The Key

13

Relief floods my whole body. Hope was okay. Elijah and Vincent found a loophole with the other children involved. 

Hope was asleep in the car now. Elijah, Niklaus and I were standing outside of it, staring at our old house. The Mikaelson compound.

"So, how did you and Vincent manage it?" I ask Elijah, pulling my sweater tighter around my body.

Niklaus instinctively wraps a warm arm around me, pulling me into his side. Elijah had just handed Niklaus a glass of whiskey to match his.

Elijah runs a hand through his usually perfectly kept hair,

"I managed to find an old friend. Or enemy, I can never really tell. Here's to a wretched day," He raises his glass and sips it.

"A wretched day indeed. As soon as Hope is awake, we'll leave. She's all that matters," Niklaus insists, sipping his drink as well.

Nodding to Elijah to gather his attention, I ask him,

"Hey. I want to ask you something. In the woods, if Vincent hadn't found that loophole what would you have done to those kids?"

"Whatever I had to do."

I sigh heavily, 

"We have got to stop making it a habit of putting our family lives ahead of others. I don't want that for myself, I don't want that for Hope. We have to do better."

Niklaus sees the seriousness in my gaze and gives me a slight nod of his head, agreeing with me.

A shout from inside the car, Hope wakes up from what appears to be a night mare,

"NO! NO! The Hollow! It's HERE! It's going to get Uncle Elijah! NO!"

----

Elijah, Marcel and Vincent were infected by the Hollow. Freya was performing a cleansing ritual on them. Elijah insisted that Niklaus, Hope and I take shelter in the bayou.

The three of us were walking in a large field behind my old cabin. Hope was picking the pink and purple flowers, running back to hand them to me excitedly every time she finds a good one.

I suck in a deep breath, watching our daughter as a smile creeps onto my face,

"I did miss it out here."

"You know, we could be happy out here," Niklaus says gently, scooping my hand into his and lacing our fingers together,

"I want to build our life together, Debria. You, me and Hope. Finally, all together."

I stop walking, looking at Hope who was running ahead of us in circles and then look up to meet his intense gaze,

"Niklaus, we are in this together. Always will be. You have me, for better or for worse."

He brings his face down to my height, brushing his lips against mine in a chaste kiss. His blue eyes electrifying and sending a shock down to my toes.

His phone goes off then, ringing and he picks it up quickly.

I tune him out and go over to Hope, who had plopped down in the green grass and was twirling her collected flowers into a crown.

"Hey there, my littlest wolf," I smile at her, and she grins up at me,

"You making a crown?"

Hope nods enthusiastically,

"Now that I feel better, I was thinking of making Aunt Freya a crown as a thank you."