In every moment, a choice exists. We can cling to the past, or embrace the inevitability of change.
Compound
Hayley listens to Kara enduring another coughing fit hidden away in the bathroom .
"Babe?"
"In.." she coughs again "A minute."
Hayley sighs softly , knowing very well the runes was getting worse and Claire hadn't been able to find anything to help Kara get rid of it. When Kara does finally leave the bathroom , she notices that she's paler than before and the dark circles beneath her eyes are even more pronounced.
"Remember your promise." Hayley reminds gently "I don't want to be one of those whiny wives but this is important and we need all hands on deck, god knows what'll happen if it continues."
Kara's face softens "I won't die Hayley."
Hayley scoffed "But you will suffer! You've been suffering for the past few days."
Kara opens her mouth to argue but sees the actual pain and worry on her Hayley's face and reluctantly sighs "Okay." She raises her hands in defeat "Just calm down okay?"
Hayley does eventually calm down enough to realize that she hadn't even dressed yet after Kara pointed it out she took a quick shower before getting on a pair of jeans, shirt and one her favorite leather jackets.
When she comes out of the bathroom she finds Kara on the ground with Hope babbling fussily at her.
"She okay?"
Kara nodded "Just teething, back in the day parents rubbed some whisky on their babies gums to soothe the irritation but I didn't think you'd appreciate me introducing our daughter to the wonders of alcohol already."
Hayley smiles mockingly "No I wouldn't."
Kara laughed a little at the mocking smile "I'll go get some things for her later. It'll be worse at night."
Hayley nods and moves to their daughter smiling happily at her "Hello .. did you sleep okay?"
Another bunch of incoherent babble leaves Hope, to Hayley and Kara it definitely sounds like she's complaining. "That bad huh." Hayley cooed "Well maybe you should sleep with me and mama tonight?"
•••••••
Parlor room
The Mikaelson siblings are gathered in the room, a few confused about the sudden meeting Kara called them too but kol and klaus share a look, they both have an inkling as to what it's about but doesn't say a word to the rest. When Kara and Hayley joins, so does Hope.
"Not that I'm happy the two of you are no long in coital bliss what's this about?" Rebekah asked making a face.
Kara rolls her eyes "Shut up, you and Claire and no better."
Hayley had a hint of pink on her cheeks, she often forgot that being surrounded by so many vampires was a bit awkward for their sex life. Though by the look on Kara's face she knew it didn't bother her all that much.
"I assume we need to address the growing vampire army in the Algiers?" Elijah spoke up.
And allow a brighter future to unfold for us. Such an uncertain future may cause for even more uncertain allies
Kara scowled at the mention of Niklaus's wayward son, she glanced at the her brother , carefully watching his reaction, personally she wanted to rip Marcel head off and get it over with, his part in Hope being born during a war was still very much fresh in her mind, but dealing with maniacal parents and defective siblings filled her hands and took priority.
"His presence has been ignored this far and I'd hope to continue ignoring him but it seems like that won't be the case." She pursed her lips thoughtfully "Perhaps it's best if you Elijah, offer him help in the way of guidance , after all you do have experience in teaching baby vampires and in doing so you might even lessen Marcel's hold on them and possibly use them as allies in our fight with Dahlia." Kara replied thoughtfully.
Elijah and Niklaus was actually surprised "You're not raring to kill him?"
Kara rolled her eyes "Marcel is very low on my list of priorities at the moment, his death will come sooner or later of that you can be sure but for now, his little army can be used to our advantage."
Rebekah was the one she worried about most but after Kara told her little sister what Marcel did the night Hope was born she had to be restrained from killing the bloke herself.
Hayley nudged Kara "And what else."
Kara sighed, knowing her wife would not let it go. She glanced at Freya who looked at her worriedly. She rolled up her sleeve and showed it to everyone.
"This.."
Freya gaped "black magic."
Kara smiled weakly "Yes, it seems the day I stole you from your coffin I triggered a nasty curse. According to Claire there's definitely sacrificial magic at play but she hasn't been able to work out a counter curse yet, which is why she's been so busy as of late." She said mostly to Rebekah.
Kol's jaw clenched "Why have you waited so long to tell us? This curse may not kill you Kara but it will drive you mad." His anger surprised everyone or mostly everyone.
Kara's gaze remained steady "My sanity matters little to me when my daughters safety is in question. We have more pressing matters to deal with, the only reason I'm telling you now is because Hayley gave me no choice."
"It's for your own good." Hayley muttered bouncing Hope on her lap "and if you want to be a good mother to our daughter then your sanity is very important Kara."
Nik snapped his fingers "Precisely, perhaps Freya can take a look? After all to our knowledge if this curse you triggered was left by Dahlia , then maybe she'll have some insight as to how to remove it."
Everyone's eyes went to the eldest who shifted in her spot "Dahlia didn't share everything with me, but I can have a look." She offered genuinely worried for her sister.
Kara managed a smile "Then I'll come to you later, perhaps you and Claire can swap notes. But for now. Finding Dahlia before she finds us is imperative."
"Back in Arkansas she found us easily, and the black dahlias sprouting out of nowhere was her calling card, to make us scared no doubt." Rebekah said
"Dahlia preys on fear, Rebekah is right. She's coming and when you woke me, she woke and she's definitely already felt Hope. First born Mikaelson witches are strong." Freya paused and looked at the six month old girl "She doesn't only have witch powers either."
Hayley's grip reflexively tightened on her daughter and shared a look with Kara "No.. she's the first of her kind. Witch, werewolf and vampire. My blood runs through her veins.—"" Kara was cut off by a coughing fit , unable to get a tissue she coughed in her hand and stared at the dark red blood..
Kol back tensed "Have you fed?"
Kara shook her head "I can't, it just comes back up, apparently my body no longer likes the taste of blood." She stood to her feet "Excuse me."
Hayley watched Kara disappear with concern "It's getting worse. How long do we have before she gets really hungry?"
"Kara out of all of us controlled her hunger more than anyone, she could go weeks without feeding. The longest I've seen her go without feeding was two months." Klaus said
Rebekah shook her head "Well having a blood deprived super hybrid is more than we can handle.."
"What do we do?"
"If it gets that bad, Freya will use her strongest barrier spell, and keep me contained, I loathe to think what I'll do in the quarter half insane." Kara said coming back into the room with a new shirt "No objections. But for now, let's focus on finding Dahlia before she finds us."
••••••••
Hopes nursery
Hayley is in the nursery where Hope continues to shriek and cry loudly. Hayley desperately tries to soothe her daughter. But to no avail.
"It's okay, it's okay, mommy's here..shh babygirl." Hoe though continues to cry and scream.
Hayley sighed exhausted "Please stop crying, you're giving me a complex."
Kara stopped at the doors, lingering in the doorway with a plastic bag, she watches for a moment before clearing her throat gaining Hayley's attention.
"It it possible that I'm just the worst mother on the planet?" Hayley's asks clearly wondering what she was doing wrong, the moment Hope's eyes laid on Kara, her tears and cries slowly lessened , Hayley balked at her daughter "And you're the favorite !"
Kara took out the water filled teether she got at the pharmacy along with the teething necklace. "you're not the worst mother on the planet." She walks and holds open her arms, Hope reaching out for her.
Hayley sighs sadly handing Hope over and watches as their daughter immediately buried her face into Kara's chest. No longer crying or shrieking simply sniffing softly.
Hayley glared "you were saying?"
Kara lips twitches amusingly and continues to soothe Hope "Maybe I am the favorite?"
"I didn't think it'd be so hard, after getting her back you know." Hayley said
Kara sighed softly "Come here." She says walking from the nursery back into their bedroom "Come on." She says again when Hayley hesitated.
Back in their bedroom , Kara kicks off her shoes and goes to lay on their bed, Hayley follows suit.
Kara gently lays Hope in the middle of them, the girl now enamored with the teether , Kara looks at Hayley "She's just fussy, you're not a bad mother Hayley."
Hayley smiled weakly "You sure?"
Kara grabbed Hayley's hand and intwined their fingers "I'm sure, you're a brilliant mother, you're fierce and strong. I can only pray that Hope takes after you."
Hayley blushed a bit , she thinks back to what Claire said about Hope not being their last child. "do you think.. do you think we'd be able to give Hope a sibling?"
"I'm not sure, most prophecy's are spotty at best, and considering the divine being currently in my body hasn't said a single word since I got back from the witches house, I'm convinced this has been a very long strange acid trip."
Hayley snorted "Acid trip?"
Kara hums "Yeah, maybe I refuse to face reality but facing that means that somehow gods existed and they didn't do a single thing while I suffered under Mikael."
"I'm sorry Kara." Hayley apologized
Kara smiled "For what?"
Hayley shook her head "That you had such a bad childhood, bad doesn't even begin to describe it."
"Well. If having the life I did leads me to you and Hope then I'd suffer a million times over to find you and create our gorgeous daughter."
Hayley smiled "You already married me you know, you can stop trying to flirt your way into my pants." She teased
Kara snorted "I'll always flirt with you darling."
Later the evening Kara watches Hayley and Hope sleep peacefully, she smiles at the scene before slowly getting off the bed.
She walks quietly to the bathroom and closes the door behind her. She takes of her shirt and winces , in reflections she sees the shadows of black dahlia's spreading further up her arm, her face goes in and out of her hybrid features, she grits her teeth trying to control herself but finds it nearly impossible..
Either way, a new day is coming, whether we like it or not. The question is, will you control it, or will it control you?