IT was a surprise when Hayley came barging into the Abbatoir and demanded to speak to Elijah about a pressing issue. Jackson and Oliver were missing.

While Klaus scaled the rooftops of various buildings in the French Quarter, Elijah called him from the compound with Hayley impatiently standing next to him and Valentina eavesdropping from a few feet away.

"Yes, brother, what is it?" Klaus inquired in disinterest.

"It appears our wolves have gone astray, brother." Elijah vaguely explained.

"They should have been back hours ago." Hayley raised her voice slightly so Klaus could hear her from the other end.

"We need to find them." Elijah interrupted her, reaching the point faster.

"Well, that might be a bit tricky. You see, we've located their car on a back road in the middle of nowhere. I suspect they've been shanghaied." Klaus informed them gruffly.

Elijah gaped incredulously and shifted on his feet. "And you didn't feel the need to share this information?"

"It was my intention to present you with a problem only after I had found an appropriate solution." Klaus excused his lack of communication with a smirk evident in his voice.

"Do enlighten us." The eldest surviving brother encouraged.

"I'm closing in on it as we speak." The hybrid admitted. "The only person who would be bold enough to snatch my wolf allies is the one who has the most to lose."

"Marcel." Elijah concluded, upset that he hadn't realized it himself.

"Wow. He's getting desperate." Valentina commented dryly.

"No, he'll kill them!" Hayley started to panic.

"Genevieve assures me that Marcel has procured a cloaking spell. The only witch who will aid Marcel is Davina. I just need to get one last bit of leverage before I pay her a visit." Klaus mused darkly then paused for a moment causing them to glance at each other in worry. "And there it is." He finished his statement and hung up the call before anyone could say anything further.

Once Davina disclosed Marcel's location, Klaus texted the address to the noblest of Mikaelsons.

"I shouldn't be long." Elijah promised to Valentina, who simply nodded her head and gave him a small smile. "Please stay with her." He requested of Hayley.

"She's in excellent hands, Elijah." Genevieve assured him with a deviously large smile which earned her a disgusted sneer from Valentina.

Elijah narrowed his eyes at Genevieve but nodded his head regardless and turned back to Hayley, giving her a stern look.

"I've got her." Hayley reluctantly agreed and shared at glance with Valentina.

Kissing his sister-in-law tenderly on the forehead, Elijah smiled genuinely at her and opened his mouth to speak only to be cut off abruptly.

"Yeah. Yeah." Valentina responded knowingly without him having to say a word. "I'll call if I need anything."

"I love you." He affectionately said.

"Love you." She replied back, unable to fight the smile tugging at her lips.

Elijah gave her another kiss to the temple, shot Hayley a longing look, then brushed past Genevieve on his way out the door.

Hours passed without a word from Elijah or Klaus. Valentina anxiously paced the floor of the study with a hand held on her baby bump.

Hayley walked into the room and held her phone up in the air. "Elijah should have called by now."

"I know," Valentina breathed out stressfully. "I wonder what's taking them so long. I'm starting to worry."

"Worrying isn't going to help. You should sit down, try to keep calm." Genevieve suggested politely when she strolled through the doorway and joined them. She saw Valentina's green eyes roll dramatically and nearly chuckled in response. "The treatment of pregnant women has advanced remarkably since I was a nurse, but even I know high blood pressure is bad for you and your babies. Especially now, since you're so close to term."

"No offense, but I'm not interested in anything you have to say." Valentina remarked snarkily.

"You probably should sit down." Hayley advised cautiously.

Glaring at both of them, Valentina crossed the room toward the couch and lowered her body to sit down with a loud sigh.

Valentina nearly jumped when she felt her phone buzzing in her back pocket. She immediately pulled it out, hoping it was Klaus, but paused in place after reading the caller ID. Furrowing her eyebrows, the human answered the call and raised the phone to her ear. “Damon?”

“Hey, Tin.” Damon greeted in a shaky voice. “I…” he stopped suddenly then sighed loudly, and quickly continued. “i just wanted to say I love you. I love you so much, and I am so goddamn proud of you. I know you're going to be the best mom in the entire world." He paused for a brief second, cleared his throat like he was shoving something down, and continued the best he could. "Those babies are lucky to have you and I couldn't ask for a better sister. I'm really sorry for everything that happened between us. None of it was your fault. That was all on me, okay? I should've been a better brother. I know there isn't enough time in the world to make up for what I've done."

“Wait, wait. What---?” She started to question rapidly in confusion.

Her heart beat picked up its pace as her instincts screamed at her. Something was wrong. Extremely wrong.

“I love you, okay?” Damon whispered emotionally. “And---and Stefan loves you too. We love you so much. I just… I need you to know that.” His voice broke at the end of his sentence.

She was about to respond, but the line went dead before she could utter a single word.

Valentina removed the phone from her ear and looked down to see he had hung up. She dialed his number again and listened to it ring while anxiously nibbling on her fingernails. It rang a few times, then went to voice mail, so she tried again. And again. And again. She gave up on calling Damon and decided to call Stefan, who also didn’t answer any of her multiple attempts. She then swallowed her pride and called Elena, but there was no answer.

Her hands trembled violently, the sound of heart pounding flooded her ears, and she felt herself hyperventilating. She blinked back the tears that burned at the back of her eyes and continued calling everyone in Mystic Falls.

"What's wrong?" Hayley asked frantically with wide eyes. "Was that Elijah?"

"No. That was... My brother. He sounded weird." Valentina launched herself forward onto her feet and approached Genevieve directly. "Can you do a locator spell for me? Please?"

“We don’t have time---” Hayley started.

"It'll only take like a second. My family is in trouble. I have to. I know you understand.” She replied to Hayley then turned back to Genevieve with a desperate expression. “Please? I'm begging you."

Genevieve gave her a sympathetic frown, her answer evident by her body language.

“Oh, come on!” Valentina snarled incredulously. "All you need is my blood so here." She offered her hand and stared at Genevieve but could tell from the look on the witch’s face that she wasn't going to budge.

Throwing a hand up in the air, Valentina scoffed loudly and started toward the door. “Okay. Fuck this.”

“Where are you going?” Hayley interrogated in confusion, her eyes following Valentina’s movements.

“Virginia.” She answered bluntly.

“No! You can't." Genevieve argued instantly, rushing to her feet and crossing the room. "Valentina, you are due to give birth any moment. You can't travel that far. Especially not alone."

“I have to. You won't help me. Look... Something is wrong. I can feel it. I can feel it deep in my soul.” Valentina stressed, holding a hand over her chest. “If I don’t go and something happens to them, I will never forgive myself.”

“I’m sorry. There are bigger things at stake here and we can’t risk it with you running off. Klaus and Elijah would just about skin me alive if I let you leave." Genevieve chuckled nervously as she sat on the leather couch. "Besides, there's not much you could do for your family in your condition. I'm sure they're fine. There's no need to get yourself worked up over something that might not even be happening. Now, sit down and relax until you hear something." She coaxed with a pat of her hand on the cushion beside her.

Hayley had been dialing Elijah's number repeatedly while they argued and waved her hand in the air from excitement when he finally picked up. "Elijah. What's going on?"

Valentina quickly waddled over to stand next to the werewolf, who placed the call on speaker so they could all hear it.

"Jackson is fine. He's... a little tied up right now. Can we call you back?" Elijah snarkily questioned as Klaus' chuckles echoed in the background.

"Oh, that doesn't bode well." Klaus mused unhappily followed by a high-pitched whirling noise that only grew louder.

"Are you trying to kill us?" Jackson furiously screamed at him.

"Elijah, tell me what's going on, now!" Hayley demanded to know.

Both women waited for a response and received nothing until a large explosion went off and the line went dead.

Valentina's green eyes widened in horror, her heart sunk down into her stomach, and tears immediately welled in her eyes. She felt a hand grab hers and looked down to see that Hayley had taken ahold of it to stop the trembling. She smiled in appreciation, but that was cut short when she felt a sudden, sharp pain running through her abdomen. She grimaced in pain and cradled her baby bump while moaning lowly.

She nearly doubled over from the agony when Hayley instantly reached out in front of her to catch the Mikaelson woman.

"Hey... Are you okay?" Hayley asked in genuine concern.

"Ah..." Valentina drew out in a hiss and attempted to stand up straighter by using Hayley as leverage. "No. I think---" She was cut off by a stabbing feeling in her back. "AH! I need to go to the hospital.

"We should wait for Klaus." Genevieve anxiously suggested, her lips pulled into a tight, tense smile. "Hopefully, he'll be back soon. I'm sure it's just a simple Braxton Hicks contraction. Why don't you sit down and---"

"No. I've had Braxton Hicks before. This is nothing like that." Valentina immediately rejected the idea before slowly inching to the door.

Genevieve ran across the room toward them and stood directly in the doorway with her hands thrown out at her sides. "I can't let you leave."

"Genevieve. Get of the way." Valentina demanded strongly and let out another groan of pain, tightening her grip around Hayley. "Fuck!"

"She really needs help. We have to take her." Hayley pitched in for Valentina's defense.

"And we will. Once Klaus gets back. We just have to wait. We need to wait." Genevieve heavily pushed her stance.

"What the hell is your problem?!" Hayley exclaimed in astonishment.

"I'm not interested in whatever game you're playing with me so if you don't get the fuck out of my way---" Valentina yelled, fighting off the urge to punch the witch in the face.

"I believe she's asked you to move." A stern masculine voice said from behind the trio, and they each turned around to see Elijah, Jackson, and Klaus looking very disheveled and covered in ash.

"Thank God you're alive!" Hayley let go of Valentina, ran toward, and let out a deep breath in relief as she gave Jackson a hug and looked at Elijah over his shoulder. "Thank you."

"I'm fine, too, thanks for asking." Klaus remarked sarcastically then winked playfully at his wife, who was holding onto the back of the couch to keep herself steady. His face fell when he noticed the state she was in and stormed across the room to hold her up.

"Good. Great. I'm glad, sweetheart." Valentina staggered forward, grabbed his wrist, and urged him toward the door. "Take me to the hospital."

"What? Why? What's wrong?" He immediately questioned with a panicked expression.

"I think I'm in labor." She finally admitted aloud.

---
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-the1andonlytifftiff