The Investigation | Mikael

Chapter Fourteen

 After sitting alone in St. Anne's a little while longer, I left and went back home. When I entered through the front door, I placed my keys on my desk and took off my coat. I was about to open up one of the drawers of my desk, but then I remembered I didn't have any cases to go through. Marcel must have found some way from keeping people away from my business until I had completed the case he brought to me. 

 I sat down at my currently useless desk. Could Marcel have made me feel like any more of a prisoner? Maybe the fact that I couldn't pursue anything else was incentive to get this done faster and do it good, but it wasn't helping me in any way, especially since I had done the opposite of what Marcel wanted me to do. 

 "Just find out where he's hiding," I muttered to myself. "All you had to do, and you damn well botched it up, didn't you?" 

 "Are we talking to ourselves now? Why bother with that when I'm here?" 

 I jumped up from my chair and looked towards the hallway. "Mikael. How the hell did you get in this time?"

 "I picked the lock on the back door." 

 I sighed and walked over to him. "You are going to get me in major trouble one of these days. What if someone was with me?"

 "You underestimate me, Finnamore," he replied. "That's what Marcel Gerard does all the time these days, but I thought you knew better." 

 "Oh, trust me, I knew better." I tried to brush him off when he reached out his hand. "Well, we still have more of your story to get to, don't we? That's why you broke in, isn't it?" 

 He shrugged. "Well, yes. I think we still have a little more to discuss. But that wasn't the only thing I had in mind." He reached his hands out again, pulling me closer, and he kissed me in that same hard, passionate way he had the night before. 

 I knew exactly what he was suggesting. I wasn't sure I wanted to; I wasn't sure at all if this was something I wanted. However, there was a part of me that desired all of it, and that was why I went with him up to my apartment. 

~~~~~~ 

 I grabbed my notebook and pen, which were both on the bedside table. "I would be interesting in learning a little more about each of your children."

 "Well, what I am going to tell you that isn't already public knowledge?" Mikael asked. "I'm sure it's all known by now." 

 "I imagine so." I flipped to the next blank page. "But I'd like to hear about them from your point of view. Come on. You've been here for a few hours now, and we've barely talked about anything important." 

 "Oh, fine." He paused for a quick moment to think. "Finn and I were never particularly close. His relationship was always more with Esther than with me. I think he was secretly her favorite. He was very quiet growing up, but he always good. 

 "Elijah matured very early on, but he also knew how to have fun with his siblings. He took Niklaus under his wing when they were both still very young. I think they had the closest relationship of all of them. Elijah was always willing to do anything he had to in order to protect his family. It's ironic that it would lead to his death. 

 "Then there was Kol. He was always something of a mischief-maker. I never liked that in him. But underneath all that mischief, there was a boy-later a man-who loved his family and wanted to have the best life possible. 

 "Next was Rebekah. Of all her brothers, Niklaus was her favorite, and she would do anything to defend him, mainly from me. I would often get angry with her. She was also a troublemaker, and could get herself into mischief. She was desperate for love but never found it. 

 "Then there was just Henrik, my youngest. He was...no trouble at all, really. He liked to follow his older siblings around; he wanted to be just like his big brothers. I wish...he had lived longer than just thirteen. It would have been nice to see who he would have grown up to be." 

 I finished writing and looked at my notes. All four sons were dead, and Rebekah's fate was unknown entirely. I already knew all about him and Klaus, so that one wasn't necessary. That left only one, the child he had the most emotional attachment to. 

 "What about Freya?" I asked. "We haven't talked much about her." 

 "I wouldn't know what she was like as she grew up," Mikael said in a bitter tone. "But she was the most beautiful little girl. When we met again, she just wanted a family. I think she loved her younger siblings before she even met them. She wanted it all so much that she would have done anything for their love and approval."

 "Did they love her?" 

 "Of course they did. They all loved each other." 

 "And where did you play into all that?" I asked. 

 "Oh, that's a story for another day, Finnamore." 

 "Did you make amends with any of them?" I pressed. 

 "I thought I could, but I didn't get far. Only Freya...only she saw past everything I had done. She was the only one who...who ever saw the best of me." 

 I closed my notebook. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean-" 

 "I know. Well," he moved closer so that we were sitting next to each other. "I think you know enough about me by now." 

 "Yeah, I'd say so. But I'm sure there's things about you I don't know, too. If you want to hang around a little longer, I wouldn't mind a bit."

 He smiled and kissed me again. This felt like what my heart must have had in store for me.