They were all still tired from the showdown yesterday, and the Originals felt their energies a bit low.

It was Noah who broke the silence. "Now, I have seen a lot of things over the course of the last 36 hours. And I have kept my mouth shut. No more. You have to tell me everything, from the very beginning, and you have to tell me now."

Elijah said, " Mr. Stilinski, we understand the sentiment. It is, however, not our place to do so."

"Do I look like I care? I want to know and I want to know now.", Noah demanded.

Klaus sighed, "Marcel, tell them. Do not leave anything out."

"You know she will kill us when she wakes up? I mean, just checking", said Freya.

"Can't hide it anymore. They already know she is a spark. It's just a few more gory details", chimed in Kol.

"Hey, okay. I will tell you guys, but you need to promise you won't talk to her about it. Not unless she breaches the topic. She has panic attacks just thinking about telling you.", Marcel said solemnly.

The pack nodded and Noah motioned for him to continue.

"So this part of the story, I think you guys might know more than I do. Have you heard of the Benediction ritual that grants you your powers?", asked Marcel.

"Yes, Elexis already established it was true and all that about our powers and the witch trying to hijack it.", said Cora, as the others nodded.

"Okay, so do you know anything about the Shaman who carried out the ritual?".

Seeing their puzzled looks, Marcel continued, "So this Shaman who carried out the ritual, settled here in Beacon Hills, under the tutelage of the Hale family. He was from an extremely powerful line. Every few generations, powerful magic users are born in the line. Elexis is one of them."

"Am I?", asked Stiles

"No, Elexis was positive that you are not", said Vincent.

Marcel cleared his throat and continued, "Okay, so now the things I am about to tell you, you can't go back."

Noah schooled his face and looked around at the pack, all of whom were slowly nodding.

"When she was 2, she did her first bit of magic. Your wife, Claudia, obviously knew everything about her family's legacy. She was scared of what Elexis' powers could do. So when she turned 4, Claudia sent her to New Orleans, to live with your family friends."

Noah and Stiles were shaken, but they chose not to interrupt Marcel.

"That couple, they were not particularly good people. Sure, they gave her a place to stay and made sure she ate, but she was completely alone. For a very long time."

"How did she meet you? ", asked Chris.

The Originals sombered up. The pack could feel the air change.

"Man, I can feel the anger, the disgust and the shame roll off of you. It's suffocating", said Jackson, as Marcel moved and stood near the glass panel that looked over the pool and garden. Davina got up and clasped her hand on his shoulder. He put his hand on top of hers and rubbed it.

Vincent sighed and looked at Noah, "Marcel found your daughter in a backstreet of the city when she was 11."

The colour paled from everyone's faces as Isaac asked slowly, "what do you mean found?"

Elijah got up and grabbed Stiles' shoulder in solidarity before saying, "Elexis had been violated, repeatedly, for over 7 hours when Marcel found her and the perpetrator."

That was the edge. Noah broke down. Klaus was not contributing to the conversation, but rather focusing on controlling his anger, as Rebekah supported him.

Stiles could not believe what he was hearing. "My, my sister, was….." he started sobbing before he could complete the sentence.

"Yes, Stiles, Lexi was raped. That is when Marcel found her", Kol said, voicing what Stiles could not.

Everyone looked ashen.

"What about the man who did this to her?", asked Melissa, with a hint of malice in her voice. Rebekah smirked, "well, now that is something I like. So, I suppose you know that Marcel runs the city. My family and I have joined him and Elexis recently, but there is one non-negotiable rule that no one breaks in the city. No one hurts kids in New Orleans, or they face the wrath of Marcel Gerard."

Marcel turned with a dark glint in his eyes "The guy was a vampire. I left him to dessicate, but when Klaus came to know of this, he made sure that the guy died a slow and painful death."

Noah looked at Klaus with brimming eyes and said, "Thank you"

Klaus nodded glumly. "Nobody hurts my family and lives. Elexis is family.", he declared.

"This is too much for me. I mean I never knew. Did Claudia?", asked Noah, with wide eyes.

Marcel let out a laugh. He had tears in his eyes when he looked at Noah and said, "She called your wife two days after I found her. Your wife, her mother, laughed at her! She told her to stop hogging for attention and keep her nose clean. And do you know what Elexis did? She said okay mom."

Almost everyone in the room was now sniffling and a few had tears rolling down their cheeks.

"Do you have any idea how long it took me to get her to smile? To talk to me? I went back and compelled the couple she was staying with, and took her in after that. Each day was a challenge. I had to remind her how good she was, and that she was loved. That I loved her, and that you did too."

"Oh my God! Why did I never know? Why did she never tell me", sobbed Noah.

"She knew that you loved her, but you just did not care enough.", said Vincent, with a slight hint of judgement in his voice.

"Melissa, you remember her being born? Hell you were there! You saw how happy we were? How did this happen? When did I stop being a good father to her", rambled Noah, starting to hyperventilate. Melissa soothed him and told him it wasn't his fault. The pack reached out to comfort Stiles, who was still trying to process everything and was yet to say anything.

Noah asked, "After Claudia died, why didn't she come back? Why didn't she say anything?"

"Elexis told me about her powers after she had been living with me for a while. I got Vincent here on board and we helped her develop her powers. She was doing good until Claudia died and she came here. When she returned to New Orleans, it took us another 6 months to break her shell and talk to us. That's when she became friends with Davina."

"Don't deflect. Answer the sheriff's question", requested Scott.

Marcel looked at Stiles, "Trust me, kid. You don't want to know. Lexi never wanted to tell you. She doesn't want to ruin your memory of your mom."

"Oh we're way past that", said Stiles, "Now answer the goddamn question."

"Elexis told your mom what happened when she came here. Your mom was too delirious to understand, or maybe, she just didn't want to. But I do know that the last thing she ever said to her was to stay away from both of you."

Stiles couldn't take it anymore. Not only had he almost lost the guy he loved today, but on top of that, his entire notion about his mother had been shattered. He walked up to Marcel and to everybody's surprise, hugged him and started sobbing.

Recovering from the initial shock, Marcel smiled gently and hugged him back. After that, everyone settled quietly as Marcel continued, "When the Original family came back into town, it was the first time I saw them wrapped around someone's finger so easily. That was, obviously, before Hope was born. But Lexi blended so seamlessly in their little bubble, that she had made all of us a family before she knew it. She's the glue that holds us, and by extension, New Orleans, together. We'd all be lost without her"