CHAPTER XLI
❝ But he did what he wanted to anyhow. ❞
Nik Mikaelson was under the triple-S card : surprised, shocked and stunned. It took him a good two minutes to wrap his mind around this newest revelation, his mind surveying past everything, to figure out if anything that Lucy said or did in their time together gave away the fact that she had a daughter.
"Hey, Nik?"
A soft voice snapped him out of his mushy thinking as he averted his eyes to a nervous looking Lucy.
"Yeah?" he called out, slightly dazed.
"Are you okay?"
Her voice held fear.
What did she fear? That he will break up with her just because she has a daughter?
"Yes. I'm okay. Just a little shocked." he nodded his head slowly. "I'm surprised you didn't tell me earlier."
"I- I just needed some time to reveal this properly." she said, her voice wavering as she felt her heart clench ever so slightly.
"But, um," she said hurriedly and turned to Brie, who was looking at Nik with an inspecting gaze, "Brie?"
"Yeah, mom?" she chirped back, snapping her neck towards her.
"Um, this is Niklaus Mikaelson." Lucy managed a warm smile. "And, Nik, this is Brie Wright."
"Nice meeting you, sir." Brie said kindly, extending her petite hand in front of him to shake.
He looked at it, hesitating ever so slightly, before a warm smile encased his lips and he shook her hand, crouching down to her level.
"Nice meeting you too. Your mother talks a lot about you."
Ouch.
The little girl's face lit up as she sequeled in happiness, "Really?"
"Yeah, sweetie, of course." Lucy passed her a hesitant smile.
"How old are you, dear?" Nik asked as Lucy bit her lip in anticipation.
"I'm ten years old." she replied politely.
"You live with your mom?"
"Yeah." Brie nodded happily. "Mom and Charlie."
Niklaus looked visibly devastated.
"Charlie who?"
"You should meet him too." Brie sequeled. "Let me bring him."
And she skipped out of the room to get Charlie.
"Nik?"
"No, don't- oh my god- what is going on-? Who's-who's this Charlie-? God-"
"He's my dog, calm down."
"-what the hell is going on. Charlie? Charlie who-?" he stopped his frantic rant as her words registered to him. "Wait, did you just say dog?"
"Yeah. Charlie is my dog. Not my boyfriend or something like that."
"Oh." he sighed, visibly relaxing, a weight getting off his chest before he pulled her in a hug.
"Bloody hell." he murmured, his hands tightening around her. "That was a hell of a heart attack. Don't do that ever again."
"Sorry." she chuckled, resting her head on his shoulder.
"Why did you look so nervous?" he questioned, breaking the hug as he placed his hands loosely on her shoulders.
"I- I don't know." she sighed, looking down guiltily. "I just thought..."
"That I wouldn't react in a good way? And would break things off just because you have a daughter?"
"I guess, yes."
"Hey, look at me." he said softly, cupping her face with his hands as she looked up, locking eyes with him.
"Lucia Wright," he began in a soft whisper, "I fell for you hard. Harder than you can imagine. And no shocking news, revelation could make me un-fell for you. When I first saw you that day at the school, your aura drew me in instantly. And that aura literally screamed bad girl with so many secrets and a hell of a ride. I was always ready for whatever was to come in your life, every hardship, every turn in the path, every ounce of happiness. I am willing to be with you through every phase of your life. You have a daughter, a beautiful pure soul making your life so vibrant. How will this ever be a reason for me breaking up with you? I know I was shocked, still am, but maybe because I never thought of anything like this. All our talks, every moment we spent together, nothing gave away the fact that you're a mother. Yes, I'll need some time to wrap my mind around all this because this was so sudden. But that doesn't mean that I'm stepping out of this-this relationship. Our relationship."
Lucy had teared up by now. Her mind had brewed up all the wild theories of his reaction today but none of them had consisted of this.
"I think this is the perfect time for what I've planned, then." he smiled at her before getting on a knee, making her step back in shock and surprise alike.
"Lucia Wright," he began, diving his hand into his pocket as she covered her mouth in shock.
"Please don't tell me you are proposing to me for marriage." she whispered, astounded.
Nik didn't seem to catch her words though.
He took out a fancy bowed box, which looked horrifyingly similar to a ring box, and opened it, finally declaring his vow.
"Will you be my girlfriend?"
"Oh!" she said, feeling silly as she glanced down at the promise bracelets adorned in the box he held.
How stupid she is... She really thought he was proposing for marriage this early into their relationship.
"Lucy?"
She realised that she hadn't replied yet.
"Yeah! Hell, yes!" she beamed as an infectious smile broke on his lips and he pulled her into a sweet kiss.
"They're so beautiful." Lucy murmured in awe as Niklaus encased her wrist into the diamond bracelet.
"They have the Mikaelson symbol." he said with a smile showing her the inner side of the other bracelet which in fact held an engraved Mikaelson family symbol.
She hooked the bracelet around his hand before cupping his cheeks as he met her halfway for a chaste kiss, his hands tangling into her hair.
Lucy smiled into the kiss. Today was turning out to be nothing like she thought.
A bark was what broke them apart as they turned to look at Charlie growling at Nik as Brie came into the room, thankfully not seeing them in a liplock.
"Well, he doesn't seem to like me too much, love."
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tw : mention of death, mention of suicidal thinking, mention of human trafficking
Lucy figured that Nik needed to know the rest of her life story first before jumping to the part where she met Brie.
Brie had taken Charlie away after his rather violent attack at Nik and after giving a short brief of her life after attaining un-aging, they'd finally reached the part that Niklaus was dreading the most : Steve's death.
"Maybe you should just see the memory. I really don't want to talk about it." Lucy drew in a shaky breath. "Open your eyes when it's done. I won't be seeing it."
He nodded quietly closed his eyes as Lucy gently placed her hands on his head and before his eyes went the unfortunate events of 1919.
He opened his eyes rather abruptly as soon as memory Lucy's painful scream rippled through his head.
"Oh my god." he said quietly before looking up at her. "I'm so sorry, Lucy. I'm so sorry that my father was there that night. I'm very sorry."
"It's all in the past now." she shrugged, smiling bitterly. "Those who are to be blamed are already punished. Suffering for eternities for what was done."
"Seriously, Nik, everything's settled now." she passed him a believable smile when he opened his mouth to say something.
"So, um," she sighed, tucking a piece of hair behind ear, "everything went downhill after that. The coven almost collapsed and I got submerged into dark magic, going to such lengths to bring him back. It was all unfruitful, obviously. The following decades were almost a blur. There was once, just one time, that I was able to talk to him on the other side. He couldn't come back with me because the ancestors had a hold on him. He asked me to live my life and move on, to accept that he's not coming back ever."
He grabbed her hand, giving it a squeeze, and intertwined their fingers together as the promise bracelets clinked against each other.
"The black magic had its consequences, obviously. Those were some painful years. Healing seemed almost impossible. Until, I," she paused as a tender smile grew onto her face, "met someone. I probably shouldn't be talking of this with you, but you deserve to know the whole truth."
"He was my healing." she smiled wistfully, looking afar. "He helped me grow out of that darkness. He was a witch too. We were best friends before anything else."
"But my father took him away from me."she let out a humourless laugh. "Richard got this crazy theory of a ritual : 'a loved one for a loved'. He thought scarficing him would bring Steve back. I knew it wouldn't work. It was a pointless theory. But he did what he wanted to anyhow."
"I'm sorry for what happened to you throughput the years. Nobody should have to go through something like that." he whispered into her ear, rubbing her arm to provide some sort of comfort as she leaned into him, feeling the tears brewing up.
"Yeah." she sniffled.
"You don't have to continue if you don't want to. We can discuss it anytime later." he said soothingly.
"No. It's okay. I want to get it done with." she shook her head, breaking out of the embrace as she wiped her cheeks rather harshly.
"So, um," she drew a breath, wringing her hands together, "I was left alone, again. With no motive in life, no path to go over, no one to rely on. I had left the coven very early and at that time everything seemed meaningless and a vast loop with nothing to keep me going. And then suddenly there grew a hope, in the form of my daughter. I didn't realise when she became the sunshine of my life, literally giving my life a meaning. She was not even fussy as a toddler."
"Yeah." he mused. "She's so polite now also."
"Yeah. Maybe she gets it from her father."
"Oh." Niklaus said slowly. "Father. Right. Is he around? I mean does he visit or something?"
Lucy immediately noticed the jealousy in his voice even though he was trying so hard to not make it obvious.
"Oh, yeah, of course." Lucy said with a teasing smile. "He visits on Sundays. We have a family night that day."
"Oh, he must be a fine fellow then." he forced out a chuckle. "How long have you guys been divorced?"
"Oh my god. You look so cute when you're obviously jealous." she laughed, making him turn red. "I was just kidding. I knew neither her father nor her mother. I accidently met Brie when she was a toddler right here in Mystic Falls."
"That wasn't a joke at all." he grumbled, eliciting another laugh from her.
He smiled to himself. At least tears were no longer tainting her lovely soul.
"So, um, I actually crashed into a car, killing who I thought were her parents. But later it turned out that they were human traffickers. Her actual parents were god knows where. So, I adopted her. I don't know why. Maybe because I needed a purpose in my life? I don't know. I just know that she is my everything and I'll do anything to protect her."
"Does she know of the supernatural?"
"She knows of them as fairy tales, not as ghost stories. But she'd of course not seen any of them in action. I only used my magic to do some basic things, no creepy symbols and candles in front of her. I'll prefer it if it stays that way forever."
Oh, boy, how wrong she was.
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A/n :
I think I suck at emotional talk. And at turning them into a cute couple.
ps. i'm still stuck on the ship name. i kinda like Klucia more.
Until then,
Ripahhhhhhhhhh.
Word Count : 1960