When he received the invitation, Elijah was surprised but decided to give it a try anyway. After all, his little brother must have a good reason for asking to meet him. He went to the address he was given and carefully entered the house after detecting no sign of life inside only to find his siblings in their coffins. He realised that they had recently been un-daggered and that the daggers were all laid on their respective chests. He read the invitation that was lying next to them on a table.
Apparently, Klaus was living in the house next door and was inviting them all to come over the next day to celebrate Thanksgiving.…
Elijah pushed it aside for now and went to check out the house while his siblings woke up, looking for any traces of a trap. He found the house well furnished with a bedroom ready for each of them, including some clothes adapted to their tastes and sizes. In the kitchen, the fridge was stocked with blood bags and on the living room table, there was a new cell phone for each of his daggered siblings.
What had gotten into Klaus? Why here? Why in two small houses next to each other in a street that could have been in a TV show instead of one of his bigger ones in more isolated places? Why now? What had changed? Did he finally catch Mickeal? Did one of his witches told him something important? He couldn't wait to see his hybrid brother the next day to finally have his answer. He didn't believe in the whole Thanksgiving invitation thing. He was sure that there was something behind it.
.
The next day, Renesmee wasn't happy when Klaus asked her not to go out until he told her she could but she understood that it could become dangerous so she stayed in the living room and played quietly, keeping a discreet eye on the situation. She had never been one to discuss what her parents told her and she didn't see any reasons to start now. She noticed that her parents were both tensed and so she decided to stay around and to play silently with her dolls until something happened. She knew that it had something to do with Klaus' family coming but she didn't know what the big deal was. She didn't want to go to her room and risk missing something important. Plus, she couldn't wait to finally meet the real Elijah.
Klaus was tensed too and had been tensed all night, ever since he heard his brother arrive around 7 the previous evening. He couldn't wait until everything was over and resolved.
When the door bell rang, Klaus was up and next to it in a second. He opened it and Bella was by his side as fast as she could, refusing to be away from him for too long, especially when he was so tensed.
Renesmee curiously got up too.
"Elijah." Klaus greeted his brother, standing protectively in front of Bella as he eyed his other siblings who were standing behind his big brother.
"Niklaus… I received your…unusual and quite unexpected invitation." Elijah greeted as he took the piece of paper out of his suit jacket and elegantly unfolded it.
At that moment, Renesmee arrived, not willing to miss what was happening and she stood between Klaus and Bella, her face barely seen between their legs. All she could see was that Elijah, her daddy's big brother, was very handsome, like a prince from one of her fairy tales. She wasn't disappointed, he looked even better than he did in the drawings Klaus had made for her.
"We have a lot to talk about." Klaus declared seriously.
"So it seems." Elijah replied, eyeing Bella and Renesmee curiously.
"Renesmee, stay inside Sweetheart." Klaus warned her before he told his brother:
"Let's talk outside." Klaus said as he stepped out.
Before he could be completely out though, Renesmee jumped in his arms and hugged him hard, begging him to be careful and not to get hurt. She hadn't said it loudly but the other vampires had heard it and grew even more curious about the situation.
"Don't worry princess, I'll be fine, we just have some past issues to solve." Klaus said to calm her as he put her down and kissed her forehead.
"Don't you hurt my daddy or I'll get momma to put a lot of vervain in your piece of turkey for Thanksgiving dinner." Renesmee said seriously, looking Elijah bravely in the eyes.
It never occurred to her that if they hurt Klaus, it meant they wouldn't eat Thanksgiving dinner with them.
"I…I give you my word…I won't hurt Niklaus." Elijah replied, stunned, impressed and amused while Rebekah declared:
"I like her!"
Renesmee was too young and innocent to understand that if Elijah promised not to hurt Klaus, he never promised that the other wouldn't hurt Klaus either. Bella did though and frowned.
"You two stay inside okay Love?" Klaus reminded Bella before he kissed her tenderly on the lips.
"I love you." He added before he stepped out.
"Wow, I can't believe you managed to say those 3 words without chocking. Tell me honestly brother, did it hurt?" Rebekah exclaimed teasingly.
"A lot has changed." Klaus replied simply, like it explained everything.
Rebekah was shocked by his calm reaction though. Once upon a time she would have ended up with a dagger in the heart for these words.
"So it seems. You appear more…human." Elijah replied, impressed.
"Why don't you explain it to us?" Finn asked.
Klaus was relaxed when he realized that they weren't going to hit him, especially since he knew that Bella and Renesmee were still watching and he started explaining everything to them the best way he could and as fast as he could so he could go back inside and reassure his family.
"So she's your soul mate, her young daughter is now yours and they're your family?" Rebekah asked, stunned.
"Yes, it sums it up pretty well. Bella wanted to know all of you and I figured that since Mickeal hadn't been sighted in the last few decades it was safe again… You're free to stay here and celebrate Thanksgiving with us in a few days, that invitation was real, or you can leave… But it would mean a lot to me and my family if you could stay a while. I know that they want to get to know you." Klaus explained.
"Well, I guess we can stay for a while…" Elijah said, looking at his 3 other siblings for confirmation.
Kol and Rebekah nodded. Finn said:
"I can stay a little while but I have to leave and look for Sage later."
Since they seemed peaceful enough, Klaus invited them over for a drink and Bella granted them access to her house, after warning them to behave.
"It's okay now? It's not dangerous to go play outside anymore daddy?" Renesmee asked Klaus.
"No, it's not honey but you might want to stay inside, it's cloudy and windy. It might rain soon. You know your mother will have my head if you get sick because I let you got out in the rain." Klaus replied while Bella was in the kitchen, getting glasses and Klaus was opening the bar to get the drinks they would want.
"Oh… But momma won't hurt you, she loves you and you can't be killed!" Renesmee chuckled.
"But she can send me to the dog house. Plus, if you get sick, you won't be able to go to your ballet recital and you're the lead. I thought you didn't want that awful girl to take it from you?" Klaus replied, chuckling as well, ignoring as his siblings laughed silently, amused and touched by this scene.
"Can I stay here then?" She asked shyly, eyeing the new comers.
She didn't want to miss her ballet recital, she was so proud of it and her mother had gotten tickets for everyone, even her grandpa' Charlie who would come just for that week-end.
"Why wouldn't you? Don't tell me that they scare you now…" Klaus asked her, kneeling so he could face her properly as Bella came back in the room with glasses and ice.
"A little…" The little girl admitted.
"Don't worry princess, you can trust them, they'll never hurt you. I'm the worst of them all." He told her with a kind smile.
Renesmee smiled, hugged him and went back to playing with her dolls on the floor, not too far from everyone. From time to time she would look up and check if everything was alright with everyone.
All the adults sat around the dining table and once everyone got their drinks, things got weird and quiet.
"So, what are your plans in the future?" Bella asked to break the ice.
"I need to go and try to find my Sage." Finn said.
"The old lady at the market with all the herbs sells some, I'm sure she'll sell you some if you ask nicely." Renesmee suggested as she curiously joined then.
"He's talking about a woman named Sage Love, not an herb." Klaus chuckled.
"Oh… I don't think she has a woman… Sorry. But she has 2 grandsons that are very nice to me at school and give me their cookies when I smile at them." She replied kindly, making her mother and Rebekah smile.
"Don't worry about it." Finn told her kindly.
"Will you all be staying for dinner?" Bella asked them.
"If it's not an inconvenience we'd be happy to." Elijah replied kindly, speaking for his siblings.
He was eager to see more of this new life his brother had gotten.
"Not at all, we're having spaghetti tonight." Bella replied.
"Daddy said that you can make the best Bologna sauce in the world, is it true?" Renesmee asked Kol.
"Oh…um…yes, I can make a pretty good one." Kol replied, surprised that she would speak to him.
"Will you make us some then Uncle Kol?" She asked him, giving him that look that she knew won everyone over.
"Oh no, she's giving him the look…" Bella commented.
"Stay strong brother, don't fall for it…" Klaus joked.
"I…I don't… Of course I will." Kol ended up answering, he couldn't deny her, especially after she included her in his life, calling him Uncle.
Renesmee jumped up and clapped her hands loudly and happily.
"He didn't stand a chance… If you can't resist her how is he supposed to?" Bella told Klaus who simply nodded.
"She's the cutest… She isn't completely human though is she?" Rebekah asked in a voice low enough that Renesmee couldn't hear her.
"Her father was a Cold one and a witch put a spell on her so that she could grow at a human rate… I think it saved my life too… The way it was going... I wouldn't have survived the pregnancy." Bella explained.
They kept on talking and on getting to know each other for a while until Renesmee dragged Rebekah in her room to show her all of her pretty dresses. The vampire was only too happy to go, especially after she was called "Aunt Rebekah" and have a few human moments with her new niece and followed her, planning on enjoying the presence of this child for as long as she could.
"Well, I did promise to get cooking… Would you mind showing me where everything is Bella?" Kol asked her as he stood up.
"You don't have to do it you know, she'll understand…" Bella replied as she stood too.
"Don't worry, I'd be happy to do it." Kol assured her with a smile.
He couldn't bring himself to disappoint the cute little girl that Renesmee was.
Bella guided Kol in the kitchen, showed him how everything worked and where everything was before she left him to his cooking. She went to check on her daughter and stood in the doorway as she watched her and Rebekah playing dress up and make up. Renesmee was in one of her new princess dresses that Klaus had bought her and was putting sparkly make up on Rebekah. Bella smiled and went back down stairs to join her mate and his brothers.
When she entered the room he pushed his chair away from the table and opened his arms, an invitation for her to seat on his knees. She did as he asked, only too happy to be in his arms and listened as he explained to Finn and Elijah that they would be moving to Mystic Fall's during the summer and that they were welcome to join them as well.
Here we are again. What did you think?
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Review please?
Lorelei Candice Black
