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"Aunt Lena!!" He heard his daughter's excited voice ring out through the Abattoir and found himself setting his paintbrush down and stepping out of the studio. Making his way down the hall, he discovered his ten year old daughter hanging off of Elena as she hugged her.
"Geez, you're getting big, my little terror," Elena laughed as she kissed Hope's head and set her feet back on the ground. When her gaze met his over his daughter's head, Klaus gave her an easy smile that she returned. Gone were the days of avoiding each other to keep the peace; that had been put to a stop when it had become clear that Elena was one of Hope's favorite people. Strangely enough, these days they often gravitated towards each other instead of avoiding one another.
"How was the flight, love?" Klaus asked curiously from his place leaned against the wall.
"Long, but pretty quiet," she shrugged with a warm smile and moved towards him with his daughter still glued to her side. He lifted an arm and she slid easily into the half hug while he kissed the top of her head.
"And how is Brazil? Have you and Caroline found anything of use?" He asked as he released her, but the shake of her head had him frowning slightly. "I'm sorry, love," he sighed.
"We're headed back down to Argentina in a couple weeks," she told him softly. "Care's spending some time with the girls before we leave again, so I thought I'd come visit for a bit," she explained.
"Rebekah and Matthew are in New York, I believe, but Elijah should be home from Seattle later this evening," he informed her as she nodded along.
"I know, I called Rebekah before I got on my last plane. She and Matt are going to try to come down to Argentina next month," she replied with a smile. "When are you going to bring Hope down to visit, hmm?" Elena smirked up at him and he groaned softly as his daughter looked up at him all starry-eyed.
"I wanna go, Daddy!!" Hope squealed excitedly and Klaus heard Elena chuckle under her breath as she slipped past him towards the kitchen.
"You know Hayley would let you bring her down for a week," Elena called over her shoulder. Hope raced after her and Klaus followed them, finding Elena looking through the fridge -most likely searching for a blood bag. They had discovered that even with the true immortality elixir, she still had to drink blood, but no longer possessed any vampiric features. She did have access to magic, which had come as a shock to all of them, but they had a theory that the use of the immortality elixir had broken whatever Traveller curse had restricted her bloodline's magic.
"Elijah will no doubt acquire more when he gets home, love. I've been the only one here for a bit," he said as she glanced at him over her shoulder. Elena nodded and closed the fridge.
"You know it doesn't bother me, Klaus; not anymore. It's been what, nine years? You don't have to say it so carefully," she smiled with a tilt of her head and he nodded, mind drifting back to when the woman before him would have still judged him rather harshly from preferring to drink from the vein. He had been taken by surprise over the years when Elena had stopped scowling at him and protesting his habits.
"Old habits, I suppose, sweetheart," he shrugged. When the Salvatores had forced her to take the cure, she'd come straight to New Orleans, offering him her blood for as long as it took for her to figure out the true immortality elixir in exchange for letting her stay among his family for protection. It had taken a little over a year, and then Freya had helped Elena with the spell. The brunette had spent quite a lot of time there in the city with them, even after. He was fairly certain she hadn't been back to Mystic Falls since the day she'd shown up and offered her blood. And while he'd accepted it, he'd only actually taken her blood a few times, and he hadn't even used most of it. Most of it was still in safe keeping, spelled protectively in case they ever came across the need for it.
Later that evening, the two of them were in his study after putting Hope to bed, when he heard his brother in the courtyard. Glancing at Elena, he could tell that she had heard him as well. Elena sipped her bourbon and her gaze flickered towards the door before returning to the book she was reading. "Not going to say hello, love?" Klaus asked curiously.
"He knows where to find me," she shrugged with a smile, not taking her eyes from the book in her lap. Sure enough, a few minutes later, his brother knocked on the door before pushing it open, gaze falling on Elena.
"Hello, lovely Elena," he greeted. Only then did Elena set her book and bourbon down to pop up and hug Elijah.
"Hey Lijah," she smiled and returned to her seat on the couch, immediately picking her book back up. Klaus took a drink of his own bourbon and nodded to his brother as Elijah took a seat beside Elena. The petite brunette leaned into his brother's side, readjusting her position so that her head rested on Elijah's shoulder. There had been a time not long ago when Klaus had questioned their closeness, but he'd quickly learned that it was simply how Elena acted with those she was comfortable with. He had found her in similar positions with Rebekah and her other friends as well.
"How long are you in town, my dear?" Elijah asked curiously.
"Mm, a couple weeks, unless Klaus kicks me out before then," she shrugged, glancing at him with a smirk that had him huffing and rolling his eyes.
"Unlikely, love," he replied easily and she grinned.
"I know."
"So two weeks, then?" Elijah asked with a hint of amusement in his voice. Elena nodded against his shoulder and Klaus watched her expression falter slightly.
"What is it, sweetheart?" Klaus asked with a lift of his brow. She started to shake her head and then stopped and sighed.
"It's nothing really. It's just been a lot of travelling lately. By the time I finally get a chance to really decompress, it'll be time to go again," she murmured.
"Have you spoken to Kol at all lately?" Klaus asked hesitantly. Elena and Kol were on okay terms, but not nearly as good of terms as the two of them were. His younger brother was not nearly as forgiving as Elena was, and her slights against him were still a cause for strain between them. She shook her head and let it drop back to Elijah's shoulder.
"I doubt he's done any research since the last time Care and I asked. This is like the one coven he doesn't know much about," she sighed again and rubbed a hand over her face and Klaus frowned at her distress. But he knew if he said any more about it, she would brush it off.
—
"When do you guys land?" Elena asked, holding the phone to her ear as she watched Caroline get ready to leave for another meeting with another coven of witches in yet another country.
"Just about two in the morning, I believe," Klaus told her. She nodded to herself and caught Care's eye. The blonde nodded, confirming that she was listening in. Elena couldn't remember the last time she'd had a private phone conversation.
"Alright. You have the address. I'm not sure if I'll be awake, but the door's unlocked. Care will be in Sierra Leone for the next two weeks with Bonnie," she told him as she sat down on her bed. Her little house in Buenos Aires had been the home base for Caroline's Gemini research for a few years now, though Elena still spent plenty of time alone while Caroline went home to see her girls. The witches in the city had welcomed Elena fairly warmly after a year of wary curiosity, but unfortunately they knew next to nothing about the Gemini coven.
"We'll see you in the morning, love," Klaus' voice pulled her back to the present and she smiled when she heard Hope.
"See you soon, Aunt Lena!"
"See you guys soon," she smiled as she set the phone down on her nightstand.
"Don't have too much fun while I'm gone," Caroline smirked at her. Elena rolled her eyes and threw a pillow at her friend. As Care caught it and threw back at her, they both laughed.
"You know it's not like that, Care. We're friends," both Elena and Caroline made a face at the words that came out of her mouth and proceeded to laugh some more. "Wow, that sounds freaking weird. I'm friends with Klaus Mikaelson," Elena shook her head as her laughter faded.
"Look, I'm just saying, none of us would care if it was like that," Caroline smirked and Elena just narrowed her eyes at her friend playfully.
"Don't you have a plane to catch?"
"Mhmm," Care nodded with a small sigh and Elena stood to hug her friend as the atmosphere shifted.
"Be careful, and tell Bonnie hi for me," she murmured as Caroline hugged her back tighter.
"Of course, Lena. Love you," the blonde pulled away and reached down to grab her bag.
"Love you too, Care," Elena followed her through the house and waited until her car had disappeared before stepping back inside. Glancing at the clock, she yawned. Klaus and Hope would be there in less than four hours, but she was fairly certain she would be asleep by the time they got there. She'd gotten the spare room ready for Klaus, and Hope would stay in Caroline's room.
It had taken a while to get Klaus to finally bring Hope to visit, but Elena was pretty sure he was just terrified of having to travel alone with his overly excitable daughter. The last time she'd been to New Orleans was nearly six months back for Hope's thirteenth birthday. She'd been sneaky about her gift to the girl; tucked away in an ornate envelope were two tickets to Buenos Aires for the fall, one for Hope and one for Klaus. When he'd seen them, Elena had laughed at the glare he sent her way. Elijah and Rebekah had both laughed too, teasing Klaus about being outsmarted by the doppelgänger yet again.
Thoughts of her last trip to the city played out in her mind as she returned to her bedroom, drifting into dreams as soon as her head hit the pillow.
–·–
It was a strange feeling, the slightly uncomfortable tightness in his chest as he turned the car off and stared at the little house tucked away outside Buenos Aires near the Paraña River. Glancing in the rearview mirror, he knew Hope would wake up no matter how carefully he tried to carry her inside. She was an extremely light sleeper, even when exhausted. With a soft sigh, he simply reached back and touched her knee. "Wake up, little love," he murmured, watching her eyelids flutter.
"Are we there?" Her sleepy voice murmured and he chuckled softly.
"Yes, little love, we're here," he confirmed, smiling in amusement as she sat up with wide eyes. "Relax," he chuckled. "Elena is most likely asleep. You are not going to wake her."
"She won't care, Dad-"
"Hope," he gave her a warning look and his daughter sighed with a scowl. "You can see her in the morning. It's only a few more hours, little love," he added in a gentler tone.
"Fine," she grumbled and he stifled a sigh as he got out of the car. Hope followed behind him with a glower he knew might match his own someday, oh wasn't that a terrifying thought. As she'd gotten older, she'd gotten a lot more difficult not only for him, but for her mother as well. Part of the reason he'd been so wary to bring her down to visit Elena was that he was worried what one of her bad days might be like in a strange place.
In New Orleans, he wasn't so worried about her running off and hiding out somewhere. All three supernatural factions knew better than to lay a hand on her, and she could handle herself quite well after so much training with her aunts and uncles. But now they were in unknown territory, with unknown supernatural factions, and despite the fact that he hadn't been terrorizing anyone in at least ten years, there were still plenty of people who knew his name and might attempt to use his daughter against him.
As they walked into the house, he took a moment to look around, his eyes widening in shock at what he found hanging on the living room wall. "Dad, look!" Hope's voice had him glancing at her and he found she was staring at the same thing. "Is that..?" She trailed off, curiosity in her eyes as she looked up at him.
"It is," he nodded, moving forward to get a closer look at the painting. Of course, he didn't need a closer look, considering he himself had painted it, but he found himself staring anyway. Klaus hadn't even been aware that it had been removed from his studio back at the Abattoir. It was a large canvas, covered in greens and greys, with a white wolf curled up on a rocky ledge beneath a full moon.
"I didn't know you gave it to Aunt Lena," his daughter said softly and he turned towards her with an amused smirk on his lips.
"I didn't," he told her, watching Hope's expression light up with a mischievous grin.
"Oh," something in his daughter's tone had him scowling at her in confusion, but she just grinned. "Aren't we supposed to be going to bed?" Hope added and Klaus narrowed his eyes at his daughter for a moment.
"Mhmm," he hummed and nodded towards the hall. Elena had explained which rooms were where over the phone, so he tucked Hope in in Caroline's room and then headed down the hall.
When he woke, Klaus glanced at the clock on the nightstand and found that it was nearing seven in the morning. As he made his way out of the bedroom and down the hall, he could hear voices in the kitchen. He found Elena at the stove with Hope sitting on the counter. His daughter glanced over at him and smiled. "Morning, Dad."
"Good morning, little love, Elena," he greeted them both and Elena glanced over her shoulder at him with a smile.
"Hey, how was the trip?" Elena asked warmly and he shrugged.
"As good as any, love," he replied, stepping further into the room, slightly surprised when she passed him a mug that smelled like blood mixed with coffee. She smirked.
"I heard your heart rate shift from asleep to awake," she explained before continuing. "AB- with a local dark roast. It's my favorite blend, so far," she told him with a smile, lifting her own mug and taking a sip. He followed suit and had to agree with her; it was quite good.
"Thank you, love," he murmured as he took another drink.
"Pancakes are in the oven under a stasis spell, just finishing up the eggs and bacon, then breakfast will be ready," she motioned to the pans she was moving between before glancing at Hope. "Go wash up, my little terror," Klaus watched his daughter grin and jump down from the counter, disappearing down the hall.
"If only she bloody listened to her parents that well," he grumbled and Elena laughed.
"Please, no teenager listens to their parents," Elena replied, but her smile faltered slightly and he reached out to rest a hand on her back, rubbing small circles. It was still a bit bizarre, how reaching out to touch Elena was so normal now. Her lips tilted back up as she gave him a more strained smile while moving to turn burners off and slipping past him to grab plates. She had never really brought up her parents -the ones that raised her at least. He was painfully aware that he was the reason she no longer had her biological parents either.
A moment later Hope returned and Klaus watched Elena's expression shift back to a warm, easy smile as she started dishing up their breakfast. The first plate went to Hope, then Elena was handing him one. Then she was turning back to Hope with a grin. "So kid, what are we doing this week?"
"Can we go to the bookstore you're always talking about??" Hope asked excitedly, making both him and Elena chuckle.
"Of course we can, my little terror," Elena nodded.
The next two weeks were not nearly as stressful as Klaus had expected it to be. Their days were spent exploring the area with Elena acting as their guide and the evenings were spent in Elena's house with Elena teaching Hope all kinds of tricks and spells that she'd learned from the witches in the area.
Elena's bright laughter and warm smile were all he could think about. He found himself reaching out to touch her more often than he had before, always finding a reason to touch her arm or brush her hair from her face. What surprised him most was that Elena seemed to return the affections. There were moments when they were walking the streets that her hand slipped into his or when he was sitting on the couch in her house and she would come up behind him and card her fingers through his hair as she walked by.
By the time their trip was nearing its end, Klaus found that he didn't want to leave. But, they had to be back in time for Hope to go back to school. The morning they were leaving, he almost kissed Elena, but in the end he couldn't bring himself to do it. He would never have admitted it, but he was terrified that if he pushed too far, he might lose her completely.
—
'Hayley is dead' three little words in a text from Rebekah had the breath leaving Elena's lungs in an instant. She must have made some sort of sound because suddenly Caroline and Bonnie were looking at her in concern. But Elena couldn't find the words; she couldn't find any words. As tears stung her eyes, she silently passed her phone to her friends and watched through blurred vision as they stared at her phone and then looked back up at her.
All she could think about was Hope. "I..I-" she couldn't get her lips to form any word as she looked at her friends, but both of them nodded.
"Go, Elena," Bonnie murmured as she handed her phone back. Elena swallowed thickly and nodded, then she was gone, sending a quick text to the private pilot she had snagged from Elijah years ago.
—
His daughter had passed out from exhaustion after crying for hours, and there was nothing he could do to fix it. He knew his own face was stained with tears as well, just like the rest of his family. Klaus and Elijah had slaughtered half of the witch faction that day, but that wouldn't change the fact that they hadn't been able to save Hayley. Now Hope was curled up beside him in his bed. He'd meant to tuck her in and go back out to hunt down another witch, but she'd clung to him and he couldn't bring himself to leave her.
When the door opened his gaze snapped upwards, his arms tightening slightly around his daughter. But then blue eyes met brown as Elena slipped silently into the room. His eyes widened slightly at the sight of her, but he wasn't entirely surprised. There was a time when he would have never allowed her to see him in such a condition, but they'd long since passed that. He could see the tears trickling down her face as well as she circled around the bed to reach Hope's other side. Her brown eyes were filled with heartache as she looked down at Hope and then up at him.
Klaus beckoned to her with one hand and she crawled onto the bed immediately, taking his hand and cuddling up on the other side of Hope. His daughter stirred slightly, eyes fluttering open as she looked at Elena. "Aunt Lena?" Hope's voice was scratchy and dry from crying and his heart broke over and over for his daughter.
"Yeah baby, I'm here," Elena murmured softly as she hugged the young teenager. It had been barely four months since they'd seen Elena last, and Klaus hadn't expected to see her for another four since she was in Europe with Caroline and Bonnie. As Hope rolled towards Elena and curled into the brunette, Elena wrapped her arms around Hope tightly. He watched as Elena kissed Hope's hair and pulled her close. "I'm so sorry, baby," she murmured softly as Hope cried.
"I want my mom!" Klaus felt like his heart had been ripped from his chest at the sound of his daughter's broken cry. Never before had he felt so helpless as he did right then.
"I know, honey," Elena whispered as she held Hope tighter. "I'm so, so sorry," she murmured into Hope's hair as tears trickled down her cheeks. Tentatively, he reached for them and Elena immediately shifted towards him with Hope still in her arms. The Hybrid slipped an arm around her back and stretched the other over his daughter and Elena's side, pulling the two of them close. He kissed Hope's hair first and then Elena's temple and felt Elena grab his hand and squeeze before she went back to hugging his daughter. Klaus had absolutely no idea how he had earned the right to call Elena his best friend, but listening to her murmur softly to his daughter and comfort her as best she could had him eternally grateful that she had become a part of his family.
Everything in the days after was subdued and quiet as his family mourned the loss of Hayley. The only time he left his daughter's side was when Elena gently forced her to take a hot bubble bath -Elena sat on the floor in the bathroom the whole time because Hope didn't want to be alone.
—
Elena spent the next eight months in New Orleans with the Mikaelsons, and would have stayed longer if hell hadn't come crashing down on them yet again. The Hollow threatened to rip the Mikaelson family apart yet again and the only solution was to quite literally separate them for the foreseeable future. Vincent was adamant that it would be forever, but Elena disagreed. Thanks to all the research that she had done on her own lineage and the magic that stemmed from the ancient Greek Traveler witches, she found an alternative.
"My magic is older than hers," she said firmly as they stood in the study, minus Hope who was in another room with Caroline and Bonnie. "We're doing this my way, Vincent," she snapped when she saw him open his mouth to argue. There was no way she was letting anything else happen to her family. They'd lost Hayley and it had almost destroyed them. They would never survive eternity without each other. Especially Hope.
It took her and Freya nearly a week to arrange everything for the spell. Getting sick of Vincent's arguing one too many times -and his disdain for her family- Elena kicked him out of their little meetings and Bonnie took his place. Then, she found herself standing in a circle with Rebekah, Kol, Elijah and Klaus with an unconscious Hope in the center. "I can keep it under control long enough for you three to leave," Elena said as she looked at Rebekah, Kol and Elijah. Then she looked at Klaus and took a deep breath. "You can't touch her, Klaus," her heart ached as she repeated words he'd already heard; he wouldn't be able to touch his daughter until Elena had control over the Hollow.
"I know, love," his voice was strained and she wished she could reach out to touch him. With one last deep breath, Elena nodded to Bonnie and Freya and the three of them began chanting together. It didn't take very long before the Hollow's spirit was split into five, and forced into each Mikaelson, then Elena. As soon as Elena felt the Hollow within her, she changed her spell to the binding spell for herself. Her veins felt like fire, ice and electricity were all flooding her at once and she closed her eyes as she continued chanting. The Hollow was fighting every bit of what they were doing, but Elena could tell that they were succeeding.
"Now!" Freya yelled and Elena's eyes snapped open. Rebekah, Kol and Elijah all disappeared and she was left with Klaus as Hope started to wake up. Elena continued her chanting while Bonnie and Freya knelt down beside Hope.
"Daddy?" Hope's voice was small and frightened.
"Right here, little love," Klaus said in a tight voice. Looking at him, Elena could see his blue eyes unnaturally bright as he flicked his gaze between her and his daughter. Just another few seconds and she would be done.
"Aunt Lena?" Hope turned to look at her and Elena gave her a tiny nod as she kept chanting. Hope's eyes were wide as she sat up with Bonnie and Freya on either side of her. As she felt the final tethers to the Hollow's spirit settle in her chest, Elena wavered and hit her knees.
"Elena!" Bonnie and Klaus exclaimed at the same time and Elena held up a hand.
"I'm fine," she groaned. "I've got it," she added as she pushed herself back up to her feet. Elena watched as Hope got up and ran for her father, Klaus catching her and hugging her close. The brunette mentally kept a tight hold on the Hollow, but she could feel her strength waning. Then her eyes widened as Klaus pulled away from his daughter, anguish and heartbreak openly written across his face.
"I can't," his voice came out in a strained growl as he forced himself to step away from them again. Elena watched as Hope started to step towards her father, but Klaus held up a hand to stop her. Then she met his gaze and felt her heart sink in her chest.
"Daddy?" Hope's voice wobbled and Elena could see Klaus' heart breaking as he looked at his daughter.
"I need you to do something for me, little love," he told her. "I need you to go with Elena, sweetheart. Just for a little while, okay?" Klaus looked up at her and Elena nodded.
"O-okay, Daddy," Hope whispered and looked back at Elena, who held a hand out to her.
"I love you, Hope," Klaus murmured and Hope grabbed Elena's hand and turned back to her father.
"I love you too, Daddy," she replied, then Klaus was gone. Elena almost immediately felt stronger, and she wrapped Hope in a tight hug. She could feel the Hollow inside her reaching for Hope, but it was caged tightly within her so she didn't have to worry. The feeling made her wonder if that was what Klaus had felt when Hope had hugged him; the Hollow wasn't bound securely to any of the Mikaelsons like it was to her, so without her to keep Hope protected, the girl couldn't be near them. Their plan had been for Hope to stay with Klaus and Elena while the other three left, but with Klaus' reaction, she wasn't sure if that would work. She hoped that it was just because she was exhausted from the other two spells.
She was wrong.
Two days later, once Elena was recovered, Klaus returned to the city. At first, everything was okay. Elena was able to block the Hollow's influence and Hope spent the day curled up between her father and Elena as they watched movies. But it was barely eight hours after Klaus had returned that Elena started to feel the exhaustion of overtaxing magic. Hope had fallen asleep between them, and Elena met Klaus' gaze over the girl's head.
"Klaus…" she whispered, anguish slipping into her tone as she looked at him.
"I know, love," he murmured in reply, looking down at his daughter before looking back up at her. "How much longer?" Klaus asked sadly.
"I can give you a couple more hours, I think," she told him painfully. "I'm sorry," she added weakly, eyes stinging. Klaus lifted a hand to brush her hair from her face.
"It's okay, Elena. I'll make sure there's a jet waiting for you tonight. Thank you for trying, love," he told her firmly and she nodded, wiping tears from her cheeks.
"I'll keep her safe, Klaus. I promise," she murmured, taking his hand and squeezing as he nodded. They let her sleep for just a little while longer before waking her up and explaining what they had to do. It involved a lot of tears and heartache, but a little over two hours later, Elena and Hope were boarding a plane headed back to Elena's home in Buenos Aires.
Elena spent the next four years raising Klaus' daughter and searching for a way to make their family whole again. They had tried one more time to visit Klaus in New Orleans, but the result had been the same; visiting one of the other Mikaelsons was easy, but Elena just wasn't powerful enough to keep the Hollow at bay with the Doppelgänger, the Hybrid and the Tribrid all in one place. There was too much power for the power-hungry spirit to feed on and she wasn't able to combat it like she could with the others. Klaus left for Europe before she had the chance to do what she really wanted and kiss him goodbye, but at least he still answered her calls.
Hope was raised in Elena's home in Buenos Aires, with the occasional visit to the US to see her aunts and uncles. As she got older, Hope helped Elena research ways to stop the Hollow, desperate to see her father in person again. At first, Klaus had called practically every day, but as the years passed, the calls became less frequent. Elena knew he was struggling with keeping the Hollow under control, and even when he refused to call his daughter, Elena called and texted him enough to know that he was okay. If half of their messages could be called flirting then so what, Elena had wanted to kiss him since the first time he'd brought Hope to visit her in Buenos Aires.
Hope was eighteen when Elena finally found a way to kill the Hollow. It took her several months after coming up with the idea to actually acquire the spell ingredients and create the elixir, but eventually it was done. She made enough for each of the Mikaelsons as well as herself, and made a plan for killing the Hollow piece by piece. Her own portion of Inadu's spirit would have to die after she handled the rest.
"Josie wants to go to Europe for a year, now that we're eighteen," Hope told her the evening before they were due to fly back to New Orleans to meet Rebekah. By the hesitant tone in Hope's voice, Elena knew what she was really saying. Giving her pseudo-daughter a knowing smile, Elena reached for one of the spelled vials that held the elixir that would kill the Hollow. Taking Hope's hand in hers, the older woman set the vial in Hope's hand and closed her fingers around it.
"You know the spell and you know where he is," she told the young woman easily. Hope had grown into a smart, strong young witch, and Elena had faith that she could handle taking the elixir to her father. "I won't tell him you're coming," she added with a small smirk.
"You'll come too, right?" Hope asked and Elena nodded slowly.
"It'll take me a little while, but I'll be there as soon as I can," she told Hope.
"I'm gonna have to listen to the two of you from his side now, won't I?" Hope groaned, though it melted into soft laughter as Elena chuckled and rolled her eyes.
"Just worry about the Hollow for now, okay, my little terror?" Elena smiled and Hope rolled her eyes at the term of endearment Elena had used since Hope was an infant.
"That totally means yes! Gods this is going to be so great when you can actually get together and not be pining over each other," Hope complained playfully and Elena laughed as she pulled her into a hug and kissed the side of her head. "I love you, Aunt Lena," Hope sighed softly as she hugged her back.
"I love you too, Hope. Be safe, okay? Let me know when you get there and when it's done," Elena pulled away and Hope nodded.
—
"We've got about five to ten minutes before it starts raining blood, so if you could drink this so I could hug you, that'd be great," Klaus froze at the sound of a voice he'd heard over the phone a million times over the past four years. He was standing in a museum, looking at the painting on the wall in front of him and terrified of turning around. The Hollow stirred in his chest and he clenched his jaw. Elena was supposed to keep her far away and safe!
"You shouldn't be here, Hope," he growled without turning to look at her. "It's not safe."
"Well, it would be if you'd drink this and kill the damn Hollow. Aunt Lena says hey, by the way," at her next words, Klaus found himself spinning around to face her, eyes wide with surprise. Hope was leaning against the wall with her girlfriend beside her, fiddling with a small vial of dark viscous liquid. His daughter smirked at him and tossed the vial at him. Klaus caught it easily and glanced at it and then back at his daughter. He hadn't been this close to her in over four years. "We need to go, Dad. I've got the spell to go with that elixir, but we need to do it now," she told him with a nod towards the hall that led to the exit. Then she was gone and he was following her before he could think better of it.
He found her in an abandoned alley with Josie standing guard and when she grinned at him, it lit up her whole face. "What are you doing here?" Klaus asked as he stepped towards her, trying desperately to ignore the Hollow whispering in his mind and tugging at his chest.
"Drink now, talk later," Josie spoke up with a motion at the vial still in his hand. Despite not sharing an ounce of blood with Caroline, the girl was still most definitely Caroline's daughter. He watched Hope grin at her girlfriend and tossed back the contents of the vial. Klaus almost immediately hit his knees with a pained groan as his vision went blurry. His blood felt as though it were on fire and his bones seemed to rattle inside his body. A hand pressed against his forehead and he felt another above his heart, then he heard his daughter's voice murmuring in an ancient language.
He had no idea how much time had passed when he was able to pry open his eyes again, but he quickly realized that he was laying on the ground with his head in his daughter's lap. "Dad?" Hope murmured and he could hear the concern in her voice.
"Bloody hell, little love," he groaned as he sat up, turning to stare at his daughter. They sat there like that for a long moment before Hope launched herself at him. Her arms wrapped around his neck and he hugged her tightly, burying his face in her hair as he held his daughter for the first time in years.
"It worked!" Hope cried and he held her even tighter as she clung to him. His baby was finally in his arms.
"You knew it would work, Hope," he heard Josie say in an amused tone and felt his daughter's body shake as she laughed.
"Shut up and let me hug my dad!" Hope replied and he chuckled warmly as he held her. When she finally pulled back and looked up at him, he stood and pulled her to her feet before hugging her again and kissing her hair.
"Are you going to tell me what the bloody hell that was now, little love?" He asked, speaking into her hair as he hugged her.
"Aunt Lena figured out how to kill the Hollow piece by piece. She's in New Orleans with Aunt Bekah right now," Hope said with her face still pressed into his chest. Klaus took a deep breath, breathing in his daughter's scent and catching a hint of Elena's on her as well. It could have been minutes or hours later when they finally separated and Hope looked up at him with tears trickling down her cheeks. Lifting a hand to brush the tears from her face softly, Klaus kissed her forehead.
"Hello, little love," he murmured and Hope grinned up at him.
"Hi, Daddy," she replied softly.
Hope and Josie stayed with him for a month in Barcelona before Hope finally let her girlfriend drag her off to Paris. He called Elena the day they left and her bright laughter and warm voice helped temper the ache in his chest at watching his daughter board a plane to leave him again. It took nearly another year before Elena had managed to kill the rest of the Hollow, as each time she did it, the piece of the Hollow in her own body took more and more of a toll as it fought against destruction. When he asked why Hope hadn't been worn out by the spell, Elena had chuckled tiredly and reminded him that his daughter did not house any of the Hollow within her when she did the spell.
"Well, couldn't she help you then?" Klaus asked.
"Nik, she's finally free to be close to you and wander Europe with Josie. I will be fine, it'll just take me a little while," she told him and he sighed.
Six months later, Klaus got a text that made his heart skip in his chest.
'Flight to Rome lands tomorrow morning. See you soon xoxo'