Chapter 16
Charlie blinked at her. “Are you– are you sure?”
“Uhuh,” Bella said a little bit unsure. “Did six pregnancy tests, too. Just for shits and giggles, we never believed they could actually be positive…”
He hummed as he gently put his hand on her stomach. “The way Hades’ ability works is that he can revive dead seed. So he revived them after you and Kol had some fun time… about… 2 to 3 months ago?” Charlie looked up to his daughter/granddaughter and faintly smiled. “You sure you’re ready for this?”
“No,” Bella huffed, a slight chuckle following that huff. “But we can’t change that now, can we? Kol and I have gone through a lot and I’m sure we can handle this,” she smiled at Kol. “We’re going to be the best, craziest parents, ever.”
“Yeah, we are,” Kol grinned. “But seriously, was Hades right about the amount of babies?”
“Twin boys, definitely,” Charlie confirmed with a nod. “Human, too. The reason why Hades hasn’t been stopped from doing this is because the babies will be human, and not some freaky hybrid. Seeing that Kol was a witch, they’ll be witches and very powerful too, they’ll be a force to be reckoned with and likely warrants another chat with the regent and ancestors that you’ll be able to control them – you should likely bind their powers or have a dark object that’s dampening their abilities until they’re old enough to know what control is.”
“Can’t you do it?”
“Sweetheart, I know I’m a God, and we Gods can do a lot of stuff, but this is magic. We don’t do magic.”
Bella pouted.
“Now, I doubt you’ve allowed Hades to tell you this after you’ve scolded him and hated him for surprising you like this, but Bella, you are vulnerable right now,” Charlie said as he removed his hand from her. “You’re still immortal, but you won’t have access to your powers, if you do, they’re not reliable. You can’t protect yourself or the ones you love. All of that goes to protecting your two boys. Normally this wouldn’t happen but it’s because of who you are with and because of those you choose to surround yourself with – just as a precaution to them. It’s your own mind that’s done this, too.”
Oh, she didn’t like to hear that. While she hadn’t used her powers in a while, apart from dealing with Dahlia, Bella did like it that she was able to protect herself if needed; stand her own ground in the midst of all these vampires and now her head basically decided to forgo on the gifts to protect her babies? That wasn’t fair. Immortal or not, Bella didn’t like to feel helpless. “Well crap.”
“You’re still immortal, Bella,” Charlie laughed as he reached for his coffee again. “And your family can protect you, they will protect you,” he said as he narrowed his eyes on Kol before looking back at her. “You have to trust that others are capable of taking care of you as you’ve taken care of them in the past. Let go of your trust issues, your control issues, and only focus on making sure you’re making it through this pregnancy sane, happy and healthy.”
“Don’t worry,” Kol eventually said, upon seeing the look on Bella’s face. “My family and I will not allow anything to happen to her, we’ve never allowed that and we never will.” How could she think that he’d let anything happen to her? That she wouldn’t get the care that she needed? Hadn’t he proven enough that he would fight the entire world for her if he had to? Kol had thought he had fixed the trust issues between them. And maybe it had but she was no longer trusting his family. Well… Elijah has always been a dick, Freya only made it worse. It was them Bella was worried about, wasn’t it? “In fact, Bella and I are going to move back in with my family, just temporarily, so they can help us during her pregnancy and after the babies are born.”
“You’re not going to stay in the apartment?”
“Too many stairs,” Bella shrugged. “The place is big enough but the stairs that I need to climb… I mean, I’m immortal but I’m not as strong as Kol and stuff. Safety.”
“Are you going to move?”
Bella smiled at Kol then. “I want them to know what grass is. And trees.”
“But that’s not for something to discuss right now, we still have time,” Kol said calmly. “We first have to figure out this whole pregnancy and parent thing.”
Charlie nodded. “Parenting is hard,” he eventually said. “But do remember that it’s your body. You and Kol are the parents. They will be and they are your children and nobody else’s. Draw your line in the sand and don’t allow others to cross that line, okay?”
“Okay.”
“You can do this. The both of you. No matter what others may tell you,” he looked at Kol. “Because you know that if you tell your family that you’re becoming a father, they will tell you you’re not equipped. You are.”
Kol let out a breath and nodded, Charlie had pointed out a vulnerability that he hadn’t told Bella about; his family would indeed tell them – him – that he’s not sane enough for a child, let alone two children. His family would always find a way to bring him down, to diminish his existence, even now that he had Bella back. He was the stupid, insane brother, no matter what Kol did to prove otherwise. “Thank you.”
“Look, I may not be a real parent to you both, but I am always here to talk if you need me to. I’m your biggest champion, don’t you two forget that.”
Bella hugged Charlie and smiled up at him. “See? Charlie is so much better than Helios. More human.”
“Alright,” Charlie laughed and kissed her cheek. “Got it. More humany, less of the God stuff.”
“Yes,” Bella nodded. “And thank you for telling us what we needed to hear, dad.” It was almost as if there was a cloud lifted. Sure, she and Kol were quite alright with this situation, but she could already noticed that Charlie was exactly what they both needed right now. They could do this, and they were going to be awesome and Charlie had faith in them. Both of them. Their biggest fan.
“I’ll be coming by more often, I promise. But before I go, anything else you want to know?”
Bella thought for a moment as she was still holding on to him and felt the color drain from her face. “So… magic doesn’t work on me, what about traditional drugs? Like… if I go into labor and shit?”
“Sorry, sweetheart, I think you’ll have to find a different way to deal with the pain. You have about five months to figure it out. Twins are usually premature.”
Bella sighed and nodded, squeezing her father a little and then let him go. “Thank you.”
“You’re very welcome, sweetheart,” he said as he planted a kiss on top of her head and shook Kol’s hand. “You’re going to do great and I’ll make sure that at least our side of the family won’t come and interfere with your lives. You have enough on your plates as it is.”
And, without a goodbye or see you later, Charlie poofed out.
~o.O.o~
Klaus had found it somewhat endearing that his brother ran to his girlfriend the moment she called for him across the street. Reminding him of a little puppy. Kol had been acting strange ever since Klaus had run into him at Walmart. Well, no, not run into him. Klaus had followed him because of his brother’s strange behavior, and curiosity never killed the cat unless it was on his last life.
And now Myriam was acting strangely. She had asked if she could do a little remodeling of a part of the compound to make it less open and a bit less… ancient looking? He wasn’t quite sure what she meant by that, but she wanted it to be her project and her plans were small enough – only minor adjustments – that he’d allow her to make the modifications only if Kol would agree to it, seeing as his bedroom was part of her plans. The funniest part was that he had already given his permission – somewhat – and that she was going to meet with a few contractors while she was at work.
Whatever was going on, Klaus was certain that he’d find out soon. It wasn’t as if his mind wasn’t occupied with other things. Such as Lucien Castle. His first sire. Although he was a lot of fun, Klaus couldn’t help but to be slightly wary of him. Yes, Lucien wanted Klaus alive because he didn’t want to die, but there was something else. For instance, why was his company killing wolves in the Bayou? Was it just for fun? The Bayou had been home to the wolves for centuries, why change that now?
Elijah was dealing with his sire; Tristan. Klaus had never liked him; he was an even bigger pompous ass than Elijah was, and Tristan’s sister Aurora was batshit crazy. She was slightly interesting when she was still human, but not everyone survived immortality with a sound mind. Aurora was proof of that.
And then there was Freya. The latest addition to their family and even though both he and Elijah were smitten with her, Klaus couldn’t change her mind about Bella, mainly because she had a point there. Oh, Bella would never hurt them, but there was a possibility that his enemies would be able to make her turn on them, become the beast of the prophecy. But Bella wouldn’t hurt them. He knew this. Why was he so worried about her turning on them then?
He’d been TrashPanda with Myriam for Bella for years. He knew Bella. He knew what made her tick. She’d been such a great influence on Kol and keeping him occupied and happy. Bella was the best thing that had ever happened to his family – apart from Myriam, of course. This was ridiculous. Bella wasn’t a threat.
If anything, Freya was a threat.
Leaning over the railing, he watched the servants set everything ready for the family dinner tonight; Bella and Kol were coming over and he had instructed the cook to make Bella’s favourite foods. Different kinds of pasta, salads… everything. Her favourite kind of wine. Her favourite dessert. No expense spared, only the best for his favourite human – immortal. Klaus wasn’t even sure what Freya’s favourite foods were, he made a mental note to ask.
Myriam appeared next to him and softly kissed him. “Penny for your thoughts?”
He smiled at her and pulled her into his arms. “Welcome home, love, how was work?”
Myriam huffed as she relaxed into his embrace. “There was an issue with some famous actor,” she started to explain. “He’s a regular and usually we have no issue with him at all, but somehow, this time around he managed to pass through the screening process with drugs in his system. It’s a good thing Gracie recognized that he wasn’t normal and called for security, he was nuts by the time they reached her.”
“You should have eaten him.”
“Nah, we now have blackmail material,” Myriam grinned. “As a reminder for him to behave and come in clean.”
Klaus softly kissed her. “I love your wicked mind, love. Now, did you make some headway with contractors?”
“Oh yeah, met one that I really liked. He can actually do the work in two weeks.”
“What are your plans, exactly?”
“Break a few walls… dry walling… make it look a little more modern on the inside but still keep the outside the same, don’t worry,” she smiled at him. “Trust me, you will like it, especially when hearing the reason behind the remodeling. Are Bella and Kol coming over for dinner tonight?”
“Yes,” he looked at her, intrigued. “What are you up to, woman?”
“You will like it, trust me,” she purred as she pressed herself against him. “Can I interest you in a short tryst before dinner?”
“Because you ask so nicely,” he claimed her mouth with his, hard, before dragging her into the bedroom. Yes, Myriam was the right person to take his mind off of deep thoughts. Definitely.
~o.O.o~
Kol couldn’t help but feel a little nervous about this. He could tell that Bella was too, but he was nervous. Despite Charlie’s positive reinforcement, Kol was certain that his family were going to be jealous, outraged and hurt and generally not happy, but happy that there was going to be a blood extension to their family nonetheless.
It was likely that they were going to curse Bella’s family, much like he and Bella had, but for different reasons. With Freya’s suspicions and fear directed towards Bella, no doubt she’ll change her tune from blaming Bella to be the Beast to their unborn children.
They should have stayed away from New Orleans. No, they shouldn’t. If this prophecy was real – Kol and Freya hadn’t found anything about it at all, no mentions in books, no way of proving it with spells or whatever, but they weren’t entirely unconvinced either – if this prophecy was real, the family needed Kol to do the dirty work because face it, that was what he was good at. Following orders like a good little drone.
Bella had absolutely nothing to worry about – aside from Freya’s suspicions and a little bit of jealousy coming from Myriam and Rebekah. For years the girls had expressed their desire to have a family of their own but because of their immortality it hadn’t been possible. No, Bella had nothing to worry about because she was carrying Mikaelsons inside of her.
She’d be even safer if they’d neglect to mention that Bella was basically powerless now.
“Hey,” Bella put her arms around him right before they were about to leave. She looked up at him with a big smile on her face. “We can do this. No matter what they say, we can do this. Let them throw their fits or whatever they’re going to do. Like us, it’s likely they all just need some time to adjust to the idea. We’ll be fine.”
“Quite right,” Kol softly kissed her. “Yes. Let’s stop being insecure about this. It’s happening to us, with us, and they’re merely along for the ride.”
“No parent is perfect, good thing that our kids will have one full good parent out of two imperfect ones.”
“Funny.”
“I know,” she grinned and playfully slapped his ass. “Come on, let’s get this over with and then retreat back to our lovely apartment so we can finish watching that season of Supernatural.”
“I hate that show,” Kol groaned.
“It’s research!”
“Keep telling yourself that,” he laughed. “It’s a ridiculous show.”
“Research!” Bella grinned as she kissed him. “Alright, let’s go and face your family, it’s going to be alright. We can do this.”
“Yes.”
Bella’s mouth watered when she smelled the food as they walked into the courtyard. While Bella preferred home cooking, sometimes Klaus managed to find the most perfect cook for her non-dead tastebuds. “Pasta,” Bella smiled widely at Kol as they continued to head towards the dining room. “I am so hungry!”
“How can you eat?” Kol laughed. “I’m blooming nervous.”
“It’s food,” Bella pointed out with a pout. “Can’t I be excited about food especially when it seems like my favourite meal?”
“Several of your favourite meals, love,” Klaus greeted her with a smile. “I know you have had a rough couple of weeks and I wanted to cheer you up.”
“Oh, Nik, don’t,” Kol pinched the bridge of his nose when he sensed Bella becoming overly emotional. “She’s fine,” he put an arm around her and gently squeezed her shoulder. “Aren’t you, Bella?”
“I’m good,” Bella smiled as she hugged Klaus. “Thank you! You shouldn’t have made such an effort!”
“All the effort is the cook’s, love,” Klaus smirked as he accompanied his brother and his brother’s girlfriend to the dining room. “But I do have to admit, I have ulterior motives with this feast. I hope that it will make up for how I believed Freya’s insulting ideas of you having to do anything with this blasted prophecy. I was wrong.”
She smiled at him. “I get it, old habits die hard.”
“Doesn’t mean you have to give him a free pass,” Myriam huffed as she hugged Bella and then Kol. “Come, sit.”
Soon, everyone fell back into chattering amongst themselves while Bella remained quiet, happily eating the food in front of her, taking a little bit of everything before going back for a second helping. This wasn’t because she was pregnant; she doubted that she’d ever ‘eat for three’ but she did love her food.
Cami was engaging Freya, a lot. Bella was wondering what was going on there, but so far, Bella observed that Freya was a lot calmer towards her. Rebekah was slightly pissed because her boyfriend Kaleb, had broken up with her for some unknown reason. Well, the reason wasn’t unknown, Kaleb was simply not cut out for keeping up with Rebekah. She was sighing that she might just go back to Mystic Falls and patch things up with Matt. Bella liked that. Matt was a good guy and he knew how to handle Rebekah because she liked him very much too.
Bella felt sorry for her and made a mental note of asking Rebekah to go on a girl’s day out once Bella felt up for more socialisation – likely after she and Kol dropped the bombshell that there were tiny Mikaelsons joining them in the family next year. Bella didn’t particularly like girl’s days out, but a good massage sounded so good right now – just to get rid of the tightness of her skin which wasn’t because of bloating but because of the two humans she was growing inside of her.
“What are you thinking about?”
Kol’s whisper in her ear sent pleasurable shivers down her body. “Forget Supernatural… I want a massage.”
Kol laughed at that. “Alright spaghetti monster!”
“Hey! Don’t insult the spaghetti.”
“I’m not insulting the spaghetti,” Kol threw his hands up with a smile on his face before looking at his brother. “Any more on the nasty trio?”
“Ah, let’s not discuss those imbeciles while we’re still eating, brother,” Klaus said playfully. “Don’t want to spoil the good mood! We’re having dinner with family, let’s enjoy that.”
After dinner, and dessert, Myriam suggested that they’d have a nice glass of bourbon in the courtyard so she could tell everyone what her plans were for the back three rooms at the courtyard. This news came to a shock to Rebekah and Elijah, who were already offended by the idea that their home had to get some remodeling done. There wasn’t anything wrong with the rooms; apart from Kol’s bedroom, they weren’t being used on a frequent basis, nobody was living in them, so what were her plans, exactly? Klaus didn’t need a painting studio as he painted in his study and his paintings were carefully kept in the basement.
“Basically the rooms are going to be like a small home, bedroom, proper bathroom, small kitchen, living area…” Myriam gestured to the rooms. “The contractor will knock out a wall or two, reinforce others, for safety from outside forces,” she then grinned as she looked at the Mikaelsons. “You know, if two of you knuckle heads decide to toss each other across the courtyard, the people in those rooms will remain safe.”
“You’re not going to rent them out, are you?” Elijah asked appalled.
“Ohhh, theories!” Myriam mused, taking a sip of her drink. “No, Elijah, but please keep guessing. No one will guess correctly!”
“Is your women’s shelter overflowing?” Rebekah wondered. “You could just knock down a wall between Debauché and the animal shelter’s second level, you know. It’s not like I’m using it…”
“Great idea for expansion! We definitely have to discuss that,” she replied as she pointed at Rebekah. It was a brilliant idea. “I’d never bring girls home with me. It’s almost like bringing my work home.” She looked at Klaus, but he remained silent. “Now, as for decoration, nothing much will change. All the change will be on the inside and won’t hurt the way the courtyard looks. However, perhaps a few tall plants to hide the rooms from view wouldn’t hurt.”
“Myriam, I don’t need a mini apartment, I’m fine with the room my brothers have given me,” Freya eventually said. “I’m flattered, but—”
“Oh dear child, it’s not for you. No, you can fend for yourself,” Myriam countered, still not liking Freya that much. “But if you do wish for your own space, no doubt Klaus will give you the money to do so.”
“It’s for us,” Kol eventually said, after his siblings had given up on guessing. From the look on Cami’s face, even she hadn’t seen this answer coming. “Bella and I are going to have to temporarily move back in while we deal with the changes in our lives and until we’ve found the perfect house here in New Orleans.”
“But your apartment is beautiful,” Klaus pointed out. “Not that I have seen it from the inside, but wasn’t that a part of the deal you and Bella had, that if you were going to back together you’d be together in her apartment?”
“Circumstances changed,” Kol shrugged. “Especially since in a couple of weeks Bella will start to have difficulties climbing the stairs to our home.”
“What’s going on?” Elijah wondered out loud, watching his brother and his girlfriend curiously.
Klaus just looked at the two while the cogs in his head worked over hours. “Impossible,” he eventually exclaimed as the puzzle pieces fell into place. ‘Human experiences’ his ass, but it was still impossible.
“Ah, not with some Greek family members,” Kol pointed out. “Although I’d rather had him not surprise us with this as he was supposed to wait until we’d tell him we were ready.”
“You can’t be serious,” Klaus wasn’t quite sure whether or not he was supposed to be happy or angry with whomever did this. While he loved Bella dearly, and Kol, he wasn’t convinced that the both of them were ready for this responsibility. On the other hand, their family was large enough to help them out and it did mean more family. Little ones. Ones that were his blood and he’d be able to see grow – unlike Marcel. While the boy had been young, he never really turned out the way Klaus wanted him to be.
“Do you think I’d joke about not being able to fit into my jeans anymore? Already?” Bella said as she sipped her cola. So far, she was digging the flabbergasted looks on everyone’s faces. Elijah looked like a fish on dryland, Rebekah looked like she was ready to pounce her to hug her. Freya didn’t look amused and Cami looked worried.
“She practically lives in her jeans,” Myriam smirked. “When she’s not traveling with Kol.”
Freya, as the only one having been pregnant before, decided to speak up. “But you can just live in your home, the stairs would be a great exercise for a mother to be,” she said, curious. “It’s good to stay active.”
“And she would have if it were just the one,” Kol shot at his sister. “But those stairs will become a hazard soon enough and when the babies are born, it’ll be even worse as she’ll have to carry them up the stairs too, sometimes even with groceries.”
Bella smacked Kol’s arm. “Do not think for one moment that just because you’re a guy, you get out of taking care of the twins, you idiot.”
“Twins!” Rebekah gasped. “Really!”
“Well,” Klaus smiled widely. “This calls for something more elegant than a glass of bourbon to celebrate, how about some champagne?” He looked over to a servant who nodded and scurried off. “And when will we get to welcome the children?”
“February or March,” Bella replied. “I’m three months along now. Both Helios and Hades confirmed.”
Rebekah couldn’t hold her excitement anymore and rushed over to hug Bella tightly. “Babies! You’re making me an aunt! I’ll be the best babysitter ever, I promise!” She then flung herself at Kol. “And you’d better treat your girl right, Kol Mikaelson or I will punch you so hard you’ll be seeing stars for days!”
“Hey, I know how to treat my girl, don’t you worry, sister.”
“Good, because if I hear otherwise, I will beat you up.”
“Congratulations,” Cami smiled at Bella and Kol. “I’m sure you two are going to be just fine.”
After celebratory drinks, Bella and Kol went back to their apartment for a nice soak in the bath together. “Well, that went ridiculously well,” Kol breathed out as he gently massaged Bella’s scalp with his finger tips. “No doubt, of course, they’re now arguing about it.”
“At least they’re keeping us out of it.”
“For now, at least,” he let out a snort. “Well, it’s now official, we’re going to be parents.”
“Yep.”
~o.O.o~
Rebekah looked at her siblings and Myriam and Cami and sighed deeply once Kol and Bella were well out of earshot. “Not that I’m not extremely happy about becoming an aunt, but am I the only one who thinks that Kol should not be a father?”
“The thought has crossed my mind,” Elijah replied solemnly. “I’m not ashamed to admit that Kol has been behaving himself for once, but—”
“Oh come on!” Both Cami and Myriam rolled their eyes as if they had practised it. “First of all, you didn’t have a great father,” Myriam continued. “Mikael was a bully. Your mother… perhaps even worse with wanting to kill you for different reasons. Bella has a decent head on her shoulders and she and Kol are a great couple, they’re great together. There is no doubt in my mind that they’ll be fine.”
“And yet, you have them move in here,” Elijah pointed out.
“Yes! Because it’s easier for Bella once she balloons, so she doesn’t have to take the stairs to their apartment! And once the babies are born, they are going to need all the help they can get because, hello, twins!”
“I don’t see the need to coddle her,” Freya huffed. “Women have been getting babies for centuries. Stairs won’t hurt her. And besides, did everyone forget the prophecy? For all we know she could be giving birth to the beast that’s to come.”
“Do you honestly think that that’s possible?” Elijah asked his sister, unsure if he was tired of her accusations or had to start believing her more due to her insistence.
“Oh, yeah, definitely,” she replied nodding. “As you know, we’re having troubles deciphering the prophecy still. I believe Kol only gave up on Bella’s insistence. I sincerely doubt that her getting pregnant was an accident; it’s more than likely that she asked her relative to make it happen – only to forge a stronger bond between her and Kol.”
Cami got to her feet and straightened her clothes. “Freya, please dial down the paranoia. How many times more do we have to tell you that Bella’s one of the good ones?”
“And I don’t see why you’re still here, being a part of the conversation.”
“Because obviously Bella needs another champion in this family,” Cami shot at Freya. “Look, I don’t know the girl that well myself, like to yourself, my first introduction to her were the stories, the twisted stories, that the family told me about her. How she was trouble and that it was good that she was gone. But, since she basically single handedly saved each and everyone of you, I’ve heard the good stories. Sure, it’s very likely that she’s capable of abusing her power and allow it to corrupt her, but as it was made clear to me; she wouldn’t have been allowed to walk around on Earth if the Gods thought she was going to do that,” she continued. “That girl loves Kol with everything she has and it seemed that up until the magical fuckery, she had found her place within this family. She can’t help it that she has a wide variety of family members who like to play around. Imagine what your behaviour must feel like for her, Freya. All she wants is to be liked, not feared, but liked. Despite his constant negativity towards her, deep down, even Elijah likes her. There is no evil bone inside of her. None. She doesn’t kill, or tries to avoid it as much as possible. She turned your aunt into a rat, for fuck’s sake. Klaus would have just killed her, same as Elijah. Just because she’s more powerful than you, doesn’t mean that she’ll be the root of all evil in that prophecy of yours.”
“And as far as Kol’s impending fatherhood,” Myriam slowly added after having given it some thought ever since Bella told her she was pregnant, “I think it’s a wonderful thing. He and Bella are going to be awesome parents together, no matter what you think. He’s changed for the better and you all know this. It’s jealousy that makes you think that he won’t be.”
“Oh, you’re a psychologist now?” Rebekah shot at Myriam.
“No, but I’m a vampire and like you, I was human once and I wanted my own family. Sometimes I still get that pang of jealousy when I see women with their strollers and having fun with their children. Granted, with a lot of magic and a lot of blood consumption much to the point where we lose our minds we can bear children but it’s a lot of work and doesn’t come cheap. Instead, we should be happy for new blood in our family in the form of Kol and Bella’s twins. They’re going to be human witches. No freaky hybrids, just healthy human beings. They’re going to get so much love from the rest of us, as long as you move passed that jealousy and be happy for your brother,” she then smiled widely. “I, for one, can’t wait to spoil them rotten.”
“Niklaus?”
Klaus sighed tiredly as he pinched the bridge of his nose. “Neither of us Mikaelsons are fully equipped of being a parent. No matter how we’d try, we haven’t been human in a very long time,” he spoke carefully as not to anger his siblings. Oh, he truly believed that if Kol had a different mate than Bella, he’d be right there on the bandwagon and fully against it. “In comparison, Kol is even more human than all of us, considering the amount of times we’ve put him away in a box because he was too much of a handful. Bella balances him out. We saw that connection in Mystic Falls straight away. I have no doubt that they will be extraordinary.”
“But what if Kol snaps and loses it? Kills one of the babies? We all know that he has the least amount of control.”
“As I said, Bella balances him out, Rebekah,” Klaus countered his sister. “You’ve seen him change when he was with Davina, and that wasn’t merely because of the magic controlling him. It was due to him being without Bella. He’ll be fine. They’re going to get all the help they need, they request, and the babies will be loved by all,” he said slowly, looking at each of his siblings, lingering on Freya. “And if your behaviour doesn’t change, I’ll personally see to it that it will, one way or another. If you’re going to make me choose between Bella and you, then I will always choose her, do you understand?”
“Can we go and see a real doctor this week?” Bella complained as she once again shifted on the bed, bumping some pillows around and tried to take a nap. She felt like crap. She was constipated and had heartburn and whatever she tried to alleviate both symptoms, it didn’t work. They’d been going to a healer on a regular basis, but Bella wanted to be sure that everything was alright with Dumb and Dumber through an ultrasound and human medical opinion.
They had moved into the compound two weeks ago after construction was completed and her stuff moved and she’d been glad that she didn’t have to help moving and packing, it wasn’t as if she couldn’t do anything anymore, but she was usually grumpy and upset about how fast the babies were growing and her expanding belly.
She liked it that they were being left alone for as much as possible, much like they were in the apartment, but when they did decide to mingle with the rest of the family, they all gave her a wide berth, wary of her mood and the severity of the swings.
“Go take your nap, I’ll see what I can do,” Kol smiled at her, kissing her forehead. “Perhaps one of Elijah’s or Nik’s vampires are a doctor and would be willing to—”
“No. Human.”
“Go nap,” Kol said again, propping some pillows that had fallen off the bed against her and tucking her back in. “I’ll be back in a bit.”
“Asshole.”
“Yep, love you too,” he said as he quickly made his way out of the apartment and took a deep breath as soon as he set foot onto the courtyard. Bella’s moods were terrible and what was worse was that he couldn’t help her with her symptoms. His blood didn’t work on her now as part of the defense mechanism her body had set up and human medicine was out of the question; hell, all efforts magical or not, to help her with the symptoms turned out to be in vain.
On top of that, more of Elijah’s minions had started to stroll into town and that had them all on edge, especially after discovering that his brother’s secret society hadn’t ended when he made it end. They’d simply continued in secret without Elijah’s all seeing eye, abiding by the rules he had set up. Ancient, stupid rules.
The Strix were all pretty much like his brother, but worse. And Kol didn’t believe things could get worse than Elijah. The Strix were now run by Aya, one of Elijah’s former lovers and of course, Tristan de Martel. He and his crazy sister sometimes came over to have a chat with Elijah and Nik when Myriam wasn’t around and Kol never knew where to properly hide from them. But, to be fair, Lucien was far worse; less diplomatic about his opinions.
The fun part was that the ever so calm and sweet Bella wanted to take the trio out before they could do any harm to the family, but alas, she was a powerless little demi-Goddess these days and even then, she’d never hurt a fly – and while Kol wanted to do her bidding, his siblings told him not to.
Bella’s request of visiting a human doctor wasn’t anything new. She’d been asking for weeks and he always said ‘no’. Sure, he could always compel the guy, or woman, to forget what they’d learned but why was she so adamant? The healer was doing fine, even Rebekah said so from a nurse’s standpoint. Oh yes, his sister was in full nurse mode around Bella, or at least whenever she felt the need arise.
Freya was even worse and she was also the one who was usually at the root of Bella’s daily annoyance. Freya figured because she’d been pregnant before, she knew everything. She tended to forget that it was centuries ago and that in this day and age things were different. Or not. Seeing as Bella couldn’t enjoy the comforts of modern medicine anyway.
“Elijah,” Kol headed to his brother with a tentative smile on his face. He could have Bella think that she was in the hands of a human doctor, couldn’t he? “Does any of your minions hold a PhD in medicine or gynecology?”
“Yes.”
“Good! Could you set up a meeting with him or her and tell them to act as human as possible? Bella wants a human doctor.”
Elijah eyed his younger brother. “Are you sure you would like me to do that?”
“Yeah, why not?”
“Because when she finds out that the doctor is indeed a vampire, you’ll be in big trouble with a pregnant woman and… the person I have in mind is a Cullen.”
Kol scratched his head as he was trying to remember why that name sounded so familiar. “Cullen, as in those idiots from the books that this woman wrote?”
“One and the same. Granted, there are no Cold Ones, but they are still vampires and I’m ashamed to admit most of them are of my line. All of them but one.”
He smirked then. “Bella’s going to kill you.”
“Not if she kills you first for lying to her,” Elijah playfully pointed out.
“I’m still her favourite, my money is on you,” Kol countered before heading to the kitchen to get himself something bloody where he ran into his sister Rebekah. “Shouldn’t you be at the shelter?”
“No,” she smiled at her brother as he started to guzzle down a blood bag. “I was thinking on taking the whale out for a nice afternoon once she wakes up from her nap.”
“She’s not a whale,” he nearly choked on his blood. “But yes, good idea.”
“Maybe start shopping a little for the nursery, yes?” She smiled at him. “It’s about time, don’t you think? Granted, you lot order online to avoid shopping, but come on, it’s more fun to walk into a store and pick things out.”
“It’s your funeral.”
“Oh, come on, I know she’s a little bit grouchy but she has two humans baking inside of her. You should take her out on a date, take her mind off of things too. Make her feel pretty.”
He narrowed his eyes on her. “Don’t you think that I’m not trying every day? Between the impending danger that’s dangling over our heads and her pregnancy I am doing everything that I can but she is really testing my patience!”
“Now now,” Rebekah chided him. “Go have fun with the brothers, I’ll try to lift your girl’s spirits this afternoon!”
~o.O.o~
“Oh good, you’ve finally woken up from your nap,” Rebekah’s voice sounded quite bored. “Get up, freshen yourself up, we’re going out for a late lunch and then some shopping.”
Bella groaned as it was tempting to throw a pillow at Kol’s sister.
“Come on, I know you feel like crap, but we’re going to have a little bit of fun this afternoon.”
She rolled out of bed and headed to the bathroom to do as she was told. She brushed her hair, splashed her face with water, pulled her hair back into a ponytail and pouted. She needed a haircut, desperately. Maybe go shorter than she usually had it. Like, right above her shoulders. That would freak Kol out to no end, wouldn’t it? But the weight on her head would be a lot less.
Bella knew that Rebekah was going to get a kick out of that, too. “Hey, Rebekah?” Bella asked as she walked into the living room. “Shall we go and get our hair done?”
Rebekah smiled at her. “Would I ever refuse an opportunity to have a specialist massage my scalp while she’s washing my hair? Yes! Let’s do that! But no coloring for you…” she replied thoughtfully. “In fact, I want to reduce the amount of chemicals you’d inhale… I know just the place. Granted, they serve you a nice glass of bubbly, but I expect that in your case, they’ll have something non-alcoholic too.”
“You do know that I’m allowed a glass of alcohol a week, right? Or more, even, if I feel daring enough.”
“Non-alcoholic drinks for you,” Rebekah said as she gathered Bella’s bag and light coat. “You look amazing, by the way. That dress is really growing with you, good choice.”
Bella beamed at that. “Thanks!”
Lunch was great, the Autumn sun shining on their faces as they were people watching was quite nice too. Luckily, Bella’s heartburn had gone away a little and she felt a lot better after her nap. Bella and Rebekah both enjoyed their hairsalon treatment very much, even though Rebekah nearly had a heart attack when Bella allowed the hairstylist to chop off more than half of her hair. “Good thing you can’t die from one, then,” Bella countered jokingly as she watched her hair fall to the floor. “This is amazing.”
“Oh, it is, but… oh my God, you look like a grown up now.”
“Never!”
Rebekah grinned as she kept watching as the stylist cut off Bella’s hair. “You know, now that we’re getting pampered… how about going all out and get a manipedi?”
“No.”
“Alright, then we’re going to some shops to buy some nice little things for the nursery and take them home with us,” she replied confidently. “I’ll call an Uber to drive us around, don’t worry.”
They arrived back home a few hours later, right before dinner. Rebekah and Bella had taken things slow, and even grabbed a snack while being driven around all across town to various places. Bella was tired but happy when they came back; a change of scenery had been exactly what she needed.
They had bought a few cute outfits for the twins – which felt slightly moronic, the babies weren’t even around yet! However, the clothes were too cute to pass up on and Bella then realized that she had turned into one of those girls; things were too cute. Too fluffy. And it was all so very pretty and cuddly.
Bella had even found a onesie for the babies that Kol would certainly love. The text on it was ‘dad, you’ve got this’, with arrows pointing to the five different holes where the head and limbs were supposed to go. She had already clocked some gag gifts for Christmas that she was going to buy for everyone, but couldn’t because Rebekah was there and she didn’t want to spoil the surprise. It was likely that those gifts could be purchased online too.
Bella dragged the bags into their little apartment and found Kol buried nose deep into a very ancient book. “Hey,” she greeted him as she put the bags on the couch and made her way over to him to kiss him. “What are you up to?”
Kol looked up at her and blinked. “Holy shit!”
“What?” Bella blinked innocently. “Something on my face?”
“Your hair!”
“Oh,” Bella grinned. “Do you like it? I do. Very much. Much lighter on my head and all floppy and bouncy!”
“I do but… your hair!”
“Oh, you’ll get over it,” she snorted as she playfully ruffled his. “It’ll grow back… and then I might cut it again. This do is awesome.”
He gently pulled her into his lap after shoving his chair back a little. Pouting, he ran a few fingers through her hair. “Did you have fun?”
“Yep,” Bella smiled at him as she put her arms around his neck. “Signed us up for some hypnobirthing classes. I know you thought of it as a little bit floaty and new agey, but I’ve read experiences from mothers who had their best deliveries ever and mostly pain and hassle free. I mean, magic doesn’t work, medicine doesn’t work, so it’s worth a shot, right?”
“Seriously? You signed US up?”
“Yes. You’re coming with me to those classes, who knows? You might learn a thing or two, too,” she smiled as she kissed him. “It’ll be great. Rebekah volunteered to become our Doula, she’s going to study hard so she can help us when needed.”
“Rebekah? Not Myriam?”
“Well, she can do it too, if she so wishes, I mean, there will be two babies, after all,” she replied, toying with his hair. “And there’s a hotel down the block with a heated pool, Rebekah arranged for me to go there free of charge whenever I want a swim or a float.”
He was surprised by the things that she had arranged that afternoon, with Rebekah, but nonetheless, she had been putting these things off. They weren’t entirely necessary, but Bella liked to do things, never to sit still for a long period of time. “That sounds great, darling.”
Bella nodded. “And I want us to go on a short trip. I mean, now is the chance still. When the babies are here, we won’t be alone anymore. You can pick the destination, but I want us to go, even if it’s just a weekend or something.”
“Oh, but I’m not sure if I can do that right now… with everything that’s going on…”
“Kol, please? I can still walk and not waddle and I promise I’ll be good, I promise,” she softly kissed him. “We could go to Mystic Falls for a bit?”
“Oh hell no,” he laughed. “I’ll take you to Florida, Disney World.”
“YES!” Bella cheered and kissed him again.
~o.O.o~
During their weekend away, Kol mentioned that he had found a doctor for Bella to visit. One with the proper tools to make an ultrasound, draw blood and what not, although he was sure that blood wasn’t really necessary. If something had been wrong with Twit and Twat her uncle or her grandfather would have told them so.
However, when they finally got there on a Wednesday, Bella saw the name and stopped dead in her tracks. “Cullen?” It was a name that was all too familiar to her and one that she hated with a passion – even though that hatred was probably misplaced. Why? Because that hack of a Stephenie Meyer had been slightly wrong about her, and likely she’d been wrong about the Cullens. There were no Cold Ones in the real world. The Cullens were ordinary vampires, or so she was told.
And maybe it wasn’t intentional in Meyer’s defense that she wrote the Cullens as manipulative assholes, but the books – and the movies – clearly depicted the opposite. There was a reason why Bella never wrote the Cullens as the good guys, well, except for Jasper. Jasper Whitlock was awesome and a victim of manipulation and emotional abuse. She usually wrote Jasper happy with someone else when writing her stories. Happy and far away.
And sure, this Cullen could quite possibly be a relative or something, but the name sent chills down her spine. “I’m not going in there.”
“It’s just a name, darling,” Kol snorted. He hadn’t read the Twilight books but knew some of the details mainly because Damon had informed him, but a name was just a name. Although, in this case, this Cullen was a vampire and a member of The Strix. But Bella didn’t need to know that. “He’s got an ultrasound machine?”
Bella narrowed her eyes on him. “I swear, if the doctor turns out to be who I think it is, I will kill you.”
“It was Elijah’s idea,” Kol said quickly.
“And I will kill him too!”
“What order of victims did you have in mind?” He asked playfully, which seemed to stump Bella for a moment.
“Elijah first. I’ll take my time with you.”
Kol made a disapproving sound. “The babies will love to hear the story when they get older on how you killed their father.”
“Shut up,” she growled as she stomped forward into the clinic, only to once again stop dead in her tracks upon seeing the receptionist, causing Kol to bump into her with a whine.
“Now what?”
Bella pointed at the woman. “That’s Rosalie.”
“How do you know?”
“Read her fucking name tag, you moron,” she hissed as Kol peered and then nodded. “How do I know? Stephenie Meyer described her as the most beautiful person ever. No, better yet, her true defining personal trait is her beauty. Violet eyes, wavy golden hair reaching her back and her posture perfect. Oh and look at that, she has a freaking mole on her mug as well.”
“Don’t be daft.”
Bella scowled as she approached the desk. “Hi, Rosalie?”
“Hi! Welcome to the Cullen clinic! You must be Bella! Oh, you’re up next. Have a seat in the waiting area, Dr. Cullen will be right with you.”
“Carlisle?”
Rosalie blinked at that, unsure of the girl in front of her. “N-No? Carlisle works at the hospital.”
Bella turned around and punched Kol in the arm. “Fucker!” She then turned around again, a pleasant but fake smile on her face. “Which Cullen is the gynocologist then?”
“Edward, don’t worry, you’ll be in safe hands with him.”
Bella closed her eyes and took a deep breath, her freshly manicured fingernails tapping impatiently on the counter. “Kol, you’d better get Myriam. NOW.”
“But…”
“NOW.”
Sighing, Kol took out his phone and dialled Myriam’s number and put her on speaker. “Hello beautiful sister in law.”
“Kol? Why are you calling me? What trouble did you get yourself into now?”
“Could you come to the Cullen clinic? Bella wants you here.”
“…Cullen…clinic…?”
“Edward Cullen is not going to touch me!” Bella growled.
“Merde. I’m on my way. Don’t you move an inch. I’ll take care of everything once I arrive.”
After Kol disconnected the call, he looked at his girlfriend. “You know, if you want people dead, I could do that.”
“Dead?” Rosalie blinked. “Oh, no please don’t, you’ll be in a lot of trouble if you kill any one of us.”
“Is that so?” Kol smirked as he leaned against the counter and looked at Rosalie. “I’ll have you know that I know that you’re a member of the Strix.”
“Yes, and that’s why you’ll be in a lot of trouble if you kill me.”
“Nah,” Kol waved his hand. “You see, I happen to know that Aya is a pussycat and that my brother Elijah will understand.”
“Y-You’re a Mikaelson?”
“Yep,” he nodded and compelled her not to move.
“You have no reason to kill us.”
“Sorry, darling, my hormonal pregnant girlfriend says otherwise. Her name is Bella. Isabella Marie Swan,” he smirked as he looked at Bella. “She’s not a big fan of a particular set of books, you might have heard of them, and she feels the need that you must be eliminated.”
Rosalie was quiet for a moment. “Well fuck, and here we believed it was more of a coincidence.”
“There’s no such thing as coincidences,” Bella muttered before turning around to see Myriam standing behind her with a big grin on her face. “He’s in his office.”
“Yay! Let’s go!” Myriam said as she dragged Bella along with her. “I’ll make a spectacle out of him.”
“Please do!” Bella replied all giddy and cheered when Myriam kicked down the door. Kol stayed behind to keep an eye on Rosalie and to steer away other patients should they come in, but he felt disappointed. He’d kill for Bella, why did she have to call Myriam to do this for her? Soon, the building was filled by pleading, screams, loud banging and medical instruments clanging. Myriam’s maniacal laughter drowning out most of it. Myriam taunting the vampire by seemingly pushing things up his ass, at least that’s what Kol thought he heard her say, could have been the penis and oh, that would hurt like a motherfucker. He wanted to kill Rosalie now. Do the same thing. The poor girl was terrified, he could tell.
After 20 glorious minutes, Bella came back into the reception area, a big smile on her face as Myriam followed her. Myriam was all bloody and had this big wide grin on her face as she bounced Edward’s head in her hands. “That was so much fun!” She then tossed the head to Kol before leaping over the desk and started on Rosalie. “Catch!”
“But I can do that,” Kol pouted. “I want to kill.”
“And you took me here. You knew better, but you still took me here because he’s not a human doctor and that’s what you wanted. Now you can watch while Myriam has all the fun,” Bella replied as she pat him on the back. “You should see the amount of syringes that Myriam has pushed through Edward’s dick, it was glorious.”
Punishment. Figures. Of course he was being punished, and fortunately it wouldn’t end up in his death. All he could do was watch. Watching Myriam kill Rosalie ever so slowly with stuff she found around behind the desk was like watching an artist at work, reminding Kol of Nik’s dark side. Nik was a master of torture and killing as well, while Kol merely liked to chase his prey to hear them scream.
“How about you find the security feeds and destroy them?” Bella prompted him. “Make sure there’s no copy of some sort to actually get us into trouble.”
He didn’t want to leave now! “Bella, we can compel the police.”
“And yet, there’d still be evidence floating around. No, destroy it all.”
“Fine,” he whined as he placed Edward’s head on the counter and went to look for the back office while Rosalie’s screams and whines kept sounding like music to his ears. Oh, he was definitely going to go out for a fresh kill later. This wasn’t fair.
