X

"You have news, I'm sure." Klaus looked towards Michael that was sitting across from him. "Otherwise you wouldn't be here."

"I do have news." Michael said as he pushed a folded towards Klaus. Klaus opened it and saw a number of paperwork that belonged to Caroline. The first few didn't bother him a few school transcripts, a few paid parking tickets-

He frowned when he saw the amount of money that Caroline owed, she was very much in debt. How was his child supposed to live with a very irresponsible mother that let herself get into debt? It seemed that Caroline needed Klaus more than she wanted to admit.

"What are all these debts?" he demanded.

"Mostly credit card bills, a few bank loans." Michael said. "Miss Forbes has gotten very behind on her payments ever since she started that little store of hers."

"She owes this much money?" he demanded. How did Caroline expect herself to raise a child by herself if she couldn't even take care of herself?

"Genevieve." Klaus barked.

Genevieve came in. "Yes, Mr. Mikaelson?"

Klaus practically threw the bills at her. "Call the banks, the credit card bills and tell them to clear off the debts using money from my account. You have the number don't you?"

She nodded. "Yes, but these are Caroline's debts not yours."

"I know whose debts they are." Klaus said. "Just paid them off, my child will not be living in poverty."

Genevieve paled. "Your child? Caroline is pregnant?"

"Yes," Klaus said impatiently. "Now, I did ask you to do something, so won't you please do it and stop wasting my time?"

Genevieve looked hurt by the comment. "All right."

"How are you feeling, sweetheart?" Liz said as she looked at Caroline. The two of them were drinking tea in the kitchen though Caroline was ignoring the cookies that Liz had brought for her. She noticed that Caroline had dark circles under her eyes. "You look tired."

Caroline forced a smile. "I am tired, more like stressed though. Babies are hard work and this one is not even born yet."

Liz chuckled. "Believe me, I remember babies can be stressful." She paused, she didn't know how to bring up the topic. "Caroline, sweetheart I didn't bring this up before, but I was thinking . . . I know we're not very religious but why don't you abort the baby. You have so much in your life right now-"

"Mom, stop." Caroline said firmly. "Abortions is not an option."

"I don't want to upset you." She said quickly. "I just think that maybe you should look at your other options."

"I don't have other options." She said ruefully. "I'm keeping the baby mom, I want the baby."

Liz nodded, defeated. "How about Klaus? Has he changed his mind yet?"

"That condescending jerk?" Caroline scoffed. "Never." Klaus hadn't even apologize, worse he acted like it was her fault and he was doing her a big favor.

Liz grabbed her hand. "He'll come around, sweetheart."

Caroline sighed as she looked at her tea. "I sincerely doubt it."

Caroline didn't know if running hurt the baby in her first trimester, but she wanted to relax and running helped her so she started jogging slowly. Caroline enjoyed running, it helped her calm down and relax something that she needed very much.

"Caroline?" a voice said. "Caroline Forbes is that you?"

She turned around and squinted at the man in the jogging suit. It took her a minute to match the face to the name. "Tyler?"

"Yep." Tyler said looking please as he gave her a hug. Tyler and Caroline had been childhood friends before Tyler had moved away. "It's good to see you Care Bear.

"You too." Caroline grinned. "It's been so long, you look . . . good."

"And you look beautiful I just moved back."

"I still live here." She said hoping that Tyler didn't see the outline of her belly.

Tyler looked at his watch. "Crap, look I have to go, but how about we meet for lunch to catch up? What's your number?"

"I would love to." She said as she gave Tyler her number. She watched him as he jogged away. She smiled. Thank God there were some good guys still.

"Good afternoon, Stefan." Caroline said as she pushed open the door of Stefan's office a few days later. She was hoping that Stefan had some clients interested in buying a store, she needed to sell it and get a new job as soon as possible and getting a job was going to be hard enough especially since she didn't have a college degree.

Stefan nearly flinched when he looked up. "Caroline, I wasn't expecting you."

"Sorry," she said. "It's just that your office was just around the corner," she trailed off. "I won't bother you for long, I was just wondering if you found anyone that wanted to buy the store."

"I'm being rude, please sit down." Stefan started rambling. "Can I offer you tea, or water-"

"Stefan," she sighed. "Cut the crap, you aren't fooling me, it's ok if you don't find anyone to buy the store."

"Actually, I did, I asked around." Stefan said. "There was one person very interested in it, he wanted to buy it right away."

Caroline felt a huge weight lift off her shoulders. "Really? Who?"

Stefan didn't answer for a long time, until he finally murmured the name. "Klaus."

Elijah heard a knock on the door and he was surprise when he saw Katherine, he thought she was still staying at Caroline's. "You don't have to knock, it's your house too."

Katherine gave him a sad smile. "It was my house. I came here to pick up the rest of my stuff."

Elijah looked confused. "You're moving out?"

"I just think it's for the best." She said. "I mean things are strange between us and just because I'm keeping the baby doesn't mean we have to live together."

"I know." Elijah said awkwardly as he closed the door. "But I want you to stay."

Katherine looked up hopefully. "You do?"

He nodded. "I know we have had our problems, Katherine." He kissed her. "But I love you and I don't want you to leave."

-End of Chapter Ten-