Author's Note: I feel like this is probably out of character but... I wanted Kol to have some bonding time with his brothers and niece. The problem that I discovered though, is that since such moments range between being very rare and never happening on the show it makes fabricating them for the purposes of fanfiction... difficult. And I'm not entirely pleased with my results but I hope it's enjoyable nonetheless. Also, the title is somewhat unoriginal. Apologies.
Disclaimer: Still not mine. Just borrowing a few of the Mikaelsons for fun and not profit. No copyright infringement intended.
Meeting Hope
"Would you like to see your niece?" Klaus murmured, a gentleness Kol had rarely heard in his voice and Kol glanced up from the letters he was reading.
"Are you sure, Nik?" Kol asked, surprised Klaus would trust him with his daughter. With helping to vanquish their enemies, yes, but with his child...?
Klaus smiled and Kol found himself taken aback by the softness in his older brother's expression. Fatherhood had changed Klaus. "Okay," he agreed softly.
When they entered the child's bedroom the little girl immediately reached toward her father and Klaus obligingly picked her up.
Kol stared, amazed at this side of his brother.
"Kol, this is Hope," Klaus murmured. "Hope, this is your Uncle Kol."
Hope babbled happily, a child's innocent curiosity shining in her gaze as she studied Kol and Kol realized he was holding his breath as he stared back at her. Slowly he released it. "She's beautiful, Nik," he breathed.
"Would you like to hold her?" Klaus asked.
"H-hold her?" Kol stammered, shocked and suddenly uneasy. A thousand years and he could count on one hand the number of babies he had held.
As though she understood her father though Hope was suddenly reaching for him and automatically, though with no small amount of trepidation, Kol took her into his arms.
Hope laughed and reached her hands up to his face, her little fingers lightly holding his cheeks.
A strange feeling built in Kol's chest and he felt a genuine smile curving his lips.
His niece.
"We are all rather taken with her," Elijah's voice remarked and Kol glanced up, startled, to see his other brother leaning against the doorway to Hope's bedroom, his lips quirked up in a grin as he observed Kol holding the baby.
"I'm beginning to see why," Kol acknowledged, his gaze going back to the child in wonder.
"Indeed," Klaus murmured, a smile that Kol had never seen before on his lips as he too gazed at his daughter.
Elijah too was wearing an expression that Kol had never seen and Kol was suddenly torn between feeling amazed and feeling out of place and he was struck with the sudden realization that he was being invited in on a part of their bond that he had never really been allowed to participate in before.
In his arms Hope yawned, her eyelids beginning to droop.
"It's time for someone's nap," Klaus remarked. "Come here, littlest wolf," he murmured, gently extricating his daughter and with a pang of regret for the end of the moment Kol let her go.
"I'll get back to reading those letters then, shall I?" he asked, his voice carefully light and unaffected.
"And I must go see Marcel," Elijah said, straightening his jacket and offering a faint smile before turning to go.
Kol paused on his way out, glancing back at Klaus, taking in the sight of him talking softly to his daughter. "She really is beautiful, Nik," he said, just catching sight of his brother's smile before ducking out of the room and turning his thoughts back to his family's latest threat.
Maybe, if he helped get them through this prophecy...
Clearing his throat Kol settled down among Klaus's collection of letters once more and began to read.
-End.
A/N: Hope it was enjoyable and not quite as out of character for Kol as I feel like it was!
