Where I Stood

Chapter 1

"Not to sound crass, but where are we?" She asked curiously, still using the wall for support.

"New Orleans. Are you alright?" Elijah noticed she was leaning on the wall heavily.

"Just a tad dizzy. I've felt worse, trust me." She smiled reassuringly. "Now, if you don't mind, I'd better make it back to Mystic Falls. I'd hate to leave my house unattended for long." No one would notice she was gone, but her house elf, the ever trusty Kreacher. After the war, she was alone, her few friends dead, but somehow, Kreacher had developed an attachment to her. He was still rather bigoted, but she did her best to curb his slurs. She didn't have many friends in Mystic Falls, none that would notice her absence.

"I'm afraid that you won't be leaving New Orleans." Elijah gave her a comforting smile. "Until this problem with the witches is resolved, anyway. They seem to have forged a connection with your child and themselves."

"That's ludicrous!" She cried out, placing a hand at her temple for relieve both pain and stress. "I'm not pregnant. I can't be pregnant-"

"Are you sure, Helena?" Elijah approached her slowly, as if she was a scared animal.

"I am." She crossed her arms. "And I don't know why you would trust these witches who are saying otherwise."

Elijah's eyes held more sympathy than she'd seen in a long time. No one in America knew of her past. She wouldn't speak of it. It was too painful. "Perhaps you could stay with us until we can prove or disprove their allegations." Elijah suggested, knowing he'd need to prove the pregnancy to the stubborn human.

"I just want to return home." She said, frustrated tears filling her eyes.

"Well, you can in a few days." The voice she had been dreading boomed loudly and shortly from behind them.

She noticeably flinched. "Klaus." She acknowledged.

"Well, the one human who seemed to cause no trouble in Mystic Falls proves the most troublesome." He approached her with a frown.

"I will cause no trouble. I already told the witches and Elijah: I am not pregnant. And I don't know why it would concern any of you anyways!" She backed up as Klaus bypassed Elijah, leaving no buffer between them.

Klaus laughed viciously. Once the witches had proven to him that this human was carrying his child, he didn't think of how hard it would be to convince the human, or that he would at all. "Oh, sweetheart." He said cruelly. "It concerns me. And you're not going anywhere."

"Niklaus." His brother warned from behind him.

"You're insane." Helena hissed trying to free her arm. "Klaus, even if I was pregnant, I haven't slept with anyone in a long, long time."

"I beg to differ." His eyes darkened, remembering their intimacy.

"Klaus, you're a vampire!"

"A hybrid, actually." He corrected.

Helena's face drained. "No, no, no." Oh god, no. Her life was hard enough being the girl-who-lived, the chosen one. She didn't need to be knocked up by an Original Hybrid. She stumbled back, only for Klaus to catch her, concern flooding his eyes. "Let go of me." She tried to free herself. "Stop!." She began to hyperventilate. "No. You don't understand." Tears flew out of her eyes. "I can't. Please let me go."

"Niklaus, let go of her." Elijah demanded.

"Leave brother." He turned, and Helena took the moment to flee.

Klaus ran in front of her, using his speed. "Helena, please calm down." He didn't know when or how he became the stable one, or when he had accepted this, but he felt sympathy for the girl in front of him, who clearly didn't know what she was getting into.

"I need to leave."

"Come home with us." He demanded softly. "Sleep. And then we can discuss the possibilities tomorrow."

"I'm not pregnant." She tried to convince both him and her. She hated that doubt began to creep into her mind.

"Okay." Klaus agreed, not believing her statement. "Let's go home." And she didn't correct his statement because when she felt his arm wrap around her shoulder, she felt truly safe for the first time since she woke up.

"Not Helena, please. Take me instead!" A red headed woman stood in front of a child in a nursery.

"Stand aside, you silly girl." That voice still sent shivers down Helena's spine.

"Please, no. Take me, kill me instead." Lily Potter cried. "Have mercy, please. I'll do anything."

"Avada Kedavra." And there was a green light.

"No!" Helena sat up. She'd had that dream many a time throughout her life. It was her only true memory of her mother. If she was having a baby, what type of mother would she be? She'd never had an example. Aunt Petunia was hardly one to follow.

"Are you alright?" Klaus rushed in.

Helena pulled her knees to her chest, attempting to become as small as possible. "Please, go." She pleaded softly. She wanted, no, needed, to be alone.

Klaus ignored her and took the necessary steps to sit at the edge of the bed, still leaving space between him and the frightened girl. "What happened?" He asked.

She shook her head. "Just a dream." She looked at her knees, refusing to meet his eyes.

They say silently for a few minutes, neither wanting to break the silence, until Helena, still looking at her knees, asked, "I'm truly pregnant, aren't I?"

Klaus smiled comfortingly. "Afraid so, sweetheart." He stood up. "Go back to sleep." And he left.

Helena didn't go back to sleep, she was afraid of more dreams returning to her. She got up and moved to the bathroom, turning on the bath. She sat in the tub, despite the water not covering the bottom yet. As she waited for the water to gradually gain depth, she though through her life. She didn't want to be in New Orleans. She wanted to be back in England, in the Gryffindor common room. Had it only been a year and a half since she was there? Since Ron and Hermione had died? She had gone back after their funerals and just sat in the armchairs they had so often occupied for hours, before Luna had found her. Out of everyone, she, Luna, and Ginny had survived with Neville. The other Weasleys and Hagrid were still alive, but so utterly destroyed at the same time. She slowly turned the water off and hated herself for the tears that flowed out of her eyes. She held her breath and submerged herself. For a minute, she forgot where she was and remembered when she was in fourth year, in the Prefects' bathroom, trying to decode the golden egg. She remembered the lyrics that stuck with her. "We've taken what you'll surely miss...too late, it's gone, it won't come back." She was pulled from under the water suddenly.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Klaus shouted, still gripping her shoulders.

"I-"

"Don't speak! Were you trying to-"

"I'm sorry." She cut him off. "I didn't mean to. I don't know what to do. And I felt like I was drowning."

Klaus silently helped her stand up, telling her that the bath was over, and wrapped a towel around her shoulders. He led her to her bed a pulled a t-shirt over her head. He drew back the covers and followed her in after her. "Sleep." He said. And she placed her head on her chest, steadying herself with his breathing.

"I wasn't trying to hurt myself." She said, her eyes closed.

"I believe you."