Chapter 70

Marcel gave a sleepy sniffle as Klaus laid him in bed for the night. His son had fallen asleep in his arms and as much as he wished to hold him through the night, he knew Elijah would have a scalding word or two about Klaus spoiling his children if he were to see it.

Still, Klaus couldn't help but stay at the end of the bed, watching his foolhardy son soundly snoozing. He dreaded the thought of having to switch him the next morning. He'd taken the switch to Kol a time or two over the centuries, but he'd also done worse things to his little brother.

Marcellus, on the other hand...as old as he was, as big as he was, as strong as he was, was still his little warrior. He could be a thousand years old, take the form of an eighty-year-old man, and gain the highest position on Earth, and Klaus would still find sorrow in his pain.

The bedroom door slowly crept open, a blade of light shining in on Marcel's tired face. Klaus assumed it was Elijah doing what was sure to be one of his many checks throughout the night, but the voice that crept through the silence was not his.

"Marcy," Hope whispered, peering through the sliver of light. She couldn't see anything in the darkroom past Marcel's supine figure but that was all she needed to see. She could tell by the steady rise and fall of his chest that he was asleep but she needed him, so in a heavier whisper, hoping her father or her strict Uncle wouldn't hear, she said, "Marcel."

Someone suddenly pulled the door all the way open, dragging Hope part of the way in the room as it did. She stumbled to a stop, staring up at the serious face of her father.

"D-Dad," she stammered, looking very much like a deer in headlights. Her cheeks were red from crying and there was a hitch in her chest as she spoke. Since her clothes were streaked with vampire blood, Klaus had given her and Sebastian one of his long sleeve shirts to wear to bed. It hung on the girl like an overly large dress, the sleeves draping over her hands. "W-what are you doing in here?"

"I could ask you the same thing, little wolf."

Hope looked towards Marcel's sleeping body. "I...needed Marcel."

"Well, as you can see, Marcel is fast asleep. As you should be."

"I-I know but..." Hope hung her head and bit her lip. She didn't know how to say that she'd grown accustomed to her big brother rocking her to sleep after a spanking, even when she didn't need him to. It had become their sibling ritual and since she knew he wouldn't be there tomorrow after Hayley laid into her putting herself in danger again, she wanted to soak up as much 'Marcy Time' as she could.

Kneeling down to his daughter's face, Klaus tilted her head up so that she was looking him in the eyes. "Is it anything I can help you with, little one?"

Klaus's kindness hurt Hope more than he knew. She was angry at him, at least, she wanted to be. He'd abandoned her to spend time in this big beautiful cabin in the woods with his brothers and son and she wasn't ready to forgive him.

She turned away from him, and said plainly and firmly, "No."

Klaus was shocked by her response. Surely she wasn't angry about the spanking. The way she cuddled with him on the couch, promising never to ditch her guards or leave New Orleans without her parents' permission, he thought for sure she'd come to terms with her punishment.

Leaving the room with her head held high, Hope said, "I will just see if Uncle Kol's awake"

She didn't really want her Uncle Kol, not like she wanted Marcel, but she knew it would hurt her father to think she preferred his brothers over him in the same way it hurt her to think he preferred Marcel instead of her.

Rising to his feet and strolling through the door, Klaus stepped into the hall and said, "Kol is probably asleep by now too. I'd ask you not to wake him, he is a terror to put back down."

Hope paused in her stride to Kol's bedroom. "Fine." The squeak of her voice indicated contentment but the subtle slump of her shoulders said otherwise. Staring straight ahead, hoping to keep up her guise, she said, "Goodnight, father. I hope the rest of your secret 'Boys' Only Weekend' is better than tonight was."

The sound of footsteps following her drew Hope's attention to Klaus closing Marcel's bedroom door and heading for the staircase. Pausing at the top of the stairs, he nodded for her to follow him. "There aren't any beignets here but there's a decadent pot pie downstairs just going to ruin." Glancing over his shoulder at Hope, he asked, "Care to join me?"

-M-

Hope dug into her second piece of pot pie with unrestrained glee. Niklaus could only watch on with pride as his little wolf's happiness. If there was one thing that could turn a Mikaelson's sour attitude, it was fine cuisine.

"Now that we're through our first slice of pie," Klaus started as he carried the rest of the pie back to the fridge in hope that Elijah wouldn't be too irritable about them sneaking pieces of his work before he could taste it himself. "Care to tell me what you felt you needed Marcel for?"

"Nope," she stated plainly, stuffing a juicy piece of deer meat into her mouth.

"Come now, Hope. You know you can tell your dear ol' dad anything."

Hope paused her fork to glare up at Niklaus. There was sincerity in his eyes but that only hurt her more. How could his eyes hold such love when his actions said different.

"You don't care," she muttered, staring at the quiet fork in front of her. "You only care about Marcel."

She wasn't shocked to feel her father's arms wrap around her in an instance and without hesitation, she leaned into him, fighting the tears welling in her eyes.

"I love you, Hope," Klaus said softly. "And I care about you as much as I care about Marcel."

"Th-then why didn't you bring me with you?"

Niklaus sighed. He knew he shouldn't tell her about the reason for the trip and it's rules; she was too young to be exposed to the Mikaelson way just yet. But it devastated him to see her so hurt.

"This isn't a trip for children, sweetheart."

"But Finn is here!"

"Finn is an exception, Hope, and you know that."

"It's a trip for boys only," she stated firmly, pulling away from Klaus's hold to look him in the eyes. "That's why you brought Finn and Marcel but not me or mom or Aunty Bex or Aunty Freya."

Klaus could tell by the heated glare of his daughter that he was going to have to tell her at least part of the truth if she were to leave this conversation with any sort of peace.

With a heavy sigh, he said, "The truth is, sweetheart, Elijah and I set these trips up every dozen decades or so as a way to re-establish familial bonds between...those of us Mikaelsons who seem to have a hard time adjusting to the order of things. It started as just a way to keep your Uncle Kol under control but now that Marcel and Finn are here, we thought it would be best for all of us to come out."

Hope's eyebrows knitted above her head. "What does that mean? To 'Re-establish familial bonds'?"

"Well, in short, it means we come to a secluded wooded area and force ourselves to interact with each other. To talk. To reconcile feelings of hurt and betrayal."

Klaus could see the moment the lines connected in Hope's head. "Oh. So...that's why you brought Finn. Because he betrayed our family."

"Correct. Finn has asked for our forgiveness and wants to return to our family a new person, but in order to do that, we have to make sure he has truly changed. The best way to do that is to take away his safety net, i.e. Freya, so when he feels angry or the desire to react to a familial slight with retaliation, he will have no choice but to either react or..."

"Come to one of you."

Niklaus smirked. His daughter's intelligence never ceased to amaze him. "Exactly."

"And...is that why you didn't want to bring me? Because you're afraid of what Finn'll do to me if he gets angry? Because I'm not afraid of him, y'know. If he ever tried to hurt me-"

"He won't ever try to hurt you again, sweetheart." Klaus placed a gentle hand on Hope's head. "You have nothing to worry about."

Hope lifted her chin with pride. "Oh, I'm not worried." She lifted her arm, flexing her biceps to show off her werewolf strength. "I told him today, if he ever does anything to make me angry, I'll show him what this Tribrid strength can really do."

The pride in Klaus's eyes slowly vanished. "You told him that?"

"Well, not in so many words." Hope gave the air a practice punch, wishing she had another tree to demonstrate her strength on. "But I'm pretty sure he got the point."

"Hope," Hope knew she was in trouble by the way Klaus droned her name. "What have we told you about using your powers against your family?"

"I thought you just meant my magic."

"Your powers include more than just magic, sweetheart. You're a tribrid and, for now, your powers include magic as well as your werewolf abilities."

Hope folded her arms over her chest, an intense pout on her face. "But he's so annoying. And now you're saying I can't curse him or hit him?"

Niklaus almost wanted to laugh at her question. She was so much like him it was eerie. But he remained stoic as he answered, "That's right."

Hope threw herself back in her chair with a firm pout on her face.

"Tell you what," Klaus knelt to one knee and scooted Hope's chair around so that she was staring at him as she continued to pout. "I'm going to do something that goes against everything I believe as a parent and I'm going to make you a bargain. You start being nice to Finn and I'll start letting Freya teach you spells from Esther's Grimoire."

Hope's eyes lit with joy. "Really?" she nearly screamed.

Klaus nodded and added, "But you have to honestly try to be nicer. If he does or say anything to upset you, you come to me, Freya, or Elijah immediately and we will handle him. Do we have an understanding?"

Without a second thought, Hope held her hand out to Klaus and said, "Deal."

Klaus smirked as he shook her hand.

"Alright," he stood, glancing at the mess they'd made of the dining table. "You get up to bed while I clean up here."

Hope hopped from her chair and hurried to the kitchen door. But then she stopped and turned to her father with wide eyes.

"Daddy," she started sweetly. "Can you...do one more thing for me?"

Stacking the two dirty plates together to take to the sink, Klaus asked, "Depends on what it is, sweetheart."

Hope twisted her fingers behind her back, Hope asked, "Can you...ask mommy not to punish me for leaving the city tomorrow? I-I promise I won't do it again, daddy, I swear."

Klaus closed his eyes, leaning over the sink and stealing himself to not fall victim to her sweet words as he said, "We made you a promise, Hope. Every time you put yourself in danger, you get two spankings. We can't go back on our word."

The sob that broke through Hope as she spoke forced Klaus to turn around to see his daughter's tear welled eyes. "B-but I didn't mean t-to put myself in danger this time. I j-just...I just wanted to be with you."

Klaus hurried over to his daughter, lifting her into his arms as she let her tears fall unabated. He rocked her on his hips and shushed her crying until she slowly fell into a sleep she'd been fighting for hours.

As Klaus laid his tired daughter back in bed, he felt the ever looming presence of his big brother standing by the door.

"There are no sweets downstairs," Elijah stated as he watched Klaus tuck Hope's blankets around her neck, knowing his brother's penchant for spoiling Mikaelson children with sweets whenever they were upset. "But I hope you at least left me a slice of my own work."

Klaus faced his brother with a wide grin. "Do you think so lowly of me, brother? We left you...almost half."

"How kind."

"Yes, I thought so too. Even left you a few dishes in the sink so you won't be too bored with the singular responsibility of breakfast for seven in the morning."

Elijah rolled his eyes as he stepped away from the door to let his brother out.

As the two brothers left Hope's room, slowly closing the door behind them, Klaus asked, "Did you talk to Hayley?"

"I did," Elijah hummed, taking slow steps down the hall to Finn's bedroom. "She is relieved the girl is alright. But duly upset."

Klaus sighed. He was hoping his brother was going to tell him that Hayley had accepted Klaus's punishing Hope as enough. He'd promised himself and the mother of his daughter that he wouldn't interfere with Hayley disciplining Hope anymore as long as it was for her own good but sometimes he wished she would see things as he did. No, if he could be honest, he wished things could go back to how they were - with him as the good parent that Hope ran to to escape the fiery thwap of her mother's brush and Hayley as the bad guy. Now it seemed like there were two bad guys and his little wolf had no one to run to.

Glancing over to his brother's saddened eyes, Elijah said, "I did convince her to wait until they were back at the Compound to delve out justice. Thought I'd buy Hope a little more time to heal in between spankings."

"I appreciate it, brother," Klaus sighed as Elijah peeped into Finn's room to see the littlest Original sleeping. "I just wish we didn't have to be so hard on her. She's just a little girl, afterall."

Elijah closed Finn's door and said, "A little girl who was clever enough to make her way from the Quarter to Baton Rouge and find herself in the middle of a vampire brawl."

Klaus cringed at the memory of Hope watching him kill a vampire in front of her.

"But," Elijah opened Kol's bedroom door and saw him sleeping as well. "She does seem to be on the verge of learning her lesson. She was far more apologetic this time than the others. This very well may be the last time you find yourself in such emotional upheaval."

Elijah opened Marcel's bedroom door expecting to see his nephew sleeping like the others but to his shock, he found only an empty room.

"Or...perhaps not."

Klaus pushed the bedroom door open wider, the hall light illuminating the empty room. Elijah shook his head as he watched his brother's face go from concerned to furious in seconds.

"Where could he be?" Klaus growled. Turning to Elijah, he asked, "Do you think it's possible that the bar was only a diversion? That he had another plan all along?"

A muffled 'no' from the next door drew their attention to Klaus's bedroom. They hurried down the hall, opening Klaus's door to see Marcel sitting on his bed with his head hung in shame. It was obvious that it was Klaus's compulsion that moved him to out his location.

"What do you think you're doing?" Elijah demanded.

Marcel bit his lip and muttered, "I wasn't...plotting a coup or whatever you thought."

"That's not what I asked."

Marcel rolled his eyes and scoffed at Elijah's attempt to get the truth out of him.

With a heavy sigh, Elijah looked at his watch to see that it was nearly three in the morning and decided he was done dealing with errant Mikaelsons until sunrise.

"Where are you going?" Klaus asked as Elijah sauntered away.

"He's your son," Elijah yawned. "Your responsibility. I still have to be up in time to cook breakfast for the children before Hayley gets here so whatever you do, do try to keep it down."

Klaus turned back to see Marcel sitting with his arms folded defensively in front of him.

"Y'know, it hurts that you don't trust me," Marcel muttered against his own will.

"I'm sure," said Klaus as he walked over to the bed. Lifting Marcel's chin to look him in the eyes, Klaus asked, "What are you doing in here?"

Marcel clenched his jaw in an attempt to keep his mouth shut, but then he said, "L-looking for you. I woke and you were gone so...and you weren't in here either but by the time I figured that out, I heard Elijah in the hall."

Niklaus sighed with relief at Marcel's confession. Turning back to the door, he nodded for his son to follow him. "Come, let's go back to your room."

"Are...are you going to...y'know?"

Pausing at the door, Niklaus turned back to Marcel and asked, "No, I don't know. What?"

Marcel scowled at Klaus, certain he knew exactly what he was trying to not say. "You know."

"There's a variable many things you could be referring to, Marcel. Am I going to have toast with my eggs in the morning? Perhaps. Am I going to hug Hope goodbye when Hayley arrives? Most assuredly. Am I going to-"

"Why are you trying to make me say it?"

Since it was so late in the night and they still had an entire day ahead of them, Niklaus elected to ignore his son's volume and tone to prevent their night from dragging on.

"Because," Klaus stated calmly. "You should not have a problem with asking me anything. You are my son. You were not afraid to ask it when you were human, you should not be afraid to ask it now."

"I'm not afraid," Marcel bit. A tint of red grew across his face and down his neck as he said, "I'm...ashamed. It makes me feel childish."

"And does lying to me make you feel like a man?"

Marcel looked away from Niklaus as he muttered, "No."

"And yet you do it anyway. Often enough that in the moments when I didn't know where you were just now, a hundred heartracing thoughts flowed through my mind and in more than half of them, you were organizing my demize."

"I'm not plotting against you, Klaus."

Knowing that Marcel made that statement under compulsion was enough to calm Klaus. "Good. It's always nice to know that one's family is not actively plotting their downfall."

Staring down at the floor, Marcel asked, "Are you ever going to trust me again?"

Klaus didn't know how to answer that question. He wanted to trust Marcel. He wanted to have never stopped trusting him. For a hundred years, if there was one thing he was sure of, it was that his Marcellus loved him and would never hurt him like some other members of his family often did. But over the past few years, because of his own mistakes as a father, his son had added himself to the list of Mikaelsons that hunt him down in his dreams.

"Do you love me?" Klaus asked to Marcel's utter shock.

"Y-yes," Marcel answered.

"Do you consider me your father, friend, or foe?"

Marcel bit his lip, willing himself to overcome his compulsion so as not to say, "Often times my friend. Sometimes a foe. Always and forever...my father."

Klaus nodded as if he'd expected that answer. "C'mon, let's get back to your room."

"Klaus," Marcel knotted his hands into the comforter on Klaus's bed, wrinkling it as his leg bounced anxiously. "Are you about to...are gonna...spank me?"

"No," Klaus answered calmly. "I'm going to finish my book and you're going to use these next few hours of night time to catch up on some much needed sleep because you will need all the energy you can get come morning."

Klaus's words did not inspire relaxation but Marcel stood anyway, walking over to his father's open arm, allowing Klaus to wrap his arm around his shoulders as he guided him back to his bedroom.

With Marcel safely tucked back into bed, Klaus kissed his forehead before returning to his comfy chair and opening his book.

"Klaus," Marcel's voice came softly from the bed.

With a soft sigh, Klaus said, "Go to sleep, Marcellus."

Marcel ignored Klaus's clipped tone, certain now that he wouldn't be punished again tonight. "I just have a question. About the switch." Klaus's silence urged him to continue. "Does it hurt? I mean...I know it's supposed to hurt but...does it, y'know...hurt hurt?"

Klaus closed his book again, staring at the silhouette of Marcel's body lying in bed. "It's not going to hurt any more than I need it to, Marcellus."

"But...how will you know how much it needs to?"

"Haven't I always known?"

Marcel was silent again for a while after that, tossing and turning in his bed as he thought about his impending switching.

Klaus sat his book back on the shelf and walked over to Marcel's bed. Marcel stopped his tossing as he felt the bed shift and he opened his eyes to see Niklaus sitting against his headboard. Without a word, Klaus eased Marcel's pillow onto his lap and rubbed soothing circles against Marcel's back, calming his son's restlessness with his soft touch.

"You were very naughty for lying to me," Klaus stated as he felt Marcel's back muscles relax beneath the stroke of his hand. "You shouldn't have lied to me or kept secrets from me. But I don't ever want you to be afraid for your safety at my hands, my little warrior. Your protection comes first to me, always. Do you understand?"

Marcel nodded as his breathing evened out.

"The switch will hurt and it will leave welts across your naughty little behind..."

Marcel squirmed as Klaus repeated the word 'naughty' but that was exactly the reaction his father expected.

"And you might try to cover your bottom and beg for me to stop, like you always do, but I will not stop when I feel the lesson is learned. But long before any skin is broken. And then I will hold you while you cry. And I will reassure you that you are forgiven." Feeling the calm rhythm of his son's breathing within his chest, Klaus confirmed he was asleep before he muttered, "And you will promise never to lie to me again...but neither of us will believe it."