This happens while Klaus and Hope are outside. Keelin tells the story of the story of the first time she spent the night with Hope, Freya, and Cami, after she had been coming over for over a month.
Words in italic are the flashback/story.
Hey guys! So I was with my grandma for a week and could not update anything. Here is the next chapter. This is going to be a busy week for me but I will see you all next Monday! I hope you all have a happy and safe holiday season! 💚
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*Back inside the house*
Keelin comes downstairs about 20 minutes after Freya.
She argued with a friend in Austin for every one of those minutes, before finally hanging up in the middle of their rant.
She has absolutely no need, nor want, at the moment to listen to them demand an answer as to where she's been, where she is, who she is with, or anything else about the 72 hours.
So, she hung up on them, turned her phone on silent, and came downstairs. She finds everyone else in the sitting/living room. Hope and Klaus are still in the garden.
Of course, Freya is the first one to notice her.
"Hey. Everything ok?"
Keelin rolls her eyes as she walks to the couch. Freya lifts the blanket, and Keelin falls down beside her.
"No. And honestly, they're lucky I don't block their asses. I don't have time nor the patience to deal with their insistence of- on me telling them what's happened."
As she leans back, Freya does a little weird movement with her hand, almost as if she is reaching out to Keelin, but then remembers there is an audience, and twists the blanket with her fingers instead.
Kol is the only one to notice this, and he smirks behind his glass of orange juice. He has never known Freya to be touchy-feely. She is a very reserved, closed-off, private person. So to see this with someone not a one of them knows is new and confusing sight.
"In hindsight," Keelin continues, accepting her own glass of orange juice from where Hayley had just poured it. "I can understand why they're upset. But also, I just don't have the energy to argue with them about it."
Elijah shifts in his chair and clears his throat, "Keelin."
He quickly has to school his expression as she looks at him but also reaches out to take Freya's hand. His big sister does nothing to prevent it; instead, simply adjusting to accommodate it.
He realizes she is looking at him expectedly, and asks the question burned on his tongue since Freya's phone call yesterday.
"You said your... relationship with our sister would be explained once we had met our niece?"
She knew this would come up eventually. And it is not as if she doesn't want to tell Freya's siblings about the time she spend with their sister and niece.
On the contrary, these are memories they deserve to know; they deserve to know and understand how their niece fared in those months.
Maybe, though, maybe she is just afraid and the others will be able to see the underlying meaning certain moments hold.
Maybe, she is worried they will see that she wished it were something more than just a friendship.
"I did." Keelin says. "So... what would you like to know?"
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Old Friends & New Faces
FanfictionKeelin knew Freya and Hope from before (the five-year sleep). They were pretty close. Then Keelin lost contact with them when Freya and her siblings were put to sleep. Fast forward to five years later - Hayley kidnaps her from the bar, and Keelin re...
