Having woken up from my second wave of unconsciousness for the day, I glanced over towards the clock and groaned, swiping a hand over my face. Jesus. I had to stop doing that, or, one day, I'll fall unconscious and Klaus will kill me. Or Marcel will. Or Rebekah. Or any other freaking vampire for that matter.

Talking of Vampires and killing. As I sat up, I reached up and cringed as my hand came to skim the raised skin it found there. But then I frowned, and touched it more firmly. That wasn't the savaged skin that had been there at the party. These were raised, faint scars.

I could hear noises coming from downstairs, and, though it was dark in the room, I could see the light streaming from the edges of the blinds. The clock proclaimed it was nine O'clock. Clearly, I'd slept until the morning the next day. I swung my legs out of bed and tried to settle them firmly, waiting for the nausea to hit like a wrecking ball against a brick wall. Instead, there was only a small trickle, like a tap, nothing I couldn't handle after what I'd been experiencing the last few days. I stood up, careful not to be to quick, and slowly started to move across the room, out into the landing where the light from the morning sun was so bright, and tried to make my way downstairs, clutching the banisters for dear life.

When I finally arrived downstairs, I poked my head into the kitchen to see Hailey bustling about, slightly humming to herself as she placed bowels back in their correct spots and just generally tidied up.

"You're up!" She smiled, still not turning towards me as she clattered some glasses into the glass cabinet. "I should hope so too, I was worried you were becoming one of the dead!"

I moved into the kitchen and took a seat on one of the high chairs that was settled in front of the marble counter top.

"Yeah, well, even if I had you shouldn't have worried. Being dead doesn't really seem to stop people around here." I cupped my head in the palm of my hand and watched her move about with such energy, still humming to herself. "Speaking of the dead, where is Tall, Dead and extremely dangerous and his blonde sister?"

Hailey giggled and turned back to me.

"I dunno." She shrugged. "I woke up this morning and they were gone. It's okay though, they do that a lot. I don't worry. I've learnt that you only start to worry about them when they turn up with a big wooden thing stuck in their chest."

I laughed.

"They do that a lot?" I asked.

She winked at me, turning once more to flip the switch on the kettle.

"More often then you might think." She informed me, and though her manner was light I could hear the truth ringing in her words. "Now, c'mon, I'm not your servant! Come make your own damn breakfast!"

I pulled a face at her, standing up and giving her a slight nod.

"Oh, alright then. But I don't really feel like having breakfast. I feel a bit queasy, actually."

Hailey pointed towards the cupboard doors, just above where I was now standing.

"I put your powder in the top cupboard. Third shelf I think. Careful, don't take mine, I only have a bit left." She smiled at me and pushed a bowel and box of cereal towards me. "You need to eat."

I smiled at her, taking down the white powder in a clear, small bottle from the shelf and placing it on the kitchen table.

"It's really nice how you look after me." I smiled. "My god-mother, Laura, used to do the same thing."

Hailey blushed, then tried to laugh to cover it up.

"Oh, I'm not doing this for you. Klaus would absolutely kill me if I hadn't made sure you ate something. You'll find he's very picky about stuff like that."

I smirked, starting to sprinkle the powder over the cereal, making it look completely unappetising.

"Really? I hadn't noticed."

We had a small laugh before descending into silence. I tried to ignore the way Hailey watched me eat, but it was hard. Outside it was cold, but the sun was streaming in through the windows and I could hear the birds chirping. Was it always this quiet, I wondered. Was it always this quiet when Klaus wasn't around?

"Klaus and I aren't together." Hailey suddenly proclaimed, jolting slightly as if jerking herself out of a dream.

I pushed the cereal around in the bowel, watching it float in the milk.

"I know."

Hailey flushed, looking away in embarrassment.

"I just...I just thought you should know. I don't know what it is about you... he was never as protective about me when I first arrived."

I shrugged, suddenly loosing my appetite. I didn't want to get into this, especially not with her. Besides, I could sense something that was making me feel sort of sick. I needed to get out of there as soon as possible.

"I dunno. Maybe its because I'm a powerful witch who may be able to stop Davina?" I suggested, not really giving her a chance to either agree or disagree with me. I pushed my plate away and started to stand up. "Anyway, as comforting as this oddly domestic scene is, I really have to go."

"Not," A deep voice cut across the kitchen. "Without finishing your food."

Inwardly, I cursed myself as I felt a hand start to press me back down into the chair again. I hadn't been fast enough to escape. But this wasn't Klaus who was pushing me back down into the chair, the aura was all wrong and, besides, the hand was gentle.

In front of me, Hailey blushed prettily and turned away to start putting cereal boxes away.

"Elijah." She spoke casually, trying to sound calm and blank but her aura pulsed like a night club light, and his automatically stretched out towards her as if desperate to be somehow connected to her.

I frowned. Was Klaus aware of this?

"Hailey." He moved his hand from my shoulder and moved around the counter towards her. "How are you?" Tenderly, he reached down to touch her stomach. "I'm sorry I've been away for so long."

"I understand your brother put you back in your box for Marcel." She murmured, turning around to face him, her eyes full of adoration. "Sorry 'bout that. But you should have been here for me." It now looked like she was going to storm off.

Interestedly, I peered around Elijah's form to watch as he caught her arm and turned her back towards him. Absent-mindedly, I dipped my spoon into the milk and began to raise it to my mouth. I was too distracted by the love and the intense emotions being channelled in the room that I wasn't even focusing on what I was doing.

"I'm sorry, but it wasn't exactly my fault." Gently, he pulled her back towards him, the love every growing, their magical energy connecting in such an intense fashion that I felt the sickness roll through me again and I began to feel dizzy. I couldn't cope with such intense emotions at this time in the morning and after the night I'd had. "Please, forgive me. I'm here now, for you and the baby."

She relaxed at his touch. I watched as they both relaxed holding each other, so utterly devoted, such strong characters and yet still so...

Then again. I pushed those feelings away, frowning at both people. What the fuck was he doing here anyway? I thought he'd been safely daggered in a box, and now he's back? Like I didn't have enough vampires to contend with. How was I suppose to protect myself and my baby with three of them around, not to mention the crazy friend of Klaus's with the followers that seemed to have a fetish for pregnant witches.

My magical energy rose and rose, automatically covering my body like a second skin and simmering lightly. I couldn't protect my child with all of them there. It wasn't fair that Hailey got a vampire to protect both her and her child, clearly devoted to her, but it was the way everything must be done. And I had to make sure my baby was okay.

"Excuse me." I tried to keep my voice under control, light and care free. Both vampire and werewolf spun around to stare at me in surprise, like they'd forgotten I was there. "I'm sorry to interrupt this touching scene, but would you mind terribly telling me why you're here and not daggered in a box like I thought you were?"

Elijah released Hailey almost instantly, but kept one hand on her hip as if to keep connected to her.

"Rebekah and Klaus let me out." He shrugged, like it was no big-deal. "And Marcel let me, so there's no need to fear. Apparently Rebekah called ahead to tell Hailey. I would have thought you'd hear about it too."

I growled, half rising from my seat and braced my hands against the table top.

"I was a bit busy sleeping off being savagely bitten." I snapped at him. "So sorry I wasn't so quick to be updated."

Elijah looked me up and down, and though I continued to hold my ground I felt stripped naked and bare in front of him. One hand slipped from the table to cover my abdomen. His eyes followed the movement.

"Yes, you're the other one Nicklaus got into trouble." He observed pointedly. "So sorry about that. I know how scared you must be. Do not worry, both Rebekah and I will be here to assist in protecting you and the baby."

"I can take care of myself." I snarled.

From behind Elijah, Hailey was shaking her head at me, smiling slightly. She laid a hand on Elijah's shoulder to soothe him— or stop him from ripping my head off, I wasn't sure.

"Kat is just feeling protective of her baby, and after last night I don't blame her. Do you remember what I was like?" She drew his attention back to her. "It hasn't exactly been an easy transition into this family. And she's a powerful witch, so everything is probably draining her."

Elijah turned back to me, still looking as calm as ever.

"Yes, Klaus told me. A very powerful witch, he said. Well, I can see that. The power is practically rolling off you in waves. He seemed very..." He tipped his head to one side as if considering the word. "protective of you, I'll say that. Ordered me to make you eat should I come back and find you not having done so. Considering that he should be trying to win my forgiveness for putting me back in a box, I'd say he'd be willing to risk anything for you and that baby."

"Oh, I wouldn't say that, dear brother."

I rolled my eyes and sagged into my chair, suddenly exhausted. How many vampires could I deal with before I went do-lally? I didn't want to be here. I wanted to go home. And now Klaus was back here to put me through god only knew what hell.

Suddenly, he was behind me, one hand braced on my other side as if to cage me in.

"And I see you still haven't eaten, luv." He murmured softly in my ear. "Now, that's not what I told you too do. I believe everybody has been telling you to eat. So I'd suggest you do it."

I bristled at his tone, but was becoming slightly distracted at his toned chest against my back.

"I'm sorry." I snapped back, clearly in a bad mood with all the men in the house today. Or maybe just all the vampires? "I missed the moment when you became my keeper."

There was a pause as both Hailey and Elijah watched us. Hailey with an amused smile on her face, Elijah in confusion and awe. Klaus's hand drifted down my body slowly until it came to rest on my own, over my stomach.

"I believe when our child began to make its home in here I became your keeper." He whispered enticingly, pressing down slightly so my stomach was becoming warm. My magic energy was suddenly heightened, moving from over my skin to over his as well. If he sensed it, he didn't comment. He very slowly moved his hand from my stomach and reached up towards my neck. He moved the hair away from it to inspect the scars he found there.

"They seem to be healing well." He looked up at Elijah. "Do you know why they're healing up so fast?"

Elijah shrugged, watching his brother warily. Well, Klaus had daggered him. I could understand why he'd be a bit wary.

"Same reason as Hailey heals up so fast, I suppose." He gestured towards me. "The child. Look at that, Nicklaus. You have two miracle children. Maybe they will start making you value family."

I sensed Rebekah enter the house before she'd even slammed the door behind her— which she did with an almighty bang.

"Hey, guess what, the best female vampire is home!" Rebekah called out mockingly, clip-clopping her way into the kitchen to meet the rest of us. "Does anybody know where I can dump this dead body?"

"Thats it!" I slammed my hand down and grasped up my cereal. I didn't have to move Klaus away— my wind did that for me. "I'm going, I cannot take any more fucking vampires. How did I end up in this way? How?"

I ranted as I stormed out of the kitchen, right past Rebekah and her bleeding body, and up the stairs.

"Do they not teach you these types of things in British schools?" Rebekah called up behind me mockingly.

-0-

I sat in my room, crossed legged, the blinds drawn and a few candles lit in each corner. In front of me was my spell book, and on top of that was the letter written to me by Laura. It was nothing important, just apologizing for what she did to me and saying how much she loves me. But just her hand writing, the long, delicate scrawls, made me feel homesick and weak. I didn't know what I was doing here. Laura had said it was important that I made sure that Klaus had the option to be involved in our child's life. But what about me? There was something that connected Klaus and I together, and I didn't especially like it. I protected myself, I almost always had. I'd protected myself, I'd protected my sister, I'd protected my coven and, now, I was protecting my baby. Sometimes these things got on top of you. I didn't think now, of all times, that I could cope with a turf war between my baby daddy and what I thought was a delicious but creepy American vampire.

I was too tired for all of this. Absent-mindedly, I raised my hand to brush it over the air and the letter began to rise up, gently swaying in the breeze. Since apparently Davina couldn't sense my magic, I could do whatever the fuck I wanted. And I was going to use that to my advantage.

"I can look after myself." I murmured. The candle next to me flared up brighter. "I can look after myself."

But Klaus...he got under my skin. He made me think things I shouldn't. After all, I had been his plaything for one night. And now he only stuck around because I happened to be carrying his spawn.

At that thought, both my hands went to my stomach and caressed it slightly. Baby. I was carrying his baby. My baby. Not the spawn of Satan. Because this child was my baby.

Something had to be done about the turf war though. I wouldn't allow my baby to be part of this, to be born into this world its power-hungry father was clearly trying to create. I would just have to manipulate both vampires into doing my bidding— without getting myself killed. Oh yeah, thats going to be easy.

The spell book was open, its bindings creasing and groaning at the effort at staying on one page. I flipped my hand towards it. The pages began to flip and weave, landing on a random place with a soft sigh. I tilted my head to read the slanted words that were written in a long forgotten language. Well. I smiled slightly. Forgotten by everybody but the witches. I loved being a witch. This particular spell was one that I had done as a child, when I was first learning to use my magic. My mother had taught it to me. I wondered if I would teach it to my child. Would my baby be magic like me, kind like my mother, or brutal and heartless like it's father? Would it prefer drinking blood to baby formula? When it grew older would it bite its dates instead of just giving them plain hickeys?

Would it be happy?

Tears welled up in my eyes and began to tumble down my cheeks, splattering on the ageing, yellowy pages. I was so scared, so damn afraid, but I knew I had to keep fighting in order to keep my baby alive, keep myself alive. I had to stay strong. Strong. What was the meaning of that word now? Survival. Strong. Survival. Did they mean the same thing now that everything had happened?

"Hey." There was a knock on my door, the soft Australian accent that now comforted me. Hailey strolled in, carefully casual, and came towards me before stopping suddenly. "Are you okay? I noticed you were a bit tense downstairs."

"Yeah." I dashed away my tears with the back of my hand, not wanting her to see them. "I'm fine. Its all just, I dunno, really overwhelming, you know?"

Hailey nodded knowingly. She had taken my easy speech as a sign that I was mentally stable (for now at least) and sat on the end of my bed.

"I know." She looked down on the spell book. "Is this your spell book?" She reached towards it, her fingers following the circles of the diagrams. "These pictures are cool, but I don't understand the words."

I smiled at her, remembering that I had a friend in this place after all.

"You're not meant too." I told her. "Its a language only the witches know."

"Cool." She nodded her head vaguely, before looking back up at me. There was a pause whilst we held each others gaze. I didn't know why it didn't feel awkward with Hailey. It just didn't.

"Can you tell me how you met Klaus?" She suddenly asked abruptly, not seeming in the least bit embarrassed.

"What?"

"Can you tell me how you met Klaus?" She repeated the question, this time more insistently. "I mean, no offence, but you don't seem like Klaus's type. For one thing, he seems to have feelings where you're concerned. And Klaus doesn't really do feelings. And for another, you're pretty tough and powerful. Klaus doesn't tend to go for people who would probably beat him in a fight."

That made me laugh. And laugh I did, throwing my head back and shaking my tears away and just laughing. I hadn't laughed like that in a long time.

"No," I agreed, shaking my head as I calmed myself after the laughing fit. "It doesn't seem like Klaus at all, does it?" I shrugged now, thinking back to the time I'd met him. "But, to be honest, for a moment I felt he was really sweet. Nice. Genuine."

"Klaus?" Now it was Hailey's turn to laugh, her's disbelievingly. "Genuine? Oh my god, I thought they said you were powerful and could sense anything."

I hit her lightly with my hand.

"Oh, shut up. It wasn't like that. We kind of just met in a bar in Mystic Falls. I'd just come over for a holiday, to see the witch Bonnie there and to basically tell her that though the witch council weren't too happy with her, we were. But after that, I bumped into a few vampires, and a few witches, who'd known my mum and I was feeling pretty bummed out. My mum died, you see? And I was really close to her. So anyway, I'm sitting in this bar, crying into my whiskey, when in strolls Klaus and..." I trailed off, staring into the distance as I remembered the feeling. "It was nothing like I'd ever experienced. Like a magical wall had just hit me at a high speed, and yet it was as pleasant as sitting in a meadow on a summers day after the rains have stopped. It was so brilliant, so fantastic, I can't describe it to you. And he came over."

I looked down in my lap, suddenly blushing.

"You don't understand, us witches feel things pretty intensely, whether it be magical or otherwise. And I felt like I'd just—" I cut myself off again, laughing self-consciously. "There's no way to describe it. It was just brilliant. And of course, Klaus being Klaus, he made a few wise cracks at my expense, was his usual charming, cocky, mocking self, but once it came down to it... it was like nothing else. He wiped away my tears, and he just held me tightly too him. I had no where else to stay, by that point I was too drunk to go home to the witches I was staying with because they disapprove of drinking. But that's no excuse. I wasn't even that drunk." I laughed again, and looked back up at Hailey who was staring at me in utter awe. "I know, its stupid. I know Klaus is a dickhead, and a murderer, and, really, a complete billion year old psychopath, but for that night..."

Of course, I wasn't telling her all of it. How could I? Somethings had to stay secret between me and Klaus. Somethings could never be said again. Somethings, I wanted to keep private. Maybe, one day, I would tell her. But that day wouldn't be today.

So, instead, I chuckled slightly.

"Look at me. Spouting all this out to you when I've barely known you twenty four hours."

Hesitantly, sensing that I wasn't going to say anymore, Hailey reached forward to take my hand in hers.

"It's okay. I feel like I've known you a life time, anyway. And besides, our children are going to be siblings. Shouldn't we at least be friends? And whats the problem with being close friends?"

I smiled back at her, squeezing her hand back.

"Good point." I murmured.

And that was when the bedroom door slammed open. Klaus and Rebekah both stepped through it, Rebekah still with the blood stains on her boots.

"Right, you two, shut up and stop 'connecting' because we have work to do." Rebekah declared. "Since I doubt Kat has done anything besides growl at everybody in order to protect that Satan's Child thats growing inside of her, I took the liberty of booking her a doctors appointment which we are all going too."

Hailey and I stared at her.

"All of us?"

Rebekah nodded.

"Yes, all of us, because I also booked Hailey's appointment for straight after yours and I presumed Klaus would want to be there for both, as would Elijah and, well, somebody has to be there to protect the pregnant ones when my brothers start going off on each other again."

Hailey and I both rolled our eyes, still connected with our hands. I could sense our similar humour connecting, which only made the situation funnier.

"Anyway, so thats on in about fifteen minutes so chop, chop. Kat, get dressed and, for goodness sake, try and look presentable for the doctor."

I sensed Klaus's eyes on me and turned to meet them head on.

"Do you have something to add?" I asked pointedly.

Slowly, he shook his head.

"Only to beg that you won't do something to get yourself and the baby killed whilst we're out." He replied, equally as pointedly.

I felt Hailey's confusion through our magical connection.

"What? How could she do that. We're only going to the doctors."

"You're only going to the doctors." Klaus eagerly replied to her, a delighted grin lighting up his face. "However, the rest of us have been invited to lunch with Marcel. It seems he is quite taken with Katie. However, luckily for you, Elijah has elected to stay behind to look after you."

Very slowly, I stood up.

"Lunch?" I questioned, very quietly. "With Marcel?"

Rebekah, rather wisely, began backing up.

"Yes." Klaus narrowed his eyes on me. "Problem?"

I cracked a sick, twisted smile and tilted my head to one side.

"Not at all." I flung my hands out towards him. "You bastard!"

He was thrown against the wall by the wind, pinned there whilst the fire licked at his feet and hands and hair. Then, the fire extinguished itself and he was flung out the door, the door locking behind him.

I looked towards Hailey, who only giggled. Them, I suppose, I saw the funny side and giggled with her.

"Do you think he got the message?" I asked, going to sit by her again.

Hailey nodded, his mouth buried in her hand in order to smoother the giggles.

"Oh yes. Good to see you can look after yourself!" She grinned back.

There was a hesitant knocking at the door.

"Doctors appointment, fifteen minutes!" Rebekah called, but in a considerably less cheerful voice than before.

Hailey and I continued to giggle.

-0-

So, I know its been a long time and it's not my best but please, i'd like at least two reviews saying whether you like the Hailey-Kat friendship and what you think to the Klaus and Kat relationship and how that develops. I'm not going to hold chapters to ransom if you don't review, I'd just really like it. I'd also be interested in seeing where you lot think this is going?

Thank you for reading!