Through His Eyes (The Originals)

Out of the Easy

 "Wake up, my darling."

 I opened my eyes. "Hello, Tristan." I sat up. "What time is it?"
 
 "Very late in the morning. I suppose after all our...excitement yesterday and last night,  you were very tired. I would think you have been absent long enough for your children to be wondering where you are."

 "Oh, you're probably right." I grabbed my clothes off the floor and quickly began to get dressed. "Who knows what they'll think when I return more than twenty-four hours after I left in the same clothes I was wearing when I left. But that's if someone saw me. Maybe no one did."

 "Well, I have some business to attend to." Tristan kissed me on the cheek. "I hope we will see each other again soon, Mikael."
 
 I smiled. "So do I."

 ~~~~~~

 I slipped upstairs, took a long shower, put on fresh clothes, and tried to walk down the stairs as naturally as possible. Not completely out of the ordinary, it seemed the boys were plotting something diabolical.
 
 "What's going on here?" I asked. 

 They both turned to look at me.

 "Planning Thanksgiving dinner." Klaus gazed at me suspiciously. "And where have you been?"

 "What I should have done ages ago-socializing. What are you boys up to?"
 
 Elijah sighed. "You don't know, do you? Rebekah's been taken. Tristan and the Strix attempted to kidnap her, but then Aurora had her own people take Rebekah so Tristan wouldn't harm her. She's still missing. Freya is trying to find her as we speak."
 
 "And so we are planning a dinner party in which they will tell us where Rebekah is or they suffer excessively," Klaus added in. 
 
 Any good feelings I'd had slowly drained away as they spoke. Tristan had Rebekah kidnapped? My Rebekah, my daughter?
 
 And I slept with him. I slept with him knowing he was plotting the downfall of the Mikaelsons.

 "What can I do to help?" I asked.

~~~~~~

 I told myself I would act calm. I would not attack Tristan and rip him to pieces upon first sight of him. 

 Elijah, Klaus and I were there to greet them when they arrived. I wasn't particularly pleased to see Aurora or Lucien. Then I locked eyes with Tristan. And that was it.

 I walked right up to him, and he gave me a smile. 
 
  I punched him in the face. Hard.

 "How dare you!" I shouted. "I began to let myself think I could convince to stop this madness, that I could trust you. And you betrayed me and tried to kidnap my daughter!"

 "Father, please." I felt Elijah's hands on my shoulders. "Let's sit down and eat." 

 We all sat down at the table.

 "Welcome, everyone," Elijah began. "I know tensions are high at this time, but I think we can all be well-behaved." He looked at me, then Klaus. "Since Father did bring up a serious subject, perhaps we should just get to the point. Tristan and Lucien, we know you're working together and that you're just pretending to be enemies to throw us off. We know you have Rebekah, and a medallion that can imprison us."

  "So the best course of action," said Klaus, "is that you give us Rebekah and the medallion, and perhaps we'll be kind enough to let you live. Mikael here especially loves vampire blood. Don't you, old man?" 

 All three just laughed.

 "Do you really think we're afraid of you?" Lucien asked.
 
 "I assure you, gentlemen, your sister is very safe where we have her," said Aurora. 

 "I doubt that." 

 Freya entered the room looking the angriest I'd ever seen her.

 "I know what you did with Rebekah," she said to Aurora. "She's in the ocean, isn't she?"

 "Perhaps."
 
 I got up and grabbed Aurora by the front of her dress. "What have you done with my daughter? I don't care if you are Tristan's sister. I will end you."
 
 "Threatening them clearly won't work, Father," said Elijah.
 
 "Then we will just have to torture them," said Klaus, a gleeful yet devious smile on his face. "I'll take Tristan, Elijah can have Lucien, and Freya shall have Aurora."
 
 "What about me?" I asked, realizing I wasn't included in this equation.

 "You can stay here and make sure the food doesn't go to waste," Klaus replied.

 And with that, they all left.
 
~~~~~~

 So for a few minutes, I just stared at the empty table. Why would they think I would want to eat now? One my daughters had been kidnapped and possibly thrown into the ocean, and my other living children were upstairs torturing answers out the ones who knew where she was. And they wouldn't even let me help them. And why would they? They clearly didn't trust me.

 I got up and left the compound, walking across the street to where Hayley and Jackson Kenner had taken Hope. The fact that Hayley didn't seem to want Klaus anywhere near their daughter, yet had run away to the building right across the street with her was strange to me, but I suppose our minds worked differently. If my children didn't want my help, perhaps by some chance I could get a glimpse of my step-granddaughter. She was a sweet little thing, even though Klaus had fathered her.
 
 I knocked on the door, wholeheartedly expecting to be turned away. The door was opened by a man whom I guessed was Jackson Kenner. He looked me up and down and said in a harsh voice, "What do you want? I don't have the patience for you Mikaelsons today."
 
 "Well, it's good to see I don't have to introduce myself. I take it you are Mr. Kenner, Hope's stepfather. How has she been? She was always a sweet little thing."
 
 He smiled a bit at that. "Yeah, she is. What are you doing here? Hayley went to go help you guys with some problem."

 "Did she? I didn't see her go in. Did you have any plans for today?"
 
 "Yeah, I made dinner. It's Thanksgiving. I don't know when she's coming back."

 We were interrupted by the sound of Hope crying.

 "Is that her?" I asked.
 
 "Yeah, um, why don't you just come in? You obviously came over here to see Hope."

 "Thank you, Mr. Kenner." I stepped over the threshold. "I actually expected to be turned away. That's why I didn't come sooner. Hello, Hope." I went over to her crib and picked her up. "Do you remember me? I'm your Aunt Freya's daddy."

 "So what's going on over there?" Jackson asked me.
 
 "They boys and Freya were going to torture Lucien Castle and the de Martel siblings into telling them what they did with Rebekah and I suppose about the medallion as well. Your Hayley must have gone to help them."

 He sighed. "After everything they've done, I don't understand why she feels like she has to help them. They aren't her family, Hope and I are, and the rest of our pack."

 "But my children are Hope's family," I pointed out. "I thought she wouldn't want Hope anywhere near them, which I would absolutely understand were it the case. But perhaps it isn't. She does seem to be very close with my son Elijah."

 "You think I haven't seen it?" he snapped. He sighed. "I know he's there, waiting for me to be gone so he can take my place."
 
 I was actually feeling sorry for this young man. I had thought he and Hayley were committed to each other. 
 
 "Perhaps she just hasn't noticed the time. I think she'll be here soon." I looked over at the dining table. "You really put your heart into that, didn't you?"

 He shrugged. "I wanted us to have a nice, family Thanksgiving. But why are you here and not there? You know, torturing people?
 
 "I would but my children clearly don't trust me enough to let me help. But I don't blame them. I wouldn't trust me either." I gently set Hope back down in her crib. "Thank you for letting me see her. I do hope your dinner turns out well."

 He just shrugged again. "Yeah. I'll walk you to the door."