-•-•-

The word 'home' is a fickle little thing.

For some, a home is kicking their feet up after a long day, and taking a swig of their favorite whisky. For others, it's the sight of happy kids giggling and chasing after each other down the block, gusts of spring air rustling a few cherry blossom trees. For Remi Moore, home had never been something that held positive connotations. Her first home, the small cottage she used to live in with her mother, was a bitter memory of the past. Her aunt's blood had stained her second chance of having a home, and so did the haunting vision of her broken neck. For a while, the teen had convinced herself that, perhaps, a home just wasn't something she was destined to have.

But now, in this very moment, as the hazel-eyed brunette pushed her throbbing head off of a pillow, she realized how wrong she had been. Remi sat up, sluggishly scanning the room she was in; it didn't take her very long to recognize the antique wallpaper and matching lamps. There, in that same dark orange-tinted bedroom that she had been stationed in for several months, is where that feeling came back.

Her bare feet padded down the hallway, an innocent, small smile on her paled face. She had taken all of this for granted - the small cracks in the walls that showed the abattoir's real age, the cast-iron handrails that lead downstairs, all of it.

At the base of the staircase, Remi stopped in her tracks, her eyebrows suddenly knitting together. In front of her, stood ten people - twenty eyes, all drifting toward her. On the arch of the abattoir's entrance was a sign. It wasn't very intricate, no, but looking at it forced tears into Remi's eyes.

It's chalky white background enveloped three painted-black words: "Happy Home-Day!"

There stood Klaus, Rebekah and Freya, all grinning from ear-to-ear. Elijah and Hayley were a few feet away, looking on with humbled expressions. Marcel and Cami were huddled around a small table of food and drink, chuckling loudly; and Remi saw who she assumed were Kol and Davina, waving from afar.

"W-what's going on, guys?" the teen chuckled as her brown locks swayed along her shoulders.

"We missed your birthday, so we thought celebrating the next best thing was in order. Welcome home, love," Klaus mumbled, clearing his throat of any emotion that would show his feelings. He was still the evil, murderous hybrid, after all . . . but he wasn't fooling anyone. He had missed Remi just as much as the next person.

Remi bit the corner of her lip, an embarrassed smile overcoming her face. "You do know the phrase 'welcome home' exists, right?"

Elijah moved to speak, but shook his head with a laugh. "It seemed appropriate at the time."

"No, no, I . . . I love it. I love all of you - thank you," the teen struggled to blurt out. It felt so strange to finally be home, amongst safe faces.

As groups began to intertwine and mingle amongst each other, reacquainting with old friends, Klaus subtly pulled something out of his pocket, holding it up for Remi to see. It was the 'M' protection necklace that she had hastily pulled off of her neck last night. Rebekah caught sight of it, and before anyone else could notice, she spoke.

"Uh, I-I think we need more refreshments. Anyone want to help?" Rebekah stated, but not before sending a warm smile to the girl, which she softly reciprocated. Remi figured that Klaus and Rebekah would want to talk about the previous night's events, and the circumstances that led to it. None of them knew what had happened, and the teen kind of wanted to keep it that way; but she should have known better.

"I thought you might want this back," the blond hybrid stated, walking behind the girl to gently clasp it around her neck so that it once again danced freely on her collarbone.

"Thanks," she murmured, her hand drifting up to trace it. She felt terribly guilty for ever taking it off to begin with.

Klaus didn't want to prod; he knew that whatever had happened was between her and her biological family. He knew this, but he needed to make sure she was okay, because she seemed like anything but. "Remi . . ." he spoke, and the girl obviously knew what he was hinting at.

"I don't know what you want me to say, Klaus," she shook her head. "Nothing that I say will change what happened. I'm not gonna fall to my knees and cry about it like I did with my mom and my aunt. I won't; I can't."

"How you choose to move on from whatever might have happened, is up to you. My only job is to make sure you're okay. I couldn't care less about that pathetic excuse of a man you were cursed to call your father, or the side of your family that he derived from. You are all that matters to me, little witch, and I'll be damned if I let a father hurt his child the way mine hurt me."

Remi's eyes watered as she looked up at Klaus - not because of sadness or grief, but because she realized that her father had been in front of her all along, in the form of a thousand-year-old vampire/werewolf hybrid. "Okay," is all she said, as she took a step forward and laid her head on Klaus' chest. Remi wouldn't fight him on this, because he needed it just as much as she did.

"Okay," his strained, gruff voice replied, pulling resting his arms around her shoulders.

The two stayed there for a long moment, just letting a peaceful silence overcome them. The girl's head was pressed against his chest so that his undead heartbeat thumped against her ear. Though only for a second or two, it felt like an eternity passed them by, before being cut off a sudden voice, earning an unenthused 'oh god' from Klaus.

"Remi, I presume," a man with a familiar accent spoke, a gorgeous woman next to him. "I'm Kol - you know, the best and most handsome Mikaelson."

"Be quiet, Kol," the woman beside him smirked. "I'm Davina. It's amazing to finally meet you!"

"Nice to meet you, too," Remi replied with a chuckle, heartily shaking their extended hands. "Hey, uh, you're a witch too, right?"

Davina nodded. "I am. I'd love to see the kinds of spells you can do - maybe we can practice together some day."

"Yeah, I'd like that," Remi replied, the corner of her mouth tugging upward.

"Well, love, It's nice to finally put a face to the name who can make my dickhead of brother crack a smile," the male Mikaelson said. Remi could tell he was genuine; they would get along just fine.

"Thanks. It's nice to finally put a face to the name that your dickhead of a brother complained about all the time," the teen joked, earning a playful scowl from the original. "But you're not too bad, Kol Mikaelson."

"You're not too bad yourself, Remi Moore."

The footsteps of three others interrupted the conversation, but another smile graced the girl's face once she saw who the footsteps belonged to. "God, I missed you, kiddo," Marcel said, pulling Remi into a bone-crushing embrace. God, she missed him too.

She pressed her face against his chest, the scent of his cologne filling her nostrils. "You too, Marcel. I'm so sorry for leaving."

"Hey, don't worry about it, alright? You did what you had to do. Sure, it didn't turn out the way you had hoped, but I'm so damn proud of you for doing it. You've grown up into such an impressive, courageous young woman."

"Yeah, what he said," Cami butted in, her voice sounding like music to Remi's ears.

"I'll second that," Hayley chuckled as she placed a hand on the teen's back. "You're a far cry from that adorably awkward kid I met last year."

"Thank you," Remi replied sheepishly, though dopamine ran rapidly throughout her veins. "I think."

In that moment, everything in her life was okay. There were no people dying, no crazed family members out to get her, and no animosity whatsoever. The feeling of a steady heart was something that had long evaded her grasp, but perhaps that era of her life was over. It was time for a new chapter to start - and after so many endings in her short life, a new beginning was something she deserved. One with laughter, and family, and love.

"We come bearing beignets," Rebekah shouted as Freya triumphantly held up an outrageous amount of baked goods.

"Hey, you heard her - beignets for everyone!" Marcel yelled, and Remi giggled as she followed close behind.

-•-•-

The festivities continued throughout the rest of the day and well into the evening. Eventually people began to trickle out, only to make sure things stayed safe in the Quarter at night, as nothing had changed with Marcel and his nightwalker lackeys. Cami left since she had an early shift at Rousseau's, but offered Remi a round of apple juice on the house. Hayley went back to the bayou, but said she would be back in the morning to finish their intense round of Monopoly. Kol and Davina went to a guest bedroom after guzzling down a few bottles of wine, which was definitely needed after being destroyed during a game of Twister.

As Remi enlisted on the same route back to her room, she noticed something near her bed: an outline of an slumping, awkward teenage boy named-

"Sawyer?" Remi breathed out, slowly pushing the door to her room open.

His eyes snapped over to her, as if he had been lost in thought before, pacing around mindlessly. "Hi," is all the boy managed to sputter out after having been caught quite off-guard.

"Hi," her equally breathless voice replied. She could feel her pulse thumping in her hands.

"Um, I-I read your letter," he started, a hand drifting up to the back of his neck. "I texted you afterward, but I wasn't sure if you got it. Then I heard from Rebekah that you were back, and I couldn't fall asleep without coming over and seeing if you were okay. Are you? . . . Okay?"

Remi's eyes fell to the ground; she totally forgot about the letter, and what she had written inside of it. "I-I'm, uh, dealing with it. I'll be fine, really," she started as she cleared her throat.

"Who are you trying to convince? Me, or yourself?" Sawyer asked gently, taking a step closer to her. "You scared the hell out of me, Remi. I thought you were dead."

"Sawyer, I'm so sorry I didn't text you back. My phone's been a little out of commission for the past few weeks," she said, recalling her father taking it away from her after spotting her texting the Mikaelsons.

The boy shook his head. "No, no, it's not that. It's just . . . you left without even telling me. I had to find out from a letter that you were gone, Rem. I thought you and I told each other everything. I've been wondering - constantly - for the past few weeks, trying to figure out what happened."

"But you left me, too, Sawyer," Remi muttered, eyes once again shifting to a different place in the room. "All those months ago, after what happened with Elizabeth. You left me first, except you didn't even have the common decency to tell me yourself - I found out from them," she yelped, motioning downstairs at the gathering of supernaturals. "Sure, I understood, because you were helping your mom and dad; your family. I just wanted to do the same - I wanted to have a relationship with my dad. I love the Mikaelsons, but I couldn't just ignore the fact that I had a biological father out there - an actual living relative. God, I'm sorry Sawyer," she said, her voice cracking near the end. "I didn't want to hurt you, but I couldn't just text you that. I couldn't. But it's not like it even worked out in the end. My judgment really worked wonders on this one, huh?"

Sawyer stood, stunned. His lips parted, but nothing escaped. Nothing sounded right. All he could do was fill in the space between them and pull her into his chest. "I'm sorry."

"It's not you, Sawyer. It's not your fault," Remi spoke into the crook of his neck.

After minutes of them just holding each other, Sawyer hesitantly pulled away. His eyes locked with hers, though they seemed unable to focus on one part of her face. "But you're back now."

Her red cheeks lifted as she gave him a small nod. "Yeah. I'm back now."

"Good," Sawyer replied. Time was - without a doubt - moving in slow motion. In one moment, he was standing with his hands on either side of Remi's face, and in the next, his lips were attached to hers.

It was as if sparks flew as they touched - or perhaps that's because they did. Yes, Remi Moore's hands turned into a raging Fourth of July party at Jones Beach. Her face reddened as she dangled her arms around his neck, sinking deeper into his kiss. "Good," her breathless voice sputtered out as they finally separated from each other.

"I do love you, Sawyer Liondale. I meant it in the letter, and I mean it now."

"And I do love you, Remi Mikaelson. I meant it in the text, and I mean it now," the boy chuckled, poking at her side.

"Dork!" she yelped, and "Dweeb!" he mocked.

The two teenagers stared at each other with a new look glistening in their eyes. Neither of them knew what it was, but it was ever-present. After a lifetime of hurt, perhaps Remi Moore's story would have a happy ending after all.

"So . . . I'll see you tomorrow?" Sawyer asked, walking over to the fire escape and sliding open the window.

"Yeah. Unless another estranged family member shows up, then probably not," she jokingly replied, and the boy rolled his eyes as a chuckle fell from his mouth.

"You're so not funny. See 'ya," he smiled, and she the same.

"See 'ya."

The air that surrounded her was sweet, and the lingering scent of cologne adorned it. Nothing could possibly make the smile that was plastered across her face, any larger - or so she thought. The sound of knocking startled her, and her head flicked around to her doorframe as she was met with the faces of four particular people.

"Absolutely not," Klaus stated simply, and Remi couldn't help but let out an amused laugh at his face.

"Oh, bugger off, Nik. Ignore him, dear. You two make an adorable couple - quite the pair," Rebekah grinned from ear to ear, pulling the teen into a bone-crushing embrace as they both fell back onto her bed.

"I agree. You both stare at each other like lovesick puppies," Freya teased as she walked over to the other side of the girl.

Despite the all of the lingering maternal adoration, the two men of the room were at a loss for words, and were struggling to compose themselves. "If he makes you happy, then I-" Elijah cleared his throat and adjusted his cufflinks- "suppose congratulations are in order."

"Are you three mad?! We just got her back, now you wish to send her off with some werewolf and call it a day? Am I the only one in here with sense?" the hybrid mused, arms flailing as he spoke.

The three other Mikaelsons attempted to interrupt the maniacal hybrid, but to no avail. Instead . . .

"Klaus," Remi finally spoke, standing up from her spot between the two women she loved so much. His ramblings finally ceased as his attention turned toward the girl. No other words were spoken as she stumbled into him, wrapping her arms around him for a change. "You seem like you need this more than I do."

"Oh, little witch," Klaus sighed, closing his eyes in defeat. "When did you get so grown up?"

"Says the one who's a thousand years old?" she giggled, her cheek still resting on his shoulder.

"Fair point," he softly laughed.

Rebekah, Elijah and Freya watched with pained smiles on their faces. Their 'little witch' wasn't so little anymore. She was almost a legal adult, and was on track to finding out who she wants to be - who she wants to spend her life with. They were filled with a bittersweet, remorseful pride for the girl that they had watched grow up.

"Hey, you guys can stay in here for the night, if you want," Remi offered, motioning at the futons and plush chairs that scattered the space. "We can watch a movie!"

"How could we possibly say no to that," Elijah smirked, speeding to take a seat on a large armchair that strangely matched his suit.

Klaus reclined on a paisley miniature sofa, and Rebekah and Freya laid back on Remi's bed, leaving a space for her in the middle, which she graciously hopped into. "Any requests?" she squeaked, an undeniable smile gleaming on her face.

"Your room, your pick," Freya said, nudging the girl's shoulder.

"Alright, remember you asked for it," Remi warned, clicking the 'Marvel' section of On-Demand.

They all chuckled, knowing that they were about to start another complete rewatch of every movie, in order. God, they had missed this; they had missed her.

As Remi's head fell onto Rebekah's receptive shoulder, eyes wandering to the people in her room, the girl's heart pounded with bliss. It almost felt like she was dreaming, as if in the next few minutes she would wake up back in South Carolina, her scheming relatives crowding around her with their empty eyes and emotionless glares. But she wasn't dreaming; all of this was irrevocably real.

Remi Moore was back in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Remi Moore was surrounded by her real family - the version of her family that wasn't out to use and later dispose of her.

Remi Moore-Mikaelson was, in fact, home.

-•-•-

aaaand, that's a wrap!

wow... I just want to give a HUGE thank you to everyone who has stuck with me since August 25th, 2017. I was such a sad, lonely 14-year-old who desperately wanted to dive into another world and live there forever. unfortunately, nothing truly does last forever.

as the saying goes, all good things must come to an end. this may be the end for 'Little Witch,' but Remi Moore will live on forever. remember, you still have a prologue coming your way! also, sorry this took so long, I just wanted it to be perfect.

if you're like Remi and are obsessed with Marvel, check out my Peter Parker fic, 'Carpe Noctem' if you want! I also have a bunch of other TO/TVD fics, too.

I love all of you, and once again, thank you so damn much for continuously supporting me. I'm always here for you guys, always & forever.

for one last time... thanks for reading <3

-charlotte.