You're My Everything
Chapter 15: Home Feels Different Somehow, Part 1
Nothing about Mystic Falls had really changed over the summer. Everything was just as Hope and Ryan remembered it, but Hope felt like something had shifted. She wasn't sure if it was just her, now knowing that she'd never talk to her mom again, or if something in the atmosphere of Mystic Falls had shifted, but when she woke up late in the morning, to no Ryan in bed, but the attempted soft clanking of pots and pans coming from the kitchen, she felt something was different. As she made her way from the bedroom to the kitchen, she made out sounds coming from the living room as well and saw two of Ryan's employees unboxing the tv while Ryan was busy putting dishes away in the kitchen.
"Ryan?"
"Good morning, Princess. How did you sleep?"
"As well as I could, given the circumstances. How long have you been awake?"
"A couple of hours. I wanted to let you get some more sleep before you meet up with Vincent and Marcel later, and I wanted to get a start on unpacking everything. Jake and Martin stopped by to help with getting the entertainment center and furniture all set up."
"We haven't really discussed where everything's going to go in the living room yet, though."
"That is why nothing is set up yet. We were waiting for you to wake up first. So you're in charge, Princess. You have the artistic eye, you tell them what goes where, and they'll get it where you want it."
"What about you? Don't you want a say in it? You'll be using the living room more frequently than I will."
"Hope, I trust you, and I'm sure you could use a bit of control right now. So I promise, whatever you think is best, I'm okay with."
"You're sure?"
"100% positive."
Hope nodded and turned towards the guys standing in the living room. She wasn't sure how much or how little the guys Ryan worked with knew of hers and Ryan's relationship, but if Ryan trusted them more than the woman who raised him and the guy he had no choice but to call brother, than Hope didn't care what they knew. As long as it didn't get out, she was fine with not knowing one way or the other of Ryan's coworkers knew about her relationship.
"Alright gentlemen… let's start with the tv itself. Because of the window, there will be some type of glare on the screen no matter what, but since the window faces North, let's put the tv on the West wall."
As she stood there and watched Jake and Martin maneuver around the other boxes to get to the wall, all while carrying the tv, Hope tilted her head this way and that, trying to picture what the best setup would be.
"Uh, Hope? Hate to break it to you, but there's no tv connection outlet on this wall." Jake commented with a frown.
"Okay, other wall it is."
"How high do you want it?" Martin asked.
"I'm not sure yet. Go ahead and set it down, and if you could please help me position the couch, I'll be able to figure out where the tv should hang."
Ryan watched with a smile from the kitchen as Hope and his friends sorted out the boxes and furniture in the living room. He was thrilled that Hope had gotten some much needed sleep after the week she'd had, and that she hadn't woken up with the Hollow in control of her body. That wasn't something they needed right now. Not with Jake and Martin around. But as he pulled his attention back to the task he was doing of putting the dishes away, his phone buzzed on the counter and he let out a sigh. He'd texted Vincent when he'd woken up earlier, asking the older male to let him know when Vincent and Marcel were settled, so that Ryan could get Hope to them. But the text on his phone was changing those plans.
What is your address? Marcel and I will come to you and Hope.
Ryan let out a sigh and sent the address before moving towards the living room. Leaning over one of the piles of boxes, Ryan chuckled at a joke Martin made before turning his attention to Hope.
"Vincent and Marcel are heading over."
"I thought I was going to meet them somewhere?" Hope asked.
"Change of plans. And I have a pretty good idea as to why the plans needed to be changed at all."
"Everything okay?" Jake asked. "Do you need us to stick around?"
"It's okay, we'll be fine. Thank you both for your help, though." Hope replied with the first, full, genuine smile Ryan had seen on her face since before she left at the beginning of the summer.
"No problem. We'll see ya around." Martin said as he followed Jake towards the front door, but not before giving Hope a quick hug.
Once the front door closed behind the guys, Hope glanced at Ryan.
"Why do you think they changed the plan?"
"One because they're worried about you and want to make sure you're you. And two, so that they can make sure our home is an appropriately set up space for you to be in on occasion."
"They aren't going to like the fact that there's only one bedroom."
"I know. And I'll tell them the same plan I told you, but I'll be amending it. I want your family to know that they can trust me to take care of you when they are too far away to do it themselves. So while the sleeping arrangement is still going to be the same, with you sleeping in the bedroom and me sleeping on the couch when you're here, I'll be amending it so that if you wake up from a nightmare, I'll be joining you in the bedroom to ensure you feel safe enough to get some sleep."
"You don't have to tell them that part."
"Yes, Hope, I do. I don't want it to feel like we're hiding things from them, just because they aren't close by to determine if we're lying or not. And I definitely don't want them to feel like or think that we're hiding things from them."
Hope let out a sigh and moved to sit down on the couch before pulling her knees to her chest and resting her cheek on top of them while staring at Ryan. They'd each told the other that they love them, but Hope was scared that with the Hollow still a factor, that Ryan would leave once the Hollow was gone for good. Which, in and of itself was a ridiculous thought, as they'd met when Hope wasn't sharing a body with the Hollow, and Ryan had fallen for her then. And he'd been there for her all summer, especially when her mother had first gone missing, and even in spite of the secrets she'd been keeping from him causing them to fight. Ryan didn't strike Hope as one who used the word 'love' lightly, so she knew he had to truly love her if he was so readily willing to be completely forthcoming with her family on their living arrangements.
"You're too good to me, Ryan, you know that, right? No one else in my life will ever be able to measure up to everything that you've done for me since we met."
"Hope…"
"Let me get this out, please."
When Ryan took a deep, steadying breath before nodding, Hope took one of her own before continuing.
"I know you're only 5 years older than me, but you seem to have a much larger knowledge of life than I do. One that goes beyond just a 5 year age difference. There aren't many humans who can find out about the Supernatural world and be able to take everything they learn about it in stride and go about their day to day life as if their perspective of reality hadn't just vastly changed. But you've done all of that and continued to ensure that my safety is your number one priority. Even the day we met, you put me and my happiness first. And I can't even give you a small part of what you've given me, in return. So you really are too good to me. We should be equals in this relationship, and I don't feel like I'm giving anywhere near how much I'm receiving."
"Can I talk now?"
"Yes…"
"The reason I was able to take everything you and Keelin told me about the Supernatural world, and about your family, in stride, is because that wasn't the biggest change in my life. The biggest change came the day that I met you, because it was like everything that I hadn't been able to imagine for my life and my future fell into place. I knew, even with our age difference, that I'd met the person I was meant to spend my life with. Yes, our life experiences have been extremely different, but that's what makes our relationship work. We've both been through things that are horrible, but those experiences allow us to connect with each other in ways that others would never be able to do. They allow us to connect in ways that no one else would be able to understand. The fact that this is our home, and we haven't even been together for a full 4 months yet, proves that. And I know exactly what challenges we're going to be facing over the next 3 years, and in knowing that, I can better prepare for what's to come. It will in no way be easy, but you being by my side, and us getting through these obstacles together makes everything worth it. You make everything worth it."
"There you go again… how am I supposed to compete with such grandiose declarations?"
"It's not a competition, Hope. You've expressed to me that you haven't felt like you've been put first by those that love you, even when they claim to be doing just that, so I want to make sure that you know exactly where you stand with me. You come first."
Before Hope could respond again, there was a knock on the front door and as Ryan went to let whoever was on the other side in, Hope headed to the bedroom to get changed for the day. She could hear Vincent and Marcel's voices as they moved about the kitchen and living room, but she couldn't make out the exact words, not until Marcel voiced the one concern that Hope knew he'd have:
"There's only one bedroom?"
"Yes."
Ryan's reply was simple, but honest.
"And what will the sleeping arrangements be when Hope stays over?"
"She'll be sleeping in the bedroom, while I'll be sleeping on the couch. However, if she wakes up from a nightmare, I'll be moving into the bedroom to give her the security she needs to feel to be able to get back to sleep."
"Marcellus, really, we are guests, we shouldn't be interrogating Ryan. Especially since he has done nothing to warrant it. He's done everything and more to help Hope get through the loss of Hayley. I'm sure that will only continue now that the family isn't around." Vincent replied, and Hope couldn't help but smile.
"Hope is first and foremost my adopted sister. Can you blame me for wanting to make sure there's nothing going on that shouldn't be happening?" Marcel asked and Hope chuckled.
"That doesn't mean you have to interrogate Ryan."
"Hope and I picked this apartment out together, because it's exactly what we both want for our home. And I would never do anything to hurt her or make her feel uncomfortable. I respect her and I love her and I made a promise to Hayley the day I met Hope, a promise that I refuse to break. Hope means the world to me, and from the moment we met, I knew that every decision regarding my future she would be a part of. I get why you want to make sure she's safe and not being taken advantage of, and I respect you for it, but since Hope has made the decision to have me in her life, I need you to respect that decision, and respect me. Especially in mine and Hope's home, and especially when she can hear this entire conversation."
When no one else said anything, Hope realized that was probably her cue to join them out in the living room. As soon as she opened the bedroom door, Marcel was closing the distance between them and pulling Hope into a hug. Hope wasn't 100% sure what triggered it, but the moment her brother was hugging her, tears started flooding down her cheeks and Marcel was simply holding her close, not at all caring that his t-shirt was getting soaked. As the siblings embraced, Ryan felt his heart break all over again for his girlfriend. It was times like this when Ryan was reminded of just how young Hope truly was, and how no one her age should have had to go through any of the crap she'd been put through during her life. But when it started to feel like he was intruding on a much needed moment between Hope and Marcel, Ryan turned to Vincent and motioned for them to move more into the living room.
"I don't know what to do, Vincent." Ryan commented.
"About what?" Vincent inquired.
"When Hope goes back to school. The first couple of weeks of the summer were extremely hard on us being separated. But then I went down to New Orleans, and things changed. And then with what happened to Hayley last week, Hope needed me to be next to her in bed to have even a minute chance of getting some sleep. Obviously, I can't do that when she's at school. She's a minor, and we have to be even more careful now that we're back home than we have been all summer. Especially with my younger brother snooping around. He had already set his sights on Hope before she left at the beginning of summer, and now that she'll be starting back up at school, I just know that he's going to try and get to her. So not only will I not be able to help her if she has a nightmare while she's at school, but I can't even be seen around her for any length of time, outside of her being a customer at the bookstore, without rousing suspicion that could get me taken away from her. What can I do?"
Vincent let out a sigh before he regarded Ryan and the distressed look on the younger male's face. This entire situation was uncharted territory, for everyone involved. But given the short time that he'd known Ryan, Vincent knew that he wasn't going to leave him and Hope alone in all of this.
"Marcel, Hope, please join us in the living room. It's time we all have a conversation." Vincent called out, still keeping his gaze on Ryan.
Once the others had joined them, with Hope immediately sitting down next to Ryan on the couch and curling into his side, Vincent shared a glance with Marcel and held a brief, silent, conversation before turning back to the young couple.
"Marcel and I will not be returning to New Orleans right away. I'll be staying in Mystic Falls indefinitely, and Marcel will be returning to New Orleans eventually, but for now, we'll be here to help." Vincent explained.
"Where are you guys going to be staying?" Hope asked, glancing around the apartment. "We don't have a spare room."
"Hope, you know your father had a mansion here in Mystic Falls before you were born, right?" Marcel asked.
"No. No one ever mentioned it."
Ryan could feel Hope tense with anger. He wasn't sure where or who her anger was directed at, but he didn't blame her for being upset. She'd been trying to get Hayley and Freya to agree to getting a place and staying in Mystic Falls during her school breaks, and they had always dismissed her request, and all along, there was a house that was likely still in Klaus Mikaelson's name that they could have been staying at all this time. Ryan was actually a bit pissed on Hope's behalf.
"Seriously? Your mom never mentioned it? It's where you were conceived, Hope." Marcel commented and Hope was up from the couch in a blink of an eye.
"I've asked Freya and my mom for years to find a place here in Mystic Falls for us to stay at while I'm on break, and they kept refusing. And… and my mom knew that there was a place we could have stayed?"
Ryan was at Hope's side and pulling her into his embrace before she was even visibly shaking, but he knew it was coming. Finding out that her mother had been keeping things from her was definitely not what Hope needed so soon after Hayley's death. It was still much too soon for that sort of feeling of betrayal. And from the crestfallen look on Marcel's face, Ryan knew that the vampire realized his mistake in mentioning that the Mikaelson Mansion had been where Hope had been conceived. But he didn't try to comfort Hope. Ryan was already doing that, and with everything else going on that was bearing down on Hope's shoulders, being overly comforted was just too much to ask her to handle. When Ryan managed to get Hope to stop shaking and led her back to the couch and settled back down into his seat, with Hope on his lap, Vincent continued.
"As I was saying, Marcel and I will be staying at the Mikaelson Mansion, and I will be putting a protective spell over your apartment, and anywhere else that you two feel you'll need it."
"Definitely the bookstore. And there's this little art studio that I built on the roof that will need it as well. My brother isn't smart enough to ever try getting something to look at the roof, but if he's as determined to get to Hope as I am to protect her, he might eventually think of it." Ryan replied.
"Okay, we'll stop by the bookstore later to get that done."
"What about when Hope is at school?"
"I talked to Alaric and Caroline… given what Hope is going through, with grieving, and with all of the Hollow inside her, they agree that she shouldn't be staying on campus. I'll be taking on guardianship of her and she'll be staying at the mansion until we can figure out a way to get the Hollow out of her and destroyed for good." Marcel explained.
"Dad still doesn't want anything to do with me?" Hope whispered.
"That's not what's happening here, Hope. You know that Klaus has no idea how to be a good father to you. He tried with me, and he's scared that if the two of you are in close proximity to each other, the Hollow will just wreck more havoc on your life than she already has. He doesn't want you to lose him when you just lost your mom." Marcel commented.
"Yet he can't even tell me that himself." Hope replied bitterly.
"When would he have had the chance, Hope? You and Ryan left yesterday immediately after putting us all into the Chambre. By the time we got out, you were long gone."
"He could have called. Texted. Done something, anything to show he actually gives a damn about me."
"You know that you mean absolutely everything to him, Hope." Marcel argued.
"He has a really fucked up way of showing it!"
"Alright, that's enough, from both of you. Marcel, it is really unwise to aggravate and antagonize Hope right now. Any excess of negative emotion that she feels gives the Hollow a greater chance of gaining control." Vincent said, stepping in before things could get any worse than they already were getting.
While Marcel held up his hands in surrender, Hope simply sat there on Ryan's lap, silently seething. She thought she'd moved past the abandonment she felt from her father, but clearly she hadn't. And it really didn't help to feel that while still reeling from the news that her mother had known of a place that they could have stayed in Mystic Falls instead of bringing Hope back to New Orleans all the time, that was still connected to the family. It made Hope feel like her parents never truly loved her if they were able to keep things from her and distance themselves from her for most of her life. But as the silence stretched on, and Ryan lightly rubbed her back while pressing lightly, reassuring kisses to her temple, Hope started to feel herself calm down. Once she felt centered again, she glanced at Marcel.
"I'm sorry."
"No, Hope, I'm sorry. You have nothing to apologize for. I should have known better." Marcel replied.
"Vincent… is there a spell or something that we can do on me to keep the Hollow's consciousness from taking over? Some way to essentially lock her consciousness up in the recesses of my mind so that she doesn't have such an easy chance to get out or make me do something horrible?" Hope asked after giving Marcel a nod in forgiveness.
"I don't know for sure; I'll have to look into it. But in the meantime, we can always do a containment spell on the mansion so that whatever potentially happens doesn't reach the rest of the town." Vincent replied.
"Where were Caroline and Alaric going to get Hope to if she had an outburst at school?" Ryan asked.
"They wouldn't say. Which is the exact reason I suggested Hope stay at the mansion instead of physically returning to the school. Personally, I don't trust either of them, or the fact that they kept skirting the question of where they were going to move Hope to if she had an outburst. It didn't sit well with me. Because from what I've heard about them from Rebekah, Alaric has always had a vendetta against Klaus, and might do anything he can to get back at him by using Hope, and her having an outburst because of the Hollow seems like he would use it as an opportunity to do just that." Marcel replied.
"Alaric has written at least one book in which he labels Dad as 'The Great Evil'. It's in the school's library. Where anyone at school can get to it and read it."
"And he thought that was… what? Helpful for you?" Marcel asked.
"I doubt he actually cared how it would affect me. I'm sure he was just waiting to have an excuse to get me out of the school."
Ryan gritted his teeth at that. Those in charge of a school should be protecting their students. Not stealthily trying to have a reason to remove them. And especially if that "reason" stemmed from a dislike for the student's parent.
"There's no other school that caters to the supernatural?" Ryan asked.
"Not to all the species. Alaric and Caroline pride themselves on being 'inclusive', but the most inclusive they are, is accepting witches, werewolves and vampires. Other than that, they don't actually do much to teach us how to truly coexist or how to control our base urges around humans." Hope replied. "There are some schools around the world that cater to just witches, but that's about it. There aren't any that are just for vampires, or just for werewolves, and definitely none that cater to hybrids or tribrids."
"That's not right." Ryan muttered as he tightened his hold on Hope.
"Should we get started on the plans for the rest of the day?" Vincent inquired, gaining nods from the other three.
Legacies – YME – Legacies
Putting the protection spell around the apartment didn't take long, and was pretty straight forward, but when the little group went to leave, Ryan cursed under his breath and backed Hope back into the apartment before she could even step outside.
"What's wrong?" Hope asked.
"Landon." Ryan growled.
Hope let out a sigh before nodding to Vincent and Marcel to go ahead while she turned herself invisible.
"I doubt I'll ever get used to that." Ryan commented as Hope stepped around him.
"Well, you have three years to at least try to get used to it, honey."
"It's even weirder when I can't see you but can hear you."
"I know, but what else can I do?"
"I actually have an idea… Marcel, Vincent, can you come back really quick?"
Even though Hope knew Ryan couldn't see her, she tilted her head and gave him a confused look. She couldn't tell what her boyfriend was thinking with this idea of his, or how Marcel and Vincent fit into it, but she wasn't going to question it. When the other two came back, Ryan was quick to explain. They'd take one car to the mansion, and Hope would make both herself, and Ryan, invisible. And to throw off Landon, either Marcel or Vincent would be the one locked the front door to the apartment. It wasn't the best plan, because Ryan had no idea if Landon would end up following them to the mansion, or if Landon would just stake out the apartment, but it was the best he could think of in the moment, and once everyone agreed, they put it into action.
By the time they had all gotten settled into Vincent's car, which was hidden from where Landon had been standing, Ryan was feeling a bit more at ease that his brother had just given up and left, but as Vincent pulled out to start heading towards the mansion, they found their path blocked by Landon standing in the middle of the road. Ryan had to hand it to Vincent. The witch was calm and completely unbothered as he came to a stop and rolled down his window as Landon made his way over the driver's side door.
"Can I help you, son?" Vincent asked.
"Where's my brother?" Landon replied.
"I couldn't tell you. I don't know who you or your brother are."
"Ryan… my brother is Ryan. Where is he?"
"I'm sorry, but I don't know a Ryan. Now, if there's nothing else, my friend and I need to get going."
"I know you were visiting him. I saw his employees come out of the same apartment that you went into and then came out of. Where is he?"
"Did you try knocking on the front door?"
"He didn't answer. So I'm going to ask you again, where is he?"
"I don't know what to tell you, son. I don't know your brother, so I don't know where he is."
Without waiting to see if Landon was going to say anything else, Vincent rolled up his window and drove off, glancing in the rearview mirror to see if he was following or not. And when they turned a corner, and Landon hadn't been following them, Vincent let Hope and Ryan know that the coast was clear and that Hope could drop the invisibility spell.
"He's getting worse. Staking out the apartment, grilling complete strangers on where I am… he needs to be dealt with." Ryan commented.
"I could compel him to forget about you both, if you'd like." Marcel offered.
"If you did that, you'd have to compel Seylah as well. There's no way she wouldn't hunt me down if Landon suddenly stopped being fixated on me and Hope."
"Who's Seylah?" Marcel asked.
"My mom. But is compulsion safe?"
"The only thing that compulsion does, when used properly and isn't abused, is to alter one's memories. Most of the time, it's to erase the memory of someone from another person's recollection. Some vampires, depending on when they were turned, use it to get alcohol, without being carded. Or to make humans forget things that they've seen of the supernatural world."
"Does it work on other species?" Ryan inquired.
"The only vampires that compel other species are the Mikaelsons, being that they were the first ever vampires created. After I took a serum that was made from the venom of every werewolf pack and using an altered version of the same spell that turned Hope's family into vampires, I became an enhanced Vampire. And with Vincent's help, I was able to compel Elijah to forget the family and his vow of Always and Forever. It was at his request, because he knew that, even with the knowledge of not being able to be around his siblings, or Hope, that if he remembered them, he wouldn't be able to stop himself from going to them if they ever needed him. So I did what he asked of me. And for that, Hope, I truly apologize. I didn't think, even for a moment, that Elijah's request would lead to where it did."
"It's not like you did the spell to bind my mom's werewolf side." Hope grumbled. "But I do intend on making him pay for what happened to her."
"Don't do something that you'll later regret, Princess. I know you're angry at your uncle for what happened to your mom, but I know you… I know that if you hurt him like you're thinking of doing, that you'll end up regretting it after the fact." Ryan commented soothingly as he rubbed Hope's shoulder and upper arm.
"I make no promises on that. I might not be the one that ends up hurting him."
The rest of the drive to the mansion was quiet, but it wasn't a comfortable silence. The very real possibility of Hope's last words caused a tension to fill the car that made it extremely stuffy, and Hope couldn't get out the car fast enough when Vincent parked in the garage of the mansion. Taking multiple deep breaths, Hope tried to calm her raging thoughts, but they just kept swirling. Elijah was responsible for Hayley's death. Roman was responsible for Hayley's death. Marcel and Vincent were responsible. It was all too much, and Hope couldn't make heads or tails of who she truly believed was responsible, versus who the Hollow believed was responsible, and was propelling Hope to want to punish. But the thought of punishing anyone had Hope remembering the scene she'd astral projected into when she'd been 9 and been missing her dad; and the all too vivid mental image had Hope's stomach churning and before she knew it, she was rushing to a bush and puking.
Ryan was the first one to Hope's side. He was at a loss of what all he could do, other than hold Hope's hair back and gently rub her back to try and calm her down. But other than that, he glanced over his shoulder at Vincent and Marcel, who both looked just as lost on what to do as Ryan felt. But as Hope allowed herself to be somewhat comforted by Ryan's presence, her sense that something about Mystic Falls was different hit her again, and with it, a feeling of dread. One that she'd felt multiple times throughout the summer. One that she thought was only tied to her mother's death. But feeling it now, Hope knew that it was because of the Hollow.