Disclaimer: I don't own The Originals. That honor goes to Julie Plec, Michael Narducci and the CW.
Hello, my lovely readers. This will be a short piece of fiction probably about two to three chapters. I Hope that you enjoy it. On with the show…
Chapter 1: What do you get the hybrid who has everything?
Christmas, 2016:
"Nik, do you have the lights set up properly this time 'round?" Kol asked from his place atop a ladder.
"No, he hasn't," Rebekah called from the kitchen where she was attempting to make cookies from scratch.
"Have to, Bekah," Klaus snapped as he walked inside, wiping his hands and looking triumphant.
"Watching while Elijah and Marcel hang them does not count, Klaus," Hayley replied drily as she bounced Hope on her hip who had grown immensely in the past year.
Klaus glowered at her. "And what, pray tell, has been your contribution to this holiday?"
"Not ripping you heart out," Elijah quipped as he appeared by Hayley's side and grinned at the baby who grinned back.
"Nuncle Lijah," Hope squealed, bouncing frantically on Hayley's hip with her arms outstretched.
"Which one of you fed her sugar, again?" Klaus thundered with his "I'm going to dagger you" look directed at Kol who grinned innocently at the tree as Finn appeared with a plate full of burned cookies.
"It seems that Rebekah's attempts at cooking have not fulfilled her expectations," Finn murmured to the assembled group as they chuckled just as Rebekah snarled and things began to break in the kitchen.
"Is this a bad time?" Davina called as Marcel walked into the house with his surrogate daughter and her best friend in tow.
"Ah, it would not be Christmas if there were not uninvited fools entering my home," Klaus snarled as he glared at Davina.
"You know what, Klaus," Davina began when Kol hopped down from the ladder and swept her off her feet.
"Darling, I've been waiting for you," Kol murmured before they disappeared and Klaus glowered.
"Come on, Grinch. Let them have their fun. It's not their fault that they're happy and you're, well, you're you," Hayley spoke to Klaus while looking at Elijah as Elijah bounced Hope in his arms.
"God damn it!" Rebekah shrieked miserably from the kitchen and Marcel sped off to deal with the Original sister's anger.
"I'm perfectly happy. I have my city, my child, my whole family restored, hell, I even have friends," Klaus said with pleased a smirk at Cami who walked in the front door. "Cami, how good of you to come."
"Only because there's free alcohol and…" Cami gave Finn a look and then frowned before looking at the tree. "Oh, how nice. I thought that it would be decorated in someone's innards or worse."
"That's always a possibility," Klaus remarked when Marcel came sailing out of the doors of the kitchen.
"You're not being HELPFUL," Rebekah wailed.
"Hayley," Elijah began and Hayley nodded before taking the baby and watched Elijah stride off toward the kitchen to calm his sister.
"Here's an idea," Hayley said thoughtfully. "You," she directed a fiery gaze at Klaus while holding Hope out to him, "take our daughter. I'm going out to see if I can find more booze and possibly back-up cookies before we have to find a new house to celebrate in. Maybe I'll even find you a Christmas present on my way," the young hybrid said with a smirk as she pulled her coat on and headed out the door. In all honesty, she just needed to get away from the craziness that was the Mikaelson home. As much as she was relieved for Elijah's sake that they weren't trying to kill each other that did not mean that they could not be enough to give anyone a headache.
Heading into town, Hayley felt a little bit aimless as she appreciated the time that the humans had taken to decorate the town that was just outside of New Orleans that they had made their home for the holiday. It was nice to see something that would qualify as "normal." That was until she saw the back of a familiar head that she hadn't seen in close to three years. Since they were the only two "humans" out and about, Hayley was sure that girl would sense her soon. Would this turn into a fight? If so then Hayley was prepared. But she really did not want to and by the posture of the blonde's body, Hayley believed that she was not in the mood either.
They were walking along the same sidewalk for the last five minutes without the blonde showing any sign that she was aware of Hayley's presence when the blonde stopped abruptly. "Whoever you are, you should know that following me is a really, REALLY, bad idea today of ALL days because I'm SERIOUSLY not in the mood!" the blonde growled.
"You know it is a free country, right? I mean I know that for some people that is debatable, but…" Hayley said quietly as she kept walking until she was standing behind the blonde who turned to glower at her with a look that lacked the surprise that Hayley thought that the girl should feel given how shocked she felt to see Miss Mystic Falls so far away from… Mystic Falls. "What are you doing here anyway?"
"What am I doing here?" Caroline scoffed. Holding up her hands, she shook her head. "You know what? This is Christmas. And because it is, I'm going to let you walk away. Otherwise, this might be a very different conversation." Caroline started to storm off when Hayley rolled her eyes.
"You can take the girl out of the land of teenage drama, but it looks like you can't take the teenage drama out of the girl," Hayley snapped. Why she was trying to push Caroline's buttons, Hayley was not sure. Maybe because it reminded her of a time that she did not care about rules or who got hurt, of being free. Now, she was a mother and she couldn't just go around picking fights with people for no reason other than she had anger issues. Which, really, truly sucked sometimes with the damned heightened emotions it just made staying in control all that much harder. Of course if she and Caroline fought then Klaus would be pissed, but maybe if she broke the Barbie doll's neck and dragged her home to Klaus, she could check getting him a present of her long list of things to-do on the day of.
"Why don't you go to hell, Hayley? I mean seriously. I bet they have a pitchfork wrapped up and ready for you," Caroline snarled. "I mean of all the people that I have to run into on Christmas it had to be you, right? Why? What did I ever do wrong?" Caroline shouted at the sky as it began to snow. She shook her head and sighed heavily. "Whatever. I'm going to go my way, and I'm sure you have some people to torment on yours. Good-bye, Hayley. Hopefully, we'll never have the unpleasantness of seeing each other again."
Hayley felt a smile twitch at the corners of her lips as Caroline stormed off when she rolled her eyes. "Why aren't you with your friends, Caroline?" she yelled after the little vampire.
Caroline stopped like someone had placed a wall in front of her. Turning slowly, Caroline began to gnaw at her lower lip. "Because they've all decided to spend the holidays outside of Mystic Falls. Which is ridiculous because I spent the better part of a year trying to get them back in. You'd think that the least they could do is stay at home during the first year they could actually stay at home for Christmas. But, no! Damon had to whisk Stefan, Elena and Bonnie, Alaric and Enzo off to some STUPID retreat in Switzerland. Freakin' SWITZERLAND! Seriously! As if there wasn't enough snow in Mystic Falls. But, no, they had to go snowboarding and sking, and… and… stuff. And Jeremy, Tyler, Matt and Tyler's girlfriend, Liv, went off to some stupid thing in Colorado with more sking and football and stuff. And, get this, they wanted to have a HUMAN experience. REALLY?! What are they, little kids? No vampires allowed! I mean Liv is a witch and Tyler's SO going to trigger his curse with her around. And even Liv' brother, Luke -"
"Okay, I think that I get the picture," Hayley replied as Caroline's body deflated and she folded her arms over her chest.
"Well, I'm going to guess that you have nowhere to go either since you're out here by yourself. And since the holidays suck when you're alone I guess that maybe we could say bygones and hang together. Just for today. But still…" Caroline murmured, barely audible as she stared at a point just above Hayley's left shoulder and then she looked the hybrid in the eye with an overly hopeful look.
"Actually, I just came out to find something to drink and a gift for a family member and some cookies because my… friend keeps burning them," Hayley said. She had no idea if Klaus had told Caroline anything about their situation in New Orleans but due to his paranoia she figured that more than likely not. Caroline's expression changed and the light in her eyes dulled. "But you could come. You know if you don't mind hanging with my family and friends for the day."
Caroline's eyes lit up instantly. "Really? I mean they're not like a pack of vampire hating werewolves that would want nothing more than to truss me up and cook me over an open flame?" Letting out a nervous giggle, Caroline looked uncertain.
"No, no, that's not we would do. Besides I would need to buy an apple to shove in your mouth and my friends are allergic," Hayley replied with a smirk as she placed a hand on Caroline's shoulder and gently turned her so they were heading toward a small grocery.
"So, are you living in New Orleans or just on the outskirts because I'd heard that there had been ups and downs for the wolves around here?" Caroline inquired politely.
"I live in the French Quarter," Hayley said quickly. "Any preference on alcohol?"
"Vodka," Caroline said quickly with a grin as they strode inside. "And don't any of your friends know how to make Christmas cookies?"
"Not really and one of them was having a meltdown when I left," Hayley replied as they headed down the drinks aisle and she filled the cart with whatever looked plausible. Klaus would be so taken with Caroline's presence that she could serve him pig's blood and he probably thank her.
"I'm really good at making cookies," Caroline enthused. "If there are ingredients on the shelves then we can still make them from scratch."
"Cool," Hayley called over her shoulder when her phone vibrated in her pocket. "Why don't you go see if you can get those and I'll see if they have the packaged kind as a backup?" Caroline walked off as Hayley opened her phone and smiled as Elijah's voice filled her ear.
"Hayley, is everything alright? Have you run into trouble? Where are you?" Elijah inquired and she could see the frown that he was shooting at the others in the room. His concern was priceless and made her feel giddy.
"I'm fine. Just ran into somebody I know. I'm going to be bringing someone with me when I come back. And I found a present for Klaus," Hayley whispered quietly.
"Really? Who and is the person in question your present to my brother?" Elijah inquired just as quietly.
"Yes, so just keep him distracted until I get home. 'Kay?" Hayley retorted.
"Of course. I love you," Elijah said quietly and Hayley grinned widely.
"I love you, too. See you soon," Hayley replied before hanging up as Caroline dumped two armfulls of ingredients, cookie sheets and cutters in various designs.
Within twenty minutes the two unlikely companions were checking out as Caroline snagged a box of candy canes and added them to the contents of their loot. When they were walking out into the brisk cool air, Caroline pulled out two candy canes and handed one to Hayley. They were happily sucking on their sugar when a man approached them with a gun. "Give me all your money," he demanded when Caroline set her bags down and moved in front of Hayley.
"Let me handle this," Hayley said, setting her own bags down. She wanted to fight someone and this man had given her an excuse. Besides she didn't want her gift for Klaus to be damaged on the way home. Walking up to the guy who seemed to think that she was either stupid or crazy, she slapped the gun away and lifted the man off the ground by the neck. "You're not going to try to rob anyone else, yes?"
"Yes," the man said as she dropped him on his ass. Walking back around Caroline, Hayley collected her bags calmly while Caroline stared at her suspiciously.
"Did you just compel that guy? You did. Didn't you? How? Did Klaus turn you? How could he turn you? There are no more dopplegangers? Maybe he still has Elena's blood? No. Maybe. What is going on, Hayley? I'm not going anywhere until I know," Caroline snapped as she stood still.
Hayley sighed, "If you come with me then I'll tell you everything."
Caroline frowned but walked along in silence with the candy cane in her mouth. Once they were at the front door of the Mikaelsons' holiday home, Hayley stopped to stare at Caroline. "So, you might be a little shocked when you see what's behind this door, but just try to not freak out." Forcing a smile as Caroline's eyes widened as her mouth dropped open no doubt poised to spill a ton of new questions, Hayley pushed the now closed door open.
As soon as the door was open the Mikaelson chaos began to float toward the two young vampires, well, vampire and hybrid. "Watch it," Marcel yelled when Kol threw a bulb from the Christmas tree toward the angry looking younger vampire's head. Rebekah jumped and caught it before sending it toward its owner.
"Enough nonsense. Hayley said that she was bringing someone with her and I do not want you to scare the guest," Elijah's voice boomed above the din.
"Good luck with that," Finn muttered into his glass of what looked like apple cider as Hayley and Caroline entered the house.
"Thank God you're back. And you brought booze," Cami said cheerfully. "Hi, I'm Cami," she said, holding out her hand to Caroline who shook it. "Welcome to the madness."
"Hi. Caroline," Caroline said, looking dazed.
"Caroline?" Kol yelled as he glanced up and was hit in the head by a clump of mistletoe by Davina who began to giggle loudly. Aiden was sitting beside Davina with Josh as the young witch tried to duck as Kol sailed toward her. "What the bloody hell is she doing here? Does Nik know? He'll have an aneurism. Nik!" Kol screamed as he pulled Davina off her feet, placing her atop his shoulders and spinning in a circle while Davina screamed with glee and her friends tried to avoid being beheaded accidently.
"What?" Klaus shouted with a furious look as he exited the kitchen covered head to toe in flour and who knew what with a grinning Hope on his shoulder and a glowering Rebekah following him, dusting her hands off.
"What is it, Kol?" Rebekah snapped as her gaze swept the floor. "Oh!" she exclaimed when she noticed Caroline.
"Caroline?" Klaus gasped.
"Merry Christmas!" Hayley announced as Klaus stared at Caroline in amazement.
Thank you for faving, following, reading and/or reviewing.
Peace,
Jessica