Hello, my lovely readers. Okay, so this chapter turned out to a little angstier than I expected it to be. I hope that you like it anyway. There's some TO oriented material in here. You've been warned. On with the show…

Chapter 2: You're in My Head

Klaus was exhausted when his doorbell began to chime at 6 a.m. He titled his head backward to see the clock on the nightstand. It was flashing red at his blurry eyes. 'Who in the bloody hell would have the nerve to wake him at this hour?' he was thinking moodily as he grabbed a pair of pants and yanked them on. Flicking on the radio, he bobbed his head on the way to the door. Hitting the intercom, he yelled. "What d'ya want?"

"KLAUS! Open the damned door!" An even moodier voice yelled back and Klaus shut his eyes tightly, covering them with his hand and running it up through his hair, then back over his stubble. She was the last person on the face of the earth he was in the mood to talk to.

The bell chimed again. "Just give me a moment to dress!" Klaus shouted into the intercom. Trudging back into his bedroom, he found a shirt and pulled it over his head, grumbling all the while about lousy one night stands coming back to haunt him.

By the time Klaus got back to the intercom, he found that someone was pounding on his door. 'Did she not realize that he had neighbors?' he wondered with a grunt, flicking the lock and twisting the knob to sneer at Hayley Marshall, who sneered back.

"God, Klaus, you have to take care of her for two WHOLE days out of your BUSY week, and you can't answer the door like everyone else!" Hayley snapped, shouldering her way past him as Hope sucked on her pacifier furiously, watching her parents argue with tears in her eyes. "Just one! One damned day, I ask you to, please, take her early so I can get to this interview, on time. Seriously, Klaus!" she continued to fume while placing Hope in a highchair.

Klaus stood in the doorway, waiting for Hayley to simply kiss the baby good-bye and to take her leave. No, she always had to put on a spectacle. It was not as if they had long history of loving each other profoundly, and then brutally breaking the other's heart. No, they were the two fools who hooked up at a friend of a friend's party and had a wonderful baby as a result as well as being tied to each other for the next eighteen years.

Rolling his eyes, Klaus thought about how many times a week he suggested to his devoted fans to "always use a condom." Smirking at the thought, he only looked up when he found that Hayley was glaring at him with one hand on her hip. "Yes?" he said mildly.

"I brought the tape," Hayley snapped, walking across the room, and thrusting it into his chest. "You can thank Jack later," she said on her way out the door.

Narrowing his eyes, Klaus forced a tight smile. "I can think of several ways I would like to thank your husband for his continued efforts to undermine me as a parent."

Spinning on her heel, Hayley moved so that she was directly in Klaus' face. "You know, you should appreciate what Jack does. He doesn't have to record your stupid programs because Hope likes to hear her daddy insult people. And he doesn't undermine you. He just wants to be a good co-parent."

"Then maybe he should consider making a child of his own," Klaus snarled. He was about to slam the door in Hayley's face when she placed her foot in the jamb.

"Move it or lose it, sweetheart," Klaus growled.

"You know, maybe if you were a little bit nicer to people, you wouldn't destroy every good thing in your life. That's why I feel sorry for that Caroline girl. If she had a brain, she would run from the big, bad wolf." Smirking back at Klaus, Hayley shouldered her bag and turned to run down the stairs.

Exiting the flat, Klaus came to stand at the top of the stairs. "By the way," he shouted after her. "Elijah's got a date tonight."

Hayley looked up at Klaus, her jaw tightening before she shook her head and ran out the door. Smiling to himself, Klaus re-entered his apartment to find his little princess had spit out her pacifier and was sobbing hysterically. "Oh, there, there, my darling girl," Klaus called, coming to her aid. Releasing the child from her chair, he tucked her into his arms while eyeing the tape in his hand. "Would you like to hear daddy and the pretty woman he was talking to yesterday?"

Hope shoved her finger into her mouth and stared at her father with a look that reminded him of her mother. "Right," he said. "How about a little walk around the flat first? We'll ease ourselves into listening to my program. It's very important to check one's art, it gives us some idea of what we're doing that works."

Klaus only had to rock the child for a good thirty minutes before she was drooling all over him like a drunken bird. Patting his baby's back gently, Klaus went over to his tape player and popped the new chat in. Hearing the sound of Caroline's voice again made him smile. She did have a remarkable set of lungs. She could go from shrill to quiet as his little lamb. Glancing at the babe, he watched her nuzzle into his neck.

If only he could find Miss Caroline. Perhaps someone he knew, knew her. Or he could have a bit of an on-air contest. The first listener to identify this woman would get some sort of prize. On the other hand, Klaus was not sure that he wanted to do that. What if some other block happened to meet this beauty and sweep her off her feet? No, that would not happen. She was his. Or she would be once they met in person.

"Tell daddy how to find a woman in a city ripe with them, hmmm?" Klaus muttered into the baby's ear who only gurgled contentedly in her sleep. "Bother," Klaus groaned, setting the tape to the beginning, he tried to decide where it was that Miss Caroline was from. America. That one he was sure of. But where in America. And why had she chosen to come to NOLA. For a girl like her there had to be limitless opportunities. All Klaus knew was that he was not going to find the answers by playing her tape over and over again.

Getting up, Klaus walked to the kitchen to find something suitable to eat. He found absolutely nothing. Taking out a carton out of milk, he took a tentative sniff. Wrinkling his nose when it was assaulted by a smell worse that Kol's sneakers after he had jogged five miles, Klaus tossed the milk down the sink. "Looks like we need to go to the store, love," he whispered to Hope who turned her head away from him. "I know, I don't want to deal with those incompetent clerks either."

The store that Klaus frequented the most often was only five blocks away. He could walk. Running his hand through his hair, he gave himself a quick check in the mirror. Definitely not date night material, but who would he meet in the check-out aisle anyway? Finding his sunglasses beneath a magazine, he was out the door. On the way to the store, he noticed and was noticed by several women, but none of them was a blonde much to his disappointment.

Entering the store through the automatic doors, Klaus strode through the aisles lazily with a basket. A bottle of milk. A box of cereal. Maybe something with sugar in it. He never knew when Kol would come to crash on his couch and he always whined until his big brother went out to get him some. Adjusting Hope on his hip, his ears pricked when he heard the faint sound of a familiar voice. His head whirled, but he did not see the person the voice belonged to. But she was here. He was sure of it. Where though? Klaus began to stalk down the aisle as Hope grabbed a hand full of his hair.

"Hope, not right now," Klaus moaned as his child tried to force his head to turn toward her. He had to see if he was going insane.

"No, I do not buy nail polish here!" the voice said loud enough for Klaus to be sure that it was her. Then there was a peal of laughter. "No!" she continued.

Coming to the end of the aisle, Klaus saw her. She was everything he had expected. Blonde, blue eyed, bubbly and tall. She had the loveliest legs beneath a blue, mini shirt that hugged her arse.

Smirking to himself, Klaus was about to move toward her when he noticed that she was not alone. She was with a man. And not just any man. A man that Klaus was very familiar with. Jackson. Bloody. Kenner. He was holding up a bottle of what Klaus supposed was nail polish toward the grinning blonde. "No!" Caroline giggled.

Klaus gritted his teeth. 'Perhaps they were friends,' he thought sourly when Jackson's eyes moved to Caroline's rear. No, that was not friendship that the step-father of his child had on his mind. Bloody hell. Klaus had never trusted the man, not since the first time that Hayley had introduced the two and Jackson had been too friendly, too easy going and too ready to let things go.

Klaus emitted a growl when he saw Jackson slide an arm around Caroline's slim waist and lean in for a kiss. That was it. He was going to confront the two when they turned away and headed to the check out. Hope took that opportunity to slap Klaus in the face. Whirling his head around, Klaus glared at his daughter. "Do not hit me!" he snarled and Hope wailed, loudly. Sighing, he put the basket down and began to bounce her, gently, up and down.

By the time that Klaus turned to confront the cheating dick that was Hayley's soon to be ex-husband if Klaus had anything to do with it, he found they were long gone. Bloody hell. Klaus checked out and carried his groceries back to his flat. Placing Hope back in her seat, Klaus made himself a bowl of cereal and angrily crunched as he played the tape once more. Now, he had another reason to despise Jackson. He had bloody well made this tape knowing that the woman that he was cheating with was also the one that Klaus had become smitten with from one conversation.

Reflecting on his role in preventing his brother, Elijah, and Hayley from riding off into the bloody cliché sunset, Klaus cursed himself. He had not wanted to have to sit through countless family dinners with the woman. He had not wanted to have to deal with her and Elijah shoving their bliss down his throat, knowing full well what his luck had been. And apparently that had not changed. Perhaps he should ring Cami up and ask her to go out for a drink? No, he had the baby.

Cursing women in general, Klaus turned to Hope, who looked at him with huge eyes. "Don't fall in love, ever!" he told her and she stared back at him curiously. Pushing the play button again, Klaus listened to the tape play and his heart crumbled just a little bit more with each sound she made. 'I could have made you happy. I could have been your last love,' he thought miserably before silencing her voice.

TBC

So, wasn't that just sad and shocking…

Thanks for reading, faving, following and for leaving your comments/questions in that little box below.

Daniellerae23: Thank you and I will, I promise because we're building toward a happy ending, slowly.

Guest: Oh, they will officially meet at some point, although I'm not sure when yet. Then sparks and words will fly. Till then you can look forward to one scathing radio conversation in chapter three.

: I know and they will. Just be little bit patient. Trust me, it will be worth the wait.

NikMik: It is, thank you. They will meet in person somewhere in the next couple of chapters because this will be a short story.

Redbudrose: Thank you.

Goldenhummingbird: Thank you.

JuseaPeterson: Thank you. Yes, Caroline called Klaus out and next time it will be his turn in his own way.

TVD. : Thank you, that's sweet.

Peace,

Jessica