Title: Losing Hope
Summary: She always knew this day would come
Disclaimer: The Vampire Diaries, The Originals and their characters belong to their respective owners. I am not making any profit from this story.
Characters: Rebekah/Elijah/Hope
Genre: Angst/Hurt/Family
Rating: Teen +
Warnings: None
Losing Hope
Tuesdays are craft days.
Hope is four and Rebekah has never needed to work a day in her life so Tuesdays are craft days.
They are just pinning the tail on a toilet tube dragon when the doorbell goes. Rebekah is expecting a parcel. She does most of her shopping on-line these days.
She hears the familiar rustle of Elijah's suit jacket before she sees him. She looks back at Hope who has glue in her messy, dirty blonde hair. She takes a deep breath and commits it to memory, suddenly wishing she had spent more time on the details.
Elijah smiles when she opens the door. He smiles like it is the brightest day in a 1000 years. He smiles because he has always been particularly dense, or apathetic, when it comes to how Rebekah feels.
She knew this day would come. She just didn't know how much it would actually hurt.
"You could have called first," She says, angry, sad...hopeless.
Elijah deigns to look sombre. "You knew this day would come." Sometimes she wonders if he can read her mind.
"I hate you." She says as she opens the door wider.
xxx
Hope cries as Rebekah packs her bags. She cries and screams and kicks Elijah's shins as he carries her down the stairs.
"I want to stay here!" Hope wails and Rebekah's heart breaks for her because in that child she sees herself and her own destiny; but it doesn't matter what Hope wants. Elijah will sacrifice the dreams and wishes of all of them to redeem Niklaus; Hope included.
"Calm her," he says after Hope's cries become strong enough to make him the slightest bit remorseful.
"Why didn't they come themselves?" Rebekah asks, particularly spiteful. She shouldn't blame them, she shouldn't hate them but she does. She just can't help it.
She kneels down in front of Hope who throws her arms around her neck and holds on with more strength than she knew a child could possess. "Please don't let him take me away, Auntie Bex. Please. I'll miss you. I'll miss my friends!"
"Hush, darling. Hush." Rebekah rubs the child's back the same way she did when Hope caught chicken pox and couldn't sleep. The same way she did with every scraped knee and nightmare.
"It will be okay. Your parents love you very much. You will make new friends and I will come to visit you often."
Hope's cries only increase. Her grip tightens. Rebekah gives her the tightest hug she can without hurting her and tries to infuse it with every ounce of devotion she has ever felt for the girl. "I love you so very much, sweetling. Never forget that."
Eventually, all that is left to do is to let her cry until she exhausts herself and Elijah is able to carry her off without too much damage.
"It is temporary," He says, by way of a parting gift. "When Hayley has had a chance to bond with her and she has settled, you can come home and we can be a family again, sister." He smiles, hopeful and happy.
You are a fool, Rebekah thinks and she half wonders if she is thinking about him or herself.
It was always in the plan for Rebekah to take a step back once New Orleans was stabilised and Hope was reunited with her parents. Rebekah is only reminded of how easily plans are thought and how laboriously they are executed. What a sad, naive idiot Rebekah must be to think that she could so easily let go of something she had craved for so long.
It takes three minutes for Elijah to settle Hope enough for him to drive and Rebekah stands frozen in time, watching the door and praying for the moment that she wakes up from this horrible nightmare. Tires hit the asphalt and Hope's crying fades out.
Rebekah makes herself a cup of tea and sits on her favourite chair in the sun-room. She smiles as she watches the birds play on the feeder. Then she cries.
Author's Note: Some short one-shots to help me break through a bit of writers block and explore a new fandom. Does not follow the atrocious body swapping plot. Rebekah is Rebekah. To any readers who are following my other incomplete stories, I have not abandoned them. I'm just trying to get my mojo back.
