A.N. - Thank you so so so much to everyone who reviewed last chapter! I love getting feedback :) I'm so excited for this twist. Without further a do, let's jump into it! Enjoy!
Song: Daughter - Shallows
With shaking hands, Belle pulled her phone from her bag and dialed Klaus' number, all the while trying not to have a full-blown panic attack. What would she say? More importantly, what would he say?
She tried to calm herself down by listening to the sound of each ring on the opposite line, but it only made her anxious. After six rings, it went to voicemail. "Why do you never answer your fucking phone?" she nearly screamed before hanging up before the message started to record.
She angrily stuffed her phone and the capped pregnancy test into her bag and marched out of the restroom, trying to regain her composure before she went back to the car. She didn't want Elijah to think anything was up, which was definitely an understatement. Everything was completely upside down.
*Flashback - 1075*
Belle was walking back the village after picking the berries and herbs her mother had sent her to collect. She wiped a bead of sweat from her forehead with the back of her free hand. It was springtime and the weather was rapidly warming up.
Suddenly, she was overcome with a nauseated feeling, which was unusual because she was rarely ill, especially this time of the year. She steadied herself against a tree, setting down the woven basket she was carrying in her right hand. She took a few deep breaths, hoping to quell the queasiness that made her stomach feel like it was filled with a flock of unruly starlings, trying to fly out through her mouth.
Unfortunately, this did her no good because moments later she keeled over and vomited profusely on the ground in front of her, covering the leaves and twigs below. She wrinkled her nose at the stench and stood up straight once the feeling passed. She wiped her mouth with the sleeve of her dress, not concerning herself with the extra bit of filth.
Leaning her back against the tree, she took a few seconds to clear her thoughts and make sure she wouldn't get sick again.
She remembered that she had to meet Baron after sundown, that is if she could manage to sneak away from Claudia and shirk her duties as an older sister for a little while so she could spend some alone time with the man she soon hoped to marry, not that he had hinted about any intentions of doing so. The sooner she married him, the sooner she'd be able to start a family of her own.
She had always been too "boyish" for the more feminine things; she much preferred watching her father train her younger brothers to fight in the hopes of becoming as talented warriors as he was. She often found herself fantasizing about becoming a warrior herself, though she knew it'd never happen.
But the one thing she craved more than learning to fight was something not out of the ordinary for a girl her age: a child. Growing up as the eldest sister meant having to take care of all of her younger siblings, which wasn't as much of a chore as she had once thought it to be. She loved watching them grow up into young men and ladies. Watching them learn to walk and talk. Consoling them when they were upset. Picking them up when they fell. Protecting them from harm. It made her feel important.
She smiled and absentmindedly placed a hand over her stomach, imagining what it'd be like to feel a child's kick beneath her fingertips.
Her eyebrows knit together. Something felt different about the contact. She shifted her hand around on her stomach. It felt bigger, bloated. She glanced down, pulling back the material of her dress to get a clearer view. Sure enough, her stomach was oddly distended.
She had a sudden epiphany: what if she was pregnant? She remembered when Claudia was pregnant with Colton, it was one of her earlier memories. She remembered her mother being horribly ill during the first few months of the pregnancy.
A smile crept onto her face as she moved her other hand to cradle her stomach as though her child were already born and in her arms.
She began working out the plan in her head. She would tell Baron about the child tonight, he would ask her father for her hand, and then she and Baron could marry and start their family. Away from Claudia where her toxic influence couldn't ruin her child like it had ruined her.
Everything was changing for the better. Soon, she would be free.
*Present*
Elijah was waiting for her outside, leaning against the driver's side door of his Mercedes. "Are you alright? How are you feeling?"
She waved him off, shaking her head. "I'm fine. Must've been something I ate. They didn't have any medicine, so I'll just wait it out i guess. I should be fine though," she rambled, wanting someone to be kind enough to shut her up before she came off as conspicuous. "Let's go, bro." She mentally kicked herself.
He chuckled and unlocked the car.
All Belle had to worry about was not spilling the beans before she got to talk to Klaus. Face-to-face.
When they got home, Belle found Klaus outside of this his study yacking away to Marcel about something; she didn't care to try to figure it out or ask. Whatever it was was definitely not as important as what she was preparing to tell him. She grabbed Klaus by the arm and turned to Marcel, who looked annoyed, and barked, "Go away." She dragged Klaus away into his study and closed the door behind them, tossing her purse onto a nearby chair.
The room was silent for a few moments, aside from the sound of her heart pattering like a machine gun. She rubbed her sweaty palms on her dress before looking up into Klaus' curious and irritated gaze.
"Was there any particular motivation for dragging me away like a dog?"
She rolled her eyes. "I thought you didn't like dog jokes."
His eyes narrowed.
"Okay. There's something I need to talk to you about." She sighed deeply, trying to think of what to say. With each passing moment her anxiety increased. In one ballsy moment she blurted it out. "I'm pregnant."
She cautiously examined his face as her processed her words. His brow creased at first. So far so good, maybe confusion. Her stomach dropped when his entire face contorted.
"Are," she bit her lip anxiously. "Are you angry?"
"Angry?" He scoffed. "Why does everyone always assume the worst from me? Of course the temperamental bastard with anger issues would jump to throwing a tantrum! Heaven forbid I act rationally, right?"
"Nik,"
"No." He threw his arms in the air. "I'll play the role I've been given."
"Please, don't. I'm sorry, just"
"Do you have any inclination as to what this means? Not only are we dealing with this bloody curse and your deranged mother, but now you're bringing another child into it?"
She cut him off, her eyes narrowed. "Are you seriously blaming me? It takes two people to make a baby, genius! You should know!"
"And there it is. Yet again another infantile, jealous,"
"Infantile? It's a fact!"
He stepped forward, closing the space between them and replacing it with tension. "What about Hope? Now we'll have two children to protect! Have you even thought of that?"
She flinched. "Of course I have! But have you thought about me?" Her voice was lower, but still sharp. "What about me? Don't I matter? The world doesn't revolve around you."
"It's not myself I'm concerned about right now!" His patience was long gone now, as was hers.
She scoffed. "There's a first. Niklaus Mikaelson, the biggest narcissist on the planet is thinking of others, which unfortunately doesn't include the woman he loves, who is also now the mother of his unborn child. Wow," she said with mocking enthusiasm. "You know what, forget it. We'll discuss this when you're ready to act like an adult." She turned and opened the door, lingering in the doorway. "I was stupid for even thinking you'd be rational about this." She ran downstairs, knowing that he'd follow her, but not caring.
"Where are you going?" Sure enough, he was right at her heels.
She turned around and gave him the most stern expression she could manage. "I need to clear my head. And so help me God, if you follow me, or try to stop me," she couldn't find the right words to say. Or maybe she was just too afraid to say them.
Ignoring the wounded look in his eyes, she went down to the garage, grabbed the keys to her favorite car, and drove away, destination unknown.
She had left an hour ago. Since then Klaus had paced the floors of nearly every room in the house, finally returning to his study.
He sat down in a regal plush chair, shifting when he realized he was what he realized was Belle's purse. He was about to toss it aside carelessly, but something caught his eye: a white plastic stick with a purple cap. He opened the bag for clearer view and discovered that it was, as he had guessed, a pregnancy test. Granted he had never had any personal experience with one.
He turned it over in his hand and saw a pink plus sign in the center of a small white oval on the front. He knew now that she wasn't lying. Though he wasn't sure he had ever doubted her. He set it aside on a coffee table and rested his elbows on his knees, leaning forward and putting his head in his hands.
The thought of having another child filled him with a feeling he hated, yet that was all too familiar: fear. Fear did awful things to him. And it made him do awful things.