Disclaimer: Characters, settings, recognizable plot and dialogue belong to Julie Plec, the CW, etc.. I own nothing, and am just borrowing these lovely characters for a short while for fun.
AN: Begins at end of The Originals: "An Old Friend Calls" (3x15). Spoilers in this chapter goes through "Alone With Everybody" (3x16). Please review! Feedback very welcome!
1.
I sat in the car outside of the latest place that I had called home. Although this was far from the first time that I had been forced to run, unlike before I had actually thought that I would call New Orleans home for good. Or rather, I had hoped to. As I glanced in the rearview mirror, at my beautiful baby girl, I supposed that I had tempted fate one too many times. In hoping that New Orleans could be her home too, fate had needed to show me who was really in charge. Oblivious to my own inner turmoil, Hope gave me a bright baby smile, cooing softly as I heard footsteps, and a moment later the brush of humid New Orleans air. My eyes met Klaus's in the rearview, though I refused to turn and physically acknowledge him even as I stubbornly ignored the second burning gaze that I could feel from the upper balcony of the Mikaelson house.
"I trust you've said your goodbyes." Klaus said softly, as I stared resolutely out the windshield, locking down on my own torn emotions.
"Something like that." I replied dully, a dark haired man appearing in my mind's eye, his handsome hard-cut features and compassionately understanding gaze as I let out a shaky breath and pushed away the second apparition of a more scruffy brunette man who watched me with sad loving eyes. I felt an all too familiar pang of guilt and swallowed it back.
"We may be gone for quite some time." Klaus looked back at the road, one hand resting on the smooth leather steering wheel.
"It's worth it to keep Hope from what's coming." I found myself replying, though whether it was to convince Klaus or myself I was not sure. "Besides," I turned my head in his direction, but found myself unable to actually meet his gaze as I turned away again, "there's nothing here for me anymore." It felt like a lie and yet I forced myself to believe my own words. With time, I thought, Elijah would move on and I could heal from Jackson's death and honor him as I had been unable to during his life and especially throughout our marriage.
"Well then," Klaus sighed, "perhaps we have more in common than we thought." I looked across the front seat console at the Original Hybrid, remembering the first time that I had thought we shared commonalities.
Inwardly I also wondered what had happened between him and Camille, the brave blonde bartender newly turned vampire. Especially whilst she was still human the two had a special connection, but it seemed that since her turn Cami had changed, and it did not appear to be for the better. Still, just as he did not ask what had happened between his brother and me, I did not ask about him and Cami.
Klaus glanced back at where our daughter sat, and I caught the flash of his dimples as he smiled at her, and the engine revved as he put the car into gear and flicked on the headlights with a smooth motion. He pulled smoothly down the damp street, the bright reflection of the lights on the pavement reminding me of another night almost a decade ago when I had been in a car fleeing my home and everyone I loved.
"Little Wolf?" My eyes snapped open to find that the car was parked in a hotel-chain parking lot. His voice was soft so as not to wake our sleeping daughter.
"Where are we?" I asked groggily.
"Just outside of Nashville." He replied, opening his door. "I'm going in to secure us a place to stay. I wanted to know if you want your own room." I blinked in surprise at the gesture.
"One room is fine, just get two beds." I replied after a moment, thinking of Hope, and that it would be undoubtedly safer to have both of us with her, not to mention that neither of us truly wanted to part with our daughter.
"Stay alert then, Little Wolf." He said, disappearing inside the brightly lit lobby.
I looked back at our sleeping little girl, and then got out of the car into the cool early spring night. Worried that Hope would be cold in spite of her mystical lineage I went to the trunk, slinging her bag over my shoulder after removing her blanket. She let out a sleepy groan of complaint as I took her from the warm car seat, but as I cradled her to my chest she settled once more. Klaus was back out by the car a few seconds later, retrieving his duffle and my own before leading us inside the warm hotel. We rode in silence to the fifth floor and he brought me to room 508, smoothly sliding the key card in and opening the room for me and our precious cargo.
There were two queen sized beds beside each other, and just as I was beginning to lower Hope onto one bed there was a soft knock on the door and a boy appeared with a hotel crib. Klaus brought it inside, compelling the young man to enter as well. He took Hope from me, and gestured to the man.
"I thought you might be thirsty." He offered.
"What about you?" I asked, taken aback by his demonstration of courteousness.
"I already ate. It didn't really take the receptionist that long to check us in." He replied, and I moved over to the man, catching his gaze as I compelled him to stay silent and still and to feel no pain.
He acquiesced with a slight inclination of his head, and without ceremony I sank my fangs into the soft skin over his jugular. The warm rush of blood rejuvenated me, reminding me of how good blood was right from the vein rather than from the bags that I had been consuming. When I was finished the man was pale and swaying. I quickly bit into my own wrist, feeding him just enough to get him the rest of the way through his shift and home without incident and then compelled him to forget and sent him on his merry way.
"It tastes better than those bags, and you revel in it, don't you." Klaus's voice was silent, though his expression was sincere and serious as he watched my euphoria.
"What I eat is none of your business." I replied, reminding myself that this man who was attentive and considerate was the very same one who had once dispassionately called for my and my baby's deaths, and had more recently had cursed me, my husband, and my pack to being wolves for all but one night of the month. In those months, I glanced at my daughter, Hope had grown and taken her first steps and I could never in my long immortal life regain those precious moments.
"I'm taking a shower." I had to leave the room and Klaus's presence.
He said nothing, sensing the change in my mood, the edge, and I disappeared into the comfort of the shower's hot spray, becoming enwrapped in the scent of cheap hotel soap and shampoo. When I used it all up, I didn't care, and in the limited privacy of the bathroom I cursed myself inwardly for deciding that it was alright to share a room with Klaus. Determined, however, not to show how upset he made me, I refused to demand my own room so instead I toweled dry, applied copious amounts of the watery lotion, changed into my PJs and brushed my teeth to delay my inevitable return to the shared space. With no more reasons to stall I exited the bathroom, and without acknowledging Klaus I climbed into the bed that was closest to the bathroom as he appeared to have claimed the one by the window. I preferred the natural light, but I was not in the mood to fight considering that he seemed determined to have it.
Klaus announced that he was going to shower, and by the time that he emerged I was feigning sleep as though I had not just lain there listening to the sound of the water on his naked skin. While I could honestly say that I held no romantic feelings for Niklaus Mikaelson, he was the father of my child and certainly still attractive. Why my sex drive seemed at least for the moment to be on overdrive I was not sure, but I wanted to attribute it to my turbulent emotions all things, including my current status with Elijah, considered.
In spite of my inner annoyance with myself Klaus's scent filled my nostrils, his breathing filling my ears as my own pulse thrummed and I hated myself all the while. In between us I could hear our daughter's more rapid heartbeat and baby light breaths. I tried desperately to focus on her instead of Klaus, but it was a hard feat, and I was not exactly succeeding.
"The full moon affects you, doesn't it?" He asked quietly and I blinked in the darkness, staring up at the white popcorn ceiling of the room.
"What do you mean?" I asked carefully, knowing that what he said was true.
I had lost track of the days in my grief over Jackson's death. Automatically, a knot began to form in my throat at the mere thought of the steady male who had loved me so much. Sure, I had loved Jackson back, selfishly craving the stability of a family that he had promised and reveling in his acceptance of all of me, the good and the bad. However, my affection and gratitude, hidden in the guise of love, had not been enough and ultimately Jackson had died because I was too selfish and weak to stop Tristian De Martel.
"Your emotions, your primal needs as a wolf, they surface. Your wolf is looking for her mate, grieving him and set simultaneously on protecting her pup." Klaus's answer slid through the darkness, interrupting my self deprecating reflection and I swallowed quietly. He was exactly right. The restlessness, the emotions, the desire for sex, it was all just the way that I felt when the full moon was approaching. Although I no longer had to turn, the aspects of my wolf nature remained and appeared to rise without fail. Now, without Jackson at my side to protect me, my wolf knew that Klaus could provide both for me and Hope, and she was reaching out instinctively, seeking the male alpha to rule and protect her offspring with.
"Do you feel the call of the moon?" I finally asked, caving and accepting his olive branch.
"All wolves do." He said simply, and we retreated into silence, personally reflecting on what it meant to be a wolf and how the full moon did indeed "call" to us for lack of a better term.
"What happens now?" I finally forced myself to ask, but only after I half wondered if he had fallen asleep.
"Now, we run and we protect our daughter." He replied, steely determination running in an undercurrent through his voice.
"But where?" I turned my head on the over-starched hotel pillow, and my hybrid eyes picked up on how he looked steadily back to me.
"Do you have a suggestion, Little Wolf?" His eyes gleamed in the dark, almost seeming to dare me to take our family's future in my own hands.
"I think I know somewhere safe where we would be off grid. We could stay, not have to be constantly driving and give Hope some stability." I spoke half without realizing what I was proposing.
"Where?" Klaus asked.
"Somewhere from my past." I replied, wondering if I really wanted to open that can of worms while I simultaneously realized that I no longer had a choice. Just like I had agreed to share a room with Klaus, there was no real way to back out of this offer either.
"Can you trust these wolves?" He made the automatic assumption that my contacts were wolves, and I did not need to correct him.
"I do. With my life." Klaus fell silent as the familiar faces surfaced in my mind's eye.
Steadfast Hollis who had opened his home, and bar, to me when I was a renegade teen-turned-wolf. Loyal Gram who had sat so patiently with me as I tried to come to terms with what I was, and who stuck up for me as I was the new wolf. Sue, our fierce Alpha Female who had quickly let me know that while she might be like a second mother to me she also was not a wolf to cross. They were only a few of the faces of the close to twenty-strong pack who had taken me in with few questions, simply giving me a place where I could learn both about the mystical world and about myself.
"How far are they?" I blinked in surprise at Klaus's quiet acquiescence.
"We're by Nashville?" I verified.
"Twenty minutes out." He responded.
"A day's drive then." I said, remembering that we no longer had to worry about over zealous cops.
"You can drive then tomorrow then." I was expecting more of a fight, but clearly he was not going to give me one so I decided that now was not the time to contest this strange peace.
"Okay." I told him simply before closing my eyes.
The next morning after a subpar continental breakfast we hit the road again. Although Klaus had told me that I could drive, he refused at first to give me the keys, and we sat mostly in silence. We stopped periodically throughout the day to refill the car, feed and change Hope, and compell cops who apparently found our cruising speed of over one hundred and fifty miles per hour offensive.
Finally, as we were getting closer we pulled over to refill again and purchase more supplies. While Klaus pumped the gas I ran into the store. As I was paying for my snacks and supplies I spotted a stand of hats, one of which read "Mother Trucker". Unable to help myself, I added it to the pile, and the expression on Klaus's face as I handed it to him was well worth the $20.
"Absolutely not!" He exclaimed as I passed him the apparently offensive hat in question.
"We need to blend in!" I snapped at him. "You could start by losing the thousand-dollar jacket." I eyed the long black garment that was so out of place in this neck of the woods. In spite of his words the night before, Klaus's opinion of our venture had clearly soured after the day in the car. Considering our current surroundings as he ranted about our current location in comparison to jetting off to somewhere tropical, and no doubt expensively lavish, I had to agree it was not exactly something that I would have either predicted or chosen, but it was going to have to do. We had to go ff grid, and no matter how appealing his suggestions were, they certainly would not qualify as subtle, and for the moment maintaining a low profile meant safety both for Klaus and for Hope, and extension for me. I might still dislike the idea of returning to my past, but I was certain that it was at least relatively safe, and that we would be accepted so long as Klaus didn't mortally offend anyone.
"Look," I replied, my own gaze flashing as my werewolf temper flashed to the surface. We were both alphas in our own right, and neither our personalities nor our wolves liked having to answer to the other. "I'm not the one with an army of pissed-off vampires coming after me." He blinked back at me, his eyes, although still sharp, dimming slightly as he acknowledged my own rage and pent up frustration. "Can I have the keys?" He slammed them into my extended palm with an aggravated sigh.
"On a scale from one to ten, exactly how much am I going t despise this little plan of yours?" He asked before I could march past him into the car. I pretended to think, sending him my own annoyed look.
"I would say," I paused for faux dramatics, "a solid eight-five." I finished as I shot him a mocking smile, snatched the hat from his hands to cram it atop his curls and marched back to the car.
"Oh, good." I pretended not see him roll his eyes, ignored his own dramatic complaint, and said nothing as he climbed into the passenger seat, hat still on head. He did not, however, take off his coat, and I supposed that I had to make some sort of compromise.
I parked the sleek black SUV outside of the Willoughy Lake Bar, noting how it stuck out like a sore thumb amongst the other bettered and outdated vehicles. Klaus, who had retained his new hat, stepped out of the car with a distinct look of disdain while I carried Hope, content in her carseat, inside.
"Well, I can see why you wanted to come here." As we crossed the threshold into the homey interior with its usual background noise of regular patrons' conversations and country music I fought a growl aimed in Klaus's direction. "I feel safer already." It was like he couldn't help himself, and the bartender, a middle-aged man turned away from his work with a glare intended to send us on our way.
"We're closed." The man stated flatly, not liking Klaus, Hope, and me anymore than the Original Hybrid appeared to like him.
"You don't look closed." Whether Klaus wanted to be here or not there was no saying "no" to him, especially not with such clear derrision.
"We are for you." The bartender replied, and I could see from the golden glint in his eyes that he was wolf who had, no doubt, picked up on Klaus's and my less human nature.
"Well, perhaps you failed to notice the hat?" I sighed at Klaus's weak attempt to intimidate the bartender and blend in.
"I'll take a bourbon. Unless Hollis is still serving that moonshine of his?" I stepped forward, taking charge of the situation before Klaus and the bartender had a chance to increase hostilities.
As though he had heard me, I saw a familiar middle aged black man emerging from the backroom with a smile. "Well, I'll be damned!" He waved off the offending bartender, with an easy gesture that I remembered to always have had a calmingly authoritative feel. "I got this." He told the younger wolf, dismissing him back to his other duties. "It's been a long time since you danced on my bar, Hayley Marshall." He said my name with a knowingly affectionate twinkle in his eye.
"It's been a long time since I danced on any bar." I couldn't help but smile back at him, remembering the good old days while Hollis held out a hand, and I took it, giving him an affectionate smack. Apparently unimpressed at the ease with which I had diffused the tension, Klaus took a seat, rolling his eyes and sighing to show his annoyance.
"I get in a different kind of trouble these days." I confessed to my old mentor, feeling the connection between us begin to rekindle as though it had not been almost a half decade since I had all but fled Hollis's house in the middle of the night like a criminal. "Hollis," he might not be able to actually read my mind, but he knew enough to see the guilt, and that was the last thing that I wanted to bring up right now, "meet Hope." I gestured to my daughter, and the old wolf leaned over the bar counter to beam at my precious baby.
"Oh, look at her!" He exclaimed before toying pointedly with the ring that I had not had the heart to remove. "Ah," he said knowingly, "city boy, huh? Wouldn't have guessed that." He added, casting an assuming glance in Klaus's direction.
"Never underestimate the allure of indoor plumbing." Klaus replied without missing a beat, and knowing that despite Hollis's apparently laid back facade he was unimpressed and becoming edgy, I jumped in before the Hybrid went too far.
"Hollis, this is Klaus. He's my," I trailed off, unsure of how to explain our rather unique situation. "My daughter's father." I finally ended rather lamely, and Hollis's eyes narrowed as he looked over Klaus again, this time with obvious suspicion. As unerringly unhelpful as usual, Klaus gave the senior wolf a trademark Mikaelson smirk.
"We just," I paused, wondering if I hadn't made a big mistake dragging Klaus and Hope up here, "we need a place to lay low." I met my old alpha's stare, hoping that he might have some compassion for the renegade girl whom he had once fathered.
"You picked a pretty rough time for us around here. A lot of folks are giving up on the pack altogether." Although Hollis was smiling at me it was clear from his weathered expression and saddened eyes that things were far from alright in Willoughby. "And, there's something else you should know." His smile faded and his gaze met mine, but before he could say more the phone behind him rang, and he turned to get it.
With our host otherwise occupied, Klaus took the opportunity to begin his round of complaints anew. I groaned inwardly, my eyes flashing, but before I could snap at Klaus, again, the door opened and an all too familiar scent reached my nostrils. I froze before turning around to come face to face with a ghost from my past.
"Leah?" Her voice sounded the same, her scent, though enhanced thanks to my hybrid status, was just like I remembered it. As I looked her over though, it was clear that Abigail "Abby" Clayton was not the same girl that I remembered. Her formerly willowy figure was replaced with a curvy, slightly overweight stature, blond hair that had once cascaded past her hips in angelic curls was cropped short, barely brushing her collar bones, and her once-bright blue eyes were hardened. The greatest change, however, was her gait. As she stepped across the threshold I could not help but look with dawning horror at how her jeans fell empty around where her calf should have been.
"I'm sorry about that, Hayley," Hollis's words cut off abruptly as he saw who was standing in the doorway, and I whirled back to face him.
"What is this?" My voice was cold. "What is she doing here?"