'Friend' was not an accurate description.

Davina accompanied Freya to the other side of the city, to an apartment, where the door was opened by a pretty woman with frizzy dark hair.

"Freya! I wasn't expecting you until tomorrow."

"Sorry for dropping in unexpectedly," Freya said with a smile, brushing a kiss against the woman's cheek. "This is my sister-in-law, Davina. She needs a bit of help. Davina, this is Keelin."

Keelin gave her a bright smile and gestured them both inside. "Please come in. Although I don't know how you think I can help, Freya. Can I get you a drink?"

"I'm fine, thanks," Davina said, giving Freya a small smile. "How long have you and Freya been 'friends'?"

"Subtlety is not your strong point," Freya grumbled.

Keelin frowned at her. "Seriously? I know this is the first time I'm meeting at least one member of your family, but they don't even know about us?"

"I wanted to keep you to myself for a little while," Freya said. "My family are the definition of dysfunctional."

"She's right," Davina said. "Honestly, enjoy the peace while it lasts. Just to warn you, though, Freya is just as bad as the others, even if she pretends she isn't, so you're welcome to join the Mikaelson Support Group. We meet Tuesdays, Thursdays and every other Saturday."

"I'd love to …" Keelin began.

"Why is there a Support Group?" Freya asked, looking slightly amused.

"Have you met you?" Davina asked. "It keeps us sane. Helps us figure out who's being paranoid about what on any given day. Also when you hang around your family, you start saying things like 'Someone's left a heart in the kitchen' like it's absolutely normal."

"I don't know whether to laugh or not," Keelin said.

"Laugh," Davina advised her. "It's easiest. At least you're not dealing with a vampire. Nine times out of ten, Kol brings me coffee and he manages to hand me the blood and keep the coffee himself."

"Yeah, he is really not a morning person," Freya said.

Keelin finally chuckled. "Okay, so how can I help?"

"Davina thinks she might be healing faster than she used to," Freya answered. "I can't actually track that with magic, so I was wondering if there was something you could do medically?"

"Sure," Keelin agreed easily. "I can do a blood test and then monitor the sample for a few weeks. We keep what we call a 'live sample' and it basically mirrors how the blood would react in the body. But," she added, "I want to test yours as well, while we're at it."

Freya sighed. "Okay. I'll get a sample of Sophie's as well."

"For control?" Keelin asked.

"Partly," Freya said. "And partly because if it happened to Davina, it happened to Sophie as well."

It was a few weeks later on a Wednesday that the results came through. Wednesday, Friday and Sunday nights were family nights, when everyone ate dinner together.

That wasn't to say that they only spent time together on those days, but the Mikaelson Support Group had agreed that it would be best if they had a few days fixed in the calendar.

While Sophie finished up dinner, Freya appeared in the doorway, looking uncharacteristically nervous. "Hi."

"Hi," Sophie greeted. "What's up?"

"Um, how mad will you be if there's an extra person at dinner?" Freya asked.

Sophie hesitated, casting an eye over the food. "Not too mad, but I would have appreciated more of a warning."

"I know," Freya said. "I kind of invited her on impulse and now I'm regretting it."

"Oh no," Sophie said firmly. "You are not using me as an excuse, Freya. Is this the girlfriend? Do we finally get to meet her?"

"Well, yes, but if …" Freya began.

"Nope," Sophie repeated. "When you go and pick her up, because I assume you will, swing by the store and pick up some dinner rolls for me. That should plug any gaps, and we'll be fine."

By the time Freya returned with Keelin, the whole house knew she was coming and Caroline met them at the door.

"Fair warning …" she began.

"They're not going to go easy on me," Freya finished with a sigh.

Caroline grinned. "They've practically set up a receiving line. Hi Keelin, nice to see you again."

"Hi," Keelin said, gripping Freya's hand. "I promise I'm not nervous."

"I would be," Caroline said honestly. "It's okay, they don't bite." She paused. "Okay, bad choice of words."

Keelin laughed, holding up a bag. "Well, I brought dessert."

"Okay, we're keeping you," Caroline said, taking the bag from her. "Come on in."

Without even consulting each other, Caroline and Davina had both given their respective partners a frank talk about being nice to their sister, although Caroline was more concerned about Klaus's reaction than Kol's.

After all, in the past, Kol had only ever been an irritant to Rebekah's lovers, rather than their murderer.

Thankfully, Klaus was perfectly civil to Keelin - whether he had grown up or just dealt with his siblings' female partners differently to the male ones, Caroline didn't know - and she wasn't about to ask.

Keelin took everything in her stride, not flinching at some of the more impolite questions (Kol) or even Hope's innocent "Can I be your bridesmaid?"

(Freya, on the other hand, nearly had a panic attack at that one.)

As the plates were cleared away after dinner, Freya cleared her throat. "So … Keelin's been asking me for ages to meet you, so thank you for not showing me up."

"Give them time," Matt said with a grin. "Night's not over yet."

Freya smiled. "True. Thing is, there is another reason she's here. Davina?"

Davina glanced up from cleaning Henrik's face. He wasn't anywhere close to eating solid food yet, but he did fuss when they had dinner, so she had taken to sitting him in a high chair and giving him a little bowl of milk mixed with some banana and a spoon, so he felt like he was joining in.

The side effect was that it went everywhere.

"You got the results back?"

"I did," Keelin said.

"Results from what?" Kol asked, sounding concerned.

Davina smiled. "Relax, honey. I'm not sick." She lifted Henrik out of the high chair and sat down again with him on her lap. "I know we all remember what happened a few weeks ago, when Sophie … panicked. I don't know if Sophie was right or not, but I thought something was different so I asked Freya for help. Keelin suggested doing a blood test."

"Hang on," Caroline said, frowning. "What do you mean, you don't know if Sophie was right? She can't have been right, Davina - you're alive."

Davina shrugged. "I know. Hope, honey? Do you remember the wish you made?"

Hope shrugged, her eyes darting to her mother.

"It's okay, sweetheart," Caroline said gently. "No one's going to be upset. Do you remember Auntie Davina getting hurt?"

Hope nodded. "Auntie Sophie said she went to live with the angels."

"And did you make a wish?" Caroline asked.

Hope hesitated.

Davina passed Henrik to Kol and rounded the table to crouch beside Hope's chair. "We need to know what happened, baby girl. You told me about your wish, remember?"
Hope nodded again. "I wished that you and Auntie Sophie could stay and teach me magic forever like Auntie Freya."

"What's special about Auntie Freya?" Caroline asked. "No offence, Freya."

"None taken," Freya said. "I want to know the answer myself."

"Auntie Sophie said Auntie Freya's special because she's a Mikaelson witch so she can be okay if she and Auntie Davina aren't," Hope said.

"You did," Caroline said, looking at Sophie. "Because Hope knew that Freya would have been okay if her … You know."

"So the blood test is why you wanted a sample from me as well?" Sophie asked Freya.

"That's right," Freya answered. "Although Keelin still hasn't told me."

"Well, are you okay for me to tell you here?" Keelin asked. "I should probably still try to aim for doctor-patient confidentiality."

"I'm fine with it," Davina said.

"Same here," Sophie added.

"Just tell us," Freya said. "They're all going to find out anyway."

"Okay, well, all three of you showed the same thing," Keelin said. "Your cells are healing rapidly. We call it rapid regeneration."

"So I was right," Davina said, a hint of triumph in her voice. "I wasn't imagining injuries."

"No, you weren't," Keelin agreed. "Now I can't tell you when this happened. What I can tell you is that it's actually a little bit more complicated than that."

"How?" Freya asked.

"Your cells aren't just healing rapidly," Keelin said. "They're not ageing either. In fact, they were in the same state as every sample of vampire blood I've examined."

"How in the name of …?" Kol cut himself off. "That's not even possible, is it? Witches can't be immortal, can they?"

"Freya was right next to Dahlia when she died," Caroline said slowly. "Is it possible that when she died, Freya, I don't know, absorbed the magic?"

"It's possible," Freya said, after a pause. "But by that logic, surely I should have passed out by now. We had to sleep for a century in between years, remember?"

"Well, if you absorbed Dahlia's magic, you would have absorbed Esther's as well, wouldn't you?" Matt asked. "They died at the same time."

"That still doesn't explain Davina and Sophie though," Kol said.

"Hope wanted us to be like Freya," Davina said with a shrug.

"There was a blast of magic," Caroline said slowly. "It knocked me off my feet, remember?"

"It wasn't fair," Sophie repeated.

"Mama," Hope said quietly. "Am I in trouble?"

"No, baby girl, you're not in trouble," Caroline said hastily. "You didn't do anything wrong. But you need to remember to try and be careful with your magic, okay? Because this was a good thing, but you could have hurt someone instead."

Hope nodded. "I'll be careful."

Caroline kissed her head. "Good girl."

"There is actually something else," Freya said. "Davina said that she managed to perform a spell that should require Mikaelson family magic."

"Oh, the teacups?" Sophie asked. "I could do that one too."

"That's not possible," Kol said.

"Actually it makes sense," Caroline said. "From what Sophie said, it sounded like Freya was immortal - or couldn't die, rather - because she was a Mikaelson witch. At least, that would be a reasonable conclusion."

"How would we even test that, though?" Freya asked. "To my knowledge, there's no way of checking that kind of thing. I mean … I could sense Mikaelson magic in someone, but I've known Davina and Sophie for long enough that I don't know if I would register a change."

"What about the map?" Matt asked. "It shows up everyone with Mikaelson family magic, right? So there should only be seven."

"I'll go and find it," Kol said, handing Henrik off to Rebekah, who bounced him a little on her knee, making him squeal with laughter.

"Who wants dessert?" Sophie asked. "I've got ice cream."

"I brought a cake," Keelin added.

"Cake please!" Hope said immediately.

"Well, since you asked so politely," Sophie said with a smile.

Caroline followed her into the kitchen. "Are you okay?"

"Fine," Sophie said briskly.

"No you're not," Caroline disagreed.

"Then why did you ask?" Sophie asked with a sigh. "No, I'm not okay. I also don't want to think about it right now. Let's just take this out."

Caroline grabbed the ice cream from the freezer and some bowls, while Sophie turned out the cake on to a plate.

"That cake looks amazing," Caroline said as they returned to the dining room.

"Thank you," Keelin said with a smile. "I'd love to say I made it myself, but it came from a box mix."

"I count that as making it," Caroline said.

"Cake please," Hope repeated.

"Hold on, sweetheart," Caroline said with a laugh. "Let us cut it first."

"It is coconut," Keelin said. "I don't know if Hope's had that before."

Caroline thought for a second. "No, I don't think she has. Hope, do you want to try some of Mommy's first? It's a new flavour."

Hope nodded. "Yes please."

Caroline gave her a small spoonful of cake and watched. She loved watching Hope try new things. She wasn't even four yet, but she took every new food with the same kind of solemnity of a food critic, chewing slowly with her head tilted to one side as though considering her response.

"Do you like it?" Caroline asked after a few minutes.

Hope smiled. "Uh huh. Yes please."

"That's my polite girl," Caroline said, kissing her head. "You've been very good with your pleases and thank yous lately."

"Where has Kol got to?" Rebekah asked, accepting a slice of cake over Henrik's head. "Did you bury the map?"

Davina shrugged. "I guess it might have got a little lost when we moved."

As if on cue, Kol returned, the map in his hands. "Matt, you brought it up," he said a little shortly. "How many dots can you see?"

Matt took the paper and squinted at it. "Hard to say - you're all here so they've overlapping, but I count …" he faltered. "Nine. I see nine."

"Let me see?" Rebekah asked, trading him the map for a forkful of cake. "I count nine."

"You were right," Kol said to Davina.

"You're upset."

Kol sighed. "You're alive. Of course I'm not upset."

Davina set the baby monitor down on the nightstand - Kol didn't need one, of course, but it made her feel better to have it there. "Of course you're not upset that I'm alive. But Freya, Sophie and I are now all immortal witches. Something that shouldn't even be possible. And you know that Hope won't be able to repeat this."

"I don't think anyone could," Kol said heavily.

Davina rubbed his back, pressing a kiss against his head. "I'm sorry. If I could give you your magic …"

"I know," Kol said, tugging her into his lap. "But I've done a lot of bad in my life. To get my magic back would be more than I deserve. You loving me is more than I deserve. And forever just got a lot longer."