It was nighttime when they realized something was wrong.

They'd spent the entire day alone, chatting and getting to know the house they were staying in. They spoke about their past, and Esmeray told Hayley all about her experiences in Mystic Falls. They were joking by the time the sun set, but it was then that they had the feeling that something wasn't right.

"Elijah hasn't been here all day," said Hayley nervously as they moved around upstairs, looking for him. "What if something happened to him?"

"Maybe he didn't want to stay?" asked Esmeray, knowing Elijah must be feeling guilty about his obvious attraction to Hayley. "He didn't remain very long in the Mansion before. Living with Klaus can suck."

"Come now, love, it can't be that bad," came the hybrid's voice from behind them. "Oh, carry on, don't let me interrupt whatever fun game you're playing. Practicing for hide and seek when the child arrives?"

Esmeray rolled her eyes. "Actually, now that your ego has inflated itself all over again, we thought to look for a ruler to see how much smaller your dick has gotten as a result."

Klaus wiggled his eyebrows. "Oh, you saw it last night, love, I think you know it hasn't shrunk a bit."

Hayley snorted into her hand as Klaus walked away, delighted with leaving Esmeray flustered in his wake. "You saw his—?"

"I saw into his mind," she said quickly. "I did not look down his pants. It just comes with getting to see his memories."

Hayley made a choking sound. "Does that mean you saw—?"

"You two making this baby? Yes. Did I essentially burn that memory out of my mind? Also yes."

Hayley rubbed her forehead as she heard Klaus laughing downstairs. "Let's go back to talking about how small his dick is," suggested Hayley, which made Esmeray smirk. However, the wolf made a face to show that she disagreed with this statement, and gestured a specific length with her hands, making the werewitch turn beet red as she nodded, because this could be confirmed in Klaus's memories.

'I know,' Esmeray mouthed, fanning her face. Hayley winked at her, miming a motion that suggested that Klaus and Esmeray needed to hook up already, which made the hybrid scoff, motioning for them to walk back to Hayley's room and cease this conversation.

"By the way," Klaus called up. "Elijah's not coming back. You can quit your pitiful search."

"We'll stop searching the day you grow some balls," muttered Esmeray under her breath, though she knew perfectly well that Klaus had heard her.

"Watch that mouth of yours, love," he answered. "Don't make me punish you."

Esmeray's whole stomach did a flip this time, and Hayley couldn't suppress her laughter, though it was clear that she was bothered by the news that Elijah had left. "Let's just go back to your room," said Esmeray loudly.

But both women tensed at the sound of a car suddenly pulling up in the driveway, and stopped in their tracks. Hayley ducked into one of the nearest rooms and grabbed a poker from beside one of the fireplaces, though it looked more like a crowbar. Esmeray took the leading heading downstairs as the door swung open to reveal Rebekah Mikaelson.

"Who the hell are you?" demanded Hayley.

Rebekah nodded to Esmeray. "You there," she said to Hayley. "You're the maid, I presume? My bags are in the car— get them, will you?"

"Hello," said Hayley with a wry smile as Esmeray skipped down and pulled Rebekah into a hug. "Not the maid."

"Right," said Rebekah once she let go of Esmeray. "You're that werewolf girl my brother Klaus knocked up. I was expecting to see some kind of supernatural, miracle baby bump. Guess you're not showing yet. It's Hayley, isn't it?"

Hayley was clearly a bit irritated with her. "You have your brother's manners."

"And his temper, too, so watch it," said Rebekah sharply. She faced Esmeray. "Where's Elijah?"

"We don't know," the werewitch said. "Seems to us like he's long gone."

"One minute," said Hayley, "he was here making epic promises about protecting me in this predicament that a bottle of scotch and some bad decisions got me into. He was all poetic about how we're family, and then Klaus told us he bailed. Guess that's what I get for trusting a vampire."

Rebekah frowned. "Elijah is not just any vampire, and he doesn't break promises. Which means Niklaus has done something dastardly and Klaus-like." She started walking further into the house. "Klaus! Get out here and tell me what you've done with our brother, you narcissistic, back-stabbing wanker!"

Klaus came out from behind a pair of doors, looking smug. "Enough with all the shouting." He winked at Esmeray before saying, "Little sister, I should have known. I assume the six dead vampires were your doing?"

"They were very rude," said Rebekah matter-of-factly. "Trying to victimize a poor, innocent girl just trying to find her way to the Quarter. So sorry, were they friends of yours? Oh, that's right, you don't have any friends."

"I do have friends," Klaus replied. "I have Marcel. You remember him, don't you? Yes, of course you do. He fancies himself the 'King of the Quarter' now, and he has these rules about killing vampires. It'll be fun to see what sort of punishment he comes up with for you."

"I don't care about Marcel or his rules," Rebekah muttered. "Elijah doesn't welch on deals. What did you do to him?"

Klaus smirked. "Perhaps he's on holiday... or taking a long autumn nap upstairs." He seemed pleased with Rebekah's horrified expression. "Well, go on. Take a look around. You remember this house as well as I."

Rebekah glared at him. "I remember everything. I remember how the drunken fool of a governor hid away all of our vampire sins in exchange for gold. I remember the lavish parties the governor threw, as if to impress you. I remember finding a moment of affection with the governor's son, Emil. And I remember that even Elijah was happy. Then, of course, you killed Emil."

"Well, he wasn't good enough for you," said Klaus simply.

"No one was ever good enough for me, Nik, you made sure of that," Rebekah said coldly. "Now, where is Elijah?"

Klaus's phone began to ring, and he pulled it out, looked at the screen, and made to leave. "Where are you going?" Rebekah demanded. "It appears the night is not quite over, yet," the hybrid answered. "I'm off for another drink with Marcel."

"Elijah told me about your plan to take apart Marcel's empire piece by piece. I don't remember it involving you two drinking New Orleans dry together."

"I know you don't have many friends, Rebekah, but what some friends do when they get together is they drink. And when they drink, they tell secrets. Marcel has somehow found a way to control the entirety of witches in the Quarter, and I aim to uncover the 'how' so I might take it for myself. Finding Elijah didn't make my to-do list today." He stopped at the door. "Oh, and welcome home, little sister." He cast her a wicked look before glancing at Esmeray again. "As for you— you ought to call Damon so that he ceases bothering me."

He walked out, and Esmeray let out a groan. "See you two later," she said, taking out her phone. "He's right."

"You'll only ever hear Esmeray say that Nik is right about something," said Rebekah as Esmeray trotted upstairs.

"Hello," Damon answered within seconds of her dialing his number.

"Hi," she said, flopping onto her bed. "What are you doing?"

"I'm in my bath, naked. You should come by."

"Mm, I think I'd rather start filming Keeping Up With the Mikaelsons, but thanks."

"Wow, did you and Klaus finally sleep together or something? I bet it was one of those hot reunions like, realizing that your time apart was just too much to bear, and then you slobbered all over him with your puppy tongue, and—"

"I'm playing doctor to his babymama."

"No fucking way. That rumor was real?"

"Apparently."

"Aw, and here I thought I was going to be an uncle. How are you feeling with that?"

"I'm... coping. Obviously there's a certain extent of jealousy, but I'm not letting it show. Hayley is sweet and she doesn't deserve for me to be moping about it."

"So just sleep with Klaus and make a baby of your own. Boom, you're all satisfied."

"The last thing he needs at the moment is another tribrid child on the way. One is complicated enough. Plus, I've told you before, I don't think I can handle a pregnancy like that if I'm not a full hybrid."

"Oh... right. What's going on with that? Are you going to try and do the ritual again?"

"Eventually. I guess a part of myself thinks it's a proper punishment for me to remain a fucked hybrid after I let Anya get killed on my watch."

"Hold on. Back up for a second. It is not your fault she died, Esme. You don't need any sort of punishment."

"I just feel like I do. It will hurt me, but I think that if I push the ritual again, something bad will happen."

"Can't a vampire or some other supernatural read the scripture?"

"No. It has to be a closely related wolf and it has to be someone whose transformation I can follow. It's complicated but this ritual is ancient— if I don't follow it, it won't work at all. The instructions are kind of set in stone at this point."

"That's just a major bummer. Come back, Esme. You don't need to be stuck between Klaus and his babymama if you don't want to be."

"That's the thing. I do want to be here, Damon. I want to help this kid come out healthy. And there's no being in between... at least not so far. They hardly speak to each other. It's like they don't even want to acknowledge that the other is the parent of the kid."

"I guess it's weird for your man to be seeing her as the pregnant one, considering he expected it would be you carrying his kid one day."

"Maybe his inner wolf is like... proud, but also detached? I mean, she isn't his soulmate, or they'd be acting a whole lot different."

"Or maybe his breeding kink only comes alive with you."

Esmeray let out a choking sound. "His what?"

"He's a wolf! The way you talk about it, his subconscious is screaming for him to nail you. It's the primal instincts. That's one of the many existing kinks, and it matches up with what a male wolf might inherently feel."

"Please never say that to me again."

"Ah, I see, little Esmeray doesn't want to name any kinks because it scares her."

"It doesn't scare me, it's just weird right now. This whole situation... is weird."

"Tell me this one thing honestly. If it had been you, what would you have done?"

"I-I guess I'd be happy. I don't want to be a mom right now but in the future, maybe. I'd be scared, yeah, but it doesn't sound so bad. I like Klaus. We'd make cute kids. I'd do my best to give it a good life. If it was a girl, I'd name her Anya."

She knew Damon was smiling on the other side. "Just tell me whenever you two finally make a baby so that I can be the cool uncle who introduces them to bourbon at the age of six."

"Oh, dear lord, you're not coming close to the kid if you're going to teach them about bourbon at six. How about sixteen instead?"

"Done. Hey." He paused for a moment. "You sound a lot better. I'm glad you healed and you knew what you needed. Not everyone has the guts to take a stand and recover the way they need to without letting someone screw it up."

Esmeray blushed. "Thanks, Damon. I'm grateful for your support. It means a lot that you were respectful about it. I hope to see you again soon. I'll keep you updated, alright?"

"Sure thing. Get some rest, Esme. Oh and by the way— Elena and I are... actually not going to be a thing."

"Oh? Damn, I've missed months worth of Delena development."

"We've kind of just realized that we're better as friends. We tried, and it didn't really work."

"Hey, you're going to find someone, alright? You're a good guy. Maybe the person is right in front of you and you haven't realized it. You and Bonnie had some major sexual tension the last time we were all together. Maybe see where that road goes."

"Bon-Bon, seriously? Absolutely not happening."

"You never know, Damon," giggled Esmeray. "Life can surprise you."

"You really need some sleep, you're becoming delusional."

"Very funny. You should rest, too. Take care, Damon."

By the time she got off of the call, she found out that Rebekah had left, and Hayley had followed soon after to run an errand. The hybrid hadn't thought much of it until much later, when she heard some strange sounds outside and found Klaus piling up unconscious vampire bodies in the front yard while Hayley and Rebekah watched.

"This is why I told you never to leave the house," Klaus snapped as he turned to face them, ignoring as Esmeray walked out the front door. "Werewolves are banned in the Quarter. I had a plan, and your little nighttime stroll put it all in peril! Leave him!" He yelled directly at Rebekah, who'd been coming toward one of the vampires, who was waking up, but still looking beat up. "You've done enough, don't you think? Leaving a trail of bodies like a road map to my door?"

"If I hadn't overhead this lost bragging about werewolf heads, everyone here would be screwed!" Rebekah snarled. "And don't give me that crap about having a plan. You've had all the time in the world to execute a plan, and no one's seen you do a damn thing! Esmeray is here pitching in, despite not having to, and is making an effort to help Hayley feel comfortable in this house. Elijah made a deal to protect your child, so that it could save you from your selfish, rotten self. But you obviously don't give a damn about the child or Hayley or Esmeray or Elijah, because what have you done to honor it?

"I have done everything," Klaus said sharply. "Let me spell it out for you, shall I? From the day I arrived, Marcel hasn't trusted me. From Day One, he's had his vampires ingesting toxic vervain which, as you know, little sister, protects them from my mind control. I needed a spy— someone on the inside with me who Marcel would never suspect. So, I created a Day Zero and got there first. Marcel had just lost six vampires, thanks to your little murder spree, and he needed new recruits. So, I made the new one mine, before he'd had even a drop of vervain. But we all know the real way to a man is through his heart, so I made quick work of getting the bartender he fancies to give him a chance, ensuring he is distracted. And this one—" he grabbed the vampire that was awake from the pile, "I'm going to drain him of vervain, compel him to believe his mates found religion and moved to Utah, so that he can explain to Marcel why he lost three more vampires tonight."

He started to drag the vampire into the house and dropped him in the doorway beside Esmeray as Rebekah and Hayley followed him into the house. "Does anyone have any more questions?" he asked, looking around. "No? Good, because I have a question. Hayley, what were you doing in the bloody French Quarter in the first place?" When she didn't say anything, he yelled, "Answer me!"

"Klaus," Esmeray said in a warning tone. "Leave her alone."

"You wanna know what I was doing?" Hayley snapped, coming forward. "I took Esmeray's advice and went to buy poison so I could put your little baby out of its misery."

Klaus's eye twitched before he abruptly wrapped his hand around Hayley's throat and pinned her roughly to the wall, causing her to gasp for air as he crushed her throat.

Esmeray swirled her hands in midair, and Klaus few nearly thirty feet down the hall, landing with a crunch on the ground. "Are you kidding me?" she hissed, storming over to him. "You really confuse me. First, you're making me think that you don't want this baby, which has me wondering why the hell I'm here making sacrifices, and next, you're suddenly going psychotic when she says she wants to get rid of it? Make up your mind, Klaus, do you want this kid or not? Tell me so that I'm not here running a fool's errand trying to help all of you. And for the record, this is Hayley's choice and her choice alone. I don't think you get any say in it anymore considering how you've been treating her. The way you're acting is making all of us think that you only want this child for power, and otherwise, will be an absentee father. That's not fair to the kid. Would you do the same if I was the pregnant one, hmm?"

Klaus was stunned at her outburst, and was at a loss for words as he looked up at her, not thinking to get up and challenge her at the moment. "It's okay to care, Nik," said Rebekah as she came closer. "It's okay to want something. That's all Elijah was trying to do, all he's ever wanted for you. All we've ever wanted."

The hybrid looked away almost with shame. "I gave Elijah to Marcel."

"What?"

"Marcel was nervous. It's bad enough one Original returned to town, but two? His crew was getting antsy. He wanted Elijah gone, so... I gave him a peace offering.

"You bartered our brother?"

"I have a plan. Gain Marcel's trust, dismantle his empire, honor Elijah's wish that that baby be born. I am executing that plan the only way I know how. If you don't like it, there's the door. See if I care." He got up and stormed up to his room.

Esmeray, of course, followed him. "Klaus," she said, using her wolf speed to catch up. "Talk to me, damn it, don't be bottling everything up. I am here to help you. All of you. You won't be okay if you hold it all in."

"I do not wish to speak to anyone," he snapped as he crossed through the doorway of his room. "You didn't want to talk to anyone. Understand that and kindly go back to your own bloody bed, fall asleep, and dream of things that are better than what's happening right now."

Esmeray crossed her arms. "If that's really what you want, I'll go. The thing is, I think you're the type that benefits more from talking it out."

He stopped in his tracks, his hands shaking visibly. "You told her to get rid of it," he whispered. "She said she followed your advice."

"If you're thinking this has to do with jealousy, you're wrong. I advised her to do what was best for her. I offered her options, Klaus. Yes, I offered to help her get out of New Orleans so she could raise the baby on her own if she wanted to. Yes, I offered to take over the pregnancy. Think of how scared she must be, Klaus. She's not from our time, she doesn't think about terminating pregnancies the way we do. Our people never thought it right to terminate because they hardly knew when they were pregnant. They were conditioned to always want kids. She's scared because she sees that the father of her child is temperamental and not willing to listen. The brother who was kind to her is now gone, and she knows that you and I are an item, and she feels guilty. She knows she's signing up for at least eighteen years of trouble, and she's too young to be making this decision by herself. So I offered her some guidance, and this was what she wanted. But she didn't do it, Klaus. I can sense the baby is still perfectly fine. It's healthy and strong and it's your child. That has to mean something. It would have meant something if it was with me. Let it mean the same thing with her, because whether you love her or not, that baby needs the two of you. It's not fair if it has to grow up with parents who can't have a proper word with each other. Don't become like our fathers, who criticized us and made us feel unsafe in our own homes. Talk to her if you want to have a say in it. But respect that she's going through a really hard time, and your violence isn't helping."

Klaus turned to face her, and she watched him approach her slowly, cupping her face in his hands. "I have never, for one second, deserved you, love," he said, his thumb grazing over the side of her head. "How could you possibly be kind to me when everyone else is encouraging you to despise me?"

"Because I understand that you have good in you," she said. "Your brutal nature is your defense mechanism so that no one can hurt you. Every time I've shown you basic decency, it's helped you feel better. Calm. Like you can be at peace without resorting to bloodshed. Sometimes a person needs someone to care about them unconditionally so that they can become better."

He laughed lightly. "Elijah said something similar. That this child could offer me understanding of unconditional love."

"It can. Like it or not, that child exists. You do deserve my kindness, Klaus, but if you want to prove it to me so that you feel better about it, then prove it by not letting that kid grow up the way we all did. Please."

He looked into her eyes and nodded slowly. "Alright, love," he whispered. "I will... do my best."

"I care about you, Klaus. Remember that, always and forever." Esmeray tiptoed to kiss his cheek, as close to his mouth as she could get it without their lips actually touching, before walking away, knowing he was watching her go with a smile on his face.