Dispersora | Klaus Mikaelson

Chapter 32

May 2, 2017

"Happy birthday, my littlest wolf."

Hope awoke rubbing her eyes, a whine escaping as she stretched her tiny legs, though she shot up as soon as she saw what Klaus had in his hands.

"For me?" she shrieked, reaching out to grab the stuffed animal that awaited her. She hugged the tiny wolf made of patches of her old clothes tight to her chest, giggling and wiggling her feet. "I love it!"

"Feliz aniversário minha menina linda," said Yara, kissing her forehead. "Tem certeza que é o único presente que você queria?" (T: Happy birthday my beautiful girl. Are you sure this is the only present you wanted?)

"Sim Mãe, eu só queria um lobinho!" (T: Yes, Mama, I only wanted a little wolf!)

Klaus smirked, eyeing Yara. "Then... you'd be opposed to the other presents waiting in the kitchen–" he caught Hope as she shot like a cannon out of the bed, effortlessly turning her upside down, "which you can open after you brush your teeth!"

She giggled, trying to swat him away. "Papa, put me down!" She put her hands on the ground, managing a handstand for a moment before she sprung up, skipping to the bathroom.

"How do you think she'll react?" murmured Yara.

"When does she react to anything poorly? I think we can expect five cartwheels in a row."

She leaned onto his shoulder. "And you? Today is a big day."

He managed a weak smile. "It is also a reminder of why we're here, hidden away. What if it doesn't work? What if the witch we've hired proved duplicitous?"

"You said it yourself. Stefan Salvatore was your friend. If he trusted Valerie Tulle, so can we. Besides, we're paying her far too much for her to prove traitorous. The girl has found for us all the wolves we needed and extracted their venom painlessly. Today, we get your siblings back."

"I don't think I've seen you this excited since you snuck out to watch Brazil play Netherlands in 2014."

"And you recall I came back in a foul mood because they lost. This is exciting. We won't have to be hiding here anymore. We can live elsewhere with them, all of us protecting Hope. Somewhere peaceful. She's five, it's time we amp up her curriculum. She's accelerating so fast... she can already write, do basic addition and subtraction, she forms full sentences and she's so curious... we need her to be able to go to school or at least have better access to materials so I can teach her at home. And that bracelet they made for her won't keep her magic suppressed much longer. She needs Freya, Kol, and maybe even Finn to start teaching her to use her magic. We can't keep asking her not to do anything, we can't limit her when she wants to heal all the injured animals outside. She needs this and so do you."

"And you, love? What do you need?"

She smiled sadly. "I want to be able to go to New Orleans and see my boy again. Even just to talk. It's been five years. That may not seem so long to us but it is quite a while."

Klaus very well remembered what a toll it had taken on her. For the first few months they were in Brazil, she cried when she thought no one was watching, especially when she believed him to already be asleep. He figured to lighten the mood, "You once kept me out of your bed that long. To me it was an eternity."

"Well, you've been in my bed for five years now. Does that make up for it?"

He kissed her, cupping her face. "More or less."

Hope inhaled her breakfast, a slice of pão de queijo (cheese bread) and a glass of fresh milk. She requested that her next birthday have beignets, which Klaus responded to by sliding a tray of them toward her, causing her to squeal with delight.