Chapter Text
Caroline POV:
“Stop, stop, stop!” Caroline yelled, waving her hands around her head like she often did when arranging the Miss Mystic pageant. Stefan dropped the sleek white IKEA bedside table he carried in surprise. A loud clang echoed through the castle, much louder than she’d expect from something made of painted wood connecting with even older wood. “You are not moving that horrid peace of cheap furniture into a centuries old royal bedroom!”
Katherine snickered from her spot at the dining room table. She flipped through a fashion magazine and sipped an expensive red wine mixed with blood; Caroline recently discovered came from a vineyard Elijah owned. One of these days, Caroline was going to get the full, unabridged story of those two. “Ya Steffy, don’t bring anything under five decades into the castle house.” The comment seemed more mocking of Stefan than Caroline’s rules for décor. In fact, most of Katherine’s comments in the past month had been mocking of Stefan, Caroline thought it might be her favorite pass time.
“Oh, be quiet Katherine,” Stefan snapped back as he glanced at Caroline nervously. “Care, I wanted something a bit modern. It’s not the end of the world to add a bit of furniture to the castle that isn’t decked in velvet or intricately carved.”
“Yes! It is!” Caroline shot back. She crossed her arms over her chest and rested them over her now larger bump, showing clearly through her knee length silk dress. “We are not adding anything that doesn’t fit with this castle, and it’s carefully cultivated aesthetic! It’s a historical sight, and most importantly, not ours! Just because Nik has this whole place compelled, does not mean we can do whatever we want with this place!”
Caroline knew her fixation on the castle’s furnishings was a bit extreme, even for her. But the past month, while filled with much more enjoyment and excitement, after Katherine’s addition to the group, was also filled with worry. Klaus had called less, much, much less. In fact, she’d only heard from him twice, and both times were far too brief for her liking. Whatever was happening in New Orleans had escalated, and the fear that someone would find out about her, and her child became more prominent each day.
“Excellent idea sister,” Kol said. His ghostly form hovered beside her, nearly solid but still shimmering slightly, she noticed every so often, in certain lighting. “You’re throwing a bigger fit than Bekah would and it’s making me very proud.”
The past month had been far less boring than anything Caroline could have imagined, likely because of the new addition of Katherine and Kol. Katherine had fit in at the castle instantly, with her snarky comments, love of exotic fashion and expensive finery. Not to mention her ability to snark at Stefan while keeping up a spirited debate with Caroline and Bonnie.
Kol acclimated just as well. Bonnie figured out that Alexandria’s power connected to Caroline and allowed her to see Kol as he ghosted his family. Kol stayed with Caroline most of the time, talking to her and keeping her informed on what was happening in New Orleans when Klaus didn’t call her.
That had been the only low point of the past month, Klaus’s sparse contact. The chaos in New Orleans had been heating up as the weeks went on and Caroline was starting to worry. Klaus hadn’t called her in three days, three long and tedious days since his last sparse update.
“Stress isn’t good for the baby,” Katherine reminded her as she handed Caroline a cup of tea, a surprisingly concerned smile gracing her lips.
“I’m not worried,” Caroline said as she took the cup from Katherine. She raised the cup to her lips and only managed to get a few drops of the warm, chamomile concoction into her lips before her nerves forced her to set the cup down ignore its contents.
“Yes, you are,” Katherine said. “You have that look on again, that look that says you’re thinking about Klaus. Take a breath, Bon-Bon will be back in a couple days from her excursion to London and until then, you need to rest and stop thinking about whatever insanity our dear husbands are getting up to in New Orleans.”
“Husbands?!” Stefan asked his eyes impossibly wide and voice a few octaves higher than normal. “When the hell did you and Elijah get married? Where did you and Elijah get married? How did you and Elijah get married?”
Katherine smirked at Stefan, a chaotic glint of conniving and cuteness, so utterly Katherine Pierce Caroline didn’t even want to question it. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
Katherine, Caroline decided, was far too like herself when not an evil conniving bitch. At least, an evil conniving bitch working against Caroline and those she cared about. There were far too many similarities between Caroline and Katherine to count, but in the end, they were both fiercely protective and far too clever for anyone working against them’s own good.
“I would too,” Kol piped in. Caroline twirled on her, now significantly shorter, but still stylish, heels, to see Kol’s normally boy-ish and mischievous face, contemplative and annoyed. “I would have seen it if they tied the knot after I was dead. I spied on those two long enough to know.”
Caroline giggled, she loved the sense of normalcy in it, the sibling arguments, the everyday problems mixed with supernatural. Stefan exasperated, Katherine all knowing, and Kol the little brother keeping them all on the tip of their toes. It was near perfection, with only a few small pieces, and people she loved, missing. Even worried and fearful, her family, in all its chaotic forms, always managed to draw a smile out of her.
‘Nik will call soon’ Caroline thought, twirling her wedding rings on her finger, longingly. ‘He’ll call, and he’ll pay us a visit, and he can feel our daughter kick.’
&&&
Bonnie POV:
Bonnie was having trouble adjusting to the insane twist her life had taken in the past few months. Supernatural drama, her bottomless magical capacity, and even the existence of unkillable ancient Immortals, and she barely batted an eye. But living in an English castle, owned by her best friend’s insanely rich and powerful husband, that was a step too far.
Bonnie knew it was irrational and a bit odd; but Bonnie found being irrational about non-Supernatural things far easier than Doppelgangers and witchy prophecies. In fact, it was almost fun, after the first few weeks’ shock wore off. She turned it into a bit of a game with Caroline, a way to pass the time, how much money could they spend on Klaus’s card before he made a comment? Which local townspeople near the castle thought Caroline was actually related to Queen Elizabeth? Even, to Bonnie’s entertainment, games of guessing the price of the castle’s ancient, and intricate, furniture.
And those games to pass the time, along with some lesser Supernatural reasons, was how Bonnie Bennet found herself in London, on a cool Wednesday, laden with shopping bags and escorted by an expensive private car, curtesy of, yet again, Klaus Mikaelson’s limitless credit card.
Her bags were filled with adorable baby clothes in every pastel shade she imaged Caroline would adore and every dark jewel tone she knew Katherine would force onto Alexandria the second she was born. In fact, the only bag hanging from her arms not overflowing with common baby gifts, was, well, also, technically, baby gifts.
On her way back from quaint shops, and Harrods baby section, Bonnie stopped at a small magic shop in the heart of London. It was three centuries old, and to most nothing more than a trinket shop, but to Bonnie, it was a veritable resource for rare Grimoir’s and exotic spell ingredients. Both things Bonnie needed, not only to bring Kol back, but to learn more about Alexandria’s possible, and likely limitless, magical capabilities.
And so, arms full of bags, seconds away from entering the town car Klaus’s credit card and castle keeper, Caroline’s phrase, not hers; Bonnie froze. A dim, almost worrying absence of natural magic filled her. It was an odd sensation Bonnie hadn’t experienced in weeks. It was the feeling, deep within her bones, that something new and unsettling to her magic was around her.
Bonnie dropped her bags and jumped. Standing beside her, smirking, his eternally annoying smirk, was Damon Salvatore. “Hello Bon-Bon, did you miss me?
&&&
Rebekah POV:
Rebekah smiled down at her newborn niece. Hope Mikaelson, Klaus’s daughter, two words, even a year before Rebekah would have laughed in the face of. Then again, even a year ago, Rebekah would have laughed in the face of anything good coming from her evil big brother. What a difference a few months could make.
“Bekah,” Klaus said, catching her attention away from the baby. “I need you to know something, before you leave, something that will either enrage you or delight you.”
Rebekah sighed, irritated. “Who did you kill this time, Nik?”
Klaus chuckled. “No one, little sister. In fact, quite the opposite. A few months ago, I discovered that Caroline was pregnant, with my child.”
All sense of sanity left Rebekah’s body and her jaw dropped at her brother’s news. This, was far, far, more unlikely than anything Rebekah imagined. Of there was one sentence in the world, that Rebekah considered the bringer of chaos and the end of all sanity, it was the words that just left her brother’s mouth.
“Oh, you bloody idiot!” Rebekah exclaimed, attempting to keep her voice down as not to wake her now sleeping niece. She leaned forward and wacked Klaus on the back of his head. He winced. “You impregnate Caroline bloody Forbes, and you don’t even bother to send a text?! How could you not tell me!”
Klaus coughed and eyed her with a nervous worry she hadn’t seen in his eyes in a thousand years. It was Caroline’s influence, it had to be, slowly but surely, the baby vampire had turned her stiflingly cruel and corrupted big brother into the kind artistic boy she once adored. It was shocking, really, how much of an effect Caroline could have. And Rebekah intended to thank the girl for it in every way imaginable. Maybe she’d start with an extravagant wedding dress.
“Bekah,” he groaned. “We really don’t have time for the tongue lashing I know you have planned for me. Long story short, yes, I did, I’ve also married her, at that castle Kol was always so fond of, mainly for the impressionable princesses. Now, I need you to bring Hope there and stay with Caroline until New Orleans is safe.”
Well, scratch that wedding dress. Rebekah’s jaw, for one of many times that day, dropped. “You are kidding me Nik! You married her! Without telling anyone!”
“The Bennet Witch and Stefan know. As do, to my knowledge, our currently deceased favorite brother, Katerina, and the elder Salvatore.” Rebekah raised her eyebrows at him, as if to question where her paranoid overprotective control freak of a brother had gone. “Don’t give me that look Bekah, Caroline told them. And then she told me in our rare monthly phone calls so I couldn’t be mad at her.”
Rebekah pursed her lips, but couldn’t quite keep in the raw, little sisterly, laughed that erupted from her mouth. “Gods Nik, she really has you trained like a dog now doesn’t she?”
Klaus growled. “Bekah.”
“I’m sorry Nik but this is just too rich!” Rebekah lowered her tone as Hope stirred in her arms. “I mean you will do anything for the blonde cheerleader won’t you?”
Klaus closed his hands into tight fists by his side. “Rebekah, please. You can berate me all you want later, little sister. But at the moment, I need you to take my daughter to Caroline and stay there with them until New Orleans is safe.”
Rebekah’s expression softened. She held Hope a little tighter to her and nodded. “And it will be safe soon Nik, knowing you, you’ll ensure it.”
&&&
Rebekah POV:
Taking an eight-hour intercontinental flight with a newborn was not really Rebekah’s kind of free time activity. But Klaus insisted Rebekah leave for his apparent sanctuary for Caroline as soon as possible. So, about sixteen hours’ worth of uncomfortable travel, and large quantities of compulsion, later, Rebekah found herself in a town car on the way to Balmoral castle in Scotland, wondering what she was stepping into.
She was only a bit excited, a bit, tiny amount, a smidge, if you will. Rebekah’s pride wouldn’t allow her to describe the idea of her second niece and apparent new sister-in-law as anything but a tiny bit intriguing. But Hope, and Hope’s interaction with her step-mother, and likely future queen of New Orleans, that Rebekah’s pride was fully allowing.
It wasn’t Rebekah’s fault the idea of Caroline Forbes playing house in a Scottish castle with a miracle baby newborn, and another on the way, interested The Original. It also wasn’t Rebekah’s fault that the idea of anyone having the mental lapse in judgment to marry her overprotective ass of a big brother was like a Christmas present waiting to be opened.
So, when Rebekah was escorted into the castle by an eagerly excited maid and two armed guards, she allowed herself the smallest bit of acceptance. Maybe, just maybe, this wasn’t as insane as she was imagining. As soon as she stepped into the castle’s living room, however, she was proven wrong.
This was way, way more insane than Rebekah ever imagined.
Caroline sat on a massive velvet couch, practically bouncing with energy. She wore a beautiful black silk maternity dress and a diamond engagement ring on her finger so massive Rebekah nearly choked. Bonnie Bennet sat across from her, Grimoir on her lap. And Stefan Salvatore stood on the other end of the room, a large tray of tea and cakes in his hands. The sight alone nearly sent Rebekah into fits of laughter.
But the real shock, were the other residence of the room. Damon Salvatore sat barely an inch from Bonnie, glass of bourbon in hand, appearing seemingly smitten. And beside Caroline, dressed in tight leather, expensive jewels, and heels so tall even Rebekah thought they were a bit much; sat Katherine bloody Pierce.
“Rebekah!” Caroline squealed jumping up and bouncing over. “And this must be Hope, oh she’s so precious, give her here.” before Rebekah even registered what was happening, still shocked by Katherine’s presence, Caroline plucked Hope from Rebekah’s arms and started doting on the newborn. “Oh, aren’t you just the most precious thing. You’ll absolutely love it here; I already have your room all set up. Isn’t it wonderful to be in a castle my darling, isn’t it Steffy?”
“Definity wonderful Steffy,” Katherine agreed, smirking. “Rebekah Mikaelson, as I live and breath, it’s been too long.”
“Hey Bekah,” Stefan greeted putting down the tray and rolling his eyes at Stefan. “Now before you freak out, understand that Klaus has full knowledge of everyone in this castle.”
“And he hasn’t murdered Katerina yet?” Rebekah finally managed.
“Not if he ever wants to see his second born daughter,” Caroline stated hotly. “Nik wouldn’t dare touch a hair on Katherine’s head or he’d suffer my punishment.”
“Big Bad Hybrid is very attentive to his wife,” Damon supplied when Rebekah looked to him and Bonnie for explanation. “Maybe it’s a thing with you Originals.”
“Ha!” Bonnie yelled, jumping up and dropping her book. “I knew I did that damn spell right. I was right and you were wrong Kat, I was perfect. There’s no way to resurrect Kol if he’s already been resurrected. Ha!”
“Resurrect Kol?!” Rebekah exclaimed. “When on earth did you lot try and do that, and for that matter, why?”
“I’ve been seeing him,” Caroline said, waving her hand absently, as she sat down with Hope on her lap. “On an off really, for the past few months, side effect of the baby. Bon’s still not really sure why.”
“I’m working on it,” Bonnie said. “Anyways, I just managed to confirm it. Kol’s alive, just, not how we’d have brought him back.”
“Uh oh,” Stefan said. “Bad words there Bon, tell me some crazed coven didn’t resurrect him as a murderous black cat or something, right?”
Bonnie laughed nervously. “In my defense, no that was not what happened. It’s worse. The spirits were a bit, talkative today.”
“Oh, that’s what that was,” Caroline said. “I just thought Ria was kicking a lot because of the Nexus Vorte, but it was the spirits?”
“Yep,” Bonnie said, fake smile plastered on her face. “The spirits were very excited to share the news. The happy grandmother has returned, with her deceased sons in toe, possessing the bodies of New Orleans witches, no less.”
Stefan groaned and fell back against the couch next to Katherine and Caroline. “I’m really starting to regret ever associating with any of you. Esther! Really?”
Rebekah finally managing to ware off the shock, mirrored Stefan’s pained expression at the idea of her mother and eldest brother’s apparent resurrection. Caroline sighed, handing Hope to Katherine and standing from the couch. “Should you call Nik to tell him your psychotic mother is alive, again, or should I?”