»»—2019, somewhere in the state of Louisiana, USA—««
"So," she said, handing me a plate, "Who is he?"
I looked at her distracted and hummed questioningly. Hayley rolled her eyes.
"Henry," she said, "Who is he?"
I peered over my shoulder. He was on the kitchen table playing with Hope. They were drawing on the same piece of paper some kind of weird alien. It was green and red and purple, and now Hope had decided that only glitter could make it better. Henrik couldn't do anything but agree.
I cracked a smile. He was good with Hope. They had just met just some hours ago and now, after dinner, while Hayley and I cleaned, they were acting as if they were the best of friends. At first, I had been nervous about how their interaction would go, I couldn't have wished for a better one.
"He's a friend," I said, looking down at the plate I was carefully drying with a towel.
I noticed how she arched her brow.
"I've seen the way you look at him, B," Hayley said grinning, "He's more than a friend."
"He's really not," I insisted, not looking at her.
"Then why bring him and not Bear?" she asked.
Björn, or Bear as Hope called him when she still couldn't pronounce his name, had wanted to come, but it was Henrik the one that I needed. I was risking a lot just by coming, I didn't know how Niklaus was going to react upon seeing me and I certainly didn't know what he would do if Björn tagged along. So I had made him stay back. Henrik, on the other side, hadn't budged. He had been Hel-bent on coming. I knew how stubborn he could get, it was a family thing, so I couldn't make him stay.
"You know how much Hope likes him," Hayley continued.
"Yes," I said, "But I'm not that sure about how much her daddy likes him." I smirked thinking about it. "I don't know how much he likes me," I added chuckling a little. I needed to laugh, it was the only way I was going to get through this and not freak out.
I put the now very dry plate back on its cabinet and put the towel next to the sink. I rested my back on the countertop and sighed. What the Hel was I doing here?
"Hey," Hayley called softly. I looked at her. "It's going to be okay. I swear," she said reassuring, resting one hand on my arm, "Klaus is not gonna hurt you. I won't let him."
I nodded slightly. I wasn't sure about that but I would roll with it and hope for the best. If only my pendant worked, I would be much more confident. If Nik killed me now, no magic would bring me back. I looked down, grabbed it and willed it to work without any success, and then I tried to think about something else.
"When are you going?" I asked her.
She scowled thinking. "Mary told me she has a lead," she explained, "She'll come any minute now. I'll put Hope to bed and leave."
I nodded again. I liked Mary, she was good with Hope, she cared for her. The old lady wasn't too fond of me at first. She had some kind of cross against vampires, but after some long years, she had grown to like me. Or at least tolerate me. She saw I was doing everything I could to help Hayley's kid and didn't want anything in return. She had once told me she hadn't expected that from a Mikaelson. I grinned. At least someone still thought of me as one of them.
"Is he the reason you didn't come back last time?" she asked out of the blue.
"What?" I was not very bright tonight.
Last year I was spending some months with them, as I usually did, but I had to leave for Olga's opening. But then so many things happened that I had to postpone my return. Sure, Niklaus had been one of the factors that pushed me to stay in Spain, where he couldn't reach me yet, but he wasn't the main one. I knew back then that Hayley would need more time before having all the ingredients for the spell that would save my siblings, so his return didn't make me very anxious, but when I found him, well, I knew my priorities had shifted.
"I mean," I started to explain myself, "I'm pretty sure Nik is still angry at me but-"
"No, not Klaus," she said.
"Who then?" I asked.
She scoffed, clearly annoyed by my lack of mental speed this evening. Her eyes darted slightly to the two figures that played on the table. I followed her gaze and understood.
"Henry?" I asked, her face contorted annoyed, signalling that I was correct. "No!" I lied, but then trailed off a little, seeing she didn't believe me, "Yes?" I offered.
"Why?" she wanted to know.
I sighed.
"It's— complicated," I shrugged.
"Everything in this family is," she said. I chuckled. She was right on that one, I knew. "You can tell me."
I really wanted to explain everything to her, I couldn't keep the secret anymore. It wouldn't even be a shock for her, she should have been used to it by now. Hayley had had such a complicated and hectic life I was sure dumping this secret on her wasn't going to faze her. She was an orphan that had been kicked out of her foster home right after she triggered her werewolf curse. Then she just moved around the country trying to find her place in the world. And just when she was 19, she found the Mikaelsons, for better or worse. One thing led to the next, and Hope was the unexpected result. I was sure she wouldn't change one bit of her story, given the chance. And just because of that, I knew my secret wouldn't be that big of a deal to her. I had to tell her, I decided to do it.
"Henry," I started, "Is actually Henrik. Henrik Mikaelson."
The sound of an engine interrupted me.
Hayley licked her lips, annoyed that she wouldn't get to hear the story yet. That name meant absolutely nothing to her, so she couldn't put two and two together. For all she knew, he was a distant cousin twice removed. If only she knew, she would freak out just imagining what it meant.
"That must be Mary," she said, "I'll be right back."
I nodded as she hurried out of the room, telling Hope to stay inside with us. The little girl looked up at her mother and nodded before returning to her drawing. But Henrik's attention wasn't on the paper anymore, he was instead looking at me.
He stood up, carefully signalling Hope to keep colouring, and walked over to where I was standing.
"Hey," he said, putting his hands inside his jean's pockets.
I smiled at him, resting on the counter. "She likes you," I said looking at Hope.
He looked at her too. "I like her too," he said, "She's wonderful."
"Yeah," I said grinning, "She's an amazing kid. I can't believe how much she's changed in just some months."
"That's the thing with humans," he said, "Every second is precious because you know it will end eventually. With kids is more evident because they change so much more than adults..."
I threw him a careful side glance, knowing exactly where this conversation was going.
"You could feel that too, you know?" he said. I arched my brows and he added, "Mortality."
He had mentioned me that idea a couple of times before, carefully, as if testing the water. I thought it was pretty stupid. Even if I had spent my life trying not to drag too much attention, you are bound to gain a couple of enemies when you wear the Mikaelson name. Even if I didn't display it anymore, those enemies still remembered it, and me. Giving up my immortality was not in my list of priorities, no matter how happy that would make my ancestors. It already sucked that I was somewhat vulnerable without my pendant, I couldn't imagine what it would feel to be human again.
"Could I?" I said as uninterested as I could.
"I know where the cure is!" he said, "You could take it and be human again. And we could live a happy, normal life. Together."
I smirked. "You can always do what Björn does," I said, "Why do I have to be the one who changes?"
"I don't like what Björn does," he said quietly, "I don't want to hurt anyone."
"Well, I don't want to get hurt by anyone," I blurted out.
He frowned, replaying those words in his head over and over again.
"Henry, can you help me color the head?" Hope asked all the way from the table, maybe sensing how tense our conversation was making us.
I bit my lower lip, holding back my words, and shook my head. "Hope needs you," I said, "I'm going to see how Mary is doing."
I walked out of the room but I could hear his desperate sigh and how he rubbed his face and walked tiredly to Hope.
"Sure, love," he told her, "What are we doing?"
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