Old Friends & New Faces

Us without Keelin (aka Hope & Freya are messes without their Wolfie)

So the last chapter was Keelin actually leaving. This one will be set over a week, and it will mostly focus on Freya and Hope, and them waiting on Keelin's return. Also, The Ring finally makes an appearance!

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2 days later – Monday, March 15th

It has been a very long two days.

Just under 42 hours since Keelin left for Austin, it is now around 1 on Monday. Freya knows what that means; Keelin is going to take the serum today.

This weekend consisted of her and Hope watching movies, painting, taking a walk in the woods, and doing an art project.

"I miss Aunt Keelin, Auntie Freya," Hope had said this morning at breakfast, a daily occurrence for the last few days.

"I know, babygirl." Freya returned. "I miss her, too. Aunt Keelin is going to be busy today so we may not get to talk to her, but I promise she will be back as soon as possible."

"Can we message her?"

Because anything is better than not being able to call her.

So, they spent the next few hours spamming Keelin's phone with random pictures and short videos of them.

"Shhh! Don't make a noise..." Hope said in one as she tiptoed to the living room where Hayley and Elijah were watching a movie. She had just finished a new picture, and wanted to sneak up to Elijah and get her messy, bluish-green hands on him.

Freya didn't have the heart to tell her he would most likely know she was coming.

At least, she thought. Apparently, her brother was so engrossed in the movie that he genuinely did not hear their niece.

But, Freya was sure to capture his squeal on camera as he was attacked by a tiny, paint-covered six-year-old.

"Take a picture of my tongue!" Hayley had gone into town and returned with a surprise – Ringpop candy.

Hope had two blueberry ones, turning her tongue a darkened blue color. Freya snapped a picture and sent it to Keelin, adding it to the long list of messages the wolf will have to check.

Later, Hope and Kol went to the creek to see if they could find any frogs.

They didn't see any, but Freya did capture Hope feeding some wild bunnies small pieces of lettuce of a salad leftover from the night before.

Well, it doesn't seem like they were "wild" anymore. And in fact, Hope had spent an hour outside coaxing them to her.

"They're so fluffy, Auntie Freya!" She said as she petted a black bunny.

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However, there is only so much they can do. At some point, the reminder that Keelin is not here comes back around.

Freya goes to the living room. Hope is now inside the house, playing Old Maid with Kol while Hayley, Rebekah, and Elijah watch them.

Klaus is nowhere to be seen, but Freya prefer not to dwell on that. Instead, she remembers something in particular from her last (face-to-face) conversation with Keelin.

If I had complete control over my werewolf traits, I wouldn't even have to think about the serum.

That has been running on a loop through her mind for three days. During the moments she and Hope are not distracting each other, it is all she can think about.