A/N I'm extremely sorry I haven't updated in a LOOOONG time. Life, school, medical shit, and a whole pile of crap on top of it all got in the way. I'm slowly shoveling my way out of it. Hopefully, this will bring the very few of you that are still interested in this a little piece of sunshine during this crazy quarantine time. Please enjoy and let me know what you think.

Chapter 189

"Buffy?" Xander said for the third time.

"Huh?" Buffy asked, snapping out of her reverie. "Sorry. What were you saying?"

"Where were you just now?"

"New Orleans. Sorry." She shook her head. "You were saying something about the second dormitory?"
"I was, yeah, but you're clearly not into it right now."

"I'm sorry, Xand. Hayley is still missing and Klaus isn't having any luck."

"Why didn't you stay to help look?"

"Someone has to stay with Hope."

"Look around, Buff. She's surrounded by people that love her. If you feel like you need to be down in the bayou searching, then head back."

"Klaus tasked me with protecting her."

"Buff…."

"Xander, if anything happens, Klaus will call me and I will go straight to New Orleans. Until then…. What about the second dorm?"

"I need your approval for the final designs."
"Why? They're not going to be like the first dorms?"

"No. There's more of them and the layouts…."

"Ok. Xand, I seriously don't know why you need me to approve designs."

"Because, Professor X, this is your school and it's your name on the checks."

Buffy chuckled. "Ok. I'm gonna tell you this one last time: I don't care. Just make sure they're not situated on a Hellmouth or anything remotely crazy like that."

"How do you know I'm not gouging you?"

"I'm a vampire. I can tell when you're lying to me."

"Really?"

"There's a lot of things I can tell about you with my crazy heightened senses." Xander laughed nervously. "If you were lying to me, I would care about the designs more." She let her eyes change momentarily and Xander swallowed loudly.

"Why do you have to be so scary?"

She laughed. "Why does it still freak you out?"

"I've known you since we were sixteen years old, Buff. This new you is completely different from the girl I used to know."

"That's not a bad thing." Her cell phone lit up with Vincent's name. "I've gotta take this."

"Approval?"

"Of course." Xander kissed her cheek and walked out as she answered the phone.

"Your brother has got a very interesting approach to motivational speaking." Vincent said by way of greeting.
"Good morning to you, too, Vincent."

"He's running around threatening everyone and he's compelled an entire department of the local police to help him search."

Buffy sighed. "As insane as he seems, Klaus's tactics always work. The best advice I can give you here is to just ride out his bad mood as best as you can."

"If he keeps messing with me, I'm gonna show him a bad mood."

"I'll talk to him."

"Thank you. Is Freya there yet?"

"I didn't know she was coming."

"She left last night. A friend of mine…. Ivy…."

"The tarot card reader?"

"Yes. Her cards predicted that your niece might, in fact, be the devil in disguise."
"I can confirm that that's not true. I've been around her plenty and my Higher Power light doesn't even flicker."

"Buffy, you need to take this seriously."

"Vincent, she's not the devil. She's just a teenage girl. Some might see that as the same difference, but I'm a little more unique when it comes to actual devil detection."

"Just…. Keep an eye on her."

"I do. At all times." Buffy pulled the orb out of her desk drawer that Willow had spelled. It was a constant magical video feed of Hope. She frowned at it. "And I see Freya's here without coming by to say hi first." The door opened and Josie poked her head in. Buffy waved her in. "Vincent, I've got to go. I'll talk to my brother."

"Thank you."

Buffy hung up and smiled at her daughter. "Hi, baby."

"Hi, mom." Josie said.

"Everything ok?"

"I just needed a break from Lily."

"What's wrong?"

"She's still on a tirade about not getting to go to New Orleans and how you're always 'stuck up Hope's butt' and she's also mad about not being asked to the dance yet." Josie sighed. "Which brother do you need to talk to?"

"Your uncle Klaus."

"Have you talked to uncle Elijah lately?"

"No. You know I try to leave him be as much as possible."

"I know. You don't want to trigger his memories."

Buffy looked at the clock on her computer. "Hey, you need to be heading to class. Pretty sure your aunt Willow will turn you into a newt or something if you're late."

"Not if I tell her I'm with you."

"Josie, baby, I know your sister can be a bit much sometimes…."

"Sometimes?"

"But she's your family. You can also remind her that Hope is also her family and she needs to cool her jets with the Hope-hate."

"She's got a little bit of a point, though, mom. You do kind of favor Hope."

"How so?"

"You spend extra time with her to train her to fight. Daddy lets her get away with everything…."

"And that wasn't you that Daddy let hang out in his bar well past your bedtime on a number of occasions?"

"It's different, though."

"How?"

"I don't know. It just is, though."

"You are well and truly in your teens with that answer. Go to class now, Josie. Before your dad finds out."

"Can we talk about this some more later? Maybe it will help Lily calm down some."

"I'll think about it."

"Which always means no." Josie sighed and walked out of the door.

Buffy sighed and grabbed her cell phone. "Hey, babe." Damon answered after a couple of rings.

"Why is raising teenage girls so hard?"

"I keep telling you to think of it like an adventure." She chuckled. "What happened?"

"Josie accused us of favoring Hope."

"Ouch."

"Do we?"

Damon sighed. "We do a little bit, but I don't think it's entirely intentional. We've been extremely protective of her from day one. You more so than anyone else."

"Hmm."

"What 'hmm'?"

"I was agreeing with you."

"Uh huh."

"Should I teach the girls how to fight?"

"Do they have supernatural strength that we don't know about?"

"No."

"Then they don't need to learn to fight. They're witches. Let them be witches and use their magic to fight if they need to."

"What if they need to actually fight, though? I mean, they're siphons. What if there's no magic around for them to use…."

"Then we'll be there to fight for them."

"We can't always be."

Damon sighed again. "Clearly you're sticking to the role of logical parent, here."

"It's a curse."

"Do you want to teach them to fight?"

"I want them to be babies again."

"Well, that's not going to happen."

"Where did the last thirteen years go? I blinked and they were teenagers."

"I think that's what being a parent does. As vampires, time doesn't mean too much to us because we've got tons of it. As parents, we don't seem to have enough of it. And speaking of time, we need to sit down with Rick and Willow and discuss a certain Gemini tradition we want to avoid."

"We've got some time before we need to discuss that."

"We really can't keep pushing that issue off, babe. It'll be here before you know it and we won't be prepared."

"I don't even know where to begin to look for an answer. The entire covan is wiped out."

"We'll figure it out. We always do."

"I hope so. On a different witchy note, Freya is here."

"Is she? I didn't know she was coming for a visit."

"I didn't either. Vincent called to ask if she was here yet and to tell me what his tarot reading friend said about Hope."

"What did she say?"

"That Hope is the devil in disguise."

Damon laughed. "I highly doubt that."

"I do, too, but he's pretty serious about it."

"Crap."

"What?"

"I hate to cut this off, but the delivery driver is here. He's not supposed to be here until tomorrow. This is what I get leaving this stuff to my brother. I'll call you later?"

"Yeah. I love you."

"I love you, too, Buff."

Buffy hung up and looked at the orb. Hope and Freya had made their way to the old mill in the woods that the twins had stumbled on a couple of years ago. Teenagers at the school had turned it into a bit of a party place. Alaric had busted up a few rowdy parties there over the years. Buffy was a lot more lenient, but now that the girls had taken an interest in attending those parties, she was starting to get a little more strict.

"Pretty." Freya remarked. "In a creepy, 'don't get caught alone here at night' kind of way."

"The twins found it, like, two years ago." Hope explained. "Pretty sure it's their evil 'Mean Girl' lair." Buffy rolled her eyes at the sentiment. Just like sisters were wont to do, Hope, Lily, and Josie got along until they didn't. Just like a sibling relationship ebbed and flowed, so did their relationships.

"Or they share their father's love for the bottle." Freya remarked. Buffy rolled her eyes again. Lily and Josie hadn't touched alcohol yet. "All right. You want to find your mom, I got to start with how she was taken in the first place."

"I already told you, I don't know. Someone followed me."

"Or there was a problem with your cloaking spell. Maybe you missed a step…. Left a loophole open."

"No, of course I didn't."

"Fine. You were followed. Then we retrace every step you took. A deconstructing spell magnified with a cup of blood in each bowl will give us that."

"I know how it works, aunt Freya."

Buffy sighed and stood up, preparing to go join Freya and Hope. Her door opened just then and Angel poked his head in. "Hey, I…. What?"

She held the orb up and showed Hope cutting into her hand. "Freya is making Hope do a spell to find her mother."

"Isn't that a good thing?"

"I may not be proficient in spells, but I'm thinking that if Hayley hasn't been found magically by Freya or Willow, then she's not being found by Hope." Buffy nodded. "Freya is distracting her. She knows what Vincent thinks he knows."

"What's that?"

"He thinks she's the devil."

Angel chuckled. "I mean, teenage girls could be confused with the devil, but Hope isn't actually the devil."
"Not in the slightest. I was just on my way to talk to Freya to see what more she knows. And keep Hope from bleeding out trying to do a spell that won't work. What did you need?"

"It can wait."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Go rescue Hope from certain blood loss."

"You're welcome to come with."

"I don't have any more classes today. Sure."

They walked out of her office and headed for the back exit. "You know, Josie came in a little before you and accused me of favoring Hope."

"Ouch."

"You've had a teenager. How do I handle this?"

"I had one teenager that was raised in a hell dimension by a man that hated me. I don't think I'm the one to turn to for parenting advice. Especially raising three teenage girls. Did I ever mention you're a badass?"

Buffy laughed. "A few times. It really does take a village. It's nice to have Hayley, Rick, and Damon to lean on when a break is needed."

"Buffy, I really don't think you know what a break is."

"Oh, I do. It's those extremely rare moments when I can take a sip of coffee and let it reach my very soul before someone needs my attention. Usually Lily."

"You need a vacation."

"A vacation…. What's that?"

The two of them laughed. Up ahead, the old mill loomed. They heard Freya and Hope inside and made their way silently inside.

"Don't stop." Freya said.

"Damn it." Hope said as her wound healed.

"It wasn't enough."

"It's healing faster than I'm bleeding. Maybe you shouldn't have picked a spell that involved me bleeding out." Hope realized exactly what was happening. "Which you knew couldn't happen. You don't want to do this spell."

"Not particularly, no."

"Why?"

"Because it isn't going to work." Buffy said, startling both Freya and Hope. "If there was even a chance of it working, don't you think that Freya or Willow or even one of the hundred powerful New Orleans witches would have thought of it by now?"

"Stop sneaking up on me like that!" Hope snapped.

"Thank you for the heart attack, sister." Freya said, walking over to hug Buffy. "Angel."

"Why are we wasting time?" Hope demanded. "There's something you guys aren't telling me."

Freya looked at Buffy and Buffy nodded. The petite blonde was curious what her adopted sister knew, so she let Freya tell the tale. By the end of it, the sun had set and Hope's mood had soured even further.

"So I'm, like, cursed?" Hope asked. "Predicted to be the downfall of what, my family? New Orleans? The world?"

"I have no idea." Freya said. "But you deserve to know what's going on. And we all need to prepare for the possibility that things might not work out the way we want them to."

"You mean for my mom to die?"

"For what happens inside of you any time tragedy strikes. For when your emotions are tested in ways you couldn't even imagine."

"How can anyone prepare for that?"

"You aren't just anyone, Hope." Buffy said. "You're a Mikaelson witch with a terrifying amount of power. Even without the darkness that your family is keeping you away from."

"So, what? I'm so sensitive, everyone's afraid I'm just gonna flip out?"

"Well, when people like you and me flip out, entire villages can burn." Freya said.

"The last time I flipped out, I accidentally killed the devil and brought my husband back from the dead." Buffy said. "Hope, I know better than anyone what it's like to be thrown into a situation where the world is on your shoulders and you're not even the tiniest bit sure if you have the strength to carry it."

"Stop handing me anecdotes about your freaky Slayer past. Why won't you just let me go try and find my mother."

"Hope, you need to chill out." Buffy snapped.

"Why? So you guys can keep stalling me?"
"You can't shut down." Angel said. "It'll eat you up inside."

"Leave me alone!"

"Hope…." Buffy started.

"I said leave me alone!" Suddenly the floor and walls burst into flames.

Buffy threw out her hands and her white light blew the flames out. She turned to her niece who looked stunned that she had set the place on fire. "Are you ready to talk now?"


Buffy, Freya, and Damon sat with Hope at the dining room table back at the Boarding House. Josie and Lily were in the kitchen doing the dishes. Alaric was staying at the school that night to deal with some overdue paperwork. Angel had gone back to his apartment to give Buffy time to deal with her family. It had been a slightly uncomfortable dinner that evening. Hope had been freaked out that she was in more trouble while Josie and Lily had ignored her. Freya had made the comment that the teenage years had hit the Salvatore house hard.

"I'm sorry for exploding like that earlier." Hope said.

Buffy sighed. "While I appreciate the apology, you shouldn't be sorry. Freya should've come and talked to me before telling you everything."

"You're right." Freya said. "I should have. I'm sorry I didn't."

"Thank you. Hope, you've got a lot going on right now. You didn't ask for any of it and you didn't start it."

"But I'm the end of it. Right?" Hope said. "One way or another? So what do we do now?"

"We let your father handle things in New Orleans. He's kept me in the loop on everything."

"You've talked to him?"

"Of course."

"Does he have any leads on mom?"

"He thinks he's close to finding out who took her."

"Should we go back down there?"

"If anyone goes back down, it'll be myself and Freya. You're staying here and studying."

"Aunt Buffy….."

"Hope, there's no bargaining here. This is how it's going to be." Hope sighed and stood up, storming away.

"How do you raise three teenage girls?" Freya asked.

"Carefully." Buffy answered.

Damon added, "Sometimes it's like walking through a minefield with a blindfold on."

Freya chuckled. "Thank you for inviting me to stay."

"Of course we did." Buffy said, hugging Freya and heading towards the kitchen to deal with the twins.

"You're family." Damon squeezed Freya's shoulder. "And speaking of, I believe the wife and I need to have a discussion with the twins. Which Rick has conveniently found a way out of."

"Good luck." Freya called after him.