•|•
Isabel walked out of the gas station store with a bag full of supplies to find Klaus waiting for her outside their SUV. She gave him a mischievous smile as she pulled a black and white trucker cap that read, 'Mother Trucker' on it. She raised her brows and waved it at Klaus, who immediately frowned.
"Absolutely not!" Klaus objected.
"We need to blend in," she said. "Which -by the way- means you have to start by losing the thousand-dollar jacket."
Klaus sighed petulantly and made a face at her. "Tell me again why we're on a scenic tour of Methamphetamine Country, and not compelling a jet to some far-off -preferably tropical- destination?"
"Cause that's such a you thing to do and I'm not the one with an army of pissed-off vampires coming after me." She retorted before holding out her hand. "Can I have the keys?"
Klaus sighed dramatically once again before he pulled the keys out of his pocket and reluctantly handed them to Isabel.
"On a scale from one to ten, exactly how much am I going to despise this little plan of yours?"
"On a scale of one to ten it's about twenty." She gave him a happy smiled as she stood on the balls of her feet to hook the trucker cap on Klaus' head. He rolled his eyes trying to hide his amusement but the small quirk of his lips gave him away.
"Oh, good..." he muttered as Isabel turned back to the car.
≪≫•≪≫•≪≫
Klaus, who is still wearing the trucker cap Isabel got him, walked into a homey-looking bar that is blaring country music inside with Isabel, rose walking beside her mother as Klaus held Hope in a carseat and Isabel held Jacob in his. Klaus didn't seem pleased as they walk toward the bar, where a bartender was cleaning glasses in the back.
"Well, I can see why you wanted to come here," Klaus said sarcastically. "I feel safer already."
The bartender, a grouchy-looking, middle-aged man, gives them both a look. "We're closed."
Klaus gave him a dirty look. "You don't look closed..."
"We are for you."
"Well, perhaps you failed to notice the hat?" Klaus smiled.
"Does Hollis work here by chance? My sister Hayley said he's who I should speak to."
Just then, Hollis, a middle aged black man, walked out into the bar from the back room after hearing Hayley's name.
"Well, I'll be damned! She found her family."
Hollis walks toward the bar, affectionately patting the bartender on the shoulder. "I got this," he said. He then turned to Isabel with a small smile. "It's been a long time since I've seen Hayley Marshall. How's she doing?"
"She's been good. Wild as ever. But listen Hayley said that you're a nice guy and could help us. These are my kids." She gestured to the three while Klaus sighed in annoyance.
"Oh, look at them so precious! And you got yourself city boy, huh?"
Klaus sat down on one of the bar stools with Hope and responded in a mocking tone. "Never underestimate the allure of indoor plumbing."
"Hollis, this is Klaus. He's my..." she looked awkward for a moment. "..Second daughter's father. It's a long story." Klaus raised his brow with a small smirk as Hollis looked him over. "Anyway we just... need a place to lay low for a bit."
Hollis looked a little hesitant at the request but smiled anyway. Hayley had been a good friend.
"You picked a pretty rough time for us around here. A lot of folks are giving up on the pack altogether." Isabel gave him a concerned look, and he nervously rubbed his face with his hand before he continued. "Well, it's not everyday you meet the crescent queen. I just wish there were a few more people to give you a warm welcome."
"How'd you know?" Isabel asked curiously.
"Word travels around here every once in a while and it's hard not to pick up on the wolf queen finding her pack.
Isabel nodded, a light blue across her cheeks. "Ah." She turned and looked around the bar at people drinking and playing pool as Hollis pulled out two mason jars and placed them on the bar in front of Isabel and Klaus.
"Hey, you guys settle in. I'll pour the moonshine. Baby drinks for free." Hollis poured moonshine from a larger mason jar into their glasses, and Klaus seemed extremely uncomfortable by the deep-country atmosphere.
≪≫•≪≫•≪≫
Isabel drank her moonshine while she nicely listen to Klaus complain about their hide-out.
"I'm quite sure this glass hasn't been washed in the past decade, which makes it the cleanest thing in this establishment."
"And you have complained about a hundred times in the last hour. Congrats. You are officially the worst."
"I seem to remember you knocking on my door to join this little road trip. No one had a gun to your head. What was it... couldn't bear to spend too long being near Kol?"
Isabel narrowed her eyes at him, unamused. "That is none of your business."
"Right. It's only my brother and the mother of my daughter in my house in -oh, yes- my city!"
"It's funny. It's almost like you're making this all about you."
Just then, Hollis walked over to the bar, looking overwhelmed and worried. "Isabel? If you're trying to be discreet... Start by turning down the volume on the lover's spat."
Isabel noticed the worry and furrowed her brows. "Is everything okay?"
"Someone tried to rob the Gas 'n' Save down by the highway. A little girl Hayley babysat- Kayla was there. I heard it went back for the bad guy."
"What happened?"
"I heard she activated the curse."
"How old is she?" Isabel asked concerned for the girl.
"She's fifteen."
"Did they take her in? Where'd she go? What about her parents?"
"The cops let her go home. Her parents are human. She's in the little trailer down by the creek." Hollis, looked sad, and walked away.
Isabel immediately stood up, ready to help the young girl when Klaus grabbed her arm hoping she wasn't gonna do what he thought she was.
"Where do you think you're going?"
"Klaus, I remember when I triggered my curse defending something I loved. Now, Kayla is young and needs help after going through something so traumatizing."
"And that's your problem how?"
"It's not. But it doesn't hurt to help someone when they need it every once in a while. And she's a kid. I'm sure you'd want someone there for Hope if we were gone and she had no one else."
Klaus sighed annoyed. "In case you've forgotten, we're supposed to be keeping a low profile. It's hardly the time to go play youth counselor to a bunch of misguided wolves."
"It's down the road Klaus! I hardly-"
Klaus ignored her and cut her off. "In fact, I think this little experiment is over. I hope you enjoyed your trip. But my life -our daughter's life- takes precedence. A fact you've clearly failed to grasp. From now on, we do things my way."
"You're a bastard, Klaus." Isabel grumbled.
≪≫•≪≫•≪≫
Klaus has just finished buckling Jacob and looked at the three kids.
"Let's get out of here, shall we?" He smiled at them. Unfortunately for him, when he turned to get into the driver seat, Isabel was standing in front of him with an unamused expression.
"There is a scared kid out there, and I can't just turn my back on her."
"And, tragic as that may be, it's not my problem. Neither is it yours. Get in the car. We're leaving."
"We're not going anywhere." Isabel crossed her arms stubbornly.
"And I suppose you're going to stop me? Perhaps you'll get Cletus and your other new foul-smelling buddies to help?"
"Those people are helping us, Klaus -no questions asked- despite the fact they have problems of their own and they have no idea who we are. And all you've done is insult them. You don't get it, do you? This is the exact reason why we're here. Maybe if you hadn't been a dick to, I don't know, everybody, then we wouldn't even be on the run."
As usual, Klaus was not thrilled to be called out on his faults, and got more angry. "I have always done what I needed to do to protect our family from numerous enemies. I make no apologies for my methods."
Isabel scoffed in frustration and annoyance. "Do you even hear yourself, Klaus? You're incapable of even pretending to be a good person. And you can justify it all you want with strategy, and "us versus them," but at the end of the day, the enemies that you have are the ones that you made." Klaus knew that she was right but refused to admit so he just glared silently at the mother of his child. "Is that what you want for your daughter? Is that how you want her to see the world? I'm not just gonna stand back and let you raise her to be just like you, Klaus."
"If it's your impulse to trust in the kindness of those outside the family, all the more reason you need my protection."
"I don't need your protection. I am gonna go speak to that girl, because she needs my help. You're gonna stay here and shut up. I've earned at least that."
"Isabel-"
Isabel, fed up with him, opened up the car door so that Klaus could see Hope, who was watching them argue with her siblings.
"Look at her Klaus. There is a very good chance that one day, our daughter will be dealing with the same thing that Kayla is dealing with. Now don't tell me I'm wrong in saying you'd want her to have help too." She softened slightly, looking into his eyes. "Being kind doesn't make you weak, Klaus."
≪≫•≪≫•≪≫
"Elijah is just going to go for it! Let Finn steal a body and start a new life!" Kol told Isabel over the phone.
"You need to calm down, Kol." She smiled slightly. "I know you hate him but please keep your calm or you'll do something you'll regret."
"You don't understand Bella... he- I can't let him get away with what he did."
"I do. But you raging about Finn when you're stuck in there and can't do anything about it isn't going to help. What you need is something to take your mind off it..." she switched the camera to Jacob sucking on his binky. "Just focus on him for a bit." She bent down to the car seat and let him hold her finger. "Look at him and think about what your decisions will effect."
Kols face softened at the sight but he couldn't let go of what his brother had done to him.
≪≫•≪≫•≪≫
Kol drank from his glass of bourbon and stared out from the balcony when Elijah appeared in the doorway behind him.
"Whatever it is you're planning...? Don't." The man warned him.
"He cursed me to die, Elijah. Slowly. In front of her." Kol finally turned to face his brother and glared at him angrily. "And she was carrying my child. If nothing else, I owe him for that."
Elijah understood his anger but not enough to help him. "Perhaps. And perhaps the best revenge is to simply expel him from our lives altogether?"
"No! He doesn't get to live happily ever after!"
Elijah raised his hand in an attempt to settle Kol down. "I haven't made my final decision- I only ask that you stay your hand."
"That isn't your decision to make!" Kol argued angrily as he squeezed his tumbler until it shattered into pieces.
"Control yourself!" Kol, unable to do so, picked up a chair and threw it across the room, and Elijah finally realized he wasn't able to and all that was happening was him getting worse. "...Unless you can't."
Kol finally returned to his human form, and it was obvious that he was embarrassed by his behavior as he quietly replied.
"It's worse than I remember. The rage... the violence." His eyes fill with tears as he finally made eye contact with Elijah, who looked at him with concern. "I'd like to blame all my anger on Finn, but I can't control it. The anger runs so deep. And I don't know how to keep it in check..."
"But you want to." Elijah sighed thinking of his youngest brothers new family.
Kol sighed and sar down on one of the chairs, his eyes looking glassy with tears. "I couldn't live with myself if I hurt Bella and even worse our child. But, hurting the ones we love, whether we mean to or not... That's just what we do, isn't it?"
Elijah looked at him sympathetically and walked toward him to go onto the balcony, squeezing his shoulder affectionately though he has no words of comfort to offer. "It is who we are," he said as a tear rolled down Kols face. "But that's doesn't mean it will always be."
≪≫•≪≫•≪≫
Isabel knocked on the door and almost a second later Kayla, a young teenage girl with long dark hair answered the door, looking devastated. When she saw Isabel she grew confused.
"Hey. I know you don't know me but I'm Hayley's sister. Hayley Marshall. She babysat you when you were younger?"
"Is she here?" She asked as tears filled her eyes.
"No. She's back home but I'm here to help. I am so sorry about what happened, Kayla." She nodded her in in the direction of the campfire. "I'm what's known now as the crescent queen. And when I had transitioned to a werewolf I had been protecting my baby and had to kill to make sure they couldn't get to her. And I heard there's not much of a pack left, so I thought you might need someone to talk to."
Kayla nodded silently, but she was still obviously overwhelmed by everything that happened.
"But here's the thing you need to remember as you deal with all of this- you're a lot tougher than you think you are. And, no matter how awful you feel, you're not alone."
Isabel looked over and saw a large branch sticking out of the fire, which she picked up and used as a torch. "Come on. There's someplace I think you'll want you to see."
Kayla looks confused, but she followed Isabel as she lead her through the woods with their torch lighting the way.
≪≫•≪≫•≪≫
Isabel brought Kayla to a clearing in the woods near her trailer, where various personal items have been spread around- a teddy bear perched under a tree, a pair of sneakers hanging from the branches, Mardi Gras beads and various other items strewn around. Isabel used the torch to light several more torches that have been stuck in the ground while Kayla looked at the area.
"What is this place?"
"The pack used to come here when someone triggered their curse. Not to ask for forgiveness, but... to accept what they had done. To honor the dead in order to move on." She looked at Kayla, who looked utterly overwhelmed.
"I don't even know his name..." she muttered sadly.
Isabel smiled gently and walked over to her, pulling a wallet out of her jacket pocket and handing it to her. "Here. I got this. It was his."
Kayla looked at her questioningly, and Isabel just smiled warmly. "A friend of mine knows someone in the Sheriff's department. He knows of our kind. I asked for a favor."
Kayla looked down at the wallet, unsure of what to do or say. "Look, the turning is gonna hurt. And your first full moon is gonna be a real bitch. But I think you can handle it. You just have to be tough and brave through it."
Isabel smiled reassuringly and Klaus, who, unbeknownst to the girls, was lurking in the shadows behind them, seemed to relate to what Isabel was saying. "You'll never forget what happened, but... You can't let the past define who you are."
Klaus seemed impressed by how comforting Isabel was being to the young werewolf while Kayla gently opened the wallet and pulled out the work ID of the man she killed before hanging it up on the tree to signify his life and death.
≪≫•≪≫•≪≫
After Kayla had returned home, Klaus came from out of the woods to join Isabel, still looking slightly embarrassed about his earlier behavior.
Isabel furrowed her brows in confusion. "Where are the kids?"
"With Hollis. You trust him, I trust you... Baby steps, as it were. Seems I owe you an apology, little queen." Klaus looked uncomfortable, but forced himself to look Isabel in the eyes. "I've given you a thousand reasons to abandon me, but you haven't yet. So... thank you. For my sake, and for our daughter's." Klaus sat down next to her, facing the fire. "Perhaps... it's time to start living, not by my decisions, not by yours, but by what we together decide. Partners. For Hope."
Isabel seemed truly touched by Klaus' response and smiled at him, glad that he'd come to that decision. Klaus' eye caught the ID Kayla hung on the tree out of the corner of his eye, and he looked horrified when he got a closer look at it.
Isabel's expression becomes concerned and asked, "What's wrong?"
"This was no random attack." He got up and walked over to the tree to look at the ID, which had 'Kingmaker Land Development' stamped above the photo of the man Kayla accidentally killed. "These wolves aren't just disappearing. They're being hunted."
Isabel, taken by surprise, widened her eyes in horror.
≪≫•≪≫•≪≫
Klaus stood in the clearing of the woods and walked out onto the balcony for some privacy.
"We got the white oak." Elijah told him. "Time to come home."
"Well, at least one of us has something good to report... Because Isabel and I have just made a rather unsettling discovery. Seems our friends at Kingmaker Land Development are still targeting wolves. What we don't know is why."
Elijah seemed shocked by the news, though perhaps he just didn't want to consider that possibility.
Meanwhile, Marcel had just returned to his loft with a bottle of alcohol he presumably sneaked from the compound. He was laughing to himself until he walked into the room where Sofya was being held to find that Josh was laying unconscious on the ground and both Sofya and Vincent are gone. His smile immediately fell when he realized that something bad had happened.
Elijah's expression was grim as he processed this newest development. "This whole time, we've been so consumed with everything out there." Elijah said. "This auction, this swarm of old enemies... what if it was just a distraction? Niklaus, I'm beginning to fear that the real threat has been in front of us all along."