Stone Cold

Tangled Up in Blue

Chapter Fifty-One

*~*~*~*

"What the hell did I do?" Marcel's brows rose at the Original witch's question. Looking at the tawny haired woman as though she had suddenly sprouted a second head.

"I'm sorry, was it somebody else that decided to hide the fact that they were storing Elijah's daggered body?" Brigs' eyes were little more than slits as she stared him down. "I thought we were a team in all of this, Marcel? Partners? Partners don't hide things like this from one another."

"It was for your own good," he claimed. The pair of bickering friends seemingly have forgotten of the teenager's presence in the room. Davina's dark eyes flickering between the duo, it being the first time she had ever seen them truly argue since they'd taken her in. 

"My own good?" Brigs scoffed at the words. "How in the hell is keeping my husband's body hidden from me like this 'for my own good'?"

"That right there," Marcel frowned at her choice of words. 

"What?" A frown tugged at the corners of her lips, his words only earning a lost look from her. 

"Your husband," he repeated the two words. "I've known you for a long time, Brigs. And in that time, I've heard you use a lot of different things to describe him, but he hasn't been 'your husband' in a long time. It's as if you're forgetting everything he and his family put you through. You're letting them worm their way back into your life-- into your heart. What's that going to get you? They're the reason you lost Jenna, Finn, Alaric, Garrett... your own son. Why let them in when they're just gonna wind up hurting you again?"

For a moment she found herself at a loss, not knowing how to respond. Her lips settled in a thin line as her gaze drifted from Marcel to where Elijah's coffin rested. She knew that there was truth behind his words, that much of the heartbreak and loss she had suffered over the years could be traced back to the Mikaelson family. Whether it was by their own hand or indirectly, death and betrayal seemed to follow them wherever they went. But behind it all, she couldn't deny that they were still her family. No matter what happened between her and Elijah, they would always be her family.

"I know you worry about me, Marcel, but I am capable of making my own decisions." Brigs' voice was softer when she spoke this time, returning her focus back to the man before her. 

"I know you are," he acknowledged. "But Garrett's not around to have your back anymore. And I promised him a long time ago that I'd be there for you if he ever couldn't be himself. I'm not planning on letting that go."

"Marcel..." A sad smile filled her lips as she pulled him into a hug. The anger that had been pulsing within her veins seemingly washing away as her arms wrapped around his torso and her head rested against his chest. 

"I don't wanna see you get hurt again," he muttered in her hair as he returned the hug. 

"I won't remove the dagger," she promised him, pressing a chaste kiss over his still heart. "I'm on your side, okay? But that means no more secrets. We've got to be honest with each other for now on, okay? We can't let them come between us."

"Promise," he agreed.

*~*~*~*

It was just the next morning that Brigs found herself walking the halls of the Mikaelson's home. Her footsteps light as she moved down the halls, glancing through the open doorways for any sign of the woman of the hour-- or century. It only took so long before she found herself spotting Hayley sitting on the floor of one of the bedrooms, an open trunk resting in front of her.