Chapter 32

Elijah, Niklaus, and Hayley were waiting at the entrance of the Compound when Kol pulled in front of it. Neither Marcel or Rebekah were eager to open their doors but the three furious parental figures waited patiently for them to realize they had no other choice.

"What are we going to say about what we saw tonight," Marcel asked to the silent car.

"Y'mean about Freya," asked Kol.

Rebekah sighed, "Telling them about her will certainly take some of the heat off of us."

"Depending on what she got from those vamps, they might even forget about you lot all together," said Kol. "But...if whatever she was up to proves harmless, turning Klaus's rage on her now will make it seem worse than it is and she could be thrown in the crossfire for nothing."

"Nothing," Marcel bit, turning to Kol. "It's her fault we were out tonight anyway. She's the reason those vampires were in New Orleans and why Josh followed them, causing the chain of events that led us here."

"You don't know if she brought them here. They could've already been here and for all we know, she convinced them to leave."

"You're just defending her because she's the only one who is always on your side."

"So what if she is," Kol bit. "She is still my sister after all." Turning to Rebekah in the back seat, he added, "Yours too. She wouldn't do anything to betray this family. Let me talk to her. I'll find out what she's up to and I'll tell you two as soon as I do."

Rebekah nodded her agreement but Marcel still wanted to hear the truth from Freya's mouth himself, not through Kol.

Looking back out the window at Klaus's surly mug, Marcel cringed.

"Do you think they were listening to us," he asked, concerned about the intense glare Klaus was lacing him with.

"I don't think so," Kol answered. "They'd be far angrier if they did. They probably just think you two are trying to think of a way to get out of this."

"Should I wake her up," Rebekah asked about Hope still sleeping soundly in her lap.

"Might as well," said Marcel. "She's not going to be asleep for very long anyway."

Hope's eyes slowly fluttered open at her Aunt's gentle urging. "Are we home already," she yawned.

"I'm afraid we are, love," Rebekah answered. "But we are about twenty minutes too late."

Confused, Hope looked out the window to see what was causing her Aunt such distress. Her eyes bucked at the sight of her mom and dad standing in the Compound entrance beside Elijah, all of them with a look of pure anger on their faces.

"H-how much trouble do you think I'm in," Hope asked.

"On a scale of 1 to 10," said Rebekah. "I'd say...8...maybe 8 and a half. Definitely not in the range you wanna be in. "

"We can't sit in here all day," said Kol. He was the only confident one of the group because he was the only one who had done nothing wrong. The other three Mikaelsons, however, were all at fault and none of them were ready to face the music.

Deciding it was best to get things over with quickly, Marcel was the first to get out of the car. Rebekah opened her door next, easing Hope out of the car before she stepped out.

"I told them," Kol called out loudly as he stepped out of the car. "I told them they shouldn't have brought her along."

Marcel rolled his eyes at Kol's brownnosing.

"Everyone inside," Elijah ordered. "This isn't an issue that should be discussed out in the open."

When Klaus, Hayley, and Elijah didn't move to go inside, the rest of them didn't move either. The fear that walking past one of the angry disciplinarians would end with a swift swat plagued all of them but when Kol so boldly walked past them all into the Compound they realized they had no choice but to follow or let their fear be known to everyone.

As Hope dragged her feet past Hayley, she grabbed the girl's arm and dragged her the rest of the way into the Compound. The courtyard was free from all of Hayley's werewolves, a fact that Hope was glad of since she was certain that she was about to be punished in front of her entire family again. Freya stood at the top of the staircase staring down at the scene, a look of disappointment on her face. Little did she know that the wayward Mikaelsons she was looking down on knew exactly what to say to turn all the attention from them on to her. In Freya's hand was an ancient medallion she was using to keep any of the sounds in the courtyard from escaping to the rest of the Compound, a precaution for what she was sure to come.

"What were you thinking, young lady," Hayley began scolding Hope as soon as they entered. "You know better than to go running off in the middle of the night. And to do something as stupid as going to look for dangerous vampires."

"I'm sorry," was all Hope could say. She didn't have a viable excuse for her behavior. She knew it was dangerous to go with Marcel and Rebekah and she knew if she were caught she'd be in a lot of trouble but she was banking on not getting caught.

"You're sorry?" Hayley grabbed the girl by both of her shoulders and forced Hope to look her in the eyes. Hayley's eyes suddenly held more fear than anger and that only caused Hope to feel worse. "You can't keep putting yourself in dangerous situations like this, Hope. You have to realize that you are just one little girl. You can't do everything."

Hayley let go of Hope's shoulders and grabbed her hand, pulling the girl over to the nearest wooden chair.

"No, mom, please, no," Hope tried to pull her hand out of her mother's grip but Hayley's Hybrid strength was too much for the young tribrid.

"Yes, Hope," Hayley scolded. "If you have to spend a trip over my knee every week to instill the lesson that I'm trying to teach you then so be it."

Hayley sat in the chair and pulled Hope, still trying her hardest to break free of her mom's hold, over her lap with little effort. She pinned the girl's legs between hers and began spanking her with a steady stream of heavy licks. She saw the moment the girl tried to cover her bottom coming and grabbed Hope's hand before she could block a single smack.

Between the pain and humiliation, Hope couldn't force her tears back for long and started sobbing after the first few spanks.

Rebekah and Marcel stared anywhere but at the scene of Hope's punishment, guilt filling the pits of their stomachs for being the reason the girl was being spanked. If one of them had done like Kol and given her a firmer 'no' or even a few spanks then they could've prevented this.

When Hayley landed the first smack to the undercurve or Hope's bottom, the girl let out a heartfelt wail that broke Klaus's heart but that was his sign to grab another chair and sit beside Hayley.

Hayley finished the last few spanks across Hope's sit-spots and stood Hope up in front of her. As Hope began wiping the tears from her cheek, she couldn't help but feel grateful that she didn't get the brush.

"Hope," Niklaus calmly called.

Assuming that her dad wanted to comfort her after the spanking, Hope hurried over to him, her arms thrown out looking for a hug. Klaus allowed her a moment of his comfort, hugging her tightly, before he broke the hug and said, "It's not over yet, sweetheart."

Hope's face dropped at his announcement. She thought that she had had enough. Hayley laid into her heavily and her pajamas did little to protect her from the pain.

"We have had enough of you running off into dangerous situation," Klaus lectured and Hope's tears started flooding back down her cheeks. "It is our job as your parents to protect you but we can't do that if we don't know where you are."

"I know, daddy. I'm sorry. Please, don't spank me. I've learned my lesson, I promise."

"There's only one way I can be sure of that, Hope." Before Hope could put up a fight, Klaus had her flipped over his lap. He held her down with a hand between her shoulder blades as she kicked and struggled to push herself off his lap while he used the other hand to pull her pajama bottoms down around her knees. He left her with the protective layer of her panties but he needed to see the extent of damage Hayley had already done to her bottom before he proceeded with his portion of her punishment. Hope's throbbing bottom was a dull red but Klaus knew it could be redder.

"From now on, if you put yourself in danger, this is how your punishments will go," he lectured as he brought his powerful hand down on her aching behind, his wide palm stretching across her entire bottom with each smack. "First Hayley will spank you and then I will," He brought his hand down to her already sore sit-spots and landed harsh spanks to the tops of her sensitive thighs.

Hope fought and kicked with such vigor that she kicked her pants off but that didn't slow down the rhythm of Klaus's spanks.

Marcel's stomach began to churn with dreaded anticipation. He knew he was next over Klaus's knee and he hated himself for thinking it, but he held hope that Klaus would feel so guilty about spanking Hope that he would let him go.

As the spanking ended, Klaus let Hope lie over his lap and finish out her last few wails before sitting her up on his lap and engulfing her in a tight hug.

"There, there, now," he tutted softly, rubbing calming circles into the small of her back. "It's all over."

Hope tried to be angry at Klaus for spanking her but she couldn't help but find comfort in his loving hold. She pressed her face deeper into the crook of his neck and decided that soaking the lapel of his jacket with her tears was vengeance enough.

Knowing that Klaus still had three siblings to deal with, Hayley picked up Hope's pants from the ground and pryed the crying girl from her father's hug. Hope almost didn't want to let go but she was also ready to get out of sight of everyone who'd just witnessed her humiliation. She wrapped her legs around her mom's waist and buried her face against Hayley's shoulder to hide her shame from the rest of her family as Hayley carried her out of the courtyard.

"Now then," Klaus said as he straightened his clothes. "Would any of you care to explain the happenings of tonight?"

Rebekah looked to Kol, expecting him to be the first one to speak up and gladly clear himself of wrongdoing, but then, to her shock, Marcel said, "I went to you about this problem first but I couldn't get you to wake up and then Elijah's solution was for me to just sit back and wait when for all I knew, my guys were lying on their deathbeds at the hands of your old sireline."

"Elijah told me about the vampires of my sireline making their way back into the city and he also told me that he instructed you to not go running into the night after those vampires. And yet, where were the three of you tonight?'

"I was already out," Kol quickly came to his own defense. "I was out tonight having a bit of fun on my own when I spotted these two with Hope. I'm the reason we got her back here when we did. These two were too afraid to show the girl a little discipline."

"Is that so," Elijah looked to Marcel for confirmation. The look of anger on his Marcel's face as he glared at Kol told him that is was. "Then Kol, I believe you are free to go."

Kol was more than happy to leave the scene of what he was sure was about to be another brutal spank session. On his way up the staircase, he paused at Freya, who had been silently watching everything, and said, "We saw you tonight."

Freya went flush at Kol's proclamation. "What are you talking about," she tried to play innocent.

"I feel like you know exactly what I'm talking about. You went into that bar with those vampires and came out with a little gift. What was it?"

Freya grabbed Kol's wrist and pulled him away before anyone could overhear his scandalous speech.

Niklaus stood up and walked slowly over to his son and sister. "So who was it," he stated firmly. "Which one of you decided to bring my thirteen-year-old daughter along on your little vampire hunt?"

"I did," Marcel answered without hesitation, wanting to protect Rebekah as much as he could.

"It was both of us," Rebekah corrected, fearing for the safety of Marcel's behind far more than he was at the moment. "She threatened to follow us anyway if we didn't take her and we didn't see a choice. It was safer to have her with us where we could keep an eye on her than have her running around out there by herself."

Rebekah turned cautiously to Elijah as he strutted over to her, saying, "Really sister? Because I think the safest place for her to be would've been in her bed asleep, which she could have been had either of you simply come to me and told me what she was planning to do."

Marcel let out a derisive scoff and said, "As if you wouldn't have tried to stop us too."

"He would have," Klaus growled. "As he should. You had no business out there tonight. You could've gotten yourself killed."

"I wouldn't have let that happen, Nik," Rebekah insisted.

With a snap of his finger, Elijah drew Rebekah's attention back to him. "We've discussed this," he said, fearfully calm. "I told you not to go looking for those vampires with him. Not only did you disobey me, you put Marcel in danger and you put Hope in danger."

Marcel could see where this was going and he didn't like it. "Elijah, I decided to go out there on my own. There wasn't anything she could've done to stop me."

"Coming to me would've stopped you," Elijah bit. "I could've stopped you, I could have stopped Hope, and put an end to all of this before it happened."

"I was afraid," Rebekah murmured. "I knew what you would've done to try to stop him...and I was afraid. I would've rather fought an army of vampires than see him hurt like that again."

As Rebekah stared down at the ground, her eyes glossy with tears, Marcel's eyes were suddenly opened. He didn't realize until that moment how much he took Rebekah's loyalty for granted. She loved him so much she was willing to extinguish an entire line of vampires to protect him but all night, all he could think about was making sure nothing happened to his guys.

"Rebekah," Elijah placed a gentle hand under her chin and lifting her eyes up to meet his. "I love Marcel. He is my family and I would never hurt him like Kol did."

"I-I know, Elijah. Deep down I know you love him but...everytime he gets into trouble with one of you, all I can think of is...what if, in your anger, you forgot your own strength. You're eight hundred years his senior and he's much more fragile than he looks. Sometimes I can't even be as rough with him as I want when we're..."

Both Rebekah and Marcel blushed as she nearly overtalked herself and disclosed their moments of intimacy.

"Y-You know what I mean," she stammered. "I love him too, Elijah. More than any man I've ever claimed to love before and...the thought of ever seeing him like that again...I can't bear it."

Elijah understood his sister's sentiments well. He never saw the effects of the torture Kol inflicted on Marcel but from what Klaus told him, it was truly sickening and that coming from a man who was an expert on inflicting pain. He knew that if something like that had happened to Hayley, he'd want to kill the man who did it but Rebekah couldn't do that because the man who dared torture her love was her own brother.

"Marcellus," Elijah stated loudly. "When you were a boy, approximately how many spankings did you receive at my hand?"

Marcel was caught off guard by the question and admittedly a little bit embarrassed but he still answered, "I don't know, Elijah. Too many to name."

"And at any point during any of those spankings, was I ever too severe with you or make you feel unloved?"

Suddenly understanding what Elijah was trying to do for Rebekah, Marcel answered, "No. Never."

"Did I ever make you feel like you would rather not be a part of our family than contend with another spanking?"

"I hated every spanking I got," Marcel confessed. "But there wasn't a day I wished to be free from my family."

Looking back into Rebekah's eyes, Elijah said, "You see, Rebekah, all the years I've spent as the patriarch of this family has taught me patience, restraint, and kindness to those I deem my family. Marcel might be two hundred years old but to me, he will forever be that small boy I taught to read, Klaus's son, my family. I would no sooner hurt him that way then I would Hope."

Rebekah's eyes welled with tears. "I-I'm sorry, Elijah."

"I know, sister, I know," Elijah placed a tender kiss on Rebekah's forehead, his arm wrapped lovingly around her shoulders. "But...the issue of your disobedience and putting Hope in danger must still be addressed."

Rebekah tensed knowing exactly what he had in mind.

Before she could try to flee, Elijah sped her over to the chair Niklaus was sitting in and flipped her over his lap. She was mortified when she felt her brother's hands go into the waistband of her panties, pulling her pants and underwear below her bottom in one swift move.

As Elijah landed the first heavy-handed spank to his sister's upturned bottom, Marcel felt every protective instinct in him lurch forward and before he knew it he was speeding over to stop Rebekah's inevitable punishment. Just as he made it to them, he felt a hand wrapped around his wrist.

"What do you think you're doing," Niklaus growled, tightening his grip around Marcel's wrist.

Marcel looked from Klaus to Elijah who had stopped spanking Rebekah to fasten him with a stern glare.

"I-I was...just..."

"You were going to try to stop Rebekah's punishment, weren't you?"

Suddenly, Elijah lifted Rebekah to her feet, leaving the woman confused. Certainly her brother wasn't going to end her punishment at one smack.

"Find a corner, Rebekah," Elijah stated. "I will be back with you shortly."

Rebekah knew what that meant and her first instinct was to protect Marcel but as she looked at her lover's pouty face she knew that he wasn't afraid. She had to trust her brother. Trust that he loved Marcel enough to know when enough was enough.

As she reached down to right her pants, Elijah's cold glare paused her hands.

"You know better," he coldly said.

Realizing her mistake, Rebekah left her pants where they were and waddled over to the nearest corner, her face a bright red at the embarrassment of standing in a corner like a child with her butt exposed to the courtyard.

"Marcellus," Elijah said folding one leg over the other. "If it is impermissible for you to try to prevent your own punishment, what would make you think I'd allow you to try to stop someone else's?"

"I...I had to try," Marcel muttered. "I love her. What sort of man would I be if I didn't try to keep her from harm?"

"Like I told Rebekah, you don't need to protect her from me. The punishment I delve out is warranted, even Rebekah would agree with that, if not somewhat reluctantly."

"I know but-"

"But you love her, yes, yes, I know." Elijah and Niklaus shared subtle looks, having a silent conversation with each other that ended with Niklaus released Marcel's wrist. Elijah then grabbed Marcel's other wrist and pulled the man down over his lap. "Perhaps a short demonstration of what Rebekah is to endure will put your mind at ease."

"No, no, wait," Marcel screamed as Elijah reached his arms around his waist and unbuckled Marcel's belt before unbuttoning his jeans. Marcel reached down to grab the waistband of his boxers, keeping them up as Elijah yanked his pants down.

"Remove your hand, Marcel," Elijah commanded.

Shoving his heated face into the crook of his bent arm, Marcel let go of his underwear and allowed Elijah to pull them down to meet his pants.

The first smack Elijah landed on his bare bottom was hard enough to make him swear but he wasn't given any time to recover from it before Elijah landed a series of others. He wriggled his bottom from side to side, fighting the urge to reach back, and before he knew it there were tears in his eyes. As the first sob broke through his chest, Elijah stopped.

He held Marcel's body on his lap until he could feel the hitching of his breath begin to dwindle. "Alright, Marcel," he said softly. "That wasn't so bad, now was it?"

Marcel begged to disagree but he remained silent except for the few sniffles that forced their way out.

With a slight tap on his waist, Elijah let Marcel know that it was okay to stand up. Marcel rose slowly, too ashamed to even glance in the direction of Rebekah for fear that she had taken her eyes away from the corner long enough to see his punishment.

As soon as Marcel was on his feet, Klaus pulled him into his body, hugging him tight as his heart broke at the sight of his son's tears. "It's okay, Marcellus," he whispered to him. "Shh, shh, now, it's okay."

Marcel reached down to pull his pants back up but then Klaus smacked his hand away.

"Not yet," Klaus corrected him. "It's not over,"

Marcel let out a small groan. He knew that Klaus was still going to spank him for going after those vampires and taking Hope with him but he had hoped that it wouldn't be bare.

Pulling Marcel back so he could see his face, Klaus said, "Go to the corner and trade places with Rebekah. Stand there until I tell you, you can come out and leave those pants right where they are."

As Marcel marched solemnly over to the corner, he was silently grateful that Elijah left him the dignity of leaving his underwear up far enough in the front of hid his manhood.

"You went easy on him," Klaus muttered to Elijah once Marcel was far enough away.

"Not as easy as I'm going to go on our sister, I can assure you that."

"You didn't have to go easy on him," Niklaus looked in the direction of Marcel, now at the corner mumbling to Rebekah that her time was up and that he loved her. "He's already starting to heal. He could've taken a real spanking then and another one from me in a few minutes."

"Perhaps," Elijah said, patiently waiting for Rebekah to get the lead out of her shoes and get over to him. "But then he'd spend his corner time worrying about just how hard I'm going on Rebekah instead of thinking about just how hard you're going to be on him when his time is up."

"Ah," Niklaus was truly impressed. "How clever of you, brother."

"A thousand years of dealing with Rebekah and Kol will make a person so."

When Rebekah was in front of him, her bottom lip was poked out in a small pout attempting to garner some sympathy from her stern brother. Elijah gave her no such kindness. He flipped his sister over his lap, lifting her bare bottom with his knee, and smacked his hand down across her right cheek. He alternated cheeks, giving each one a harder smack than the last until she started begging for him to stop. He then focused in on her lower bottom, spanking her until she was in inconsolable sobs.

Marcel pressed his head against the corner, tensely listening to every smack land on Rebekah's bottom. As her wails began to echo in the courtyard, he wondered if he would be that loud when it was his turn again.

When Elijah landed the last smack on Rebekah's bottom, his hand was sore but that didn't matter. The only thing that mattered was the heavy sobs trapped in his sister's chest. He lifted her up so that she was sitting on his lap, her sore bottom hanging over the side.

"There, there, little sister," he cooed. "I love you but there is order to this family now. You can't just run off and do whatever you want. When I give an order, I expect my little sister to obey it even if her lover won't. Do I make myself clear?"

"Y-yes, Elijah," Rebekah stammered, snuggling in closer to Elijah. There were times when she hated her family, times when she wished she was born anyone but a Mikaelson, but strangely enough, in the loving arms of her Big Brother Elijah after a thorough spanking was not one of them.

"And you will never let Hope put herself in a dangerous situation ever again," Elijah continued.

Rebekah nodded softly, sobs hitching in her chest as she thought about how foolish she had been by letting Hope coerce them into letting her go with them.

Elijah landed a firm smack on the side of her thigh, causing his sister to scream out.

"I require a verbal answer, Rebekah. Do you understand me."

"Y-yes sir." Her face flushed red as she had meant to answer 'yes, Elijah' but the honorific naturally slipped out.

"Good." Elijah stood her up and righted her clothes as he did so. "Now, go to your room and stay there until brunch."

Rebekah shot a timid look over to Marcel still standing with his face to the corner. She wasn't ready to leave him and she had hoped to be able to be with him after all this was over so they could spend the night comforting each other.

"Do not make me repeat myself, Rebekah," the bite in Elijah's voice drew her attention back to him. "Go."

Without further prodding, Rebekah gradually made her way out of the courtyard.

"Our stubborn little sister," Klaus chuckled as Rebekah finally disappeared through an upstairs corridor.

"Yes," Elijah sighed. "She could probably do with a few more swats but that's an issue for another time, I'm afraid. Right now, you have your own stubborn Mikaelson to deal with."

"He will prove less worrisome than Rebekah, I'm sure. Marcellus,"

Marcel still wasn't ready when Klaus called his name. He considered staying in the corner and forcing Klaus to come to him but he knew that would be far too childish. Reluctantly he dragged himself over to Klaus, now sitting in the seat Elijah previously occupied while Elijah stood by providing Klaus with the audience he needed to ensure Marcel felt as embarrassed by his punishment as Rebekah and Hope did.

"Remind me why you're here," Klaus demanded.

Marcel bit his lip, refusing to subjugate himself any further than he has to already.

Elijah let out a small chuckled at the frown that graced Niklaus's face due to Marcel's continued disobedience. "And you thought he would be easier to handle than my Rebekah."

"My mistake," Klaus growled. "How should I expect a man about to be punished for his defiance to suddenly be the pillar of obedience."

Klaus grabbed Marcel's wrist and pulled him down over his lap, swinging down spanks with no further warning. He made sure that Marcel was leaning further over towards the ground so that he could get a precise shot of his entire bottom while also putting Marcel in a position to have to hold his face up from the ground so he couldn't hide his embarrassment.

"When I ask you a question I expect an answer," Klaus lectured, punctuating each word with a heavy smack. "Do I make myself clear?"

Marcel's self-preservation instinct suddenly kicking in, he screamed out, "Yes!"

"That's better. Now remind me why you're in this position."

Niklaus didn't stop raining down smacks to Marcel's reddening behind as Marcel stammered for an answered.

"B-because I...I let Hope put herself in danger."

"And,"

Klaus's spanks started coming down heavier and the latent tears hiding behind his eyes after Elijah's spanking suddenly found their way down Marcel's cheeks.

"And...I...I disobeyed Elijah when he told us t-to not go looking for those vampires."

"And why wouldn't Elijah want you to go looking for those vampires?"

Marcel struggled to wipe his tears away with the back of one hand as he balanced himself with the other while Klaus's heavy spanks kept pushing him further towards the ground.

"B-Because...because it was dangerous. I-I could've been..."

"Hurt," Klaus barked as he once again increased the power he was using to spank Marcel. "Or worse! Don't ever put your life in danger again. Your life is too important to be lost over something so imbecilic." With each word came a sharper lick, peppering Marcel's entire bottom with painful, sob provoking, smacks.

Marcel lost the will to keep wiping his tears away. He hung his head and let his tears fall where they may.

Sensing Marcel's subtle compliance, Klaus landed three more spanks to the undercurve of each of Marcel's burning cheeks and ended his torment.

He pulled Marcel further up his lap so that he wasn't hanging uncomfortably off anymore but he left him lying on his lap so he could calm his sobs down before they spoke.

"Are you ready to talk?" Klaus asked once Marcel's weeping had quieted down more.

Marcel gave a curt nod. A stinging smack on his backside caused an unexpected cry to escape him.

"Try again, Marcellus," Klaus warned.

"Y-yes," Marcel immediately answered.

Klaus stood Marcel up beside him, gently pulling his underwear and fitted jeans over his son's sore bottom. Marcel whimpered as the tight jeans put more pressure on his throbbing cheeks.

When Klaus stood up, he pulled Marcel into a tight hug, pushing his face into his shoulder so Marcel could finally have a reprieve from Elijah seeing his humiliation.

"I love you," Klaus whispered in Marcel's ear. "You know that don't you?"

Marcely nodded against Klaus's shoulder. Klaus simply smiled.

"I love you and I don't care if you're too crossed with me to say it back right now. You are my son and I would do anything to protect you. Even if that means taking you to task every single time you even think about doing something this selfish and dumb again."

Niklaus's arms tightened around Marcel and for a moment, as he breathed in his father's calming scent, the pain of his bottom seemed to vanish. But only for a moment.

"Is this what it's like?" Marcel muttered so low Klaus could barely hear him.

"Is this what what's like?"

"Being a Mikaelson. Is this...is this what it feels like."

Klaus let out a heavy sigh. "Marcellus, I've told you over and over again, you have always been a Mikaelson."

Marcel pulled away from Klaus, confident in his ability to now keep his emotions at bay. "I can't explain it," he started. "But...it feels different now. When I was a boy I never questioned it. I was showered with love and gifts and I was punished just like Rebekah and Kol. But then...when I became a vampire, I stopped calling you 'poppa' and you stopped...treating me like Rebekah and Kol. I-I never thought of it before now but...this is it. This is why I felt like you stopped caring."

"Because I stopped spanking you," Klaus stated in shock.

"N-not just the spankings," Marcel's face burned with the embarrassment of admitting that being spanked made him feel like family. "It's the moments after too. The moments when you-you're..." barely audible, he muttered, "holding me."

Marcel was more embarrassed by admitting that he has subconsciously been always craving the attention being spanked gave him than he was by the spanking he'd just received.

"It was like...once I became a vampire, I was no longer a Mikaelson. I was just: Marcel Gerard, formerly the boy you loved so much."

"Marcel," Klaus pulled Marcel back into his hold. "You are still the boy I love so much."

"I know that now. But back then...sometimes I felt like an outsider in my own home."

Klaus pulled back so he could look in Marcel's eyes. He used the pad of his thumb to gently wipe away Marcel's straying tears while tears of his own began to breach his eyes. "I am so sorry that I made you feel that way, Marcellus. That was never my intention. I thought...I was afraid that if we kept spanking you, you'd leave us. I just wanted to do whatever I could to keep our family together."

"I will never leave you, Klaus," Marcel hugged Klaus tighter, pressing his tear-soaked face back into the crook of his father's neck. "You're my family. This is my home. Always and Forever."

Seeing that the two of them needed some privacy, Elijah quietly slipped out of the courtyard.

-M-

"Who all saw me," Freya yelled at Kol as she slammed the door to her workshop closed.

"All four of us did," Kol answered smugly. "But don't worry, I convinced the rest of them not to talk. That is, of course, if you tell me what those vamps gave you."

Freya stared at her brother, trying to decide whether or not she could trust him with such an important secret.

"You can't tell anyone," he growled. When Kol's smirk turned devilish, she added, "I mean it. If you tell anyone, I'll never trust you again."

"Fine, fine, whatever you say," Kol agreed. He had initially planned to go straight back to Marcel and Rebekah with Freya's secret but the sudden illicitness of it all made him feel special.

Freya went over to the sofa sitting against the wall in the room. With a flick of her wrist, the sofa pulled away from the wall. Kol followed her behind the sofa to a small cubby in the wall. There she hid the wooden box they saw her come out of the bar with.

Kol waited on pins and needles for Freya to open the box. When she did, he was taken aback by what was in it.

"Is that..." he couldn't get the words out of his mouth.

"Rawthul," Freya answered. "Father's sword."

"So that it," Kol said suddenly upset. "You call those vampires into our city for some cruddy old blade? Someone could've gotten hurt tonight, y'know."

"I didn't expect anyone to be there. I asked Vincent to put the word out to some of his witch contacts that I was looking for this sword and I was willing to negotiate a trade with some old witch relics to do it. But then I was sent a letter from one of Klaus's old sirelings. It appeared on my workshop desk with no name and no return address so I knew they had to have had a witch send it by magic. They said that they had the sword and they were willing to trade for it."

"What would vampires want with an old witch relic?"

"They didn't want the relic," she answered softly.

The ominousness of her answer made Kol worry. "What did they want?"

"Nothing anyone would miss."

"Freya. What did they want?"

"All they wanted was...Klaus's blood."

Kol could barely contain his rage. "Have you lost your mind? Do you remember what happened the last time Klaus's sireline came through here collecting blood? They created a beast that nearly wiped this family out."

"I know that, Kol. That's why I didn't give it to them. I tricked them. I gave them my blood that I spelled to smell and taste like the Original Hybrid's blood and in turn, they gave me this."

"Oh, so all you did was bamboozle a bunch of ancient vampires," Kol said sarcastically. "What could possibly go wrong?"

"You wanted to know what I did, now you know," Freya snapped. "Don't take it out on me because you couldn't handle the truth."

"What is so bloody important about this sword that you would put this family's safety in danger?"

Freya slammed the wooden box shut, no longer in the mood to share with Kol while he was so obviously angry with her. "None of your concern."

"I think it is," Kol growled. "You've told me about your colossal mistake with the vampires, might as well tell me why doing something so STUPID was necessary."

"Swear you won't tell," Freya demanded.

"I already-"

"Swear again! On Davina's grave, swear you won't tell anyone what I'm about to tell you."

"Fine, I swear," Kol answered, thinking whatever she was going to do with the sword couldn't be as bad as she was trying to make it out to be.

Running a gentle hand over the surface of the box, Freya said, "I found a way to bring back our father and brother. This sword was the last thing I needed."

Kol's jaw dropped. In a thousand years, he never expected her to say that.


I think this just might be the longest chapter I've written for this story :D