'Sarah' really thought that she had Maddy fooled.

Maddy had let her go on and on about her childhood and all the awful things she'd experienced to get to where they were now, in the cafeteria at Whitmore College.

The woman felt bad for her. She really did. These foster homes she'd been in sounded absolutely awful, and she hated that anyone could be so cruel to a child who'd never done anything to hurt people.

At last, she pressed her palm down onto the table, staring at her intently. "I'm sorry for this," she said. "I really am. It... is absolutely horrible that you had to go through that. If you really wanted a family, I'd be glad to accept you into mine, but not like this. Not when you're lying to me about who you are."

Her face went slack. "What? Do— do you not believe me? I told you, I'm Zach and Gail's daughters. I have these pictures—" she brought them out, but Maddy pushed her hand away.

"I have copies of those pictures already," said Maddy quietly. "Physically, in the house I can't return to. And burned into my mind. I was there when they were taken. And I was there when Sarah Salvatore was born. I held her for just a moment before I handed her to the couple who took her in right from the hospital. A good pair who have been great parents to her. I know that she wasn't in the foster care system. She's getting ready to finish up high school soon, and she's intending to apply to Duke as an art major, because her passion is photography. I know what Sarah looks like and you... despite bearing enough of a resemblance to be mistaken as her sister... you are not Sarah Salvatore."

The girl gulped, realizing she'd been caught. "I... I didn't think you knew her."

"Of course I knew her. She's my niece. I may not have ever spoken to her. And she may not know I even exist. But my brother and I have always kept an eye on her from afar. The question I have now is... if you're not Sarah, then who are you, really?"

She sighed. "Monique. My name is Monique. I met Sarah at sleep-away camp, or as my foster family liked to call it, 'get the hell out of my house' camp. Sarah had a great life. Me? Not so much. So when I found out that she had no desire to find her real family—"

"You figured you'd find them for her and get some happiness," murmured Maddy. "Unfortunately... this family is more dysfunctional than many."

"I know about you all being vampires," said Monique. "Jeremy told me. Even with that in mind, I can't imagine your family is worse than what I had."

Maddy pursed her lips. "My older brother killed Gail." Acknowledging the shocked look on Monique's face, she continued, "He never knew that Sarah survived. She's safer that way. Away from this world. You'd probably be safer from this, too. Monique..." she sighed, "I can't let you remember this."

Monique immediately scooted her chair back. "No! You can't erase my memories!"

"I'm not going to wipe every last aspect out of your mind," she said. "I'm human now, I can't..." she heaved a harsher sigh than before. "Look, if you want a family, I guess you and I can keep in touch, but you knowing about Sarah is risky. All I ask is that you let my boyfriend compel you to forget everything you know about Sarah specifically. Everything else can stay. Just know that I'm leaving for New Orleans soon. So... if you want to follow, you can, but it's probably not the safest option."

The girl's eyes welled up with tears. "I just wanted to know what it was like to have a good family. That's it."

"I wish I could give you that. I really do. But my family will only put you in danger."

"I-I don't have anything else. Or anyone else. I don't even know where I'm going to live when I leave this place."

Maddy bit her lip. "Tell you what. I'll give you the money you need to get a fresh start somewhere nice. Somewhere that you can feel safe. In exchange, you let my boyfriend wipe away all the memories you have of Sarah."

The woman was surprised that Monique didn't immediately accept now that there was monetary incentive to accept her offer.

"I don't know," said Monique quietly. "Money would be helpful but that doesn't guarantee I'll get what everyone else seems to have. Loving parents and lots of friends and cousins and even uncles and aunts..." she shrugged sadly. "Fine. I'll do it."

"We can keep in contact. I won't be opposed to that. If you need advice... I don't mind giving that out, it's really the least I can do."

"I'd like that." She removed her bracelet, which likely had vervain in it. "Where's your boyfriend?"

Maddy looked toward the door, and Klaus walked in, having been waiting outside. Once he stood in front of Monique, he looked into her eyes. "You have never met or heard of Sarah Salvatore. Forget everything that you know of her. Leave Virginia and start a life for yourself. All you'll remember is that you had a nice time here, and you made a new friend."

He put his hand on Maddy's shoulders as Monique's eyes went glassy. Maddy quickly wrote her name and number on a napkin before handing it to Monique. "Contact me, and I'll help you with anything you need, okay?"

"Thanks," said Monique simply. "It was nice meeting you."

She walked right out, and Maddy sighed.

"What's wrong, love?" asked Klaus.

She winced. "I just hate knowing that some kids are treated so badly. You... me... my brothers... Tyler Lockwood... all these foster kids who have such an awful time in the system. I am fine with violence, you know that... I'm often violent for no reason. But how can you do that to a kid? What did it ever do to make you want to hurt it?"

Klaus hummed. "Marcel has a rule like that in place with his vampires. No harming children. Anyone else is fair game. But children... are not to be touched." He held out his hand. "Ready to return to the apartment?"

"Sure," she said as she placed her palm in his. "We still have a few more days before we can... ah, do the dirty and hope that something comes out of it. Let's just relax for a bit. Talk about how we're feeling about this. I especially want to know how you're feeling. If you'd like to change your mind... please let me know now. I won't be mad."

"I don't wish to change my mind," said Klaus, leading her out of the building. "As nerve-wracking as it all is, I feel... alright. If you truly believe that I can be a good father, then I suppose I ought to believe that as well, even if my belief isn't as firm as yours."

She smiled. "Good. I want you to believe in yourself. You have more potential than you realize. You aren't pure evil, Nik. You have goodness inside of you, even if you don't show it to many people."

"There are few who I deem important enough to care about. If I show affection too often... I expose my weaknesses. And anyone who aims to hurt me could exploit said weaknesses. I live in fear every day that someone will hurt you to get to me..." he trailed off as if there was something he wanted to say, but was worried about how she'd take it.

She frowned. "What is it, Nik?"

"It's nothing, love."

"It's clearly something. Tell me, please."

He bit his lip. "Someone was following you, the other day. I never mentioned it... I knew you were more occupied with thinking ahead depending on the decision I made about having children."

"Wait, what? When was this?"

"That day you went to the tea shop after your shift. I'd gone to feed and I noticed an elderly woman was trailing after you. I believe she was going to approach you before I went up to you and led you back to the house. I saw her afterwards, a different day. I sensed that she was supernatural... and when I saw her cast a spell to make a patch of flowers grow right near where you usually sit and drink your tea... I knew she was a witch. A witch was following after you, love. Which means someone outside our circle is aware of our relationship and it could mean you are in danger. We already fear that Esther may have an influence over the French Quarter Coven. What if she sent someone after you?"

"Well, maybe it wasn't someone Esther sent. My brothers and I have accumulated loads of enemies and if any of them got word of my condition, they may be after me, too. Anyone that Damon, Stefan, or I hurt over the years could be coming back with the intention of killing me."

"This does not strike me as an assassination attempt. If this woman was attempting to kill you, she could have done it very easily. It strikes me as though she's attempting to kidnap you."

"Kidnap me?"

"Yes. What if Esther is plotting against us once more? What if she is attempting to take you as bait to subdue me? What if she learned of all the conversations we had about children, and is attempting to stop us from procreating by killing me? It could be anything. My mother is vile."

"Nik," said Maddy gently, stopping in her tracks and putting her hands on his chest. "Hey. I'm okay. Nobody is going to manage to hurt me as long as I'm next to you. It's where I feel safest and happiest... especially these days. You're indestructible. The white oak stake is in your possession. I'm perfectly fine..." she trailed off when she saw him look away. "Um... the white oak stake is in your possession... right?"

Klaus gulped. "Not quite, love."

"What? How did it go missing?"

"The night we were attacked. When the Guerreras took the moonlight rings. The stake went missing."

"Oh my god," said Maddy quiety. "That's why you didn't attack them sooner. You think they might have the white oak stake."

He nodded. "Then again, Elijah suspects they do not have it, otherwise they would have stormed the Compound already. Everyone knows he's alone there."

"If the Guerreras don't have it... do you think the witches got their hands on it?"

"If they are indeed under my mother's influence, no doubt they managed to get their hands on the sole weapon who could bring down an Original permanently."

"Well, if you can confirm that the wolves don't have it... then you can attack. Take the Guerreras down, bring the wolves to your side. You told me Hayley and Jackson were already more willing to side with you if it meant they'd get moonlight rings from you."

"Hayley and Jackson have been leading a group of rebel wolves in the depths of the Bayou. Or so Elijah tells me. Apparently, they refused to take a moonlight ring from Francesca, as she demanded they call her Alpha. Since they would not bow down, they retreated."

"Well, you said there are only a handful of rings that are tied to you and bring you down every full moon. Those are all the key players. If you take them out, the others might be willing to relinquish their rings to rejoin the Crescent Pack to ensure their safety, because no way in hell will they be stupid enough to challenge you when you're back at fulls trength. Then, you can get them new rings that won't make them servants of the witches."

Klaus hummed. "Potentially. I will need to speak with my brother. Perhaps the first thing we'll do when we get to New Orleans is that. Bring down Francesca's Pack, establish our control over the city again, then deal with the witches separately. They would be foolish to attack if we are successful in swiftly eliminating the wolves who crossed us. Unfortunately, the city is just as dangerous as it was when I first returned. I wished to make it safer for you... but that will have to be a work in progress. You'll need to be laying low in the Compound while we wage war with the wolves."

"It's okay. Normally I'd love to help but I kinda can't do anything in that situation. I hate being this useless."

"You're not useless, love. Actually, your words have given me a small idea on how to proceed. As I stated, I'll need to discuss it with Elijah. But this conversation may have been instrumental in our plan to carry out the downfall of the Guerreras."

She managed a small smile. "Glad I could help."

They spent the next few days just waiting. Waiting for news from New Orleans. Waiting for the green light when it came to finally giving it their first try.

Maddy thought it was sweet. Klaus was incredibly scared at first, moving at a snail's pace as he tried to understand her new limits. Before, he could move her however he wanted and she'd be fine. Now, if he put even a tad too much pressure, her bones would snap in his hands.

"Do you think it worked?" she murmured as he held her ever so gently after the fourth day in a row of tangling together under the sheets once evening came around.

Klaus cast her a look. "Love, I find it offensive that you think it wouldn't work after all the effort I've put in."

"That's not what I meant! I'm not insulting your competency or anything—"

He started to laugh, indicating that he'd only been joking. Still, she continued, "But what if it really isn't meant to be?"

"If it isn't meant to be," he murmured. "Then it simply isn't meant to be. And we have no control over that. Your theory is just that at the moment— a theory. I may not actually be able to procreate."

"I know," Maddy whispered. "I just hope I'm right."

"As strange as it is to hear myself say this... I do hope you're right, as well."

They were just going to have to wait to find out. Maddy knew it was going to be a dreadful three weeks of just counting down the days until her next ultrasound. She kept journaling how she felt every day, trying to pinpoint any symptoms she felt. She suspected that Klaus was beginning to consider her a bit insane from how often she had her pen scribbling against the paper. He probably thought she was turning into Stefan.

"I don't feel anything," said Maddy worriedly when, an entire month later, they were at the hospital with Jo and Meredith. "Is that normal? To not feel anything?"

"Some women have no major symptoms," said Jo, handing her the cup she would need to pee in. "Others have a really awful time. Not everyone has the same experience. You also have to consider this is a supernatural baby."

"Yep," said Maddy, taking the cup from her. "Little werewolf baby, I know."

Jo bit her lip. "That's the thing. I have a theory that goes beyond that. Something that you need to be aware of."

Maddy frowned, looking over at Klaus briefly. "What do you mean?"

"We did a karyotype on you when you first became human," piped up Meredith. "We examined all the genes you carry, cross-referenced them with Jo's genes, and the genes of Enzo, who volunteered when he told him what we were looking for."

"Um... you asked Enzo to let you do a karyotype on him? What?"

"Remember how I told you that you might have a recessive witch gene?" said Jo. "When I was explaining to you why the Traveler veil is holding so long on you? Well... we confirmed it. You have a recessive witch gene. And I suspect that Klaus has one, too."

Klaus made a face. "I have no witch gene. My mother was a powerful witch, and yet Kol is the only one who was ever able to perform magic."

"Here's the thing with witch and werewolf genetics. The genes are always passed down, but in different forms. What do you know about your mother's parents?"

Klaus thought for a moment. "Her mother was a witch. Her father... not. However, there were witches on my grandfather's side of the family. He simply wasn't one. On her mother's side, however, nearly everyone was a witch. That is all I know. I never met any of her family members."

"Okay, well, chances are her mother gave her a dominant witch gene..." she started to draw a Punnett Square on her clipboard. "Big W, we'll call it. But her father gave her a recessive witch gene. Little w. Combined, the dominant one wins over. Thus, Esther was a witch. Mikael was not a witch at all, so all your siblings only got their genes from Esther. All of them had potential to be witches, but random flukes here and there along with gene regulation may be why only Kol developed magic. I'd need to study their genes to understand it fully. It could just be that the Spirits didn't want all of you to be able to perform magic. I don't know.

"The point is, you're different. Your father was a werewolf. You got the wolf gene, there's no denying that. And we know that you can't be both a werewolf and a witch— it hasn't happened. So, what I think, is that you either got the dominant version of the witch gene, W, but it was overshadowed by the wolf gene and that's why you don't have powers, or you got the recessive version and that's why you don't have any magic. Either way, you have a witch gene. And I think that if combined with Maddy's genes—" she scribbled on the Punnett Square, "there is a very high chance that your child will be a witch."

"Oh," said Maddy, looking confused, but a bit excited. "That would be cute. A witch baby." She then frowned. "Wait... so is it going to be a witch, or a wolf?"

Meredith wrote on her clipboard as she spoke, "You come from a Traveler witch bloodline. Klaus, from a Spirit Magic witch bloodline. Those two bloodlines have never mixed before, according to Jo. We think that may be enough for your child to be both witch and wolf."

Klaus's jaw went slack. "Are you serious? Are you implying that the child would be a hybrid?"

Meredith and Jo shared a look. "No," said Meredith. "Our theory... is that it would be a tribrid."

"I'm sorry, what?" said Maddy. "But 'tri' is for three. You only mentioned wolves and witches and... the possibility of the kid having both traits. Where does the 'tri' come in?"

"You're a vampire," Meredith said to Klaus, who made a face as if to say, 'you don't think I already know that?' "No vampire has ever had a child. At first, we thought that it was nothing we needed to consider. Vampirism is an acquired trait. Acquired traits aren't passed down. But when we examined Enzo's genes, we noticed something very strange. Something that didn't match with wolves or witches, but was located on the same chromosome where both supernatural genes are found. We couldn't find any explanation for it until we looked at my karyotype and realized I have the exact same band on my chromosome. Which means that somehow, vampirism alters genetics even slightly."

"And," continued Jo, "because you used to be a vampire, Maddy, we managed to find the band, though it's changed... as if your own cells turned the gene off the instant you became human. Since Klaus is currently part vampire... we think vampirism might also be passed down."

"Which means," finished Meredith, noting the shocked looks on Klaus and Maddy's faces, "that there are five possibilities of what your child will be. One— we're totally wrong and it's just a wolf. A simple cute little werewolf. Two— the witch genes overshadow the wolf genes for once, and it's just a witch. Three— the baby is both wolf and witch. Four— the baby is both wolf and vampire. And five... the baby is all three."

Maddy would have crushed the cup in her hands if she'd had her vampire strength. "And we won't know until... when?"

"After it's born," said Jo. "There will be no way of knowing for certain until it's born. We just needed you to be aware of our theory."

Maddy nodded, albeit a bit worriedly. "I... I highly doubt it will be theories four or five. Even three is hard to believe. But um... thank you for letting us know. I should go take this." She held up her cup, wiggling it slightly before heading to the bathroom.

Klaus was pacing the room while he waited for her to come back. Hybrids... tribrids... what the hell was this? How was this possible? Perhaps he'd made a mistake agreeing to this. A supernatural pregnancy with a human mother was worrisome enough. If that child was more powerful than the average supernatural, how would she fare? What if it truly did kill her? Klaus still had horrible visions of Maddy dying while giving birth whenever he zoned out while thinking about what was to come.

Maddy returned, and he did his best to remain calm as the doctors conducted the test. He took the brunette's hand, squeezing it reassuringly. Even she looked nervous now. This hadn't been what she was expecting. Perhaps adoption would have been a smarter choice...

"Well," said Jo, holding up the test. "According to this, you're pregnant."

Maddy gripped Klaus's hand as tightly as she physically could, which was really only a weak squeeze to him.

"So this is it, then?" she said quietly. "We can go to New Orleans now?"

"You can go whenever you'd like," said Jo. "I've already made my decision. I need something new. Whitmore has been my life for years and I want a new adventure. I will get my own place and work my way into a hospital there, don't worry. But I will gladly join you in New Orleans, if you'll continue to accept me as your doctor for this."

Maddy beamed. "Of course, Jo. And Meredith, you're always welcome to visit."

Meredith nodded, smiling only slightly. Though she'd warmed up to Maddy significantly these past few months, it didn't mean she wanted to get friendly beyond their doctor-patient relationship.

Klaus hadn't known what to say. He'd been silent until they exited the room, and he realized that Maddy was looking up at him expectantly, wanting to know his thoughts.

"Your theory was right," he said quietly. "I only hope theirs isn't."

"You wouldn't want a hybrid or tribrid kid?" Maddy asked, tilting her head.

"Well... I would be proud all the same. I would care for them all the same. A powerful child sounds very nice. However, it could hurt you if the child has more magic than the average supernatural baby. I cannot bear to lose you. If you were to die giving birth, I could not raise the child. Not alone. I simply couldn't."

Maddy didn't hold it against him. "That's why we leave clear instructions in case the worst case scenario comes true. Let's talk about that now, if you'd like. Who should get custody if I die?"

"Rebekah," said Klaus immediately. "Unless you wish for one of your brothers to..."

"No, it's okay, I would trust Rebekah to be its mother if I can't be. Stefan is great but he would never accept.. he'd be too worried about hurting it. Enzo, well... I don't know how he feels about kids to be honest. Elena and Elijah are the second option, I'd say. Or we could just say Elena, Elijah, and Rebekah. I'm pretty sure your brother and my best friend are going to end up together forever. And Rebekah would kill you if you didn't let her have at least a piece of the custody."

Klaus managed a laugh. "I imagine they would enjoy that..." he trailed off. "You aren't cross with me?"

"No, I'm not. I get it, Nik, I really do. At least with their support, you can still be part of the kid's life but without it feeling like a burden to you. Everyone has their limitations. Ideally, you'd care for it if I wasn't there, but if you can't, I would never hate you for it. Besides... this is only for a worst case scenario, which won't happen. I'm not going to die. I swear it."

"And if you do?"

"I won't. I'll be damned if I let the white light suck me in before I get to be a mom. I'd be so pissed if I died before I got to see it take its first steps. I'm going to survive out of spite."

The Original rolled his eyes, opening the car door for her as they prepared to head back home. "You are ridiculous."

Maddy winked at him. Just before she could get in the car, a hand swiped out to pat her on the shoulder. Both she and Klaus turned around. The woman nearly collapsed when she saw who was standing in front of them.

"Oh my god," she said, covering her mouth. "Damon?"

He smiled, extending his hand to her. "Hey Mads. Long time no see."