Chapter 5

Caroline followed Elijah quickly throughout the streets of the French Quarter. She started to speak wanting to ask him to take her back to her car so that she could retrieve her bag, but thought better of it and held her tongue. Elijah's long strides were hard to keep up with and she found herself having to add a little skip to her step every once in a while in order to keep up. A few streets later they turned and moved into a more residential neighborhood. Caroline was not surprised, although still in awe of the mansion Elijah brought her to. She was standing in front of a fortress, something that must have at least 70 rooms. It screamed Klaus.

They doors creaked ominously when opened and Elijah moved Caroline into a sitting room. "Niklaus will be in sometime in the next hour, you may talk to him then."

Caroline was flabbergasted, "No, I need to talk to him now, I thought you were bringing me to him."

"Well you see Miss Forbes" –Caroline interrupted him, "Call me Caroline." Elijah smiles, "Caroline. It is simply safer for you to be brought here and have Niklaus come to you. If I were to bring you to him you would be surrounded by vampires and witches."

"Uh, Hello, I am a Vampire!"

"Vampires and witches who do not have any loyalties towards Niklaus. I do not know what your relationship is to my brother but I do know that other people might want to use it to their advantage. This is the Mikaelson home. You are safe here."

Caroline thought about it, Tyler had said he was attacking during the day and there were still several hours left of night. If Klaus came back in the next hour then they would have plenty of time to plan safety measures for the baby. She conceded to Elijah's point, she could not help anyone if she wasn't safe.

"Okay, but I really need to talk to Klaus."

"Of course."

"Then thank you for bringing me here, and thank you for what you did in the square."

"It was nothing Caroline, I have some business to attend to. Will you be alright here on your own?"

"Yeah, don't let me keep you."

"I will be upstairs if you need anything." Caroline nodded in understanding.

When Elijah left the room she was in she snooped around. She was in a room with two oversized chairs in front of a fireplace. The small pile of wood glowed bright embers that were begging to be stoked. She placed another log on the fire and moved the embers around with the fire iron. When the wood caught light she added another few logs to keep the flames going for a while. She sat down on one of the chairs, flung her legs over the armrest of the chair and got her phone out of her pocket.

She had several messages from her mother, which she ignored, and one from Elena asking her where she was. She quickly replied, telling her she was in Mystic Falls for the weekend and she would be back Monday. She knew at least half of that message was a lie. She did not really know what this trip would bring her but she also didn't want to worry Elena. She had just clicked send when the door burst open.

"Hey Elijah where did my—Oh…hello."

Caroline had expected to see her, but not in this capacity. Not before she had seen Klaus. She looked at Hayley and then moved her eyes down to the young girls stomach where there was an unmistakable bump. Hayley's hand moved protectively to her own belly, "what are you doing here?" the pregnant girl inquired.

Caroline realized that the girl was a little frightened of her, maybe not completely scared, but wary nonetheless. She relished a little in that fear, and then felt immediately guilty for scaring a pregnant girl. "I'm just here to see Klaus," she said, not wanting to give anything away. She knew that only Klaus would trust that she had nothing to do with Tyler's plan. She couldn't trust anyone else with that information.

"He's not here right now, can I take a message?" the werewolf girl remarked, trying to get Caroline to leave quickly. But Caroline was not having any of that..

"Elijah brought me here, Hayley. So, I am welcome until a Mikaelson tells me to leave. And you are no Mikaelson." Caroline stood up determined. "You were looking for Elijah when you came in, he's upstairs." She crossed her arms in front of her chest.

She thought of this girl who betrayed them to Silas, who slept with Klaus. And all of a sudden, Caroline felt weary with anger. The anger she felt for Hayley was exhausting. She didn't own Klaus, and while she did not like Hayley, she had no energy to fight with her tonight. Another time, she thought, then sighed, "Listen Hayley, I know we have issues with one another, but we do not have to do this now. It's late, I just drove for some 12 odd hours and I'm exhausted. Can we set whatever this is aside for now?"

Hayley considered the proposition then nodded, "That's fine, I don't do high school drama anyways," She smiled superior.

"I think that baby has taken this past high school drama, don't you?"

Hayley nodded, "Yeah," she half laughed, "I guess she does."

When Hayley turned to leave Caroline remembered, "Don't trust Tyler, okay?"

Hayley turned back and stared at Caroline. For a moment these two women seemed to understand one another and felt unwanted familiarity. "Yeah, I learned that the hard way." Hayley intimated.

"Me too," Caroline replied and sat back in her chair. Hayley left and Caroline's head hit the back of her chair as she was hit by total exhaustion.

By the time Klaus returned to his home, Caroline was fast asleep on the armchair in front of a still roaring fire. He walked right passed the room she was in, unaware of her presence and took the stairs two at a time to confront Elijah.

"What is this I hear," he said as he walked into his elder brother's office, "about you killing a vampire in the square?"

"Hello Niklaus, it is nice to see you too." Elijah looked up from the papers he was reading on his deck.

"So, tell me. Who is this mystery woman whom you fought so bravely for?"

Elijah looked up and smiled, enjoying the moment, "Caroline Forbes."

Klaus' curiosity quickly changed to anger. He walked swiftly toward his brother who leaned back in his chair a smile still plastered to his face.

"What?"

"Why I was just helping our young friend from Mystic Falls. She showed up in the quarter and seemed to need my assistance."

Klaus leaned over his brother coming within inches of his face. "If you have done anything to her, I will—"

"Niklaus calm down, after I stopped the vampires in the square from accosting your young vampire, I brought her here."

"She's here" Klaus restated, shocked by what his brother was telling him.

"Yes, apparently she has to tell you something that is very important, and I did not want to bring her to Marcel's attention."

"Good," Klaus moved away from his brother. "If she's here, where is she?" he demanded.

Elijah almost smiled at his brother's insistence, "I put her in the front room. I am surprised that she didn't stop you when you walked in. She seemed… anxious to see you."

Klaus darkened at that, "Perhaps, dear brother, she was anxious because of an Original Vampire killing someone in front of her."

"I don't like what your insinuating, Niklaus, I assure you I was nothing but pleasant to the girl."

"That had better be true, Elijah." Elijah just rolled his eyes at his brother's half threat and let Klaus storm off in anger.

Klaus flew into the hallway. He paused on the landing and looked down to the room where Caroline Forbes awaited. He wondered why she had come, why she hadn't burst into Elijah's room to talk to him, if she had something important to say. He wondered a lot of things when it came to Caroline.

He walked downstairs and into the sitting room. He softened at the sight of this woman. She was curled up in an armchair, her knees brought to her chest, and her head was tilted and resting on the back of the chair. It was hard to see her eyes because her hair fell across her face, but it was clear she was sleeping soundly. Klaus weighed his options. He could awaken her, to find out why she was here, or even to pick up where they had left off weeks before in the woods. He could leave her there, but even as a vampire she would feel the crick in her neck the following day. He walked over to her deftly and put his one arm beneath her curled knees, the other supported her back. He lifted her from her perch and moved her quickly to his own room. He set her softly on his bed, removing the jacket from her body. He did not continue to remove her garments. He could already hear her anger at being disrobed without her consent. Even so he did remove the shoes from her feet and then pulled the quilt back in order to settle her comfortably beneath blankets.

On his way out, Klaus turned to look at this girl who had so captivated him. He moved back towards her, pushed the hair out of her face and kissed her forehead. They would have time in the morning, and the days following to discuss her presence in New Orleans. It was something that continued to plague his mind as he shut the door behind him, swiftly moved into another room, and fell into one of the guest bedrooms king size beds. His time in New Orleans had been unsettling so far, causing him much trouble and sleepless nights, but tonight Klaus would rest soundly knowing that Caroline Forbes was in his bed.

A/N:

I decided to update this right away in response to receiving 100 followers! I am really happy that people are liking this story. I have never done this before and the reception is wonderful.

I do want to comment on something my reviewers have asked: The baby is Klaus'. I know that means I will probably lose a few followers, but I look at the pregnancy storyline as a challenge. Can I get Klaus and Caroline together with all of the obstacles that couples face, that Klaus and Caroline face, AND a baby on top of that. And I don't just mean together: hooking up. I want them to last. So that is why I set out to write this. I love Klaus and Caroline and I think that the baby can be a really good thing for Klaus. Elijah said something like this on the show, and I believe that Klaus needs unconditional love, he needs to feel it, and a baby can give him that feeling. So this story is about: Can Caroline, with all of her goodness, find it in herself to be apart of a man's life while he is having/has a baby with another woman. Its going to be a struggle on both Klaus' and Caroline's parts, but I think they can get there.

P.S. Please Review! I really enjoy constructive criticism, let me know what you think.