Summary: Previously, Freya and Keelin saved Vincent and some witches at the church. Vincent's spell to locate Hope failed and he had to resort to channelling Freya to seek answers. How will they react now that they're back in New Orleans?

A/N: Hi all, though the title is "Saving Hope", it's not saving Hope per se so please don't get mad at me at how it ends. I was in the mood for love and by the time I've realized, the write was already more than a page long…omg #sweats Anyway I hope that you'll enjoy it~:p

Special thanks to my better half for approving my writes.

"Hey, still feeling sore?" Keelin asked as she rubbed some lotion onto Freya's shoulders.

"I'm sore all over. That spell drained quite an amount out of me," Freya sulked. "It's sore over here, here, here and here," she pointed at her right shoulder, left shoulder, neck and then back.

"Sore all over," she threw her arms into the air as she stood and floated from the stool towards her bed.

With a loud thud, she dropped into the bed on her back.

"We travelled for days."

"Relentlessly –"

"Non-stop – ",

"Day and night –"

"Travelled for more than a week to only be attacked by new-borns and channelled by Vincent."

She stretched out her arms and legs and rolled from one end of the bed to the other and then rolled back to the other end of the bed.

"Now you're behaving like a spoiled child," Keelin smiled. "Still want your shoulder massage?" Keelin sat beside her, lotion still in hand.

Freya rolled over and lay on her stomach, allowing her hands to gently rub the lotion onto her shoulders.

"Hmm Freya," Keelin put the bottle away while contemplating whether to continue.

"Yes?"

"Don't you miss Hope?"

She immediately regretted asking.

For years, anything family related was best not mentioned and treated with sensitivity. The Mikaelsons disbanded years ago, each taking a quarter of The Hollow into their body, never to see each other again. She knew very well what the rules and conditions were when she watched her signed up for it and has been her pillar of support ever since.

She felt like slapping herself.

The figure on the bed didn't stir.

"Yea, I miss her."

"I miss them badly," she turned and crawled towards Keelin and rested her head on her thighs, wrapping her arms around Keelin's waist.

The room was silent as Keelin ran her fingers through her tussles, slowly and gently.

"Let's leave New Orleans immediately once Hope is safe," she uttered. "Everything here reminds me of them; New Orleans, the compound and even this room itself."

"I'm sure that we'll be hearing news from Hayley and Vincent once there's any, especially Vincent. Did you notice how eager he is for us to leave earlier when we were at the church?" Keelin twirled her fingers a little faster.

"But yea, let's head home as soon as this is over," the twirling stopped.

"Fancy a leg massage?" Keelin reached for the lotion.

"Well actually, I fancy something else instead," Freya edged over.

Their lips touched, they pulled away and when her lashes flipped open, Keelin was grinning playfully back.

Another kiss, another pull away, and off came Keelin's sleepshirt, dropping gently to the floor when released from the side of the bed.

Bare skin against silk rolled in bed and when their lips parted, Keelin was straddling naked.

Keelin's fingers gently ran across her shoulders and the straps of her night gown slowly slipped down her arms. She released the wrap around Keelin's waist, her arms softly brushing against her gown as it slipped off her shoulders.

She lay on her back in her black lace underwear. Keelin's face was over hers, kissing down her neck and to her shoulders, her hands moving her legs further and further as the seconds passed.

Keelin's fingers lightly brushed her inner thighs and made their way towards her black lace underwear, gently stroking against the already moistened lace.

"Mrs. Mikaelson is very submissive today," Keelin muttered as she ran her fingers across the lace underwear that protected her core.

"Or would you prefer me not to," she breathed, and she pulled Keelin back to her mouth, wrapping arms around her neck.

She felt Keelin smile against her lips before a thumb rubbed slowly and repeatedly in circular motions against her protected core. With eyes closed, she lifted her hips and rocked gently to the momentum of her rubs, her hips shivering in the process.

"Keelin...," she whimpered and she roll her head back and gasped while Keelin's fingers continued to fondle and stroke the moistened underwear with more pressure than before.

"I'm definitely going to enjoy this for a while longer," Keelin whispered while removing her underwear.

She opened her eyes for a moment and shot a glare but soon melted back into pleasure when Keelin's fingers gently caressed the folds of her core in circular motions. She leaned closer, body craving for more of her touch while the fingers continued to trace the folds in slowed motions.

"Keelin…" her lips quivered, "Please…"

Instantly at the moment, their heads shot towards the direction of the compound's main entrance.

"Freya, do you hear that?"

"Yes," she panted, "And I smell blood."

"Help! Help us please!"

Her body was still tingling when she spotted her.

A woman shouted to her as one of the men lifted the woman onto his shoulders. That was then she recognized the woman to be one of those witches whom she saw earlier in the church. With vamp speed she made it to behind the man and thrusted into his chest. Blood splashed onto her nightgown, staining the cream coloured silk red. The witch landed on the lifeless corpse.

If other vampires are able to enter the Compound that would mean…

She looked around trying to spot the caretaker, a friendly old woman whom Hayley had put the compound under her name, and spotted her in a pool of blood and with heart on the ground at the entrance. Furniture were smashed, there were way too many unfamiliar faces, a dozen or two unfamiliar faces and they were fighting each other; some chanting spells, some using bare hands and some using weapons. She spotted a group of elderly and children hunched together in a corner of the compound, surrounded by a few vampires.

Many, presumably witches, lay motionless on the ground.

"They are the followers of The Hollow!" the woman shouted but it didn't take Freya long to figure who the enemies were she was soon confronted by a group of vampires.

Her eyes darted around, her situation didn't look good as she was greatly out-numbered but all she could think of was her. Earlier she had sped down first, leaving her in the room, to check on the commotion.

Keelin!

She braced herself, waiting for her opponents to make the first move.

As though responding to her thoughts, a lone wolf appeared from behind the men and a pair of canines clamped down on the neck of the nearest vampire. The man was dragged by his neck to behind a wall in the corner, leaving a trail of blood.

When they spun around, Freya had already smashed the compound's wooden table. She garnered her strength and threw the broken sticks with all her might towards the attackers. They were like darts hitting bullseyes on a dartboard with a full score. One dropped to his knees, the second man was speared in the heart to a wall while another had his head cleanly cleaved off from his body.

The remaining three vampires were stunned with what they saw; two broke off and sped towards the compound's main door. The wolf leaped out from behind a wall and stood in between them and the main door. The remaining vampire gathered enough courage and dashed towards Freya with a knife. He suddenly halted in his tracks, crunching in pain with hands on his head as though some invisible force was pounding his head relentlessly.

Magic

That was once a familiar torturous spell that she cast to immobilize and torture others but this time, the spell was cast by the witch woman whom she had saved. "Don't dally," the witch shouted.

She pushed off the ground and raced forwards, grabbed the hilt of the knife and swung it upwards with the strength of a giant. The sound of jaw crushing echoed throughout the Compound. Freya turned her attention towards the remaining two and found the first lifeless and with a missing head on the ground. The other man was cursing as the wolf swung him by the limps and mauled him. The witches watched with their jaws dropped at the massacre before them. The elderly shook their heads while they kept the eyes of the children covered throughout.

The wolf gritted her bloodied teeth and stepped slowly towards Freya. All of the sudden, the wolf cried and wrenched in pain. The wolf vigorously swung its head to and fro, fell to the ground and started rolling.

She turned and found the source; the same witch was casting the torturous spell on the wolf.

"Quick, get the wolf!" the witch shouted.

Freya instinctively shoved the witch to the side; smashing her against a wall and breaking the spell. She was already kneeling beside the wolf and with arms outstretched when the wolf staggered back on fours. Some of the witches ran over to assist their fallen ally while the others watched the situation with fear; afraid of the wolf and of Freya. The wolf shook away the pain and when the cries stopped, the wolf leaped into Freya's embrace and snuggled against her.

"Keelin, are you alright?" The witches stared with even wider eyes.

"So remind me again why are we here?" her eyes trailed some of the witches who crossed the compound, eyeing particularly the one who had inflicted pain on Keelin.

Wrapped in Keelin's arms, they watched from a window of the second floor.

"Relax, they'll only be here for a while till Vincent returns," Keelin rubbed her shoulders.

"I feel so agitated and...helpless," she blurted.

"Helpless?" Keelin repeated in disbelief.

"You've saved their lives Freya! Now you're playing guardian angel over them while Vincent is not around. I wouldn't call that helpless."

"And you did kick some ass yesterday," Keelin added as she placed her chin on her shoulder.

They watched as three children ran around the ground floor of the compound playing catch. Their laughter filled the air.

"It's just that…" she turned to face Keelin. "After this is over, when Vincent returns and when Hope is rescued, we have to leave New Orleans…again," her voice broke.

Keelin immediately grabbed her palms tightly, afraid that if she didn't, her wife would explode and the torrent of negative emotions that they worked hard together to erase would resurface like a Tsunami. It has been years and as part of the process of helping Freya to move on, she has set up healthy boundaries, moving them away to new places, meeting new people and creating many happy memories in the process. However, a part of her knew that family would always be at the back of her mind.

"Freya breathe! Listen to me, you're being too hard on yourself again," she tried to calm her down.

"I'm supposed to be protecting my family, protecting Hope, but now all I can do is to wait here," she burst out saying. "I know that Hope will be safe, Hayley will make sure of it, but …but I'll never be able to see her again."

"Never be able to see my family together again," she bit her lips and her eyes began to water. Keelin pulled her into an embrace.

Keelin hugged her tight, arms wrapping around as head lay on her shoulder.

Shhhhhhhh

"Hope's going to be alright. Don't worry," she stroked the back of her head.

"Your family, I wouldn't be worrying about them. They've survived for a thousand years and they'll be able to survive another thousand."

She felt Freya's mouth muscle twitched against her shoulder but she wasn't sure what it meant. Yet, she didn't want to stop suggesting for fear that the empty moments would be filled with negativity if she stopped.

"How about we travel to San Francisco to visit Kol and Davina? It'd be a lovely trip. We'll sun tanning at the beach, do some water skiing, what about hikes? They have quite a few trails…," she was running out of ideas but still she stretched every one that came into her mind.

"Ah, I know! Shopping? We haven't done that in a while –" she felt Freya pulling away, her arms dropping to the side. Freya's eyes were still watery as she stared into hers, and with a sudden swoop, Freya cupped her cheeks and leaned forward, pressing her lips against hers.

When her eyelids flipped open, Freya was smiling though in tears.

"Keelin, thank you."

The words were few but they were more than enough as they reminded her of the years that they have gone through together; the good, the bad, and the small little things. She instinctively cupped Freya's cheeks and planted a kiss before she leaned her forehead against hers. Whatever the future, she will be hopeful and face it with Freya together, be it now or forever.