Chapter 14
After Las Vegas, Myriam went back home to join Klaus and back to her brothel, and Bella and Kol spent some time in Australia before Klaus once again, asked for their return to New Orleans. Not for Bella’s special gift, but more because of some prophecy that had the family in its grasp.
“Prophecies suck,” Kol explained to Bella as they were flying back. “You never know whether they’re real or not.”
“You know, I could just ask…” she said as she pointed to the sky, before waving her hands in general. “Surely someone out there would know.”
“Ah, Nik has made it abundantly clear that for now, he wants to tackle things his way, likely to show the world that he still has balls and such and doesn’t need to rely on his powerful witch sister or his brother’s demi-goddess. No, he wants us in home so he knows we’re safe,” Kol shrugged. “But if it’s truly a family wide prophecy as he says it is, isn’t it better to stay away?”
“I’m sure he has his reasons,” Bella said as she sniffed her sandwich. “I don’t think this smells right…”
He took a bite of her sandwich and shrugged. “Tastes fine to me, darling, are you getting sick?”
“I don’t think it’s possible for me to get sick, though,” she said, scratching her head as she watched Kol devour her sandwich. “No more tuna for me… at least for now. Damnit, I like tuna.”
Kol snorted. “You had a similar thing with carrots yesterday.”
“They were fine once I sprinkled some sugar over it, no big deal, I cook them in sugar all the time,” Bella pouted before she reached for Kol’s bacon and tomato sandwich and took a bite out of that. “What? It’s only fair, you’re eating my sandwich, I’m eating yours. Go feed on the stewardess if you’re still hungry.”
“Oh, I know you’re not happy about returning just yet, darling,” Kol ran a hand through her hair as she munched on his sandwich. “But usually when Nik makes such a request it’s for a good reason.”
“And if it’s not for a good reason?”
“Then you can turn him into a puppy, leash him and have Rebekah place him with a nice family with small children.”
Bella thought about that and liked the imagery of it. By placing him out of the family would lessen the temptation to simply turn him back. “Yes.” And if Myriam didn’t like it, Bella would turn her into an animal as well, perhaps a bunny so she could keep it in their home. Yes. Finishing her sandwich, she felt satisfied by their means of getting revenge for interrupting their exploration of Australia and laid down on the couch, stretching herself before putting her head in Kol’s lap and sighing deeply. “Reality sucks.”
~o.O.o~
The first thing they did when arriving back in New Orleans was to sleep. Niklaus wanted them to come straight to the compound, but Bella was still in a mood and the time difference was a bitch this time around. Despite her initial objections, Bella seemed to be comfortable in their own bed and fell asleep like a brick the moment her head hit the pillow.
The next morning, Kol woke up because Bella was cursing up a storm as she hopped around the bedroom with her jeans in her hands, trying to pull them up and close them. “Come back to bed, you beautiful potty mouth.”
“No!” Bella said angrily as she gave up on the jeans and tried to find a bigger pair. “I can’t fit in my jeans anymore! This isn’t supposed to happen! I have to lose weight!”
“Darling, you look deliciously fine, we’ll simply buy you a bigger size that does fit.”
She angrily threw her jeans into his face. “You shouldn’t have allowed me to eat so much, I still pretty much have the human physiology and I can gain weight, apparently!”
“Bella, you look fine.”
Bella huffed as she plucked a summer dress out of her closet and got into that. “Fine. We’ll have to buy bigger jeans, bigger bra’s and some shirts, because some are too tight now. And I want to join a gym. We’re going to eat healthier and—-”
“Bella, you look fine, there’s nothing wrong with you. You look healthy and well taken care of.”
“So I’m fat,” she stated, putting her hands in her sides as she looked at him. “You’re such an asshole.”
“Bella, it’s alright,” he finally got out of bed to wrap his arms around her. “We spent a lot of time in warmer climates, to retain a little bit of water is fine.”
“Still not helping,” she muttered as she pushed him away from her. “Get dressed, we need to hear your brother out.”
“Welcome back!” Klaus greeted them as they stepped onto the courtyard. “Aren’t you two tired of traveling yet?”
“Of course not,” Kol smiled at his brother. “But I do hope that you have a valid reason for calling us back, we were having so much fun exploring the reefs and hugging Koalas!”
“Oh, the Koalas,” Bella smiled. “I liked the Koalas.”
“You would like to know, that in your absence, Elijah and my therapist have become lovers. She assures me it’s not a conflict of interest, but I’m still not too happy about it,” Klaus announced as he looked over to Cami and Elijah, who were sitting on a sofa both reading a book. “They’re quite the boring pair.”
“Hi!” Cami greeted them with a smile. “You guys look great!”
“Hey Cami, how are you?” Kol smiled at her. “You must have really lost your marbles if you fancy my brother.”
“Nah,” she smiled as she playfully punched Elijah’s arm, who, in turn, looked slightly offended. “He’s actually quite a hoot!”
Bella nearly jumped out of her skin when all of a sudden she felt Myriam’s arms around her, hugging her tightly. “Hey Myr.”
“So glad you’re back! Look at you, wearing a dress and all! What happened to your jeans?”
“Oh, don’t start, please,” Kol sighed as he looked at her. “She’s feeling a little bloated, couldn’t get into her jeans and now she thinks she’s fat.”
Myriam huffed. “Don’t be ridiculous, you’re looking great! Healthy!”
“Stop saying that!” Bella grumpily said before she walked off to the kitchen to find some fruit to snack on. “Be glad that I’m wearing clothes so you’re not subjected to my fattiness!”
“Wow,” Myriam said as she looked at Kol. “What did you do to make her all grumpy and shit?”
“Nothing, I swear!” He defended himself. “She’s been having these silly moods for a while now and although they’re annoying, I kinda like it that her brain also gets very twisted.” He sucked in a breath. “And she’s testing my patience, but that’s probably because she’s due to having her period or something.”
“Oh sure, blame mood swings on the one thing we can’t control,” Cami rolled her eyes at Kol. “That girl deserves a nice hot bath and a lot of chocolate.”
“See, I knew there was another reason why I like to be a vampire,” Myriam smirked as she sat down on the couch between Cami and Elijah, putting her arm around the woman. “No more female issues.”
“No, but you do get slightly insane once a month, so there’s no difference there,” Klaus remarked as he watched Bella walk back in. “Freya! Come down so we can fill in my brother and his girlfriend!”
Bella sat down next to Kol and looked at him as she angrily peeled her banana and then took a bite out of it. She kept her eyes on him as she slowly chewed, swallowed and taking another bite.
“Is that all you’re going to eat?” He was looking to see if she had more fruit on her or a sandwich, but it seemed that it was only the banana. “Darling, you have to eat something.”
“I am, and this is all I’m going to eat until lunch, yes, because you buying me all the food has gotten you in this mess in the first place,” she retorted as she took another bite of her banana.
“Nik, where’s our sister?” Kol asked his brother, missing Rebekah at this meeting.
“She’s off gallivanting about with her new boyfriend, no doubt. She still has to introduce us to him, but I believe she will do so in due time. She’s only getting a pass out of this meeting because she knows what’s going on,” Klaus replied as he poured himself a drink and saw Freya’s frame move out of the door and onto the courtyard. “Now, the only reason I wanted the two of you home is to make sure you are safe. I do not wish for you, Bella, to use your gifts on anything that’s going on – we can handle it. I merely wanted you to be safe, and as only Kol can enter your apartment still, your apartment is the safest place for you to be.”
“I think I can take care of myself, Klaus,” Bella said with a snort as she tossed her banana peel into a bin. “In fact, we both can.”
“Of course, but please humor me and don’t go anywhere until this is all over?”
“What is this?” Kol demanded, glad that Bella started to perk up a little again. Grumpy Bella could be so unwilling.
Klaus shared a smile with Elijah, who rolled his eyes. “Do you remember our time in France after we escaped Mikael for the first time?”
“Vaguely,” Kol replied, a scowl on his face. It had been the first sign of the holy trinity that were his brothers and Rebekah, with Kol and Finn being on the outside. Finn for being a bloody mother’s child and Kol for being erratic and thirsty all the time. “We spent some time at Court de Martel and we had to leave because of my habits attracting Mikael’s attention. That wouldn’t have happened if you’d just allowed me to go off on my own and split up as I suggested in the first place.”
“I see we remember this event quite differently,” Elijah finally said, not looking up from his book, still distancing himself from the conversation. “But you are correct. It’s also the place where Niklaus, Rebekah and I sired our first vampires.”
Kol was annoyed now. “If you’re going to tell me that the moronic Martel’s and Lucien are still alive after all this time… then consider me surprised. I never expected them to live this long!”
“They are in town, yes,” Klaus replied. “For now, everything is quite civil, although Myriam would nothing more than to rip out Aurora’s throat.”
“That’s it? You wanted us here because you’re afraid of them?”
“It’s more complicated than that. There’s a whole history there, that I shall not bore you with, however, they came with a prophecy that could very well mean the end of our family,” Klaus sneered. “And you know how I don’t believe in prophecies!”
“It’s very brutal,” Freya spoke quietly. “I’ve confirmed the prophecy and the visions that Lucien’s witch showed Klaus and Elijah. The family will fall when the prophecy comes to fulfillment.”
“Which is what, exactly?” Kol asked.
Freya had a serious look on her face, recalling the images she had seen in her brother’s mind. “How a year from now, the family is lost and with our losses, we’re seeding the beast that is to come.”
“And you believe in this? Niklaus, the only thing that can kill us is gone. Burned. There’s no White Oak anymore,” Kol chuckled. “I know you’re paranoid, but this is taking things too far.”
“But what if there’s another way to kill us? We’ve made powerful enemies, we have powerful friends and in this day and age, I believe that even a brilliant scientist could kill us with a virus if he’s determined enough,” Klaus replied, taking a swig from his drink. “I believed that prophecies were simply stories made up to scare children, but this one is about us. We are stronger together, brother, this is why I needed you back.”
“Well,” Kol smirked as he relaxed in his chair. “Why won’t you cozy up to Aurora and find out more about this so called prophecy?”
“Over my dead body!” Myriam growled. “He’s not going anywhere near that lunatic!”
“You shouldn’t worry, Klaus,” Bella spoke softly as she looked at him. “Nothing’s going to happen to you, not as long as I’m around.”
“That’s very kind of you, Bella, but as long as we don’t know if this is true or not, I don’t want you to do anything,” Klaus replied kindly. “I merely wish for your safety as well as Kol’s.”
“Perhaps this is the moment to mention that there’s an ulterior motive for your return as well,” Elijah said as he looked at Freya. “Freya believes that you, Bella, could very well mean the end of our existence should you be taken from us.”
“Well that’s stupid,” Bella muttered. “After all I’ve done for you?”
“You are a demi-Goddess, are you not?” Freya raised an eyebrow. “Oh, I know,” she said when she saw the surprised look on Bella’s face. “And it only took me the effort to reach out to a couple of Quarter witches to hear that. You have the power to destroy the world if you wish for it. I don’t understand the faith and belief my siblings have in you for not destroying them for the monsters that they are.”
“Sure they are monsters, but they’re in control and if you think that they aren’t, then who the fuck are you?” Bella said angrily as she got to her feet. “You’re the latest addition to this family and they accepted you as one of their own, because by blood, you are. They trust you, and therefore I must trust you because that’s what they want, but to call me a danger to this family? How dare you?”
“Bella, that’s not what she meant,” Klaus calmly said, looking up at her from his seat. “We don’t see you as a threat, at all, but Freya’s right. There is a chance that our enemies could take you and subdue you. They could force you to harm us. All Myriam and I want is for you to be safe, with us, under our protection, do you understand?”
“I’m not going to listen to this,” Bella said as she turned to walk out of the courtyard. “You’re being narrow minded and stupid and assholes,” her voice started to break as she felt hurt, and overcome with pain. “How dare you!”
Kol got up to run after her, but he was stopped by Elijah, who had finally put down his book. “Kol.”
“Get out of my way, Elijah,” he said venomous.
“You have to listen to reason.”
“Reason?!” Kol huffed, turning around to face the rest of his family. “Reason? You don’t know what reason is, you never have. To agree with our eldest sister about Bella, you call that reason? After all that Bella has done for this family, after all that she’s been through, you dare to fear her? Never in a million years would that lovely, sweet girl hurt someone. She doesn’t like spilling blood and she won’t. Ever,” he said angrily. “Nik, I understand that you’re afraid of this prophecy, perhaps too afraid to see reason but you just upset a very powerful being who now might choose not to help you out next time you’re in trouble. She’s your friend, for God’s sake!”
“I’ve been telling him this,” Myriam pointed out. “But his paranoia is a bitch and not even Camille can talk him out of it.”
“Yeah well, try harder. Bella and I are leaving New Orleans in the morning, she doesn’t deserve this,” Kol spat before he grabbed Elijah, tossed him across the courtyard and headed to Bella. He found her crying on the sofa, hugging a pillow. He sat down next to her and pulled her into his arms. “Hey, it’s okay,” he softly said as he gently ran his hand over her hair. “Don’t worry about them lot.”
“I’m not good enough,” she sobbed. “What do I need to do to be good enough?”
He hadn’t really dealt with a crying Bella before; she wasn’t the crying type, she bottled it up until she’d explode in a fit of anger – which she did very well, and he secretly loved it when she was angry, or she dealt with things rationally. And now, he wasn’t quite sure what to do with her. It appeared that her family had truly managed to hurt her this time, despite Niklaus and Myriam being her friends – or, there was a possibility that there was something wrong with her.
And he didn’t like to think about that. Because if something was wrong with her, Hades wouldn’t be too far away to take her away from him and it was not going to happen.
“Bella,” he softly said after a while, still with a sobbing Bella in his arms. “You need to calm down and check yourself because you’re acting very much unlike yourself and I fear what will happen if this continues.”
Bella looked up to him with her tearstained eyes, shortly stopping her from sobbing, but as she thought about his words, she started to cry again. “No, I don’t want to go, I want to stay!”
Kol sighed deeply as he shook his head. He needed help. His quick thinking wasn’t failing him and he smiled at her. “Darling, Myriam hasn’t seen your beautiful apartment yet, wouldn’t you like her to come over and see?”
“Yes, Myriam can come in,” she sobbed as she held on to him. “But your family will never ever set foot in this apartment, you hear?”
“I hear you,” he said softly as he quickly texted Myriam to come over and thankfully, she did. He scooped Bella off the couch and planted her in Myriam’s arms. “Your problem.”
“What!”
“You’re far better equipped to handle a crying girl than I am.”
“She’s your girlfriend!”
“She’s your friend!”
“And what are you going to do?”
“Pummel reason into Niklaus,” Kol said angrily before he leapt out of the window and rushed to the Compound, leaving Myriam alone with Bella.
Sighing, Myriam set Bella down on the floor and made her look at her. “Snap out of it, you’re being ridiculous.”
“You hate me too?” Bella asked with a small voice. “You think that everyone is right and that I pose a danger to you?”
“No,” Myriam sighed as she pushed Bella’s hair out of her face. “I think they’re all a bunch of dicks who are too paranoid to think clearly, that’s all. They still love you, Bella, but it’s in Klaus’ nature to be fearful of anything or anyone more powerful than him. Freya… well… she’s a prototype Mikaelson who had a difficult century… of course she’s frightened with a demi-Goddess in our midst, but she doesn’t know you the way that we do. She’ll come around.” Myriam bit her wrist and offered her blood to Bella. “Whatever ails you, should be gone after you have some of this, I promise.”
Bella scrunched up her nose. “I’m not sick.”
“You may be and not realize it, drink up,” Myriam said before pushing her hand against Bella’s mouth. Much to her surprise, Bella struggled against her after one sip and she was forced to let her go as Bella ran off to the toilet. Soon after, she could hear her vomit. “Okay, so maybe you’re under some sort of spell!” Myriam called after her, staying well clear of the bathroom. “We’ll have Freya to check you over!”
“No!” Bella almost screamed at Myriam. “That bitch isn’t going anywhere near me!”
Bella refused to leave the house for a couple of days, mainly because she didn’t want to go to the compound and face the family again. Even though Kol insisted that they hadn’t meant it the way that she understood it, she didn’t want to go because Myriam wanted her to be checked out by Freya to see if she was under the influence of some magic spell making her act out of character.
Bella wasn’t spelled. She figured that she would be natural cleansing of spells seeing as she could cleanse them of others, and had been immune to Dahlia, so she knew she wasn’t spelled. But something was wrong, alright. She was throwing up a bit more often and everything hurt, she was sick and blamed Australia for it.
There was, of course, another option. One that she didn’t want to think about but had to consider. Gods were fickle and this one God was mischievous. “Hey, Kol?” She carefully got his attention; he wasn’t in one of the best moods lately, likely because of her, and she felt guilty about it.
“Yes?”
“Could you go to the pharmacy for me and pick something up?”
Kol looked up, meeting her hopeful gaze. “Are you in pain?”
“No,” she snorted. “Uncomfortable, but…” Bella sighed as she got up and made her way over to him. “Things aren’t adding up. Well, they are, and I want to rule this possibility out because there’s no way that we’ve asked for this.”
“What are you talking about, darling?” He asked as he put down his blood bag and pulled her into his arms. “Freya could—”
“I am not spelled, Kol,” she punched his arm. “And I’m tired of hearing her name. I want to rule out something else that could have like a major impact on our lives because Gods can’t be trusted.”
“Hades?”
“I told you about his reward for me, and how he’d only act when we asked him to.”
“You’re pregnant?”
“I sure hope not!” Bella laughed. “Go to the pharmacy and get me a pregnancy test? Please?”
Kol paled at that question. “What? You want me to go? Why can’t you go? And don’t be ridiculous, all we need is Freya—”
“Don’t!” She put her hand over his mouth and glared at him. “We’re going to figure this out, the non-magical way. I’ll go to a human doctor if the pregnancy test is negative and it better be or else I’m going to kick some God’s ass.”
“Go get it yourself. I’m not going to buy you a pregnancy test. No way.”
“Buy me three, just to be sure.”
“Bella, you’re not pregnant. If you were, I would have picked up on an extra heartbeat by now,” he assured her, kissing her on her forehead. “Whatever is going on, I’m sure it has a reasonable explanation.”
“Please humor me?”
“Get it yourself,” he repeated. “I’m a thousand year old vampire and I draw the line at buying you pads for when you’re having your period. There’s no way in hell that you’re pregnant, it’s not possible.”
Bella thought for a moment. “If we are, you get to punch a God in the face for breaking a deal?”
Kol sighed deeply as he tossed his almost empty blood bag in the trashcan. “I’ll be back, but you better make it up to me!”
“We can have sex?”
“Deal!” Kol said as he almost ran out of the apartment. Part of him wanted to go outside of New Orleans, where nobody knew him, another part of him wanted to be home again, fast, mainly so that he could have his way with Bella; it had been some time since they had some fun, ever since she figured she didn’t look pretty anymore. But she didn’t look pretty, no, she was absolutely beautiful and he hated it that she had such a low self esteem again.
He had been beating himself up about it, replaying their trip in his mind to see where things might have gone wrong, and he couldn’t find a specific point in time, because she was always beautiful to him, no matter how she looked. Granted, he liked her best without her clothes on. But that was just how he was.
Kol decided to take his chances with the one closest to them; nobody expected a Mikaelson inside a pharmacy as Niklaus would usually compel someone to get things for him, but a pharmacy? They were never sick! Kol could pick up Bella’s pads while doing groceries, which was normal, but this? No. Absolutely not.
Oh, Kol could compel himself a willing victim to pick up what he wanted, but like Bella, he wasn’t using much of his own abilities other than to survive, and buying pregnancy tests wasn’t for survival. It was to give his girlfriend a piece of mind. He needed to do this himself.
What if Bella were pregnant?
He’d definitely punch a God after she’d call one down to answer to his accusations.
What if she were pregnant?
Sure, part of this reward would be that Bella would give birth to a tiny human, no hybrid, no god powers, an ordinary— nope, not even that. The baby would be a Mikaelson. A witch. A first born Mikaelson, powerful, like Freya. Oh bloody hell. It would be a nightmare to take care of a magical child.
Bella wasn’t ready to have a baby; she didn’t mind children, as long as they stayed well clear of her, but wouldn’t snap at them when they did approach. She simply didn’t like them.
As for him? He was an overprotective vampire with rage issues. Yeah, that was going to work well – enraging over a dirty diaper or something. Oh, he so hoped she wasn’t pregnant. With everything going on, he sure hoped she wasn’t pregnant; it would only make matters worse for the family.
“Nik, I know you’re spying on me,” he muttered after sensing his brother from somewhere behind him. “You’d better not be taking pictures and sending them to your girlfriend.”
“I see you’re in the mood for something else,” Klaus noted the condoms below the pregnancy tests. “Is this a new kink of you two? Sex with a rubber around your cock?”
Kol thought for a moment. It was best to take them as well, for future sake. Gods couldn’t be trusted. He immediately grabbed a box and nodded. “Yes, Bella wants to know what it’s like to have someone inside of her wearing a condom, well done, Nik.”
“How is the little spitfire doing? Would you like me to send Freya over or?”
“No Freya. Please, no. I offered, but I’m afraid that Bella will turn her into a rat to join our dear Aunt Dahlia in the cage,” Kol replied angrily. “At this point, there’s no telling what she’d do, no, I need to get a pregnancy test.”
Curiosity peaked, Klaus took a few steps closer to his younger brother. “Also something she wishes to try out once in her life?”
“Something like that,” Kol didn’t take his eyes off of the variety of the tests. There were simple tests, merely stating whether someone was pregnant or not, there were those that would say how long, or even what the gender would be, there were those that weren’t actually pregnancy tests but more a prediction of when it was best to have sex, and everything boggled his mind. Which one did he have to choose? “Help me.”
“Oh, no, this is not my area of expertise.”
“Then call Myriam.”
“Brother, she’s a vampire, she wouldn’t know… although I wouldn’t be surprised if she had a bunch of them at her brothel for her girls, just in case.”
Kol fought the urge to punch his brother in the aisle and draw more attention to them. “Then for fuck’s sake, call Cami.”
Klaus dialled his therapist’s number and put her on speaker. “Hello Camille.”
“Klaus, what can I do for you?”
“Kol is wondering what’s the best pregnancy test he could buy his girlfriend.”
“A what now? He’s a vampire, he doesn’t need a pregnancy test unless Bella’s been unfaithful to him.”
“She’s not been unfaithful!” Kol growled angrily. “I would know, we’ve been together every day since our reunion!”
“Then why need a pregnancy test?”
“Humor me.”
Cami audibly sighed. “You’re wasting your money.”
Kol snatched the phone out of Klaus’ hand. “It’s my money to waste. Help me or so help me God, I will break your neck!”
“Kol,” Klaus said calmly, placing a hand on his brother’s shoulder with enough force to snap him out of his anger before nodding to the Walmart employee standing next to them, looking frightened.
“Um, can I help you find something?” the associate asked, her voice shaking from the presence of the angry male before her. Her name tag said her name was Kalypso. How pretentious.
“Don’t mind my brother, love,” Klaus said calmly. “He’s merely freaking out; his girlfriend sent him out to buy a pregnancy test and well… our mother didn’t raise us that well and we have no idea what to get. Of course, our friend on the phone isn’t helping at all, either,” he replied as he pried his phone out of Kol’s hand and disconnected the call.
She nodded, eying the upset man before focusing on the wall he’d been staring at. “We have a selection to choose from. If she’s far enough along, it wouldn’t matter which one you choose. Popular brands are First Response and Clear Blue. This one may give a positive reading earlier than the others,” she explained, handing him the pink box. “And it has a coupon for $3 off.”
“Thank you, I’ll have three of each, then. She can sort it out for herself when I can get home.”
At that, the associate couldn’t help but to laugh. “You really wouldn’t need more than one. Each kit has two or three devices to test in the box for multiple attempts. But, whichever your result, good luck! I’m sure everything will work out for you even if it was unplanned.”
“Thank you, love, you’ve been a great help,” Klaus smiled at her before handing her a 100 dollar bill. “This is for your efforts.”
She stared at the money he practically shoved in her hand. “Um, we aren’t allowed to accept tips or anything… but it’s okay. Just don’t name the baby, if it’s positive, anything stupid like Kaleb or Rebekah. My brother is an asshole dating some stuck up bitch named that way.”
Kol then punched the wall, leaving a hole in it without blinking.
“I think you might need that 100 dollars now,” Klaus said amused as he handed her another bill. “That one’s for your manager.”
The girl nodded, glancing wide eyed at the angry man before scurrying off.
“Well,” Klaus said lighthearted. “I suppose our sister’s nursing skills paid off.”
“Shut up,” Kol mumbled as he headed to the register, nearly threw the items on the counter and impatiently waited for the total.
The employee, with the name tag Breanne, looked at the guy nearly smashing her counter in half. “Honey, I do hope those are for your sister, because you two won’t need a pregnancy test, you do know that, right?”
Kol growled lowly as he handed her a 50 dollar bill, stuffed the items in his pockets and headed out, Klaus following right behind him. “I’m itching to kill something.”
“Very well,” Klaus replied casually. “You need to blow off some steam before you return to your impossible girlfriend. Let’s go and play with some wolves, shall we?”
~o.O.o~
Bella paced around as she watched all six sticks. Oh, she wanted to be sure and had used them all. If there was one thing that had lingered from sex ed classes was that these pee sticks could be unreliable and at least this way they had a good chance of getting the right answer. And she hoped it was ‘no’.
The only reason why she had told Kol about Hades’ so called reward was that she didn’t want to have secrets from him. She had also told him that she wasn’t going to collect that reward for a very long time because she liked spending time with Kol and didn’t want to share their time with a child.
Bella was well aware that all Mikaelsons would have loved to have offspring, that their vampirism was the one thing that kept them from having families of their own and that they had made peace with it. She knew that Kol would be a great father, though. He was playful and fair, caring and loving and so knowledgable. Their child would be a witch and what better way was there for it being raised by someone who knew so much about magic?
Kol would be an awesome dad.
She wouldn’t be an awesome mother. Bella never knew what to make of kids; they were messy and sticky and drooling all over the place. Germs. Loud and not to mention, destructive. Kids weren’t her thing, but she had entertained the idea to accept Hades’ reward in a couple of years, when she and Kol were together for longer, to make sure that she wouldn’t end up alone with a kid.
Oh, that would be the worst thing. Him leaving her. The family turning their backs on her and the child for not being good enough. Pretty much like they were doing now, they were afraid of her and wanted her close so they could keep an eye on her. It angered her so much; she rarely acted upon her anger, she wouldn’t even hurt a small creature, so why were they so afraid? It wasn’t as if it would be easy to contain her, she had so much power coursing through her veins and it still scared her shitless. One wrong move, one twitch, one wrong thought, and all would be lost. Gone. Poof.
What if she’d poof a child out of existence without any means of returning it?
No, Bella wasn’t pregnant, couldn’t be pregnant. Not for a very long time and if she were, she was going to kill Hades. Or at least made a valiant effort; this wasn’t part of the deal they made. Not at all.
“Bella! Come on! Let me in already!”
Kol’s voice shook her out of her thoughts and realized that she should have allowed him access after her peeing on the sticks so they could fret together. She unlocked the door and opened it.
“Well? Anything yet?” he questioned as soon as his eyes laid on her.
“No,” she sighed as she put her arms around him. “What do we do if I am, though?” Bella asked with a small voice.
“We face it like we do everything else we do. Plus, it won’t be like it won’t have any family. Everyone will want to have a hand in this, I’m sure. Have you even looked?” Kol murmured as he looked over her head to the pieces that she spread over their bed. “But before all that, we hunt down your uncle and find a way to kill him or imprison him like Nik enjoys doing with my siblings and I.”
“Oh, don’t worry, if the things show that we’re having a baby, I’m going to call for his ass to come down here and then you can punch him.”
“Start yelling,” he said as he turned her around and showed her that all six sticks had two pink lines on them.
“HADES!” Bella yelled. “Get your stupid ass down here you mother fucker!”
“Excuse you,” Hades’ voice sounded before appearing. “But I have never fucked my own mother! I do not even believe Zeus has done so either, considering his philandering ways.”
“You fucker!” Bella let go of Kol and went straight for Hades and pounded on his chest. “You absolute fucker! This was not what we agreed upon!”
“Calm down, Bella, getting angry isn’t good for the precious cargo you’re carrying,” Hades smirked and gently pat her head as she continued to hit him. “Stop it, you’re embarrassing yourself,” he said before sighing and flinging her onto the bed, landing her safely on the mattress. When he turned around, Kol planted his fist in his face. “Oh, well that hurt,” Hades said, rubbing his jaw.
“I feel much better now,” Kol said nodding before helping Bella up. “Thanks, darling, I needed that.”
Bella huffed as she narrowed her eyes on the God of the Underworld. “Explain yourself.”
“Why?” Hades shrugged. “As you know, you Earthlings have been our playthings for millennia, why stop now?”
“Dude, we’re family.”
“Dude, you’re fun to play with!” Hades grinned and casually waved the sticks away into the trashcan. “Look, I know you wanted to tell me when you guys were well and ready for this responsibility, but you wanted to live your life as human as possible, did you not?”
“I did say that…”
“And it’s shown in your actions as well, you haven’t used any of your abilities other than to rid New Orleans of the evil witch and before that, only to protect yourself against the witches here and help your family. I might not be around all the time, but I do see what you do, Bella,” Hades reminded her. “I’m always keeping an eye on you because I’m so proud of how you’re handling things. Now, humans usually don’t have a choice either, when they have unprotected sex, so… I made you guys have a little accident. You’re welcome.”
“Take it back.”
“Oh, but that’s not how it works,” he grinned. “You’re pregnant, alright, and guess what? In a little over six months you’ll be the proud parents of two healthy bouncing baby boys!”
“Okay, I want to wake up now,” Kol muttered as he rubbed Bella’s back. “This is not happening. This is what happens in your stories, not in real life, Bella, wake me up.”
Bella stared blankly at her uncle and slowly shook her head. “No. Sorry. This is like our very own The Shining movie adaptation. I should kill Damon for showing that movie to me.”
“Congratulations!” Hades smiled. “Don’t worry, they’ll be human, not freaky hybrids,” he said as he disappeared with a poof, leaving them in a sea of Cornucopia’s in all sorts of colours.
“We’re doomed,” both Kol and Bella chorused as they looked at each other.
