CENTURIES | Lucien Castle

XXIV. Haunter of Ruins

The Mikaelsons stood on the porch of the safe house the next morning. "What's the holdup?" Kol asked, disrupting the peace that Juliette was feeling. "Alright, we rescued Nik, we escaped mortal danger. Why are we not on a private jet to Saint-Tropez?"

He plucked the newspaper out of Elijah's grasp. "You can catch up on the last five years when we're on our way. I assure you, you haven't missed much," Juliette watched the irritated look form on her older brother's face as Kol spoke.

"Circumstances have changed," the suited vampire mentioned and got up from his seat. "We will leave here soon enough."

"We have our nieces to consider," Rebekah reminded and sent a look to Juliette to see how she was feeling about the situation.

"Kol has a point," Freya agreed with the vampire. "We need to put an ocean between us and Marcel Gerard as soon as possible."

"We're not going anywhere today," Klaus advised his siblings. "I want one day of peace with my daughter and I'm sure Juliette wants the same with hers before we uproot them."

"Any delay is a risk," Freya looked to her younger brother.

"One day," Klaus asserted.

"Please," Juliette begged.

"We're in the middle of nowhere, the house it cloaked, we weren't followed, and I'm not asking!" The hybrid raised his voice and then they turned their heads when the front door opened to reveal Hayley and Lucien with Hope.

"Everybody, look who's awake," Hayley greeted her daughter to everyone.

"Kennedy is still sleeping," Lucien mentioned to Juliette. "Wonder where she gets that from," he whispered to her. Juliette's heart swelled knowing that Kennedy takes after her even if it was her bad habit of sleeping in.

"Hello," Hope's tiny voice spoke timidly as all her family's eyes were on her.

"Hello," Klaus greeted his daughter.

"Mom, can I go play in the garden?" The seven-year-old witch looked up at Hayley.

"Yeah. Sure," Hayley responded to her daughter and the Mikaelsons all watched as Hope walked down the steps of the porch and sauntered over to a wooden table that held art supplies.

****

"I just want a day with her before we do anything drastic," Juliette pleaded with Lucien. The pair were standing in the kitchen of the safe house while their daughter was upstairs in her bedroom.

Lucien looked at his love with a mixture of emotions. He looked at Juliette with love and sadness knowing that Juliette had been missing from Kennedy's life. "Okay. Whatever you want, beautiful."

Juliette smiled up at him and pressed her lips to his. She had missed the feeling of being in his arms. Every time he looked at her or whenever they kissed, her stomach always erupted with butterflies. Juliette looked up at him with her arms still around him. "And after today, we can leave," Juliette blurted what had been going on in her mind since they arrived at the safe house last night. Lucien curiously looked down at the Mikaelson. "We can leave. Just the three of us."