Klaus stood there, staring at her, stuttering.

"Please, say something," muttered Rosa. Normally she loved it when he was silent, but now, she needed him to speak, to tell her what he thought. Because despite how badly she had wanted to keep the child a secret, a part of her was almost glad Klaus knew. "Please Niklaus," she whispered , and he jerked his head up at her.

"How long?" he asked. Rosa looked down at the floor, unable to meet his eyes. "How long?" he asked again.

"I figured it out pretty early on. At first, I didn't think it was, at least I didn't consider it to be that I was pregnant," muttered Rosa, sitting down in one of the chairs. "I mean, how could I be? The whole vampire thing kind of put kids off the card. But there wasn't many possible explanations for what was happening to me. And eventually I was left with only one possibility," she finished up, lifting a hand up to her stomach. Klaus sat down opposite her, burying his head in his hands.

"And it never occurred to you to let me know?" he asked. "To tell me that I had a child?!" he yelled.

"Of course it did!" yelled Rosa. "And do you know why I didn't?" she added, standing from the seat. "Look at what you did to me," she whispered. "You trapped me, kept me prisoner. I was locked in a room, like a doll for you to put on display and use whenever you wanted. Collecting dust whenever you didn't. If you did that to me, the girl who you have claimed to love for centuries, what would stop you from doing that to your child?" Rosa finished and Klaus looked up at her.

"I haven't been keeping you a prisoner," whispered Klaus. "Why have you not been able to see it? None of you have. The only thing I have been trying to do is protect my family!" he screamed, as tears started to edge out his eyes. Klaus barely cried, especially around her. He saw emotions as a sign of weakness, and there was no greater display of emotions than tears. Rosa looked at him now, and felt horrible. He did have a right to know, he deserved to know. But with everything Klaus had done, she couldn't bring herself to tell him. "Rosa, I love you. All I have ever done is love you, and everything I have done has been to protect you. I watched you die. And I could never go through that again," he finished. Rosa looked Klaus in the eyes and saw the man she loved return for a moment. The monster had vanished, the beast gone. For this moment it was Niklaus, the man whom she had loved for centuries. "Were you ever going to tell me?" asked Klaus, almost not wanting an answer.

"Eventually I would have had to. It is not exactly easy to cover up," whispered Rosa, rubbing her hand across her stomach. Klaus stood from his seat and walked across to her, kneeling down. Slowly, carefully, he lifted his hand to her stomach. They both were still and silent.

Then he felt a heartbeat, so tiny, so small, so fragile. And Klaus smiled, a tear edging towards his eyes. And Rosa smiled back, staring at the man that she loved. They sat there together, his hand against her stomach, and for once his heart open to her. There were things that they needed to say to each other, but in this moment both sat quietly, happily silent.

"A child," whispered Klaus, smiling once more, tears of joy now creeping down his face.

"When I was first turned, I did not realise what it meant. At first there was only a raw, unbearable hunger, a thirst for blood. And every time I fed that, every time I killed an innocent I had a brief break from the thirst. And then one day, I looked at the carnage I had wrought. I swore off feeding from humans, killing. Then I came to realise the curse that had been placed on me. I watched time go past and I remained unaffected. And then I realised that I could never have a child. I would never hold a child that was my own flesh and blood," whispered Rosa, placing her hand over Klaus', as he looked up at her. This was as vulnerable as Klaus had seen her recently, these were days in her life that she had closed off from him. He had heard the rumours of what she had done, they were hard to miss back then. "And now I carry a child of my own, I can feel them inside of me," she whispered, gripping Klaus hand.

"This is what Tyler was after, this is why he took you," realised Klaus and she nodded.

"There is something you must know," replied Rosa, taking a deep breath. "The blood I carry within me, the blood of our child. It has the ability to create hybrids," she continued, and Klaus leant back.

"And that is why he wished to kill the child. Because he wants me to be alone, as he is. I took everything from him, and he wishes to do the same. He may not be able to kill you, but killing the child, that would be a start in his quest for revenge," muttered Klaus, looking up at her. "Is that why you wanted to run?" asked Klaus. "Not for you, but for our child? Because you thought I would use them to create an army of hybrids?" he continued.

"Partially," replied Rosa, standing from the chair she was in, walking across to the window. "I did not want to raise a child with you. After everything you have done, all the killing, threats, I could not let our child see that. But I could not run from you," finished Rosa, looking back towards Klaus.

"So it was for the child that you wanted to run," muttered Klaus. "I presume Elijah knows," he added, and Rosa gave a sheepish nod.

"I told him the other day, when we were in the bayou together. Asides from him, I have told no one except you. I did not want everyone to know. A child of Klaus Mikaelson, a target to cause you pain. You have your fair share of enemies, and a child is easy to target. Niklaus, I hold a miracle within me. I cannot lose that. It is my chance for redemption, my chance to right my wrongs," whispered Rosa. Klaus raised a hand to her cheek.

"I swear to you, I will protect you and our child whatever the cost. If I have to burn the world to create a place of safety for them, then I will gladly do so," promised Klaus. Rosa quickly moved away from him.

"Do you not see Klaus?!" she yelled, gripping her head. "This is the problem. Violence will not solve this problem. If you burn the world you will create more enemies, more people you will want to use our child against you. Klaus if you create more enemies, it is not you who will have to bear the burden," Rosa whispered. "I cannot face this alone, I need you to help support me through this," she begged, kneeling beside Klaus.

"I will," promised Klaus, kneeling down by her side.

"In that case, while we are being honest there is something else I must tell you," said Rosa, standing up and rubbing her belly. "When I use my magic, it is my child that is bearing the cost. The darkness that is generated when I cast spells, it is being absorbed by the child. I do not know what it will do, but that is why I cannot use my magic unless absolutely necessary. I cannot force my child to bear the burden I create," she continued.

"You will not need to. I will protect you and our child. This home will be our fortress, and I will stop anyone who wants to hurt you from entering. Rosa," he whispered lovingly, raising a hand to her cheek.

"Klaus, what will you tell your vampires?" asked Rosa.

"What they need to know."

Klaus had kept his word of protecting Rosa to a higher degree than she had ever thought he could. She was allowed to roam the compound, but she had an escort follow her most places and all the entrances remained guarded. Klaus knew that if there was an emergency, Rosa could use force to defend herself, and worse comes to worse, magic. However he did not want to place her in this situation, with her placing blame on herself for any effects on the child.

Rosa found herself shocked at his kindness.

Yet she could not forget that he still had her locked to this location, and he had all but banned Elijah from coming to this house. He may have been looking after her, but she was still his prisoner. It was just no longer his highest priority for her.

"Do you want anything picked up?" she heard Klaus say and she turned to find him leaning against her doorway. He had let her have her own room, one which he said she was free to make her own space. "Any cravings? Any herbs or anything like that?" he asked and she smiled.

"I am fine, thank you Klaus," she replied.

"Well if you do, just get one of the vampires to run out for it. I should be back for dinner if all goes well. If you need me, call and I will be right here," he reminded her. He had said that every day for the past week, every morning when he left the house.

"Thank you," Rosa repeated. He smiled, looking as though he had more to say to her, but he could not bring himself to. They both acknowledged that the situation they were in was awkward. Rosa had spent the last couple of months hating Klaus, keeping a massive secret from him. And he had not been treating her that well either. This child was something that neither of them would have ever expected, but it was serving to bring the two of them together.

"Oh, and someone else is moving in today. A witch by the name of Devina. If you want me to make sure she does not cross your path," started Klaus, and Rosa raised a hand.

"It will be nice to have a witch to talk to," she said with a smile and Klaus quickly left the room. Rosa took a deep breath, things may be better but she missed Elijah, and she needed to talk to him about what had happened between them in the bayou. Once she had heard Klaus leave, she ventured out from her room. She knew of Devina, Elijah had talked about her briefly. A young harvest girl with too much power in her body, and a weapon at Marcel's, and now Klaus', disposal. First she headed to the kitchen, downing a bottle of animal blood. Ever since she had become pregnant, the craving for blood grew stronger and stronger. She drank more and more animal blood, and it was hard to resist human blood.

"At least it isn't human," said a voice, and Rosa turned to see the young witch standing there.

"It has been a very long time since I tasted human blood. I intend to keep it that way," said Rosa, finishing off the bottle and grabbing another from the fridge. "Pleasure to meet you Devina, I'm Rosa," she added, holding out a hand for the young witch to shake.

"I know who you are. I think you would be challenged to find a witch in New Orleans who does not know who you are," said Devina, shaking her hand.

"How are you? This cannot be easy for you, being separated from your coven and struggling to deal with all that power," asked Rosa. There was something about Devina that reminded her of herself, except when she had struggled to control her powers there had been no one around to help. If Rosa could help Devina, then she was going to.

"I miss being around other witches, ones who I can talk over spells with. But my coven wants to kill me, so they aren't an option," replied Devina, pulling a seat out from the dining table.

"Well I happen to have a lot of free time on my hands at the moment," muttered Rosa, taking another sip of blood.

"Not for long I hear," replied Devina, and Rosa raised an eyebrow. "Marcel told me. You are carrying a child right? Klaus' child?" she asked and Rosa gave a reluctant nod. "May I?" she asked, hovering her hand near Rosa's stomach. When she nodded, Devine carefully placed her hand on her stomach. "I can feel the magic within you, and within your child. That baby is going to be powerful," she said and Rosa laughed.

"They will need to be, to overcome all the obstacles that will face them," she muttered, raising her own hand to rub her belly. "Devina, I never had a coven, so I cannot pretend to know what it is like for you being separated from them. But I do know a bit about magic, and having a student would keep me busy. What do you say?" asked Rosa and Devina smiled. She may not have a coven, but she liked Rosa, and a part of her wanted to trust her.

"When do we start?"

Hi all! I am so sorry this has taken so long, life seems to have a habit of getting in the way. Thanks to the guest reviewer Dominique Cooper for spurring me on to finally finish this chapter. Hopefully the next one won't take as long! Thanks for reading and reviewing!