Chapter 32

Finn strolled into the community college with a look of distaste, he would have much preferred going to a more prestigious academic domain alas his mission made it necessary to compel a job into this tiny college. Within a few hours Finn Mikaelson was the newest adjunct professor teaching government and history.

Looking over his roster for the semester Finn allowed a smirk on his face when he noticed a familiar name in one of his freshman courses, one Elena Gilbert. Keeping an eye on the human doppelganger would be far easier than he had thought. Checking his watch, Finn noticed it was about the normal time for Elena to go to the coffee shop near her home with the Salvatore's.

Perhaps it was time for the little Gilbert to think she was seeing a ghost? Finn ensured that he was always in the corner of her eye , enough that she saw him but not long enough that she could be a hundred percent sure it was him. The vampire chuckled as the girl tensed when she saw him leave out of the corner of her eye.

Caroline had expressed that she wanted her childhood friend kept alive, able to live her life after whatever revenge the Mikaelson's deemed worthy. Finn found himself proud of the way the blonde realized that they would not let the topic rest yet managed to find her own way to settle the debt. It was an ingenious idea, one that Finn would never have thought of himself. He doubted any of his siblings would have.

Elena was not only running from the Mikaelson's in fear of retribution but now had her goal of being human but at a price. She was at risk of losing the Salvatore's two vampires who despite declaring love for her, would always be at risk of turning to dusk if they took the cure from her. While Elena even if attacked would be saved, her body simply returning to what her body would be had she never turned.

Could the doppelganger ask that of either? So far from his observations Elena had yet to bring the topic up to either Salvatore. Perhaps there was some saving grace to the girl after all, Finn mused to himself.

"Finn" His love's voice broke through the fog that was his thoughts. Finn looked up to see his beautiful lover dressed in blue jeans that seemed more like second skin than clothe, paired with an equally slim white t-shirt as her bright hair was pulled into a ponytail. His eyes lowered to a daylight ring on her left finger. If there was one thing he could get used to in this new world, it was women's fashion.

"Sage, my spitfire what can I do for you?" He asked as she walked up to him wrapping her arms around his waist.

"Have you tortured the doppelganger enough for the hour?"

"I suppose I have." The winning smile Sage gave him proved that he had much more pleasant things to do in their home.

XX

Niklaus tried he could honestly say that he tried. Knowing of his lovers' high moral sympathies the hybrid went above and beyond to accommodate her whims of honor. He stays his hand with the idea of killing her abuser, settling for a decent amount of torture. Niklaus smirked at the memories, his family truly did bond over that memory. He even agreed to leave her childhood friend alone despite her being the cause of Caroline's returned human state.

Admittedly he sent his brother to watch over the girl, something his little blond knew would happen. She was no stranger to his various plans of retribution. Niklaus knew his little baby vampire had a heart of gold and went above and beyond to remain good. He respected that about her, as he thought she would respect what he felt needed to happen.

He even brought her into the planning process, something that no bed warmer of his had ever done before. So, when he heard Marcel's little bodyguard mention his sister out in the quarter with a blonde human, Niklaus felt his blood boil.

He asked Caroline one thing, one simple request as he dealt with the turbulent situation out in the quarter to ensure he and his would be welcome without bloodshed. The two annoying blondes in his life went and pulled this?

The way Marcel's lips curled into what he assumed was meant to be a sly smile, Niklaus knew that the vampire had been at least able to partly read him. That was an unacceptable reality.

"Your sister is in the quarter. You never mentioned a new human pet" The way Marcel spoke of Caroline raised his heckles. Caroline was and never would be a pet.

Instead of defending her honor, Niklaus shrugged, "you know how my sister is. The blonde's a new project of hers."

Marcel let out a small fond chuckle. "sounds like your sister needs to learn to take better care of her toys. Her little pet collapsed in the middle of the quarter; they were on their way to the hospital now."

Niklaus felt his blood freeze at the mention of Caroline collapsing, what was Rebekah thinking? Refusing to show his concern, Niklaus let out a long drawled out sigh, "I'm afraid we will have to cut this meeting short, my friend. Rebekah would never let me hear the end of it if something were to happen to her little project. Knowing Bekah as I do, I'm sure she'll forget something vitally important."

Marcel nodded, "when your pet is taken care of. Feel free to come and find me. Perhaps we can hold a reunion dinner after all."

Klaus smiled coldly at his once protégée before sleeking out of the bar as his mind began to make accommodations to his current plans. He growled inwardly as he pulled the phone to his ear.

XX

Caroline groaned softly feeling the flutter of her eyes as she woke up to bright lights. Her hands flew to her eyes covering them from the bright light, she heard the soft cursing of a famialr British accent to her right.

"Bekah?"

Comforting hands touched her shoulder as Caroline braced her eyes for the onslaught of bright lights. Slowly her eyes readjusted to the room as she looked on at the concerned look Rebekah was giving her.

"How are you feeling?' Rebekah demanded softly

Caroline frowned as memories of her talking with one of the vendors right before she suddenly felt dizzy and collapsed into Rebekah's arms. "I'm fine now. I don't know why I fainted like that."

"Caroline Forbes?"

"Yes?" Caroline responded as Rebekah turned to face the stranger in the white doctor's coat .

The doctor smiled, "good your awake. I have your test results back, as I explained to your friend this is regular hospital procedure. It looks like we found the reason for your fainting spell."

"Well? What are you waiting for?" Rebekah demanded wrapping her arm around Caroline in a defensive position. Caroline rolled her eyes at seeing the quirk of the doctor's brow at the blonde's reaction. The human mouthed 'protective mother hen' towards the doctor earning a scowl at Rebekah who definitely did not miss the joke.

The man chuckled, "the cause of your fall was due to fatigue and lack of nutrition. This is rather common when first-time expectant mothers-"

The two blondes dropped their mouths, "excuse me?" Caroline squeaked "I'm not a pregnant."

"She can't be pregnant" Rebekah balked, only to blush as the doctor looked between the two. "I didn't mean that we- I mean we aren't oh bollocks."

Caroline had been a vampire and the blonde said the one-night stand between Hayley and Niklaus dealt with a loophole. Naturally Rebekah knew that werewolves could impregnate non-wolves after all the Lockwood line still existed until Tyler's turning into a hybrid. But Caroline had died, yes the cure reversed the death but could a woman whose been dead for two years really get her fertility back?

Caroline laughed, "I'm dating her brother" the human explained, "I firmly believed that I couldn't get pregnant… I'm not capable." Rebekah placed a comforting hand around her shoulder. Her thoughts drifting back to the way Caroline talked about how they found out about Hayley, of the witches believe of a magical loophole.

"Do you have any reason to believe you are infertile? Any accidents around the abdominal area?" The doctor asked looking over his notes. Caroline snorted as she patted her friends' hand gently.

Caroline bite her lip knowing she couldn't say she had died then been turned back to a human, " I'm sorry, there was an incident when I was in my junior year of high school. The doctors thought it would be almost impossible for me to get pregnant from the damage." God she hated having to lie through her teeth, no matter how much she was getting better at it.

The doctor looked between the two of them, "Miss. Forbes you've mentioned a boyfriend have you been sexually active?"

"Yes."

"Miss. Forbes have you used protection?"

Caroline gritted her teeth, "yes." Despite knowing that she did not after all vampires were surprisingly incapable of succumbing to human disease. Rebekah had to roll her eyes knowing that was a lie. Vampires did not succumb to sexual disease or pregnancy, why bother?

Rebekah narrowed her eyes as the doctor wrote down a few notes, "I'll make sure to add this to your file. We can run the tests again if you like."

"Run the damn tests again" Rebekah demanded.

Caroline was speechless for several minutes, the doctor quietly murmured that they would be given a few minutes while he got the discharge papers ready and double check the results. Rebekah took the moment of quiet to focus her vampire hearing towards Caroline's stomach. If that doctor was wrong, the blonde would gladly use him to sharpen her teeth for causing such a ruckus to her friend.

To her only friend.

Focusing on the where she knew a growing fetus would be, Rebekah's mouth opened in a slight gasp as she was able to hear a very slight, very quiet heartbeat.

"There's a heartbeat isn't there" Caroline murmured softly when she finally woke from the shock to see Rebekah's wide eyes and open mouth starring at her stomach.

"The foolish doctor is correct about one thing, Caroline you are pregnant" Rebekah whispered relevantly reaching to touch the stomach before pulling back with a sheepish look on her face.

"Bekah go on. I'd never deny you a chance at bonding with her" Caroline rolled her eyes as her fellow blonde's small smile blew into a full grown grin. Rebekah's face broke out into a childlike grin as she bent low to place a hand carefully on her belly.

"Rebekah."

The blonde froze as her always dressed in his finest suite of a brother with his arms crossed leaning against the door. Caroline pushed herself up against the pillows, "Elijah what are you doing here?"

Elijah stepped into the room walking up to the two blondes kissing Rebekah on the cheek as he bent low to carefully hug her. "I received an irate message from Klaus. I was able to talk him into not coming to the hospital."

The two women paled at the serious look in Elijah's face, "what were you thinking Rebekah?"

"Excuse me! I made the decision myself" Caroline huffed throwing a glare at him.

"Caroline, apologizes. I know your fully capable of making up your own mind but as a human Rebekah would easily be able to stop you from doing anything foolish."

"Nik does not control us" Rebekah growled, "we were perfectly safe."

"What happened?" Elijah asked the two, "a minion of Marcel's saw Caroline fall to the ground."

Before either of the women could answer a knock was heard from the door, Elijah automatically turned so that he was in front of the blonde human. "Yes?" He responded cordially.

The doctor smiled offering his hand to Elijah only for the man to look at it with disdain but cordially shook the man's hand. Rebekah snickered as Elijah subtly ran his hand against his back pocket.

"You must be family, I'm Caroline's doctor while she is here. I've just sent in the order to recheck the results. I've put a rush on it we should know in an hour."

Rebekah had to keep herself from giggling as Elijah asked, "What kinds of tests exactly?"

XX

Tyler let out another growl as he walked through the streets of New Orleans, careful to watch out for any of the day walkers. Spending the last few months in the city had left him with a pretty good understanding of the lay of the land. Werewolves were not welcome here but were left relatively off alone as the local wolves were cursed into what was the opposite of what the typical werewolf lore was.

This meant as long as he marked and stayed clear of the city, going in and out quickly he could be seen as passing nomad. He always ensured any trips he and Hayley made looked like it could be for a frequent traveler, much as a like a truck driver. As long as the scent was long gone by the time the vampires investigated, they received no trouble.

But now did he want to stay? Hayley had told him that Caroline was in town alongside her little band of Mikaelson's. Klaus was within his reach, yet he was no wear near any closer to finding a way to put down the original for good. Tyler gritted his teeth as he attempted to breathe through his anger.

It was Hayley that killed the hybrid pack, not Klaus.

Hayley.

She shared the entire sordid tale of how a professor from Whitmore had found her during one of her trips to find out more about her family. Told her stories of how he knew someone who could help her, help him find out more about her family. That by doing exactly as he said then the little werewolf would finally be reunited with her family.

Tyler wanted to scoff, knowing her family history how likely was it that she would find her family alive? It didn't matter he somehow knew exactly where to find him and sent Hayley after him to help him break the sire bond. Helped him to unsire everyone else. The signal of charms announced someone else in Rousseau's bar once again.

Looking up he saw red.

Klaus.

Right there in front of him, the dirty-blonde hybrid turned luxursily towards him offering him a sarcastic smile, "Why if it isn't my old friend, Tyler."

"You knew" He hissed.

"I know a lot of things. It helps having been alive for a thousand years mate. You might want to be a little more specific" The hybrid whispered casually glancing over to the human patrons who gave them no attention. Klaus strolled up to his table and sat across from him with a grin.

"About Hayley. How she killed the hybrids" Tyler hissed punching the table with his fist. A small fist sized dent was the result causing the original to tsk at him.

"Careful little hybrid. One must know their own strength."

"Answer me" Tyler demanded.

"Yes, I knew. Was it wrong? Yes. Everyone does terrible things for love you know."

"You knew about her family."

"I knew that she belonged to a pack here in New Orleans. I have long since heard a peep out of the crescent moon pack" Klaus shrugged, "but I knew of this location, so I gave her a nudge."

Tyler looked at him incredulously, "Why? After all you did to get a pack of your own."

"Family above all, Tyler. Why do you think your mother is alive and well?"

Tyler growled low, "don't you dare…"

"I'm not harming a hair on her head. Caroline spoke of how much she meant to you and that by doing her harm while it would give me pleasure it would only ensure you would definitely hunt me down" Klaus shrugged, "I don't really need a pest following my family around you see."

"I will find a way to kill you. You took everyone's choice away all for your needs" Tyler hissed quietly as Klaus waved the waitress away.

"Be that as it may. Do you really want to spend the rest of your life hunting me down?" Klaus asked him thoughtfully.

"You're a small town boy, Tyler. You want a family, children. While you may no longer get that biologically that doesn't mean you can't have a family. Explore. Leave my family alone and I can guarantee you and yours will be left alone."

"You want me to leave."

"New Orleans isn't safe for wolves at the moment. For some reason Caroline is still fond of you."

"I know. Hayley and I saw the local pack cursed to live as wolves except for a full moon" Tyler growled.

Niklaus looked intrigued, "A curse you say?"

"You didn't know?"

"I just returned to town. This talk has been delightful Tyler. But I suggest you leave town with all your furry body parts intact. Don't worry about Hayley's little pack…. I'll look into it."

XX

"I can confirm the test results, Miss. Forbes you are indeed pregnant."

Elijah stood across him his sister on Caroline's left fighting the urge to pinch his nose. He stayed silent as he watched Caroline thank the doctor, ensuring him that she had a primary care doctor to see before the man left with the discharge papers filled out. Elijah used the doctor's distraction with his patient to focus his enhanced hearing towards Caroline.

It was hardly audible, but there was a second heartbeat where a normal human woman would be hosting a developing child. Elijah could not believe it; a child being born into the Mikaelson family? Once the doctor was indeed out of hearing range Elijah turned to the two women in the room.

"This changes things Caroline. Drastically. I thought you said Hayley got pregnant through a loophole" Elijah frowned.

"I did. We did. It's not like there was anyone you could have gone to get actual information. I never assumed the loophole would work on me!" Caroline hissed a hand unconsciously laying itself on her stomach.

"I know" Elijah reassured, "this just means we will need reconsider some of our plans."

Caroline sighed, "do me a favor and let me tell him?"

Rebekah finally opened her mouth, "can we at least get it videotaped?"

"Rebekah" Elijah and Caroline scolded .

The blonde just pouted, "It'll be a lovely family memory!"

Elijah shot his sister a gaze that warned her of the consequences of such actions only for the woman to bemoan to Caroline about the unfairness of not having a sister to share it with. The brunet shook his head placing his cell to his ear as he pressed a speed dial.

"Hello Mr. Jenkins, I would like to make a large purchase with the Mikaelson accounts. Elijah" The vampire ignored the shocked look of Caroline and the calculating one of his sister's.

"Yes, I would like to purchase a hospital."

Rebekah snorkeled in glee as Caroline opened her mouth speechless raising her arms up helpless as he pressed a finger to his lips. Elijah smirked at the younger of the two as he said, "In New Orleans. My family and I need privacy and I would prefer if my sister remained in my care" He continued humming as the person on the other side spoke of his options.

"St. Anne's Hospital?" Caroline blanched that was the hospital they were in!

"Perfect. Double the offer price of whatever it's worth."

XX

Niklaus waited until the hybrid left the establishment knowing he would have to a few contacts keep an eye on him. The hybrid did not trust the Lockwood boy to play it smart, but first he had a mission to accomplish. A mission he could only accomplish knowing that his sister and Caroline were being looked after their most reliable sibling.

"Is your friend leaving already?" Camille's voice barely contained the slight curiosity the blonde had. Niklaus held in a chuckle as he turned to look at the bartender with a flirty grin on his face.

"Sorry love, but I did have a few questions for you that is if you have the time" Niklaus smirked as they glanced around the mostly empty bar.

She raised a brow at him clearly able to see that he was indeed up to something. Niklaus kept his naturally flirtatious energy flowing knowing that it would the easiest way, Camille didn't need to know that his attentions were firmly held by another blonde.

"Have you ever been to Colorado?"

"No, I can't say that I have" Camille laughed leaning against the bar. The two continued to do small chat. Niklaus watched the blonde, a playful grin on his face as the woman slowly warmed up to him.

He knew he was heading in the right direction when she leaned in closer, all her attention facing towards him occasionally nodding to the bartender on the other end of the bar for the start of their shift. Then it was the way her shoulders relaxed. She assumed he was there to flirt with her, maybe gather some information but nothing heinous. Which worked in the originals favor.

When their conversation turned back towards his Colorado question, he smirked "oh I just heard from a friend they were in need of a counselor. The problem is they incredibly picky. In fact, they asked if I could recommend someone. I named you."

"Me?" Camille asked baffled, "I haven't even."

"All the transfer credit will be handled, and all moving expensive even the rent for the little house you will rent out. It's all been arranged all you would need to do is say yes."

"Wait a second… I didn't say I would do it!" Camille cried angerly her eyes flashing with anger that normally would pique Niklaus's interest. He always did have a thing for fiery women. His eyes flashed as he allowed the power of his compulsion flow through his voice as her eyes starred into his.

"You'll accept the job, thank the Salvatore's for the opportunity to hone your craft. After every session you will call me on this phone" Niklaus pressed a pay by the month clunker phone into the bartender's hand. "Is that clear? Go enjoy the lovely Denver metropolis my dear."

Camille's eyes blinked softly as the compulsion set in before she finally shook herself awake. "You know what? I think I will accept it. I think…being in New Orleans…. I could use a change of pace."

Niklaus grinned, "I'll make the call, love."