"Mama, can we see baby please?!"
Caroline smiled, lifting Hope onto her hip. "Not yet, sweetheart. We still have to wait for the baby to come out of Auntie Davina's tummy."
The family had gathered in the hallway outside Kol and Davina's apartment, with the exception of Freya and Sophie, who were helping Davina.
"This is so different to when Hope was born," Matt murmured.
"At least we know about this one," Rebekah said, her eyes shining with excitement.
"A lot less dramatic as well," Elijah commented.
"Not for Davina, I bet," Caroline said.
As if to prove her point, Kol emerged from the apartment, looking faintly ill.
"Are they here?" Rebekah asked eagerly.
"Not yet," Kol said. "Davina's asking for you, Caroline; apparently, I'm not being very helpful."
Caroline chuckled. "Okay then."
"I come too?" Hope asked.
"Actually, Hope, I need you to do something even more important," Caroline said. "I need you to give Uncle Kol a big hug and make him feel better."
Hope nodded seriously and allowed herself to be handed over.
Kol gave a weak smile, rubbing her back. "Thank you, darling."
Patting his arm, Caroline let herself in to the apartment. There was no noise coming from the bedroom, but the smell of sage was very strong, so that was to be expected.
"How are we doing?" She asked, slipping in.
"I need a mom," Davina said, reaching for her, her eyes red with tears. "This really hurts!"
"I know, sweetheart," Caroline said, taking her hand. "You're doing so well, Davina; I know it doesn't feel like it right now. Sophie, where are we?"
"Need you to start pushing, Davina," Sophie said briskly. "On three now."
Davina whimpered, and Caroline settled beside her, squeezing her hand. "Come on, Davina. You can do this. Just breathe with me; it'll all be over soon. Deep breaths; that's it. Good girl."
Davina screamed, and a split-second later there was another set of lungs doing the same thing.
"He's here," Freya said, passing the baby up towards them.
Davina choked out a sob. "Hi sweetheart! Hi! Oh God, Caroline, look at him!"
"He's gorgeous, Davina," Caroline said, gently touching the baby's back. "Congratulations."
While Davina gazed down at him, Sophie cleaned him up and got him wrapped up. "There we are."
"Thanks," Davina murmured, her eyes fixed on her son. "This is …" She finally looked up at Caroline. "You didn't tell me it would feel like this."
Caroline smiled softly. "Can you put it into words?"
"No," Davina admitted. "No, I can't." She shifted and grimaced. "You didn't tell me about that bit either."
"Well, in my defence, if I hadn't healed on my own, my daughter would have taken care of it," Caroline said. "Looks like your little one will do things more in the usual way. Do you want me to take him while you get cleaned up?"
Davina hesitated for a second, then nodded. "Can you take him out to Kol? He's probably beside himself by now."
"If he isn't, Hope is," Caroline said, taking the baby. "Hi honey. Shall we go and see Daddy?"
When she stepped out of the apartment into the hallway, bundle in her arms, everyone stilled.
Kol allowed Hope to slide down from his lap and slowly rose to his feet. "How …?"
"Davina's fine," Caroline said with a smile. "She's just getting cleaned up. Did you know what she was having?"
Kol shook his head. "No, we decided not to find out."
Caroline grinned. "It's a boy."
"A boy," Kol repeated, a bright smile spreading across his face.
"A very handsome little boy, I must say," Caroline said, passing the baby over.
"Mama?" Hope asked, tugging her pants. "Mama, I see?"
Caroline laughed and picked Hope up, so she could peer into the bundle in her uncle's arms.
"Tiny," Hope said, wrinkling her nose. "He play?"
"Not yet baby," Caroline said. "He'll need to get a bit bigger before he can play with you."
"Oh, Kol, he's gorgeous," Rebekah whispered, resting her head on her brother's shoulder. "What's his name?"
"Before you answer that question," Freya said, sticking her head out, "Davina says you can all come in. You too," she added to Josh. "She specifically asked for you."
Kol led the way to the bedroom, where Davina was looking much better, although very, very tired.
"We won't stay long," Rebekah said immediately, bending to kiss her cheek. "You look exhausted."
"How some women willingly go through that more than once I will never know," Davina said with a laugh. "Apparently it's something to do with the hormones, but I don't feel it yet."
Kol sat down beside her and she leaned into him, touching their son's face gently.
"I can't believe he's here," she murmured. "You weren't even supposed to get here for another three weeks, young man."
"Clearly he's impatient," Elijah said. "He gets that from his father."
"Hey!" Kol protested, when everyone else laughed. "I resent that."
"You do that, honey," Davina said with a grin. "You know he's right."
"Auntie Vina," Hope said, reaching for her.
"Sweetheart, Auntie Davina might be a bit sore …" Caroline began.
"It's okay," Davina said, shifting a little so Hope could tuck in beside her. "Just mind my tummy, Hope, and we'll be okay. What do you think of your baby cousin, honey?"
"He small," Hope said.
"He is very small," Davina agreed. "That's because he wasn't quite ready to come out yet; he'll grow soon."
"What his name?" Hope asked.
"That's what we'd all like to know," Rebekah said. "I assume you had one?"
"We had a name for a boy and a name for a girl, just to be safe," Kol said. "Are you happy with it, Davina?"
Davina took another look at their son. "Yes, it feels right. Do you want to tell them?"
"Okay." Kol took a deep breath. "Everyone, this is Henrik Joshua Mikaelson."
Caroline's prediction about Henrik's magic turned out to be only half-correct - while he certainly wasn't as powerful as Hope, he was certainly more powerful than the average witch of his age.
The Mikaelsons were trying to be 'normal' siblings, whatever they were, and when Henrik was three months old, Kol finally agreed to leave Davina at home with the baby in order to go out with them - although what they were doing, Davina didn't know - and she wasn't sure she wanted to.
Henrik was asleep, so Davina was taking the opportunity to enjoy a book and a cup of tea, when there was a mild tap on the door.
"Come in," she called, not bothering to get up - the apartment doors did lock, but no one ever bothered.
"Auntie Davina!"
Davina smiled, setting her book down, and catching her niece as she ran towards her. "Hello, Hope - you need to try to be quiet; Henrik's asleep."
"Sorry," Hope whispered.
Davina kissed her forehead, looking up at Caroline. "What's up?"
"I need to go to the bayou," Caroline said, with a slightly strained smile. "There's been an incident - I don't think there'll be any issues, but I don't want to take Hope just in case there are; do you mind …?"
"No, of course not," Davina said hastily. "She can stay with me."
"Thanks," Caroline said. "I'd ask someone else, given you have enough on your hands, but everyone else is out somewhere."
"It's fine," Davina said. "Hope's a good girl; even if Henrik wakes up, we'll be fine."
"Alright, if you're sure." Caroline blew a kiss to Hope. "Be good baby girl."
"Okay, Hope," Davina said, when the door had closed behind her, "what can we play that's quiet?"
It turned out that the easiest 'quiet' activity was reading. Thankfully, Hope loved books, so she was quiet happy to sit on Davina's lap and listen to stories.
Now nearly three-and-a-half, Davina was even able to get her to identify some of the letters, which Hope was very proud of.
They were on the fourth story, when Davina felt a shiver run up her spine. She paused mid-sentence, listening intently.
She couldn't hear anything, but that didn't necessarily mean anything.
"Auntie Davina, what was that?" Hope asked.
If Hope had felt it too, something wasn't right.
"I don't know, sweetheart." Davina stood up, wincing as she heard Henrik start to cry, but she refrained from rushing to his side, heading instead to the window to peer out.
She could see nothing incriminating on the street, but the protective spells around the compound were wavering in a way that suggested they had been breached.
For a second, she froze, then her son's crying spurred her into action.
"Hope, come with me please."
Hope trotted to her side and Davina took her into the nursery.
"Ssh," Hope said to the baby. "Don't cry."
"He's scared, sweetheart," Davina said, crouching down. "Hope, I need you to be very brave because I think there are some not-nice people in the house. So you need to hide." Her eyes fell on the cupboards under the changing table.
A toddler would just about fit in there.
Davina opened the door and Hope crawled in without needing any further instruction. "Auntie Davina, I'm scared."
"I know." Davina could hear footsteps now, and she grabbed Henrik from the crib and settled him in with Hope on her lap, pressing a kiss to his forehead. "Stay there. What's the magic word this week?"
The magic word had been Kol's idea, when the compound's rule of 'Hope has to come out from where she's hiding when she's called' proved problematic when playing hide-and-seek.
So every week, they gave her a word that she had to respond to.
"Cabbage," Hope mumbled.
"Good girl," Davina said hurriedly. "Do not come out unless someone uses that word." She closed the cupboard, whispered a quick spell, and then left the nursery, carefully closing the door behind her, before turning to face whatever was going to come through the door.
Sophie arrived home, cheerful but tired from another long shift. She was whistling as she let herself into the compound - a tune that came to an abrupt halt when she realised two things - firstly, the protective spells around the compound had been broken, and secondly, Jeanette was lying in the middle of the courtyard, her neck at a very odd angle.
Sophie cautiously edged forwards. "Hello?"
No one answered.
Pulling out her cell-phone, she called Caroline, but she couldn't hear the phone ringing anywhere nearby.
"Sophie? What's wrong?"
"I'm not sure," Sophie said. "Where are you?"
"I'm on my way back," Caroline said. "I had to go out to the bayou."
Sophie's blood ran cold. "Where's Hope?"
"I left her with Davina," Caroline answered, worry beginning to tinge her voice. "What's happened?"
"Get home quickly," Sophie said. "Something's wrong. I just don't know what." She hang up and raced upstairs to Davina and Kol's apartment, bursting through the front door only to stop dead in horror.
Davina was slumped on the floor, unmoving.
"Davina?" Sophie whispered. "Davina, are you okay?"
There was no response.
Dropping to her knees beside her friend, Sophie rolled her over, biting back a scream when she was met with wide, unseeing eyes, and a neck that was clearly broken.
"No, no, no, you do not get to die on me," Sophie muttered, checking her pulse. "Davina, don't be dead; please don't be dead … Oh, God - Hope!"
The apartment was far too quiet for one that was holding two small children.
Sophie lunged for the door of the nursery, finding the crib empty.
"Hope?" She called. "Hope, it's Auntie Sophie!"
She still got no response, and she closed her eyes.
"Hope, cabbage. Come out please."
The creaking of a door sent a flood of relief through her and she scrambled to the changing table, the open door breaking the charm Davina had placed and allowing her to hear Henrik's screaming.
"Oh thank God …" Sophie pulled Henrik out so Hope could climb out and swept her into her arms. "Oh, thank God you're both okay."
Before she could stop her, Hope wriggled out of her arms and ran out to the living room. "Auntie Davina!"
"Hope …" Sophie called, hurrying out after her, trying to comfort the screaming baby in her arms.
"Auntie Davina, wake up!" Hope shouted, shaking her aunt.
Sophie closed her eyes against the tears that threatened her, sinking on to the couch. "Hope, come here please."
For a second, it looked like Hope would refuse, but something in Sophie's voice apparently caught her attention and she did as she was told. "Why isn't Auntie Davina waking up?"
"She's …" Sophie sucked in a breath, trying to remember what Caroline had told Hope about the people on her mural in the clouds. "She's gone to live with the angels, baby-girl, and she can't come back."