Grace was slowly, but steadily going crazy. She paced inside the compound like some caged wild animal for days now, because Nik and Elijah just wouldn't let her out. The whole family wouldn't leave her out of eyesight and it was heavily annoying her.
Whenever someone was trying to strip her off her freedom, she was getting heavily nasty and now wasn't any different. She tried to keep herself together and understand that the brothers just wanted to protect her, but this wasn't the right way. Grace was always part of the game, they could try to keep her out of it as much as they wanted, it would never work. They should know.
Even tough it seemed that there was always someone watching her, Grace still felt utterly left alone. Elijah was out with Nik all the time, keeping themselves busy with their first sirelings. Hayley was probably the only person that could really understand her situation, but it was always awkward talking to her. So she had to deal with this mostly on her own, which was a situation she seriously disliked.
She couldn't go on like that anymore. All this was driving her crazy. Nik had a girl with him for some hours now and the noises combined with her senses on overdrive didn't make it any better.
Grace still wasn't the slightest comfortable with talking to Nik, but this time she needed to. Determined, she walked towards his room and walked in without even caring to knock. Nik stood in front of his dresser, thankfully having pants on, while a red haired girl laid in his bed, having a cocky smile on her face. The young vampire ignored her completely, as she she thought that she was just some girl Nik lured in to distract himself.
Nik looked over his shoulder and his eyes widened when he saw that she came in. There was something in his eyes that let her know that he didn't want her anywhere near the woman that was in his bed.
"Can't you for once knock, Gracie?"
Rolling her eyes, she stepped in front of him and crossed her arms in front of her chest.
"Could you please send your plaything away?"
She snapped, lifting a brow. But Nik stared intensely at her, his eyes flickered back to the red haired beauty. Before he could speak, she raised her voice.
"Oh, I don't think so. We aren't finished yet, right, Nik?"
Standing up and revealing her naked skin, she stepped beside the hybrid and snuggled into his chest. Nik just looked annoyed and Grace adverted her gaze disgusted.
"...You must be Grace. I'm Aurora. I've heard you're...well acquainted with my brother."
She held out her hand, mocking politeness. But Grace ignored it, as she was too busy processing the information she just gave. Elijah told her about Aurora before and what he had done to her. And of course her degree of relationship with Tristan. Her gaze was fixed on the smaller woman and she was filled with shock. How could Nik bring her here? Was he so hell bent on getting them all in danger?
Her jaw clenched as she shot Nik an angered glare. She really had to keep herself from protectively placing her hands on her belly. With that gesture everyone would find out what was going on with her and that was something people like Aurora, Lucien and Tristan definitely shouldn't know.
"What do you want?"
Grace said with a serious tone, shooting Aurora a glare. She should know that she wasn't someone to be messed with, even tough she was a lot weaker than her physically.
Aurora chuckled, as if laughing at Grace's question. On the outside she looked so innocent and girly, but it was easy to see through his facade. There was a maniac lurking inside and she surely had some kind of agenda.
"Oh, seeing how Nik looks at you, you're someone quite dear to him. Maybe we could become friends."
The older vampire held out her hand and Grace just snorted, ignoring the gesture. A displeased expression darkened Auroras face. She looked like she wanted to scratch Grace's eyeballs out for disrespecting her that way.
Thankfully, Elijah's voice yelling his brothers name broke the situation before it could turn violent. At least she could trust on the fact that Nik wouldn't let this woman hurt Grace, especially now that she was pregnant.
Grace immediately rushed to Elijah's side before he could see Nik and Aurora together. She could feel that this would fire up the mistrust he felt towards his brother even further, especially now that he was being even more protective over his love than usual.
He spared a short look at her when she grasped his hand, but then looked up to see his brother.
"You shout loud enough to wake the dead."
Nik mocked nonchalantly and Grace would've loved to punch that right off his face, knowing that he'll present his little...surprise soon.
"Can't you pick up your phone? Your sister is missing."
The older brother hissed, enraged that Nik was acting so laid back in spite of all the trouble they were facing. Grace sucked in a sharp breath when she heard this piece of information and she tensed. How could her dear friend just go missing? She didn't even have to chance to tell her that she was pregnant yet.
"Well...she isn't exactly missing. And if everyone behaves themselves, you can trust me to tell you where she is."
Elijah's eyes widened when he saw this part of Niklaus' history that he'd loved to wipe out. Aurora grinned, but her eyes gave away that she hated Elijah deeply. His grip on Grace's hand grew tighter, like her touch was the only thing holding him back from letting his rage out.
"Give me my sister. Or I'll pay a visit to your brother Tristan."
His tone made the threat more than obvious. When it came to his family he wasn't up to games. Knowing that Rebekah was in danger was driving him crazy.
"Elijah, please...Aurora and I have come to an agreement."
Grace had no clue how Nik could keep up this act. He surely had a plan that was pretty diabolical, but still, this was about Rebekah.
"Now that your vile act of compulsion is revealed, there's no reason why we shouldn't pick up where we left off a thousand years ago."
Aurora was obviously enjoying seeing Elijah's distress. Her rubbing herself all over Nik was making Grace want to puke and it sure as hell wasn't a case of morning sickness.
"Ugh, could you two discuss that later? There's a more pressing matter at hand. We need to talk, Nik."
She shot the hybrid a glance that would've made the hardest men shiver. Hopefully it showed him that she was deadly serious about this.
He sighed and turned to his lover.
"Go on, love. Gracie, my brother and I have to chat."
Aurora giggled, nodded and finally disappeared. Apart from being a threat and their enemies' sister, this woman was just one of these persons Grace instantly hated.
...
The brother's bickering had Grace on edge. Being pregnant had her emotions on overdrive and two grown men acting like twelve year olds wasn't making it any better.
She sat on a table while Elijah raged about Nik letting Aurora inside their home, while Nik shouted that Rebekah's first sireling could be useful in all this. Grace tried her best to block it all out, but their voice combined to a massive throbbing sensation in her head. Her lip curled upwards in anger.
"Could you two for once stop bashing your heads in with that nonsense? Do you really don't get it?"
They immediately turned around to her, confusion and worry written all over their faces, but at least they finally stopped speaking.
"We're the bad guys of their story. Well, we're the villains of many stories, if I'm being honest. Rightfully so. You guys ruined their lives and even I...I guess little Miss perfect Forbes is thinking about colors for her babies' room instead of slaughtering even more people than usual, like me. But has this ever stopped us from protecting the family?"
Of course the brothers immediately started to tell her that she wasn't doing anything wrong. As if she had a problem with killing people. This pregnancy made her hungrier for blood than usual. It was just the fact that she would become a mother that made her think about her actions.
But this wasn't the point at all. She raised her hands defensively.
"No. You don't get it. The three of them have a huge advantage. They have an alliance, they work and stand together. Right now, we don't. So instead of discussing Nik's love life, wouldn't it be smarter to finally work out a plan?"
Silence erupted and the gazes Nik and Elijah exchanged proved to Grace that her words made them think. Maybe this would finally get through their thick skulls.
Suddenly it seemed as if a light bulb went off in Elijah's head and this diabolical, stunning smile that let the brothers look so alike and weakened Grace's knees all the time appeared on his face. He walked towards her, grabbed her face and placed a kiss on her lips. Nik's annoyed groan could be heard.
"You're a genius, Miss Gilbert."
Amused and confused, she raised her brows.
"Yeah, I know, but why..."
Elijah chuckled and turned back to his brother.
"You're right, they have an advantage over us. So we have to methodically turn them against each other. What better way than to have a dramatic Thanksgiving dinner?"
This was the man Grace fell so deeply in love with. Not only was he an amazing strategist, but this surprising ruthlessness in him was just bad ass.
Nik flashed his brother the same dark smile and nodded, knowing this would be spectacular. Even Grace felt her desperation replaced by the strong energy in the room. It felt just like old times, when nothing could stop this trio.
"Let's start the preparations, shall we?"
The oldest brother still smiled while he enthusiastically walked out of the room. Grace sighed deeply when he left, because all the worries came rushing back to her. She really needed to get out of here, she had too much time to think. Her shoulders sunk and she sat back onto the table.
Of course Nik immediately noticed the swing in his friends' mood. He studied her intensely, hoping he could take the fear away from her.
"You know, I was afraid, too, when it was revealed that I'd be a father."
Grace looked up to Nik when he spoke, but quickly adverted her gaze again to the colorful sight of Bourbon Street beneath them.
"I don't know, Nik. This is just crazy. Why of all people me? I'm a mess, I don't have that maternal gene, I kill people for sport and don't even have regrets...how am I supposed to teach a kid morals?"
Sometimes Nik and Grace were just so alike. The hybrid felt just the same before Hope was born and even now he felt like a bad father. But he learnt a thing or two.
"First, love, you're not as bad as you're telling yourself. Second, those witches chose you because they knew we would protect this child whatever it costs."
He stepped closer to her, placing his hand on her shoulder before squeezing comfortingly.
"...I learnt something from a certain brother that is just way too moral. Love is enough. And I know that you'll love this baby, more than you even realize."
Grace smiled lightly, thankful that he was saying this.
Nik let go of her, knowing that he shouldn't push it too far. He wanted it to be like before, so he could hug her tightly and comfort her the way she deserved it. But there was still too much damage that only time could fix. Before he reached the door, he looked back over his shoulder.
"...And there's one fact in this world that always will be true: My brother will be father of every little one you place in his arms. You're not alone."
With that he left, thankfully before the tears spilled from Grace's eyes. Those were tears of relief, because that was all she needed right now. Knowing that the family would stand by her side, that this child would have the best father and the most crazy, but loving aunties and uncles was what made her believe that she could handle this.
......................
First of all: thanks for 300k views! <3 That's a number quite unimaginable for my mind.
Sorry for not updating anything in quite a while. I don't know, I just couldn't bring my self to write. Well, I've been having guy problems, the weather is just way too nice to stay inside and so on and so on. Not really an explanation but I think you guys know what this feels like :D I've decided to not push myself too hard and make a little shorter chapters, with maybe a little less action but more stuff that is 'mine' and goes deeper into character development.
Thanks for being here <3