All the cards

48

The next day, Amity and Aeliana were at the hospital with Caroline.
"Do we have to sit in silence?" Caroline huffed a little while later. "I can't take it. I'm losing my mind doing nothing."
"Well, I need silence if I'm to concentrate and find a way to get rid of a few annoying pests and keep my siblings safe."
"Well, you could always-"
"And it can't be a Zia way." Amity cut her sister off.
"That's no fun."
"I'm confused." Caroline looked between them, trying to make sense of their conversation. "I thought you were Zia?"
"I'm Zia the way Aria is Lia and Mal" Amity faltered. "Is ...Mal?"
"You mean Chris is Mal."
"Yeah. That. But no one calls him Chris."
"He doesn't really care, I guess."
"How do you three know each other?"
"It's a long story."
"Involving fake names?"
"Not fake."
"Mine is. But when you've lived as long as I have, you don't have the luxury of keeping the same name."
"I'm older than you." Amity scoffed and Aeliana laughed.
"Yeah, I'd forgotten how ancient you were."
"I'm not that much older than you, Lia."
"You're still older." Aeliana shrugged. There was a knock on the door, and Aeliana stood to see who it was. She let whoever it was in and Amity saw it was Valerie.
"Hi. I thought you guys might be able to do with a pick me up." She said. She handed coffee to the sisters and a cup of tea to Caroline.
"Thank you." Caroline said, warily.
"You might as well stay. Maybe you can entertain her." Amity sighed.
"Some conversation can't be that hard."
"We converse." Aeliana shrugged.
"Yeah, with each other. It gets boring after a while. I've never met anyone who bickers as much as the two of you."
"Well, we're here to keep you alive, not amused." Amity stood and walked over to Caroline. "Speaking of, I think it's time for the babies to come out."

As the herbs began to wear off on Caroline, Amity knew it'd be a matter of time before the children began siphoning off Caroline, and desiccating her. She had Valerie compel the staff to empty the rest of the floor, and compelled the doctors to ignore anything unusual, herself. Soon they were ready as the doctors began to prep her for an emergency C-section.
As the doctors began to reach for the surgical tools they began flying out of reach. Amity sighed and walked in, leaving Valerie and Stefan standing outside to keep watch. As much as she hated Stefan, she wasn't harsh enough to keep the one person Caroline needed completely away from the hospital room. She knew what it was like not to have everyone you cared about there. She had Klaus and Amira, which was more than Caroline had.
"Hey, you're not supposed to-" Amity looked at the doctor and he quietened, his entire mentality changing in that instant. Amity placed her hand on top of Caroline's stomach, closing her eyes. She turned to the doctors.
"Get everything sharp away from her." She ordered. "Before someone in here gets hurt." She walked back out and addressed Valerie, ignoring Stefan altogether. "The twins' magic is strong."
"But you're stronger, right?"
"Obviously." Aeliana said in a matter-of-fact tone. Amity sent a look at her sister and Aeliana shrugged.
"The point is, if they stay in there any longer, they'll be siphoning the magic out of Caroline's body."
"So we have to get them out."
"They don't want to come out. If a doctor tries to come at the with a scalpel, there's a better chance the scalpel will embed itself in the doctor instead."
"So we can't get them out but we can't leave them in there."
"Keep Caroline calm, and wait. I'll be back."
"Where are you going?"
"If we're going to get those babies out, we're going to need to do it in a way safe for all who are involved. I won't be longer than an hour. Like I said, keep Caroline calm and wait." She disappeared. Valerie looked to Aeliana who shrugged.
"Don't look at me. I don't always know what she's thinking." Then she disappeared. Stefan sighed and looked at the room to see the doctors pulling Caroline's bed out of the operating room. They followed along as she was back in her room. Valerie and Stefan stood, waiting for Caroline to wake up again.
"How much do you trust Amity?" Valerie asked.
"Well, we killed two of her brothers, tried to kill a third- tried to kill her whole family, actually. Her best friend was another enemy of ours."
"So why does Caroline trust her?"
"She's Bonnie's ancestor. A thousand years ago, she had another child with a Bennett, and Bonnie is technically a direct descendant of Amity. Amity hates us, but she's also a good person. I think Caroline believes no matter what, Amity wont let anything to happen to the babies."
"Do you?"
"I don't think Amity would do anything to hurt the children. The rest of us, however, might be fair game."
"Might?" Valerie picked at his words.
"Something happened. I apparently helped her. I don't know what it was, she compelled me to forget, but she did promise she wouldn't come after any of us. She wouldn't hurt us, but she wouldn't help us either."
"And you never tried to find out what it was?"
"It's a long story, and one better left untouched." He said.
"What if.. what if there was another way? One where you don't need to rely on Amity. One where all you need to do is trust me?"