The autumn weather held up, and the day of Bonnie's baby shower dawned fresh and clear. She and Klaus, accompanied by Monique (who was immensely preoccupied with the Nintendo Switch Klaus had gifted her with) walked up the substantial driveway to Caroline's house where the party awaited them.

Bonnie brushed a hand over her belly, now unmistakably a second trimester pregnancy. She had let Caroline coax her into a shopping spree and now wore one of their many acquisitions. A sky blue babydoll dress with a pretty crocheted bodice and skirt that ended above her knees. She'd let her curls frame her face and shoulders and been pleased at the picture she made in the mirror. But some of that confidence began to ebb as they neared the door. There was no going back. She had shown her hand to her friends and things would never be the same again, even if she wished them to.

The memory of her last conversation with Gloria returned when she touched her stomach. Her baby was warm, like a small furnace. Her little hybrid. Bonnie hadn't told anyone, not even the full grown hybrid who walked beside her. She wasn't sure how to break the news...or what his reaction would be.

She turned to Klaus, who wore his characteristic dark jeans and grey Henley, his hair slicked back from his striking, angular features, his expression unreadable. His sharp gaze swept the house and surrounding neighborhood, missing nothing. The notion that Klaus Mikaelson was accompanying her to her baby shower washed over her anew, and Bonnie had to suppress a slightly hysterical giggle.

She settled for poking him with an elbow. "How do I look?" She asked, lightly.

Klaus took her in, a slight twitch at his lips. She blushed at his shamelessly appreciative look.

"Beautiful," he said, taking hold of her chin, seemingly having made a swift decision about kissing her. The kiss was warm and possessive, more so than was strictly appropriate for standing in her friend's driveway, but Bonnie had grown accustomed to these wolfish ways. More than merely accustomed, if she was being honest. She leaned into the kiss and the taste of his mouth, vaguely hearing Monique's chortle behind them.

Bonnie was a tad breathless when Klaus drew away, and noticed his quiet grin, the fierce glint in his eyes. "It appears my wolf responds to an audience," he said, dropping a light kiss to her nose before gesturing at the window. Bonnie followed his eyeline and saw a curtain hastily pulled close, heard a suppressed chaos of footsteps dispersing.

She rolled her eyes. Real subtle, guys.

She laced her fingers through Klaus' without pausing to question the instinct. Hand in hand, with Monique following behind, they stepped inside.

Caroline had outdone herself.

Shiny matte balloons in blue and yellow formed pretty festoons around the hand painted signs announcing "CONGRATULATIONS" and a table heaped with carefully chosen pastries and fruit. A pile of gifts that made Bonnie light-headed to look at was heaped in one corner, and everyone wore blue and yellow t-shirts that read "Baby Bennett's First Party" on the front. Well, almost everyone.

"Sorry Bon," Damon drawled, "but I draw the line at merchandise. Congrats though," he raised his glass, and his look wasn't entirely mocking. Bonnie decided it was better than the usual.

"Klaus, we have one for you too!" Caroline said, holding out the tshirt to him with a bright challenge in her eyes. The room grew silent, all heads turned to the hybrid who stood frozen, looking at the blonde vampire and the garment she brandished with a pained look.

"Told you. Come on, bro," Damon said to Stefan, gesturing with his fingers. "Pay up."

Bonnie wondered what else they'd bet on about this baby shower and decided she would rather not know.

"Save your coin, Stefan," Klaus said smoothly. He proceeded to shuck off his Henley and pull the blue t-shirt over his head. It fit him well enough, if a touch snugly around the arms and shoulders.

Bonnie didn't mind.

Monique laughed. "You're so easy, Hogwarts."

"Hogwarts?" Stefan asked, grinning. "I like this kid."

While a surly Damon paid his brother, Caroline ordered everyone to their place and announced a list of activities. At one point, while the men were preoccupied with a game, she pulled Bonnie aside.

"Ok, Bon, don't hate me but...Tyler's on his way, with a couple of his Alaska friends."

Bonnie froze, her nerves racing. "Does he know K-,"

"Yes, I told him everything. About you, the baby, how you're going to live in Montana...,"

"And?"

"And, he took it pretty well...considering. I'm sorry Bon," Caroline said, squeezing her hand. "I wanted this to be your day. Tyler wasn't supposed to get here until tomorrow, but they drove all night so he could see me sooner, and I just couldn't say no. I haven't seen him in so long..."

Bonnie softened a little at the entreaty in Caroline's eyes, the desperate blend of emotion she could sense practically humming off the vampire. Caroline hadn't asked to be in this position, her friends divided by choices that had nothing to do with her. And yet, a small part of Bonnie was hard and unyielding. It surprised her to encounter that steely core.

"I understand if you're mad at me," Caroline said, shoulders slumping.

Caroline was wrong, and she certainly didn't understand. Like a flood, Bonnie saw the past few years flowing by. From floating feathers to watching Grams die. Elena snatching her back before she could burn Damon at that fairground. Caroline, wide eyed and hungry, her mouth bloody with the neck of a boy Bonnie had hoped to kiss. Jeremy, brought back to life and running after a ghost. Every single time, every single choice - no one spared her a thought. She was simply expected to show up, elbow deep in blood and regret, sweeping up the carnage, weeping in silence.

It was why she had left with Klaus, she realized in a sudden bolt of clarity. She was tired of living in the fallout of everyone's choices, so she had made one of her own. A risky, perhaps even amoral choice. But a choice nonetheless. Something that was hers, to cherish and guard and embrace. She smiled at Caroline, almost grateful to the blonde for making her epiphany possible.

"I'm not mad, Care. Tyler can come if he likes. And if he can't handle seeing me and Klaus, we'll handle it," she finished with a small shrug.

The vampire seemed unsettled by her cheer.

"So... if it's okay with you, I'm going back to my baby shower now."

Patting a stunned Caroline on the shoulder, Bonnie breezed past and returned to the festivities, sitting across from Klaus and meeting his inquiring look. She gave him a small smile that seemed to reassure him all was well with her. In the past few weeks they had adopted a language of their own, one they used instinctively, a grammar of awareness and sensory connection. She made a mental note to ask Gloria about this newest development in her relationship with wolves, and another to herself: she would tell Klaus about her baby being a hybrid tonight.

In the end, it wasn't Tyler's presence that stole the ground from underneath Bonnie's feet.

She had stood to help herself to some more hor d'oeuvres when a vaguely familiar voice made her freeze. Tyler stood in the doorway, looking leaner and more at ease than she remembered him. Klaus was at her side, flanking her in a gesture of quiet protection she recognized wordlessly. Tyler seemed to recognize it too, and straightened his shoulders at them. Some day, Bonnie would laugh at Klaus bristling beside her in a printed t-shirt, but at that moment her attention zeroed in on the dark-haired, barrel-chested young wolf behind Tyler who returned her gaze with his mouth agape.

"Jake...,"

Jake's eyes went from her face to her belly then back again, looking quite literally as though someone had punched him in the solar plexus. Bonnie had a queer, light-headed sensation before her surroundings started to grey.

She heard Caroline shriek, "Someone catch her!"

She came to on the settee to a frantic Caroline fanning her face. Her eyes fell on Monique who was watching her anxiously, video game abandoned.

"I'm fine," she assured the little wolf. The sound of growling and snarling sent chills down her spine - as well as an avalanche of dismay. Jake. He was here. And he was a wolf. And Klaus-

Bonnie bolted upright, ignoring Carolines protests, and made a beeline for the sitting room where three tense wolves and one hybrid stood eyeing each other. When Monique made to follow her she gave her a gentle but stern order. "Stay here with Caroline. Hogwarts and I have to talk to these guys, but then we'll all go home, okay?"

The young wolf screwed up her face, round eyes darting between Bonnie and the others.

"We'll order some pizza later?" Bonnie coaxed. She really had to come up with something other than bribery one of these days.

But Monique shuffled over to Caroline and sat down, silent despite the mutinous look on her face. Bonnie took a deep breath and faced the wolves.

Jake and Tyler were accompanied by a third wolf, Noah, who appeared to be in his early twenties, surly looking but otherwise quiet and civil. Bonnie reached Klaus and touched his arm, drawing his attention. He was taut as a bowstring, ready to strike at the first sign of threat. If this conversation was going to end in anything except a full on brawl, Bonnie knew she had to calm him down.

"Klaus," she said softly. "Hey, I'm okay."

His gaze was simmering amber, jaw tight. Bonnie thought of what he'd said in the driveway and, rising on her tiptoes, kissed his mouth. Her lips coaxed his gently, her hands carding through his hair and body angled shamelessly towards him. It was to soothe and reassure, but it was also a display to the other wolves, their audience. Klaus returned her kiss with a hungry growl and Bonnie relaxed against him, feeling the wolfish tension dissipate from his body.

It was Stefan who quietly cleared his throat, he and Damon having decided to enter the fray. Bonnie supposed it was in their best interest to make sure a werewolf brawl didn't destroy their antique home.

When she and Klaus parted, the amber in his eyes had receded to flecks. She smiled and took his hand, heart pounding, praying she wasn't making a huge mess of everything. Her baby's safety came first, second and last. She let that thought strengthen and steady her, reached for that small, steely core she had leaned on when she spoke to Caroline mere hours ago. She couldn't just be meek and simple Bonnie Bennett anymore. She needed to do whatever it took to keep her little hybrid safe. Safe, and loved.

"Jake," she said, addressing him directly. "How are you?"

"I'm fine, Bonnie," he said, sounding a bit squeamish. His eyes wouldn't move from her belly. "How about you? How's the -?" he gestured helplessly.

"The baby? He's fine, healthy." Bonnie smiled widely, putting both hands on her stomach. "And you're not the father."

A pin-drop silence followed during which all heads swivelled to face her. She felt Klaus' eyes burning holes into her face, but she kept her gaze on Jake, waiting for him to reveal what she needed to know. The young wolf blinked stupidly for a few moments, then collapsed, laughing, into a chair.

Tyler and Noah exchanged looks, when suddenly their companion leapt out of his chair, fists raised, hollering:

"Jesus fucking christ, thank GOD. Jesus. Fuck. Amelia would have killed me. Mom and Dad would've killed me. FUCK. Jesus. THANK YOU." He circled the room. Punched the air a few more times. "THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. YES!" he shouted, clapping Tyler and Noah soundly on their shoulders and jumping up a few more times.

"Classy," Damon observed from across the room, bourbon glass half-empty in his hand.

"Who's Amelia?" Bonnie asked, though she already knew the answer.

"His fiance," Tyler supplied, looking at his jovial companion askance. He rubbed the back of his neck. "They took a break last year then reconciled over the summer."

Jake burst forward and sank to his knees in front of her. "Bonnie, THANK YOU! You're going to be an amazing mom, whoever the dad is. You're amazing, this baby will be amazing - THANK YOU GOD it's not mine. Woo! I love this baby that's not mine!" He lunged forward to cradle her belly in thankfulness, but only got as far as her hem before Klaus seized him by the collar and tossed him - quite gently, considering the circumstances - towards his friends.

Tyler shook his head at Jake. "Get a hold of yourself, man."

"Tell us, Bon-bon, who is the lucky guy?" Damon interrupted, eyes shining with amused skepticism.

But Bonnie had anticipated this. She thought back to when she and Klaus had slipped into the river and ended up, briefly, in a world between worlds. When they had escaped a supernatural beast together. She recalled how distraught she'd been, how full of shame at the thought of her friends finding out she was pregnant from a cheap one night stand. She marvelled at how distant, how small that version of herself seemed now. It was time to leap off a tree branch again and trust herself to land true, like a cat. To use the past to her advantage. "Well, after Jeremy cheated on me with Anna's ghost -," she saw Elena flinch out of the corner of her eye, and continued. "I was really upset. I drank a lot, went to a lot of bars. And...I hooked up with guys. A lot of guys."

Elena gaped. Stefan seemed mildly surprised and concerned. Damon rolled his eyes. Tyler seemed impressed.

Bonnie sighed appropriately. "One time, I went home with two guys. It was a bad time for me, and it's partly why I didn't want to come back from Montana. I didn't want to face all of you," she took a deep breath. "I know Jake isn't the father because the due date doesn't fit. There were so many guys after him and... the truth is I don't know who the father is."

Stefan's eyebrows almost disappeared into his hairline. Elena gasped.

"I didn't want to tell you like this. I didn't want to tell anyone-," Bonnie put her face in her hands and let out a dry, quiet sob. She sniffled loudly. "I'm so embarrassed."

This had the desired effect. Instantly, Elena and Caroline rushed to comfort her. Stefan cut off whatever lewd remark Damon was poised to make, and the three wolves shuffled awkwardly in the corner.

Klaus brought her a chair and someone put a cool glass of lemonade in her hand. She heard the small crowd murmuring and shifting their feet until Caroline's bright, strident voice cut through the awkwardness and herded everyone into the living room for more games, and to "give Bonnie some breathing room."

Bonnie took a sip of lemonade and felt Klaus still watching her, his tall frame leaned against a wall, imposing despite the kitschy t-shirt he still wore. He regarded her steadily, head cocked, as if seeing her anew. There were questions in his eyes, but also a glitter of approval and desire. It sent a thrill racing down her spine and she fought the urge to leap into his arms right there in Caroline's sitting room.

"Hey Bonnie! Can I start opening your gifts?" Monique's voice rang out, breaking the thickness in the air between her and Klaus.

"Save me a couple!" she replied, deciding she may as well return to the party and enjoy what's left of it. Klaus followed close behind, and she felt his eyes on her like a caress.

In the end, by the time they had finished opening her gifts and taking pictures, it was sundown and Bonnie was ready to lie down. They loaded up the car with her new items and drove off after she had promised Caroline to have brunch in a few days. She noticed the hungry way the vampire and Tyler looked at each other and realized why Caroline would probably be unreachable for the next 48 hours. She was happy for her friends, and relieved to have managed the events of the day as she had.

The moon waxed bright on their drive back while Monique dozed in the backseat. She and Klaus hadn't discussed what happened back there, or her blatant lie about the baby's paternity. If Jake had reacted any other way, if he had seemed hurt or disappointed by her revelation, she would have recanted, and found a way to let him be a part of the baby's life. But his clear elation, his fiance...No, it was better this way. Her baby didn't need any ambivalent parental figures. She'd had enough for both of them. It was a selfish choice, and her old self would have never thought of using such deception. But the taste of it, though foreign, was sweet and satisfying. It was a good kind of selfish. It melted on her tongue and filled her with delighted calm - like something she'd needed all her life.

She stole a glance at Klaus, who had since changed back into his Henley. When she met his eyes in the sitting room, she thought she'd glimpsed understanding, recognition of what she had done and why. But he'd been quiet the rest of the party and said nothing now.

They reached the manor where Monique immediately demanded her pizza payment. While Bonnie obliged with a gentle admonishment, Klaus slipped out of the house, and she watched him disappear into the trees, throwing off his shirt as he did so.

The moon was high but not full - she knew his wolf was probably restless and needed air. She wondered if he had finally mastered shifting at will. The thought was a happy one - considering the circumstances under which she had absconded with him in the first place - but there was a twinge of uncertainty and disappointment underneath. She had hoped to speak with him in private about Jake, to explain herself, make sure he knew why, despite her earlier insistence on complete and unapologetic honesty, she had lied to all her friends about how the baby came to be. She wasn't Esther.

She wasn't lying to hide a mistake, but to guard a treasure.

Bonnie stayed awake long after she'd tucked Monique into bed. She was restless and anxious and needed to talk to Klaus. Finally, throwing off her covers, she padded to his room and crept inside. His bed was unmade, and she crawled between the rumpled sheets in delight, soaking up the smell of his body. Her nerves settled quickly as warmth and langor stole over her limbs. She knew this was all part of having a wolf baby - this pull to scent and closeness - but she hoped it stayed with her even after giving birth. She wanted to feel this way - this mingling of magic and animal - forever.

She fell asleep swiftly and soundly.

He returned a few hours before dawn, hot-skinned and naked and smelling of musky earth. Klaus eased her awake with light kisses to her shoulder-blades and she turned in his arms, drowsy with happiness to feel him so close.

"I can shift at will," he murmured, nuzzling her neck. "I owe you my gratitude, little witch."

Bonnie threw her arms around his neck and pulled him close. "I knew it," she breathed, kissing him deeply. "I knew you'd figure it out."

Her hands roamed the leathery scars across his back while their lips danced together. She felt him shift and undulate with her touch. She drank the heady power of it like wine. They fell quickly into fevered kisses and Bonnie arched against him in blatant need. His hands made swift work of her nightie and pulled - or maybe ripped, she can't remember - her panties off, and she was naked to his touch. Any thought of embarrassment at her tumescent belly and thicker flesh disappeared at the look on Klaus' face, the wolfish gleam in his eyes.

She cried out when he sucked on her nipples, when his fingers stroked the wetness between her legs. Her body was aching and sensitive and thrilled to every touch no matter how small. She thought it was hormones and emotions and the moon, but when Klaus' tongue laved her sex she knew - her body, her very senses, had been crying out for him.

It was so deliciously good, it made tears gather in the corners of her eyes. It was too much, and it wasn't nearly enough. As though sensing her need, Klaus eased out of her and turned her gently on her side. When he entered her anew they both groaned. His hands palmed her breasts, then stroked her swollen belly, her thighs, her nub. Like he couldn't get enough of her. Like she was a banquet and he was a slave to his own hunger. The sight of his hands, callused and graceful and strong, blindly roaming her body, drove her nearly insane.

Bonnie bucked and moaned into his thrusts. "...please...,"

Her arm looped around to grasp his hair, fingers pulling and twisting the locks. Like they were engaged in battle, a dark and sensuous war. He returned the favor by biting her shoulder, hard. She thought she felt fangs. It didn't matter, because the pain was blinding and blissful and she screamed, an orgasm breaking sharp and intense as she writhed against him and he held her still, it seemed, with only his teeth.

Panting, she heard him whisper a rough command. It took her a second to realize it wasn't in English.

Bonnie gave him a dazed look.

"I want to see you," Klaus said, his words thick and heavy with traces of an old language.

Ever a man of action, the hybrid didn't wait for her to catch up in her post-orgasmic confusion.

Grasping her hips, Klaus lay back and positioned her atop him, his face sharp and reverent, like a sculptor stepping back to admire a new angle. His eyes were dark unchanging amber, the wolf just under his skin.

Bonnie shivered, her own magic racing and buzzing in her veins so she could barely think. Having set her there, Klaus now seemed content to watch her adjust, his face so intent, so clean of any other purpose it floored her.

Feeling newly naked, she eased down on his cock and he moaned indulgently. She rocked her hips and his eyes rolled briefly shut. She watched the strained pleasure flicker across the planes of his face, at the mercy of her movements. His hands still grasped hungrily at her breasts and thighs. Her shoulder burned from his bite. Come morning, she would be dappled with his touch. Bonnie threw back her head in a long, delicious sigh.

"Enjoying yourself?"

Klaus wore an amused, and entirely self-satisfied smirk.

"Best seat in the house," she replied, in a flash of boldness that appeared to surprise and please him.

"Not too sure about that," he murmured, eyes zeroed on her bouncing breasts. His voice grew commanding again. "Come here."

And before Bonnie could think, he took hold of her thighs and eased her up, while sliding himself under so she could straddle his face. She felt clumsy in her pregnant bulk, but Klaus had no compunctions. Her cry of surprise melted into a throaty, urgent moan when her sex met his open mouth. He held her easily in place, ate her steady and fierce and wet until she came, shuddering and crying out and bracing against the headboard, soaking his face.

"I thought you wanted to see me," she gasped, still recovering her senses.

He laughed against her thigh, a pleased, velvety sound. Then they were disentangled again, him behind her while she lay cradled against him. "I can't seem to make up my mind," he said, while he fucked her in long, steady strokes. His voice was heavy, low and dark and devoid of its usual polish, of the suavity that cloaked the wolf. "I want to enjoy you a hundred different ways. Keep you, mark you..." he said in her ear. "Lick the taste of you off my teeth every morning."

Bonnie groaned under the onslaught of both his words and his lovemaking. Her senses spun dizzily out, abandoning her to the flesh. They were only animals, hungry and desperate, wounded animals huddling together, hunkered under blankets, at the moon's mercy, animals searching for home and fullness and pleasure and lo-

She felt her walls contracting, her body racing to the brink of another orgasm, and this one she knew would wring her through, leave her boneless. "Klaus I -,"

Pleasure stole her words, her breath, her sight. Crashed over her like a wave, crashing over them both. Bonnie gasped and keened and held him by the hair while he found his own release. In the roiling sea of it they held viciously to each other, became each other's driftwood, waited for the storm to pass.

Klaus rained kisses on her damp back while Bonnie caught her breath. She shivered when he licked the bite mark on her shoulder.

He laid her on her back once more and loomed above, drinking in the sight of her.

"You lied to that wolf today," he said, tracing her cheek with his knuckles. "Why?"

"What, you don't think I'd go on a gang-banging spree to get over a breakup?"

Warmth and amusement flickered in his eyes. "Oh I've no doubt you could command entire packs of wolves to lie down if you chose. But I quite remember you telling me about a one night stand. Emphasis on one."

"Did you see his reaction? That dude doesn't want to be anyone's father, even if he wasn't engaged," she said, making a face at the thought of poor Amelia. She hoped the girl came to her senses before the wedding. "And even if he did, this baby's out of his depth."

She delivered the last words slowly, watching Klaus' for a reaction. His hand stilled against her face. "Explain."

"My baby's a hybrid, a witch and a wolf," Bonnie said in a rush, relief singing through her to have the words out at last. "Gloria confirmed it the other day but I didn't tell you. There was so much happening and then the baby shower and, I wanted to find the right time and then Tyler showed up...,"

A mixture of emotions crossed his face and he seemed unable to decide on one. Finally his eyes returned to hers. "You're certain?"

"Unless Gloria's made a mistake which we both know isn't possible. But I think I knew even before she told me...," she said, as he listened with keen interest. "The way I felt drawn to you and Monique...all these wolf things I've started to feel, started to enjoy," she added, blushing slightly."I've been thinking about this for a while and -"

One long finger brushed her lip, silencing her gently. "I meant are you certain about me, little witch. That wolf today has a pack, and his pack has friends. Not to mention your witchy kindred. You and your child could have a network of families to protect you."

Klaus watched her face closely.

"None of them are hybrids," Bonnie said flatly, half surprised at her own bluntness. "My baby isn't a wolf or a witch. He's a hybrid. And I want the one who protects him, the one who he calls 'father', to be the Original Hybrid." She reached up and pushed her fingers through his hair, pulling his mouth close to hers again. "I want it to be you."

A/N: I have no excuses for the long absence - other than I finished a PhD, moved across the country and drafted my novel :P But I never forgot about this story, and your persistent reviews reminded me why it holds a special place in my heart. When I woke up the other day with a clear outline for this chapter I knew I couldn't keep y'all waiting anymore. I hope the length (and content ;) ) somewhat made up for the long dry spell. The chapter went in a slightly different direction than I had planned - Bonnie sort of took charge and made some moves, and it felt right. This is where we see her finally put into action all that she's learned from her past experiences to become the kind of mother she wants for her baby - I hope I conveyed that in a convincing way. Do leave me your thoughts in the reviews! And if anyone wants to know more about my original work, you can follow me on tumblr (irresistible dash revolution dot tumblr dot com). There's only a couple more chapters after this - hope this was a nice snack! Until next time! xoxoxo