𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙎𝙏𝙊𝙍𝙔 𝙊𝙁 𝘾𝘼𝙈𝙄𝙇𝙇𝘼 𝙁𝙊𝙍𝘽𝙀𝙎 | 𝙇𝙀𝙂𝘼𝘾𝙄𝙀𝙎

𝑻𝑨𝑲𝑬 𝑨 𝑩𝑹𝑬𝑨𝑻𝑯𝑬𝑹

"I can go get them!" Damon offers, standing up to walk towards their training rooms.

It was painfully obvious for everyone that Damon was the boys favorite uncle while Kol was the girls favorite uncle.

Klaus clears his throat gaining everyone's attention, glancing at Camilla who gives him an encouraging nod. "I'll grab them instead mate."

Damon narrows his eyes in question towards Camilla but she waves him off letting him know to let them be.

Klaus walks out of the room with out another word. The Mikaelson family watching with small smiles in hopes of him finally bonding with his son.

"Mom does this mean we still get to go to girls day tomorrow?" Lizzie asks with wide innocent eyes, still in the arms of her two sisters.

"Yeah baby, you still get to go to girls day tomorrow." She says walking towards the three girls, hugging them all in happiness.

Meanwhile, Alec and Jace have a sparring match in the glass room meant for their training as Klaus watches from behind the glass with a smile.

Impressed would be an understatement. He had no clue how Camilla raised his child but she obviously did an amazing job in teaching him defense.

When they take a break Alec notices Klaus first, watching from the corner of his eyes he subtly nods at him. "Hey Jace, I'm gonna go find mom."

Jace nods his head understandingly. "Aright I'm gonna finish up and then I'll be right behind you."

"Doubt that." Alec mutters under his breath with a glance towards the hybrid. Walking out of the room he doesn't spare another glance at the man only muttering a small, "Don't mess up."

Klaus opens up the door slowly, and with out looking Jace assumes it's Alec. "I thought you were going to see mom."

"Well he did, but I'm here to see you." Klaus timidly responds trying gauge the teens reaction.

Jace's head snaps towards his father and narrows his eyes. Though he attempts to calm down his anger for the sole purpose that his mother wanted this to happen. "What do you want?"

"I thought I'd explain a few things to you, and let you decide for yourself if you wanted anything to do with me." Klaus says quietly yet hopefully.

"Well my mother told me to talk to you, so go on." Jace says curtly, avoiding eye contact with him as he wipes his face of sweat with one of the clean wash rags his mother kept stocked in here for them.

"Shall we?" Klaus says holding the door open for the young tribrid with an open arm gesturing for him to follow.

Hesitantly Jace slowly follows, they walk towards the exit and after a few moments in silence he realizes that they're in the same open field where they did the spell to save his mother.

Klaus watches the boy observe the outdoors for a few seconds before taking a deep breath, preparing himself for the conversation ahead. "I met your mother when I was filled with so much revenge and hatred. I felt like I was stuck in a never ending hole of darkness. As time passed we crossed paths on multiple occasions with all the Mystic Falls drama and all, but every time I saw her, there was always this light to her that lured me in."

Jace listens curiously, despite knowing that they had some type of epic love story his mother never openly spoke about it very much.

"She challenged me in ways I didn't even understand. She was like the sun and I was the complete and utter darkness. She got me out of a place of hatred and self loathing. The worst mistake I ever made in my thousand years of life was breaking her heart." He says with such honestly it almost makes Jace flinch.

"We all know-" Jace begins with attitude tired of hearing the same apology but Klaus cuts him off. Sternly grabbing Jace by his shoulders forcing him to look at him, he says, "No. You don't know. I loathed and still hate myself to this day for not being there for you or your mother. If you think I never thought about coming back for her in these past seventeen years you are absolutely wrong."

Taking his hands off Jace's shoulders once he's sure he's going to listen he turns back and gazes at the green hills and trees in the distance. "In another life, I never would've hurt your mother. I would've loved her like I should have. I would've learned that day, that she was pregnant with you and Hope. I would've been ecstatic and taken care of her during the whole pregnancy, hovering over her protectively and she would've gotten so annoyed that she called Caroline to keep me away. We would've lived in our family's mansion a few miles away and you and Hope would have lived with out any problems or the dangers you both grew up in." He says with tears brimming his eyes, thinking about him and Camilla's conversation a few nights prior.

Jace watches his father take a seat on the freshly cut grass and pat the seat beside him. Taking a seat they both just look out into the distance with teary eyes as they picture what their lives could have been. "In another life, I never would've failed you. I would've taught you that even if you feel like you have to carry the world on your shoulders, that you don't. That it's okay to breakdown, be angry, that somethings are out of our control." Looking his son in the eye with such venerability and honesty he continues, "I'm sorry that this life is not what it could've been. I'm sorry that I broke your moms heart, and I'm sorry that I wasn't there for you. My father was a horrible man, He tried to kill me on multiple occasions, he hated my entire existence."

"And although we can't have what we may have in another life, I can show you what you can have in this life. If you'll have me." He finishes with a fresh tear rolling down his left cheek.

Jace's jaw clenches as he tries not to cry but a few traitor tears end up falling. After a few moments of tense silence he slowly nods and begins gasping, trying to slow down his tears. Klaus immediately brings him into a tight fatherly hug as he cherishes the only good moment he's ever had with his only son.

Out in the distance Camilla stands with Stefans arms wrapped around her neck with Damon, Kol, and Elena behind them all watching the rare father/son bonding moment.

"If you would've told me years ago that the same Klaus that sacrificed me for a curse, would be here now crying with his and my bestfriend's son in his arms, I would've had you compelled into a mental institution." Elena says in bewilderment and in slight awe.

"My brother was a horrible person who daggered his siblings for sport, and yet here we are."
Kol nods, adding onto what Elena said. It amazed even him the change his brother went through these past couple of decades. It all started with Camilla Forbes, but he would never say anything.

"He stabbed me in the chest with a tooth pick after he basically kidnapped Steffie here." Damon says pointing a finger towards Stefan.

"He compelled off my own humanity and brought out the ripper in me." Stefan nods along.

"He broke my heart but gave me the biggest gifts of my life." Camilla says smiling fondly towards the two men. "This my friends, is called redemption."

Though they all knew, Camilla Forbes was Niklaus's real redemption. It started over 17 years ago and he finally got it after many battles and tears. The kids are a part of it, yes. But without Camilla Forbes he might have been forever lost in the dark.

Klaus having heard the whole conversation glances towards Camilla with a large smile as she nods her head slightly.

They were at peace with their current lives. Everything was just how it should be.