A/N: Thank you for all of your reviews/follows/favorites! After the flashback there is a bit of a time jump, mainly because I felt the story could be told without the fluff in the middle. Also, this is the last chapter that I wrote a flashback for. If you like the flashbacks let me know, otherwise there won't be anymore. If you don't like them, or don't care, let me know that too. Please review!
England, October 1478
Elena crept down the hall, tiptoeing so she wouldn't make any noise. Once she was out of the palace she was about to head straight for the gate, when she suddenly remembered that Anne was in the stables. There was no way she could leave her here. She turned and headed toward the direction of the stables. She wasn't exactly sure where it was because it was big place and she hadn't had to time to explore it all. She just knew she could see them from her bedroom window.
Elena found the stables with ease and walked inside. On the end, she found Anne. Elena stroked Anne's face, then turned to grab a rope. She tied the rope in a loose circle and went to slip it over Anne's head.
"What are you doing here?" Elena jumped and a soft shriek escaped her lips. "Who are you?" The man asked as he approached her forcefully and snatched the rope from her hands.
"Give that back!" Elena demanded.
"Not until you answer my questions."
"This is my cow I was...taking her for a walk." She lied and folded her arms.
"Your cow?" He asked with a raised brow, then realization settled. "My apologies, Miss Elena." He said with a bow.
"Yes." Elena said with slight confusion. No one had ever treated her like this before. Suddenly, she realized she had some authority over this man. She dropped her arms. "You should be sorry. Snatching a rope out of my hand like that. May I have it back now." She extended her hand for the rope.
"Of course." He told her as he placed the rope back in her hand.
"Thank you." She then turned back to slipping the rope over Anne's head.
"But, I must insist, that I accompany you for your walk."
"What?! Why?"
"It's late, Miss. Should anything happen to you, King Niklaus would have my head for sure."
"But how should I know that you won't be the one that should make something to happen to me?"
"Very well, let me introduce myself. My name is Damon. I run the stables. My brother, Sir Stefan, got me this job."
"Your brother's the King's adviser?"
"Why are you so surprised?"
"I'm not. I just... I don't see the family resemblance is all."
"Stefan got his looks from our father. I got mine from our mother."
"My sister and I look as if we could be twins. It never occurred to me that siblings could look different from one another."
"Well, then you must be living in a fantasy world."
"I'm just thirteen! I haven't had time to live in anything but a fantasy world."
"Right, your best friend is a cow."
"I never said that-"
"You didn't have to. Stefan told me about the argument with your sister."
"Fine! So what if my best friend is a cow? All the other children my age are working at home. The only one close to my age is Katherine and she's never liked me as well as Anne has. So, I'm sorry if that's a problem for you."
A loud thud caused Elena to gasp and turn around to look where Anne was standing only a few moments before.
"Anne!" Elena cried knelt down next to her. Damon rushed over to the cow and Elena worked the rope off of her neck and cradled her head in her lap. "Do something!" She yelled at Damon.
"She's sick, Miss Elena."
"Homesick probably. We should take her back immediately-"
"We shouldn't move her. I don't think she'd survive the walk back."
"But she can't die!" Elena threw her arms around the cow and wept. She glanced up at Damon and pleaded, "Please do something! Please help her! Tell me what to do. I'll do anything."
Damon placed a comforting hand on her back. "I'll do my best."
England, November 1483
"Hello my darlings!" Niklaus said happily as he scooped his three year-old twin daughters up in his arms. They each hugged him and kissed his cheeks. "Has mommy had the baby yet?" Niklaus asked.
"Not yet, your majesty." Elena's handmaiden, Bonnie told him. They heard a muffled scream and Niklaus groaned and sat in his chair with a daughter on each knee.
"This is taking longer than when these two were born."
"In my experience, every birth is different, your majesty."
"Very well, I guess I'll just wait here until it comes."
A few moments later there was another muffled scream, followed by muffled cries.
"Finally!" Niklaus exclaimed.
"Hooray!" The identical toddlers cheered.
"Your majesty?" Niklaus turned to look at Meredith, the midwife. "Congratulations. You have another beautiful daughter."
"A sister!" One twin yelled.
"A girl?" Niklaus sat his daughters on the floor, more forceful than he should have. "What is wrong with her that she can't give me a son?!" he growled.
He marched toward the room and opened the door roughly, but his expression softened at the sight of his wife cradling their child.
He walked over and saw that Elena was crying. "What's wrong, Love?"
Elena sniffed. "I'm so sorry. I wanted it to be a boy. I wanted to make you happy."
Niklaus sighed. It was impossible to be mad at her. He kissed her forehead. "It's alright. We'll try again. Besides. She's very beautiful. She has your lovely brown eyes."
"What should we name her?" Elena asked him.
"Maybe we should ask our other daughters."
Elena smiled at the thought and turned to see which handmaiden was present. "Rose, please bring Alice and Alexandria in here."
Rose nodded and left the room, returning moments later with the twins.
"Can we see her?" Alice, the older of the two, asked.
"Of course." Niklaus said and stood so he could lift them both onto the bed.
"What should we call her?" Elena asked her daughters.
"We should name her Caroline!"Alexandria said.
"I like her!" Alice added.
"But that's Caroline's name." Elena told them.
"Who's Caroline?" Niklaus asked with confusion.
"My handmaiden. She helps the girls sometimes."
Niklaus nodded. "What do you think of Margaret?"
Elena scrunch her face. "She doesn't look like a Margaret."
"You're absolutely right. She looks like a..."
"Hannah." Elena finished.
"I like that name!" Alice agreed.
"Me too!" Her sister agreed.
"She does look like a Hannah." Niklaus finally said. "Hannah it is."