Violins play from the living room where Rebekah had set up a small play area on the carpet for Hope. The little girl was crawling and playing with toys, happily oblivious to the threat on her life. Rebekah smirked as she looked into the room watching her as she prepared her a bottle of formula in the kitchen. As Rebekah shakes the bottle to mix the ingredience, the song moves on to a classical piano. At first she does not notice it, only after placing the bottle in the microwave and entering a time, does the song begin to bring up memories of her history and family. Though Elijah played more than Klaus, this song in particular was a favorite of his and often played it to distract himself. The slow tune of the piano causes her to look down relaxing and she took in the blue stone of the counters, making her think back to someone whose eyes were just as blue as the counter beneath her hands.
Klaus moved to her side, both of their eyes fixated on the gate to the cemetery that has just swung open, allowing them to run, though neither of them did. "I know you hate me, but what's done is done," Rebekah says to him in a tired voice.
"What's done is never done," Klaus says plainly, "It remains within us. It is the story we tell ourselves so we know who we are. Vicious father. Bastard son." Rebekah hears his voice straining to keep even, "The sister who betrayed him" Klaus' final addition to their 'story' makes Rebekah's chest heavy and her eyes cast down to the ground in guilt. "Perhaps it is time for a new story," Klaus suggests and moves toward the gate. Rebekah thinks for a moment he will simply walk out, but then he stops and turns around meeting her eyes and asks the question, "What is it you want Rebekah?"
"Same things I have wanted since I was a child," Rebekah says with an obvious tone in her voice. "I want a home, I want a family, I want someone to love me, and I want to live," Rebekah lists keeping eye contact with him and a light even voice. She did not know which was harder for her, keeping her calm voice or eye contact with him. His eyes bore into hers a moment before he shifts his feet and looks down.
With a heavy sigh, he replies, "The go." Rebekah is in shock for a moment, not sure if she heard him correctly. She is about to ask for clarification when he adds a final sting, "Go far away and never come back."
Rebekah is awakened from her memories as she hears the beeping of the microwave with Hope's formula. As she moves back to the box, she sees her reflection in the stainless steel; she had a single tear on her cheek. Quickly she removes it and grabs Hope's formula and goes into the living room, lifting hope off the rug and into her arms.
Once Rebekah sits down and cradles Hope in her arms properly, a new song comes on that is soothing and played by a cello. Hope tries to help hold the bottle herself, but she can't hold the full bottle all alone. As Rebekah rocks in the rocking chair listening to the soft music, she looks to Hopes eyes and smiles at their innocence. As the baby begins to rest in her arms while drinking, hope's sparkling blue eyes close slowly and her resting face pulls Rebekah back to when she first met her angel.
The small speech Klaus gives his daughter before handing her over to Rebekah warms Rebekah's heart. It was rare for Rebekah to see this side of her brother anymore, particularly after he told her to leave his city and never return. His words hit close to home for Rebekah as he promises his small child that she will return to him. Was that too mean that one day Rebekah too would see Klaus again?
She does not have time to think about it as he hands over his child to her. Rebekah situates her carefully in her arms and smiles down to her sleeping niece. Once the baby is secure, Klaus took out a very sentimental wooden figure and held it up between them. Rebekah's heart dropped for she had thought it was long forgotten. The wooden knight he made and gave to her to keep her safe in storms was now being passed down to his daughter. He places it on his daughter and Rebekah moves her hand slightly to hold his fingers, and to her surprise, he grips back. She can not help the shock on her face as well as the tears now lining her eyes. As she looks at his eyes, she can see the emotion he is trying to hold back as he speaks she even hears it, "In spite of our differences Rebekah there is no one I would trust more with my daughter's life,"
Rebekah can not believe the amount of affection he is showing her considering their last encounter had been the entire opposite of their current conversation. Rebekah, for the first time in many years, is speechless in response.
Klaus leans into her and hold the back of her neck, kissing her cheek sweetly. He holds it for a moment longer than normal and then pulls back very slowly, "Be happy," he says to her as Rebekah removes her fallen tears, "sister," his addition of their relation only makes her more overcome with emotion.
"She will be happy Nik, I promise," Rebekah swears looking down to the baby a moment before looking back to Klaus with a soft smile, "What's her name?" Rebekah asks.
"Hope," Klaus says holding onto his emotions as best as he could. Rebekah could see the tears in his eyes but did not point them out, simply stared at him in awe. "Her name is Hope," it was one of the things her family had clung to was the hope of the future. And here was her always troubled brother literally giving her the Hope of their future. Rebekah felt tears on the edge of her eyes again and she looked down briefly to her niece and back to her brother once more, another tear falling.
Klaus nodded to her and Rebekah stepped back from him slowly then turned walking the sleeping infant to her far and strapping her in safely to the car seat. She looks over her small face and smiles sweetly to her before standing up one more time to look back to her brother, who stood leaning his back against his SUV. She just looked at him a moment, determining if she should do what she desperately wanted to do...
Hope sucking on an empty bottle pulled Rebekah from her own mind. She puts the empty bottle down and burps the small baby before standing with her and walking to her bed room not far across the house. Rebekah lays Hope down in her crib and smiles warmly as the baby girl grabs the toy wooden knight before rolling on her side to sleep with it in her grip. She always did this and it made Rebekah's heart flutter in her chest.
Once sure she was content, Rebekah moved back to the room to clean up some before coming back to Hope's room to watch her nap. She did this sometimes because seeing her niece's innocents reminded her that there was still such a thing in the world she lived in. As she gazed at the child, she could not help but find herself drifting yet again to the night she met her, and the last night she saw Hope's father.
Klaus simply stared back at her from his SUV, still trying to contain his emotions, even though a tear had already slipped out and run across his cheek. He would not get in his vehicle until he was sure Rebekah was driving safely away with his child.
Seeing him now, Rebekah did not think, she simply walked around her car door and back to Klaus, another tear falling from her eyes as she was welcomed back into his arms and her devoured her in a kiss. His arms around her lower back and hers around his neck holding him close. The kiss was hot and intense and full of everything they had been through in the last ten years together. The lies, the deception, the plotting, the missed opportunities to be together that were only missed because of pride, the use of other people to make the other jealous, all of it in this one kiss. His hands move over her hips gripping her tight and lifted her up with Rebekah automatically wrapping her legs around his waist. Rebekah moans deeply as his hands move to her backside holding her to him tightly.
Slowly, the kiss breaks –keeping her forehead to his- and Rebekah sees he has shed a few more tears. Rebekah does not know it, but she had cried a few more as well. She cups Klaus' face in her hands and runs her thumbs over his cheeks smearing the tears off of his cheeks. Klaus opens his mouth to say something, but Rebekah shakes her head lightly placing her thumb over his lips to keep him from speaking. Rebekah leans in again and this kiss says what does not need to be spoken. Klaus forgave her for it all. He loved her and she loved him. By human morals they were abominations, but they had not been human for one thousand years. At their two hundredth year, they gave into temptation and ever since then they kept it their own secret from the world- even from their brother Elijah.
As the deep kiss ended, Rebekah leaned back slightly looking into his eyes, "I have to go," she breathed with a shaking voice. Klaus did not fight her, and simply nodded letting her slid down his body till she stood once again on her own feet. She was just about to pull away from him when he leaned down and kissed her forehead and then whispered, "You will return to me, sister." Leaving him in that moment was incredibly hard for her to do, but she knew it had to be done. Klaus gently dropped his arms from her and she stepped back and turned towards her car.
Rebekah slowly comes out of her memory with an easy smile on her face. Just the memory alone was something to hold onto in faith that she would not have to wait too long to be in his arms again. Though she knew it was best for Hope to be away and hidden, it meant that so was Rebekah in not having any contact with her family. Klaus' words came back to her and made her smile slightly at her now sleeping niece, "We will return to him, Hope. I promise you that," she whispers.
I hope you liked this story, if you did leave a comment and let me know! Not to AU, but definitely something I would have loved to see.