A/N: Long chapter ahead and there are bound to be typos.
Phoenix Rising
Ch. 39
Katie and Klaus were spending their morning rolling around in bed, giggling and laughing when her phone started ringing. "Ignore it." he told her between kisses when she looked over at it where it sat on the bedside table.
"It could be important." She argued as she wiggled out of his grasp and grabbed her phone. She looked at it to see an unknown number and cautiously pressed talk. "Hello?"
"Scarlett, hey it's me." a male voice replied.
It took a few seconds for the voice that called her by her middle name to register. "Dad?" she asked, confused.
"Damon called and let me know you were back." He told her. "I hope its okay that he gave me your number."
"Uh, yeah its fine I'm just…surprised, I guess." She told him as she pushed herself back to lean against the headboard.
"So I was hoping that we could get together sometime and try that talk again." He told her.
"I'd like that." she told him with a small smile as she watched Klaus move to sit beside her.
"I'll come by your house this Saturday?" he asked sounding happy.
"Actually the founder's council has been cracking down on us vampires lately. They've even put vervain in the town's water supply." She informed him. "So that's probably not a good idea."
"Oh, okay." He sounded disappointed.
"Why don't I come to you?" she asked in an attempt to save the conversation. "You can text me the address of where you want to meet and I can come whenever."
"What about school?" he asked with a fatherly disapproving tone.
"I'm home schooling now." she told him. "So long as my assignments get emailed to the school, I'm free to do as I wish."
"Well, you always were independent." He commented. "So when can I be expecting you?"
"Well, I don't really have any plans so it's up to you." Katie told him feeling awkward.
"The sooner the better." He told her with a bit of a laugh to his voice.
"I'll leave tomorrow morning." She told him.
"I'll text you the address and see you then." Her father told her.
"See you then." Katie echoed back then hung up the phone. A minute later the address of a bar and grill called Rousseau's was sent to her in a text message.
"So you're leaving town?" Klaus asked.
"Yep." She answered and moved around to straddle him. "I promised my mother I would find my dad and talk things out with him. I owe it to her to give him a chance."
"Would you like me to accompany you?" he asked as he slid his hands up her thighs under the red satin night gown she wore. "New Orleans is after all one of my favorite places in the world."
"Really?" she asked a little surprised. "Why? I mean, I know you lived there once, that's why my father lives there now, but what's so special about the place?"
"It's rich in culture. They like to preserve their heritage. There's also music, art and really good food." He told her as he slipped his hands down her thighs to rest on her calves.
"Good food?" she asked as she slipped her fingertips over his chest.
"Have you ever had gumbo?" he asked and she shook her head no. "You should try it. I think you'll like it. So are you going to answer my question?"
She thought about it for a second. "This is something I need to do alone. Besides, you're needed here…Silas…impeding end of the world and all that." she answered, slipping her finger tips over his chest, drawing nonsensical shapes over his soft skin.
"Do you know how long you'll be gone?" he asked and the tone of his voice implied he was going to miss her.
"I'll definitely be back before prom." She answered. "And I'll keep in touch." She kissed him then pulled back and stood up to look at the framed, hand written letters that hung over his bed. "I've been meaning to ask you…what's with the letters?"
"I was wondering when you were going to ask." He told her and she looked down at him. "They are mementos." He answered simply a little afraid to tell her they were taken off the dead bodies of his victims.
She noticed they were all love notes. "Did you take them so you can simply relive and revel in the deaths of the people they were taken from or to serve a greater purpose like making you feel something?" she asked making him look up at her with a frown. "And there goes my nose, poking around where it's not welcome again."
"Your perfect little nose is always welcome in my business." He told her as she sat down beside him. "Your understanding of my mind still catches me off guard once in a while."
"Caroline told me that Elena said that during Stefan's humanity-less time in the twenties, he would write the names of his victims on a wall in his apartment." she admitted. "The only difference between that and this, is the fact that all of those letters were written from one lover to another." She pointed out and he didn't say anything back. "You know, vampires talk about the humanity switch like it's a magical fix all. Damon and Stefan made it sound like all emotions cease to exist, but…even when it was flipped…when I was as numb as I was going to get, and when I really didn't want it, there was still one emotion that tried to fight its way in."
"And what emotion was that?" he asked looking at her across his shoulder, wondering where she was going with this.
"The one more powerful than hurt and hatred." She answered and looked across her shoulder at him. "Love." He blinked, giving her the look that said she was once again doing that thing where she decoded and understood the cracks within him, the same cracks she shared. "I guess what I'm so poorly trying to say is…" she pointed up at the letters on the wall above them, "I get it." she dropped her hand to her lap.
As usual when she did that, since he wouldn't let himself tell her he loved her, he slid his arm between her back and the head board and pulled her around to straddle him and pressed his lips to hers in a deep kiss, pouring it all into her. "You are truly one of a kind, Little Phoenix."
Katie smiled and looked down at his chest letting her mind wander to lighter subjects like prom that was coming up soon. "I have a question."
"I may have an answer." He replied as his hands slid down her back to hold her rear.
"If I asked you to let Tyler come home would you?" his face turned hard. "Not for good, just for prom."
"Katie…" he sighed.
"Please?" she begged giving him her best puppy dog eyes. "Caroline's my best friend and she is working her butt off to make prom perfect for everybody. Her night should be just as perfect as everyone else's"
"Fine, but his welcome wears off at eleven." He told her.
"Oh, come on, prom isn't even over until ten thirty. At least give them until twelve." She reasoned.
"No." he told her flatly.
"Yes." She argued with a half serious glare.
"No."
"Klaus…" she drawled his name out warningly.
"Katie…" he mimicked her.
"Please, for me?" she pulled puppy dog eyes again.
"You," he grabbed her sides and moved her around to lay on her back making her laugh when he tickled her sides and moved to hover over her, "are lucky you're cute when you're being demanding." She slid directly under him and wrapped her legs around his hips. "He better be out of town by twelve or he's dead." He told her and she gave him a bright smile.
"Thank you." she told him still smiling.
"You're gonna thank me with more than just words." He told her with a lustful glare.
"Oh I am, am I?" she asked with a laugh and he hummed. "In a minute." She told him as she turned on her stomach and slid up to grab her cell phone off the night stand.
"What do you think you're doing?" he asked.
"Telling Caroline the good news." She replied as she started texting Caroline. A yelp and a giggle lift her lips when he grabbed her ankles and pulled her back to him. As she texted Caroline he peppered her back with kisses seeking out her ticklish spots just to hear her laugh. "Okay, where were we?" she asked as she rolled over and smiled up at him.
After a two hour flight she landed at the airport, hailed a cab and gave the driver the address of Rousseau's. She texted her father to let him know she was on her way to the bar and gill then texted Klaus to let him know she had landed and arrived safe and sound. When she got the bar and grill and walked in she easily found Bradley sitting at a table near the window. "Scarlett." He smiled when she walked over and sat down.
"Hi." She greeted feeling awkward as she hooked her purse over the back of the chair and sat down.
A pretty young brunette waitress with a gap between her two front teeth walked over and took her drink order. "You should try the gumbo." Bradley spoke up and the waitress looked at Katie. "Sophie here is the best cook in the French Quarter."
"I don't know about that, Bradley." She told him with a flirty smile then looked at Katie.
"Sure." Katie told Sophie with a nod remembering that Klaus had recommended she try gumbo.
"I'll get that right out." Sophie told her then walked away.
"So how have you been?" Bradley asked.
"Good, believe it or not." She answered still feeling awkward. "What about you?"
"Better now that I know you're okay." His answer pissed her off and he could tell. "Look, I know you probably hate me for leaving you with your grandfather, but I did it to protect you."
"You thought that leaving me to come here and search for people that haven't lived in this area for at least a hundred years was protecting me?" she asked trying her best to contain her anger. He sighed and looked down at the table. Sophie walked over with Katie's drink and a bowl of gumbo and set them down in front of her. "Did you know you and mom have empty graves in the cemetery?" she asked and he shook his head no. "I grew up telling myself stories about where the two of you disappeared to. That you guys were entered into witness protection and weren't allowed to come back to me or that your bodies were buried in the woods somewhere or eaten by bears or something. Why didn't you just come home and be a father to me?"
"Because a vampire was the last thing you needed in your life." He told her quietly.
"And I call B.S." she told him then took a sip of her sweet tea. "You, even as you are now, would have been better than Grandfather."
"I was going to pay him a visit and give him a piece of my mind before I left Mystic Falls, but he wasn't there." He told her.
"Yeah that's because I killed him." she told him with a straight face and he looked at her, his green eyes wide. "Oh don't judge me when you're the one that killed my mother."
"How were you able to speak with her again?" he asked clearly aggravated that she'd learned that bit of information.
"Bonnie Bennett brought Jeremy Gilbert back from the dead and in doing so cracked the door to the other side open. A witch on the other side wedged it open and let the supernatural spirits be able to interact with our side. For a while we were able to see and feel them. Mom found me and we were able talk before Bonnie fixed the balance." She explained. "She is the only reason I'm here right now."
"I'm really sorry I didn't come for you sooner." He told her seriously. "Maybe if I had you wouldn't be what you are now."
"Which is?" she asked as she picked up her spoon and started stirring the gumbo. It looked disgusting despite it's mouth watering smell.
"A vampire…and whatever getting Hannah's memories has turned you into." He answered then watched her playing with the gumbo. "Would you just try it already?" he asked with a point to the bowl of chicken and sausage gumbo.
"Fine." She answered and took a bite. "Holy shit." She commented as she covered her mouth then swallowed. "That's really good."
Her father laughed. "Told you." things got quiet and she was almost through with her gumbo when he asked, "So how's everyone back home?"
"Well, let's see, Shelia Bennett, Mayor douche wad and Carole Lockwood, Caroline's father, Elena's parents, her aunt Jenna, Jeremy and John Gilbert aka Elena's bio dad, along with most of the other council members that got blown up in the pastors farm house are all dead. I'm sure I'm leaving some people out, but that's all I can think of right now." she told him. "Oh and Caroline and Elena are vampires too. Other than that there's the impending threat of hell on earth being unleashed, but that's another story for another time."
"Wow." He said taking timr to let it sink in. After a few minutes he blinked out of his thoughts. "So you said you've met all of the originals?"
"Yep, even momma and poppa original." She answered.
"And you live to tell about it." he observed.
"What can I say, the Mikaelson siblings like me." she told him with a shrug.
"A little too much if you ask me." he commented.
She rolled her eyes and looked up at him. "Please tell me you're not still mad that Elijah and I found each other."
"My family, your ancestors, devoted their lives to keeping the reincarnations from remembering Elijah." He told her with a glare.
"I'm sorry the reincarnations?" she asked with a frown and a shake of her head as she pushed her bowl away from her.
"You think you're the first of Hannah's reincarnation attempts?" he asked with a tilt of his head.
"Uh, yeah, I don't remember any lives other than Hannah and this one." She answered, completely confused.
"That's because the reincarnations were never allowed to live past their sixth birthday." She just stared at him. "Legend has it that Jonah was so disgusted with what his mother had done that he killed his daughter to keep her from turning into his mother…to keep her from suffering at the hands of the Mikealson men." he explained. "Every Finnegan female was either killed at birth or just before her sixth birthday. I couldn't kill you so I did my best to protect you. I had Sheila block your memories and after I turned I didn't come back because if I did it was more likely, with a vampire in your life, that you would become one and break the dam in your mind. I hoped that you would live and die as Katie, never becoming Hannah. I hoped it would break the cycle and free the women of our family."
After a few minutes of letting it all sink in she sighed and looked up from her empty bowl to her father. "Then I guess I should thank you for not killing me and tell you that the cycle is broken." he frowned in confusion. "I'm no longer linked to or with Elijah."
"Really?" he asked with raised brows.
"Yep, the link broke when my soul shattered." She answered.
"So you're free of the Mikaelson's?" he asked.
"Um…" she pulled one side of her mouth up and squinted an eye. "I guess you could say that?" she scratched the back of her neck uncomfortably.
"What does that mean?" he asked a little confused.
"Klaus and I are kind of…together." She answered.
"Klaus is not an acceptable partner for anyone, much less my little Scarlett." He told her.
She scoffed and before he could say anything, a guy who looked to be in his mid to late twenties with espresso skin and nice eyes, walked over to them and slapped his hand down on Bradley's shoulder. "Who may I ask is this lovely lady?" he asked giving Katie a bright, charming smile.
"My daughter, Scarlett." Bradley answered. "Scarlett, this is Marcel."
Katie gave Marcel a wave and a polite smile assuming that he was the same Marcel that turned her father. "I hate to pull you away from your family reunion, but we have business to attend to." Marcel told Bradley.
"Alright." Bradley told Marcel who walked off giving the father and daughter time to bid each other goodbye. "How long are you planning on staying in town?"
"I'm flying back in the morning." She answered. "Prom is coming up soon."
"What time is your flight?" he asked.
"Seven thirty." She answered.
"We'll meet here for breakfast at six?" he asked and she nodded. "See you in the morning." He told her and she gave him a smile and a wave and watched him leave with Marcel.
"Refill?" Sophie asked as she walked over with a pitcher of tea in her hand. Katie slid her empty glass to the edge of the table. "Would you like more gumbo?"
"No, but it was delicious." She answered then gave Sophie a smile as she picked up her glass of tea. "Thank you."
She was still sitting there, sipping on her tea, fiddling with her necklace, thinking about everything she and her father had discussed when Sophie walked by with a sizzling plate of fajitas and her stomach flipped. She frowned and ran to the bathroom with her hand over her mouth and barely made it into the stall before her gumbo came back up. "The hell was in that gumbo?" Katie sighed as she shut the toilet lid and flushed it.
"It wasn't the gumbo." She heard Sophie say from outside the stall. "You're tea, however had a very powerful mixture of herbs in it. A roofie…kind of."
Katie pushed the stall door open and turned on the sink. "You're a witch."
"Yep." Sophie answered.
"I've seen a witch roofie in action, the dude didn't get sick." Katie said as she cupped her hand under the stream of water and rinsed out her mouth.
"Yeah that's not the roofie, that's morning sickness." Sophie told her watching her grow weaker and weaker.
"That would imply…that I'm pregnant. I'm a vampire, I…can't…" she passed out.
Sophie watched her fall then knocked on the door letting Jane-Ann, her sister inside. "This is stupid, and risky, you know that right?"
"We will talk about this later, for now we have to get her out of here without being seen." Jane-Ann told her.
Katie woke up in a cabin in the woods, crickets and frogs could be heard outside. "Where am I?" she groaned as she sat up in the cot she was laying on.
"The bayou." Sophie told her.
"Why?" she asked with a glare.
"Because like it or not, you're pregnant with Klaus Mikaelson's child." Sophie answered reminding Katie what she'd told her before she passed out.
"It's not possible, I'm a vampire. We can't have kids." She sighed, feeling ill. "How would you know anyway. You're a witch not a doctor."
"I'm a witch with a gift of telling when a woman is pregnant. I sensed it as soon as you walked into the restaurant." She told her.
Katie, sure that Sophie was wrong, got quiet and listened. At first she only heard Sophie's heartbeat and her own, but eventually she heard a small, fast heartbeat and slid her hand over her lower abdomen. "Holy freaking hell…"
"Congratulations?" Sophie asked awkwardly.
"How the hell is this possible?" Katie asked, sounding like she was in shock.
"Your guess is as good as mine." Sophie shrugged.
"So what do you want with me? Why kidnap me and bring me out to the middle of nowhere?" Katie asked trying to think about something other than what Klaus was going to have to say about this or the thousand other questions that were running through her head.
"Marcel has been keeping my people under his thumb, but now we have you." Katie shook her head not understanding. "Your boyfriend is famous in this town. Witches tell bedtime stories about the vampire Klaus. Marcel was nothing but an orphaned street rat until he made him what he is. Now he's out of control. He does what he wants. He kills who he wants. We're gonna stop him and you're gonna help us."
"And how am I supposed to do that? I don't even know you people." Katie asked with a scoff. Jane-Ann walked in. "Who are you?"
"My name's Jane-Ann." She answered. "And to answer your question, you're going to get Klaus here and you're going to get him to help us."
"What makes you think I have any control over Klaus?" Katie asked with a glare.
"Because he's been texting you every hour on the hour for the past day and a half." Sophie answered holding up Katie's cell phone. "A guy doesn't do that unless he's worried and people only worry when they care."
"Prom is today." Katie sighed realizing how stupid that sounded since she just found out that she's pregnant.
"Yeah, Caroline's been texting incessantly about that." Sophie told her. "I'm sorry but you're going to have to miss it."
"I gathered as much." Katie scoffed.
"We need to get started, Soph." Jane-Ann said.
After performing a million different witchy tests on her Sophie tossed Katie a clear blue pregnancy test. "Just for shits and giggles. The out house is that way." She told her with a point outside.
"Watch your language Soph." Jane-Ann scolded her little sister as Katie stood up and went outside.
After taking the pregnancy test she put the cap back on it and watched as the word pregnant show up on the screen. She headed back inside and showed it to them, then tucked it into her pocket. "How the hell is this even possible?" Katie asked herself more than them.
"Did I hear you tell Bradley that your soul shattered?" Jane-Ann asked having been at the bar while Katie and her father chatted.
"Yeah, why?" Katie asked as if it were no big deal.
"No one, witch, human, vampire or wolf has ever come back from that before." Jane-Ann answered. "We have no records of what that can do to someone."
"Even still, that doesn't explain Klaus's roll in this." Katie pointed out.
"He's a hybrid, magic made him vampire, but he was born a werewolf and is the first of his kind. Nature is full of loopholes." Jane-Ann explained.
"Awesome." Katie sighed and fell back to lie on the cot hoping to go to sleep and wake up from this nightmare.
After making sure Tyler was out of town Klaus returned to his mansion to find a note, left for him by Katherine. "Klaus, I hear Elijah has refused you the cure and in return you have refused me my freedom. Shame on you both. But while you boys sort out your problems, I have one last thing to offer you. I've caught wind that there is a witch in New Orleans named Jane-Anne Deveraux holding your precious Katie hostage. Hunt her down. What she has to tell you about Katie will rattle you so deeply to your core that chasing little old me will be the least of your concerns. It's been a fun five centuries, Klaus, but I've worn down too many good heels running from you. Love and hate, Katerina."
Klaus dropped everything, packed a bag and bought a plane ticket to New Orleans.
Twenty four hours later Katie sat on a wooden bench in a tomb in the middle of a cemetery in New Orleans. "We can talk freely here." Katie heard Sophie say. She also heard another set of feet walking with Sophie.
"Then I suggest you start talking." Elijah's voice made Katie perk up, just happy to hear a familiar voice. "What did your sister want with Niklaus?" Katie tried to leave the tomb, but a couple of witches stepped in her way.
"Isn't it obvious?" Sophie asked. "We have a vampire problem, and we need help. Marcel has an army backing him. The witches have been trying to fight back, but we haven't had much luck. Until my sister, Jane-Anne and I met a girl, a vampire girl passing through the quarter from a small town in Virginia, the daughter of one of Marcel's day walkers. She has a special…connection, to your bother." Sophie explained to him. "By the look on your face I'm guessing you know who she is."
"What do you want with Katie?" he asked, his tone guarded.
"Wait, are we talking about the same girl? Bradley called her Scarlett." Sophie asked.
"Scarlett is her middle name." Elijah answered growing impatient.
"She's pregnant and the father of the child she's carrying is your bother, Klaus." Sophie told him.
"That's impossible." Katie could hear the shock in his voice.
"Nothing's impossible, especially not when it comes to a hybrid and the first being to ever recover from a shattered soul." Sophie explained. "Let her out." She called.
The men stepped aside and Katie whooshed out of the tomb, stopping in her tracks when her eyes landed on Elijah, looking at her with narrowed eyes. He looked at Sophie, "Give us a moment please." Sophie nodded and jerked her head for the witches to leave them be. Elijah put his hand on Katie's lower back and led her into the tomb where she sat back down straddling the bench. He started pacing. "So it's true?" he asked and she nodded. "Have they been holding you here against your will?"
"They witch roofied me, brought me out to the bayou and did all these witchy tests." She told him then pulled the pregnancy test out of her pocket. "But even the plain old clear blue confirmed it." she showed him the word pregnant on the test. "I thought it was just a really weird dream at first, but this is really happening…I'm really pregnant." She tapped the test on the bench, attempting to hold back her tears, then tucked it back into the pocket of her jeans.
Elijah sat down and pulled a leg up on the bench to face her and cupped her cheek in his hand making her eyes slip shut for a second. "How are you dealing with this?"
"I'm shaking in my freaking boots." She answered, tapping the toe of her shoe down into the tile floor of the tomb. "What if he doesn't want it…or me?" she asked with a shaking voice. "I can't do this alone."
"You are not in this alone." He assured her. "I do not believe he would turn his back on you." He wiped her tear away. "Niklaus has never truly been happy, but I believe that you and this baby can achieve the impossible and save him from himself."
Katie grabbed his wrist and moved his hand from her face. "No pressure or anything."
"That wasn't my intent." He told her apologetically.
"No, I know." She assured him. "I'm just…a little overwhelmed, I guess."
"Katie I know I've broken my promises to you in the past, but I need you to trust me when I say that no harm will come to you or this baby if I can help it." he brushed her loose hair behind her ear and rested his hand on the side of her neck.
She took his hand off her and held it in both of hers. "I'm trusting you, please don't make me regret it again."
"I wouldn't dare." He told her seriously.
She took a deep breath and let go of his hand. "We have to convince the witches to let me tell Klaus about the baby. It's my business to tell, not theirs."
"Request heard and granted." Sophie told her as she walked in.
"What precisely is it that you want and what does it have to do with Katie?" Elijah asked as he stood up and walked over to Sophie.
"We want to run Marcel and his vampires out of town. Klaus is the key. Everything Marcel knows about being a vampire he learned from Klaus. Marcel trusts him, looks up to him. He won't see the betrayal coming." Sophie answered.
"Yes. Well, I'm sure you're aware, my brother Niklaus doesn't like to be told what to do." Elijah told her and Katie found that she still liked to listen to Elijah talk.
"Marcel drove the werewolves out of town decades ago. Do you really think he's going to welcome a hybrid baby to the neighborhood?" Katie placed a hand protectively over her stomach at Sophie's words. "Convince Klaus to help us and no one has to know about the newest member of the original family."
"That sounds remarkably like blackmail." Elijah told her.
"Like I said, I'm desperate." Sophie told him with a hard voice and face.
"Well, then. We have our work cut out for us don't we?" Elijah asked with a look back at Katie.
"What are we doing here?" Katie had been sitting on the bench in the tomb, bouncing her foot nervously since Elijah left to find Klaus. When she heard the younger brother's voice she stood up.
"You want to know where Katie is and what the witches have in store for you?" Elijah asked rhetorically. "Follow me."
A few seconds later Elijah and Klaus walked into the empty tomb to see Katie standing in front of the bench with her head held high, doing a good job of covering up how much she was freaking out inside. "Before you get mad, I haven't been ignoring your texts and calls. The witches took my phone."
"Are you alright?" he asked as he walked in and slid his hand over her cheek as he pressed his lips to hers. She savored the moment, knowing that after she told Klaus that she was pregnant it may very well be the list time he kissed her.
When the kiss broke she looked around Klaus to Elijah, "Leave us, please?" she could tell he didn't want to, but he gave her a nod and walked out of the tomb. "I have been wrecking my brain trying to find the right words to tell you this, but I can't. So I need you to do me a favor." She told him and he blinked at her as she took his hands in hers and held them to her chest. "Close your eyes and listen." He rolled his eyes at her as if she were being silly. "Just…do it please."
He closed his eyes and listened to everything around him. She knew he'd heard the baby's heartbeat when he took in a deep breath, his eyes shot open and he jerked his hands from hers as if he'd been burned. "How is this possible?" He whispered looking into her eyes as a tear slipped down his cheek. He wanted the baby, she could see it in his eyes, but if he was willing to let himself have it, to have happiness, she couldn't tell.
"I am the first known person to come back from a shattered soul and you are a hybrid, the first of your kind. Apparently nature loves loopholes." She told him quietly to hide the fear in her voice. After a few minutes of silence passed it became too much for her to handle. "I feel like I'm about to have a panic attack, please say something."
"What do the witches want with you?" he asked, not putting her mind at ease.
"They want you to over throw Marcel and get them out from under his control." She answered.
"Why should I?" he asked with a hard face.
Before Katie could answer, Sophie and a few other witches walked into the tomb. Elijah walked over and stood next to Klaus and Katie moved to his other side, looking at the three witches blocking them into the tomb. "Because my sister gave her life to perform the spell that put the lives of this girl and her baby in our control. If you do not help us take down Marcel…so help me Katie won't live long enough to see her first maternity dress."
"Whoa, hey, you're threatening me?" Katie asked shocked at what she'd just learned. "I've never been anything but cooperative with you people."
"We appreciate that, but we aren't so sure he'll be as understanding." Sophie told her with a hard face and a point at Klaus.
"Enough of this." Elijah told Sophie, "If you want Marcel dead he's dead. I'll do it myself."
"No. We can't. Not yet." Sophie argued. "We have a clear plan that we need to follow and there are rules."
"Sophie can you guys just back the hell off and give us a minute please?" Katie asked and Sophie gave her a look that asked, seriously? "Just a few minutes then you can get back to your threats, blackmail and bullshit."
"Fine, but just a few." She nodded and motioned for the witches to leave and followed them out.
With them gone Katie sank down on the bench and placed her head in her hands with a heavy breath. "This is a trick." Klaus growled being his usual paranoid self.
"No, brother, it's a gift. It's your chance. It's our chance." Elijah argued.
"You know I would never lie to you. Or is our trust really that one sided?" Katie asked as she stood from the bench and walked over to him.
"It's not one sided." He told her with watery eyes.
"Good, then do me a favor and put the witches out of your mind for a second. You haven't said and I need to know. Do you want this baby?" When a tear betrayed her she quickly wiped it away.
He stared at her for a minute then said one word, "No."
It felt as if someone snatched the air from her lungs and a pain shot through her chest. She wanted to break down, cry and let it all out, but she wouldn't let him see how much he affected her. So she held her head high. "I call bullshit." she told him in a quiet yet strong voice. "I know you want this baby, you want us. I saw it in your eyes." she didn't bother wiping her tear away this time. "You made hybrids because you wanted a new family. Well," she held her hands out to the side, "you've got one standing right in front of you. All you have to do is say the word and we're yours."
"Listen to her, Niklaus." Elijah spoke up making Katie look at him then back at Klaus.
"You once told me that Elijah was my first love and you intended to be my last. If you reject this baby again, that will never happen." His lips drew together, pursed in defiance. "So, I'll ask one more time. Do you want this baby?"
He leaned down and looked her in the eyes, "No." he saw hurt flash in them then turn into a blazing fire that he hated seeing directed at him. He thought she was going to hit him, but she didn't.
Instead she grabbed the silver pendant hanging around her neck in her fist and jerked. Elijah watched her grab Klaus's hand, put the necklace in his palm and closed it. "Thank you." he gave her a questioning look. "For reminding me that love…is for children and fools." She shoved his hand and turned her back on him, leaving the tomb.
One of the witches thought she was trying to leave the cemetery and grabbed her arm. She grabbed his wrist, knocked him to his knees and twisted his arm behind his back almost breaking it. "You lay a hand on me again and it will no longer be attached to your body." She shoved him to the ground then looked at Sophie, "Proceeded with the blackmail and bullshit, I've gotten the only answer I cared about." she walked over to the steps of another tomb and sat down on them, crossing her arms over her knees and rested her head on them.
Katie zoned out and lost track of how much time had passed before she felt someone touch her shoulder and she looked up to see that it was Sophie. "Come on." She jerked her head back to the tomb. "Klaus and Elijah are gone for now, but I'm sure Elijah will be back." Katie just nodded and stood up.
Katie sat on the wooden bench in the tomb listening to the witches talk about how Marcel and his vampires were out of control when one of them asked, "What makes you think you can control the hybrid?"
"She can't." Elijah spoke up and everyone looked to see him leaning against the doorway of the tomb. "I'm not entirely certain I can either." He pushed himself off the wall and walked into the tomb. "But now that your coven has drawn his ire, I have a question. What prevents my brother from murdering you instead of cooperating?"
Sophie walked over to the wall of the tomb and grabbed a straw doll off of a shelf. She took a needle out of it and poked her hand. Katie winced and looked at a spot of blood that pooled in her palm. "Are you freaking kidding me? She linked me to you!?" Katie asked angrily.
"Yep. Anything that happens to me, happens to you." Sophie told her then looked at Elijah. "Which means her life is in my hands. If she so much as sets a foot out of this town I will be able to tell." Katie gritted her teeth with flared nostrils. "Klaus may not care about his own child, but it's very clear what it already means to you. If I have to hurt Katie or worse to ensure that I have your attention, I will."
Elijah took a step closer to Sophie. "You would dare threaten an original?"
"I have nothing to lose." Sophie answered. "You have until midnight to get Klaus to change his mind."
Elijah turned and left the tomb.
Katie was sitting outside the tomb, getting fresh air when she heard the midnight bell toll then let her head fall back. She was staring up at the sky, waiting for the witches to come kill her when she heard someone walking up and looked up to see Elijah carrying a body wrapped in light brown linen. Curious, she followed him inside the tomb. "Klaus does not care about the child." She heard Agnes, one of the witch elders say.
"I do." Elijah spoke up getting their attention. "And I bring proof of my intent to help you. The body of your fallen friend." He kneeled down and placed the body on the floor. "Which I procured from Marcel himself."
"Jane-Anne." Sophie sighed and fell to the floor beside her dead sister.
"May she be granted peace." Elijah told them. "Klaus will agree to your terms." They all looked at him. "I just need a little more time."
"You've had your time. It's passed." Agnes argued.
"Shut up, Agnes." One of the other witches spoke up and moved to stand next to Sophie.
"For now, accept the deal." Elijah told them. "Katie and the child remain unharmed, or Klaus will kill you all" He turned a started walking away, but stopped and turned back to look at the witches. "And I will help him."
The next morning Katie was brought back to the cemetery. "When can I have my cell phone back?" she asked as she walked in and sat down on the bench. "I'm bored out of my mind."
Sophie pulled Katie's phone out of her back pocket and held it up. "You can't tell anyone about your pregnancy."
"Duh." Katie commented and Sophie slapped the phone into Katie's palm. "Thank you."
She was going through her texts from Caroline, Klaus and Bonnie when Elijah and Sophie walked in. "Klaus has agreed to help us. You're free to go, but don't even think about leaving town. If you do, I'll sense it and kill both of us."
"Ten four, rubber ducky." Katie sighed sarcastically as she pushed herself from the bench and walked over to Elijah. When they got out of the cemetery she asked, "So, how'd you get him to agree?"
Elijah opened the passenger door of his car for her. "Unlike you I didn't give up on him." he answered as she slid inside and he shut the door.
"I didn't give up on him. I'm just done wasting my breath begging people to give a shit about me." she replied not looking at him as he cranked the car and started driving.
"Do you really think he doesn't care about you?" he asked and she just shrugged. "He cares, Katie."
"Yeah, well, he has a funny way of showing it." she scoffed.
"He is scared." Elijah defended.
"And I'm not?" she asked raising her voice.
"You've been a parent before. You know how to love unconditionally. Klaus doesn't because he's never experienced it." Elijah reminded her.
"Can we just…stop talking about this, please?" she asked getting aggravated.
"Of course." He drove her out of the city and to a plantation house. "Welcome to your new home." He parked outside the huge two story white house with large columns, black shutters and a black door.
"Well, it's a lot better than a tomb or a swamp." She commented then got out of the car.
After he let her inside and gave her a tour, she picked a room with a window seat and pulled the dust covers off of the bed and the rest of the furniture.
She was sitting on the window seat, her back to the door and her head leaned on the wall, looking outside when she heard someone walk up behind her. A bouquet of six red roses appeared in front of her face and she recognized the hand holding them as Klaus's. She took them, held her hand out to the side then dropped them to the floor. She heard him sigh then a pint of strawberry ice cream and a spoon appeared in front of her. She took it and he thought she was going to drop it too, but she stood from the bench and left the room. He followed her down stairs to the kitchen where she pulled open the icebox that was made to blend with the white cabinets and stuck it in the freezer. When she turned around he gave her a curious look. "I don't believe in wasting perfectly good ice cream."
She walked around the island and had to pass him on the way to the door, but he gently grabbed her arm, stopping her from walking away from him. "Please accept my apology."
"I have yet to hear one." She pointed out as she took her arm from his grasp.
"I'm sorry." He told her quietly. "I…"
"Acted like a pig headed dick." She filled in for him since he couldn't find the words.
"That's putting it lightly." He told her with a nod.
She took in a slow, deep breath then heaved it out, walked back over to the icebox, grabbed the ice cream and the spoon she'd tossed into the empty sink at one end of the island and set the container on the counter across from where Klaus stood on the other side. "I'm really going to miss alcohol…" she stabbed the spoon into the pink frozen treat and took a bite. "I'm sorry too." She admitted then swallowed. "I shouldn't have cornered you with an ultimatum like that."
"How long hove you known?" he asked instead of acknowledging her apology.
"I found out not long after I got here. I was hanging out at Rousseau's after my dad left with Marcel when Sophie walked by with a place of Fajitas. The smell made me sick and let me tell you, Sophie's gumbo was freaking awesome, but after it came back up I don't think I'll ever be able to even smell it again." He smirked at her confession, a little happy she had taken his advice and had gumbo. "That was right before I passed out from the witch roofie Sophie put in my tea."
"Does your father know?" he asked.
"As far as he knows I skipped the breakfast we planned and left without saying goodbye." She told him. "And I'd like to keep it that way. Bredley is one of Marcel's day walkers. Marcel sired him and I don't know where his loyalties lie." She took one last bite of ice cream then put the top back on it, stuck it in the freezer and washed, dried and put away her spoon. "Speaking of Marcel, can I ask what history you have with him and this city? I know you guys had to leave in 1919, but that's about it."
"My family and I practically ran this town. Marcel was just an unnamed boy, a slave, when I found him, named him and took him under my wing." He told her as he walked around the island to stand across from her where she leaned her hip against the counter. "I made Marcel everything that he is. I loved him like a son, and when my father chased me and my family from here a hundred years ago we believed Marcel was killed. We each mourned him in our own way. Yet when I returned, I found not only had he survived he had thrived. Instead of seeking us out, instead of sticking together as one, he made a choice to take everything my family had built and make it his own. Now he is living in our home. He is sleeping in our beds. There's an M he stamps everywhere but it doesn't stand for Marcel, it's for Mikaelson. I want it all back. I want to be king."
"And this baby and I…Do we have a place in this kingdom of yours?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Every king needs a queen by his side." he replied as he slid his hand over the side of her neck. "And an heir to his throne." He leaned into her and pressed his forehead to hers, looking her in the eyes. "Stand with me, be my queen?" he asked and she pulled her head back as he pulled her necklace out of his pocket, the clasp now fixed.
"Let me hear you say it…out right, no talk of kingdoms." She told him, not giving in to him yet.
His mouth opened to say something but he closed it. She nodded and tried to turn her back on him to walk away, but he grabbed her arm and spun her around, catching her lips with his. It took a few seconds before she let herself kiss him back. When it broke he pressed his forehead to hers. "I want you…both of you." She gave him a small smile as she gathered up her lose auburn waves and lifted them as she turned her back on him. He put the necklace back around her neck. "And I never want to see this necklace leave your neck again."
"Good, because I never want to take it off again." She told him with as she slid her fingertips over the smooth metal then put her hand on his cheek. "I'll be your queen or your little phoenix or…whatever you want to call me." she smiled to herself more than him. "You've really got to stop giving me nicknames."
He chuckled, happy they were back on good terms. "The nicknames are endless because you…" he grabbed her hips and picked her up, setting her on the island next to the sink, "are my everything." His words knocked the breath out of her in a good way this time. After taking in a deep, forced breath she caught his lips with hers and the kiss quickly turned heated and a moan left her lips as she pulled him closer with her legs. A sigh left his lips as she started kissing his neck.
She was kissing his lips and about to grab then hem of his shirt and pull it over his head when she heard someone clear their throat. Klaus stopped kissing her and rolled his eyes as they both looked at Elijah, leaning against the door frame. "I see you two made up." Katie unwrapped her legs from Klaus's waist.
"We were working on it." Klaus answered with a smirk that Elijah ignored and made Katie look at the floor with a blush.
"Is it done?" Elijah asked Klaus making Katie look up at them, confused.
"As a matter of fact, yes." Klaus answered. "Your underhanded deal worked quite well. Marcel was only too happy to accept my blood, even as he accepted my heartfelt apologies. His man Thierry yet lives and I remain a welcome guest in the French quarter. My only concern now is this coven of impudent witches."
"You do know I'm linked to Sophie right?" Katie asked Klaus who gave her an interested look. "If she dies I die and while I will come back, the baby might not."
"I believe them to be honorable though." Elijah spoke up. "They did release Katie to me, although they haven't been entirely forthcoming. Marcel obviously has something that they need. They don't want him dead. There must be a reason why."
Out of nowhere a wave of nausea rolled over Katie sending her rushing to the bathroom. She was flushing the toilet when Elijah asked, "Are you okay?"
"Ugh." She responded and rested her forehead on the toilet seat knowing it was clean since they'd just moved into the house. "Please look away." She groaned.
Instead he walked inside, grabbed a washcloth, wet it and rang it out. "You forget this isn't the first time I've seen you sick." He pointed out as he handed her the cloth. She took it and his offered hand when he offered it.
He pulled her up. "I didn't forget. I caught the flu back in Ireland and wouldn't let you give me your blood." she remembered then wiped her face and mouth and rinsed the cloth out and draped it over the faucet. "Why was that again?"
"You said it was a human experience that you needed to get through so that you wouldn't get sick again." He reminded her.
"And Jonah ever so politely told me I was being stupid." She said as she put her hand on the counter and leaned on it.
"You were running a fever and not thinking straight." he added. "Jonah convinced me to heal you while you were sleeping."
"And I thanked you for it when I woke up." She gave him small smile. "At least this time you don't have to pick stew chunks out of my insanely tight curls."
"I didn't have to do it then." He pointed out with a small smile of his own, reminding her that he did it because he loved her, not because he had to. "And if I may…" he grabbed the rag and rinsed it out then wiped at a spot of puke on her cheek that she'd missed. When he was done he tossed the rag into the dirty clothes hamper behind her.
"So," Katie started realizing that reminiscing wasn't the best idea, "Where did you go after I woke up and you left Mystic Falls?" she asked, as she hopped up to sit on the bathroom counter, wanting to stick close to the toilet incase she got sick again.
"I'm surprised Niklaus hasn't already told you." he told her as he leaned back on the wall across from her in the small guest bathroom. She just looked at him and shrugged. He narrowed his eyes, thinking about not telling her. "Katherine contacted me and said she had the cure. She thought we could be of mutual use to one another."
Katie bit her lips closed and narrowed her eyes back at him. "You were with her, with her weren't you?"
"Katie I-" he started
"Stop, rewind and forget I asked. It's none of my business." She interrupted him. "I told you we needed to move on. So you moved on just like I did."
"I tried to move on." He corrected her. "It did not work."
She wanted to ask why. A small part of her wanted to know if he couldn't move on because he was still hung up on her, but another… much bigger part dedicated to Klaus, didn't care. "Good." She saw curiosity flash behind his pretty brown eyes. "You can do better than the colossal bitch that is Katherine Pierce. Now," she hopped down off the bathroom counter and walked over to the bathroom door, "if you don't mind I really need to shower."
She was getting out of the shower when she heard the all too familiar sound of Elijah in pain. With a whoosh she wrapped the towel around herself and went to where she'd heard the sound only to find an empty room. She went back to her room and got dressed then started searching the house. After an hour she found a hidden room containing coffins, one of which reminded her of her bedroom in Klaus's house in Mystic Falls. She noticed Elijah's coffin missing and after searching the room thoroughly she found two silver daggers.
She was removing dust cloths from some of the furniture out of the need to do something when she heard the front door open and close. Klaus heard her and found here. "Where's Elijah?" she asked flatly.
"Exactly where he needs to be." Klaus answered and did that thing where he looked down his nose at her.
"Where he needs to be is here, with us, but he's not." She replied, her nostrils flaring a bit. "I searched this house over and do you know what I found?" she asked rhetorically as she closed the space between them and glared up at him. "Daggers and coffins…one of each missing and one coffin that looked suspiciously like it could me mine." He sighed and blinked at her. "Start. Explaining."
"The white coffin is yours." he told her and she took in an angry breath, but kept her mouth shut. "I had it custom made when I thought you were dying and I haven't been able to convince myself to get rid of it. I have no intention of ever seeing you in it."
She had to admit, he was smart to lead with that. She found it touching that he'd had a coffin custom made for her to be buried in style…or on the even creepier side, kept with him in style. But she shook herself out of her thoughts and put the glare back on her face. "Get to the part where you tell me where Elijah's at."
"He was a weakness. Marcel was nervous. It was bad enough that one original returned to town, but two… His crew was getting antsy. He wanted Elijah gone. So I gave him a peace offering." She frowned and crossed her arms over her chest. "I have a plan to keep you safe. Gain Marcel's trust, dismantle his empire, and see to it that our baby is born into an environment free of wolf hating vampires and witches threatening to kill you." He cupped her face in his hands. "I am taking care of you the only way I know how." She gently grabbed his wrists and took his hands from her face. "Katie…"
"We will continue this conversation after I calm down." she told him with a tight voice and a hard look. He let her walk away.
She was sitting at the dining table and had finished off the ice cream that Klaus had bought her when he dared to show his face to her again. She didn't say a word as she watched him pull out a chair and sit down across from her. "Calm yet?"
"As much as I'm gonna get." She answered the tossed the spoon into the empty container and pushed it to the side. "Elijah's not a weakness or a bargaining chip. He's an asset. With that being said, tell me the full truth. You didn't dagger him just because of Marcel, did you?"
Klaus sighed and looked down at the table then back up at her. "Contrary to his escapades with Katerina he is still in love with you, Katie." She gritted her teeth. "I heard the two of you, reminiscing over a time when it was him taking care of you."
"New flash," she started with an attitude, "We have seven years of memories together and time to time those memories are going to resurface. Yes, I look back on them fondly as I'm sure he does too, and yes I still love him, but I am not in love with him and he is not the Mikaelson brother I want. You are and you know it." He nodded, letting her know he understood and the look in his eyes told her he was sorry. "The reason he is an asset is because the old saying, it takes a village to raise a child is incredibly true. Parents are the most important people in a child's life, but they also need aunts and uncles, people that round out their world. If you keep daggering our village this child doesn't stand a chance."
"It will take time, but I will find a way to get him back." he told her quietly.
"Good." She stood up and walked around the table to lean her hips against it and look down at him. "And if I'm not mistaken, don't kings usually keep their queens informed on battle plans?" she asked, with an arched brow.
A small smile pulled at the corners of his lips as he clasped his hands in front of him with his elbows resting on the arms of the dining chair. "I will also do a better job of keeping you in the loop."
"Thank you." she told him with a nod and he wrapped his arm around her and pulled her over to stand in front of him and rested his head on her stomach. They both got quiet for a moment, listening to the fast beat of the baby's heart. "Is there anything you wish to ask of me?" she asked knowing that he was used to doing what he wanted when he wanted and now he was having to accommodate her.
He picked his head up and looked up at her. "As much as I want to show you New Orleans I need you to stay here." he told her. "If your father sees you out and about in the quarter he'll start asking questions. As you've already pointed out he is part of Marcel's inner circle. You need to remain a secret."
"And if my father runs into you in the quarter?" she asked. "He knows we're together. He'll want to know where I am."
"You went on a pre-graduation road trip. Last I heard you were in Chicago." He told her.
"That actually sounds like something I would do and answers why I'm not in Mystic falls incase he went looking for me. It's a given that my friends back in Mystic Falls can't know the truth either huh?" she asked and he nodded, knowing she would hate lying to her friends. "Then they get the same story." she agreed. "But if I'm going to be locked away in here I'm going to need a few things."
"Like what?" he asked curiously.
"Internet, a laptop and a three in one printer." She answered. "Even if I can't make it to graduation I fully intend on getting my diploma and I have a lot of catching up to do."
"Your wish is my command." He told her with a closed lipped smile.
"As yours is mine." She told him then placed her hands on the arms of the chair and leaned down, looking him in the eyes. "Thank you." She pecked him on the lips and he smiled.
A/N: So I was nervous about the transition to The Originals. How'd I do? Too close to the original storyline? On one hand I feel like Klaus should have stepped up sooner, but at the same time, his love for Katie aside (even though he hasn't dropped the L bomb) he's still the paranoid, hot headed, difianant when backed into a corner, Klaus we've come to know. Sorry to the reviewer that said they wanted a Kai Parker end game, that's not going to happen. While our very understanding Katie would be the first to give a villing like him a chance, she is no longer in Mystic Falls to cross paths with him and she very much all in and dedicated to Klaus.