There was an eerie quiet inside the boarding house as almost everyone stared at Esther in shock. Mikael continued to take a defensive stance in front of three of his children while glaring at his wife. He had not expected this. When Niklaus had mentioned that his wife was magically locked in a coffin, he considered the fact that opening it might hex whoever touched it, but he never thought that opening it would somehow bring her back.
Elena glared between this woman, who had just been revealed to be her stepmother, and the Salvatores. She would love nothing more than to eviscerate both Salvatores right now. This woman had most likely cursed her father to hurt her siblings. She'd cursed Klaus to lose his werewolf side, which had led to a lot of pain and death. And the Salvatores and Bonnie had brought her back to do who even knew how much more damage.
The others were all shocked speechless for a bit. Finn was the first to recover. He immediately moved to go to his mother. "Mother!"
"No! Elijah, stop him!" Mikael exclaimed. He didn't want any of his children getting any closer, but he didn't dare move from where he stood. Elena and Niklaus were more at risk from his wife than anyone. Elena because she was not related to Esther and Niklaus because he'd actually killed her.
Elijah did as he was asked. He reached forward and took Finn by the arm and shoulder, pulling him back. He didn't do it because his father told him to. He didn't trust his mother either. Frankly, he didn't trust either of his parents. One of them had set out to cause harm to him and his siblings, and he couldn't' be sure which one. If his father was telling the truth, it had to be his mother that caused him to hurt him and his siblings. Even if she hadn't, he wasn't certain he trusted her.
"I am not going to harm our children, Mikael," Esther assured her husband.
"Oh, I think you've caused more than enough damage to my children," Mikael said. If she was responsible for what happened to him, she didn't have the right to call them her children anymore. She'd set out to cause them harm. They were not hers anymore. They were just his now, and he would protect them with his life.
Damon was grinning as he watched the scene. The Originals clearly didn't know what to do now that their mommy slash wife was back. He took satisfaction in that. "I love family reunions. Hey, Elena, aren't you going to come say hi to your new mommy."
If looks could kill, Damon would've dropped dead that very moment from the glare she was giving him. She honestly could not figure out what good she ever saw in this man. "Get out, both of you!"
"Or what?" Damon asked in a daring tone.
"Or I will remove insides slowly and painfully," Elijah said coldly. There was a very good chance he was going to do that anyway, but he had other priorities at the moment.
"Now, Elijah, there's no need for violence," Esther said.
"That's rich coming from you," Elena said. This woman had caused violence with what she'd done to Mikael. It was a little late to pretend to be upset by it.
Esther ignored the comment and turned to the Salvatores. "However, they're right. I appreciate all your help, gentlemen, but this is a family matter."
"What are you going to do?" Stefan asked.
"Get reacquainted with my husband and children, of course. It's been so long since we've all seen each other. It's time for us to come back together as a family," Esther said.
"What? That wasn't the plan!" Damon protested.
"Oh, how shocking. Salvatore idiocy didn't go according to plan," Rebekah said sarcastically.
"Perhaps it wasn't your plan, young man, but it was always mine. Now, please leave, or I will have to force you to," Esther said slightly threateningly.
Damon and Stefan both seemed reluctant, but they both eventually left, realizing that they didn't have much choice.
Once they were gone, Esther turned back to her family. She looked at Niklaus and stepped towards him, only to stop when Mikael placed an arm in front of him and practically growled at her. "I'm not here to hurt our son, Mikael. I simply want him to know that I've forgiven him."
Klaus could only stand there frozen. He looked at his father's arm, which the man was using to shield him from his mother, and for the first time, he questioned everything he knew about his father. He had been absolutely certain that his father was lying, that he was trying to win Elena's trust and affection, but now he was actually shielding Klaus from his mother. Would he really even bother with the pretense now that his mother was back from the dead? Could he keep it up with the shock of that event? Klaus was no longer certain of anything.
"Forgive him? How about everything you did to him? How about everything you did to all of your children? Or do you just expect them to forgive you for all of that?" Elena asked angrily. She had her problems with Klaus, but he was Esther's victim. Sure, he killed her, but she'd made his life hell. She'd cursed him and lied to him his whole life. She was probably the reason for the abuse he suffered. The sheer audacity this woman had to declare that she forgave him was unforgivable.
"My son does not need your forgiveness. He only needs you to let him be," Mikael said.
Esther smiled. "I'm glad that you can still call him that."
"Why would I not? Your adultery has nothing to do with me or my son, although you certainly went out of your way to turn me against him," Mikael said.
"I know you think it was me. It's not true, darling. I would never hurt you that way. I would never hurt our children that way. I tried to find a way to end the curse, but I wasn't powerful enough," Esther said.
"It's true then? He was cursed?" Elijah asked in shock. He'd had his doubts, but he still mostly believed his father was lying. However, his mother had just admitted to knowing its existence.
"Yes, dear, it's true. Your father loved all of you very much. It was agonizing to see that taken from all of you," Esther said. She didn't see the point of denying the curse. Too many of them either believed Mikael or had serious doubts about his guilt.
Klaus' whole body shook and he felt his legs start to give out underneath him. He was certain he would've collapsed if not for the par of arms that grabbed him and held him up.
Mikael managed to grab his son before he could fall. "I have you, son. It's alright."
Rebekah glared at her mother and looked like she was about to cry. "Why'd you do it? Why would you spell him to hate us?"
"I didn't, darling. You have my word. I would never do something like that to you," Esther said.
"Who else could it have been then? You were the only one with that kind of power," Kol said.
"No, dear, that's not true. You know that. There was one other in our village much more powerful than me," Esther said.
Elijah figured it out quickly enough. He knew who his mother was referring to. "Ayana. But why would she do something like that? Why would she want to hurt us?"
"I made the mistake of telling her about Niklaus' father," Esther said.
"I am his father," Mikael growled lowly as he continued to hold his son tightly to his body. The fact that Niklaus allowed it was proof of how shocked and fragile he was at the moment.
"Of course. I never meant to insinuate otherwise. I told Ayana that his biological father was a werewolf. I suppose she wanted to ensure he never triggered his curse. She wanted him to be weak and malleable. I think she feared what he might be able to do it he activated his curse and tapped into his witch lineage," Esther explained.
"Why didn't you stop her? Why didn't you protect us?" Elijah asked heatedly. That was assuming that she was telling the truth, and he wasn't at all convinced of that. He wasn't sure of anything anymore.
"I told you, I tried, but I couldn't. Ayana was always much more powerful than me," Esther said.
"Then why didn't you stop me?!" Mikael asked loudly. "You were a powerful witch, and I was human at the time. You cannot tell me that you couldn't have stopped me."
"Short of killing you, I didn't think I could," she said.
"Then that's what you should've done!" Mikael yelled. He finally let go of Niklaus, now sure that he could at least stand up on his own, and he stepped closer to his wife. "They were children! They were your children. You should've protected them!"
Kol looked at his father. Not once in his entire life had he heard this man defend them this way. Not once had he heard him say that he'd rather be dead than see harm come to them. He wasn't sure what to even do with it, but for the first time in his life, he had hope that he could have a loving father.
"I wanted to try to find a way to end it. I figured that in the meantime, I could heal them from any true damage that was done," Esther said.
"And what about the mental damage of having a father they had to fear? Or in Klaus' case, having a father who didn't love him?" Elena asked. She didn't accept her excuses. One way or another, she failed all of her children.
"You could've at least told us. We could've at least known that he loved us," Finn said. Usually, his mother could do no wrong in his eyes, but he had a hard time looking past this. His mother had done nothing as his father was forced to hate them a little more every day.
"I thought that that would do you more harm than good. I didn't want you to wait for him to return to normal," Esther said.
Just then, Jeremy walked into the room. "What's going on? I just saw that Stefan and Damon came back, and no one's killed them yet."
"Jeremy, stay back!" Elena exclaimed.
"I'm not going to hurt your brother, Elena," Esther assured her before turning to the boy. "Hello, Jeremy. I'm Esther."
"You… Does no one stay dead in this town?" Jeremy asked in disbelief.
"How are you still alive, Mother?" Elijah asked.
"Again, because of Ayana. I'm not certain why, but she performed a spell to preserve my body so that I could return someday by drawing power from her line, the Bennet line," Esther explained.
Elena noted that this Ayana person was somehow related to Bonnie. It made sense with her being able to open the coffin when no one else seemed to be able to.
"I know that none of you trust me very much at the moment. Perhaps there was something more I should've done, but I can't undo it. I would like us to all try to move on and be a family again," Esther said.
"You think it's that easy?" Kol asked.
"I know it won't be easy, dear, but I'd like the chance to try to earn your trust. I hope you will all give me that chance," Esther said before turning to Mikael. "Mikael, will you introduce me to your daughter properly."
Mikael hesitated before motioning with his arm for Elena to step towards him.
Elena walked over to her father, who put an arm around her. "Elena, meet Esther."
Esther smiled and held a hand out for her. "Hello, Elena. It's lovely to meet you. I hope that we can get to know each other better. Mikael loves Niklaus as his own. I hope you and I can have a similar bond. I know you don't trust me, but I hope that you'll be willing to give me a chance."
Elena looked at Mikael, who nodded curtly. She then grasped the older woman's hand and shook it. "Sure."
"Well, someone should show Mother around. Finn, perhaps you and Kol can give her the same tour we recently gave you," Elijah said.
Finn nodded.
"I'll come as well," Rebekah said before the four of them started out of the room.
Klaus left as well, but in the opposite direction. He needed to be alone. There was much he had to think about.
That left Mikael, Elena, Elijah, and Jeremy. Jeremy was the first to speak. "So, am I the only one who finds all this freaky, even for Mystic Falls?"
"No, but I'm starting to lose the ability to be shocked," Elena said before looking between Mikael and Elijah. "What now? Please tell me I'm not the only one who doesn't trust a word that woman said."
"No, you're not. Elena, I don't want you to be alone with Esther, not for one minute. I don't want any of you alone with her. Maybe she's telling the truth about Ayana, maybe not. Either way, I don't trust her. However, I want her kept close," Mikael said.
"Keep your enemies closer," Jeremy commented.
Mikael nodded. "No one is to be alone with her, especially you two," he said as he pointed to Elena and Jeremy.
"You can't be alone with her either. If she's lying about cursing you, what is to stop her from doing it again," Elijah said.
"I don't think she'd risk that, but I agree. We will play it safe," Mikael said.
The others nodded and then headed out of the room.
