Breathing ∞ Kol Mikaelson [1]

[59]

Emma sat on the floor in front of her closet, her packing brought to a momentary stop as she pulled a particular box towards her. Once things between her and her mother got cleared up and all was out in the open, there was no more reason to continue hiding her father's belongings at Klaus' mansion. And Emma had brought them back home.

Looking at them now she didn't know what to think. When she found them, she was so eager to learn more about what had happened, to figure out what had been going through her father's head. But now... Emma had no idea how to handle all of this. She didn't want to leave, she didn't want to go. But that wasn't all.

A part of her wanted to hope. That maybe, since they ran, and since her mother last saw or heard from her father, perhaps he'd changed. Perhaps, while still a vampire, he'd turned his humanity back on, gone back to being her dad. The loving and caring father that she remembered.

But then, with a shake of her head, Emma reminded herself that was just wishful thinking that was of no use right now. She knew her mother had made sure she couldn't remember the bad memories of what her father had done. He tried to kill her even when his emotions were still there. He was far too gone when he was still human. She couldn't let the lack of memories blind her. She wouldn't. Whoever was here, it wasn't her father. No matter how much he looked like the man she remembered.

With a sigh, she stuffed some of the notebooks back in their place, grabbing the ducktape and closing it shut. She grabbed hold of the box and carried it out into the hall where some were already gathered. Moving so much, and the last time being so recently, it wasn't too hard to rush through the packing process again.

"Any plans yet?" Emma asked her mother as who had been gathering things off of the shelves in the living room. Not long after the locator spell was done, the mother had started to make phone calls to some people, claiming whoever she was calling had helped them before. Right now, Marissa was staring at her phone as the sound of a text came in making her grab it urgently.

"Nothing concrete. It'll take a couple of days for new papers to come through, that's certain. We'll leave and go somewhere to hide out as soon as we're packed here." Marissa explained, groaning as the phone died in her hands. With all the rushing, she'd completely ignored the low battery warnings.

"What's the surname this time?" Emma asked, somewhat jokingly. When she was younger, her mother had told her it was a game, just another way to reinvent themselves when they went to a new place. However, after Phoenix the name stopped changing as the need to move wasn't to run but instead to stay ahead.

"I don't know yet. Hopefully the next is less bland than the current." Marissa added on to the joke, making another laugh escape Emma.

"Maybe we can make an anagram of Broussard. Voldemort style." Emma suggested, referring to her mother's maiden name which had changed to Broussard-Warren after she married Emma's father and passed down the same hyphenated version to their daughter. "Or would that be too on the nose?"

"I'll see what I can do." Marissa agreed, even though they both knew it wouldn't be that. Emma wasn't sure who was in charge of coming up with the name or procuring the documents for their new identities. And while she had her suspicions, she didn't ask any questions. She'd ask them once they were settled in whatever was their next stop.

"I'm gonna-" Emma was about to say she would return to her packing in her room when the sound of the doorbell cut her off. The sound made Marissa's face contort in a panic, and Emma's did too. But for a different reason. Only when she glanced at the big clock hanging off the wall did she remember what time it was.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck. I forgot." She mumbled, sending her mother a reassuring look meaning there was no need to worry who was at the door. Emma was expecting someone.