Caroline burst through the door five minutes later to find two crying children, one crying adult, and …

"Oh God, Davina …"

"Mama, Auntie Davina won't wake up," Hope said, running to her.

Caroline knelt down to catch her. "Sweetheart … Sophie, what happened?"

"Her …" Sophie's voice caught. "Her neck's broken, Caroline; we need to call Kol."

"We can't tell him that over the phone," Caroline protested. "It's going to break his heart as it is - Oh, sweetheart …"

"Why won't she wake up?" Hope sobbed. "Auntie Freya would wake up."

That caught Caroline's attention. "How does she know that?"

"I have no idea," Sophie said, sniffling. "Hope, Auntie Freya is a Mikaelson witch, like you - things can happen to Auntie Freya that can't happen to me and Auntie Davina."

"I want her to wake up," Hope said.

"So do I baby girl," Caroline said softly. "But she can't …"

"It's not FAIR!" Hope screamed.

The blast of magic caught Caroline by surprise, not least because it actually knocked her backwards.

For a second, the room was quiet - even Henrik had been shocked out of crying by the sudden explosion.

Then Hope burst into tears again. "I'm sorry Mama!"

"It's alright, sweetheart," Caroline said, scooping her. "It's alright - it was an accident because you were upset. Okay, I know you're upset - I'm calling Daddy right now, okay? Because Daddy needs to - Nik? Nik, you need to get home now! Something's happened; Davina's …"

She was cut off by a sudden gasp.

Davina bolted upright, grabbing her throat, and Hope threw herself out of her mother's arms and into Davina's.

"Actually, she's okay," Caroline finished. "But get home anyway because I have no idea what the hell's going on."

"Auntie Davina, Auntie Sophie said you weren't coming back from the angels!"

"Sophie!" Davina protested, her voice quite hoarse. "Why would you tell her that?!" She struggled to her feet and moved to the couch, still with Hope clinging to her like a limpet. "It's alright, sweetheart; I'm here." She managed to free an arm and reached over to touch her son's face. "I'm here, Henrik. Mommy's okay."

"You were dead, Davina," Sophie said in a low voice. "You were definitely dead."

"Well, clearly I wasn't." Davina kissed Hope's forehead. "Sweetheart, can you budge over a little bit so I can make sure Henrik's okay?"

Hope hesitated, but when her mother sat down on Davina's other side, she shifted towards her, and Davina took her baby into her arms.

A quick check confirmed that his cries were purely due to fear, and she tucked him against her chest so he could her her heartbeat.

"Davina, you were definitely dead," Sophie said. "You don't … You didn't have vampire blood in your system, did you?"

Davina hesitated. "Not that I know of. No. No, Kol wouldn't do that, not without telling me."

"Look at me," Caroline said softly. She caught Davina's eye and focused on her pulse. "No, you're not in transition. You must have made a mistake, Sophie."

"You saw her," Sophie insisted. "She was dead."

"Okay, but she's not now," Caroline said sensibly. "Unless you're suggesting that she's been resurrected."

"Don't be ridiculous," Sophie said immediately.

The main door of the compound burst open and, a few seconds later, Kol blurred in, closely followed by his siblings.

"What happened?" Kol asked urgently. "Davina, are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Davina insisted. "Sophie freaked out on us, that's all."

"Caroline?" Klaus asked.

Caroline smiled weakly. "Sophie got a shock when she got home; so did I. Sorry for worrying you. But someone got into the compound …"

"It was a witch," Davina interrupted. "She had some kind of history with Kol; wanted revenge. I hid the kids and we had an … altercation. I guess she must have knocked me out."

"She didn't do anything else?" Kol asked. "Did she tell you her name?"

Davina frowned. "I … I don't remember. The whole thing's a bit of a blur."

"Auntie Sophie …" Hope began.

"Auntie Sophie made a mistake," Sophie said hastily. "And I'm very sorry I scared you, Hope."

"Sophie?" Klaus prompted.

"I thought she was dead," Sophie said, getting to her feet so that Kol could sit beside his fiancee. "I must have made a mistake."

"I didn't double-check," Caroline said kindly. "It's not your fault."

"I know," Sophie said. "I just …" she gave a shaky laugh. "I can't feel my hands."

"I think you need a drink," Freya said firmly. "Come on."

"Time for us to go too, baby girl," Caroline said.

Hope shook her head, burying her face in Davina's arm. "No."

"We don't mind looking after her," Kol said.

Davina shook her head in agreement. "You probably need to debrief Klaus anyway."

"True," Caroline said. "Okay. I'll go and do that; she might have calmed down by then."

Hope didn't calm down.

In fact she wouldn't leave Davina's side for the rest of the day.

"Hope," Caroline called eventually. "It's bedtime, sweetheart."

Hope looked up at Davina. "Can you tuck me in please?"

Davina smiled and picked her up, carrying her down the hall to Caroline and Klaus's apartment and into the nursery.

Only once she was in bed did Hope finally allow Davina to move more than a few steps away from her, and only then to get a book.

"Which one would you like, Hope?" She asked.

"The puppy one," Hope said with a grin.

"Please," Davina finished automatically, finding the book she meant. When they'd finished, she eased Hope out of her arms and tucked the blankets around her.

"Auntie Davina, you will stay?"

Davina smiled, kissing her head. "Well, I need to go back to Henrik at some point. But I'll stay until you fall asleep, and I'm not going to live with the angels any time soon, okay?"

Hope nodded. "You were really asleep. I had to wake you up."

"Did you?" Davina asked, humouring her. "How did you do that?"

Hope yawned. "I wished you and Auntie Sophie could stay and teach me magic forever like Auntie Freya."

A few weeks later, and Davina was not quite as dismissive of Hope's assertion as she had been. Having packed Kol off to the park with Henrik to give herself a chance to for some me-time, she found herself standing outside Freya's apartment instead.

She had already talked herself out of it several times, when Freya opened the door with a smile.

"Are you coming in?" She asked. "Or would you like a chair?"

Davina smiled sheepishly. "I guess I'm coming in. I need some … help's not the right word, but …"

"You want a second opinion?" Freya guessed.

"Not quite," Davina said, "but I guess that's the closest." She followed Freya into the apartment and sank on to the couch.

Once the Mikaelson siblings had somewhat separated, it became more and more obvious that sooner or later there would have been a clash somewhere along the line, if for no other reason than style preferences.

Each apartment was completely different from the last.

Freya's reminded Davina of a cross between an old tea shop, an antique store, and the apothecaries down in the Cauldron. It was a style more at home with someone the age of Madame LaRue, as opposed to someone who - on the outside at least - was young, vivacious and in her late twenties.

"So what's up?" Freya asked.

"I don't know," Davina admitted. "Ever since the thing with the witch, I've been … Something's off, Freya. Hope said that she woke me up and …"

"Do you think she did?" Freya asked sharply.

"I didn't," Davina said with a sigh. "And then I thought, well, maybe she did. Caroline said that she had a bit of a meltdown and there was a blast of magic - I was unconscious, maybe that did wake me up, but … I don't know."

"What do you know?" Freya asked, her voice softening.

"I …" Davina faltered for a second. "It's all still a blur, what happened, but I remember the pain. And Sophie said when she found me, my eyes were wide open and I had a broken neck."

"I'm sure there must be some cases where people are knocked out and their eyes don't close," Freya said. "Or maybe it was part of the spell. And she made a mistake; she said that herself."

"Maybe," Davina conceded. "Either way, Hope said that she wished Sophie and I would stay and teach her magic forever, like you."

"What did she mean by that?" Freya asked with a frown.

"I"m not sure," Davina admitted. "But Sophie said that she knew that whatever happened to me wouldn't have killed you."

"A broken neck would kill me," Freya said immediately. "At least it should."

"But you do heal quicker, don't you?" Davina asked. "The last three times I've cooked, I swear blind that I've cut myself. But every time I go to patch it up, there's nothing there. And there's this - can I borrow a tea cup?"

Freya raised an eyebrow, but obligingly fetched her a china cup. "Do you want something in it?"

"No, empty please." Davina took the cup and set it on the coffee table. She murmured a few words and the cup wiggled, before bouncing around the table like a rabbit.

Freya chuckled. "That's cute."

"I found it in your mother's grimoire, if you can believe that," Davina said. "Sophie and I thought it would be a nice spell to teach Hope. But I told Kol this morning, and you know what he said?"

Freya's smile faded. "What?"

"It's a family spell," Davina said. "Without Mikaelson family magic, there's no way in hell I should have been able to do that."

Freya was silent for a few moments, watching the tea cup bounce. Finally she picked it up, cancelling the spell. "I don't know what to say, Davina. If he's right, then what you just did is impossible unless you've somehow managed to absorb the family magic and I wouldn't even know how to go about testing that. The healing, on the other hand, should be easier."

"I'm not slicing my hand open," Davina said warily.

Freya laughed. "I'm not suggesting you do. We'll go and see a friend of mine. She might have a few ideas."

You didn't really think I'd kill off Davina, did you?

I promise, this is the last time I use Hope as a deus ex machina. In this story at least.

On another note, I'm hoping someone can help me out - I've changed the story of the Gemini and the Merge in this series, as I'm sure you've noticed. However in Legacies (spoiler alert!) Caroline is out searching for a cure or a way to stop it. However, given that it is a spell that two witches have to perform, what happens if they just ... don't do it?