Caroline Forbes had very conflicting feelings about the Mikaelsons. Klaus in particular. She had caught herself one too many times, thinking about him, thinking about the way he taught her how to dream. How despite all the horrible things he'd done, she wanted to believe he was better, at least better than what he was.

Then he left, he walked out of her life because she had asked him too. She expected to feel relief, but she didn't expect the sorrow. Caroline found herself regretting it, and she couldn't help the self deprecation that followed.

Her feelings about the other Mikaelsons were a bit more straightforward. She respected but feared Elijah. She honestly disliked, yet found Rebekah tolerable, but that had more to do with the similarities she saw between the two of them. She didn't really know Kol, she'd spoken to him once during the Mikaelson family ball, and the only thing she learned was that he was wild and a flirt. She did regret his death. Caroline didn't know enough about Finn to truly have an opinion.

Since Klaus had left and taken his family with him, the supernatural enemies seemed to halt to a stop. Mystic falls was calmer and had reverted back to the quiet, little town it had been before the Salvatore brothers. Caroline, Bonnie, and Elena were starting college at Whitmore, fullfling Caroline's dream of the three of them living together and making it in the world. Well, she supposed it was an altered dream, with her and Elena being vampires and Bonnie being a witch.

College had slowly dragged on, and the longer she sat through lectures and worked on an endless amount of homework, Caroline found herself growing bored. Bonnie and Elena seemed happy, pursuing their dreams and working towards their goals. Caroline assumed it had more to do with Bonnie trying to find a new footing after spending so much of high school being used to protect them all, and Elena trying to cling to her humanity by working to become a doctor. Caroline had the same idea at first, working towards broadcast journaling, but everyday when she looked in a mirror, her appearance never changed, and it occurred to Caroline that her face couldn't be broadcasted across the nation. That was basically outing vampirism to the entire world, she couldn't have her face permanently on the internet for anyone to find.

So, Caroline changed her major, and she changed it again, and again. The more she trapped herself within the campus, the more she could hear Klaus' words echoing in her mind, how the small town life would never be enough for her. He was right, and she hated it. Her immortality didn't just change her as a person, it gifted her freedom. She could travel the world, she could go to college next year or in the next decade, it didn't matter, because she had all the time in the world. Time was something all humans wanted more of, but she wasn't human, and she wasn't bound by the same laws anymore.

It was the end of the second semester and it was clear by the amount of people drowning in coffee and textbooks, studying for the last of their finals. Caroline sighed and quickly made her way back to her dorm, she'd finished the semester at the beginning of the week and found herself alone in the dorm for the last couple of days. Bonnie had left earlier to visit her mother for the summer, while Elena was off with Damon, flaunting her relationship with Damon in front of Stefan. Neither of them had even said goodbye, she'd simply come home to a note on her bed.

A sharp knock shocked Caroline, interrupting the quiet she had become accustomed to. "Caroline, open the door." A familiar British voice called softly from the other side. A voice that she both despised and was a little curious to hear. "I know you're in there, open up."

Caroline slowly pulled open the door to reveal the youngest Mikaelson sibling, looking poised as ever, but Caroline could see the scared glint in her eyes, it was unnerving. What shocked her the most were the two baby carriers Rebekah had, one each arm. "Rebekah? What are you doing here?"

Rebekah sent her a look and pushed her way in, settling both carriers on Elena's bed. "Lovely to see you too."

"What's going on, Rebekah?" Caroline asked, looking out in the hallway to make sure no one was behind the blond before she shut the door and locked it. She may have had no idea what the youngest Mikaelson was doing, but she wasn't naive, Mikaelsons tended to have as many dangers as they were dangerous.

Rebekah sighed deeply and ran a hand through her hair, eyeing the babies wearily. "To be honest with you, you're the last person I hoped to come to."

"Rebekah, what's going on?" Caroline asked softly. She could hear the exhaustion and something else she couldn't detect. Despite what it was, it was clearly out of character for the blond original.

"As much as it pains me to say this, I need your help." Rebekah said, facing Caroline with her hands on her hips, her usual demanding nature slowly returning. "Did Nik ever tell you why we went to New Orleans."

"No." Caroline hesitated, while she had admittedly heard rumors. That he was with a girl, that he was massacring an entire city, that he had finally lost his mind. She didn't look further into it, because she wasn't sure what she wanted to hear. "He didn't."

Klaus Mikaelson. He was everything Caroline both craved and wished she didn't. And she'd be lying to herself if said she wanted nothing to do with him or his luring invitation to New Orleans. Especially after she'd been to college, and it wasn't enough for her.

"I'll save you from the sordid details, but my brother had a one night stand with the wolf girl and because of a magical loophole, bloody witches, they had a child together." Rebekah offered, a little too smug as Caroline's face contorted in surprise. A baby was the last thing she would've ever expected.

She liked to think she was a rational and pragmatic person. At least, it's who she always was, between her neurotic nature and control issues. And her emotions were no different. At first she was shocked, and then angry, and then hurt, in that particular order. Yet, she didn't think she was justified to feel the last two. Not over Klaus, not over his child, she had no claim and after all, she was the one who told him to leave. Underneath it all, she knew she was hurt, not because he had a child, but he'd actually left her. Left her wanting to leave her small town life behind and follow him.

"They're his children?" Caroline whispered, eyeing the two baby carriers behind Rebekah.

"No," Rebekah said, walking over and pulling the covers off both to reveal two sweet baby girls. Caroline figured they were about the same age, and they both had the same hair and eye color. Even if they weren't related, they could've been, although most babies tended to look alike. "This one is Nik's, her name is Hope." She said, pointing to the one on the right. But Caroline already knew, she had her father's eyes, and his lips, and the little dimples.

"She's beautiful." Caroline whispered, leaning down to trace one of her little fingers. The sweet baby looked blankly at Caroline and wrinkled her nose lightly. "What happened, Rebekah, why did you bring her here? Where's Klaus? And who's the other baby?"

"New Orleans is at war." Rebekah told her with a hardened tone, she looked pained to even say the words out loud. "My brother's protege is fighting for the city, wolves are running wild, and the witches are coming for Hope. She wasn't safe."

"So he gave her to you." Caroline figured, and some part of her ached knowing Klaus had to give up his daughter in order to save her.

"We hoped that I could protect her." Rebekah said, almost regretfully, ran a finger along Hope's cheek and smiled softly in the baby's direction. It was clear Hope knew who she was because she responded by reaching out for Rebekah's hand and trying to bite her. Rebekah simply laughed and replaced her finger with a toy. Caroline could see how much Rebekah wanted this life, a husband and child of her own. "But I can't."

"What do you mean?" Caroline asked her, looking up abruptly, it was rare Rebekah would admit something so vulnerable, especially to her.

"I'm a thousand years old. I have as many enemies as my brothers, both new and old that would do anything to get their hands on my family, especially Hope." Rebekah said, eyes fixated on the girls. "More and more of them are closing in, one being my mother. Hope wasn't safe with my brothers, and she's not safe with me."

"What do you need my help with?" Caroline offered immediately, Hope was born a Mikaelson, but that didn't mean she inherited their enemies.

"Take her." Rebekah said simply.

Caroline flinched and backed up. "Excuse me? Are you serious?"

"Listen to me." Rebekah said sharply, grabbing Caroline's arms and had she been human they would've bruised. "You and I both know how you feel about my brother. Even if you want to deny it, I know you feel something other than disdain for him."

"Rebekah-" Caroline started, but the blond cut her off.

"You are one of the few people in this world that my brother trusts, and one that I know wouldn't use Hope to hurt my family, nor hurt her at all. There isn't anyone else in this world that can care for her and keep her safe that Nik will trust." Rebekah almost pleaded.

"You're crazy, Rebekah, he will dagger you and kill me if he finds out you gave her to me. Despite that fact, I am highly underqualified here." Caroline argued, pacing back and forth, but was sure to keep her voice down in order not startle the babies.

"I have a plan for that." Rebekah said, cutting Caroline off once again. She pointed at the other baby carrier. "This is Ingrid."

"Rebekah, where did you even find her?" Caroline demanded softly, watching as Rebekah tucked the blanket tighter around her. The Mikaelson's weren't exactly the most moral people.

"I'll have you know I saved her, from bad, bad men." She said, cooing the last part at the baby who in turn reached out for Rebekah. "I couldn't save her mother though. I'm not completely heartless, I wasn't just going to leave the poor thing."

"I'm so confused." Caroline sighed. She rubbed her eyes and hoped when she pulled her hands away, it would all be a crazy hallucination.

Rebekah sucked in a deep breath and squared up Caroline towards her. "My mother is going to keep coming for Hope no matter what, she's never going to stop. I had her cloaked, but my mother is a powerful witch and it's only a matter of time before she finds her. Other powerful witches can break through regular cloaking spells, and they'll be coming for Hope too." Rebekah explained sharply. "Once a long time ago, Kol told me about a spell, to cloak someone using another person."

"That's why you took her, didn't you?" Caroline accused Rebekah. "You're going to use her."

Rebekah looked incredibly offended. "No matter how much I love my niece, do not make the assumption that I would harm another child to save her."

"Then explain this to me, Rebekah, because right now, you technically kidnapped a child." Caroline sighed exasperatedly.

"Ingrid and Hope will be essentially linked, and it'll be as if Hope doesn't even exist." Rebekah said shortly. "It's how the spell works."

"That sounds like putting a target on Ingrid's back, how do you know they won't be coming for her if they come looking for Hope?" Caroline asked.

"Because, as I said, Hope won't exist. She'll be completely masked by Ingrid, and the only way to find her is if they go looking for Ingrid. No one will know or expect to look for another child." Rebekah explained. "Everyone already believes Hope is dead because my brothers faked her death. No one knows about Ingrid because she has no connection to the supernatural world, and even so I'll have her cloaked as well."

"This is a huge risk." Caroline said, eyeing the blond and the babies in front of her. "You said it yourself, your enemies are coming for you, if they find out you're traveling with a baby, that's putting a target on her back. How can you protect her?"

"The same way I would've protected Hope." Rebekah whispered. "I'll take her and run, hide her away from those who would do her harm. Most of the enemies coming for Hope could sense her magic, cloaking her with Ingrid will ensure they can't sense her. Not in this world, or the other side. I can protect Ingrid from the other enemies that would come after us."

"I," Caroline murmured, "I don't know, Rebekah. You're asking me to protect his daughter, what if I can't? What will he do when you tell him? He'll kill us both."

"I'd thought you'd know my brother better than that." Rebekah said irritatedly. "Besides, he doesn't have a choice."

"We can't do this." Caroline denied.

"Do you think I would've come here if I had another choice?" Rebekah snapped, swerving around and glaring at Caroline. "Do you think I want to stand here and face you like this? Admitting that I can't protect my own niece, admitting that my family is exactly what you think of us, that we bring destruction and death."

"I'm not judging you." Caroline whispered. "I understand. You and your siblings live by always and forever, meaning you'd do anything to protect your niece. I understand that, Rebekah. It's that I don't think I should be the one you turn to."

"What's left for you here?" Rebekah asked her, her voice hard and demanding. "I don't see your little friends anywhere, I don't see you partying with all the other college students, and as much as I hate that I noticed this, you aren't resisting me with the usual level of sass or persistence. Some part of you wants to say yes, for my brother, for Hope, for yourself. And you hate that."

"He will kill me, Rebekah, and he will dagger you." Caroline hissed. "Why can't you take them both? Or give Ingrid to someone else?"

"There's no one I could entrust Ingrid to, not with such dire circumstances." Rebekah explained, rolling her eyes exasperatedly. "And I can't take them both."

"Hypothetically speaking, and I'm not agreeing," Caroline emphasized, "but what if I take Ingrid?"

"I thought about that too." Rebekah admitted, running a hand through her hair. "But if something were to ever happen, and the witches were to come for her, you couldn't protect her like I could."

"What makes you think I could protect Hope then?" Caroline demanded. "Rebekah, you haven't thought this out at all!"

"Hope is stronger and she was born a tribrid." Rebekah said, looking at both of the baby carriers to make sure Caroline's slight outburst wouldn't disturb them. "I can't explain it, but I've seen her do magic intuitively. To protect us and herself."


"Please, darling, please don't fuss, Auntie Bex will buy you something lavish in the next city." Rebekah pleaded softly, reaching one of her hands back to the baby carrier and fixed her blanket.

Hope, while an extradoraily well adjusted baby, was still a baby and wasn't too happy about spending the last few hours on the road. But, Rebekah couldn't stop driving, not with her mother's starlings and the other enemies after her.

Another hour or so into driving, Rebekah decided they were probably safe, too far in the middle of nowhere to be found. There wasn't much around, only a long highway and exits that led to more places she had probably seen already in her thousand years of immortality.

Rebekah pulled into the nearest motel, a run down place that would probably never know what a remodel was. The lights flickered in a dark way, and it reeked of desperation and dying dreams, a proper horror sight. She didn't plan on staying long, just long enough to give Hope a quick change and minute out of her chair, perhaps a drink from one of the inhabitants if their blood wasn't tainted with too many inhibitors.

She got out of the car and quickly grabbed Hope's baby bag and gently picked up Hope. The baby reacted instantly and reached out for Rebekah's blonde locks, tangling her fingers in the curls.

"Mhm," she hummed sweetly, "I'm glad to be out of the car too, darling."

She rocked the baby back and forth, hoping it would lull her to sleep, but the restless long car ride proved to tire her out but not so much to get her to sleep.

Rebekah took the opportunity to listen in on the inhabitants of the motel, but none of them seemed appetizing enough for her to eat. She rocked Hope for a few more minutes, indulging in her warmth, and for a moment she could pretend like she wasn't on the run and that Hope was her little girl. She shook her head roughly, letting the fantasy fade, because enemies were a Mikaelson's curse, and Hope would never truly be hers.

She held her close and kissed her forehead sweetly before placing her back in her seat and buckled her in. Rebekah got into the driver seat and started her car, but the engine let out a stuttered noise and the lights in her car flickered.

"Oh, bloody hell." Rebekah sighed. "Looks like we'll be stuck here for a little while longer, darling."

Rebekah tried not to slam the door of her car and opened the hood of her car, but nothing looked amissed. She went back to try and start her car, but it repeated the same stuttering noise as before. Due to the time constraints, she was scouring the parking lot for a suitable car, at the very least one that would do well enough till she could compel herself a better one.

Rebekah was about to start moving the things from her car to a new one when a sharp cry alerted her coming from one of the rooms. It was a high pitched noise coming from a baby girl, one that she knew all too well from her after months of caring for her niece. She was sure she could only hear it because of her enhanced hearing, but even if it was evident to someone else, no one in the motel would've bothered. She waited a moment, assuming it was just someone else's child and they would tend to her, but after another second, another sharp noise rang out, and this one was a gun.

Rebekah wasn't sure what compelled her to investigate the noise, but she felt like it would become one of the few things she would come to regret if she didn't. She grabbed Hope's carrier and walked over to the motel room. She could hear two men yelling from the inside and a baby girl crying, noting the thick stench of blood.

"Auntie Bex will be right back." Rebekah murmured to Hope, placing her carrier outside the door, just within view and close enough for her to keep her sense open to watch her, but not so close she'd be in danger.

Rebekah used her strength to break off the lock and pushed the door open. The two men she'd heard previously were shocked at her presence and one immediately turned a gun on her, the other was holding a baseball bat, and there was a dead woman lying at their feet. She spotted the baby next, no older than Hope and clearly in distress.

"Who the hell are you?" The one with the bat demanded.

"Excuse you, that's a very rude way to speak to a woman." Rebekah snapped, walking into the room and setting them both with a glare. "Then again, you both don't seem to possess any manners at all."

"I'll shoot you!" The one with the gun shouted, waving it at her. His eyes were bloodshot and his pupils were dilated. He was definitely high.

"Usually I ask my older brother if I can kill people, and he often tells me no. He says it's unnecessary and leaves a trail." Rebekah said, and she could feel her fangs breaking her gums and the veins in his eyes. "It's unfortunate that my brother's not here, for your sake at least."

In the next second, the man with the gun had his heart ripped out, and blood was dripping from her fingers. He fell to the ground with a loud thud and so did his gun. The man with the bat tried to run, but Rebekah used her speed to run in front of him.

"Please, I didn't shoot her." He begged, his eyes also bloodshot. "She was the one looking for drugs and she couldn't pay for them."

"She had a child." Rebekah said, glancing at the baby who'd been witness to each of the deaths, yet she seemed to calm when the first man had died. "You were responsible for her mothers death, and what would you have done with her then? Left her somewhere to die?"

"I-" He began, but Rebekah grabbed him by the neck, choking and pushing him against the wall.

"I'm not really interested in what you want." Rebekah snapped. "Her name, what is it?"

"I'm not sure." He choked out, grasping at Rebekah's hand. She gave him a sharp look and he stopped.

"You should really try to remember, because your life quite literally depends on it." Rebekah said.

"It started with an I, Isla, Iris," he stuttered, "Ingrid! Her name is Ingrid."

"Ingrid, old norse." Rebekah murmured. "How peculiar."

"Please, let me go." He cried.

"You should know, that was never going to happen." Rebekah sighed, and with a flick of her wrist, she snapped his neck and let his body fall to the floor.

She walked over to the baby that had quieted down, she was sucking on her chubby hands and had dried tears on her cheeks.

"Ingrid, hmm?" Rebekah hummed, blotting away the tears staining her cheeks. "I'm quite sorry about your mummy, sweet girl." The baby cooed back, grasping Rebekah's hand and she laughed softly. Rebekah looked around at the fallen bodies and blood, it was no place for a baby. "How would you like to come with me?"

She picked up Ingrid and Hope, bringing them both back to her car. She buckled Hope in and looked around for what was probably Ingrid's mother's car because she found the companion piece to Ingrid's carrier. Once both girls were settled and warm, Rebekah's car suddenly roared to life, the engine humming without a hitch and the lights were a steady glow.

Rebekah checked her car once again, but nothing was amiss and she couldn't find a plausible explanation for her car's sudden recovery. She got into the driver's seat, and glanced back at the two girls, Ingrid was asleep but Hope was awake and wide eyed. She cooed at her aunt and wrinkled her nose.

Rebekah laughed softly. "Bloody hell, you are a Mikaelson, aren't you?"


"She stopped your car." Caroline whispered.

"And she heals herself, she can sense when dangers close." Rebekah murmured. "I have thought this through, Caroline. Ingrid is a human child that can't protect herself. Hope has the ability to survive."

"She is a Mikaelson afterall." Caroline laughed weakly, looking down at Hope cherub-like features and wondering how such a sweet thing could protect herself.

"I need someone who can raise her, who will love her, care for her, read her fairytales and teach her how to ride a bike." Rebekah whispered, her voice was a little cracked and frayed as she talked about the life she couldn't give her niece. "Nik will not kill you, Caroline. He has shown mercy and kindness to you, because you have shown the same to him. That's why I picked you, because you can raise Hope despite knowing what we are and what we've done."

"Okay." Caroline whispered, her eyes trained on Hope. "I'll take her."