Previously on ATCL: "On the contrary, Miss Forbes, I do believe she already has."
The next morning, Caroline woke up optimistic. Klaus had agreed to the deal, Katherine's life was one step closer to being saved, and she had just had a fabulous night's sleep on a ridiculously comfortable bed. Her room was really pretty too; done in cream and gold, it was like out of a fairy tale and she felt like a princess in it.
After Klaus had shown her around the positively enormous house and to a room, she had meticulously unpacked every single item in her possession and put them away before collapsing into bed. Driving for fourteen hours straight and then cementing a life-saving deal all in one day could severely exhaust the body and mind, after all. Now some things about the deal were a bit sucky—there was the fact that Katherine had to donate blood in trade for her freedom—but in the long run, what was a bit of blood in exchange for your life? Exactly…not that much at all. Better to be down a bit of blood than be dead, in both hers and Katherine's minds.
Rolling out of bed, Caroline started on her daily routine. Now, if she had been at her own home or at Bonnie or Elena's, she would have just padded down to breakfast in her sweatpants and tank top with yesterday's makeup smeared under her eyes, hair up in a messy bun. But this was Klaus's house. She had to have a modicum of dignity around her at all times. Besides, she just got out of a relationship! This was not the time to make herself fully at home. Slipping the wedges onto her feet, Caroline glanced in the mirror. She looked good. The sundress was cute, her hair looked less like a poufy mess, and her makeup was reapplied flawlessly. It was time for breakfast.
-0-0-0-0-0-
After a minor detour in which Caroline might have taken a wrong turn and ended up in the library, she finally found the kitchen, where the Mikaelsons and Katherine were all sitting. Klaus and Elijah were sitting at opposite ends of the table, both reading the newspaper. Rebekah sat to the left of Klaus, sipping at a mug of something and messing around with her phone. Katherine was as far as humanly possible from Klaus—so directly beside Elijah—and she was picking at a bowl of fruit. Taking the seat across from Rebekah and next to Katherine, Caroline smiled.
"Good morning everyone!" She said cheerily, receiving nods or brief smiles in return.
"Morning, Caroline." Klaus folded his newspaper and set it to the side, taking a sip out of what smelled like a mug of blood. "I assume you would like some breakfast?" When she nodded to the affirmative, he smiled. "There is blood in the fridge, a variety of food in the pantry, and coffee and tea can be found on the counter. Just make yourself at home, love."
"Thank you, Klaus." said Caroline. She headed over the fridge and grabbed a blood bag before dumping the contents into a mug and warming it up. When the microwave timer went off, she grabbed her food and sat back down, sipping everyone so often and enjoying the silence. Sadly, that was not to last.
About a minute or so later, a loud scuffle came from behind Caroline, and the occupants of the room looked up to see Hayley standing in the doorway. She seemed to be dressed in these hideous baggy pajamas, and she was the last person that Caroline had expected to see.
"Um, what the hell are they doing here?" And it appeared that the little werewolf slut felt the same way about her as well. Charming.
"We're here on business, cupcake. I think it would be more interesting to find out what exactly my former informant is doing here." Katherine took a bite out of her strawberry, barely even sparing a glance to the newcomer.
"Wait, what was she doing for you? She was also working for Shane." Caroline blurted out.
"She was my little spy during the search for the cure. She was very busy, weaseling out every little secret she could. I directed her to a witch who was knowledgeable on the matters of werewolves in exchange. How on earth did she find time to do anything else?" Katherine leaned back in her chair, chewing casually on her fruit.
Klaus was shocked. His…baby mama, as they so crudely put in this century, had apparently worked for his eternal annoyance. That was not irritating in the least. Elijah, on the other hand, had known that Katherine had a mole in Mystic Falls, but he had assumed that it was the sniveling little girl that had followed his sister around like a lost puppy. The fact that it was Hayley was surprising. She had come off as very…innocent originally. Rebekah was just laughing at the irony of it all. She hadn't known the details of the werewolf's past—it's not like she actually considered the girl anything more than a source of amusement. There had been a distinct lack of female persons in her home, and Hayley had been a convenient outlet for her loneliness. Of course, now there were other women in the house. And while she may have had a troubled history with both Caroline and Katherine, they were certainly more her type than the pregnant werewolf.
"Don't ask me. All I know is that she helped unsire all of those hybrids in Mystic Falls and made them believe that she had a witch to desiccate Klaus, while in reality she just set them all up to be killed so that Silas could be awoken." Caroline turned her glare on Hayley before her attention was drawn to Klaus, who had stood up so abruptly that his chair made a loud screech backwards.
"You're the one who unsired all of my hybrids?" Klaus was horrified. He exchanged a look with his brother before staring at the offender. "And why on earth did you lead them to their death! I didn't know much about the relationships between my hybrids and you, but I know that they considered you to be a friend. How dare you betray your pack?"
"I needed information on my family. There had to be twelve for the sacrifice. I provided them. It was nothing personal." Hayley answered, in her usual annoying tone.
Caroline could tell that Klaus was outraged, and that her comment had clearly set him off. That was not what she had intended to do, truly. His stance screamed rage; from the way that he was gesturing to his expressions, he was horrified. She didn't know that much about werewolf culture, but if she knew anything it was that the pack was a sacred thing. They were your family, and to betray them meant eternal shame.
He scoffed in response, horrified. "She will be moved as soon as possible. I don't care what we have to do, but she will be out of my sight. If it had not been for the circumstances, she would be dead already, do you understand me?" Klaus said, and this appeared to be directed at Elijah. The women at the table simply sat back watching, as this did not seem to be their fight to intervene in.
"Brother, that cannot happen. The witches have made their terms for this arrangement clear, and if we do not comply the repercussions will be something that none of us wish to test." The man in question answered.
"Damn the witches! I do not care if we have to put her on a boat in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico for the remaining months, I do not wish to have to look upon her, for she has committed the most grievous sin known to the species: betrayal." Klaus rubbed his temples slightly, as if he had a headache coming on. "Do whatever it takes, just get her out of here, Elijah!" He stormed out of the kitchen, walking purposefully in a way so as to avoid Hayley.
In the kitchen, everyone sat silently. Elijah, Katherine, Rebekah, and Caroline all were still at the table, simply taking everything in. Hayley sat at the counter, her usual smug look on her face. She appeared to be enjoying the attention that she had gotten. Elijah stood up and buttoned his jacket, obviously going after his brother.
"Wait!" Caroline said. She stood up from the table. "Let me go talk to him."
"Miss Forbes—"
"You can call me Caroline, first of all. And secondly, I think he needs an unbiased person to talk too. He's too angry to reach a compromise at the moment. I'll go see what I can do." She walked off in the direction that she had heard Klaus go.
Elijah simply nodded in assent, and retook his seat. It was an interesting dynamic, the one between his brother and Miss Forbes. Their friendship was certainly something to observe further. She seemed to care for him, and Niklaus certainly held a soft spot for the young lady. Elijah was no fool; he had seen the way that his brother had looked at Miss Forbes the previous evening, and there was no doubt that she was the reason that the deal to save Katerina's life was made.
Oh, but he had other things to worry about than his brother's love life. Like the fact that Katerina was dying, which he would not allow to happen.
-0-0-0-0-0-
Caroline knocked on the door lightly.
"Elijah, I do not wish to speak to you at the moment. Kindly go away." Klaus's voice answered from the inside. Well, apparently she had guessed correctly. He had spoken fondly of his office when giving her a tour the previous evening, and she had presumed that he would be here. Apparently she was right.
"Since I'm not your brother and I really don't think the suit would look good on me, may I come in?" She asked tentatively, opening the door a bit.
Klaus was bracing one hand against the wall as he looked out the window. "Caroline. Yes, you may."
"Thanks." The lady stepped into Klaus's haven. It really was a lovely room, with large windows and a fireplace on one of the walls. There was a large desk near one wall, and a few chairs were arranged near the bookshelves on another. She could see a covered easel near the brightest section of the room.
"No offense, but I'm really quite curious as to why you are here, love." Klaus turned and leaned against the wall as Caroline came further into his study.
"I wanted to apologize. Sort of." At his arched eyebrow and somewhat smile, she smiled softly. "Just… Clearly what I said struck a chord, and I really didn't mean for that to happen. I'm not apologizing for outing the little wereslut, but I'm sorry that it caused you distress." Caroline shrugged. "And, if you want to talk to someone about why, I'm here."
"I am surprised that you beat Elijah to my door, I must say."
"Yeah… I figured the last thing you needed was for him to push his opinion. Someone might end up daggered, you know?" There was a smile playing on her lips, which let him know that she was merely teasing. Her smile disappeared quickly however, and he could almost sense what was to come out of her mouth next. "Klaus… If you detest Hayley so much, then what exactly is she doing in your house?" Caroline watched his expression drop.
Klaus sighed, and stood up. "I'm going to need a drink for this conversation, love. Would you like anything?"
"I don't suppose champagne would be appropriate," Caroline smiled, knowing that he had once dubbed the drink 'their thing', trying to cheer him up "so I suppose that whatever you're having would be good, thank you."
He arched an eyebrow at her reference, but said nothing as he poured the drinks and walked back over to their seats, handing her one before sitting down.
"Hayley is staying here because she is pregnant." Klaus said gently, clearly trying to gage her reaction.
"Well, yes. That baggy t-shirt wasn't doing anything to cover up the baby bump, no matter how hard she may be trying, and I heard the extra heartbeat from the moment she walked into the kitchen." Caroline shrugged. She didn't know where he was going with this, but it couldn't be pretty. Maybe they were running a hostel for skanky pregnant werewolves? It could be some twisted Alpha thing he had to do.
"You picked up on the heartbeat?" He seemed surprised. That wouldn't be something that many would hear, as the child's heartbeat was very faint, even to his enhanced hearing.
"I'm more than a bit OCD, and I've been tuning into heartbeats lately as a mechanism to pick out the supernatural beings in a crowd. I like to be prepared. There were only supposed to be two when Hayley came into the kitchen-hers and Katherine's-but there was a third faint one. I put two and two together as I had already noticed the bump—which I had previously attributed to her just gaining a lot of weight—and the natural conclusion was that she was pregnant. But that still doesn't answer my question of why she's here." Caroline sipped a tiny bit out of her drink, not liking the expression on his face at all.
"Caroline, I believe you have missed my point." Klaus sighed. "Hayley is pregnant, and the child is mine."
AN: Quite the cliffhanger, no? I had truly intended for Klaroline to discuss Magic Demon Baby Mikaelson, but they ran away with their flirting for too long, so that lovely scene will start off next chapter. I took a very unique angle with the conversation, so I hope you all like it.
How did I do with Hayley? Was she hated on sufficiently enough? I really detest her character, so we're going to have a bit of fun with the skanky werewolf.
A few of you have asked about Bonnie... I can tell you that her reasons for being in NOLA won't entirely revolve around the fact that Caroline is there. She'll have two others, to be exact, and one of them might include around a certain reckless Original brother with an appreciation for witches. But shh! You didn't hear that from me. ;)
Thank you all so much for reading and reviewing! I read each and every single review, and they just make me want to write even more.
Oh, and I had a question come in about the title for this story... I took it from the poem "I carry your heart with me (I carry it in)" be E.E. Cummings. It's a very lovely poem, and you all should go read it.
Have a Happy New Year!
-Abi