The house was silent until a whimper stirred the siblings from their rest. Elijah was already awake, keeping an eye out and reading a file on Marcel's inner circle that he acquired. He raised his eyes as the pain whimper came again. It only took a moment before it grew to a scream.
Klaus bolted up in the bed as Caroline let out a terrifying scream. "It hurts!" She shouted as she fell against his chest. "Make it stop! Make it stop!" She curled up in to a ball, holding her stomach as the pain ripped through her.
He stammered a moment before screaming over her. "BONNIE! 'LIJAH! SOMEONE!" He swallowed as she screamed again and bit in to his shoulder. It wasn't pleasant but he realised she needed blood for the pain. He shifted her so she could latch on to his neck but the pain doubled and she threw her head back in an even louder scream.
A mild pain travelled through his own stomach and his eyes widened. If he could feel it enough to flinch, she must have been in absolute agony.
Elijah burst through the door with Kol behind. Kol dropped Bonnie to her feet and she stumbled over to Caroline. She took the blonde's hand as she bit Klaus' neck hard enough for him to grimace. If she didn't bite him, she'd probably end up biting Bonnie.
"It's the baby," Bonnie panted out. The veins on her hands rippled black and she grimaced. "What?" He breathed in horror at her. "He... He's growing. Too fast. She's... changing. For the baby."
"Stop taking her pain, Bonnie," Kol snapped at her, knocking her back. When the connection broke, Caroline burst in to a howl of pain. "She's in agony, Kol!" Bonnie shouted at the Original holding her back. "Give it to me! I can withstand it!" Klaus roared at them both.
Bonnie was released by a reluctant Kol and she sat back on the bed. Elijah shifted on to the bed also, taking Caroline to rest against his side as Klaus prepared for the pain. With a link of Bonnie's hands between the mates, the veins on the witch and hybrid turned black.
Klaus felt his insides churning and felt them being crushed. He doubled over with clenched teeth but no sound but a small huff of breath. His eyes flashed golden as Caroline's eyes fluttered closed and her breathing evened out.
After what felt like hours but was mere seconds, the pain was gone and Bonnie released them both. Klaus gasped for air, slipping off the side of the bed. He landed on his back, arching with the remaining affects of the pain. Caroline was unconscious against Elijah who soothed her by stroking her hair fondly as a father would a sick child. He peered over the bed to see Klaus staring at him. "Leave her. Get out."
Elijah lay Caroline down as Kol fled from the room with a confused Bonnie. With the door locked behind him – not that a little wooden door would help against a hybrid – Elijah met Liz's furiously terrified eyes. "Caroline is well. My brother is not."
"Where is she?"
"Unconscious."
"With him turning in to a wolf?!"
"She is safe. We, however, may not be." He tried ushering her but she was rather strong for a human when she got her footing.
"How is she safe?"
"You daughter is not only one of the most remarkable women that I have ever met, but she is Niklaus' mate. He would never hurt her. He is turning at the moment due to his inner wolf instincts telling him that she needs protecting more at the moment than ever before. If we're near when he is a wolf, he may lose his recognition of his human world with the desire to keep her away from all else."
"Right. Why are we still standing here, then?" He wanted to roll his eyes so hard that he'd give himself a concussion but it was not the time. With an inaudible sigh, he wrapped an arm around her waist and flashed them to the other side of the house.
Klaus shook his fur covered body and paced the room. There were smells everywhere of other people and he let out a growl but it caught at the sound of something else. Turning his head, he looked over the bed to see Caroline lay with her hand on her stomach. The t-shirt she wore was tighter now than it had been just a few hours ago. There was the smallest rise in her stomach. That was where the noise was coming from.
Thump...
Thump...
Thump...
It was a heartbeat. The heartbeat of their son. Bonnie had said he was growing faster in those minutes and he realised that the speed had stretched Caroline's body to accommodate to him. Leaping on to the bed, he walked around her with her eyes on her stomach.
"Go to sleep, Klaus," he heard. Snapping his eyes up, he saw her sleepily looking at him. "I'm tired and your dog breath is tickling me." He let out a whine at the insult and threw himself down next to her. Lightly, he lay his head on her stomach with an ear over their son's heartbeat. She smiled softly before putting her head back down and falling back to sleep. He shut his eyes, eventually drifting off to the two heartbeats of those he adored and Caroline's peaceful breathing.
Caroline muttered as she walked slowly in to the kitchen. Her stomach grumbled as she waddled, still sore from her body moving around in a mere minute to accommodate for a three month jump baby-wise. Claws scratched over the wood and she let out a small growl and threw open the fridge door.
Elijah looked over his newspaper as Kol slugged in. They both paused seeing the great dirty gold wolf sat with his tongue out waiting for Caroline to finish in the fridge. "Don't ask," Caroline snapped at them before pulling away with a mountain of food. "Would you like me to cook something for you, Caroline?" Elijah asked good naturedly. "No thanks. I've got to get Klaus' bacon-"
she cut off and looked at him when he whined. "Yes, I know." She looked back at Elijah with a huff. "Bacon and sausages ready how he likes." Elijah and Kol shared a confused look and she froze. "What now? Am I mutating?"
"Something like that," Kol drawled out making her panic. Klaus made another noise and she frowned between the wolf and the brothers. "Are you mocking me?"
"No, Caroline. Kol just phrased that wrong," Elijah answered as he made his way over to her, stepping over Klaus. She was squeezing a blood bag in to a bowl but stopped when Elijah took it from her so she'd look at him.
He caught her face in his hands as she looked at him both confused and terrified. She couldn't take vervain with her son being a hybrid sort of thing so Elijah could easily compel her. Klaus nipped at Elijah's leg in warning but the elder Mikaelson just nudged him away for Kol to get him away. Kol decided to sit on him to do that as Klaus huffed, glaring between his brothers.
"Remarkable," Elijah smirked in amazement, shaking his head. "What?" She squeaked out. "You're changing in to a hybrid." Kol let out a yelp and a crack broke the tense confusion as Klaus shifted back.
It was the wrong time for Liz, Stefan, Bonnie and Rebekah to walk in whilst Klaus was stood commando in the kitchen. "EW!" Bonnie and Rebekah screeched, turning away as Liz glared straight at Klaus' face. "Keep your creepy sexscapades to the bedroom!" Rebekah shouted. "She's turning into a what?" Klaus demanded, ignoring everyone but Elijah. "KLAUS! PANTS! NOW!" Caroline hurled some clothes at him from the laundry and in a flash he had some loose flannel pants on that pooled at his feet a little.
"I hate this place," Stefan finally let out, traumatised completely. "Do not make me repeat myself, Elijah," Klaus hissed still staring at the suited man. "What's going on?" Liz's voice wavered with concern as she moved towards her daughter. "Caroline is turning in to a hybrid."
They all paused for a breath before Liz span Elijah round and pinned him against a wall. Caroline froze but Elijah simply stood there, feeling the human woman's hands trembling as she fisted his suit. "Explain. Now."
"She will not die," he said firstly, waiting until the news sunk in and she released him. Caroline held on to her mother, rubbing the shaking woman's arms. "Mom, I'm okay. I-I don't even feel it."
"Caroline is turning in to a hybrid. Human women that become pregnant with a werewolf's child can sometimes turn in to a wolf if the birth is... complicated. Say the woman is weak and would not survive the supernatural birth, the balance to save both mother and child is to slowly turn them during the duration of their pregnancy."
"And how did you figure this out only this morning?" Liz hissed at him. She didn't want Caroline to die because this baby made her something impossible. What if she survived the pregnancy but rejected her hybrid state after? She couldn't lose her baby even if she had a grandson.
"She understood Niklaus when he was in human form. Only wolves can communicate with one another. Her eyes also change when threatened."
He moved suddenly and Caroline pushed her mother behind her. Klaus and Kol looked at her in shock as her eyes turned golden. Rebekah moved around to see her in all her glory, the baby vampire now a baby hybrid. Liz turned her around but Caroline flinched trying to hide her face. "Baby," Liz cooed, coaxing her to look back. When Caroline's eyes opened, they were bright gold with white flecks. Liz's fingers traced veins under her eyes before she cupped her daughter's face. Bringing her closer, she kissed Caroline's forehead. Stefan moved closer, looking at Caroline worriedly as tears rolled down her cheeks. "It'll be okay, baby. Come here."
Caroline wrapped her arms around her mother's neck and squeezed her eyes shut, breathing deeply, she managed to push back her vampire features before burying her face in the crook of Liz's neck. Liz held her tightly, feeling the small bump of Caroline's stomach against her own. "This is insane," Liz huffed as she met Klaus' eye accidentally. "I'll talk to my Grams about it," Bonnie offered before walking away with Kol trailing behind her. Klaus walked past the hugging pair, fingers brushing down Caroline's back in silent communication to her that he'd be in another room for her.
Elijah and Rebekah disappeared by the time to two parted and Stefan smiled softly. "Come here," Liz sighed, opening her arm for Stefan to join. "Oh, I don't want to... intrude."
"Stefan, get in here. You're the son I never had." Stefan's smile made Caroline's eyes water again with unshed tears. "Come on, brother," she teased. He didn't wait any longer before joining them. "Thank you. Liz, you have no idea how much that means to me. I- I don't even remember my mother."
"Well, I don't think I'm going anywhere for a while, Stefan."
"Mom!" Caroline snapped, pulling away from them both and staring at her mother brokenly.
"Not now, Care. We live in the present where I'm here, you're pregnant, and I'm with my family." She paused until Caroline gave her a small smile before adding, "Including Klaus and his siblings."
"And Bonnie?"
"I said family, didn't I?"
Caroline beamed, hopping a little as she hugged her mother and Stefan again. "I think Rebekah could be the big sister I wish I'd given you."
"Mom, I-"
"No." Liz pulled away before cupping her cheeks. "Caroline, I wish I had given you a lot of things that I didn't, including my attention. I can't change the past. What happened... happened. Now I'm here and I am not going anywhere. I'm going to be a better grandmother than I was a mother."
The emotion was too much for Liz and she kissed Caroline's cheek before she left. Caroline fell against Stefan as he wrapped his arms around her whilst she cried.
Klaus walked in to the room and his eyes found her instantly. Stefan guided her from his arms since she hadn't noticed him. Ignoring her whimper, he turned her straight towards Klaus. She seemed to sense Klaus then and opened her arms. They found him, wrapping around his waist as he brought her close. His hand cradled her head and he pressed his lips to her hair.
"I don't want her to go," Caroline whispered whilst clinging to him.
"I know, sweetheart. You can't force her in to becoming a vampire, though, Caroline. It would be her choice."
"She wouldn't agree."
"Then we give her as much as she can take – and more – until she's gone. We won't waste any time."
"I love you." His heart always leapt at those words and he knew that, no matter how many times she'd say it during their eternity, he would never grow used to it. She would always surprise him with those three little words that meant so much.
"I love you." She let out a breath before smiling. No matter how many times she'd say the same words, she could never have the same meaning behind them. The man afraid of love, the man who couldn't love, the man who wouldn't love... loved her. For a thousand years he had believed love to be a weakness until her. Now he was learning that it was a strength and he was learning that love and family were a reason to fight instead of power and anger.
They were silent for a moment, not focusing on anything really, and that was when they heard it again.
Thump...
Thump...
Thump...
It was still so light, sounding as fragile as moth wings, but it was there. Whilst Klaus couldn't wait for their son to grow, to feel him kick, to hear a stronger heartbeat, to hold him in his arms at the end, he would not wish for Caroline to experience such pain again. Caroline could not even remember it, but she felt the soreness that came afterwards.
The next few months were going to be difficult enough with the baby, but with the threats against them... Klaus wondered whether they'd all survive it.