Keep Holding On

Cause you know we'll make it through

We'll make it through

Talia awoke the next morning with Elijah's arm around her. A small grin graced her lips as she looked up at her sleeping fiancée. His sleep seemed much more peaceful than the previous night and she welcomed the familiarity. Slowly she lifted her hand up to stroke his cheek, he stirred and awoke in slight alarm grabbing her wrist but stilled immediately once meeting her blue gaze and released her.

"Talia," he breathed, his eyes apologetic.

"Good morning," she greeted him gently as she leant up to capture his lips with her own. Talia relished in the sensation as Elijah's familiar arms wrapped around her. All too soon she broke away. "We had best get downstairs, your brothers will be waiting for us, all three of them." He offered her a small smile followed by another kiss before they both left their bed and dressed.

In the dining room lay a lavish breakfast, complete with all sorts of pastries and other sorts of delicacies. Klaus sat at the head of the table, stirring his finger around in a glass of whiskey. "Ah, finally, I was wondering when you two would consent to join me in bringing our brothers back into the fold," Klaus announced when he noticed them enter.

"Wouldn't it be more prudent to simply elicit the answers we want from them through more delicate avenues than simple temptations," Elijah suggested crossing his arms over his chest.

Talia looked up at him, slightly surprised, normally Klaus would be the one to suggest torture over bartering. "They are your brothers and right now Ester is the one we need to deal with and they may be useful, if temporary, allies."

"Agreed, shall we retrieve them, I'm sure they'd love a good snack after a night strung up," Klaus said as he got to his feet and strode from the room. A moment later, he zipped right back in and set both Finn and Kol into the chairs on one side of the table rather harshly. Elijah and Talia took the seats across from them as Klaus reclaimed his seat at the head of the table. "Now," Klaus began, folding his hands together on the table. "We arrive in this world as innocents, wide-eyed, vulnerable. It is the job of our parents to nurture and protect us. Unfortunately, our parents failed miserably at even the most basic of parental tasks. But we are not beholden to the path they created for us." Talia and Elijah shared a look as Kol rolled his eyes. "Today, a new future awaits. Forget your animosity toward Elijah and myself, and Talia by association. Instead join us against she who truly deserves your ire, our mother. Do this and we will welcome you with open arms."

"Well," Kol began reaching for the plate of Danishes, but Elijah reached around his fiancée and pulled the plate away from the shackled witch.

"But if you continue to oppose us," Klaus continued ignoring Kol's exasperated expression. "Denied pastries will be the least of your worries."

Kol looked up at Klaus, "Well if all you want is my allegiance against Mother Dearest, you should've said so, save me a night shackled to the wall." Talia chuckled a bit.

"Yes well this was Talia. My recommendation was to remove your limbs one by one until you comply," Elijah explained.

A small laugh escaped Klaus as he stood up and wandered over to the back of Finn and Kol's chairs, "We have no desire to torture you, provided you vow to stand beside us, as brothers."

"Brothers," Finn scoffed, "does that word even apply to us, after all these centuries of betrayal? And is loyalty to you ever really rewarded? If so, tell me Niklaus, where is our sister, Rebekah? She was blindly loyal to you for a thousand years, and now nowhere to be found. Where did our sister go? And how did she escape your vile machinations?" Talia and Elijah shared a brief look as Klaus wandered away from their two shackled brothers.

Klaus forced a chuckle as he returned to his seat, "You think me vile? Well what then do you make of the one who cursed us?"

"She was trying to make you mortal again," Finn defended their mother. "And both of you refused her." His dark eyes then turned to Talia. "She will come for you soon, Talia. She will offer you everything you could ever desire, a life and family with Elijah without all the politics and death that has been upon you since the moment you came into this world." The blue eyed vampire noticed Elijah tense and he gripped a silver knife perhaps a little too tight.

Talia returned her eyes to her future brother-in-law, "And I shall tell her nothing different than what Elijah and Klaus have already answered. She can rot in Hell for all I care."

Finn chuckled despite the hardness in his eyes, "Only proves how far you've fallen. But I expect Rebekah will have a different response to her proposal. See, unlike the two of you, and evidently Talia, she always clung to her humanity."

Elijah glared at his brother, "Rebekah is off limits to you, you pursue her and you will suffer."

"Do not let him goad you, Elijah," Klaus quickly intervened. "Neither he, nor Ester, will find Rebekah unless she wants to be found and she does not."

"Ester is quite determined," Finn replied assuredly. "She's been searching for Rebekah since the day she returned. I imagine it's only a matter of time."

Finally, Elijah snapped. He sprung forward, seized Finn by the throat, and slammed him onto the table. Klaus and Talia stood immediately as Elijah's fangs protruded and he ripped into Finn's jugular. Finn screamed. Thinking quickly, Talia used her powers to pull Elijah away from Finn into Klaus' awaiting arms. There Klaus forced Elijah out of the room to get some air and clear his head.

Finn groaned as he sat up holding his hand to his neck to stop the bleeding. Talia grabbed one of the cloth napkins and offered it to the bleeding Finn. "Here. I would offer you my blood but I know you would not accept that sort of help."

"Well, dearie, that's some power you're wielding," Kol observed looking slightly panicked as he rose from his chair. "Though shouldn't say I'm surprised, after all you tried to choke me last time we met."

Talia smirked at the memory of the Mikaelson Ball Elijah had taken her to, "Well, you can't say I wasn't justified, you were rather rude." The young witch simply shrugged.

"I still don't understand how you put up with those two, after everything they've done," Kol continued.

The vampire shrugged, "I've been with them a while now and despite their faults, and trust me there are many, I love both of them very much."

Finn scoffed again, "Love? Monsters are not capable of love."

Talia's hard blue gaze fixed upon Finn, "What exactly constitutes a monster, Finn? Because from what I've seen, the real monster is the accursed woman you worship on your knees." Finn stood up completely but Talia held her ground. "You think you can intimidate me? Please, I live with Klaus, a master of torture and quite the manipulator, you don't frighten me at all."

Just then Elijah walked back in, "Talia, a word please?"

"Of course, you two make yourselves at home," she told the boys before following Elijah out of the room. "What's wrong?" She could tell from the wild look in her fiancée's that something was indeed very wrong.

"Rebekah has just called, Ester is after her and Hope," he told her in a low voice so as not to be overheard. "I'm going to meet her and get them to a safe house a few hours away."

Talia nodded, "Okay, just be careful. I'll stay here and play good cop with Klaus to try and get more information from your brothers." With a small nod, Elijah turned to leave but Talia grabbed his arm and pulled him back to her. She glanced up into his eyes. "I love you."

He did not offer her a smile but instead pulled her into a deep kiss full of promise. "As I love you," he swore when he pulled away. "I shall see you soon."

She smiled, "You'd better, our wedding is in two days." Elijah kissed her forehead before zipping away.

Klaus joined her a minute later, "I've called Marcel, he'll be here any minute then the fun begins." Indeed, Marcel did arrive a minute later and embraced Talia quickly in greeting. Klaus then flung open the door to the dining room. "Gentleman, I apologize for keeping you waiting. Good news is I've returned with an old friend, someone who wants to say hello."

On cue Marcel waltzed into the room, Talia not far behind. "Hello," Marcel smiled gleefully. "How's it going, fellas?"

Kol eyed Marcel, "Ah, you again. You ever get bored of being bullied by my brother?"

Marcel and Klaus shared a chuckle before Marcel removed his jacket, "Oh, I volunteered for this. The way I see it, you had it coming." Marcel jabbed Kol in the chest, knocking him back a step or two. "First, you mess with Davina. Now I hear you want to drag Rebekah into all this. Uh-huh, not happening."

"Marcel," Talia stated sternly and the vampire stepped back but kept his glare on Kol.

"Well, I'd prefer you both join me against our mother. But I'll happily settle for one or the other. Either way, if you continue to defy me, your lives will be reduced to an unending series of agonizing torture. So which is it to be?"

Marcel seized Kol by the manacles and dragged him out of the room. Talia rolled her eyes and flung Finn back out of the room and magically secured him to the staircase. "Have your way with him," she told Klaus. "I'm going to go play good cop, bad cop with Marcel." With that she zipped upstairs to where Marcel had taken Kol after grabbing something from the kitchen.

"…I'm really going to enjoy this," Marcel declared as he slammed Kol into a chair just as Talia arrived. "Out of the whole twisted family-" Kol tried to get up but Marcel pushed him back. "Sit down! You are the one that I like the least."

"Yeah well, there's a pretty young lady who disagrees with that opinion," Kol pointed out referring to Davina.

"Then let me make myself perfectly clear to you, you go anywhere near Davina again I'm going to cut off parts of you that you would rather keep," Marcel threatened leaning over Kol.

"Ah, more threats how bloody inventive," Kol sighed. Marcel growled as if he was going to hurt Kol.

"All right, Marcel, you can come back later and torture him all you like, let me try and talk to him," Talia requested.

The vampire looked up at her, "Are you sure? I wouldn't mind taking a few minutes to get some details out of him, painfully." He said the last part quietly, more to Kol than Talia.

The blue eyed woman crossed her arms, "Yes, I'm sure. If he tries anything I can handle it."

Marcel sighed quietly, defeated, "Fine, I'll be outside in the hallway."

Talia turned to Kol and held up a muffin, "I brought a piece offering."

Kol eyed her and the muffin warily, "I suppose you are supposed to seduce me with niceties and pastries in hopes I'll succumb to brotherly love and spill all of my dirty secrets."

"You don't want it?" Talia questioned shaking the muffin.

"And Marcel will tear me to pieces if I don't comply with your charms, is that it? Rather predictable don't you think?" Kol continued as Talia made her way toward him.

"See all I'm hearing is 'I don't want food after a night strung up so I'm just going to continue being a pain the ass'," Talia smirked as she sat down on the edge of the coffee table.

Kol rolled his pale blue eyes, "All right, hand over the muffin and maybe we can talk."

Talia passed him the pastry, "So tell me, what's your play in all this? I mean, I'm sure Ester didn't exactly tell you to charm Davina, and speaking of your mother, she obviously favors Finn over you, so what do you stand to gain from all that you're currently doing?"

"Why do you really want to know, Talia?" Kol asked leaning toward her. "Do you want me away from Davina as well? Or do you think I know something about what Mother did to Elijah and you want to save your would-be husband? Hate to disappoint you, love, but I don't know anything and you're not keeping me from Davina."

"Okay, firstly, do not call me love, ever, do you understand?" Talia snapped before relaxing and staring at Kol, trying to decipher him. "And I can see you really do care about Davina. You obviously haven't hurt her until now, so I have no reason to believe you will. Granted, I can't say I know you very well."

"No, you can't. If you really knew me, you'd know none of these petty threats or polite conversations are going to sway me to join the brothers who'd rather see me dead," Kol declared fervently.

Talia's head cocked slightly to the side in surprise, "You don't think they care about you? That's why you act out, for attention." Kol shifted uneasily and settled back against the chair. "I get it now. But if being a part of this crazy mixed up world and this even more messed up family has taught me anything, is that second chances can change everything. We're offering you a chance, Kol, I suggest you consider it."

Something crossed Kol's expression but was quickly replaced with his usual smirk. "So you and Elijah, tying the knot here in a couple days. How the devil did you get him to agree to remove that abnormally large stick up his arse and settle down?"

Talia rolled her eyes and got to her feet, "You know, I'd hoped maybe you and I could start over. It'd be nice to have another brother but you are too stubborn for your own good." That said Talia walked out of the room, yelling to Marcel over her shoulder. "He's all yours."

*15 years later*

"Why was Ester after Rebekah?" I wondered.

"She wanted all of her children to be saved from the curse of being a vampire," Talia explained.

I nodded, "So did either Kol or Finn change sides?"

"Well?"