Lightning Strikes Twice

Eight

"Hey, love. How was your night?" Méalla greeted the sleepy werewolf as she came into the kitchen, holding her growing baby bump.
"Sleep was better, mood not so much." Hayley replied grumpily, glaring into the fridge she was digging in. Méalla heard a yelp from the living room.
"Seems our guest has arrived." Méalla sighed. She walked out of the kitchen, hearing Klaus' raging.
Méalla's own baby bump was still pretty easy to conceal with her cardigan, so she buttoned it to not let Sophie know just yet. Méalla hung in the living room doorway, not paying much attention to Sophie, Klaus, and Rebekah's conversation, more just watching. Her attention was snapped back when Klaus's phone rang. It was Marcel, asking him to go out to the Bayou to meet with an informant about dead witches. Probably ones from last night.
"You can't go out there now. I need to gather the witches' remains and consecrate them. If I don't get to them before sundown, we'll lose the link to their magic." Sophie pleaded as soon as Klaus hung up the phone.
"Those witches tried to kill Hayley. I'd prefer for Marcel's informant not to find anything that would lead him back to us, to her, or to,you know," Klaus points at Hayley's bump "that."
"You are all class." Hayley said dryly while Méalla snorted at her brother's gesture.
"Stay put. And save the rest of your story 'til I return." With that, Klaus left to go join Marcel.

"So, you're going to the Bayou?" Méalla appeared behind Hayley, getting ready to leave the house.
"Yes. Please don't try to stop me, it won't work." Hayley answered with determination.
"Fine. I'm coming with you."

Sophie wasn't all too pleased when Méalla and Hayley appeared at the tomb, but even less so when Rebekah appeared as well. The car ride was silent and tense.
"Well isn't this a party?" Méalla said dryly as they got out of the car into the Bayou. Everybody ignored her.
"What is all that dreadful hillbilly ruckus in the background?" Rebekah was on the phone with Klaus as they walked on the Bayou path. It was a single file path with Hayley leading, then Méalla and Rebekah, with Sophie trailing last. If Méalla really wanted to, she could focus on the phone conversation but she didn't want to. She heard Klaus' obvious annoyance, though.
"Well, order up a few rounds of moonshine and steer clear of the dead witches for a few. The witch is on a burial mission, your baby mama is on a spirit quest, I'm keeping Elijah's promise to keep her safe and Méalla is making sure nobody kills each other, so stall, please?" Rebekah hung up on Klaus.
They walked a few more moments in silence before Hayley stopped in a clearing. Bodies were littered about, some headless or limbless, all with clawmarks.
"We're here." Hayley's was stony. Sophie started to unpack her backpack as Méalla followed Hayley to the center of the clearing, looking for anything. Rebekah was looking around.
"Whoa." Hayley sounded in awe. Méalla followed the werewolf's gaze to see a paw print and then 3 scratches on a nearby tree.
"Is that a wolf track?" Sophie asked.
Before anyone could answer, there were cracking sounds, like footsteps.
"Who's there?" Rebekah called out, both her and Méalla moving closer to Hayley. The person approaching them was a male vampire.
"What the hell? Originals?" He sped away before anyone could react.
Rebekah immediately took out her phone and called Klaus while checking out the way the vampire came from. Méalla could hear her telling him what happened.
"We're probably going to have to leave soon. Did you find anything to help with your search?" Méalla asked Hayley, who looked a little let down.
"No. It was probably pointless anyway."
"I don't think so."
Méalla heard Rebekah's voice tinge with annoyance while saying,
"Yes, and now that we've established that I am a failure as a sister, and a friend, and an Original, you should probably know he's on his way to Marcel right now to rat me out. Skinny guy in a hurry, looks like he saw a ghost." She then hung up her phone and turned around.
"I have to go help Klaus with keeping the vamp from ratting us out, you three should go home and I'll meet you there." Méalla nodded and let Hayley and Sophie start to walk, trailing behind them to keep on an eye out. Rebekah sped off to meet Klaus.

Méalla walked into hallway busts as Rebekah came in, obviously annoyed. She headed straight to the liquor cabinet and started pouring three glasses. Hayley came in the other doorway.
"I don't care if we have to get you a leash, that was your last trip to the bayou. What is it with you and those wolves, anyway?" Rebekah points at Hayley.
"I feel like we're connected somehow. I don't know. Maybe it's just some pipe dream that I have of finding any real family out there. But sometimes, when I feel like it's me against the world, it keeps me going." She sounded lonely.
Rebekah nodded her head in understanding and holds out a glass. Hayley just gives her a look and Rebekah takes it back after it dawns on her. She then proceeds to knock the glass back in one gulp and give a second one to Méalla. Méalla shook her head no and Rebekah realized she was in the presence of two pregnant women.
"Oh, right. Well, if you ask me, family is a pain in the behind." Rebekah spoke.
"Hey, I'm not that bad." Méalla protested.
Hayley rolled her eyes.
"And as for being in it alone, how dare you? I don't ruin a perfectly fabulous pair of boots traipsing through the bayou for just anyone." She and Hayley smile at each other.
"You two having a moment or can we acknowledge I'm also in this with you?" Méalla quipped, finishing just as the door slammed open.
Rebekah's snark is interrupted by Elijah following just behind Klaus through the door. She stops mid sentence then runs and hugs him tightly. Hayley smiles at Elijah and leaves. Méalla awkwardly hangs in the doorway. Elijah broke away from Rebekah and tentatively walked over to Méalla.
"Hello Méalla. I heard you helped try to get me back safely." Elijah said.
"What can I say, nobody messes with my family, even if I'm mad at them." She shrugged. Elijah was staring at her intensely and she felt awkward but then she sighed.
"We need you right now. All of us. The road ahead we'll have to travel as a family." Méalla smiled softly at Elijah and left the room.
Elijah, Klaus, and Rebekah watched her leave, all with a little hope in their hearts. Elijah feeling like Méalla might forgive and trust him again sooner than he thought, Klaus feeling like someone believed in him despite the way he's going about things, and Rebekah feeling that maybe the process of healing old wounds might be underway.
"Everything that brought us here to New Orleans was a lie. This story that Sophie Deveraux fabricated, this struggle for control of the French Quarter, this war between vampires and witches, wasn't over territory at all, this was over Davina. Eight months ago, Sophie Deveraux and her sister Jane-Anne lost everything. Now, four months after that, a young pregnant girl wanders into their restaurant. Suddenly, all hope is renewed. Jane-Anne actually sacrificed her life so that her sister can use you to find Davina. If Sophie Deveraux is successful in capturing Davina, she can return Jane-Anne's daughter back to life. We thought we'd come here to wage a war for power. This is about family. In order to return her niece to life, Sophie Deveraux will fight to the death. That makes her more dangerous than anyone." Elijah finished recounting what he learned from Davina. Méalla felt a little pity for Sophie and understood the need to save family, but she absolutely hated the idea of the Harvest.