I'm sure my little niece is healing you up as we speak.
"My little niece". The words wouldn't stop echoing inside her mind. That's how she'd called it. The child. "My little niece".
Not that Rebekah would ever admit it, but she had secretly quite hoped her brother's baby would be a girl. She had always been the only sister among the initial six siblings, and it would be a nice change to dilute the overwhelming level of testosterone in her family by having another female presence around. Hayley had already been a breath of fresh air – again, not that she'd care to admit –, but Rebekah could tell the signs of a woman becoming the rope in her brothers' tug of war from a mile away. No, the girl was all right, but she had conflict written all over her.
The baby would be different. Rebekah couldn't help but project all of her thousand years' worth of frustrated motherhood dreams onto her future niece, and with everyone else worrying about protecting her from witches, vampires and God knows what else she'd probably get to enjoy the more day-to-day part of it if she wanted to. She didn't get the human life she thought the cure would provide her, so this would be as close as she would ever get to being human.
What truly worried her, however, was the return of her brother's despicable attitude. Not that he was ever a ray of sunshine, but there were especially bad moments in their relationship and his attitude came as a reminder of all the times he'd controlled her, manipulated her, hurt her, stolen away years of her life on a whim, spoiled every shot at happiness life ever granted her. Klaus had always been a terrible older brother regardless of how much she loved him or how many times she'd forgiven him. He probably always would. What was going to be of a child that had her monster of a sibling for a father? How many times would he keep her from following her destiny? How many lovers would she see get their necks broken and their hearts ripped out of their chests? Rebekah had endured his abuse for over a thousand years. The idea of living another thousand witnessing that little girl receive the same treatment made her shudder.
Had it been a boy, she wouldn't have been half as worried. Sure, Klaus was a bad influence regardless of the child's gender, but it would be easier for a boy. It had always been easier for her brothers, even living under Klaus' thumb. Not for a girl. Never for Rebekah. While Elijah had spent a great share of his time lying inside a box, he'd always managed to free himself from Klaus' poisonous presence and even stand against him from time to time. For Rebekah, it was dagger, box and darkness for half a century. Was it her fault for sticking around? For forgiving? For enduring? Perhaps. Not one attempt to get away from her family had ever been successful as long as she had been alive.
She imagined her little niece, half-Klaus, half-Hayley, most likely a snarky, spoiled little brat – truth be told, not so different from herself. Her attempts to protect her from her father's hurtful words and terrible tantrums: would those work? Would protection and guidance from herself, Elijah and Hayley be enough to keep this child safe? Would her brother change, become a better person for her?
From what she'd seen the day before, change was far from happening. Change for the worse, perhaps. There was no fixing her brother in the immediate future, not fast enough for him to be good to his daughter. Her little niece. This girl couldn't, shouldn't have follow in her aunt's footsteps in this weird, abusive, exhausting relationship with Klaus.
No. Maybe in a few centuries they could reconsider. Take him out of Marcel's garden. See how he'd like having lost a huge chunk of his life because of a difference of opinion.
The truth was – and Hayley would probably disagree vehemently, given her background, but she didn't know her baby daddy that well yet – Rebekah had lived long enough to learn that in certain families having no parents would be a kinder fate to a child.
A/N: Just something that's been on my head. I don't know if I got too crazy with it, but it's supposed to be Rebekah's thoughts under Klaus induced paranoia, so I guess it's bound to be a little crazy. I love Klaus but he is the absolute worst towards his sister and I think a lot about that. Also, I 100% love hybrid baby girl.