Davina woke the next morning with a sinking feeling. "She's dead, isn't she?"
"Not yet," Kol answered.
Davina sat up, to see him standing at the window, staring out at the bayou. "I told them to go ahead."
"And I told them not to," Kol finished, turning to face her. "I knew you might feel differently in the morning."
"And if I don't?" Davina asked.
Kol smiled coldly. "Then I'll kill her myself."
Davina closed her eyes. "I shouldn't like it when you promise to kill people for me."
His lips landed on her forehead. "But you do, don't you? How did you sleep?"
"This house is like a swamp sauna," Davina grumbled. "Was it always this hot, or is it just because I'm pregnant?"
"We don't have the air conditioning on when we're not here," Kol pointed out, "and we weren't expecting to come out here. Sorry, I should have thought …"
"It's fine," Davina said. "I can feel the difference between that and the burning up yesterday."
Kol rested a hand on her stomach. "How do you feel?"
"A hundred times better," Davina answered with a weak smile. "You're right though. I do feel different this morning. Death is too quick. She'd die a martyr, and even if the ancestors shun her, she'll never see that she did wrong. I'd rather she rot in that cottage knowing that I will never, ever forgive her."
The quieter and safer New Orleans became, the more arguments started breaking out at the compound.
As Davina's pregnancy progressed, and Hope's third birthday got closer, Caroline decided that something needed to be done.
And so she, Caroline and Matt gathered around the kitchen table one Thursday afternoon, while their various significant others were out of the house.
"I feel like I should be taking minutes," Davina commented.
"I won't stop you," Caroline said, setting a plate of cookies on the table. "I'm calling this meeting to order. I'm sure we've all noticed the growing tensions."
"I'm surprised it's taken this long," Matt said. "I wouldn't be surprised if this is the longest they've been in each other's company since they were human - Freya wasn't there, and Rebekah and Kol were in and out of coffins all the time."
"That's true," Caroline conceded.
"It doesn't help that Kol wants us to have a home just for the three of us," Davina said with a sigh. "You know what Klaus is like about things like that."
Caroline grimaced. "He takes it as abandonment. Even when it's not. You two could be next door and he'd see it as Kol walking out on his family."
There was a quiet tap on the door and Aiden poked his head in. "Is this a private party or can anyone join in?"
"Come on in," Caroline said with a smile. "Welcome to the Mikaelson Family Support Group. We keep each other sane in the middle of the insanity. You, Josh and Sophie have been granted honorary membership, even though you can still escape."
Aiden chuckled. "Well, I'm flattered. I guess you guys are discussing the current situation?"
"They've all got a touch of codependency going on," Caroline said with a sigh. "They wear on each other's last nerve, but they won't consider separation as a solution. And, honestly, I don't want that either. I like having you lot around. Any ideas?"
"Can I ask the obvious?" Aiden said, helping himself to a cookie.
"Please," Caroline said, a touch of desperation in her voice.
"Yeah, you've got a bit of distance," Matt said. "Maybe you've seen something we haven't."
"Well, it's more of a logistics thing," Aiden said, "but this place is huge. Could you not split the upstairs into separate apartments? That way you'd all still be in the same house, you could have down here if you wanted to all be together, but you'd all have your space as well."
The three of them stared at him for a few moments and he coloured a little under their gaze. "Just an idea."
"No," Caroline said in a hushed voice. "Aiden, you are a genius."
In practice, it wasn't quite that simple, although once the idea had been put to the whole family, there was an immediate agreement.
For one, there was the unusual layout to consider. For another, they needed a few more apartments than they had thought.
By the time Christmas had passed and 2016 had been welcomed in with a bang, the compound had gained another storey and two upper stories had been split into seven apartments.
Klaus and Caroline's had been planned around Hope's nursery. Caroline had decided to move her office downstairs, so that anyone could still visit if they needed her, but she had also insisted on a spare room.
"Not just for my mom," she had said to Klaus when she'd brought it up, "but Hope's not going to stay this age forever. At some point, she's not going to want a mural of her whole family watching her sleep and I don't want to paint over it."
Next door, Kol and Davina had set up, although their nursery didn't have a wall mural, so they would be able to redecorate as the baby got older.
Likewise, Matt and Rebekah had requested a spare room, still considering the idea of adopting.
Above those three, Elijah, Freya and Sophie all had their own apartments, this time with one bedroom, but with the same living area and kitchen.
The final apartment had come as a surprise to their actual occupants - Josh probably should have realised that they wouldn't kick him out with the renovations, but given the look on his face, he certainly wasn't expecting a set of keys.
He and Aiden hadn't even really discussed moving in together. It just sort of happened that he spent most nights at the compound.
"We gave you a spare room," Caroline added, as they gazed around in shock. "Figured that Nick might want to stay the night every now and then."
Aiden just nodded mutely, while Josh hugged Caroline tightly, his embrace saying everything he couldn't.
Caroline hugged him back with a smile. "You're welcome. Right, I need to go and make a list of things to get for our kitchen. The main kitchen will still be stocked and we're planning on trying to eat together at least a few times a week. That includes you two - no excuses."
"Yes, ma'am," Josh said automatically, watching the front door (seriously, they had a front door) close behind her.
"Did you know about this?" Aiden asked.
"No," Josh said. He thought for a second. "I mean, thinking about it, maybe I did. Caroline never said it outright, but … maybe she figured it was implicit."
"Which for her it probably was," Aiden said, wandering over to the bookshelf. "She really thought about it though. I told her that was my favourite book months ago and …" He faltered, his eyes falling on a framed photograph.
"Is that you and Nick?" Josh asked, peering over his shoulder.
Aiden nodded, his jaw clenched. "With our parents. She must have asked Helena."
"Is that okay?" Josh asked.
Aiden nodded again. "Yeah, I just … I just can't believe she went to all this effort. Okay, it's Caroline - I can believe it. She doesn't do things by half."
"She once referred to herself as my vampire mom," Josh said with a weak smile. "Even though she didn't sire me and I'm technically older than her, it actually kind of fits." He hesitated. "You've never told me what happened to your parents."
"They were killed by vampires," Aiden said flatly. "That's why."
Josh froze. "Aiden …"
"You weren't the one that killed them," Aiden said, turning to him with a tired smile. "The blame falls on Marcel. And on an idiotic alpha that started a war and decimated the pack in the process. They would have loved you, Josh. Because I do."
Josh smiled, his fingers curling around Aiden's as he leaned in to kiss him. "So you're okay moving in with me then?"
Aiden chuckled. "I think we'd kind of already done that. Why else would Caroline assume we already had?"
"Well, either that," Josh said, "or decided to give us a kick up the ass to get us moving."
Kol's birthday arrived in March.
He was woken by his fiancee, not quite in the way he would have liked, but waking up with her in his arms was always a good start to the day.
"It's early," he murmured, once he'd checked the time. "You couldn't let me sleep in this morning?"
"Sorry, honey," Davina said. "Your present's here."
That woke him up properly and he gave her a playful poke on the nose. "I thought I told you not go get me anything."
"I didn't," Davina said, squeezing his hand, and it was only now he noticed the slight grimace on her face. "Get Sophie for me please? The baby wants to come today."
AN: So the UK is now officially in lockdown and I am trying to set up to work from home. For those of you who don't know, I work for a finance company as a credit controller - which means that my job currently involves contacting businesses that should be closed for money they don't have.
It's great fun.
Hopefully you're all keeping safe and healthy. It's not easy, but we'll all be out the other side of this before we know it.