Hayley jumped to her feet and rushed to greet them protectively when Elijah came into the house, carrying Caroline.
"What happened? Is she okay?" She knelt beside Caroline as Elijah sat her down on the couch.
"I'm fine, I'm fine," Caroline said, obviously finding all the fuss over her welfare a little annoying.
"Niklaus had a slight tantrum.* Elijah explained, his hand went instinctively to his neck even thought it was almost healed since he'd taken the blood before leaving the compound.
Hayley flashed him an angry look. She hadn't been happy that Caroline asked her to stay behind. She understood that Caroline had wanted to keep her safe, seeing as Klaus likely wouldn't be pleased that his devoted hybrid had neglected to tell him about the miracle pregnancy, but she still didn't like being told to sit and stay like a dog.
"Slight?" Hayley snapped. She'd trusted Elijah to bring Caroline back unharmed and this wasn't nearly good enough in her opinion. "He doesn't get to have tantrum, no matter how slight. She's pregnant for God sake!"
"I said I'm fine." Caroline said, starting to get up, but Hayley gave her a look and pushed her back down.
"I'm fine, too." Kol interjected, sarcastically. "You know, since I'm the one who was actually on the receiving end of the damage."
Hayley rolled her eyes in complete exasperation. Not only had she been left alone, but she was left in the company of Kol Mikaelson. She wasn't a big fan of vampires, she had the sire bond forcing her to like Klaus and Elijah wasn't bad even if he had a tree branch stuck up his ass, but she found their younger brother cocky and completely annoying, a fact that being subjected to his company while Elijah and Caroline went to see Klaus didn't help.
"You'll live," She said, scathingly. "Unfortunately."
He smirked, placing a hand over his heart as though he had one, "Sticks and stones, darling."
She made a disgusted sound and looked away from him. Maybe she was part vampire now, but that didn't mean she had to like them, especially tools like that self-centered obnoxious leech.
Josephine set all of them up with rooms in her house, which she graciously offered for the duration of their stay, saying it would be easier to monitor the spell if Caroline remained in close proximity to Kol. Since Caroline was exhausted by the day of traveling and her run in with Klaus, she decided to shower and call it a night.
She stepped out of the bathroom in her flannel pajama pants and tank top stretched comically over her inflated stomach. She stopped when she saw Stefan sitting on her bed, waiting for her to come back.
"Stefan…" She looked at him, surprised to find him in her room.
"I just wanted to check on you, without all the drama downstairs." He said, looking her over slowly as though he would catch some little bit of damage that all the others missed. *You seemed a little shaken up."
She shrugged, wearily, as she sat down beside him, "I'm fine. It wasn't fun seeing him, but I'm fine."
He wrapped his arm around her and she rested her head on his shoulder. He rubbed her back and she sighed, because it felt really good, her back had been so tight for the past few weeks, yet another annoying byproduct of pregnancy.
"So he didn't take it well?" Stefan asked.
"Since when does Klaus take anything well?" Caroline laughed a little. She winced because she was a little sore from Klaus pushing her. It had hurt when she hit the wall, but it wasn't like she was made of glass just because she was human again. "He wasn't going to let me leave but then Elijah came in and they had a little pissing contest where Klaus bit Elijah. It was all very exciting."
She was being sarcastic because she didn't find anything about this situation remotely exciting or amusing. All she wanted to do was live her life in peace in Mystic Falls. She didn't want to go traipsing across the country and find herself forced to beg Klaus for help. She knew he'd do everything in his power to keep her safe especially now that he knew about the babies. His ego wouldn't allow anything else. He'd see the twins as some kind of trophies, the "heirs" to his psychopathic legacy.
"Sounds like it." Stefan said, matching her tone.
She just shrugged in defeat.
"I didn't want any of this, you know?" She lamented. She felt Stefan nod.
"I know." He said. "I didn't want any of this for you, either."
She sighed heavily, melting into the comfort of a friend.
"God, I'm glad I have you, Stefan." She admitted.
"You'll always have me, Caroline." He whispered.
His words made her feel a twinge of confusion, but she pushed it down. Stefan didn't have any feelings for her besides friendship, there'd been a time when she could have felt more for him, but too much had happened since then and she wasn't the same person she'd been back when she had harbored feeling for him.
"You're a good friend." She whispered. She felt him stiffen, but she decided that she imagined that as well.
Bonnie felt more comfortable once Josephine went over the details of the linking spell with her. She'd been worried about Caroline, but the older witch was thorough and very knowledgeable when it came to magic. Bonnie was powerful, but she could recognize that she was nowhere near Josephine's equal when it came to actually making a spell.
"And you're sure it will hold?" Bonnie asked.
Josephine nodded, "For a while, but Esther is resourceful and determined. It's a temporary fix, not a solution."
Bonnie nodded. She knew that almost any spell could be broken with enough time and skill.
"What about the cure?" She asked, "Do you think there's a way we could siphon it out of her blood?"
Josephine shook her head, "The cure is old magic, and very strong. It has likely bonded with every cell in your friend's body. I don't think there is a way to undo that."
Bonnie sighed. It wasn't that she wanted Caroline to be a vampire again, because she didn't, but she didn't like that having the cure in her blood kept her in constant danger. Caroline would never be completely safe simply because of her blood and the properties it now possessed.
Klaus sulked in his room with a crystal decanter of bourbon. His half-finished painting lay torn and broken in the fireplace. After months of missing Caroline Forbes, longing to see and touch her, he finally had and it made everything so much worse. She was pregnant. As impossible as it seemed, he was going to be a father.
He'd never really thought about being a father. He'd been attracted to a few girls, including the doppelgänger before his mother turned him, but he had not been serious enough about any of them to marry one and start a family. Then once he was a vampire, everything was different, fatherhood hadn't been a possibility. Now that it was not only a possibility, but a reality, he wanted it. He wanted Caroline and he wanted the twins, they were his. Caroline could try to deny it, but all three of them were his. And he would have his family. He would find a way to keep them safe from Esther and then he'd find a way to simply keep them. All of them.
"You have that look." Marcel commented as he entered the room.
Klaus smirked up at him, "What look, Marcellus?"
"You're scheming." Marcel observed.
Klaus's smirk broadened.
"Yes… I am."
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