Bloodlines
Chapter 23: 500 Years of Solitude
Beta: PrincessOfSilence - Seriously, this girl rocks my socks!
Disclaimer: I own nothing of TVD or TO. I only own my characters and my story.
AN: The chapter Casket Girls happens after 500 Years of Solitude.
Ding.
Dong.
Ding.
Dong.
The grandfather clock in the foyer chimed loudly throughout the boarding house and the pregnant hybrid buried herself further under the covers. She hardly slept the night before because of the fight she had with Damon and she didn't want to face the new day. Damon stormed out of the house after their argument and never came home. She guessed that he'd gone to the Grill to drink his sorrows away and she was perfectly content with that. Her heart physically ached as she replayed their argument in her mind and had to clench her eyes closed to try and block them out. She was so sure that Damon was ready for her to have this baby and be a father, but last night told her the complete opposite. She never felt so unsure of anything in her entire life before. She pulled the covers higher over her head, hiding herself so low in them that only small tendrils of hair could be spied peeking out from underneath them. Maybe if she slept the day away, her problems would disintegrate.
"Rise and shine," a muffled voice made Cassandra open her eyes and emerge from her blanket cocoon. Standing at the edge of her bed were Elena, Caroline, and Bonnie who all wore similar frowns. They all heard about what happened last night. Elena was staying over at the boarding house to look after Cassandra, so when she heard the blowout of the year, she told Caroline and then Caroline told Bonnie.
"We brought you breakfast." Caroline extended the silver tray out to Cassandra as an offering, but the hybrid shook her head.
"I'm not hungry," she mumbled, ducking her head under the blankets.
"You have to eat." Elena pulled the covers back and all of the girls climbed up onto the bed. Caroline set the tray in Cassandra's lap as she sat up.
"Girls, this is sweet and all, but-"
"No buts." The blonde waved her hand in the air. "You are eating and talking about last night."
Cassandra took up the glass of orange juice from the tray and took a long sip. "There is nothing to talk about. Damon made it clear that he has no intentions of being a father because this," she patted her stomach affectionately. "Wasn't supposed to happen."
"Maybe he's just getting cold feet." Bonnie suggested while passing the breakfast plate to Cassandra.
"'Cold feet' is an understatement. I get that he's scared. I am too, but I thought that this baby was something he wanted as badly as I did." She sighed and picked at the eggs and home fries on the plate. They looked delicious, but Cassandra was hardly in the mood to eat. She would rather push them around with her fork. "I guess I was wrong."
"No, you're not wrong." Elena shook her head. "Just give Damon some time."
"Does allowing him to drown his sorrows at the Grill count as giving him time?" Giving into temptation, she stabbed a chunk of eggs and popped them in her mouth. "Because he hasn't come home and I'm guessing that he's there."
Matt Donovan and Jeremy Gilbert heaved low sighs as they looked upon Damon who was fast asleep with his head down on the surface of the bar. Some overturned shot glasses and a bottle of his poison of choice were next to the snoring vampire who looked as if he was on a bender all night.
"What the hell?" Matt grumbled.
"Damon and Cassandra had a huge fight," Jeremy mentioned.
"Why? About what?"
The teen shrugged. "I have no idea."
"Well, I can only guess what it was about." Matt clicked his teeth and pantomimed to Jeremy ask if he was rocking a baby. "Fatherhood."
"I can hear you, dumbass." Damon groaned groggily as he awoke from his drunken stupor. He sat up, wobbling a little bit and poured himself a shot from the nearly empty bottle by his side. The room was still spinning and he had a wicked hangover, but no amount of alcohol in the world could cure him of the guilt he was feeling. He lost count of how many drinks he had last night; swearing that if he drank enough, it would erase what he said to Cassandra. The look in her eyes when he shouted at her was absolutely heart shattering, so much so, that he could feel splinters of his heart scraping against his chest cavity.
"So, spill." Jeremy sat beside the vampire who threw him a strange look.
"Like I'd tell you two ding-a-lings." Damon reached for the bottle, but Matt snatched it from him.
"Talk."
Damon's blue eyes shifted dangerously. "You do know that I can snap your neck, right?"
"If you talk, I'll give you the bottle back." The waiter offered and saw the careful, calculating look in the vampire's eyes.
"Fine."
"So, where does this leave you guys?" Elena asked curiously after hearing her friend rehash last night's argument with her husband and Cassandra swallowed her words. She honestly didn't know where last night's conversation left her and Damon and that scared her more than anything. Up until last night, she thought she knew it all, but now she wasn't so sure. Her hand rubbed anxiously over her stomach which was being kicked by her daughter and a small smile tugged at her lips.
"I don't know, Elena. I just don't know," she whispered softly and each girl only grew sadder hearing her answer. She moved her untouched breakfast plate aside and rose from the bed. "Thanks for the breakfast, girls, but I don't feel like talking anymore." She mumbled and padded to the bathroom where she locked herself inside. Neither Elena, Caroline nor Bonnie stopped her, knowing that she needed some time on her own. Inside the bathroom, she turned on the faucet for the shower and the sink to create as much noise as possible before sinking to the floor and crying her eyes out. Tears streaked down her cheeks and silent sobs left her lips, aside from the occasional whimper that she just couldn't keep down. She felt as if the rug had been yanked out from under her and that she was falling into the unknown with no one to grab her hand and hoist her back up to safety. She felt so upset, so angry, so betrayed that she didn't even want Damon to come home. She feared that if she saw him, she'd either scream at him or hit him.
Both sounded like a good option.
Enzo prodded the open wound in his chest where Damon's hand had just been, clenched around his heart. The two of them had exchanged words about the night Damon left him to his death, but Enzo hardly forgave his friend's reasons for leaving. Damon tried to make Enzo understand that in order for him to leave him, he had to shut off his humanity and not even bat an eyelash to the sounds of his friend calling and screaming after him. Damon wiped his bloodied hand on a spare towel that was lying around Dr. Whitmore's lab, tossed it aside and turned on his heel to leave.
"Where are you going?" Enzo wondered.
"Home; to my wife." Damon declared.
"Are you sure that she'll want you around?"
Damon stopped dead in his tracks. He knew that he should just ignore Enzo's jab, but he found himself facing him again. "What did you just say?"
"I mean, why would Cassandra want you in her life when you walked out to fulfill your vendetta to kill Whitmores?" He speculated. "And while she was pregnant, no less. Shame on you, Damon."
"I'll talk to her about it. She'll understand." Damon's 'cool as a cucumber' attitude was slowly giving way under him and he found himself questioning if Cassandra would understand why he did what he did.
"Will she? I highly doubt it, mate." Enzo spat venomously. "You leaving her is showing that you don't give a damn about her and that child."
The raven haired vampire's nostrils flared wildly. "Don't you dare-"
Enzo smirked slyly, knowing that his words were getting to Damon in precisely the way he wanted them to. "It's true, Damon. You don't care. You walk out on people; it's what you do. You walked out on me and made it look easy."
Damon snapped and rushed Enzo to the wall, wrapping his hands around his neck in a bruising hold. He hissed and growled ferociously as he lifted Enzo off the floor so his feet were dangling. "We are done talking about what happened in 1958, Enzo."
"Good point, mate. No better time like the present, I always say." He chuckled at Damon's efforts to keep him quiet. "Now, perhaps we should talk about that supernatural bun in your wife's oven."
"Shut up."
"I mean, the mere fact that your wife thinks that you of all people are ready to handle a child just tells me that she's one of the stupidest individuals I've ever come across." Enzo hissed and Damon tightened his hold on the vampire's throat. "Does she think you'll be around to kiss boo-boos and read bedtime stories too?"
"Shut up!" The raven haired vampire growled angrily.
"Come on, mate. Who are you kidding?" The end of his words were cut off by Damon throwing him across the lab into one of the giant stainless steel refrigerators.
"Enough, Enzo!" Damon bellowed.
Enzo slowly rose to his feet, laughing to himself. "Maybe it will have its mother's big brown eyes and it's father's thirst for revenge."
One of the wooden chairs was quickly overturned and Damon snapped off one of the legs, so it was a sharp point. "I'm warning you."
The vampire flashed to stand behind Damon and shoved him to the floor before he could even blink. Enzo stood over Damon who was groaning in pain. "Imagine it. Imagine the future like how we used to do back in those cells. Can you see it? I can."
Damon didn't want to, but his future was now playing out in his mind while Enzo watched with a wicked grin. He could see it and it scared him. His daughter screaming in fear as she watched her father rip his sharp fangs out of someone's neck. Blood was everywhere, staining everything it touched. She cowered in the corner, trying to get as far away from him as she could while he tried to show her that he wouldn't hurt her. Her screams and cries tore him up and no matter how he explained it, the look of fear didn't fade from his daughter's eyes; it only intensified. He remembered being afraid of his own father and would try to hide whenever he was in trouble and as much as he tried to erase it from his mind, it was always there. His daughter would fear him.
A flash of years passed and he could see his now-adult daughter biting into someone's neck so hard that the head came off and rolled across the pavement. Blood, skin, and muscle decorated her lips which were pulled back over her fangs. A ripper. A monster. His daughter would grow up to be just like him. That was his greatest fear come true and it was staring him in the face. Damon shook the visions away, but he could never forget them. He never would and a fear that was never there was now haunting him and would continue to until his last dying breath. He shouldn't even be near that child. He shouldn't even be in its life. His daughter should never have to know a father like him.
"Terrifying, isn't it? She'd be a monster just like you." Enzo had watched Damon visualize his horrific future and took such joy from it. He wanted Damon to doubt himself, his marriage, and his baby. "You ruin things, Damon. You ruin people too, but that's just who you are, that's who you'll always be. A monster."
"You let what Enzo said get to you?" Matt questioned and handed Damon the bottle back.
"Wouldn't you?" The vampire snatched the bottle and drank right out of it.
"But you love Cassandra." Jeremy added. "Why push her away?"
"What is this? Twenty questions?" Damon grumbled. "I told you what happened, now scram." He phone then buzzed in his pocket and he checked the text message he received from Stefan. A wide grin spread across his lips and he looked to both teens.
"Party time."
Cassandra's ears suddenly perked up at the sound of voices talking downstairs as she woke up. After showering, she fell back asleep for what must have been a long time and was now slightly annoyed that her super sensitive hearing was picking up mindless chatter from the living room. Sighing loudly, she threw off the covers and descended the staircase in her pajamas. Coming to the living room, she leaned in the doorway and everyone caught her form out of the corner of their eyes. They stopped talking immediately and put their shot glasses down, exchanging glances with one another and then they looked between the couple. Damon downed his shot and when he placed the glass upside down on the table, he met Cassandra's tense gaze. The entire room had fallen into awkward silence and it was hard for anyone to say or do anything to break it.
"What's going on here?" She asked and no one said a word, letting her questions hang in the air like a dark raincloud. "Well, don't all answer at once."
Damon was the first to get up, wobbling a bit as he did so and made his way to her. "If you must know, we are toasting to the impending death of Katherine Pierce."
"What?" Her eyebrows shot up to her hairline.
"Yup." He deadpanned. "She had a heart attack last night. I thought Stefan told you."
"Maybe he did, but my mind was preoccupied with other things." She snapped and the tension in the room rose again. The pair held each other's hard stares, neither of them breaking for a low throat clear from Jeremy or a sigh from Elena. In an effort to ease it, Caroline rose from the couch, drink in hand and approached the couple.
"Look, Cassandra, why don't you join us? It's been a while since the whole gang has been together, so it'll be fun." Her voice went up a few octaves seeing that the pregnant hybrid didn't look as if she wanted to take the bait, but she brushed past Damon with a huff and sat opposite him, as far away as humanly possible.
Tyler looked between everyone who was still tense and decided to give it a go at trying to break the awkward silence. "So, the rules of the game are to name the worst thing Katherine did to you. You were up, Elena."
"She impersonated me repeatedly, made Aunt Jenna stab herself in the stomach and she cut off Uncle John's fingers." The vampire reiterated and took a shot.
"He might have deserved that." Jeremy piped up about Uncle John.
"I second that," Damon and Cassandra said at the same time and the room grew quieter again. Even when their relationship was on the rocks, they had a way of doing that. Pairs of eyes wandered awkwardly and glasses of alcohol were lifted to pairs of lips.
"My Grams died trying to close a tomb she wasn't in," Bonnie spoke up after a few silent moments.
"Tyler's werewolf curse got triggered because of her," Caroline added.
"Klaus followed her to Mystic Falls and because of that, we lost Jenna." The brunette murmured.
Damon's hand tightened around his glass. "And Alaric."
Matt's blue eyes scanned the table, seeing that the bottles of liquor they had been pouring shots of were nearly empty. "We're going to need more booze." He left to head down into the Salvatore cellar where he could easily find cases of alcohol which might all be gone after the roast of Katherine Pierce.
"She tried to kill me at least twice." Elena filled her glass.
"She did kill me." Cassandra and Caroline said in sync and the blonde picked up two shot glasses that Elena had filled. She offered one to Cassandra who just raised an eyebrow and patted her bulging stomach.
"Oh...awkward." The blonde's cheeks flushed bright red and even some members of the group were laughing at her slip up. "I'll just drink both then." She downed both shots and she could see the faintest ghost of a grin on Cassandra's lips. Her fingers plucked up an empty shot glass, holding it up and everyone copied her with their full glasses.
"Here's to Katherine Pierce. The most wretched bitch to walk this earth." She spoke.
"Cheers to that!" Bonnie agreed and everyone downed a shot.
Sometime later, the group was still drinking and Cassandra had changed out of her pajamas and into something casual for lounging about the house. Stefan was still upstairs with Katherine, who the hell knew why, but it wasn't like anyone in the group cared. They were too busy celebrating that Katherine's last life line was fraying and that it was only a matter of time before she bit the dust.
"Rumor has it, she burnt down the entire city of Atlanta once." Damon slurred slightly.
"That might win." Jeremy noted just as Stefan sauntered into the room.
"Alright. Knock it off or take it somewhere else. You guys are being insensitive," he said and Damon rolled his eyes.
"Come on, Stefan. Don't let the sight of a frail, human Elena-look-alike cloud your memories of the manipulative psycho that she is." His hand curled tightly around his glass.
Stefan stood in the middle of the group, gaining all of their attention. "In 1864, Katherine moved into my home, she compelled me to love her, seduced my brother, fed us full of vampire blood and then started a war with the town that got us killed."
Damon handed his brother a glass to toast with, but he didn't take it. "Exactly. Bottoms up."
"But, centuries before that, she was just an innocent girl that was shunned by her family. So for 500 years, she lied and manipulated and did whatever she had to do to survive. And she did. She's a survivor, right?" Stefan took the glass from his brother and raised it in the air. "So, that's the girl I will drink to today. Cheers."
Again, his older brother rolled. "Please. One night of hot sex with her and you're brainwashed?"
Elena's eyes bugged out of her head. "What?!"
And so did Bonnie's. "What?!"
Cassandra spit her water everywhere and her jaw nearly hit the floor hearing that piece of news. "Oh God! My ears!"
Caroline suddenly looked very guilty and patted Cassandra's leg. "Oh my...I forgot to tell you. You were kidnapped and hostaged and..."
The green eyed Salvatore slowly backed away, not liking being the center of attention. "Bottle's empty...I should–"
"That's why you never send a busboy to do a man's job." Damon rose from the couch and grumbled something about how Matt Donavan managed to keep his job at the Grill when his blue eyes caught a glimpse of Nadia standing behind Stefan.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Cassandra hissed, moving to stand, bust Caroline pulled her back down to the couch.
"Nadia, the devil's spawn. Caroline, did you remember to tell Cassandra that?" Damon called over his shoulder and the blonde vampire smacked her forehead, knowing that once again, she left out an important piece of gossip.
"Seriously, how much did I miss?" Cassandra wondered.
"Katherine's upstairs," Elena told Nadia.
"Actually, I'm here to see all of you. I found a way to save my mother and I need some help." Nadia spoke.
"Uh-uh. No way." Damon shook his head back and forth vigorously. "Even my biased brother knows I will kick his ass from here to Kentucky if he helps Katherine Pierce live one more day on this Earth. No volunteers."
Nadia gave the group a smirk. "I figured as much, which is why I found that old safe your brother spent the summer drowning in and buried it on this property with your friend Matt inside of it." Everyone went silent again. Why did everyone pick on Matt? He was a human for Christ's sake. "Oh, without this." The vampire produced Matt's Gilbert Ring from her pocket and placed it on the table.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
Cassandra raised an eyebrow and looked towards the front door. Who could that be, she wondered and so did Bonnie and Caroline. Hopefully someone had found Matt or Elena and Stefan had come back from helping Nadia. Today was supposed to a relaxing day with no hiccups, but hiccups were a daily occurrence in Mystic Falls. She moved to get up off the couch, but Damon beat her to it as if he knew who had arrived. Sighing, she stayed on the couch, knowing that it would have taken her too much time to get up anyway because of her bulging belly.
Caroline scooted closer to her and nudged her shoulder. "You're almost there."
"Yeah," she nodded and patted her stomach. "Almost."
Bonnie frowned and so did the blonde vampire. "Don't worry about Damon. He'll be ready."
"I don't know about that, Bon. It's awkward enough being in the same room with him." Cassandra murmured.
"Let's talk about happy things." Caroline smiled, wanting to divert the conversation. She took up Cassandra's curls and started to weave them into a braid. "So, I know that you said that you didn't want one, but the girls and I were thinking of throwing you a baby shower."
"Caroline-"
"No, don't 'Caroline' me. You deserve to celebrate." The blonde swept the braid over her shoulder.
"I agree." Bonnie chimed in. "Caroline and can plan it and Elena and me can do...something."
"Okay, so where should we have it?" Caroline tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Hmm,"
"I know some places in New Orleans that are quite nice." All three girls whipped around to see Elijah standing in the foyer with Klaus and Giuliana. Cassandra was just as speechless as the rest of the girls, but she could hardly contain her smile.
"Elijah? What are you doing here?" She eased herself off the couch with Caroline's and Bonnie's help and rushed to hug him.
"I received a call that Katerina is not well," he replied.
"Who called you?" She wondered.
"Your husband." He answered and Cassandra happened to catch Damon's glance as he walked past her and made his way upstairs.
"Ah, I see." She cleared her throat and Elijah took her hands, slightly outstretching them so that he could take in her appearance.
"You are positively glowing." The Original complimented her and she blushed, placing a hand on her stomach. "Pregnancy has treated you well."
"You wouldn't be saying that if you looked down and couldn't see your toes." She grinned and then looked to Klaus. "What? I don't get a hello?"
He moved to meet her and kissed her cheek. "Congratulations, love."
"Hmm, two supernatural pregnancies." Giuliana grinned. "Something must be in the water. Congrats, Cassandra."
"Thank you, all of you." She looked between the three of them. "So, you've come to give Katherine your goodbye?"
Klaus smirked widely. "Well, I'd rather watch as she takes her last breath."
"Niklaus, please. Show some respect," Elijah sighed.
"Him? Show respect?" Giuliana raised an eyebrow.
Cassandra shook her head, a smile on her lips. "Well, thank you for coming." Damon then joined them downstairs just as he put his phone in his pocket.
"Matt is still missing." He said.
"That poor kid." Cassandra rubbed her temples.
Giuliana bumped Klaus' shoulder. "Klaus could probably find him with that werewolf nose."
"Yes, brother. I'm sure you could offer some assistance."
The Original hybrid rolled his eyes and slipped a hand around Giuliana's waist. "I'd be happy to help, as long as I have some assistance."
"Ugh, fine. I'll help." The ex-hunter crossed her arms over her chest. "What could go wrong, right?"
Elijah came back downstairs after he sat with Katherine at her bedside for quite some time. She wasn't awake at all, but he stayed with her and talked to her. He was sad that she was dying, but he had moved on from their torrid love affair. He was on the staircase when his vampire hearing caught a conversation between Cassandra and Damon in the kitchen. Even though their voices were hushed, he could still hear them.
"Well, you're doing a great job of making today awkward." Cassandra grumbled.
"Me?! You were the one who couldn't even look at me before." Damon retorted.
"Because if I look at you, I might just strangle you! You spent the entire night at the Grill drinking your sorrows away. How could I be okay with that?"She asked him.
"I didn't want to stay home and be reminded how bad I am for you." The vampire hissed. "How many times to I have to say it?"
"Just go away. You've said it enough times and I don't want to hear it anymore." Elijah heard her shove him aside. "You've also made it clear that you believe that this pregnancy wasn't supposed to happen."
"Cassandra," Damon called to her and Elijah imagined that he tried to gently take her by the arm.
"No, Damon. Leave me alone. I don't want to talk to you." She whimpered, batting him away.
"You don't want to talk to me?!" His anger rose.
"I said, leave me alone!" She screamed, her voice echoing in the house and shaking the paintings on the wall. The kitchen was silent for a few long moments and Elijah went to go to Cassandra just as Damon stormed out of the kitchen, so he remained on the stairwell, keeping himself distant from Damon. Once the raven haired vampire was gone, Elijah made his way into the kitchen and bumped into Cassandra, who dropped her cup of tea all over the floor. She gave a frightened gasp and jumped back to avoid getting her feet cut open as the mug shattered and tea spilled all over the floor.
"Oh, God. I'm so sorry, Elijah." She pressed her palm to her forehead and quickly wiped some tears from her fresh argument with her husband.
"It's quite alright." He dismissed it and took a handkerchief from inside his jacket. He watched as Cassandra struggled to bend down, but he wagged a finger at her. "Sit, Cassandra. We don't need you hurting yourself."
With an exaggerated sigh, she sat at the island, rubbing her belly softly while Elijah cleaned up the mess on the floor. She found that the further into her pregnancy she got, she became more limited when it came to doing things around the house. She would drop things and get herself into all kinds of positions to try and pick them up, but it was no use. She'd become frustrated and leave whatever had fallen to become someone else's chore.
Elijah had cleaned up the mess in a hurry, making sure that the floor was wiped and the glass was discarded, but when he looked to Cassandra who was silent the entire time; she was crying. When he threw out the last few pieces of glass, he sat with her and produced another handkerchief from his pocket, handing it to her.
"How many of these do you have?" She asked tearfully and took it from him.
"Enough." He answered and she dried her eyes. "I heard your argument with Damon. Why don't you start at the beginning?"
Cassandra blew her nose into the napkin and sniffled before speaking again. "What is there to tell? You heard the whole story. He's scared about me having the baby because it was something that wasn't meant to happen."
The Original vampire raised an eyebrow. "Wasn't meant to happen?"
"Oh, that's right. You've missed a lot." She cleared her throat. "The entire summer we wanted answers as to why and how I got pregnant. We got nothing until we met Quetsiyah who told us that the Universe has been deliberately trying to break Damon and me apart."
"And you believed that?" He questioned curiously.
"Look at the facts, Elijah. All attempts against me were somehow foiled. Whenever something happened to me and I was supposed to die, I didn't. Ever since I was little, the Universe has been trying to get rid of me." She explained, but her maker did not look convinced in the slightest. "There's this prophecy that the Universe has been trying to get the doppelgangers together which explains how Elena and Stefan found each other."
"Stefan is not a doppelganger."
"Remember how Silas would never show his true face? Turns out it's one that looks just like Stefan." She added before continuing on. "With the doppelgangers together, there was always one person who was meant to be left out. Someone else was meant to fall in love with Katherine."
Elijah tilted his head slightly to the side. "Damon."
Cassandra nodded and wrung her hands anxiously. "Right. Well, that was supposed to be written in stone, but...I was born. I was never meant to come into this world and I sure as hell wasn't meant to meet Damon. I know it sounds crazy, but this story somehow gets worse from there."
"I can hardly imagine it." He said.
"Destiny has been getting the doppelgangers together for centuries, so that always left one person unhappy and they are never able to find true love. In this case, it's Damon. That being said, because I was never meant to come into existence, the Universe has repeatedly tried to reset itself and kill me off. Long story short..." Her hand found her belly and she stroked it soothingly as if to calm her perturbed daughter and the Original caught the motion. It suddenly all made sense now.
A look of pure realization crossed his expression. His eyes grew wide, his jaw pulled tense and his hands clenched into fists. "This pregnancy is the Universe's way of trying to kill you off again."
Cassandra didn't even have to confirm his statement, he already knew her answer. A fresh set of tears welled in her brown eyes and she tried desperately to hold them back. "Damon feels the need to push me away because this pregnancy will kill me in the end. I'm scared, Elijah. I'm scared of this pregnancy, but I'm also scared of losing Damon because of this. I just don't know what to do."
A hand reached out to grasp the one that was resting on the table and Elijah covered her hand with both of his. "I know that you are scared, Cassandra, but you will not die from this. If you think you will, then you will. You must be strong just as you always have and you have to think about your daughter now. Think of how wonderful it will be to be a part of her life and to watch her grow."
"But-"
"Listen," Elijah cut her protests off, wanting her to continue to listen to what he had to say. "Damon cannot wrap his head around all of this yet. You may think he's had ample time, but I disagree. He is scared just like you are. It's natural to be fearful of something that hasn't happened yet. Klaus shares the same fears that Damon does about being a father and Hayley shares your fears about being a mother. Give it time. When the time comes you will both be ready." He gave her hand a firm squeeze and she brushed her tears away, trying to be strong for herself and for her baby. It would be hard, but she wouldn't give up
"Thank you, Elijah." She leaned forward, hugging him to her and then took his hand, placing it on her belly. It took a couple of seconds, but he soon felt the gentle kicks of her baby beneath his hand. He let out a breath, almost unable to believe that something so precious was causing so much trouble.
"Amazing." He hushed and Cassandra's daughter seemed to agree, kicking a bit harder and her mother chuckled lightly.
"How is Hayley doing?" She asked and Elijah took his hand back.
"She is doing well considering the circumstances." The Original leaned back in his chair.
"Good. I'm glad to hear that." A smile graced her lips and her stomach rumbled quite loudly. "Oh, oops. I guess I am hungry."
Elijah stood and walked up to the refrigerator. "Let's get you something to eat then."
"And how are we supposed to find this kid?" Giuliana asked as she and Klaus trudged through the woods.
"I don't pick up his scent, so we're as good as useless." Klaus held one of Matt's shirts in his hand and sniffed it again. Once again, he couldn't catch the scent and they continued onward in their search.
"So, this Katherine girl…tell me more about her," she wondered.
"There isn't much to tell. She created a feud between Elijah and I back in the fourteen hundreds. She played us both for fools and ran at the first chance that she got." He said, picking up his pace.
Giuliana put some more pep in her step to catch up with him. "But, still, you came back to say goodbye. That has to mean something."
"I came for Elijah. I know how much Katerina meant to him. I am just happy that he moved on. My brother is quite the whelp when he is miserable." Klaus said.
"Isn't everyone miserable when love doesn't go their way?"
"Some more so than most."
"Alright, just drop it. Elijah is sensitive."
"You don't know the half of it."
"Okay, we're done talking about this." She snapped, speeding up her pace so she wouldn't have to hear anymore.
"Getting sensitive just thinking about my brother?" Klaus mentioned and she stopped in her tracks. That remark she heard loud and clear. She turned back to him, a scowl painting her lips.
"And what business is it of yours?"
He shrugged, sauntering up to meet her. "No need to get defensive, love. I see how you cling to his side."
"Better his than yours." She hissed.
"Ah! So, you admit it." He grinned. "I wonder, has he ever...?" His voice trailed off and he gave a suggestive look with his eyes.
"What? No! Wait! Why am I talking with you about this?!"
He held his hands up in surrender, smirking like a cat that ate the canary. "Just curious. You and I have done more during our time in Italy."
"You and I also shared very strong drinks at one time." She glared. "Let's keep looking for Matt. That kid has probably suffocated by now because you feel that talking about the past is helpful."
Klaus heaved a sigh and gave a roll of his eyes. "Fine. We can bicker all day, but we were sent to do a job."
"And we're failing at it right now."
Cassandra sat up in Katherine's bedroom by her bedside as she mulled over what Elijah had told her. It was a lot to think about and not all of the peace and quiet in the world could help her. She chewed on her fingernail anxiously and thanked the heavens that Damon hadn't found her yet. She needed some time to think. That was exactly it. Time. Even though she had grown accustomed to the idea of her having a baby, she was becoming more and more fearful of her due date with each approaching day. She wouldn't lie, she was terrified and no matter how strong of a front she put up for everyone, the little voice inside her head would mock her about her impending motherhood. The same thing was happening with Damon. He had nearly no time to adjust and he was lashing out because of the prophecy that she would die because of the baby.
She winced feeling her teeth bite down on the skin of her finger and grimaced down at her hand to see that she had whittled the nail down to nothing. She swiped the spare shavings of her nail off her shirt and sat on her hands, hoping to save the rest of her nails and she focused her attention on Katherine who was waking up. She had never seen Katherine look so old in her entire life. She spied the streaks of grey in her hair and even some wrinkles near her eyes and around her mouth. Her dull eyes opened slowly, blinking a few times to make sure that she was really awake and not in a dream.
"Gee, next to Damon...I would think that you would be the last person to come in here." She rasped and Cassandra sat up in her chair, leaning forward a bit.
"Yeah, well, I needed some time to think." She replied amicably.
"I figured." She said and Cassandra quirked an eyebrow as to why she 'figured' anything. "Stefan kinda filled me in."
"Oh, how nice that nearly everyone in town knows my business." The pregnant hybrid sighed.
"For what it's worth, you and Damon have worked through every issue in the book, so you'll pull through this."
"Wow, a nice thing coming out of your mouth?" Cassandra snipped. "You really must be dying."
"After hearing what you all had to say downstairs, I guess I was a pretty wretched person. I guess I deserve this for hurting so many people." She was so frail and weak that talking even tired her out.
"We've all done bad things, Katherine. Everyone in that room, myself included has done something bad. Some have done more harm than good, but that doesn't mean that we love them any less." She spoke.
"You're talking about Damon, aren't you?" Once Katherine pointed it out, Cassandra wished she censored what she was saying, like a dying woman needed to know her business, but regardless, she nodded. "I know that you're scared. Hell, I was too when I got pregnant. At least you'll have drugs when you give birth." With a bit of trouble, Katherine scooted herself up on the bed so that she was partially sitting up. "God, where is Stefan to fluff my pillow when I need him?" She muttered and tried to reach behind her head to fix her pillow.
"Here, let me." Cassandra took the pillow from behind her, fluffed it up and positioned it behind Katherine's head so that she was more comfortable.
"Thanks." She was now looking down at her frail hands and skinny fingers. "Look, since we're being all nice and friendly toward each other...can I tell you something?"
Cassandra pulled her chair closer and rested her hands on her belly. "Yeah, sure." The human Petrova was quiet for a few moments, as if searching for the right words to say and how to say them. Nevertheless, Cassandra waited patiently for her to speak.
"I was jealous of you."
Cassandra's eyebrows rose to her hairline. "Huh?"
"You heard me; I was jealous of you." She repeated herself and winced a bit. "Man, that leaves a bad taste in my mouth."
"Jealous? The great Katherine Pierce was jealous of me? I can't ever imagine why."
"I'll tell you." Katherine rasped. "Back in 1864, Emily and I were traveling from Atlanta to the Mystic Falls. We were supposed to stay with the Lockwoods, but we conveniently ended up staying with Damon and Stefan."
Katherine sucked in yet another breath as Emily yanked her corset strings. She had been staying with the Salvatores for quite some time and had become very close with the younger brother, Stefan, however she wasn't completely satisfied. She had her eye on Damon, Stefan's older brother, ever since she met him, but for some strange reason, she could not seem to understand why he wasn't coming to her as quickly as Stefan did. She asked Stefan if he was set to marry a girl in town, but he told her that he wasn't. It irked her to no end and she want to know why. Frustrated, Katherine growled low in her chest while Emily continued to get her ready.
"Is something the matter, Miss Katherine?" Emily asked.
"No." She grumbled, but Emily knew exactly what was eating her. Her maid pulled the strings on Katherine's corset tighter, creating the desired silhouette and when she was finished she tied a neat knot at the bottom. Katherine then moved to her vanity table to have Emily start her hair, but she heard laughing coming from outside her window. The view from her room overlooked the impressive gardens that were filled with brightly colored flowers. Katherine walked up to it and peered down with a raised eyebrow seeing a young girl who she had never seen before. She had wild, untamed curls that stopped at her lower back, pale, smooth skin, and a big smile on her face. She had eyes similar to Katherine's, but they were not hardened by the harshness of time or the grief of losing everyone she had loved. These eyes were filled with light, joy, and hope. A more casual blue dress framed her form and she fisted the front of the dress seeing someone chasing after her.
It was Damon.
Katherine drew closer to the window and her gaze followed them as they ran around the gardens. Damon was smiling and laughing while trying to chase the giggling brunette. He was always the kind of man to wink and flirt at an attractive girl, but she never saw him so...happy.
"Are you ready to go down to breakfast, Miss?" Emily's voice broke her careful analysis, but she remained staring out the window.
"Who is she?" Katherine wondered.
Her maid now stood at Katherine's side and learned the cause for her distraction. "Perhaps a friend?"
"Perhaps." She murmured, her brown eyes watching the two of them together. Damon was now chasing the young girl around the hedges, bobbing and weaving through them to get to her faster. The girl's laughter echoed from the ground up into Katherine's ears and she continued to gaze upon them in silence. The brunette ducked behind a statue, peeking out occasionally to keep an eye out for Damon. When she looked one way, he darted the opposite way, just missing her line of sight, so she didn't see him. With her distracted, he snuck up behind her and scared her, making her shriek out loudly and bat at him playfully for giving her the scare of her life. They were looking into each other's eyes now, their chests heaving from their game and their bodies close to one another. The girl tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and her cheeks flushed a soft pink color. Damon shifted awkwardly on his feet, his pristine, blue gaze switching between the ground and her face.
Katherine felt a sting of pain in her heart as she watched the two in such a private moment. In all her years of being a vampire, she had never seen a man look upon a woman like how Damon looked upon this unknown girl. It was the kind of look one sees only three or four times in their lifetime and one would be considered lucky if they were the one to be looked upon like that. The way Damon's eyes sparkled when she smiled or how she giggled softly when he fumbled over his words was like Katherine was watching pure magic right before her eyes.
"The way he looked at you was something that stayed with me all my life." Katherine continued speaking while Cassandra remained stuck in the memory. She remembered the day that Katherine showed her, but she had no idea that they were being watched at the time. They were so young and so in love back then that it seemed almost strange to see them that way again. "I wanted that. I wanted what you had with Damon and I was jealous that I never had it."
Cassandra let herself linger in the memory, not wanting to leave a time and place where things were so easy. A tiny tear trickled down her cheek, but she quickly wiped it away before Katherine could see it. "I'm gonna leave you alone now. I'm sure you're sick and tired of sitting with me."
"No," Katherine shook her head and got herself a little more comfortable. Cassandra stood up from her chair and waddled to the doorway, but Katherine's shaky voice stopped her. "I'm sorry for killing you. You and Damon could have had everything you ever wanted back in 1864, but I was too selfish, so I'm sorry for what I did."
The pregnant hybrid swallowed her pride before turning back to Katherine who was beginning to fall asleep again. "I forgive you." It took guts for Katherine to apologize and it was seldom that she apologized to anyone, so Cassandra figured that she'd take it and offer forgiveness. As she descended the staircase, she knew what she had to do, but she wasn't too sure that Damon would agree with her.
Still, she had to try.
"The spell is complete. Once Katherine says the incantation we taught her, she will pass into your body." Mia told Nadia. The two stood in the woods, lingering around after Stefan and Elena had made their blood sacrifice.
"Good. Thank you, Mia." Nadia thanked the Traveler for her work. She wanted her mother to live even if it meant living inside of her body as a passenger. "I'd better get back. I left her alone with Damon and his wife."
"The pregnant hybrid?" She quirked an eyebrow and Nadia nodded. "I know all about her. It's a crime against nature that she is even alive and carrying a child."
Nadia turned to face her friend head on. "Nature has made it so that she will die because of the baby, so that everything can reset."
"Are you so sure about that?" Mia asked. "She has cheated death before; she will cheat it again. And if she finally does take her last breath, her child will live on."
"What are you talking about?" The vampire was becoming impatient with her friend's roundabout way of speaking.
"Cassandra's due date is getting closer and that baby will wreak havoc of the natural order." She explained. "Vampires were not meant to bare children, yet she will give birth to something this world has never seen before. Cassandra will meet her end just as the prophecy says, but her child..."
"And what are you suggesting?" Nadia questioned. Mia grinned evilly and crossed her arms over her chest. "No..."
"Yes. Kill the baby."
"I will not take part in killing a child." She hissed. Being a vampire, Nadia had of course killed over the years, but she would never (ever) stoop so low as to kill a child, threat to the balance of nature or not. She was a baby once that was ripped out of the arms of her mother. Her grandfather could have killed her, instead he gave her away. She would not let Cassandra's baby have a gruesome fate.
"Nadia, that baby will cause great destruction to our people and to this world. I have to kill it."
"It's a baby!"
"It's an abomination!" Mia roared loudly and walked around her friend. "I will not stand around while that baby gets closer and closer to being born."
The vampire suddenly flashed the Traveler into a tree, a hand at her throat. Mia struggled for breath, clawing at Nadia's hand, but the grip around her throat only got tighter. "You will not harm that baby or its mother. If you lay a hand on either one of them, I swear I will skin you!"
Mia's breath came out in ragged pants as she desperately tried to free herself from Nadia's bruising hold. "Y-You...would betray your own p-people? Traveler blood runs through your veins and you'd s-sacrifice your family ties for a baby?"
Nadia lifted Mia up by the neck and her feet dangled limply in the air. "Perhaps I didn't make myself clear. The baby is not to be harmed and neither is its mother. Do you understand me?"
With a huff, Mia nodded and Nadia let her fall to the forest floor in a gasping, panting heap. The vampire stepped over her and flashed out of the forest, but Mia was still thinking of going through with her plan. Once Nadia was gone, some other Traveler's came into the clearing, all with deep scowls and frowns across their faces. They all knew that Cassandra's baby would bring chaos and they knew that they had to work together to get rid of it.
The drinking game was far from over and Damon was busy cleaning up downstairs when he felt Cassandra's presence in the doorway. They were all alone, aside from the usual list of suspects that lingered around the boarding house. Elijah, Giuliana, and Klaus had left for New Orleans and everyone else had gone home as well. It was finally nice and quiet in the house; just how Damon liked it. He tuned to meet her, expecting to get an earful from him, but she looked a lot calmer than she did earlier.
"Hey, uhm, can I talk to you for a minute?" She asked meekly and Damon's gaze softened.
"Yeah, sure." He rounded the couch and placed his drink down on the table before meeting her.
"Damon, I'm sorry-"
"No, earlier was my fault. I'm sorry." He beat her to the punch line and she gave him a small smile.
"I've been thinking." She started. "I know that this will probably be an idea that you'll hate, but I have to tell you." Her eyes met his careful, calculating ones and she readied a breath before speaking again. "I think the two of us...need some time apart. Not as a permanent thing, it'll only be temporary. I just see that we're more high-strung than normal and I don't want us to be that way especially with the baby coming soon. I wouldn't be going far, so you wouldn't have to worry and I'd be staying with family." She took a moment to gauge Damon's expression and cursed to herself when she couldn't read it. She knew that he wouldn't be okay with it and immediately began to doubt her brilliant idea. "Damon, I'm sorry, but-"
"I agree."
Cassandra suddenly forgot the point of her next few sentences and she opened and closed her mouth like a fish out of water. "What did you say?"
Damon took a few steps closer to her and tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear, his sharp, icy gaze holding hers the entire time. "I think that the two of us need a little bit of a break. You know; a clean slate?"
Cassandra was still speechless that he was even agreeing with her on the issue, but a part of her was sighing with relief that he was on board. "You mean, you're not mad?"
He reached out to take her hand and he kissed the back of it. "No, but I think if we stay in the same house any longer that we might rip each other's heads off."
They both chuckled quietly at his remark because they both knew that it was true, especially lately with everything being turned upside down. She stared lovingly into his eyes and cupped his cheek. "I love you."
The raven haired vampire smiled softly at that before pulling her into a gentle kiss that made her weak at the knees. She deepened the kiss, pressing herself closer into him and he whimpered against her soft lips before pulling away. "I love you too."
She kissed him again, much softer this time. "I won't be gone for long, I promise. Just a couple of days until we cool off."
Damon's thumbs ran over her cheeks. "I'll call you?"
"Every day." She smiled back at him before kissing him again and going up to her room to pack a bag to take with her. She knew that she would not be gone from Mystic Falls for a long time, but she still wanted to be prepared and have her own belongings.
She was searching around for a top she wanted to take, but couldn't find it in her room. She figured that it might have gotten mixed up with the laundry and it ended up in Katherine's makeshift room. She quietly tip-toed inside and checked the drawers for the shirt that she was looking for, as to not wake a sleeping Katherine. Stefan had informed her that she had taken a strong set of drugs for the pain and to make her sleep. She wasn't dead yet, but the medication would make her organs shut down and she'd die sooner or later. Cassandra then found the shirt tucked all the way at the bottom of a drawer and she plucked it up from its hiding spot.
"Going somewhere?" Katherine wondered softly and Cassandra drew closer to the bed.
"Yeah, I'm going to visit with some family for a little while." She replied and stuffed the shirt in the bag.
"Oh..." She trailed off and looked down at her hands again.
"Are you okay?"
Katherine's tired eyes met hers. "Yeah, I'm fine." Cassandra nodded and walked around the bed to leave, but a frail voice made her halt and turn. "Wait, before you go, do you mind fluffing my pillow again? I just can't get comfortable."
Cassandra left her bag by the door and went back to Katherine who was settled quite uncomfortably on the bed. She leaned over and clutched the pillow just as Katherine used every last bit of her strength to propel herself forward and grab the sides of Cassandra's head.
"What the-"
"Jaryakat a zem. Daryeet acza." Katherine repeated the spell that Mia and Nadia had taught her earlier and Cassandra's eyes turned dark black. She gave a loud gasp as she felt Katherine's spirit slither her way into her body and as much as she tried to stop it, she couldn't control herself. Every nerve, every limb, and every fiber of her being was frozen in time; paralyzed and unable to do anything. It was a similar feeling when Wes had put the breathing apparatus over her mouth with the sleeping gas; as much as she fought the gas, she eventually succumbed to it.
Once Katherine was successfully inside Cassandra's body, she was now in total and complete control. The hybrid's onyx eyes fell closed for a few brief moments before fluttering open wildly and to her relief, they were not black anymore. She walked over to the mirror and examined her appearance, tousling her hair and looking her body up and down. She smirked, but frowned at the bulging belly she now had.
Oh, well. It was better than being dead, Katherine thought to herself. She had actually managed to take over Cassandra's body and live inside of it. She looked to her own lifeless body on the bed and knew that Stefan wouldn't be able to hear her human heart beating anymore. She spied the bag in the doorway and thanked the pregnant hybrid for making easy to make a quick getaway. She figured that she'd skip town and start all over since she was now in a new body. The engagement ring and wedding band rested proudly on her finger and Katherine tutted as she took them both off.
"A new life means breaking old ties."
60mph
70mph
85mph
Katherine watched the speedometer rise as she pushed down harder on the gas pedal. She had to get out of Mystic Falls before people started asking questions and she wanted to get across the country by dawn. Her hands gripped the steering wheel and she maneuvered the roads with ease. Katherine smirked to herself, knowing that she had cheated death once again.
"This is just too easy." She grinned as she sped down the road. While she was driving, she felt an unfamiliar sensation in her head, like someone was tickling her brain as if desperate to get her attention. She pushed it back to focus on driving, but the force pushed even harder the next time. Katherine's body tensed, Cassandra was trying to break through into her own body again. Both women were pushing and shoving against each other's energies as if to prove that Cassandra's body was not big enough for the both of them to fit and Cassandra strained herself just a bit harder. It was like she was drowning and swimming towards the surface, but her hands were just short of reach of breaking through the surface of the water.
The speeding car passed a road sign, but neither of them were concerned about that. Katherine forced herself to keep control, but that control was slipping as she got closer and closer to being kicked out of Cassandra's body. Because she was so weak, she was winded from the energy she was putting into the fight. With one final push, Cassandra was able exile Katherine from her body. In a panic, she let go of the wheel, but quickly grabbed it again when the car started to swerve into the oncoming lane where another car was honking loudly. Taking hold of the wheel, Cassandra was so confused as to where she was and how she had gotten there. She remembered being home and she and Damon were okay. Spotting her bag in the front seat beside her, she began to riffle through it, looking for her cell phone to call someone.
A sudden sharp pain clutched her head and that caused her to let go of the wheel again. Up ahead, she could see a figure standing in the middle of the road. She couldn't tell who it was, but whoever it was, wasn't moving. The car then lurched to the right without Cassandra even turning the wheel and the car sped up even though she was trying to press onto the break. The loud chanting of multiple Travelers reached her ears and it was too late to do anything before the car flipped over and barreled down the road. It tumbled and smashed against the gravel and finally stopped when it lodged itself into a tree.
Pieces of metal, glass and blood were strewn all over the road, scattered wherever they had fallen from the impact. Cassandra's body was lying still on the floor, her skin covered in blood and open cuts. She'd been propelled through the windshield where she was then hit with the front bumper of the car. Everything hurt. Her bones felt broken and smashed to bits. Her skin burned from being ripped open and from skidding across the road. Even the hairs on her arms ached from the accident. Her eyes cracked open and she gave a low moan of pain. The chanting of the Travelers was still so loud an all around her. She tried to move, to roll over onto her side, to speak, but all she could do was open and close her hands. The Travelers grew closer, there were more than the one that just made the car flip, and they all held their hands as they continued to chant.
Loud sirens blared from down the road and the Travelers all dispersed, disappearing into the woods just as an ambulance pulled up beside the wreckage. Three men jumped out of the truck and rushed to Cassandra's body. One knelt beside her and pressed his index and middle finger against her neck, timing her pulse. While he did that, he assessed her other injuries which were gruesome.
"There's barely a pulse." He told the other two and one of them went to the car to check if anyone else was inside. "Miss? Miss, can you hear me?" Yes, she could, but she couldn't tell him that. She could just lie there limply and listen to everything around her.
"No one else in the car, but I found this." The other man came back with her purse. The man who checked her pulse looked through the bag to find some piece of ID to identify her while he sent his friend to the truck for some supplies.
"Cassandra, I need you to open your eyes for me. Listen, you're gonna be okay." He told her and with much effort, she opened her eyes and stared up at a very familiar face. Her eyebrows furrowed and she squinted her eyes.
"S-Stefan?" She rasped. Now she knew that she was seeing things. He looked exactly like Stefan. The same green eyes, the same chiseled jaw line and the same hero hair.
The EMT shook his head. "No, my name is Tom. Orlando, Carter and I are going to take care of you. You're going to be okay. We're gonna get you some help."
"The...the baby." Her voice was so quiet that Tom had to lean in to hear her.
"Your baby is going to be fine." Tom told her just as the other men came back to help him with Cassandra. She felt her eyes growing heavy again and she just wanted to sleep.
"Damon," she whispered softly. She wanted him with her. She needed him to hold her and kiss her wounds till they healed.
"What did she say?" Orlando asked.
Tom jumped into action and looked through her wallet again. He stopped at a small photo of Cassandra with a man with dark hair and blue eyes. "Damon's your boyfriend?" She couldn't even reply to his question, struggling to keep her eyes open.
"We're losing her, Tom." Carter said worriedly and Tom checked her pulse again to see that it had dropped dramatically.
"Cassandra! Hey! I need you to stay awake! Think about Damon and how soon you're going to be seeing him again." He took the breathing apparatus from Orlando and placed it over Cassandra's face to give her oxygen.
"Pulse is still dropping." He said and shined a flashlight in her eyes. "Pupils aren't responding."
"Cassandra! Cassandra!" Tom called. "Hold on for me. Hold on for Damon." Her lifeless eyes stared up at him and the smallest tear slipped out of the corner of her eye as her last breath left her lips and her eyes remained open, staring up at the starry night sky. The EMTs continued to work on her to bring her back to life, but the impact of the accident had killed her. When all hope was lost, Tom sat back on the ground, his head in his hands.
"We did all that we could do, Tom." Carter placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder.
The green eyed man heaved a heavy sigh and rubbed his eyes. "But it wasn't enough."
"No," a small voice spoke up, but they couldn't hear it. Cassandra was standing over her dead body. Blood stained her skin, her clothes were torn and she was completely still. She had passed out of her body and she was now lingering on the Other Side. Just like the prophecy had foretold, she was never meant to live on this earth and it had now come true. "It wasn't."
Hello, my dears! Here is another chapter update for you! I figured that since I am graduating tomorrow, I'd give you all a little present with a nice, long chapter :) So, Cassandra is now on the Other Side. Dun, dun, dun! How will Damon react? Will something happen to the baby while being on the Other Side? Keep reading/reviewing to find out!
grapejuice101: Thanks so much for reviewing, girly! I hope I can add more Klaus/Giuliana and Marcel/Elijah moments too!
VampirePrincess11: Thank you for reviewing! So glad to hear that you're enjoying everything so far :)
Shining Ruby: I know, it was a short chapter :( But I honestly couldn't see it written any other way because of the upcoming plans I have. Don't worry - there is a method to my madness. Hehe ;) Thanks for reviewing!
binks13: Hello darling! Thank you so much for reviewing! Rebekah/Hayley/Giuliana all have nice relationships with each other and I will miss not having Rebekah in my story :( I do wish that I could write some more Klaus scenes, but he is never really around because he is so busy trying to take down Marcel and his empire. Meh, men!
Anna.B: Thank you for reviewing :) I always try my best to incorporate my characters into my stories and still make it believable. Elijah is more a father figure now to Cassandra, but he is definitely falling for Giuliana. I love Enzo too! He will definitely have some interactions with Cassandra, but they will not be the romantic kind, lol! I hope you keep reading and I hope to hear from you soon :)
Guest: Thanks for reviewing! Hmm, no hot sex in this chapter. Maybe later on in the story ;) Damon won't be seeing the picture of the baby yet, but it will definitely come up. And Damon is older than Cassandra by a year or two.
SomebodyWhoCares: Don't you just love Elijah? Unf! I love a man in a suit ;)
Guest: Thank you for reviewing! And I love all of those names! My readers are making it difficult for me to pick a name, LOL!
Guest: Thanks for reviewing! I'm glad to hear that you're enjoying my story so far :)
DritneyForever: Thank you, girl! I'm so happy that you're enjoying reading my chapters :)
Guest: When I first read your review, it made me laugh because I was like WHAT?! A SECOND BABY?! LOL! But, perhaps in the next few chapters she can break the news to them. Thank you for reviewing!
Julia: Thanks for your review! I hope that this chapter helped to explain the body switching dilemma and I hope you enjoyed reading it!
Guest: Cassandra's birthday was mentioned in chapter 7. It is September 13th, 1864. I'm not entirely sure if the show is exactly the same as time in real life, but she's about 149 or 150 years old.
annie: Thank you for reviewing and I am glad that you're enjoying my story :)
Guest: Thanks for reviewing! I love those names! Thank you for suggesting them to me :)