I do not own TVD or TO

Sorry for the delays. Life has been crazy, and then I found a couple of books that I just couldn't put down.

The next three chapters are written. They are shorter chapters because they were all written as one long one but I'm giving the other two sections a quick edit before posting them.

A loud thump was the thing that made Caroline pause, breaking up the giggles from above; the sudden change of sound made Caroline stiffen. She couldn't understand at first the fear that tightened her muscles and stiffened her spine; she didn't understand, not until she heard the voice pulled taut.

"She's here."

With extreme precision she stepped, avoiding the squeaking floorboards; her nerves were too wound to allow her to question how she knew the quietest path so well, but a couple of months carrying Hope had taught her the silent route.

At the balcony she stood back and watched as a regal looking woman pressed her palms to the study door. She briefly considered attacking but reminded herself that the mystery woman was likely the one who had bested whatever immortal had thudded into the room; she was no match for someone who could best Amara or an Original.

Pulling her cell phone from her pocket she took careful aim and snapped a photo, cringing when the shutter effect went off. It was the loudest thing she had ever heard in her life, but luckily their guest lacked her supernatural senses. She didn't stick around long enough for the woman to look up.

She didn't think she could have moved if she wanted to. Her muscles had grown slack, her spine turned to water.

She bit down her giggle when he draped his arm over her stomach and laid his head on her breast.

"What are you doing?" She gasped, taking progressively deeper breaths under the weight of his head.

"You've got the only pillow," he mumbled against her flushed skin.

"And whose fault is that?" She felt his smirk. His stubble scratched her smooth flesh, making her shiver.

"Well…" he glanced up, eyes twinkling, "… you do have the only pillow, darling."

Elena found enough energy to give her wrist a tiny flick. She had wanted to give him a good smack but because of their close proximity the flying pillow clipped across both of their midsections.

Her laugh turned to a gasp when he snatched the new pillow and returned her throw with one of his own, careful to avoid the soft swell of their growing child: little more than a protrusion between her hips.

Exhilaration quickened her blood.

She rolled, snatching the pillow and straddling his hips. For a moment the only sounds that filled the room were laughter, squeaking bedsprings and smacking pillows, but then there was a distinct rip.

She wasn't sure if Kol had done it or if the casing had merely given way, but there was an explosion of feathers. Through the falling snow she saw his smirk and knew. With a sweet smile she tossed her pillow up and pulled on either end with her mind until a second cloud fluttered down over his head.

He gazed up at her through the falling feathers, her flushed cheeks, her sparkling eyes and her laughing lips, swollen from kisses; he observed the feathers in her hair and the love bites along her throat and knew he had to be in a similar state. He could already hear the ribbing Nik was going to give him about the hickeys, but he didn't care since they proved that he was hers as much as she was his.

"Okay," he plucked a feather from her hair, "I think it's safe to say neither of us can be trusted with pillows, but you do look beautiful covered in feathers."

"Really," she smirked, "because I feel like a duck."

"Don't be ridiculous, kardiá mou…" he sat up, wrapping his arms around her waist and kissing her cheek, "… these are clearly goose feathers."

"Are you saying I look like a goose?" She slipped her arms around his neck, tilting her head.

Before he could open his mouth to answer the door clicked. Neither of them had a chance to release an outraged cry, nor attempt to scramble for the rumpled bedding beneath their naked bodies, before pale hands clamped over their mouths.

"Don't scream; don't yell…" green eyes flickered from face to face. "Don't say anything."

Caroline released them when they nodded and gave her phone to Kol while Elena pulled the edge of the blanket up under her arms.

Kol's hissed curse confirmed Caroline's suspicions and Amara's earlier rambling.

"What's going on?" Elena felt worry twist in her stomach when she caught Kol's eye.

"Qetsiyah," he turned the phone and felt her stiffen against his arm.

"I think she sealed everyone in the study."

Elena couldn't quite understand the rush of fear that tightened her muscles, but knew the flash of silver and the smell of blood were parts of a distant memory.

"She's sealed us off," Amara kicked at the study door. The reverberations traveled the length of her leg. She kicked and pulled and cursed but the door would not come free. She knew though that they needed a witch on the outside and that the only chance of finding one at that point was Rebekah.

Spinning on her heel she found the Original brothers and Hope staring at her with wide eyes.

"Why are you staring at me like that?"

"Just trying to work out what you were saying, sweetheart," Klaus caught Hope's toy when she dropped it.

"We don't speak that particular dialect, Amara," Elijah cocked an eyebrow.

She swallowed and cleared her throat, not bothering to ask what language she had been speaking; over the course of the last two thousand years she had picked up many tongues from the supernatural beings that had passed through her to the Other Side, she'd had a foot and an ear in both realms.

"Get Rebekah back on the phone."

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