Chapter 7: Watch Your Back

Thanks to the reviewers: suzypyong, EtherealDemon, Booklover9477, Vamptragic, and AngelOfMusic44.

When Klaus woke up the next morning, he realised that Caroline was no longer sleeping next to him on the couch. He started to worry that she'd decided to leave. After last night's drama, he wouldn't blame her.

"'Morning, sleepy-head!" she said from the kitchen as she saw him move. His head whipped around and then broke out into a grin. That is, until he saw Hayley was there as well. He got up and went to get himself an espresso from the coffee maker.

"So I was thinking that since now we know that the baby's a girl, we could start shopping for the nursery," Caroline said to him. He noted that she said 'we', meaning that she was obviously dying to go baby shopping.

Hayley, however, wasn't so thrilled about Caroline's inclusion. "You mean that we, the parents, should start shopping for the baby."

Giving Hayley her best queen-bee face, she said, "Seriously? You want to go shopping." She gestured at Hayley's obviously inadequate wardrobe.

Swallowing a gulp of coffee, he said, "Caroline can buy things for our child if she wants to." He suddenly had a burst of inspiration. "In fact, I think that you should both go. It will give you a chance to get to know each other."

Both girls looked at him in shock. Caroline cried out indignantly, "What do you mean both of us?"

"Unless you have something better to do, Caroline. I think that as the mother, Hayley has every right to go but you shouldn't if you don't want to," he replied. He knew of course that Caroline was set on this shopping trip and wouldn't give it up for the world. This way, both of them would be kept busy while he...ran an errand. He watched the two girls as they left for the town center.

"What are you up to?" Elijah asked him suspiciously.

"I need to run up to Mystic Falls today, brother."

"And you wanted Miss Forbes out of the ways so that you didn't risk bringing about her return to her home town," his brother guessed. "May I ask what task brings you back to the town you tried so hard to run from?"

"We need to figure out what would happen to the child when it begins to grow old. If we were to decide that it become a vampire, I don't know if it would survive the transition, seeing as it has werewolf blood. I want to contact Esther through the Bennett witch and ask her for help."

Elijah looked surprised by Klaus' decision to seek out their mother but he nodded understandingly. But as Klaus continued to explain his course of action, he realised that whatever help Esther brought to Niklaus would undoubtedly involve the Petrova doppelganger. Though Elena was now undead, Elijah had just recently found out that Katerina had taken the cure and was now a human. He volunteered to accompany Klaus, hoping to be able to protect her.

They drove all day to Mystic Falls and by the time Klaus arrived, it was late. But that didn't stop him from marching right up to Bonnie Bennett's house and rapping smartly on the door. It was opened by a tall, well-built African-American man, presumably her father. "Can I help you?" he said warily.

"I'm looking for Bonnie," he stated.

He closed his eyes briefly, as if in pain, and then said, trying very hard to sound careless, "She's at her mother's, out-of-state." He banged the door roughly in Klaus' face. Klaus turned to look at his brother, who was stone-faced.

"I suppose we'd better vistit the Salvatores, since we're here."

Elijah appeared to be slightly perturbed by his brother's intentions and said, "I'll just go check on the mansion while you make your social call." Klaus gave him a suspicious expression but went ahead to the car. Of course, Elijah had no intention of checking up on the family's Mystic Falls home. He left to go to the only place where Katherine would stay around the town. Elijah jumped down into the tunnels near the Lockwood cellars. Katherine had spent 500 years running from Klaus and she would of course think to stay in the one place he couldn't go. "Katerina?" he called.

"Elijah?" Katherine was surprised to get a visit from her ex-lover, though not entirely displeased. His leaving her had impacted her. She'd spent centuries with her emotions off, pushing all her feelings for Elijah back. But when he'd sought her out for the cure a few months ago, everything, all her memories of being a young human girl in love, came flooding back. But he'd left. And it turned out that had been when she needed him the most.

Then she'd been forced to take the cure by Elena Gilbert,. Not only had all her strength, powers and immortality been taken away, but she didn't have a switch anymore. Now, he'd come back and Katherine didn't know how to feel anymore. "What brings you back to Mystic Falls?" He noticed that she didn't leave the safety of the cave.

"I'm not alone," he explained. "Klaus is back as well and he's looking for a way to turn his child." Katherine stiffened. Being the doppelganger meant she was inevitably involved. She was genuinely scared. "I'll try as hard as I can to cover. My brother isn't aware of your humanity yet and as far as he's concerned, you ran away from this town weeks ago."

Katherine stuck out her chin angrily. "You know how you could protect me: turn me back." She stepped over the invisible line that separated her and Elijah and her eyes focused on the vein on his neck where she could see blood pumping even with her human vision.

"I can't do that. You have an opportunity to live a life the rest of us can only dream of and it would be cruel for me to take that away."

"Then there's no use. If I die now or if I die in thirty years, it won't make a difference either. You might as well end my suffering," she snarled. Suddenly, she grabbed the Swiss army knife that she'd spied in his pocket and slammed it into her neck.

Hayley and Caroline were on their fourth store and had yet to buy so much as a bassinet. Caroline held up a pretty pair of pink pyjamas and sighed as Hayley shook her head. "C'mon, Hayles, it's cute."

"Don't call me Hayles, ever. We're not looking for cute. My daughter isn't going to be a bimbo from her birth," Hayley argued.

"What are you talking about? My mom dressed me like this when I was a baby." Hayley gave her a look. Frustrated, Caroline asked, "Well, what did you wear growing up?"

Hayley looked away. "I don't know. I spent my early years in a foster home before I got adopted. I never met my parents," she answered softly.

Caroline, just for a moment, appeared to be sympathetic. Quickly, she reminded herself that Tyler running from Klaus was her fault and that she'd slept with Klaus despite the fact that she'd plotted to kill him. "Don't seek sympathy from me."

Hayley put her hand on her hip and stuck her chin out. "What the hell is your problem with me?"

"You're responsible for the death of twelve hybrids and Mrs. Lockwood!" she accused her, shocked that Hayley couldn't figure that out for herself.

"You killed twelve witches," Hayley reminded her instantly. Caroline raised her eyebrows. She hadn't known that Hayley had found out about that. She turned away, abashed but not letting Hayley see it. She stomped her stilettos out of the store and into the food court. Hayley was hot on her trail. "Is it because I slept with Klaus? Is that why you hate me?"

"You snapped my neck. Trust me, you being a slut doesn't bother me nearly as much as you being a backstabber."

"Why are you mad at me? Tyler being safe is because of me!" she cried out.

Caroline turned on her. "So you crushing on my ex is supposed to make it all better?"

Hayley nodded. This was her chance to get what she wanted out of Caroline: Tyler. "Think about it: we're allies, here. I want to protect Tyler just as much as you do. We could talk to Klaus..." she trailed off.

"You mean I could sweet-talk Klaus. No, I am done trying to charm Klaus into doing anything. I left the little blonde distraction back in Mystic Falls. Besides, if I so much as mention Tyler, he'll probably be grumpy with me for the next week."

Hayley looked thoughtful. "I get it." Gently she took Caroline's hand in hers to show her understanding for Caroline's situation. Surprisingly, the blonde didn't pull back. "But it's Tyler."

And because it's about Tyler Lockwood, who she'll do just about anything for, Caroline agrees. Hayley smiles and, for a second, Caroline remembers their camaraderie from before the night of the slaughter of the twelve hybrids. They go home with three bags full of baby clothes, toys and wallpaper for the nursery.

When Klaus drove up in front of the Salvatore Boarding House, he didn't see the point of knocking so he simply flung the door wide open. He was rather astonished at the scene that greeted him: Damon and Elena were on the couch in what seemed to be a romantic cuddle while Jeremy Gilbert stared at them. The Gilbert boy had come back to life. Acting on instinct, he grabbed the boy, arms around his neck ready to snap it.

Elena gasped, jumped up, flashed over to him and tried desperately to pull his arms off of her brother. Damon was witnessing the commotion with a look of horror on his face. Klaus ignored both of them. "So it seems baby Gilbert has come back from the other side. Never mind the two brothers I lost thanks to him and your friends, the veil made an exception for him. No matter, it seems that I am currently in need of someone to contact the other side for me. Since Miss Bennett appears to have disappeared, you'll have to do." Still holding Jeremy in a death grip, he flashes out of the house.

Katherine woke up about an hour later. She felt happy, contented to know that Elijah had loved her enough to save her with his blood. Within a couple of hours, she would have killed herself and completed the transformation into a vampire. Granted, she wouldn't be as strong as she'd been before her death but at least she would be alive.

All this was running through her mind until she touched the spot on her neck where she'd wounded herself, expecting to find it healed. Instead, there was gauze on it. Katherine let out a long "Shit!" She looked around the cave, half-hoping to see Elijah, half-dreading it. He'd left. More to the point, he'd abandoned her. He might even be telling Klaus about her at that moment.

She realised while she had been so fixed on the idea that Elijah cared about her that she hadn't even considered the possibility that she hated her after all she'd done. She'd become something that he may never be able to love and so had he. She sank back onto the wall and started to sob so hard she could barely breathe. Finally she pulled herself together and dragged her body back into the secret cave that protected her from the Originals.

Klaus dragged Jeremy into the Original Mansion and to the centre of the ballroom. "I need you to contact Esther," he commanded.

"Why should I?"

Klaus replied, grinning, "You just got back to the land of the living. I would think that you wouldn't want to cross back so soon."

He sighed in frustration. "In any case, I can't just contact someone when ordered. I only saw her the one time and from what I've heard, she has no interest in contacting you." Klaus believed that Jeremy had been trying to hurt him but he'd stopped be wounded by his parents' feelings for him a long time ago.

"I've been around witches before. I know how it works: you pull from this side, they pull from the other. I also know that one pull from this side is too good for anyone dead to resist." He turned away from Jeremy. He rotated around the room, staring up at the ceiling and shouting, "Esther! Come on, Mother, you tried to kill me, the least you can do is help me raise your granddaughter."

"Wait, what?" asked Jeremy. Klaus didn't care in the least if Elena's kid brother knew that he was going to be a father so he ignored him. Jeremy perked up. "She's here. She says she doesn't want to help you make your daughter the abomination you are."

"Because becoming a werewolf would be so much better? I'm living in the supernatural capital of the world. It's kill or be killed around there." He tried not to let concern touch his voice.

Jeremy frowned as Esther spoke to him again. "Apparently she won't give you any answers but you should ask Elijah." He stared at the empty space behind him. "She's gone." He jumped as Klaus slammed his fist into the wall exactly as Elijah came through the front door.

"What happened, Niklaus?" Elijah asked calmly.

Klaus turned to him with a look of rage on his face. "Would you care to explain what my mother meant when she said you held the answer to my daughter's survival?"

For a second, Elijah looked concerned. He was, of course thinking of the unconscious member of the Petrova family he'd left in the caves next to the Lockwood cellar. But then he pulled a small vial of red liquid out from his suit pocket. "Do you mean this?" He walked to his brother and placed the vial in his hand. "It's the last of Elena Gilbert's human blood," he lied. Truthfully, he'd taken it from the steady flow dripping from Katherine's open wound. It was wrong and he knew it but indeed it had been she who'd harmed herself and he was just using that fact to make sure that Klaus wouldn't be force to bury the only child he would probably ever have.

Klaus beamed at his brother. "You found it!" he exclaimed, wrapping Elijah in his embrace. He dismissed Jeremy and followed Elijah to the car waiting outside.

They arrived at around 5 am the next morning. So as not to wake Caroline, they quietly slipped through the front door and walked quietly through the main living area. "Where have you two been?" said a voice behind them. Caroline was sitting in the kitchen flipping through Vogue.

"Caroline, sweetheart, you needn't have waited up for us," Klaus said casually.

"I don't appreciate being kept out of the loop. Where were you yesterday? What was so important that I had to be sent out with Hayley?"

"I don't need to justify myself to you, Caroline. This is my apartment," he replied indignantly, dropping his careless facade. He wasn't in the mood to deal with Caroline and her judginess right now.

Caroline opened her mouth to argue back but found that she couldn't. He was right, she didn't have any rights over his actions. She went back to looking through her magazine while Klaus got himself a blood bag. At least now Caroline knew that he hadn't been off murdering people tonight. "Well, if you were wondering, the shopping went really well. In fact, Hayley and I got a crib-" Caroline was cut off by her phone. "Sorry! I've got to take this, it's Elena." She left the room and closed the door behind her as she entered her room.

"Hey, Caroline," said Elena from the other end. "How are you?"

"I'm fine. I'm really, really good. Being away from Mystic Falls is great. But I miss you."

"I miss you, too."

"So what's been going on in Mystic Falls since I left? Catch me up on all the drama!"

"Well, surprisingly, not much has been going on. Jeremy and I have been looking for a new house,"

Caroline interrupted her, "Jeremy's back?"

Elena laughed, "Yes, Bonnie managed to get him back! Anyway, he's been getting adjusted and, um, me and Damon are together." Caroline held back from rolling her eyes. If Elena wanted to choose the Salvatore who'd abused her as a human and had made countless mistakes during the past few years, Caroline had no right to intrude. In any case, she was living with a serial killer, too. "Honestly, we've been kind of on edge since Katherine took the cure."

This was the final straw. How much could she have missed? "What?! Katherine's a human again? Is there any other huge bomb you want to drop on me?"

Elena giggles. "Sorry, Caroline, I didn't realise that you didn't know. I swear that's it! Well, I've got to go. Damon is taking me out tonight." She giggled again before saying, "Bye!"

"Bye," Caroline replied softly. She hit the End Call button and turned to see Elijah standing right behind her, blocking the doorway.

"You know," he murmured.

A/N: So a couple of notes: Firstly, I'm so sorry there wasn't a bunch of Klaroline in this chapter but I kind of needed to get the plot set up for next chapter, which, I promise, is ALL about the two of them. Next, I integrated Kalijah, which I hope was ok with everyone. I think they're Adorable, even though I appreciate that I wasn't the kindest to Elijah. He was doing what he did out of love...

Special thanks to AngelofMusic44 for suggesting a bunch of baby names. I still need ideas for baby girl names and there's a poll on my profile to pick the perfect one.

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