I sit quietly in the back of the car as Klaus drives and Hayley sits in the passenger seat. We were on our way to see Hope, actually about a minutes from pulling into the drive way. As we pull in I look out the window to see Rebekah, Elijah and Hope.

Before Klaus can stop the car completely, Hayley gets out and runs towards them. Klaus gets out as well as I do. Hayley slowly walks up to Elijah, whose carrying hope, and takes the little girl in her arms. As I walk to stand beside Rebekah, Hayley turns and gives Hope to Klaus but stands beside him as they both smile and hold their daughter. I smile fondly at Klaus. Watching him with his daughter is truly beautiful and just amazing.

*

"Curse on the first born?" Rebekah asked. "What the bloody hell is that supposed to be?"

"Well, according to Finn, our sister Freya didn't die of plague. She was taken as payment by our aunt Dahlia, who then cursed all Mikaelson first borns for eternity." Klaus explains to us all.

"Is any of this true?" Hayley asks with concern in her voice.

"It is if we're to believe Finn, who learned it from the bastion of truth, our mother." Elijah says as he rolls his sleeves up.

"Well, no wonder Finn hates us." Rebekah speaks up as we all look her way. "He lost the sister he adored and instead got a judgy pack is siblings, who found him unbearably full."

Elijah and I both have amused smiles on our faces at Rebekah's comment before Hayley starts talking. "Great. So is there any chance of us running into your loony aunt Dahlia anytime soon?"

"Fable's over a thousand years old. Dahlia's long dead." Elijah says trying to comfort her.

"Like Esther?" I ask bitterly before looking up at Hayley. "Sorry."

"No ones going to hurt Hope because no ones going to find her." Klaus reassures. "It's enough wood, Rebekah. You'll burn down the whole bloody state of Arkansas."

Rebekah smiles as she rubs her hands together. "Well, we're just missing a key ingredient."

"No, we're not." Klaus denies quickly.

"Yes, we are, Nik. Back me up, Elijah." Rebekah smiles widely as Elijah laughs.

"I suspect Niklaus would rather choke on the ashes." He says looking to Klaus.

"What are you all talking about?" Hayley asks looking at them all.

"Well, before we light it, we write down our wishes for each other to burn for luck. It was Kols favourite part when we were kids." Rebekah explains to Hayley.

"Further evidence as to why we should ignore it." Klaus says as I smack his chest at his rude comment. He looks down at me with a smirk as I playfully glare.

"Hopes first bonfire season. I like it. We're doing it." Hayley says and walks away as Rebekah smiles in victory.

*

I watched Klaus play with Hope for a bit before I sat outside on the porch steps. "You look lonely."

"Just a lot of my mind." I respond with a small smile as Elijah takes a seat next to me.

"A penny for your thoughts?" He smiles and looks at me.

"Are you sure you wanna hear them? I know you have plenty yourself." I say with a sad look, knowing what Esther did to him has been haunting him.

"Maybe hearing yours will quiet mine down." He suggests and looks ahead.

"I went to see Esther." I whisper and play with my fingers. "I just-I wanted my magic back so bad. I feel useless, Elijah. I am useless. I thought since she caused it, she could fix it but...she said there's no way to get it all back." I decided to keep the part about me dying to myself so Elijah doesn't feel guilty. "I miss it."

"It's a part of who you are, Maddison. Of course you miss it." He says sincerely. "Esther has...shown me things. Things I kept buried in the back and darkest parts of my mind." I turn my head to look at him. "I did something bad, something Niklaus would not forgive."

"He's your brother, Elijah, and he loves you. Of course he would forgive you." I say trying to convince him.

"Not this." He shakes his head.

"I think that you underestimate him." I whisper and lean my head on his shoulder. "I think we all do."

"Not you. You never have." He tells me and grabs my hand softly. I smile to myself and enjoy this brotherly-like moment.

"I love him."

"I know."

*

A little while after, I sat on a chair outside as Elijah gathered wood for the fire. I watched carefully as he went to pick it up but froze and let it go.

"Elijah." Rebekah walks up as she sees this also. She hands him a cloth with worry in her eyes.

"Thank you." He says and wipes his hands from the wood.

"What do you see when you go away like that?" I ask curiously.

"Things I've done, images of who I was." He hands the cloth back to Rebekah. "A lovely gift from mother. I can't turn it off. I suppose it's her way of demonstrating id be better off taking her deal." He finishes and moves the wood, finally.

"To leave your body behind?" Rebekah asks and turns as he walks past her.

"To start over, to live a mortal life, have a child of my own if I choose." I see envy cross Rebekah's face but it vanishes.

"Cursed as your first born if we're to believe the story."

"Not if I am no longer Mikaelson blood." I take a deep breath as he continues. "See, this is the beauty of mother, Rebekah. Sometimes, even her darkest deeds possess a logic that's difficult to refute." Elijah sits next to me as Rebekah sits on the other side of me.

"It's a lovely fantasy, Elijah." Rebekah smiles.

"Rebekah, you and I both know what mother is capable of. Now I do wonder if she would relent and leave us be. Now what if all that mother needs is a victory."

"Let her find it somewhere else." I argue not letting her hurt anyone else I love.

"Besides, she wants all 3 of us." Rebekah continues for me.

"She has Kol, she has Finn. Perhaps in the end, a simple majority will do." I sigh as Elijah says this.

*

I stood beside Klaus as he threw a lot match in the fire. I hear the door open and see Rebekah wall out with an old camera thing. "Hey! Look what I found! Wonder if it'll work."

"Oh, bloody hell." Klaus mumbles and turns away from us. Me and Hayley both laugh as his reaction.

"Come on. Let's try. Hey, Nik. Do you think you can cram us into a selfie?" Rebekah asks as she hands Klaus the camera.

"Well, Niklaus is the virtuoso of cramming his siblings into confined spaces." I smile at Elijah's statement and give Klaus a look.

Klaus looks at the camera as he speaks, "I'm so glad I traveled hundreds of miles to visit my mentally ill brother, only to have him insult me to my face."

"Oh, come on. Just take the picture. Maddie, come on." Rebekah says and before I can politely decline her offer, Klaus pulls me into his side and lifts the camera to take a picture.

The picture prints out the bottom and Klaus takes it as we all look at it. "Aw. See? I wish that it could always be like this."

I smile at the picture. Klaus isn't really smiling but seeing him and I, side by side, makes me happy. I look at Klaus' face and see a smile on his face as he looks at the picture.

"If wishes were horses," Elijah began.

"Beggars would ride." Klaus finishes. "You realize we'll have to burn it. You want me to make a wish for the family, Rebekah, I wish it didn't have to be like this, but it does." Klaus looks at his one last time before giving it to Hayley. "We can't risk it falling into the wrong hands.

Hayley looks down at it wish a sad look and walks to the fire and throws it in. I feel a hand in mine and look over at Klaus to see him looking down at me. I gently lean into his side as he wraps his arm around me as we all watch the picture burn.

"No. This...this isn't right." Rebekah speaks up. "We deserve this. We've earned this. I won't let it slip away. I know what to do to stop Esther."

I look at Elijah with wide eyes. "Rebekah, No." he says as I say, "Definitely not."

"I'm gonna take her deal, and when I do, I'm taking her down with me." She says looking at Klaus.

"She's so beautiful." I smile and watch as she greedily drinks from her bottle. "You and Klaus made something so amazing." Klaus, Elijah and Rebekah were inside talking. I thought I'd give them some space.

"She is, isn't she?" Hayley smiles softly as her daughter before looking at me. "Speaking of Klaus, what's going on between you two?"

"Um...nothing?" Hayley gives me a 'I don't believe you' look. "I don't know. I told him I loved him. I do love him. We just haven't really had time to talk about it with everything going on."

"What do you want to happen?" She asks with curious eyes.

"I think...I think I want to spend my immortal life with him." I say very quietly scared to say it too loud.

*

"You are mad to give Kol that diamond." Rebekah tells Klaus ask lay in the back trying to sleep.

"Our little brother has been plotting against me for years, and he hasn't got a lick of it right. I'll take my chances. Do you know what to do?" Klaus asks her.

"Yes, But If it doesn't go to plan, will you handle my body with care, please? I may miss the old model." Rebekah says to him.

"If everything goes south, I'll be there to pull you out. We just have to take Esther down before she body jumps. I don't want all of this to have been for nothing." Klaus tells her.

"Then are you going to tell Maddie?" Rebekah asks as i tense slightly.

"Tell her what?" He asks.

"That you love her, you idiot. Come on, Nik. I know you do and I know she loves you too. This is your time to be happy." I hear silence for a minute.

"There's too much danger, Rebekah."

"She can take care of herself. Be happy, brother. You've earned it." Klaus says nothing so she continues from earlier. "You and I on the same team. It must be Christmas." Rebekah smiles.

*

"Kol!" I hear from downstairs and walk to the balcony and look down to see Klaus walking towards Kol. "Whatever grudges you hold against me, we are doing this for the good of our family. Do I have your word that for once you will honor that?"

"You have my word, Nik. Swear on the fate of us all." I sense truth in Kol and see the look in his eyes and relate. He's lonely, in pain yet in love. He's pretty easy to read. All the Mikaelsons are to me, even in different bodies.

"I'll get the stake." And with that Klaus walks off to retrieve its

*

Everything has been happening way too fast, once I come downstairs Cami is passed out on a chair, Davina is by her side, my dad is walking in and Klaus is standing by.

"Cami isn't awake yet either." Davina says.

"When she's up, we need to get her out of the quarter. She's not safe here. Somebody busted Finn out." Dad says looking to Klaus.

"My mother is using Mikael to do her dirty work." I'm about to speak up but Cami gasps awake. Everyone looks at her as Klaus walks towards her and they both look at each other with a look I can't decipher..."Camille?"

"I suddenly love that stupid name." She says with a smile as I see everyone smile and Klaus sigh in relief.

I walk back upstairs to my bedroom before stuffing clothes into a bag and walking out of the compound. I make my way out of the quarter not wanting to be anywhere near it right now. As I reach where I want to, I take a deep breath and knock on the door. The door opens as I turn around and smile sheepishly.

"Hey. Do you mind if I stay the night?"

🤔🙌🏼🙌🏿