Takes place right after the group chat from the last chapter. Klaus is downright giddy about how well things went for Hayley with Elijah. So, he calls to tell Hope everything. But, it seems that his little girl isn't so little, anymore.

~You Can't Fight Destiny~

Klaus put his phone down with a smile. And then he raised his hand, getting the bartender's attention. "Open my tab. Drinks for the rest of the night are on me."

"You know that can get expensive, Mister Mikaelson."

"And you know that I'm good for it. My brother and sister-in-law had been going through a very rough patch, to the point of actually being separated. Tonight, they took the first steps to mending things and getting back together. This calls for a celebration."

"Well, my congratulations to them. I hope things continue to go well."

"As do I. That girl was the best thing to ever happen to him. It's good to have him start to recognize that, again. But, now I have a certain little lady that is going to be even happier than I am to hear this. So, I should go call her."

Once outside, it took all of his restraint not to vamp-speed all the way back to his hotel. And only slightly less not to do a Fred Astaire impersonation and dance his way there. Though, once at the hotel, he did abandon restraint and just jumped onto his balcony rather than wait for an elevator.

The second he was in his suite, he pulled his phone back out and Facetimed Caroline. "Is she still awake?"

Caroline just laughed. "Well, you are one of two people allowed to break her curfew. Calling to tell her about Hayley seeing Elijah?"

"Well, since Hayley is apparently exhausted, somebody needs to. Shame that that exhaustion was just from jetlag, though."

"Klaus!"

"Like I'm the only one thinking that. Hell! She's probably thinking that."

Caroline giggled. "Oh, I'm not going to try to say that we aren't all probably thinking it. But, after all your complaints about us discussing their sex lives, it's kind of funny to hear you be the one to actually say it."

He shrugged. "I'm in a good mood. Do you blame me?"

"Not at all. It was definitely good to hear about how things went. Now we just need to figure out a way to actually get them back together."

"I have every confidence in Freya. She'll fix this, and they'll be able to be together. Have faith, Caroline."

Somehow, Klaus didn't even notice that Caroline had apparently been walking through the school while she was talking to him. Until she stopped. "Hope? You have a phone call."

"Is it Mom? Did she tell you how things went? Is she with Uncle Elijah? Did he recognize her? No. Marcel would have done too good of a job for that. But, did they talk? Did he like her?"

Klaus blinked at the rapid-fire questions that didn't allow anybody to get a word in edgewise to actually answer any of those questions. "Is she always like this? She usually seems much more level-headed when she talks to me."

"Dad! Did you hear?! Mom went to see Uncle Elijah!"

"I heard, my littlest wolf. Caroline, can you please give her your phone?" And then he was looking at his daughter's excited face. "I did hear. Josh texted all of us when she just showed up in his bar."

"Wait! You heard about it from Josh? Where is Mom? Oh my God! Is she still with Uncle Elijah? What time is it, there? Do you think they're…"

"Hope Andrea Mikaelson! If you finish that sentence you will be grounded until you're seventy! And don't think your mother won't back me up on that one."

She got that attempting to look innocent expression that he recognized far too well from Rebekah. "I wasn't going to say anything bad."

"Sure you weren't. Now, do you want to hear what I know of what happened, or not? We can just wait until tomorrow when your mother can fill you in"."

"No! I'll behave. Tell me everything."

He chuckled. He would say that her enthusiasm was infectious, but the truth was that he called her because he needed to talk to somebody that would be just as giddy as he was, and wouldn't make fun of him for it. The rest of the family might be able to give him the first half of that, but only Hope could give him the second. "So… Apparently, he watched her for like an hour before he actually went up to talk to her."

"An hour?! He was watching her for an hour?" Hope actually shrieked. Klaus winced, partly in pain and partly in sympathy for the eardrums of every vampire at that school.

"An hour. Caroline and Aunt Rebekah both think he was trying to get up the nerve to go talk to her. And then… he was flirting with her. So obviously that when she called him out on it he admitted it."

"Oh my God! What exactly did he say? Did Josh tell you guys?"

"She was talking about how he was the first person she talked to besides the concierge at her hotel. And he commented on how the man in question is a notorious flirt, but that in her case, he doesn't blame him."

Hope squealed. "And he even admitted to her that he was flirting? Dad! You know him better than anyone. Is that normal?"

"Well, it certainly isn't normal for Elijah Mikaelson. Josh would know better if it's normal for Elijah Montgomery."

The look Hope gave him was just a little too thoughtful, and Klaus sighed. "Don't even think about it. You are not going to call Josh and interrogate him."

"You take all the fun out of everything."

"I'm your father. That's my job."

"Fine! So, then what?"

"So, he had to go to some art show. Which, Josh talked to her and gave her his ticket so she could go to."

"Did she go?! Do we know anything about what happened? I mean, I'm kind of hoping we don't, yet. And that she's still with him."

Klaus ran his hands through his hair. "You are as bad as your Aunt Rebekah. No, she isn't still with him."

"Well, that's disappointing. Though, it does mean that you can tell me more."

He laughed. "You are incorrigible."

"Less commentary on me, more talk about Mom and Uncle Elijah."

"Before I tell you that, though. Your mother has a Daylight Ring?"

"Well, I know that Aunt Freya is working really hard on getting us all back together. She misses all of you, especially Uncle Elijah. But… I wanted Mom to be prepared. Just in case."

"Well, you're going to have to explain yourself to her. She's feeling a bit hurt, thinking that you think she isn't going to be able to ever fix this."

Hope sighed. "That isn't at all it! Ugh! Now I have to call her first thing in the morning and try to explain it to her. Perfect."

"So, is it a real Daylight Ring, or does it just look like one?"

"It would work. It was good practice, making one for someone that didn't actually need it. I can make you one, if you want."

"I'm good, thanks. I was just curious is all."

"Okay, enough distractions. Have you heard from Mom, yet?"

Klaus laughed. "I have. And she did go to the art show. Uncle Elijah seemed happy to see her, when she got there. They flirted a bit. Sat and talked for a bit. Danced."

"Flirted? Both of them?! Ooo… did he kiss her?! Tell me he kissed her!"

"Unfortunately no. He didn't kiss her. She thinks he wanted to, though."

Hope gave an exasperated sigh that perfectly matched Klaus's own opinion on that subject. "Why are boys so stupid, anyway?"

"Excuse me? Pretty sure your Uncle Elijah stopped being a 'boy' a very long time ago."

"Fine! Why are men so stupid? Is that better?"

"Much. As for his so-called stupidity, I think it may have actually been chivalry. After all, he knew she couldn't stay, that she had a life waiting for her back in America. Maybe he thought a kiss would imply a promise neither of them could keep."

Hope sighed again, but this one was different. She sounded… the way teenage girls got whenever the current teen heartthrob was mentioned. Not that Klaus had time to process that, before she was talking. "That is so incredibly romantic."

"It is?" He had never considered that there not being a kiss could somehow be more romantic than there being one.

"It is! People kiss all the time, and it doesn't always mean anything. This sounds like he wanted it to mean something. Like… when he kisses her… It isn't going to be a goodbye. It's going to be a hello. You know?"

Klaus ran his hand over his eyes. He wasn't expecting this. When had she grown up so much? He was starting to understand how Hayley had felt the first time she saw Hope walking. He was missing everything. His little girl was growing up, and not even almost nightly phone calls were enough for him to feel like he was actually a part of it.

"Dad?"

"Sorry. I was off in my own world for a minute, there. Well, with any luck, your uncle is telling Josh everything, and we'll hear his side tomorrow. But, now I should let you go. Can you find Miss Forbes and give her her phone back?"

"Of course." She smirked. "Should I keep the call open so you can talk to her?"

"Please. Wait! What is that look for?"

"I'm not stupid. I know you talk to her almost as much as you talk to me. When are you going to ask her to spend a summer in L.A. with you?"

"Oh, not you, too!"

"Which, is not a denial."

"Have I mentioned that you sound like your Aunt Rebekah?"

"You might have. I'm not taking it as an insult." She had been walking, but she stopped. "Be brave, Dad. Be brave like Mom is. You deserve to be happy, too." And then she ran the rest of the way to Caroline's office and may have actually thrown the phone to her. Like she was afraid she was going to get yelled at, again.

~You Can't Fight Destiny~

"Why is your daughter throwing things at me?"

"Because she's ending our conversation before I can yell at her."

Caroline laughed. "Welcome to the wonderful world of adolescent girls. Let me guess. She jumped on the same thought process that Rebekah and I were on?"

"Yes!" Which was true, even if it wasn't what Hope was going to get yelled at for, that time. Klaus wasn't ready to talk about the end of his conversation with her, and so jumped at the chance to talk about something else. "Did you catch what she started to say right after you handed her the phone? That wasn't the only time she implied something like that. In fact, the next time, she basically said that she hoped they were!"

"She's a bit of a hopeless romantic. It's to be expected, I think."

"She's twelve."

"Yes. She's twelve. I'll spare you the details of what that means, but she is starting to have hormones, Klaus. Love and sex are starting to become things to her."

Klaus choked at that. "Sex is starting to become a thing?!"

"Wait! Calm down! She isn't anywhere near thinking about it for herself. But… wondering who else might be having it? Yeah. She's there. And Hayley is in love with Elijah. And we're all hoping that there is a part of Elijah that is still in love with her. That regardless of what happens with the Hollow… those two find their way back to each other. Don't tell me you aren't."

"Of course I am! But, this doesn't change the fact that my twelve year old daughter is apparently speculating on her mother's sex life."

Caroline actually rolled her eyes at him. "And how did Hayley become Hope's mother, Klaus? Granted, pretty sure the thought of you and Hayley having sex with each other still weirds Hope out. But, Hayley and Elijah? She's old enough to understand that that is something that people who are in love do. So, yeah. She's speculating. Not on details, but the thought that there is some part of Elijah that recognized his soulmate and wanted to be with her in every possible way? That she's speculating on. It isn't nearly as sordid and weird as you're making it out to be."

Klaus wasn't sure how much sense that actually made. But, he was hardly going to argue with Caroline about adolescent female brains. She would certainly know more about that than he would, having once been an adolescent girl, herself. "It was still a very weird conversation to have with my daughter."

"Oh, I'm sure. I'm not exactly looking forward to the twins getting to that stage. And, you have an advantage over me, there."

"What? That I only have the one daughter to deal with, and you have two that are going to be going through this at the exact same time?"

"No, that you have a daughter, not a son. Hope directs most of her sex questions to Hayley. Who do you think the twins are going to go to?"

Klaus laughed. "Poor Caroline."

"Yes. Poor me. I mean, I get some of it from my students. The joys of running a boarding school. But, it is going to be very different when it's my own daughters. I'm dreading it."

"Yeah… But at least you'll be able to be there for it."

"Klaus…"

"Tonight… Listening to her speculating on… not just whether Hayley and Elijah might be… too busy for Hayley to call any of us to tell us how it went. But then having her throw a very grown-up theory for why he didn't kiss her at me… She's growing up so damned fast. And I've missed all of it. I got two years with her, Caroline. Two years that she doesn't even remember. She was still in diapers when I let Marcel wall me in in the garden to buy Hayley time to save the others. And then, when we were finally able to be together, it was only for a few months. The phone calls aren't enough."

"I know."

"I'm extremely jealous of Hayley, right now. For Hope. For Elijah. I haven't even heard my brother's voice in four years. And as much faith as I have in Freya… there's a part of me that wonders if I ever will, again."

"Of course there is. Even if it's illogical. Even though you know that neither Freya or Hope are going to rest until they can get their family back. Until it happens, there will always be that voice in your head saying that it never will. But, you can't let fear control you."

"Be brave…" He took a deep breath. "You're right. I can't let fear control me. And there isn't a damned thing I can do about this. Getting the family back together is going to be up to Freya and Hope. But… there is something I can do something about. I once promised to show you around New Orleans. That is obviously not an option. When you're free to travel, I'm not allowed in New Orleans. But… I could show you around Los Angeles?"

The smile she gave him was almost enough to lift the dark mood he found himself in. "Talk to me closer to the end of the school year. I just might take you up on that."

"I definitely will. Do me a favor and tell Hope that I love her and good night for me? She was too busy throwing your phone at you before I could yell at her for us to have a proper goodbye."

Caroline laughed, again. "I'll do that. And I'm sure that she would say the same. Good night, Klaus."

"Good night, Caroline."

He turned his phone off again with a sigh. This day had been a bit of a roller coaster. And poor Hope would be devastated if she knew that she had inadvertently upset him. It was probably just as well that she had started on him about Caroline and ended the conversation. The last thing he would want was for her to be upset. She seemed to be adjusting to the way things had to be fairly well. Maybe that was because of how little time they had actually had together. She never got used to having him around, and this insanity was just normal for her. Which, only depressed him more.

He was learning something. Something Elijah and Rebekah had tried so hard to tell him, so many times. But, it never really sank in until now. He had never really been alone. He had certainly never been unloved. Ironic that it took losing them to make him realize that they really had always been there.

He closed his eyes, and said the prayer he had said every night since he and his siblings had scattered. "Please. Please let Freya find a way to fix this. Please, give me my family back."