When Klaus returned home his smiling face froze at the site of Hayley wiping away her tear filled face. He flashed up to her instantly, holding her shoulders as he scanned her body for injuries.
"What are you-
"Are you hurt? Where is Hope?"
"Hope is in her room, she said she had a headache and asked to lay down for a bit.." Hayley muttered out as she swatted Klaus' hand off of her shoulder.
"Are you okay?" The blonde hybrid repeated himself slowly, a little warning to his tone as he stared right at her.
Her voice softened as she bit her check and nodded a couple of times. "Yeah Klaus.. I'm fine."
He let out a breath of relief as he took a step back, watching as Hayley shifted under the gaze that remained on her.
"You can come in, Rebekah." Hayley muttered, rolling her eyes as a little teasing smile came to her. She wiped the last tear from her face before moving forward with crossed arms as the blonde smiled hesitantly and took a couple steps inside.
"You said Hope is.."
"She's okay." Hayley said, nodding her head with her own relieved sigh.
"Thank God." Rebekah muttered as she closed her eyes and nodded.
There was a brief silence which Rebekah broke.
"I'm going to go call Elijah.. he should be back in a couple days max but I will let him know I made it okay." Rebekah said tightly, sounding a bit uncomfortable.
Klaus smiled as Hayley nodded and Rebekah muttered something like an 'okay' under her breath before making her way towards the bedrooms.
Klaus looked to Hayley with a smirk as he nodded his head. "I am going to go check on Hope-"
Just as he turned away Hayley's hands grabbed his arm as she stood in front of him with crossed arms.
"What are you doing, Hayley?" Klaus asked, his voice tight as he stared at her in confusion.
She opened and closed her mouth a couple of times before settling on letting out a shaky breath as her eyes met the ground.
"What's wrong?" Klaus asked, his voice suddenly concerned and rushed out.
"Klaus.." Hayley said, pausing before she launched into the story of the crows, leaving out the part about the story Hope had shared at first.
"This is them, isn't it?" Klaus rushed out to ask, muttering out those words as his anger filled eyes met Hayley's concerned ones.
"It has to be." Hayley replied with a small sigh.
"So witches?" Klaus asked, a bitter smirk forming on his lips.
Hayley looked up, confused. "Wha-"
"Crows." Klaus said as though it was obvious. "Unless a vampire has a witch working for him, which is rare in these days unless said witch has been loyal for decades.."
Hayley let out a rough breath. "So we're looking for a witch.."
"Witches, plural." Klaus corrected.
Hayley sat up a little straighter. "And that makes sense with Hope's story.."
"What story?" Klaus cut her off, looking at her and waiting for an answer to be given.
Rebekah tried to stop herself, truthfully she had. Just knowing that her niece was just a room away from her she froze, finding herself unable to stop as she rushed towards the door at vampire speed before holding her breath and knocking.
"Come in."
Rebekah assumed Hope thought it was one of her parents but regardless Rebekah let out the breath and opened the door, plastering a bright smile on her tensed face.
Hope looked up when she walked in from her spot on the bed where she just seemed to be doing nothing more than sitting, her eyes widening slightly at the site of the blonde.
"Rebekah, right?" Hope asked softly as her eyes scanned over the original who just nodded and moved forward a little bit even as she saw Hope scoot back a little bit.
"It's good to see you again.. Hope." Rebekah said, an honest smile on her face as Hope didn't respond.
She moved until she was standing in front of the bed. "Can I sit?"
The hesitation that the auburn haired girl gave was clear to Rebekah but she didn't take back her offer- well she was about to but then the youngest Mikaelson surprised her with a small nod.
Rebekah sat and took in a deep breaths as she couldn't keep her eyes off of her niece, the girl she had been searching for these last years.
"So.. your.. Klaus and Hayley." Rebekah recalled what Klaus had told her sometime during there car ride that they didn't want to further startle her by repeating something that Hope obviously wasn't ready to believe.
"They're nice." Hope offered, giving a little shrug as she still just looked hesitant to be near Rebekah.
"Hope.." She started, her guilt getting to her once again. "The way that I brought you here.. with.."
"It's okay." Hope said, looking at the blonde with a frown.
"I just wanted.. wanted to make sure that you were safe from.. there."
"You think they are bad people." Hope guessed, looking up as Rebekah's eyes widened at the shocking question.
"The woman who took you." Rebekah said, assuming the gender as she couldn't keep the bitterness from her voice.
Witch, vampire, human, Rebekah couldn't even imagine what kind of deranged person it would take to steal away a newborn baby from their family.
"They took you from.. from us.." Rebekah said before she could help herself, watching closely for Hope's reaction just as her mind brought up the worst option for what Klaus and Hayley were going to do to her.
"What do you mean?" Hope asked her curiously as Rebekah opened her mouth before immediately closing it.
She sighed and smiled at the 6 year old. "That's for Klaus and Hayley to explain."
"And they will tell me?"
"They will.. soon." Rebekah said with a sad smile.
"Why can't you tell me." Hope said, annoyance to her tone that Rebekah was shocked at. "You already.. you told me that you were my family.. Why do you think that?"
"I don't think that." Rebekah corrected before smiling and responding before she could snap her mouth closed once again. "I know that."
"Then tell me." Hope rushed out to respond. "I wont tell them you told me."
Rebekah started feeling a hotness to her skin as she shifted over, thinking it just to be the nerves of the conversation she would have to have with either Klaus or Hayley.
"I.. how about this, I talk to Hayley and.. I'll ask her to.." Rebekah paused with a large intake breath. "If she won't.. I give you my word, I will-"
"Today?" She asked, smiling and at the little smile Rebekah couldn't help but do anything or say anything to keep that smile there.
"Today." Rebekah promised tightly as the smile kept on the young girls face and she nodded happily.
"Thank you, Rebekah."
Rebekah's smile dropped right when Hope looked away as she let out a breath and just thought of that conversation with Hayley.
"They tortured her." Klaus rushed out to ask, looking up with wide and frantic eyes as Hayley swallowed down her emotions and nodded her head, purposefully avoiding his gaze.
"You.. her face Klaus.." Hayley said tightly, shaking her head and standing up as she rushed a hand through her hair. "She didn't.. she didn't even seem hurt by it.. or scared.. like all of that was normal and okay-"
"Now we know more about who took her-"
"Is that all you took out of that Klaus?!" Hayley screamed, turning around with an angry breath as she crossed her arms and scowled at the hybrid in disbelief.
"Of course not." Klaus said in defense, scoffing as an equal amount of anger went to his tone at the accusation from the mother of his child. "I'm just saying that now we know-"
She scoffed again, turning around.
"Hayley!" Klaus yelled when she turned around and put her back to him, looking up as she shook her head.
Klaus sighed angrily as he walked closer to her and grabbed her arm, roughly pulling her around and opening his mouth to shout once more when he froze.
The brunette hybrid had tears running down her cheeks that he somehow hadn't noticed before and she looked utterly broken, shaking her head frantically.
"She.." Hayley said after a couple of seconds, wiping away the tears with her sleeve as she cleared her throat. "She went through all of that Klaus.. she was in pain.. and we weren't.. we couldn't-"
She paused, looking up at him and Klaus' heart completely clenched in pain at the look in her eyes that he rarely had ever seen. Utterly fragile.
"We are the most powerful beings in the world and we couldn't keep our own daughter safe." Hayley said, her voice laced with emotion as she let out a shaky breath.
Klaus let out a small breath as he stared at her, feeling his own tears pricking at his eyes before he moved forward and brought Hayley into his arms.
She tensed instantly, as he let out a small breath and wrapped his arms around her small waist and she slowly hugged him back.
"What are.." Hayley started to ask an obvious question when she felt his hand go to her hair, stroking the soft wavy curls as he moved his mouth closer to her ear.
"We are going to fix this." Klaus promised her, as she let out a little breath and moved her head closer to his chest. "We'll fix this, love."
"She doesn't need fixing.." Hayley said, her voice weak as she shook her head against him.
Klaus smiled and placed a small kiss on the back of her head against her hair that shocked both himself and her.
"We'll fix this." Was all he could repeat, not entirely believing the words himself as they just stayed in each other's embrace for a few more seconds more, neither wanting to admit how safe they felt in each other's arms in the fragile moment.
Thanks for reading, I hope you all enjoyed!
Just a little note, I will be taking a small hiatus from my writing for Rekindling Hope and Always and Forever for a little bit ( definitely no longer than a month ) just until I can get caught up with my new job and get used to working full time. There might be chapters posted here and there during the hiatus they just wont be once a week right now until after that ends. I'll also post this on my Always and Forever one shot story later. Again, hope you enjoyed this chapter and hopefully I will be able to post another chapter of this very soon!
-Amber