Lightning Strikes Twice

Three

Méalla was walking through the Quarter, trying to follow Rebekah's trail. She had been at it for some time now, with no luck. Night's fallen and she can sense more vampires patrolling, guessing they were Marcel's men. Her stomach plummeted when she heard a familiar voice.
"I have had it up to here with vampires telling me what to do!" Méalla twirled to see Hayley fling steaming tea into the face of the vampire in front of her. She didn't seem to notice two more behind her. Méalla vamp sped over, ripping out the heart of one, while another blur snapped the other's neck. Méalla dropped the bloody heart she had ripped out and saw the blur was Rebekah, who dropped her vampire with distaste. Hayley was staring at them, slack jawed.
"Now, that's no way to treat a pregnant lady. I do hate bad manners." Rebekah scolded the dead vampires while Méalla rushed over to Hayley.
"Hayley, are you alright?" She asked, scanning for any sign of an injury on the werewolf.
"Yeah. Yeah I'm alright." The werewolf insisted and Méalla sighed in relief, before realizing Klaus' wouldn't be happy about this development.

Klaus threw the last dead body into the fire in the front yard of the house, berating the girls all the while.
"This is why I told you never to leave the house. Werewolves are banned in the Quarter. I had a plan, and your little nighttime stroll put it all in peril! Leave him!" He growled at Rebekah, who was about finish off one who was barely standing up.
"You've done enough, don't you think? Leaving a trail of bodies like a road map to my door?" He gestured wildly.
"If I hadn't overheard this lot bragging about werewolf heads, everyone here would be screwed. And don't give me that crap about having a plan. You've had all the time in the world to execute a plan, and no one's seen you do a damn thing! Elijah made a deal to protect your child, so that it could save you from your selfish, rotten self. But you obviously don't give a damn about the child or Elijah, because what have you done to honor it?" Rebekah spat back.
"Rebekah." Méalla started but Klaus cut her off.
"I have done everything. Let me spell it out for you, shall I? From the day I arrived, Marcel hasn't trusted me. From Day One, he's had his vampires ingest toxic vervain which, as you know, little sister, protects them from my mind control. I needed a spy, someone on the inside with me who Marcel would never suspect. So, I created a Day Zero and got there first. Marcel had just lost six vampires, thanks to your little murder spree, and he needed new recruits. So, I made the new one mine, before he'd had even a drop of vervain. But we all know the real way to a man is through his heart, so I had a little chat with his pretty bartender." He growled. Grabbing the last vampire, he continued. "And this one, I'm gonna drain him of vervain, compel him to believe his mates found religion and moved to Utah, so that he can explain to Marcel why he lost three more vampires tonight." Klaus started dragging the vampire to the house, the girls followed.
"Really. Religion in Utah? We both know you can be more creative than that." Méalla snarked at her brother, annoyed at both Klaus and Rebekah. Klaus only glared back at her.
"Does anyone have any more questions? No? Good, because I have a question. Hayley, what were you doing in the bloody French Quarter in the first place? Answer me!" He rose his voice as he threw the vampire onto the floor of the hallway.
"Leave her be." Rebekah said, not wanting him to know.
"You wanna know what I was doing? I was buying poison, so I could put your little baby out of its misery." Hayley growled at Klaus, who vamp sped over, holding her to the wall by her throat. Hayley was grasping for breath. "Niklaus Mikaelson, put Hayley down!" Méalla grabbed his arms roughly and pulled him off, moving her body between him and Hayley. He saw murder in her eyes and stepped back.
"Keep your hands off her! She is pregnant, for God's sake! All of this bluster about not wanting the child, and then the second she tells you she's ready to get rid of it?" Méalla's voice rose in anger but softened at her brother's face.
"It's okay to care. It's okay to want something. That's all Elijah was trying to do, all he's ever wanted for you. All we've ever wanted. Niklaus." She spoke gently to her brother, following him as he sat on the stairs and he leaned into her shoulder.
"I gave Elijah to Marcel." Klaus admitted, the Big Bad Wolf mask dropped for a moment.
"What?" Rebekah asked in shock.
"Marcel was nervous. It's bad enough one Original returned to town, but two? His crew was getting antsy. He wanted Elijah gone, so I gave him a peace offering." He explained softly.
"You bartered our brother?" Rebekah was incredulous.
"I have a plan. Gain Marcel's trust, dismantle his empire, honor Elijah's wish that that baby be born. I am executing that plan the only way I know how. If you don't like it, there's the door. See if I care." Klaus pulled away from Méalla and rose, leaving the room. He gave a questioning look at Méalla and Méalla only nodded her head yes. She wasn't leaving. She was going to help her brother.
Rebekah sighed and got up as well. She headed to the back porch and Méalla followed. Rebekah sat and Méalla leaned against the doorway.
"Rebekah, there's something else you need to know." Méalla started tentatively.
"Please don't tell me you did something to Elijah as well." Rebekah sounded tired.
"No. No, it has to do what you're probably wondering about. Rebekah, Hayley's not the only one pregnant." Méalla said softly, sitting beside her sister.
"I know you heard the heartbeat. Elijah and Klaus told me last night, they said they heard it when Elijah was proving to Klaus Hayley was really pregnant. I'm not sure what to do." Méalla was a little afraid to hear her sister's reaction. She knows Rebekah has always wanted a family, much more than herself and she didn't know if it would hurt her that Méalla and Klaus were going to be parents.
Rebekah turned her head and took a long once over her older sister. Méalla was right, she had heard the heartbeat when she hugged her sister, but she didn't know if it could be. She took in the hybrid, seeing her hunched into herself, with puzzlement and a lost look on her face. She didn't see the mask Méalla usually puts up when she's trying to divert attention from herself, especially when helping her family and in that moment Rebekah knew she was genuinely nervous.
"I'm here for you whatever happens, Méalla." Rebekah spoke in a reassuring voice.
"You're not upset? I know how much, what having a family would mean to you." Méalla's voice was small and Rebekah felt her heart break a little for her sister and the reason why she was scared to tell her. She didn't want to rub in the fact that Rebekah couldn't have children.
"No, I'm not. I'm just confused about how. Obviously, something is going on. You don't sleep with men." Rebekah pulled her sister into a hug.
"Elijah, Klaus, and I are all confused too. We're going to find out though, and I'd like your help, if you could." Méalla curled herself into Rebekah's arms, remembering all the times they've been in this position, but with places switched.
"Of course I'll help. You're my sister and I love you. And I will love your child. And I will love Klaus' child. I'll be the best aunt I can." Rebekah rubbed Méalla's back. Méalla rarely let herself appear vulnerable, especially when she feels that there are more important concerns for her siblings. She has always put them before herself, and when she lets down these walls, it's serious.
"Thank you, Bekah." Rebekah smiled at the use of Méalla's nickname for her. Méalla pulled away from the hug and turned to face the back yard, holding her knees. Rebekah did the same, just sitting beside Méalla. They sat in quiet for a few moments before they heard soft footsteps.
"Hello, love." Méalla greeted Hayley as she sat on her left side.
"I know we don't know each other very well, but I wanted to thank you both. For earlier, and for Klaus." Hayley said.
"Us girls have got to look out for each other." Rebekah responded, smiling at Hayley.
"If you know Marcel has Elijah, why don't you just get him back yourself?" Hayley questioned the Mikaelsons, mainly Rebekah.
"Because, if I cross my brother, there's still a coffin downstairs with my name on it." Rebekah said sadly. Méalla knew how much she hated being in that box. Hayley eyed them both for a minute and then pulled the silver cloth from earlier that day onto her lap. She unfolded, showing the daggers.
"Oh, my god." Rebekah sounded amazed, staring at the daggers in disbelief.
"I found them under your coffin. So, if a couple of antique steak knives were the only things stopping you from getting Elijah back, then here you go." Hayley said softly as she offered them out to Rebekah. Rebekah took them gingerly, a slight feeling of disbelief clear in the way she was staring at them.
"Thank you, Hayley." Rebekah said finally. She smiled and the werewolf smiled back. Rebekah stood up, a new determination in her movements. She walked into the house, presumably to go get Elijah.
"Hayley, really. Thank you. Those daggers are a sore spot for everybody, even Klaus. They shouldn't be held over our sibling's heads." Méalla spoke in a serious, but grateful voice. She was smiling gently at Hayley.
"How are you doing?" Hayley asked her softly.
"I'm still trying to wrap my head around everything I guess." Méalla responded in a quiet voice.
"You're not alone. We'll be going through this together." Hayley told the Hybrid.
"Can I tell you something?" Méalla asked Hayley.
"Of course." The werewolf responded.
"This baby, it's existence is a plot of some kind, and definitely magical, because I've never slept with a man. Yet, I feel like if we discover the reason it exists, and it's not in danger, I could love it more than I've ever loved anything. I've never imagined myself as a mother, but when I hear the steady beat of its' small heart, I feel like I can raise this child to be better than I've ever been." Méalla admitted to Hayley, who had come to her own realization that day.
"I think I feel the same. I realized when the vampires tried to do what they came for, that I would protect my baby with my life. And I am scared of what that could mean." Hayley told the Hybrid.
"Well, like you said love, we're in this together." She bumped shoulders with the werewolf.
Hayley tentatively reached for Méalla's hand, and when she didn't pull away she intertwined their fingers.
"Together." The werewolf repeated, leaning her head on Méalla's shoulder.