Um hi? I swear I have no idea where October went. For some reason my professors all woke up to realise that they needed to give us work. I swear they have meetings to decide how to torture us next. Anyway, I really enjoyed writing this chapter - as much trouble as the ending gave me and I do hope y'all enjoy it too :)
I could have sworn I had more to say but I guess not, so without further ado, read, review and enjoy!
Walking into the kitchen in the morning, Klaus was a little surprised by the scene he found there. Gone was the energetic boy he had been introduced to yesterday; he had been replaced by a far grumpier version, pointing sullenly at one of the cereal boxes on the shelf. The hybrid turned to his brother who was grabbing the box with a small sigh, taking in the tired slump of his shoulders and the strained smile on his lips
"Everything alright?" he murmured as David focused his energies on glaring at his cereal as if it had purposely offended him.
"I'll tell you later," Kol murmured back just as Davina came in, a bottle of medicine brandished triumphantly in her hand.
"Found it!" she exclaimed, missing the way David's head shot up at the sound of her voice, the boy immediately scrambling out of his seat to hide under the table. Kol, however, caught the movement, following him as best as he was able, half fitting himself inside the small space in a flash, trying to coax him out.
About five minutes later and none of his pleading was showing any signs of wearing the kid down. "C'mon, David, it doesn't even taste that bad, I promise!"
"Don't wanna!"
"This isn't exactly negotiable sweetie," Davina tried from where she was kneeling beside the table. "How are you going to get better if-"
"I ss- sa-" there was a pause as he tried to force the words out, followed by a wordless scream of frustration when he wasn't able to.
"Not that I intend to tell you how to parent your own child," Klaus interjected smoothly, if quietly, "but why don't you mix the medicine with something sweet like honey? It might make for an acceptable compromise."
Davina sent a frazzled glare his way, but Kol popped out from under the table to ask, "Is that what you did with Marcel?" Upon receiving a positive answer, he turned to his wife. "It's worth a shot," was all he said out loud, the two having an entire conversation in the moment's silence that followed, before Kol nodded once and disappeared under the table again. He spoke in low tones for a minute before emerging and sending a nod to Davina who sighed with relief and rose.
"There's strawberry jam in the cabinet behind you," she directed Klaus hesitantly. "Could you-?"
"Of course."
Everything happened rather quickly after that, Davina pouring out some medicine, David making a face before gulping it down and turning to Kol immediately, the vampire already holding out a spoonful of jam in preparation. A full body shudder by the nine year old and then he was dropping back into his chair to eat his long soggy cereal as if the past ten minutes had never happened, the quiet broken only by the clink of steel against ceramic and the occasional sniffle. Davina sat down next to him, ruffling his hair tiredly and shooting Kol a grateful look when he handed her a mug of coffee. Another fifteen minutes and the witch was pressing a soft kiss to Kol's cheek and calling out a goodbye as she left for work, David wiping his nose on his sleeve before waving his goodbye to her and hopping off his chair to run to his room.
"I give it half an hour before he's tired of pretending to sleep so I don't give him chores and then he'll be back for cuddles," Kol said as the kid disappeared. "Forty-five minutes at most." The vampire rose from his seat, gathering up the dishes, speaking quickly, eyes not meeting his brother's. "He's been feverish since last night. Typically, his stutter usually acts up when he's sick which means he gets more frustrated - and who could blame the kid, I'd be annoyed as hell too - but that makes things worse so he can hardly speak at all so he doesn't. And I know that's probably not healthy but, honestly, I kind of remember Rebekah doing something similar once when we were kids and dad was a dick about it. I don't want to put my kid through anything even remotely like that-" he broke off, inhaling deeply as Klaus rose. "What?"
The hybrid just squeezed his arm gently before grabbing the plates in his hands and carrying them to the sink. "Learn to ask for help, you imbecile."
"I'm not an imbecile!"
"Of course not," Klaus responded in soothing tones as he turned on the tap and began washing. "But I'm here to help you, so stop treating me as you would a guest and tell me what you need me to do. Better yet, sit down and tell me where you keep your blood bags so I can force some down your throat before you collapse."
"Oh. Um, in the fridge, bottom drawer," Kol found himself answering, surprised wonder slowing his response. "Pretty sure I don't need any-"
"Kol?"
"Yes?"
"Shut up."
"If you're gonna be an asshole, I'll hex you." And with that charming greeting, Freya flopped face first onto Hayley's bed, the she wolf groaning as she rolled over, burrowing herself deeper inside her blanket.
"It's ass o'clock in the morning, Freya!" she complained as the blonde smacked her with a pillow. "Besides," she grumbled, cracking open one eye to glare at the witch, "I'm always an asshole, so what is it about now?" Freya, however, had gone back to acquainting herself with Hayley's pillows, her voice muffled by the fact that her face was buried deep inside the brunette's best, most fluffiest one. So naturally, Hayley proceeded to grab one of the other pillows littering the bed to thump her with it. Hard. "Words, Freya," she reminded her, "use them or I'm going back to sleep."
"You're terrible," Freya complained, lifting her head ever so slightly.
Hayley raised an eyebrow, the effect completely lost on the witch, given that the room was still shrouded in darkness. "Yes, yes I am. I'm also gonna bite you in ten seconds unless you have a good reason for waking me up."
"Kinky, but isn't that what you have Klaus for?" Freya snarked. A growl and the witch groaned, turning to lie on her back. "Fine. I need your help."
Hayley clicked her tongue in disappointment. "And you didn't even have the decency of getting me coffee." She sighed, "alright, I'm already awake at this point, what do you need?"
A moment's hesitation and then Freya blurted, "I need help picking a ring for Keelin." The she wolf took another moment to let that sink in before sitting up and squealing in delight.
"Why didn't you start with that?" she demanded. "Keelin's got that conference today, right? Do you have anything specific in mind? Tiffanys just got their new collection in, we should probably start there-"
"You've certainly got this planned out," the other woman interrupted, amused.
"Well, I do have a gorgeous dress riding on when you propose…" Hayley trailed off mischievously as Freya gasped.
"Hayley Marshall, did you bet on my love life with Rebekah?"
"Turnabout's fair play," the brunette informed her, grinning widely. Freya smacked her with a pillow.
Freya and Hayley had gone to at least three different jewelry shops before Hope called, both women heaving internal sighs of relief at the break, sitting down in a nearby cafe to talk to the teen.
"Hey kiddo, what's up?"
"Nothing really, I mean, school sucks - as always," she complained dramatically. "I don't suppose you could send me, your only daughter who is absolutely wonderful and loves you to pieces, a couple dozen cookies to remind me a world exists outside campus?"
Hayley laughed, "you see, Freya, this is the entirety of my importance. It all comes down to cookies."
She would have continued her teasing had Hope not cut in excitedly, asking "Is Aunt Freya there too?"
"Yep, here you go," she passed her phone to the witch, unable to hold back her smile as her daughter chatted happily with her aunt.
"Hey, is Dad anywhere near you guys?" the teenager suddenly asked. "I wanted to ask him something about Mystic Falls."
"Oh shoot, did we not tell you? He's not in town, he's left to go visit your Uncle Kol for a week," Hayley informed her daughter apologetically.
"Wait, since when?" Hope's voice was a little high pitched and her mother frowned.
"Just a couple days, hun," she soothed. "He'll be back by the end of the week."
"Right, because you guys have such a great track record of that." The teen shook her head, voice wavering, "no. Dad wouldn't just leave. What aren't you telling me? What happened?"
"Hope," Hayley said slowly, "nothing happened. Kol invited him and he went. He'll be back Sunday night."
"And I'm just supposed to believe that?"
"Why would I lie to you?" Hayley asked instead, facepalming at her child's prompt response of 'because you don't want me to worry.' The teenager wasn't satisfied until Freya corroborated everything, still clearly unhappy with this turn of events and remaining distracted until the end of the call.
"Do you think-?" Freya broke off as Hayley nodded, exhaling harshly. "I think you should probably talk to Niklaus; we can go ring shopping another day." Hayley protested at that but Freya was adamant. "Keelin's conference is going on for a couple days and, besides," with a slight smirk, "don't you think we've harassed jewelry store employees enough today?"
"Fine," Hayley giggling despite herself, "but we're definitely going to check out more shops tomorrow." Freya agreed and they left the cafe, making their way home, Hayley shooting Klaus a text to call her.
They'd just barely reached the manor when Klaus called, concern plain in his words as he demanded, "what on earth did you tell Hope that has her so worked up?" Hayley sighed and waved Freya on, dropping into one of the chairs in the courtyard.
"Nothing. Literally, nothing. She asked where you were and I said you'd left to visit Kol. She took it to mean that something must have happened to force you to leave again. Did Hope call you?"
"Yes, she did," and his voice is quiet. "I don't - I feel like I've failed her."
Hayley's heart sank. "Klaus… what did she say?"
"Somehow, what she didn't say is more important in this case." He sighed, shaking his head, "my daughter can't trust that I'll stay in her life. What am I supposed to do with that Hayley? What can I do?" His words hung heavy between them, ringed with a hopelessness that Hayley had not heard in a long time, and she wanted nothing more than to wrap her arms around the hybrid as she insisted that he was wrong. "Given the conversation I just had, I sincerely doubt that," he told her quietly and something inside her snapped.
"No," and there was steel in her voice as she spoke. "You don't get to put all this on yourself, 'kay? Making sure there's stability in our daughter's life isn't solely on you and it never should have been." She inhaled deeply, aware that nothing she could say was going to have much impact right now. "We'll talk when you get back, alright?" She sighed as her only response was a soft noise of agreement. "I love you."
"I love you too." A harsh swallow and then he ended the call, leaving Hayley to the tender mercies of her own thoughts.