"Caroline wants a baby after a false alarm. Kol think he's going to be a bad father a slowly starts to panic the more they talk about it. he goes to Klaus for advice. Klaus and Caroline never had a romantic relationship)" -P.M

Quote is from Wallace Stevens' poem, Sunday Morning. And I borrowed the line about having kids from Girl Meets World.

So in this AU, Nik's miracle baby never happened. Just no.

"I'm late."

Those are the first words Caroline says to Kol as he enters their apartment. He's just gotten back from helping his brothers with another problem in the ever exciting kingdom of New Orleans and all he really wants to do is collapse in their bed with her in his arms for days but his girl looked positively terrified and it immediately put him on guard.

Caroline didn't deny her fear or run away from it like most people he knew. She never hid it but she learned to move past it to get whatever needed to be done. Showing tears wasn't a weakness to her and right now the tears in her eyes were making him antsy.

"Late? Really? I thought you were just in time."

He makes that joke a lot to her. Ever since he returned from the Other Side human and a warlock with all the power to cause real mischief and that crazy bloke Silas had jammed the Cure down her throat as a last Ha-Ha to the idiots back at Mystic Falls, they'd found each other. She'd shown up a year ago in the city aged a few years older, closer to an adult than a teenager now and they'd finally interacted with each other for real.

His siblings were off dealing with vampires, witches and werewolves and he'd been the only one to greet her and go, "Hello Forbes. Fancy a cuppa?"

She'd laughed and that was it.

Timing, he called it. This was their time. She was just in time for when he wanted to discover what being human was and she was the best person for the job. Someone who retained her humanity despite the temptations of vampirism, she was just in time.

"No, Kol,"

She went to the couch and took a seat and he followed her like the tides being pulled by the moon and sat beside her. She leaned instinctively into him and let his touch calm her, if a little.

"What I mean is," She tries again. "My period...is late."

It makes him pause. The thought of children had felt like a distant dream to him for so long. When he was twenty and human, he considered just marrying a girl in their village and having a sprog or two. He'd teach them magic and then he'd die and that'd be it. Then he became a vampire and kids were suddenly off the table.

But he wasn't a vampire anymore. He was back to being human and Caroline was back to being human and kids were very much on the table again. The thought of safeguarding against them just felt ludicrous. Well, now here they were.

He tried to speak. "Are you...sure?"

"I could book an appointment at the hospital," She replied. "The witches said magic can be tricky when it comes to these things."

Meaning, spells to determine pregnancy for magical children were often tricky because as of the moment, the baby in her womb was pure magic and could mess with the results. He glanced down at Caroline's flat belly and imagined it swelling, feeling the spark of magic against his hand when he touched it. His child, a witch of wizard, ready to join the world.

He moved closer to Caroline to kiss her shoulder, the skin bare from the camisole she wore. She was trembling, he just noticed and he enveloped her more securely in a hug as he promised her, "I'll take care of you, both of you."

Caroline's period arrives two days later.

"Caroline wants a baby," Kol said around his second glass.

Nik is with him at the bar, helping him drink away his feelings as he feels like his head is about to explode. His brother could be an outright evil git at times but every once in a while, he was decent. Those times were rare and one must make the most of them when they do come. Thus, they were there.

His brother put down his glass on the bar top and looked at him with a strange gleam in his eye. "She does?"

"We had a bit of a scare a few weeks ago," Kol explains. "And now she wants it for real."

"Why?"

The question was simple for Nik. He would understand Kol's reluctance better than anyone. The nightmare of their parents would always haunt them until the end. While Rebekah and Elijah yearned for a family and things that are so far away from their grasp it was a tragedy, Nik and Kol wondered. Wondered if they'd be like their parents, could they be better or worse?

"The same reason all people want children," Kol exhales a breathy laugh. "I never quite understood it."

"A reminder of their vanity," Nik says around a drink. "Or mortality."

"Death is the mother of beauty," He quotes.

"Hence, from her alone, shall come fulfilment to our dreams," Nik continues with a smile. "It's nice to know you didn't spent a thousand years just being a savage psychopath."

"Pot meets kettle,"

Nik laughs. "You want my advice, little brother?"

"I'm breathless to hear it,"

"Have kids."

Kol looks up at him in apprehension. "But what if I-"

"That's what your girl is for," His brother says. "Do you think she'll be a great mum?"

"Yes," He answers easily.

Because yes, Caroline would be an amazing mum. He can easily picture her with a little girl or boy and seeing nothing but sunshine.

"Well, then have kids," Nik smiles, wistfully. "And you sit on a chair and feel amazed."

"Do you ever regret not being able to have any of your own?" Kol asks, watching his brother's reaction.

He knew despite all Nik's insistence that power was everything to him, Nik longed just like Rebekah and Elijah. But not to be human as Nik hated to feel weak. He wanted a family and to protect that family he needed power. But as Nik could not have a family of his own, power would have to do. Nik had a strange logic.

"Sometimes," Nik stares down into his glass. "But then I had to take care of annoying younger siblings for a thousand years and one of them is finally growing up so it's like I had the full experience."

Kol laughs. "Thanks, Dad."

Nik smirks. "So, am I going to be the godfather?"

"Fuck no. We're choosing someone sane."