Disclaimer: I don't own Saving Hope or The Originals. Everyone who read the last two disclaimers could tell me what would happen if I did.

Chapter 3

Joel found himself thankful he had the foresight to take Luke over to Zach and Melanda who were just around the corner before calling again as he pulled himself up from the floor after being thrown into a wall.

'The more the merrier,' he had said.

'Oh, I'll show you 'merry' mate,' he thought to himself, scowling slightly, as he turned around to face the bastard who threw him across the room who he really wanted to punch in the face. Speaking of which, the face staring at him wasn't so much smug as full on gaping at him in shock. For a second, anyway, then he was suddenly in front of him with a tight grip on his throat which was quickly crushing his trachea, cutting off his breathing, and a seriously pissed off look on his face.

"What the hell kind of trick is this?" he hissed, glaring between him and Josh. Josh grimaced.

"There isn't a trick. I did tell you Marcel couldn't even stand the sight off him…" Joel decided to make them aware, that yes, he was still having his breathing cut off by an apparent douchebag with anger management issues, by transferring his pain directly into his attackers mind, making him feel like he was the one being strangled to death. Kol – as he'd learned whilst in his head – let go with a gasp, stumbling back slightly. Kol recovered quickly and glared at him.

"Sorry mate," Joel said in a half sarcastic tone. "I just didn't like being strangled to death. Or held hostage. Or thrown into a wall!" Speaking of which, now that he was right in front of him…

Joel's fist flew into Kol's jaw, sending him stumbling a bit more.

"Just in case you didn't get that, that was for throwing me into a wall. I got two cracked ribs because of that." Joel sat down on the chair next to him, just happy that those cracked ribs weren't broken instead. Kol glared at him with half a mind to kill the man, but left him for this second to finish what he started with Josh and snapped his neck.

"You're lucky Davina liked you."

"You didn't have to do that." Kol turned to look at him, studying him, starting to circle him as he did so.

"I did actually." Kol stopped in front of him, leaning in closer. They were completely identical. Put this man in a suit and he would be mistaken for his brother so long as one didn't listen too closely to the heartbeat. Joel met his eyes evenly, except for the occasional glance at his friend lying on the floor with his neck snapped like a twig. "I don't need to explain it to you, nor will I. Now don't move a muscle until he wakes up." And with that, he was out the door. Joel huffed as he got to his feet, kneeling down next to Josh. Clearly, the vampire had expected him to be effected by his compulsion and hadn't even bothered to check.

"Arrogant vampires," he muttered to himself, "always thinking they'll get what they want just through compulsion. What if I was on vervain?" He wasn't, he had no need for it, his telepathy ensured that, but that wasn't the point. Joel picked him up in a fireman's hold after binding his cracked ribs with a spare tablecloth and carried him into a backroom next to the kitchen where a bed was already set up and lay him down, making him as comfortable as a dead guy could possibly be without being permanently dead, before leaving the bar and following Kol's distinct mental signature, ignoring the pain from his ribs for now. He'd managed to stay out of supernatural business – well, mostly managed it – but this time he was too curious to let it go. He needed to see what was happening, needed to see if this would effect his son, because from what he's gathered, when the Mikaelson's came around here, something was about to start. And everyone was always dragged into it.

He caught up to Kol just as the entire Mikaelson family was about to leave only to be stopped by the self proclaimed king of the city as he arrived too.

It almost looked like a standoff, the entire Mikaelson family – minus the kid, obviously, even one who looked a hell of a lot like him, who was probably Elijah, given the amount of times he'd been mistaken for him over four years of living in New Orleans – standing opposite their greatest enemy, Marcel Gerard. It probably would have been fun to watch if it had been a TV show or a movie. But this was not fun for any of them. This was dangerous.

- TO/SH -

"You shouldn't have come back. Any of you," Marcel said to them.

"That's what family does," Hayley stated. "We fight for each other."

"Yeah, I heard that," Marcel said with a hard look on his face. "Though that didn't really work out for me, did it?"

"Oh, for god's sake, you were never a Mikaelson, get over it!" Kol snapped. "Don't you have a city to run? Vampires to boot out of town?" The last part he said with a hint of a mocking tone. "And of course, a doppelganger to hate for no reason. Met him by the way. Punched me in the face and still breathing. How's that for a bit of mercy?" He ignored the curious looks from his siblings as Marcel stepped towards him only for Rebekah to get in the way.

"If you want to kill one of us, you'll have to kill us all," she told him, still somewhat believing he wouldn't hurt her, even to get to the rest of her family.

"Don't push me Rebekah," Marcel warned her.

"Then get on with it. Let's end this, once and for all."

Marcel rushed towards her to do exactly that, before he seemingly collapsed out of nowhere. Rebekah took a hesitant step forward, but Elijah stopped her with a hand on her arm and pulled her closer towards him and further away from Marcel. Most of them looked at Marcel's body suspiciously, backing away to the car. Kol looked around for whatever could have knocked out Marcel so easily. It couldn't have been Freya, she looked as suspicious and slightly confused as the rest of them. He heard a heartbeat slightly to the side and looked a little closer. There didn't seem to be anyone there, but he could definitely hear them. As he thought that, how brother's doppelganger, Joel, he believed appeared in his line of sight. Which was exactly where he'd been looking. Seemed like this one was more than just a doppelganger if he had magic powerful enough to hide him from an Original's sight.

Joel gestured slightly to tell him to get a move on. Usually Kol would have killed anyone who dared tell him what to do. But this one had just saved his entire family. He supposed he could let it go.

"Does it matter what happened?" he interrupted. "Let's go. I want to meet my niece and spoil her rotten as favorite uncle before Marcel wakes up and tries again." Elijah smirked.

"I think you'll have to settle for second best, Kol. Obviously, I will be the favorite uncle."

- TO/SH -

Joel sighed as he watched the Originals leave in their car. He smiled as he heard Kol's thanks for his family's safety.

'You're welcome," he replied, laughing to himself at Kol's shock of his voice in the vampire's mind before picking himself up off the ground and getting to the hospital. He'd best get a second opinion for his ribs. He thought for a second. Screw the hospital today. Charlie was waiting with the others at his place anyway.

I was going to have Marcel question why 'Elijah' had been there for four years and was only making his move now, but then he attacked Rebekah instead. Definitely has a mind of his own, that one...