Two Lost Souls

This Is Home

She wakes before Klaus and manages not to disturb him as she slips out of his embrace and gets ready for the day, a fact she's very proud of given how light his sleep is. Then again, she doesn't think he's had a good night's sleep since he got his emotions back, so her success may have more to do with how tired he was than with her ability to be stealthy. She knows he stayed awake long after she fell asleep, going over ideas and plans in his mind and trying to make sure there weren't any loose ends to take care of until his exhaustion won the battle, and seeing him actually peaceful and resting brings a small smile to her lips... Until a loud crash coming from downstairs has him jolting up in bed and jumping to his feet in alarm. He takes a quick look around and relaxes when he sees her.

"What was that?" she asks, more curious than concerned since he seems to have decided that there is no threat to be worried about.

"My dear sister wreaking havoc on the house," he says irritably, before shaking his head and dismissing his annoyance with Rebekah. "You're up early."

"No, I'm not," she replies, motioning at his phone on the nightstand and laughing when he picks it up to check the time and his mouth falls open in surprise. "Not used to oversleeping, are you?" she asks rhetorically, sitting on the bed as she puts on her shoes. "What's Rebekah doing to the house exactly?"

"Molding it to fit her needs, I presume."

"What needs?"

"She's going to throw a victory party," he explains, smiling at what she assumes must be the extremely giddy look on her face. "Don't get too excited yet, sweetheart. You'll have to wait a few days."

"Why?"

"Because this victory was big enough that she's going to want to invite our contacts from all over the world, and that takes a bit of planning."

"Oh, ok. Wait. From all over the world? This is gonna be huge, isn't it?"

"We've just reclaimed our position as the most powerful family in the supernatural world. Did you expect anything else?"

"Huh, no, you're right."

They're both silent for a moment, her lost in thoughts as she tries to decide how to broach the topic that's on her mind and Klaus watching her carefully.

"Are you alright, love?"

"Yeah, just, huh... Can we talk?"

"About?"

She bites her lip and averts her eyes for a moment, trying to find a way to say what she wants to say. Finally settling on one, she taps the bed next to her and Klaus sits down, more to get the conversation going than for comfort purposes, she suspects.

"Remember how you showed me your memories of New Orleans?"

"Sweetheart, that was less than fifteen hours ago," he points out. Right. Of course he remembers. "What about it?"

"I was thinking about what it was like back then. How the witches and vampires and werewolves were coexisting, how you managed to sort of keep the peace between them."

"Sort of, yes," he confirms. "To be honest, I've never seen this anywhere else. In most places, no matter what you do, one species always ends up taking over, but New Orleans only ever seems to be thriving when the wolves, witches and vampires manage to reach an understanding. That's the plan now, if that's what you're getting at. Obviously, I'm not going to let the pack that attacked you come back, but other werewolves will be welcome here, and I didn't go through all this trouble helping the witches only to start persecuting them the way Marcel did, especially considering that it led to his downfall. As for the vampires, Marcel's remaining men will be given a choice, stay here and be loyal to us or leave. Others will come once the news that we're back spreads."