30th March, 2028
Kaitlyn's POV

The last two weeks, me and Caroline went all over Italy to look for this Mercury Coven who, apparently, had a merge ritual for their siphoner wiches, as well. We talked to them, basically pleaded them to offer us a solution but they didn't have one. They told us they stopped the ritual after this one mother killed her two sets of twins because she didn't want them to have to survive with the guilt of killing their siblings, like she had to. After that, the bloodline gradually died out with her and they instated new laws and rituals instead.

With no solution at hand, once again, I head back to Mystic Falls as Caroline joins Bonnie and Enzo on their trip to Japan.
Alaric told me Hope has been staying at our place for the past week now and yesterday, Klaus texted me as well.

I just know there's chaos waiting for me at home.

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As I park outside my house, I see Hope slamming the door on Klaus' face and the look on his face looks like he was ready to tear off someone's head now. I walk up to him and place my hand on his shoulder. He immediately grabs my wrist and turns me around to hold me in a chokehold.

"Woah woah woah, It's me," I say as I struggle to breathe.
He let's go as soon as he realizes it's me. I rub my neck and let out a cough.
"What happened?" I ask him.
"What happened doesn't matter anymore. What matters it what's going to happen now and before you ask, yes, someone's going to end up dead," he tells me emotionally.
"Okay look, calm down and let's talk about this," I try to reach for his arms but he moves them away.
"There's nothing to talk about," he snarls angrily.
"Klaus, please just calm down for a second and tell me what happened. We can calmly talk about this, okay? Please just..." I grab his hand and he looks up at me as his eyes soften, "let's go to the Grill or something and we can sit down and talk about whatever got you so riled up, okay?"
He slowly nods as I pull him away from the front door and into my car.

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By the time we get to the Grill, Klaus looks visibly calmer than earlier. We go inside and get ourselves a booth as I order the weekly special for us both.
After I'm done ordering, I turn to Klaus, "okay, now tell me what happened," I tell him.
"It's Hope. Do you know she's been staying at your place for the past week?" he questions back.
"Yeah, Ric told me yesterday. Is that what you're mad about?" I ask him.
He shakes his head, "no she's been there because of a fight she had with her mother," he tells me.
"Oh, and you're trying to play good cop?" I ask with a mock-smile.
He rolls his eyes at me, "no I just got her out of school and dragged her to your place to pack her bag and go home with me," he grumbles.
"And do you think it was the right thing for you to do?" I counter him with a raised brow.
"Look, stop with the therapist-like counter questions. What did you want me to do?" he asks as he throws his arms up in frustration.
"Maybe sit down and calmly talk to her about what the problem was?"

"Easier said than done," he rolls his eyes again, "you know, actually this is your fault."
My eyes widen at his accusation, "what? How is any of this my fault?"
"Because I tried taking your advice. I tried to give that boy a chance, the one you reassured me was a good kid and what did he do? Convince Hope to sneak out of home to watch a movie in the town square," he rolls his eyes.
"Landon? Landon asked Hope to sneak out of your house at night?" I ask with a surprised tone.
"Oh don't sound so surprised. Isn't he supposed to be your responsibility? Being an orphan at your school and all? How did he sneak past your school security even?"
"Wait back up, first, our security is extremely efficient. Second, I know Landon. He would never do that! There has to be more to the story," I retort.
"So you're saying Hope snuck out willingly and then lied about it?" he counters.
I shake my head 'no', "I'm saying, we need to hear the kids out."
"No, what we need is to punish this kid and keep Hope away from him!" he yells, getting annoyed, "and what you need to do is stop defending him!"

"No, you need to calm down!"
"Rose-"
"No, Klaus listen to me just this once, I know Landon, okay? He practically stays with my kids all the time and I know it's hard for you to believe but he's a kid with good intentions. And they're teenagers, even if for whatever reason, they did sneak out, you getting mad at Hope will only result in you pushing her away. She's not a child anymore. She doesn't need to live by your opinions and trust me, she won't. It's wrong of you to expect her to," I tell him softly.
"So what do you want me to do? Let her go around wherever she wants with whoever she wants when her father is the most hated supernatural in the history of supernaturals?" he yells again and I see heads turning towards us from all directions of the Grill.

I place my hand on his and try to calm him down, "No Nik, I'm not asking you to do that but you can't threaten a guy either, just because he was with your daughter when they snuck out or whatever you're telling me they did. You just... let me talk to them once, okay? I promise you I'll talk to them and find out what really happened and then you can deal with your daughter however you find it best," I tell him.
"Fine but I want to be there when you talk to them," he retorts and I roll my eyes at him.
"Okay. Let's go to my place and talk to Hope first. You'll let me do the talking, okay?" I warn him and he gives me a half-hearted nod.
"No, you have to promise," I say as I point at him accusingly.
He holds up his hands in mock-surrender and lets out a laugh, "I promise."

On the way home, he turns to me as I drive, "you know," he says with his signature smirk, "back there when we were arguing, you called me Nik."
I turn to glimpse at him before I look back at the road, "seriously? Is that all you take from the entire conversation? Not the 'you need to be a better father' speech that I gave you?" I scoff, "besides, you called me Rose too and that's not even my name."
"Not exactly but it's what I always called you," he tells me with a smile and I roll my eyes as a smile creeps up on my face as well.

When we park outside my place, I ask him to wait outside in the lawn while I freshen up a little and bring Hope outside.

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I knock the door to the guest room, "Hope. Sweety, you in there?" I ask and I can hear sniffling from inside so I slowly open the door and peek in to see Hope sitting on the bed with her head in her hands, as she cries.
I walk in and sit next to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and rubbing her arms in soothing motions.
When she finally looks up at me, I notice how bloodshot her eyes are.
"Your dad is here to talk to you," I tell her calmly.
"Tell him I don't want to see him or talk to him or go home with him." she replies, "and Miss K? Please don't send me back home now, please..." she pleads.
"I'm not going to send you home, I promise. You can stay here as long as you like but sweety, I really think you should talk to your dad," I tell her but she shakes her head 'no'.

I sigh, "okay look, your dad is outside waiting for you to go down and talk to him. If you don't want to talk to him, just come downstairs with me and sit there while I speak to your dad, okay?"
She stays quiet for a moment before saying, "you won't leave me there with him, will you?"
I let out a short laugh, "nope. I promise I'll be there the whole time or as long as you want me to," I reassure her and she finally agrees.

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As soon as we walk outside, Klaus jumps up from a bench he was sitting on, waiting for us.
"Finally, there you are!" he goes to reach out for Hope but she moves behind me and away from him.
He looks hurt for a second before he looks at me confused. I give him a reassuring smile in return.
"Look, I'm willing to work as the peace-broker here as long as you both promise to listen to each other. And no violence or threats," I say the last bit as a warning to Klaus.

I then sit down on a bench and Hope sits next to me, not meeting her dad's eyes.
"Okay, Hope, tell me what happened. Start from the beginning. Your dad told me you fought with your mom and snuck out with Landon. Is any of that true?" I ask her calmly.
"Of course all of it is-" Klaus starts to speak but I glare at him and he stops mid-sentence.
I then turn back to Hope, "sweety, go on. Tell me what happened."
"It's true. I fought with mom and then I snuck out with Landon but obviously, I didn't do it well enough because I got caught."
I sigh, "and why did you sneak out?"
"Because I wanted mom to care," she says nonchalantly.
I look confused and look at Klaus for clarification but he looks just as confused.
"What do you mean you 'wanted her to care'?" he asks Hope.
"It's as simple as it sounds, dad," she replies coldly, "I wanted her to care like a normal mother does for her children. But I guess I can never have any form of normality in my life. It's either the mother who's only present when I'm making decisions or the dad who won't get off my back for even a second."
I let out a silent gasp at what she just said and Klaus looks so hurt that his eyes pool with tears.

"Why do you think your mom doesn't care for you, Hope? For the last sixteen years, your mom and I, our entire family has done everything for you and your safety. Everyone risked their lives for you, she died trying to save you and you say she doesn't care for you?" Klaus says, his voice getting louder and angrier.
"Klaus, calm down-"
I get cut off by Hope's screaming, "stop it, dad! You say it like I asked for any of this! I didn't ask for any of this! I didn't ask to inherit the countless enemies that this family has! I didn't ask for my own grandparents to hate me and try to kill me because I'm your daughter! I didn't ask to be born into this miserable life! I didn't ask to be this burden for you guys! But here we are! You can all risk your lives as many times as you have but you never try to understand that when I ask for you guys to care about me, I don't mean you going on a rampage around the world and killing all your enemies so they can't harm me! No, I ask for the simpler things like going out for family dinner, having movie nights, having a mom I can talk to about guy-drama, having a dad who I can go on mother-daughter trips with. It's even better to have a dad that embarrasses me wherever we go than a dad who kills anyone who he thinks has unwell intentions towards me. But I can't have that, can I? So I just wanted to rile up mom a little and I convinced Landon to meet me at the town square, even though he tried to convince me not to. And when we got caught, he took the blame for me because he didn't want me to get into trouble with my parents. He doesn't have parents, dad. Yet he has a better idea of what parents are like. He tried to convince me that you'll be worried for me. You'll want to know if I'm alright, if I'm hurt, if something's wrong that I had to sneak out of my own house. So I went back home expecting it to be that way but what did I get in return? You, mom and Uncle Elijah screaming at each other and then you and mom screaming at me for sneaking out, not even caring to ask if I'm alright or not. And of course, without even asking me, you blame Landon for it all and say you're going to kill him and storm out of the house. Do you even know how scared I was that you'd actually do it? That an innocent friend of mine would suffer because he tried to help me? After you left, mom screamed at me about the same things. About how enemies could be lurking anywhere, how I shouldn't have snuck out with a guy I just met a few months ago, blah blah blah. I'm tired of all this, dad. I just want peace!"

"Even if it's temporary. Just for a little bit. So please leave me alone until I'm ready to go back home. Miss K already promised that she won't kick me out of here so I'll be safe, since that's all you care about," she finishes as she gets up, "sorry you had to witness all this, Miss K," she tells me before she walks back into the house and I hear the guestroom door shut.

I look up to see Klaus' eyes filled with tears, some spilling out, as he looks down at the ground with his jaw clenched and his fists white due to the pressure he's applying on them.
"Klaus," I slowly whisper as I approach him. He looks up at me as more tears spill down his eyes and gives me a defeated look.

"I failed her," he whispers.
"No you didn't fail her," I try to console him but he cuts me off.
"Did you hear a thing she said? She feels as though her parents don't care for her. Of course I failed her!"
"Nik look, she's a teenager that has already been through a lot in her life and sometimes, it gets overwhelming. Just ask me. You remember that time I had a breakdown in front of you when we were looking for that hunter in the woods? The problems might be different now but it's all the same kind of overwhelming. You just need to give her a little time and look at things from her perspective. It's going to be fine," I reassure him as I place my hand on his fists and give them a reassuring squeeze.

He looks down at our hands before he looks back at me.
"How do you do it?" he whispers, "how do you always know what to do and say? How does my daughter already trust you more than she trusts me to the point where she hides from me, behind you? What am I doing wrong?"
"You're not doing it wrong, you're just doing it differently. We all know you, Klaus. We know you don't have the same way of showing you care like the others do. With you, it's threatening and bloodshed and violence to show you care for someone that you'd kill for them.  But like she said, she just wants to have some normal experiences with her parents. Try her way for once. Teach her how to paint, take her out on a picnic by the lake and paint together. Ask Hayley to take her on a shopping spree. Go to the movies together. Go get tacky-dinner at the Grill together. Try the simpler things in life for once. Not only will it make Hope happier but I think, it'll help you too," I tell him with a smile.

"Okay," is all he says in return.
"Okay? How did you agree this easily?" I joke, trying to lighten up the mood.
He chuckles a little, "well you seem to be the loved parent-figure for all these kids so you must know what you're doing. Maybe trying your way is going to be worth it, after all."
"The Klaus Mikaelson just agreed with me? Wow is the world ending already?" I chuckle.
He lets out a laugh and looks at me, his eyes full of something I haven't felt in years- love and admiration.
"I always agreed with you, Rose. Maybe your memory is getting weaker as you age," he jokes.
I let out a fake gasp, "did you, a 1000 year old man, just call me old?"
"You're still as beautiful as ever, though. And I'm sure you'll always be," he tries to coverup.
I roll my eyes at him, "always such a flirt."
"Only for you, love."
"Hm. I think you should go home now. Talk to the rest of the family and see what you want to do. I'll keep Hope safe and out of trouble, I promise. Don't worry about that," I reassure him.
"I wasn't going to worry. I know she's alright as long as she's with you," he tells me as he speeds away from the house.
I let out a sigh and walk back inside to my room to freshen up and lie down a little before dinner.

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I wake up to someone calling my name. I look around as my eyes adjust to the lights and then I see Ric standing at the door.
"Hey, when did you get back?" I ask him.
"Just a while ago. The kids are downstairs preparing dinner. I thought I should wake you."
"Yeah, just give me a second. I'll freshen up and meet you downstairs," I tell him as he nods and leaves.

When I get downstairs and enter the kitchen, I immediately get pulled into a bone-crushing hug.
"Finally, you're back!" Lizzie cheers.
"Yeah, I'm back. What's for dinner?" I ask as I sit on one of the kitchen stools.
"It's Ryan's turn so I guess some sort of takeout," Josie answers and I nod as we wait for Ryan to get home.
"Where's Hope?" I ask the girls.
"She said she wasn't hungry and just wanted to lie down for a bit," Lizzie shrugs but I know better. She's probably in her room, sulking after the fight like any other person would be. Just then, Ryan walks in with takeaway bags.
"I'll go check up on her while you guys set up dinner, okay?"
They nod and I walk back to the guest room.

I knock, "Hope, mind if I come in?" I ask her.
"Come in, Miss K," she yells from the other side of the door, so I open the door and step inside the dully-lit room.
"Hey sweety, how're you feeling?" I ask her as I crouch down to her level, beside the bed.
"I've been better," she tells me as she remains lied down and keeps her eyes closed.
"It's going to be alright, Hope. I promise you," I tell her.
"But when?"
"Soon. Everyone has fights with their parents, it never lasts too long. And I think, what happened today was good. You needed to get that off your chest and your dad needed to hear it from someone," I tell her.
She then opens her eyes, sits up and pats the space next to her for me to sit.
As I sit down next to her, she leans her head on my lap and lies down, surprising both me and herself in the process.
I brush it off and slowly run my hands through her hair in a soothing manner, trying to comfort her.

"Did you ever try telling dad how paranoid he is?" she asks me after a while, breaking the comfortable silence.
"I did. It didn't end well," I chuckle, "it never does but your dad loves you, so maybe this time he'll understand," I reply.
"He loved you too, didn't he? If that didn't work, I doubt this will," I freeze for a second, hearing what she has said but then quickly recover.
"This is different. You're his daughter. The love a parent has for their kid is incomparable to anything else. He might have a different way of showing it but he loves you more than anything else. It's true and I think everyone can see it," I tell her.
"Yeah I know, I just...sometimes I wish things were a little different. Dad was a little less paranoid, mom was a little more available and I was less of a burden."
"Hope, if there's one thing I can reassure you on, it's that you're not a burden. You were a gift to both your parents, your entire family. You came into your dad's life at a point when he needed someone to love and fight for and you were that for him, for all of them. So never say you're a burden because you're anything but that."

"Why don't you hate me? I know dad left after he found out about me and wanted to stay away from supernatural drama. Of course, that didn't happen but you both lost your love because of me yet you're so nice to me. Why?"
"Because you don't know the entire story. He didn't leave me behind because of you. We broke up way before he left so it wasn't your fault and don't tell yourself it was, okay?"
She nods in my lap, "so what do I do now?"
"Now, you can come down and have dinner or I can bring you dinner here and then you can fall asleep, go to school tomorrow and repeat the cycle till you're ready to face your parents again. Whenever that is, although I think you should at least talk to your dad soon," I tell her.
"Okay," she says and just then there's a knock on the door.

Josie and Lizzie enter the room with trays full of food in their hands, "we thought we'd bring dinner and all sit and have a slumber party together," they say.
Hope smiles at them and I couldn't have been more proud of these kids.
I smile at them, "you guys have your slumber party. I need to get some sleep before the meeting with the council tomorrow. Have fun but don't stay up too late," I tell them as I get up and leave the room.

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Downstairs, I see Ric still waiting for me at the dinner table, "hey, all good upstairs?" he asks as I join him.
"Yeah, Hope had a fight with Klaus today so she's just a little down," I tell him.
"Yeah, the girls told me. It's good you're being there for her but I hope you're not letting yourself get dragged into their mess again," he says.
"I won't. But she's friend with the girls and a student at our school. I can't just let her suffer silently," I retort.
"No but is that the only reason? You sure it has nothing to do with whose daughter she is?"
"What is that supposed to mean, Ric? You think I only care for her because she's Klaus' daughter?" I snap at him.
"I don't know, you tell me. It's clear he still clouds your judgement on everything, even after all these years, even after all that hurt," he snaps back.
"Okay that's enough. I've had enough of everyone telling me how I should feel or behave towards the Mikaelsons. Of all people, I expected you to understand, Ric."
"And I'm trying to. But all I'm seeing is you falling back into your old pattern, running around whatever the Mikaelsons need help with. Getting Freya a job, forgiving Hayley, hanging out with Klaus and now everything with Hope," he complains.
"We both agreed Freya would be a good addition to the team and you know full well that I was never one to hold a grudge against anyone, not even Hayley. And Hope is a kid, what do you want me to do? Tell her to go back to her parents that currently don't understand her? And when did I ever hang out with Klaus?"

"Weren't you at the Grill with him today? Someone spread news all over the town that they saw Headmistress Kaitlyn there with the rich-guy that just moved into town and apparently, they were holding hands," he tells me.
"We went there to talk about Hope," I say as I roll my eyes, "and we weren't holding hands! You know how the townspeople are, they'll exaggerate anything!"
Alaric sighs loudly, "look Bee, I'm just trying to look out for you and save you the hurt that's bound to come with the Mikaelsons. I don't want you to go back to your old patterns of self-pity and silent tears again. That's it. I'm just concerned for the mother of my kids and my best friend. But you're a responsible adult so do whatever you feel is best but also, look out for yourself this time because I think we've already settled that no one will do it for you, especially not them," he says and then gets up, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

He's not wrong. I am falling into my pattern again. Feeling obligated towards that family, getting friendly with them, going back to 'Nik/Rose' basis with Klaus. I know hurt follows around that family like an invisible yet inevitable cloud but I can't help it. I'm not the kind of person who tries to justify things with, "but he's my soulmate," but he is. And I do feel obligated towards Hope, I don't even know why I do but it's an unsaid feeling that I need to look out for her like I would for my own girls. I can't explain it but nothing about the Mikaelsons in explainable. So I can just let things unfold the way they're meant to. I can't try and change anything and honestly, deep down, I don't want to.

I shake the thoughts out of my head and head to bed because overthinking these things won't change anything. Might as well get some sleep while I still can, before the Council Meeting tomorrow. They want me to help organize this year's Miss Mystic Falls and I couldn't turn them down, so I guess it's just more sleepless nights full of stress for me, yay!

Author's Note
Another filler chapter. I just wanted to show some relationship development between Hope and Kaitlyn as well as Klaitlyn (duh!) and I like how things are moving so far.
I have great things planned for the next few chapters so buckle up!
We'll see more of Kolvina, Elijah and Rebekah soon too!

You guys' comments and votes make my day a thousand times better so thank you so much for all that love! It's the support that makes me want to keep of putting more effort into this story. I really hope you guys like what I have planned next!

With Love,
Awwmoons.