KLAUS and Elijah sat opposite each other in the living room as each of them read their own book while classical music played softly in the background. Klaus was reading "A Poison Tree" by William Blake, glancing up at his older brother every so often, and Elijah was reading one of his mother's grimoires. Ingrid was lying on the couch next to Klaus with her feet in his lap, reading human published baby books.

A dead woman lied on the coffee table between them, her neck bleeding from puncture wounds in her neck.

After a moment, Rebekah entered the room, looked between each of them and, gaped at her siblings in disbelief. "So, this is what you do the first time we're back together as a family? Vampire book club?"

Klaus didn't look up at her and continued reading. "Reading edifies the mind, sister. Isn't that right, Elijah?"

"Yes, that's quite right, Niklaus." Elijah mused in a dull tone, refusing to look up at his sister as well.

"And what's this business?" Rebekah questioned in aggravation while gesturing to the woman on the table.

"This is a..." Elijah trailed off as he gestured as though he was searching for a word. "...peace offering."

Klaus sighed and began to speak as though Elijah were not sitting in front of him. "I presumed, after so much time desiccating in a coffin, that my big brother might be a bit peckish."

"And I explained to my little brother that forgiveness cannot be bought. I'd simply prefer to see a change in behavior that indicates contrition and personal growth." Elijah spoke in annoyance and Klaus rolled his eyes guiltily. Elijah paused for a moment then motioned to the woman on the table again. "Not this nonsense."

"Well, I couldn't very well let her go to waste, could I?" Klaus asked him with a smirk and Elijah looked up at him through his eyelashes, unamused.

"Well, I suppose I'll go fetch the rubbish bin, because she's staining a two hundred-year-old carpet." Rebekah snarled at her family in annoyance and stormed out of the room.

Elijah looked up from his book to see the human bleeding out onto the table, where the blood dripped down onto the floor. "Ah, yes." He mused to himself then watched as Ingrid rolled off the couch onto the ground slowly with an overdramatic groan and pulled herself off the floor.

"Ingrid, how are you?" He questioned in genuine curiosity.

Klaus watched his wife in amusement and rubbed her back as she stood up. "Starving." She mumbled and strolled into the kitchen.

He chuckled to himself and closed the grimoire, wrapping the leather strap around it and set it in the table behind Niklaus as he walked by. "Excuse me."

Ingrid walked toward the fridge and opened it, about to prepare herself breakfast. When she poured herself a bowl of cereal, she went to grab the milk only to realize that the milk carton was empty and wrote it down on the grocery list she had started. "Niklaus, when the container is empty, throw it away so I don't think we have something when we don't." She called out to her husband in annoyance then heard him scoffing and muttering to himself from the living room. "Children." She remarked with an embellished eye roll.

Sensing her brother-in-law leaning in the doorway, the hyrbid raised an eyebrow at him curiously. "May I assist you, Elijah?"

"I do hope my brother has at least been somewhat decent in his family duties since my absence." Elijah remarked with a blank look on his face, preparing to hear that his little brother had been failing in being a husband and father.

"Oh, he has been more than decent. He has been exceptionally attentive." She explained to him in a serious tone then held up the grocery list. "He makes it a goal to be sure I have everything I need. You needn't worry."

Rebekah entered through the back door, dragging a trashcan behind her, and pointed to the list. "Speaking of, add bleach." She stomped through the kitchen and into the living room to clean up the mess they had left.

"Bleach." Ingrid said alout to herself while she wrote down on the list then turned around and pulled out a pint of ice cream from the freezer. She ignored Elijah's disapproving look and took a bite of her frozen dessert. Looking at him, she gestured with her spoon as she spoke. "You have missed some of the fun. Marcellus' lackeys tried to attack me, Sabine said my daughter is evil and the end to all witches, Agnes made a fool of me, and I am not allowed to leave this house." She ranted for a moment in frustration then paused and took a deep breath. "But it is alright because Niklaus has a plan and I trust him entirely. Oh, you should know that I am still magically linked to Sophie Deveraux, which is rather annoying."

"Yes, I think it's time we took care of that little problem." Elijah replied with a stern facial expression, tapping his fingertips against the counter.

"Agreed." Ingrid remarked, raising her eyebrows and flattening her lips into a tight line.

Rebekah re-entered the kitchen, dragging the corpse of the woman Klaus killed across the floor behind her. "I am all for it. As soon as they're unlinked, we get to leave this crap town. Who do we have to kill?'

Elijah considered this for a moment before shaking his head. "Probably no one."

Ingrid scoffed and spoke through a mouthful. "Probably everyone." She corrected then took her ice cream to the living room, sitting back down next to Klaus. She sat with her knees bent and balanced the pint on her right knee while eating in silence.

"Ingrid, darling, that is not a proper breakfast." Klaus remarked with a raised eyebrow, his expression slightly amused and slightly disapproving.

"Technically, breakfast is the first meal you eat at the start of your day. Therefore, ice cream could be breakfast." She argued in a pointed tone, defending her actions. "It is all about the semantics, Niklaus."

Rebekah scrubbed away at the bloodstains in the carpet while Klaus laughed at his wife and continued to read "A Poison Tree." The blonde looked up at him with a teasing expression. "Poetry about poisoned apples from dead trees. Looks like someone's worried about impending daddy-hood."

Ingrid turned to him in genuine concern but he shook his head with a smile. "Nonsense. Elijah's back. In his presence, all problems turn to pixie-dust and float away!" He joked, moving his fingers in a matching manner to his words.

Rebekah side-eyed him and grinned, and Klaus grinned back. Elijah heard them talking about him from the kitchen and joined them in the living room. "Strange, I don't recall any pixie-dust from the darkness of the coffin I was recently forced to endure." Elijah replied in a sarcastic voice, opening Esther's grimoire and flipping through it again.

Rebekah stopped scrubbing and sat back on her feet, looking at the noble brother in confusion. "What are you doing with Mother's spellbook?"

"Well, in exchange for my freedom, I promised the witch Davina that I would share a few pages from Mother's grimoire." He explained while carefully tearing a few pages out. "To help her learn to control her magic. I thought we'd begin with a little unlinking spell."

Rebekah and Klaus looked at each other in confusion as the former of the two glanced at him, stunned. "Wait, you want to use her to unlink Ingrid from Sophie Deveraux?"

"Oh, yes. Please do." Ingrid remarked happily, turning to face him with an excited smile.

"Sophie brought us here under false pretenses. She doesn't just want us to take down Marcel and his minions, she wants to take Davina back." Elijah informed them in anger, looking between his siblings as his tone gree stronger. "So, she yolked her own cause to ours with magic, threats, and half-truths. Well, no more. As of now, our deal with Sophie Deveraux is null and void." He stated sternly and the trio smiled wryly at each other. He then turned to his brother, pointing a finger at him. "Niklaus, I need you to come with me. I need five minutes alone with Davina. You need to make certain that I am not interrupted." He pointed to Rebekah and thought for a moment before giving his order. "You stay here and watch Ingrid." He then turned on his heels and left the house before anyone could object.

"How did I get elected super-nanny?" Rebekah yelled after him in annoyance, throwing her hands in the air.

"Who said I even needed a nanny?" Ingrid yelled at him in offense.

Klaus sighed and closed his book, standing to his feet. "More importantly, who put him in charge?" He added in distaste and kissed Ingrid farewell on the lips then reluctantly followed Elijah out of the house.

Ingrid and Rebekah were spending time in the house in silence, waiting for the brothers to come back with news. Rebekah was making dinner because she was adamant about Ingrid having a proper diet and Ingrid was sitting on one the stools, her elbow resting on the counter and her head lying on her palm.

It was quiet, the only sound heard was that of Rebekah's knife making contact with the chopping board and the crickets chirping away outside. Suddenly, Ingrid moaned lowly in pain and instinctively grabbed her neck. When she pulled her hand away, she noticed blood on her fingers from a small puncture wound that had already healed.

Rebekah immediately stopped what she was doing and glanced at her in concern. She set the knife down and walked around the counter, studying the hybrid's neck. "What the hell was that?" The blonde questioned, unnerved.

"It felt as though I had been stabbed with the smallest of needles." Ingrid replied with furrowed eyebrows and grabbed a napkin to wipe the blood away. She paused in her place and looked up at Rebekah with a scared face and they both had a dawning realization that something bad was happening to Sophie.

Rebekah returned to cooking while making sure to keep a close eye on Ingrid, who was rapidly texting on her phone. Once the meal was finished, Rebekah set the plate down in front of the pregnant woman. "Time for the demon spawn eat!"

Ingrid looked up from her phone with an displeased expression. "I really wish you would refrain from calling her that."

"Oh, sorry, have you picked another name yet?" She questioned with a pointed look then handed her a fork. "Braised lamb leg and sauté asparagus."

Ingrid raised an eyebrow and smiled over at the blonde, impressed. "I wasn't sure you even know how to cook. I always assumed men fell over their heels to do it for you."

Rebekah smacked her arm and frowned at her teasing. "Would you just eat?"

Ingrid held her hands up in surrender while laughing. "Alright. Alright!" She then grabbed her fork and knife before cutting a piece small enough for her to chew. When she noticed Rebekah staring at her in concern, she shook her head. "I feel fine. Now, don't stare. It is impolite." She was about to take a bite when she suddenly started to feel woozy. She blinked repeatedly and sat back in her chair with a disorganized face. "Oooh."

"What's wrong?" Rebekah questioned with a frown.

Ingrid held a hand up and shook her head. "I feel odd..."

Rebekah placed her hand on Ingrid's forehead and frowned again. "Oh, you're burning up, actually."

"This doesn't feel right. I need... my phone." She remarked quickly and grabbed her phone, hitting the speed dial number assigned to the contact information. "Niklaus."

Afew moments later, Klaus ran into the house with Sophie. Rebekah rushed over to greet them, but was appalled when she saw who he had brought with him. "What the hell is she doing here?"

Sophie sighed at her mistrust and glared in her direction. "I'm trying to help."

Rebekah scoffed and glanced at her in disbelief. "Help? You're the reason we're in this bloody mess! Why aren't we unlinked with this witch already, Nik?"

"We?" Ingrid remarked with a raised, sweaty eyebrow.

"Rebekah, let her do what she came here to do." Klaus sneered at her stressfully, giving her a warning expression. "We don't have time for this."

"I may know a way to slow the fever down. But, I'm gonna need some special herbs." Sophie explained to them then turned and looked at Rebekah. "I'll text you a list."

Rebekah gaped at her brother, who nodded at her in encouragement, and though she did not seem pleased to be being ordered around again, she eventually relented and smiled at them patronizingly. "Fine. Happy to play the fetch girl." She snarled, storming out of the room and shoving his shoulder as she passed by.

Ingrid was wrapped in a towel and sitting outside beside the swimming pool. Rebekah stood behind her, checking her temperature every once and while and Klaus assisted Sophie in helping with the herbs. He noticed his wife starting to get worse and shrugged off his leather jacket, tossing it meaninglessness to the floor. "She's burning up! We need to do this now or she will miscarry."

"Get her in the water!" Sophie urged quickly and Klaus kicked off his shoes before jumping into the pool. Ingrid removed her towel and walked to the edge and Klaus slowly helped her into the water. Sophie mixed herbs in a cup and followed them into the water as well.

"I don't see how a midnight swim is supposed to help." Rebekah snapped in frustration and fear.

"Her temperature is sky-high. The water, with the help of the herbs, should cool us down." Sophie explained and handed Ingrid the herbal concoction. "Drink this!" She ordered, causing Ingrid to do as told, and turned to Klaus. "You're going to have to get her heart rate down."

"How the hell do you suppose I do that?" Klaus questioned in a panicked manner.

"Hold her." Sophie answered simply and nodded in encouragement. "It's a natural human remedy to slow the heart rate and reduce blood pressure. Just hold your wife."

"This is never gonna work." Rebekah rejected the idea in worry but went ignored.

"Ingrid, love, come here." Klaus called out to her and held his hands out. She bounced in the tips of her toes and grabbed ahold of his hands, intertwining her fingers. He undid their hands and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her close to his chest. She held onto him for dear life and pressed her forehead against him, at the level of his chin. He kissed her on the forehead as she moaned lowly in discomfort.

"Niklaus..." Ingrid whispered quietly in a shaky voice, closing her eyes as a tear rolled down her cheek.

He shook his head and quieted her down in a soothing manner. "Shh. We won't think about that right now." He remarked affectionately, knowing exactly what she was about to say. She was about to talk about the possibility of her miscarrying in that moment followed by a painful string of tearful apologies.

Klaus placed another kiss on her forehead and silently hoped to himself that Davina would finish the spell in time. He pulled her closer and tangled a hand in the bottom of her soaked, brunette hair.

Ingrid clung onto him and whispered quietly to herself in Old Norse, praying to the Gods of motherhood and fertility to save her daughter's life. Rebekah watched close by, terrified, with tears in her eyes and paced the pavement in anticipation.

After a moment, Ingrid and Sophie gasped simultaneously and Klaus glanced down at his wife in concern. He placed a hand on her cheek and slowly felt her fever begin to subside. He smiled widely in a small amount of relief and hugged her closely.

Ingrid was lying in bed now, having taken a shower and dried off, rubbing her baby bump in a comforting gesture. "You are alright. We are alright." She whispered quietly and paused when she heard a chuckle from beside her. "Niklaus, you know better than to sneak up on me."

He smiled widely and sat next down to her. "My apologies, love." He then placed the back of his hand against her forehead and gave her a relieved face. "I wanted to check up on you."

"I'm doing well. Just tired." She reassured him truthfully and held one of his hands. "Be careful, okay?"

"Always." He confidently remarked with a smirk and leaned down to place a passionate kiss on her lips. "Get some rest." He requested and she nodded with a small yawn, earning a smile from him. "I love you." He kissed her again and stood to his feet, walking toward the door.

"I love you." She replied affectionately then called out to him before he left. "Niklaus." Ingrid said softly and he turned to face her in concern. "Kill that bitch." She darkly sneered, enraged, and he nodded with a devious smirk.

Everyone had left the plantation except for Ingrid, who was close to falling asleep. Her eyes were closed and she on her way to dreamland when someone knocked on the door. She opened her dark brown eyes in confusion and sat up in the bed, listening to the sounds from outside the house. She then climbed out of bed and made her way down the stairs toward the front door. She answered it to see Josh Rosza standing on the porch. "Joshua." She greeted in surprise and glanced at him in confusion. "How may--"

She began to ask but Josh pushed passed her into the house and searched the downstairs entirely in a slight panic. "Where is he? I've been trying to find him all day. Marcel knows that Klaus lied to him about where he lives."

"We've been a tad busy. He just left for a meeting with Anges. You should find him at the church." She informed him, standing in the foyer.

Josh groaned in frustration and threw his hands up in the air. "Just... tell him to call me, please."

Ingrid nodded her head slowly and looked at him with an off expression. "Sure." She then held the door open for him and he stormed out of the house, walking away. Unbeknownst to the vampire that Marcel was standing behind the tree and had heard their entire conversation.

She closed the door and turned to walk away but there was another knock. She paused in confusion then smirked to herself when she realized who was on the other side. She opened the door with a kind smile and they smiled back with a small wave of their hand. "Hi there, I'm Marcel. I don't think we've met!"

---
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-the1andonlytifftiff