Full chapter title: I'm Alive I'm Alive Well You're Dead Inside, from I'm Alive by Shinedown

I think I'm going to be updating on Saturdays, just to give me some time to write in between updates.

WARNINGS: mention/talk of dead siblings, anxiety, mentioned homophobia, the word 'suicidal', mention of abuse/starvation/etc., a stalker.

March 30th, 2013

8.1

Excerpt from: The Case Behind The Mikaelson Manhunt

On March 15th, a commercial launched for the first time, marking the beginning of a international phenomenon.

The commercial was homemade, just an older Norwegian couple standing in front of a white wall, asking for the world to help them find their estranged grandchildren. They asked for help in reuniting their grandchildren, who were torn apart in 1996 (seventeen years ago this May) by their father. The couple made this plea with high hopes.

Well, as of March 30th, they've had one of their hopes fulfilled.

Finn Mikaelson has been found.

Communication with him has been through Skype calls only. This hasn't done anything to quell the excitement we're feeling. Seeing grandparents and grandchild bond as they have is a sweet and interesting experience.

America is holding its breath, waiting for another Mikaelson to come forward.

3.1 - Stanford, California

Elijah understands these things more than most people realize.

See, Elijah Mikaelson is the emotionless guy who used to be lawyer. His bleeding heart told him to become a social worker, and now he's in college, studying social work. People think, when they see he and Katherine, that he's the one who is blank.

There are many things wrong with that assessment.

Elijah isn't emotionless, and neither he nor Katerina are blank. Especially on this day, his wife is far from cold hearted.

This is the day she lost her sister Tatia. It's been seven years, and she's still devastated.

Elijah understands the grief of losing a sibling. He lost six, all in one day. Grief is not something he's evaded in his short twenty-seven years of life.

So, he presses a kiss to her head and leaves her in their bed to take care of their son. "Just rest, my love." She nods, hiding her beautiful face from him. He sighs and rubs her back.

"Don't forget to call Elena and Jeremy," are his parting words. She moans and burrows into the blankets.

He's still thinking about her when he enters Matthew's room. His son is too young to be able to make a card. But maybe he can "help" Elijah with breakfast. Wrangling a one-year-old into helping make pancakes for his mother will be difficult, but he's willing to withstand it. Not only will it make Katerina happy, but he'll get to bond with Matthew.

Father and son rarely have time together, with Elijah busy with school and Matthew busy with visiting his aunt and uncle. It's going to be nice, spending a day with his son.

Speaking of, as soon as he enters the room, Matthew stands up in his crib and "eee"'s at Elijah.

"Hello," he murmurs affectionately, pulling Matthew up and onto his hip. "Are you hungry, Matthew?"

"YES!" Matthew squeals. Yes, mama, and dada are the only words Matthew can say. Still, his enthusiasm is precious.

Elijah boops his nose, making the little boy giggle. "Let's go get some food, then. We're going to make pancakes. If you're anything like me, your uncles, or your grandfather, you won't be much of a cook, but pancakes? Any Mikaelson can make pancakes. Your mother loves pancakes. Did you know that, Matthew? Huh? Did you know?"

Matthew says, "yes!", but he doesn't actually know what Elijah's saying. He's just responding to Elijah's use of the Baby Voice.

Elijah smiles anyway, asking, "you did? Who told you?" as he moves downstairs.

An hour later, Matthew has covered Elijah from head to toe with flour and Katerina is visibly fighting off a smile. On March 30th, of all days.

"Elijah! An hour with you, and this is what happens?" She makes her voice as reprimanding as she can. She clutches the blanket around her shoulders and makes her way further into the kitchen.

If he's being honest, it looks more like a warzone. But who ever said fun couldn't be messy? He really feels like he's had more fun letting Matthew throw flour at him than he has in years.

"Sorry, darling. He just finds it so funny, and I can't resist his adorable laugh," he defends, falling into the Baby Voice at the end. Matthew giggles, proving Elijah's point when Katerina smiles helplessly.

"My sweet boy," she croons, not coming any closer. "Did you get daddy messy?"

He claps his hands, making flour sprinkle from his tiny hands. "Yes, mama!"

It's such a sweet sight, Katerina's mood is lifted.

"You made pancakes?" She asks, obviously spying the plate he has of them. Elijah's head turns to look at the plate, as does Katerina's, and Matthew, who swings his head to look too, takes it upon himself to pick one up and try to take a bite out of it.

Elijah lunges forward, taking it from the boy. "No, no, Matthew, we have to cut it up for you. You could choke."

He lifts his son from the counter and moves him over to the table. He's got a piece in his mouth still when Elijah sets him down in his seat.

Katerina sits next to him, looking like two peas in a pod with their dark hair and tanned skin. It's hard to say who's cuter - his wife or their son.

She says, "we need pancakes, now," and Elijah decides that today, Matthew is the winner of that competition.

Or maybe not. Katerina being demanding is hot. He shakes the thoughts out of his head, focussing on slathering the pancakes with butter and syrup.

He presents the pancakes with a flourish, setting Matthew's cut up one on the tray of his high chair so she doesn't have to. They both smile at him, though their boy's smile is wider.

Elijah sits down to eat, as well, and for a while, he and Katerina talk about Tatia. When Matthew starts fussing, Elijah just gives him his phone, not wanting to interrupt his wife's grieving.

After she goes back to bed, Elijah cleans up both himself and the kitchen. He's much better at cleaning than cooking. Unfortunately, Katerina is the same way, so they often eat over at Elena's, since she can actually make edible food.

Matthew makes a noise, so Elijah turns to him. "What is it, Matthew?"

He's keysmashing the phone, or at least Elijah thinks so. His brow is pulled low with frustration, and his tongue sticks out adorably.

Elijah can't help a laugh. Gently, he pulls the phone away, seeing the problem instantly. Matthew's gotten himself on Safari, instead of the animal noise phone game Elijah pulled up when he handed the boy his phone.

Interestingly, Matthew's got google pulled up and is searching for…"Mikaelson".

What?

Elijah's pretty sure his son just pressed random letters and clicked on a search result, but that begs the question of why is Mikaelson a hit?.

The first link is one that says, "First Mikaelson Found In So Called 'Mikaelson Manhunt'". He clicks on it, absent-mindedly letting Matthew play with the fingers on his other hand.

It reads, Finn Mikaelson has been found. After seeing the infamous commercial, Finn called the number at the bottom of the screen and has been in contact with the Trulssons. While he has no plans to go to New York City just yet, he and the Trulssons have reportedly had many Skype calls. Already, the world is ready for another Mikaelson to be found.

Speaking of, if you have any information on where to find a Mikaelson (or if you are one yourself), call 1-800-441-7192 or send a message at findthemikaelsons . com.

Below the short article is a picture.

Elijah gasps at the sight of a man who is undoubtedly his older brother. He doesn't look much different from the fourteen year old he knew, but there's still a difference. All baby fat has left Finn's cheeks, his hair is shorter, his eyes don't look so angry. He's really a sight to behold.

Especially that hair. If there's one thing Elijah knows about Finn Mikaelson, it's that his hair is his pride and joy. Having it short is something Elijah never thought he'd see.

"Dada!"

Elijah drops the phone in surprise. Luckily, it falls to the table without cracking.

He squeezes his eyes shut for a moment, then replies, "yes?"

"Yes!" He splays his hands out, showing how there's no pancake left. Well, almost none left. There's still one little piece.

Elijah faux-gasps. "Matthew! Good job! You ate so much!"

"Yes!"

Then, he takes the piece and eats it, chewing exaggeratedly. "Dada did too," he says with his mouth still full.

Even though it's gross, he'll do it just to make Matthew clap and laugh his head off.

Elijah decides he'll have to look into the Mikaelson Manhunt thing later. For now, he has a son to take care of.

1.4

It's taken a while for Freya to get her nerve up.

Radley and Lucien are supportive, and so are Théo and Lucy, but actually picking up the phone is much more difficult than she anticipated.

One morning a week after she first heard about the search, she and Lucien lay in bed and she thinks about calling them.

"What's holding you back?" Lucien asks, head tilted in the way it always is when he's got a suspicion.

She shrugs. "I just can't stop thinking about what they're going to be like."

"You grandparents?" She nods. "Well, let's look at the facts. They're saying that they want to reunite you and your siblings. They've paused their lives to do so. They seem very happy to have found Finn."

Oh, Finn. When Freya read in the news that Finn had been found, she'd pounced on the pictures. Buzzfeed in particular had several that Finn had sent in himself. She looked at every single one until she had memorized them. Even now, she knows that his freckles have faded, his eyes have more wrinkles around them, his frowning lines have transformed into ones of laughter. Or at least, she thinks so. Her own lines have turned happy in the years since Mother died.

"Finn seems to like them. Was Finn a good judge of character?" He rubs her arm, letting her think.

"He was only fourteen. He thought everyone was either dangerous or too cool to be dangerous."

"Do you think your grandparents are dangerous?"

Her eyes narrow. For someone who owns a Fortune-500 company, he acts a lot like a therapist. Probably because he had one after his father was killed.

"No...," she says slowly, "I don't. But do I think they could do things that will be dangerous? Yes."

He lets out a little chuckle, brown eyes sparkling with mirth. "What could they possibly do that would be dangerous?"

"Look, you know my father was a homophobe. Maybe he learned that from them. It wasn't just me, you know, it was Kol, too. I don't want to go through that again."

Her eyes are watering by the end. Father has done terrible things to all of them, but her more than some of the others. If he learned his actions from his parents, which is a possibility she doesn't like the chances of, she won't put herself through that pain just to see her siblings again. She won't.

Lucien softens even more than usual, even more than he already is. "Freya, darling, I know that what you went through was awful. But I honestly don't think that they are anything like him. He was cruel and evil. You've said before that he was never happy to see any of you. But you saw that video, you've seen it more than I have. They seem so eager to find you all. I really think that they will accept you no matter what. And if they don't, then I guess I'll have to punch your grandfather or something."

A laugh bursts from her lips; he smiles at her, glad to have made the mood a little lighter.

"I won't force you to call, but I think you should. I think this leap of faith will work out for the better. And I really think you'll be overjoyed to see your siblings again, bad grandparents or not."

Freya's defense breaks down with that one last blow. Looking him in the eyes, she asks, "can you hand me my phone?"

Lucien leaned back, grabbing her cell off the side table. "Do you want me to give you some privacy?"

He used to say the same thing when they first met, when she had to breastfeed Radley. She's almost always said the same thing, "no, stay."

He settles back into the warm middle of the bed, watching as she finds the number and hovers over the call button. It takes another minute, a minute of all her anxieties about this bombarding her, before she forces herself and presses.

It only rings twice.

"Hello?" An accented female voice answers; Freya recognizes it as the one in the commercial. "Is this call about the Mikaelson Manhunt?"

She clears her throat, suddenly afraid she won't be able to get any words out. If that happens, she'll have well and truly embarrassed herself. No chance of seeing her siblings again after that.

"Yes," she finally manages. "Is this the lady in the commercial?"

Anything to stall a little while longer.

There's a short laugh, not unkind. "Yes, it is. I'm Aerona Trulsson. May I ask who is calling in this tip?"

Freya licks her lips. "Freya Mikaelson."

There's a quiet woop from the other line, one that she would never expect from an older woman, and then she's being asked to submit proof, a picture of herself holding a piece of identification. The same proof that Finn sent in, apparently.

She hangs up, and stares dazedly at the ceiling. There's no going back from this. She's going to see her family again. She's going to have to deal with the stress of them all again. She's going to have to -

"Well, come on love, let's find you some good lighting."

4.1 - New Orleans, Louisiana

Every time Klaus' life went to shit, he came out of it wishing that he would just die. He's never been suicidal, but it's just seemed easier, at times, if he was dead. He wouldn't have to go through everything life throws at him. And it's certainly thrown a lot.

First, eight years of hell on earth. Then, that awful day. After that came the foster homes, the starvation, the beatings, the time he was homeless, the guilt of leaving his beloved. Guilt that he still loves her so much, but can't be with her because he's too damaged. Guilt that he feels that way, guilt that he's making this choice for her.

Simply put, he's gone through a lot.

And now here he is, with two jobs he hates, a stalker, two kids hanging around that he barely tolerates, and of all things, his grandparents hanging over his head like a threat.

Imagine going through twenty-five years with zero grandparents (or at least, ones he never knew existed) and then, one day, they show up. Not personally, but on TV. On national TV.

He's sure, wherever Kol and Rebekah are, they're loving this.

"What do think of this?" A customer asks, jerking their head towards the TV. On it, a Saturday Night Live rerun is talking about how the world is being swept away by the Mikaelson Manhunt.

Klaus feels his shoulders tense. What does he think of it?

"I think it's an overreaction. Surely, they could've found their grandkids without making it such a big deal."

The customer makes a face as Klaus hands the drink over. "I think it's nice. It's a good distraction from the everyday news."

So you'd rather hear about a man killing his wife with a feel good story wrapped around it than in the news, where the facts will be given straight?

"Sure," he says, trying to keep smiling. He can't get fired, or he won't be the only one starving. It's a constant, daily struggle to keep smiling.

The customer leaves, revealing, of all people, the stalker behind him. The stalker! This is just his luck.

Klaus' face is frozen in the smile. Like a robot, he manages to say his line. "Can I take your order?"

The man - dark blonde, brown eyes, a resting bitch face, European features - gives a small smile back. Klaus sees nothing in it but bad intentions. (Maybe that's the paranoia speaking. Or maybe this man is in love with him and is about to hurt him when the answer Klaus gives is no.) "Plain black coffee, please, for Cary. C-A-R-Y."

Klaus doesn't like this. The only people who drink plain black coffee are sociopaths. Both of his parents drank it like it was water, so he should know.

Still, he moves to the machine and twists himself so he's not facing his back to Cary completely. He makes the drink quickly, then pushes the $20 tip (which does nothing but set alarm bells ringing in his head) into the jar.

There's no one behind Cary, so he leaves the counter, letting the other workers take over. He has to be across town in half an hour, but he wants to take a moment.

The stalker - Cary - has never been so bold before. He usually just sits in the corner for Klaus' entire shift and follows him to the bar. Klaus has even seen him following him home once.

Something has to be done about this. He can't let this go on. (He used to let everything go on for much longer than he should have. Well, no more. He hasn't let things run their course the long way since he lived in Baton Rouge, and he won't start now.) (He couldn't let the best thing to ever happen to him go on, either. But that's neither here nor there.)

He should probably tell Davina, first, though. God knows what she'll do if he doesn't tell her beforehand.

Minor edit 5/15/18 - changed Freya's bit to reflect new way of sending in proof