"Alexandra Marshall you have got to find a way out of the city." My mom warned me as I swept the floor of the tea house. "That Davina girl is no Queen Regent. She ain't gunna bring nothing but death to our people." I rolled my eyes briefly, trying to ignore her the best I could. "Don't you roll your eyes at me young lady. I know what I'm talking about."

I stopped sweeping to look her in the eyes. She sat at a table fanning herself with a menu. "Mama, give the girl a chance. She's gone up against two Mikaelsons and survived. She's tougher than she looks."

She scoffed at me. "That child ain't nothing but angry. Our ancestors have been showing me signs, if she leads us the outcome won't be pretty."

I placed the broom against the wall and sat down with her. Clutching her hand, I squeezed lightly. "You keep saying how bad it will be, but you aren't saying that you'll come with me. Mama if I go away what's going to happen to you? Who's going to look after you?" She swatted the question away with her free hand. "I'm not going anywhere."

I got back up and began to put the chairs onto the tables. Each day for the last three years, ever since she had the heart attack, I'd been coming in the mornings to help open and in the evenings to help close. "Alex, please just consider it."

"I can't leave you here by yourself mama."

"I have lived my life, whatever happens to me next will just have to happen. But you have so much of yours left to live. You have to pass along our family's legacy and if you stay in New Orleans it'll never happen. Not with the way the vampires and werewolves have been acting."

I didn't want to talk about it anymore. I didn't want to think about actually leaving her behind. Part of me has wanted to leave Louisiana since the day I discovered that I'm a witch. Still, it's my home. And running away from home has never been something I could see myself doing. "It's getting late. Why don't you go on upstairs and sleep. I'll finish up down here and then I'll see you in the morning."

"Not tomorrow morning, the tea house will be closed. We have to go pledge our allegiance with Davina."

I raised an eyebrow at her. "But you just said you didn't trust her as the Queen Regent."

She pushed down on the table to help herself out of the chair. "Correct, but just like everybody else we have to play this smart." She gave me a kiss on the cheek before passing me. "Thank you for closing up sweetie. Get home safely."

I laughed a little. "Goodnight mama." I spent the next twenty minutes putting up chairs and counting the register. When I was done I left out of the front door, locking it behind me. Although it was only eight thirty, the streets were already filled with bar goers. I didn't live too far away from the tea house so I had decided to walk home instead of catching a bus.

The night air was cool against my bear arms and legs. The summer heat was coming to an end as fall slowly began to approach. I didn't see him standing in front of me until I bumped into him. "Good evening Alexandra." Klaus stood in front of me just as charismatic as ever.

I side stepped around him and continued walking home. "Whatever this is that you're getting ready to do, stop." I barely spoke out, still I knew he could hear me. Whenever I saw him, no matter how brief, my heart rate always seemed to increase. Just as it did the very first night I encountered him.

"Have we already gotten to that point in our friendship?" I glanced over at him. He was smiling his wicked half smile. His blue eyes gleaming in the glow of the street lamps.

"Yes, we have in fact." He chuckled.

Keeping pace with me he began, "Well that's always good to know." God. Why did he have to have such a sexy accent? "Anyhow, I must ask a favor of you."

I stopped walking. "No." He stopped as well and stood in front of me. Although he was still smiling, the smile didn't quite reach his eyes anymore. I knew that I had to word everything carefully now. "Three years ago my mom got caught up in the feud between vampires and witches—against her will. And it nearly killed her." I made sure to emphasize that point. He stood their respectfully listening, but the thing with Klaus was that I could never tell just how much was getting through to him. "So I left college and moved back to New Orleans to help her. And the minute I did that… you came along. Threatening and forcing me to do things with magic I have never wanted to do."

"Alex—" His voice was soft but still I cut him off.

I continued to speak with my hand raised for a moment. "But what's even worse is that in the middle of it all you started showing actual signs of affection towards me. One minute you were warm and inviting and opening up to me, then the next you were this—this monster." I took a deep breath. "So no Klaus. You don't have the privilege or right to ask me for favors anymore." For what seemed like the longest minute, we stood in silence.

He wouldn't look me directly in the eyes. He held his head low and his gaze shifted often; it was almost like he was ashamed. "I know that I can be—difficult." I huffed a bit at that and he finally looked at me. "But I'm trying. You're a good person; you always see the inherently good in others. What do you see when you look at me?"

I tried not to let the fact that he was getting emotional cloud my judgement. I had heard the stories of the dreaded Niklaus Mikaelson. "I see goodness buried deep underneath a thousand years of malice. And I don't really think a few months spent with me can bring it back to the surface. That kind of thing takes serious time." We stood again in silence until I broke it. "Look, I'm exhausted. Can I please just go home?"

Without looking at me or verbally answer, he shook his head yes and stepped aside for me to continue walking. I counted the steps in my head, waiting for him to grab me against my will and dart away like he'd done so many times before. But he never did. "I understand your frustrations with me." He spoke out loud enough for me to hear over the group of people shouting just a little further down the street. I stopped walking again, but I didn't turn around to face him. "I'm a difficult man to tolerate. But you've been the only one to truly help me with Hope. I trust you Alex. You know her—condition unlike anyone else." His voice faltered. "I need your help."

I inhaled long and held it for a while before releasing the breath. I turned my head to the left and shouted back at him over my shoulder. "I'll help you." Then I turned enough to look at him. "For Hope's sake." His expression brightened. "First thing tomorrow morning."

"Thank you."

"Goodnight Klaus." I shouted. This time I didn't stop walking. I walked all the way home never looking over my shoulder. I had enough faith in him to leave me be. As I entered my apartment I tried not to think about what happened the last time I decided to help Klaus. I tried not to think about what my mom would say if she ever found out about any of it. But more importantly I tried not to think about how she would see me if she knew that I was in love with an Original.