Her heart pounded as the car pulled to a stop in front of the school and from her place at the front window, Hope tightened her grip on Ryan's arm.

"Breathe, Hope," Ryan whispered against her temple.

"She's here. She's here. Ryan, she's actually here."

"Breathe, Hope." Ryan pressed his lips against her hair and ran his hand up and down her back slowly.

"What do I do? What do I say?"

"Just breathe and let things happen." Ryan tipped her chin up and kissed her lightly on the lips.

Hope pressed her face into his neck and dug her fingers into his hair.

"Breathe, sweetheart."

Ryan ran his hand slowly up and down her back, his touch distracting her for a moment. She ached for him, not just his body, but him, and being this close to him made her feel whole, like the fractured pieces of her finally had the glue required to stay together.

A car door closing drew Hope's attention away from Ryan. As Hayley came around the car, she saw her mother for the first time in a decade and Hope choked back a sob. She was so beautiful, even more beautiful than she'd been the last time Hope had seen her, even though it was impossible for her to have changed at all, aside from her hair and clothing.

Caroline met Hayley on the front steps, then led her inside the house, out of Hope's line of sight. A few seconds later, Caroline and Hayley entered the foyer and Hope peered around the corner so she could see her mother again.

"Mom," Hope whimpered, unable to fight her tears.

Hayley must have heard her because she looked up, her hazel eyes meeting Hope's blue ones. Hayley's brows furrowed and then she walked slowly up to Hope.

"I know you don't know me, but I want you to know that I love you," Hope whispered. She blinked hard and looked away for a moment.

Hayley cupped Hope's cheek, studying her face carefully, her nostrils flaring as she took in the tribrid's scent.

"Klaus was right. I do recognize you're scent," Hayley murmured, her face twisting into something akin to grief.

"Mama." Hope couldn't fight the urge any longer and she threw her arms around Hayley, pressing her cheek into Hayley's chest, clinging to her.

Hayley froze for a moment, then returned Hope's hug, her own face soon streaked with tears.

"I know you. Oh, my sweet girl, I know you," Hayley murmured through her sobs.

Hearing her mother call her that once more had Hope crying even harder.

"Something's been missing for so long and now I know what it was. It was you." Hayley pulled back so she could see Hope's face.

"I didn't want to bring Triad down on you," Hope whispered. "I knew you wouldn't remember me, so it didn't seem fair to make you fight a battle you didn't know you had a stake in. So I did what I had to do to survive."

"Elena was right about you."

"You talked to Elena?" Hope was surprised to hear that. Her mother talking to Elijah's new girlfriend about something so personal? She couldn't imagine that

"I wanted to get the opinion of someone who Elijah had confided in and someone who knows us. She's the only one who fits that."

"What did she say?"

"That you were the best parts of Klaus and me. That you were a survivor, willing to do whatever it took to protect your family, even if it meant taking everything on yourself."

"If I couldn't love you the way I wanted to, if the only way I could fulfill always and forever was by staying away, I would do whatever it took to keep you safe."

When she heard that, Hayley pressed a kiss to Hope's forehead, more tears flowing down her cheeks as she tightened her grip on her daughter.

"We'll find a way to bring our memories back," Hayley swore.

"The only way Uncle Elijah remembered was because he died and that's not happening to the rest of my family."

"Okay, so even if there is no way for us to remember, that just means we'll have to make new memories." Hayley pulled Hope close again.

"I've missed you, Mom, so much."

"My body remembers hugging someone who smells like you, even if you don't fit in my arms the way it feels like you should," Hayley whispered, her voice awed.

"I grew up."

"Without me." Hayley kissed Hope's temple. "I missed it all, not just the memories that Malivore stole from me, but everything else. I missed you going from the girl in those pictures to the woman you've become. I missed everything."

"I'd offer to show you, but there's not a lot to see. At least nothing worth sharing." Hope shrugged. She didn't want her mother to know just what she'd endured in the ten years she'd been at the mercy of Triad. It was difficult enough for her to know that she didn't remember her own daughter, but to see first hand what Hope had suffered? Hope would never do that to her mother.

"Elijah said you'd been tortured." Hayley's grip on Hope tightened.

Hope didn't reply as she instinctively did her best to burrow deeper into her mother's embrace.

"I'm not sure how much it helps," Ryan said softly, "but Hope killed most of them when she escaped. They paid for the pain they caused her."

"Are there any survivors?"

"A few, and they're being held in two wolf bunkers downstairs until we decide what to do with them."

"Are any of them mothers?" Hayley asked through gritted teeth.

"One."

"I want to speak to her, to ask how she'd like to have her child taken from her and to know something's missing, to ache for it, but to not be able to remember who or what it is. Because right now, thanks to what they did to my daughter, I feel like a terrible mother. I forgot my own child!"

"It's not your fault," Hope attempted to soothe Hayley.

"In my head, I know that, sweetheart. But it doesn't change the fact that they ripped away every single memory I have of you, of my baby. You're the only child I'll ever have and I don't even remember if I was there when you took your first steps or said your first words."

"I think you missed my first steps. You and Dad were fighting and he had me in the city while you and Jack were in the bayou."

"Still, one of us saw your first steps, and neither of us remember it." Hayley brushed her tears away. "And I know just who to blame. People who think it's okay to throw children into a hell dimension just because they don't understand what they are."

Hope looked at Ryan over Hayley's arm and smiled at him. This man who knew what she'd been through in the shadows of Malivore had done everything he could to bring her family back so she would have a reason to come back to herself.

"Freya is looking into ways of bringing our memories back. She thinks she may have found a black magic spell from Japan, but she needs to reverse engineer it to make sure it works properly before trying since a spell like that can erase buried memories permanently."

"I'd like to see her even if she doesn't have the spell ready."

"Freya's pregnant, and traveling isn't recommended at this point in her pregnancy, so she's making herself as useful as she can, with Davina Claire's help."

"Davina Claire. She and Kol made things more permanent?"

"They married this last fall," Hayley confirmed.

Someone knocked on the wall and the women looked to see Klaus standing in the doorway.

"I was wondering if the two of you would be willing to have dinner this evening. Caroline, Lizzie, and Josie want to get to know you, Hope, since you're yourself and you're my daughter."

"Only if Ryan is invited too. He's the one responsible for me feeling again and for bringing us together."

Klaus studied Ryan carefully, one brow going up as he processed whatever he saw in Ryan's face.

"Very well. I will make sure they set out a place for him as well."

"Thank you, Dad."

Klaus disappeared in a flash.

"I hope you don't mind?" Hope looked up at Ryan.

"Not at all. If you want me there, I'll be there."

"There will be a plate for your boyfriend to join us," Klaus said as he reentered the room.

"I've got some papers that I've been putting off grading, so I'd better get going," Ryan said, shifting awkwardly.

"Don't go." Hope held her hand out for him and he approached her slowly. Reaching up, she cupped his cheek and smiled at him.

"You need this time with your parents." Ryan held her hand to his face and kissed her wrist. "I'll see you later."

"Thank you, for saving my daughter." Hayley placed her hand on Ryan's arm and gave him a small smile.

"She's an incredible woman and I didn't save her so much as give her another option."

"You did save me. You saw me," Hope whispered as she tucked her head under her mother's chin. Her three favorite people in the world in the same room and her life was finally coming together. "When everyone else assumed they knew what I was, you saw through the bullshit."

Ryan kissed Hope's cheek lightly, then traced her lower lip with his thumb, before leaving the room.

"That man is in love with you," Hayley remarked as soon as they were alone.

Hope wanted to deny it, but she wanted to have something, anything to keep Ryan in her life. She couldn't lose him, not after he'd just given her back her family.

"I saw that before you even flipped the switch back on, Hope," Klaus agreed.

Hope wasn't sure how to feel about this. After everything she'd been through, to find that the one safe harbor she had, she could destroy if she broke his heart, it terrified her. She knew he wouldn't walk away, but to repay his kindness with that? That was the last thing she wanted.

Sleeping with him was one thing, but falling in love with him? Was she capable of feeling anything like that for anyone? If she could feel like that for anyone, it would be him, because he'd been there so much for her.

"He's a good man, Hope. He won't push you for something you're not ready for," Klaus assured her. "He's the sort of man that will be content with whatever relationship the two of you have, with whatever you're comfortable with."

"It's all just so much and I don't want to lose him."

"He's lived long enough that he understands you're drowning in what you're feeling since you're flooded with everything you've repressed and he won't be hurt if your focus isn't on him right now." Hayley rubbed Hope's arm and kissed the top of her head.

"Let's take a walk. I've been banished to give Caroline and the girls time to get things ready for dinner." Klaus led the way out back to the gardens and stable.

Hayley refused to relinquish her hold on Hope's shoulders as they walked, pressing her face into Hope's hair every so often, inhaling her scent.

At one point, Hope felt someone watching her and she looked up to find Ryan standing at a window on the second floor, watching them. When she caught his eye, he smiled at her and ducked his head.

"Told you so," Hayley whispered when she saw what Hope was looking at. "That man loves you."

"He's the best thing that's happened to me since I was taken." Hope smiled. Then her expression clouded over.

"What's wrong?" Hayley asked, concerned.

"I just hope that when we do find a way to destroy Malivore for good, it doesn't take him down too."

"There are ways, I'm sure," Klaus said. "We can talk to Freya and the other French Quarter witches about golums and how to break the connection between him and Malivore without killing him. If we have to, we'll create the spells necessary. Kol and Elijah should be the best to go to for that since they have the grimores and knowledge."

"There's no way I'm letting the man who brought my daughter back to me die when there's a chance to save him," Hayley promised.

"Thank you. Thank you so much."

"You're our daughter," Hayley said.

"And family is always and forever," Klaus added.