Dolores POV
There she was.
She looked older.
Taller.
Different.
I looked over to Klaus, who moved towards her.
And for a moment, it was all in slow motion.
The magnitude of this moment could not be overstated.
I looked to Roman, face sculpted in relief.
And defeat.
We all stared at the girl who'd been lost two us for a full two years. Carter grabbed at a strand of my hair, and I pushed his hand away. He pointed a chubby finger out at this unfamiliar person, the other hand shoved in his mouth.
And I smiled, because our little Annie had come home to us.
Roman POV
There she was.
Annie.
Annie with a man at her side.
My Annie with another man at her side.
Don't get me wrong, I was relieved to see her.
But it stung.
It stung like fire.
Annie was supposed to be mine.
She was supposed to be mine. My forever. My love.
But there was a ring on her finger, on a hand which was grasped by this smiling, charming looking man, laughing as his mother came to embrace him. Lila looked warm, and not sarcastic and biting as she usually did.
Their hands broke apart as my uncle Klaus pulled Annie in, their eyes closing, and uncle Diego put an arm around his estranged son.
She looked up, head resting on her father's shoulder, and met my eyes.
Her bright smile faded a bit, her eyes softening under the weight that comes from pain. She stared, and I held her there. I mustered a soft smile, trying to take the weight off of those pools of rich brown, but behind it, my own eyes felt heavy.
Her eyes drifted to the rest of our family.
Klaus POV
There she was.
Oh, the bliss.
The peace.
She grasped Felix's hand, almost pulled away by Lila crashing into him.
Two years gone, and now she's back.
I pulled her into my arms, wrapping myself around her.
I felt the warmth that comes from a full heart, seeing a loved one return.
And as I felt her hair in my hand, her chin on my shoulder, I felt a stabbing in my stomach.
The stab that comes from remembering exactly what you were worried about. Exactly the thing that prevented you from wishing for this moment.
What was I doing?
I was putting every one of us in danger.
I was sending Diego and Five to their deaths, and ruining Quinn's life, and ensuring that the monstrosities of the Temps Commission would continue.
But I pulled her in closer, though a lump formed in my throat.
Because it felt so good to have her back.
My child, my daughter, my Annie.
My lifeline.
Dolores POV
Cake, we all had cake, sitting around the table in the basement with folding chairs squished in to fit all of us, highchairs at the corners, sugar-laden plates everywhere. We rubbed our fingers across the scraps and licked the icing off, because this was not an occasion to be perfectly mannered. This was pure joy.
Annie looked around, finger in her mouth, tasting the sugary chocolate. She smiled with her eyes, just like she did when she was little. When I looked at her, I saw a fireball with shiny red rain boots and pink sparkly sunglasses. Or her flamingo dress, as the flower girl at my wedding. I watched the little girl who raised the dead with a touch of her palm grin as she took in the sight of her family, which was a sight to behold in itself.
Klaus was beaming. We'd opened a bottle of champagne at dinner to toast the occasion, and he hadn't even given it a second look. This man, who was a depressed, day drinking mess days before had been rejuvenated by her return. He couldn't stop smiling, chin and eyes all wrinkled up as he laughed, taking a swab of icing out of his hair. My heart grew. My friend, my Klaus, he was back. This was the him that I knew. The Klaus that bakes brownies with me at three in the morning after I tell him I'm pregnant and sobs with me while eating Oreos on the ouch. He was back.
Diego and Lila looked upon their son with pride, and a bit of hesitation. He was foreign, now. Unfamiliar, but loved all the same. I looked down at their hands on the table, a grin forming on my lips as I saw that they were clasped together. The couple looked at each other, smiling lightly, as if they were communicating without words. Here was their son. Their messy, tempered, divided little family, finally beginning the process of healing. And I knew they would.
Joan and Kai laughed together, holding cups of soda in their hands, tipping back in their chairs without care. Quinn cracked a joke, making Joan shoot orange Crush out of her nose, which sent the whole little group of them at the end of the table into another level of laughter. Roman laughed with them too, but looked reserved. He smiled. But I knew he was hurting. But what I also knew was that in the midst of this, he was going to be okay. This selfless boy wasn't going to show Annie his pain. He loved her too much. And he knew this wasn't her fault.
Five sat by me, scooping a spoonful of cake into our baby's mouth. His hair was greying, salt and pepper streaks running through it at the roots. His expression was subtle, but his eyes were smiling. He was happy. Happy to be surrounded by family. This was the man who'd fought for forty-some years to return to them. Of course he was glad. He was at peace, something I rarely saw. I rubbed a hand on his shoulder, and he turned his head, planting a kiss on my forehead.
Vanya held Allison's little baby in her arms, smiling in shy Vanya fashion. Her own hair was fading, but the light in her eyes was not. She looked around in quiet admiration, contented, listening in on the conversation going down between Allison and Luther, if she could hear past Joan and Quinn's noise. The baby threw herself forward, straining towards her uncle Ben on her right. She looked in awe at the party hat which rested on his head, mesmerized by the colors and the frilly tinsel on the top. Ben grabbed her and propped her up on his hip, making cooky faces, causing her to giggle.
And we were all here.
At last.
The Hargreeves.
And nothing would stop us now, that we were all together once more.
Nothing.