Disclaimer: I don't own The Originals.

Hope's nursery was bathed in incandescent light illuminating from the fairy lights that decorated the room. Klaus never wanted his daughter to awake to darkness if she was ever roused from her sleep in terror. For it was in darkness that fear and pain lurked waiting to prey upon the innocent.

With the life Klaus lived and the things Hope had already experienced at her tender age, he didn't doubt his daughter wouldn't have been affected by them.

Hayley was silent as Klaus joined her at their daughter's crib. Hope was fast asleep burrowed in a nest of blankets to keep the chill away. Her tiny fist clutched a pink and white quilt, a present from her beloved Aunt Rebekah who was miles away.

Klaus tucked the wooden horse beside Hope, his fingers lingering for a moment on her soft blonde hair. He idly wondered if her hair would stay blonde as she grew older or darken to brown tresses like her mother. Hope had already inherited his eyes and temperament after all.

Hayley was smiling lightly and Klaus raised an eyebrow at her change in mood.

"You made her a new one already?"

Klaus's gaze turned to Hope as he answered, "Of course I did. It pains me to see her so upset…if a little trinket such as this makes her happy, I'd make her a hundred."

Hayley knew the little trinket as Klaus had called it had taken him hours to make. The wooden horse he had fashioned took skill and intricate design.

With the city in a state of tumult, the fact that Klaus had such time just to craft a toy for his daughter spoke volumes of his character. Hayley preferred this side of Klaus, she'd never voice it aloud but she suspected he knew anyway.

"Are you alright?" Klaus asked, drawing Hayley away from her thoughts.

Hayley didn't answer right away. She knew he was referring to the incident with the Strix witches from earlier that day when they tried to rip out her heart, but she couldn't help but think of his question as a whole. Jackson's death had left her with an insurmountable amount of guilt and anger which was only amplified by her hybrid nature.

The first days after she realised Jackson was truly gone, she felt so restless, the hollow feeling within her drudging up memories from a time before Hope and the Mikaelsons.

The strange urge to flee from everything only made her feel guiltier, and all she wished was that she could go back to that wonderful time after she and Jackson had just married where everything felt right in the world.

She worried she'd never feel that again.

With each day that passed she felt a little better. The chaos of feelings still churned within her but become manageable. With each toothy smile from Hope, with each sisterly hug from Freya, with each lingering touch from Elijah, Hayley felt as if she could go on without Jackson.

"I will be," Hayley answered at last.

A loud screech of a car alarm echoed through the night and the parents stilled with baited breaths to see to if their daughter would awaken in tears at the noisy disturbance.

Hope slumbered peacefully.

"Thank you for today… with Cami," Klaus said giving her a true smile, one free of arrogance and pride.

"It was nothing," Hayley replied, her voice not betraying the surprise she felt at Klaus's acknowledgement.

Klaus smirked, nudging her gently. "Don't sell yourself short, love. You really helped her today."

Hayley genuinely liked Cami. After her transformation to vampire, Hayley worried that Cami had lost the thing that made her who she really was. And after that stunt with the white oak, Hayley had figured she had irrefutably damaged whatever relationship she had with Klaus. She was wrong.

Hayley leaned her head on Klaus's shoulder and watched Hope sleep. She wanted the savour the moments like this. Attached to the crib was a mobile which rotated gradually and played a light tune to encourage sleep. It was oddly soothing to watch.

Hope's breathing was even and her eyelashes fluttered in her sleep. Klaus hoped her dreams were filled with happiness and love.

In the centuries Klaus had lived, he had never imagined a family like this before.

It was a strange family but he wouldn't have it any other way.