I Should Tell You | Hale- TO/TW [1]

20 | Family Tradition

"Well, isn't this place rather nice?" Rebekah asks happily. She walks into the living room with a bottle of wine. Lexi stands at the fireplace, looking into the wood. Elijah sits silently on the couch, observing the younger blonde. "Nik must have compelled a wine lover to keep it up because I found a 2005 Bordeaux. Fancy a sip?" Lexi just shakes her head at Rebekah's offer.

"I appreciate the sentiment, but I do not think it's for the best. Considering the fact that I'm being handled with kid gloves," Lexi snaps, looking back at her siblings.

"How are you feeling? Elijah asks hesitantly.

"How are you feeling, Elijah?" Lexi spits.

"Quite well, considering. Thank you. And you?" He responds with a smirk.

"I don't know," Lexi says after a moment. "I am here to protect Rebekah. Not the other way around."

"I know you meant to, Lexi—" Rebekah is cut off.

"And yet you find it necessary to render me unconscious before bringing me here." Lexi raises an eyebrow.

"You weren't yourself," Elijah replies. "We needed to get out of that diner."

"What happened back there?" Rebekah asks with a gentle tone.

"I don't know," Lexi admits, glancing at her hands. "Elijah and I were sent here to keep Hope safe. My job was to keep you both protected, and recently, I have been failing spectacularly at that. I wasn't going to take any chances."

"Alexis..." Elijah shakes his head.

"What do you mean?" Rebekah demands.

"Nothing," Lexi sends a warning glare in Elijah's direction.

He ignores it. "Hayley brought a certain werewolf pack to New Orleans."

"Elijah!"

"Peter and Derek Hale are a part of that pack." Elijah continues, despite Lexi's protests.

"The Hales?" Rebekah repeats, her wide eyes finding Lexi's.

"It's nothing—"

"It's not nothing!" Rebekah exclaims.

"Well, I'm not going to talk about it!"

Rebekah sends her a playful glare. "Fine. You can ignore it all you want. But if you're going to ignore it, you might as well help outside."

Without another word, Rebekah takes Hope and walks out the door. Lexi and Elijah exchange a look before they follow.

What they see outside makes them both gape. Lexi squeals in happiness, instantly going to help Rebekah build the bonfire, while Elijah stays with Hope.

"Are you really building a bonfire?" Elijah deadpans, picking up Hope from her travel cradle.

"I am going to revive a family tradition, especially since we're all going to be together," Rebekah announces.

"Only because we are fleeing from one of our deranged parents, another Mikaelson family tradition," Lexi says with a sarcastic smile. "It's a peculiar thing. Never to be tired yet forever exhausted with the sadness of things. Why must our family always be at war?"

"I don't know. But being away with her," Rebekah smiles, holding out her hand for Hope to play with. "Made me see things differently. We're not so bad. Not the monsters that our parents think we are."

In the distance, all three of them hear an approaching car. Elijah stands protectively in front of his two sisters, his grip on Hope tightening. Then, he sees the car containing the little girl's parents.