for anything for my mother's side of the family, and I've been everywhere my dad's family is."
"Not everywhere." I looked at my dad. "There's one place you haven't been. At least, not in a long time."
"What are you talking about?" I looked questioningly into my dad's eyes.
"Ever since you first were turned into a hybrid, where's the one place you've stayed away from? You've never been back there even once in the three and-a-half years you've been turned. That's where you need to go."
I stared at my dad, then at Godwyn, and then my gaze shifted to Blair.
"You aren't serious...I can't go back there. I won't do it..."
"Not even if it might save your son? Your father's grandson? Without him, our family ends with you." I chewed my lip. "I don't even know what Kenna saw, so you must do this."
"I can't go back there! I haven't been back there since..." My mind flashed back and I tried desperately to push the image from my mind.
It invaded my thoughts though, and the image of my bloodied parents was suddenly before my eyes. I could see myself crying over their bloody and broken bodies, with Damon's evil face hovering in the background.
I had to go back to where it all began...To where they died...
To where I died.