chapter eighteen.
Matthias led Rhea into his old bedroom and closed the door behind him, Rhea felt him release a wave of magical energy and knew that it was a silencing spell.
"Why are you here?" Matthias asked her while sitting at the edge of his bed. "I told you that it wasn't safe."
"I have to tell you something." She told him nervously while tightly clasping her hands together.
"And you couldn't have just texted me?" He asked her confused. "You had to follow me when even you have to know is a dumb thing to do with my mother around."
"Did I follow you? Yes. Did I say that is was smart? No, but here we are." Rhea told him.
"What could possibly be so important that you would risk your life for it?" He asked her incredulously.
Rhea closed her eyes and Matthias then noticed how she was shaking, he scolded himself and quickly stood to his feet. He pulled her into his arms and Rhea felt her body tense before relaxing into him and wrapping her arounds his middle.
"Is it about Kai?" He asked her softly. "Did you find a way to get him out?"
Rhea shook her head, "No but it's okay, I know that I'll see him again." She told him softly. "I just couldn't tell you this over the phone."
Matthias wanted to jump to the worse possible conclusion but stopped himself. "Is everything alright?"
"Matthias..." Rhea's body shook harder as she tried to calm down. "I'm pregnant."
Matthias felt his whole world stop, for a moment he forgot to breathe as he pulled away from Rhea so that he could look at her. Rhea could see the swirling emotions in his eyes, and she knew that she had to continue explaining before he jumped to assumptions.
"After you left, I started noticing the signs more." She told him. "I noticed before, but I thought nothing of it because we were looking for ways to help Kai." She further explained. "I took a test when I nearly fainted one day and turns out I'm three months pregnant and you're the only one that I've been with."
Rhea and Matthias hadn't talked about what they were, what they could be to one another, but they knew that they held feelings towards each other. Matthias and she agreed to talk about it after he had dealt with Esther's annoying presence here but now he's realizing that it isn't possible.
There was something about Rhea that had Matthias wrapped around her finger and he was okay with it. Rhea had helped him heal and move on from Elena, something he will forever be thankful for.
"I'm going to be a dad?" He asked her softly and Rhea nodded her head. "Holy shit."
A tearful laugh left Rhea's lips as Matthias cupped her cheeks and pulled her close for a kiss. Their lips met and Rhea felt as if she was on cloud nine, she knew that what she felt for Matthias was real and she knew that there would be no one else but him.
"We have to go tell the others." Matthias spoke once he pulled away from her.
Rhea hummed and sighed. "Before that, you should know that my friend, Nadia, she's Katherine's daughter."
Matthias' eyes widened, "She's alive?"
Rhea nodded her head, "Apparently. She's been looking for Katherine for over 500 years."
"We should definitely go see if she's okay." Matthias told her and Rhea nodded.
With hands clasped together, they walked into the living room and Rhea gasped at the sight of Nadia. Nadia's body had been moved onto the couch and her jacket removed for comfort when she woke up, but you could still see the blood on her shirt from where she was stabbed.
Rushing forward she knelt beside the girls body on the couch and looked her over. The siblings had gone outside now and the two went out onto the porch to see Rebekah was making a bonfire of sorts that they didn't notice before.
"What happened to Nadia?" Rhea asked them with narrowed eyes.
"She provoked Katherine." Hayley explained. "Elijah and she are in the kitchen talking."
The two looked over their shoulders into the house but Matthias decided that he would let Elijah be there for Katherine. Now, Elijah had a lot to make up for but at the end of the day, there was no denying that Katherine would be happy from the simple fact that he was there comforting her.
"So, what brings you to New Orleans, Rhea?" Klaus asked her.
"I had to tell Matthias something." Rhea told him while stepping closer to Matthias.
"She's pregnant with my child." Matthias confessed just as Elijah and Katherine walked outside and stood beside them on the porch.
"She's what now?" Katherine asked with wide eyes.
"I'm pregnant." Rhea repeated. "With Matthias' baby."
Klaus felt his heart sink, if what Finn had told him was true then it meant that Hope was not the only one that was going to be in danger. He looked at Hope and felt his heart swell up with so much adoration and love for her, the last thing he ever wanted was for Matthias to feel what he had felt when Hayley had to send her away.
"Finn told me why mother came for Hope." Klaus spoke up.
"He did?" Matthias asked with wide eyes.
"He didn't really have a choice." Klaus told him with a tilt of his head. "She came for Hope because of the curse on the first born of the Mikaelson family."
"Curse on the first-born?" Rhea questioned with a frown and placing a hand on her stomach.
"What the bloody hell is that supposed to mean?" Rebekah asked him with a frown as she added wood to her bonfire pit.
"Well, according to Finn, our sister Freya didn't die of plague." Klaus told them as Hayley and Elijah were now helping Rebekah. "She was taken as payment by our aunt Dahlia, who then cursed all Mikaelson first-borns for eternity."
"Is any of this true?" Hayley asked concerned.
"It is if we are to believe Finn." Elijah told her while fixing his sleeves. "Who learned it from the bastion of truth, our mother."
"Oh, it's true." Matthias spoke up and they all looked at him. "When Niklaus and I comforted our mother when we went to save Elijah, Klaus had already left but I wanted to say more." Matthias confessed to them. "Only mother was on the ground and unaware that I was there, so I jumped into her head, and wouldn't you believe that I got to see it myself, her reliving the day that Dahlia took Freya."
"Well, no wonder Finn hates us." Rebekah spoke up. "He lost the sister he adored, and instead got a judgey pack of siblings who found him unbearably dull." Rebekah said.
"Great. So, is there any chance of us running into your loony Aunt Dahlia any time soon?" Hayley asked.
"The fable's over a thousand years old. Dahlia is long dead." Elijah told her.
"Like Esther?" Hayley, Katherine, and Rhea all said at the same time.
Matthias cracked a smile at that and chuckled. "I mean, Nik and I went to see Gloria and she was still very much alive before Katherine killed her."
Katherine pouted, "She was hurting Stefan and being all creepy."
"No one is going to hurt Hope, because no one's going to find her." Klaus cut in. "There's enough wood, Rebekah. You'll burn down the whole bloody state of Arkansas." He told his little sister.
Rebekah rubbed her hands together in an attempt to clean them off. "Well, we're just missing a key ingredient!"
Klaus sighed, "No, we're not."
Rebekah smiled. "Yes, we are, Nik! Back me up, Elijah, Matthias."
Elijah laughed as he wrapped an arm around Katherine and pulled her into his side. "I suspect Niklaus would rather choke on the ashes."
"What are you all talking about?" Hayley asked looking between them all.
"Well, before we light it, we write down our wishes for each other to burn for luck. It was Kol's favorite part when we were kids." She reminded them while crossing her arms over her chest.
"It's further evidence as to why we should ignore it." Klaus told her.
"Come on brother." Matthias spoke from his spot on the porch beside Rhea. "Live a little."
Klaus shot him a look as Hayley said. "Hope's first bonfire season. I like it." She smiled and Klaus felt himself giving him. "We're doing it."
Suddenly, Nadia's gasp could be heard and both Katherine and Rhea rushed inside to check on her.
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please note that Matthias and Rhea is not going to be a slow burn.
there is whole gap about them that you don't ever really get to see unless in flashbacks that will start coming up soon so this isn't going to be a slow burn between them.
i am super excited to write Rhea in, despite it going to be semi difficult since I struggle already with putting Matthias and Kat in but I have loads of ideas and I'm ready for it.
i just hope you all like it!
- m a r i e