He wasn't in the bell tower, though. All that was there was remnants of a spell – a location spell centered on, according to a runic tile, "baby."
"Baby?" Kol mused. "Shit. That's your secret, isn't it?"
"And now Finn knows where she is!" he growled and called Elijah to warn him.
"So what do we do now?" I asked, worried when it appeared that Finn was already at the house.
"We cut off Finn's power supply," Kol answered. "But I'm going to need some help. Something to channel. Rebekah and I aren't strong enough on our own."
Klaus nodded and took off, leaving me alone with the siblings where I was completely useless. At least he returned soon and with a bag full of dark artefacts. They weren't enough, though, and they couldn't break the connection until Klaus offered himself as a magical battery.
Which all seems to have been completely forgotten as Klaus sits outside of the fitting rooms in a boutique I never dreamed I could afford while I modeled dresses for him the very next day. "But what about Elijah? And Hope?" I kept trying to ask.
He kept shushing me. He answered only that they were fine, but wouldn't explain how he knew. "All in due time" easily becoming my least favorite phrase. "I like that one," he said.
I looked down. It was the eighth dress I had tried on and the shortest. It was blush colored and long-sleeved to make up for the hemline. I frowned. I liked to have my knives strapped to my thighs and hidden under the skirt. At least I could hide some in my sleeves.
"You won't need to fight. I've taken the highest security precautions," he said as though he were reading my thoughts.
I sighed, not happy with the situation, but it was a nice dress. "Good, I don't want to get any blood on it."
"Then you better change out of it," he said. "Because I have one last errand to run."
His last errand brought us to several wolf packs located around the city. One by one, Klaus asked the alphas to give up the moon rings Finn had forged for them. One by one, they refused. And one by one, they lost their heads. I held open a canvas tote as he placed each head inside. Though through some remnant of chivalry, he carried the bag for me between encampments until we finally reached the bayou where the crescent wolves lived. We found Jackson and Aiden and Klaus tossed the bag at their feet.
"A wedding present," he told them.
Jackson raised his eyebrows, noting the blood which had seeped through the bag.
"The heads of the wolf leaders who would not surrender their rings," he continued to explain.
"You brought me a bag of werewolf heads," Jackson responded, slowly.
"We don't want any witch sympathizers in the army meant to protect my daughter, now, do we?" Klaus said. "And get yourself cleaned up, it's your wedding day for gods' sake."
Back at the compound, things were insane. Klaus had pulled out all of the stops for this wedding. There was an eight-layer cake! I never imagined my wedding. Hell, I found it hard to imagine a relationship. I only had one boyfriend before Niklaus; romance and honesty aren't very conducive to the hunter lifestyle. But this was gorgeous. There was even to be a string quartet. I tried to appear unimpressed, but I think Klaus noticed. He was kind enough not to tease me about it, but kept me by his side and held my hand while he delegated tasks until I, myself, was given a task:
Camille entered the compound carrying Hope and escorted by Elijah. Elijah, obviously, was more than qualified to take care of and protect his niece, but I had the benefit of being impervious to certain magics and Klaus had asked me to keep an eye on Hope and Camille as well.
Everyone turned in their seats when Hayley entered. She looked absolutely gorgeous in the white, lace dress. I found myself reaching for Klaus's hand and was a bit appalled at myself for being so affected. Klaus didn't seem to mind though and grabbed my hand with his left, the far one, and placed his right arm around my shoulders.
"You'd look lovely in white," he whispered to me.
In response, I elbowed him and thankfully, he remained unfazed and merely chuckled.
In traditional New Orleans fashion, after the ceremony they bridal party and all the guests made their way through down Bourbon Street in a celebratory parade. I was actually grateful to be remaining behind with Camille and Hope. I hated crowds. They were dangerous places due to the lack of sight lines and the roaring noise. You could get away with murder in a jovial, drunken crowd quite easily. I would know; I had dusted a few vampires in just that way.
A human could have heard Klaus and Elijah arguing in the next room, but I tried my best to ignore them. I hadn't quite mastered managing the heightened sense and I was taking the protection detail very seriously. I needed to listen for threats.
Finally, Klaus returned to us, looking slightly distressed although he was doing his best to hide it.
"Would you like to hold her?" Camille asked.
Klaus smiled and stepped forward, but then stopped, not holding out his arms to take her.
She sighed. "I get it. You're scared, but you know the basics of developmental psych? Happy mom + happy dad = happy baby."
Klaus sighed and cautiously took Hope from her arms.
I had never seen him so happy. It took him a moment to relax, but when he did, I noticed that I had never seen him grin so wide. And when we danced together among the other guests and he twirled me around the dance floor, he confessed this was more than he could have ever hoped for. For the first time in centuries he felt like he had a family again.