bakerstreet | midnight texting

Today your Aunt Freya told me you snuck out of school, fought an enraged werewolf, and used an enchanted object smuggled in from our family's private stash? ( he doesn't know whether to be proud or furious. )

Did she forget to mention the part where I single-handedly prevented a bunch of unsuspecting townies from becoming chew toys?

( because that's really what's important here, right? )

( yes, the important part: everyone else's safety. what a moving point for your murderous and immortal father to use drops in a bucket as a convincing argument. )

Well if they were meant to be chew toys, I don't really see the loss.

( wait, this is perhaps bad parenting. he's trying, okay. )

I'm going to call you and you are going to describe to me exactly what happened and why.

( he's getting better at this. see, he hasn't even told her she's going back to new orleans and not leaving her room until she learns to not step a toe out of line!! or is this worse, because he's come to expect egregious behavior from her? is his acceptance lowering the bar? should he be stricter? being a dad is hard. )

Really, Dad?

( she had the power to do something, so she did it. )

This isn't necessary, you know. I'm fine. Those kids are fine. Mystic Falls remains blissfully ignorant about the existence of supernaturals. I'd say that's at least worth a thank you from Doctor Saltzman and at least some fatherly pride from you, don't you think?

Who else was going to step in if I didn't?

( aside from an adult. okay, look, fine, the truth is, she just wanted some attention. and, of course, the best way to get daddy dearest's is by staging some spectacle that leaves him no choice but to address it, the danger and the consequences be damned! )

( speaking of why she's truly doing all of this: he's no fool. she's trying to prove herself. she's trying to prove herself to him, not realizing she has nothing to prove. ) You have to stop acting out like this, Hope. I'm no Doctor Saltzman ( let the record show he typed that 'doctor' very sarcastically ) who will foolishly allow this behavior to continue through sheer, unrelenting stupidity and an excess of empathy for the plights of young people.

( rut roh. )

Pick up your phone.

( ring ring )

( she's had a stressful, tumultuous childhood. cut her some slack! you, of all people, should know it's a hard knock life being a mikaelson. )

Fine. Let's talk.

( deep breath, she's got this. although, it's easier to control her emotions when she's punching them into a keyboard than speaking them through the phone. in other words, here goes nothing. )

Hi, Dad. ( a beat, then: ) So, how do you want to do this? With some small talk first or should I just skip to whatever it is you want to hear?

( indignant, but guilty. she should know better than this. she does know better than this. but it got her what she wanted, didn't it? besides, he'll forgive her in the end. he has to. he's her dad. it's the rules. )

( he does know. he knows very intimately what it means to be a mikaelson: he's all the bloody reason for the generations and centuries of hardship. all the more reason he's furious to see history repeating itself.

he very nearly growls at her provoking greeting. then he breathes. it's an exercise her headmistress insists he tries in moments like these.

what truly matters, what he truly wants to know, is this: ) Are you all right?

( out of all the responses hope was expecting, that wasn't even in the top ten. )

Yeah.

( for a moment, she chews on her lip, mulling indecisively over whether to go with what's true now but technically wasn't at the time. physical injury something that's easier to deal with than emotional hurt. )

There were a few scratches and bruises, but they're gone now. ( honesty given, she tries for a joke, the words falling slightly flat, now that her father's worry is apparent. ) Thank you tribrid healing.

( they're gone now. that's what she says and what is undoubtedly true, but it hardly makes up for the fact that she was hurt and could have been worse. he swallows that down hard. joking weakly she might be, but if there's one thing he is glad she's inherited from him, it is her healing. ) Good. ( the word is tight, thick, and shortly dealt. a pregnant pause follows, one he is eager to skip.

that done, he launches into the next line of inquiry: ) Now, is there a reason you didn't seek out Doctor Saltzman, nor any of the other semi-qualified adults tasked with protecting you, to deal in your stead with a renegade wolf?

There wasn't time.

( if it makes it sound any better, it's not a complete lie. the full moon being when werewolves are at their most dangerous. )

I saw one of the cell doors in the werewolf transition space hadn't been locked properly. Before I could make sure it was, Teen Wolf got loose, knocked me down, and ran for the hills — or, the woods, I guess. I spelled its paws to leave a trail for Doctor Saltzman and the "other semi-qualified adults" to follow, then I went after it.

( the story is told as levelly as she can, trying to make it seem reasonable and rational instead of a reckless act that could've gotten others badly hurt, herself included. )

When I saw it was headed for the town, I couldn't exactly turn back, could I?

You didn't necessarily have to go forward.

( it was reckless. maddeningly so. despite her gifts, she is still just a child. to him, it's difficult to imagine her as anything but that fierce and precocious little girl he knew before time, circumstance, and his own selfishness kept him from her. he means what he says as an admonishment, but it is a quiet, strained one, because he also knows: in her mind, she did.

because she is better than him and just like him all at once. desperate to help those that cannot help themselves like her mother. desperate to be good enough like her father. )

You're special, Hope. You're capable of doing good that others cannot. But that does not mean you are invincible. And it doesn't mean you should be alone either.

( he can't be with her. others can. )

I couldn't do nothing.

( but what it really boils down to is this: something was wrong and she could fix it unlike everything else in her life. )

Look, I'm sorry I worried you, I am, but I won't apologise for actions. I made a choice and I stand by it being the right one. That kid didn't know what they were doing. Imagine how they would've felt come the light of day if they'd been surrounded by blood, mauled bodies, and torn off limbs. Making use of my Mikaelson magic stopped them from having to go through that.

( because while parts of this are about her father and wanting his attention, it's also about perception, trying to make people associate her family with something other than fear; a task that's proved no easy feat to accomplish, what with half the books in the stefan salvatore memorial library being grizzly accounts of atrocities committed by the very people she loves most. hope lets out a sigh then, pushing her fingers through curled ends while her eyes stroll from sky to floor, preparing for what might come next. )

Is Doctor Saltzman suspending for it? I did break a number of rules.

( even if she had her reasons for doing so. )

( he doesn't need to imagine. he's lived it: blood still fresh in his mouth, the scent of death and violence hanging in the air, the sun bright filtered through the trees, the salt of his tears bitter on his lips. he closes his eyes as she describes it. in another world, it might have been her. hayley told him that once. that being compassionate and wanting to help didn't make you weak. that his daughter might need someone to do the same for her, one day.

now his daughter has done for someone else. he loves her for that. he might even be proud, despite the fear that consumes him. his heart breaks all the same, and he hardens in the face of all the reasons she doesn't list.

she won't apologize and he accepts that. they have that in common. it doesn't change his disapproval. his continuing concern. it's a truce, for now. ) No, ( he assures her.

alaric wouldn't, of course. for more reason than dealing with the wrath of her father if he did. the issue of the mikaelson's coffers footing many of the school's bills would also be a deterrent.

but klaus knows those reasons aren't truly why. alaric cares about his daughter. his one redeeming quality, despite klaus' underpinning jealousies. ) But you are coming home for an extended weekend.

I can live with that.

( it's the best outcome, along with the one she was secretly hoping for. because as much as hope's been trying to fit in here, she doesn't. maybe she never will. being a mikaelson aside, her unique status as a tribrid makes her an oddity, hope belonging to no single faction. no one ever says anything out loud and they would never dare say anything to her face, but that doesn't mean hope doesn't hear it or see the way they look at her, fearful of what they don't understand. )

Will there be any additional consequences to my grounding?

( since that's what this is, isn't it? )

( he's not bringing her home to save her from the looks and whispers, though he too can imagine them with plenty of familiarity. they are both oddities; freaks of nature in the eyes of those that fear what is more powerful than they.

but he is bringing her home because it's become clear it's what she needs: stability. a reminder, perhaps, that she does have a place she belongs. a home, where there are those who love her in it. ) Yes. An inordinate amount of time with your Aunt Freya. She'll be there in the morning to pick you up.

( it breaks his heart it won't be him. )

( disappointment fills her chest, then sinks like a weight. she knows why it has to be her aunt, not her father, but that doesn't make it any easier to accept. an unhealthy dose of guilt then occurring as a follow-up because she's the reason they can't be together, why their family has been forced apart to live separate lives, the vow of always and forever now keeping them apart instead of binding them together.

of course, if she were to vocalise any of that, she'd immediately be told otherwise — but she knows the truth. )

You'll still be checking in every day, though. ( then, more hesitantly: ) Right?

( it's not the same as being with him, but it would be something. the connection that's been established between them again through a simple phone call something she's utterly terrified to lose. his presence, even if it's not physical, a needed thing. )

( this is not her fault. he would tell her that, yes, and because it is true. klaus knows: if blame is to be placed anywhere besides the evil witch whose very existence was a curse upon them all, it rests on him. he is the very terror she learns about in that school of hers; he's brought this on them all with his infamous cruelty.

the sins of a father. as his father passed down before him. now, to her.

all he can do is try to save her from the brunt of that suffering. he can barely accomplish a sliver of such a task. more so when he cannot be with her.

he swallows thickly at the earnestness in her voice. he's made a promise to himself, recently: that he will not lie to her. that he will be steadfast and give to her all that he can possibly give. there's guilt; a thin line that reaches from his chest into his vocal chords, because he knows that he has not always done so. not always been capable of it. because he is not. he is not telling her everything.

(he's heading to mystic falls as they speak. they will miss each other, as planned. but he has some business to attend, and she is not to know of it. what he plans to do she will have no part of. — these past months he has been trying with limited results to break this curse without her in the crossfire.

that is what she truly needs. her father.) ) Yes. ( always. forever. ) Every day.

( his breath stops in his throat. he adds, because he hasn't, not nearly often enough: ) Hope? I love you.

( for two people as powerful as they are, it's beyond frustrating to be this powerless. it's why she spends every minute of her spare time channeling all of her focus into finding a solution, grasping away at some impossible fairy tale ending, in which she will be the one to break the curse and reunite their family. maybe then she wouldn't feel like such a mistake. and so living up to her name it is, having hope, and being hopeful the only way to get through this.

he's the inspiration for it all. the stories he used to tell her, tales locked away in her box of memories, there to give her courage and comfort whenever she needs it, serving as a reminder that, when you're a mikaelson, anything can be achieved. because the thing is, there will always be some evil to oppose them, hope knows that. klaus' thousands of years and hope being someone that shouldn't exist ever ample enough reason for threats to seek them out and target them. but each and every time danger has done just that, a way has been found to beat it.

it's then, as he says the words she's been waiting to hear, that hope lets out a breath she didn't even know she was holding. )

I love you too, Dad.

( naturally, the words are packed with emotion. her eyes growing misty as she holds the phone closer to her ear, only to then find herself even more determined than before to right this wrong in all of their lives.

then, much lighter: )

I do have another question, though.

( it's all he cares about, in the end. all he lives and breathes, in place of the self-pity and wretchedness he indulged for far too long. losing hayley — losing hayley was much too close to losing everything. for the first time in a decade, he could not hide behind her goodness and the ample guidance she provided their daughter; he could not be the poor excuse for a father he has always been.

it's a shame he keeps quiet in favor of action, however quiet some of those actions have been.

it's in these moments, hearing with a sharp and exquisite pang the emotional tenor in his daughter's voice, her vow of love for him, that it all seems agonizingly and frighteningly worth — everything. she's worth every terrible deed, every moment he has sinned and exalted in that sin. every torture and terror and vice.

every moment of vulnerability and love.

every sacrifice.

he closes his eyes and swallow past the lump in his throat, for he knows with the experience of a thousand years that there is more than likely more sacrifice to come. )

Yes?

Do juvenile delinquents get beignets?

( a valid, humorous question and only the slightest bit of pushing her luck. the exquisite pastries a deliberate request from daughter to father, made out of fondness for one of the few precious memories of time they've actually spent together while dreaming that one day the two of them will be able to create more.

their interests so alike that hope would give anything to be able to share them again, to paint pictures and enjoy music, and be in each other's company without the fear of the disastrous consequences that separate them now. )

( the lighthearted and yet terribly weighted subject of her question startles a laugh out of him, as rough as it is genuine. and perhaps he shouldn't: laugh that is, if he's too be the strict disciplinary he intended to be during this call.

but he does love her, his bright, strong, quick-witted daughter, and truth be told, he was always going to be more soft-hearted towards her than her mother. in that, he has time to make up for too.

he wishes he could be there. that he could fill a table with sweets, recreate that blessed morning in which they celebrated and gouged themselves. it's a memory he holds onto tightly, yet it always slips away into darkness with the realization it might never be again.

it must. it has to be. ) In limited quantities. And only if you save a few for me.

midnight texting

hi this is your dad dad-ing

and what an excellent job he's doing of it.

a+

it's why he's her favourite.

and she, his

breaking news: klaus mikaelson is soft. his heart was found full of love.

he has a reputation. don't tell.

her lips are sealed. except for when people talk bad about him.

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more than a month later but still really into it?? no pressure!

please, i would wait forever for your klaus. you write him so wonderfully.

asdf; thank you; you write such a perfect hope i'm in love

you're too kind! i owe it to you for being so fabulous to partner against. ♡

that goes both ways! ♥♥

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and now... three... months later. but look, this is how much i love this thread. i never forget it!!