Ansel was not in the mood to talk.
Maddy could sense it. He kept staring ahead at the road once they got a person to drive them into the city. And though she had a million questions, she elected to keep quiet.
The woman who gave them a ride was kind enough to leave them at the Compound. Maddy thanked her and offered to pay her, but she said it wasn't necessary.
The two moved into the large house, with Ansel trailing a bit far behind, as if he wasn't sure whether he should come inside or not. Maddy had to beckon him with her hand. He still didn't appear very chatty. He'd obviously wanted to keep her safe, but it didn't necessarily mean he was eager to be more than an acquaintance.
"Thank you," she said once they were in the courtyard, and she'd gotten service on her phone to tell Hayley and Klaus what had happened. She knew Mikael would leave the wolves alone when he woke up. He'd be able to sense instantly that she wasn't with them anymore.
Klaus had called her immediately after receiving her text. "Are you alright?" he asked frantically. "Did he hurt you?"
"Aside from some bruises, I'm fine," she said. She noticed Ansel making a motion to not speak, and he kept pointing at himself, which Maddy took to mean that he didn't want Klaus to know he was there. "I got lucky, I was able to incapacitate him long enough to stake him with a branch. I ran to the main road and a lady gave me a ride to the Compound. I'm here now."
"I'll be home in five minutes, do not go anywhere. What of the wolves?"
"The two that had been walking with me are dead, unfortunately. Mikael took me away from the Pack as soon as he got me alone, so everyone else should be fine, I hope. Did you find Elijah?"
"Yes. My mother did have him. She was ranting and raving about her plan. She insisted she could put me in the body of a mortal werewolf. It would allow me to grow old with you and know the part of myself that she denied me to hide her infidelity. I declined. And still, she gave me access to Elijah. I have him with me. He hasn't awoken."
Hearing this, Ansel immediately turned and walked out. Maddy just huffed. "I'll call Elena, she'll want to be here when he wakes up. There's no telling what Esther did to him. She might be able to comfort him, if anything."
"Very well, love. Call her, and I will call Jo to make her way to us. She will examine you for any injuries."
"Nothing is broken, Nik, I promise. He could have killed me but he didn't. He was definitely going to set some kind of trap for you. I imagine he would have waited until then to kill me. Spark your rage and leave you blinded by it so that he'd have the advantage. Do you think you'll be able to get the white oak anytime soon?"
"I have it in my possession. Kol sent me a list of herbs I could utilize to remove Davina's spell. It was surprisingly accurate."
"Surprisingly? Your brother studied magic for a thousand years— longer than any living witch, even your mother. Of course he knew what to do. You need to believe in him more."
Klaus sighed. "I will be home soon. Stay put, love, please."
"I will." She hung up, and immediately called Elena, who had booked a flight before they even finished their conversation. At least she would be here when Elijah woke. Maddy hoped that Esther hadn't messed him up too bad.
Moments later, Klaus was there. He laid Elijah gently on the sofa in the courtyard before rushing to Maddy, grabbing her face and tilting her head back slightly to examine the bruising on her neck.
"When I get my hands on him," sneered Klaus, "I will force Papa Tunde's blade into him... allow it to torment him... and then, I will kill him all over again."
"Nik, I'm fine," she said gently, putting her hands on his when she felt they were shaking. "I'm fine, I don't feel anything."
Klaus said nothing, and she didn't understand what he was doing until he craned his neck slightly, angling his ear toward her stomach. She realized that he was listening to the baby's heartbeat, to make sure it was steady.
"Is it alright?" she asked quietly, since she couldn't really tell.
"It sounds the same as it usually does," murmured Klaus.
"Do you listen to it often?"
"Every night. To ensure it's still alive. It grows louder day by day. It becomes harder to ignore."
"Would you prefer not to hear it?"
"Hearing it terrifies me. I think of how this pregnancy might hurt you. I think of what it might be. Perhaps a creature far too powerful for your body to handle. I have tried my hardest to accept this and yet the worry clouds my mind until all I can see fit to do is withdraw. Pretend it isn't there as often as I can."
Maddy brought her hand up to his cheek. "Do you regret it, Nik? Like I said, if you end up deciding this isn't for you, I will be okay doing it alone—"
"I don't regret it, love," he said, and she knew he was being honest because he looked into her eyes. Those eyes that he shared with his father. The eyes that their child might have. A dark blue that had entranced her since she met him. "Truly, I do not regret it. I simply believe that if I were to feel excitement... it would ruin everything. 'Jinx' it, as one might say."
"It's okay to be excited, Nik. I'm growing an entire life in there. It's still an ugly little blob with barely a heartbeat but soon enough it'll be fully formed and as soon as it exits my body and breathes on its own... it'll be a tiny human. A product of our love for each other. And that is not only fascinating to me... it's beautiful. I've always wanted to have a family with you and I love getting to experience this. I want you to feel comfortable showing every emotion that passes through you. Good and bad. Especially when it comes to this baby. It's okay to be vulnerable and to be happy."
"And yet more often, I feel fear," he muttered, bringing his hand down and pressing it against her stomach. "Something could happen to it. To you. At any time, at the hand of anyone... what if I cannot protect the two of you? What if I fail? As happy as I want to be, it may not last. I could lose you. I almost lost you today. If Mikael had been a tad more violent... if he hadn't hesitated to kill you..."
"But I'm still alive," she said. "I'm alive, so is the baby. It's okay. I'm okay. You can be happy about that. For one instant let the worries about me go to the side. How about we focus on Elijah? Let all the worry go to him. Elena's on her way, she'll be here soon. We should try to have some good news to tell her."
Klaus assented. He carried Elijah up to his room, and Maddy sat beside him, cleaning his face and neck while Klaus went to call Kol, asking about potential remedies. If anyone knew how to fix Elijah, it was Kol.
Elena got there just before Klaus left to get the antidote, which was apparently a merlock orchid. Kol figured that it grew somewhere in the Bayou if Esther had managed to acquire it so easily.
"How is he?" asked the doppelgänger worriedly, coming to sit beside Elijah and taking his hand. "His eyelids didn't even move... he's not alert... god, what did Esther do to him?"
"Kol believes she forced him into a sort of mental prison," said Klaus from the doorway. "In his sleep, she may have tormented him." He looked at Maddy. "I will return soon, love. Don't go anywhere."
"Stay safe, okay?" she told him. "Do you have the weapons with you?"
He nodded, patting his chest pocket, where the white oak stake and Papa Tunde's blade were tucked safely together. He then sped off, and only then did Elena notice the bruises that Maddy hadn't been able to cover properly.
"What the hell is that?" she asked. "Maddy, why are you all bruised up?"
"Mikael," she murmured, causing Elena's eyes to widen. "He found me."
"How did you get away? Oh my god... you have no idea how lucky you are to still be alive."
Maddy chewed on her lip. "You can't tell anyone I told you this, okay? Especially not Klaus."
"Okay, what is it?"
"Klaus's father is alive. His biological father."
Elena blinked. "How is that possible?"
"Well, Esther brought herself, Finn, and Kol back to life through different bodies. Somehow, Ansel is here in his real body. Considering he was her lover and her opportunity came just before the Other Side collapsed, she must have brought him back to sway Klaus into taking her deal. Point is, he saved me. Brought me here then just left."
"He didn't say anything about Klaus? Or the baby?"
"No. He clearly knows, though, why else would he have been there at that moment? He must have been protecting me from afar. I guess he's just not ready to talk to Klaus."
"Well, considering you two have a baby on the way, I can't imagine Klaus will be too keen on accepting new people into his life, especially someone he already lacks a great deal of trust in. His father didn't try to be a part of his life. He left him to suffer with Mikael when he could have taken him in. That was messed up."
"I know," sighed Maddy. "But at the same time I feel like I want Ansel to come back. To be a part of this."
Elena was intrigued. "How come?"
"This baby is going to have no grandparents. None whatsoever. My parents are dead. Mikael will be dead again soon, and so will Esther. It might be nice to have one grandparent. I may have been alive longer than Ansel ever was, but I don't know anything about being a parent from the very start. He does. He could help me. Help Klaus."
"Do you think you're going to tell Klaus about who really saved you?"
Maddy wrung her hands together. "Ansel didn't want me to. But I think I should... what do you think?"
"Well... it's a hard choice. If you tell him that Ansel is alive, Klaus might go and kill him to make sure Ansel can't turn around and hurt you. Even I am worried that maybe he was trying to gain your trust. What if he's working with Esther? Or Klaus might tell him to never come close to you again and then Ansel won't be involved like you want him to be. But then if you don't tell him and he has to find out from someone else, he'll feel hurt. Or if he never finds out then you also won't have a chance for Ansel to be a part of your kid's life."
Maddy put her hands on her cheeks, puffing them up, then pressing her palms down to deflate them. "Why is this choice so damn hard? It's so annoying. I hate having to make decisions."
Elena took her hand. "Speaking of decisions... I finally got my college acceptances."
Maddy perked up. "And? What about it?"
The other girl grinned. "I got into Tulane. So did Bonnie."
The woman squealed and pulled her into a hug. "Yay, that's so exciting! Are you two going to dorm together?"
"Yep! We've already applied for a double in the nicest dorm on campus. It has a dining hall right in the quad. We'd have a really nice view of the city, and we wouldn't be too far from here."
"Does that mean Kol will eventually come back?"
"Yeah, for a little while anyway. I've heard him and Bonnie talking about how maybe in the future they'd like to go off on their own. Be completely free. Bonnie's family treats her like crap, and Kol has never really been the most connected to his siblings. We all have the power to visit them wherever they go, so I think it'll be good for them, in the future, if they really want to do that."
"Have you heard from Rebekah and Matt?"
"Well, she's taking him to travel the world as soon as he graduates. After that, who knows? Probably they'll be looking for ways to make Rebekah human. No way Matt will ever become a vampire. The two of them want kids, so... they'll want to start their little family. Rebekah is ridiculously jealous of you right now, that's probably why she's only been in touch with Klaus."
Maddy winced. "I kind of figured. Rebekah and I have never been close and we probably never will be. It's understandable. I broke her trust and no matter how much I've tried to make up for it, I doubt it'll ever be enough. I wonder if some people are just destined to not get along."
Elena chuckled lightly. "Maybe. I don't know."
"How is everyone over there?"
"Good. Jenna's doing really well in her transition into being the psychologist at the school now that her residency term was heh... ended early thanks to Alaric convincing her advisor to let her take the exit exam a year before she needed to. Jenna passed with flying colors, so she's really in her career now. Jeremy is... getting along with Davina. I think he finds her cute. And she obviously finds him cute, too, even if she tries to pretend she's not looking at him when she clearly is. Meredith is good. She was happy to return to work at Mystic Falls Hospital. And you should have seen the mess your brothers made when they were able to go back to the house."
Maddy narrowed her eyes. "Those little liars, Stefan told me that they didn't celebrate their homecoming."
"Well... I think they may have convinced Stefan to not lie to you so you wouldn't feel worried about them being reckless and potentially ruining your stuff. Which they didn't— I checked."
"Good. Last thing I need is for them to ruin my things before they send them here for me. I need all of my clothes. All of them. I have nothing better to do than try on different outfit combinations I've never done and see how it goes."
"I promise, once I'm here, you're going to get sick of me. I'll be with you constantly, and so will Bonnie. We're literally going to make this our second home. And then whenever you and Klaus need some alone time—" Elena winked, "We're going to be on baby duty. Speaking of... it's so weird, being able to hear and sense kids in the womb now. I can sense it moving just slightly... I can hear it's heartbeat... it's like my vampirism made me part ultrasound machine."
"I wish I still had my vampire hearing... I'd love to hear that. I wonder what it'll be. Boy or girl. Of course, they can change their identity if they wish when they're older, but still... I'm curious."
"Oh, it's definitely going to be a girl," said Elena. "If your baby is a hybrid or tribrid, then girl power all the way. The universe might be burdening you enough with a super powerful kid. I think it knows that if it gave you a little boy with those powers, you'd be at your wit's end."
"To be fair," said Maddy, "I was really hard to handle as a kid. I grew up doing everything Damon did. My mother used to talk about how difficult I made it for her to get anything done. She constantly had to be making sure I wasn't imitating him again and getting myself hurt. I couldn't sit still because I wanted to be outside with Damon all the time, just following him around. But if I'd been allowed to do that, I would have been absolutely filthy. He tossed mud at me every chance he got."
Elena smiled, just imagining what she and her brothers must have been like as children. She often wondered the same thing about the Mikaelsons, whenever Elijah talked to her about his youth. It was a shame there weren't baby pictures of any of them. She would have liked to see what they looked like when they were newborns and toddlers.
"Kai's still been in a coma," said Elena, moving them onto a more serious subject. "We think the magic will drain soon. But... we're not sure what to do with him. Jo told us she doesn't want us to kill him. She gave the twins very clear instructions to not tell their dad that Kai got out. A part of her wants to give him a chance... I know it. But she's nervous, too. I'd be as well, considering he removed her spleen eighteen years ago. Thing is, Luke reckons he should do something about this. Keep Kai from becoming the leader of the Coven."
Maddy frowned. "How would he do that? Is he going to kill Kai?"
"He thinks he and Liv need to Merge."
"What?"
"The other option," said Elena, "is for Luke to Merge with Kai. They're technically the same age now... and it would keep Kai from Merging with Jo. It would also keep Liv alive. But you can't tell Jo. Luke is trying to figure out if it's even possible before he poses the idea to her. He'll eventually tell her."
"Jeez. Do you think that would work? Luke Merging with Kai?"
"I don't know. But I think Luke believes he could beat Kai. He knows Jo doesn't stand a chance. She hasn't practiced magic in almost twenty years."
"How in the hell is Luke going to beat him? Kai is a siphoner. With the magic he had before being put in the coma, he was basically like a regular witch but with an extra ability that other witches don't have. I don't think it's realistic for Luke to win unless the rules of the Merge have changed. It's all about who's stronger, right? Luke isn't stronger, magically. Or physically, even. Damon sent me a picture of Kai. The dude was along for eighteen years, he probably worked out a lot to keep his figure like that. Not to mention he managed to kill a bunch of his siblings years ago and whatever strength he had then."
Elena sighed. "I think Luke is just desperate because he knows that if he Merges with Liv... he'll win. I heard her telling Enzo about it. She knows that she's the weaker twin. She knows that he... he'd beat her. And Luke doesn't want to kill her. I can't even fathom wanting to hurt your sibling in any way, let alone murder them."
Maddy made a face. "Eh, well, I've wanted to kill Damon several times."
"Well, but for uh... good reasons? Not that it's good that you want to kill him but it makes sense that what he does earns that reaction out of you? Besides, you don't go through with it, so..."
The woman shrugged. "Meh, I considered it. Point is, Luke can't beat Kai. I would say they should just keep Kai in the coma. My concern now that you tell me this is that Luke will try to wake him up and do this Merge to protect his sisters and he'll just end up causing a problem. On the off-chance that Kai beats him, it could end up going really, really badly... I just don't have a good feeling about it. From what you've all told me about Kai, he was constantly neglected and abused on top of him already being a sociopath. I don't know how much hope there is for him. I would say everyone should try to be... nice if he wakes up... see how to proceed from there. See if maybe attention and affection can get him to change his goals even slightly. I don't know... I'm at a loss. With my brothers I always try to be extra gentle with them when they're in all wound up and angry about something that doesn't pertain to me. I know it can feel comforting for some. In Kai's case, I don't know. Let's just have someone monitoring him so Luke doesn't get impulsive. The last thing we need is for more siblings to be killed."
This made Elena purse her lips as she brushed her hand through Elijah's hair. He didn't even twitch, as if he couldn't even sense that she was there. "Klaus actually kills his siblings when they tick him off. He just doesn't do it permanently. I'm glad he hasn't reverted to the daggers in quite awhile. I can tell Elijah feels safer that way. It's good, that he's been keeping his anger from getting the best of him. He could have killed Rebekah when he found out about what she and Marcel did. But he let her live. And though she complains a lot about him not forigivng her yet... I think it's something really admirable on Klaus's part. Elijah told me he was holding the white oak stake when he confronted Rebekah. If he wanted to he could have killed her permanently. You've done wonders with him."
Maddy blushed. "He's put a lot of effort in. He's always had some good in him. I think he retained a lot of his humanity through his art. When we met, he talked to me about it being a metaphor for control. It manifested through the fact that only he was in charge of what the final product looked like. The paints and brushes he used, the canvas he chose, the colors he blended together, the way he oriented each landscape or portrait. When he gets to paint he's... so calm and happy, I can feel it, even though he isn't smiling. It's his happy place. I notice he paints more whenever he has free time. He feels like he can show that good side of him. Like he doesn't fear being judged for it anymore. And so, he decided he might as well try a bit harder to be fair. For the sake of his family."
"He did it for you," said Elena reasonably. "He changed because he didn't want to lose you. Elijah is pretty convinced that you're Klaus's epic and true love."
Klaus came back a few hours later with the flower needed to heal Elijah. When he awoke, Elena remained at his side, tending to him. Maddy was going to tell Klaus about Ansel, until he announced that he had to go and follow a lead on Mikael. He promised he'd be back soon, and had kissed her firmly before dashing off. Though she loved how protective he was, she wished he would just stay.
She'd been alone for a few moments, sitting in the courtyard just staring up at the sky overhead. She sensed a presence behind her, and turned to see Ansel standing there.
"You just missed Klaus," she said slowly as she got to her feet. "In case that's what you came to do... see him, I mean."
"I'm not sure I even should," said Ansel honestly, hanging his head in shame.
"Why not?"
"I wasn't a good man. I was an adulterer. And from that infidelity came a child. One that I neglected. I should have fought for my son and I didn't. I allowed his mother to take him. I stood back while Mikael mistreated him. And today I... retreated, instinctively, before he could learn of my presence here. All I've been able to think about as I've watched from a distance as he rushes around, trying to protect you... is that I should have done that for him. I suppose that's what I came to tell him."
Maddy half-smiled. "You're welcome to wait. I'd like to know more about you, if that's okay."
Ansel didn't return the smile, as if he felt awkward being too friendly with her. "I'd like to offer my protection, if you'll accept it."
"You don't have to do that. You helped enough today. You could have been killed... again."
"I never got to have a grandchild. You're carrying my first and only one. I made a mistake, lying to my wife and my other children. And abandoning Niklaus. I don't know why I'm here now... when I was on the Other Side for years, watching over my son. But perhaps it's time for me to... be present where I wasn't before."
He came to stand closer to her. "I've heard whispers. I investigated the witches today... and it seems they worry about your child. A prophecy of it bringing death to all witches. Of it having power beyond belief. It will make you a target. Niklaus can protect you, I am sure of that. However, if you were to need the extra support, I will be here to help."
"Thank you," she said softly. "Truly, Ansel, thank you." Her phone started to ring, and she showed Ansel that it was Klaus before answering. "Nik. Everything alright?"
"I found Mikael."
"Is he—?"
"Not yet. I stabbed him with Papa Tunde's blade, and he managed to extract it from himself. I haven't the faintest idea how."
"Wait, so is he gone again?"
"No. Esther... appeared. She put him to sleep with a spell. Claims that she will not allow him to hurt you. She insists she could channel him to grant her the power to make you permanently human. She only means to sway me into accepting her ridiculous bargain, which I will never do after what she did to Elijah. How is he?"
"Elena's with him now. I can't really hear what they're saying. Nik... you should come home. There's someone here to see you."
"Who is it?"
"Just come back, please. With a... open mind. Please."
He didn't know what she meant by it. But he made to return home as soon as he could.
And when he walked through the doors, he was surprised he didn't immediately rip out Ansel's heart when he saw him standing right beside Maddy.