Chapter 51: Here's to Hoping
Rebekah met Elijah's steady look with a pained expression and before long the two embraced. Elijah squeezed his sister in his grasp, holding on to the fact that she was truly present and not just a figment of his troubled mind.
Dear, dear Elijah. Rebekah thought internally. How much is pains me to leave you so. If things were different Rebekah would have asked him to join her without the skip of a heartbeat. Life had been cruel to all of them but Rebekah saw through her noble brother's facade. He had weathered through each struggle alongside them and had been beaten down, little bit by little bit more each time during the process. Yet his stubborn selfless outlook prevailed. She knew it would only seem disrespectful for her to provide him with such an invitation now. As she squeezed him back she glanced at Hayley and truly hoped the two would stick by each other. Rebekah had suffered Klaus's whips and scorns due to her pursuit of forbidden love first hand so the struggles it came with were far from foreign to her, yet like her brother she too was stubborn and so here again she hoped, that in this case, this family trait would lead to triumph, rather than despair.
Hayley watched the siblings with a deeply saddened expression. Things were happening so fast that her emotions could barely keep up. All in a moment, she had cumulatively felt the heart wrenching loss of the man she loved, the flooding relief of finding him alive and then the sudden pain of acceptance in having to let a loving friend go. Rebekah had stuck by Hayley from the very beginning.
Us girls gotta stick together. Hayley recalled the casually spoken line which has grown into so much more. She realised that she would miss Rebekah more than she'd thought and the feeling was strange to her. She was still not so accustomed to the idea of family, the idea of home. Ever since leaving her adoptive parent's home, even her losses had become trivial since nothing had been very consistent in her life, nothing had been familiar besides the moon, she thought ironically.
Hayley's worries then turned to Elijah as she noted his fearful grasp. Only pain seemed to come his way and she had discovered this in his journals also. What a life to have lived for centuries. Hayley could only imagine. She worried more at what the loss of his little sister would have in store for him. She worried if she herself would be enough, if she could be his enough without all sorts of supernatural drama getting into the way.
Hayley blinked a tear away and when her eyes opened she noticed that Klaus had slipped away. She watched Elijah kiss the side of Elijah's forehead, his eyes watery but still somehow managing to hold composure and wondered whether she too should leave the room.
Hayley drew a soft breath and turned around on her heel, walking back into the house.
They deserved some privacy.
As Hayley left the room Rebekah slowly broke away.
"Take care of her Elijah." Rebekah spoke slightly shakily for even she was starting to get teary.
"Not that I for one second think you would not." she nudged him teasingly.
Elijah struggled to speak.
Even though this was just meant to be a farewell and Klaus's lingering threat had be dulled, none of them really knew when they would see Rebekah again and so the whole situation felt a lot like goodbye. They had nothing to go on and could only hope they would see her again soon.
Rebekah dusted Elijah's jacket sleeve and it seemed rather stupid since it was tattered and bloodstained but it was such a sisterly thing to do.
"She's good for you Elijah and I know you're afraid of what our family brings but she's one of us now. She's a Mikaelson." Rebekah spoke with an odd hinting look in her eyes when they rose to meet his. Her fingers reached up to fix a stray piece of Elijah's hair and he grasped her hand with brotherly affection and an awkward smile and kissed it lightly.
"I do hope you find what you're looking for." Elijah spoke sincerely and Rebekah suddenly burst into a smile.
"You know what I can't hold it any longer. That's what she should be called." Rebekah half chuckled with teary eyes.
Elijah looked at her with confusion.
"Miracle baby, our niece." Rebekah explained.
"Hope."
"The amount of times we bloody use that word an all." She laughed softly, sadly.
"It just makes too much sense." She sighed with a reflective gaze.
Elijah thought about it for a second and a warm glow filled his heart.
"And all that's ever made sense is keeping her safe." He spoke softly.
"Hope." He repeated delicately and it was clear from his expression that he approved. Though then his gaze fell slightly trailing along the cold ground.
Rebekah frowned questioningly.
"Niklaus would hardly agree to us miscreants naming his daughter." Elijah slurred gently almost playfully but still with a deep sadness. However, what he heard next sparked his attention greatly.
"He's already wants to kill me so fuck it." Rebekah spoke to herself speedily before confessing.
"It was his idea." Rebekah revealed in a hushed tone.
Elijah looked up with surprise and Rebekah held his stare with a communicative look.
"I was so sure he would kill me. I wonder now whether he ever really did mean to, or did he change his mind but regardless Elijah, maybe somewhere, deep down, he still is the brother we once knew."
Elijah straightened up and Rebekah noted his discomfort caused by the topic.
"I know it's hard, after everything he's done-
Elijah cut her off.
"And you still believe-
"I Hope." Rebekah stressed.
And Elijah's mouth shut and he was silenced. He then sighed gently, almost as if having to accept defeat.
"I saw the way his eyes lit up when he spoke about her, Elijah, I know he's crazy and he does stupid bloody damn awful things but Hope." She spoke passionately and Elijah sighed again.
"Help him find his way." She asked gently.
Elijah did not speak but closed his eyes as Rebekah tiptoed to plant a kiss upon his cheek before she left.
"Hope." He spoke as his answer just before he saw his sister disappear from his view. She had smiled.
Elsewhere, Hayley sat in her rocking chair reminiscing about the events of the day. She felt so tired that she was sure that if things were a little different, she'd curl up and fall asleep in an instant. Her mind was so busied and with keeping up the wall to Celeste, Hayley didn't even notice as Klaus entered her room.
He watched her with soft eyes noting how her fingertips brushed her stomach with such tenderness and felt a stab of guilt for causing her pain. He felt shame when he thought about his cocktail of alcohol, jealousy and revenge fuelled actions. Klaus breathed softly. He did not wish to hurt her. But they never believed him, so why should he try. Why should he even bother?
Because of Hope. He thought and it frightened him that she had gone from being an impossible outcome, a loop hole to a miracle, a baby, a child, his daughter. His daughter with a name that he had applied within his twisted head. How can something so pure reside inside my mind? He thought carefully.
It had taken him so long to accept that she was his but it just as much frightened him that he was her father. In the cemetery today Elijah's words had frightened him far too much. Being compared to his father chilled him to the core. I will not become him. Klaus thought. He looked at the mother of his child and then vowed. Never.
Hayley was startled when she saw him, the rocking chair creaked and he stepped out and gripped it so that it safely stilled. Hayley looked up at him with that strange questioning look which both intrigued him but saddened him. He never knew whether it was interest or mistrust, maybe it was both. The look then faded as it always did, he only ever saw it when he caught her off guard.
"You never knock." She replied dryly.
"Tell me Hayley, if I knocked would you answer." Klaus asked, curious to what her answer would be.
"Maybe it should be Rebekah asking that, since you've abandoned her." Hayley spoke with a twist of anger and Klaus's own temper flared.
"She bought back Mikael-
Klaus's voice raised but he controlled it, calming as quickly as he was about to unravel.
"I let her go because I don't want to be like him." He replied and Hayley looked towards him surprised by such vulnerable confession. When Hayley saw him in that moment, she did not see a face filled with hate or bloodlust, she saw a broken boy asking for a chance. It baffled her.
Hayley opened her mouth to speak but just as the words were forming on her lips her heard the sound of her name being called upon the landing.
Surprisingly it was Rebekah and not so surprisingly Klaus had vanished.
Hayley shook her head and switched her attention to Rebekah.
"Didn't think I was going to leave without saying goodbye did you?" she spoke almost teasingly in her Rebekah like way.
Hayley hugged her hard as she always did a person. She wasn't one for all that half hearted stuff. And sometimes action just spoke louder than words. Hayley found that she wasn't truly great at the emotional stuff but hey she sure was learning.
"What happened to us girls sticking together?" she then asked teasingly as she released the original.
Rebekah laughed with a tinge of sad.
"You know what..." she replied and Hayley nodded.
"Hayley listen..." Rebekah then added in a more serious tone.
"About Nik, he's no angel. Don't ever cross him. But, whether you see it or not, he really does want more from life than just to be feared. He's too broken to find it himself, but I do believe there is hope for him the child that your carry. And speaking of my little niece, remember Hayley, our family has no shortage of enemies. She will inherit all of them. Please, be careful. Though, I know that Elijah will stand at nothing to keep you both out of harm's way."
Hayley absorbed Rebekah's words carefully before nodding in acceptance and offering her a meek smile.
The blonde vampire lingered at the door step.
"Try and visit, I'm sure I've been known to keep a secret or two from Klaus" Hayley then spoke mischievously and Rebekah chuckled.
"You know I'll try." She replied looking down and placing a light hand upon Hayley's stomach with sadness in her tone; however her hand and voice both soon lifted and she was back to being regular Rebekah.
Rebekah turned slightly to leave but stopped to say just one more thing.
"But you know, just in case I can't you make sure to tell that little girl stories of her crazy Auntie Beks, okay. And let her know that despite my absence, I do love her very much." She spoke sincerely and Hayley smiled.
As Rebekah's back turned to leave the room Hayley managed to fit in one more line into the conversation.
"Still hoping you'll tell her yourself." She teased and Rebekah smiled forcing herself not to grin before vanishing out of the Mikaelson compound. Bloody damn hoping. She thought as strode over to her all packed and ready drive-me-to-my-new-life car that she had still somehow managed to get her hands on by the perks of compulsion amongst all the family drama.
Rebekah slipped into it the cool car seat and pulled out a hipflask from the glove compartment.
As the cold wind brushed back her bright and beautiful hair and the engine roared to life, she took a swig of nostalgic bourbon and gripped the steering wheel with flare.
"To hope." she toasted and then pushed down her lavishly expensive high heel upon the feisty foot pedal. The card immediately began to pick up speed, forcing Rebekah to freedom.
Finally.