A/N: Thanks to everyone who is giving this story a shot. One more of the Mikaelson family arrives in this chapter. More will arrive in the next.
Happy reading!
"No family is perfect...we argue, we fight. We even stop talking to each other at times. But in the end, family is family. The love will always be there."-Unknown
The loud knocking on the hotel room door was initially what pulled Klaus out of the dream he was having. He blinked, trying to figure out where the loud noise was coming from and then why anyone would be knocking so loudly at midnight, or so the quick glance at the alarm clock on the bedside table told him. Caroline stirred beside him, rubbing her eyes as she looked bewilderedly at him, no doubt the same questions going through her own mind.
"I know you're in their, Nik!" Rebekah's voice practically shrieked and it was the revelation of who was being such a nuisance coinciding with Henrik starting to wail that has Klaus and Caroline scrambling out of the bed.
He headed toward the door, more questions forming with each step, while Caroline headed toward the crib to try and calm the infant down. No one enjoyed being woken up but a baby with very little concept of the world who depended on everyone else to keep him safe and happy had to detest it even more so. Klaus didn't know what he would have done if Caroline hadn't come to be with him and help him out. Though, maybe then Elijah would have taken on the responsibility of looking after their youngest brother instead of leaving the baby with him.
"Rebekah," Klaus started, glaring at his younger sister as he finally pulled open the door.
"Don't you even think about Rebekah-ing me, Klaus Mikaelson," his little sister glared back and motioned toward the suitcase that was behind her for him to pick up while she held onto her carry on bag and purse. "There are no rooms available because of some idiotic conference so I can't get mine until tomorrow when everyone leaves. The shuttle from the airport already left and…" Her voice trailed off, lips forming a perfect 'O' as she spotted Caroline trying to comfort the still sniffling Henrik. At least he had stopped screaming.
Rebekah let her bags drop to the floor and almost looked apologetic. "I thought he'd be with Elijah since he's had a kid before," she murmured and headed over to Caroline and the baby. "I didn't mean to wake you, baby brother." She touched the little boy's cheek, rubbing it gently, but made no move to actually take him from Caroline.
"Only to wake us up," Klaus muttered as he brought her suitcase in and locked the door behind him. He wondered precisely what all she had even packed considering how heavy the damn thing was. "I thought you weren't coming until after Tuesday."
"I didn't know if Caro would be here or not," Rebekah replied, waving him off as she turned away from the baby. "Family seemed more pressing than the finals that I managed to get out of."
"What's-his-name was already finished with his finals and left for the break, didn't he?" What was the guy's name that she had been mentioning recently? He couldn't remember, not with how many different names she seemed to have gone through in the last semester. It was her life and she could do with it as she pleased, but Klaus couldn't help but worry about each heartbreak that she seemed to experience cutting her a little deeper.
"I broke up with him," Rebekah muttered as she examined her nails, shrugging a bit. "But it looks like I'll be staying here for the night."
"You can have the couch," Klaus started, watching as Caroline tried to hold back a laugh at that idea while Rebekah stared at him.
"Have you lost your mind?" his sister asked, shaking her head at him. "Can you believe how ungentlemanly he's being, Caroline? Having his poor sister who just flew for hours and then had to deal with driving on a shuttle with no family to pick her up sleep on a couch?"
She swept by him to head to her suitcase, needing to take out her pajamas and everything else needed for her nighttime routine. Rebekah made sure to sigh a few times, loudly and dramatically, and Klaus knew that if she was regulated to the couch that all they would hear all night was her griping about how uncomfortable she was.
"You're sharing the bed with Caroline then," Klaus told her and Caroline rolled her eyes at that as she continued to rub the baby's back.
"Splendid," Rebekah grinned at him before disappearing into the bathroom.
"I think there are extra pillows in the closet. We can probably call down to the desk for another blanket," Caroline offered as Klaus walked over to her and Henrik.
His little eyes were slowly fluttering closed but they opened widely again at the sound of the shower starting before drifting close again. "I have to warn you that my sister is quite the kicker in bed," Klaus warned Caroline as he brushed his fingers over Henrik's cheek, watching as the baby finally fell back asleep.
"That's okay, I have no problem kicking back or hogging covers if need be," Caroline reminded as she settled Henrik back into the crib, thankful that he remained asleep.
Klaus' hands settled on her hips, chest pressed against her back as they stood watching the infant sleep for a few moments. "I'll miss my morning cuddles though," she murmured as his chin rested on her shoulder and one of his hands ghosted over the skin between her tank top and shorts.
"I'll make those up to you," Klaus promised and kissed her shoulder before pulling away from her to make the call for extra blankets. He'd get one for Caroline as well because while he knew she'd happily steal them from Rebekah if needed, Klaus really didn't want to hear the whining that would accompany that fete.
"Do you think she'll go with you and Elijah to the funeral home tomorrow?" Caroline asked as she headed back toward the bed, ready to stake her territory.
"It's possible, though you never know with my sister." Klaus could see her either wanting to pick out every single aspect of the funeral for their parents or wanting nothing to do with that part of it and stick to planning the wake afterward. If there was a wake. He wasn't sure what the plan was for that but it would probably be a good idea to have Rebekah work on that. "Are you going to be okay here with him?"
Klaus looked back at the crib where Henrik was sleeping soundly. He didn't like putting the burden of taking care of his baby brother on Caroline but neither Elijah nor Klaus wanted to take the boy to the funeral home with him. Maybe Rebekah could watch the baby instead.
"It's fine, really, Klaus. He'll keep me company here while I'm waiting for Finn, Sage and the kids to arrive so they have someone here to greet them," Caroline assured and Klaus leaned over the bed, needing to kiss her in that moment.
She'd been a light that helped blot out some of the darkness in his life when he'd first met her and Caroline simply continued to be that light he desperately needed. Her fingers brushed his cheek as she kissed him back, letting it linger on both of their lips until they heard the shower cut off. "I love you," Klaus murmured, loving the way she smiled at those three words whenever he said them.
"I love you too. But you really need to order that blanket or you're going to be sleeping with your coat as one," Caroline pushed him away and got back under the covers, shaking her head as she laid down while Klaus finally called the front desk.
Rebekah emerged a few moments later and shooed Klaus away from the bed so she could plump up her pillows. "Oh by the way, Caroline. This look that you've done with your hair is much better than that last haircut you had. It's almost flattering to your features."
Caroline counted to five in her head before smiling at the other girl while Klaus went to retrieve the pillows and blankets he'd requested. "Thanks, Rebekah."
"I'll give you some more tips in the morning," Rebekah assured her as she turned off the light and settled down onto the bed. "Like a cream to help make your skin less porous."
Caroline stared up at the ceiling and counted again, willing herself not to hit the girl with a pillow. That would only lead to Rebekah yelling and Henrik waking again. She could be the bigger person, she really, really could.
"And perhaps go over a correct color palette for your eyes," Rebekah continued and Caroline turned on her side, wondering if there was enough room on the couch to fit both her and Klaus.
It was going to be a very long night.
The drive to the funeral home they would be using had been done in mostly silence, the occasional question about work and Italy brought up to pass the time, but eventually there hadn't been much else to delve into between the two of them. It wasn't an uncomfortable silence, the need to talk had never been something either brother had ever been adept at. That was more Kol and Rebekah's forte. There was also the fact that Klaus and Elijah kept in touch fairly regularly, more than he did with his other siblings aside from from Rebekah. Though with his sister it was usually her calling because she was in some sort of trouble that she didn't want their parents finding out about and needed Klaus to help her with.
At least with Elijah the conversations were never about money or getting either of them out of a speeding ticket or some other nonsense. Usually it was his older brother trying to get him to work on reconciliation with their parents but that was a useless topic now considering they were going to be burying them both.
Klaus let Elijah pick out the caskets and other little details that the funeral director told them about. The headstone that was to be used had already been picked out by Mikael and while Klaus would have loved to have altered those plans just to stick it to the dead man he knew that Elijah would have wanted to respect the man's wishes. Even if the man had never respected any of their choices when he'd been alive.
But the arrangements were made, the time and day set, and everything was cleared with the morgue that would be releasing the bodies to the funeral home later that day.
It hadn't taken long to get everything done, the drive from the hotel to the funeral parlour what took the longest, but Klaus felt drained from the experience. There might have been no love lost for Mikael and while he still held a lot of anger toward Esther for cutting him off as she had, Klaus had still loved his mother and the loss of her in such a horrific way was a hard one to handle. The bastard couldn't have just taken his own life, he'd had to take their mother's as well and that was something Klaus wasn't sure any of his siblings or him would be able to forgive the man for.
"Would you like me to drop you off at the hotel before I head to the house for the clothes?" Elijah asked as they arrived at the car.
Yes. That was very much what Klaus wanted to have happen. He didn't want to set foot in that house he had been thrown out of after high school for even a moment. But it was an hour drive back to the hotel in traffic and then Elijah would have to turn around and make the drive all over again so that he could do what was needed. Klaus watched his brother, seeing him trying to appear as stoic as possible, to be the rock he was used to being for his siblings, but Klaus could see the weariness in his brother's eyes.
"I can just wait in the car," Klaus muttered as he opened the passenger's side door.
"Thank you, Niklaus," Elijah breathed out and Klaus could practically see some of the weight coming off Elijah's shoulders. This was something it would have been good to have Finn around to help with but the funeral home would be closed by the time that brother made it in that day.
The drive to their childhood home was driven in an uncomfortable silence, so starkly different than the one to the funeral home. Memories wanted to break out and whirl free in Klaus' mind, to stir up pieces of the past he'd pushed down and away, but he kept them locked up tight, refusing to let Mikael have any kind of win over him even in death.
He focused on texting Caroline instead, letting her know that they would be a little longer and where they were headed.
Care: are u okay with doing that?
Klaus: it'll be fine love
Care: not what i asked
Klaus: it needs to be done
Care: you're a good brother klaus
Care: ilu
Klaus: i love you as well sweetheart
He expected that to be the last of it and steeled himself for an onslaught of emotions as the large gate opened up for the car, letting them onto the expansive estate. Klaus could remember the suitcase being thrown at him, clothes flying out of it as it hit the ground while Mikael yelled all kinds of obscenities at him with Rebekah crying in the background and clinging to Kol while Esther wailed at Mikael to stop.
Care: you might want to get something for henrik
Care: something that's familiar to him maybe?
Klaus read the texts and sighed at them, knowing she was right and the chances of him staying in the car while Elijah picked out outfits had dwindled away. "I won't take long," Elijah assured him as he parked the car in front of the staircase that led to the front entrance. Yellow police tape could be seen strewn across the door but they had already gotten approval to go inside. The case was closed, a murder-suicide, there was nothing else they needed from the house evidence-wise.
"I'm going in," Klaus informed him, watching concern etch his brother's features before Elijah simply nodded. "Grab a few things for Henrik."
"Caroline's idea I presume?" Elijah asked as they headed up the stairs and tore down the tape. Klaus nodded, watching as Elijah unlocked the door. An ocean away and he was allowed a key while Klaus still lived in the same state and hadn't been given a new one. "She's good for you."
"You've told me that before," Klaus reminded as they walked into the entryway.
"Doesn't make it any less true," Elijah replied before his voice caught in his throat.
Neither of them had expected to be met with the sight of a bloodstained floor or bloody handprints heading toward the stairs. It was a horrific sight that painted a picture of what their mother's last moments must have been like. Blood trailed up the staircase, handprints along the rail before it simply ended.
"The nursery should be to the right," Elijah murmured, needing to get away from the sight as much as Klaus did.
He watched his brother head off toward the master bedroom before moving the other way in the direction of the nursery. His old room would have been the first door on the right but Rebekah had told him that it had been changed into a storage room by Mikael ages ago. There was no point in looking inside of it. He wanted nothing from this house any longer, any keepsake would have been tainted by all that had happened anyway.
It wasn't hard to find the nursery though. Not with Henrik's name attached to it with baby blue block letters and a small wooden duckling on the door. The detail in it meant that Esther must have put it together and Klaus had a feeling that the inside of the nursery would be just as detailed. He definitely didn't expect to find blood in there, sprayed against the back wall like he had seen in countless forensic shows when someone shot themselves in the head.
He closed his eyes, trying to stifle down the fury of knowing that Henrik had heard that, had been forced to endure the sound of Mikael dying in the room. What else must have he had heard in his few short months in that house? Did he hear the screaming matches between the two, the blows that would land on their mother's skin? What could he have done being so small? He couldn't even hide in the closet like Rebekah and Kol had managed, hands pressed over their ears to try and block it all out. All the baby would have been able to do was lay there and cry.
Klaus couldn't contain the anger at that thought and his fist flew out, crashing against the wall of the room and leaving a hole in its wake.
He rested his palms against the wall and tried to breathe, to control the anger that was coursing through him. He might not have been Mikael's biological child but he'd definitely inherited his temper. That was something he worked on day in and day out to control, to find better outlets for.
It took a few moments but eventually he was able to calm himself enough to turn his attention back to the task at hand. Klaus took a photo of Esther holding Henrik, leaving behind the one that had Mikael in it as well, and picked up the blanket that his mother must have made for his baby brother. It looked just like the ones the rest of them all had carried around as children with their names embroidered on it and an animal that Esther had claimed she saw in visions with them when she was pregnant.
This one had a baby horse and Henrik's name.
Klaus thought they might be something the boy would want when he was older.
"I got what should work..." Elijah's voice trailed off as he looked at the blood in the room, no doubt figuring out what must have transpired. Klaus turned toward him and he clasped his hand against his brother's shoulder, not surprised when Elijah's hand gripped his back for a moment. "Soon that monster will be buried in the ground and none of us will need to spare a thought for him ever again."
If only it were truly that easy.
"Let's get out of here ," Klaus suggested, this time thankful that he didn't have a key to this house of horrors anymore.
The wind whipping around the snow outside had meant that heading outside for a walk was a definite no. While they had got a jacket for Henrik during that Target shopping spree, Caroline wasn't sure it would hold up against the elements for any kind of walk. But with Rebekah hogging the shower again and the hotel room seeming to close in around the three of them, Caroline knew she needed to at least get out of the room. So after scribbling out a note to Rebekah, she dressed Henrik and stuffed a bottle with some formula, an extra pacifier, diaper and wipes into her purse and headed out to explore the hotel.
It wouldn't be the most riveting of sight seeing adventures but at least it was a change of scenery. Henrik seemed to appreciate leaving the room as well, his little head turning to look around as she carried him through the hallway and toward the elevator. He sucked a little harder on his pacifier as they entered the elevator, his big eyes looking at her and Caroline smiled down at the baby, hopeful that it looked reassuring.
"We can walk around the lobby for a little bit before your other brother and your sister-in-law arrive. Plus your nieces." It was weird to think how this tiny baby in her arms was an uncle to a fourteen year old but she supposed that it really wasn't that uncommon an occurrence anymore. "
Henrik simply stared at her as she talked before smiling behind the pacifier. It seemed that he liked her voice which was good because Caroline talked a lot when she was holding him. She stepped out of the elevator and Henrik's gaze moved to the huge Christmas tree that was lit up and decorated in the hallway so she headed over to it so the baby could get a better look.
Christmas was only a few weeks away and Caroline wondered how many presents were tucked away in the Mikaelson home for the little boy, meant to be given to him by people he would never see again. She had no love for Mikael and she might not have been all that fond of Esther considering how she'd abandoned Klaus, but Henrik had lost both of his parents right before the holiday and that was tragic.
She kissed the little boy's head and bounced him some as she started walking again, looking for something that might be entertaining to him. There was a loud crash to the right of them followed by someone screaming about breaking something and Henrik freezed in her arms, his entire body tightening up as his lips began to quiver. He looked up at her and Caroline didn't think she had ever seen anyone so young look as frightened as he did in that moment. He pressed his face into her chest and she rubbed at his back, moving away from the yelling match that was going on as her lips brushed against his head.
"It's okay, Henrik, see? No more loud noises. I've got you," she assured the baby whose hands were fisted in her sweater, refusing to budge. "Why don't we go sit in the restaurant for a bit?" She could definitely use some coffee and the place didn't seem busy, the atmosphere looking much quieter than the lobby currently was.
Ten minutes later and she was seated in one of the booth's, Henrik still curled up on her chest while she carefully sipped on her coffee. He wasn't asleep, his eyes very much open but he didn't seem interested in looking around anymore, preferring to securely hold onto Caroline while he sucked on his pacifier. Her phone buzzed in her pocket and with some maneuvering she managed to get it out without knocking the coffee over and keeping hold of Henrik.
She seriously did not know how people did this on a regular basis.
"Aren't you supposed to be at work?" Caroline said in greeting, quickly checking the time on her phone before pressing it back to her ear.
"And aren't you supposed to be on a girls' trip right now, gorgeous?" she heard her best friend ask.
Caroline carefully adjusted Henrik whose grip tightened further until he realized that she wasn't putting him down but only shifting him to make holding him easier. "Klaus got a call from the police," Caroline started and she could almost hear Enzo rolling her eyes at that news.
"Did Rebekah get in trouble again or was it that other one this time? Kon?" He inquired and Caroline was certain that she heard someone yelling at a TV in the background.
"Kol. And no." Caroline looked down at the baby. He probably didn't understand what she was going to be saying, but it still felt weird to speak about the murder of his mother while she was holding him. "Klaus' parents died so we're upstate dealing with that."
She was almost surprised that Enzo hadn't heard about the murder, but Elijah had tried to ensure the news of it remained local and it seemed to have worked since Enzo was in the city. "Didn't they have a baby?" he asked and Caroline nodded before realizing that her friend couldn't actually see that.
"Yep, Henrik. He's relaxing with me at the moment while Elijah and Klaus deal with funeral arrangements." Caroline really hoped that going back to his childhood home wasn't as traumatic as it could have been for Klaus. She hoped both he and Elijah were handling it okay.
"How old is he?" Enzo asked and Caroline rolled her eyes at the disbelief she heard in her friend's voice.
"Like three months old?" That sounded about right.
"I feel like I need a picture," Enzo replied and Caroline pursed her lips at his amusement.
"Hey!" Caroline protested and Henrik looked up at her, his eyes widening a little at her pitch. She smiled down at him, reminding herself not to get so loud.
"Didn't you tell me that baby's scared you? That you almost dropped one once and you swore off ever babysitting because of it?" Enzo mused and she narrowed her eyes at that. She was so not telling him anything again. Not when he used it against her in conversations later on.
"I didn't babysit because I was too busy doing other things!" she protested, trying to ignore his chuckle. "Besides I took that cpr class about kids."
"When was that? How many years ago?" Like she was answering that. "Do you even remember the basics?" Eno asked and Caroline shrugged. Nope. She really didn't.
"Well he seems to like my breasts best for sleeping on so I gotta be doing something correct. Right, buddy?" She looked back at Henrik, smiling at him and was pleased to be rewarded with a grin in return. "Besides Klaus and Elijah will be back soon." And Rebekah was around. Not that Rebekah had much more experience than she did. From what the girl was telling her they'd both held the baby about the same amount of time now, Rebekah's time was just spread out through more trips to see the infant.
"At least its a smart baby," Enzo conceded and if he had been there she would have thrown her utensils at him. "Does Klaus need anything?"
"Not anything you can buy." He just needed love and support. That was what all of the family needed.
"Give him my condolences," Enzo told her, which really was something. The two of them hadn't really gotten along at first, but their mutual love and adoration of her had made them begrudging friends. "And keep me in the loop for where you are. It's icy up there."
"Yeah yeah yeah. Go to work!" Caroline told him before ending the call. Her phone vibrated as soon as she put it down and she tilted the screen, noting the message from Klaus saying they were heading back to the hotel. She sent off a quick reply before settling back against the book to relax a little longer with the baby.
"There you are!" Rebekah called out and Caroline shifted to see the Mikaelson girl heading toward them. "Sage called, their flight arrived and they should be here in an hour or so depending on traffic with the shuttle."
"They'll make it for dinner then," Caroline murmured as Henrik let the pacifier drop into her lap, his mouth moving trying to latch onto her again. "Still doesn't work like that, baby boy." She nodded toward her purse. "Can you get me the bottle out of there and pour the water into it?"
Rebekah complied and handed off the bottle a few moments later. Caroline shook it up before pausing. "Do you want to do it?" After all, Henrik was her little brother.
"Last time I fed him with some of mother's breast milk in a bottle he spit up on me and this top is new," Rebekah told her as she shook her head, nose wrinkled in distaste. "I never knew something so little could make such a mess. I'll hold him after he's finished and burped." Then it should be safe.
Caroline laughed at that before adjusting Henrik so he could drink from the bottle better. "I wonder if it'll be Finn or Elijah who they left him to," Rebekah continued. "In the will I mean. It won't be Kol. Not with how flighty he is, nor will it be me since I'm not married. And Nik…" She sighed, partly in disgust, partly out of sorrow. "Well, you know why they wouldn't have chosen Nik."
Caroline nodded, sensing that Rebekah still had more to say. "I'm not sure either would be a good match though. Finn's youngest is five and they already have a full house." It was true, he and Sage did have a big family already. "And Elijah... I adore my brother but he barely has time outside of work for Italy as it is. And Kat is no better."
Well, with Katherine it depended on press tours and her shooting schedule, but Caroline knew that both of them did love their little girl to pieces. Spoiled her a little too much to make up for their lack of time but there was no doubting that Italy was loved.
"I guess we'll find out at the will reading." And then Henrik's life would change all over again. Caroline sighed at that thought, wondering how much change in such a short span could affect someone, even one as small as Henrik was currently. Whatever the change though it had to be better than what his home life had been, right?
"That really can't come quick enough," Rebekah murmured before plucking the menu off the table. "Might as well get something to snack on while we wait."
"I could definitely go for some fries," Caroline told her and Rebekah snorted at that.
"Caroline, fries are not for snacking. The dessert menu is definitely full of options though," Rebekah informed her with a sly smile.
That was one area that Caroline was happy to concede to Rebekah because chocolate mousse sounded heavenly right then.
"Do we tell them?" Elijah asked as he sat in the car with Klaus in the middle of the parking lot. The snow was starting to fall hard and it wouldn't surprise him if a couple of inches managed to accumulate over night.
"That Mikael decided to blow his brains out in the nursery for little Henrik to hear?" Klaus muttered. It shouldn't have surprised him that the man had done so. It would have been so easy to simply say that Mikael wasn't in his right mind, maybe he wasn't, but Klaus thought it had more to do with the man's ego than anything else. "At least he left the boy alone."
Wasn't that a sort of miracle considering he must have been only feet away from him? Klaus wondered what had made the man not harm the baby, he'd had no problem harming the rest of his children through the years...though he hadn't killed any of them. Perhaps that was a step too far in his eyes, but then again, Klaus remembered the craziness of Mikael's gaze when he'd thrown him out of the house.
"What do we tell Henrik when he asks about them?" Elijah stared out the window though he was still gripping the steering wheel, the keys still residing in the ignition. "How do we look him in the eye and tell him about that horrific scene?" It was hard enough to comprehend it as an adult but at what age was it expected for a child to be able to do so?
"How do we explain that we didn't stop it from happening?" Klaus barely managed to get out. He glanced over at Elijah and watched as his brother closed his eyes with a sigh.
"Rebekah was out. We thought it was over. Mother made her choice to stay with him," Elijah murmured as he finally released his grip on the wheel. "None of us thought they would have another."
But Esther had and they had all silently waited for trouble to begin again. The maybes were going to be what kept them all up at night. Maybe if they had tried harder to get Esther to see reason, maybe if they had made a report of the abuse they had endured earlier...a thousand maybes that might have stopped the tragedy from occurring.
Elijah looked down at his phone when it chirped and read the message from Sage. "Finn's family is here. We're having dinner in an hour. We should freshen up." Wash the atrocities they had seen away.
"Are we telling them?" Klaus asked as Elijah touched the handle.
"I don't think they need to carry that burden around," Elijah told him and Klaus nodded. Only the two of them would, like so many other burdens they had been carrying for far too long. "Thank you for coming with me, Niklaus. If I had…" Well, he didn't know what he would have done if he had walked into that house alone.
Klaus simply nodded and they exited the car. They rode the elevator together in silence, getting off at their separate floors. Finding Rebekah and her suitcases gone was a breath of fresh air, finding Henrik asleep in the crib while Caroline was relaxing on the bed with one of her books was another. "How did it…?"
She didn't get to finish her sentence as he was tugging her up from the bed and hugging her tightly for a moment, needing the warmth and comfort of her embrace to help center him. "Klaus?" Caroline whispered after a moment and he only held her tighter, not wanting to talk.
He let go after a bit and walked over to the crib. Klaus stared down at his baby brother, silently apologizing for not preventing all that had happened in his short life. Caroline wrapped her arms around Klaus and rested her head against the back of his shoulder, wondering what must have happened at the house, what he must have seen. His hand clasped hers, squeezing it tightly and she made a mental promise to herself to do whatever she needed to help him get through these next few days.
The remnants of Mikael, of that past, were not allowed to destroy who Klaus had become in spite of his childhood. And they weren't allowed to ruin the life that the baby deserved to have either. Caroline Forbes wouldn't let it.