Piece of You | Finn Mikaelson

Chapter 18

Elaine was nervous.

For the longest time, she'd dreamed about the day that Finn and Reynard would finally get to meet. She dreamed about it in conjunction with thoughts about whether they'd known each other from the start. If, perhaps, Finn might have been the first person to hold Reynard after his birth. If, perhaps, he'd been there for all his firsts.

She was anxious about their meeting, which is not what she'd anticipated. They had heard so much about each other, but what if they didn't connect? What if Reynard didn't like Finn? What if he was serious with his threats and Finn grew offended? She wanted to believe they would get along, but she couldn't make that assumption perfectly based on the fact that they would have been father and son. The fact was, they weren't. There was no guarantee that her fantasies of their family would be true in any way.

On top of that, she was about to look into Finn's true eyes for the first time in a thousand years. She had yet to fullyinternalize how real this was, because while he was here and while he was still Finn, he didn't look like Finn. He didn't feel or sound like Finn. Maybe this was all a cruel prank being played on her. Maybe she'd finally gone mad and the past days had been hallucinations.

She went to Reynard's hotel room early the following morning. He was having breakfast and reading a book when she arrived, removing his glasses and snapping the book shut as soon as she walked in. "Ready?" he inquired.

"Yes," she said. "Finn and Freya have gone ahead to the cemetery with the ashes. Niklaus and Elijah were not told where they were going. The only one aware of the situation is Rebekah, in the event something happens and we need to be contacted. Otherwise, we are only focusing on Finn today."

"Look at you, so chipper," said Reynard, nudging her arm. "If Tante Rory saw you like this, she'd be ecstatic."

Elaine smiled. "You're rather chipper yourself. How did things go with Camille?"

"We sat and talked for a good while. I ordered food to stay as long as I could. I did admit to her who I truly was... I didn't wish to conceal it from her. It wouldn't be fair if I took advantage of her ignorance for my own gains. I figured I should give her a choice if she even still wished to converse with me. She still did. She asked me a few questions about you, a few about my childhood. And that was that. She had no problem with it. I did not ask her to keep it a secret from Niklaus; I do not wish to burden her with that. But I did tell her that I had not informed them of my arrival. It would be implied that I did not wish for them to know."

"And?" inquired Elaine, leading him out the door. "Did you enjoy the chat?"

"She's likable, easy to talk to," said Reynard. "Of course, with anyone who specializes in some sort of medical field, one always feels they're being analyzed. But she must not have found anything wrong with me, otherwise she would have stepped away."

"There is nothing wrong with you, my love, you are healthy and you are good. You go to therapy faithfully and you've always been in-tune with your emotions, as much as possible."

"A habit I have thanks to you, Mother," said Reynard. "Uncle Tristan would have shut Tante Rory away in an asylum and had her drugged, convinced she would be safer that way, if it weren't for you advocating for her, insisting that it would not be good for her. You were the one who taught us it was alright to speak to someone about our feelings, you were the one who taught us not to be ashamed of what internal turmoil we had. Whether we wrote it or spoke it, we never bottled up what we felt for long periods of time."

Elaine half-smiled. "Well, with the way things were, it was absolutely necessary. I am glad it instilled good habits. But I do wish that they had not suffered so much."