Chapter 2

By ZebraBow

Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Diaries or any other copyrighted things mentioned in this story.

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You come around

And the armor falls

Pierce the room

Like a cannonball

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"I'm so sorry," Caroline said as Katherine rushed into the room like a tornado. It had been a while since she had left the message for her best friend. A part of her wondered how much trouble she was in.

"How is she? Is she alright?" Katherine asked gesturing to the sleeping form in the hospital bed. The huge blankets dwarfed the small child and her heart constricted when she saw Ella.

"Yeah, she's been asleep for a while now. The doctor said everything is alright. She's in the clear and we can leave after she wakes up."

"Hmm," Katherine turned and surveyed her blonde friend, "and how about you? Are you alright?"

Caroline mustered a weak smile, "A little shaken."

Kat teased, "Geez Care, I knew you were bad with kids. But I didn't think you would almost kill her. Remind me to never let you babysit again."

Caroline let out a little breath of air she didn't even realize she was holding in. "So, you're not mad?"

The brunette let out a laugh. "I have to admit. I was a little bit mad when I first heard your message, but you know that I can never stay mad at you." She tucked a long strand of hair behind her ear and gave a grin, "Besides, I've put you through worse."

Caroline smiled back, "Are you talking about that body I helped you hide back in college?"

Kat playfully pushed her shoulder, "Hey! I thought we swore never to talk about that incident ever again."

"All I remember was being plastered, but seriously. I need your help. Even though Ella is alright now, they won't discharge her until I fill out a million forms. And I don't know anything about her other than her name. Look," she said pointing to the forms in her hand, "I put her age as young and name of father as Mr. Mikaelson."

Kat face palmed, "Seriously Care? Oh shit – I just remembered. I have to call Klaus. I'm sure he's ready to rip my guts out and he hasn't even heard about what happened today."

Caroline let out a nervous laugh, "So, should I just leave now or when you –"

"Hold it missy; this is one phone call I am not looking forward to making." Kat gave a somewhat sadistic grin. "Besides, you're about to face a force known as Hurricane Mikaelson."

Klaus pressed his fingers to his temples again. The killer headache he had earlier had turned into a full blown migraine. The last two hours were spent driving around town trying to find his daughter and completely irresponsible sister-in-law. He had gone to the ice cream parlor that Bekah used to take Ella. He went to Katherine's flat and all he managed to find was a hysterical Elijah. He even went as far as stopping by Jeremy Gilberts, but no luck.

He dialed the number once more and heard it go to voice mail again. After leaving a satisfactorily angry message that conveyed the emotions he was feeling, he stared at the steering wheel of his car. Honestly, he didn't know what to do now. The next logical step would be to contact the police, but it wasn't unusual for Kat to disappear for some time. She always managed to find the weirdest hobbies – bow hunting, puppetry, making miniature doll houses – all of which his brother found absolutely endearing.

Maybe she had gotten side tracked and taken his child to one of those classes instead. Or maybe she had been attacked by a drug gang and the two of them had already crossed state lines with the kidnappers. Or maybe – his line of thought was cut short by his phone ringing.

"Do you not understand the meaning of a cell phone? The purpose is for communication. Where are you?" he barked into the phone.

A pause of silence followed which he took as a negative sign.

"Listen, don't get mad. But I'm at the Chicago Grace. Don't worry though. Ella is fine and everything is okay –"

Klaus resisted the urge to scream and punch his steering wheel, "I'll be there in ten minutes. And for your sake, everything better be okay."

Katherine stared at her phone in disbelief. Her jerk of a brother-in-law had hung up on her. Well, threatened her well-being and then hung up on her. Considering the situation, she could understand why he was utterly pissed off and she could feel the color draining from her face as she thought about what was going to happen very soon. "Since Ella's father is coming – no need for me to stay right? Looks like you got everything under control Care."

"Woah! Hold on a minute missy," Caroline interjected, "I've never seen you want to leave a place so badly. You've got to help me out Kat."

She let out a sigh of air, "Fine, but you should know that Klaus does have a bit of a temper. And I fully expect to use you as a body shield if anything gets physical. After all, the pregnant lady shouldn't get hurt."

Caroline let out a shriek. "I know you would be pregnant. You've been oddly nicer to everyone these past few weeks. Damon was convinced you have a brain tumor. Congrats Kat! You're going to be an amazing mother," letting out a little teasing laugh, "well, not as good as Elena, but I don't think anyone can compete with her."

"Gee thanks Care! And here I was thinking about naming you as the god mother," the brunette stated dryly.

Caroline let out another whoop of joy, "Seriously? Are you sure you don't want Elena as the god mother? She's freaking amazing with kids and she's your twin sister after all."

"She picked you as Alex's god mother. And we both know that no one will spoil my kid like you Care."

"Aww! You do love me after all," Caroline gave her best friend a hug.

"Okay, enough with the love and happy mushy stuff. You're starting to make me nauseous. And focus Care. World War 3 is going to erupt in this room within the next five minutes. I wasn't joking when I said that Klaus had a temper. And the full force of it is going to be directed towards you when he finds out you're responsible for Ella being in the hospital."

"He can't be that bad! So, I almost killed his child, but everyone makes mistakes right?" Caroline looked helplessly at her best friend.

"Which room is Ella Mikaelson in?" Klaus asked the nurse sitting at the nurses station. The emergency ward was nearly empty considering it was almost ten. He had sprinted from the parking lot and was almost out of breath. There was no time to be asking questions. He needed to find his daughter – now.

"Give me a minute sir," the nurse replied, "we had a lot of patients admitted today and I need to look through the files to see which room."

His migraine was pounding and he did not run six red lights to watch a nurse putter around. "Just tell me which room my daughter is in."

"Oh Marge, don't you remember that cute little blonde girl that came in today?" another nurse stated. "She's in room number 17. It's right down the hall on your left."

Klaus nearly ran to the room and opened the door with a swift movement. His daughter looked angelic sleeping on the bed. He was relieved to see that she was just simply sleeping and didn't have any monitors connected to her. He took that as a good sign.

"Hey Klaus," his sister-in-law greeted him.

"Explain now," he grunted at the brunette. He could see a blonde woman shrinking into the background.

"Now, don't get angry. I had something really important to do today. And my friend Caroline offered to watch Ella," she gestured to the blonde who gave a nervous wave to him. "She didn't know Ella was allergic to nuts and long story short – Ella is fine. They gave her an epi shot and the doctor cleared her for discharge about an hour ago. We just need to fill out some papers and we can take her home."

Klaus massaged his temples. "Both of you out now," he barked at them. He didn't have time to deal with the two idiots who put his daughter in the hospital. All he wanted to do was take Ella home and never let her out of his sight.

Katherine grabbed her purse from the table, "Come on Care. Lets go."

Caroline started to follow her out the door when she turned around to face Klaus. "Listen, I know what I did was really horrible even though it was a complete accident. But I just wanted to say that I'm really really sorry. And I never meant for any of this to happen."

"Get out of this room and away from my daughter before I call the cops. You should be glad I'm not pressing charges. Anyone with a half a brain wouldn't make a mistake like this," His face was livid, "And I never want to see you anywhere near my daughter again or I will call the police."

And with that the door slammed shut. Caroline stared at it in disbelief. That crummy horrible feeling she had in the pit of her stomach was back. She knew she might be a failure at life and all things in general, but she felt shoddier than ever. It was a long day and the events of today just confirmed what she might have known all along.

And all we know

Is don't let go

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