ELIJAH returned home later that night and immediately went upstairs to check up on his sister-in-law. He opened the bedroom door and noticed that the bed was empty but messed up, hinting that she had been there at some point. "Valentina?" He called out through the quiet house as he looked into each room for her.

When there was no sign of her, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and called Rebekah, who answered the call in an annoyed manner. "Goodbye means goodbye, Elijah."

"Is she with you?" Elijah questioned in worry, his breathing heavy as he began to panic.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Rebekah snapped in confusion.

"Valentina's gone. Where is she?" He demanded harshly, not meaning to be so rough with his sister.

"WHAT?" Rebekah reacted with surprise.

Just then Klaus rushed into the house with panic written all over his face and his heart pounding aggressively in his ears. "Marcel was here."

Elijah, stunned by this revelation, absentmindedly dropped the phone from his ear.

Valentina groaned lowly and slowly opened her eyes. She looked around for a second until she realized she was in the trunk of an unknown SUV with her wrists bound down.

She began to think of a plan to escape and attended to kick out the back window but to no prevail.

The driver suddenly stopped the car and Valentina froze as she heard footsteps approaching her. When they opened the trunk and attempted to grab her, she did her best to fight back by kicking them.

"Seriously?" A familiar masculine voice snarled in annoyance.

Valentina narrowed her eyes so she could see past the blinding sunlight blocking her vision. "Oh for the love of fucking--- Tyler?!"

"You don't wanna fight me, Valentina. You know you can't beat a hybrid." He boasted smugly as he used zip ties to bind her ankles together.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Valentina questioned frantically when he pulled her out of the trunk. "Let me go, Tyler!"

"Shut up!" He snapped harshly while tossing her carelessly over his shoulder before walking down the road toward the Bayou. He walked up to a series of encampments and rudely dropped her on the front stoop of a little shack.

She watched closely as he pulled a knife out of his pocket. "Don't kill me---"

"I'm not gonna kill you so calm down," Tyler remarked gruffly as he bent over and used the knife to cut the zip ties around her ankles.

"Find that kinda hard to believe considering you attacked me in my house." She commented with a sarcastic smile.

"It's not your house, it's Klaus'!" He corrected bitterly causing her to roll her eyes. "You're shacked up in that mansion with that psycho."

"That "psycho" is my husband so watch your fucking mouth. Look I'm sensing some revenge plan here to get back at Niklaus and I get it. I've been around for a long time and I've been there but can I put in a word of warning?" She rhetorically asked then continued before he could answer. "I don't think attacking and kidnapping his pregnant wife was the best call if you intended to come out of this alive. This is low.'

Valentina noticed a blonde girl watching from nearby and whipped her head around toward her with wide, terrified eyes. "Hey! Hey! Please help me!"

The stranger immediately ran away, making no move to assist the human. Valentina groaned lowly in frustration and threw her head back.

"They can't help you! They're in the woods, hiding, because they were persecuted for decades by vampires." Tyler explained, walking around her menacingly.

"Is that her?" A deep voice said from behind Valentina, who immediately turned around to see a strange man approaching them.

"Yeah, Dwayne." Tyler acknowledged with a sigh. "Get her inside."

Dwayne walked over, grabbed Valentina by the arm, and proceeded to drag her into the shack while she yelled at the top of her lungs in protest and dragged her feet to slow the process. Fed up, he lifted her and carried her like a rag doll before sitting her down on the ground and zip-tying her to the stove.

"Do you wanna know why we brought you here?" Tyler asked after entering the house.

"No. Wait. Hold on. Because you're a fucking idiot?" Valentina responded furiously. "You know they'll kill you, right? I don't mean just Niklaus. I mean the Mikaelsons and my brothers."

"What makes you think I'm afraid to die?" Tyler questioned with a dark look on his face.

"Ooooh." Valentina drew out in realization and slowly nodded her head. "I see. You do have a death wish."

"You ready for this?" Tyler turned to Dwayne, changing the subject before she could talk him out of anything.

"Let's do it." Dwayne agreed gruffly with a nod. Tyler then dug around in his bag and pulled out a large syringe.

"What is that for?" Valentina inquired in fear and started to back away as Dwayne started to walk toward her. "Get the fuck away from me!" She yelled, kicking her legs at him. "I said back the fuck up."

Dwayne held her down in place while Tyler crouched in front of her with the syringe in his hand.

"Klaus destroyed everything good in my life! So, I'm gonna take away the thing he wants most!" Tyler explained through gritted teeth.

"NO!! STOP! TYLER, PLEASE!" Valentina desperately pleaded as involuntary tears fell down her cheeks.

Tyler ignored her completely, stabbed the needle into her womb so he could draw out a measure of blood from one of the babies all while Valentina screamed in pain. Once he removed the syringe from her body, he jabbed it into Dwayne's neck, injected the blood into his system, and carelessly snapped his neck. Valentina stared at the dead body lying at her feet as she sobbed loudly.

Tyler grabbed Dwayne's dead body up off the floor and dragged him over to the other side of the room. "Knock it off." He snapped at her then rolled his eyes. "Don't get all judgy! Dwayne knew what he was getting into. He volunteered!"

"I don't care about that." She said in a shaky voice. "I just want my babies to be okay."

"Don't you get it?! Dwayne is a werewolf who died with your blood in his system. The same blood you share with your hybrid babies." He pointed out, standing in front of her with his head tilted to the side. "Klaus could use their blood to make an army of hybrid slaves. Slaves who do everything he says." He walked over to his bag again and pulled out a small knife. "You really think Klaus Mikaelson, killer of men, women, and puppies, all of a sudden wants to be a daddy? Or, he's got an ulterior motive. Hybrids can walk in the sun. Their bite is lethal to vampires. They'll take over New Orleans by the end of the week. And you know what's going to stop Klaus then? Nothing."

"Shows how little you actually know." She snarled and watched him bend down to meet her eye line.

"What do you think is going to happen to you after you give birth to them? Do you think he's going to let you live?" He asked in a feigned caring tone. "He'll kill you and take the babies for himself to sire an army."

"Get. The. Fuck. Away. From. Me." She said slowly then spit in his face.

Tyler wiped it away with the sleeve of his jacket then glared furiously and was about to grab her by the throat when Dwayne woke up with a loud gasp of air. "You're gonna have to feed on her." The Lockwood grabbed the knife and walked over to her again before using the blade to create a small wound in her neck. "Do it."

Dwayne pushed himself off the ground and staggered over to Valentina, feeding on her despite her cries of protest. After a moment, Dwayne stopped feeding, rushed forward with her blood dribbling from his lips, and fell to the floor in pain. Tyler helped outside, leaving the shack to tend to him.

Valentina moaned in pain for a second then stopped when she noticed the knife sitting on the ground a few feet in front of her. She attempted to reach it but due to her being restrained and her large baby bump, she wasn't able to get it. Immediately thinking of another plan, her eyes landed on a broken chair leg lying nearby and leaned over to get it.

The sound of footsteps approaching the shack again startled her enough that she hid the leg behind her back and waited for them to return. She noticed the look on Tyler's face and shuffled back against the wall.

"If Klaus gets a hold of you, if he gets those kids? He wins." Tyler breathed out in exasperation and approached her with the knife in his hand, pointing directly at her. "I can't let him make more hybrid monsters."

She waited for him to get close enough before stabbing him in the abdomen with the broken chair leg. Tyler screamed in pain, dropped the knife to the floor, and pulled the stake out with a groan. "That was stupid!"

She stretched her foot out to try and drag the knife toward herself but fell a few inches short. "Fuck, fuck, fuck."

He started to stalk toward her again when Dwayne rushed in and stopped him. "Get away from her!"

"What do you care?" Tyler snapped incredulously.

"I said get away!" Dwayne yelled protectively and attempted to place himself in between them.

"You got what you wanted, now get lost!" Tyler suggested in annoyance, gesturing at the door beside them.

"Dwayne! Dwayne!" Valentina called for the new hybrid's attention after realizing what was happening. "He's trying to kill me and my babies. And if you don't stop him, he'll kill you too. He said hybrids are monsters. You have to kill him."

"SHUT UP!" Tyler bellowed furiously and whipped around to face her allowing Dwayne to wrap his arms around Tyler and throw him across the room. Tyler slammed into the wall and landed flat on his back on the floor. He tried to stand up but Dwayne tackled him.

Valentina used this opportunity to extend her body by lying on her back and placing her foot on top of the knife, slowly dragging it toward herself as she sat up. She grabbed ahold of the handle, cut through the plastic with the blade, and ran as fast as she could out of the shack. She traveled through the woods with the blade in hand, ready to use if need be. She paused for a second to catch her breath by leaning against a tree with a hand resting on her abdomen. "Oh, I'm sorry babies. Mommy's just getting in some cardio. Oh, God. I hate running." She complained through panting.

A twig snapped a few feet away so she held the knife up and braced herself for a fight. Adjusting her fingers on the handle, she took a deep exhale to steady her nerves then spun around to stab them. A hand caught her wrist before she could send the blade into their flesh and she immediately relaxed upon seeing that it was Elijah.

"Oh, thank God." She cheered breathlessly and dropped the knife to the ground. She shuffled forward, wrapped her arms around him, and melted into his chest.

He instantly hugged her with a hand resting on the back of her head. "Come. I'll take you home."

"Wait. Where's Nik?" She asked tearfully after pulling away.

"I assume killing Tyler Lockwood." Elijah mused with a smirk on his face.

"Good." She praised happily. "Motherfucker deserves to die. He was trying to justify murdering the babies over some bullshit about hybrids."

"Elaborate." He encouraged curiously and narrowed his dark brown eyes.

Klaus paced anxiously on the porch of the shack with Dwayne's dead body on the grass in front of him when Valentina and Elijah came through the trees. His eyes fell on his wife, taking in the dried blood on the side of her neck and the dirt covering her clothes and face.

She carefully ran down the hill toward the Original, throwing her arms around him in a tight embrace. "Nik!"

"There you are! Oh, you had me so worried. Are you okay?" He asked in sincere concern while holding her close to his body. "Are they okay?"

"We're okay." She said quietly, letting his touch provide her the comfort she searched for all day. She backed away from the hug so she could look up at him but noticed the blood on his shirt. "Oh. Shit. Nik."

"I'm okay. I'm good." He assured her with a small smile then pulled her hair back to observe the already healed wound on her neck. "We'll talk about it later. First, I need you to answer something for me. This appears to be a hybrid --- only I didn't sire him. Any idea how that's possible?"

Valentina let out a loud sigh as she looked down at the corpse. "His name was Dwayne. Tyler turned him using my--- well, the babies' blood."

"Tyler Lockwood brought Valentina here to test a theory." Elijah began and Klaus nodded at him to continue. "That the blood of her children could be used to sire hybrids. He claims that you knew that. Furthermore, that you intended to use this knowledge to build an army."

"And, of course, you assume it's true. I mean, why else would I show interest in my own flesh and blood? A heartbroken little crybaby points his finger at me, and my own brother falls in line, eager to believe it! How quickly you believe the worst." Klaus sneered out of anger and hurt, unsure how else to deal with the pain of this accusation.

Elijah rolled his eyes as he took a step toward the couple. "Oh, spare me your indignation. When have you ever demonstrated any kind of concern towards Valentina or her children, beyond your own selfish pursuits?" He questioned in exasperation.

"Wait. What?" Valentina reacted with perplexity and held a hand up. "Hold on."

"And what was it you once said to me?" Elijah questioned, ignoring her, then proceeded to impersonate Klaus. "Every king needs an heir!"

"My big brother. So, you doubt my intentions? Well, I can't say I'm surprised, standing next to the noble Elijah, how can I be anything but the lesser brother? A liar, a manipulator, a bastard." Klaus whispered, hurt evident in his voice.

The two brothers stared at each other as Klaus approached him. Elijah seemed to reconsider his allegations but it was far too late.

"That's all I am to you, isn't it? And Rebekah. No doubt my children will as well." Klaus mumbled heartbrokenly causing Valentina to step forward and grab his upper arm.

"Nik---"

Elijah realized what he had done and attempted to apologize. "Brother, if--"

Klaus didn't want to hear it and cut him off before he could finish. "You've said all that needs to be said, brother." He stepped back a few steps with his arms held out in defeat. "I'll play the role I've been given."

He turned as though he was going to walk away, but instead, turned back quickly and sped over to Elijah, biting him savagely on the neck.

Valentina remained frozen in place and gaped in horror at the series of events that had unfolded before her.

Klaus wiped his mouth with the back of his hand as he smirked triumphantly. "Have fun with the hallucinations and dementia. Consider that bite to be my parting gift."

Klaus then started walking away and Valentina spared Elijah another glance before rushing to follow her husband out of the Bayou.

When they arrived back at the house, Valentina hopped into the shower so she could rinse the blood and dirt from her skin. Once she was finished, she stepped out, dried off, and wrapped a plush robe around her body. She walked out of the room to find Klaus sitting on their bed with a far-off look on his face.

"Nik." Her voice came out small against the vast, heavy darkness.

When the sound fell in his ears, he perked his head up and glanced over at her. "Yes, my love?"

"Are you okay?" She asked worriedly and crossed the floor toward him.

He nodded his head but didn't respond verbally. "No. You're not." Valentina knew better than that and stopped in front of him. She cupped his face in her hands, stood between his legs, and gave him a look. "He's wrong, y'know." She commented, watching the way he reacted. "Elijah. He doesn't know what he's talking about." She attempted to soothe him while cradling his head to her chest.

Klaus wrapped his arms around her torso, melting into her touch. "I swear I never once intended to use our children to forge a hybrid army."

"I know." She whispered confidently and rested her cheek against his curly hair. "I know you wouldn't dare. You already love them so much and you've done everything possible to protect them. They're lucky to have you as their father."

"Really?" He asked in a shaky voice.

"Yes, sweetheart." She replied sternly then kissed his forehead.

Klaus tightened his grip around her and let out a soft sniffle. Deciding to simply let him cry it out, she held him close as his tears started to soak her robe, not daring to let him go.

---
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-the1andonlytifftiff