No pairing

Mystic Falls, Virginia

Mikaelson Mansion

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Evening

Great Room

Elijah began, "I spoke to my guy at the department, Gary. He said that Rachael could be charged for transmission of child pornography for the one picture that displayed nudity.-"

"But it was her picture!" Freya defended.

Elijah shook his head, "Right now, it doesn't matter. There were several other pictures sent that were more revealing and had some nudity, though not total. Those must have been the ones Dana took of Rachael as a joke? Anyway, no need to panic. There is some talk to adapt the law, but a few teens have been charged for sending their own picture electronically. However, as long as Connor's friend did not send it further, it should not be an issue."

"Well, he sent it to Connor," Klaus pointed out.

"Yes, but unless that gets turned into the task force, this should all blow over. Sadly, they are overwhelmed by a large number of these cases. He said that this is the new frontier of cyber crime. The kids need to know that whatever they transmit, does not go away," Elijah continued.

Keelin stood and paced, "We will talk to the girls again. They are very upset and embarrassed. To them, it was just a prank and nothing serious. They didn't think though that the boy they sent the images to could sent them to others. I know it is long overdue, but Cami helped us arrange for a therapist for them. All of them actually, Kai and Jo included, and the little ones."

Cami stood and reassured her by putting an arm around her gently, "They will evaluate them at the center and get them the services, if they need them. It's a new era out there and it looks like we need to be on top of this stuff, too." Cami had arranged for her office to see the family as soon as possible. Typically, it took months to get in for an evaluation.

Vanessa agreed, "Even the younger kids on the iPads. I was sitting with Henrik and some odd videos were popping up on his feed. That monitoring software is not enough. Not that that compares with all this with the girls. High schoolers are so impulsive. They just don't think through things."

Elijah frowned, "I agree. Remember, how I read that brain book? Everyone should read it, it was an eye opener. Their brains aren't fully formed until they are 25. Now, with some of these teen becoming vampires, it seems to throw all that into overdrive. Anyway, I will look into a better security system for the web. Gary said he checks his kids' phones constantly and doesn't let them on My Space or Spacebook even."

"Facebook," Rebekah corrected with a smile. "Davina is on it, thanks to her friend Josh. That's the only reason I have an account. And I'll thank you for not mentioning my forever 16 year old brain. Becoming a mum of a 15 year old has aged me faster than anything else in history. I'm getting gray hairs."

"I doubt that, dear Sister. As to the electronics, they are not going away anytime soon. To think, they used to worry about romance novels and jazz music corrupting the youth. We are not well-versed in these things. I guess we have to do better. We got the electronic calendar going and the chore/activity chart online, but now we need to make sure the kids are safe in the house," Elijah lectured. "It will need to be a group effort on all of our parts."

Freya argued, "I think this was just a one time thing. The girls promised they wouldn't do it again. We banned them from electronics for a week. Honestly, we were just afraid they would do something else because they are so upset."

Rebekah spoke up, "I think this type of stuff is the new thing, Sister. I am not sure we can stop it. They just need to realize that what they do online has consequences and that they are not anonymous. The other problem is that they are so much better at this stuff than we are."

Klaus agreed, "We will have to be more vigilant. I think one thing to remember is that we need the kids to feel free to come to us if they need to. Elijah, look into your new security, but you know I will not violate my boys' privacy. I trust them. After all, Connor came to me about this."

Vanessa interjected, "Klaus, I agree. But, there is a big difference between your boys and ours. I just feel like we can't trust the younger ones to know when they see something inappropriate, or if they do, it's already too late. Once they have seen something, you can't unring that bell."

Elijah stepped over and put a light hand on Vanessa and smiled, "We just want to keep their innocence and let them be children for as long as possible. Finn and Henrik have forgotten their former lives completely now. Henrik still believes in Santa Claus, though Finn has deep suspicions."

"Yes, of course," Klaus said kindly. "As to the other things you wanted to speak of Freya?"

"Keelin and I just want to make sure that everyone is on the same page with us all correcting the kids as needed, when needed. Niklaus, for example, when the girls were fighting in the SUV the other day, please treat them as you would your own. We mean that, we trust all of you," Freya said simply.

Klaus nodded, "Thank you. I was a bit off that morning because of looking for Kol. But in the future, I will be a touch more firm. I don't know where they get this idea that I am afraid to reprimand the girls."

"Penny!" everyone called out.

Klaus laughed, "Our little princess is behaving much better, thank you."

Cami cringed, "Well, actually, dear...She got into a little tiff with Liv after school and yelled at her. Liv went to pull her hair, but I got them pulled apart. I talked to them and I think they are friends again, but I did give her an earlier bedtime."

Elijah laughed, "You know I feel like they should all be put to bed at 8pm, but I suppose I am an old man."

Vanessa pushed him lightly, "Yeah, because if we did this every night then they will wake up at 4am!"

"Nonsense. They won't! They need more sleep," Elijah defended lightly.

"At any rate, there is something else, Kol is coming back to New Orleans with us," Rebekah said firmly. "He's going to stay at the Compound until he cools down a little. I've called and told Marcel. We're leaving tonight."

Klaus gasped, "What?"

Elijah stood, "Sister, what do you mean?"

Rebekah looked around, "Ah, Keelin, Vanessa, Cami, would you ah...? I promised Kol that I would keep his reasons mostly quiet. I'm sorry." Rebekah felt awkward, but she could not speak freely around anyone aside from her siblings.

Cami and Vanessa assured her it was fine, Keelin patted Freya and left. "I'll go relieve Jo and Kai from babysitting and check in with the twins."

"Can someone tell me what the hell is going on?" Klaus hissed. His eyes light up orange for a brief moment, but all of his siblings saw it. The wolf in him wanted his pack to be together.

Rebekah spat, "He's angry, Niklaus. He's remembered what happened with the witch Ariane. Kol is afraid you are going to dagger him again."

Klaus fumed, "That is ridiculous. That was in 1913, for God's sake... I would never...I promised him that I wouldn't."

Freya said, "Destroy them then. Destroy all of the daggers."

"I would if I could. I don't know where they are. They bloody disappeared after...you lot were undaggered. I gave one to you, Elijah, the one you pulled out of Rebekah, remember?" Klaus said.

Elijah struggled to recall, "It is like my mind has been tampered with. I remember Niklaus giving me the dagger, but then it is a blank. You know I wouldn't forget something like that."

"No, you would not. Then, the daggers pulled out of Finn and Kol were stolen by the traitorous witch, Nicole. I knew she did not have any white oak ash and I supposed I put it out of my mind. That is three. I had to have had one in Elijah, but like he said, I have no memory of it," Klaus admitted.

"Bullocks," Rebekah cursed. "Kol was right to be concerned. Four daggers. They could take us all down, if they had just a small amount of white oak!" Rebekah plopped back into the arm chair near the fire and sighed heavily.

Elijah heard a sound and vamped toward it, he came back walking in a sheepish Davina. "I think I caught an eavesdropper!"

Rebekah was horrified, "Young lady, this is a private conversation!"

"But Mom, this involves Kol. I might have a guy I like, but that doesn't cancel my love for him. And you could be daggered and hidden away somewhere, too. I want to help. So the daggers need white oak stake to put an Original to sleep, but they are essentially magical. Couldn't we render them useless through magic without having them in front of us to do that?" Davina said desperately.

Freya exclaimed, "Niklaus, why did you get the original daggers from?"

"It was," Klaus confessed, "one of Mother's spells. I found it in her grimoire after..." Klaus looked at Davina and stopped. He did not know if she knew that he had killed their mother.

"It's okay. Dad killed my biological mother to try to save me," Davina shared softly. "You don't have to explain why..."

Klaus went on, "Thank you, Davina. I am not proud of what I did."

Elijah furrowed his brows, "If Mother had that spell then she must have been playing to use it on us."

Rebekah flinched, "She wouldn't have!"

Klaus went on, "I lied to you all. There was a dagger for each one of us. Even Father. They were in her wedding chest. I popped it into the coffin with her body secretly before we burned the house down. I think she and maybe Ayana were planning on daggering all of us. I never had a witch make the daggers, I just used Mother's."

"So what happened to the other daggers?" Freya asked suddenly.

"Lost over time. Could we destroy them all without having them then? I have the grimoire, her last one," Klaus confessed.

"Of course you do. Niklaus, you always were the cleverest of us all," Elijah said with a measure of pride.

An hour later, Klaus had retrieved Ester's grimoire from his vault and Freya was pouring over the spell.

"This is a complex spell. It will require a bit of study," Freya said without looking up.

"But Kol!" Klaus said.

Rebekah took Davina up to pack and then to fill in with Kol. He was in his quarters packing.

Elijah exhaled, "Let's give him some time. I feel awful, too, Niklaus. But Kol is right about somethings. It wasn't just that time when we jumped to conclusions and punished him unfairly. From the day he was born, all he ever wanted was our attention, love, and respect. We always left him out of our confidence, out of our jokes, and our secrets. I failed him. Often by siding with you."

Klaus stared at the fire, "I know, Elijah, you acted out of guilt because of Father."

"No, that is not why I sided with you, Niklaus. I sided with you, not out of duty, but out of love. Face it, we often left Kol out in the cold. You, with Marcellus, me with business, and then we killed or drove off any witch friends he ever had. We did this to him, Brother. We have to face it or our family can never heal," Elijah said with emotion.

Freya turned from the book, "I think I can destroy the daggers from afar. As the first born daughter, I should have enough power. Mother put a clause in the spell that it needs to be a witch in her bloodline."

Klaus collected himself, "So if the daggers are gone, will Kol come back to us?"

Freya sat next to Klaus, "I believe he will. Marcel also called about the moonlight rings for the wolves in the Bayou. He wants me to try the blood of the pregnant wolf. Let me examine the sky charts, if there is a big enough upcoming event, we could do both spells on one night."

"I am sorry I did not tell you the truth about the daggers. I truly did not know Mother's intentions at the time, I didn't open the coffin until after we fled from the de Martal castle," Klaus said softly.

Elijah scoffed, "I think Mother's intentions were clear. What other secrets have you kept for a thousand years, Brother?"

"Nothing for that long. Maybe the safe room passage isn't the only hidden room in this house," Klaus smiled.

Freya laughed, "Elijah said you enjoy your little surprises. What is it? A secret wine cellar? I mean, we already have a dungeon."

"How about I shall reveal the secret when Kol returns to us?" Klaus said.

"I haven't even bloody left," Kol said walking into the Great Room.

Elijah stood, "Rebekah told you, about the daggers. Our memories were wiped, it could have been Nicole's witches, hell, it could have been the Strix, but Freya will destroy them."

Freya added, "I don't know the timeframe."

Klaus coughed, "I wish you would not do this. I would rather you stay and be angry at me here, then from a far."

Kol smirked, "I am going home. To the Compound. It will be a little odd there with Davina and me apart, but Marcel has a new crop of vampires, he said I can help train."

Klaus was surprised, "You talked to Marcelllus?"

"Texting, Brother. And I am not leaving because I am angry. I am hurt and paranoid. I don't want the children to see me like this. So please, take care of Sadie and tell the kids I said goodbye. I can't do it," Kol said walking away.

Freya shouted, "Kol, don't you dare leave like this. Give me a hug!" Freya threw herself at Kol and kissed his cheek.

"Sister, it's just a little while. They do have phones now in New Orleans, you know, lass," Kol joked.

"I know. Call or I will fly down there personally and smack your backside. I mean it. I love you, little Brother," Freya cried. Klaus and Elijah stood there and watched as Kol turned away.

Rebekah came down with Davina and their things a moment later.

"We'll take good care of him," Rebekah promised as she hugged her siblings goodbye. Davina embraced Freya and then scowled at her uncles.

Davina scolded, "He's not a child, you know."

Klaus shook his head, "That's not true. In a way, he is our son. He has been for a long time, as well as our brother. We adore him, you know. Have a good trip."

Klaus felt his heart ripping apart like it had when Marcel left for the Great War in 1916 or when they had had to dagger Kol in 1919, right before Mikael found them. But he could not thing of those times now, it was too painful. Klaus said down and buried his head in his hands.

Elijah gripped Klaus' arm, "Stop, It is going to be alright." Elijah wiped tears of his own away.

Freya took Klaus with her left arm and Elijah with her right, "Come on, Brothers. We have spouses and children to see to. They need us and we need them."

"Indeed, Sister. Like our brother here, you always seem to be right. It is rather annoying," Klaus smiled.

"Wait it, Niklaus. I don't care if you have six children and one on the way, I will stay take you to task if you start up," Freya warned with a smile.

"I know, Sister, I know," Klaus said in resignation. And he wouldn't have it any other way.

(TO BE CONTINUED in Part 2)