Chapter 93: Girl in New Orleans

September 16, 2011

Gravel crunching beneath hard boots as the creatures kept the night from being silent. A bar, there, ahead, the only light around. Inside the bar stood a young, beautiful woman with short platinum blonde hair. "Hey, man. Last call was four hours ago. If you want some coffee, I could put some on or…"

A scream as teeth sunk into warm flesh, even warmer blood filling up their mouth. "Run. Run!" Who's voice is that. Not hers. Pain. So much unbearable pain. Hunger. Stumbling out of the bar, disoriented, only to be met with the morning sun as it rose. Falling to their knees. A bare hand where a ring should be. Burning. Screaming. Who? Who?

Ellie shot up in the bed. "Stefan!" His name was tumbling from her lips in panic. Her skin felt itchy from pain and heat. To her surprise, Katherine had the exact same look on her face.

"What happened?" Hayley asked worriedly. Despite being forced awake, she was alert from their panic. She'd never seen them both wake up from a nightmare like this. "Are you guys ok?"

Katherine was looking at Ellie with concern. "Katherine?"

"I saw it too." Katherine replied. "I saw him."

"Something is wrong." Ellie told her. "You need to go back to Mystic Falls."

"I can't leave you."

Ellie grabbed Katherine's hand tightly. "I have been dreaming about Stefan being in trouble before we ever even left Mystic Falls. I pushed past my worry for months. I can't do that anymore. Tell me what you dreamt, Katherine."

"Stefan in a bar. He fed on a girl and told her to run and went outside without his ring. I woke up feeling like I was burning." Katherine confessed.

"You need to go to Mystic Falls, Katherine." Ellie said insistently. "We have Rebekah and Klaus, we will be fine. I don't think Stefan is and I'm worried." When Katherine didn't look convinced, Ellie added, "It's not good for the baby for me to be stressed."

"Bitch." Katherine groaned.

"Compel a pilot, whatever it takes. Get there." Ellie insisted. "Like, now."

Katherine pressed a kiss to Ellie's temple while she rolled her eyes in annoyance. "You're lucky I love you brat."

"I love you too, bitch." Ellie shot back. Katherine pushed herself out of bed, moving to go to shower.

Hayley was watching them both curiously, and despite not really knowing Stefan, he was clearly important to both of them and she hoped he was ok. Katherine dressed quickly, with a small bag packed before pressing a kiss to both Hayley and Ellie's temple. "You call me the minute that something happens and I come back, do you hear me? The minute something goes wrong."

"We will be fine, Kat. Stefan needs you right now though." Ellie insisted.

After one long moment, Katherine gave in and headed out the front door. "Now what?" Hayley asked curiously.

Ellie shrugged. "I don't know. I'm going to get back to researching whatever the hell it was that Sabine said because I don't trust it at all. I don't trust any of them."

"I don't either." Hayley agreed.

"Glad to know we're on the same page." Ellie replied. "I'm gonna get dressed and then start researching." She tried to shake the dream but it lingered carefully, far enough in the back of her mind that it was just out of her reach. After she'd showered and dressed, she ended up making her way to the backyard. She whistled softly in a tune similar to the one Katherine had taught her, and almost immediately, a familiar wolf appeared. "You really do just stick around, huh?"

The wolf made a strange huff of acknowledgement as she sat down beside it. Before she moved to open up the grimoire she was researching with, she passed a plate of meat and vegetables to the wolf. It had only taken a day or two of the wolf lingering around for her to worry if it ever left to eat, so she'd bring it something to make sure it wasn't going hungry in its dedication of watching over the house. She knew there was a small stream not far away, and the wolf had appeared many times with its fur wet, so she was at least comforted by the fact that it had some sort of access to water to drink.

"Katherine's gone." She told the wolf as it looked up at her with interest. "There's something wrong back home, and she's gone to help since we can't leave. So right now, you're our only protector since Rebekah and Klaus aren't home and Marcel still hasn't given Elijah back. Eat." She instructed it gently and it did just that.

The wolf had become an incredibly familiar companion of hers over the past few days. It seemed to be just on edge as she was about the whole thing, and since Klaus had kept his word about stopping with the magic suppressing drugs, she could sense the wolf more. There was something supernatural about it, but with her being unable to actually cast a spell, she couldn't particularly dig deeper into the matter. Whatever the wolf was, its presence was comforting and she felt no danger there.

Ellie had no idea how long she was out there with the wolf before she'd received a text from Katherine letting her know that she'd landed in Mystic Falls. She researched until she felt like her eyes were crossing before she allowed herself to lay back in the grass next to the wolf. It had long since finished eating, and was instead watching her with interest.

"You're not a normal wolf, are you?" She asked curiously. It tilted its head to the side, and somehow she figured that meant no, "I'm gonna figure it out, you know. Whatever it is that you are. But I've got so many things I have to do that it feels like it never stops. But you've been here, so I guess you'd know. I guess I'm glad I have you to keep me company." She was exhausted. After the endless nightmares, she wasn't sure she'd actually had a solid night of sleep since the last time she'd gotten to sleep with Elijah.

As much as she adored Hayley and Katherine, there was a level of protection that Elijah offered that was the only thing that could put her anxious mind to rest. To be fair to Katherine and Hayley, she was fairly certain that if they weren't all piled in the bed together that she wouldn't even sleep at all. So they were helping her, just not as much as Elijah could. She could feel the wolf beside her, whatever magic it was. It was comforting.

The wolf seemed to contemplate what exactly it wanted to do before finally moving to rest its head on her shoulder as they both laid in the grass. Its breathing was slow and steady and she could feel it dancing across her arm. The repetition lulled her carefully until her eyes felt heavy. Surely she would know if this wolf was a danger to her. Surely, surely it couldn't hurt if she allowed her guard down for just a moment. Would the nightmares consume her if she closed her eyes?

"Ellie! What the bloody hell are you doing out here by yourself?" Rebekah's voice was sharp and colored with a bit of panic as she rushed over to where Ellie lay in the grass.

"Bekah? When did you get home?" Ellie asked curiously as she sat up. She could sense the wolf, not far from her and Rebekah, but out of sight so that the Original wouldn't see. She didn't know what that was about since it hadn't cared about being seen by Katherine or Sabine, but she didn't question it.

"A while ago. I thought it strange when I couldn't hear you bustling about the house anywhere and Hayley said she hadn't seen you in a while. Come inside, you shouldn't be out here by yourself when no one is home to protect you." Rebekah insisted as she hauled Ellie to her feet. Ellie made no comment over the fact that she wouldn't need protection if she could just use her magic. "Come on. I'll cook you and Hayley something to eat while you tell me where that brat Katherine went." As they walked back inside the house, Rebekah called out, "Hayley, come here!"

Hayley walked in a moment later with a large book in her hand. "What?"

"What do you want to eat? I'm cooking." Rebekah replied. "If I look at that screen any longer without taking a break, I'm going to gouge my own eyes out."

Ellie grinned softly as Hayley moved to sit beside her. "Were you outside this whole time?" Hayley asked curiously.

"Yeah. I think I nearly gave Rebekah a heart attack because of it." Ellie replied.

Rebekah leveled her with a look that was entirely unimpressed. "You're hilarious. Now, tell me where the hell Katherine went."

"Back to Mystic Falls." Ellie told her simply.

The blonde paused to look up from where she was preparing chicken. "Why the bloody hell did she just up and go back to Mystic Falls? In truth, I thought she was far more loyal to you than that."

"She didn't just up and go back to Mystic Falls. Hell, I practically had to force her out the door."

"Why?"

"Because Ellie and Katherine both had some weird ass dream about Stefan." Hayley replied simply.

That caught Rebekah's full attention. "You've been dreaming about Stefan? What would Elijah say?"

"It's not like that, you jerk." Ellie shot back. "It's more like a gut feeling that something was wrong. She went to check on him since I can't exactly go do it myself. And with whatever's going on, she had the exact same dream as I did."

"That's definitely not normal." Rebekah agreed.

The three chatted about little things until Ellie's phone went off, and she practically shot out of her seat to step out of the room to answer it. "Hello?"

"I figured you'd kill me if I didn't call with an update." Katherine replied.

"Where is he? Is he ok?" Ellie asked worriedly.

Katherine sighed heavily. "He's alive. Turns out the lesser sister was also dreaming of Stefan. We found the bar and the girl he bit. From what she told us, some woman appeared and shoved Stefan in the back of a truck and took off."

"What woman? Why would she take Stefan?" Ellie asked. When Katherine didn't immediately reply, she continued. "Katherine, what aren't you telling me?"

"You were right. Your feeling that you've had all summer, about something being wrong with Stefan. You were right. I had to force Damon to talk, but apparently, the Stefan that you'd been spending time with after your graduation wasn't Stefan. It was Silas. Somehow, Silas broke through Bonnie's magic and trapped Stefan in the safe that he'd been in."

Ellie felt dread blooming in the pit of her stomach. "But Stefan was going to drop that safe in the quarry."

"And Silas followed through with that plan."

The realization was an unexpectedly painful one. It felt like she'd been run over by an eighteen wheeler. "Stefan's been drowning all summer?" Every nightmare made sense now. Every single one. The drowning, the desperation for air, the claustrophobia… How had she not known?

"Ellie…"

"I spent nearly the entire summer with fucking Silas and I didn't have a clue?" Her pitch began to rise as she started to pace. "How the hell did I not know? What kind of friend does that make me?"

"You're not a bad friend, Ellie." Katherine snapped. "None of us knew that it was Silas and not Stefan. Not even his own brother realized."

"But why? What does Silas want? Why has he been pretending to be Stefan?" Ellie's questions seemed to be endless.

"I don't know." Katherine told her gently. "I don't know, but you need to calm down. There is nothing you can do from New Orleans. We will find Stefan, ok? The moment we find him, I'll let you know. We don't know where Silas is either, but for now we're just going to have to hope that he's out of the way."

Rebekah appeared out of nowhere, yanking the phone out of Ellie's hand before Ellie could stop her. "Good. Let us know when you've done something of use rather than just stressing out the mumsy to be." She snapped before ending the call.

"Rebekah!" Ellie exclaimed as she snatched her phone back.

"Don't Rebekah me! Your heart is going a million miles a minute. It's not good for you or the baby." Rebekah replied.

"As if going to war is any better for me? None of this is good for the baby, but I can't just ignore everyone and everything while I'm pregnant." Ellie replied. "God, I haven't even told anyone else that I'm pregnant."

Rebekah, who seemed incredibly reluctant to turn it into an argument, simply hugged the young girl. "Come eat." She told her gently. "Before the food gets cold."


After they'd finished eating, the three girls had settled in the parlor. Rebekah had gone back to her tedious search online to try and find the room where the witch Davina was holding Elijah. Hayley was reading that same insanely large book. While Ellie was also reading, she was researching information on pregnancy. Her nerves were at an all time high, and despite wanting nothing more than to get Elijah back, she couldn't neglect their child while she was at it. Her head shot up at an unfamiliar energy approaching the door. "Someone's here."

Rebekah was on her feet in an instant. As someone knocked on the door, she slung it open before rolling her eyes. "What do you want?" She questioned as the woman let herself in.

"I'm here to check on Ellie and Hayley." Agnes said as she walked into the room where Hayley and Ellie still were.

Ellie couldn't help her scoff. "Weren't you one of the ones that wanted us dead because Elijah was 'out of time'?" She sassed.

Agnes gave her a reassuring look. "I was only trying to do what was best for my coven."

"By killing one of your own coven members? Along with our children?" She asked coolly.

"I am sorry about that. I was only doing what I thought was necessary." Agnes apologized.

Ellie didn't buy it for a second. Not at all. But she would play the part she needed to play until she knew what Agnes really wanted. "A little extreme if you ask me."

"We feel great." Hayley said simply. Clearly, she trusted Agnes just about as much as Ellie did.

Agnes, however, didn't seem to believe either of them. "The two of you need to be doing what you can to take care of yourselves and your babies, Hayley. You've been given a gift."

"I told you, Agnes. We feel great." Hayley repeated.

A million warning bells were going off in Ellie's head. Everything from Davina holding Elijah hostage to her being right that something had been wrong with Stefan all summer had her on high alert and everything was telling her that Agnes was not to be trusted. "You are both overdue for a checkup." Agnes reminded them.

"What are we gonna do? Pop into the quarter for a quick ultrasound?" Hayley sassed. "A pregnant werewolf and pregnant witch, escorted by a witch that's holding them hostage? Nothing to see here."

"Not to mention if it weren't for you and your coven using us as bait, we wouldn't have any issues being able to go see a doctor. But right now if we do so much as leave the house, we could die. That wouldn't be particularly helpful for the babies, now would it?" Ellie added.

"A lot of women would kill to have a child. Strikes me as odd that you two aren't taking better care of yours." Rebekah commented without looking away from her computer.

That was not what Ellie was expecting from her. She knew that Rebekah loved babies, but surely she should understand where Hayley and Ellie were coming from with their mistrust of any of the witches in the quarter. Then again, she and Hayley hadn't exactly been shouting from the rooftops what they'd been through. "I know a doctor out in the bayou off the beaten path. Now, I took the liberty of making an appointment for the two of you tonight, after hours, just us. Vampires will never get word of it."

Hayley and Ellie shared a long look between the two of them. Did they trust Agnes at all? No. But did they need to go to the doctor to check on their babies? Yes. But they would be together. If they could take down vampires that could use their strength, they could take out a bunch of powerless witches if the need arose. "Ok. Fine." Hayley said finally. "Bayou baby doctor it is."

"Wonderful." Agnes replied. "I'll pick you girls up when it's time to go."

Hayley moved to show Agnes her way out, just as Klaus walked in. "Please sister, tell me you're not still at it with the internet search. How does one begin anyway, just type in 'anonymous attic'?" He asked. If Ellie wasn't still so angry with Klaus, she might have laughed at his sass. But even with their conversation where he was being particularly vulnerable, he had still stepped so far out of line that she wanted to throw the book in her hands at the back of his head. And despite wanting Elijah back desperately, she really had no idea how Rebekah was going to manage what she was attempting.

"Someone has to find Elijah. Even if I have to search every bloody attic in New Orleans."

"Like looking for a needle in a rather large pile of needles." Klaus suggested.

Rebekah was unfazed by his attitude. "I remember details about the attic Marcel took me to. There were shutters on the window behind Elijah's coffin."

"Well, that should narrow it down immensely. Myself, I prefer actual strategy as opposed to mind-numbing labor. Marcel's delay in returning our brother makes me suspect he's no longer in charge of the situation. If Davina's loyalty to Marcel is strained, perhaps the young witch will be open to discussing a new alliance." Klaus replied in a tone that suggested he'd had it all figured out.

Ellie stood to move over to the table where both Rebekah and Klaus sat. "The priority is getting Elijah back, Klaus. Not using Davina as yet another weapon in your arsenal." She reminded him pointedly. He was still in the figurative dog house and he would remain there until Elijah was back home.

"Come now, Ellie, we really shouldn't be surprised. As usual, his power grabs are more important than rescuing his brother." Rebekah reminded her.

"I prefer to think of it as killing two birds with one stone." Klaus corrected. "Rob Marcel of his secret weapon, bring our brother home."

Ellie looked at him with interest. "Alright, say your plan works. You get Elijah back and you get your hands on Davina. Then what? You can't compel her to do your bidding and given how often you resort to threats and violence, not to mention whatever it is that Marcel has told her about you… surely you don't think that she's just going to willingly work with you?"

"I don't see why not. I am perfectly charismatic." Klaus shrugged.

"You realize you tried to kill like… half of my best friends, Bonnie, Tyler, Caroline, Jenna, Alaric, Katherine. John died to save Elena from you. You killed Elena, you nearly killed Damon and then you bribed Stefan into being stuck with you for the summer." Ellie reminded him.

"And you still love me." Klaus pointed out.

"That was sheer luck on your part buddy. Given that I also love Katherine when most people hate her, me not hating you isn't particularly shocking. You have no idea what kind of personality Davina has." Ellie reminded him.

He rolled his eyes, entirely unconvinced. "How much trouble could this child be?"

"She has her entire coven trembling at the thought of her and the power she holds. Quite frankly, I wouldn't put it past her to put you on your ass." Ellie said simply. "You might need someone to check you if you keep acting like a jerk." Klaus opened his mouth to speak, but she simply held her hand out to silence him as she turned to Rebekah. "Maybe, instead of searching the entirety of New Orleans on a small computer screen, you get a little craftier."

"And how might I do that?" Rebekah questioned.

"If Marcel's inner circle is as close as they seem to be, they might have an idea of where Davina would be kept."

Klaus tutted in disapproval. "And here I thought you were wittier than my sister, little witch."

"Maybe don't speak over me and let me finish, then, Niklaus." Ellie shot back. Both his and Rebekah's eyes shot wide. Neither of them were entirely sure she'd ever called him Niklaus. It was far more Elijah's habit than hers, but clearly she was beyond frustrated with him. Turning back to Rebekah, she continued, "If you played up the jilted ex bit and said nothing of Davina, just that you wanted to know who he was using as a replacement for you or whatever. Men always underestimate women. Use that to your advantage."

She'd shot Klaus yet another very pointed look when she said that men underestimate women, but Rebekah was grinning at her. "You're absolutely right and you're bloody brilliant." She stood suddenly, looking rather pleased with Ellie. "I know exactly who to speak with." She shot Klaus a warning look. "Try not to infuriate her anymore."

"Of course, little sister." Klaus drawled but Ellie also stood and headed out to the back before Klaus could push her buttons. Just out of sight was the wolf, once again standing guard. She found an odd amount of comfort with it, but maybe that was just because it was a beautiful reprieve from the sass of those in the house. As she sat down beside the wolf, it did that funny little snort thing it did to get her attention.

"Klaus is just being a jerk, but that's nothing new." She told the wolf gently. "Did you hear Agnes earlier? She's taking Hayley and I to some backwater bayou baby doctor tonight because we're 'overdue for a checkup'." Her voice turned mocking as she imitated the older woman. "Does she think we're stupid? First of all, I've been researching like constantly to keep me and Hayley up on everything that we need, including the prenatals I had Katherine get us. Agnes wanted us dead."

The wolf growled deep in its throat from its irritation at that. Clearly, the wolf trusted her about as much as Hayley and Ellie did. Somehow, Ellie knew that the wolf would be watching them and it made her feel a bit safer. At least the wolf was watching their backs, despite it being limited in how much it could help. She still had a burning curiosity to know what exactly the wolf was though. She could feel the magic all but radiating off of it, which made her feel slightly less insane for casually chatting up a wolf in her backyard. But despite the comfort that the wolf brought her, she had a terrible feeling about what the night would bring.


As the time approached for Agnes to come pick the girls up, both Hayley and Ellie were getting more anxious with every passing moment. It was the first time since they'd moved in that they were entirely alone in the house. Rebekah and Klaus had gone off on their plot to try and get Elijah, while Katherine, of course, had yet to return from Mystic Falls. Her anxiety levels were so high that she couldn't even be bothered to be irritated with the fact that Katherine had offered no additional updates about what was going on back home. "Are you as nervous as I am?" Hayley asked curiously as she twisted her bracelet around her wrist endlessly.

"Yeah." Ellie told her simply. "I don't trust Agnes."

"Neither do I." Hayley confessed. "She looks at us like she'd rather us be dead." Ellie nodded in agreement as she dug through the small trunk that Katherine had acquired and put into the room that the three girls often shared. "What are you doing?" She questioned. To her surprise, Ellie lifted a full section and put it to the side. "What the hell?"

"I had something similar back in Mystic Falls. Training from Elijah aside, my birth mom's husband was a vampire hunter. He had a lot of very nifty tools to use." Ellie paused as she pulled out a strange looking contraption that Hayley didn't recognize. "Well, he was also Jenna's boyfriend before he died. And I mean, I guess my parents were also vampire hunters. But we never talked about that."

"God, your family is weird." Hayley said in disbelief.

Ellie snorted in amusement. Hayley wasn't wrong. "Well, I can't do much about that. But, thanks to Ric, I kind of made a small stash of weapons, because both he and Elijah wanted me to be able to defend myself even without my magic."

"But we're not going anywhere with vampires. We're going to the bayou in the middle of nowhere with a witch." Hayley reminded her as she watched Ellie strap the contraption to her arm.

"And the last time a witch sent us to the bayou, we got kidnapped. I'm not keen on that happening again, so this time, we're taking weapons this time." Ellie said bluntly. She grabbed a small pocket knife and pressed it into Hayley's palm. "Put that in your pocket. It's got a small clip to keep it in place."

Hayley looked at Ellie with a wide eyed expression. "You're not joking around."

"Absolutely not. We might be linked to Sophie, but I will not put it past Agnes to kill a member of her own coven if she thought it was necessary." Ellie replied as Hayley pocketed the knife without another word. Unlike Hayley, who'd put on boots with a slight heel, Ellie opted for a pair of tennis shoes and tied them securely as she tried to calm her anxiety. Along with the weapon strapped to her arm, she also pocketed a knife.

Hayley watched Ellie's dangerous expression with surprise. "You know, you're kind of scary when you put your mind to it."

"Thank you." Ellie replied with a small grin before she straightened her back. "Agnes is here. Let's go."

The two made their way downstairs together as Agnes knocked on their door. Ellie had pulled on a loose cardigan to conceal the weapons on her arm before opening the door. "Hello girls." Agnes said politely, but her presence alone was enough to make Ellie's stomach drop. "Are you both ready to go?"

"Yep." Hayley nodded and they headed out quickly. Hayley took the front seat next to Agnes, which Ellie found herself grateful for. She didn't want to be any closer to the other witch than absolutely necessary. As they pulled away, Ellie looked back to see the wolf watching them and tried to reassure herself that she wasn't crazy and that the wolf understood her ramblings and that it would follow them in case something happened.

The drive took a while, and Ellie had started clawing a mark onto the back of her hand to try and distract herself from the warning bells that were ringing violently in her mind. It didn't help that Agnes had left the radio off, and despite the chatter from Agnes as she tried to engage them both in conversation, Ellie was spiraling in her own mind. She had her magic back, she could feel it enough to know that that was true. But she had absolutely no idea if Davina would be able to sense her. Was she overreacting? Maybe Agnes had no ulterior motive for bringing them to the bayou baby doctor in the middle of nowhere. After a while, Ellie looked up as the car pulled to a stop. "Alright girls…" Agnes said.

"This is the doctor's office?" Hayley asked in disbelief. It was a vaguely run down looking cabin in the middle of the woods, so Ellie didn't blame her in the slightest for her reaction.

"Dr. Paige is only this far out because Marcel's men kept terrorizing her patients." Agnes told her gently. "Go. She won't bite." Her tone of voice was far too soft, too kind to be trusted.

Ellie eyed the older witch, noticing that she made no move to get out of the car. "Are you not coming in?" She questioned.

"No, I figured you girls would prefer some privacy." Agnes replied.

Hayley and Ellie shared a look before they both got out of the car. Side by side, the girls headed inside. "This seems like the bit in the horror movie when the person with the car leaves us to die." Ellie said casually.

Ellie glanced very quickly over her shoulder and saw Agnes doing something on her phone as Hayley snorted. "How reassuring." They headed inside as Hayley called out, "Hello?"

A blonde woman, maybe in her thirties or forties, came out of the back room and met them with a bright smile. "Hi! You girls must be Ellie and Hayley. I'm Dr. Paige, it's lovely to meet you both."

"Hi. I'm Ellie." Ellie introduced herself as she shook the older woman's hand. The woman was not supernatural, but something was still warning Ellie. She suppressed the urge, at least for the moment.

After Dr. Paige shook Hayley's hand as well, she said, "I heard from Agnes that you girls were overdue for a checkup. Tell me, how have your pregnancies been so far? Everything flowing smoothly?"

Hayley spoke first. "As far as we know. But then again they aren't really big enough for us to really be able to tell anything are they?"

Dr. Paige laughed lightly. "That's a fair point. Any morning sickness yet? Agnes didn't tell me how far along you girls are."

"Well, I only slept with the baby daddy once and that was what…" Hayley trailed off slightly as she looked over to Ellie. "The end of July?"

"That sounds about right." Ellie confirmed as Dr. Paige took notes. "I don't know when exactly my baby was conceived, the father and I were um…" It was her turn to trail off awkwardly. She wasn't sure if it was due to talking about her and Elijah's sex life, or if it was from calling him a father.

"Having intercourse regularly?" Dr. Paige supplied.

Ellie wouldn't have been surprised if she'd flushed as red as a tomato. "Yeah."

"That's alright, we might be able to get an idea of how far along you are with the ultrasound. However, if you're around the same stage as Hayley, which is about eight weeks or so, then it might be a bit more difficult to tell which is perfectly alright. Around this period, the baby is only about as big as a raspberry. It can also look like a little bean at this period of development, but we won't be able to tell the sex of the babies for at least another six weeks or so if not more." Dr. Paige explained helpfully. "Are you girls taking any medication at the moment?"

"Just prenatals." Ellie replied.

"Good!" Dr. Paige told them sincerely. "It's very important at this stage of development for you to be taking the prenatals. The first twelve weeks are very important, though it's alright if you haven't been taking them long. They just help the babies along and you as well to make sure you're both getting what you need." She continued writing down information in her chart before she said, "Alright, who would like to go first?"

Hayley and Ellie shared a look before Hayley replied, "I can go."

"Alright, well, just hop up here on the table and lift up your shirt and we can get started." Hayley moved to lay back on the table as Dr. Paige set up the machine. "Before we start the ultrasound, I'm just going to take your blood pressure really quickly." She placed the cuff on Hayley's upper arm and let the machine run before removing the cuff and writing the result down on her chart. "The jelly is going to be a bit cold when I put it on, but it will warm up quickly." She explained as she grabbed the tube. "Are you ready?"

"I'm ready." Hayley said with a small grin on her face. She gasped quietly as the jelly hit her skin, tensing slightly before quickly relaxing as Dr. Paige took the wand and began rubbing it and the jelly around Hayley's stomach. Hayley's hand latched onto Ellie's nervously just as the monitor picked up a heartbeat. It was strong and steady, and it did wonders in relaxing Hayley who had kept a death grip on Ellie's hand. Dr. Paige was silent as she worked and Ellie and Hayley both watched the screen before them, despite their untrained eyes not being able to distinguish any details.

"Do you think it would be possible for us to get pictures of this?" Ellie asked curiously. "So that their fathers can see." She might be pissed at Klaus, even now, but this wasn't about them and even if she hated him, he deserved these photos.

Dr. Paige just smiled again at her. "Of course." They watched as she positioned the wand very particularly, pushing in a bit more on Hayley's stomach in some places before tapping away at the keyboard on her computer. After the pictures were taken, she told Hayley, "Your baby's heart rate is perfect."

Hayley was practically beaming. "I knew it. She's a tough one like her mom."

"And don't you forget it." Ellie replied as Dr. Paige handed Hayley a paper towel to wipe off her stomach.

"Alright, if you girls can switch, I'll get started on Ellie." Dr. Paige said. "Here are your photos, Hayley." She passed a long thing of maybe five photos or so to Hayley and the werewolf quickly folded them before putting them in her back pocket for safe keeping. "Now Ellie, is it possible that you are further along than Hayley?"

"It is, but I have no idea when this happened, to be honest?" She confessed.

"That's alright, it's happened to plenty of mothers to be." Dr. Paige assured her. Once her blood pressure had also been taken, Ellie lifted up her shirt and Dr. Paige repeated the process of using the wand to spread around the jelly. "Would you also like pictures?"

"Yes, please." Ellie said. A moment later, her own baby's heartbeat filled the room. It was different from what Hayley's baby's had been. While still strong, it was a much quicker beat. Almost double time compared to Hayley's ultrasound. "Is the baby ok?" She asked nervously as she reached for Hayley's hand again. Hayley used her free hand to run her fingers through Ellie's hair in an attempt to soothe her.

"Are you feeling anxious at the moment?" Dr. Paige asked kindly.

Both Ellie and Hayley snorted at the question. "Well I am now." Ellie replied.

"It's quite possible that the wand is also picking up your heartbeat, or that the baby just has a faster pace than Hayley's baby. It's nothing to worry about, it is still a very strong heartbeat, I assure you." Dr. Paige said as she worked around Ellie's stomach, taking pictures for her as well. Hayley was still idly running her hand through Hayley's hair as she said, "I promise, your baby is fine." She pointed to a bean shape in the middle of a darker area. "This right here is your baby and they are doing perfectly."

At seeing the baby so clearly pointed out, Ellie felt a rush of relief run over her. "That's my baby?"

"That's your baby." Dr. Paige assured before she removed the wand and passed Ellie a paper towel of her own. "These also aren't the best quality of photos we could have gotten. At this stage in the pregnancy, it's much more common to do a transvaginal ultrasound, but thanks to Marcel and his men I don't exactly have the equipment to do that here. So the abdominal ultrasound will have to do." She passed the pictures to Ellie and like Hayley, she folded them carefully before putting them in her back pocket. "That's a unique birthmark."

Ellie shot her head up in an instant and noticed the way that Dr. Paige was looking at Hayley. Hayley didn't respond, instead she opted to ask, "We're pretty much done here, right?" They looked down as Ellie's phone vibrated. It was Rebekah texting to see where they were.

As Ellie responded to inform her that they were at the bayou clinic with the doctor, Dr. Paige replied, "Your blood pressure is actually a bit high, Hayley, but I've got something for it." She gently touched Hayley's arm before walking back toward the front.

"When did Agnes come in?" Ellie asked suspiciously as Dr. Paige moved to speak with the witch in question. A wolf howled from somewhere in the forest and both Ellie and Hayley's head shot toward the sound. They walked toward the window, trying to see if they could spot the wolf, but instead, they saw the lights of a car pulling up. "Who the hell would be here right now? The clinic is supposed to be closed."

Ellie didn't have time to voice her concerns that they were in danger. Dr. Paige was already walking back in with a cup in one hand with pills in another. "Uh, you know, I'm actually not that good with pills." Hayley explained as she stepped back subtly.

Dr. Paige laughed lightly. "Well, me neither, truth be told." She moved to set them down and Hayley and Ellie both caught the sound of the screen door opening. People were coming inside. They could see a big man talking to Agnes and they shared a significant look with one another. As Dr. Paige approached Hayley with a syringe, the werewolf shot into action. She grabbed Dr. Paige's wrist before slamming her head forward, stunning the doctor before plunging the needle into her neck and injecting her. One of the men took notice and tried to rush them, but Ellie was faster, slamming the door closed and locking it.

The men were frantically shaking the door trying to get it unlocked as Ellie and Hayley ran for the window. For a moment, the window refused to move and Ellie's heart was in her throat. But then, it gave and it slid open. "Go Hayley!" Ellie insisted, making sure that Hayley was the first one out. She was right behind the other girl and whatever god was looking out for them had somehow managed to keep the door from opening.

Hayley hauled Ellie out of the window and they took off for the forest. As they ran, they could hear the door break as the men forced their way in, but neither girl dared to look back. They ran for a solid ten minutes, not a word said between them before Hayley pulled Ellie behind a large tree. "Over here." They gave themselves just long enough to catch their breath before Hayley asked, "What the hell do we do? How do we get out of here?"

The first thing Ellie did was pull out her phone and send an SOS to Rebekah. "She'll be on her way. We just have to last long enough for her to get here and we will last long enough for her to get here. I knew we couldn't trust Agnes." She hissed under her breath, but froze as several people with magic came into her range. "Hayley, we have to fight."

Hayley nodded in agreement. "You're damn straight." Ellie held a finger up to her lips as she pushed Hayley a bit farther behind the tree. It wasn't even a minute before several men ran past them carrying various weapons. At once, the two girls moved together. Hayley launched forward, knocking down the man in the back as Ellie rushed the second. She could hear the crunch of bones as Hayley snapped the man's neck and as the man Ellie had attacked moved to grab their weapons, she swung her fist forward, connecting sharply with his jaw. The move triggered the contraption on her arm and one of the stakes shot out, piercing him through his neck.

It was a disturbing sight to see. The stake had gone straight through his throat, in one side and out the other, but she didn't have time to linger. She ripped it out violently as blood spurted out from his injuries, splattering her in the process. Still, she didn't stop. It wasn't an option. One of the men with a crossbow had moved to aim at Hayley. Ellie had produced her knife immediately, and slung it at him with every bit of rage she had. Like the man before him, it struck his throat. He dropped the crossbow in horror as Ellie rushed him, tackling him furiously before grabbing his own weapon and striking him across his face. It broke his nose at once as she grabbed her knife. She jerked her head up to see Hayley crouched low as yet another man stalked toward her. Ellie lifted the bloody crossbow and took aim. In a single shot, she'd lodged the arrow in his thigh, directly into his femoral artery. "Rip it out, Hayley." She hissed.

Hayley didn't need to be told twice. He was distracted by the pain Ellie had caused and made no move to stop Hayley as she ripped the arrow from his thigh before snapping his neck like she'd done the others. "Son of a bitch." Hayley made her way over to Ellie, clutching the machete that one of them had on them. "What the fuck is happening?"

"Agnes is signing her fucking death sentence. That's what's happening." Ellie replied. Hayley's eyes were glowing in the moonlight. The blood was rushing in Ellie's ears and her magic was dangerously close to lashing out, but she kept a tight leash on it. She wouldn't risk it if she didn't have to. Someone approached rapidly and Ellie shot the crossbow once more without thinking. Rebekah caught it just before it landed in her heart. "Rebekah!"

The blonde took in the scene before her. Both Hayley and Ellie were bloodied and covered in sweat and looking more enraged than the Original had ever seen them. "I have to say I'm impressed." Rebekah confessed.

"How'd you find us?" Hayley asked as she stepped over one of the dead bodies.

"Ellie's texts got me halfway, vamp hearing did the rest." Rebekah replied. "Who are they?"

"Witches, warlocks, whatever." Hayley replied.

Rebekah watched as Ellie reloaded the bloody stake into the contraption on her arm. "I see you came prepared for a fight." She commented.

"I'm glad I did. That bitch is trying to kill us." Ellie retorted.

She and Rebekah looked up at the same time, looking at the area behind the blonde. "There are more of them. Run! Both of you!" Rebekah instructed. Reluctantly, both girls took off, heading deeper into the forest. They had gotten a few yards away when they heard two arrows cut through the air before the Original gasped.

"Rebekah!" Both girls shouted in horror. Ellie knew that it wouldn't kill her, but it scared her all the same. "Ellie, look out!" Hayley shoved Ellie away as another arrow shot forward, lodging itself just above Hayley's chest.

"Fuck." Ellie swore as a deep wound appeared above her chest where Hayley had been shot as the other girl collapsed. She darted behind the trees as another arrow fired and missed. She had to do something. Rebekah might be unkillable, but Hayley sure as hell wasn't and neither was she. The wound was bleeding more than was probably safe as Ellie got low, covered by darkness the trees granted her and she moved as quickly as possible.

"Split up! Find her!" One man shouted. How many horror movies would it take for the idiots to learn to never split up? She moved in near silence as she approached the first man from behind. Without thinking her hand shot up, covering his mouth as she drug the blade straight across his throat. He cried out, but between her hand and the shouts of the other men, it went unnoticed.

A lone howl caught her attention and she looked up to see a very familiar wolf attacking one of the men. Another man had tried to help the man getting ripped to shreds by the wolf, but her arrow shot true and lodged itself in his back with ease. His scream echoed through the trees and she felt a sick sort of satisfaction as he dropped to his knees in pain. She sensed the presence behind her too late and could only turn as the man struck out, hitting her in the head so hard her vision swam. As she collapsed, something launched over but her vision was too blurred for her to make out what it was.

She groaned in pain as the wolf snarled somewhere nearby but she couldn't think. She couldn't see. She couldn't even make the words come out of her mouth. The last thing she could see was the wolf with its bloody mouth.


When Ellie woke her head throbbed uncomfortably, her vision swam with each pulse. "Ellie?" Hayley was above her with wide eyes. The werewolf also looked disoriented as she helped Ellie sit up. "Are you ok?"

As Ellie came back to herself, she asked, "Are you? They shot you!" Her hands shot out, pushing Hayley's tank top to the side as she looked for the wound.

"I'm ok." Hayley assured her. "Werewolf, remember?"

"Werewolves don't heal that fast." Ellie countered as she looked at Hayley's uninjured skin. "How? Are you ok right now?"

Hayley just shook her head. "I don't know, ok? But we need to get the fuck out of these woods." Hayley pulled Ellie to her feet. The two girls were shaky on their feet, but leaned heavily on each other to stay standing.

They walked for a while as Ellie followed the pull of her magic to familiar energy. As they stumbled their way onto the familiar paths, Klaus and Rebekah rushed toward them. "Ellie, Hayley, what happened? Tell me what happened." Klaus insisted.

"I can't remember." Hayley said shakily.

Klaus looked them both over before saying, "You've both completely healed. There's not a scratch on either of you."

"One of the perks of being a werewolf, remember?"

Just like Ellie, Klaus insisted, "No, not that fast. Especially not Ellie."

"Leave them alone." Rebekah replied as she took a hold of both Ellie and Hayley. "It's the babies. The vampire blood, Klaus and Elijah's in your systems. It can heal any wound." Rebekah said, though it was directed more toward Hayley than Ellie as she sat them on the steps. "Your own children healed you." After a moment, she asked, "How did you two escape? You were outnumbered, barely any weapons at your disposal. Those men were ripped to shreds."

Hayley and Ellie had a death grip on one another. "I think it was the wolf." Hayley confessed. "I think it's trying to protect me."

"The witches were supposed to protect the two of you." Klaus seethed. "When I get my hands on Sophie Deveraux-"

"It wasn't Sophie!" Hayley replied immediately.

"It was that bitch Agnes." Ellie corrected.

"Fine. Agnes, Sophie. It's all the same to me. I'll slaughter the lot of them." Klaus told her.

Rebekah retorted, "Not if Elijah gets there first."

Ellie turned so fast she nearly gave herself whiplash with her aching head. "Elijah? Did you find him?"

Rebekah cupped Ellie's check softly in reassurance. "He's been in touch, and he has a plan. All he asked is that we take care of you and Hayley." In an even softer voice, she told her, "He was awfully worried about you." Ellie couldn't help the small smile that graced her features.

Hayley gave Ellie's hand a gentle squeeze before she asked, "Hey. So can we go home now? I'd really like to sleep for a few days." She was the first to stand, but her knees buckled beneath her.

Klaus rushed forward, catching her with ease. "I've got you, love. I've got you."

Rebekah, not taking any chances, pulled Ellie into her arms to carry her as well. "Let's go home." She said gently. As they walked, the steady movement lulled Ellie into her exhaustion. Finally, she was safe and able to rest, and her body gave into it. All she wanted was to sleep. And so she slept.


Author's Note:

A bit of a badass moment for Ellie and Hayley never hurt did it? We're much closer now to the return of Elijah, I know everyone misses him, but Klaus sucks sometimes. Even still, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Please leave a review and let me know your thoughts!

To smilin steph: I don't know if it was a good emotional response or a bad one, but I'm glad I made you feel something lol.

To Blu3b3rryT3a: More ruthless Ellie for you! The dreams are of Stefan! Ellie definitely developed a soft spot for Josh lol.

To NaRuKo-InuTaiSHo-XD: Thank you so much!

To Charlie0925: Thank you for reviewing! I'm very glad you enjoy their bond. Their bond means a lot to me even when he's being dumb.

To kash509: He's definitely gonna be back soon! And yeah, I couldn't imagine him not being there to find out the gender when she does. I agree about Ellie bringing out the softer side, which is why I think he gets so startled when she's clearly had enough. Ellie is rational, but she's stronger than anyone seems to realize.

To Superwholockedin221b: Your favorite day has arrived again! He's trying, but she can't let him off the hook so easily when he's the one that made his bed. I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well.

To Kalynnblack: Well, she's definitely going to have an impact on things, but I'm not sure what pettiness of Marcel's you're talking about exactly, because to be fair, he was the one to take care of NOLA when the Mikaelsons left, so really it is his empire. And agree about the twin thing.

To zombie-hunt: I'm not sure when exactly they're coming back in, but they will come back in. I haven't decided if Elena deserves to know about the pregnancy though.

To Guest: Thank you so much!

-Madame Magic

Posted: 5/21/22