XVIII

Caroline heard knocking one late afternoon, she slipped her feet into her flip flops and opened the door, she was surprised when she saw Tyler there. "Tyler?" she chirped. "Hi, how did you get my new address?"

"You mom," Tyler said. "I called her when I saw that your old apartment was empty. May I come in?"

She nodded. "Come on in,"

Tyler went inside and whistled as the lavishly decorated apartment. "Nice place, I can see that the store is doing well."

"Uh, not really it was robbed."

Tyler's eyes widened. "Oh, no are you ok?"

She nodded. "I'm fine, it was during the middle of the night." She nervously moved her feet back and forth. "Actually I'm living here with someone, Klaus."

Tyler's mouth became thin. "Klaus? The jerk who got you pregnant, the one who didn't believe you and didn't want anything to do with you? How could you move in with him Care?"

"Let me explain," she pleaded, though a part of her was wondering why she deserved to give Tyler an explanation. "Things are different now, he's changed, maybe not for the better in some cases, but he's not the same person who rejected me-"

"And you believe him?" Tyler scoffed. "Caroline, I've been surrounded by people like Klaus all my life. He may be interested right now, but he will leave the second another thing catches his interest."

Caroline put her hands into fists. "Don't you think I know that Tyler? Don't you think I worry about that every single day? I know who Klaus is, and I know what he's capable of doing, but still I gave him a chance and frankly whatever Klaus and I do is none of your business!"

Tyler was about to respond when the door opened and Klaus came in, looking confused. He turned to Tyler. "Your friend came to visit." There was a tone of irony in his voice, he recognize Tyler.

"Yeah?" Tyler retorted "is that a problem?"

"Careful mate," he said icily. "You're in my house."

"I know apparently in a matter of months you have even manage to brainwash, Caroline," Tyler said. "You should know that not all of us are falling for this Klaus and that Caroline will have people to defend her."

"Are you threatening me?"

"Tyler," Caroline said quietly. "I think you need to leave."

Klaus gave him a smirk, Tyler mumbled something his breath, but left without another goodbye.

Once he left Klaus turned back to her. "What the hell was he doing in my apartment, Caroline?"

"Excuse me?" she shot back. "This is my place too, I live here. I don't need your permission to invite my own friends Klaus, and it's just Tyler what's the big deal?"

"The big deal, sweetheart is that he doesn't like me and I can tell you the feeling is mutual. I wouldn't be surprise if he was whispering evil things about me in your pretty little ear."

Caroline rubbed her temples. "Would you listen to yourself? You're acting paranoid, he wasn't saying anything bad."

Klaus didn't say anything. Caroline rested her hand on the counter. "Look, Klaus if we're going to live together, much less raise a baby together we need to be able to trust each other."

Klaus didn't say anything, he just stared at the counter wearing a childish pout. Caroline squeezed his hand. "Klaus look at me."

His blue eyes meet hers as he leaned forward and gave her a small kiss.

"Klaus," she barely whispered his name, though her mind was all over the place. What the hell had happened? Why had Klaus kissed her? Why was he acting this way?

Apparently, Klaus thought the same thing because he pulled back and looked at Caroline. "I'm sorry," he croaked as he simply turned away towards the door.

"Wait," she said as she tried to walk after him, but he was much too fast for her. She leaned back against the wall and closed her eyes. She had a feeling that she had complicated her life even more.

"Why the hell did you make out with Klaus?" Katherine shouted over her cell phone, she had been in the middle of cleaning out her closet since it was getting more tiring for her to wear heels, she had decided to find all her flats and flip flops so when the time came when she couldn't see her own feet anyone she would actually be able to slip her feet inside a pair of shoes.

"Don't yell," Caroline whined. "I feel like my head is about to explode, I still can't believe I did that. Well, for the record he kissed me and then I sort of kissed him back."

"What happened?" Katherine asked curiously as she settled on the couch.

"Well, Tyler came to visit-"

"Wait, Tyler from high school?" she asked. "I haven't seen him in ages."

Caroline shook her head. "That's not the point, Kat we were just talking and then Klaus came home early and he started getting all weird and maybe even a little jealous. We were arguing and then well he kissed me."

"What else did you do?"

"Nothing," Caroline sounded somewhat disappointed. "He just left, he apologized and he left and he hasn't come back since. Should I be worried?"

"No, just let Klaus cool down and don't you dare apologize," she heard the door click open and Katherine looked over her shoulder. "Elijah, just came in and he has his 'I'm worried' face, I'll call you later."

"Ok," Caroline said grimily.

She hung up and walked towards Elijah. "Hi." She gave him a quick kiss. "What's wrong?"

"I just have a lot on my mind," he hesitated. "I was just wondering, have you've considered telling your parents about your pregnancy?"

Katherine stiffened and her pretty face turned into a scowl. "What?" she snapped. Elijah knew that she despised her parents, through her childhood they had cared more about smoking and drinking, Kat had been out of the house the minute that she had turned eighteen.

She hadn't spoke to them in years, the thought just depressed her. She knew her father and mother weren't living together anymore and her mother lived in the same house that she had gowned up in. Why the hell was Elijah bringing that up now?

"You don't have too," Elijah said quickly noticing Katherine's face. "I just thought that it might be nice if you made up. . .you haven't seen your mother in years-I'm sorry, it was a stupid idea-"

"No," she hesitated. Elijah was right, what if by some miracle her parents had changed and besides they were her babies' grandparents wouldn't they want to know. "I'll tell them."

Katherine nervously stood in front of her childhood home, it hadn't changed much, the same pale blue shutters, the same door with the Bugs Bunny sticker. She closed her eyes, you can do this Katherine. She knocked on the door.

When no one answered she pushed the door open, the house had the same stench of alcohol, cigarette smoke, and cat pee. Everything was the same as when Katherine had left it, she closed the door behind her. "Mom? Mom?"

"In here," a woman hiccupped. "Who's calling?"

Katherine entered the living room and saw her mom, Shirley on the couch, she was wearing a pair of old sweatpants and her hair was in a messy ponytail. At some point her mother had been beautiful, but now she just looked old and tired. She looked pale and hung over and Katherine wondered how she even managed to pay the bills.

She squinted. "Katherine, is that you?"

"Yes, mom it's me."

-End of Chapter Eighteen-