"Okay, we need to change the plan, a bit. I'm going to Mystic Falls. I'm not needed in Manosque. In fact, all having me there will do is add another possible complication. On the other hand, what is Hayley going to do to get Hope's blood? Bite her? You two could use a medical professional."

"Yeah. I wasn't really thinking clearly. I'm so worried about Hope, and Elijah, right now. I'm being so stupid. We have all been so stupid. It's been four years, Keelin. My God! What if Antoinette had tried something? Or even if Elijah had felt something when he kissed her?"

"Is this you being worried about him, or you realizing he might have ended up falling for someone somewhere along the way?"

Hayley sighed. "Honestly? Right now it's me being worried about him. If she didn't have to give up and leave for a while… if she's really there as an agent of her mother's… She could have hurt him, Keelin. Maybe she couldn't have killed him, but… she could have hurt him. And we never would have known."

"Well, there's plenty of time to beat yourself up about that, later. Right now, let's go deal with your daughter. And then get ourselves to France." She sighed. "I'm going to Paris. Arguably the most romantic city in the world. And will I be with my girlfriend? No. I'll be with her family, possibly helping to torture a woman."

"Welcome to the Mikaelson family, Keelin. It's not easy. Nobody ever claimed it would be. But, when you fall for one of them… this becomes your life. At least you can get out, if you really want to."

"No. I love her. I'm in this for as long as she wants me to be. This is my family, too. Maybe not by blood, or in any kind of official way, but this is my family. I can no more walk away than you can." She shook her head. "But, enough of that! Let's go collect your daughter's blood. I'm actually kind of interested in finding out if it works the same way as Klaus's, myself. The scientist in me is actually kind of curious about something else, too."

When Keelin didn't elaborate, Hayley questioned her. "And what exactly is that?"

"Well, Hope hasn't triggered her curse, yet. But, she's also still very much alive and yet she can make hybrids. You're living proof of that. Makes me curious what else she can do that she shouldn't be able to, yet."

"You planning on making sense sometime today, Keelin?"

"You mean, you aren't the slightest bit curious about if she's venomous?"

Hayley froze at that. "That is an experiment for another time. I wouldn't begin to know how to test it without her being there. And there is no way I'm taking her to France, for this. Not with all of this going on. Even if Klaus wasn't going to be there."

"Yeah. But definitely something to wonder about, isn't it? Maybe someday we should test it. In a controlled environment, obviously."

Hayley just nodded. And then she went up to her room to pack.

~You Can't Fight Destiny~

"Is anyone planning on telling me what's going on? Caroline just pulled me out of class, stuck me in here, and told me to put the best boundary spell I was capable of on the room and not take it down for anyone but you. I'm not stupid. What happened?"

Hayley sighed. She should know better than to try to keep anything from her daughter. The girl was really too smart for anyone's good. "There's a problem in France."

Hope paled. "Is Uncle Elijah okay? Is Josh okay? What happened? Mom, you can't tell me something like that and not finish. What kind of problem?"

Hayley took a deep breath. How to explain this? How did she tell her twelve-year-old daughter what was even going on, much less what they intended to do about it? She tried so hard to shelter Hope from the darker side of life. And yet… She was a Mikaelson. Was sheltering her really doing her any favors? "It turns out that the woman Josh and Uncle Elijah bought their bar from used to know Uncle Elijah a long time ago. Which has your dad wondering how she knew to pretend that she didn't. So, we're worried about them, right now. So, I'm going to go to France. Marcel and Aunt Davina are going to Manosque. They're going to find this woman and bring her to Paris. And then your dad and I are going to find out exactly what she's up to. But, in the meantime, Caroline and Aunt Freya both think it would be better if you went home for a while. Just until we find out what's going on."

"There's more, isn't there?"

Hayley nodded. There was no real point in trying to keep it from her. After all, they needed to collect her blood for the experiment. "Your dad… is being Klaus Mikaelson. If it turns out that she's there to try to hurt Uncle Elijah or Josh then… we're going to use her to see if your blood will cure a werewolf bite. After all, it can be used to make hybrids. So, you're basically a new Original Hybrid. And, it would be good for Caroline to know. With the way werewolves and vampires interact around here."

Hope looked at Keelin. "So, I guess that's what you're doing here? You're here as a doctor, to draw my blood?"

"Yeah. Made more sense than just having your mom bite you. So, if it's okay, I want to take about three vials from you. I promise to make it as painless as possible."

Hope rolled her eyes. "I'm a witch. I can help make it easier, too." And then she held her arm out. "Go ahead. Do what you've gotta do."

It was less than five minutes before Keelin had collected enough blood for the three tests they planned on running. And then Hope used her magic to heal the puncture wound. She smirked at them. "See? I've been doing that since I was a baby. Easy peasy. Now, are you going to tell me the real reason you're sending me back to New Orleans? Something else is wrong, isn't it?"

Hayley nodded. "The woman has a younger brother. And it turns out that he goes to your school. Now, he could be perfectly harmless. But, nobody wants to take that chance until we at least know what she is up to. So, we're going to send you home for a bit. And Caroline is going to keep an eye on him for us. Once we know more, we'll figure out what to do about all of this. But, for right now, it just seems safer to keep the two of you far away from each other."

Hope nodded and hugged Hayley. "I love you, Mom. Give Dad my love. I'll be fine. You take care of Uncle Elijah. I wish I could go with. But… if Dad is going, obviously I can't. So, I'll see you when you get back, right?"

"Yeah, Baby Girl. I'll see you when I get back. And your dad sends his love, too. I kind of forgot about that while I was busy explaining what was going on to you." She kissed her daughter on the forehead, and then hugged her sister-in-law. "You take care of her, okay? I don't care if you have to lock the compound down so tight that even I can't get in. You take care of her."

"I will. You worry about taking care of yourself. And my brothers. I promise you, Hayley. We'll get to the bottom of this. He's going to be okay."

Hayley just nodded and then looked at Keelin. "Let's go. I want to get to Paris long before Marcel and Davina do. I do not trust Klaus. I want a chance to talk him down before he's in the same room as Antoinette."

~You Can't Fight Destiny~

Luckily Elijah was upstairs when Davina walked into Josh's Place. "Davina!" He vaulted over the bar and ran over to his best friend, then picked her up and spun her around. "I've missed you, little sister." And then he surprised Marcel by pulling him into a hug.

"I've missed you too. But, we should probably get somewhere a bit less public so we can talk."

"Yeah. My office is this way. Elijah is upstairs. So, we won't be interrupted." He led them to the office, and closed the door before unlocking the bottom drawer of his file cabinet and pulling out Antoinette's glass. "So, how does this work, exactly? I mean, I would really rather not have her come back here. Like, ever. Even if it turns out that she's mostly harmless. She's still a fucking stalker, and Elijah doesn't need to deal with her."

"Yeah, don't worry about that. You think Klaus wants her poking around here? Even if she is mostly harmless? If it turns out that she's just a normal stalker, we'll compel her to forget she ever met Elijah, and to never set foot in Manosque again. No matter what happens, neither of you will ever see her again. If Klaus doesn't do it, then I will."

"Thanks, man. So, how is everyone? Is Hayley holding up okay?"

"Oh, I'm sure that Hayley is due for another freak out over this. But, something to be said for being a werewolf Alpha. Leadership is literally in her blood. She'll get through this. And have her breakdown when we're done."

"Yeah. It's the breakdown I'm worried about."

Marcel shook his head. "Nah. Klaus won't let her get to that point, again. And now that Freya, Keelin, and Vincent all know what to look for, neither will they. She'll be okay. If she starts to withdraw into herself, Klaus will drag her back to California if that's what it takes."

Meanwhile, Davina had pulled a map of the city out from somewhere and had tied one end of a string around Antoinette's glass and the other around a pin. She held the glass over the map so that the pin was just above the surface of the map. And then she started chanting. It was less than a minute before Josh saw the pin jerk. Davina looked up with a smile. "All right, Josh. You've lived here for four years. What's it pointing at?"

Josh looked at the map, and the pin, and felt the blood drain from his face. "Okay, it could be a coincidence. Because it's not like there are a lot of hotels in this city, but… That's the Hotel Saint Louis." At the blank looks on their faces, he elaborated. "It's the same hotel Hayley stayed at when she was here. I don't like this, guys. First she just happens to come back to town the same day that Elijah gets a letter from Hayley, then she's staying at the same hotel? I don't like coincidences. Not right now. Not with him so fucking vulnerable." He looked at Davina. "Speaking of being vulnerable, your husband is aware that if something is going on, he's as much of a target as Elijah is, right? I mean… killing Rebekah gives a 50/50 chance it would kill them, too. But Kol already died once. His Sire line is already gone."

Davina nodded. "He's aware. And he's taking precautions. Mainly in not leaving our apartment. Which, the lease is in my name. They want to get to Kol they literally have to kill me to do it. He's fine. But thank you." And then she folded up the map. "Okay. Josh, I wish I could spend more time with you, but the sooner we get this done, the sooner we can maybe all take a deep breath."

Josh snorted. "Yeah. Maybe." He hugged them both again. "You two take care of yourselves. And don't worry about Elijah. He may not know to be on the lookout, but I promise you that I am watching out for him. He'll be okay."

"I know, Josh. I never would have asked you to do this if I didn't trust you. And that becomes exponential when it comes to Hayley. We know that you're taking care of him. And hopefully this will just be a normal stalker situation and we can all get back to our lives." Though, the look on Marcel's face made it very clear that he didn't believe that for a minute. Something was going on. Something major. And Antoinette Sienna was just the tip of the iceberg.

~You Can't Fight Destiny~

Klaus sat in the living room of the house he kept in Paris drinking a glass of scotch and trying not to think too much about what the others were doing. And if Elijah was safe. That was the real question. Because if there was somebody out there that wanted the Mikaelsons dead, Elijah was extremely vulnerable. And maybe it was paranoia causing Klaus to assume that was what this was about. But, he couldn't help it. After all, the man Antoinette had called father was basically a vampire Nazi, back before the word Nazi meant anything. A purist of the worst sort. He wanted the world purged of witches, werewolves, and especially hybrids. Probably the only thing that kept him from trying to commit total genocide against humans was that he wasn't quite stupid enough to try to exterminate his food source.

He threw his glass at the wall. How could he have been so stupid? So stupid and so soft. Since when did Klaus Mikaelson grant mercy? How could he have not realized that Greta knew exactly what her husband had been up to and quite possibly shared his views? He should have exterminated the entire damned family that night. But no. For one of the few times in his very long life, he had shown compassion. And now, his brother very nearly paid the price for that.

The door opened and Hayley and Keelin walked in. Except, Keelin took one look at the broken glass on the floor and sighed. "I'm going to go take a walk. I've never been to Paris, before. It might be nice to actually get to see some of it. At least while we're waiting for the others. Call me when Marcel and Davina get here?" And then she was gone.

"Right. She just doesn't want to be subjected to Klaus Mikaelson when he's in a mood. I guess I don't really blame her."

"I actually don't think that's it. I think she's just giving us some time alone."

"And why would she be concerned about giving us time alone? I could see that being an issue if I was Elijah, but I am not."

Hayley rolled her eyes. "No, Klaus. She's not thinking she's leaving us alone to have sex. I mean, eww."

He laughed. "That's not what you said thirteen years ago."

"I was drunk. And you are pretty cute. But, can you please try to be serious for a minute, here? Yeah. She saw the broken glass. It's obvious that you're upset about something. So, she's leaving us alone to talk."

"I don't need to talk. I'm perfectly fine. I mean, besides worrying about Elijah, and all."

Except Hayley could see right through him. Maybe it was a side effect of all those talks they had while he was trying to deal with her nervous breakdown. "Bullshit. Klaus, remember what we promised each other two years ago."

"You're not going to let this go, are you?"

"I may not be able to compel you, but… Marcel and Davina will both be here, soon. So, you can either talk to me, now, or I can have them deal with you, later. Your choice."

"I don't like you when you're like this."

"I didn't particularly like you when you were forcing food and blood down my throat, and carrying me out of Elijah's room when I wouldn't leave under my own power, and basically kidnapping me. But, you did it, anyway. Because it was what I needed at the time. So, talk to me."

He sighed and waved for her to sit down. Once she had closed the door and sat in the chair across from him, he sighed again. "Do you have any idea how jealous I am of you right now, Little Wolf?"

She smiled. "And why is that?" She probably knew, actually. She was smart enough to figure it out. But, she was trying to get him to talk. He had to admit that she was good. Almost as good as Cami.

"Cami would be proud, right now. Anyway… I'm jealous because of Hope, and Rebekah, and Kol, and… and Elijah. The four people I am closest to in this world are the four people that I'm not allowed to be in the same city as. But you can. You see our daughter all the time. You and Rebekah can visit each other while Hope is in school. I know that you've even started getting close with Kol. And… you've even been to see Elijah. Not even Freya has seen Elijah in four years. But you have. I haven't even talked to him on the phone or gotten a letter or email. In four years. But you have. I miss him, Hayley. I miss him so much. And I don't know that I am ever going to get him back. But you? You can hop on a plane any time you want. You can become Andrea for a weekend. And you can see him. Even now. His life is in danger, and this is the closest I can get to him. Because getting any closer would put him in even more danger. And I'm feeling useless. Which is the real reason that I had to be a part of this little mission of ours. Marcel could have handled this just as easily as I could. But, I couldn't sit in California, while Marcel was here, dealing with this. I may not be needed but at least I'm not completely useless. At least I can do something to keep my brother safe. Even if he doesn't really need me to."

He heard Hayley sigh, and the next thing he knew, she was on the couch next to him and her arms were around him. "Shh… He's going to be okay. We're here, now. And we're going to fix this. And he's going to be okay. And I'm going to tell you the same thing Josh told me. This isn't forever, Klaus. Do you really think that either Freya or Hope are going to rest until they get our family put back together? You think phone calls are enough for Hope? They aren't. She misses you. Every damn day. She's going to find a way to fix this, Klaus. I promise you. She's going to fix this. And we'll get him back. But, right now, we need to concentrate on making sure he lives long enough. So, we need to pull it together, for a little while longer."

He returned her hug, and nodded. But, talking to her, admitting his real problem seemed to be thing that made the dam he had put up burst. And suddenly he was crying in her arms. "I can't say anything to Freya, much less to Hope. Because I know that they're trying. But, it's been four years. And it just feels like forever, all ready. Which is stupid. I'm a thousand years old. Four years is just a drop in the bucket, really. And yet, it's felt like forever. I've gone longer without seeing him before. But… it's different, this time."

He felt Hayley nod. "This time it isn't by choice. That makes it different. The other times the two of you would separate for a while, you knew that it was temporary. He wasn't really gone he was just somewhere else for a while. I understand. I really do."

He finally got himself back under control and pulled away from her. "Look at me. The great Klaus Mikaelson, crying like he hasn't since he was five years old. If my enemies could see me now…" He froze. "You know, somehow I didn't realize the rest of the problem with us all having to scatter like this, until now. Any enemies I have, seeing me like this, would know exactly how to get to me. My armor doesn't have chinks, Hayley. It has gaping holes. Quite a few of them. Elijah, Hope, Rebekah, Kol, Freya, Marcel, you. Marcel is even less vulnerable than I am. Rebekah and Kol are just as invulnerable as I am. But, you? Hope? Even Freya is still mortal beneath her magic. And Elijah doesn't even know who and what he is. He may not be as truly vulnerable as we fear, but… his sanity certainly is."

"I know. You think I haven't been thinking of that ever since I found out that you knew Antoinette? I mean, I always knew it. It was why we sent Josh with him, to begin with. To give him someone he could trust, someone we could trust. Because the only way I was going to stay sane was if I knew that there was someone looking out for him. And you think I don't get sick to my stomach every time I think of Roman being near Hope this whole time and what could have happened to her? I know, Klaus."

"I just… I haven't been a very nice person, Hayley. And I have so many enemies. And not all of them were like Antoinette's father. Not all of them deserved it. But, even the ones that did deserve it had friends. For a thousand years, I could afford to be ruthless. Because the only people I cared about were just as immortal, just as invulnerable, as I am. But, that isn't true, anymore. I get so scared, sometimes, Hayley. My biggest fear has always been one of my old enemies finding Hope. And now it looks like they have. And I can't be near her. I can't protect her. All I can do is try to trust you and Caroline and Freya. And I do. But, you are all almost as vulnerable as she is. And it is so easy for me to lose damn near everything. And it scares me. In a thousand years, I have never been afraid of anything except my stepfather. And I've spent the past twelve years afraid of damn near everything. And I don't like it. As much as I love Hope, this whole parenthood thing kind of sucks. Made even worse by the fact that I can't even be in the same city as her. And so, the one person I would gladly die for is the one person I cannot protect." He sighed. "Oh, if my enemies could see how the mighty Klaus Mikaelson has fallen. Brought down by a little girl, no less."

"Oh, I don't know. She made you human. From where I'm standing, that's a good thing. I like this version of Klaus Mikaelson a whole lot more than I liked the old you. And yeah, I get that feeling vulnerable has to suck for you. I get that you aren't used to this. But… if you could see the way her face lights up when I tell her that you're on the phone for her. Yes, fatherhood made you vulnerable. But, it also turned you into the kind of man who that little girl loves with all of her heart. She wants to get Elijah back for me. But, she wants to put the family back together because she wants you back. I would say that's a good thing. Yes, she inherited your enemies. But, she's probably a lot stronger than any of us realize. That is certainly true from an emotional standpoint. She's a Mikaelson, Klaus. She's strong. And she's smart. And she is going to fix this for us. Just wait. Give her time. And don't worry about her so much. We're taking care of her. And she's getting better and better at taking care of herself."

Klaus wiped his eyes. "Thank you. But, that doesn't really help, much. I know it's supposed to. I know that you're trying. And I appreciate it. I just… I want them back, Hayley. I want them all back. I don't know how much longer I can do this. Hope is growing up without me. I'm missing everything. And, maybe four years isn't much when it comes to Elijah. But, Hope? She was a child the last time I saw her. She's becoming a young woman. And, I can't help wondering… Will I get to dance at her wedding? I mean, really dance. With her. Not just me being there being Caroline's wedding present to her, but me being really there? Will I ever get to hold our grandchildren? Or is that going to be one more thing for me to be jealous of you for? I don't know how much longer I can do this. And it's so stupid. We've already had all this out, two years ago. But, somehow… you going to see Elijah just drove it home just how much I was missing. I don't know, Little Wolf. I promise, I'll be okay. You don't need to worry about me. I'm just feeling a bit melancholy at the moment. I suppose it's to be expected under the circumstances. But, I'll be fine. Let's just concentrate on dealing with Antoinette. We can talk more about Hope and Elijah later if you think we need to. Okay?"

"You're sure you're okay?"

Klaus nodded. No, he wasn't completely better. But, he wouldn't be until he got his family back. But, he was good enough to be able to function, at least long enough to do what needed to be done. And not a moment too soon. Because, at that moment, the front door opened, and Marcel was shoving Antoinette Sienna into the room. Time for talk was over. At least for now. Now it was time for action. Maybe what was about to happen wasn't really fair, but he didn't care. At least his frustrations at the situation he was in had a worthy outlet, now. He smiled. "Miss Sienna, how kind of you to join us. I am so looking forward to hearing your explanation of exactly why you seem to be stalking my brother. I'm sure his girlfriend has some questions of her own, too."