Just a random one shot.

Something was wrong with Hope, Klaus was sure of it. The 6-years-old had just come home from school and went straight to her room. Her nanny had picked her up, as usual. Klaus would have wanted to pick Hope up himself more often, but unfortunately he had been very busy lately. He was the king of New Orleans and it seemed that his work was never done. The vampires, the witches, the werewolves, the humans… Someone was always plotting against him and his family. But none of that mattered now, all Klaus wanted was to find out what was wrong with his daughter.

"Hope?" he said as he knocked on her door. "Can daddy come in?"

He didn't get any reply, but he still waited for a moment before opening the door.

"Sweetheart?"

She was sitting at her desk, drawing. He had framed many of her drawings, she was very talented. Just like her father.

"Hope?"

She didn't look at him; she was concentrated on her drawing. He was very concerned as he approached her. What had happened?

"Hope?"

His eyes widened when he saw her drawing. It was a very dark picture of a girl who had no face.

"Well… This is an interesting drawing," he stated, trying his best to sound calm. "Who is she?"

Hope didn't say anything or look at Klaus. He kneeled next to her and touched her hair.

"Sweetheart?"

"Am I ugly?" she asked quietly.

"What?" Klaus gasped. "No, you're definitely not, why would you ever think that?"

Hope's lower lip was trembling and her eyes were slowly filling with tears. That shocked Klaus to his core; her tears always cut him much deeper than any knife. He could see how much she was hurting and it killed him.

"Sweetheart…"

Very gently he lifted her up into his arms and tried his best to comfort her. She wrapped her little arms around his neck as he sat down on her bed and placed her on his lap.

"Hope? Please talk to me. What have happened? Have someone been mean to you?"

The thought made him furious, but he forced himself to stay calm. Hope dried her eyes and leaned her head on Klaus' shoulder.

"I… I'm sorry, daddy," she murmured. "I've tried…"

Klaus gritted his teeth as he felt her trembling.

"What do you mean, sweetheart? What have you tried?"

"To fit in. To have friends. No one wants to be my friend, I'm ugly and stupid."

She burst into tears and buried her face in his chest. Klaus had never felt so helpless in his life; he would have given anything if he could have taken her pain away. He wrapped his arms protectively around his little girl and stroked her hair as soothingly as he could.

"Now listen to me, sweetheart, you're not ugly or stupid, far from it. Have someone said those things to you?"

She didn't reply, but he had no intention to give up. Gently he lifted Hope's chin.

"Who said those things, sweetheart?"

Her lower lip was trembling again.

"There are many of them, boys and girls. I've tried…"

Fresh tears were filling her eyes.

"I'm sorry, daddy."

"No, you have absolutely no reason to apologize." Klaus paused; he was struggling to control himself. "How long have this been going on?"

Hope lowered her head.

"Since school started."

"What? Why…why didn't you tell me right away?"

Hope shrugged.

"They were just saying mean things at first, I tried not to listen. But then… It got worse."

"How?" Klaus forced himself to ask, although he was already apoplectic.

Hope wrapped her arms around her, she wasn't looking at Klaus.

"They started to shove me and pull my hair and… Today they took the sketchpad Uncle Kol gave me. They ripped all my drawings and they said…"

She didn't continue, but Klaus had certainly heard more than enough.

"Oh, sweetheart…"

She let out a sob as he put his arms around her again.

"I'm sorry, daddy," she sobbed. "I tried to be strong; I wanted to make you proud…"

"Hey," he cut in firmly. "I couldn't be more proud of you, sweetheart. You're my smart, beautiful, amazing girl. I love you more than anything in this world." He paused, pulled away and kissed her forehead. "Can daddy get a smile?"

Hope smiled at him, although there were still tears in her eyes. She truly was an amazing girl. Trying to carry a burden like that all by herself… Well, no more. Klaus would handle things from here. No one hurt his little girl without having to deal with him.