Work Text:
When everyone found out Hayley was pregnant with Klaus's child, they all worried about what it would mean for her and the baby. No one considered the possibility that Klaus just loved the child because it was his, instead assuming he coveted what it symbolized. They made every attempt to keep him away from Hayley, assuming he was only interested in it to acquire power.
To Klaus’s dismay, his family and the wolves worked together seamlessly to achieve their goal. United against him, it was so easy for them to put aside any differences they may have had. However, as the pregnancy progressed, it became evident that something was wrong. The baby was upset all the time, especially if Jackson or Elijah tried to calm it down. It was temporarily soothed when Hayley spoke and rubbed her belly, but soon enough, it became just as upset as before. It was only when Klaus happened to be there during an episode that the baby finally finally quieted down.
He had made his way into Hayley's apartment, surprised there was no resistance, and was ready to make his feelings known quite well when he was met with the sight of Hayley bent over in pain, Jackson and Elijah fretting helplessly.
"What in the bloody hell is going on?" Klaus growled, his eyes flickering between blue and gold the longer he went without an answer.
Elijah huffed in frustration at seeing Klaus there before turning his attention back to Hayley. He had made it clear that he believed Klaus didn’t have the baby’s best interests at heart. In Elijah’s mind, Klaus cared only for power, no matter how he had to get it. Jackson, meanwhile, ran a hand through his disheveled hair, sparing a small glare in Klaus’s direction before he too turned his attention to his wife.
"The baby is distressed, and nothing we do can calm it down." Jackson's fear and helplessness were evident in his voice, and Klaus had to force his laughter back in his throat. It was too good to be true—simply too good to be true.
Klaus stared for a moment before he made his way to Hayley's side. Slowly, he bent down and placed his hand on her stomach. In the softest voice possible, he shushed and soothed the upset baby.
"Calm down, little one; you're causing your mother distress."
Almost immediately, Hayley sighed in relief, her body giving out as she fell into Klaus's arms. The baby had finally stopped kicking and moving around; in fact, it became unnaturally still, as if it were waiting with bated breath for his next words.
Jackson's eyes widened in surprise as he exchanged a glance with a tight-lipped Elijah. Klaus didn’t bother to look at either man; he continued to talk softly to Hayley’s belly, occasionally rubbing small circles near her belly button.
Jackson sputtered for a moment before he settled on a simple question. "How did you do that?"
Klaus sniffed in annoyance, rolling his eyes. He glanced at Jackson from the corner of his eye and wanted nothing more than to remove his head from his shoulders. Instead, he tilted his head to the side and looked at him as if he were gum stuck to the bottom of his shoe—in a way, Klaus thought, he very much was.
"I'm the baby's father; of course I can easily calm her down."
While Elijah proceeded to adopt an expression that looked like he smelled something bad, Jackson’s face was one of stunned silence. Klaus sighed heavily, completely put out by the lack of comprehension. He helped Hayley up and moved away from her slightly. He wanted to show them exactly what he meant; he wanted to let them know exactly where their place was. It only took a few moments from the time he removed his hands from her belly before Hayley doubled over again as the baby restarted its tantrum.
Klaus watched in grim gratification as Elijah and Jackson both tried to soothe the upset baby to no avail. He didn't want to upset his baby too much, so eventually Klaus moved closer, placed his hands on Hayley's belly once more, and began to speak in soft tones. As hard as he tried, which is to say, not hard at all, to keep his satisfaction to himself, he smirked at the groan of relief she let out once more.
"The baby knows who I am and knows who you're both pretending to be. Whether you like it or not, this child is mine. It’s my blood that’s running through its veins, and if you thought it wouldn’t be able to tell the difference, you were obviously sadly mistaken." He explained, unable to keep the smugness he felt out of his voice.
While his words were directed at the both of them, Klaus locked eyes with his older brother. Klaus knew Elijah was jealous of him because he gained the ability to have a family, which was made much more bitter by who Klaus was starting a family with. His previous attempts to keep him away were mere additional evidence that he wanted to be in Klaus's place.
"Keeping me away is only going to make things worse,” Klaus said. “Now that I know my child both needs and wants her father around, I won't be kept away."
Klaus kept his word, and Hayley moved into the compound a few days later, much to the dismay of everyone. At first, he was resistant to allowing Jackson entry, but at the thought of being able to calm down his child in front of him, Klaus accepted him with open arms. Jackson, Klaus knew, posed no real threat to him or his place as the baby's father, but it was the principle of the thing. He desperately wanted to have the ability to call Klaus’s child his own, and his demotion to "stepfather" hurt more than he'd like to admit. Everyone knew this, and Klaus took to exploiting it as much as he could.
To the annoyance of those involved with keeping him away, once Hayley moved in, Klaus was always near her. To be fair, it wasn’t entirely his fault, but now that the baby knew its father’s voice and touch, it didn’t allow him to leave all that often. Hayley couldn't go to sleep unless Klaus was there to soothe it; otherwise, it would kick up a fuss if anyone else tried. Klaus and Hayley having to share the same room was enough for Elijah and Jackson to both throw temper tantrums. Their sharing a bed nearly brought war to the compound, but in the end, there wasn’t anything anyone could do about it unless they wanted Hayley to be uncomfortable. Despite their physical closeness, Klaus held no romantic or even platonic feelings for Hayley, but he was attentive and gentle, to the surprise of everyone. It was expected that he would just lock her up in her room as punishment, and while Klaus thought of that, the attention their baby craved made it impossible.
Luckily for Klaus, the rest of his siblings stopped their accusations and judgments when they witnessed how the baby would be calm whenever he was around. It was hard for everyone to understand how such an innocent creature could only be soothed by the voice that haunted some of their worst nightmares, but as time went on, they got used to seeing a side of their brother that seemingly disappeared years ago. This is not to say they flipped a switch and trusted Klaus to do the right thing once the baby arrived. No, they still held their doubts and most likely always would.
After they found out the gender, Klaus took to calling her Daddy's little princess, and she'd gently push on her mother's stomach in response. On the days Klaus was unable to be there, the baby was unrestful. Not quite as bad as before because somehow she knew her dad would be back, but it was enough that Hayley knew the difference, and it spurred a jealous streak in her. Her voice was enough to get the baby to quiet down, but it was never enough to keep her satisfied. Sooner or later, the baby craved her father's voice and his touch. In the moments she was alone with her thoughts, Hayley wondered if it was because the baby knew that they were trying to keep Klaus away from her. Hayley tried to dismiss the thought from her mind, but a little voice kept whispering, "She knows what you think of her father. She knows what you tried to do."
When the baby was born, Klaus named her Hope, while Hayley gave her the middle name of Andrea. At first, there was talk of Hope's last name being Marshall, but Hayley didn't want her daughter to be tied to her adoptive parents. Then Jackson suggested Kenner since he and Hayley were married, but it was vetoed immediately. It didn't, however, stop Klaus from wrapping his hand around his neck for suggesting it. Hope was born a Mikaelson and will remain a Mikaelson for the rest of her life. It was a fact that no one dared renounce.
Once Hope was born, everyone believed the harrowing months of Hayley and Jackson living in the compound were over. Hayley desperately wanted to move back to the Bayou with Jackson and allow him to spend time with Hope. They wanted a chance to act like the family they always wanted to be. Jackson missed out on so much while Hayley was pregnant, and he craved his chance to prove himself worthy of being her stepfather, no matter how much he wished the first word was never there. Elijah, on the other hand, was glad he would no longer be forced to be in the presence of two men he envied. He would always be the uncle hopelessly in love with his niece's married mother. There wasn't a happy ending anywhere for him, and he knew it.
Hope and Klaus, however, were another story. The minute Klaus held his daughter, it was love at first sight. For the first time ever, Klaus freely shed a tear without caring who saw it, and Hope grasped tightly onto his finger, unwilling to let go even for a moment. It was a moment that had everyone holding their collective breath for fear of disturbing them. A nurse was so moved by it that she took a photo of the two with a Polaroid and gave it to Klaus with a gentle smile on her face.
"I see your daughter is in very good hands here," the nurse declared before leaving the family alone in their shocked silence. As much as Klaus wanted to brag about how much they ignored his words and actions when it came to Hope, Klaus simply held out the picture once the nurse was gone until someone finally took it. His attention was back on Hope, with a soft smile on his face. Father and daughter were in their own world.
When it was time to feed, Hope gladly went to her mother, all content to suckle and nest within her arms. However, afterward, she cried until Klaus came and picked her up. Her tears tapered off when her vision cleared, and she was met with her father's face. It was then that everyone knew Hope was never leaving her father's side, and instead of going home to the Bayou as Hayley planned, Hope's home became wherever her father decided to settle.
Luckily, Klaus was willing to compromise. He knew that the compound was no place to raise a child, so he bought a home close to the Bayou but far enough away that he wouldn't have to worry about nosy wolves. He could leave freely to rule New Orleans as he pleased and be close enough that he could always be near his daughter if he needed to.
"I’m not vile enough to keep her away from her mother," Klaus declared one day while the family was discussing where Hope would live.
"I’ll find a place near the Bayou so you can be close to your precious pack, but let it be known, if you ever think about trying to keep me away from Hope ever again, I’ll find a witch to curse your pack the way Marcel once did."
There was a promise in Klaus’s voice that rang undeniably true, and no one was willing to try and call his bluff. Everyone knew this was the only chance they were going to get, the only comprise he was willing to have, and trying to fight it—they realized was always going to be pointless.
As Hope grew up, her bond with the rest of the family grew as well. She loved shopping with her aunt Bex and learning magic from her aunts Freya and Davina. Her Uncle Kol loved to teach her how to prank and cause general havoc all around the house whenever he visited. They had monthly prank wars whenever he came to New Orleans on visits. Her Uncle Elijah frequently shared his favorite literature with her whenever she asked. They would have tea as he read to her in front of the fireplace.
Her bond with her mother was special. She loved when her mother would sing her lullabies to help her fall asleep. If she wasn't in her father's arms, she was in Hayley's. They were the only ones she allowed to hold her while she slept. Some nights, on rare occasions, it was only her mother's touch that calmed her down. To everyone’s immense relief, she inherited her mother's compassion, her smile, and her love for the pack. She loved going to the Bayou to hang out with the wolves; it's where she made all her friends. Hope even enjoyed spending time with Jackson despite his dislike of her father. He was nice, at least that she could admit.
However, as much as Hope bonded with and loved her family, the moment her dad entered the picture, she only had eyes for him. If her bond with her mother was special, the bond she had with Klaus was beautifully rare. On most days, she fell asleep in his arms or listened to his voice if her mother wasn't there. He's the one she went to when she had nightmares, and he would hum old Viking lullabies to help soothe her nerves. Every Sunday, they would make beignets together when he finally taught her the recipe. She was the only one he shared it with. When he picked her up from school, she ran across the yard and straight into his arms. While she stopped doing that when she entered middle school, nothing stopped her from launching herself on his back when they got home. Ice cream dates became a part of their routine, just as she did her cafe dates with Hayley. While she got certain traits from her mother, she was the spitting image of Klaus. She inherited his laugh and his bright blue eyes. She got her love of art from him, and to the dismay of everyone, but, funnily enough, not to the surprise of anyone, she inherited his temper.
She was, after all, her father’s daughter.