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Davina chose the All Hallows' Eve because that night the veil between the living and the dead was the weakest. And because nobody would think anything if her house did some weird things.
It took her longer than she wanted to figure out how to bring Kol back. Longer than she expected. But tonight he will be back in the wizard's body.
When Kol woke up, he expected pain, but he didn't feel any. His soul was yanked from the other side and shoved into a new body, but this body felt familiar. The surface under him was hard, like a table or a floor. An annoyingly flashing light above him fought its way through his closed lids. And he smelled something—oil, used car oil, and car scents trying to cover that smell.
Kol moved his hand to touch his chest. To check that it moved up and down with his breath.
“Kol?” A familiar voice asked but something felt wrong about the voice. Not wrong exactly but something didn't quite fit right.
Kol finally opened his eyes, immediately covering them with one hand against the assaulting light above his head.
“Hey.” Kol greeted the person standing above him, squinting and trying to focus his eyes to see who it was.
Suddenly a door opened, slamming into a wall and Kol’s head screamed one word: ‘danger.’ He had to protect himself. He rolled off the table to his knees and raised his hands to attack anyone who threatened his new mortality again.
“Kol?” It was Davina, Kol was now sure, and she was covering a little girl with her body. The little girl that peeped: “Mommy?”
Kol's arms fell along his body as he stared. Davina, his sweet Davina, aged and with a child.
“Brush your teeth and go to sleep, honey, okay? I'll come and read you a story.”
“Okay.” The girl sniffled and ran away in her Dracula costume.
“I'm sorry,” Kol whispered, his accent thicker than Davina remembered it. “I…” Kol bit his lip and looked around. “I don't-” He pressed his hands against his eyes. “I don't understand.” He finally pressed out.
“I'll make you a cup of tea and once my daughter is asleep I'll explain everything, okay?” Davina offered and walked over to gently touch his arm. Kol let his arms down again and nodded. Yes, he needed an explanation and answers.
With a calming chamomile tea in hand, Kol sat on a couch and looked around the house. It looked so… normal. The house looked like something he and his family called a ‘suburban nightmare’ as they moved from mansion to mansion.
The tea was too hot to drink yet, so Kol held it in his hands, feeling the warmth seep into his body.
It was a nice house. Clearly lived in and loved. Filled with love actually. Drawings, crafts projects, pictures. Something that might be Davina’s potion or the little girl's play-concoction sat on the kitchen counter.
And books. Kol was pretty sure he saw The Picture of Dorian Gray next to a centuries-old grimoire next to a children's spelling book.
Kol sipped the tea once he heard steps on the stairs. Davina dropped next to him, almost making him spill the tea. With a sigh, she closed her eyes for a minute. She looked for a good start. Which information or what point in her life would be a good point to start everything off? But most of all. She didn't want to process that he hadn't aged a day since he died. While Davina herself lived a life.
That would be a good start.
“It took me longer than I wanted to bring you back.”
“No kidding.” Kol grinned and sipped the tea.
Davina opened her eyes with a frown, wanting to scold him, but saw the grip on the mug and the faintest tremor running up and down his body. With a disapproving frown and a shake of her head, Davina left the couch once more. “I brought Kaleb back first. Finn locked you in the body, not him. So I brought him back, moved the hex onto him, and moved him to someone else's body. Then I brought you back.” Davina explained as she walked around the room, fetching a blanket and dropping it around Kol's shoulders with a practiced ease only a mother has.
Kol nodded with his eyes cast down, staring into his tea. “Genius, thank you.”
“If it was genius it wouldn't take me over twenty years to figure it out, would it?” Davina huffed as she rejoined Kol on the sofa.
“You brought me back from the dead. That is no small feat.” Kol's hand hovered above her own before falling back to hug his mug, stealing warmth wherever he could. “So, what did I miss?”
Davina sighed. Also, a very good question for which she didn't know where to begin. His family bickered but was overall alright. Hope graduated from the Salvatore school. Davina herself left New Orleans, got married, and had children. After a decade of trying to bring Kol back, even Rebekah told her to move on with her mortal life, so she did. She didn't love her husband the same way or with the same intensity as Kol. He was okay and she always wanted children. Apart from her little daughter she had two boys. Twins. In their teens, probably at some party getting drunk, hopefully not with other witches and up to some mischief. Two teenage sons that were now so painfully close to Kol's age. Well, this body's age.
“I guess a better question would be: ‘What didn't I miss?’ Right?”
Davina chuckled and did the one thing she wanted since she saw him take a breath for the first time in decades. She hugged him. “I missed you so much.” She whispered into his hair. Hair that still smelled like death. He needed a shower.
“I can't imagine.” Kol tried to hug her back without spilling the rest of his tea.
“So,” Kol started once their hug came to an inevitable end, “do you still practice magic?”
“Not really.” Davina shook her head. “I walked away from everything once I started a family. Didn't want to raise children around the originals.” Davina shrugged.
“Oh,” Kol set down his tea with a thoughtful expression.
“I don't mean you.” Davina grabbed his hands and gave them a good squeeze. “I meant vampires. I want to keep them away from vampires as long as I can.”
Kol nodded. That was justifiable. Vampires always made a mess of everyone's life. Especially his family.
Kol dragged the blanket tighter around himself and fought to suppress a yawn. He lost that fight.
“I'll let you sleep.” Davina gave him another hug and a kiss on his forehead. She took a breath to say something, but Kol was already asleep.