𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙎𝙏𝙊𝙍𝙔 𝙊𝙁 𝘾𝘼𝙈𝙄𝙇𝙇𝘼 𝙁𝙊𝙍𝘽𝙀𝙎 | 𝙇𝙀𝙂𝘼𝘾𝙄𝙀𝙎

𝑭𝑶𝑹𝑬𝑽𝑬𝑹 & 𝑨𝑳𝑾𝑨𝒀𝑺

Mid afternoon the next day Camilla walks towards Hope sitting on a bench who seems to be too deep in thought to sense her coming.

Camilla had been slightly overwhelmed with everything going on. From almost dying, losing her memories, Stefan coming back, and a couple nights prior, Jace's mental break down. She didn't have the time to speak to Hope and she knew she needed too. She wasn't the only one suffering, she had her daughter unknowingly taken away from her but Hope had a mother and siblings taken away from her. She was living a lie her whole life.

Camilla gently puts a hand on the young tribrid's shoulder and Hope almost jumps out of her own skin flinching away from the unknown persons touch.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." Camilla says softly, analyzing the young girl for the first time since finding out she was her first born daughter.

Hope avoids eye contact nervously and mumbles a small, "It's okay." She gets up and prepares to walk away and quickly attempts to come up with an excuse. "I'll let you sit. I should go anyways."

Hope didn't share her concerns with anyone but she was so frightened of Camilla wanting nothing to do with her. The twins, Alec, and Jace had their whole lives with her while she was raised by her father who broke her heart and Hayley who knowingly, stole her from her real mother.

Camilla looks at her with firm yet soft eyes. "Come on sweetheart, I think we both know it's time we talked." She says patting the seat Hope had just occupied.

Hope silently sits next to her leaving a comfortable distance between them and begins fiddling with her fingers nervously.

"You know, if I had any idea you were my daughter I would have came for you the second I found out." Camilla breaks the tense silence. "I heard a lot of what was going on in New Orleans in the last almost two decades. I'm sorry you were raised in the middle of a war zone, I wish I had known sooner."

Hope lifts her head to see Camilla looking towards the horizon with tears in her eyes and shakes her head. "You couldn't have known."

"I always felt like something was missing. Funny enough I thought it was because of your father so I ignored it." Camilla says with a humorless laugh. The irony of her thinking it was her first love when it was her first born child that was with him the whole time.

"My dad never would've let you take me out of New Orleans." Hope shrugs helplessly with a longing sigh. "He kept me safe don't get me wrong, but no matter what happened no one could convince him to go anywhere else. He enjoyed the 'throne'"

"You mistake me for your aunts and uncles Hope." Camilla says with a slight smile full of mischief. "If I knew you were my child, the second you were in danger I would've taken you far away. Regardless of what your father said. A mother is the scariest person in the world when her child is in danger."