A/N: Hey all! Thank you so much for the reviews, follows, and favorites! This is two short related one-shots rolled into one chapter. The request I am responding to is the Originals babysitting Hope. Because my stories are actually being beta'd now, it might be a bit longer between updates. HOWEVER, the trade-off is that my writing will be of better quality. Plus, I think that updates every day or every other day is a bit excessive :P

Usual shameless plug: Read The Travelers. I've noticed that people usually stop reading after the first chapter (according to the view log), and I think that it's because the first one is not my best work. It gets better, I promise :P

Enjoy!
-Angie


"Culinary Horizons" - July 21st, 2020 - Age 8.

"Hope, Daddy and I are going out for the night. Your Uncle Elijah is here, and I want you to behave."

Caroline pulled her head out of Hope's room and turned to Elijah, who was standing in the hall with his hands clasped behind his back. "There's a list of things she needs to do tonight taped to the kitchen counter. Her bedtime is nine, and it's non-negotiable. Don't let her walk all over you," Caroline ordered.

"Of course, Caroline."

Caroline gave him an assessing look. "No. Seriously. I feel like I have to tell everyone this every time Rebekah or Kol babysits. You are the adult, not her."

He nodded solemnly. Caroline started to go in for a hug but seemed to think better of it, and patted him on the shoulder instead. "We'll be back by ten."

Elijah turned to Hope's open door and knocked. He heard her give a faint "come in" and stuck his head in. His eight-year-old niece was sitting calmly on the floor reading.

She looked up. "Hi Uncle Elijah."

"Hello."

She gave him an assessing look. "Come sit with me," she ordered.

Elijah had a funny feeling that this was a test of some sort. Even if it wasn't, he had no intention of sitting on the floor.

"If you wish to read when I am present in the room, then you may come to the library, living room, or another place where there is proper seating. If you would like to have your solitude, you may stay in here by yourself."

"But I want you to sit with me."

Don't let her walk all over you.

"Well, as I said, I will not. If you require my assistance with something I will be in my study. You are welcome to join me."

She narrowed her eyes. "Fine."

He went to his study, making sure to keep half an ear out for any trouble. A few minutes later, he heard Hope's footsteps approaching and looked up as she entered and plopped down on the leather couch in the corner, lifting her feet up to sit at the coffee table.

"Do not rest your feet on furniture."

She just gave him a disinterested look and returned to her book.

"Hope, remove your feet from the table."

"No."

"I will," he floundered for some sort of parenting technique, and remembered seeing Caroline's reaction to a similar situation, "count to three, and then if you do not comply, I shall make you."

"Go for it," She said boredly.

"One."

She turned a page.

"Two."

She ignored him.

"Three."

At her lack of reaction, he briskly walked over to her and picked her up. She immediately started thrashing in his arms and he lifted her up to rest on his shoulder so that he could pin her legs in place.

"Put me down."

"No. I warned you, and I counted to three, but you forced my hand."

He sped up the stairs and plopped her on her bed. "You will remain here until dinner time."

She pouted. "But I don't want to."

He shrugged elegantly and straightened his cuffs. "This is not a democracy, Hope. This is a dictatorship. I will, however, take any suggestions you have towards your dinner into account."

She glared at him and crossed her arms.

"If you do not wish to inform me of your preferences, that's fine. Just do not be disappointed if you are displeased by the meal."

She remained silent, and he left her room, closing the door behind him. He hoped that this was what Caroline meant by, "Don't let her walk all over you." He felt terrible, but he was trying to model his behavior after Caroline's example. He was determined not to make the same mistakes in caring for her as his siblings.

The entire week of watching his brother sulk due to Caroline being angry because of the candy mishap remained one of his fondest recent memories, as well as something he learned from.

He decided to read the list that Caroline had prepared and walked down the stairs to the kitchen, peeling the neon pink sticky note off of the kitchen counter. He allowed himself a small smile as he read, noting that some of the words were underlined liberally.

Elijah,

Thank you for agreeing to watch her for the night, we really appreciate it. As I most likely told you before I left, her bedtime is at 9 o'clock.

We have fresh broccoli in the fridge, which you should make with dinner. If you feel particularly motivated, you can make cheese sauce with it. If she wants dessert she has to eat all of it. Entrée is up to you, obviously.

For dessert, she can have one pudding cup or an ice cream sandwich from the freezer.

Make sure she does her homework. Her math worksheet is due tomorrow, and she has to practice her spelling words. Both of these are in her backpack.

Homework is also not optional, and must be done tonight no matter what she says.

After she's done with her homework, she's free to do whatever she wants before bed.

Thanks again!

-Caroline

He checked the clock, noting that it was nearing five thirty, and started to wash the broccoli. Though he had been told to not give into his niece's demands, he still felt slightly regretful for the way he had treated her, and so he decided to feel—in Caroline's words—"particularly motivated," and go a step further and make cheese fondue for dinner.

He shredded the cheese and coated it with cornstarch before bringing the white wine and lemon juice to a simmer. He hummed as he worked, blanching the broccoli and arranging it on a plate with sliced apples and raw vegetables. He cut up some French bread as well.

Hope came down a few minutes later and sat down at the table. She eyed the fondue curiously before dipping a slice of French bread into it and taking a bite. "This is really good," she said, almost sounding surprised.

"Have you never had fondue before?" He asked.

She shook her head, munching on an apple chunk. He frowned. "What do you usually have for dinner?"

Hope shrugged. "Grilled chicken or some kind of pasta, usually macaroni and cheese. If Dad cooks then we'll have something more complicated, like lasagna."

Elijah pressed his lips together and resisted the urge to wrinkle his nose. Lasagna was complicated? Had his niece really not been exposed to a wide variety of food? Fondue was practically "mainstream,"—as Caroline would say—and he suddenly felt rather irritated on Hope's behalf. He watched as Hope ate everything on her plate, and frowned.

"Would you be agreeable to waiting another hour to have dessert?"

"Depends. Why?"

"I suspect that you have not had chocolate fondue before, is that correct?"

"That's a thing?"

Elijah nodded. "It would be a crime to deprive you of new culinary experiences when I am perfectly capable of providing them."

He heard Caroline's voice in his head lecturing him on the importance of healthy eating and frowned slightly.

"However, you must promise not to inform your mother."

Hope nodded enthusiastically.

An hour or so later, they sat together at the kitchen counter, Elijah quizzing her on her spelling words and giving her a dipping item every time she got one right. He sent her to bed at exactly nine o'clock, trying to curb his guilt at not following Caroline's instructions, and sat in the library with a book, awaiting the return of Caroline and his brother. When he heard them arrive, he met them in the foyer.

"Thank you for doing this, Elijah, I really appreciate it," Caroline said, smiling as Klaus helped her with her coat.

"You are very welcome. I have a proposal."

"Hmm?"

"I would like to have dinner with Hope every Friday at my property just outside the city."

Caroline frowned. "Sure, I guess. As long as she agrees to it."

Elijah smiled slightly. "I'm sure she will."

"I will speak with Theo and arrange for the transportation. Goodnight Elijah," Klaus said pointedly.

Caroline rolled her eyes, and Elijah smirked and let himself out. He would have to go grocery shopping the next day. Perhaps they could try bruschetta, a mushroom agnolotti, and tiramisu? He would have to think about it.

Hope should be able to enjoy exploring her personal tastes while the food was still rich with flavor. As a vampire the taste was suppressed, even if only a small amount, and he was determined to give her the opportunity to try new things while she still could.


"Ballet Class" - May 10th, 2022 – Age 10

"This is a really bad idea," Kol heard Caroline say quietly to Klaus in the other room, "I know that we want a vacation, but I would have felt more comfortable waiting for Rebekah and Matt to get back from Spain."

"He'll be fine, love. I think Kol can handle Hope for a week. She's ten and practically immortal, what could possibly go wrong?"

Kol could practically see Caroline's glare in his mind's eye, and he smirked.

"Look, if it ends badly, we'll never let him babysit again, all right? But I'm sure it'll go smoothly. We've let him watch her before for evenings, and he's good with her. She enjoys spending time with him."

"Fine," Caroline said irritably.

As soon as Kol heard her leave the library he walked in. "She doesn't trust me at all, does she?"

"Well, I don't really blame her," Klaus mumbled.

"Do you have no faith in me, big brother?"

Klaus sighed. "To be perfectly honest, I would also have asked Rebekah or Elijah if they had been available. However, I am willing to trust you once. If it goes well, I'll keep that in mind."

"Not that I'm saying that I don't enjoy spending time with Hope, but it's not exactly a privilege to have to put my life on hold and move into your house for a week to look after a ten year old."

"Okay," Caroline said snappishly, walking back into the library. "I left a—"

"Note on the kitchen counter with what she needs to do this week, yes, I know darling."

Caroline glared at him. "Don't fuck up," she said simply, before turning to Klaus, "Let's go. Our flight leaves in a few hours."

Kol smirked slightly as he watched his thousand year old brother get dragged out of the room by a twenty-nine year old woman, and then shut his eyes to listen for his niece. He heard the click of a computer mouse upstairs, and decided to look at Caroline's kitchen list.

Instead of the usual sticky note, he found a color-coded table showing Hope's schedule, and had to resist the urge to laugh out loud. Luckily, Caroline mentioned that Theo would be around to help out in the mornings, because otherwise he would have refused to come. There was no way that he would wake up at seven o'clock in the morning to get Hope ready for school.

He checked his watch, and it was nearly nine. Kol suspected that Caroline had done this on purpose to give him an easy first night, and he walked up to tell Hope to go to bed. She didn't put up much of a fight—which he was rather grateful for—and he turned off the light behind him before falling into bed in the guest room that had been prepared for him.

XXX

Kol pulled up at the curb in front of the school and waited impatiently for Hope to appear. When she emerged, he held down the horn. He saw her spot him and practically sprint over, opening the passenger side door.

"Uncle Kol, don't use your horn like that, you're embarrassing me."

"Sorry, darling," Kol said, not feeling particularly sorry at all.

She glared at him and tugged her seatbelt on. "Are you ready?" He asked.

"Yep."

He pulled out of the parking lot and onto the road and began to drive to the ballet studio where Hope had her lesson that day. "How was school?"

"Fine, I guess."

"Anything happen?"

"Not really. I have to make a diorama of an important historical American event, but other than that there is absolutely nothing interesting at all going on."

They drove in silence for the next ten minutes or so until Kol pulled up at the studio. "When should I pick you up?" He asked.

She gave him a disbelieving look. "You have to come in with me."

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me. Mum comes in with me every time. You have to put my hair up and then wait for me on the side."

"You're ten. Can't you go by yourself?"

She gave him an angry look that was so eerily similar to Caroline's that he felt a slight irrational tug of fear in his gut.

"Fine, fine. Let me park."

Hope went ahead to the studio to change into her leotard and tights, shouting to look through her backpack. Kol did so and saw that the ever-prepared Caroline had put a tiny comb, a capped spray bottle, a few bobby pins, and two hair elastics in a little plastic bag in Hope's backpack.

He sighed and walked into the building, waiting by the entrance for Hope to return. When she did so, she dragged him into the studio and stood expectantly in front of the mirrored wall. Kol sighed and opened the bag, looking confusedly at all of the materials for a moment before pulling out the comb. He started to brush Hope's hair, but it was getting hopelessly frizzy, and they both grimaced. "You should have started with the spray bottle," Hope informed him irritably.

"Well, I've never exactly had to do a ten-year-old's hair before, darling."

One of the moms on the waiting bench looked like she was going to laugh, and Kol glared at her. "D'you mind?"

"Would you like some help?" The woman asked, still looking faintly amused despite Kol's death glare.

"Yes," he said shortly, holding out the comb and spray bottle towards her.

The woman came over and spritzed the water on Hope's hair before gently running the comb through it. "I've never seen you here before. Are you her father?"

Kol shook his head furiously causing the woman to smile. "No, no, most definitely not."

"I feel like I should be offended," Hope muttered, causing Kol to grin.

"I'm her uncle. Her father is my brother, Nik."

The woman nodded absently as she carefully twisted Hope's hair tightly and then coiled it around itself to form a bun, and then securing it with bobby pins. "Well, I'm Marie. It's nice to meet you..."

"Kol," he provided, sticking his hand out for a handshake once she had tucked the last of Hope's stray hairs in.

Hope scampered off to join the other girls at the warm-up bar, and Kol sunk down next to Marie on the bench. "So, not to pry, but where's Caroline? Kenley was hoping that we could set up a play-date sometime this week."

Kol had no idea what a 'play-date' was, but decided not to ask and hope that it came up through context. "She and my brother are away this week, so I'm taking care of Hope."

"If she's free on Wednesday, we'd be happy to take her for the night."

"That would actually be lovely."

Marie nodded. "Just let me know what time we should drop her off."

"That won't be necessary. Theo will drive her there and back."

"Theo?" Marie asked, frowning.

How exactly was he supposed to explain that his niece was supernatural royalty and therefore must be accompanied every bloody second by bulky werewolf-vampire hybrids? "My brother's paranoid, and Hope has a bodyguard wherever she goes."

Good enough explanation, hopefully.

"I see," Marie said nodding, though she clearly didn't.

"Is that all right? He'll be fine to sit outside the property in a car if you'd rather have him not come."

This apparently only made Marie more suspicious, judging by the expression on her face. Kol grimaced. "Hope is the only heir in a large family of old money. I hope you can understand why Nik is so paranoid. Is there anything I can do to make you more comfortable with Theo's presence? I don't want my brother's paranoia to get in the way of my niece making friends."

Marie nodded slowly, as though thinking it over. "I'm sure it'll be fine. Just let us know what time Theo will arrive with her on Wednesday. There won't be any need for him to lurk outside. He's free to come in and sit in the living room with the girls."

"Excellent," Kol said, pleased with his ability to both schedule Hope for a fun activity and get her taken off of his hands for a day. He looked up at the clock to see how much time had passed since the start of the lesson, frowning when he realized it had only been ten minutes.

"How long is this class, again?" He asked Marie.

She smiled sympathetically, pulling a book out of her purse. "An hour and a half."

He gave a melodramatic sigh and pulled out his phone.


A/N: I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it! Writers only get better with constructive criticism, so please, PLEASE review. :)
So, we see how Hope and Kenley met in this chapter. I love writing Kol so much, haha. I'm thinking of doing a side one-shot with Kennett as the focus, and I'm trying to decide whether I want to put it in here or as a separately posted outtake. Thoughts?
As always, requests are appreciated.
Hugs!
-Angie