A New Beginning (sequel to Coming Home)

11. Confused

I put the key in the ignition but paused before starting it. There was that feeling again, like I was forgetting something... something important. I just couldn't quite reach it.

Shrugging my shoulders I started the car and took off in the direction of Mystic Falls High School. It probably wasn't that important if I couldn't remember it.

Twenty minutes later I pulled into the school parking lot, which was empty bar four other cars. I recognised them as my friends and realised I was last to arrive. Climbing out I saw my friends standing together laughing. I joined them and hid a smile of my own. Caroline was standing all business like, clipboard in hand, giving out orders for tonight. Her face was very serious which made me smile more. Classes didn't officially start until tomorrow. Today was just to get ready for prank night, and no one could take charge of a situation like Caroline.

As I stood beside her, Caroline turned her attention to me. "You're in charge of gluing the teachers' desks shut... and that includes your dads. No playing favourites."

"Don't worry Care, I actually think my dad..." I was cut off when Caroline suddenly reached out and grabbed my hand.

"Sweetheart? Can you hear me?" she asked, her expression blank, "Please come back to me..."

She suddenly smiled, "After you glue the desks, come find me and I'll give you another job to do." Her expression was once again normal. She started to give Elena a job but I stopped her, "Did you just call me sweetheart?"

Now it was her turn to look confused. "What are you talking about? No I didn't." with that she turned back to Elena.

I looked around at my group of friends. Elena and Matt, the perfect couple, Tyler and Bonnie. They were all smiling and nodding at Caroline.

Did I just imagine what she said to me?

The niggling feeling was back, and it was starting to annoy me now.

"Jenni, are you ok?" Matt's voice brought me out of my daze.

"Yes, I'm fine. Why do you ask?"

He pointed at me, "You keep rubbing your stomach."

I looked down in surprise, sure enough my left hand was gently rubbing circles on my stomach. My eyes lifted to the concerned looks on my friends faces. "I'm fine, really." I lied. I don't know why I did, they were just worried about me.

I wasn't sick, something was just... missing. I just couldn't quite put my finger on what that something was.

3rd POV

Nik watched as Jennifer apologised to his sister in the courtyard below. He had woken up alone in the bed and for a brief moment feared that Jennifer's return to New Orleans had been some kind of dream. He quickly got dressed but calmed down once he heard her and Caroline in the kitchen. Vampire hearing really did have its uses.

He knew he had purposely ignored her when she first came back, but he was Niklaus Mikaelson, the Original Hybrid. He couldn't let her know how much she hurt him with her absence, or how happy he was when she once again walked through those doors. He wanted to hurt her like she had hurt him.

He walked out of the bedroom and walked to where he now stood, looking down as she talked to his sister. He knew he still had a lot to discuss with Jennifer. He did not know how he felt about this pregnancy just yet and had avoided mentioning it so far, but he knew it was a discussion he couldn't delay much longer.

Especially now that they were together once more. He felt the corners of his lips curl up in a smile at the memory of their re-union.

He watched as his sister walked away. Of course she had forgiven Jennifer, Rebekah loved her like they were sisters. He watched as Jennifer made her way to the stairs to come back to him, he smiled when she looked up and directly at him, like she knew he was there. He watched as she stopped moving, the smile falling from her face and her expression turning to one of panic.

He was already running to her when she started to scream and double over.

Nik reached her seconds later, as did Caroline and his siblings having heard her screams themselves. Jennifer looked up at him, pain in her eyes, "The baby... oh god... the baby." She whispered before passing out in his arms.

Nik carried her back to the bedroom where he gently placed her on the bed. He sat beside her, holding her hand.

"Jennifer? Jennifer, can you hear me? Wake up love."

Jennifer didn't wake up, didn't move. She just lay there, a peaceful look on her face. Caroline stood wringing her hands together by the door, she didn't know what to do.

"What's wrong with her?" Rebekah asked, her fear evident by the tremble in her voice. Nik didn't answer her, he barely registered she was even in the room. His focus was solely on the person lying in front of him. He couldn't lose her now, he just got her back.

Elijah, although just as worried, remained calm. He tried to think logically, and as his gaze came to a rest on the unconscious girl's swollen stomach he was hit with a very clear realisation of what was causing this.

Witches.

"Niklaus, stay with the girl. I'm going to go question Sophie Deveraux." He started to leave the room, he didn't know what had been done, but he was sure the witches were behind this. He was stopped in tracks when his brother leaped off the bed behind him with a roar.

"I'm going to kill every bloody last one of them." Nik ranted.

Rebekah was in front of her brother instantly, "Elijah is right Nik, and you need to stay here with Jennifer in case she wakes up. I will go with Elijah and we will fix this." The conviction in her voice was clear, but before Nik could reply Elijah and Rebekah were gone, leaving him standing there feeling useless. Niklaus Mikaelson wasn't one to sit and wait for a solution, he was one to go out and decapitate people until he got the solution he wanted.

"Klaus?" Caroline's voice was low, almost a whisper. He turned to her and she flinched at the look of pure anger he wore. She knew it wasn't directed at her and for a fleeting moment she felt sorry for the person it would be directed at. Of course one look at her friend lying on the bed and the pity she felt evaporated. She knew instantly she would do what ever was asked of her to save Jennifer.

"Klaus," she started again, "She's going to be ok. You know how strong she is, just look at everything she has already been through."

He knew she meant to comfort him with her words, but they meant nothing at the moment. Of course he knew how strong she was. It was the reason he was drawn to her all those years ago in New York, when she had been attacked and he had intervened on her behalf. His damsel who wasn't a damsel. He once again sat on the bed beside her, taking her hand. He bent forward until his lips were at her ear.

Sweetheart, can you hear me?" he whispered, "Please come back to me."