Klaus had dyspnea. He had a mask on his face to help him with breathing difficulties. It was one of the reasons he would apparently have to stay in the hospital for about a month. One of them.

At this moment Klaus was sleeping. He slept continuously. and when he wasn't sleeping, he complained about how he hated being in the hospital, but Caroline didn't condemn him, no one could. The blonde looked at the other blonde in the hospital bed, then at the brunette in the chair, with his forehead pressed against Klaus's hands, holding them, protecting them, adoring them. Elijah stood up, and then adjusting his suit a little.

"Elijah, your dark circles have their own dark circles. Get some rest, go home and change. I will watch Klaus. Plus, you're still paying me. Caroline said teasingly when she saw that Elijah was about to protest. Honestly, the older man needed it, he had been a mess since Klaus had been hospitalized. He came to the hospital as soon as he finished work and stayed here until the morning when he had to go to work again. He passed by the mansion just to change his clothes and take some more things in a hurry, but he was still just as elegant as always, with his hair always arranged and his suit spotless.

The door opened, and Klaus's doctor entered, along with several colleagues carrying a stretcher.

"Dr. Gerard"

"Elijah, we need to do more analysis on Klaus."

Carefully, Elijah helped the medical team move Klaus to the stretcher without waking him. The brunette looked at his brother, and an emptiness appeared in his stomach. How would he live without Niklaus?

"Elijah, I'm going with him. It's fine. He will be fine." Caroline told her employer, then followed the doctors out of the hospital room, carrying the stretcher on which Niklaus slept peacefully, with a comforting dose of narcotics being administered to him at the same time.

When Caroline put down the book Klaus had asked her to read down, all that could be heard in the quiet, silent hospital room were the sounds of the machines and the sheet of Klaus's bedding.

"Nik!"

Caroline jumped in surprise when the scream reached her ears, and a little boy over the age of eight ran into the room and jumped into Klaus' bed, and the blond man hugged him happily. Suddenly, two women entered the door, one blonde and very pregnant, and the other brunette, followed by Kol.

"Sorry, he ran so far." said the blonde woman.

Klaus just smiled even harder. Fine, as much as he could, given the oxygen mask. Kol sat down in the chair on the right side of the hospital bed, putting his feet on Klaus's (now empty) hospital bag, and the brunette young man joked about the button calling the nurses.

"Kol, can you get me a glass of water?" Klaus said.

"Sure"

It was a little unusual for Freya to see Kol so reluctantly agreeing to do whatever Niklaus asked him to do, but now that made sense, they all agreed to do whatever Klaus said, making sure he felt as comfortable as possible in his last months, and Rebekah took advantage of this situation, being able to get Kol to do anything for her just by saying that Klaus asked him to do it.

"How are you, Nik?" the blond-haired woman asked, taking the black-haired woman's hand

"I'm fine, sister, and look, I'm like an ocean monster now." Klaus said, tickling his younger brother.

"Henrik, why don't you show Klaus what you and your colleagues did for him?" asked the brunette, Keelin, Caroline concluded, according to Henrik.

"Nik, Mrs. Richardson made us do this, look. This is mine." Henrik said, giving Klaus a hand full of brightly colored greeting cards, then pulling out a red one with a drawing of all the Mikaelson siblings on the front page, surrounded by many stars.

"Wow, Henrik, it's wonderful, thank you."

"Are you still sicky?"

Caroline bit her lip, then looked sadly at the Mikaelsons in the hospital room.

"Eh...little brother, how about you go with Keelin and get some hot chocolate from the vending machine? It's very tasty, little penguin."

Henrik nodded, as if forgetting what he had asked, and then Keelin took his hand and they left the room. After the door closed, the pregnant blonde woman came closer to Caroline and held out her hand, which Caroline shook.

"I don't think we've met yet, I'm Freya, Niklaus' older sister. then Freya looked at Klaus, saying: Nik...you're so strong... Can we talk alone for a moment?

Klaus nodded, gesturing silently to Caroline, who understood the message, and apologized for going to find Elijah and Rebekah.

"Sit down, sister." said Klaus, making a little more space in the bed for Freya to sit down. "What did you want to talk about?"

"Niklaus, I need you to breathe. Everything will be fine, okay? We are with you, we will protect you, we will protect you always and forever. I promise you, we are here for you, you are safe and you are loved, so loved."

"Freya, tell me once what happened!"

"Mikael escaped from prison."

There were only four words, but they could mean the end. Klaus felt unable to breathe, desperately grabbing the oxygen mask he had removed from his face so he could speak and trying to put it back on his face, but in vain. All the devices began to beep wildly at once, and Klaus's eyes closed as several doctors and nurses rushed into the room. however, even if his condition stabilized, and he would return home to wait for the end surrounded by his family, fear would never leave him. Mikael was free. Mikael was free, and Klaus was at the weakest point of his life. For now.