"We already did this at the start of bonfire season," Klaus complains from his spot on the couch as his younger sister shreds pieces of paper. Kol already sits on the floor with his own and a pen, tapping it to his chin.

Rebekah shrugs. "And now we're going into the New Year. Why shouldn't we share our good fortunes?"

"The whole thing is ridiculous. Childish," Klaus adds in.

Elijah doesn't look up from his book. He always puts off writing his wishes for the last minute. "Well, considering you're acting like a whiny toddler, perhaps it's perfect for you."

Klaus scoffs. Marcel reaches over him to grab his slip of paper.

"Don't be a spoil sport, Papa."

"The rest of you can do it. We can have the bonfire and all that. I shall abstain from the wishes."

"It's not going to be the same if we don't all do it," Caroline says, shaking her head. She wraps an arm around her son. "Convince your papa."

Marcel rolls his eyes. "I already used my cuteness to get him to do it for the harvest. It's someone else's turn."

"Maybe we should just let it go," Matt pipes up. Rebekah shoots him a look that even Kol worries could kill him from this far away. The newly turned vamp straightens. "Alright, alright. Never mind. Klaus, you need to do it."

"Not all of us are whipped as you, Matthew," Klaus sounds bored now.

Kol puts his piece of paper and pen into the pocket of his sweatshirt. He hops up to his feet and vamps over to where his big brother sits. Kol drops onto his lap and throws his arms around his neck. He widens his eyes just a bit and pouts. There's nothing in him that feels like he has to drop. Still, sometimes there are perks to being viewed as a baby by everyone 24/7. Klaus sighs.

"Kol, don't."

"Pleaseee, Niky," Kol pleads, dragging out the syllables. "It's my favorite part."

Marcel snickers as he drops beside his father. "Let's see how long this takes."

"I am not going to be easily persuaded," Klaus claims, ducking his head to look away.

Kol puts hands on either of his cheeks and kisses his nose. Klaus takes him in for a moment.

"You haven't dropped."

"So? I'm still your baby brother and you love me a lot."

Klaus manages to look past him at Elijah. "Are you really going to allow your son to use emotional blackmail?"

Kol catches his father shrugging out of the corner of his eyes. "Whatever works, Niklaus."

"Hay…"

She speaks up before he can even finish her name. "Give my baby boy what he wants. Stop being so boring for once."

"I am not boring!" Klaus admonishes.

"Prove it."

Kol rests his head on Klaus' neck, letting out a dramatic sigh. His older brother exhales and wraps his arms around him. He snuggles Kol close and kisses his temple.

"Fine. For you, Kol."

Kol grins. "Ha. I win." He leans up and kisses his cheek.

Caroline giggles. "Good job, Koley." She ruffles his hair.

"You saved me from having to all that," Marcel credits him.

Kol rolls his eyes. That's probably the most he can expect from his nephew. He tries to get up, but Klaus keeps him close.

"You want to turn on the baby, then you can snuggle with your big brother," he informs him with a tiny smirk.

Kol scoffs. "I knew this would come with a drawback."

Still, he doesn't move. It's been far too long since he got to snuggle with his big brother.

Kol sits at his desk, staring at the blank paper. In order to prevent everyone from making wishes for one family member, they draw names out of a hat. He got Elijah. His dad has everything. Materialistically and beyond. A wife, a family. A good job. Health is obviously no longer a concern.

There's a soft knock on the door. He glances up and finds his mom standing there. She smiles at him.

"It'll be dark soon, Lovebug. Your father, Matt and Klaus are going to get the fire started."

Kol nods. "Did you come up with your wish?"

"Yup."

"Who'd you get?"

"I can't tell you. That'd defeat the whole purpose." Kol ducks his head and rolls his eyes. "I saw that, young man."

She crosses over to him and sees the blank piece of paper.

"Haven't thought of anything?"

"Yup," Kol says, popping the p. "This whole thing was my stupid idea and here I am. I didn't get an easy person."

"You've still got some time." She strokes the back of his neck. "Rebekah was telling me that this has always been your favorite part, the wishes."

Kol tries to hide a smile but eventually lets it peek through. "Yeah," he whispers.

"Why?"

Kol tilts his head as he glances up at her. "Why?"

Hayley shrugs. "You're my little boy. There's still some things I don't know about you. It'd be nice to know why you love this so much."

Kol bites his lip. No one's ever asked him this before. He'd always get excited when first, Elijah, and later, Rebekah prepared for the wishes. Kol spent hours perfecting his wishes. Early on, all of his siblings were just as excited. Over the years, that tapered out for them except for he and Rebekah.

"It's kind of silly."

"I like hearing silly things."

"It makes me sound self-indulgent."

Hayley chuckles. "You? Self-indulgent? Not my little lovebug."

Kol pokes out his tongue. "I grew up kind of in the shadows," he says. Hayley's smile fades. "I guess it was nice to think that once a year, one of them would care enough to wish something for me."

"That's not self-indulgent at all," she whispers, continuing to stroke his neck. "You deserve to have people wishing good things for you. You deserve good things, baby."

"Haven't always."

"Well, you did back then and you do now." She kisses his cheek. "And the fact that you're so worried about what to write here proves that."

Kol bites his lip and nods. "I guess."

"Don't second guess yourself, Lovebug." She ruffles his hair. "I'll leave you to it. Let me know if you need help, alright?"

"I won't, but thanks, Mama."

"Of course."

She gives him one last kiss to the cheek and leaves the room. Kol looks back at his piece of paper.

"Useless," he mutters.

He pushes himself up and crosses over to the window, overlooking the yard. The wood is all set up in the pit. Matt grabs the matches but Elijah quickly takes them away. Kol hears him say something about how Rebekah will kill him if anything happens to her fiancé. Matt rolls his eyes and Kol snickers. He watches as the bonfire is lit. It starts off small but slowly begins to grow. Klaus has his arms folded over his chest but there's a small smile on his face. Elijah matches it, putting an arm around him and Matt.

It would've been easy for Elijah to take Klaus' side in this whole mess. Instead, he listened to not only what Rebekah wanted but Kol too. He knew how important it was to him. In these past few years, Elijah's learned to delegate his support to who deserves it when. Sometimes that means Klaus takes the forefront, but only when Kol is wrong. He's become the father Kol always wanted. Doing everything for him, even at his own detriment at times.

Still, there are times when Kol sees the guilt in Elijah's eyes. The weight of those years he spent enabling Klaus weigh heavily upon his shoulders. He's done so much to make for it. 4 years have past since he began his path to redemption. Kol and Rebekah have already forgiven him. Yet, it's always quite clear that Elijah hasn't himself. No matter how many times Kol assures him that all is well. There's no more resentment. Trust has been rebuilt.

Elijah remains his own largest critic.

Kol turns back to his desk and settles into his chair. In his best penmanship, he scrawls out his wish for his father.

May Dad find peace and self-forgiveness in this New Year.

He folds the piece of paper into a tiny square and sticks it into his pocket. There's another knock on his door. This time, Rebekah pokes her head in. An excited grin takes up her entire face.

"Ready?"

Kol nods and pushes himself up. "Let's go."

He allows her to wrap an arm around him. Kol rests his chin atop of her head as they walk down the stairs. She leads him out to the backyard. The rest of the family has gathered around the bonfire. Elijah's arms are locked around Hayley's waist. Klaus has Marcel snuggled on one side and Caroline on the other. Rebekah leads Kol over to her fiancé. Matt pulls them both close and kisses her cheek, squeezing Kol's shoulder.

One by one, the family approaches the bonfire. Starting with the eldest and winding down. Kol is a little surprised when Rebekah lets go of him to go after Matt. Biologically, he's older than her. And yet, she seems to have taken over the older sister role in the past year.

Kol knows better than to peek, but he sees a K on the top of her paper. He discreetly moves to see if there's an "o" or a "l" following it.

Except, if she got Klaus, she would've written "Nik".

Kol smiles a little as he watches it burn. Once she steps back beside Matt, he takes a step forward. He digs his paper from his pocket and smiles a little. Shutting his eyes, he tosses it into the flames above. By the time he's opened them, it's already turned to ash. He glances over at Elijah. Both he and Hayley are watching him with smiles. Kol takes his place back with his sister and soon-to-be-brother-in-law.

"Happy New Year," Rebekah declares.

"Happy New Year," the family responds in synch.

Let me know what you think! As always, feel free to leave prompts or ask me questions! I am on Tumblr and love communicating on there, as well as in the comments!