I got some interesting theories in the comments after the last chapter! I will say this - because Hope was not created through a 'loophole' in this series, I'm not planning on Caroline being able to have another child because she now has hybrid abilities.

Also, I suppose I should warn that this chapter and the next one discuss certain issues surrounding pregnancy that might be triggering to some readers, so please just be aware of that.

It was like deja vu.

Except rather than Caroline sat behind her desk trying digest the impossible, it was Davina, her cell-phone clutched to her ear.

Caroline found her like that a few minutes later, Dr Carter still trying to get her attention. "Davina?"

"I … I …"

Caroline gently prised the phone out of her hand. "Hello, this is Caroline - I'm Davina's sister-in-law - well, I will be at least. She seems to be in shock. I realise you can't tell me anything, but if you can please tell me if there's anything she needs to do?"

"Well a second appointment wouldn't go amiss," the doctor answered.

"Okay, when's the best time," Caroline said, grabbing her diary. She noted down the date and time, and thanked the doctor before hanging up. "Davina? Davina, honey, are you okay?"

Davina blinked and finally focused on her face, before murmuring a spell that Caroline recognised as a silencing spell. "I'm pregnant."

Caroline blinked. "How? How in God's name …?"

"I think it was Hope," Davina said in a rush. "I know it sounds mad, but … when I was talking to her about sisters, she gave me a hug and told me I'd be a good mom."

"You would," Caroline said quietly. "But … Are you okay?"

Davina took a shaky breath. "I have no idea. I hadn't … I hadn't let myself think about it. But … this could be my only chance."

"Don't made a decision based on that," Caroline warned. "That's not a good reason."

"I know," Davina said. "But Freya's been looking into what Esther did and the chances of her being able to recreate it is almost nil."

"Then how did Hope manage it?" Caroline asked.

Davina shrugged. "Remember what I said about wish magic? Most kids her age don't have the power to do a lot of magic, but conversely they also don't have the constriction that adults do - they don't realise that they can't do something. It's kind of like how a lot of toddlers can do forward rolls, and then they realise that it could hurt them and a lot of them stop being able to do it, because there's a mental block."

"I hadn't thought of that," Caroline admitted. "So Freya can't recreate the spell, but Hope could do it instinctively because she doesn't realise she shouldn't be able to?"

"Exactly," Davina said, rubbing her eyes. "I just feel awful because … I've had a miracle and I don't know how to deal with it. You had a miracle and you immediately went into mom-mode."

"Davina, it's not the same," Caroline said immediately. "I grew up in a small town where it was kind of expected that you would get married and have kids. Even if you weren't going to be a stay-at-home mom, which most of the moms were, you were expected to have kids. I had thought about it from a young age and I had always wanted children. You grew up in a big city where things are different. You yourself said that you never considered kids when you were younger and then you met Kol so you didn't let yourself because it wasn't a possibility. Our reactions to a surprise pregnancy were never going to be the same."

"I guess," Davina muttered.

Caroline hesitated. "Also … that wasn't my only reaction."

Davina looked up. "It wasn't?"

Caroline shook her head. "Once it sunk in … Part of me was angry. Hope's a child. But Esther wasn't. And okay, maybe she knew I wanted children, but she didn't consult me. She just … did it. And yeah, part of me resented the fact that Esther saw me as nothing more than a walking womb, and resented the fact that, yes, I was having a child, but I had absolutely no say in the matter."

Davina stood on shaky legs. "I guess I have some thinking to do."

"I guess so," Caroline said. "You have an appointment in a few weeks time, which suggests that the doctor doesn't think you're more than a few weeks along, which would fit with your guess."

Davina nodded a little absently. "As long as the nausea doesn't come back. I can't deal with that again, Caroline."

"At least if we know it's morning sickness, Sophie can do something for it," Caroline pointed out.

"Don't know why they call it morning sickness," Davina muttered. "Twenty-four hour sickness more like it." She sat down beside Caroline on the couch, leaning back to stare at the ceiling. "We'd need to move the wedding date," she said after a few minutes. "I'd rather not let out my dress around a baby bump."

"Of course," Caroline said cautiously.

"And Rebekah would be devastated," Davina continued. "I mean, she'd be happy, but we both know how much she wants this. And even if Hope could repeat it … there's no way her body would deal with it. She'd probably miscarry and that would break her."

"It would," Caroline agreed.

Davina was quiet a little while longer. "Kol would be a wonderful father."

Three weeks later, Davina sat on her bed, staring at the picture in her hand. It was fuzzy and unclear, and when she had seen Caroline's she hadn't understood how anyone could look at a little blob that small and see a baby.

But she could.

Any minute now, Kol would be home. He couldn't always stick to the blood bags, and Davina understood that; she just didn't want the details.

Originally, they had a 'don't ask, don't tell' policy - but when he came home covered in blood, she didn't really need to ask.

It was a running joke that the baby wipes in her bag were for Kol, not for Hope.

So when he walked in with blood stains on his face, she only sighed. "Really?"

"Seriously?" Kol asked, ducking into the bathroom. "I cleaned up."

"Well, you didn't clean up very well," Davina said, with a weak but no less affectionate smile.

Kol reappeared a second later, clean but clearly worried. "What's wrong?"

"What makes you think something's wrong?" Davina asked.

"I can hear it in your voice," Kol said. "And your heart's racing."

Davina took a deep breath. "Okay, you know that I love you."

"Of course I do," Kol said cautiously.

Davina stood up, her eyes fixed on his. "I love you so much. And I would never, ever do anything to hurt you."

Kol seemed to relax a little. "Darling, I know that. What are you worried about?"

Davina hesitated a second longer and handed him the photo in her hand.

Kol glanced down at it and froze. "Is this …?"

"I think it was Hope," Davina said. "When she was upset about not getting a sister. She managed to make the connection that we couldn't have a baby. She said I'd be a good mom. And I'm about five weeks along, so that matches up."

"We're having a baby?" Kol said blankly.

Davina swallowed hard. "Apparently."

"Are you okay?" Kol asked.

"Are you?" Davina asked. "I've had three weeks to get my head round this and I'm still freaking out."

"You didn't need to do that by yourself," Kol said, cupping her face.

"I did," Davina said. "Because I had no idea how I felt and … Honestly, I wasn't sure I was going to go through with it until I saw that picture."

"And now?" Kol asked.

"I'm still not sure about being a mother," Davina said, her hands folding over her stomach, "but this is our baby. And they're not going anywhere."

Kol broke into a smile. "You know I can hear their heartbeat."

"I wish I could," Davina said. "I've got another appointment in two weeks. You're coming to that one."

"Yes, dear." Kol pulled her close, kissing her. "I love you so much, Davina. You and our baby."

Pregnancy was strange.

Caroline had had such an easy time of it that Davina couldn't help envying her with every bout of morning sickness.

On saying that, she realised at times of clarity that she would hopefully have a far easier labour than Caroline, so she supposed it all evened out.

It wasn't any easier now the baby was starting to move - she thought. In any case she kept feeling a fluttering movement that would make her dart for the bathroom, only for nothing to happen.

Caroline assured her that it was movement, but it was hard to tell the difference between that and nausea.

She was starting to get a little bit of a bump as well.

"Auntie Vina!"

Davina was dawn from her musings when Hope came running into the living room. "Hi sweetheart. Did you have fun visiting Lizzie and Josie?"

"Uh huh," Hope said. "Is the baby here?"

Davina shared a laugh with Caroline. "No, sweetheart. She's still in Auntie Davina's tummy. You want to feel?"

Hope nodded eagerly and scrambled up on to the couch beside her. "Please!"

Davina lifted up her shirt a little. "You see that little bump? That's where the baby is, keeping nice and warm until it's time to come out. When they're a bit bigger, they'll start moving and you'll be able to feel them."

"When they come and play?" Hope asked.

"Well, we have to wait for a bit," Davina said. "We have to wait for Mommy's birthday, and then Auntie Bekah's birthday, and then your birthday, and then Christmas, and then Uncle Kol's birthday, and then the baby can come. They have finish growing first."

"Okay," Hope said, patting her stomach gently. "Hi baby."

Davina smiled, then grimaced as another wave of nausea swept over her. "Oh for …"

"Hope, baby, go and play please," Caroline said hastily. "I don't think Auntie Davina's feeling very well."

"Kay," Hope said, hopping down and running off in the direction of the play room.

"Let me get you some water," Caroline said. "Are you going to vomit?"

"I don't think so," Davina said faintly. "I just feel a bit … I don't even know."

Caroline pressed a hand against Davina's forehead. "You're burning up actually. You might actually have a fever. Here, lie down; I'll get you a drink and an ice-pack."

By the time Kol got back from his trip to the bayou with Klaus, Davina was not feeling any better.

In fact, she was getting worse.

"It's a bad bout today," he commented.

"Understatement," Davina mumbled.

Kol pressed a kiss to her forehead and froze. "Caroline, how long as she been this hot?"

"A few hours," Caroline said. "She's getting hotter; I've tried ice packs and cold drinks; I've given her pregnancy safe medication. Nothing seems to be working. When Sophie gets home …"

"Call her," Kol said sharply. "Or Freya, if she's closer. This feels like a spell."

When Sophie got the call, she raced home from work.

Kol hovered beside his fiancée while Sophie muttered diagnostic spells under her breath. Finally she shook her head, looking grim. "I don't like this."

"What's wrong with her?!" Kol demanded.

Klaus placed a hand on his brother's shoulder. "What can we do, Sophie?"

"Davina did anything happen this morning that you remember?" Sophie asked.

"Nothing that might cause this," Davina said tiredly. "I mean, I think I got a bug bite, but that wouldn't cause this. Would it?"

"Where?" Sophie asked.

Davina gestured to her neck and Sophie checked, finding a small mark. She performed one last spell and then got to her feet, gesturing Kol and Klaus out of the room.

"We need to keep her calm," she said grimly. "I don't know how, but someone's used the Needle of Sorrows on her."

"And that is …" Klaus prompted.

"It's a dark object," Sophie said. "We started using them to get around the Marcel issue. This one is a particularly nasty one that is designed to raise a mother's body temperature in order to kill a child in utero."