3x09 (which I made to be christmas eve instead of christmas because Reasons)
December 2013
This year, Niklaus does burn a wish. He doesn't tell Rebekah what it is, but she peaks over his shoulder as he folds it up and throws it into the flames that it says something about her staying. He doesn't react when she reaches out to rub his arm, so he must think his wish is private, secret, like his wishes for Hope, for Hayley, for Elijah. No one must know the gentle creature that still lurks somewhere inside of the monster the centuries have created.
Later, he's sandwiched between Camille and Hayley, with the baby on his lap, showing Hope the presents he's gotten for her. There will be more tomorrow, on Christmas, and she looks up at him with interest, perhaps even adoration. His hand cups around her head, feeling her soft hair underneath his fingertips. Rebekah remembers that feeling, the weight of Hope on her lap, her skin beneath her fingers. After a millennia, she wasn't sure she would ever feel something so wonderful again, but being with Hope – it made her feel like a new woman, it made her feel joy. Klaus only has eyes for his daughter, in spite of the two women on either side of him, twisting around to keep their eyes on Hope. Every so often, Camille looks up at Klaus then over at Hayley. To her credit, she seems neither threatened by Hayley nor afraid of Niklaus, two things Rebekah isn't sure she'd be able to say about herself in Camille's situation. Hayley fingers are wrapped around Klaus's wrist in a sign of affection that neither she nor Klaus will ever be able to articulate. Though Rebekah is the one who said it best: even when she hates him, she still loves him. It seems Hayley has slotted right into this family, loving and hating Niklaus in equal measure.
Klaus looks up at her from across the room and smiles at her, inviting Rebekah to join the party of watching Hope, the harem of his favorite women all grouped around him, but Rebekah sighs and shrugs; she has to be going before anyone – Aurora, Tristan, even Marcel – find out she's even missing. She heads up the stairs to her room to grab her coat, passing Elijah and Freya on the way. She thinks of Klaus's sad eyes and wary smile, and thinks of her wish, now ashes in the rafters: Let Niklaus find peace.
It seems silly that this year – with enemies and prophecies and doom around them she would wish for this, but this is all she's ever wished for, really. She has a laundry list of things she wants out of her own life – love, a family of her own, to bring Kol back from the dead, but she knows that none of these are obtainable before Klaus finds his own peace. For a thousand years their lives have revolved around one another, and even now that his happiness is found elsewhere, somewhere precious to all of them, Rebekah's not sure that she or Elijah will ever be happy if Niklaus is not.
And more than that – Niklaus is her brother, and when he smiles at Hope, when he smiles at Camille, even the few moments of affection he and Hayley share, she sees the brother who loved art and music, the brother who wanted to protect her from the evils in the world. The brother not ruined by Mikael. The brother Elijah has spent a thousand years fighting for. She sees someone better – someone who is strong enough to stand up to any enemy for his daughter, who can face the worst parts of himself if it means protecting Hope. Niklaus has been more tortured than she has – she and Elijah both have found moments of happiness, of solace, of peace. It's been a thousand years, perhaps longer than they've been vampires, since Nik has known any of that.
Or it had been.
He kisses her on the cheek, his desperate "You're always leaving," only a little resentful and a little hurt. Mostly like he knows that she'll be back before he knows it, that it's not about him. Her possessive, paranoid brother seems to have been replaced overnight with a gracious, teasing, and protective one. They have his daughter to thank for that.
"I always come back," she assures him, and he smiles.
"Run far and fast," he says. "And if you should happen to meet some handsome fool, know your weaknesses."
Rebekah chuckles. For once, Niklaus is truly joking, perhaps warming up to Rebekah having a life outside of himself. "Perhaps it's time for our roles to be reversed," she muses, squeezing his hand. He starts at the suggestion. "I'll run from love –" her niece and her sister and her brothers and Hayley. "If you run towards it." Klaus sighs and looks over her shoulder to where Cami is standing. Rebekah hears her heart jump a little and Klaus looks back at his sister, alarmed, but he nods at her. Understood. He deserves a chance to be happy. They all do.
"Stop the car," Rebekah swears. She's already halfway out the cab before the driver can pull over, buttoning her coat and pulling out her phone.
"You okay, miss?" he asks, but Rebekah shrugs, pays the fare and offers no further explanation. It's not until the taxi's tires are squealing away from her that she regains some semblance of composure – no longer wracked with bloodlust and unbearable rage. An itching in her arms. She swears and lifts up her coat sleeve to see the mark growing back.
Quick. "Elijah," she hisses into the phone. It goes to voicemail but he'll get it soon enough just the same. "I need you to meet me somewhere. Fast. Don't tell anyone you're going."
She hangs up, texts him the address of the closest place she thinks is halfway between them, and waits. It's cold, her breath crystalizing in the air in front of her eyes. It feels deceptively human, the way their bodies react to the cold without really feeling it. And she feels human now, waiting on this street corner for her brother to come and find her. She knows that no one could take advantage of her if they tried, but she still feels more vulnerable than she's felt in centuries, terrified of the next passerby who rounds the corner.
It's Elijah, and Rebekah breathes a sigh of relief. He smiles weakly when he sees her. "Rebekah?" he says, both happy to see her so soon and terrified of what she has to say. "I got your message."
"I was halfway to the airport when I suddenly got the urge to rip out my taxi driver's throat," Rebekah explains, lifting up her sleeve for Elijah to see the damage.
"No," says Elijah – not about the mark. He's already ahead of her, guessed somehow why she's asked him to meet her out here in secret. "Freya can try something else." There is desperation behind his eyes, not just her sensible older brother, trying to make the best out of a bad situation. She forgot to ask for Elijah's happiness for Christmas, she realizes. She forgot to wish for her own.
"What if we run out of time?" Rebekah argues, thinking of the long road ahead of her, the airplane food and empty hotel rooms. "I already went after Hayley. Who's next? Freya herself? Hope?" Elijah stops. Ridiculous to imagine any of them doing anything to hurt Hope, but that's just what this mark seems to do. "And if even she can –" Rebekah says, looking away from Elijah, feeling in her pocket for the dagger. She needs him to do this for her, but she can't bear to ask. She used to hate Niklaus for daggering them, for stealing time away from them as easy as if it were nothing, how it felt like what she assumed dying felt like. But this silver dagger – it's better than the one Aya stuck her with, better than the bottom of the ocean. It's certainly better than running. Even when she ran with her brothers, it was a close call between a coffin and the road. She'll be all alone now. Away from the place her brothers are trying to make a home, in spite of continued complications.
"You don't want to run," Elijah says weakly. His eyes are brimming with tears.
"You know I always hated it." Elijah manages a smile. She pulls the dagger from her pocket, handing it to Elijah. He won't take it. "Hide my body," she instructs. "And don't tell a soul." A protest is forming on Elijah's lips, but he seems too stunned to say a word. "Especially not Niklaus, let him be happy just for once." Elijah's sighs, choking back a sob. If they hadn't spent a thousand years together, she thinks she wouldn't have noticed it. He's better at hiding his tears than Klaus. "This is our burden to bear, yours and mine." Elijah grasps the dagger loosely, he nods, but he won't do it. She can see it in his eyes. He hasn't got it in him to dagger her. "When the year of the prophecy is over you can undagger me, have Freya work out a cure." The dagger is in Elijah's hand, but he's backing away from her. Resisting her. "Elijah, if we embrace the prophecy, maybe we can control. The family part is over and you can trust Klaus again!" The curse of this mark is coursing through her again. She can feel it like a poison. She takes the dagger, presses the tip to her breast. Elijah lets go. Looks away from her. "Do it, Elijah!" She digs the dagger a little deeper. "Do it!" She presses her fist and the dagger into his open hand. His falls so neatly and perfectly around hers. But he won't. He can't. A trait not all of her brothers seem to share. A shame that the one time she does want a dagger in her chest she can't get one of her brothers to do it. She's sure it would break him. It might just break Elijah. "Do it!"
Elijah meets her eyes, apologizing, promising to keep this secret. This Christmas, Niklaus gets to be happy. His daughter, Hayley and Elijah on his side. Thinking Rebekah is out there, somewhere, curse free and living her life to the fullest in a way she couldn't with him by her side. She can feel Elijah's arms around her as she collapses into darkness.
If Niklaus' happiness is their burden to bear, they've both born willingly for centuries. They can do it happily for another few months.
A/N: Lazy? Perhaps! Important! (Perhaps!) The way that this scene plays out is destroying me. Just me, out here, treating the originals like it's worthy of close reading.