*If you wanna little reference on somethings, right now we're somewhere in November and Claire is around 6 months pregnant.*

"I hate this" Kol grumbles pacing on the back porch, his eyes trained on the barn. His brothers were with him, all of them watching the barn just as intensely. Henrik is leaning against the railing bouncing his leg, Klaus was leaning against the house while Finn and Elijah sat in chairs.

"Why did we agree to this again?" Henrik wonders.

"Relax, Marcel knows better than to put harm her" Elijah says tensely.

"You trust him too much" Kol growls. "He just lost Davina, in his eyes it's our fault and we just let him have out most prized possession alone"

"She's not exactly defenseless" Klaus reminds them. "There's a hybrid in every stable and even more in the hay loft"

"Great, we have to rely on your mutts to protect our mate" Kol rolls his eyes.

"If you would all be quiet than we'd be able to hear their conversation more clearly" Finn hisses under his breath. 

"You do know they're listening to our every word" Marcel tells Claire as they sit on the opposite side of the barn. Claire smiles fondly at the thought of her over protective mates. "They believe I'm going to harm you"

"We hardly ever see eye-to-eye but I know you'd never harm a pregnant woman let alone a pregnant woman who is mated to them" Claire tells him. "You're angry with us, not suicidal"

"Why did you ask me to come here?" Marcel asks clenching his jaw. Claire sighs and hangs her head. She rubs her stomach lightly.

"I'm sorry" She whispers. Marcel frowns his eyebrows and looks at her. "For Davina" She says meeting his gaze. "I didn't want her dead, she didn't deserve that"

"Then you shouldn't have completed the Harvest" Marcel snapped.

"If we didn't New Orleans would have been destroyed" Claire tells him calmly. "Kaleb thinks-"

"You're still listening to Kaleb" Marcel rolls his eyes. "You never even met him before he conveniently shows up right before the Harvest supposedly needed to be completed."

"I trust him" Claire says. "He's just a guy trying to do the right thing and Archie, my brother mind you, vouches for him whole heartedly"

"Oh, well in that case, I feel much better" Marcel comments sarcastically. Claire sighs taking another breath to keep her temper in check.

"As I was saying" Claire tries again. "Kaleb thinks someone tampered with the ritual. He and my coven are working hard to figure out what went wrong and what we can do to fix this. When they figure it out we'll be able to bring not only Davina but the other girls sacrificed back"

"I won't hold my breath" Marcel snipped standing up.

"I cared about Davina too, I still do" Claire says standing up as well. "And I will bring her back"

"If you bring her back, I won't fight you anymore. You'll have my complete allegiance from that moment to the end of time. You, not your mates" Marcel declares.

"Put your allegiance in my coven, not just me" Claire tells him. "They're the ones doing most of the work" Marcel nods slightly.

"Just get her back" Marcel says before disappearing. The moment Marcel was gone Kol took his place.

"I'm fine" Claire promises him as he looks over her. Once he was satisfied he pulls her into his arms.

"Stop stressing me out" He whines making her laugh quietly.

"Gotta keep you on your toes" She tells him. He connects their lips greedily. "I love you" She whispers against his lips. 

His eyes lights up at the declaration. They did every time she told him she loves him. It saddened her a little every time. It was almost like he couldn't believe that someone could love him, that someone like him could be so happy and it broke her heart yet made her happy because now he's happy.

"Would you like a bath, Elskan?" Elijah asks coming up to her as Kol walks her back to the house. While Elijah knew that Claire enjoyed taking baths he also wanted her to wash Marcel's scent off of her without telling her that she smelled like him. Although, Elijah wasn't as slick as he believed because Claire had figured out the hidden meaning to his bath suggestions that conveniently left his lips whenever she left Marcel's, or any male, company.

"That sounds perfect" Claire nods. Elijah smiles and whisks her away from Kol, which causes him to pout but Elijah focuses on Claire.

"Uh, I'm here to speak with Claire" Klaus, Henrik, Kol and Finn glance at the new comer.

"What do you want?" Kol snarls at the vampire.

"Claire's busy, you can speak with us" Klaus says in a more kingly attitude.

"Well, we have a problem" Diego tells them.

"Wanna be a little more specific, mate?" Kol asks patronizingly.

"Kol, go guard Claire's bathroom or something" Klaus rolls his eyes. Kol smirks as images of Claire's pregnant, naked body within a bubble bath fill his mind. He quickly speeds away.

"There's two dead vampires at The Cauldron" Diego tells him. Klaus tenses.

"Show me" He demands walking off the porch with Henrik in tow. The three men disappear towards The Cauldron.

"Papa Finn" Madelyn says coming outside and walking towards him. His head instantly turns towards her and smiles. When she's close enough he picks her up and rests her on his lap.

"What are you doing, Princess?" He asks taking the book from her hand as she curls into his chest.

"Can you read me a story?" She asks yawning. Finn kisses the top of her head and rocks the chair knowing it was a good idea for her to take a nap.

"Of course" He tells her softly before opening the book. He reads the words off the page and Madelyn tries to keep up but towards the middle her eyes began to droop. When she slipped into dreamland, Finn set the book down and continued to rock in the chair holding her close to his chest.

"Did you talk to Claire?" Penelope asked Kai as they cuddled on the couch in the main room. "About dealing with your family?"

"I mentioned it" Kai tells her. "Although, I don't know why we need them, I can easily take care of them on my own"

"The last time you tried to do that they sent you to a prison world, I just got you, I'm not giving you up" Penelope tells him sternly. Kai smirks and kisses her nose.

"You're cute when you're worried" He tells her. She rolls her eyes but smiles as she snuggles back into his chest. "Kai then compared to Kai now was an armature" He says. "I'm not that easy to over power anymore"

"That's because you have me" Penelope reminds him. "And a coven. To stay powerful we stick together. Just listen to me or I'll cry" Penelope warns him. He frowns his eyebrows.

"You can't cry on command" Kai says calling her bluff. Penelope smirks and turns her head towards his.

"Wanna bet?" She asks mischievously. He looks at her cautiously. Within a few minutes a tears were puddling in her eyes and his heart clenches.

"Ok, ok, stop" He hugs her tightly and flips them so he's pressing her into the couch. "You know I hate it when you cry" He whines. She giggles and hugs him tightly.

"I love you, Mal" She whispers to him. His grip on her tightens even more. "I love you" She whispers to him again and again and again knowing she would say it a million more times before it sank into his stubborn brain.

A clear of the throat causes them to slowly pull away. Hanna stands beside the couch giving them a look. She didn't mind them cuddling but didn't exactly trust Kai to keep it G rated despite them being in a very public part of the house.

"Hey, mom" Penelope smiles sheepishly. Hanna smiles back at her.

"Hi, Penny, Kai" She greets the two of them. Kai gives him a face splitting grin. "Have you seen you're Uncle Jim?" Hanna asks Penelope.

"No, not for a while, why?" Penelope asks.

"Him, Grandpa, and I were supposed to go through Henley's things today" Hanna says her smile faltering slightly.

"I can help you two if you want" Penelope offered.

"No, that's alright, you don't have too" Hanna shakes her head.

"How's Grandma?" Penelope asks. Hanna sighs rubbing her face tiredly. "She still at Aunt Henley's tombstone?" Her mother nods slightly.

"It's been really hard on Grandma and Grandpa" Hanna admitted. "But they're gonna be alright, we're gonna be fine" Hanna promised. Penelope smiles and stands up to give her mom a hug. Hanna smiles and hugs her back tightly.

"I love you" Penelope whispers making Hanna hold her even tighter.

"I love you too, baby girl" Hanna whispers before the two pull away. "Keep it G rated" She says warningly while pointing at the two of them before walking away. Penelope sighs quietly before squealing as Kai snatches her and pulls her back onto the couch. She laughs and giggles as he tickles her and smothers her with kisses.

"Elijah!" Klaus snapped marching into the house.

"Puppy dog sounds mad" Kai says peeking over the couch. Klaus glares at him but continues searching for his brother. Penelope giggles and brings Kai's head back to hers, connecting their lips.

"Must you shout? I can hear you just fine" Elijah says meeting Klaus and Henrik in the study. He hoped what Klaus had to say was important enough to leave Claire. She's relaxing in the bathtub and he was about to join her, much to Kol's annoyance knowing he wasn't going to stick around for that, when Klaus returned demanding his attention giving Kol the perfect opportunity to replace Elijah.

"We may have a problem" Henrik tells him. Elijah motions for them to continue. Henrik walks closer to his brother and shows him pictures of the dead vampire bodies and the marks on them.

"Someone will die for this" Klaus growls.

"Remarkably, I don't disagree" Elijah says after examining the photos. "However, I would like to know where they learned such dark magic"

"I had hoped never to see that symbol again" Klaus growls wanting to get rid of the new threat before they could get anywhere near Claire or Madelyn. "I recall it is the signature of a fool who once stood against us"

"Clearly, some upstart witch is salvaging old tricks" Elijah says.

"We'll do for him as we did the other" Klaus says. "Where's Claire and Madelyn?"

"Madelyn's outside with Finn, Claire is in the bath with Kol" Elijah informs him.

"They must stay here" Klaus stresses. "And I don't want Claire knowing about this"

"You want to keep this from Claire?" Henrik asks. "That's gonna blow up in your face" He deadpans.

"Not if she doesn't find out" Klaus rolls his eyes. "The last thing I want is for her to find out about this and put more stress on her and the baby"

"While I agree we shouldn't put any unnecessary stress on her, I believe we should inform her of what's going on" Elijah tells Klaus.

"Wasn't she just mad at you for something you did in her dream?" Henrik asks tilting his head. "Can you imagine the anger she'll have when it's something you actually did" 

"Would you rather tell her and have her do something stupid?" Klaus asks.

"She's learned from her mistakes" Elijah said defensively.

"And yet she keeps making them" Klaus snapped.

"And how many of the same mistakes have you made over the centuries?" Elijah growls. "I trust her, I trust she won't endanger the child or herself"

"Well, it's not your child is it?" Klaus snapped. "It's mine and I'm gonna do whatever it takes to keep it safe, to keep them both safe. She's proven that she would rather act recklessly than think about the safety of our child"  

"If you keep this from her, if she finds out that your trust in her is gone, what do you think that'll do to her?" Elijah asks ignoring the pain in his heart as Klaus points out that the child growing in her stomach isn't his. "She has acted recklessly, yes, but I believe she's learned from it. Give her another chance like I have constantly given you, give her the chance to prove herself like we all gave you. You didn't let us down this time, she won't let you down either"

"Make sure she and Madelyn stay here, I'll handle this copycat" Klaus snapped before leaving.

"What do you wanna do?" Henrik asks Elijah.

"I wanna see what he does" Elijah says. "I want to give him a chance to come clean to her"

"Do you think he will?" Henrik asks.

"I hope he does" Elijah says truthfully. "If Claire finds out that she doesn't have his trust and that he's starting to keep things from her she'll stress even more"

*So, how was the chapter?*