Original Vampires, Welcome to New Orleans (The Originals Seasons 1 and 2 Fanfic)

Chapter 22: The Matter of Long-Lost Siblings

'That is just not my chin, Nik,' Rebekah said, in Eva Sinclair's body, looking up at a painting of herself. The body jumping spell a couple weeks ago had gone wrong, and Rebekah's original body was in a coffin, while she was currently inhabiting the body of a witch named Eva Sinclair. 'It was much more delicate.'

'The only delicate thing about you, sister, is your ego,' Klaus sniped.

'When placed beside the behemoth size of yours, certainly,' she jested, turning back to him.

'Could we dispense with this fascinating dispute for just a moment and return to the subject of our supposed long-lost sister?' Elijah said over the speaker phone. Elijah and I were both cooped up in a farmhouse somewhere in the country, as Elijah was still suffering side effects from Esther's torture. Camille O'Connell, the former bartender/psychologist who was a friend of both Klaus' and Marcel's, came with us, as well as baby Hope. Hayley was rallying her wolves in a mystical marriage ritual to the alpha wolf of the Crescent wolves, Jackson Kenner.

'There's not much to discuss, Elijah,' Rebekah replied. 'Said she was Freya and then darted off into the night.'

'And you believed her?' I asked over the line.

'I met the girl in a mystical loony bin. She could be anyone telling any lie, but she did seem familiar somehow.'

'Then how is she still alive, a question as ridiculous as its possible solutions, given this family's annoying predilection for cheating death?'

'I don't know, Nik. I'm just telling you what she said.'

'Well, did you happen to ask if by some similar miracle, our Aunt Dahlia lives as well?'

'I didn't have a chance to process -'

'Because on the list of obvious questions, it would be nice to know if the woman who placed a curse on the firstborns of this family is still breathing air.'

'Well, let me turn back time and do it to your liking, then,' Rebekah spat.

'Enough, both of you,' Elijah said over the line. 'If she is who she says, we'll find out soon enough. For now, it remains imperative that no one learns of Hope's existence. This has been our salvation thus far.'

'Unless Hayley's husband-to-be starts flapping his gums,' Klaus sniped. 'Perhaps I should take preventative measures and separate him from his head.'

'Jackson will do nothing to jeopardise that wedding,' I said over the phone.

'Hayley's getting married!' Rebekah exclaimed cheerfully. Klaus simply smiled at her. 'Well, what in hell else did I miss?'

At the farmhouse...

Elijah placed a pan on the stove and began to cook breakfast as Cami busied herself playing with the baby. I came into the kitchen, wearing one of his shirts and a pair of cutoff shorts. I jumped up on the kitchen counter and watched him.

'Hiya, handsome,' I said softly. He looked at me, giving me a brief kiss.

'Morning, princess,' he replied. He looked me up and down, giving a brief smile, and returning to cooking.

'What is it?' I asked.

'I forgot how good you looked wearing my shirts,' he said with a cheeky smile.

'I forgot how good you looked cooking breakfast. Look at us - for once, everything seems normal.'

'Yes, it does.' Just then Hope let out a loud cry from the living room and Elijah sped into the room in a flash. Cami picked her up, soothing the crying baby.

'Oh... she yanked the tablecloth, and that knicknack fell on her.' Elijah reached for her forehead, seeing the scratch with the bright red spot of blood that was already gathering. It wasn't deep, but even so, seeing the cut, Elijah's mind wandered. He stalled. I vamp sped into the living room, seeing him almost frozen in place, simply staring at baby Hope crying.

'Elijah?' I asked softly. When he didn't respond, I shouted his name. 'Elijah!' He snapped out of it, looking down.

'Yes. Forgive me,' he said softly. He seemed frozen still, looking around for something to do. I grasped his hands, then moved them up his arms and to his face.

'Hey, hey, stay with me. You're okay. You're safe. Just focus on the sound of my voice.'

I put the Band-Aid softly over Hope's scratch as Elijah held her, and then picked her up in my arms.

'It was a trigger,' Cami said, leaning against the wall, watching the two of us with the baby. 'You pulled yourself back, which is improvement for sure, but we can't ignore the fact that your mind clearly went elsewhere. It's very common in traditional PTSD patients.' We turned, myself holding baby Hope. 'You've done the work to face your atrocities. The truth is, it's just going to take some time to settle.' I passed her to Elijah, who placed her in her playpen. He looked up at her.

'And you believe you have the power to resolve this?' he asked.

'It's not that easy. There's no -' she snapped her fingers to make a point, 'and you're fixed.' She came over to stand near us. 'In cases like yours, sometimes not dwelling on the problem is more productive than examining it through the minutia of therapy. Staying mentally busy instead of physically, this house, though charming, is completely falling apart.' She handed him a small piece of paper. He took it and stood.

'So this is your solution,' he said, perusing the paper. 'Mend the home, mend the man.'

'Or we could go fishing, and I could tell you about the summer I lost my virginity,' she said. He gave her a mildly horrified look.

'I'll mend the home,' he said softly

'I'll spend the day with Hope, and your girlfriend too, and you spend the day not thinking and fixing the heater because this place is freezing at night.' She gave him a soft smile.