"That is just not my chin, Nik. It was much more delicate." 

   "The only thing delicate about you, sister, is your ego."

   Audrey tried hide to hid her amused smile, as Elijah rolled his eyes at his siblings. Rebekah had finally found her way home in her new body, which had relieved everyone to see she was okay. Kol had trapped her in the body of witch inside the Fauline cottage, which the New Orleans witches used as an asylum for witches they deemed unsafe for society. Though everyone was glad she was back, her story of how she had escaped the cottage had added more questions to their ever growing list.

   Apparently, she'd met a girl in there who she'd originally found laid inside a coffin, hidden away inside a locked room. A girl who was now claiming to be Freya Mikaelson, the sister they all thought had died of the plague, who Esther had actually given away to Dahlia. Both Klaus and Elijah were skeptical of it, though they also knew not to write anything off entirely, especially lately.

   "Well, placed next to the behemoth size of yours, certainly!" Rebekah shot back childishly.

   Audrey finally snickered at that. "She's got your there, Nik."

   "Oh, trust you to take her side." Klaus grumbled, as Rebekah started chuckling which soon got him to laugh too. 

   "Could we dispense with this fascinating dispute for just a moment and return to the subject of our supposed long lost sister?" Elijah cut in. 

   "There's not much to discuss, Elijah." Rebekah sighed. "She said she was Freya, and then she darted off into the night."

   Elijah looked skeptical, as he folded the blanket of Hope's Audrey handed him. "And you believed her?"

   "Well, I met the girl in a mystical loony bin-- she could be anyone telling any lie." She admitted honestly. "But, she did seem... familiar, somehow."

   "Then how is she still alive?" Klaus asked in frustration, before letting out a dry laugh. "A question, as ridiculous as its possible solutions, given this family's annoying predilection for cheating death."

   "Well, did she give you any sort of hint as to how?" Audrey asked Rebekah.

   "I dunno." Rebekah answered. "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?" Klaus continued to question. 

   "I barely had 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!" He snapped as he cut her off.

   "Well, just let me turn back time and do it again for your liking, then!" Rebekah snapped back angrily.

   "Enough! Both of you!" Elijah interrupted, before their bickering could go any further. "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 said, a wicked hint becoming clear in his voice. "Perhaps I should take preventative measures and separate him from his head?"

   "Stop being an ass." Audrey warned him him a frown. "Jackson won't do anything will put Hope or the wedding at risk."

   "Hayley's getting married?" Rebekah gasped in disbelief. "Well, what in the hell else did I miss?"

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

   In the bell tour of St. Louis Cathedral, Finn and Freya Mikaelson sat opposite one another at the table Finn had been using for a locator spell, before with a cup of tea set in front of them. It was hard for Finn to come to terms with Freya being alive, after losing the sister that he favored so long ago, yet here she sat in front of him once again. Both of them had led very different lives since they last saw one another, both very different people to the children that used to be able to play with a care in the world.

   "I'm here because of a spell Dahlia cast, placing me in a deep sleep for a century, only to then wake for a single year of life." Freya explained, as Finn listened in interest. "I've repeated this cycle for hundreds of years. It started as a way for us to stay young and beautiful. She said if a witch can't be immortal, this was the next best thing. But, in time, I realized that all her stories were paired with lies."

   Finn looked at her for a long moment, frowning as he listened to her words. "The way you're speaking of her... you're saying Dahlia is still alive?"

   "She doesn't just live-- she hunts." Freya nodded, taking a sip of her tea. "I fled from her long ago, and I've been running ever since. To Dahlia, any act of betrayal is punishable by death." With an anxious sigh, Finn pinched the bridge of his nose, but Freya leaned forward with a reassuring smile. "Dahlia is my cross to bear. She has no grudge against anyone but me."

   "Did she ever speak to you about the curse she placed on this family?" He asked her. "The one that says she can take the firstborn of every generation?"

  Freya nodded with a confused look. "Yes. But why should that concern you?" She asked. "Our siblings are vampires, there are no firstborns for her to take."

   "Niklaus." Finn sighed. "The hybrid. He had a daughter." He admitted, causing Freya to stare at him, stunned as she clutched the at the necklace she wore. "And Elijah, he has a soulmate. A rare one at that, a doppelganger." He continued. "She's pregnant."

   "Where are they?" She asked.

   "Niklaus has his daughter hidden, and recently, the soulmate seems to have vanished from the city." Finn said, frustration and panic on his face. "Our mother filled my head with the terror of what would happen to all of us if that child had lived, if we allowed this new child to live. We believed we'd be able to stop this new child from being born altogether, but all of Mothers attempts to reason with them failed. I've been searching for them both, but they've been impossible to find. The child especially!"

   "Nothing is impossible to find, Finn." Freya assured him, as he looked at her skeptically. "As powerful as you are... I found you." Reaching into the pocket of her jacket, she pulled out a stack of old tiles, laying them out on the table. "I'll need wormwood and rippleweed and a few other items." She listed off, as Finn stared at his older sister curiously, watching as she lifted a caterpillar up off the table carefully. "I've come to understand a hard lesson in our time apart--" She closes her hands into a fist. "-- You have to let some things die so that others might live."

   She opens up her hands to reveal she has turned the caterpillar into a butterfly, which sits upon her finger, as Finn stared silently with a mixture of emotions on his face.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

   In comparison to the compound, living in the safe house the last few weeks had been relatively peaceful, Audrey had noticed. After their conversation with Klaus and the newly returned Rebekah, Elijah and Audrey returned to what had became their new daily routine, which mostly consisted around looking after Hope. Neither of them minded, and loved spending time with the little girl. It was giving them a glimpse as to what their future would soon look like when the baby arrived, and the thought of it had them both excited. As Elijah started to prepare the three women breakfast in the kitchen, Cami and Audrey both sat in the living room with Hope, who laid on a blanket on her back as they played with her. 

   "Oh!" Audrey quickly picked Hope up as she began to cry, after a ornament fell off the table cloth she was yanking at. "Oh, it's okay." She soothed softly as Hope sobbed, a small red cut on her forehead.

   Elijah appeared instantly, but Audrey didn't pay any attention to him, keeping her focus on calming Hope's tears. "She yanked the tablecloth and that knickknack fell on her." Cami explained, as she picked up the broken dish from the ground as he examined the wound. "It's just a scratch."

   "You're okay." Audrey bounced Hope in her arms, as the little girl continued to scream and cry. "You just scared yourself, didn't you? Yeah." She kissed her forehead, and glanced at Elijah, who stared with a distant look in his eyes. "Elijah?"

   Noticing his look too, Cami stepped in front of him in concern. "Elijah? Elijah!"

   Finally, Elijah blinks as he snaps out of his daze. "Yes." He breathes out, looking embarrassed and uncomfortable as he looks down. "Forgive me."

   Seeing his look, Audrey cleared her throat and gave him a reassuring smile, as Hope began settle. "Here we go." She said in baby voice, as she passed her over to him. "You stay with uncle Elijah while I get you a band-aid, okay? Okay."

   "Come here, sweetheart." Elijah murmured gently, looking grateful for the distraction.

   "It's a trigger." Cami explained to him, as Audrey came back with the pink cupcake patterned bandages, carefully placing one over Hope's cut. "You pulled yourself back, which is an improvement for sure, but can't ignore that your mind clearly went elsewhere." She said, despite the uncomfortable look he once again wore. "It's very common in traditional PTSD patients. We've done the work to face your atrocities. The truth is, it's just going to take some time to settle."

   Elijah gave a tight smile. "And you believe you have the power to resolve this?"

   "It's not that easy." The blonde sighed. "There's no--" She snaps her fingers. "-- and you're fixed. In cases like yours, sometimes not dwelling on the problem is more productive than examining it through the minutiae of therapy." Pulling a piece of paper from her pocket, she handed it over to him. "Staying mentally busy instead of physically. This house-- though charming-- is completely falling apart."

   He raised a brow as he examined the list. "So, this is your solution? Mend the home, mend the man?"

   "Or, we could go fishing and I could tell you about the summer I lost my virginity--"

   "I'll mend the home." Elijah instantly cut her off, causing Audrey to cover her mouth to hide her amused smile.

   "Audrey and I will spend the day with Hope." Cami smiled at that. "And you spend the day not thinking. And fixing the heater, because this place is freezing at night." She added, before taking Hope and making her way out of the room.

   "Handyman." He mused. "I suppose there is a first time for everything."

   "It's a shame I'm going to miss it." Audrey said with an innocent smile, causing his lips to tug into a smirk.

   Elijah moved closer and tilted her chin up, kissing her softly for a long moment. "Yes, it is, isn't it?" He mumbled as he pulled away, resting his forehead against hers. "I suppose that means I'll just have to show you later."

   "I look forward to it." She grinned, and pulled him into another kiss. "I love you."

   "I love you." He smiled, his eyes not leaving her until she was completely gone from sight.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

   "Hey, Elijah-- I left my cell at the house like an idiot, and Audrey's has died. Luckily, payphones are still a thing out here in the sticks!" Cami said with amusement in her voice, earning a chuckle from the Gilbert girl, who was bent down in front of Hope's stroller to keep her amused. "Um, anyway, we're heading home now."

   "You ready to head back, sweetheart?" Audrey smiled at Hope softly, who was snuggled contently in her stroller.

   "Hang on." Cami frowned as she looked at Hope, bending down next to Audrey and gently removing the bandage on Hope's forehead, to reveal the cut from earlier had completely vanished. "Um..."

   "Me and uncle Elijah are going to be having words when get back." Audrey smirked in amusement, as she gently caressed Hope's head. "Because he shouldn't be using vampire blood to heal boo-boos! Uh-uh."

   Cami chuckled from beside her. "Yeah, I doubt the pediatrics ward would approve."

   "Definitely not." Audrey agreed, as they both got to their feet, moving in the direction of the car.

   "You know, in all of this time, I think this is the first chance we've properly had a chance to talk." The O'Connell woman said, raising a brow at her. "A lot has changed since the day I first met you and Elijah at the bar."

   "I think that might be a slight understatement." Audrey mused, lifting Hope up to place her into her car seat. 

   "I don't get how you deal with all." The blonde admitted to her. "It took me so long to come terms with all of this."

    "This has been my life for a while." Audrey shrugged honestly. "My parents died in accident when I was seventeen." She began, earning a sympathetic smile. "And for a while, nothing changed. Everything was just normal, you know? Then the summer passed, and my sister started dating the new guy at school. Turns out, he and his brother were vampires who had a long history with someone who had the same face as us. Then it all just became normal, I guess."

   "How'd you meet Elijah?" Cami asked curiously.

   "He, uh..." Audrey couldn't help but chuckle slightly. "Klaus has told you his story? About the curse?" She asked and Cami nodded. "Well, then you know about the sacrifice, and that the blood of the doppelganger was needed to break it. We were kidnapped by these two vampires, Rose and Trevor, who wanted to give us to Elijah and Klaus in exchange for their freedom. It was Elijah they contacted to come get us, and that was how we met." She explained. "He was surprised there was one new doppelganger, let alone two. I got this pit in my stomach when we met, I still don't understand what it was. I think it was our soulmate bond." She admitted to her, smiling thoughtfully. "And I got it every time I was around him, until finally..."

   Cami gave her gentle smile. "You guys kissed?" She guessed, and she nodded. Getting in the car themselves, they began the drive back as she continued, her eyes glancing from the road to Audrey occasionally. "You know, seeing you guys together like I have while we've been here, I'm not surprised you guys are soulmates. Honestly, if that bond wasn't there, I don't doubt you still would have found one another."

   "I'd like to think so." The Gilbert girl said. "I can't really what my life would be now if we hadn't. If I'd never met his family." She admitted. "For so long, it was Elena everything was centered around. She had the two guys madly in love with her, and even before that, everything just seemed to work out for her. It wasn't until I met Elijah, Klaus, and Rebekah that I felt..."

   "Seen?" Cami finished.

   "Yeah." Audrey nodded. "Seen." Before more could be said, the two women looked at one another in confusion, as the car suddenly just shut down. The house was just ahead of them in the distance, but the car turned itself off, stopping halfway down the road. "Are we out of gas?" She furrowed her brow.

   "No, it's just dead." Cami mumbled, as she pressed the engine button in disbelief. "Completely dead."

   "What?" Audrey blinked.

   Then a large bang filled their ears, and they looked ahead to see the safehouse burst into flames, exploding before their eyes. "Oh my God..." Cami let out, her eyes going wide at what they witnessed. 

   "Elijah..." Audrey whispered in pure horror, feeling her heart fall in her chest. "No, no, no..."

   And then as if by magic, the car restarted as if it never stopped, a small coo coming from Hope in her car seat as it did. 

I apologize for the ending, but I couldn't really think of a better place to stop it in. I know it's been a while since the last update, and again, I apologize. April was just a lot busier then I thought it would be. Family birthdays, university work, it all kind of took over. But, I have one more university deadline before I finish for the year, and that is not due until the end of next month. 

Which means I'm back with updates! There will be a few frequent updates coming in the next few days, because I'm really excited to wrap up season two of this story. Next chapter, we're back in New Orleans, and it's Hayley and Jackson's wedding.

Also, baby names. Feel free to leave me any suggestions you have, I've loved all the ones I've been getting so far. 

I hope you all enjoyed!