A/N – Thanks for all the congrats and the votes. You really know how to spoil a girl you animal you. And OMG over 400 follows! And almost 500 reviews! I'm gonna faint! Thank you everyone for supporting this story – love you guys so much! As I was writing this I got word that I won for best fiction debut for the Klaroline Awards. Insanity people! Especially with who I was up against. Thank you to everyone who voted for me you are so awesome. And I just want to say it was an honor to be nominated along with my fellow nominees – make sure you check out their stories because they are awesome.
I also wanted to thank you to everyone for your patience with me – I apologize with how slow I am to update. I am not a prolific writer so it takes me a while to churn chapters out.
Also – kudos for those who guessed correctly about who it was at the door. Kind of reminds me of American Gothic "Someone's at the door." Did you guys ever watch that show? I really liked that show.
So Now ….Let's Get Ready To Ruuuuummmmmble!
Mwah!
XxX
"I came to see the dirty little secret you have been hiding from the family, Nik."
Klaus groaned as he looked over his shoulder to Caroline who looked like she had gone from seething to nuclear with that one little sentence. Klaus turned back to the blonde who was standing at the front door, looking polished and sleek in a simple white summer suit with bright pink heels and a Louis Vuitton clutch in her hand.
"Rebekah, love, now is not the time to meet Caroline."
"Oh? And when am I going to meet her? Is there a reason you haven't introduced her to the rest of the family, Nik? Let alone tell us you are going to be a father. Afraid the baby isn't yours? Maybe now you will stop sleeping with trollops." Rebekah taunted her favorite brother as she glanced over his shoulder to get a good look at the woman who was apparently to bear her brother a child.
Before Klaus could say another word Caroline came forward and pushed Klaus out of the way so she could come toe to toe with the bitchy blonde. They looked quite the contrast standing together with Caroline still in her gray tank top and white sleep shorts and Rebekah dressed as if she was ready to take the catwalk.
"Care to say that to my face?"
"An American trollop at that, I would have thought you'd have better taste, Nik." Rebekah said as met Caroline's eyes, a hard smirk on her lips that reminded Caroline so much of Klaus in that moment.
"Who are you to judge me? You don't even know me!"
Klaus watched the whole exchange like a man who was waiting for lethal injection. This was all he needed right now was his girl and his sister to be up in arms against each other.
"Well I know my brother and he never spends more than one night with a woman, which by default makes you one of his many trollops."
Klaus just rubbed his forehead in defeat as his sister was doing a fine job of digging his hole that much deeper.
"I went out with your brother for four months. If anyone here is going to be labeled a trollop it would be Nik given his never ending parade of women."
Caroline could see a little glint of something she could not name in Rebekah's blue eyes as she looked between Caroline who looked annoyed and Klaus who was trying very hard to keep an amused smirk off of his face at Caroline calling him a trollop.
"Lijah said Nik was enamored with some girl last year, must have been you." Rebekah mused as she looked Caroline over once more. Caroline rolled her eyes and turned away from the bitchy blonde to glare at Klaus.
"I believe I told you to leave and you can take your charming sister with you." Caroline said as she pulled open the door wider and waved her hand motioning him through.
"Kol did say something about the two of you having a falling out." Rebekah said, noting the hostility between Caroline and Klaus. Instead of just standing out in the hall she took the opening of the door as an invitation to come in rather than to leave.
"I did say something about a falling out." Kol smirked as he followed his sister inside Caroline's flat.
"Although since our dear brother didn't make it home last night I can assume they have made up. And given the state of sweet Caroline's hair they must have had a ravishing good time." Kol said as he turned to face Caroline and picked up one of her hands and pressed a kiss against her knuckles.
"Hello, darling, lovely to see you again. How is Kol Jr. coming along? Or should I say Kollette?" Kol asked as his eye's dropped from hers to observe her swollen belly.
Rebekah turned at the sound of her brother's voice, her brows furrowing in confusion.
"What are you doing here?"
Kol didn't wait for Caroline to answer his question before he answered his sister.
"What? You actually thought I would miss out on this?" Kol said as he waved his hands around the room before making his way to the couch and made himself comfortable, his arms stretching out to rest against the back of the couch and smiled.
"This is going great and all but the best part was when I told Rebekah about the impending addition to our family. Absolutely priceless!" Kol told Caroline and Klaus with a huge grin.
When Kol had dropped the whole, Klaus' having a baby and you are going to be an aunt bomb, Rebekah had at first thought it was one of Kol's pranks. Convincing his sister that he was absolutely serious was one of the hardest things he had ever done. He had to go so far as to call one of Klaus' drivers and confirm Klaus had been going on late night food runs for some pregnant woman.
Saying Rebekah had flipped out would be an understatement. She flipped out to the point that Kol almost regretted telling her. Almost. Within moments of calming down Rebekah was out the door and headed to Caroline's, as Kol had not only told her the address but also had found out through their driving service that Klaus was at Caroline's as well. Two birds with one stone. Kol couldn't have planned it better himself.
Caroline covered her eyes with her hand as she stood there in complete shock at having half of the Mikaelson family in her flat. She almost expected the rest of Klaus' brothers to show up any moment. It was liked she jinxed herself when she yelled at Klaus about his family.
She was brought out of her musings as she felt his hand slide against her lower back and another hand grazing the soft skin of her arm. Klaus leaned down and pressed a kiss against her temple as he murmured softy against her hair.
"I apologize, sweetheart. I didn't know they would show up like this."
Caroline's hand dropped from her eyes as she rested both hands against his chest and for a moment she let herself find comfort in his embrace. She missed the feel of having someone holding her. No, she didn't miss the feel of someone holding her; she missed the feel of him holding her.
When the moment passed angry Caroline was put back in place and with that she gave him a hard shove back, forcing him back away from her.
"This wouldn't have happened if you had told them about the baby in the first place!"
"Guess they haven't made up." Kol smirked as he watched the situation unfold with glee.
"Yes, Nik, why didn't you tell the family about the baby?" Rebekah asked as she crossed her arms and leaned her hip against the arm of the couch gazing at her brother who had a disappointed look on his face from having Caroline push him away.
"My business is my own, little sister."
"Not when it involves us getting a new member of our family!"Rebekah scowled as she stood up to come closer to Klaus.
Klaus growled as he ran his fingers through his hair clearly unhappy with the whole situation. He wasn't sure how his day, which had started so well with breakfast with his girl and feeling his baby kick to having Caroline beyond angry with him and two of his siblings making things that much worse. He glanced Caroline for a moment who was waiting just as expectantly for the answer as his sister was. Anything short of the truth would only prove detrimental to the relationship he was trying to desperately to mend.
"I wanted to get my relationship with Caroline settled before I told you lot."
"It doesn't look like that plan is working out to well for you." Kol snickered as he looked between an angry Caroline and an irritated Klaus.
As angry as Caroline was, she was relieved by his answer. He wasn't hiding the fact they were going to have a baby because he wanted to leave her again; he was trying to fix their relationship before his family became involved.
"Shut it Kol." Rebekah and Klaus said in unison as they glared at their brother.
"Ok, well I would say it was nice of you to drop by, but it wasn't so if all of you could be on your way." Caroline said as she stood next to the open door once more and tried to wave them out.
"Actually you are going to be coming with us. Since you are the mother of my future niece or nephew you are going to be having lunch with the entire family in about an hour." Rebekah said confidently as she strode back over to the couch and sat next to Kol making herself comfortable.
Apparently after Kol had told Rebekah about the baby she had called an emergency family meeting and told everyone to meet for lunch. Rebekah had gone to Caroline's for the specific purpose of collecting her and Klaus and bring them to the family meeting.
"Caroline, sweetheart – "
"Don't you even start!" Caroline growled as she rounded on Klaus, her finger coming to rest against his chest as she gave him a glare that would send lesser men to their knees.
"You wanted my family to know of our baby, well have at it. Go get dressed and we can share the good news." Klaus said in a placating voice as he lifted his hand to brush a few stray curls from her face.
"I can't just drop everything for some family lunch, Nik. I have things to do."
"Not today you don't." Klaus said as he glanced meaningfully over at the calendar that was on her tact board with the day in question having no appointments pending.
Caroline glanced at the calendar and frowned before she looked at Klaus once more, knowing she was pretty much boxed in. She couldn't very well say she didn't want to see his family when she had already tried kicking him out for not telling his family about the baby. She had no choice but to go.
"You sister is the only reason we are going to meet your family. Do not think you can take any sort of credit for telling your family about our baby." Caroline hissed as she flounced off towards her closet pulling out a dress before moving towards the bathroom and shutting the door.
"Actually I should get the credit for telling the family about the baby since I told Rebekah and then she told the rest of the family." Kol complained, but of course no one was really listening to him.
"I like her." Rebekah smiled as she looked at the bathroom door before looking at her brothers.
"Well that would be a first considering you don't like anyone." Klaus said as he leaned back against the wall his arms folding across his chest as he glowered at his younger siblings.
"Which is also the reason you don't have any friends." Kol smirked as he dodged a smack from his sister.
Rebekah frowned at both of her brother before crossing her arms and leaning back in to the sofa and turned her attention to the décor of the flat.
"She's got passable taste. You could have done much worse."
"Are you drunk sister? I haven't heard so many nice things come out of your mouth in a week let alone half an hour." Kol asked as he leaned forward to smell her breath.
Rebekah just rolled her eyes and the siblings continued to bicker while Caroline got ready.
Caroline emerged from the bathroom 20 minutes later dressed in a green and gray maxi dress, her hair piled up into a messy bun and a light dash of makeup, at least enough to cover the dark circles under her eyes because honestly being pregnant was exhausting. Caroline gave the three intruders of her home a hard glare as she moved to pull on a white cardigan and her yellow Tory Burch flats.
Rebekah stood up and gave Caroline a look over once more, a slight nod in approval in her choice of outfit and made her way out the door with Kol following her out. Klaus came up to Caroline and rested his hand against her lower back as he escorted her out the front door.
"I apologize for my sister, love. She can be quite mean."
"Don't be an arse, Nik." Rebekah called out as she continued walking out of the building.
There were two Range Rovers waiting at the curb, Kol and Rebekah got into one and Klaus and Caroline in the other. Caroline would be lying if she said that she was not nervous to face the entire Mikaelson clan. She had met only three of the brothers and only one or two at a time. To meet all six siblings at once was daunting. Her distraction was enough that she barely noticed that Klaus was holding her tightly against his side, his other hand resting possessively on her rounded stomach. When Caroline finally did notice how he was holding her she smacked his hand and slid away from him, giving him a reproachful glare for even trying that with her. Klaus just gave her a slight shrug, not even sorry for his actions.
When they arrived at the restaurant Caroline felt a wave of apprehension overtake her. Klaus felt her body go ridged as he assisted her out of the SUV and he gently gathered her in his arms, his hand sliding against her back as he ran his knuckles across the curve of her cheek.
"Easy, love. I will be right next to you. It is going to be ok." Caroline looked up to meet his eyes and found reassurance there. She gave him a slight nod and he settled his hand along the curve of her lower back and assisted her into the restaurant which was some fancy Italian place.
The hostess led them towards the back of the restaurant to one of the private rooms. Once again Klaus was made aware of the male eyes that were on his girl as they made their way through the restaurant and he made sure to meet each one with a hard glare. Although he could not blame them for looking because Caroline was absolutely stunning, even more so now with that lovely pregnancy glow that she had about her.
Everyone was already seated at the table when Klaus and Caroline entered the private dining area as Caroline moved at a slower pace due to her present condition and Kol and Rebekah had made it to the table well before them. All of the men save Kol stood at their entrance. Elijah came forward almost immediately at their entrance, moving towards Caroline to pull her into a hug mindful of her belly.
"Elijah." Caroline said warmly as she hugged him back gently.
"Miss Forbes, a pleasure to see you again."
"You know I told you to call me Caroline." Caroline said reproachfully as they broke apart.
"Of course, Caroline. Considering you are now family it was foolish of me to address you otherwise."
Caroline looked at his with confusion but quickly set at ease as he glanced meaningfully at her swollen belly.
Before she could even respond Finn was in front of her, a small smile on his lips as he pressed a kiss both of her cheeks. Her distraction with Finn making her miss the disapproving look Elijah shot Klaus not only for the impromptu news but also the fact that Klaus was still dressed in his winkled jeans and Henley he had slept in the night before. Klaus just shrugged as there was no way he was going to leave Caroline alone with his family just so he could change clothes.
"Caroline, lovely to see you again, please allow me to introduce you to my wife Sage."
"It is good to see as well Finn." Caroline smiled as the pretty red head came forward and shook her hand.
"Hi, it's nice to meet you."
"And you as well." Sage said quietly as she released Caroline's hand from hers.
Elijah smiled as he pulled a young man who was the spitting image of himself before her.
"This is Henrick our youngest brother."
The teenager smiled tentatively as he met Caroline's eyes, his hand coming out to grasp hers.
"Hi." He murmured shyly as he looked at Caroline before his eyes dropped to his feet and shuffled them to and fro as he released her hand. Caroline had remembered Klaus telling her about his youngest brother Henrick. He had only been 14 when their mother and her husband had been killed in that car wreck. Finn and his wife had taken custody of the young boy and were now raising him.
"Hello. It is so nice to finally meet you Henrik. I have heard so much about you." Caroline said sweetly which seemed to put the teenager at ease.
Rebekah just gave Caroline a slight nod in greeting while Kol gave her a leer and a wink.
Klaus helped Caroline into her seat and he took the opportunity of her distraction to send a glare to all of his sibling in warning to behave, his look promising that if they so much as upset his girl there would be hell to pay.
They made small talk as they all looked over the menus not really ready to discuss the reason that they were gathered together yet.
The waiter came around once more after their drinks had been delivered and was ready to take their orders. He started at the head of the table and made his way around. It was when he came to Caroline that the whole table went quiet as she started to order.
"I would like the chicken parm with the pasta pesto, as well as the ravioli di bello. I also want the goat cheese pizza and do you think they could add french fries oh, I mean chips, do you think they could put on chips on top of the pizza or do you think it is better to just order them on the side and then put them on top of the pizza?"
"Probably best to order them on the side." The waiter said awkwardly as he looked from the pregnant woman to the people around the table, most of who were avoiding his gaze save Kol who was absolutely amused by her order and Klaus who was used to her odd food cravings just gave the waiter a taunting arch of his brows as the waiter would find no help from him with his girl's order.
"Good idea. Can I also get some bruschetta and can you add bacon on top of that?"
"Bacon….? On top of the bruschetta?" The waiter asked, his brows furrowing in confusion. Caroline just looked up at him and gave him a smile and a nod, perfectly serious about her request.
"Uh, I will see what I can do."
"Thanks!" Caroline chirped as she handed her menu to the waiter who still looked perplexed at her order.
Klaus was happy to see that some of Caroline's uneasiness had somewhat subsided, thanks to the warm greetings from his brothers, save Kol, and of course food. Klaus realized she was always in a better frame of mind when there was food involved.
There was a shift in mood once the waiter had left the room. Apparently it was time to address the elephant in the room. Elijah shifted in his seat, his hands smoothing his suit jacket against his chest before looking up to address Caroline and Klaus.
"When did you plan on telling us about the impending addition to our family, Niklaus?"
"Probably when he had finally wooed the fair Caroline back into his bed." Kol said with a mischievous smirk as he looked between his two older brothers, one keeping a cool facade the other looking as if he was ready to strangle his younger brother.
Caroline placed her hand on Klaus' knee, giving him a meaningful look, reminding him not to get pulled into Kol's games. Again, how Caroline managed to keep his temper on a leash he would never understand but he was grateful for it as he was never one for patience.
"Caroline and I are trying to work things out between us before I thought it was the right time to tell the family." Klaus said simply enough, trying to keep to the same honestly that he had shared with Kol and Rebekah earlier that day.
"And why would you need to work things out between you and Caroline?" Henrik asked innocently, unaware of the fallout that most of the family had been aware of given the fact that Caroline and Klaus were together all the time until Klaus was suddenly on his own, consistently in a bad mood and unwilling to even look at another woman. They didn't know what had happened, but they did know that the couple had not parted on good terms.
"Your brother was being a jerk." Caroline said as she looked around the table challenging anyone who would gain say her.
Before Henrik could protest her unkind words about his brother, as his faith in his brothers was unbroken, Klaus owned up to his sins.
"She is right. I betrayed her trust and I was hoping to fall into her good graces once more before I wanted the family to know about the baby." Klaus said as he looked directly at Caroline with an apology written on his face.
Caroline caught the look and just shook her head before turning away.
"As we can see, our dear brother seems to be falling on his face instead of into Caroline's good graces." Kol said as he leaned back in his seat and took a drink of his wine.
Rebekah just ignored her brother's antics and leaned forward, her elbows resting on the table before speaking.
"That is no excuse, Nik. This is a new family member we are talking about, you should have told us immediately."
"I agree, Niklaus. I understand you wanted to improve on your relationship with Caroline, but this is family and family always comes first." Elijah chimed in.
"I am aware of that, Elijah, and family will always come first and Caroline and this baby are now part of our family and they are my priority." Klaus said as he slid his arm around Caroline's shoulders.
There was a stunned silence that accompanied Klaus' statement. Caroline was probably the one who was most effect by the statement, because it was one thing to have him tell her that her that he was going to take care of and be there for her and the baby but to tell his entire family was a whole other thing. Let alone the fact that he basically told them he would put Caroline and his child first before any of them.
Before anyone could say anything three waiters appeared with trays of food. They bustled around the table, delivering plates of food to their intended recipient asking each of them if there was anything else that they needed. All of them except for Sage and Henrik replied absently as they were still in a state of shock at what Klaus had just said.
Once the waiters left, Klaus looked at the assembled family members and shook his head. "I don't know why you are all surprised. Finn did the same thing when he married Sage."
"Yeah, but this is you." Kol said as if that statement alone was explanation enough.
"Yes, me. Me and my girl and my child." Klaus glared at his siblings daring them to challenge his devotion to his new family.
Elijah coughed in an effort to bring some normalcy back to their lunch. "Let's eat then, shall we?"
Caroline shrugged off Klaus' arm and gave him a look that they would be having a talk once they were alone, as it was obvious to him that she had caught the 'my girl' bit and was not happy about it at all.
They ate in silence for a bit before Rebekah decided to speak.
"So, Caroline, are you having a boy or a girl?"
Caroline looked up at the blonde Mikaelson and paused from biting into a slice of pizza that was covered in fries and pasta. She set the piece of pizza (if you could even call it that at this point) down and gave her a slight smile.
"I don't know the gender of the baby yet, I have been going back and forth with wanting to know or just keeping it a surprise until the baby is born."
"What do you think, Nik? Do you want to know or do you want to keep it a surprise?" Rebekah asked as she took a bite of her dish.
Klaus glanced at Caroline for a moment before looking to his sister.
"Whatever Caroline wants is perfectly ok with me."
"I didn't ask what Caroline wanted, I asked what you wanted."
"Rebekah." Elijah warned sternly as he caught her gaze. Rebekah just shrugged and looked back at Klaus, her eyebrows rising as she waited for his answer.
"He is wrapped around sweet Caroline's little finger. I doubt he knows what he wants for breakfast without asking her first." Kol snickered.
Before things could get too out of hand Sage spoke up in an effort to change the subject.
"Have you thought of any names yet?"
Caroline looked at Klaus for a moment before looking to Sage ready to answer her question but was interrupted before she could speak.
"Kol Jr if it is a boy and Kollette if it is a girl." Kol said confidently as he looked over to Caroline and gave her a wink.
"We are not naming our child after you Kol." Klaus growled as he glared at his younger brother.
Caroline gave a nod of agreement before answering Sage.
"No names yet, but we should probably think of some soon."
"I like the name George." Henrik said shyly as he looked between Caroline and Klaus. Klaus just smiled at his younger brothers suggestion, his finger coming to his lips while holding his fork as if to easy any laughter that was about to come forth.
"You want to name the baby after the new Prince?" Klaus asked.
"George is a good name." Henrik nodded as he answered. "Or maybe Bekham."
"I think you are both missing out on how brilliant it is to name my nephew or niece after me. Women want me and men want to be me. This is a win win situation." Kol said not only to Caroline and Klaus but to the table at large.
"I like Harper or Sofia." Rebekah chimed in.
"Liam is a good name or Hayley." Finn said which surprised Caroline as he had stayed mostly silent throughout the meal.
"Caroline, is that soy sauce?" Kol asked as his nose scrunched up in distaste.
The entire table paused and looked to Caroline who was in the middle of dousing her food with something that looked very much like soy sauce. Caroline lifted a brow and held up the bottle as she looked over at Kol.
"Yes, it is. Did you want some?"
"Um, no."
"Where did you get soy sauce?" Rebekah asked in confusion.
"I brought it with me."
"You brought soy sauce with you?"
"Mmhmmm. It tastes so good on everything. You should really try some with your food." Caroline said happily as she took a large bite of her food with said sauce on top.
Before Rebekah could reply she was silenced by a look of warning from Klaus.
The meal continued much the same way, before the soy sauce incident, with the siblings throwing out suggestions for names mixed with bickering between the lot of them.
Once the meal was over they all filtered out of the restaurant going their respective ways. Elijah made it a point of letting Klaus know he was still not happy that he had kept Caroline's pregnancy a secret and that they would be discussing this more in depth at a later time. He gave Caroline a hug goodbye and asked her to give his regards to Katarina which made Caroline smirk.
Klaus escorted her home while apprising her of the fact that now that his family knew about the baby that they would make it a point to come and see her. Caroline just groaned and kept her comments to herself as she reminded herself of the fact that she had kicked him out of her place for not telling his family and that she wanted a support system. It wouldn't be so bad if you could just leave out Rebekah and Kol.
When they had finally made it back to her flat Caroline got out of the SUV and then paused when she saw Klaus start to get out as well.
"What are you doing?"
"Seeing you to your door, sweetheart."
"No. I believe I was kicking you out before your sister and brother showed up so consider yourself still kicked out. And that includes the building."
"I just want to make sure you make it safely inside, love." Klaus smirked as he got out of the SUV and curled his arm around her lower back as they started walking into her building. Caroline just walked with him and didn't protest since she knew it would be pointless because when it came to her safety Klaus was impossible to deal with.
Once they were inside and standing in front of her door Caroline turned to face Klaus asking him the question that had been nagging at her mind since lunch.
"Why did you call me your girl in front of your family? Because we are so not together."
Klaus sighed for a moment looking down at his feet before looking back to Caroline. This whole honestly thing seemed to be working for him so he decided to keep going with it.
"Because you are my girl, love. You are the mother of my child, the woman I want to be with and take care of. You are it for me Caroline."
And then he kissed her.
XxX
Mwahahahaha! I know that was so evil of me to end it like that.
Let me know your thoughts on the chapter. It really helps direct my writing which is why your reviews are so very much appreciated.
Throw me your ideas for baby names! ( I tossed Hayley in there as a joke.)
Just a reminder that there is no beta for this story – so if you see any glaring errors just shoot me a line and I can go fix it.
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