Regret ▻ The Originals [2]

11

Ophelia sat in the passenger's seat of Klaus' car. She stared out the window, remaining silent the whole entire car ride. All she could think about was how in a few weeks, she would be marrying Jackson, while her heart belonged to the man who happened to be driving the car she was forced the spend several hours in as they drove to Arkansas.

Klaus couldn't take the silence anymore and spoke up, "What is it?" He asked her, "You're never this quiet. What's bothering you?"

"I'm fine," Ophelia replied after a moment of silence, "I'm just feeling a bit weird. I've never left the city before."

Hayley frowned in confusion and leaned forward in her seat in the back, "Really?" She asked in disbelief, "You've been alive for over three hundred years, but never once left New Orleans?"

"New Orleans is my home," Ophelia replied without hesitation, "I never want to leave it."

"So what is it that you wanted to tell me, Ophelia?" Klaus questioned Ophelia, who remained silent as she and Hayley shared a worried glance with each other.

"We can talk about it after," Ophelia answered, "I don't think Hayley wants to be a third wheel to our conversation. Right, Hayley?"

Ophelia turned her head to look at Hayley, hoping she would go with it, "Right." Hayley replied and Klaus rolled his eyes in annoyance.

____

About an hour later, Klaus' black SUV drove down the driveway, and Klaus didn't even get the chance to park before Hayley rushed out of the backseat of the car and sprinted toward Rebekah, Elijah, and her daughter.

She stopped in her tracks as soon as she saw Hope, almost as though she couldn't believe her eyes. Rebekah and Elijah both smiled at her as Ophelia and Klaus caught up with them, and Elijah wasted no time handing a smiling Hope to Hayley, "Hi," She greeted her daughter as she hugged her tightly and breathed a sigh of relief.

Behind her, Klaus was near tears and too overwhelmed to move. Hayley, unable to meet Elijah's eye, turned so Klaus could see his daughter as well. Hope cooed happily and the two hybrids laughed.

_____

Meanwhile later, the Mikaelsons discussed the newest revelations they had just learned while they continued to build the bonfire, "Curse on the first-born? What the bloody hell is that supposed to mean?" Rebekah asked Klaus and Ophelia in confusion.

"Well, according to Finn, our sister Freya didn't die of plague," Klaus informed her, "She was taken as payment by our aunt Dahlia, who then cursed all Mikaelson first-borns for eternity."

"Is any of this true?" Hayley asked them concerned.

"It is if we are to believe Finn, who learned it from the bastion of truth, our mother," Elijah replied as he rolled up his sleeves.

"Well, no wonder your brother hates all of you," Ophelia commented, causing the whole group to turn to her and frown, "He lost the sister he adored, and instead got a judgy pack of siblings who found him unbearably boring. I mean, come on, wouldn't you?"

"Great," Hayley sarcastically responded, "So, is there any chance of us running into your loony aunt Dahlia any time soon?"

"The fable's over a thousand years old. Dahlia is long dead." Elijah assured her.

"Like Esther?" Hayley retorted, causing Ophelia to sigh.

"No one's going to hurt Hope, because no one's going to find her," Klaus assured Hayley before pausing, turning to Rebekah, who was continuing to fetch wood, "There's enough wood, Rebekah. You'll burn down the whole bloody state of Arkansas."