Chapter 4: Bourbon Street

Thank you to all my reviewers: astrita15, EtherealDemon, Booklover9477, suzypyong, ladysingthebluessowell, and Guest! Enjoy!

EtherealDemon: As much as I get why Caroline would want to "freak out in private" and spare herself some mean comments, I think she's brave enough to be able to take it. Like I said last chapter, she wears her heart on her sleeve and most of the time she'll say exactly what's on her mind. She wouldn't just keep it in. While she's private about her feelings about Klaus, she isn't admitting she has any by being upset. I hope you're ok with the way I did it!

"Hayley is the mother of my unborn child."

Before Klaus even had a chance to explain, Caroline flashed out of the room, down the stairs and into the street. Klaus was right behind her. She ran for two whole blocks before he caught up and grabbed her arm roughly.

"Let me go!" she yelled, pulling at his arm and scratching at his hand.

He didn't let go. "Caroline, stop! Let me explain."

She glared at him, her face red and her eyes tearing up. "What is there to explain? You lied to me!"

Caroline looked so betrayed. It tore at his heart but he found that he couldn't just let her turn away from him forever. "Strictly speaking, love, I didn't lie."

"You might as well have! How could you not tell me that Hayley was the slut you had a one-night-stand with?"

"I don't see what you're making such a fuss about!" He grabbed her shoulders so that she was looking straight into his eyes. "She means nothing!"

"She means everything!" Caroline shouted back. "She's carrying your child!" Klaus was starting to get worried about people in the street, specifically Marcel's spies. He grabbed her torso and flashed back into his building so that they were standing in the entryway. Sure, it was very likely that Elijah, Rebekah and Hayley could hear them but at least they (she) would be safe.

"Caroline, I don't care about her," he hissed. "She's a surrogate, nothing more. If you really feel that way then I can get rid of her and the bab-"

Before he could even finish his sentence, she smacked him hard across the face. "You think it would be better if you murdered an innocent child?! Are you crazy?"

He glared down at her. It was one of the few times she had actually felt scared in front of him. "Then what the hell are you so upset about?"

"How could you just forgive her- just sleep with her- like that when you're pursuing Tyler to the ends of the earth? You've caused him so much pain! You murdered his mother, for God's sake! And you get her pregnant?" She was weeping now, holding her stomach as if someone had knocked the air out of her.

"In all fairness, Caroline, I don't think it's exactly been a joyride for her sweetheart."

She looked at him in sheer disbelief. "Do you know what I would do just to feel the joy that she will, seeing her child come into the world?"

Then Klaus understood. She was jealous, though not necessarily of Hayley having his child but having a baby at all. The girl who had more or less destroyed her relationship with her boyfriend was getting something she knew she could never have: motherhood. He let her go as she broke down in front of him.

Suddenly she stopped. "I'm sorry, Klaus. This just isn't going to work out. I came here to escape Mystic Falls but I just can't do that around all of this drama. I have to go."

Before she could walk out, Klaus blocked the exit. "No, you don't have to. Nothing has changed since we drove here. If Hayley's the problem, then I promise you will never have to so much as look at her. You came here for a new life and, love, this is the best place for a vampire in your situation to be."

Caroline looked at him hesitantly. She nodded. "Alright, I'll just go and check into a hotel or something."

He was about to protest but he realised that this was as much progress as he was going to make in one day. He stepped aside reluctantly and watched her as she stepped out of the building and into the street, grabbing her bag as she went. Klaus sighed and dragged himself up the stairs. Hayley, Rebekah, and Elijah were still there.

"Will you just please leave me alone?" he barked to all of them.

"No!" said Rebekah, ever the annoying little sister. "Where the hell have you been for the past three days?"

Klaus grabbed a bottle of whisky from the cabinet. He took a swig before answering, "I think that's perfectly obvious. I've been at your high school graduation."

"We know that, brother, seeing as you brought your blond friend, Caroline" said Elijah diplomatically. "The point is why did you disappear like that? The witches didn't like that at all."

"To hell with them!"

Hayley walked out, seeing that her presence was neither needed nor appreciated.

"Klaus, you know that if you don't comply with them, Hayley will die."

Klaus rubbed his hand on his temple. "We don't have to talk about this now, Elijah. I've had a long day."

Elijah nodded. Both of them had clearly overheard his argument with Caroline. They watched him go down the hall and turn into his art studio. He took out a new canvas and started to paint Caroline's blond curls. He'd meant to create a dark piece, a painted version of his own feelings. Instead he recreated Caroline's beautiful face looking lovingly down at a child in her arms.

On Dauphine Street, Caroline found a bar that seemed clean and had a decent amount of good liquor on the shelf. A jazz musician was singing on a small stage. She sat down on one of the stools at the bar. "Could I please get some, um, wine, I guess?"

"Sure." The bartender had a nice smile and pretty face. As she poured her a glass of burgundy, she asked, "Are you new around here?"

"Oh yeah," Caroline replied. "I'm from a small town in Virginia."

That seemed to catch the girl's attention. "Wow, a small-town girl in New Orleans? Are running home yet?"

"No," said Caroline, thoughtfully. "I think I'm gonna stick around for a bit. I'm Caroline."

"Cami," the girl replied. "So, Caroline, you wouldn't happen to know a guy named Klaus, would you?"

Caroline raised her eyebrows. She was fairly certain that in a city as big as New Orleans, news didn't travel as fast as it did in Mystic Falls. "Yeah, I do actually. How'd you know?"

"He was drunk off his ass the other day and I almost called you to take him home until he told me you lived in Virginia."

Caroline nodded, even though she couldn't really picture a drunken Klaus. She'd seen him drink a lot but he never seemed to lose his annoyingly composed shell. In a way, it felt kind of nice to come into a new city and already sort of know someone friendly. "So what's your story?" she asked Cami.

"I'm just working as a bartender to pay the bills, you know. I'm a psych major at Tulane," she explained.

"You're studying psychology? That's pretty neat. I'm starting at the University of Richmond next fall but I have no clue what I want to major in," said Caroline. "Hey, would you by any chance know, like, a cheap hotel around here? I'm kind of homeless at the moment." She pointed at the suitcase at her feet.

"I don't think so, sorry! I'll ask Sophie, though. She's the chef." She went to get a cute brunette and then went back to bussing tables. A few seconds later, she saw that Sophie was glaring at her. She could just tell that she knew she was a vampire. Trying to act as if nothing was out of the ordinary, she asked, "Do you know any cheap hotels in the Quarter?"

"I know what you are!" she hissed.

Caroline half-smiled at her. "Despite that, I need a place to stay."

"You expect me to help you when I know you'll burn the minute the sun comes up?" She was still glaring at her fiercely.

Caroline absentmindedly showed off her daylight ring. "I'm going to guess you're a witch, am I right?" Sophie nodded proudly. "And with that attitude, you've got to be in on the whole killing-Marcel plot, meaning you're allied with my friend Klaus?" Again, Sophie nodded. Caroline showed off her 1000-kilowatt smile. "In that case, I see no reason why we can't be the best of friends!"

Sophie didn't exactly smile back but she stopped glaring at her and said, "There's a pretty nice boarding house around the corner on Conti."

"Thank you!" she sighed, paying for the wine and the flouncing at of the bar. Maybe the Big Easy wouldn't be so bad after all...

"Remind me again why we have to have a meeting with Marcel of all people?" asked Klaus grumpily as he poured himself some coffee the next morning.

"He wants to negotiate the terms of your stay in his city," Elijah explained. "It will be good for us to be able to discuss more freedom in New Orleans. If you are sure you mean to cooperate with the witches and take Marcel down then I suggest trying to do it without ten of his minions breathing down your back."

Klaus said, "Do you think they know about Caroline yet?" He tried to sound casual even though ever since they'd driven into New Orleans, he's been concerned for her safety. Having a one-year-old vampire running around who could so easily be traced back to him definitely had its risks. If Marcel were to find out, he didn't know how he would react.

"I don't know, brother," Elijah said. "I'd be very surprised if Marcel had missed a new vampire coming into town, but he might not know about her association with us." He was deeply interested in this blond baby vampire his brother seemed to have taken an interest in. He would do his utmost to try to protect her because the closer she was, the more human Klaus became.

"We'll have to keep it that way. Is Rebekah coming?" he asked.

Elijah shook his head. "I expect not, seeing as she left this morning. Apparently, her friend from Mystic Falls agreed to spend summer break in her company."

Klaus smirked. "Ah, the quarterback has finally given in. Shall we go?" he said brightly.

The two set off down Bourbon Street and through the streets of the French Quarter until they reached Jackson Square, which seemed to be some kind of neutral territory. Marcel was waiting for them with several members of his inner circle, including the one Klaus had bitten last week. Elijah politely shook hands with Marcel. Klaus made no such gesture.

"I see you've returned to New Orleans. After not having seen you for the past four days, I'd started to worry that you'd left my city," Marcel said, irony etching his every syllable.

"I see your spies are getting rusty, old friend," said Klaus, "which brings me to these terms we're meant to discuss." His face hardened. "Let's get this straight: I do what I want when I want and where I want. If you try and stop me, someone dies."

"Klaus," Elijah said levelly, "I'm sure we can negotiate."

One of the younger members of Marcel's entourage spoke up, "Marcel has already drawn up a contract for you to sign." He passed Klaus a list carefully written in Marcel's handwriting, which seemed not to have changed in the past hundred years. He read over the list, scoffing at almost every single point.

"Even if I signed this 'contract', what on earth makes you think I would live by it?" asked Klaus.

Marcel smirked, having already thought of this. "I would have a witch bind it so that if someone broke a rule, we would be notified."

"Marcel, do you remember the Treaty of Versailles?" Marcel slowly nodded. For the sake of the younger vampires present, Klaus explained, "After the First Wold War, the victors created the Treaty without Germany's input and forced her to sign it. She had lost after all."

"What's your point?" Marcel asked testily.

Klaus smiled. "My point, Marcel, is that you've lost." He tore the contract to pieces and started to walk away.

"I hear you have a new friend in town," Marcel called after him. Klaus stopped short. He couldn't possible mean... "Caroline, I believe her name is. One year old and she's already in with the Original family. I can't say I'm not impressed."

In two seconds flat, Klaus had Marcel pinned against the wall. "If you do anything to hurt her, to hurt anyone who's with me, I swear to burn down the entire quarter with you in it."

"Now, now, no need to be dramatic," said Marcel, struggling to breathe. "Just sign the contract."

"I'll get back to you," he said, disappearing with Elijah through the streets of the Vieux Carré.

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-Brianne