Klaroline: Little Do You Know

Chapter 29: Be Still

~ Stefan's Pov ~

There's a deafening silence in the house, Liz sits beside me with silent tears streaming down her face and Damon sits in the corner nursing an almost empty bottle of bourbon, his eyes bloodshot; he blames himself for all of this, Elena going off the rails and not fighting hard enough to talk her off the edge, no one blames him, not even Klaus. Elijah just stands looking out the window, drink in hand, his breathing is slow and heavy. Rebekah's in the nursery with the baby, and Elena's in the basement; chained without her daylight ring and dying from Klaus' bite, it's unlikely she'll live through the day. Kol is comforting Destiny on the couch next to mine while she cries, she used her powers on Caroline until she made herself sick, just trying to get even a twitch out of her but so far nothing's happened. She says now we just need to wait. She either wakes up....or she doesn't. 

~ Klaus' Pov ~ 

She's just lying there, cold and unconscious; the only movement is the shallow rise and fall of her chest, it's been a day since we brought her home...she should be awake. Destiny has done what she can but only time will tell. I take her hand in mine and kiss it, "Come back to me love, please come back to me." My eyes fill once again with tears as I stare for any signs of movement, nothing. "I can't do this without you, I am nothing without you." I hold back the tears as I hear the wailing of our daughter disturb the silence of the house, it gets louder and louder until Rebekah appears in the door with her in her arms. 

"Anything?" She asks, trying to shush the baby. I stand up to face her and shake my head. "Niklaus please take her, she doesn't want me she wants you." She walks into the room. 

"No, she wants Caroline." I look away from them. As Rebekah gets closer to me the baby stops crying. 

"See." She says and thrusts my daughter into my arms. I stare down at the wide eyed baby as Rebekah leaves us, she wriggles and whimpers until I sit back down next to Caroline and hold her closer to me. I just stare at her, I don't know what to do; I need Caroline, she needs Caroline. She starts to fuss in my arms, I shush her and rock her gently in my arms.

"I'm sorry little one, your mummy isn't quite ready for you yet; I hope I'll do for now." She stops fussing as I move closer to Caroline, I take her hand in mine. I look back at the baby in my arms and smile. "You have your mummy's eyes." She just blinks tiredly at me. "Something tells me you're going to be exactly like her." She blinks, I look at Caroline and smile then look back at the baby in my arm. "Before I met your mother, everything was so cold and empty; but when I saw her, there was suddenly light and warmth. She is everything good about this world, and she gave me you. She is so excited to meet you little one." I feel Caroline's hand twitch, my head shoots up; I scan her body. I move slightly closer and her finger twitches, the baby starts fussing in my arm. "Caroline?" I whisper. Suddenly the baby in my arm pushes her hand out from her blanket and stretches it towards Caroline. I move even closer and bring Caroline's hand up to our daughter's, she wraps her tiny fist around Caroline's finger. She stops fussing, I watch as Caroline's hand slowly grasps our daughter's hand. "Caroline?" my voice barely above a whisper. The grey that plagues her skin fades and her natural blush returns, her breathing speeds up and she moves her head to the side slightly and scrunches up her face. She blinks a few times before opening her eyes slowly, and looks into mine with a sweet smile on her face. 

"Klaus?" Her voice is hoarse. "What happened?" I lean forward and pull her tightly against me, careful not to crush the baby in my arms.

"We almost lost you." The tears I was holding back now flow freely. We pull apart only slightly and I gesture for her to look down, as she does her eyes widen and fill with tears; a sad smile appearing on her face. "Say hello to our daughter." She carefully takes the baby from my arm and holds her close to her chest.