A.N. - Thanks for all the reviews and follows guys! I'm so excited for all the things that are to come. And I'm sorry this chapter is late. Please review and enjoy :)
Song: First Aid Kit - Wolf
A throbbing headache made it nearly impossible for Belle to open her eyes, but at this point in her life pain was something she was more than familiar with, so she forced open her eyes, squinting from the bright sun. It had to be noon because the sun was directly overhead, beating down on her relentlessly. She was surrounded by humidity and the sound of unseen insects and small animals - the bayou. Lovely.
Standing up on stiff legs, she pulled a few leaves from her hair and walked over to a nearby stream. She crouched and dipped her dirty hands into the cool water, feeling it run over her fingers before splashing some onto her face to rise off dirt and what little makeup she had left. Her mind began to wander once the water woke her up. Why was she out in the middle of the bayou? The last thing she remembered was being knocked out by Claudia's witch. She sighed, too exhausted to continue solving the mystery that presented itself to her. At the moment, there were a lot of unsolved mysteries in her life. What was one more?
She stood and started walking aimlessly through the trees, hoping to stumble upon some form of civilization. Sure enough, after what had to have been at least 2 miles, she found a little community of small, old houses and trailers. "Classy," she mumbled to herself as she looked around.
"Sorry, but we don't exactly have any five-star hotels around these parts." She turned around at the sound of the man's voice, trying to disguise her surprise; she hadn't noticed he was there.
"Who the hell are you?" She looked him over from head to toe skeptically. He had shaggy dark hair, the start of a beard and an outfit that was fit for a lumberjack.
"I'm Jackson. Who the hell are you?" He crossed his arms firmly across his chest.
"Not important." She glanced around, noticing a few other people walking around.
He let out an exasperated chuckle. "You must be Belle. We've been looking for you for days."
She raised an eyebrow at him. "May I ask why?" She stepped forward with a narrowed gaze.
"Klaus's orders," he deadpanned. He turned and called over his shoulder, "Hey Oli, I found her."
A man dressed similarly with dirty blonde hair approached them with an irritated look on his face. "Great," he said sarcastically. "I just love being a leech babysitter."
Belle glared daggers at him. "If I were you, which, thankfully, I'm not, I'd watch my tone. Okay? Great." She pat him on the shoulder, smirking as he jerked away. "And, for the record, I can take care of myself."
A familiar and comforting chuckle echoed behind her. "If that were true, we wouldn't be here right now."
She grinned and turned to face him. "Hey, when your mother wants to kill you, she wants to kill you," she retorted. Klaus's lips twitched, but he didn't smirk. "Are you mad at me?"
He shook his head. "We'll talk about this later. You need to come home." He turned and stalked off, hands in the pockets of his jeans. She exhaled deeply, tempted to roll her eyes, before following him.
They were just a few miles away from the compound and he still had said nothing. "So," Belle started, "are you ever going to answer my question?" She glanced at him from the corner of her eye. Klaus's eyes were locked on the road, his expression unreadable.
"No, I'm not angry with you. Sabrina told us everything, how you saved her. You did the right thing." He paused, glancing at her. The corners of his lips twitched before revealing a short-lived grin. "Although, it would have been nice to have you there for Hayley when she had the baby," he said.
Realization struck her like a blast of cold air. She face-palmed and groaned loudly. "Oh God, am I the worst person ever for completely forgetting about that?" Embarrassed, she peaked at him from the cracks between her fingers.
He chuckled. "Well, you've had a rough week. I'll cut you some slack."
"Wait, I've been gone for a week?" She raised her eyebrows in astonishment. Surely it hadn't been longer than a day or two, right?
"I'm afraid so, love. Sabrina came to us the next morning and told us what had happened. Apparently your mother broke her neck just after you were knocked out. She woke up alone and couldn't find you." He looked over and saw the worry etched onto her face. "Don't worry, she's fine. She, Colton and Audrey have been staying at the compound. You can sort everything out then."
She nodded. "So, is the baby a girl like you guys thought?" she asked after a brief pause.
"Yes. Her name is Hope." Belle smiled as Klaus beamed with pride and happiness. It wasn't often she saw him this way, not since Marcel was young. It was a father's pride. "She's beautiful."
Her smile widened in an attempt to crush the jealousy that started simmering within. "I can't wait to meet her."
They arrived at the compound and went inside, heading straight for the living room. Elijah and Rebekah were huddled around Hayley, who held a small bundle of pink fluff in her arms. They looked up as Klaus and Belle stepped into the room, lingering by the doorway.
"Look who finally found her way home," Rebekah quipped, though there was a light bounce in her voice, something she definitely wasn't used to.
Hayley looked up and smiled at Belle. After a moment her attention shifted to the squirming bundle in her arms. A tiny, pale face face poked out from the blanket and yawned quietly, earning a chuckle from everyone in the room. "This is Hope," she said quietly.
Familiar emotions rushed to the surface as Belle gazed upon the little baby girl in Hayley's arms. The most dominating emotion of all of them was grief. Deep, soul-crushing, heart-wrenching, grief.
"Do you want to hold her?" Hayley asked, probably noticing the change in her expression.
Tears came to her tired, bloodshot eyes, but, before they could fall, she excused herself, not wanting to ruin the picturesque scene before her. "No thank you. Um, I'm going to take a shower." She walked away quickly, trying her hardest not to run.
Once she was safely inside the bathroom, she locked the door. She turned on the faucet and splashed water on her face and along the length of her arms. She held on to the sink's edge with an iron grip as she inhaled and exhaled deeply, trying to control herself. Her eyes were fixed on the woman in the mirror. Her eyes were red and watery; her dark hair was frizzy; her clothes were dirty and tattered. Belle stared into the woman's eyes and scarcely recognized them as her own.
Even after nine hundred years, she was still unable to process the grief trapped in her heart, the guilt. In her mind, she would never get over it. Was she supposed to? Was she supposed to come to terms with everything that happened then and summon the strength to forgive herself for not protecting her own child? She doubted anyone in the world had that much strength.
The next day rolled around and, after some coaxing by Klaus, Belle finally decided to meet Hope, officially. She was in fact very eager to meet the little miracle baby, the apple of Klaus's eye. She was just nervous and, though she wouldn't admit it out loud, jealous. The jealousy was worse.
Hope's little nursery was adjoined with Hayley's room, which was just down the hall from Klaus and Belle's room. Belle hadn't looked at the nursery since they had finished it weeks before. There had been something eerie about an empty nursery, but now that it's little resident was born the room felt almost comforting to be in. Hayley stood by the crib, lifting a newly awakened Hope into her arms. For a newborn, Hope didn't sleep very much. Then again, the Campbell children were known for sleeping like the dead. She smiled fondly at the memories of protectively watching over her siblings as they slept.
Cautiously, Belle stepped farther into the room. Hayley turned to face her, cradling Hope in her arms. The infant stretched out her tiny arms to the ceiling, balling up her dimpled hands. "Hope," Hayley said quietly, "this is Belle. She's your father's..." Hayley hesitantly raised an eyebrow.
"We don't really use lables, I guess." She chuckled.
"Well, she's very important to him and to the rest of our family." They both laughed. Without saying anything else, Hayley carefully placed Hope into Belle's cradled arms. She squirmed for a moment, but soon settled in.
A face-splitting grin made it's way onto Belle's face as she held the tiny, fragile creature in her arms. Hope's eyes were dark blue and, like most baby's eyes, looked much too big for her head. What little hair she had was dirty blonde, almost brown. "She really is beautiful, Hayley."
Hayley smiled. "Yeah, she is."
Belle noticed that something was different about her, not just the glow of motherhood. "You seem different. Maybe it's just me." She shook her head and returned her gaze to the swaddled infant in her arms.
"I guess no one told you, but I'm kind of a hybrid now."
Belle's eye flickered up to Hayley's. "Kind of?"
"I mean, I am a hybrid. There were some complications with the birth. I actually died for about an hour before I woke up. Hope's blood was in my system, so I woke up in transition." For something so traumatic, Hayley seemed pretty nonchalant about the situation. Then again, being around an adorable baby makes it hard to be anything but.
"Wow. I guess I missed a lot," Belle said absentmindedly. Her attention was unintentionally devoted to Hope.
Someone cleared their voice from the doorway. "Uh, Belle. Family meeting." Belle turned and found Audrey leaning against the doorframe.
Hesitantly, she nodded and handed Hope back to her mother.
The Campbell children were assembled in the Mikaelson's living room. Max and Sabrina were waiting patiently on the couch while Colton sat in an armchair with a glass of scotch in his hand. "Should you really be drinking that? It's not even noon."
Colton shrugged. "So," he shot back passively. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes.
"What's this about?" Belle sat down on the couch opposite of Max and Sabrina with Audrey.
"We need to discuss what to do about our mother." Max began.
Colton interjected, "And what better place to do that than the beach?"
"Okay, you're cut off." Belle reached over and tried to snatch the glass from him, but he pulled back defensively.
"No, we're actually going to the beach," Audrey said. She leaned back, propping an arm behind her head.
Colton sipped his drink. "We were going anyway, so we figured why not discuss everything there."
Belle eyed them suspiciously. "And were you planning on inviting me?"
"Yes." Sabrina hadn't spoken yet, but Belle was glad she finally chimed in. They had only spoken once since the other night in the cemetery. "We wouldn't want to go without you." A small smile tugged at the corners of her lips.
"Great." Belle smiled, trying to contain her enthusiasm, and got to her feet. "I'm driving."