a/N: There is a scene with Hayley and Caroline sort of having a heart to heart, just to clear up some stuff from the last two chapters with their issues. Secondly, there is more mention of Caroline experiences of being compelled by Damon when she was still human. [Just wanted to warn you if that is something you're not interested in reading.]
There's not much Klaroline interaction in this chapter but there's more in the next one. I hope you like this chapter.
Rebekah and Klaus entered the party, arm in arm, taking in the dark, wild atmosphere, above them acrobats performed, dancers handling exotic animals and confetti fell glittering upon the party guests.
"Well, this certainly is a fitting backdrop for tonight's events, I must say," Klaus commented before spotting the familiar blonde bartender, Cami as she entered the party, she wore white angel wings and a vintage white beaded dress.
Rebekah smiled pleased that the bartender accepted her invitation.
"What's she doing here?" Klaus asked her.
"Marcel seems to share your penchant for blonde's." Replied Rebekah. "Besides what better way to distract Marcel than to put his very human, new girl in a room full of vampires?" Rebekah crossed the courtyard, stopping in front of Cami to greet her. "Hello, darling. You look precious."
Marcel stood looking down on the courtyard, noticing Cami immediately.
"This party is ridiculous." Commented Cami, her eyes landed on Klaus and she nodded at him. "Is he the infamous on-again, off-again?" She asked Rebekah referring to the talk they had earlier when Rebekah had invited her.
"He's the brother, actually and my sister is right." Klaus moved forward to stand beside Rebekah. "You do look stunning."
"You clean up pretty well yourself." Cami complimented.
Klaus couldn't help but think about Caroline's words to him earlier, that he looked annoyingly perfect and fought off a smile. "Well, don't be fooled, love. I'm the devil in disguise."
"You two chit-chat." Said Rebekah. "I need booze."
"Shall we?" Asked Klaus.
"Okay." Cami smiled as Klaus offered his arm and took it as Rebekah approached the bar.
"Scotch please," Rebekah told the bartender and sighing a moment later feeling Marcel coming up beside her.
"You trying to be cute, inviting her here?"
"I think she's darling. I can tell you fancy her pure heart." Though Rebekah didn't really see the appeal. "Perhaps I'll feed it to you."
"Hmm. Jealousy looks good on you, Bekah."
Rebekah scoffed, taking her drink from the bartender. Her jealous of some human? What did she have to be jealous of? She didn't have to know the human to know she was better than her. Jealous? Yeah, right.
Across the courtyard, Cami watched Rebekah with Marcel. "The guy of her's Rebekah was talking about... I'm sensing that would be Marcel."
"I Wouldn't worry about it." Klaus dismissed. "Ancient history."
Cami looked away from the pair at the bar, turning fully to Klaus. "I'm beginning to think your sister is a bit of a bitch."
Klaus laughed. If only Cami knew how true that was. "It's as though she invented the term."
Cami stared at him being drawn to him for a moment.
Klaus paused, noticing the way she seemed to stare at him, he looked away when he saw Marcel begin to approach them. "Listen. Pardon me for a moment." He quickly made his exit glad to see Rebekah's plan seemed to be working as Marcel greeted Cami.
He was also glad for the excuse to leave, he didn't need or want Cami getting any unfound assumptions or reading into something between them that wasn't there.
Caroline walked through the house in search of Hayley. She had checked the second floor but couldn't find her, she had just about been through the first floor and still couldn't find her. If she was still avoiding her she wouldn't be surprised.
Once she finished checking the first floor and still did not find Hayley, she decided to check around outside, making her way out toward the pool and spotting Hayley, she seemed to be looking at something near the trees.
"Hayley."
Hayley whirled around at the sound of Caroline's voice. "What?" She snapped at the sight of the blonde.
"I was hoping I could talk to you for a moment." Said Caroline, forging ahead and not letting Hayley's attitude and anger get to her because Hayley was completely entitled to her anger against her. "Do you have a minute?"
Hayley opened her mouth about to tell Caroline she had nothing more to say to her and didn't want to hear anything she had to say if it had anything to do with her pregnancy but another voice had them both whirling around.
"You're not supposed to be out here." Said a pretty young woman. "Neither of you." She cast a look at Caroline before focusing on Hayley.
Caroline instantly moved to stand protectively beside Hayley.
"Who are you?" Asked Hayley, shooting Caroline an odd look when she took a protective stance near her.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. I'm Sabine. We met. I'm one of Sophie's friends."
Caroline glared at the mention of Sophie's name and eyed the woman distrustfully.
"You're one of the witches." Hayley realized.
"Sophie just asked me to come keep you company while everyone's out."
That did not make Caroline feel the least bit reassured about the witches presence.
"You know, it's drawn to you." Sabine continued, nodding at where the wolf stood to stand.
Hayley glanced back at the wolf.
Caroline brow furrowed as she caught sight of the wolf, her eyes narrowing as she saw the wolf watching her with what appeared to be a glare, like it thought she would attack Hayley.
"Not fond of vampires though." Said Sabine.
Caroline looked back at her. "Clearly."
"Well, you are mortal enemies." Said Sabine before looking at Hayley again. "The child you're carrying is part vampire, part werewolf. You and Klaus made something special."
Caroline's stomach twisted uncomfortably at the words but she shoved it down refusing to let her jealousy get the better of her again.
"You sound like Elijah." Responded Hayley. "He thinks this baby is going to make us one big, happy family but now he's gone and I don't know what... 'it' is."
"You know, I can do something about that if you want." Sabine offered. "I mean, find out if it's a boy or girl."
"I thought you couldn't do witchy stuff around here." Said Hayley.
"It's not magic, just an old trick my grandmother taught me."
Hayley looked at her hesitantly.
"Come on. You have to be a little curious." Insisted Sabine at Hayley's hesitancy.
Caroline glared at the witch. "You don't have to do anything because she said so," Caroline told Hayley. "It's your choice."
"So now it's my choice?" Hayley scoffed at her.
"Okay, I deserved that," Caroline admitted. "But these New Orlean witches aren't exactly trustworthy."
"I'm not going to try anything to hurt her." Said Sabine. "But if it'll make you feel better you're free to stay with her."
Caroline eyed her distrustfully before turning to Hayley. "It's your decision. I may be late in saying this but it's your business, not mine but I won't leave you alone with her." Her experience with New Orlean witches had been nothing but bad so far and she didn't trust them. Any of them and she wasn't about to leave Hayley alone with one.
"You really are a hideously evil little thing, aren't you?" Klaus said to Rebekah, across the courtyard Marcel and Cami were dancing closely.
"Nonsense." Rebekah dismissed. "They're perfect for each other. You wanted Marcel distracted. Voila."
Diego, one of Marcel's inner circle members entered the courtyard with a grave expression heading straight for Marcel, interrupting the dance he was having with Cami just as the pair were leaning in for a kiss.
"That's my cue to leave," said Rebekah, after seeing Diego whisper in Marcel's ear, she slipped away unnoticed.
Klaus watched with rap attention, seeing the barely contained anger on Marcel's face as his eyes landed on Thierry. He watched as Marcel excused himself from Cami before walking over to Thierry and grabbing him by the throat in a show of force, pushing him away from the main party.
"What the hell did you do?" Marcel demanded of Thierry.
"Whoa, not here." Diego interceded. "No, not here."
Marcel backed off knowing he didn't need to cause a scene in front of everyone. Especially Cami who was watching with her brows knitted together.
Klaus smiled. So far so good. Everything was going according to his plan for the most part.
Marcel took Thierry to the balcony above the party so they could talk a little bit more privately away from all his guest. Theirry was trying to explain the situation on why he had killed one of their own. That he was still loyal, he was still his friend, that that hadn't changed.
Klaus noticed Cami watching on with a look of apprehension and joined her. "Are you all right, love?"
"He's got a temper, doesn't he?" Cami had watched Marcel as he made a display of his anger even now as she watched him on the balcony with his guys and Thierry. "I guess this is the moment I remember I know better." Cami turned, walking away.
Joshua walked up to Klaus, standing slightly behind him, trying not to draw anyone's notice. Klaus reached into his coat's inner pocket withdrawing a folded piece of paper and handing it to Joshua who pocketed it and walked away.
Klaus watched the balcony as Joshua made his way next to Marcel and handed him the folded piece of paper. "We found this at his girl's place," Joshua informed Marcel.
Marcel unfolded the piece of paper, his frown deepening as he realized it was a spell that he kept to himself. He turned back to Theirry. "Still my friend, huh? That's funny because it looks like that little witch of yours got her hands on a spell that I keep locked away."
"Marcel, I have never seen that." Said Thierry, he didn't know where it came from but it couldn't have come from Katie.
"Shut up," Marcel ordered. "I see on your hand, you still have the daylight ring I gave you. So what would you need with the recipe for making new ones? Unless maybe you and Katie were gonna go off and start a little kingdom of your own?"
"Marcel, no." Thierry protested. He wouldn't do something like that. He wouldn't betray Marcel.
"Here's a lesson in friendship. Friends don't lie to me, they don't break my rules and they do not steal what is mine." Marcel turned, needing to take a moment for what he was about to do, he turned back. "For the crime of murdering one of his own, I sentence Thierry Vanchure to 100 years in the Garden."
Klaus smiled to himself, watching from below in the courtyard. "And it begins..."
When Rebekah appeared in the cemetery she saw Sophie was preparing the locator spell who looked up upon Rebekah's arrival.
"You're doing the right thing. It's the only way to find Elijah." Rebekah told her, finding Elijah was the priority.
"I'm doing what I have to." Said Sophie, a lot of what she's done had been not because she wanted to but because she had to. Sophie turned back and started to chant.
Klaus watched as Marcel's men led Thierry out of the party and out onto the street where a small crowd of more vampires watched Katie approach from down the street chanting.
Klaus moved, watching from a window above the events he put into motion unfold.
"Katie, no!" Thierry said with fear that she was going to get herself killed.
"Like clockwork." Stated Klaus.
Katie ignored Thierry's protest, she wasn't going to let Marcel sentence him to a fate such as the Gardens. She loved him and she was going to do whatever she had to protect him. She waved her arms and a street light exploded, sparking, all the vampires crowded on the street grabbed their heads, falling to their knees in pain.
Marcel had fallen to the ground in pain but pushed back to his feet when no one else was able tofacing Katie but another light exploded as she amplified her magic causing Marcel to go down again.
In the cemetery, Sophie continued to chant her locator spell.
"Hurry." Rebekah urged, who knew how much time they had left to get this done.
Davina had awoken from her bed the moment she felt someone using magic and immediately began drawing on an easel, the face she was drawing taking shape.
Marcel pushed through the pain, getting back to his feet and struggling his way toward the raging witch but Katie focused her magic on him and his bones began to break beneath the force of her magic, he collapsed again, shouting in pain.
"NO!" Davina shouted from where Marcel kept her hidden. She lifted her hands slowly.
Marcel felt Davina's magic give him strength and he rose again, pushing to his feet.
Katie stared at him astonished. How was he able to keep standing?
"You're here to save your man. Well, come on, little girl!" Marcel growled feeling empowered by Davina's magic he advanced to attack her but Katie acted quickly halting him with her magic.
Marcel fell, groaning.
Davina fell at the same time, her magic failing to keep Marcel on his feet. She was failing him.
Katie advanced on Marcel, standing over him, lifting a wooden stake, prepared to bring it down and stake him. "Die, you son of a bitch!"
"No!" Thierry shouted. "Katie! Don't!"
But before Katie could bring the stake down, Klaus figuring this was his moment to look like Marcel's savior, swooped in and snapped her neck before she could stake him, allowing her to fall to the ground, dead.
Abruptly Sophie stopped her magic as she felt the loss of Katie's magic. "Something's wrong. Katie's magic stopped." But she had been so close to locating Davina, if she stopped now it would have been for nothing. "I can keep going."
"You can't. She'll sense it." Rebekah protested.
"No. I can find Davina." Sophie insisted. "I just need another moment."
Rebekah's hand snatched out swiping the paper with black sand on top of it that Sophie was using for the spell and threw it aside. "You may be willing to die to get your witch back but Hayley, the baby, and Caroline will die with you. And if Caroline dies Klaus would go on a raging warpath, he'll paint the streets of New Orleans red with blood starting with the witches. And if something were to happen to the baby Elijah would never forgive us and rescuing him will be for nothing. It's over. We failed."
Klaus didn't much care as Thierry crawled to his dead witch lover and began to sob over her dead body instead he focused on Marcel, catching his eye who nodded at him.
Marcel knew if it weren't for Klaus in that moment he could have been killed. He owed him.
After sealing Thierry away in the Garden Marcel met back up with Klaus in the courtyard of the Abortorre. It was deserted, everyone from the party already having gone.
The old friends stood on the balcony having a drink together.
After clinking their drinks together Marcel downed his. "How much did Cami see?"
"She just saw an argument, mate. It's nothing you can't fix. You really like her, don't you?"
"I like that she's not a part of any of this. Sometimes it's good to see the world the way the humans do."
"I am sorry about Thierry, you know?" Said Klaus appearing genuine in his words even if he could care less for the man. "I can tell he was a good friend."
"I made him what he was. Obviously, my trust was misplaced."
"Doesn't make it easier." Said Klaus.
"You saved me tonight. I guess I owe you one. You asked for your brother back. Seems like the least I can do." Said Marcel.
Klaus was careful not to react anything other than appreciative even if he felt a wave of triumph for getting one over Marcel.
Caroline hesitated outside Hayley's bedroom door but after telling herself this was something she needed to do, she knocked on the door.
She had knocked two more times before it was opened to reveal a freshly showered Hayley, dressed for bed, her hair still wet from her shower. "What do you want now?"
"I was hoping you still had a moment. I was hoping we could talk."
"I have nothing to say to you." Hayley glared if Caroline came to belittle her some more about her choices with this pregnancy than she could shove it.
"Look you don't have to say anything just hear me out and I promise if you want me to never bother you again I won't."
Hayley pondered her words for a moment, before sighing opening her door wider and walking back to her bed taking a seat on it.
Caroline stepped forward, into the room glancing around.
"Well, are you going to say what you came to say or gawk at my room all night?" Hayley said impatiently.
"Right." Said Caroline, looking back to her. "I wanted to apologize for all the things I said."
"You want to apologize." Hayley gave a scoff of disbelief.
"Yes, I want to apologize," Caroline repeated. "I don't expect you to forgive me, hell, I wouldn't forgive me. There's no excuse for the things I said. When I said those things I was being an absolute bitch. It was horrible and disgusting and was beyond judgmental."
"You were." Hayley agreed with a nod. "I don't really care why you said what you did because you still said it but why did you?"
"I..I don't know," Caroline admitted, she moved toward the bed. "Can I?"
Hayley paused but nodded, waving her hand for her to go ahead and have a seat.
Caroline gave a long drawn out sigh as she took a seat, turning toward Hayley so she would be facing her directly. "I guess a part of me is jealous." She hated to admit that.
"Jealous?" Hayley repeated. "About Klaus? Because we were only together one time and its something I've come to regret."
"No, It's not about him, not really." God, why was admitting this so damn hard? "It's more about the pregnancy."
Hayley's brow furrowed in confusion. "The pregnancy?"
"Vampires can't have children. You get to have something that I never will." Caroline looked down at her hands with the confession. "I always thought I would have a family of my own one day but then I became a vampire and the ability to have a family was just gone.." Caroline gave a brittle laugh. "It's crazy, before this I haven't even considered wanting to be a mom, not after becoming a vampire. When I became a vampire I didn't really care that I would never have any children but then you and Klaus happened and it just made me realize that even if I wanted to have children of my own years from now down the line I'll never be able to. So yeah, I'm a bit jealous of you."
"Oh." Hayley wasn't sure how to respond, she hadn't planned on having a heart to heart with Caroline. Heart to hearts wasn't really her thing, to begin with.
"But it still is no excuse for what I said." Caroline continued. "You always have a choice about your own body. Whether you want to continue this pregnancy is up to you."
"But it's not my choice." Said Hayley that had been made pretty clear.
"Yes, it is," Caroline said firmly. "You should have the say in what happens to you. You're not just some incubator. You're a person and you have every right to not continue this pregnancy if it's not something you want." Caroline reached into her pocket and pulled out the vial of wolfsbane. "Which is why I got you this."
Hayley's eyes widened. "Where did you get this?"
"I took it from Klaus," Caroline confessed then added quickly. "Don't worry, I plan on telling him it was me who took it."
"He'll see this as an act of betrayal, you know that, don't you?"
Caroline did and while she didn't like to think of it that way ultimately this wasn't about him. "This isn't about him or me, it's about you. I just want you to know you have options." Caroline held the vial out to her.
Hayley's hand wrapped around the vial. "And what about your life?" Surely Caroline had to care about her own life.
Of course, she didn't want to die but this wasn't about her. "I don't want to die. I mean, who does." She pushed away the fear she felt at the thought of dying as young as she was. "But your decision shouldn't be about me. It should be about what you want." Caroline gave her an apologetic look. "I just want you to know how sorry I am for what I said."
"Why are you going this far for an apology?" Hayley questioned.
Caroline was quiet for a long moment, so long that Hayley didn't think she was going to answer her but then she spoke, her voice holding somber tone.
"I know what it's like to have your choices taken from you." Caroline hated remembering what Damon had done to her when she was human but if anyone knew how important it was to have control over your own life, your own body it was her. "And it's not something I would wish on anyone."
Hayley's brow furrowed in confusion. "What are you talking about?"
"I was compelled repeatedly when I was human," Caroline replied shortly. "I know it's not the same thing but it felt like I had no control over what was happening, kind of like what you're going through. You don't have any control over what's happening to you either."
Hayley opened and closed her mouth and decided to focus on what Caroline had said about being compelled instead of focusing on what she was feeling. "By who? To do what?"
"It's not something I talk about." She replied sharply. With anyone. It was just something she had to force herself to get past for Elena and her friend's sake none of them had seemed to really care what Damon had done to her.
Hayley could see it was really upsetting for her to think about it. She looked down at the vial and knew Caroline giving this to her was a betrayal of Klaus's trust in hopes of showing how sincere she was in her apology. "You're right, I don't forgive you.."
Caroline nodded, she hadn't expected her to forgive her but it still bothered her. She was relieved Hayley let what she just told her go.
"But your apology's a good start."
Caroline looked up in surprise and offered a small smile. "Well, I'm just gonna go now." She stood, stepping toward the door.
"Caroline."
She turned back to Hayley to see her holding the vial of wolfsbane out to her.
"Here, I don't need this."
"Are you sure?" Caroline questioned though she already felt relief that Hayley no longer had any desire to take the wolfsbane. "Is this the choice you want to make?"
"I'm not ending my pregnancy. I don't want too." Hayley looked away from her before turning back to her. "You should just put this back preferably before Klaus realizes its gone."
Caroline took it back but Hayley's suggestion about putting it back before Klaus realized that she took it in the first place just sounded so deceitful, like a further betrayal. She didn't like the thought of being another person who actively set out to betray him.
Klaus slid into the seat next to Cami at the bar where she was having a drink. "Cami-"
"Don't even try it." Cami interrupted. "I get the bro code. You're here to smooth things over for your friend. It's very nice of you, but-"
"But you've been hurt before and you aren't taking any more chances." He finished knowingly.
"Something like that. The guy I saw tonight - not the guy I thought he was." She admitted. "And if he can turn on a dime like that -"
"Sounds like more than just a broken heart. Someone broke your trust. Camille the brave bartender."
Cami stared at him, feeling like something was there, she swallowed.
The moment she started to lean into him, Klaus looked away from her, breaking her stare and shifting back from her. "I'm sorry... But I need you to give Marcel another chance."
Cami cleared her throat, embarrassed. "Wow. I totally misread that."
"You did, I'm sorry. I already have someone I care about." Klaus tried to put it delicately before continuing. "But you have your role to play." He locked eyes with her as his eyes took on their compelling effect. "You went to Marcel's. You danced. You feelbadly that he had a row with his friend, but otherwise, all you remember is that it was perfect."
Rebekah sat at the piano, playing a scatter of their notes lazily. Feeling like a failure because everything they had put into motion tonight was pointless. She sat up straighter when Klaus entered the room. "Well, tonight was an epic failure."
"On the contrary, sister. Tonight was a masterpiece." He corrected quite pleased with himself.
"Are you mad?" Rebekah demanded. "Katie died before Sophie could complete the spell."
"Oh, I'm well aware. I killed Katie."
"You what?" Rebekah didn't even know why she was even the least bit surprised. This was just so typical of him.
"There's no way our little suicide witch wasn't gonna try and take out Marcel with her. I saved his life and in doing so, I now have him exactly where I wanted him."
"Sophie trusted you. I trusted you against all my better instincts." Said Rebekah, looking at him in betrayal.
"Wake up, Rebekah." He didn't see why she had to take this personally. What was one dead witch in the grand scheme of things? "The witches are on no one's side but their own. This girl, Davina? That's all they want and when they have her, what do you think happens then, a truce?" He wished his sister would stop being so naive. "Of course not. They will use Davina's power against all of us."
"Even if you're right, the plan was to find Elijah and you've failed us."
"You always did lack faith." He responded. "By protecting Marcel, I've cemented his trust, so much so that he's agreed to return Elijah to us. And when the time is right, when he has told me everything I need to know about Davina, I will have her to myself."
"I have all the faith in the world that you'll get what you want, Nik." Said Rebekah looking at him with contempt and disappointment. "You always do, no matter what it costs the rest of us. You disgust me." She took a sip of the bourbon drink she had on the piano, setting it back on the surface and brushing past him, out the door.
Davina kneeled in front of an open casket that held Elijah. She heard a door open and looked up to see Marcel, relief filled her as she rushed to him, throwing her arms around him. "You're okay! I was so worried."
"Thank you." Marcel pulled back from the hug after returning it. "Whatever you did, I felt it. You helped me."
"It was the old ones, wasn't it?" She questioned.
"Actually, Klaus is the one that saved me tonight." He walked around her toward the open casket. "I'm gonna make things right, starting off by giving him his brother back."
"No." Davina protested sharply.
"What?" Marcel frowned at her in confusion.
"No," Davina repeated strongly. "You said the old ones were dangerous. I won't give him back until I know how to kill them."
Hayley sat at the desk in the study a laptop in front of her, the top was open on a few old texts.
Klaus paused in the doorway before stepping into the room. "I thought you might like to know, Elijah's returning to us."
Hayley looked away from the computer at the sound of his voice. "Congratulations. I guess being diabolical has its perks."
"You hardly know him and yet you miss him." It always vexed Klaus how Elijah could draw almost anyone to him. "What is it about my brother that always inspires such instant admiration?"
"He was kind to me," Hayley confessed.
Klaus took that in but had no reply.
"Hey, I learned something today," Hayley called after him when he turned to leave. "I'm having twins."
Klaus turned back to her, he was having a hard time coming to terms with the fact he was going to have one child but now twins? "Twins? How do you know that."
"A witch friend of Sophie's."
Klaus stepped further into the room, focusing on listening to the heartbeats coming from Hayley's abdomen after focusing closely, he heard what he hadn't before because they were beating in almost perfect sync but he heard it. The sound of two separate little heartbeats. His eyes widened and a look of vulnerability quickly crossed his face but it was just a flicker before he nodded at her, turning to leave the room.
"I think one's a girl and one's a boy," Hayley said when he said nothing and instead made to leave.
He paused in the open doorway with his back to Hayley and smiled slowly. He would have liked the thought of having a boy or a girl but because it was twins there was the possibility he would get both. To have a son and a daughter? It was a nice possibility.
Sophie, Agnes and Sabine and several other witches gathered around Katie's body which they had prepared for her final rites.
"I told you no good would come from this unholy alliance of yours." Said Agnes in disapproval.
"At least I'm doing something." Glared Sophie. "What about you?" She pushed past them and the other witches gathered for Katie's final rites ceremony.
Agnes turned to Sabine once Sophie had gone. "Sabine, tell them what you saw."
"It's the girl's, the pregnant wolf and the blonde baby vampire," Sabine said gravely.
Hayley laid on the kitchen island, her back against the surface. Caroline stood not far from her, eyeing Sabine distrustfully as the witch swung a crystal hanging by a string over Hayley's abdomen.
"I think it's a girl." Sabine paused. "No... wait."
"Wait, what? Please tell me I'm not having a mini-Klaus." Hayley just about pleaded.
"I think you're going to have a girl and a boy." Said Sabine her brow furrowing.
Hayley's eyes widened. "Twins? Are you sure?" That couldn't be right. This wasn't what she had signed up for.
"Yeah, I'm sure." Said Sabine, focusing on the two life force growing inside of Hayley's womb.
"Why can't they both be girls." Hayley frowned, she couldn't believe she was pregnant with twins and one of them possibly a mini-Klaus. She glanced over at Caroline for her reaction but saw she didn't look the least surprised. "Did you know?"
"I suspected," Caroline admitted. "It's hard to detect if you're not listening closely, their hearts are beating in almost complete sync so it sounds more like just one heartbeat."
"Why haven't you said anything?" Hayley asked accusingly.
"I wasn't certain and I didn't want to say anything if I ended up being wrong," Caroline told her. "I would have said something if I was certain."
Hayley looked back toward Sabine. "Are you sure their both not girls?" If she was going to have twins she would rather they both be girls. She hated the thought of possibly having a mini-Klaus in the form of Klaus's son.
Sabine didn't even register her question as she focused on the lifeforce of the babies, her eyes narrowing when she registered the babies lifeforce wasn't familiar to Hayley's at all.
Sabine couldn't understand how it was possible for the babies lifeforce not to be the least bit familiar to Hayley's. Something wasn't right.
"Sabine?" Asked Hayley, noticing her confused expression.
"What?" She snapped her gaze up to Hayley.
"Is everything okay with the babies?" Caroline asked worriedly, stepping up to the island unconsciously laying her hand on Hayley's arm.
Sabine focused on the babies again and suddenly she felt the familiarity in the life forces.
"Is everything alright with the babies?" Hayley demanded impatiently.
"Yeah, they're fine," Sabine said after a moment. It must have only taken her time to sense the familiarity between the babies and Hayley's lifeforce.
Caroline sighed in relief for a second there because of the look on Sabine's face she had thought something was wrong, she looked down and saw her hand was on Hayley. She hadn't even realized she had put it there. She removed her hand quickly. "Sorry."
And just like that, the familiarity Sabine felt between the lifeforce and the babies was gone. She frowned, glancing at Caroline, it had been there when Caroline had her hand on Hayley.
She glanced between Hayley and Caroline and her eyes widened. Was it possible?
Sabine subtly focused on Caroline being careful not to show that was what she was doing, her eyes widening at the feel of Caroline's vampire life force. It wasn't Hayley's lifeforce that shared a familiarity with the babies but Caroline's.
"Are you sure one's a girl and one's a boy?" Asked Hayley, not picking up on the way Sabine looked between her and Caroline.
Sabine focused the crystal back over Hayley with her new discovery when the crystal glinted suddenly in the light and she dropped it, gasping, her eyes rolling back in her head. "Hoc est infantima malom. Nos omnia perditu el eam."
Once Klaus had disappeared further into the house Hayley picked back up on the researched she was doing on the laptop before Klaus had appeared in the doorway.
She entered the strange words Sabine had uttered into an online translator but she kept getting no results. She frowned wondering what the words could have meant.
Caroline had heard Klaus arrive home and was debating whether or not she should go talk to him when a knock sounded on her door, she hesitated a moment knowing it would be him on the other side of the door.
Okay, so here goes nothing. She took a deep solidifying breath and walked to her door pulling it open. "Hey."
"Can I come in?" He gestured to the room.
"Oh, um, right." She stepped to the side allowing him to pass by her, he walked to the center of the room before turning to face her. "So how did the plan go?"
"It went the way we wanted it to." Said Klaus. "With one exception to the plan."
Caroline moved to sit on her bed. "What do you mean?"
"I killed Katie."
"Oh," Caroline said, not sure how to respond. Klaus killing somebody wasn't at all surprising, especially if it helped his agenda. "Did her death mean something? Was there a reason for it or simply because you wanted to?"
Klaus hadn't been expecting that reaction. Truthfully he expected her to tell him what he did was wrong. "She was about to kill Marcel, I saved him and earned his trust. Marcel has agreed to give Elijah back in return."
"Then everything worked out for everyone." Said Caroline. "Well except for Katie."
Klaus moved to sit on her bed leaving a few inches between them not wanting to invade her space if it wasn't what she wanted. "Rebekah wasn't too happy that I killed the witch. To be honest, I didn't think you would be either."
"I'm not happy that's she dead but I don't particularly care for New Orlean witches. They all seem to be working for their own objective not caring who ends up as collateral damage."
"I would never allow you to end up as collateral damage." He swore to her, he sooner wipe out every witch in the city.
Caroline gave a small smile at his words. "Have you talked to Hayley?" She wondered.
"I did." Klaus nodded, he was still coming to terms with the idea of being a father but the idea that he was going to be the father to not one child but two. Twins. It was daunting to him.
"So I guess congratulations are in order." Caroline gave a faint smile.
Klaus paused. "Did anything else happened other than Sabine's little visit?"
Caroline looked up at him, she drew in a steadying breath before removing the vial of Wolfsbane from her pocket and holding it out to him.
Klaus stared at the vial before looking back up at her, the betrayal clear in his eyes. Caroline had to keep herself from visibly flinching back having expected him to feel betrayed.
Klaus grabbed the vial, standing up and striding for the door and Caroline watching him, thought that he was just going to leave without saying something to her but then he whirled around his expression a cold mask, his eyes angry. "What were you doing with this?"
Caroline stood slowly. "I took it from your room."
"Oh, I got that much." He glared, clenching his jaw in anger as he walked quickly back to her, standing just inches away. "Why did you take it?"
Caroline not liking the way he crowded in on her, it was the same thing he did when he wanted to intimidate someone into bending to his will. "You can't intimidate me." She sighed.
"I don't want to intimidate you." He growled. "I want you to answer me."
"I took it to give to Hayley."
Klaus took a step back. "You chose to betray me?"
"This wasn't about betraying you." Caroline shook her head. "Just before you go into a rage about betrayal would you just hear me out for a minute."
"Why bother?" Klaus spat.
"Because I could have just put it back without you ever knowing what I did and you would have never known and we wouldn't be having this conversation right now." She stepped forward, closer to him. "But I wanted to be honest with you. I didn't want to have to lie."
Klaus clenched his jaw, his eyes like steel on her. "I'm listening."
"This wasn't about you and it wasn't necessarily about me either. When I found Hayley buying this in the French Quarter. I said some things that were so out of line. I was cruel." Caroline looked away, feeling a moment of shame. "I basically implied she didn't have any say in what happens to her body."
"Caroline, you're life is tied to the lives of the babies she carries." Klaus frowned at her. "It isn't just her life she should consider. It isn't just about her."
"This shouldn't be about me." Caroline looked back at him. "Of course I don't want to die, I mean, I seriously don't but no one should be forced into this situation. Hayley should have the right to choose for herself. I took it in hopes of showing her that I was sorry for how I reacted and the things I said. I was terrible to her."
"You feel guilty." Said Klaus, watching her carefully.
"Of course I felt guilty. I was horrible to her."
Klaus looked away from her, blowing a breath out through his teeth before looking back at her. "You feel guilty because you care. It's who you are. I can't very well blame you for that."
"Does that mean you're not mad," Caroline asked with a hesitant smile.
"No. Of course, I'm mad." His hand, tightening on the vial.
Caroline's hesitant smile faltered. "Right."
"You once told me I don't connect with people because I don't even try to understand them and maybe you're right but I want to understand you." He paused, his jaw ticking. "I'm trying to."
Caroline nodded, a bit surprised he even remember that word for word.
"Did you give it to Hayley?" Seeing as Caroline still had it he wasn't sure if she did or not or if she just changed her mind.
"I did but she made the choice not to take it. Don't be angry with her for me giving it to her. She had nothing to do with that."
Klaus felt relief that Hayley had decided to not take it on her own. He nodded heading for her bedroom door.
"Klaus," Caroline called just as he opened the door. "I am sorry if I made you feel betrayed. It wasn't what I was trying to do."
Klaus nodded. "I don't take kindly to betrayal and I think you know that. Don't do it again. I would hate to lose trust in you when you're one of the only few people I believe I can trust." It wasn't an order. It was a request. He couldn't handle it if what he thought was something more building between them was brought to nothing. He didn't want to add her to the long list of people who have betrayed him. He turned, closing the door behind him.
Caroline let out a breath and moved back toward her bed, flopping back onto it. That went better than she thought it would. But she feared things might be different now.
Sometimes it was surreal how much things had changed between her and Klaus she could still remember what it was like not to care if Klaus was upset with her or that he trusted her, she had used his feelings for her more than once for the sake of her friend's plots playing the blonde distraction.
But now she cared if he was angry with her, she cared if he felt betrayed by her. She cared about using their friendship as complicated as it was against him.
She hoped that what she did wouldn't change things between them drastically.
Caroline sighed internally. Everything was just so complicated here in New Orleans. Her life was so much simpler when she was still in Mystic Fall. But strangely enough, she was missing Mystic Falls less and less. She mainly missed her mother and well she missed having Stefan around to talk to about things and not be judged for it.
Caroline feared the reason why she wasn't missing home as much as she should be was because of Klaus. And she wasn't sure how to come to terms with that. If she should fight it or for once just do something for her even if that something was growing closer with Klaus.
But she knew on some level it was too late to try and stop that from happening, she had already allowed herself to grow closer to him and she was finding other than being wrapped up in this grudge the witches had against Marcel she didn't regret her growing feelings for him.
A/N: As you can see I'm adding some twist to the pregnancy storyline and Caroline's going to play a larger part further on in the story. I've been throwing in some subtle but clear hints. The full reveal will be coming up in a couple chapters from now.
I realize some people may not like the added changes. And while criticism is always welcome I would appreciate it if no one was intentionally hateful about it.