Usual disclaimers.
I know, I know, I said this would be the last chapter, but guess what... it's not. I split it in two.
Elena worried her bottom lip and tapped the table. Every time she thought of the wolf pacing a cell in the Lockwood cellar she cringed. Cursing Hayley had never been her intention. She had been hoping to reason with her, but then Lexa had caught up to them and seen toxic teeth inches from Elena's neck.
Elena couldn't fault her friend for trying to help. She'd only known the one curse that would cause Hayley to immediately release her.
It was done now, and Elena didn't like it.
Klaus seemed delighted, and he had been since his siblings had broken the news when he arrived. He was anxiously awaiting the coming full moon and passing the time between facetime calls by prepping the old mansion for Christmas.
Elena was hesitant to voice an opinion to the hybrid while he still housed a piece of the Hollow. Unlike Elijah, she had no calming influence on the man.
"Were you planning on wrapping that present, or just staring at the paper?"
Elena dropped the scissors next to the box and leaned against the couch with a sigh. Her eyes zeroed in on the mug of blood when it was lowered in front of her.
"It's very pretty paper," her fingers curled around the mug. She took a long drink, savoring the combination of blood types.
Elijah dropped to sit beside her in a fluid movement and eyed the wrapping paper critically.
"It is beautiful," he conceded, "but hardly worthy of such devotion."
Elena cracked a weak smile before taking another drink.
"What is it you're wrapping now?" He watched as she leaned forward and tapped the box.
"Leather notebook for Landon – Caroline says he likes to write poetry on any scrap of paper he can find." She pointed to a long narrow box. "That's a set of charcoal and paints I picked up while we were in France for Jeremy, and everything else is pretty much under the tree, but that's not what you wanted to ask me."
"I wanted to ask what is bothering you," he chuckled, having long since excepted that she could read his intentions, "but I sensed you weren't ready to talk about it."
"Is Klaus here?" She cocked an eyebrow.
"He's wrapping presents at the mansion."
"Do you mean to tell me he hasn't compelled a hoard of minions to do that?" Her lips lifted in a teasing smile.
"I think he roped Kol into helping, but no," Elijah smirked. "He's is doing his own Christmas wrapping this year. Caroline insisted; something about the repetitive motions quelling his rage."
"Two psych classes in college and suddenly she's a shrink," she shook her head fondly.
"It seems to actually be helping." Elijah picked up the scissors and neatly finished wrapping the boxed present.
Elena watched his long fingers shift the gold paper and tilted her head.
"It's Hayley," she cleared her throat when he paused. His eyes landed on her, waiting for her to continue. "She's pacing a cell right now like some kind of animal." She paused when a voice cut her off.
"Technically she is one."
"I thought you were at the mansion?" Elena spotted Kol on the back deck. He was sitting across from Lexa who was wrapped in a plaid blanket shaking a mason jar full of a green liquid.
"The company hear is better," he smirked, eyes sliding to the blonde in the deck chair.
Elena was pretty sure she saw Lexa blush and Kol's smirk turn to a grin.
"Did you know he was out there?" She turned to Elijah who shook his head.
"I was working on a new privacy spell," Lexa cleared her throat.
"What about Hayley is bothering you, lovely?" Elijah finished wrapping the gifts as Kol and Lexa joined them inside.
Elena bit down on her cheek. She knew Elijah would listen to her and not get upset with her opinion, but Kol had always been a wildcard. She decided to go on though feeling confident Klaus – with the Hollow – was the only Mikaelson who might have started a physical altercation.
"I just don't like that she was cursed," she lifted a shoulder in a half-shrug, and saw Lexa's cheeks flush. She had a feeling her newest friend wasn't happy about it either. "I get you went through with it in the moment," her eyes met Lexa's, "but I don't like it. She's been subjected to that once already, and I wouldn't be surprised if that's one of the reasons she did all of this."
"Would you have rather we compelled a judge?" Kol cocked an eyebrow.
"I would have rather done something that didn't involve cursing her," Elena crossed her arms. "Hasn't your family dealt enough with black magic?"
"Even if they came to some sort of custody arrangement," Elijah attached the tags she had written out earlier, "There would be nothing keeping Hayley or Niklaus from breaking it."
"You'd never get Nik to agree to something like that, darling," Kol smiled sadly, "his paranoia is crippling, so even if Hayley agreed to alternating school holidays or weekends Nik wouldn't trust her not to run off with Hope the first chance she got."
"What if she didn't have a choice?" Lexa spoke up, fingering the edge of the jar in her hands. "What if neither of them had a choice but to follow whatever agreement they could reach?"
"Is this meant to help with that? You've had it brewing since before I got here." Kol plucked the jar from her hands.
"No," she shook her head, "that is the cure to the Crescent curse." She squared her shoulders when the each vampire turned a questioning look on her. "Elena's not the only one with scruples. I only did it because she was attacking Elena and it was the spell I had been going over all day."
She brushed her palms together, stepping over a lump in the carpet and taking a wide step around a squeaky floorboard. She could hear the distant sound of scuffling as it drifted up from the basement and knew if she got a little closer to the door she'd be able to hear growling and maybe even low howls, but she didn't want to hear that tonight.
She didn't want to see the wolves and think about how one day that could be her. She didn't want to think about every bone in their bodies breaking and reshaping because if she did she would think about how werewolves had come to be and if she thought about the Hollow's curse then she would think about how she had affected her family more than a thousand years later.
She didn't want to think about that.
All she wanted to think about was the spell that was happening at that moment. It was the only thought that raced through her mind, but the intensity of it had pushed everything else from her head; she couldn't even consider sleeping.
"I'm pretty sure you're supposed to be in bed."
She stiffened when she heard the low voice and turned slowly to tip her head up and meet her headmistress's eyes. Emotions flickered over her face too quickly for Hope to process.
"I couldn't sleep," she admitted, shrugging her thin shoulders.
Caroline sighed, torn between her headmistress duties and how she knew Hope must be feeling. She knew she had a soft spot for the little girl; she wouldn't have hunted down a wayward parent for any of the other students in the school unless it was Ric that went off the rails.
She glanced out the window towards the moon and came to a decision.
"Come with me," she steered Hope around by the shoulder.
Hope's slippers skidded over the floor. She saw no reason to keep quiet now that she had been caught. She stared at the carpet as she was steered through the school, certain she was being led to the office where her uncles or aunts would be called and informed of her midnight adventure, or where Caroline would issue detentions that would last the rest of her school career; maybe she'd be put on spell clean up.
She was too busy staring at her toes to see where they were going and so didn't see anything remiss until the rug turned to tile. She lifted her head and blinked at the stainless steel fixtures without really taking them in.
Caroline released her shoulder and pulled out a stool, patting the seat in an open invitation before moving to one of the cabinets.
"You're not gonna give me detention and put me back in bed?" Hope climbed up and took a seat, watching as Caroline poured milk, sugar and cocoa into a saucepan.
"What would be the point of that?" She glanced over her shoulder. "You'd just wander around again later, or pace your bedroom. Do you like marshmallows?" Caroline stirred the mixture on the stovetop.
"What?" Hope blinked. She heard the concoction bubble and inhaled the sweet aroma that made her mouth water.
"Marshmallows," Caroline poured out the hot cocoa into two steaming mugs, "in your hot chocolate. Or would you prefer whip cream? I'm partial to whip cream, myself," she sprayed a dollop on top of one of the mugs, "and peppermint because it's Christmas. Do you like peppermint, Hope?"
She fixed the second drink when Hope nodded and set the mug in front of her. She then put the dirty dishes in the sink to soak before leaning over and bracing her elbows on the counter.
Hope stared at the swirl of whipped cream and crushed peppermint for a beat while Caroline sipped her own drink.
"I take it you're excited," she curled her fingers around her mug, "you'll get to see your dad soon, and not just on an itty bitty little screen."
"Yeah," Hope chewed her bottom lip.
"Do you not want to see your dad, Hope?" Caroline frowned. "You don't seem excited."
She didn't. Her shoulders were hunched over and her heart was fluttering wildly.
"I do," Hope looked up, tears shimmering in her eyes, "but what if it doesn't work? What if the spell doesn't work?"
Caroline reached out and took Hope's clammy hands, rubbed gentle circles into her palms and met her blue eyes.
"It's going to work. Lexa has already done this spell three times. She's gonna take the Hollow out of your dad, and soon all of it will just be a memory."
Hope managed a small smile. "You're nicer than my dad said." She could remember her dad telling her about Caroline when she first came to the school before he'd stopped calling the first time.
"Don't go telling everybody, okay?" Caroline grinned. "I've got to keep my big bad headmistress rep."
"Your heart's too big to be bad," she picked up her mug and sipped the hot chocolate. The hot liquid warmed her from the inside, chasing away the chill that had been there since waking up.
Caroline smiled and reached out to wipe the whipped cream from the tip of Hope's nose.
Totally unrelated, but I'm trying to remember how many people vampire Elena killed. There was Connor (sirebond), Kol (who I argue was a result of the sirebond), the waitress (without emotions), and Matt (again without emotions and she was manipulated into it). Was there anyone else? I can't remember her ever killing anyone when she was in her right mind or in control of her own decisions.