A/N
Hello everyone! Thank you so much for the support and your wonderful comments, it means the world to me. I hope you're enjoying reading this as much as I enjoy writing it. This chapter turned out to be one of my favorites so far. I should be updating again this time next week.
I really hope you like this one.
/
XV.
As Caroline finished unpacking her new clothes from the shopping bags, she wondered how it was that Bonnie had managed to convince both she and Elena to go out on the town that day. Not that it hadn't been helpful, what with their having to repeat the same three sets of clothes since their arrival. But, the mere idea of them treating this journey with any normalcy still felt odd to Caroline.
It went without saying that she'd had to drag Elena across the stores they visited and pushed her to buy something. Her friend had come out with a tourist targeted sweatshirt and a pair of baggy pants. Clearly, she had felt the same way about their impromptu shopping trip.
And now that Elena had managed to lock herself away in her room once more, Caroline felt like she could breathe again. In all honesty, she was tired of having to hold a frown in her face for so long. As she was determined to stay in solidarity issued animosity towards New Orleans, and of course, the Mikalesons.
Caroline pulled her hair up in a ponytail as she thought, she could stop the charade once Elena wasn't looking.
She scanned the pretty blue dress she had bought that day and then, went on to grin at the souvenirs she had bought for Josie and Lizzie. For all her daughters knew, she was on a work related trip that had nothing to do with shadowy creatures and the impending death of their aunt Elena. She'd decided a few gifts would make it more believable to them, and to herself once she returned.
Almost as if she'd been calling to them with her mind, her phone rang, and she saw with little to no surprise that it was Alaric calling yet again. He had been reaching out to her every night with the marvellous excuse of the twins' desires to speak with their mom. But truly, Caroline was very aware of his ulterior motives. Mainly, getting her back to Mystic Falls right away.
She suppressed the cringe threatening to shake her body as she answered the call. She gulped all inappropriate feelings away, plasting a smile on her face as if Ric could see her.
"Hello?" A sweet voice she only used with her daughters came up to greet the person calling. Caroline heard him give out a sigh, and she frowned at the notion of Ric being relieved by her picking up.
When had she not?
"Caroline, hey. Sorry, were you busy?" He paused, and edge to his voice. "Asleep?"
She cleared her throat before responding, "No, I'm not busy. Is everything okay?"
"Yes...yes, everything is fine. I just put the twins down." He chuckled and she heard the breathiness of it through the phone. Now she recognized, he wasn't exactly agitated, he was nervous.
"I miss them." She blurted out, as she was folding the t-shirts she'd gotten them with sparkly pink rhinestones on them.
"They miss you too," he assured her, "Lizzie had a nightmare yesterday, woke me up insisting you were the only one who could fight the monsters away."
Caroline grinned at this, "If she only knew." He chuckled again.
"Yeah, and about that…"
She bit her lip, and let the silence that followed his inquiry engulf them. Caroline knew what he meant, and most importantly, what he wanted. And every time she had to say no to him, it became harder, because while she very much wanted to reunite with her daughters, she'd become cross about other subjects. And she couldn't quite explain that to Alaric.
"Ric-"
"The week we agreed on is gone, and yet, you're still there, Caroline. Is there something I should know?" His nervousness had suddenly been replaced with rising suspicion, but she didn't let it get to her.
She found herself wishing he'd just come out and say what he was thinking, ask the questions that were truly harvoring his mind. Maybe then, she'd begin forming answers to give back. She could practically hear the name forming in the tip of his tongue.
Is this because of Klaus?
She decided she didn't want to hear it.
"I can't leave, Ric," she repeated for the tenth time perhaps. "But they're making progress, Bonnie says it should be real soon. I just- I don't feel comfortable leaving Elena alone like this, not with everything, not with what has to happen to her."
Her explanation should've been enough, but she knew this time it wasn't. She'd fed him the same excuse every night, and she'd thought maybe he'd just accept it eventually. It was the truth, after all. Even if she didn't have that same name she did not want to hear then roaming her mind, Elena remained the number one priority she had to take care of.
No matter the little breaks she had to take from the ever present dark cloud above her friend's head.
"I could be there for her just as well." Alaric argued, and Caroline found herself frowning at his proposal. Was that what this was about? She held the need to roll her eyes. Of course not.
"Maybe, but there's no need, really. I'm telling you, the spell won't take much longer." She tried to push, knowing very well he wouldn't just give. "Besides, you know the twins don't like spending time with Matt and Penny."
This alone managed to take a laugh out of Alaric, she smiled at this too. Her daughters, even at two -almost three- years old, had managed to spot and resent the way Matt's wife treated Caroline. And she had to say, she was quite proud of the girls' strong personalities, even at such a young age.
"They don't." Alaric agreed, then he sighed. "Look, Care, I know it makes sense that you stay there until all of this is over, but you gotta' understand, I don't-"
He'd halted so suddenly in his words she wondered if something had happened to him, but then she heard his tell of grinding his teeth together. "You don't what?"
"I don't like you being around them, around him. And I know you remember the promise you made me before you left," she felt as if being scolded with his words, a bucket of cold water showering over her. The ring suddenly felt tighter around her finger. "I don't trust him. Are you- are you taking vervain?"
She narrowed her eyes at nothing, and practically felt the knot forming in her throat. It was almost a visceral reaction she had at what he was implying. It took all of her strength not to hiss at him her real response. Instead, she counted to ten on her head and put to work all of that will power she'd developed since becoming a vampire.
"You think- you think he's...compelling me to stay?" She asked, and winced at the mere thought.
"Come on, Caroline, you know it's not a crazy conclusion to draw. Klaus isn't above that, or above anything." He said, his tone rising, maybe to sound commanding, Caroline couldn't put him above that.
She fisted her hand and then released it. Caroline was practically speechless. Of course, she could understand, because she always did, didn't she? But, it felt as if she'd received a blow to her chest and got the astounding need to...defend Klaus? However, she knew she'd just be giving Alaric more fuel to run on.
So again, she counted to ten.
"We're taking vervain, Ric, all of us, like always." She deadpanned to him, and couldn't ignore the rising anger in herself when she heard his clear relief echoing through the phone. "But you know, it's not because of the Mikaelsons, it's not because of Klaus. He's a friend now, he's been my friend, and we can trust him. Trust his family."
There was silence once more, his voice didn't follow her statement immediately, but there were no noises and no breathing to be heard. Caroline realized he'd probably covered the speaker with his hand. She ran her fingers through her hair, really, what possessed her sometimes to make things harder for herself?
"He's not your friend, Caroline," came his sudden reply. "There's no real safety where he's concerned, we've known this for a long time. He kidnapped Damon, and now, he's the one responsible for making Elena play with her life again."
She scowled at the phone momentarily, and scoffed her indignation at him. She told herself, she should stop right there, but there was no reasoning to be made. "You make it sound like it's so simple, like it's all black and white-"
"Are you defending him?"
She felt the shift in her head. Caroline wasn't the type to bite her tongue, least of all when she was riled up.
"I am. Klaus and his family have apologized, and they've explained themselves, and I choose to accept their apologies too. Besides, weren't we so ready to give Damon up to them just a few weeks ago?"
"For the twins, Caroline." He sounded grim now, but she could tell he was holding back from screaming.
"Exactly, see, everyone has their reasons," she paused, "we wouldn't have been much better than the picture you're painting of the Mikaelsons."
"It's not the same, Caroline." He said, and she could practically feel his exasperation, or maybe, what she was feeling was her own. "I swear, I'd thought you'd stopped acting like such a child-"
"Excuse me?"
"Please, don't pretend as if you're saying these things for anything other than the fucked up feelings I know you still have." He scoffed, "Don't pretend as if you're staying for anything other than him."
Caroline felt her breath caught in her throat, and for a moment she could feel a dizziness beginning to overcome her. He wasn't right, she knew he wasn't. Nonetheless, she felt as if she'd been caught in a lie. And she remembered the smiles, and the fingers through her hair, and the way they'd clasped their hands together for a second or two.
She counted to ten one final time.
"You're wrong, Alaric. I'm staying here, to protect and help my friends, whether you like it or not." She was the one grinding her teeth now. "And you, stop using our daughters to disguise your ill-conceived attempt to try to control me."
"Caroline-"
"No, Ric, I don't like this." She started saying, but soon felt as if the words were failing her. What would be the end of this conversation? What would be the point of throwing his clear jealousy back in his face, really, when she knew she had no right to fight him about it.
Her eyelids felt suddenly heavy, and she closed her eyes to try to focus on what she wanted to say. "Maybe- maybe we should just-"
"No," his tone was firm for the first time, as if he had read her mind and knew exactly what was coming, "no, let's just take a moment to think, cool off, and we'll talk later, okay?"
Caroline opened her eyes again to find Elena walking out of the hallway to their rooms, she eyed Caroline with worried eyes, no harshness in them. She felt a short-lived panic that maybe Elena had heard the part about Damon. But then she smiled tentatively at Caroline, and she knew she was clear. How careless of her.
"Fine," she replied, this time with an iciness to her voice, and didn't wait for his response as she just ended the call and threw her phone to the couch.
/
In the bell tower, remained put to sleep, a monster. Stripped of everything that had once made him human, Marcel Gerard had been left incarcerated with a dagger in his chest and no possibility of movement. Binding agents and countless spells coming from Freya and Vincent had managed to make being close to him safe, in the broader sense of the word.
Freya pushed open the door to the ruined room in which she had set up her magical anchor years ago. Vincent followed close behind her, and tailing them were Bonnie and Davina. If she wasn't wrong, this would be the first time the latter saw Marcel in over two years, and she expected nothing but a completely stoic reaction from the witch.
Freya turned to look over her shoulder at her peers before daring to look at him. There he was, where she had left him, in the center of the room, entrapped around a circle. Marcel had been awoken almost a month ago, he'd gone without blood for that long too, and if she didn't know better, Freya would've just let him dessicate. No, instead, he had made it his mission to showcase just why his time was running out and why he shouldn't have been tossed aside.
Bonnie gasped at the sight, and Freya locked her eyes on her friend. The witch grimaced, and looked as if unable to block the sight out of her mind, a memory that would forever haunt her. Freya bit her lip, thinking, of when exactly she had become so insensitive to cases like this. Examining both Davina and Vincent next, she decided maybe it was a New Orleans thing, for they looked as indifferent to the situation as Freya believed she seemed.
She cleared her throat, to try to ease the silence, however, no one spoke for a few seconds more. All eyes locked to the floor, where once again, Marcel grunted and let out little cries of pain. His clothes, that were barely more than filthy racks of what they had been, were covered in blood, recent flow it appeared. Freya had been obligated to bind his hands together, this, in an effort to keep him from taking out the dagger, but also to prevent him from hurting himself anymore.
The wounds had started appearing all around his body a few days before she had made the trip to Mystic Falls, and at first, Freya had thought Marcel had been able to find a way around her magic and was clawing at his own skin. But then, once she had made sure this was impossible, she saw the truth as clear as the pain in his face. It was the serum, consuming Marcel from the inside out, eating at his flesh and poisoning his blood. Basically, draining him away of his vitality and heart.
He'd looked bad weeks ago, when they'd thought he had months left. Now, well, now he'd be lucky to have days. As Freya scanned him with her eyes again, she swallowed a cry for her friend, and tried to keep her hands from shaking. He had splotches in his skin that were raw and bloody, all around his body. She could almost hear it sizzling away. He was curled up in a fetal position and he had his hands bound behind his back, she could see the blood coming from his hands, where his overgrown nails were digging further everyday.
Marcel Gerard didn't have much longer to live. She imagined the news would've made many people happy once upon a time, perhaps they still would. Especially the witches residing in the city, and now, these witches were his only shot at surviving. The irony felt bitter in the back of her throat.
Freya looked away, and her gaze landed on Davina, whose frozen eyes didn't disappoint. Still, she could tell that what she was feeling at the moment, was only a fraction of the pain and desperation Davina must've been going through.
In consideration of this, Freya had managed to keep them working on the spell from the ground floor of the church the day before, attempting to give the young witch one more day time to prepare herself for this. But truly, there would never be enough time or training to endure seeing your friend and father figure like this.
Freya knew one too many things about watching the people you loved destroyed to the core and helpless. Fortunately, she had yet to be unable to do anything about it. And she cared for Marcel too, she really did, not just because of Klaus and Rebekah, Freya also had come to consider him her family since she'd met him. She- they needed to save him, no matter the cost.
"He's barely there," came Davina's voice in just above a whisper. Marcel squirmed under the light coming from the windows. "He's barely alive."
Unsurprisingly, there was another round of silence, it was as if all that had been left to hear was Davina's diagnosis of the situation. Freya felt the weight of the emotions the witch almost never showed. "We'll save him."
Vincent crossed his arms in front of his chest, giving the illusion of him protecting his body. His eyes had widened at the sight, that could only tell them how badly Marcel's condition had progressed in the matter of days.
"We need to take some of his blood to connect him to Klaus," he said, likely just to have something come out of his mouth and ease his mind. Freya nodded.
"We'll do that on the spot, not now," she said, believing they had gone through this the day before as well. But, honestly, whatever got them to look at each other and not at Marcel was a welcoming distraction.
"And Elena? I mean, the spell for Elena?" Bonnie spoke for the first time since they had entered the room, she had managed to keep herself from getting sick it seemed, "Have you found something?"
Freya shared a look with Vincent, he blinked away from her almost immediately. Yes, they had found something that would work. Granted, the spell Bonnie talked about performing on her friend years ago needed Elena's immediate bloodline to make a sacrifice for her. A means to keep the balance, and if all her friend told her was true, Elena had been left without options in that regard.
But now, as she looked over her shoulder at the stacks of grimoires piled in the corner of the room, she recalled her late night reading. There was a way to keep Elena Gilbert alive, but it just might be the smartest move not to tell her everything that it entailed.
Focusing her attention on an expectant Bonnie again, she decided her friend deserved the consideration of knowing everything. Witches thrived on trust, and she knew Bonnie deserved hers, as Freya wished she would become as deserving one day.
"I did, last night. My mother kept a grimoire with blood magic rituals and spells exclusively. There's nothing safe about it, Bonnie. But frankly, it's our best shot." She gulped before she was able to register a reaction. There was none, not yet.
Bonnie looked at her, expecting her to continue. "What kind of blood magic?"
Marcel made another grunt, he shrunk himself further into himself. Davina looked away. "When Esther turned my siblings into vampires, she did it in a deranged attempt to protect them. The loss of my brother Henrik was too much of a toll on her." She looked at Vincent again, and he nodded at her to continue. She had told him all about it once she had discovered what her mother had done, he too agreed it was the best choice. "Apparently, she felt she needed to help prevent other mothers from going through the same. She wrote about the loss of a child being the grandest pain there is, and she was right."
Freya felt her mouth drying as those last words left her. For all her mother had done, she had come to find out most of it had come from a place of love. Even when the years made that love something toxic and unsustainable that needed to be destroyed for her siblings' sake. Freya could understand why her mother did what she did to the rest of the Mikaelsons, because she had felt the hurt of the catalyst herself.
The other witches waited patiently for her to continue. Davina and Vincent looked on with caring eyes, they knew the story. Bonnie, even with her apparent ignorance on the subject, carried understanding in her gaze and that alone made Freya brave enough to speak again.
"In the months before my siblings went on the run and their turning, my mother used their blood to run a series of trials on dying victims of the werewolves. On children who were being taken by diseases. It seems, she did this without them knowing." Bonnie and Davina now bore the same frown of confusion, she went on. "With the blood of an original, my mother understood there was a way to trick death. As we know. Still, she also discovered there was a much more potent result if she were to mix the blood of all of my family. As it turns out, Esther was the first to figure out the sire line."
Bonnie was openly gaping at her, Davina's expression hadn't moved, save for the small twitch to her lips. The former let out a throaty sound that sounded slightly like disbelief.
"Freya, we can't turn Elena into a vampire. Even if that was something she would consider again, the cure's been inside her system, it's impossible." Bonnie stated, her worry was transparent. Freya could swear she could hear their hearts beating as one, fast and desperate.
"That's not a solution." Davina agreed, hands on her hips. "Even if there was a way around the cure. There's a reason why her friend took it in the first place."
Bonnie turned to face Davina and tipped her face in a small nod of gratitude. Vincent stared at Freya, urging her to keep going and she sighed, knowing very well that they would do nothing if Bonnie refused. And if that happened, they really had no way of saving Marcel's life.
"We know," she began again, giving Vincent another glance. Bonnie followed her gaze, "and I think there's a way to keep Elena alive and human using the same basis of the ritual my mother created."
"How?"
"With the blood of all living originals, we would make her a variation of a...a vampire, that's true. But, with the blood of all living Mikaelsons, we might just find a way around the sireline."
Bonnie's eyes remained on Freya, she looked dumbstruck, clueless, beaten. Her usually soft green eyes were wide with what looked to be horror. Davina by her side, seemed to have gotten to the same conclusion, but she, with much more emotion in her face. Vincent gave out a heavy breath on the other side of the circle, his hands clasping tighter to his torso.
"Klaus' daughter?" The question came out of Bonnie with incredulity. Freya knew why, she had told her about her initial reaction to the plans her family never had about the siphon twins. Freya knew the last thing her friend would ever want was to hurt a child in the name of some grand scheme.
"Does Klaus know what you're planning?" Davina asked, strangely being the one to do so.
"Not yet." Vincent finally immersed himself in the conversation. "But we'll make him see reason. Hope won't be hurt, we just need-"
"These kinds of spells don't require a small amount of blood. Vincent. Hope's not getting thrown into this." Davina came in, hands fisted on her sides now. Freya wondered momentarily, if she was being a bad aunt to her niece, given how fiercely protective Davina was being of Hope.
"It's the only choice, Davina." Vincent said, ignoring the way the witch's eyes narrowed at him.
"It's not." she pushed.
"Okay, maybe it's not, you're right. There's always another answer, maybe trapped in some hundred year old book, in a cave, in another continent. But we don't have the time. Look at him, Davina, he doesn't have the time." The reagent spoke, tone severe and commanding as he took small steps closer to the other three. Marcel cried out this time, as if sensing he was being discussed once more.
They were all stressed beyond comparison, Freya was aware of this. She saw the dark circles under their eyes and watched their fingers tap on every surface in anxiety. Most importantly, she saw the drive in them that made it all possible. Davina's gaze was locked on Marcel once more, and her expression softened. Bonnie looked at the man she hadn't known contemplatively, and then turned her gaze to Freya.
"Let's say, miraculously, Klaus and Hayley let us use Hope's blood. How would it work?" There was determination to be admired of her voice, but Freya knew there was a small hint of her defeat in it as well.
"My niece is a tribrid. She's the offspring of an immortal, which means, she's the only person in existence to have a dormant vampire gene in her. To both be and not be one. Much like her own werewolf gene at this point in her life when she hasn't triggered the curse." Bonnie nodded, following the train of thought. Davina was listening intently too. "With her blood, we'd be able to cancel the undesired effects of the originals'. It would be able to permit us...a way to create a true weapon against death itself."
"Needless to say, this spell, this variation of it we want to try, can't ever leave this group of people, with the exception of Klaus and Hayley, of course." Vincent said and then paused to make sure he had their full and utter attention, "If someone were to find out this is even possible, we'd be putting Hope Mikaelson in extreme danger. We'd be weaponizing a little girl for the rest of her life. More so than she already is."
Hearing it being said like that, like something so definitive and inevitable, made Freya almost knock back on her place. There was no doubt that not one of the people present in the room, including Marcel, would put their lives above that of Hope's. That's why Freya wasn't the least bit shaken when Bonnie said, "Is it worth it?"
"Marcel would rather die before anything happened to Hope." Said Davina, still eyeing the man on the floor, face twisted in distress.
Freya nodded, she had thought this through as well. However, she knew that she could trust these people with this secret. Knew that even the ones who weren't part of her family would do anything to keep her niece safe. And even then, she had the perfect alternative to ensure no one else would come close to knowing what she had discovered.
"Listen, we have an answer. This can work, and I'm sure that none of us could live with the fact that we could've saved Marcel and didn't. We can- can work so that this is the safest for Hope, we can...be compelled out of knowing once it's done."
Three sets of wide eyes stared back at her as her words registered. Freya had thought of this alternative on her own, not even Vincent had been privy to this information. She could spy their hesitance immediately, but then, just as easily, they nodded their agreement. Almost at the same time, they decided they would willingly give away their memories of this if it meant they could grant protection to Hope and get to save the lives of their friends.
"I don't like this, but you're right, Vincent," Davina said, "it is our only- it's our best choice."
Vincent closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose as he nodded once, restless and willing to give this up too. "It is."
"Okay then," Freya clasped her hands, and turned on her heels to walk to the corner of the room, where a broad table with open grimoires waited for the. She took a deep breath as she watched her friends follow her with shake steps, "all that's left now is convincing Klaus and Hayley to do this."
/
Klaus picked at the food on his plate with contempt. He truly couldn't get his head around eating when there were no appearances to be held. And so far, it seemed as if his company was thinking the exact same thing. Hayley and Elijah sat right and left of him on the table, and each stared longingly at the piece of steak and what only looked like some kind of pasty greens. Perhaps it wasn't so much their nature that was preventing them from eating, but the fact that the food looked absolutely appalling at the moment. The light of the dining room dimmed with them.
When Hope was around, his family and he made sure that his daughter saw them acting normal, as she would see any other person behave around their food. Lead by example, as Hayley always took such pleasure in saying. However, Hope had been put to sleep already, and their late night dining had come to be more out of habit than necessity, or even wanting.
He tried a bite of the steak and immediately put the fork down. It was dry and tasteless, and it made him think of the nourishment he was really craving. Klaus bit his tongue as if scolding himself when his mind immediately went to the fridge kept in the basement. No, he'd already had his fill in the afternoon, and after all, there were those hideous new house rules. Lead by example, as Elijah had started saying out of mere unconscious imitation.
Klaus looked up from the food again, and watched as Hayley pushed her dish aside, her face looked tired. She looked thirsty too. He found it was like looking at himself in a mirror. Hope had been in a mood all day, one that made him dread the inevitability of his daughter becoming a teenager one day. She surely had the act down by now.
The silence of their night was interrupted by the sound of a chair sliding through the floor. High pitched and sudden. Elijah stood from his seat, throwing the napkin on top of his own plate, and took a deep breath before saying, "This is ridiculous. You two are ridiculous. I'll go to the basement for the bags, but just this once."
Hayley snorted instantly and looked as if part of her spark had been given back to her. "It's okay." she tried, not convincingly though.
Klaus raised a brow at his brother, as he wasn't about to fight him about it. "Thank you, Elijah." He gave him a smirk for good measure. His brother left the room in a blink.
Hayley didn't lose any time before she straightened in her chair and pushed her hair back from her face, she eyed Klaus for a second. She no longer looked like she was about to pass out on the table. They smiled at each other complicitaly.
"We need to find another strategy." She said, drinking from the glass of wine that had been left unattended at her side. "The sleep deprived parents act won't fool him much longer."
Klaus smirked as he turned his eyes to the empty chair Elijah had left. "I'm rather inclined to give my brother more credit than that."
"As in, you think he's playing along." She followed, sipping her glass again and bringing her legs onto her chair and crossing them. This, a posture she only took when completely relaxed and unbothered, Klaus had come to learn.
"I think he rejoices in the fact that he both gets to remain the responsible one of the lot in everyone's eyes, while still getting exactly what he's craving too." Klaus explained, grabbing his own glass of wine and sipping, catching Hayley's huff of a laugh.
"Elijah Mikaelson, the most cunning one of us all." She supplied. Klaus smirked back at his, well in all honesty, at his friend, and tipped his glass to her point.
"Indeed," he muttered to his drink, catching the sound of double doors opening in the room adjacent to this. And it couldn't have been Elijah, unless he suddenly decided he felt comfier on a pair of stiletto boots.
He smiled before she even got a chance to walk into the room. "Well, isn't this cozy."
"Rebekah," Hayley greeted her with a smile to her lips, standing up from her seat to hug her. Klaus looked on curiously as he thought of how they'd seen each other the day before, but still held each other as if it had been years and not just hours of lack of contact.
He held his grimace, he wasn't about to dive into the depths of female friendship.
His sister walked around the chairs to him now, with a green coat hanging around her body and perfectly straightened hair. He realized he had stood the moment she entered out of gentlemanly muscle memory. He held an arm open to her and saw his sister's eyes sparkle before she threw her arms around him with a grin.
Klaus couldn't even dwell on the warmth that spread through him. Maybe he was relieved for once, that Rebekah and he had managed to make it out of yet another disagreement regarding Marcel with their relationship intact. His sister had refused to stay in their house and had been staying at Marcel's, using the fact that the compound was packed as of late as an excuse. Klaus knew nonetheless that she just needed space, and probably time to process what he had been trying to as well.
They let each other go after a moment, "So, is my room still free, or have you taken on any more houseguests?"
Klaus rolled his eyes at his sister as he ushered her to take Elijah's previously occupied seat, then he moved to his own chair once more. "Your room will always be free when you need it, Rebekah. And no, I'd say we've got our hands full with the family alone. Don't we, Hayley?"
Hayley let out a chuckle as she took another drink of the wine, then she reached out to the center of the table to grab the awaiting bottle. Rebekah smirked, but looked at them both questioningly.
"We had a situation with Kol yesterday." She explained, putting the bottle back down onto the table. "Elijah won the bet, in the event of a fight, I would be able to get Kol out of my way."
Rebekah let out a laugh as she leaned back on her seat. "Well, clearly. Kol really is all bark, isn't he." She paused as she let the other two chuckle. "Where is he, anyway? And Elijah?"
"Kol and his wife are out, I suspect in what can only be a failed journey to salvage their marriage. Elijah, he's- getting dinner." Klaus supplied, with a wave of his hand in the general direction.
"Dinner?" Rebekah repeated, pursing her lips. Klaus caught what she was thinking immediately, he suggested to himself that he could use some work in his tone with some phrasing of his.
Hayley seemed to think so too, as she glared at Klaus. "The basement. The bags." Rebekah nodded, eyes calm once more.
"Wonderful, I'm famished." She announced. This, just as Elijah came stolling back inside the room, three blood bags hanging by his fingertips. It looked as if he was merely tolerating the action of holding them and the idea of patronizing his family with this.
Rebekah jumped from her seat to greet her brother just as energetically as she had Klaus and Hayley. They murmured a few words to each other, which frankly, Klaus couldn't be less interested about and then he watched them walk around the table. Elijah took the seat beside Hayley this time, and set the bags on the table.
Almost immediately, Klaus and Hayley reached out for them, like kids struggling to grab the last slice of pizza from the rest of their family. Next, they shamelessly poured the contents on their glasses, still filled with wine. A coordination to their actions that could have only been planned and rehearsed.
Elijah wordlessly pushed the one bag left to his sister and nodded at her. Giving permission or being considerate, Klaus couldn't tell in that second. He turned his gaze to Hayley, who was smirking at the scene as well. Then, he watched her offer her glass to Elijah, who after only a couple of seconds of refusing, took the offer with barely believable reluctance.
"Freya's not here yet?" Came Rebekah's question once she had drained half her meal.
"No, she's been even more preoccupied this past few days," Elijah said, running his fingertips through the nape of his glass as if suddenly overcome by thoughts.
"She'll be back before midnight," Klaus supplied, pressing back into his seat with ease. A strange feeling of calmness in him. Rebekah nodded.
Hayley cleared her throat and placed her folded arms on the table, then went on to change the subject and told Rebekah all about the night from hell they had. Speaking almost word for word the things Davina had yelled at Kol in the middle of the hallway. Klaus smiled as he watched Elijah's shoulders shake with laughter, even as his brother tried to cover his laughing face under his palm. He then proceeded to tell Rebekah too of how Hope had all but been channeling her that day.
"You should only be so glad she's turning out like me, of all people." Rebekah told Klaus pointedly. Hayley was saying something in a whisper to Elijah, and the both of them smiled, Klaus watched as his sister stole a look at them and smirked. Then, she narrowed her attention on her brother again.
"So Nik, I can't help but notice you look a bit...unlike yourself." Rebekah inquired, leaning into the armrest of her chair. She looked at him with a knowing smirk, to which he only responded with a curve of his brow.
"Unlike myself, sister?"
"Relaxed." Was her only response, but Klaus was able to read much more into it.
"Ah yes, Niklaus made a friend, Rebekah."
"Reconnected with one, more like." Hayley jumped in, it seemed with willing ignorance of the glares Klaus was throwing at both her and Elijah.
Rebekah didn't bother hiding her grin, and then made a sound of mocking realization. "And are we allowed to name this friend, Nik? Or shall we keep talking in code?"
Klaus tightened his grip on his glass and nearly made out a groan to his family. But then, as he considered their clearly amused faces, he just rolled his eyes and took a breath. "You three, you're not as entertaining as you think you are."
"Of course not," Rebekah replied in an awfully serious tone that in no way reflected on the look of her face. "Caroline made the first move then?"
A glass slammed on the table as Hayley tried to control her choking on the wine. Elijah pressed a hand to her back, but didn't let the smirk vanish from his face. Soon enough, Hayley's coughing transformed into low laughter. Rebekah held Klaus' gaze through this all, and smiled.
Klaus considered his answer before speaking, letting his hands clasp on top of the table. "It's nothing like that, Rebekah." She gave him a look. "I don't think I need to remind you, she's engaged."
There was a small silence following his statement. Klaus didn't feel tense at all as he saw their faces sober for a second or two. No matter, Rebekah seemed to have remained unaffected by his words. She considered him for a moment.
"Yes, well, you see, Nik. That ring on Caroline's finger, or the prospect of she being with anyone for that matter, means little to nothing if there's even the slightest chance that there'd be willingness to...take a leap." She paused to look down at her freshly painted nails. "But I don't know, is there?"
Klaus ignored the plain and utter attention he was receiving from Hayley and Elijah. He could tell, very well, that they'd been dying to ask that exact same question, however, neither of them possessed the nerve Rebekah had when it came to Klaus. He didn't even feel like there was any use in answering his sister.
"That would be a bit unfair," he caught himself saying. "Wouldn't it?"
"When has that ever mattered?" She questioned him, she was no longer smirking her amusement. Rebekah had in fact grown very serious over the subject as she looked like she was trying to figure him out.
Klaus pinched the bridge of his nose, as he not only decided to speak freely, but to exit the room immediately after he was done talking. "It matters now, because it's her, Rebekah. It matters because I care about her. And I care that she's happy, and when I say it's unfair, I mean unfair to her. I expect I don't need to remind you all of what happens to the women I care for like I do Caroline."
The silence followed him all the way out of the room and then the path up the stairs. There was something very different about speaking his thoughts aloud, rather than just torture himself over them. For one, it made them suddenly all too real and constricting.
/
Thanks for reading!