Again, Anika refused to listen.

Her drive back to New Orleans was swift, her own anxiety possibly fueling her magic into encouraging other drivers to move out of her way. She felt dread seep into the back of her head as she approached the compound her family called home.

The bodies of dead and dying vampires greeted her, as did Elijah's voice growling out a name in fury, "Genevieve."

"What happened here?" Anika gasped out, looking around at the four individuals still— mostly— on their feet.

Elijah turned on her, grabbing her by the upper arms, "Anika! Niklaus explicitly told you to stay away! Damnit! You foolhardy idiot!"

Anika cracked an open hand across his face, "You will not call me names, and you and Niklaus will not treat me like a helpless child. You will answer my question: What happened here?"

"Werewolves happened, and witches happened! Hayley has been taken!" Elijah's fury made Anika's chest hurt.

Anika put her hands on his face, hoping to ground him and calm him, even the slightest bit, "Lijah, you're no good spitting mad. None of us are. Calm down, please."

"I've got to find her, I've got to find them!" He cried.

Anika nodded at him empathetically, "I know, Lijah, I know. But what are you going to do? Run around like a mad man and hope you find them?" They stared at one another, and she stepped back, "Let me help you find them."

"Quickly, Anika. Hayley seemed near labor, and the witches' plans don't seem kind." Elijah urged, letting his sister go.

Anika grimaced, "I'll do the best I can. I'm not in tip top shape."

His rabid focus on Hayley faltered for a moment, "Did something happen?"

She couldn't lie to him, couldn't keep him in the dark any longer and risk his wrath later. That, and she couldn't risk her son being hurt by her pushing magic too far. "I'm pregnant, Elijah."

He took a sharp inhale, his eyes wide, "Oh, Anika."

"I can still use my magic to find Hayley, I just need you to be patient." She assured him.

"Are you well?" He asked, remembering the grief that had cost him his sister all those years ago.

Anika nodded, "Yes, we're fine. Now hold my hand and help me work."

An infinitesimal smile lit upon his face, "As you wish, sister." Instead of holding her hand though, he pulled her into his arms, "Congratulations, Ani. We'll rescue Hayley and keep you both and your children safe. I swear it."

Anika let her magic flow out, searching for her niece's magic, and found her with relative ease. It was too easy. Panic flared in her when she opened her eyes, "Elijah, you need to go. She's being born. St. Anne's Church, go!"

He was gone in an instant, and she was left with Marcel, Cami, and Diego and his fellow dying vampires. Then Davina reappeared. Anika stared at her in shock. "You're alive?"

Davina glowered at her, but held her tongue, "Oh god, what happened?"

Marcel, though weak and out of breath seemed enlivened by her presence, "Klaus…"

Cami interrupted him, "They fought, and he got bit."

"Let me help." Anika interjected, holding out her wrist. "Keep in mind what I know you just overheard and take only as much as you need."

"Why would your blood help?" Cami asked.

Anika gasped as his teeth sunk into her flesh, but she forced herself to relax, "Niklaus and I share both parents, and I too activated my werewolf curse long ago. My blood won't cure the bite, but it should ease it."

Davina seemed dissatisfied by Anika's response, a pensive expression on her face, "You fought Klaus—did he bleed?"

As Davina left, Anika turned to leave as well, sickened by the gore around them. "Where are you going?" Cami asked softly, still tending to Diego who she had only been able to give a little of her blood. Not enough, Anika knew. He would die soon without her brother's blood.

"I'm being called to St. Anne's. My niece I think." Anika answered somewhat numbly. The odd feeling in her head wasn't just because of the blood loss, something was happening, something that felt suspiciously like the world caving in around her. "I need to go."

Her feet took her to the church, but her brain made her hesitate in the doorway. The church reeked of death. A horrible thought struck her, "No!"

But inside the church doors, Hayley's still body greeted her, just as she'd feared. She stood in the doorway for a long time, disbelief numbing her nearly into oblivion. Her only friend, the only person besides her husband and siblings that gave a crap about her was dead. "Oh, Hayley."

The biggest tragedy of all was that her niece was going to grow up without the mother who would have moved heaven and hell for her. Anika had grown up with a mother whose love had apparently been a facade, but Hayley had already loved her daughter more than Anika had ever seen anyone love anyone.

Anika forced herself down the length of the church, and knelt at Hayley's side, the dead wolf's hand in her own. There, she wept for her friend, her sobs echoing off the walls of the church as her anguish melted from her body. She almost missed Hayley's gasp, but she couldn't miss the wolf's hand wrenching from hers.

Hayley's wound had healed while she had been sobbing, and the blank look on the other girls face told Anika all she needed to know. Her nieces blood had saved her mother's life, only now Hayley was possessed by an inhuman single-mindedness, ignoring Anika's every word.

Before Anika really understood what was happening, Hayley was gone, and exhaustion prevented her from following. All the bloodletting and hysterical sobbing had been too much for her, or rather too much for her son. He was telling her no, that she needed to stay put.

She may have added some vomit to the pools of Hayley's blood on the floor, but her sweet brother Elijah disregarded it all when he came to get her, wiping her mouth with a pocket square before lifting her into his arms, "You taxed yourself, little witch. Let's go home. I believe it's time you met our niece."

In the upper levels of the compound, Anika set with Hayley and the baby in the nursery. Hayley still seemed off, and startled Anika when she stood suddenly to join Elijah and Niklaus in the bedroom, "There's a third option." Hayley said softly, and Anika moved to stand behind her as she spoke, "My parents thought they could protect me. But, in the end, they were slaughtered, and I spent my childhood alone and unloved." Hayley looked down at her daughter and smiled at her, while trying to hold back tears. The new mother took a deep breath, "I made a promise, to my baby, and to myself, that she would not grow up like I did. That she would grow up safe, and loved. And yet, here she is, on her first day in this world, with a grandmother who is bent on sacrificing her—" Her tears began to overwhelm her, "And a-a mother who has to drink the blood of her own baby to survive transitioning into a hybrid. And I'm the one who loves her the most."

The three Mikaelson siblings just looked at her, saddened and devastated by their current situation.

Hayley straightened suddenly, pushing back her agony, "I think the only thing to do is send her away while we stay behind and clean up the mess we've made."

Elijah protested, but in the end stood alone with Anika and Niklaus flanking Hayley. Niklaus put a hand on Hayley's arm, steadfast in his new decision, "Not if no one knows she lives."

Elijah was confused, "What is it you intend to do, brother?"

Niklaus had never looked more nobel then he did as he said, "Whatever it takes to save our family."

Anika stuck close with Hayley as she prepared to say goodbye to her newborn daughter, coaching the other female on the small details that she would need to remember that as far as the world knew, her daughter was dead, not off with a beloved aunt.

Niklaus had noticed that Anika was behaving oddly, but he never expected the words that were coming out of her mouth when she met him in the nursery as Hayley went to gather a few more things.

Anika looked uneasy, as if she feared his reaction, which was something that had never happened before, and he was briefly angry, more confused still when she said, "I'm going with her. I can't stay here."

He shook his head, "What? Why? You will always be safe here, Ani."

"I won't be able to protect myself should you be indisposed." Anika said softly, putting a hand on his shoulder, "This is not a reflection of you, Niklaus, I swear it. It's a...change of circumstances."

"Circumstances?" He echoed, staring at her. She stared back at him, letting silence stretch between them, dropping the spell she'd kept on herself for the last weeks. In that silence, he heard it, "You're pregnant?"

Anika nodded, a smile spreading across her face, "Yeah, rotten timing, but this time, Mother's not interfering, you know, turning my blood into werewolf poison and such. According to the doctors Hayley made me see a couple weeks ago, everything is perfectly normal. But..."

"Witch magic is unpredictable when pregnant." He finished for her, "Mother would always ease off on her magic use when she was pregnant. Yesterday must have been incredibly taxing on you."

"Yeah, it was." Anika said softly, "I can hide us. Well, with charms and such. I wouldn't be able to pull up much offensive power though, that requires more energy than I'll have control of. We'll have Rebekah for that."

"You've thought this through." He stated dully.

"I have. Knew I'd have less than a month before the baby's heart started beating loud enough for one of you lot to hear past my spell. People think I'm dead, that Hope is dead, and Rebekah fled in grief, it will make things easier for you." Anika forced him to look her in the eyes, "You can come visit whenever you'd like, Nik. You and Hayley."

He nodded with a heavy sigh, holding his daughter a little closer, "What does your husband think of all that's happened?" He questioned, with a pointed look to her abdomen.

Anika flushed, "I haven't told him yet. I was hoping we could brush by Mystic Falls. With that barrier in place, Rebekah will have to stay outside with the baby, but that's something that should be done face to face."

"Ah, yes, I have been on the other side of that conversation." He paused reflectively, "Might I suggest not allowing homicidal witches to be present?"

Anika laughed at him, "I'll be the only witch there, I'm sure."

He hummed softly, adjusting his hold on his daughter, "I hope you're right. In any case, please take the necessary precautions."

"Of course I will." Anika said softly, stroking a finger across her sleeping niece's face, "She is infinity precious, and every precaution will be taken for her safety. She should always sleep so peacefully."

And Hayley and Elijah left shortly after to take their mourning public, the wolf's daughter in the arms of the hybrid's witch sister. Anika drove so Niklaus could spend a scant few moments more memorizing his daughter's perfect face.

They waited in silence only broken by the baby's coos, until Rebekah arrived. Anika shadowed Niklaus as he approached their younger sibling, a tiny smile on his face, "Hello, sister."

Rebekah smiled back, and gently touched the baby, string at her in wonder, "Oh, she looks like her mother. [She smiles] Maybe there is a God after all."

Her older siblings laughed, and Niklaus said, "Well, she has a hint of the devil in her eyes. That's all me." He paused for a moment, his eyes flicking to Anika, "I need a witch you can trust to cast a cloaking spell. Anika can't do it."

Rebekah was suddenly all business, "I'll get one."

"No one can ever find her." Niklaus iterated senselessly.

Rebekah put a hand on his arm, "I know what to do, Nik. Besides, Ani'll keep me in line." The trio looked down at the baby, "Perhaps us girls'll get a white fence. I think that would be lovely."

Klaus held up the baby to get a last look at her, and lowered his voice to a whisper as he said goodbye, Anika moving to Rebekah's side as he spoke, "This city would have seen you dead. But, I will have it your home. And every soul who wishes you harm will be struck down, just as sure as my blood runs in your veins." The sisters clasped hands, startled by his word, but he continued, "You will return to me."

Anika, overwhelmed by emotion, looked away as he kissed his daughter's forehead and handed her to Rebekah. Then, he gave Rebekah and the baby the tiny wooden knight that he had carved for Rebekah a thousand years ago. Then, it was Rebekah's turn to cry as he spoke to her again, "In spite of our differences, Rebekah, there is no one I would trust more with my daughter's life." He leaned in and kissed her on the cheek, "Be happy, sister."

Rebekah smiled at him, "They'll both be safe, and she will be happy, Nik. I promise. What's her name?"

He hesitated, as if reluctant to let go of the one last thing Rebekah still needed from him in the care of his child. Of course not even Anika knew their nieces name, he and Hayley had kept the decision quiet, "Hope. Her name is Hope."

Tears fell from his eyes, and Anika embraced him while Rebekah walked away with his child. "That's a beautiful name, Nik.

"You should go." Anika said softly to her brother, "Beka and I have this little one squared away."

"I'm sure she'll be a lovely little doll." Rebekah said, smiling at her brother.

"Of course she will." Niklaus said without hesitation, but arched an eyebrow at his sisters, "The true question is if you two are going to be good? I must admit, your little trip to Mystic Falls makes me nervous."

"We can take care of ourselves. Mystic Falls is actually probably a safer place for me than anywhere else." Anika assured him, "Rebekah and I are more than capable of fending for our selves well enough to keep our dear one perfectly safe." She smoothed a hand over his jacket, "It's your job to make things so she can come back to her parents. You shouldn't be separated from her any longer than we can manage."

"I will do my best." He said confidently, kissing both of his sister before heading off without half of his heart.

Rebekah turned to her sister, her excitement barely contained, "Another baby?"

Anika nodded with a laugh, "Yeah, a little boy to cause trouble with his big cousin Hope."

Rebekah embraced her sister, "I'm so happy for you." She took a deep breath, "I've missed you, Ani."

"I've missed you too, little sister. Now we're going to be sick of each other!" Anika giggled, but turned sober again, "I've just got one little favor to ask of you after we get the whole cloaking thing worked out."

Rebekah checked Hope's carseat one more time, raising an eyebrow at her sister, "What?"

"I haven't told Matt yet." Anika began, hesitating, "Could we go back…?"

Rebekah scowled, "To Mystic Falls? Heavens, Anika, you can never ask easy things of us, can you?"

Anika smiled wryly at her sister, "I didn't a thousand years ago, and I don't intend to start now."

"Lovely." Rebekah said sharply, getting into the car.

Anika got in as well, leaning over the console to kiss her sister on the cheek, "Still miss me?" The long suffering glare she got in return was worth everything to her. Their hearts may be hurting and apart, but at least all her siblings were relatively safe. After the last excitement, Anika could use a thousand years of safety before she was truly at peace, but this was a pretty damned good start.

And that concludes A Thousand Years! A Thousand More will include: Matt, No-Magic domes, Prison-Worlds, more of our Vampire Diaries gang before the three Mikaelson girls all get back to New Orleans, and the return of Henrik. Also, a pretty big surprise will be revealed about a character I mentioned in the earlier chapters of this story! Exciting stuff!

Make sure you add me to your Author Alert so you don't miss it all!

Thank you for hanging with me for these 25 chapters! I appreciate every favorite and review, you guys are awesome!

-Jenn