Kol had punched three holes in the front hallway's wall. His pacing hadn't ceased for a single moment since Rebekah had received a text from Klaus an hour before letting them know that Bea was safe and he would be taking her to the mansion. Immediately he'd left the Salvatore's home, which had been reduced to burning rubble at that point with twelve bodies in the backyard including the Mystic Falls fire department and the Sheriff.

There was the extreme stress and worry that Klaus would do something to her. And even the thought of the two of them alone, especially when Bea had just been presumably terrified while captured -

- and that made four holes in the wall.

Kol shook his hand harshly as he pulled it out from the damage to the plaster, the bones healing and skin knitting back together in mere seconds. He could hear Rebekah let out an annoyed huff at his actions, but he knew it was a show mostly for his sake. She'd been trying to put on an air of normality around him, but Rebekah had been visibly panicked and upset when it had been revealed that the Salvatore brothers had done something to Bea. He vaguely appreciated the effort at distraction, but nothing could put him at ease at

Rigby was at the mansion with them, the vampire doppelganger tensely sitting beside her and looking nervously at Elijah every once in a while. Elijah had lifted a questioning eyebrow at her when she entered but the woman hadn't had a chance to respond before Rigby had pulled her inside authoritatively and rushed them both toward Kol.

Kol had been a bit baffled when Rigby yanked him down to crush him in a hug as Katerina had nodded to him in grim acknowledgement. The two women had immediately gone searching for Bea when they had heard Damon Salvatore at the other end of Bea's cell phone, solidifying Kol's appreciation of Bea's descendant. The look of shock on Elijah's face at Rigby and Katerina's actions had momentarily amused him before the situation had come crashing down on him again.

When he heard a car come speeding down the driveway, Kol ran out the door, moving faster than he could ever remember in his lifetime. Before the car even fully stopped he saw the passenger side door get thrown open hard enough that the hinges snapped. A second later in a blur, Bea launched herself at him.

Bea's arms were immediately flung around his neck and her legs wrapped around his waist, holding onto him tightly. Kol's arms wound around her back and he clutched her hard enough against his chest that he knew even as a vampire it must be bruising.

However, none of that seemed to matter. The only thing on his mind was his wife, who began heavily sobbing into the junction between his neck and shoulder. Her entire body was shaking and Kol could feel himself trembling as well, automatically letting out a low, soothing croon in response to her distress. Bea's sobbing devolved into harsh hyperventilation after a few minutes and in between breaths she began frantically speaking with an incredibly hoarse voice.

"J'avais si peur, ca faisait si mal, j'avais si peur."

Kol buried his own face in her hair and struggled not to break when his suspicion that she had been tortured was confirmed. Knowing that he had to be the strong one in the wake of her capture, he spoke back to her in a firm tone, immediately reassuring her.

Kol would murder everyone that had so much as touched her and ensure that it was permanently over.

"Ca va, Bea, ca va. Vous etes en securite maintenant. Je t'aime, cheri. Je t'aime tellement."

He could vaguely hear Niklaus exiting the vehicle and walking over to Elijah, whom he immediately began quietly speaking with. His reunion with Niklaus could wait. Bea was the most important thing right now. The most important thing to him always.

After a few minutes Bea's crying reduced to sniffles, even as her teeth chattered – a clear indicator of how exhausted she was.

When she loosened her legs Kol gently lowered her to the ground but immediately bent down to press his forehead against hers and closed his eyes. There wasn't the impulse to kiss her – right now just being with her was the most intimate action the two of them could experience. They both stayed still for a minute while cradling each other's faces, but when Kol began to run his fingers through her hair he had to retract it with a hiss as his hand burned.

Pulling back from her, he opened his eyes and studied her face as he tried to keep his voice gentle instead of showing his rage when he said, "Vervain?"

Bea nodded silently, but took a deep breath and released it slowly, finally quieting her crying completely. Kol didn't allow his newest flash of anger to show, especially when Bea had only just begun to calm down.

Kol knew that Bea's very first memory was when she'd been horrifically burned with boiling water as a child. Any sensation even slightly similar to being burned made her panic – if a shower was too hot or she ever leaned too close to her abominable attempts at cooking. And the people who had taken her had used enough vervain – likely in the air – for it to have saturated her hair and remained even an hour later. Unknowingly, they had done to her the single most traumatic thing they could have.

From the corner of his eye Kol could see Rigby tensing, evidently holding herself back, so Kol took a step back to allow her to also approach. Rigby sprinted over and immediately hugged Bea, staying strong when she firmly said, "I'm so, so glad you're okay. I love you so much, you're safe now."

Kol decided to give them a bit of privacy and instead turned before striding over to Niklaus. Before either he or Elijah said anything, Kol put nearly all of his strength into his arm as he punched Niklaus across the face and heard the resulting crack of a dislocated jaw and broken cheekbone.

Niklaus raised his hand to his face while he gritted his teeth harshly until the sound of his bones realigning sounded out.

Kol's entire body tensed and he clenched his hands tightly when he spat out with no small amount of hatred in his voice, "Why. Why did you help us?"

Niklaus schooled his expression into a blank one and looked incredibly serious as he evidently weighed his answer. After a few seconds he spoke evenly, "I deserve your anger and resentment, I know that. But I wish for reconciliation amongst our family. It's impossible immediately or even within this century, but I regret my actions all those years ago. I cannot reverse time, but I hope to atone for what took place."

Instinctively he bit out in a mocking voice, "How very hard is it for the great Niklaus to say that?"

His older brother didn't rise to the bait, instead his expression didn't waver.

Kol was so, so fucking enraged. And what made it even more maddening was that the main target of his hatred right now wasn't Niklaus. The murderous anger he felt was primarily aimed at the Salvatore brothers and their little group.

He… he didn't know where they should go from here.

After hugging and fussing over Bea for a minute or two Rigby stepped back, letting Rebekah cut in with her own embrace of her sister-in-law. And that was in and of itself a prospect that Rigby had initially been nervous about. There had been an instinctive fear about the fact that Bea now had a sister-in-law. Rigby's connection to her was a little more tentative, being her great niece.

Of course Bea had made it clear – after Rigby had admitted the nervousness with embarrassment after Bea noted her behavior – that nothing would ever come between them. Yes, it was really strangely out of character for Rigby to get self-conscious – but it had been just her and Bea for decades. Even the idea of someone coming along and replacing her had made a pit of anxiety appear in her stomach.

Bea had of course, as was in character for her, pinned Rigby to the ground and mercilessly taken advantage of Rigby's ticklishness as she relentlessly dug her fingers into Rigby's sides until she was laughing hard enough that tears appeared in her eyes. Bea had stubbornly refused to get off of her until Rigby repeated after her out loud that she knew she would always be Bea's "best friend forever and ever and ever."

Rigby had also come to like the female Original that much more when she had seen the woman's reaction to Bea's kidnapping. Her genuine worry and fear for Bea had quickly swayed Rigby's opinion of her to a positive one.

Rigby could hear commotion happening on the other side of the room between the Mikaelson brothers, but they had settled slightly and were now angrily exchanging words instead of actually attacking each other.

Of course, just after a wave of relief came over her at the idea that the tension was starting to dissipate even the littlest bit, Rebekah looked over to Katie and narrowed her eyes before saying, "And why is the doppelganger slut here?"

Before anyone else could speak, Bea flicked the side of her head, responding in a bland tone, "We like Katie. Act your age, sweetheart."

Rebekah only huffed in response and sarcastically said in return, "So lay down and imitate a skeleton to the best of my ability?"

Katie took the brief silence to quickly squeeze Bea's shoulder and say in a nonchalant tone of voice, "Congratulations on not dying."

Bea narrowed her eyes and turned to Rebekah before saying, "Never mind. Katie is the worst."

Rigby tried not to let her fondness show too obviously on her face when Katie came up behind her and wrapped her arms around her torso before propping her chin on her shoulder as she smugly said, "Nope. You love me. I make Eleanor happy."

At that, Rigby did feel a sappy smile stretch across her lips. Rebekah seemed to lose the haughty demeanor but immediately shot back, "Most likely owing to the orgasms."

Katie and Bea started snickering as Rigby blushed even more intensely than she had been, but before anything else could be said Elijah broke in and said, "Can we all speak together?"