I'll be There for You

Chapter 18: Where Is She?

A couple of minutes later, Hayley finished eating and left the bed that still smelled like Elijah. When she was dressed and ready to confront the day, she headed into the hallway to find Kol carrying a giggling Hope on his back. "Faster!" her little girl cried.

"Slow down!" Freya called from the end of the hall. "That vase is a family heirloom." She gave Kol a faux disapproving look.

Kol winked at Hayley before pulling Hope off his back. "You mean this child-sized vase?" he asked, pretending to drop Hope into it.

"Ahhhh!" Hope cried. "Don't put me in there!" she cried out, clinging to Kol's shirt.

"But I thought you wanted to go to China?" Kol quipped.

"That's not China!" Hope declared, still hanging off of Kol's shirt.

"What is going on?" Klaus demanded, coming out of his bedroom and looking hung over. He rubbed his drooping eyelids.

"Daddy, Uncle Kol is going to drop me in the vase!" Hope called to her father.

"She said she wanted to visit China!" Kol added. "I thought I'd help."

Klaus' lips quirked into a smirk. "I think perhaps you could do better than that, brother," he said, lacing his fingers behind his back, he strode down the hall, glancing at Hope. "Perhaps we will dig a great hole in the backyard. That is how Elijah determined we could get there as children; is it not? We'll just drop my precious child down the hole, and just like Alice, she'll find herself in a new land. Perhaps with a rabbit to guide her?"

Hope let out a giggle and shook her head. "Daddy, you are so silly."

Klaus grinned, holding out his arms and Kol offered Hope to him. "I'm done, my back gave out an hour ago." Trudging past Hayley, Kol placed a hand on her shoulder. "I do not know how you did this for all those years on your own. My family is many and we barely have the combined energy to keep up with our littlest member."

"I had my work," Hayley told him. "Baking can be cathartic."

"I'll keep that in mind," Kol replied with a smile. "I have a bit of making up to do with a certain young woman I've been neglecting over the past weeks."

"Make her chocolate eclairs; Davina loves them," Hayley suggested.

Kol looked skeptical. "I have no idea how to."

"I can teach you, tonight, after Hope goes to bed," Hayley reassured him.

"Right, then. If she ever goes to bed," Kol looked at Hope who had crawled onto Klaus' shoulders and was doing battle with her Uncle Finn—who had come upstairs—their hands were locked together, pushing back and forth. Finn wore a mask of concentration as he fought Hope. Hope kept giggling as her uncle would wobble backwards and then come back for more.

"Agh, you win! Again!" Finn cried, laughing as he bent his knees; hanging his head in defeat.

Hope began to clap. "Again! I want to play again!"

"Oh, I can't!" Finn cried, pressing his hands together and holding them up to Hope. "Oh, please show mercy!" he cried.

Hope jumped up and down on Klaus' shoulders. "Again. Again!" she cried out with a giggle.

"All right. If you insist!" Finn got to his feet and locked hands with Hope again. "Go easy on me this time."

"Show him no mercy," Klaus ordered his daughter.