My Love - Hosie

Understanding

Hope woke up to the sun beaming in her face and her mom yelling at her.

"What are you doing?" Hope asked groggily. "I'm trying to sleep."

"You got yourself suspended. If you think I'm letting you sleep in, you've got another thing coming," Hayley told her.

"Alright, but if I'm suspended, then what am I supposed to do all day?"

"You're going to spend time with your father."

Hope sat on her bed quietly with a slight pout to her face.

"What's wrong, sweetheart?" Hayley was slightly concerned.

"Are you just trying to get me and dad to hangout? Cause I don't really think he wants to spend time with me," Hope's voice had a hint of sadness and rejection in it.

"I know he wants to spend time with you. In fact, he was afraid you wouldn't want to hang out with him, so he had me set this up. Now, go get dressed, he's waiting for you in the courtyard."

Her mom kissed her forehead and  left.

Hope looked in her closet and decided on black jeans with a burgundy top along with black combat boots.

She walked out into the courtyard where her father was seated at the table with a platter full of pastries.

"Beignets," Hope smiled.

"Your favorite," Klaus pulled out a chair for his daughter. "Do you remember the first time you had one?"

"Yeah, you compelled a whole bakery just so I'd have options to choose from for breakfast," Hope laughed at the absurdity of it.

"I also told you that you were a princess that day. I apologize, I haven't been a good king," he looked away shamefully. "I'd like to change that."

"Dad..." Hope began.

"I know it won't be easy, but I'd like to try," he spoke quickly before she could turn him down.

Klaus let Hope drive them to town in his Bentley. He directed her to a parking lot across from the Grill.

Hope looked at the storefront they had pulled up to. The window was filled with mystic falls memorabilia.

"You brought me to a knick-knack store to fix our relationship?" she asked confused.

"That land used to be my home," he explained. "Your aunt, uncles, grandparents, and I all lived in a hovel."

Hope gave him a questioning look.

"It was actually more pleasant than it sounds. I spent much of my time making paints from nearby berries and flowers."

Hope cracked a small smile, as painting was a hobby she and her father shared.

"But Mikael believed my time to be wasted. He found me mixing paints one night and struck me across the face."

"You don't have to, dad," Hope frowned.

She was trying to spare him the torture of reliving his past abuse.

"He beat me senseless after the accidental death of your uncle Henrik," Klaus continued. "He chained me up and bound my werewolf side, amongst other horrific acts."

"Why are you telling me this?" Hope had tears in her eyes.

"To show you who I feared becoming. I have a temper, Hope," he reminded her. "If I ever raised a hand to you I'd never forgive myself."

"Dad, you would never," Hope assured him.

"I've held your mother captive, I've choked her, I've cursed her,"  his eyes were glazed over. "If I could be so cruel to my child's mother, who's to say your fate would not be the same? I had to make sure of it. I had to leave. I suppose my fear of becoming like Mikael was greater than my love for you keeping me here," he now had tears in his eyes.

"No, you loved me more than everything else, which is why you left. I'm starting to get that now, dad, I am," she was crying with him and hugging him.

"I do, I love you more than anything else. You are the greatest love I shall ever have in my lifetimes."