thank you to everyone who's reviewed so far! i read all of them (multiple times, often while crying)
CHAPTER TEN ∙ happy thanksgiving
May 13th, 2026
Had he not had preternatural senses, Klaus may have described the tenth letter as bloody. There was a slash of red over the top corner, just near the date, but it smelled of old berries and sugar instead of the rich violence of old blood. That, coupled with the date just by it—November 23rd, 2023—had Klaus concluding its identity to be cranberry sauce. Probably from a bottle or can, given that Hayley, Freya, and Keelin were all hopeless in the kitchen.
He wished he could've seen the Thanksgiving dinner they cobbled together. The only Thanksgiving he'd really sat down at with Hayley and Hope was when the former was still pregnant, the latter unborn. They'd neglected to thaw the turkey and had instead feasted on slices of shaved turkey, stuffing them in sandwiches and eating in silence.
Then there was the Thanksgiving they'd invited Tristan and Aurora, but that hardly counted. Looking back, perhaps it hadn't been best to waste a family holiday on the de Martels when he could've been spending it with his true family instead. Perhaps.
Swallowing the regret with a mouthful of whiskey, Klaus continued reading.
#
November 22nd, 2023
Mystic Falls never changed.
It had been a decade since Hayley first set foot there. She'd hated it at first—had found the entire sprawling suburbia trite and irritating, had loathed that Tyler was so attached to the banality of this tiny spot on the map. She'd spent five years on the road by then, ever since her family kicked her out. She'd been bitter and angry and Mystic Falls, to her mind, represented everything she hated about the life she'd left behind. The life she'd been banished from.
Then again, Hope had been conceived here. Hayley didn't love the memories from that night—at least, she wasn't supposed to—but she could be grateful for the result. The same result that always brought her back this time of year, ready to pack up Hope's things and drive her back to New Orleans for Thanksgiving with the family.
But not before another tradition was observed.
Mystic Falls hadn't changed, and neither had the Grill. Hayley stepped into the same room she'd been in a thousand times before, the same décor, the same smell of old beer and the lunch special (nachos, she guessed). And there, at the same table as every year, sat Caroline, dressed in a pinstripe pantsuit with her hair loose and wavy. She waved Hayley over, her chair squealing when she stood and knocked it back with her legs.
Hayley had never been much of a hugger before she was a mother (and she wasn't fussed on them now), but Caroline had always hugged with enough exuberance for them both. Hayley let herself relax into the embrace, felt the breath leaving her in one relaxed exhale that Caroline's grip forced from her lungs. Having to be so careful around the mortals in her life, Caroline really enjoyed letting her true strength show with what immortals she knew.
Released and feeling a little dizzy, Hayley took her seat across from Caroline.
"The lunch special just ended, but it was shit anyway," Caroline said instead of a greeting. "I ordered you a hot chocolate and some cake."
"Oh, thank you, god," Hayley breathed. Her stomach had been eating at her for hours, but she didn't want to stop and be late for her appointment with Caroline.
"I usually answer to 'Caroline', but god is fine."
Hayley rolled her eyes. "So," she began, scooting her chair forward a little so she could rest her elbows on the table. "What's the verdict?"
"You don't want to wait until you have a warm drink in your hands?"
"I'd rather rip off the band-aid."
Caroline grabbed her purse from where it hung on the back of her chair, unzipping it with one hand while plunging the other deep inside.
"What is that, Mary Poppins' suit case?"
Caroline snorted. "No, but I've begged Bonnie to look into spells to expand the space inside things. Mostly to apply it to closets, but I'd give my left tit for a purse that can carry my three-ring binders in it. Here we go!" She pulled out what she was looking for—a yellow envelope with Hayley's name and address on it. "It's not final and it's only a half-yearly, so don't worry about it."
Hayley winced as she took the envelope. "If you're prefacing it that way, I shudder to think how bad it really is." She broke the seal with her thumb and pulled out the booklet inside. The cover was glossy and professional (Caroline's keen eye for design coming through), with Hope's name written on the first page inside.
Taking a deep breath, Hayley began to read.
It was … not fantastic.
"If you glare at that paper any harder it might catch fire," Caroline joked, trying to lighten the tone.
"Not a witch. But all the teachers you have there are, right?"
"We have a few werewolves, but only witches teach the magical classes. Why?"
"Just gauging their experience." Hayley made to read on but Caroline's hand on her wrist drew her out of it.
"Look," Caroline began. "She's a good kid, and she's doing her best. No one there is saying anything awful about her character or anything—"
"Here's your latte, Mrs. F," said the waiter, setting Caroline's drink in front of her. He was an older boy, maybe college-age.
Hayley didn't comment on the Mrs. Caroline still went by Forbes-Salvatore, and Hayley had no right to judge; she hadn't de-hyphenated since Jackson either.
"Thanks, Drew," Caroline said.
Drew disappeared for a moment, returning with Hayley's drink and her slice of carrot cake. "If you need anything else, give me a shout," he said cheerily, then moved onto the next table.
"It's really nothing," said Caroline, immediately returning to the conversation about Hope. "It's just that she's been distracted and unfocused, and it was only a matter of time before that started showing itself in her grades."
"But—" Hayley flipped back a few pages to the section on Defensive Magic. "This is a D. That's what comes right before an F."
"No, there's a D-minus in there between them." At the look on Hayley's face, Caroline turned serious. "I understand that it's a shock. She had amazing grades when she first got here, she was throwing herself into the work, but ever since things with Klaus have gotten so tense …"
"She lacks work ethic."
"I think she's demonstrated an ability to do better than she is. Things started going downhill last year; you and I both noticed the As become Bs and the Bs become Cs—"
"That was only in a few subjects," Hayley argued, voice rising a little higher than she wanted. "She was still strong in Defensive Magic and in all the physical classes. She's a werewolf, for god's sake. Inactive curse or not, she's powerful."
Caroline nodded. "I'm hearing you, Hayley. I think she found some of the subjects she was already invested in easy to skate by on, but things got harder this year. She's pretty much in middle school now, or at least what passes for that at a magical boarding school. Things took a step up and she didn't follow it. We both know it's not her intelligence that's the issue."
Scoffing, Hayley pushed the report card away from her as though it smelled bed. "The issue is Klaus."
"Unfortunately, I think so." Caroline paused, tapping her finger on the table. "He still hasn't replied?"
"Every letter I send him is returned a couple weeks later."
"Are you sure you're sending them to the right place?"
"I used to get the addresses from Rebekah, but he's freezing her out too now. Freya has to track him down with spells."
"And they still work?" Caroline asked, eyebrow raised. "Hope tried astral projecting, but she was blocked. He hasn't blocked tracking spells?"
"Not yet." Hayley frowned. "Which … doesn't make a lot of sense. I'll ask Freya what she thinks when I get back."
"Well, if you change your mind about me going after him, I have an overnight bag packed at all times."
"I appreciate that," said Hayley, picking at her cake. "And I appreciate you not doing it when I say it won't help."
"You know what's helpful for Hope, and she's the priority here."
Hayley nodded in agreement. "So, do you have any recommendations for how I can tackle this at home?"
"Well, speaking as someone who grew up with an absent father, I think …" Caroline sighed, rubbing at her temple. "I think you have to be careful, but I also think that there are vulnerabilities she's always going to have and that you can't account for all of them. I could sit here and give you a lecture on exactly how my mom fucked things up with me, but there are just as many ways I fucked it up with her. Dad being gone, the fact that he chose to stay away from us, to never call, to start a whole new life … It left a scar that wouldn't stop getting aggravated. Every big event in our lives opened it back up again. You can't heal it over for her. Not for good."
Hayley took a sip of her hot chocolate to swallow down the lump in her throat. "So my kid walks around with a hole in her heart forever."
"Lots of people do. She's strong enough to learn how to take care of herself. We just have to make sure she knows how to do that. And you know a lot about surviving. Something tells me that knowledge is written somewhere in that girl's DNA, and however hard it is to watch her struggle to find it … we can't make this okay." Caroline blinked back something that may have been tears. She looked around the Grill surreptitiously, then leaned in conspiratorially to add, "And this will be weird, coming from a school principal, but grades aren't the most important thing. When Hope's at school and she has a terrible day and she feels at her worst, is she crying in bed alone, or does she call her mom?"
"She calls me." Hayley had the phone bill to prove it—every time there was a fight or a nightmare, Hope called. Every time.
"And when she's home with you?"
"She comes to me. Crawls into bed and stays there until morning."
"Well, there you go," said Caroline. "She knows what she needs to survive this. You're her mom."
Hayley had never thought about Hope needing her as anything beyond the basic facts before—the sky was blue, the sun rose in the east, and her daughter needed her. It was just true.
The reality of what that meant hadn't settled in her chest like this before, like a bundle of bricks tied to her heart by a swinging, creaking rope.
Clearing her throat, Hayley wrapped her hands around the mug of hot chocolate to give her fingers something to do. "So," she began, as though she hadn't just had a painful epiphany and gone silent for a full minute. "I can bring up her grades with her, but I want to be careful. I don't want things going the other way, with her becoming obsessed with proving herself or something."
Caroline chuckled, blue eyes sparkling. "You don't want her becoming like me, you mean?"
"I think Hope becoming like you would be a dream come true," Hayley replied without even thinking. The certainty in her voice surprised her and had a similar effect on Caroline, whose eyes went wide as her cheeks flushed a little.
"Well." Caroline coughed lightly, looking down at her latte. "Keep complimenting me like that and I just might bump up a few of those grades."
"Oh, if that's all it takes …" Hayley began, cutting herself off with her own laughter.
Caroline nudged Hayley's knee with her own under the table. "Just don't tell the other parents."
"I won't, I won't," Hayley promised, laughter fading naturally to leave them in a comfortable silence.
"Now that we have that business out of the way …" Caroline rubbed her hands together excitedly. "Give me some hot New Orleans gossip."
"I have something I've been saving up for when I saw you next, actually."
"Ooh, intriguing. Please continue."
Hayley braced her chin in her hands, smothering a grin. "You'll never guess what special guest attended Kol and Davina's wedding."
"Tell me it wasn't someone who makes blood flow from water and the world kind of start imploding."
"No, the Mikaelsons all stayed where they were supposed to. A certain Bennet witch, however…"
Hayley hadn't been certain if Caroline knew or not, but by the look on her face, she most certainly had not.
"No. Fucking. Way." Caroline was wild-eyed and her slack-jawed, her palms flat and raised in the air. "I don't—how—what—"
"Pretty much how I felt when she arrived. Apparently they're friends."
"What, Bonnie and Davina?"
"And Kol. She hugged him and everything."
"What the fuck," Caroline sang, her voice pitching high and starting to squeak. She took several deep breaths to calm herself. "Tell me everything you know."
#
Everything Hayley knew turned out to be not very much at all, but they mulled over the situation for plenty of time. Caroline seemed to enjoy the speculation, and texted Bonnie several messages in all caps demanding answers. There was no response (Bonnie was in a completely different time zone), but that didn't stop Caroline from progressing to voicemails so excited they made a dog bark as it walked by outside.
They fought over who paid the check, splitting it fifty-fifty and bidding farewell just before school got out. Caroline had another meeting to get to and Hayley had a daughter to pick up, so they had a time limit to observe. Probably for the best, as when Caroline started rambling it went on for hours and Hayley never felt particularly inclined to stop her.
Hayley pulled up at the school at just past four in the afternoon. School ended a half hour ago, giving Hope plenty of time to pack her things. She was waiting in the pick-up area with her suitcase and a backpack slung over one shoulder, Dorian Williams standing beside her to make sure she left safely.
Hope ran to hug Hayley when she parked the car—ran so fast, in fact, that Hayley was only half-way out of her seat before her daughter barreled into her. She gave just as good as she got, squeezing Hope tight and dotting kisses into her hair.
"Hey, Mom."
"I missed you." Hayley released Hope and grabbed her shoulders instead, pushing her away a bit to get a good look at her. The eagle parental eye took everything in—the slight tan that had faded since the summer, the added height, even the colour of her hair, faded from the vibrant red it had been a few years ago.
"Missed you too, Mom."
"Okay." Hayley clapped her hands together, finally standing up out of the car. "Can you grab your suitcase and put it in the trunk?"
Hope nodded, heading back to take the bag from Dorian. Hayley wandered over to greet him, shaking his hand. She liked Dorian. She hadn't spent much time with him, but he was close with Ric and Caroline. The twins even called him Uncle Dorian when they weren't in class.
"Mrs. Marshall," Dorian greeted.
Like Caroline, Hayley hadn't dropped the "Mrs" just yet.
"Mr. Williams," Hayley responded in kind. "Do I need to sign anything to take her away early?" The week's break for Thanksgiving didn't start until Wednesday.
"It's all been taken care of," Dorian assured her.
"Right, the Caroline Forbes efficiency."
"We call it omnipotence, actually," Dorian quipped.
Hayley snorted. "Like she needs that to feed her god complex."
The trunk slammed shut, promptly ending the adults' conversation. Hayley raised a hand in goodbye, eyeballing Hope until she said goodbye as well.
Dorian waved them off in the rear-view mirror, already walking backwards towards the front entrance.
#
Hayley had considered broaching the topic of Hope's grades on the drive to the motel, but reconsidered. They had a week's break before she went back, and then just three weeks of school before she was back home for Christmas break—there really wasn't any point in ruining things with a tough conversation just yet. It could wait.
As was custom, Hayley had booked a motel two hours away. She and Hope drove just until dark before they arrived, unloading only the things they needed into a kitschy little bed-and-breakfast. Hayley found it a bit flowery, but Hope loved the little tea-service they did for every room in the mornings.
The next day was dominated by the road trip back to New Orleans. Hayley let Hope pick the music, even going so far as to sing along to some of the pop that whined through her speakers at Hope's request. It would've grated on her nerves if Hope hadn't been singing too, and while her daughter wasn't particularly tuneful, it was the sweetest sound Hayley had heard in a while.
Marcel's car was already parked out behind the house when they arrived. Hayley heard Hope's intake of breath, saw the way she sat bolt upright in her seat. The excitement that had been building since they hit the city limits bubbled over as Hope threw her seat belt off and bailed out the car door.
The back door swung open only seconds before Hope was flashing towards it, swept up in her brother's arms. Her legs swung through the air as she squealed, gripping at Marcel's shoulders.
Hayley watched it with a soft smile. She wasn't the only one Hope needed.
#
Hayley, Keelin, and Freya were all dreadful cooks. Marcel was good and Davina was decent (though very accustomed to Kol cooking for her), so they volunteered to do Thanksgiving dinner. When Hayley realized it would be a six-hour affair, she vetoed their guests doing anything of the sort and instead contacted Declan, who was happily running catering for the big day.
"Declan, huh?" Davina asked when Hayley mentioned him. "The same one that cooked for Hope's birthday? That's nice of him."
"He's paid to do it."
"It's still nice." Davina shoved her tongue into her cheek, watching Hayley carefully. They (and Freya) were in the upstairs study, sitting by an open fireplace with red wine in hand. The sounds of a piano drifted through the house, sometimes flowing and sometimes stilted and off-key. Marcel was trying his hardest to teach Hope, but she didn't exactly have an innate musical ability to speak of.
"Yes," Freya chimed in. "Declan's nice very often."
"Oh?" Davina raised an eyebrow. "I love that in a man."
"That he's often nice?" Hayley asked. "You must be disappointed in your husband, then."
"Hey, he's always nice to me," Davina defended. "He changed the lightbulbs for me the other day."
Hayley screwed her face up in disgust. "We don't want to hear weird sex stuff, Davina. God."
Freya snorted her wine into her nose indelicately. She scrabbled for the tissue box on the coffee table to mop up the mess, narrowly avoiding spilling anything onto her shirt.
"Smooth," Hayley observed.
"Thank you."
"I have no idea how you got such a catch," Davina said, watching Freya wipe the last of the wine trickling out of her nostril. "Where is Keelin, by the way?"
"Out at the bayou. One of the wolves got injured and didn't want to go to the hospital, so the hospital comes to them apparently. She should be home in an hour or so."
"Good. I can spend that time brainstorming something outrageous to say to make you do that again."
"Or you could not be a brat."
"I can't help it," said Davina. "Kol is rubbing off on me."
"I thought I said no sex stuff!" Hayley objected.
They dissolved into laughter all over again.
Freya let her giggles ease away. "God, I love Thanksgiving."
#
November 23rd, 2023
Klaus,
Despite the tone of my last letter, I do have much to be grateful for. Our daughter is healthy and generally happy, our family is alive (albeit scattered), we have a home and safety and good food and excellent company. I could spend all day listing the things I'm grateful for.
However.
This is the part where I'd wait until Hope is asleep and then tell you we need to talk. You're not here, so I'll just have to voice my concerns in this letter and pretend not to be offended at yet another non-response.
I had lunch with Caroline, and she said Hope isn't going so great in school. She's barely completed her course work, and while she's not earning Fs just yet she is pretty close to it. We agreed that she's smart but unmotivated, and Caroline's pretty sure it has everything to do with your absence. I knew it would be hard without you, but I guess seeing how much Caroline's issues with her dad still impact her made me feel it more keenly. Will Hope be like her, heartbroken and abandoned by her father? Caroline's dad has been gone for years but he's still the most significant barrier to her truly accepting herself. Her self-doubt, her anxiety, it's all down to him. What will your absence do to our daughter?
Not that her being like Caroline is a negative—we'd be lucky if she was that tough and driven. But it's not looking like she's going that way, and it worries me that she just yields so quickly when things become difficult. She can't just sit there and do nothing with her time. She owes her teachers and her peers her engagement.
I don't know how to broach the topic with her. I don't want to push her to the point that she becomes anxious about all this, but what if she already is? How do I start that conversation without making her feel like I'm disappointed in her? Am I disappointed in her?
Maybe I should ask Marcel or Freya for advice. I feel like Hope will be upset if I do, like she'll think we gossip about her when she's not around, but this is a big deal. Not the biggest, but important.
If I'm being honest, I am sorely tempted to just make it Marcel's responsibility. I'm sure he'd do it if I asked. I won't ask.
This whole parenting thing is hard.
Wishing you were here to suffer it with me,
Hayley
#
May 13th, 2026
Poor grades weren't exactly the worst fate to befall a Mikaelson. It didn't even rate in the top hundred.
Still, Klaus was glad it hadn't been left to him. He had no idea how to broach most topics with his daughter, let alone one like that. How would you ensure she did not feel cornered or inadequate? How do you illustrate how much you love someone while criticizing them? It was easier to be proud of her magical achievements than to be critical of her intellectual ones. She was an incredible witch, but that should never have come at the expense of her education.
Not that her magic had been the thing distracting her from her studies in the first place.
Despite the late hour—three in the morning, almost—Klaus found himself scrolling through his contacts to find Caroline's name. She was listed rather cryptically under CF, lest someone obtain his phone and try to chase down anyone he communicated with regularly. It paid to be careful, in his experience.
They hadn't spoken via text in some time. Mostly phone calls since his return, some before he dropped off the grid a few years ago. He'd called for updates on Hope's progress every few weeks and Caroline had happily relayed story after story of his daughter's achievements. He'd missed those conversations, of course, but he had never imagined that their content would change.
Perhaps when it wasn't three in the morning, he would call her and ask just how much had changed while he'd been away.
writing this chapter reminded me that de-hyphenated has a hyphen in it, and hyphenated does not. i probably won't sleep tonight. 1 review = 1 prayer 3