authors note: I own nothing. This chapter is filler in a way but is important for the future of the story. Enjoy!

Chapter 37: Two Steps Forward, Three Steps Back

July 13th 2013

Dear diary,

It's been two weeks since we all got that surprise visit from Natasha and since she made the ridiculous suggestion of all of us working together to get the cure. Over these last couple days Elijah and I had been helping Spike research where the cure might be hidden, we looked at places that would have had a significant supernatural meaning but so far no luck.

Spike has also been helping Carly track down vampires in the local area. At first Carly was hesitant to spend one on one time with Spike again but she soon welcomed it and before long she was out by herself gaining more kills then she thought. The mark on her shoulder had grown, as Elijah suspected the growth on her skin was painless and it traveled down the length of her shoulder and now fully covered her shoulder blade. The writing in it revealed that we were getting close to finding out where the cure was hidden and at this rate of progress we all have been making, it's safe to say we might know where it is sooner than later.

But what worries me is that we haven't heard anything from Natasha since we saw her last, Rebekah since we saw her in Elijah's home or Kol since he got undaggered, but more importantly Klaus. I feel as if I'm just waiting for him to drop by and make his entrance, I know for a fact he harbors hatred toward all of us and won't hesitate in killing us especially after we took him down in his own home but if he comes we will all be ready, it wouldn't be the first time we had faced something we feared prepared or not...

Spike and I were sitting in the kitchen together, he was flipping through one of the many Grimoire's that had been left to him to see if there was anything else that could be found about the cure while I was on my laptop trying to find new leads about it as well. The two of us sat in silence until we heard Carly come through the front door.

"Hey" I said as I closed my laptop and greeted my sister.

"Hey, I see you guys are still hard at work" Carly said as she dropped her bag and took her hair out of a ponytail.

"I can see you we're too" I said as I took in her appearance and could tell she had been sweating as her face was flushed as well.

"Yeah I was, I never realized how many vampires are hiding out in New York City alone, it's crazy" Carly said.

"Look I don't want you to over work yourself, I mean over the course of almost three weeks you hunted and killed around twenty vampires, that's a lot and you should be proud of yourself and of what your accomplishing but as much as we want the cure to end this nightmare, it isn't worth you making yourself sick" I said.

"I know and understand where your coming from but in a way I feel good when I do this as dangerous as it can be, it's who I am, it's in my blood, it's who Dad was even though he chose not to embrace it for our sake but me being this way has changed me and I am stronger, I think even if there wasn't a cure I'd be doing this anyway" Carly said as she smiled at both me and Spike, she then left us and walked into the bathroom.

"She surely seems confident..." Spike said as he looked up from the book in front of him.

"Yeah I know, I still think something is going on, I don't know what but I think something is bothering her still" I said as I couldn't help but wonder why she has yet to tell me.

"When I was with her all she wanted to talk about was her training, it was as if nothing else existed, but its not really my business or place to be questioning her anymore" Spike said as I could still hear the hurt in his voice. I smiled weakly in response, I could only imagine what he was feeling still, in a way I know because I had gone through the worst multiple times with Elijah.

Spike then decided to call it a night and he soon left, we agreed to meet at the same time tomorrow. I was starting to get ready for bed as I noticed Carly was still in the bathroom. I picked up her bag from the floor and tried to start to empty it but as soon as I did, the bathroom door opened and Carly came to my side, practically snatching the bag out of my hands.

"I can do that" Carly said abruptly as she then fled to her room. I didn't have time to question it, I just shook it off and went into my room, got into my bed and got comfortable as I laid next to an already sleeping Elijah. He stirred softly when he noticed I was now beside him. I snuggled onto his chest as he placed his arm around me and I eventually found myself drifting off into a peaceful sleep.

A couple hours later my eyes opened briefly and I glanced at my clock, it was pushing 4 am and I could swear I heard whimpering, almost like someone was crying. At first I thought it was my mind playing tricks on me due to the fact that I was still half asleep but as I got onto my feet slowly, I opened my door and I did hear crying and it was coming from Carly's room.

"What's wrong?" Elijah asked as he woke up for a moment.

"Nothing everything's fine, I'm just going to check on Carly, I'll be back in a few" I said to him as I then closed the door and tiptoed quietly over to Carly's room and saw that her bedroom door was cracked. I peaked in as best as I could not wanting to be seen just yet but I saw Carly sitting upright on her bed, holding her head in her hands with her hair a mess and her body hurdled over.

"Hey are you okay?" I asked unable to stay hidden anymore, I hated seeing my sister in pain and I needed to know what was going on.

"Yeah I'm fine" Carly said as she lied right to my face.

"No Carly you are not fine, you are sitting here in the middle if the night crying, I've been more than flexible with you over these last few weeks, I've respected your privacy but now your going to tell me what's happening and I'm not leaving your room until you do" I said as I walked into her room and sat down next to her.

"Natalie, you won't understand..." Carly said as she looked at my with her big green eyes that were incredibly red and swollen from her crying.

"Oh yeah try me, there's nothing you can tell me that will surprise me, especially after everything that we went through this past year" I said.

"You won't say that once you know, your going to hate me..." Carly said as her crying continued.

"Nothing you do will ever make me hate you, please Carly tell me" I pleaded as I took her hand in mine, I could feel her body trembling and I wanted nothing more than for her to tell me so we can face this and fix whatever it is that is upsetting her so.

Carly took a deep breath but looked away from me as she spoke, "I'm late..." Carly said lowly.

"What?" I asked.

"My period is late" Carly said.

"So that doesn't mean anything, you've been going through extensive training lately, it wouldn't be surprising if your body is strained and the stress from it all is making it late" I said.

"I wish I could agree with you but that's not the reason" Carly said as she was slowly starting to regain her composure. I looked at her unsure of what she meant. "I'm pregnant Natalie..." Carly said.

"What?" I asked again but this time I had to try to contain my composure. "How is that possible?" I said as I was more shocked than anything. "I didn't even know that you were doing that, you never told me, does Spike now?" I asked.

"Spike? This didn't happen with Spike" Carly said.

"Didn't happen with Spike? Then who?" I asked.

Carly looked down at her feet and let some of her hair cover her face as I waited for an answer.

"Who Carly?" I asked again.

"Klaus..." Carly muttered.

I let go of Carly's hand and stood up slowly, the wide range of emotions I was feeling was vast and I was at a loss for words truly, I felt anger and confusion starting to come to the surface.

"Klaus? You slept with Klaus? How did this happen? When did this happen?" I asked.

"It was two weeks ago, on the night Natasha came and you and Spike went to Elijah's house, while you all were gone he showed up and then it happened and then he left" Carly said with embarrassment in her tone.

"Did he rape you? Or compel you to have sex with him?" I asked.

"That's the worst part, he didn't, I could have stopped it but I didn't" Carly said.

"Oh my God" I said as I felt as if my head was spinning, I leaned against Carly's desk as I tried to make sense of this.

"You said your pregnant? That's not possible even if you slept with Klaus he is a vampire, vampires can't have children..." I said.

"That's not what the test says" Carly said as she pointed to the used pregnancy test she had taken as it sat on her night table.

"It must be wrong, it's impossible, it has to be a false positive. I'll take you to the doctor in the morning and well find out for sure" I said as I went to leave her room.

"Natalie wait" Carly called out from behind me.

"I'm sorry I just can't be in here right now, I don't want to hear anymore, just try to get some sleep we have a lot to do tomorrow" I said as I tried to hide my disgust but ultimately my disappointment, I knew Carly could sense it in my voice as well as my expression, but I just couldn't swallow all this, my sister slept with Klaus, the very same person who drained me twice, snapped her neck twice and tried to kill all of us on numerous occasions. The one who had feelings for me and who I learned had taken advantage of my sister whether or not she was compelled. I felt myself become nauseous at the thought and I truly didn't know if I could keep it to myself.

I walked back into my bedroom and lingered for a moment before I went back to bed. Elijah was still awake and when he heard me come back in, he could tell from the look of me that something was wrong.

"Everything alright?" Elijah asked as he sat up.

"Honestly I don't know" I said as I spoke the truth.

"Is Carly okay?" he asked again.

"No, no she isn't" I said.

"Tell me what's the matter" Elijah said as he placed his hands on my tense shoulders.

I turned to face him and hesitated before I asked this but I needed to know after what I was just told, "Is it possible to become pregnant by a vampire?" I asked.

authors note: reviews will be much appreciated. Carly found out she is pregnant by Klaus and she told Natalie who was beyond shocked at the news. The map to the cure on Carly's skin has grown since she has made more kills but now knowing this will put a pause on going after the cure. The next chapter will have the group finding out about Carly's pregnancy and deciding what to do next. Klaus will be in the next chapter as well. The next few chapters will focus on Carly and her situation but there is much more to come for Natalie and Elijah as well as Spike. How do you think Klaus will react to this? Do you think Carly should keep the baby? Stay tuned for more! Share your comments/opinions in a review!

thanks so much for reading xo