chapter four ; time's running out
THE SMALL apartment that the three Mikaelson's had rented seemed to suit them well. Though it took less then a day for the three to absolutely despise the plan they'd come up with.
"I don't like not telling him. He needs to know now" Hope declared, sitting on the couch across from Klaus while Hayley paced the tiny room back and fourth. It had now been three days since they came to town, seventeen years and three days since Hayley and Klaus had seen their little boy. Everyone was getting impatient, not sure how much longer they could remain hidden from Stiles.
Hayley shook her head, "We can't. He needs to trust us otherwise he'll just run off, he needs to get to know us, maybe come to like us. Otherwise there's no telling what he'll do" she explained.
"But you didn't see him, he looks like he's falling apart. Something happened, something we weren't here for and it's eating him alive. He looks like he hasn't slept in years, and his size can't be healthy. He looks like he's dying, Mom" Hope tried to persuade.
She shook her head, "No, no, okay we stick to the plan. Get him to trust you, then, when the timings right we can tell him. Trust me, its killing me to be apart from him even longer, I almost followed him all day but had to stop myself. This is what's best for him"
The two's conversation fell silent, both in disagreement with the other.
Klaus cleared his throat, grabbing their attention. "The plan was good yes. But we saw him kill someone, so unfortunately the universe is against us, what a surprise"
"What do you mean?"
Klaus had a grim look on his face, "It means our boys gonna have to find out the truth sooner rather than later, preferably before he turns for the first time. It's a full moon tonight" he clarified.
Hayley's eyes widened, shaking her head the pacing continued. "He broke the curse" she connected to little too late. With all the excitement lately she'd completely forgot. "And he doesn't even know it. He won't prepare, he'll expect it to be like any other night and then every bone in his body will break and he's gonna be alone for it. Terrified" she panicked.
"So I tell him. Today, so he has at least a few hours to digest it. Then we can help him with the turn and after, well, he can decide what he wants to do" Hope said.
Klaus agreed, "Now get to school. Invite him over, and we can tell him together" as a family, the words went unspoken.
. ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧・゚゚・erase me. ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧・゚゚・
Finding Stiles proved to be a lot harder than Hope thought it would be. She spent all of first period anxiously chewing her thumb while trying to keep her eyes on the teacher and not her twin, then, following him on the way to his next class he somehow vanished in the sea of students.
By lunch she finally caught sight of the boy again only heading toward the exit of the school, Hope tried her hardest not to look like she was stalking him and running after him but by now she was fed up of losing him and this seemed to be her last chance.
"Why are you following Stiles?" A girl said, side stepping in front of her to stop her.
"Hm?" Hope asked, never taking her eyes off of the door now closing behind him. When she did look at the girl she recognized the redhead, one of Stiles's friends she'd seen him talk to yesterday.
"You're new, and I've seen you watching his every move all day. He never said anything to us about you and if you think you're his type, no offence, you're not" she said.
Hope wanted to laugh, or defend herself but the more time she wasted talking to her the further away he got. God she really hoped her brother wasn't dating this chick, she seemed way to high maintenance. "No offence, but we are friends. . .sort of. And not that it's any of your business but I had questions about the work in history, the class we're both in" she said as kindly as she could before going to step around her.
The girl moved to block her one last time, a squint in her eyes that suggested she didn't trust her. "Stiles doesn't need any distractions right now. He's had enough going on the last few months. Go ask your homework questions. But quit stalking him, I've noticed" she warned with no heat before moving out of the way.
Hope plastered on the fakest smile she could and gave her a nod before speed-walking out, he was still in the parking lot sitting in his jeep, perfect.
She walked up to the passengers size of the car and knocked, "Stiles, hey, can I come in for a sec?"
With a delayed reaction he looked at her, thinking for a moment before unlocking the door and letting her in. "Hey, Hope. Now's not really the best time-"
"History. Uh I need help with the history homework and was hoping you could come over after school and help me. Like an hour max," she all but begged, seeing him already thinking of ways to say no she continued, "It's just, well I was top of my class at my old school and now I'm already getting confused and if my parents see my grades dropping they'll just want to send me away somewhere and I really can't do that again" she pleaded, the words just coming out unwillingly.
He faced the wheel, contemplating for a moment or two before nodding multiple times, "Yeah, yeah sure why not? I'm not staying for the rest of school though, have a bad headache" Hope could hear his heart race on the lie.
Hope smiled, trying to hide her excitement "Yeah, no I could totally skip the rest of the day if you wanted to head over now?" she suggested.
His head snapped to her, a questioning look in his eyes "Well if you're worried about your grades slipping, then maybe not huh?" he reminded.
Fuck.
She'd gotten so caught up thinking about how tonight they'd finally for the first time every be a complete family that she'd forgot about the lie she'd made up a minute ago. She knew she was being delusional thinking tonight would end happy and things would fall into place but she was an optimist, she'd felt this void that became so normal she didn't question it until the truth came out and a part of her hoped he had felt the same thing.
She laughed it off, "Yeah. See that's why I need your help. I'll text you the address," she said as he handed his phone to her. "Come around four, I should be home by then".
Like hell she was going back to class after this.
