INSTEAD of killing Rebekah, Klaus decided to let her go on the agreement that she couldn't stay in New Orleans any longer. A month had passed since that day, and things were relatively calm. Klaus kept himself distracted so he wouldn't have to think about how much he missed his sister and, in doing so, neglected his duties to the city.

Valentina, twenty-nine weeks pregnant, passed an angry Elijah on her way into the bedroom. "Oh!" She glanced at the older brother in confusion for a second, then shrugged it off and looked to Klaus, who was standing at his easel and painting on a canvas with blue paint. "Am I interrupting?"

"No, my sweet. Never." He proclaimed affectionately and set the paintbrush down on his easel. He noticed the way her face was curled up into an uncomfortable scowl as she rubbed at her pregnant belly. "What's wrong?"

"Hmm?" She hummed in confusion, then realized what he meant a second later. "Oh. Nothing." She said with a small smile. "They're just getting heavy."

"Here." He urged her to approach him as he held his hand out toward her.

She grabbed ahold of his hand and waddled toward him until they were merely inches apart.

Spinning her around, he pressed her back against his chest and then placed his hands on the bottom of her baby bump before slowly lifting it up. She leaned her head back on his shoulder and involuntarily let out a moan of relief.

Klaus grinned widely, pleased that he could help take the pressure away for his wife. He held her like that got fifteen minutes, kissed her on the temple, and gently lowered her abdomen back to its natural position.

She turned around to face him, visibly relaxed, and beamed. "Thank you. I really needed that."

He stared into her eyes for a moment before smiling sincerely. He leaned his head down and kissed her passionately on the lips. She moaned blissfully into the gesture and looped her arms around his neck again, pulling him closer.

Half the day passed them by, and Klaus had returned to his painting. Valentina was surprised when Elijah decided to throw an impromptu party at the compound that night. She was nervous about finally stepping into the spotlight after hiding for so long. Especially because of the size of her protruding abdomen.

She stared at her selection of clothing and frowned when there wasn't anything fitting for the evening's dress code. Placing her hands on her hips, she breathed out a heavy sigh before thinking over what to do. She stepped out of the closet just as Klaus walked into the bedroom with a garment bag in hand.

Raising an eyebrow, she studied the bag in his hand. "You bought me a new dress?"

"Yes." He replied proudly, then shrugged a shoulder. "I noticed you had nothing for tonight, so I took the liberty of picking something for you."

She scrunched her nose up in appreciation and waited for him to set it down on the bed before walking over to undo the zipper. "This is perfect, Nik. Thank you." She said sincerely, then noticed the sheepish look on his face and narrowed her eyes. "What?"

He took a step toward her while making a guilty expression. "I know I promised not to leave you for the entirety of the night, but I have some business with the wolves, so I'll need a few minutes when they get here."

Valentina remained nonchalant for a second, causing anxiety to bubble up inside of him. She pursed her lips and shrugged her shoulders. "Okay." She accepted easily. Klaus gaped at her, unconvinced, and she gave him a stern look. "I'll be fine, honey. I understand your concern, and I appreciate it, but nothing's gonna happen to me. I'll be surrounded by people. You can leave me alone long enough to deal with whatever you need to deal with."

"Hmm." He kept his eyes narrowed in suspicion as he wrapped his arms around her waist. "If you say so---"

She placed a finger on his lips, keeping him from continuing. "I say so, and I know so. So..."

He chuckled, pulled her closer, and puckered his lips against her finger. She removed her hand from his face and replaced it with her forehead, forcing him to kiss her forehead instead. He laughed again while placing his hand onto either side of her head before aggressively kissing her all over her face and making dramatic noises as he did so. Valentina giggled wildly while trying to turn her face away, but his hands held her in place.

The party began when the sun set beyond the horizon, and all the factions came together to celebrate their new harmony. Genevieve entered the compound with Davina, Abigail, and Monique in tow. Diego and the other vampires were drinking together when they watched Jackson, Hayley, Oliver, and the other Crescent werewolves joining.

Klaus and Elijah looked down at the party from the upstairs balcony. The music roared through the speakers and mixed with the loud mingling from patrons, all the voices blurred together into indistinctive noise. The fountain in the courtyard danced with flames and lights hung from the balconies.

"I'm impressed, brother." Klaus complimented with a smile and grabbed a glass of champagne from one of the waiters passing by.

"Yes. Now, if I can just keep them from tearing one another to shreds." Elijah remarked pointedly.

"Well, then, for your sake, here's to a spectacularly boring evening." Klaus cheered on and held his glass up with a smirk before they tapped their glasses together. He tipped back his flute, letting the champagne roll down his throat, then spotted Valentina waving at him from the courtyard below.

"Excuse me, brother." He handed Elijah the empty glass, then began jogging down the stairs toward her.

"There's my girl." He snaked an arm around her waist, resting his hand on the small of her back, and kissed her tenderly on the lips. She giggled happily through the embrace and returned the gesture without hesitation.

When he pulled away, the hybrid beamed down at her with a look in his eyes that could be described as nothing less than absolute admiration.

He grabbed her hand in his and spun her around in a slow circle, taking in the way she looked in the dress. He smirked smugly while bringing her back in toward him, her baby bump creating a distance between them. "I must say... I made the right choice. You are, without a doubt, the most beautiful woman in the entire world."

Valentina smiled widely and fiddled with his gold patterned tie as she studied his outfit. Klaus was wearing a black suit with a black dress shirt. "I think I'm the luckiest woman in the entire world because I have you."

Klaus placed a hand flat on the small of her back and tilted her head up with a curled finger under her chin. "Hmmm." He hummed huskily before kissing her tenderly again.

They weaved through the partygoers, making their way toward the dance floor. Valentina rested one hand on Klaus' upper arm and held onto his hand with the other. They moved along with the music and gazed deeply into each other's eyes, not paying anyone else any mind.

Klaus pressed her close to him, her vast baby bump creating an odd distance between the couple. He kissed her forehead, which caused her to smile fondly. She leaned forward, turning her head so that she could rest her cheek on his shoulder. He placed his chin atop her head and closed his light blue eyes, bliss taking over his senses and drowning anything else until all his troubles were gone.

He caught her by surprise when he suddenly spun her away from him and then dipped her down after pulling her back in.

She dangled in his arms while giggling wildly and holding him for support. "Be careful, Niklaus."

He brought her onto her feet with a wide, cheesy grin. His face suddenly fell when his eyed trained on someone behind her. She raised an eyebrow and turned to see what he was looking at. Jackson meandering up the stairs.

Klaus let out a deep, disappointed sigh and frowned apologetically at her. "I'm sorry, my love."

She shook her head side to side and fixed the lapel of his suit jacket. "No. It's okay, sweetheart." She reassured him then jerked her head in Jackson's direction. "Go. I'll be here when you get back."

Klaus hesitated for a moment before nodding in agreement, kissing her cheek, and following after the werewolf.

Valentina turned around to walk away only to come face to face with Elijah. She jumped up with a startled gasp and held a hand over her rapidly beating heart. "Jesus!" She exclaimed, then scowled at him and whacked him hard in the chest. "You asshole. Every fucking time. You have to stop doing that to me!"

Chuckling in amusement, Elijah offered her a flute full of cranberry juice. "My apologies, darling. I'd say it's not my intention but it's far too entertaining watching you jump."

"You're a dick." She insulted him with a patronizing smile but gladly took the bubbly drink from him.

"I knew you'd say that." He hummed lowly, pleased with himself, and raised the glass to his lips. He glanced around at the patrons surrounding them. "I am, however, surprised Niklaus left you alone."

"He had something to do." She vaguely remarked while shrugging in nonchalance. "And before you ask, no I don't know what it is. I don't ask questions anymore."

Elijah narrowed his eyes in suspicion then lowered his glass and narrowed his eyes at Francesca, who was chatting with Hayley across the courtyard. "Excuse me." He politely pardoned himself then left her alone to join them.

Davina leaned against the wall with a bored expression on her face, not enjoying herself like everyone else around her. Her eyes flickered over to a silhouette in the corner of her eye.

"Hey." Oliver greeted kindly. "You look, um..."

"Nervous? Out of place? Short in this dress?" Davina rattled off before giggling nervously.

Oliver laughed along with her and shook his head. "I was gonna say pretty. I'm Oliver. So, what's the name of the girl I'm about to ask to dance?"

"Monique." The other witch introduced herself after appearing out of nowhere. "Her name is Monique." She grabbed Oliver's hand, and led him away. As they walked toward the dance floor, Monique looked over her shoulder at Davina and smirked cruelly.

"Well, that's fucked up," Valentina commented in disgust causing Davina to snap her head toward her. "Does she always treat you like that?"

Davina sighed loudly, her shoulders sinking in disappointment. She looked at her hands and nodded her head. "Yeah."

"Why do you let her?" The vampire questioned curiously and handed her a glass of champagne. "If you let people walk all over you, they'll never stop. Take my word for it. Here." She offered then laughed when Davina gave her an uneasy look. "It's okay. I won't tell anyone."

"Thanks." Davina expressed her appreciation and accepted Valentina's offering. "Not to be rude. But who are you?"

"Oh. Right. I'm Valentina." She introduced herself with a hand held out to shake.

"Oh. You're Klaus' wife," Davina commented in realization and became uneasy once again.

"Yeah..." Valentina breathed out awkwardly, having felt the energy shift between them. She sucked the air from her teeth and rocked back and forth on her feet. "Not that my word means anything and I know that simply being Klaus' wife makes me guilty by default but I'm sorry. You didn't deserve any of that."

"Look---" Davina was about to make a stern response but couldn't finish.

"Hello, ladies." Genevieve greeted them with a wide smile. "Davina, do you mind checking on Abigail for me? She was over by the fountain a bit ago."

Davina shared an odd glance with Valentina and then did as she was told without a word.

Once they were alone, Genevieve's smile fell and turned into a jealous glare. "It's nice to see you again, Valentina. Oh, I don't think you remember me. I'm Genevieve."

"Hi." Valentina acknowledged bluntly and raised an eyebrow. "Yeah. I'm sorry. I don't remember meeting you."

"You haven't. Not officially. Rebekah used to bring me along to the parties at the jazz club." Genevieve began to explain as if it were something worth mentioning. "You and Klaus were too busy fawning over one another to notice but I remember being so jealous. When Rebekah told me you two married, my heart broke. Seeing you both, still together after all this time and you..." she gestured a hand up and down at the Mikaelson woman. "Well, consider me still jealous."

"Hmmm." Valentina drew out slowly and nodded her head with wide eyes. She flattened her lips into a firm line while rapidly glancing around for an excuse to leave. "Well, this was... a conversation. Unfortunately, I need to pee. Again." She purposefully made it more awkward to keep Genevieve from pestering her any further. "So... bye." She bid the witch farewell and rushed over to meet Klaus, who had reached the bottom of the stairs right as the conversation ended.

"Hello, my Valentine." He greeted her happily until he noticed her uncomfortable frown. Concerned, he held a hand out for her to take. "What's wrong?" He looked past her shoulder, saw who she was making an escape from, and immediately scowled. He opened his mouth to speak only to be cut off by a sudden disturbance.

Across the room, Diego furiously tossed Oliver into one of the beverage tables. The werewolf broke it with the impact and glasses of champagne shattered onto the floor under him. Diego rushed toward him but Oliver rose to his feet, grabbed him, and pinned up against the concrete wall.

Elijah clenched his jaw, sped over, grabbed ahold of Oliver by the back of his neck, and slammed him face first into another table, easily holding him down with his strength. "This ends now. I won't ask again."

"Oh, we'll end it all right." A gruff voice snarled from his right and Elijah turned his head to see Jackson pinning Diego to the wall with a stake aimed right at his heart.

"What's stopping you?" Hayley suddenly asked from the staircase causing everyone to look at her. "Kill him. Go ahead, Elijah. Do it." She encouraged while strolling over. "I mean, it's not like he doesn't deserve to die."

"Shouldn't you intervene or something?" Francesca asked Klaus curiously as she stood by the couple and watched the fight along with everyone else.

"Why would I?" He asked back with a mischievous smirk. "This party just got interesting."

"I mean, it was Oliver who handed Rebekah over to the witches so they could torture her. But, then again, wasn't it Diego who led a werewolf massacre last month? And the witches cursed the wolves, while the humans stood back and let it all happen. So, when you think about it, everyone here deserves to die." Hayley gestured at everyone with her hands held at her sides.

"Are approaching a point?" Elijah questioned slowly, not pleased at the skeptical she was creating.

"My point, Elijah, is this-if we can't all learn to get along, if our families can't create some sort of community, then what's the point?" Hayley rhetorically asked and threw her hands up in exasperation. "Kill each other and get it all over with."

After considering Hayley's words, Elijah reluctantly let go of Oliver as Jackson did the same to Diego as well. With the mood ruined, people started to leave while muttering under their breath about the drama that had ensued.

Valentina walked into the bedroom she shared with Klaus and sighed loudly. "Well, that was an absolute disaster." She grumbled unhappily as she kicked off her shoes into the corner.

Klaus came up from behind, wrapped his arms around her waist, and placed his chin on her shoulder. "I wouldn't say an absolute disaster." He commented while he pressed his pursed lips against her bare skin.

"Please." She scoffed indignantly. "You saw it too. Is Hayley the leader of the wolves now?"

"From what Elijah tells me, yes." He answered in disinterest.

She reached up behind her to caress his cheek with the palm of her hand. "Your meeting with Jackson went well?" She asked softly earning a grunt from him in response. "That's good then." She said dully and closed her eyes as he swayed them gently side to side. She giggled when his stubble tickled the sensitive skin on the crook of her neck.

"Tonight..." Klaus started his statement as he spun her around to face him. "Was more than just Elijah's attempt at peace or my business with the wolves. It was about me getting to show the world that I have you by my side and that makes me unstoppable."

"Oh? Does it now?" Valentina mused giddily, wrapped her arms around his neck, and gently bit the corner of her lip.

"Mhmm." He hummed while rubbing his nose against hers.

"I don't think it works like that, honey." She broke the news with a fake pout. "Sorry."

"Oh, I think it does. With your support, there's nothing I can't do. I am truly invincible." He boasted smugly causing her to laugh quietly.

"There's that ego that I both love and loathe so much. How about you lower you expectations a bit?" She suggested with her fingers pinched together for measure and her nose wrinkled up at him. "We don't need all that going to your head."

Laughing, he pulled his arms away from his neck and kissed the palms of her hands. "I love you." He proclaimed affectionately as he gazed down at her.

"I love you more." She expressed in the same genuine emotion and stood on the tips of her swollen toes so she could press her lips to his.

---
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