"We're here."
Leah parked them on the far side of the lot between the sleeping tractor-trailers. These were the final hours of a very long night and the rest stop was starting to fill with truckers and travelers seeking their morning coffee.
Hayley helped Hope out of the car.
"I'm going to get her cleaned up. We'll be in and out."
"Do not let her out of your sight," Klaus climbed out after, "and come back immediately. If we are being followed we can't linger."
"Then find us a new car and let's ditch this one. Too many people saw us leave in it."
Leah's ears began to burn as Hayley recalled the chaos of their flight from the motel. It was only because she had returned to it that they had been able to leave it at all. When Elijah had demanded she drive it had simply been easier to act than to feel. The only way she could help Hope was to speed her away from that horrible location.
"Do you think they need a hand?"
Leah turned to Elijah but he gave her no response; he stared out his window, silently observing Hayley and Hope disappear across the lot. For a second he wavered in hesitation, then she saw his hand slide down toward the handle on the door.
"Go help your brother. I can help Hayley with Hope."
"I think it best you remain here, Leah. You've helped enough tonight."
She bit her lip, holding back her frustration. That was the second time he'd said that and she still didn't know what it meant. His words made her feel like a simple chauffeur, like she was driving the hearse but forbidden from the service. This whole time in the car she had felt Klaus' eyes on her, scrutinizing, judging, deeming her unworthy to grieve for his daughter. This memorial was invitation only.
But she had been there - no one else, only her - when Hope had hit the pavement; the others had been up on the balcony but Leah had been down on the ground. Hayley had needed to force her aside in order to take Hope into her arms.
So Leah had watched from afar as the Mikaelsons mourned and on the sidelines she still remained.
And it hurt most of all that Elijah grew aloof; for the last two hours they had sat besides each other like strangers at the funeral of a mutual acquaintance. Even now he showed no intention of acknowledging what she had witnessed, or how it made her feel, or what any of this meant for their future.
He suddenly shifted in his seat and Leah unfurled her fingers, expecting him to take her hand tightly and tell her it was going to be okay. If he had wrapped his arms around her now she would have finally let herself cry.
Instead he pushed open his door and swiftly climbed out of the car. Without a word he had left her alone.
Leah felt the prick of hot tears forming in the corners of her eyes. Squeezing them shut she demanded they stop. She was disgusted with herself for even starting to cry. Curling her hand back into a fist, she threw open the driver's side door.
She had barely touched the pavement when Klaus was angrily in her face.
"Where the bloody hell were you?"
Instantly Elijah was in front of him, placing himself before Leah protectively.
"Niklaus, leave her be."
"Questions, brother - too many remain unanswered. This is the second time Mikael has made fools of us – hear me, Elijah, when I say there will be no third time."
Klaus backed down and left them under the buzzing light, his final words ringing in the air.
Leah hadn't realized she'd been holding her breath. She lowered her hand from her chest and turned to Elijah, expecting an explanation for his brother's assault. Instead his gaze was narrowed as he stared at her.
"Where in fact were you, Leah? I would like to know as well."
"Is that really the thing we should be focusing on right now?"
He now cornered her against the car so she couldn't give him the run around.
"Leah, please," he strained to get across. "I just need to know where you were."
"It's not important, Elijah."
"Tell me and I will be the judge of that."
Leah frowned, shifting her stance and crossing her arms defensively.
"Why do you care so much where I was?"
"Because my brother does. Clearly."
"Your brother? Elijah, your brother is crazy. I've actually seen the folder where he keeps all his theories about me. Over the years he's blamed me for everything - from Davina and Antonia to Rebekah and Philippe. I'm certain he thinks I spend my weekends planning the apocalypse."
"Niklaus is simply trying to uncover how Mikael was able to track us so quickly. I assume he has his suspicions, and his theories may not always be right, Leah, but more often than not they hold merit."
"I'm sure," she muttered, but when he let the silence grow between them the realization hit her hard.
"Are you saying Klaus might be right...about me?"
"No one is more determined to protect Hope than my brother. He will consider everything in keeping her safe."
"Elijah, you're not answering my question."
"No," he exhaled, "I am not saying Niklaus is right... but when it comes to my brother there is no one more perceptive."
He had begun with a 'no' but then ended with a 'yes' and his unvoiced accusation infuriated her.
"Then did Klaus perceive the giant fire you set back in Pennsylvania? Because I'm pretty sure Mikael did - along with half the fucking state!"
"Lower your voice," he leaned in and warned her.
"Why? Afraid your brother will overhear? That he'll add you to his list of suspects?"
"It is not I who disappears constantly for hours."
He realized he'd overstepped when she threw her gaze to the ground to hide the hurt in her eyes. He sucked in a frustrated breath, pressing her closer toward the car.
"If you do not tell me where you were tonight, I cannot protect you."
"I don't need you to protect me," she shoved him back, fuming. "I've done nothing wrong."
"You left me," he leveled. "We waited for you, Leah."
"And what does that have to do with anything?"
His silence compelled her to realize it herself. She remembered what Klaus had said in the car.
Or must I remind you, brother, that waiting is what got us into this mess in the first place?
It finally made sense: Klaus blamed Elijah for Hope...because Elijah had waited for her.
Leah's mouth fell open. It hadn't occurred to her that Klaus would make such an open accusation in front of everyone. Of course it had gone right over her head – she'd never imagined he could violently jump to the worst of conclusions.
But apparently he wasn't the only one who did.
"You think this is my fault?" she choked out in pain. "That Mikael...that Hope..."
"Leah," he said sternly, "Stop. That is not what I said."
"Then what?" her voice shook. "Tell me what you mean!"
"Every possibility must be considered."
"Except the one where I led Mikael to you."
"Twice you have left and twice he has found us."
"It's called a fucking coincidence!"
"That Niklaus will see as a pattern."
"No," she raged loudly. "Don't blame this on your brother. You're the one agreeing with a madman!"
He held up a hand to silence her and Leah's icy glare immediately melted as Hope appeared around the corner, her mother a step behind.
They fell apart from each other just as Hayley walked up.
"We're heading out. Klaus got us a car."
"Come sit with me," Hope begged, extending her hand toward Leah.
"Be right there," she managed a smile. She feigned a cool composure for the sake of her best friend but the anger still seethed right under the surface and under that the hurt was tearing her apart.
As Hayley led her daughter back across the lot Leah fell in behind them, but not before Elijah grabbed her arm and spun her back around to face him.
"We're not finished here."
"Oh, yes, I think we are."
\
Elijah willed himself to stay alert at the wheel as he kept his eyes on the dark road ahead. His mind was whirling with the echoes of his conversation with Leah – he couldn't have handled that any worse. Of course she didn't lead Mikael to them; he had let his frustrations become carelessly cruel.
With every single accusation – he was no better than Niklaus.
Beside him, Klaus alone seemed indefatigable. He rolled the White Oak stake between his anxious fingers, his mind still active with a dozen different plots. Mikael, Rebekah, Elijah, Hope, Leah – how was he supposed to win a game when the pieces kept moving on their own?
He turned to check on the current game in progress. In the back row, Hope had finally fallen asleep against her mother's shoulder; Leah's arm cushioned her head against the window. She barely seemed to breathed and Klaus felt an odd sense of unease to see such a usually annoyingly energetic creature now so utterly sedate.
He frowned, noticing Hope's hand entwined with Leah's. He did not wish to consider that his daughter's fate might somehow be linked to hers. Besides him and Hayley they were the only two hybrids left in the world, but despite this they remained in so many ways too human, too young, and too vulnerable.
If Mikael attacked again they might as well be children.
"This night is endless," Klaus muttered, turning now to face his brother.
Elijah's hand dropped along the wheel in agreement.
"We will have to stop soon – Hope and Leah are exhausted."
"They're asleep. Let them sleep. Keep driving."
"Then consider yourself, Niklaus. You cannot go on like this forever."
"I will as long as you shall, brother, and you seem to be doing just fine."
"The body is one thing; the mind is another."
Klaus sat back and considered Elijah's words. Sleep was of course not a physical necessity for a vampire since the body that did not weary needed no time to convalesce. But the mind tired all too easily and was prone to make mistakes when worked without rest.
And since each mistake had a higher cost Klaus could simply afford no more.
Elijah too was now considering the mistakes he had made. A part of him knew he was wrong; it wished Leah would wake in a few hours and have forgotten the entirety of their interaction back at the rest stop. The other part knew Niklaus was right – the part he was steadfastly refusing to entertain. He did not want to imagine the fallout that would inevitably occur should his deepest fears prove true.
Out of the corner of his eye Elijah saw his brother gripping the White Oak stake in his fist.
"There is something we need to discuss, Niklaus."
"And I assume you wish us to be alone before we do."
"Let me simply say there are certain matters I must first put to rest."
"Very well," Klaus conceded. "The next exit is yours. For whatever hours are left in the night we'll let the others sleep someplace proper – and you and I will talk, brother...indeed we will. But do not waste my time. I am not in a particularly charitable mood."