CHAPTER SEVEN | HOLD ME, THRILL ME, KISS ME, KILL ME

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KLARA ADAMS COULDN'T QUITE BELIEVE THAT SHE WAS PREGNANT. The thought of carrying a life inside of her had completely disintegrated the moment that Klaus snapped her neck when he sacrificed Elena. She made peace with the fact that she would never birth her own child— but now her world her turned upside down.

The blonde vampire sat on the clearing that overlooked the quarry— the same place she had always ventured off to when she needed to think. She held her diary in her hand and flicked her pen between her fingers.

She was writing a diary entry to Elena. The girl had given strict instructions to keep her up to date on everything that happened in their lives and considering Klara was now a pregnant vampire, that was quite a big thing not to mention.

Dear Elena,
I'm about to say something I never in a million years thought possible, at least not now, but, I'm pregnant. They're Alaric's and Jo's— it seems on the day of their wedding, the Gemini coven did a spell that would save the lifeblood of the Gemini's and placed them into my womb. Honestly, I'm really not sure how I feel about it. You're actually the third person I've told, after Alaric and Caroline.
You might be wondering, why haven't you told Stefan, Klara? And, that's because I'm absolutely damn terrified of what this might do to us. A woman being pregnant with another man's child is never usually a selling point in a relationship. I mean, said woman has probably never been knocked up by a coven of dead witche—

"You, Klara Adams, are the most predictable person I have ever met." Caroline chuckled softly as she strolled over to Klara. The blonde vampire closed her journal and shoved it into her bag as Caroline sat down beside her. "What's wrong?"

Klara immediately raised an eyebrow and feigned confusion. "Wrong?"

"You only come here when you need to think. Everyone knows that." The Forbes vampire tilted her head and a small sigh escaped Klara's lips. "How did Stefan take the news?"

"I don't know."

Caroline's mouth gaped open in horror. "What? You haven't told hi— Oh, that's why you're here, isn't it? You're worried about how he's going to react."

"You know, Care, you should really consider detective work. I think you'd be great." Klara commented as the blonde rolled her eyes. "Yes, fine. Okay? I'm scared about telling him. I mean, when I turned I never thought this would be possible. I just thought it would be Stefan and I, forever. But now, everything's so—"

"Before you even think about saying it's complicated. It's not. It's actually very simple." Caroline bluntly stated. "Tell Stefan you're pregnant. He loves you. He's probably always loved you and you know he's not the type of guy to just walk away because you're pregnant with Alaric's babies."

Klara immediately cringed at the end of Caroline's statement. "You can't tell me that didn't feel weird to say, right? It's even weird to think about."

Caroline chuckled. "Go and tell him, Klara!"

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Breathe. Klara, just breathe. She told herself as she strolled up to the Lockwood Mansion, where Damon and Stefan currently resided. Everything's gonna be fine. She whispered quietly, but before she could open the door, it swung open to reveal Stefan. "Oh. Hey, you."

"Hey." Klara smiled and stepped inside the house, but then raised an eyebrow toward her boyfriend. "Are you, uh— are you planning on going somewhere?"

"Well—"

"—If it isn't Goldie-Locks." Damon mused as he hurried himself down the staircase and glanced between his brother and Klara. "Are you coming? Cause, if you are, you're with me. I don't need Stefan to be distracted today. He needs to be on his A-Game."

Klara raised an eyebrow and looked between Stefan and Damon. "Right. Okay, I'm waiting for one of you to actually explain what you mean because clearly I've been kept out of the loop."

"Nora and Mary-Louise's anniversary." Valerie took it upon herself to explain as she stepped into the foyer. Klara could help but feel a little annoyed when she learned Valerie was still at the house.

"No. No, I actually came to, uh— to speak to you." Klara nodded and her eyes locked with Stefan's. 

Upon realizing what it was Klara was about to tell Stefan, Valerie cleared her throat. "You know, what? Damon and I will go together. Stefan can follow behind. Yes, let's go." The Heretic stepped forward and shoved Damon out of the house.

"Okay." Stefan trailed off awkwardly with a smile. "Clearly she knows something I don't. What was that all about?"

"There's something I need to tell you and I don't know how you're going to react because, honestly? I was shocked, too." Klara hesitantly began to pace up and down in front of Stefan. "I'm, uh— I'm pregnant, Stefan."

"You're pregnant?" Stefan repeated with widened eyes and a look of complete and utter confusion on his face. "But, you're dead— I'm dead, ho—"

"Alaric and Jo's." Klara finished for him with a sure nod, though the confusion on his face didn't seem to vanish. "Apparently, while we were knocked out at the wedding, the Gemini coven used their magic to transport the babies from Jo's womb, to mine. You know, I didn't believe it at first. But, I was sick and I've never been sick as a vampire and half of my clothes don't fit anymore. And, the ultrasound. I mean, that was a dead giveaway." After Klara finished rambling, she turned to Stefan. "Please say something."

"Uh, I don't think there are any words." Stefan immediately stated with a hesitant voice and then grabbed Klara's hand. "Look. I have to go."

A scoff left Klara's lips as she turned to her boyfriend. "What? I just told you I'm pregnant and you're leaving?"

"No. No, I mean, obviously we need to talk about this. But, we have this small window to get to Julian tonight and this is sort of—"

"Right, okay. No, I understand. It's fine, Stefan." Klara gave the Salvatore a smile and a nod, but she couldn't help feeling slightly rejected. 

"We will talk about it when I get back, I promise. I love you." He gently pressed a kiss on his girlfriend's forehead and then disappeared. 

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Klara had spent the entire day anxiously awaiting Stefan's return. She had lost count of the activities she had been doing to try to make the evening go after, but nothing seemed to shake the knot of anxiety that had formed in her stomach. She knew in her heart that Stefan loved her, there was no denying that. But, she worried that maybe he would leave her— though, she knew if she mentioned her worries to him, he would call her foolish.

She sat on the couch of the Lockwood Mansion, a tub of ice cream in one hand, and a blood bag in the other. She took one scoop of icecream and then pushed the straw from the blood bag to her lips and took a sip. She smiled in satisfaction at the taste.

Her phone started to vibrate on the coffee table, and then she glanced between the icecream and the blood bag, unable to decide which to place down. So, she rolled her eyes and placed both down before she answered the phone.

"Stefan?" She hopefully spoke into the receiver off the phone without even checking the caller ID. She prayed to God it was the Salvatore.

"Hey." He breathed out with a small chuckle once he heard the sigh of relief that escaped her lips. "You know, you could've checked the caller ID, right?"

"I like to leave myself a little mystery. One of the few perks I get these days, okay?" Klara admitted with a smile. "So, what's up? You drunk yet?"

"No, I'm not. Although, a drink does sound really good right about now." 

"Oh, don't I know it."

"Listen, I'm really sorry about earlier. I didn't know what to say, and I didn't want to say the wrong thing. So, I just— I bailed." Stefan sighed heavily, almost as if he regretted the earlier conversation completely.

"I didn't know the right thing to say when I first found out, either. I mean, I'm pregnant with Alaric's babies. The whole thing is just weird." The blonde vampire anxiously chuckled. "But, one of the first things that I thought about was you. And, what you'd think about all of this. I'm pregnant with another man's child so I totally get it if you wanna—"

"—I'm not going anywhere, Klara." Stefan breathed out and suddenly Klara felt every single muscle in her body relax. "I love you. And, no matter how weird this all gets, I'm here for you. We're gonna get through this together."

"God. You have no idea how badly I wanted to hear you say that." Klara chuckled softly as she wiped the tears that slowly fell down her cheeks. "I love you, Stefan. And, I'll be here when you get back, I promise."

"Shouldn't be too much longer now." Stefan sighed heavily. "The sooner Julian's gone, the better. I'll see you soon, baby."

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It was exactly three hours from when Stefan had called to tell Klara he was going to stay at her side no matter what. And, suddenly the door swung open to reveal Damon Salvatore. Klara lifted herself up from the couch and raised an eyebrow at the fact that Stefan wasn't with him and Damon looked completely shattered. "Damon?" The blonde spoke in a shaky voice as she stepped closer to him. "Where— Where's Stefan, Damon?"

"My guess? Away from me." The Salvatore chuckled emotionlessly then paused as he noticed the look of horror that was on Klara's face.

"What'd you mean, away from you?"

 "Oh, didn't you hear? Mama Salvatore is dead as a doornail."

Klara's eyes widened as the words fell from Damon's careless lips. "What? Lily's dead. But, I thought this whole night was planned to get Julian. So, why—"

"She staked herself to save me. It's about the one time in her life where she was actually prepared to suffer instead of me. Congratulations to her on finally stepping up to the mark and being maternal." Damon scoffed as he wandered into the study and grabbed hold of a bottle of bourbon. "Baby brother is upset because I refused to sit at her bedside and tell her that she's redeemed of all the awful crap she did to me. Well, she's not. I refuse to lie to absolve her of any bad feelings before she headed off to the great beyond."

"Regardless of how you feel towards her Damon, she is still your Mom." Klara tilted her in the Salvatore's direction, but he seemed too concerned with the contents of the bourbon bottle. "Take it from me, parents are useless— but you only get one shot at saying goodbye."

"I said goodbye at her first funeral. I didn't fancy a repeat." Damon shrugged and let a small scoff escape his lips. "Anyway, can we talk about something less depressing than my dead-beat-Mom."

"Sure. Let's talk about the fact that I'm pregnant with Alaric's babies" The blonde vampire revealed nonchalantly and immediately heard Damon choke on his bourbon. "Yeah. Weird, right?"

"I didn't know you had a thing for widows, Klara." Damon wriggled his eyebrows suggestive as a smirk appeared on his face.

"Hilarious." She rolled her eyes and gently smacked his arm. "No. The Gemini coven dumped them into me at the wedding. God knows why."

Damon nodded understandingly. "Oh. Well, at least that explains why you were here acting all weird earlier on. Well, congratulations? I think. I mean, I don't really know what this means for you."

"Honestly? Neither do I." Klara sighed heavily as she picked up her phone and scrolled down to Stefan's contact in her phone she attempted to call him, but it went straight to voicemail. "I wish he'd just tell me where he was."

"Don't worry. He'll be back. He's got a pregnant vampire girlfriend to take care of." Damon stepped forward and gently placed a kiss on her forehead. "I'm off to bed. Good night, Klara."

As Damon wandered up the staircase clutching the bottle of bourbon, she scoffed. She understood his hatred for Lily, especially after all the pain that she had caused him, but she didn't realize he would not feel anything in light of her death. 

The blonde vampire attempted to call Stefan one last time, but he eventually appeared in the doorway with an unreadable expression on his face. Klara dropped her phone onto the desk and ran into his arms. She knew that he would need her right now, just as she needed him.

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