VIII

Elijah exited his officer when he heard the shouting between Klaus and Caroline. He briefly saw Caroline exiting, Genevieve smirking, and Klaus standing there with a content smile on his face. "Klaus, a word."

Klaus followed Elijah into his office. "Klaus what is all the shouting about?" Elijah asked. "It's bad for business. Why are you and Miss Forbes fighting?"

"She came to me with this outrages lie." Klaus said.

"What lie?"

"That she's pregnant and carrying my child." Klaus scoffed. "As if, and if she thinks this is some clever way of roping me into-"

"You fool!" Elijah hissed surprising him as he gripped him by the collar. "It's time for you to be a man and grow up and accept responsibility for you actions. You should be grateful that Miss Forbes wants to have your child."

"What are you talking about?" Klaus blinked. Since when was Elijah so passionate about babies?

Elijah sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. "Katherine doesn't want to have the baby."

"I didn't know." Klaus admitted. He knew that Elijah was happy about the baby, he had assumed that Katherine was too. His brother actually looked heartbroken at the thought.

"Me neither until last night." Elijah said. "So don't be an idiot."

Caroline forced herself not to cry. She was not going to cry. Klaus was not going to make her cry again. She hadn't given Klaus the satisfaction of seeing her tears and she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction now even though he was nowhere to be seen

But within minutes Caroline broke her promise as she let the tears fall as she rested her forehead against the wheel of the car. Her entire body shook and she felt like she was choking. She was such an idiot. How could she have thought for one second that she and Klaus might have worked it out?

Caroline knew what a charming, imbecile Klaus was and she had still let herself hope maybe daydream about the life that they could have had together. She deserved everything.

But still why did Klaus have to be so cruel, he had practically called her a slut and didn't care enough to believe that Caroline was carrying his child.

"Don't cry, Forbes." She scolded herself as she dried her tears. "He doesn't deserve you tears."

Caroline leaned back against the seat of the car. The baby wasn't even born yet and the thought of bills didn't seem to leave her mind. Katherine had Elijah to help her out, but Caroline didn't have anyone. Sure her mom wouldn't let them starve, but she didn't have much money either and babies were expensive, not to mention that Caroline had all the bills from the store that she needed to pay.

The store. Her dream. Her baby.

She had worked so hard for it and now it was ready to slip from her fingertips.

"The baby comes first." She sighed. There was no other way around it, she would have to sell the store.

Klaus wasn't usually fond of strip clubs, he preferred to get his pleasures elsewhere, but he was in no mood to be a gentleman tonight and in strip clubs the dancers didn't really care if you were rude to them as long as you paid them good money.

Klaus had a favorite place called Marty's Girls, the place was clean and the girls were pretty.

"Hi, Mr. Mikaelson we haven't seen you in a while." A tall girl with black hair greeted him. She was wearing a short black skirt and a tube top.

"Evening Sally." Klaus said gruffly as he pulled out his wallet. "I'm feeling tense right now, I received some very bad news. Perhaps a private dance with your best girl will help fix that."

Sally smirked as she counted the bills. "Right this way, sir." Her hips singed back and forth as she led Klaus to a red, velvet colored room. "Wait here our best girl will be right out."

Klaus waited impatiently, which gave him plenty of time to think about his predicament. Caroline was pregnant with his baby? She had to be joking, it couldn't be possible, but she hadn't looked like she had been lying.

His thoughts were interrupted when a busty blond wearing a short red dress came into the room. "You must be Mr. Mikaelson. I'm Cami."

"Beautiful name." Klaus said turning his charm on. Cami sat on his lap and started kissing him.

Cami's blond hair was soft and her touch was seducing. She started landing small kisses down the base of his neck. Klaus moaned and blurted out. "Caroline." Without thinking.

Cami immediately pulled away. "Caroline? Is that your wife?" If there was one thing that Cami couldn't stand was cheating husbands.

"No." Klaus snapped. Though he didn't really know what Caroline was to him at the moment.

Cami shook her head in disappointment. "Well it seems you want her not me, come back and see me when you're not wrapped around another girl's little finger."

"Now what is it Caroline, you have me worried sick." Liz said and even under her coat of blush Caroline could tell how pale she was. Caroline for the most part was a good daughter, but when she had bad news, it was generally bad so Liz had the right to be worried. Especially since it was a Monday evening and she was at home instead of working.

Caroline didn't look at her mother, she desperately wanted a glass of wine, but she stuck with tea instead. How was she supposed to tell her mom that her daughter was pregnant and she wasn't married or even had a steady boyfriend?

"Caroline, tell me." Liz pleaded again.

Caroline took a deep breath. "I'm pregnant mom, three weeks pregnant, almost a month."

Liz's features turned pale, then white, then almost sickly. "What?" she squeaked.

"Pregnant." Caroline repeated again. She looked like her mom would fall dead on the floor. "Mom, are you ok?"

"No, I'm not ok." She placed a hand on her face. "My baby is having a baby, how did this happen Caroline?"

"I think we both know how it happened."

"You know what I mean." Liz's scowl softened a bit. "Who's the father?"

This was not a question that Caroline was looking forward too, especially since Klaus had laughed in her face. "The father is Klaus. Klaus Mikaelson."

"The guy that used to torment you when you're were little?" Liz asked confused. "The one that made you come home crying when you were in first grade."

Oh yeah, she had forgotten that, apparently Klaus's hobby growing up was torturing her. Good thing that hadn't changed. "Yes, that's the one Rebekah and Elijah's brother." She paused when her mother still couldn't put the pieces together. "It was a one night stand."

Liz let out a silent groan as she looked at her daughter with pity. "What are you going to do Caroline?

Caroline shook her head. "I don't know."

-End of Chapter Eight-