Chapter 9
When Caroline came to, she heard someone screaming far away but her vampire hearing didn't fail her, she had spent enough time with her to know the voice – it was Hayley.
She wanted to get up and go to her, only to discover that she had a hard time moving. She discovered her bite and wondered if she was hallucinating.
"The stupid witches wouldn't leave me so close to Hayley that I could hear her screams. Or maybe that was the point." She wondered. She managed to sit up and look around, she was in a church and Hayley's screams were much closer than she realised. They were in the next room!
"Okay, no time to chat, get up, Caroline," She told herself, "Time to move your ass."
Thanks to pure raw strength she pulled herself up and stumbled to the next room where she found Hayley at the altar. She saw that Genevieve was about to cut her stomach when Caroline decided to try, on more time, to talk it out.
"Genevieve, stop."
"Oh, Caroline, still alive, I see."
"Genevieve, don't do it."
"I'm sorry, Caroline,, I'm sorry Hayley, but I have to. And Caroline you have two choices, either you sit by and let us do this, or I will use a spell to keep you quiet. Your choice."
Caroline was about to protest when Hayley said, "Last wish, Genevieve? I want to say goodbye to Caroline. Something I need to say to her."
Tears started to stream down Caroline's cheek as she felt so powerless. She was there and she couldn't do anything.
"Okay, we have a minute, have at it," Genevieve said with distain.
Caroline stumbled to the altar next to Hayley, now really crying.
"Caroline, Caroline, listen to me. Tell Klaus and the others not to blame themselves. It won't help anyone." Caroline just nodded, crying.
"Caroline, come closer to me, I need to whisper something to you."
So she did and after Hayley said something to her, Caroline answered while shaking her head "No I can't, I can't do it."
Hayley whispered something to Caroline who got more upset by the second. After she was done, it was evident that she couldn't hold out anymore. The baby was coming.
Genevieve pushed Caroline aside and told the witches to take her away.
Just as Genevieve was about to cut into Hayley, Hayley yelled after Caroline, "PROMISE ME, CAROLINE!"
While the witches dragged Caroline away, she yelled back, crying, "I PROMISE, HAYLEY!."
"Let go of me, you little bitches." Caroline told the witches who used some kind of spell on her that made her unable to move or say anything. But she could still hear and see everything.
Hayley screamed at the top of her lungs while Genevieve cut into her. The screams which were heard far enough that Klaus who was still weak, stumbling about in the streets, heard the screams. Furious, he went toward the church.
Hayley knew that she didn't stand a chance anymore, but she had to fight for her little girl. Just then she had newfound hope, when the doors opened and in came Klaus. Klaus had enough power to kill a couple of witch bodyguards and lunged for the others when Genevieve used her powers to subdue him. He was thrown against the wall and he couldn't move from there as he helplessly watched Genevieve and the witches take the baby from Hayley's womb as Hayley glanced at Klaus and slowly closed her eyes as she died.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Klaus screamed, "You will all die for this."
Genevieve and the other witches ignored him as they took the baby and walked out with her.
Caroline just looked on upset and horrified.
It was when they were gone that Klaus fell down and he noticed Caroline laying at the other end of the room. Before going to her, he checked if there was a chance to save Hayley's life, which there wasn't. She was dead. He wanted to cry for her but he remembered Caroline and he stumbled to where she was.
"Caroline, do you hear me?"
Caroline could only move her eyes as she began to rapidly blink her eyes.
"Sweetheart, what have they done to you?" Suddenly the spell was broken and Caroline could weakly say, "Bite!"
"What?" Klaus asked in confusion.
"Francesca…bit…"
It was then that Klaus understood her and looked for the bite which he found at the back of her arm.
Klaus pulled her into his arms, bit his own arm and shoved it in her mouth.
"Drink please. I can't lose you too." Klaus said, tears streaming down his face. He was holding her as she began to heal when Elijah stormed in.
"Hayley! Niklaus! Caroline!" Elijah yelled.
"Here!" Klaus yelled back.
Elijah glanced at them and then at Hayley's corpse.
"She's gone, Elijah."
As upset as he was about Hayley, when he noticed Caroline in Klaus' arms, he asked him, "What's wrong with her?"
"Francesca bit her but she's healing slowly."
Elijah fell on his knees next to them. Klaus noticed that he was bitten and offered his arm to his brother.
"What happened?" Elijah asked him as he stared down at Hayley's lifeless body.
"I was bested." Klaus numbly answered.
"You were bested!? YOU WERE BESTED!? My invincible brother!"
Klaus stood up and took Caroline to the backroom, putting her down on a sofa and then went back to Elijah.
"They took the baby. But there's still time. We can save her. You with me?" Klaus asked his brother for his help.
Klaus and Elijah rushed around the cemetery in an attempt to figure out where the witches were keeping the baby.
"There has to be a way. Even if we could just push through-"
"What we need to do is focus."
Elijah lost his temper again, "My only focus right now is that child and her safety, do you understand me?"
He glared at Klaus furiously as his brother stared at him in shock for his outburst.
"This- all of this- this is the world that YOU created, Niklaus."
"Brother—"
"All of your scheming, the enemies that you have made every single day of your miserable life- what results did you expect? That your child would be born into a happy life? That the mother would be alive to know her daughter? That, you, me, Hayley, Caroline and the baby, that we could live and thrive as some- as some sort of family?"
"That was your fantasy, brother, not mine!" Klaus told Elijah, trying to stay calm.
"NO, Niklaus! This was our HOPE. This was 'our family's hope'. And now that Hayley's gone, now that this child is out in this cruel world. God knows what the witches will do to her.
"They'll kill her, brother. That's why we must stop fighting each other and fight our common enemy! For Hayley." Klaus tried to get Elijah to focus.
Klaus and Elijah were breaking their way through the illusion by destroying the tombs. When they reached a room full of candles, they stopped to catch their breath.
"We've passed through here twice already. We're running out of time." Klaus said to Elijah.
He punched through a wall in anger and frustration.
"Then we move faster." Klaus said.
"Or smarter."
Elijah and Klaus froze when they heard her voice and turn to see the source of the sound. Hayley stood in the doorway.
Klaus said her name out loud, "Hayley".
Elijah and Klaus were shocked to see her. Klaus rushed over to touch her but his hand went through the air.
"What the hell is this?"
"I don't know. I think I'm a spirit now, I have been with you the whole time, you just didn't see or hear me. I think I am at the other side or I was."
Elijah and Klaus looked confused.
"It doesn't matter, I know where she is. You have to follow me and you have to work as a team, because I can't fight them, only you can."
"Show us where she is, Hayley, and we'll take it from there, I give you my word."
That was Elijah, who suddenly had all the motivation in the world to work with his brother.
"Okay, then follow me."
Hayley led Elijah and Klaus through the maze of tombs in the cemetery's illusion toward her and Klaus' daughter. Meanwhile, Genevieve, Monique, and Abigail continued their spell around the baby.
"Nouvelle vie, nouvelle âme, mélange avec nous."
Genevieve held the athame above the baby, preparing to complete the sacrifice.
Elijah and Klaus turned around the corner to see that Genevieve was holding a knife above the baby's head.
Klaus screamed, "NOOOOOO"
"Elijah picked up an urn and lobbed it at the witches, which slammed against Genevieve's hand and knocked the athame onto the ground. The three ran toward them, so Monique and Abigail held each other's hands and channelled the ancestors' power to throw them backwards while Genevieve went to find the athame."
"You fools, to come against us in our place of power in our strongest hour? You don't face three, you face us all!" Monique yelled at them.
Klaus and Elijah were still fighting against the witches' magic. Klaus and Elijah each ran in the opposite directions.
Elijah found Genevieve picking up the athame and knocked the knife once again out of her hand and into the ground.
Klaus fought Monique and Abagailas Elijah knocked Genevieve down and ran toward the baby, but Genevieve casted a pain infliction spell on him, which made him fall onto his knees.
Klaus fought to get closer to the baby to get her out of harms way.
Monique and Abagail continued to chant, "La mère, le père, le frère, la sœur... La mère, le père, le frère, la sœur..."
Klaus saw a wrought iron fence and broke off one of the spikes. He threw it forcefully toward Abigail, which impaled her through the stomach and killed her, breaking the connection that she and Monique had to the ancestors.
Monique quickly ran to grab the athame to finish the sacrifice herself. Klaus and Elijah flashed toward her, but she used her magic to block them using a wall of fire.
"Noooo!" It was Hayley's voice who caused everyone to look around but not see her.
Klaus used the distraction to flash to Monique and cut her throat.
Genevieve continued to use pain infliction spell now on both Klaus and Elijah. Genevieve picked up the athame and tried again to sacrifice the baby. Just before she could do that, she was hit with a strange object which embedded itself in her stomach and she fell to the ground as she was coughing up blood. Klaus and Elijah turn around to see that Caroline was the one who saved the baby. Before they could say anything, just as Elijah and Klaus saw Marcel behind her, Marcel flashed to the baby and then flashed away with it.
"Marcel!" Caroline yelled after him while Klaus flashed away to follow Marcel.
Caroline and Elijah were still at the Cemetery.
"You have some serious explaining to do, Caroline!? Why the hell did you bring Marcel Gerard here?"
"Elijah, listen to me."
"I'm calm. I'm listening." Elijah said, trying but mostly failing to calm himself down.
"Just as I was healed up in the morning, Cami called me cause no one else answered their phones. She told me that she was with Marcel, what happened with his vampires-"
"Nobody bloody cares about those vampires!" Elijah almost yelled.
"As I said, she was with Marcel after Klaus and he had fought and he had gotten bit. But he still wanted to help us. Camille told me about the dark objects, a whole room full of dark object that can be used against all supernatural creatures. You know her uncle's secret? And she offered that we could use whatever we wanted to help save Hayley and the baby. I told her that there was no hope for Hayley but hers and Klaus' child was still alive and needed to be saved. So we got together and they brought me this object that doesn't kill but subdues whoever we use it against."
"So, Genevieve is still alive?"
"Yes, for the time being."
"But why did Marcel take the baby."
"I think that he hoped to cure his vampires but I don't know, I think it may be too late. Because if Klaus hadn't gotten to me last night when he did, I would be dead right now."
"My brother, the hero." Elijah muttered to himself. "Who let Marcel out?"
"Who do you think? Francesca Correa, of course. That was her plan all along, to get Klaus and Marcel fight with each other while she could gain the upper hand."
"Got to hand it to that lady, she really had everything figured out."
"Yeah." Caroline agreed.
"I was too late. There should have been more time." Marcel said, defeated.
Klaus looked around the room and took in the carnage that surrounded them.
"Looks like the wolves came back and finished what they started."
The baby stirred and cood, and Marcel stared down at her.
"You took my daughter so I would heal you and your friends."
"Look, Klaus, I'm sorry about everything. About what I did to Caroline. I didn't know her and I used her as a pawn to get to you. This war was stupid. Everything about it was stupid."
Klaus looked at him sympathetically and knelt in front of him.
"Not worth the 200 years in the Garden, Marcellus?"
"No, definitely not." And they both laughed at that.
"I'll make you a deal. I'll forgive you but Caroline is the one you have to make peace with."
"Oh, I already talked to the nice lady and she offered her forgiveness in exchange for the baby's life. So here,"
Marcel handed the baby to Klaus who took his daughter in his arms for the first time.
"That does sound like Caroline," Klaus said as he affectionately stared down at her daughter.
"Wait, let me put her away and then I can heal you."
"You can give her to me, Klaus."
That was Caroline behind Klaus.
Klaus turned to look at her and smiled.
"You sure?"
"Yeah, it doesn't look like he has much time."
While Klaus handed the baby to Caroline they looked at each other lovingly. To a stranger it would seem like they were both parents of that baby, forming a loving family.
"Hold her head."
Caroline laughed, "You know I have held a baby before."
"Oh, so you have done some babysitting in your short life?" Klaus amused.
"Guys, I hate to cut this short, but I see three version of you in front of me."
Klaus laughed as he went to give Marcel his arm for him to drink from it.
At the cemetery, Elijah was interrogating Genevieve.
Elijah asked furiously, "Why?"
"The Ancestors left me no choice."
Elijah asked appalled, "You were willing to sacrifice an innocent baby for more power?"
"No, not just power! It was the Ancestors' decree. It was her decree."
Elijah grabbed Genevieve roughly by the face and forced her to look at him in the eyes.
"It was whose decree?"
"I'm surprised you have to ask." She laughed darkly.
Caroline and Klaus were at the nursery, watching the baby sleep.
"Caroline, now that she's born…"
"Yes, Klaus?" She asked still staring down at the baby, not looking at him.
"Now that she's born, you are free to go."
"Tired of me already, Klaus?"
"Never. But it was what you wanted. What I'm trying to say, very badly, is that just because Hayley died, it doesn't change anything for you."
"It changes everything," Caroline said, still not looking at Klaus and staring down at the baby.
"What do you mean?"
"We'll talk about it some other time, okay."
Klaus grabbed her by her wrists, forcing her to look him in the eye, "No, we are talking about it now. What did you mean by, "It changes everything"?"
"What do you think it means, Klaus. I can't go anywhere after Hayley is taken out of the picture."
Klaus kept staring at her when something was dawning on him. But he didn't have time to question her any further as Klaus' phone rang and while he picked it up, Caroline used the distraction to leave the room.
"What, Elijah, what?"
"It seems that things are worse than we thought."
"What things?" Klaus questioned him angrily as he stepped out of the nursery so as to not disturb the baby.
"It wasn't just the ancestors who wanted the sacrifice. It was her."
"Who?"
"Our mother. Esther."
"What are you talking about?"
"Think about it. She was consecrated on New Orleans soil, Niklaus. She's the ancestor after the baby."
Elijah waited as Klaus put all the pieces together.
"Kill her and come home." Was all he mustered up as he disconnected the phone and broke it in half in his hand, throwing it against the wall.
Klaus and Elijah sat in Hayley's room, while Caroline who was still dodging Klaus' questions about her plans moving forward, was with the baby in the rocking chair in the nursery, located right off of Hayley's bedroom.
"We should have felt our mother's hand in this. We should have known she would not be bound by anything as obvious as death. And now she has control of the witches. They will never stop."
"No."
"Nor would I expect the Guerrera wolves to back down. The child is a wolf royalty, and as such, she is a threat to Francesca's claim to the leadership."
Unbeknownst to the brothers, Caroline was listening to them talk from the nursery.
She was thinking about what Hayley had said to her before she died.
*Flashback*
"Caroline, come closer to me, I need to whisper something to you."
When Caroline put her ear near Hayley's face, she whispered in her ear.
"Caroline, promise me, that if this baby survives somehow, promise me that you will help Klaus raise this baby, teach her all the right values. She can't know only Klaus' brutality."
"No I can't, I can't do it." Caroline cried.
"Caroline, please, Klaus will ruin her if someone doesn't help him. She needs a mother and you have all the right instincts. I'm not telling you to marry Klaus, I just want you to help raise my baby. Can you please honour a dying mother's wish?"
Suddenly Genevieve pushed Caroline aside as Hayley screamed in agony.
Hayley yelled after Caroline as she was taken away, "PROMISE ME, CAROLINE!"
"PROMISE ME, CAROLINE!"
"PROMISE ME, CAROLINE!"
"PROMISE ME, CAROLINE!"
*End of flashback*
Hayley's words still echoed in her mind as she was silently crying, while holding the baby close to her chest.
Klaus and Elijah continued to go through their options.
"She will never be safe. What was it you said to me earlier? That I have made enemies every day of my miserable life? Well, the worst of them are within these borders, brother."
After a pause Klaus continued, "I have brought into the world a weapon they can use against me."
"Then we will arm ourselves! Brother, we have fought every adversary in this town, and we have won. And we'll fight them again, no matter who they are! We will make this home a fortress." Elijah told Klaus.
"I will not have her live her life as a prisoner."
"Then we leave here, together. All of us."
"Wherever we go, however far we run, those who seek power and revenge will hunt us! They will hunt her. She has inherited all of our enemies with none of our defences."
"So, whether we stay, or we leave- we condemn her."
"There is a third option."
Klaus and Elijah looked surprised as they turned to face Caroline, who seemed upset.
"The only thing to do, is send her away…with me, while you clean up the mess we've made."
"No! This is insane. You heard what Genevieve said- so long as she lives, that baby will be hunted." Elijah was against the offer.
"Not if no one knows that she lives."
"Caroline?" Klaus didn't even know where to begin.
"It's okay, Klaus, I want to do it."
"Are you absolutely sure, love? If we do this, there's no going back. You have to hide and stay hidden until it's safe for her to return."
"I know what I have to do," Caroline nodded and they had reached an understanding.
"What is it you intend to do, brother?"
"Whatever it takes to save our family."
"But, Klaus, we need help."
"Did Marcel play his part?" Elijah asked Klaus in the courtyard.
"He managed to locate a stillborn baby in a hospital in upstate Louisiana."
"I trust he agreed to the terms."
"He has agreed to allow me to compel him to forget what he knows of my child. In exchange, he wants vials of my blood."
"The witches will have to believe this too."
"The witches will buy what we sell. We just have to sell it properly."
After a short pause, Elijah sighed and said, "Well, then, all that remains is to say goodbye."
On a country road, Klaus sat on the hood of his SUV, holding his swaddled daughter, as he waited for someone.
A car pulled up to Klaus and Rebekah got out. When she saw her brother and her newborn niece, she smiled. Klaus smiles back before greeting her.
"Hello, sister."
Rebekah gently touched the baby and stared at her in wonder.
"Oh, she looks like her mother. Maybe there is a God after all."
Klaus laughed, "Well, she has a hint of the devil in her eyes. That's all me. You need a witch you can trust to cast a cloaking spell."
"I'll get one."
"No one can ever find her."
"I know what to do, Nik." They both looked at the baby "Perhaps we'll get a white fence. I think that would be lovely."
"One more thing, sister. There's someone who's going to join you."
"WHAT? Who?"
Rebekah watched as someone crawled out of the backseat of the SUV with a bag in hand. As the car lights blinded her, she couldn't see who it was, until they came closer and that's when she almost shrieked, "What the hell is she doing here, Nik?"
"Like I said, she will join you and help you look after my daughter until I can do it myself."
"Wonderful," Rebekah muttered to herself, exasperated.
"Behave, both of you. You have only each other to depend on. You need to be on the same page about her."
Klaus held up the baby to get a last look at her before she left with them, and lowers his voice to a whisper as he said goodbye.
"This city would have seen you dead. But, I will have it your home. And every soul who wishes you harm will be struck down, I promise you that, Hope."
Klaus kissed his daughter on the forehead and the cheek before handing her to his sister. Then, he gave Rebekah and the baby the tiny wooden knight that he had carved for Rebekah a 1,000 years ago, which caused Rebekah to grab his hand and start to cry.
"In spite of our differences, Rebekah, I trust my biggest treasure with you."
Klaus hugged Rebekah and kissed her on the cheek.
"Be happy, sister."
"She will be happy, Nik. I promise." They smiled at each other.
"I'll give you two a minute. But, Nik-"
"I know, Rebekah."
When Rebekah left the scene with little Hope, Klaus and Caroline turned to face each other.
"Klaus, I need you to know what happened between Hayley and me—"
Klaus put a finger on her lips to silence her.
"Shh, I know."
"You do?" Caroline asked, surprise evident in her voice.
"I figured it out. I understand her motives and I'm fine with it as long as you are. Last chance to give that up and I'll—"
But Klaus couldn't finish as Caroline pressed her lips to his to silence him.
"I know, Klaus, but as I said, this is what I want. Ever since I first saw her, I knew I wanted it."
"Okay, but don't tell Rebekah, at first."
"I won't"
"Okay," Klaus laughed a little and then with all his seriousness, "I love you."
"I love you too."
"Wait, what?" Klaus asked shocked.
"I love you. I'm sorry for the way I acted, I was scared, but now, doing this, I need to be more mature. So yeah, Klaus Mikaelson, I love you." She beamed at him.
Klaus was speechless, so he just raised her off the ground and swirled her around.
"You make me almost happy, Caroline Forbes."
"I will take care of her, we will take care of her," she gestured toward herself and where Rebekah stood far away.
"I know."
They kissed again, this time a bit longer and hugged before they parted ways. Caroline got in the car with Rebekah and Klaus got to his SUV and they drove off in different directions.