AN: This story is the Sequel to my fic "This Is Us, The Original Family" It is not completely necessary to read that story before this one, but it would be helpful. If you do not have the time, my homepage (link at the bottom) has story information that will help you get caught up.

This fanfiction is unbeta-ed, and I don't own TO, TVD or the characters; I just own the AU/AR they reside in (and my OCs).

Enjoy!

"Aaron without you this family would be lost. We would be broken and miserable; we wouldn't be a family. Many of us would be dead; the ones remaining would barely care for each other as we do now. You are what held this family together. We were at a critical point when you awoke, very near to being lost to each other forever. You brought us together, you made it possible for us to love each other and others. You are the reason we are as happy as we are today."

Rebekah Mikealson

This Is Us, The Original Family

Chapter Eleven: Heart To Hearts

We Remain, The Original Family

Prologue

Harvard University

Cambridge, Massachusetts

United States

December 2032

A young woman walked briskly through the square. It was dark, night had fallen hours ago, and she honestly did not know why the hell she was here. How was he going to fix her problem? He could do nothing to help her and even if he could she would never let him. She supposed she needed a shoulder to cry on. He had always been like a big brother to her and would help talk her down.

A group of young women walked by her on the side walk and stopped when they heard her crying and saw her lost expression.

"Excuse me. Are you okay?" One of them asked, walking towards her with a sympathetic look on her face. "I'm Samantha."

"I'm Andrea." She said through her tears. She was so angry she was crying, and the fact she was crying made her want to rip this human's throat out. The poor girl didn't deserve that, nor did her friends. They were just being good Samaritans, trying to help a distressed person. "Could you direct me to this dorm? My cousin lives there and I really need to speak with him. Family crisis and all." She said holding out the piece of paper with his address on it.

Samantha nodded, grabbing the paper and examining the address, while she did so one of her friends stepped forward. "That's an interesting accent you have Andrea. May I ask where you're from?"

She smiled, trying to be polite about things. He would not be pleased if she lost her temper and slaughtered all these girls on his college campus and would refuse to help her. "My Mum is American, my Dad is British and we traveled a quite a bit while is was growing up."

"Fascinating." Samantha said, giving the paper back to her. "The dorm you are looking for is straight over there, the sign isn't lit up so it's difficult to find." She pointed to the building in question. "I hope everything works out Andrea."

"Thank you." She said making her way to the building and compelling her way in. He resided on the second floor and she knew from his correspondence he had no roommate, so she would not be bugging anyone other than him. And she lived to bug him.

She knocked on his door and heard his grumbling about the time while he made his way to the door. When he opened up, she launched herself into his arms for a hug and resumed her crying.

"Ingrid?"

Playroom

West Wing of Mikaelson Castle

Mikaelson Island

South Pacific Ocean

Late January 2012

Erik sat up in his play area enjoying the new teddy his Mummy had gotten for him when Auntie Hayley brought in a bundle of something that was so very loud. Daddy had called the bundle Ingrid, explaining that it was Erik's cousin. All Erik had known about this bundle was that it was always crying or screaming when no one was paying attention to it, which drew attention away from Erik.

Erik was quite used to being the only one his Aunties and Uncles doted over and now this Ingrid enters and divides their attention. He wanted to hate this Ingrid. But hate was bad. Ingrid was family, he had to love her.

Luckily he did not have to share his playpen with her. The silly bundle could not crawl like he could and could not play with his toys, so they were all his for now. Before she left the playroom, Auntie Hayley placed the bundle into a sleepy basket like the one he used to spend his day in before he could move about. The sleepy basket was right next to the gate that kept him in his play area, and not speed crawling about the house. He could see inside the sleepy basket, and see that Ingrid was squirming and kicking off her blankies while making noises, not as loud as they had been but still a bit annoying.

Erik sympathized with this Ingrid. He remembered a little bit from the days he had to spend in the sleepy basket. No teddy bears, no blocks, no toys that made fun noises. Life was incredibly boring, until someone came to take you out and play with you or carry you around. Luckily he never spent all day alone in the sleepy basket in his life. Usually after someone set him in it, and he did not fall asleep another family member would come and scoop him up and play.

As if his sympathetic thoughts summoned her, Auntie Care sped into the room.

"Good morning Erik." She said, stepping into the play area and picking him up to kiss his cheeks.

Erik giggled and kissed her nose. Auntie Care was fun! "Pay!" He said pointing to his toys.

"Of course we will play silly boy!" She said setting him down, before walking over to the sleep basket and picking up Ingrid. "Good morning Ingrid." She said kissing the baby's forehead.

Now that she was no longer wrapped up in a blankie, Erik finally saw for himself that this Ingrid was a baby, like he was but little-er. Auntie Care looked down at him as she held Ingrid. "Do you mind if Ingrid joins us Erik? Perhaps if she will learn to control that little temper of hers after playing with us."

Erik sincerely doubted that his cousin would ever not have a temper and had many problems with her temper being called 'little'. But he had no objections to her joining them in play; he would not wish the boredom of the sleepy basket on anyone. So he clapped his hands in agreement, so Auntie Care knew that he had no problem with Ingrid joining them.

He could not wait until he learned how to speak properly. His vocabulary was severely limited so he had to resort to gestures to get his point across. Not speaking much worked just fine for his Daddy, but Erik longed to speak. If only to say how much of a pain in the butt he thought Ingrid was for throwing a block at him.

Harvard University

Cambridge, Massachusetts

United States

December 2032

"Ingrid? What the devil are you doing here? I thought you were staying in New Orleans with Aunt Hayley's clan until Christmastime?" He said, closing the door, while still embracing her.

"Everything is shit Erik." Ingrid said letting go of him and taking a seat on his bed and taking a look around his room. Erik noticed that her tears dried quickly. Ah, so she wasn't sad, she was crying because she was angry and didn't want to resort to killing to rid herself of her anger. "Why is this place so clean? I thought college made people slobs."

Erik sat down next to her and sighed. "Has this anything to do with the call I got from Uncle Nik earlier this week."

"Most likely. Daddy got mad when he found out I had been living under an assumed name, was not living with the Crescent Wolves, and travelling around with Markus. He caught up with us in Paris while we were…you know being intimate, and Daddy tried to kill him. Markus got away. But yesterday when I tracked him down, he told me he wants nothing to do with me because he knows I'm a Mikaelson now and that Daddy is right; royalty like me should not be with a common wolf like him…"

Erik loved his cousin, he truly did, but Ingrid had been nothing but trouble for him since she was born. She was loud, obnoxious, petty and wanted attention constantly as an infant and had never grown out of it. Erik needed a lot of patience when it came to Ingrid.

Luckily, she never wanted him to fix her problems, she just wanted someone to listen to her side of the story and talk her down from a killing spree. Erik could not make this Markus boy change his mind about dating a Mikaelson, and he defiantly had no power over Uncle Nik. So he sat with her for the next hour as she ranted about this Markus and her father, and how she had to leave New Orleans because everyone knew who she was and she hated being treated like a princess, even if she was one. Erik understood her point. Being supernatural royalty was a problem when trying to make it on your own, which is why he lived among humans for the time being, his last name did not strike fear and respect into their hearts and he could interact with people normally.

"Thanks for letting me talk it out Erik. You are the best."

Erik nodded. "Did you want to stay the night? The futon is available." He said pointing to the piece of furniture across from him.

"If you don't mind, could I stay a few days?" She said grinning up at him. "Just until I decide on weather to go home, go back to New Orleans or travel by myself."

Erik rolled his eyes; he had been half expecting her to ask anyway. "Fine. But no feeding on campus."

"I'll make do with human food. Don't you worry Erik! I'll play the part of human perfectly."

Erik highly doubted that. He knew she would attempt to 'play human' but her impulsive nature might make it difficult for her to keep that promise. He walked over to his dresser and threw her one of his clean t-shirts and a pair of basketball shorts. "Here. Sleep in these." He said tossing the clothes to her. "There is an extra pillow and blanket in the storage bin under the futon."

She caught the clothes with ease and saluted him.

He hopped into bed. He had been half asleep when she knocked on his door, and he had an early class in the morning. "Could you turn out the lights when you are done?"

"Of course. I'm not six anymore I do not need a night light." She snapped at him.

Erik rolled his eyes before closing them. "Goodnight Ingrid."

"Goodnight Erik."

AN: Welcome to "We Remain, The Original Family"! I'm excited for this story! Many things planned!

This story will take mostly place in 2012, right as the family is settling into their new home (to start) and will have some flash forwards like the one you just read. (not every chapter, just a few flash forwards in total). This 'chapter' was the epilogue to "This Is Us…" but I think it works better as a prologue to this new story. Chapter One will be up in a few days!

Thanks for reading see you in chapter one!

Next up: New Years Eve 2012

For more on this story check out hailhaleswriting dot tumblr dot com or allhailhales dot webs dot com / the-original-family.

FootNote: Erik is 21, Ingrid is 20