It's been several weeks since Josh and Elijah left for France. Hayley and Marcel have finally filled Klaus in on what they did. He took it about as well as you could really expect Klaus to take being told anything after the fact - especially something this major.
As always, thank you to everyone who has read the previous chapters and left reviews and or favorited/followed. It is greatly appreciated.
Chapter 3 - You Did What?
Hayley rubbed her temples, and stared defiantly into the camera on her laptop. "Don't fucking yell at me like this was my idea, Klaus. You think I like this? You think I like the fact that I may never see Elijah again? Because believe me, I don't."
"Well then, little wolf, maybe you should have done more to talk him out of it. Maybe even pointed out how much this would hurt you."
She gave a humorless laugh at that. "Like he would have cared about that, right now. Besides, you're the one that put this idea into his head. Pointing out that he wasn't allowed to come running when you ended up going on one of your benders. This started as him not trusting himself to not keep being your fucking babysitter. Forgetting me was a bonus."
Klaus opened his mouth to say something else, but was interrupted. "Enough already! Both of you! Hayley, my brother is an idiot, sometimes. Nobody is going to deny that."
"Which one?"
Rebekah laughed. "Good point. All of them, really. But, right now, we're talking about Elijah. He's an idiot. But, he does love you. I have known that man for a thousand years, and I have never seen him the way he is with you. So, yes, he would have cared that he's hurting you."
"Rebekah, do I need to remind you of the things I said to him, how I treated him after what happened in Freya's pendant?"
"No. You don't need to remind me. But, we've all done far worse things to each other. And yet, here we are. Any one of us would die for any other one of us. And if you think that you aren't included in that, then I don't know what to say to you."
"Well, this is all very sweet, but can we get back to the subject at hand? Namely that our brother is who knows where, with no idea who he is, or that he has a thousand years worth of enemies who might be very interested to find out the vulnerable position he's in, right now."
"Actually, he's not as vulnerable as you may think. And Hayley, Davina, and I all know exactly where he is."
"You! You did this! If you know where he is, then go fix this. And why does Davina of all people know more about what is going on with my brother than I do?"
"No. This was his choice. I did it for him. I'm not undoing it, just because it's inconvenient for you. And as for Davina… Josh was hardly going to leave the country without saying goodbye to her."
Klaus was seriously starting to look like his head was about to literally explode. Hayley would have laughed if the situation wasn't so serious. "And what, exactly, does young Joshua Rosza have to do with any of this?"
Okay, time to draw the fire back to her. "Josh is with him. Which is also the answer to the second part of your concern. Elijah isn't alone. He's being looked after. He's safe."
Klaus didn't look convinced. "He's being looked after. By a child who has been a vampire for less than a decade. I'm sorry, but that does not exactly instill me with confidence."
"Right. Because I'm just going to turn my back on Elijah. I'm just going to sit here, and ignore any problems they may run into over there. And Davina is going to just stop even talking to Josh. Josh is keeping in touch. And now that you know what's going on, he'll keep you in the loop, too."
"And just whose brilliant idea was it to send Josh with him, anyway? Wouldn't it have made more sense to send someone older and stronger?"
"Like who, Klaus?"
"Like anyone! If you can compel Elijah, you can compel anyone."
"Well, that's not what Elijah wanted. Josh was his choice. He knew that there were four people who would come running if they got into trouble. Josh has something nobody else except three of those four people has. He didn't need to be compelled to do this. He's looking out for Elijah because he cares about him. Because he's family. He's one of us. You can't compel true loyalty, Klaus. I'll text you Josh's phone number. You can talk to him. See for yourself that Elijah is fine. But, for now, I need to end this conversation before I say something I'll regret. I'll have Hope call you when she gets home." And with that, Hayley shut down Skype and closed her laptop. And ignored her phone when it rang less than a minute later.
~You Can't Fight Destiny~
"Is it safe to talk?"
"Yeah. Elijah is downstairs, keeping the customers entertained. He won't come upstairs for a couple hours, yet."
"And do I even want to know what my brother is doing to keep your 'customers' entertained for hours at a time?"
"I own a bar, Klaus. Though, a bit higher class than Rousseau's was. This place is like something out of a movie. Almost reminds me of Rick's Place in Casablanca. And Elijah is my Sam. He plays the piano. He's damn good, actually. I never would have expected that."
"Yes, he's just full of surprises, lately. Are the two of you really all right?"
"We're doing fine. We gave him an alias, changed his last name. And I'm on vervain so he doesn't accidentally compel me. He seems happy."
"And you? Being uprooted and moving to another continent couldn't have been easy for you."
"Honestly? The hardest part was the language. I still talk to everyone. Mostly through text, to keep from having to worry about him hearing something he shouldn't. But, I'm not cut off or anything. And Elijah and I are becoming friends. I like it, here."
"What about money? Are you doing okay, financially?"
"I own a bar, Klaus. Marcel and Hayley set me up with seed money. And this place is actually doing really well. Clientele may be higher class than Rousseau's, but mixing drinks is still mixing drinks. We're doing just fine."
"You'll keep in touch? Let me know how he's doing? And if you need anything?"
"Of course. I never intended to keep you out of the loop. We just thought you would take this better from Hayley than from me. Now that you know what's going on, I'll text you the same as the others. He really is okay, Klaus. I'm not going to let anything happen to him. And, I'll tell you the same thing I told Hayley. This isn't forever. Freya will figure something out, she'll get rid of the Hollow, and you'll get your brother back."
"I know. But, it's still good to know that in the meantime, he's in good hands. I'll talk to you later."
Klaus ended the call and sighed. Elijah was fine. Josh really was taking good care of him. But knowing that didn't make this any easier. He missed his brother. At least he got to talk to Hope. He didn't even have that much with Elijah. And who knew how long it would be before Freya figured out a way to fix this.
He picked the phone back up and hit send on the number at the top of his speed dial list. "I've talked to Josh."
"Are you still mad at me?"
"No. But, that doesn't keep me from wanting him back."
"You and me both, Klaus. Freya too. So, she is working on this. But, Hope just got home. And you can probably use some time with her, right now."
"Thank you."
A minute later, he was greeted by the one person who could make things better, at least for a little while. "Hi, Daddy."
"Hello, my littlest wolf. How was school, today?"
And as Hope told him all about the things she was learning, and the friends she was making, he closed his eyes and tried not to wonder if he would ever even hear Elijah's voice again.