Hello, my lovely readers. This was supposed to come out before Christmas but—as some of you know—I've been sick and stories are backed up. Anyway, there will be a prologue to this fic, coming soon. On with the show…
Chapter 4: Why Did You Piss Off the Elves?
Christmas Eve passed with the remaining Mikaelson family, their friends and significant others no longer talking to each other. Kol left the room—soon after he'd become his usual six foot, pain-in-everyone's-ass status to "help cure them." No one really believed Kol, not even Davina. They believed he was tired of listening to them yell at him.
Kol had taken Hope to a guest room so she could sleep prior to the holiday festivities. This left the others to think of new ways to try to change themselves back since Hope did not seem to want to help them.
On Christmas morning, Elijah woke up first, turning over to find Hayley lying beside him on the most uncomfortable piece of furniture he'd ever had the displeasure of waking up on. "Hayley?" he whispered into her ear.
Hayley moaned, tugging Elijah's jacket over her head and attempted to go back to sleep. "Hayley?" Elijah tried again, gently shaking her awake.
"My daughter hates me and it's Christmas. Wake me up next year," Hayley mumbled. She rolled over and curled up in a ball.
"Get up!" Klaus snarled, walking into the living room. He looked like he'd stayed up all night. His scruff, scruffier, and his mood even more unpleasant than usual. "Get up!" he shouted, his voice booming through the doll house.
"What's going on?" Caroline cried, coming down the stairs, pulling a startling pink robe around her. "Klaus, what is your problem, this time?"
"Question of the day," Hayley groaned, sitting up and rubbing her eyelids.
"Can we at least get some coffee before you lose it?" Cami said, glowering at Klaus, coming in from the kitchen. "Too bad all we have in here is plastic food; 'cause I'm getting hungry."
"I'd kill for a drink," Rebekah said, coming down in a ball gown whose Velcro back had seen better days. Marcel followed her down with Finn trailing them.
Marcel yawned. "Man, I thought being a vampire prevented you from feeling this much like shit."
"G-rated, please," Caroline complained, pinning Marcel with a look.
"Really?" Hayley snapped, glaring at Caroline.
"This is a doll house. That's like being in a Disney movie and using course language, drugs or being naked. Seriously!" Caroline shook her head. "Let's try to make the best of this situation, people."
"Why don't you shut up!" Hayley snarled, getting to her feet.
"Hey! Hey!" Cami moved between the two supernaturally enhanced females. "It is Christmas. We're all here for a reason and at any moment that reason might walk in here. Let's be reasonable."
"Bloody hell!" Klaus shouted, his fangs popping out and everyone else backed up a step.
"That's not what I meant," Cami began when Josh and Aiden walked into the room.
"Good morning," Josh chirped.
"Merry Christmas," Aiden greeted them.
"Shove Christmas up your –" Rebekah began when Marcel clapped a hand over her mouth.
"Nice, Rebekah," Josh shook his head at her. "And we were just about to help you with your problem. But if you don't want us around, we can go." He started to leave when Elijah hurried to leave the doll house.
"Joshua, wait. What is it that you can do?" Elijah called after the baby vampire.
Aiden pulled out a pouch. "We got this last night from a witch but we wanted to wait until Hope was asleep to bring it to you. Davina, you think you can use this?"
"What is it?" Davina called from upstairs. She had yet to come down to join the rest of them.
"If we knew that, what would your use be?" Klaus quipped, disappearing and reappearing with a struggling Davina who punched Klaus in the arm. "Do not try me, witch!" he snarled.
"I'm not scared of you, Klaus," Davina scoffed, taking the pouch that Aiden slipped through the door.
Klaus walked over to the pouch and knocked it over, spilling powder on the floor. "Let's have a test run. Marcellus, come here." He waved for Marcel to walk over to him.
"I'm not playing your guinea pig," Marcel snapped, crossing his arms over his chest.
Klaus looked around at the others. "Who would like to go first?" he demanded. "This is not a question. I will happily volunteer one of you."
"Niklaus, this is not the time," Elijah retorted, rubbing the bridge of his nose and trying to suppress his desire to throttle his brother.
Smirking at Elijah, Klaus shook his head. "When is the time, brother, when we remain in this state and our enemies are at our door, ready to tear our tiny limbs off?"
"Stop!" Hayley yelled. "I'll do it."
"You'll do no such thing," Elijah argued, grabbing her by the arm.
"Don't tell me what to do, Elijah!" Hayley yelled at him.
"Why don't you go first, Klaus?" Caroline suggested. "You can't be killed, unlike the rest of us."
Elijah eyed his brother and his brother's paramour. "Fine," Klaus relented, glaring at Caroline and then at the others. "I see I am the bravest of our lot."
"Fat chance." Hayley rolled her eyes but stopped struggling.
Davina looked at the powder on the floor. "I don't think I've seen this flower before. I'm not comfortable performing this spell."
"Then let someone else do it," Rebekah snapped, narrowing her eyes. "Finn, try to be useful."
"Thank you, Bekah," Finn walked over, picked up some of the powder, sniffed it, frowned, looked at Klaus and then blew it in his brother's face.
Klaus sneezed and then glared at Finn. "What in the bloody hell!" he spluttered. "What did you just do to me?" he bellowed. All eyes were on Klaus as he sneezed again, powder flying off of him and he wrinkled his nose.
"Apparently, I didn't do anything to you, brother," Finn pointed out, looking disappointed. "Would you like to try again?"
"No!" Klaus shouted.
"This is why you read the fine print," Elijah called to his brothers who walked over.
"It's not fine print when the words are almost as big as we are," Caroline pointed out, staring at the huge scrawl.
Elijah's eyes moved to the girl who his brother was fond of. Sometimes her words gave him a headache. "Thank you, Caroline," he said shortly.
"Does that say elves?" Hayley asked, drawing Elijah's attention back to her.
"Yes, it does," Elijah replied. "Which is odd because elves do not exist."
"Neither do vampires and werewolves," Cami reminded Elijah.
Nodding, Elijah sighed. "I suppose there may still be things in this world that we have yet to have seen."
"Where do we find elves?" Klaus snapped. "At the bloody North Pole?"
"It's Christmas," Josh piped up.
Davina looked up at her best friend. "If we find Santa Claus; we find his elves. Has he been here yet?"
"Santa Claus? Are you mad?" Rebekah shouted, stomping over to the group nearest the bag of elves' powder.
Davina glared up at Rebekah. "Just because you don't believe, doesn't mean that others don't."
"Like who?" Klaus questioned Davina. "You? Aren't you little old for such nonsense?"
"Yes, but do you know who isn't?" Davina retorted, watching Klaus' body relax.
"Hope," Hayley said. "Our daughter is still young enough to believe."
"You want to use our child to lure a jolly, fat man to our home?" Klaus cried, looking disgusted. "You've obviously not read some of the tales of Saint Nik from my family's lands."
"Saint Nik?" Caroline muttered and then her eyes lit up. "Klaus, you're brilliant!" she let out a laugh and threw her arms around Klaus.
"What did I say?" Klaus demanded.
"You can call the elves," Elijah told his brother.
Klaus glared at Elijah. "You've lost your wits."
"I agree, Nik is anything but a saint," Rebekah added.
"He doesn't have to be," Caroline said. "See, when I was a little girl, my dad played Santa for me, and it's worth a shot. It's like a dad thing. Right?"
"You're all insane," Klaus snapped at them. "I'm not attempting to call forth elves."
"Do you want to stay this way?" Hayley yelled at Klaus, glaring at him.
Klaus's mouth twisted downward. "This is ridiculous and if any of you breathe a word of this night again, I will punish you."
"For being naughty?" Caroline teased Klaus with a wink.
Elijah tried not to let his revulsion show. "Please, let us begin."
"I do not know where to start," Klaus admitted.
"Try saying something about needing help from your pointy-eared friends," Marcel offered and Klaus glared at him.
"And make sure it doesn't sound evil," Finn added. "Like you would automatically."
Klaus opened his mouth, about to let forth with a string of insults when Elijah caught his eye and gave him a pleading look. "Try to be reasonable," Elijah's look called to his brother.
Closing his eyes, Klaus looked thoughtful and then he began to speak. What came out of his brother's mouth—sounded like gibberish—to Elijah. Names that he'd never heard of came pouring out of Klaus' mouth—with a confidence that said that Klaus had used them before. Klaus' words came out faster and faster and then Elijah's ears perked up of the sound of a plop, plop, plopping sound from downstairs, as if something or someone had come pouring into the house.
"They're here," Klaus muttered, opening his eyes and looking pleased with himself.
"Whose here?" Caroline asked, looking worried at the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs. At least ten pairs of pitter-pattering, tiny feet. Elijah could hear the sound of lightly tinkling bells and then the door opened. Elijah peered out of the dollhouse window. "Oh," he cried.
"Oh, wow," Hayley breathed, looking out the window.
"Problems?" a voice called, climbing on top of the table.
"Hey, guys!" another voice called. "Look at this. Didn't we bring this by last year? Looks like the kid might need a new model next year? And whose bright idea was it to bring the Mikaelson kid some mini-people? I thought we discontinued that back in '86? Too many parents freaked out when their kids toys started talking back."
"We're not toys!" Hayley shouted.
"Holy shit. Guys, we got a problem over here!" one of the elves called, opening the door and pulling Hayley out. "This one says she's not one of ours." The elf holding Hayley called to his co-workers.
"Let me go!" Hayley shouted.
"Sure you want me to do that, lady, it's a long way to the floor," the elf quipped with a grin.
"I summoned you!" Klaus shouted. "Bloody well help us or I will make you and everyone you know suffer."
"Big words for such a little guy," the second elf snickered. "You know a guy named Kol? I have a bone to pick with him." The second elf who had purple hair and a nose ring told Klaus.
"Yes, I do know Kol and I will happily hand him over to you; if you'll help us," Klaus offered with a grin.
"You got it, mister," the purple haired one said, pulling Klaus out. "What can we do for you?"
"Our daughter made us doll-sized; we just want you to turn us back to our normal size," Hayley informed the red haired elf who held her in his grip.
The read haired elf looked at his purple haired friend. "A kid's wish, huh? We're not really in the business of reversing kid's wishes so much as making them come true."
"I'm her mother. She needs me to take care of her, not the other way around," Hayley argued.
Another elf hopped on the table. "Honey, you should change her back. Remember when Abby wanted a puppy and we said next year and she turned us into unicorns?" the female elf reasoned, her blonde curls bouncing as she stared at her red haired…fellow elf.
"Yes, I remember. Sorry about this, lady," the red haired elf said. "We just need some of our powder. Yo, Mickie, go down to the local magic shop and pick us up some powder."
"Sure thing, boss," Mickie—a green haired elf who stood a few inches taller than his fellow elves—started to leave when the door opened and Kol walked in. "You!" Mickie snarled.
"What in the bloody hell?" Kol cried. He moved to walk out when the remaining elves attacked him, grabbing him and tying him up with long spools of red and green ribbon. "Hope!" Kol shouted.
"What are you doing to him?" Josh asked, looking like he didn't want to interfere.
Aiden stood beside his boyfriend. "Remind me to never piss off an elf," he whispered to Josh.
Hope came into the room, her lips opening wide. "Elves!" she shouted. "Are you my Christmas present? Can I keep one, daddy?" she begged. Reaching down, she grabbed a pink haired one off her feet, holding her tightly.
"Can't breathe?" the pink haired elf cried.
"Let go, baby," Hayley ordered Hope who loosened her grip but kept hold of the elf.
"Daddy, please, can I keep her?" Hope cried, spotting Klaus in the purple haired elf's hand. She walked over, still holding her elf captive.
"I think they have to go home, Hope," Klaus told her.
Hope's lower lip popped outward. "No, they can stay here and they can be part of my tea party."
"Sorry, kid, that's not going to happen," the red haired elf told her. "We've got a ton of kids who want their presents and we can only be here for the next five minutes."
"You can stay if I say you stay," Hope yelled, stomping her foot.
"Or, they can come back for the party," Caroline called and Hope looked at her. "You wouldn't want all the other kids in the world to miss out on Christmas, would you, Hope?"
Hope bit her lower lip, looking down at the elf in her arms. "But you'll come back?"
"Yes, Hope, you're a special little girl and Santa is always looking out for your name on his list," the pink haired elf reassured Hope.
"Okay," Hope set the elf girl on her feet. "Bye."
"We're going to fix your family now," the red haired elf told Hope.
"No, I want them like this," Hope shouted, tears running down her cheeks. "Go away."
"Hope, it's okay, honey, we're not going anywhere," Hayley called to her daughter.
"Promise?" Hope asked, her lower lip trembling.
"Cross my heart," Hayley said.
The red haired elf turned to Mickie. "Go," he called.
"Did you need this powder?" Cami shouted, trying to shove the pouch out the front door but barely moving it.
Klaus, Elijah, Rebekah and Marcel pushed the pouch out of the door of the doll house. "Yeah. Where did you get this from?"
"We bought it at a magic shop," Josh told the elves with a big smile that Elijah knew meant he was lying.
Aiden did not utter a word.
"Cool. Thanks," the blonde elf took a handful of powder and began to chant. Blowing it over the heads of those who were under the effects of the spell, she smiled when they suddenly grew. "All better now?" she asked them.
"Much. Thank you," Elijah said, hugging a delighted Hayley and offering a hand to the blond elf.
"Baby," Hayley said, picking up Hope. "I am so sorry you thought we didn't want to be with you."
"I am sorry as well, love," Klaus said, kissing Hope's forehead. "Today, we will all be here. No one is leaving until tomorrow."
Everyone agreed to stay to make Christmas special for Hope—except for the elves—because they had work to get back to. "Hey, where are you taking Uncle Kol? Hope cried, watching the elves who had begun to drag a struggling Kol out of the room.
"He drained some of our friends one Christmas and a reindeer. We're taking him home to let the big man deal with him," the red haired elf told Hope.
"Daddy!" Hope cried, yanking on Klaus' sleeve.
Klaus sighed. Walking over to the red haired elf, he leaned over and whispered something into his ear. Kol let out a shriek. "No!" his voice had gone up an entire octave.
The elves had a quick discussion before the blonde one took out some more powder, chanted something in elfin language and then blew it on Kol. Kol passed out.
"See you at the party," the elves called before they ran out the door and they heard their bells tinkling down the stairs, back up the chimney and on the roof.
"Time to get this party started," Caroline called, taking Klaus hand and leading him out the door.
The others left, leaving Elijah alone with Hayley for a moment. "I wonder what they did to Kol," Hayley said.
"Nothing he doesn't deserve," Elijah whispered to her.
"Do you think that there's a little Santa Claus in Klaus?" she asked him, tugging him closer to her by his shirt collar.
"He does get rather grumpy around Christmas and I always thought it was due to a hangover but he did disappear for half the night most Christmas Eve's. Again, that might be due to excessive drinking and partying, but…I did not believe in the existence of elves, I suppose anything is possible."
They made their way downstairs to find that Josh and Aiden had decorated the house with lights, stockings on the chimney, cookies cooling in the kitchen, and eggnog, both spiked and child-friendly. "Daddy got me a puppy," Hope cried, showing Elijah the tiny, wriggling pug dog. "I'm going to call him Nik."
Rebekah began to laugh while Klaus glared at her and Hayley petted the puppy. Elijah smiled, looking at his family. This is all he'd ever wanted for them. Peace and happiness until Kol woke up.
"What's going on?" Kol demanded, glaring at the others.
"Kol, what is that?" Rebekah asked, pointing at Kol's ears.
Kol ran from the room and then let out a scream. Well, at least they were still happy, mostly.
Thank you for reading, faving, following and reviewing.
Peace,
Jessica