Chapter 1
OMG KLAUS!

"Why would Delilah change her mind like that? It makes no sense!"
"Actually, it does." Freya says as she continues staring back at my daughter. "I didn't realize it until she was born, but I didn't believe it."
"What? Don't tell me she's not his only child." Kol deadpans.
"That can't be!" Rebecca throws both hands up. "Oh my god, Niklaus! How many women have you been fucking?!"
The only one I can think of is Roxanne. My Roxy. And our time together in New York. Oh god. Oh god! She doesn't know! She can't possibly know! I compeled her to forget me! She has no idea it's mine!
"Clearly, we need to get our brother fixed before the entire south is full of puppies." Kol jokes. "Don't be silly, wrap your willie. So, this other woman, who is she?"
"Niklaus?" Elijah is looking worried and he should be.
"Well, who was she? Another one of your alcohol fueled one night stands?"
"Ooh-ooh-ooh!" Kol coos with glee. "With a look like that I bet it was more than that! So come on, we're all dying to hear who she is."
"And more importantly, where to find her before Delilah." Freya adds.
"This can not be happening."
"Well it is. All because you were thinking with your dick. Start talking." Rebecca orders. "Did she even tell you? And did you just not believe her?"
"After Mystic Falls, I went to New York. Our last meeting I compeled her to forget me and came here."
"So it wasn't Caroline you were missing, was it?"
"Not in the slightest."
I run my hand through my hair. This isn't good. I left Roxanne because I loved her. She's so god damn normal. I wanted to ask her to come with me but she has a life in New York. One that included a day job, friends that have become her family and a little boy that called her mama. Sucking her deeper into my world was the last thing I wanted. I didn't want her hunted for being associated with me and now she'll have no choice.
"Lets not talk here in case she's listening."
"Alright. But you're talking one way or another."

It's days before we are out of Louisiana and into Mississippi. We all kept getting stir crazy being crammed into three vehicles.
"Alright, Klaus. Start talking. And gimme some blood for a locator spell." Freya orders.
"Her name's Roxanne. She's a hybrid I met while in New York."
"You say that like you didn't turn her." Hayley comments.
"I didn't. Like me, her mother was a whore. She never knew what she was until she was turned, killed someone, and it turned her into a hybrid."
"So you met a girl hybrid, and you didn't try to keep her? That doesn't sound like you. Is she butt ugly?"
"Kol." I growl.
"She's butt ugly."
"Okay, this is both good and bad."
"What?" I turn around to look at Freya. "This blood, it's doing nothing. It's like it's everywhere and no where. Which means she's got a witch on her side. If I can't find her, then Dalilah won't be able to either. We'll just have to go about this the old fashioned way, which shouldn't be that hard since we have Klaus. Where would she go?"
"I don't know."
"You have to know." Hayley rolls her eyes.
"I don't know! She has properties everywhere. She's well connected, filthy rich, she could drop off the face of the planet if she wanted to."
"So think of any place she may have mentioned to you that she owns and we'll begin there." Elijah always the voice of reason.
I sigh.
"Montana, California, Maine, New York, Utah, Nebraska, and Hawaii."
"That's a broad spectrum. Which ones were her favorite?"
"I don't know, Elijah. Her vast number of homes wasn't exactly a topic of conversation we had often."
"Just the bedroom then? She must've been good if she's a butterface."
"Kol, you will be eating your words when you meet her."
So many times have I thought about bringing her to New Orleans once it was mine. Remove the glamor, remind her how much she loved me and make her my queen. We would both be protected then. But if I failed in getting my kingdom, no, the embarassment . . . I couldn't.
"It's going to be fall soon. I suggest we check in Maine."
"Why Maine?"
"The way she spoke of the fall season there with such affection, I'm assuming it's where she'll be. If not, then we check New York. Beyond then, I don't know. She lives for hunting houses and old cars and restoring them. Her job takes her all across the states and even in to Canada."
"Do you think she's safe? Wherever she is." Rebecca asks.
"Roxy is no fool, Rebecca. Wherever she is, she will be safe and content. She wouldn't settle for anything but what she wants."
"A woman who knows what she wants? If you don't marry her, I will."
"She don't believe in marriage."
"No?" Elijah is surprised. "Every woman wants that eventually."
I smirk, "Not this one. She never wanted kids either."
"Well she obviously didn't get rid of it." Hayleys comment makes me want to slap her.
"Like you almost did?"
"Well I didn't, now did I? We're both happy about it even if we don't like each other and Hope will never know about that. Got it?"
"Of course. Now I suggest we take a plane. It'll be faster."
"Agreed."
"I'll book us tickets." Kol is already setting up his laptop to book us a flight.
"She doesn't want me. You take her." Hayley hands Hope to me and almost instantly the crying stops.
"Hello my princess." I wipe her cheeks and kiss her on the cheek. "You get tired of your mother? I do too."
"Cute."
"Cognative memory won't be for another year. She won't remember anything he tells her." Rebecca assures Hayley.
"Want to go see the wild flowers? Lets go see the wild flowers."
This crummy motel has a ditch full of wild flowers, cattails and tiger lillies. Elijah joins me outside.
"You love her still, don't you? I don't understand why you would leave her. If she's a hybrid, she's already apart of our world."
"And she was still very much apart of the human world. You would have to see it to understand. Her minions-"
"Minions?"
"She refers to her employees as minions in the affectionate way. Like that Gru and those little yellow things."
"Hope loves that movie."
"I know."
Roxy likes it too. She fancies herself the antihero since she's not the villian, but she's no hero either.
"Everything we touch eventually dies. As a hybrid, she'd be hunted just for existing. But to be known as my girlfriend, she would be an even bigger target and my weakness. They always die on me, Elijah."
"And you often killed my girlfriends or have you forgotten that? And now you let me have Hayley. Why?"
"Because Hope needs a mother as much as she needs a father in her life. If she were anyone else, believe me, I'd have killed her already." I pluck a few and smell them and then let Hope do the same.
Roxy likes wild flowers. Says her grandmothers yard was full of them until the poison ivy killed them all. She likes the memory of them and the smell as much as she does lilacs, iris, and tulips. Especially tulips. Her puppy love at age 7 gave her tulips from the neighbors yard and said the old bitty couldn't even be mad about it because she thought her and Ricky were do darn cute.
"That night with Hayley was me drunk and missing her, and realizing bringing her to New Orleans even after I regained control of the city would be a bad idea."
"Why?"
"She doesn't want power. She doesn't want to be known or feared. Her transition was the easiest I've ever known. She described it as life continuing just as it always had before, but with werewolf moon PMS and craving blood."
Elijah chuckles. "Moon PMS. It's an accurate description. When Hayley doesn't change, you would think it was that time of the month because she's so moody."
"I've noticed."
"How well do you think she'll handle the compulsion being removed?"
"If I know her like I think I do, be prepared for her to kick me in the face and try to set me on fire."
"On fire? Oh my, she's a violent one, isn't she?"
"It was one of her conditions of our relationship. You mind fuck me and I find out about it, I set you on fire. She demanded honesty or she'd never trust me and she'd never return it.. It was one of the things that attracted me to her."
"Her honesty?"
"It is brutal, brother." I chuckle.
"Is she just as brutal in attacking those that want to harm her?"
"In the time I've spent with her, I've only ever witnessed her in physical confrontation once."
"And?"
"She brought a vampire twenty times her age to his knees and ripped out a piece of his spine."
"And the company she keeps, do you trust them?"
"She trusts them with her life and vise versa. There's five of them, not including Oric. He's not her's biologically. He is the son of a friend who cut ties with her after the stalker incident that lead to Val turning her."
"Val is one of her group?"
"Yes."
"What do you know about that incident?"
"A former friend angry she got left behind when Roxanne climbed out of poverty. She killed Roxys boyfriend, nearly killed Sean, and kidnapped Oric's mother and tortured Roxy for 14-hours in attempts to make Roxy kill Addison."
Elijah stares at me and I can feel his gaze burning into my head. "What?"
"Roxanne Bathory?"
"How would you know that?"
"I remember that being in the papers. It was over a decade ago."
"Hardly a decade. But yes, that would have been her."
"I read the scarring is extensive."
"Does that have a point?"
"Just a comment. All the women in your history have been physically flawless."
"It is extensive. But be that as it may, Elijah, this woman is confident despite that and that's what makes her sexy. What are you smiling about?"
"Just wondering where you two might end up if this ends well."
"Does it ever? Just when you think it's over, it's not."
"True. But there are moments of peace inbetween. What's life without some challenge sometimes?"
"Boring."
"Considering all the excitement, I can do with boring."
"Only you, Elijah."
"Admit it, a teeny tiny part of you wouldn't mind something ordinary sometimes. It's another thing that scared you away from her, isn't it? It won't kill you to admit it, Niklaus. I wouldn't tell anyone."
"Doesn't make it easier to admit outloud."
"So no more Caroline?"
"No more Caroline. What I had for that woman is a flame compared to the raging- stop smiling."
"I can't help it. My little brother's found someone. Do you think you two may have a future?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because Hope is what? Almost two? It's been almost three since I last saw Roxanne. She's going to view this very badly."
"You don't know that."
"No. I do. To her, creating life is something you do with someone you love. I l-" I catch myself before I can admit it. "I don't love Hayley. She's going to assume the worst because that's what she does. She's a pessimist and she's been hurt before. That damn Johnny is lucky he's dead or I'd kill him myself. Like me, she does not let things go, she does not forget, and I've never seen her show forgiveness. Mercy yes, but not forgiveness."
"Sounds like she's just like you. God help the child." He teases. "But you never know. Hayley still surprises me sometimes. Lets head in. The sun is gone and Hope needs her sleep."
"I know how to care for a child, Elijah. I'm not an idiot."
"Why do you think she kept it? If she didn't want children. It's not like she has memory of you."
"Hell if I know. That right there surprises me and I will most definately be asking."