"Are you sure we're going the right way?" Katherine felt the need to ask for the third time.

"Ask me again and I will rip out your tongue." Klaus spoke up no longer caring if he was threatening her or not. At the moment his only concern was finding Hayley, not making her comfortable. Besides. It wasn't like he was serious. He knew that and he was sure she did too.

"Well maybe I wouldn't be asking if I knew where we were going and if I wasn't sinking my heels in mud with every step I take." She muttered making a face when heard the squishing sound her shoes made against the ground in the bayou. "Nature is disgusting."

"Why'd you come then?" He questioned fighting back a smile at her words. He couldn't let himself be anything but worried for the woman carrying his child. "You could've stayed behind with Elijah and Sophie."

She opened her mouth in an effort to come up with some type of response but naturally, couldn't. Not unless she was willing to tell him the truth. Which was that she came because she wanted to spend time with him. She wanted to enjoy his company as much as she could before she inevitably had to stay away.

She was just glad Elijah hadn't found it strange she offered to go with him. She had never been more grateful for her friendship with Hayley than in this very moment. "I wanted to help find Hayley. I like her." She finally said. It was partly true after all. It just wasn't the main reason. "Which is weird because I hate almost everyone."

This time Klaus couldn't help but chuckle softly. "I'm glad." He said softly. "That you like her. Truthfully I was worried you two were going to try to kill each other. You both have similar personality traits."

"But that's why we get along." Katherine protested with a smile. "We both like the same things. Well. Almost. I do wish she was more interested in shopping and heels. But other than that, we bond over the things we do have in common. Plus she's not judgy when I tell her about things I've done or have wanted to do." She shrugged, successfully keeping up a nonchalant appearance, but deep down she was happy. This was her first real friend that she didn't compel or made because of an alliance. She genuinely liked Hayley. And the best part was, Hayley liked her back. Not a lot of people felt that way about her.

A warm smile fell on his lips as he listened to her. It did give him one less thing to worry about. But that wasn't the reason their friendship made him so happy. It was because she was happy. She was pretending it wasn't a big deal, yet he could still tell. He could see a look in her eyes that easily showed just how happy and grateful she was. "Acceptance is a rare thing." And he knew that better than anyone. "When someone gives it to you, you should hold on to it."

Katherine looked at him curiously, noticing the faraway look in his eyes as he spoke of acceptance. It was no secret just how much he struggled with that. Acceptance. It was something usually not even his own siblings gave him. And after learning of Rebekah's betrayal, she knew he would be convinced it was something no one could ever give him. Maybe that was the real reason she didn't want him to know yet. She wanted to let him hold on to the illusion a little while longer. The illusion that his family stood by him always and forever.

"Klaus-" She started to say but was silenced when he held a hand up, urging her to be quiet.

He signaled for her to wait and she did. She stood absolutely still while he took a few steps in front of her.

Something was wrong.

They could both feel it right now. She remembered she found it suspicious that Marcel supposedly took Hayley but then left her tied up and guarded somewhere in the bayou. It didn't make any sense. Why would he give up his only leverage? Unless...

"Klaus we need to get out of here. It's a trap." She called out, but it was too late.

Vampires came out from all sides, all of them with one clear goal. Restraining Klaus.

They weren't even paying attention to her. They weren't reacting when she screamed or when she tried to jump one of the vampires in an effort to stop them. The vampire had simply tossed her to the ground carelessly, as if she was nothing more than a piece of trash clinging to his shirt. "Klaus!" She raised from the cold wet grass a little, despite the pain that was now coursing through her body. She was panicked and terrified as she saw the chains wrapping around his wrists. There were too many of them.

Her eyes burned with tears that fell shamelessly as she realized they wouldn't make it out of this. At least he wouldn't.

In this moment she was trying so hard to remember a time where this would've actually made her happy. To see Klaus Mikaelson vulnerable and at the risk of being hurt or killed. Just a few months ago back in Mystic Falls, that would've been the case. But now? Now she couldn't imagine a reality where she didn't see him every day. Obnoxious personality and all.

Just as all hope seemed to leave her however, she saw something she never thought she'd be so glad to see. Klaus' eyes glowing fiercely in their beautiful golden color.

She couldn't help but smile, relieved as she watched him tear apart every single vampire that had dared to touch him. "Hey!" She reached for a branch near her and tossed it in his direction. There was nothing more satisfying than seeing the vampires dropping to the ground one by one.

It wasn't until every single one of them was completely dead that he finally walked over to her. His clothes were torn and drenched in blood, but she hardly cared about that when she wrapped her arms around him. She was holding him so tight she was sure she would never let him go.

"We need to leave. Are you alright? If Hayley isn't here then that means Sophie was lying to us. It means she was working with Marcel."

Katherine nodded slowly, gratefully accepting his help to stand up. "Hang on. Something doesn't feel right." She whispered looking around. Sophie didn't even want to work with Klaus to find a pregnant woman. Surely she wouldn't take Marcel's side of things. Not when Klaus was the only one who could stop him and get their magic back. "Marcel. He has a way to control the witches right? Hear me out. What if, he found out about Sophie's spell and went to her after we left to go find Hayley? If he promised to spare her in exchange for information, she could've told him where to find you. Which explains why the vampires came here. But that doesn't mean Hayley isn't here. We both saw the spell. What if...Marcel didn't take her and just made us believe he did? What if he knew you'd go to Sophie? What if he knew he could just follow you wherever you went and ambush you?"

Klaus exhaled softly, running his fingers through his hair out of pure frustration. He was never more afraid than he was right now. Because if Marcel never had Hayley, then despite Katerina's theory, she could still very well not be here. "No, wait. Marcel gaining information from Sophie does not make any sense. Elijah's with her. Surely he would stop anyone who tried to-" Any and all words seemed to leave him when he caught sight of her expression. He knew her well after all. "What is it? What aren't you telling me?"

Katherine bit on her lower lip nervously. She hated thinking Elijah was also in on the plan with Marcel. But if Rebekah was, then she knew she needed to consider the possibility that he was too. "I...it's not the right time. We can talk about it later. Right now we should focus on finding Hayley."

"No. You will tell me right now what you are hiding or so help me I truly will rip your heart out."

She blinked slowly when she saw that he was in fact telling the truth. Maybe not to the point where he would actually kill her. But he definitely wanted to. It should've scared her. It should've made her angry that part of him still saw her as the girl he could make fear him. But it didn't. Because now she knew that whenever he got like this, it just meant he was scared. "I know how Marcel knew you were out of town. Rebekah...told him. And she told him because, this, what happened here, was her doing too. She's after you, and she's working with Marcel."

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she knew she couldn't take them back. And she also knew she made a mistake telling him.

Though his expression was one of pure anger, she could see the pain in his eyes. "How long? How long have you known?"

"I..." She sighed. "Elijah told me, when I undaggered him."

"And you thought it would be a phenomenal idea to keep it from me? To lie and in turn cause this?!"

"Klaus-" She gasped out when his hand suddenly found its way around her neck tightly. "You're hurting me."

"Not yet. But I will be." His grip tightened. He couldn't control his emotions at the moment. All he could do was connect the dots. Elijah knew Rebekah was working with Marcel. Katerina asked him not to tell. He didn't and neither did she. Had he known he wouldn't have come here blind. He would've guessed this was nothing more than some type of plot against him. The way he saw it, this was her fault.

"You could've been killed." He snapped and hastily let her go. "If I had known-"

"If you had known you would've focused on taking down Rebekah. Not finding Hayley." Katherine whispered taking slow deep breaths as she struggled to breathe normally once more. "That's why I didn't tell you." She knew anyone else in her situation would be terrified out of their mind right now. But strangely enough she wasn't scared. Not of him anyway. She knew he didn't actually want to hurt her. If he did, she would be dead right now. Because that was how Klaus worked. Anyone or anything he didn't like, he eliminated without a second thought. And his long list of enemies proved that.

If she was alive and unharmed right now, it was because he wanted her to be. It took her five whole centuries to figure that out, but now that she had, she couldn't simply un-know it. It was why, even seeing him at his worst, wasn't enough to bring back the blinding fear she once felt for him.

"And I should've! Look at what's happened because I didn't!"

Katherine exhaled softly, refusing to engage with him any further. She couldn't focus on him right now. She couldn't think about the heartbreaking pain she felt when she thought he wouldn't make it out of here. She couldn't think about what would happen when they made it back into town or what horrors awaited them there. Right now there was only one thing she could open her mind to. The only thing that should matter for the time being. Finding Hayley.