Summary: Caroline finds the little gift Klaus left in her Uterus after graduation.
Disclaimer: I do not own the vampire diaries or any of its related fandoms. Thank you everyone for your support. Please enjoy this chapter. It's what we've all been waiting for.
Chapter 10: Putting Myself First
Place: Salvatore Boarding House
Date: July 14, 2011
After Elena shoved the Cure down her throat, Katherine had spent the past month in misery. She couldn't compel herself into people's homes and the old dilapidated foreclosed houses that used to be a perfect place to lay low were dirty, cold, and uncomfortable. She was running and hiding from everyone she had pissed off in her past five centuries of being a vampire. She used to be resourceful as a human but Katherine Pierce had forgotten how to be human a long time ago.
All she had left were the few people who would rather see her suffer than immediately rip her head off. Even if she has to go to the inferior copy she tormented, the former lover she manipulated, and a certain blonde she smothered in her hospital bed. So Katherine made herself at home, waiting for them in the Salvatore Boarding House.
She didn't have to wait long for the front door to open and the majority of the Scooby Gang to walk in. Damon was holding Elena while the busboy comforted a crying Caroline.
The moment Damon laid eyes on the older Doppelganger, he flashed her to the wall, holding her by the neck. "What are you doing here, Kitty Kat?"
Katherine let out a painful groan. "Careful with the goods, Damon. I'm not as durable as I used to be thanks to your precious little Elena." She glared at her descendant.
Caroline stepped forward. "You attacked her. You tried to kill her."
"Well, I didn't," Katherine reasoned.
Damon dropped Katherine as Elena stood just a few inches from her. She grasped the ancestor's hand and squeezed painfully. Elena smiled with satisfaction when a painful groan came from the woman who had tormented her for so long and killed her brother. She didn't kill Katherine after turning her human because having to struggle as a human, running from her enemies, was sweet revenge for the younger doppelganger. "That's because I beat you. I beat the great Katherine Pierce. I hope you're enjoying your human life, Katherine."
Caroline pushed Elena away from Katherine. "Well, you're here. What do you want, Katherine?"
"Kitty Kat's human now. Everyone she's ever backstabbed and pissed off will be coming for revenge." Damon smirked as Katherine glowered at him. "She's here because she thinks we're the only ones who won't try to rip her head off."
"Wanna bet?" Elena stepped forward but Caroline stepped between them and pushed her away from the older double.
"What do you want Katherine?" Caroline asked again. "Hurry up before I let Elena take a bite out of you."
"Glad you asked, Care-bear. Look, I just need to speak to the Bennett witch about the cure. And I'll be out of your little hair."
A tense silence filled the room as they all turned depressed with their heads lowered to the ground.
"What's wrong with all of you?" Katherine looked between them.
Both Elena and Caroline had tears in their eyes. "Bonnie's dead, Katherine," Caroline said as she wiped her eyes.
Matt stepped forward to explain. "Her father hadn't seen her since graduation and called us. We went searching for her and found her body in the caves. It looks like she overdid it with her magic, her body couldn't handle it, and her heart gave out."
Damon stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Elena. "Why do you need Bon-Bon, anyways? Why don't you just find someone to give you vampire blood and snap your dainty little neck?"
"Don't you think I've tried that? The moment I take a sip of vampire blood, it comes back up. That's why I need the Bennet witch." Katherine paced around the living room, thinking of another plan now that her first one was dead.
"I can't deal with her right now." Elena vamped up the stairs and slammed the door to Damon's room.
"It's time for you to leave now Katherine."
The older doppelganger's eyes widened as she looked at Caroline. "Care-bear, I need you to do a small favor. I need you to call Vera."
Caroline's brow furrowed at the sudden and strange ask from Katherine. "Why her?" Vera never spoke about Katherine. As far as she knew, they had never met.
"I've known about Vera Phallon since the 20s. I was tracking Klaus in Chicago and I saw the two of them being all chummy. I kept an eye on her. Vera owns a pharmaceutical company that makes cheap drugs for the rest of the world, but she actually studies the effects of magic on the blood. She's also a powerful witch. If there's one person who can help me, it's her."
"And how do you know she'll even want to help?"
"She's the one witch I've never crossed." Katherine smiled to herself for keeping tabs on Vera while keeping her distance and not making an enemy of the witch. "And with her curiosity about everything magic and her knack for research, I'm sure she'll want to know the effects the cure has on my blood."
Caroline rolled her eyes. She examined the woman who killed her and threatened her mother. Her usually perfect curls were greasy and tangled. Her face was gaunt from lack of sleep and her nails were chipped and caked with dirt. She put up a facade of confidence but Caroline saw through it. She could see the desperation in her eyes. She looked like a 19-year-old girl at her wit's end rather than the cruel woman who smothered her in her hospital room.
Caroline walked toward Katherine and placed a hand on her shoulder. With a quick pull, she dislocated the brunette's shoulder, causing her to cry out and fall to the ground in pain. Caroline pulled her up by her elbow and held Catherine close, her vampire face coming to the surface. "That's for threatening my mom. I didn't care that you turned me into a vampire, but my mom is off limits. If you ever threaten my family again, I know Klaus will want to pay you back for running five hundred years ago." The fear was clear on the older doppelganger's face. "Are we clear?"
Katherine nodded frantically.
"Say it!"
"We're clear!"
Damon and Matt stood back in shock at the cruel actions of the blonde. Damon never believed Caroline could survive as a vampire, so he never thought she would give into the more cruel aspects of being a vampire. Matt, on the other hand, fell speechless. How could Caroline change so much after becoming a vampire? He never saw her physically harming a person a human, so to see her cruelly hurting someone, even if that person was Katherine, to him, it was like she was turning out to be like all the other vampires. Cruel without reason. He took a slight step back, closer to the door.
Caroline pushed Katherine's shoulder back into its socket, eliciting another muffled cry from Katherine. "Alright then," she added cheerfully. She pulled out her phone and dialed Vera.
"Have you been missing me, my darling?" Vera greeted her. "So how was graduation? I heard Nik was there. I'm certain he gave you a lovely gift. What was it? Shoes? A diamond ring?"
Caroline cleared her throat. She quickly suppressed the multiple flashes "No, he just gave me a minifridge for college and he healed Damon's werewolf venom."
"Oh yeah. I heard Kai wouldn't lift a finger to help him. I'm sure if Nik knew what he's done, he would've let him die. He deserved to die for the many, many things he's done." Damon swallowed when he heard the clear insinuation in Vera's voice. He knew what he'd done and he knew all of Caroline's KVEM friends knew as well. He looked at her. He would never admit it to himself but the only reason he's probably still alive is because Caroline was merciful. Caroline knew Elena cared for Damon and wouldn't hurt her friend by asking for Damon's death. And Damon knew it too, although his ego would never allow him to admit it. "Anyways, I didn't come to see you but I was in Mystic Falls that day."
"You were? Why?"
"Well, a certain witch was going to lower the Veil so I wanted to rectify something by bringing a few thousand vampires back from the Other Side. Their deaths were an act of cruelty that I had to rectify."
"You did?"
Damon stepped forward and pulled the phone from Caroline. "Please tell me you didn't allow a certain Wild Original to remain on this side of the Veil?"
Vera scoffed. "Excuse me? Hello? Is anyone there? All I hear is some annoying rat squeaking into the receiver. Caroline?"
Caroline took her phone from Damon. "I'm here."
"Now, tell me what you need, Caroline."
"Why do you say that?"
"You never call me just to talk. You call Kai or Maggie or Zo but not me."
"Fine, Katherine's human. She's the one who got the cure."
"Although unwillingly," Katherine mumbled.
Vera burst out laughing so loudly that everyone, including those without supernatural hearing, could hear her through the receiver. "You mean the baby vampire, Elena Gilbert, shoved the cure down her gullet. Katerina Petrova. The great, 500-year-old Katherine Pierce was bested by her lesser double." She laughed again.
Matt and Damon muffled their laughs. Caroline's lips trembled and curved into a smile as Katherine huffed. "It's not funny."
"Yes."
"Alright, I'll send Kai your way."
"Really? That's it? Just like that?"
"Yeah. She gave me a great laugh so I'll help her for free. Not to mention I can't wait to use her as my guinea pig. I want to research the cure." Vera said, "Don't' be a stranger, Caroline. You can call me when you need some girl talk."
"Alright, I will. Thanks for everything, Vera."
Not a minute after the call ended, a portal formed in the middle of the Salvatore living room. Kai stepped out holding a medicine chest. He made his way to Caroline and kissed her forehead. He observed her face and saw her tear tracks and red eyes. "What happened?" His eyes immediately went to the elder Salvatore, ready to give him the beating of his life. Or maybe kill him for good. He's sure Caroline would forgive him eventually.
"Bonnie's dead."
Kai retracted his claws and looked from Damon to Caroline. "Oh, I see. I'm sorry you lost your friend, Caroline." He had no idea what more he could say to comfort her. "Do you need me to do anything?"
Caroline shook her head. "No, but thank you."
He turned to the reason he came in the first place. "Now, Katerina, sit down."
Katherine huffed at the order but sat down on the couch. Her feet were killing her anyway. "Being human must be painful for someone like you. Trust me when I say it's not worth all the fanfare."
Katherine grumbled in agreement. "You don't have to tell me. Humans are such miserable creatures. Everything hurts, I'm sick all the time." Katherine looked at Matt. "Your bodies are ridiculous. How do you live like this?"
Kai chuckled and sat down on the coffee table. He opened the case to reveal a plethora of medical supplies from glass vials to syringes, and bandages.
"Hey, no sitting on the table."
"Your voice is really grating Damon. If you don't shut your mouth, I'll shut it for you."
Damon didn't like being threatened, especially not by a witch. The siphon had incapacitated him several times and Bonnie's witchy migraines were nothing compared to Kai's. After being forced to throw up all his blood at the Founder's ball, he was left almost at the point of desiccation. Then, he got thrown around and made to look like a fool by Kai repeatedly. His hatred for Kai was on the level of the hatred he had for the Originals. He never had a chance to get payback. Damon couldn't resist attacking while Kai's back was turned.
Damon was thrown back into the wall before he could even touch the Gemini Witch. Kai stood up and walked to Damon. "You really don't understand anything, do you, Damon? I'm a special type of witch. I can take magic from anything. You, a vampire, are dead. Magic is what's keeping you alive." Kai placed a finger on Damon's cheek. "I'm sure I don't have to tell you what'll happen if I take all the magic from your blood."
Kai made the siphoning as painful as possible as he took the magic from Damon's body. The raven-haired vampire was looking paler and paler as Kai brought him to the point of desiccation.
"Kai, you've made your point," Caroline said.
"I suppose I have." Kai shrugged. He flicked his wrist and Damon fell with a broken neck. He turned to Caroline. "You're too kind for your own good."
After sterilizing Katherine's skin, Kai took several color-coded vials of Katherine's blood. "Do you have to take that much?"
"You have over five liters of blood in your body and I've taken a few milliliters. That's one one-thousandth, Katerina."
"It's Katherine."
Kai smirked. "Beggars can't be choosers, Katerina."
Katherine grumbled. "Can't you just take the magic from the cure out of me?"
Kai stared at her as though she was stupid. "I guess you don't want to be a vampire again." Kai took Katherine's wrist and began to siphon the magic from her. He already had enough blood to test anyway.
The doppelganger grunted. "No, wait, please, I do."
Kai released her hand. "If I remove the cure from you, best-case scenario, you'll be able to drink blood again and turn into a vampire. Middle-case scenario - I'm coining that - you won't be able to drink blood and you'll stay human and die like any other humans from disease or an accident. It'll most likely be of a sinus infection, maybe the common cold, since your immune system is 500-years behind modern medicine.' He continued trolling the doppelganger. "You might stay human and be able to live out a long human life, but probably not since you've pissed off every supernatural you've come across. I should call Elijah." He pulled out his phone. "He's probably the only person who'll have mercy on you."
"Worst-case scenario?" Katherine stopped him.
"Your five hundred years will catch up to you in a matter of seconds. You'll age rapidly and die a painful death, turning to dust before our eyes." Kai shrugged. He really couldn't care less. "So choose, Katerina."
Elena suddenly appeared behind Katherine. "I'll choose 3." She bit into Katherine's neck and quickly drained the blood from her body.
"Elena, stop!" Caroline called out.
Elena dropped Katherine's drained body and licked the blood off her lips. "That was for my brother, you bitch." She collapsed on the ground, unconscious.
"Elena!" Matt quickly rushed to his ex.
"What happened?" Caroline turned to Kai.
Kai smiled. He couldn't feel the connection to Elena anymore, which could only mean that Elena was no longer a vampire. Kai picked Katherine's dead body off the floor, throwing her unceremoniously over his shoulder before he picked up the case. "She drained the cure from Katerina." A portal formed behind him. "She's human again. Just like she always wanted."
Caroline hasn't been feeling well for weeks now. At first, she was nauseous and unable to stomach any food or blood but a few days later her bloodlust went through the roof. She was drinking so much blood that she went through her weekly stash in just a few days she had to get more from Kai's apartment.
With Elena human again, Caroline had been spending a lot of time at the Salvatore Boarding House, helping the doppelganger settle back into life as a human. Damon's been hounding her about contacting Kai and Vera, who didn't care for Elena and weren't willing to lift a finger to help her. At the end of the day, she fell back into her bed, both mentally and physically exhausted.
Caroline was forced awake by painful cramping in her stomach. She drank a few blood bags to try to alleviate the pain but the blood just seemed to settle in her stomach, making her feel bloated. The blonde rushed to the bathroom and vomited everything that was in her stomach into the toilet: a mix of human food from the night before and blood.
As she undressed to shower the scent of blood and vomit off her, she found blood in her panties.
That's not right. It was just a few spots but it was definitely blood. Her own blood. Caroline rushed to the mirror and brought forth her vampire-face. She breathed a sigh. She still had black veins, red eyes, and fangs. She was still a vampire. So why was she feeling sick and bleeding out of her vagina like a human?
Caroline paused. She needed to calm down and think everything through. After taking a long shower and refreshing herself, she wrote down a list of everything she had been feeling for the past weeks, starting with the most recent symptoms, going back as far as she could remember. They all started… Caroline picked up her calendar and traced the weeks back. The symptoms started a week after graduation. A week after she slept with Klaus.
"No, that's impossible. It can't be… I can't be-" Klaus was able to impregnate Hayley but she believed that to be because Hayley was a wolf. Wasn't it? Hayley was living and fertile. Caroline wasn't. There was no way she could ovulate and carry a child as a vampire, could she?
Caroline spent several long minutes looking in the distance in shock. Then came denial. As acceptance washed over her, she dressed quickly and left the house. She drove out of Mystic Falls to Richmond (away from Enzo and Maggie's neighborhood so she wouldn't run into the two) to buy a pregnancy test. She bought every brand she could find on the shelf.
It was the longest few minutes of her life as she paced around the restroom, her phone in her hand as she waited for the alarm to announce the results of the first test. She had already accepted the possibility that she could be pregnant but the reality was different. Even as she looked at the tests, all with positive results, her mind was still processing.
She was pregnant… with Klaus' child. She was still only 18. She was going to be a mother. She was going to have a child. The thoughts echoed on repeat in her head. She looked down and touched her navel where her child would be growing. She focused her hearing. As everything around her fell away, she heard the soft fluttering of the heartbeat peppering fast like a machine gun. A heartbeat different from her slow vampiric one.
Her child. She was going to have a child. Klaus' child. Caroline had always wanted children but that was going to be far in the future, after she graduated college and established herself in her career. But that plan went out the window after she became a vampire. If she still wanted children sometime in the future she knew she could adopt.
The blonde placed her hands over her mouth to muffle her joyful giggles as she danced and touched her stomach, still listening to the heartbeat of her child. She never expected to be able to carry her own child, to hear their heart beating in her stomach, to see and feel them grow. And the child was with a man she had chosen to spend her forever with.
But just as quickly the excitement went away. She was having Klaus' child. Klaus, who was already having a child with another woman. Klaus, who was fighting a war with vampires and witches, who were forcing his hand by threatening Hayley's and the child's life. Her heart skipped a beat at the sudden realization of the danger she and her child would be in just by their association with Klaus. Just how many enemies did her child inherit from their father when they were less than a month old?
Her eyes flew around frantically, as though someone would sneak up on her in the bathroom. Caroline's hand muffled a horrified cry this time. She and her child were in danger. If anyone were to find out - best-case scenario… there was no best-case scenario because the worst-case is that someone would seek to kill her and her child.
Caroline threw the tests in a plastic bag and crushed them in her hands. She left the store and threw the bag in the public garbage bin.
As Caroline sat in her car, she immediately went into planning mode, pulling out her notebook and her collared pens. She was pregnant and would soon start showing. She had to leave Mystic Falls due to her impossible pregnancy. SHe could already hear the heartbeat so vampires paying enough attention would too. And no one could know where she was going. She needed to go to a place where no one knew her, where she could disappear, and without any nosy neighbors. A big city. She could use the excuse that she was leaving Mystic Falls to attend college.
But she couldn't just disappear without a trace without telling anyone. Her friends and her mom would hunt her down. She couldn't have people searching for her.
And she definitely had to tell her mom. Her mom was the only person in Mystic Falls Caroline trusted completely. The only person who would understand her attraction to Klaus, the only person who would understand why she had to do what she planned on doing, without judging her. Her mom would surely understand her wish to protect her child, no matter who the child's father was. Liz was the only person who would love her unconditionally no matter who the child's father was.
She couldn't tell Matt. No matter how much she loved him, Matt was human and he would never understand. Not her attraction to Klaus or the reason she would keep his child. And Matt would just tell Tyler and Elena.
She definitely couldn't tell Tyler. He was quick to anger and blinded by rage and revenge. She couldn't predict how he would react completely but she knew he wouldn't react well.
Elena would judge her. She would never be able to understand and Caroline didn't expect the doppelganger to. Klaus was her monster. He traumatized her and took her family from her. Elena would never be able to forgive that and Caroline could understand that. There's also the fact that Elena would immediately go cry about it to Damon, who hates Klaus. He'd want to use her child as leverage over Klaus just like he used her and Klaus' feelings for her for his own agenda. Not to mention, Damon liked to run his mouth. If Damon knew about the baby, the whole of the supernatural world would find out and she and her baby would be hunted down.
No. Caroline had no trust in Damon Salvatore. Not after everything he did to her. She could never, would never allow him near her child. She had tried her best and suppressed her trauma for Elena's sake because Elena was her friend. She had known Elena all her life and the brunette was important to her and Caroline had felt obligated to help her friend. She didn't want to complain about Damon and judge Elena. That would make her a horrible friend, so she endured.
But now… now Elena was no longer the most important person in her life. That title belonged to the child growing in her belly. Caroline was going to be a mother. Her priority was her child, not Elena or her feelings.
Caroline was finally going to put herself first. She was going to put her own safety and the safety of her child first.
Elizabeth Forbes sat in the office of her primary care physician as she waited for the doctor to return with the results of her blood test.
Since Vera warned her of her impending fate, she made several positive changes in her life. She began to work fewer hours and started training one of her deputies to take over her responsibilities. She was also taking her health more seriously, going to the doctor more often and getting a blood test. Since Mystic Falls didn't have the facilities, the doctor sent her tests to a lab in Richmond. The doctor called her in to announce the results.
The door opened. "Sorry for the wait."
Liz simply shook her head. "It's no problem, Doctor Fell." Meridith tried to keep her emotions off her face, but Liz, having been an officer for so long, knew how to read people. Meridith's posture was stiff and she could barely look directly at Liz, focusing instead on the chart in her hand. Liz let out a sigh, "Doctor Fell, it's alright. Please tell me."
Meridith studied the older woman she had known since she was a child. She looked resigned and accepting of the result as though she already knew what was coming. "You look like you already know what I'm going to say."
"A family friend came to see me and warned me of the possibility. It's why I've been paying more attention to my health. I've also cut down on my workload to decrease my stress levels. So, tell me."
"It's cancer. Adult Leukemia. The good news is we caught it early and it's treatable. Unfortunately, Mystic Falls Hospital doesn't have the facilities to treat you. I've found a few hospitals in the state I can recommend…"
"It's alright. My friend is a doctor. She told me to contact her if I ever needed anything. I'll speak to her." Liz picked up her bag and stood up. "Thank you, Doctor Fell."
"If you ever need anything, please don't hesitate to ask. And I am so sorry…"
"Don't be. I don't plan on dying anytime soon." Liz stepped out of the hospital and inhaled deeply. The wind rushed through her short bob and she felt like all her worries vanished with it. She wasn't worried. She had no plans to leave her daughter any time soon.
She had neglected her daughter, focusing mostly on her career and during the divorce, she couldn't stand to be in the house so she worked even harder, leaving Caroline to take care of herself when her daughter had reached a point in her development when she needed her mother.
She had been selfish, expecting Caroline to understand when she never bothered to explain anything to her.
She thought it had been too late for her to change her relationship with Caroline but the past year proved otherwise. Finding out that Caroline had been turned into a vampire had been difficult to accept. Liz was ashamed and embarrassed that she was so distant from her daughter that she hadn't noticed she had died and become one of the creatures she hunted. After being thoroughly reprimanded by Kai, she gave Caroline a chance and she saw that there wasn't some monster from hell wearing her daughter's skin.
Liz no longer needed to keep the supernatural a secret from Caroline, which allowed her to be honest with her daughter about her work. Caroline even helped her several times in cases involving the supernatural.
Liz had just gotten her daughter back. She didn't plan to leave her daughter anytime soon by dying.
As she made her way back to her car, she didn't notice how the wind wrapped around her to keep her cool and comfortable in the searing July heat. She didn't notice how her feet glided over the ground, turning her steps silent.
Liz made her way to the Sheriff's office. She announced her diagnosis to her deputies, who were all shocked and offered her well-wishes in her recovery. Liz immediately went on medical leave, leaving the department in the hands of one of her more promising deputies.
When she returned to her car, Liz took out her phone to call Caroline, but she found a voicemail from her daughter. "Mom, I need you to come home. Please, mom, this is an emergency. I can't talk about this on the phone." Liz grew worried at her daughter's frantic and desperate tone. "I really need to talk to you. Or else you won't find me in the house after your shift." Liz turned the key in the ignition and drove in the direction of her home.
Caroline packed everything sentimental she had in her room in storage boxes: the dresses she got from Klaus, her gifts from her father and mother, and small sentimental objects she collected since she was a child. She packed some items she'd need over the short term and a few other essentials like clothes in her suitcases. She couldn't take everything since she was in a hurry and she could buy more clothes once she reached her destination anyway.
After she finished packing, Caroline looked over her college acceptance letters. She didn't plan on staying anywhere near Mystic Falls so Whitmore and the University of Richmond and Georgetown University were all out. She had colleges in the south but those were too close to New Orleans for her liking so those were out too. Dartmouth College was the most prestigious school she got accepted into but now, prestige wasn't her priority and the college town was too small. She'd narrowed her list of colleges down from 12 to 4, Barnard and NYU in New York City and Northeastern and Tufts in Boston.
If the only goal was to disappear, then among the 8 million people of the city, she could simply vanish. But there was a strong supernatural community in New York. She knew for a fact that Damon took humanity-less Elena to New York so he could be very well known in the city. With the Originals gone and the threat of Silas' past, there's no danger to the human Elena. Elena is the type of person to burn her house down because of painful memories so she would likely what to move away from Mystic Falls now that she has nothing left anchoring her to the town. And the Salvatores would move with her. Since Damon is familiar with New York, it's likely that they'll move there.
Which left Boston. Caroline was familiar with Boston. Kai's main offices were located in the heart of the city. She'd visited for six weeks the previous summer as an intern. Both vampires and witches worked for Kai in his offices and he was highly respected in the supernatural communities in the city. Caroline was much more familiar with Boston than New York and she had passed through Northeastern University while in the city. All the races in the city try to live in peace, everyone mindsed their own business and don't bother each other.
It was perfect.
Caroline trusted Kai more than anyone else. He was her sire, her procreator, but most of all, he was her big brother. He taught her everything she knew, gave her the tools to survive as a vampire, and has always been there for her not only to physically protect her from harm but he's also been there when she needed the support and comfort of her.
He'd be the best uncle to her child.
Caroline had decided. She sent a text to Kai, telling him to bring Vera along. She needed to tell them about the pregnancy. The two were both doctors, both MD Ph.D. who specialized in the supernatural. Caroline couldn't go to a regular doctor, so they were the best people able to help her in an impossible miracle pregnancy. They were also the only people who could help her disappear from Mystic Falls. Caroline was in a hurry. The longer she stayed in town, the more chances she had of running into someone who could tell she was pregnant, especially the Salvatore Brothers. She wanted to be out of town before dawn the next morning.
There was just one last thing she needed to do.
Her finger hovered the green button. She had been staring at his contact for a while now. She was going to have to tell him about the baby but she couldn't just do it over the phone. She was going to have to meet with him face to face. Somehow.
The sound of the doorbell brought her out of her conflict. She left the phone on the coffee table and went to answer the door to find Elena standing at the threshold.
"Caroline, thank God." Elena pushed her way into the house. "I've been trying to call you all morning. Why haven't you been answering your phone?" Caroline blocked all calls from Elena and the Salvatores since they had been blowing up her phone before dawn. She couldn't deal with the Delena drama when her own life was turning into a soap opera with its own magical miracle baby plot.
"Yeah, sorry about that. I just wasn't feeling like talking to anyone this morning."
Elena's voice dropped low as she picked up Caroline's phone. "But you were up for speaking to Klaus?"
Caroline hated that judgemental tone of Elena's that always made her feel so small like she was a child getting scolded after misbehaving. She hated how it made her feel like she needed to justify herself. She grabbed her phone out of Elena's hand.
"I needed you and you were -what?- talking like old friends with Jenna's and Carol's murderer. He's a monster, Caroline. He doesn't care about you. He doesn't care about anyone but himself."
"Elena!" Caroline yelled, cutting her off. "For the love of God, Elena, please shut up before I snap your neck." Caroline's face changed and her fangs pushed through for a second in her anger. She inhaled deeply, allowing her face to return to normal.
She passed her hand through her loose curls before she spoke. "Look, Elena, you were once my best friend and I still love you, but I just can't do this anymore. I can't continue putting my needs and my emotional well-being aside to save you or spare your feelings. For the past two years, all our lives have revolved around you. Sure it wasn't your fault your parents died or that you were born the doppelganger, but it was your choice to continue your relationship with Stefan and your association with Damon knowing full well they were vampires. And you pulled all of us into the world of the supernatural with you.
"After the sacrifice, the Mikaelsons didn't do anything against us because Klaus needed your human blood to make his hybrids. You and the Salvatores were the ones who decided not to sign Vera's magic contract with Klaus to give him a bag of blood every month. It would've been no different than donating blood to a hospital. But because of the Salvatores' obsession with you, it wasn't good enough. You and the Salvatores wanted the Originals dead and me, Bonnie, and even Matt got dragged into your war. You used Bonnie like a spell vending machine, not caring how taxing it was on her health and you used me like a piece of meat, throwing me at Klaus every time you needed bait to distract him from yours and the Salvatores' schemes against his family. Klaus could've killed me any number of times."
Elena scoffed. "Care, the only reason we used you to distract Klaus was because we knew he wouldn't hurt you. He's obviously in love with you."
Caroline pulled on her hair. "Not two minutes ago you said he's a monster and doesn't care about me or anyone but himself." Caroline raised a hand to stop Elena from responding. "I'm not finished. Esther tying your life to Alaric's forcing him to turn you into a vampire wasn't your fault. Just like it wasn't my fault Katherine turned me, but I dealt with it. Why couldn't you deal with being a vampire, like everyone else?"
"Caroline, I never wanted to be a vampire."
"Oh, my God, Elena, you were in love with two vampires. What did you think would happen? Sure, Stefan might've respected your wish to remain human and let you go once your relationship reached its inevitable end, but Damon would never let you die. He already shoved his bloody wrist in your mouth before. What made you think he wouldn't do the same in the future? You're delusional if you believe he'd just let you grow old and die." The blonde had ripped several strands of her hair out of their roots.
"You should've just dealt with becoming a vampire like everyone else rather than search for some elusive cure and risk waking a 2000-year-old evil warlock, who manipulated Bonnie to turn to dark magic. We were warned by 3 people who were older than us, who had been in the supernatural world longer, and knew better from their experiences. But, no, you wanted the cure at all cost, consequences be damned and the Salvatores wanted to move heaven and earth for you. As your friends, Bonnie and I helped you. Bonnie was manipulated by Shane and Silas and became hooked on Expression. And now she's dead. And so is Jeremy, your little brother."
Caroline ignored the shimmer of the tears that formed in Elena's doe eyes as she said everything she had wanted to, but held back over the past two years. "I've decided I'm not going to die for you, Elena." She stalked toward the doppelganger. "I'm done putting your life and your feelings before my own ."
Elena shook her head in disbelief as she looked at the blonde. "You're supposed to be my friend, Caroline. How could you do this to me? You can't abandon me, Care. You're all I have left." She grabbed Caroline's arm and shook the blonde. "With Bonnie dead, Silas was freed and he's been impersonating Stefan. He wants the Cure from me and we have no idea where Stefan is. I need you, Caroline."
No matter how much Elena begged, Caroline was not moved. A freed Silas was all the more reason for her to get out of town as soon as possible. She couldn't do anything against someone as powerful as Silas. She wasn't planning on going to war against a two-thousand-year-old witch who could burn her alive with a flick of his pinkie finger. She had to protect her child. Even if her mom didn't return before sunset, she resolved to leave Mystic Falls. She had to leave no matter what.
"Actions." Caroline held out her left hand to Elena. "Consequences." She showed Elena her right hand.
"So, you're just going to sit around doing nothing to help me?"
"I'm leaving Mystic Falls, Elena. Bonnie's dead and you're not going to college, so there's no point in going to Whitmore." Telling Elena she was going to college was the perfect excuse for her to disappear from Mystic Falls to go to Boston and have her child in peace, away from everyone who knew her. "I'm taking Klaus' advice and I'm going to see the world. I might as well start with a historical American city."
Elena's eyes widened. "Klaus? You're going with him? You, doing all of this now, is it because of him? Do you have feelings for him?"
"Yes, Elena!" Yes, I have feelings for Klaus and I want to be with him. I slept with him and it had nothing to do with you." The blonde smirked, loving the reaction she elicited from the doppelganger. She was tired of everyone making her feel ashamed of the decisions she makes. She chose Klaus and was aware of the consequences of her actions. She knew what she was getting into and she prepared to face the consequences.
Elena grew angry. "How could you do that to me, to Tyler, to everyone? He killed Jenna, sacrificed me, made Tyler bite you with the sirebond, and killed Carol. How could you sleep with him? I would never do that to you."
Caroline scoffed. "Oh, really? You would never sleep with your best friend's rapist?"
Elena stepped back and shook her head. "Damon didn't. He only fed on you. He would never…"
"He did. You saw the marks and you did nothing. The only time I consented to sleeping with Damon was that first night. After that, I was under heavy compulsions and I couldn't say no. A lack of "no " doesn't mean "yes", Elena." Caroline shook her head to keep the memories from coming to the surface. "And I'm done talking about this so get out."
"Caroline-"
"I said GET OUT, Elena!" She yelled, her vampire coming to the surface in her heightened emotional state. "Get out!"
The human doppelganger fearfully walked around the angry vampire as she ran for the door.
Her eyes turned an icy blue against the red of her sclera. Caroline took long, deep breaths that came out in puffs of frost, the microscopic particles coming out of her lungs freezing the air, turning them to ice crystals for less than a moment that she failed to notice.
Caroline willed her vampire face away. She felt lighter after confronting Elena about everything. The previous two years had been one thing after another. She suppressed her feelings for the longest time so she wouldn't be called dramatic and bitchy or shunned by her so-called best friends . She was finally able to get everything out all at once. The things that had been forced down her throat were finally able to come out and she could breathe easier.
Caroline startled when the front door slammed open. Tyler stood at the door, his eyes shimmering wolf gold in his anger. He had heard everything but all he could focus on was that Caroline willingly slept with Klaus rather than the fact that she had been raped by the same man who killed his uncle.
Caroline stepped back defensively. "Tyler…"
Tyler flashed forward and slammed her into the wall. His hands held her shoulders painfully as he pushed her. "You left me for him?!"
Caroline winced as her shoulders painfully ground into their sockets. The drywall cracked under the pressure of his strength. "You're hurting me, Tyler…"
"How could you, Caroline? After everything he did. He murdered my mom."
Tyler was stronger than her as a hybrid. He had never been able to control his rage as an untriggered or triggered wolf. His temper became worse as a hybrid.
Caroline didn't know her abilities as a vampire-spirit hybrid had awakened. She couldn't fight against him but she knew she had to stop him. He could hurt her baby.
Caroline's vampire face came to the surface, her eyes turning the same icy blue they had done before. She turned her torso and used her elbow to break Tyler's hold on her. "Get away from me!" She elbowed him in the eye and switched their paces, pinning him to the wall with her forearm pressing painfully in his throat.
She shattered his kneecaps and feet to keep him weak and pinned. "I swear Tyler if you ever touch me again, you won't have to worry about Klaus. I'll rip your heart out myself."
She'll protect her child from anyone.
Tyler's thrashing and growling had him almost breaking out of Caroline's hold. His hybrid fangs grazed the back of her hand.
Caroline pulled her hand back and punched Tyler in the throat, destroying his larynx and his esophagus. She held his head and snapped his neck. She took him by the feet, dragged him to the front door, and threw him out of the house. She didn't want his blood getting on the floor. She was too busy to have to clean it up.
Caroline looked at her hand where Tyler had bitten her. Before her eyes, the bite mark healed and closed. "What?" she furrowed her brow in confusion. She knew werewolf bites closed at first, before reopening and festering but hybrid bites never closed. She didn't feel the burn of the venom in her veins. "Maybe…" She touched her stomach. The baby inherited Klaus' natural hybrid status and their blood cured the bite just as Klaus' blood would've done.
Her baby protected her. "Thank you." She would protect her baby. She was going to put her well-being and the safety of her baby first.
Place: Forbes Living Room
Date: July 18, 2011
Notes: Remember, no one in the Scooby Gang knows about Kai being a Heretic. He compelled Elena to forget he turned her.