February 20, 2026

Parenting a teenager was not easy.

They'd had peace for a long time. Nine years, to be exact. Where the biggest issue was where Hope's favorite shoes were, or where Anita's lip gloss had disappeared to, and not who was out to kill them.

Maddy, Klaus, and Hope had been living at the house beside the pasture, so that Hope could spend as much time with Theo as possible. It was still very close to the Compound, and Anita visited often, though she mostly resided at the Compound with her parents, and with her Uncle Finn and Aunt Lexi. Elena was now finishing up her residency at Tulane Medical Center, and would soon be an official pediatric surgeon.

Not long after Freya and Keelin became an official couple, the two moved to Lebanon so that Keelin could do some work there as a doctor. Kol had taken Bonnie to travel the world to study other forms of witchcraft, and soon after, Stefan and Valerie had done the same, only in different parts.

Enzo and Liv had moved into New Orleans, so that Liv could be closer to her sister. Damon and Meredith were still in Mystic Falls, but visited rather often, whenever Meredith had free time. They also popped into Texas often to visit Alaric and Jenna, who now had an eight-year-old son named 'Duke' (a name which was playfully suggested by Jo, which Jenna happened to like). Though he wasn't supernatural in any way, he liked to spend time with Hope and Anita, who would do all sorts of tricks to entertain him.

Rebekah had taken the cure two years prior, once Matt had become the owner of The Mystic Grill. They lived comfortably in a house down the street from it, and Maddy suspected that soon enough, they'd be getting an announcement in the mail that the couple was expecting their first child.

The peace in New Orleans was all due to the leaders of the four factions. Marcel still kept an eye on the vampires, who had had several new members flocking in in recent years. Vincent was still in charge of the witches, Hayley and Jackson were advocates for the wolves, and Cami was leading the human faction, as part of her O'Connell legacy (though, she was looking for someone to replace her, given that after all this time, she was finally feeling fully comfortable with her vampire self).

For the most part, they handled everything. Maddy and Klaus got to focus on Hope, who was now in high school, and beginning to worry about college as she prepared to finish her freshman year. Klaus often insisted that private school would be better, given how often Hope and Anita complained about ridiculous things they witnessed at lunch. But the girls were happy, and thus, they did not move them.

Ansel had become a far greater part of their lives in recent years. The two were growing up, and it was more and more of a concern each day that they might soon trigger their curses. Many of the Crescent wolves that were their age had either already triggered their curses, or were on a path to. Hope and Anita tried their hardest to not let their tempers get the best of them, but Hope especially had a tough time with it. Freya spoke to her every Saturday for hours at a time, helping her practice calming techniques so that her magic wouldn't get out of control. She no longer wore her bracelet, but sometimes, lightbulbs still exploded around her when someone ticked her off.

Klaus and Elijah had started teaching them to drive, and both girls participated in their after school soccer program, which left them able to focus on other things. Most days, they were too tired to let their anger overwhelm them. They were good students, and did their best in school, and were always as compassionate as they could be. Maddy wasn't worried that they'd trigger their curses intentionally. Her only fear was that there might be an accident, and that one or both of them would find themselves standing over a dead body.

"Mardi Gras is coming up," Maddy reminded them as she was driving them to school one morning. "Your dads are going to be taking you driving later in the day than usual, and pickup will be by the tennis courts, not by the front of the school."

"'Kay," replied Hope, not looking up from her phone. Anita was in the backseat, leaning over and glancing at her screen, occasionally giggling.

"Butt in the seat," Maddy reminded her as she stopped at a light. "You know, if you want to be looking at each other's phones, you could both sit in the back seat."

"But I like riding shotgun," said Hope, swatting Anita's hand away.

"And I like sitting in the back," said Anita. "It's not as fun bothering Hope when she's next to me."

Maddy just rolled her eyes playfully. "Anyway, back to Mardi Gras, Hayley says she'd like you both to participate in helping decorate the float. If you don't want to, you have to let me know so that I can tell her, because it's not fair if we leave her hanging with no answer."

"I don't really want to," admitted Anita. "I'm not as good with artsy stuff as Hope is. Besides, I heard the witches have a cooler float."

"I can't pick sides, or they'll think I'm being unfair," said Hope reasonably. "And we have practice the next few days that we can't miss, so there's no time for us to spare decorating the float before Mardi Gras."

"Alright, I'll let her know. Thanks for being honest. I think she just wants you two to bond more with the other wolves your age."

Anita smirked. "Well, we could bond with them if they just went to our school. I don't know why they're not required to enroll in high school."

"I don't know either, to be honest," said Maddy. "The wolves just spent so long in the Bayou, they kind of do what they want now." She pulled up to the front of the school. "Have a good day, you two." She reached into the backseat, bringing out her purse and handing them their lunches. "I'll see you at five."

"Bye!" said Anita, practically leaping out of the car. Hope quickly tucked her phone away, kissing her mom's cheek before following her cousin.

Maddy began to drive home, taking only a slight detour to get some groceries before she returned to the house. When she walked inside, she found Klaus by the window, handing Theo some oats. "So," said Maddy, coming to lean against him, "Hope doesn't want to decorate floats, and neither does Anita. Hayley's going to be bummed out."

Klaus shrugged. "She asked far too close to Mardi Gras. They've known for months they were making floats. If she'd said something ages ago, the girls could have requested a practice day off."

She nodded. "How are you this fine morning? You were barely awake when we left."

"I was awake for hours speaking with Rebekah. My little sister complains far too often about her predicament considering she's the one who wished to take the bloody cure."

"Well, she's trying to get pregnant, and it's frustrating if it's not working. For us, the first time was the charm. But she's taken ten pregnancy tests and none of them are positive."

"Perhaps the cure must be out of her system for her to have children."

"I hope that's not the case, or she'll have taken it for nothing, and there's no going back. What do you suggest we do today, hmm? While we wait for the girls to get out of school."

"I was thinking," said Klaus as Theo trotted away, clearly not wanting any more oats, "I could paint you again. It's been awhile."

"Clothed or not?"

"I think you know the answer to that."

"You know," said Maddy, tugging him to their room by his belt, "sometimes I'm glad we don't have day jobs, otherwise, we'd never get alone time."

Klaus had barely finished making the outline of her body when both of their phones started to ring. They each gave frustrated groans, and sat up to answer.

"Jackson," said Klaus in a hard voice, "you call at the most inopportune times, mate."

"Yes, this is she," Maddy replied, when in her call, the principal was asking if it was Maddy on the other line. "What's going on?"

At the same time, they both exclaimed, "She did what?"

"Oh my fucking god," said Maddy as she rushed to get dressed, while Klaus moved the painting out of the way. "Sometimes, I don't understand how either of us are actually her parents, because she's more selfless than either of us have ever been, but this, this, Nik, oh my god, this is bad."

"Where did she get the bloody idea, is what I want to know," sneered Klaus. "I bet that boy forced her to! I bet he put ideas into her head and convinced her, because she would have never, ever—"

"Have you met Henry Benoit?" asked Maddy as she yanked him to the car. "That boy is the biggest werewolf fraidy cat I've ever met in my life, sometimes I wonder how he's actually a wolf. There's no way he put her up to this. No, she chose to help him, for some fucking reason, and he— god, Nik, he threw himself off of a building! We got lucky the principal— who knows about what Hope is— is the one who found him and the one who was there when he woke up in transition, because otherwise, this would be an even bigger mess. Damn it, Hope, why, why would you do this?"

They found Hope in the principal's office, staring at her feet. The principal, a young brunette whose cousin was one of Marcel's vampires, gave them a polite nod, though the tight-lipped smile on her face suggested she was very disappointed.

"Henry was sent home earlier," said the principal, which they'd known given that Jackson contacted Klaus. "No one witnessed the incident, thankfully, but he's been suspended. And so has your daughter."

"Suspended?" said Maddy. "For how long?"

"Two weeks. I understand your daughter's nature, Mrs. Mikaelson, I do, but given that we have only three supernatural students in this entire school, exceptions cannot be made for them when it is such a serious matter. If anyone had seen, if anyone else had been hurt..."

"I know," said Maddy firmly. "And I am very, very sorry." She turned to Hope. "Do you have all your things?" The girl nodded. "Okay. We're going home. Is Anita still in class?"

Hope nodded yet again, getting her bag and shuffling behind her parents. Klaus was clenching his fists over and over, and Maddy could tell he was still convinced that Henry Benoit had been the one to corrupt Hope.

"Can you say something?" Hope demanded, once they pulled into the driveway. "You can't continue to pretend I'm not here."

"I don't even know what to say," said Klaus quietly. "What on Earth were you thinking? Have we not discussed how dangerous it is to put yourself in a position where your identity could be revealed? Sweetheart, you are the one who insists on public school rather than a private institution or home school."

"I'm sorry, okay?" said Hope, shaking her head. "Henry is always being pushed around by human bullies and he never stands up for himself because he's already triggered his curse and he doesn't want to hurt anyone else so I thought if I turned him, he'd be strong enough to defend himself. Besides, I told him to take sleeping pills, not take a swan dive off of the gym roof!"

Maddy massaged her forehead. "Your intentions were in the right place, I know you just wanted to help him, but do you realize that this isn't how you go about things? Your dad has told you numerous times about his experiences with hybrids, he's been very honest about his regrets and about how sirebonds aren't in anyone's best interests. Hybrids are rare enough as it is, and Henry is now stuck in his 15-year-old body forever. You should have asked us, princess, or at least given it more thought. He's not going to be safe like this. The wolves took forever to accept Hayley once she became a hybrid, and now, Henry is going to be an outsider in his own pack." She glanced down at her phone, seeing that Lisina, Henry's guardian, was calling her. "I'll be right back."

"You might as well answer here," muttered Hope. "I'll hear you anyway."

Maddy just sighed and answered. "Lisina."

"Is Hope proud of herself?" said the wolf harshly. "Henry's barely home and we're getting threats. The vampires will never trust him, and how long before the pack turns on him?"

"If your pack turns on him that easily, then the issue is them, not him."

"Your daughter put a target on his back!"

"She was trying to help him, Lisina, we're going to address the issue and make sure she understands that her good intentions weren't tied to the best course of action in this scenario. Klaus and I will speak to her, and if need be, we'll work with Henry personally to teach him control."

"For ten years, I've been all the family this boy has. I'm not letting him down now by trusting the wrong person. You and your husband may be our allies but you're vampires."

"Do you really think I'm going to put Henry in a position where he'll be in more danger? I'm going to help him, Lisina, I promise you that. I can't change what's already happened, but I can try to make up for it. Hope's been suspended too. I will homeschool both of them if I have to. Just— don't let him out of your sight, okay? He's safer with you until we find out how to deal with this. The factions need to be informed."

"Fine. I will contact you later." She hung up, and Maddy glanced at Klaus, who was sneering, having disliked Lisina's tone the entire time.

"You can't homeschool me and Henry together!" said Hope in frustration. "That's not fair!"

"What do you prefer for me to do, Hope?" asked Maddy. "Lisina has a job, she won't be there to supervise him the entirety of the two weeks."

"Mom, I don't want to be stuck with him for two weeks!"

"I think it's a rather suitable sentence for what you did," said Klaus. "You will have to stick by him as he learns to control his abilities. You are his sire now, sweetheart, and he's bonded to you, whether you like it or not."

Hope huffed. "I'd rather you just took away my art supplies or my phone or something."

"Taking away the things you love won't teach you a lesson, it'll just make you angrier and miserable," said Maddy. "Instead, you're going to be part of the process of fixing this mistake. This can't happen again, Hope, do we make ourselves clear? You can't be turning people whenever you want, there are consequences."

"You both are vampires! Why is this a problem?"

"The problem," said Klaus, "is that we don't wish for you to be as awful as we were. With each year that you grow, we admit to you more and more of our past. Things we are not proud of so that you may learn from our mistakes."

Hope crossed her arms. "Can I go inside now?"

"Very well."

She walked out of the car, slamming the door shut as she entered the house.

"I don't get it," murmured Maddy, closing her eyes. "I just— I don't understand why she does the things she does sometimes. She's incredibly compassionate and selfless but also insanely impulsive."

"At least she's siring someone for a good reason," replied Klaus. "I turned many for the sake of not being alone. For protection from Mikael. I used it to control, to manipulate. Still, the factions are not as friendly with our daughter as they could be. An act like this, they will think she is turning out like me, and I do not wish for them to think that. She is better than all of us. She didn't do this for a cruel reason, but they will believe that she did."

"I know," agreed Maddy. "Marcel's new vampires especially are scared of our entire family. Everyone here knows that Hope was the one who got rid of The Hollow. They'd all heard legends of it, and she got rid of that spirit, which was way older than you, in like... two seconds."

The two got out of the car, and went into the house, finding that Hope had locked herself in her room. Maddy knocked, and the girl refused to open it.

"You can be mad at us all you want," said Maddy loudly. "But this punishment is more fair than you might realize."

The door swung open, revealing Hope had been standing right behind it. "Spare me the details," she said. "I know all about your abusive parents. I just don't think it's fair that I have to be stuck with him when he's the one that made a spectacle of his own death when I told him not to!"

"Yes, that part may be his fault, but you still gave him your blood. You still allowed him to be turned when you shouldn't have. You may be annoyed having to spend days on end with him but we need to ensure he won't hurt anyone when you two return to school."

"Do you know what's being told to my friends about why I got suspended?" demanded Hope. "They're saying Henry and I were ditching school."

"And? What's wrong with that? They could have said you were cheating on a test, or that you were doing drugs."

"Now everybody thinks we're dating and we're not!" She slammed the door shut, and Maddy drew a deep breath, forcing herself not to snap at her.

At five o'clock, Maddy left to go pick up Anita. "So," she said, once the girl was sitting beside her, "anything you care to tell me?"

Anita pursed her lips, and Maddy pressed on, "Did you know what she was going to do?"

"For the record," muttered Anita, "she can't know I told you any of this."

"Depends on what you tell me."

"I told her not to, okay? My mom says you don't turn anyone, ever, especially not other kids. She says it to me even if I can't turn anyone because she knows Hope can. Henry is annoying. But Hope felt bad for him, and you know how she is, when she feels bad for someone, she has to do something about it."

"There's no other reason she did it?"

"Not that I know of."

"You know that I can tell when you're lying, right?"

Anita huffed. "It's nothing relevant. Just something stupid."

"Then why not just tell me? This is serious, Anita."

"It's nothing, Aunt Maddy, I swear."

"Anita..."

"It's nothing," she insisted. "Just Henry victimizing himself all the time and being all 'woe is me' when he could totally defend himself. Obviously Hope did something about it."

"Anita, you haven't triggered your curse. I remember when Lisina told me how he triggered his. That guilt is still weighing down on him. And he still had to turn his first full moon, despite the blessings on the Crescents. He doesn't want to kill anyone else, so he holds back, and I'm sure it takes a toll on him because he knows he's stronger than that, but he can't show it. Nobody was in the right here, but... I can understand why Henry's predicament tugged at Hope's heartstrings."

She pulled up at the Compound, and Anita got out quickly. "Don't tell Hope I told you anything," she murmured. "Please."

Maddy just nodded, waiting until Anita was inside the house before driving off.

Back at the house, Hope was still locked in her room. "Has she really not come out of there?" asked Maddy when she found Klaus making dinner. "Is she going to starve herself in protest?"

"I would hope not," said Klaus, gesturing to the pasta he was making.

"You're rewarding her with her favorite meal?"

"Coaxing her to come out of there, more like it."

Maddy just sighed. She rested her head on his shoulder. "Please tell me you think we're handling this the right way. The last thing I want is for us to be in the wrong." She sat up at the sound of a knock on the door. She went to open it, and frowned when she saw Henry Benoit. "Um... why are you here?"

"I messed up," he said quietly. "I need to see Hope."

"What did you do?" asked Klaus as Hope came rushing out.

"I didn't mean to," said Henry weakly. "I just lost control..."

"Henry," pressed Maddy, "what did you do?"

"I killed Poppy," he said softly. "The waitress at Rousseau's. One of Marcel's vampires."

Maddy cursed internally. "Get inside. I'll call Marcel."

Unfortunately, Marcel no longer had control over the vampires, who'd stormed to their house immediately when they found Poppy's body.

"No one wants any trouble, Madeleine," said Greta, one of the newer vampires, who Maddy found to be quite a bitch. "We just want the hybrid." (A/N: Klaus has not met Greta face-to-face but Maddy has, they don't really associate with Marcel's vampires, otherwise he'd already know who she was.)

"Nobody is touching that boy," said Maddy firmly, blocking the doorway. "Lisina is his guardian, and until Klaus gets here with her, no one is even getting a glimpse of him."

"Remember," said Josh, who had come with them just to make sure no one got out of hand, "that hybrid is just a kid. But..." he faced Maddy, "Poppy was just trying to walk home from work, and she was our friend."

"I knew her, too, Josh," said Maddy. "I know she was a good person, and I know she didn't deserve this. But he couldn't control himself, we're still figuring out the best way to deal with this—"

"Release him to us, now," said Greta more fiercely. "You have no choice."

"I do have a choice. And that choice is to be rational. He is a child, Greta."

Greta scoffed. "Should we go back and tell Poppy's mother that her daughter's killer is free, but at least we were rational? That boy is not just a child— he's a hybrid with the power to kill any vampire he chooses."

"We are going to teach him control, okay? This 'eye for an eye' mentality does no one any good."

"He's an abomination, and—"

"I'm gonna stop you right there," said Maddy sharply. "Because if he's an abomination to you, then you're implying the same thing about my husband, my daughter, and two very dear friends of mine." She leaned closer, sneering in Greta's face, "Now get off my damn property, or we're going to have a problem. I'm older than you, and I've defeated vampires ten times your age. I don't want to be your enemy, Greta, but if you ever refer to my loved ones 'abominations' again, you're going to wish you were never born."

Greta gritted her teeth. "Like mother and father, like daughter, I suppose." She turned around, and the group of vampires walked away.