Caroline woke up in the middle of the night to her phone going off like crazy by an unknown number and is told that she must come to New Orleans this instant. The girl on the phone sound desperate so Caroline lets her curiosity and compassion drive...
"Holy shit, I'm a fucking statistic." Caroline blurts to herself as she looks up at the looming thing they called a baby store. Then she glances down at the newborn in the weird wicker thing labeled a "Moses Basket". Apparently, Google does have an answer for everything. "Sorry...baby. I'll try not to swear so much. But seriously, I'm going to look like one of the 30% of teenage girls who got pregnant and had a kid. And I learned this from health class so I'm right. I don't want to be a statistic like that." The child is asleep, as newborns often tend to be, and she shrugs it off.
As Caroline walks into the store, she is thankful it isn't busy. If she looks as uncomfortable with this baby as she feels, then everyone would be able to tell that she is literally one of those teenage runaways with a baby like you see on the news and creepy ads online. And, now that she is on the run from some psycho coven of witches, conspicuousness is not what she wants.
Browsing the shelves after briefly nodding to the bored-looking chick behind the register, and grabbing a cart, Caroline feels a weight sink into her stomach. This is overwhelming.
"Okay." She calms herself back down, talking to both the baby and herself. "First order of business is diapers. Because frankly, that one on you is starting to smell. And then we need formula, and bottles too. And clothes. Lots of little adorable clothes." The clothes is actually going to be fun to shop for, if the racks and racks of cute little outfits are any indication. "At least whoever picked out your basket has good taste." Caroline shrugs. The basket is quite cute, with a delicate white lining, accented with pink ruffles and four lavender bows. "It was probably Rebekah. I may dislike your aunt a lot, but she at least has class. And I can't really see Klaus or Elijah going to a baby store." She giggles at the thought, before sighing. "What happened to them? I can't imagine they left you on purpose. And like... I can't even hunt them down, because I'm apparently magically ordained to protect you because your dad—wow, that's a weird thought—has a thing for me and I may or may not reciprocate a teeny tiny bit. Or maybe quite a bit."
"Do you need any help, dear?" Caroline turns to the person behind her, startled. It is a woman in her late-forties, early-fifties, and she looked like a stereotypical grandmother type.
"Um, yes. I... I need the basics for a baby. Not like furniture or anything but just like the...other stuff..." She trails off awkwardly, earning a confused look from the woman.
"Are you alright?" The lady asks, eyeing her car-rumpled clothes, and the baby's obvious newly-born status.
She steps around the cart, which is holding the baby, and makes eye contact with the employee. "You are going to help me shop because I don't know what I'm doing, and then you're going to fix it so I get everything for free because I'm a very important person like that. Afterwards, you're going to forget you ever met me, and if anyone asks you about me or shows you a picture, you will tell them that you see a lot of blondes with babies, but you think I was asking about the closest airport, and was muttering something about getting out of the country. Got it?" When she repeats back the compulsion, Caroline nods in relief. "Great! In that case, what do I get first?"
After grabbing the necessities, she makes four stops in which the baby needed to be fed, three nasty attempts at changing diapers, multiple YouTube videos, and one very long drive later, Caroline finally arrives at her childhood home after five in the morning, baby in tow. Unfortunately she is not quite lucky enough for her mom to be working the nightshift—of all the days, mom has to be home—and sneaking in and out of the house undetected is going to be nearly impossible.
She manages to get in quietly enough, it is just when the newborn starts to shriek at being awaken that Caroline knows she is busted. "Mom, it's just me!" She yells over the squalling baby, as her mom comes into the kitchen, gun aimed at her.
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"Caroline?" Liz shakes her head, lowering the pistol. "What the hell are you doing with a baby?"
"Mom, I can explain..." Caroline starts off feebly, bouncing the baby slightly to get her to quiet down.
It takes an hour for Caroline to explain and answer the questions she can not knowing where the original family is and all or the embarrassment of the bond between her and Klaus. Liz takes a few moments to absorb the information, once digested Liz smiles at Caroline as her daughter rocks the baby girl to keep her asleep.
"What are you going to do next?" She asks Caroline wanting to know the plan that her daughter no doubt has made in her mind.
Caroline turns her attention back to her mom before answering, "I am going to New York there are 20 million people living there so two more wont make anyone blink and everyone believes that I will leave the country, so best stay in plain sight instead of isolation and being around kids her age will be good for her. I already have an apartment and fake and real birth certificates for this little girl I just have to pick a name for her which is going to be hard. But anyway I am going to leave tomorrow night I am going to go to the Mikaelson Mansion now to see if there is anything I need there and I'll stay there until nighttime before I start to travel." Caroline explains her plan.
Liz nods "What about your friends, honey they are going to come looking for you??" She asks.
"I wrote each of them letters saying that I am going to college overseas and that I want to get away from the supernatural drama. I am going to get me and the baby a cloaking spell so no one can track us. I was hoping you could wait a few days before telling them to give me a head start?" Caroline asks with hope in her eyes.
"Of course sweetie, I will visit you on holidays and in two months to see how you are doing, don't worry I won't lead them to you. Now let's get packing." Liz states as she gets up and heads to Caroline's room, Caroline gently lays the baby girl down and with that they get to work.
