Hope simply wouldn't stop crying.

Even through the locked door Klaus could hear every sad, shaking sob from his daughter. No matter what he had done so far, nothing had succeeded in coaxing her out of their hotel room bathroom.

The situation was starting to frustrate him; Hope needed to stop this now. She'd gone colic like an infant with all the stubborn disrespect of a teenaged child. Despite the inevitable emotional turmoil of her transition, this nonsense was nothing more than an ill-timed tantrum.

He shared a look of concern with Hayley, but she merely shook her head. She had voiced it already but was willing to remind him again - this was his fault. Klaus hadn't the foggiest clue what she meant; all he had done was suggest to Hope that her mother take her next door to the 24-hour waffle house and teach her how a vampire eats breakfast.

Apparently Hope's answer to everything now was to instantly burst into tears.

"She's overreacting," he began to pace. "Hayley – she is too old for this."

"She's not acting out, Klaus, so treating her like a child isn't gonna help."

"Nothing is helping – we've been outside this door for nearly an hour."

"I told you not to push her to feed from the vein."

"Well we can't exactly order a blood bag from room service."

"Elijah should be back soon. He's gone to find us a supply."

"Which means no one's looking after Leah. Wonderful."

"Will you drop your revenge fantasies and just focus on getting Hope out?"

"I'm not coming out!" they heard her yell through the door. "Just leave me alone!'

"Honey, unlock the door. You don't have to do anything you don't want to."

"Except she does," Klaus grumbled. "This is not a game, Hayley."

"Then don't try to make a joke out of it next time."

"I was trying to encourage her, not send her running in the opposite direction."

"Well you're making this harder than it needs to be."

As if to prove her wrong, Klaus tried again, his voice sweet and gentle.

"Hope, sweetheart, open the door - please."

"No."

"Open the bloody door, Hope Mikaelson!"

"NO!"

"That's it," he stepped back, "I'm breaking the blasted thing down."

"Can you not?" Hayley blocked him. "She's scared enough - don't scare her anymore."

"But she should be scared. Perhaps fear will motivate her to see the urgency of our situation."

"We agreed to let her rest for a few hours."

"And in a few hours Mikael will again be on our doorstep."

"That's not a fact, Klaus. We covered our tracks as much as we could. We can spare the time."

He fell back from the door, walking out into the middle of the room then whirling back toward her in a huff.

"Have it your way," he conceded. "But if this goes south, Hayley, remember it was you who wished us off the road."

"This is not just my decision - you agreed to it too."

"Because my brother requested an audience with me and you requested a bed for Hope. And all I requested is that neither of you waste my time...and yet here I am, while Elijah remains occupied and the bed in this room remains empty."

"Plans change, Klaus, you're gonna need to accept that."

"Not when it comes to the safety of my daughter."

"Your daughter?" she glowered, approaching him hotly. "Don't start this, Klaus, 'cause you know how it ends."

"Then work with me, Hayley, not against me on this."

"I thought I was. I thought we were on the same page about Hope."

"Same page, love – two very different books. I need you to be willing to do whatever it takes to keep us moving forward. I need you to push her."

"She needs time, Klaus, I can't push her. I can't rush her transition."

"It's not that you can't it's that you refuse. You are her mother, Hayley – it is your job to tell her the hard truths about life. So tell her she needs to drop this stubborn saintliness immediately and learn to feed like a proper hybrid."

"So you basically want me to tell our daughter she's too good for her own good."

"It might coax her down from her moral high ground."

"That's still our Hope in there, Klaus. She doesn't need to change because nothing has changed."

"Except everything."

"Why can't you two ever stop arguing?" Hope shouted from behind the door.

Klaus cringed; he'd forgotten his daughter now had supernatural hearing.

"Then listen to your mother, love, and come out."

No answer, just a loud slam and then silence. Klaus turned on Hayley angrily, ready to give up and find Elijah.

"She gets this from you, so you deal with her. Whatever you have to do, do it by the time I come back."

"Then I'm bringing in Leah."

He thought she was joking; he actually began to chuckle.

"Klaus, I'm serious. I think she can help."

"Leah?" he laughed in her face. "That shining example of self control?"

"She's gone through all of this more recently than either of us. Look - I'm the last person to want Leah as a role model for our daughter but I think she can get through to her."

"If she doesn't ruin her entirely."

"It's just until Hope comes through the worst of it. Elijah shared some things with me about Leah and it all sounded like she had a pretty sooth transition."

"I'm sure," Klaus muttered. "He sees everything about that girl through a rose-colored haze."

"We need the help. Hope needs the help."

"Then we will help her, Hayley - no need for an outside tutor."

"But we're not getting through to her and we're out of options."

"And time," he added definitely, feeling caught between a rock and Hayley's hard gaze.

"Go get Leah," she ordered him. "Now."

"Me?"

"I don't trust you not to break down that door when I'm gone."

"Quite right," he sulked, glancing one last time toward the bathroom door. His pride had been hurt at Hayley's first suggestion that he was unable to comfort his daughter himself. Klaus knew he didn't have the most clement of tactics, but a king should never have to beg help from such a lowly creature as Leah St. Ann.

Family helped family and she was no Mikaelson.

But Klaus could still hear Hope crying and he knew he had no choice. He made for the door.

"Don't make me regret this, Hayley."