Discoveries and old friend

"Elijah."

The original nobleman stopped walking as soon as he heard his bastard brother's voice.

"Yes, Niklaus?"

The hybrid approached his brother, hands behind his back as he spoke.

"How come I never realized?" he questioned, rhetorically

"I don't understand what you say, brother."

"You liked her. Am I wrong?" got no answer "You were always in love with Maria but you never admitted it because you knew you weren't the Mikaelson she wanted."

New Orleans, 1918

"Isn't she wonderful?" asked Klaus, appearing behind Elijah.

The original nobleman watched Maria as she walked the streets of the French Quarter.

"Very"

"I know why you care so much about her, brother."

"You know?" Elijah looked at his brother.

"Of course." said "She is my girlfriend, one day she will be my wife. She means the world to me and I know that in your head she is my only chance for happiness. It is normal that you want to protect her. You don't want your bastard brother to fall into ruin."

"That's exactly it, Niklaus."

He went back to watching the witch.

Elijah hated to have to lie to Klaus but he could never know the truth.

"All this concern for her ... You want to prove to her that you are worthy of her love, because in your head she was able to love a monster like me, which prevents her from loving a noble like you."

"I do not admit such accusations, brother."

"Oh don't worry, brother. I know you want to prove it. I already did and let me tell you that she is rare. If she was like that when she was only 16, imagine how it is now." laughed sarcastically "Go ahead, Elijah. Take the remains that are mine again."

Elijah couldn't stand to hear his brother saying those barbarics any longer, so he took him by the neck and leaned him against the wall.

"Watch your mouth, Niklaus. You are being paranoid. I do not admit this."

"Don't you admit it?" pushed the nobleman "You wanted to steal her from me! Confess! I may not have seen it at the time but I see it now!" He grabbed his brother by the neck "Don't you feel bad, noble Elijah? Always wanting his brother's toys. That's sad."

"You talk that way about the woman you once loved and then you still ask yourself why she thinks you never loved her. Maybe she is right, I can believe that it was just a game of yours to have more power."

It was the last straw for the hybrid.

Without thinking twice, he bit his brother and left him lying on the floor.

"What did you do to Elijah?" questioned Hayley, appearing

"The same thing I did a few years ago when he accused me of my intentions with my daughter. I bit him. Enjoy your company. He will start to hallucinate again and this time I assure you that it is not with Celeste."

"How did you get in?" Maria asked.

"I just rang the bell and as soon as your friends realized who I was, they let me in." He released her "I guess you told them about me."

"I may have mentioned my dear friend Alec in some conversations." she filled her glass "What are you doing in New Orleans?"

"I decided to visit you ... and see if you killed Sebastian. You didn't kill, did you?"

"I knew it wasn't just to see me." she took a sip of the drink "No, I didn't kill him. He deserved it but he is your friend so I was nice."

"Thanks. I know he's a fool, but I grew up with him." confessed the boy.

Maria put down her glass and faced her friend.

"Do you have a place to stay?"

"I'm at a hotel near the Mississippi River."

"Yeah ..." she approached "I don't think you're going to the hotel today." she smirked.

She took Alec's hand and went at vampire speed to her room. They entered and she locked the door.

She recited some spell, which left the boy confused.

"What's the spell for?"

"To make my room soundproof." she rubbed the boy's face "We can make whatever noise we want while remembering the old days."

"Did you hear the latest news? The Mikaelson's have discovered that Maria is alive and have already been with her." announced Lucien, entering the room.

"That does not mean anything. We can still have her on our side." said Aurora

"Yes, if this wretch does things properly." complained Tristan.

"More respect, Lord Tristan." laughed sarcastically "You depend on me but I do not depend on you."

Tristan took Lucien by the neck and warned him.

"And you depend on my good will to let you live or not."

"Tristan, let him go. He's right, we need him."

"Lock me up in the bedroom." asked Elijah.

He knew that thanks to his brother's bite his hallucinations were going to start soon and he didn't want to risk hurting anyone, especially his niece.

"Niklaus Mikaelson, I don't know where you are but if I ..." Rebekah said on the phone

"I'm here, little sister." said the hybrid, appearing.

"Why did you bite Elijah?"

"He knows why. He deserved nothing less. But don't worry, I didn't intend to leave him that long, I just wanted him to suffer a little."

He took a glass, bit his wrist and let his blood drain.

"Here, brother." handed him the glass "Where's my daughter?"

"In the bedroom, sleeping." Hayley informed.

Klaus went to Hope's room and found her sleeping. He went to meet her and watched her.

"You know, Hope ... a long time ago, I was a very bad man. But then I met her. She saw the good in me ... and I abandoned her at the most critical moment. Now she has come back and thinks it was never important. She is mistaken but it is not entirely her fault. I just never had the courage to say what she really wanted to hear."

New Orleans, 1919

"Maria, I lo..." stopped halfway "you are very special, you know that, right?"

"I know." she smiled and kissed the original's lips "Don't worry. Nothing can change how I feel about you."

"I better get going." said Alec.

"Why? You said you missed me, we could go for a coffee."

"A coffee?" he laughed.

"Okay, maybe not a coffee but a drink. I know the perfect place." smiled slyly and stood up, going to meet Alec "Come on, Alec. Let's have fun."

"I think we already had a lot of fun." he pointed to the bed.

"I can't disagree with you." she laugh.

Alec finally gave in to the request of the trybrid. He couldn't say no and wanted to spend more time with her.

"Let me take a shower and then we can go." he kissed the brunette and entered the bathroom the woman had in the room.

Maria smiled for convincing Alec. She took some clothes and went to the bathroom in the hall.

She took off her clothes, turned on the shower and went under the water. She closed her eyes and memories started running through her head.

New Orleans, 1999

Maria had made a stop in New Orleans. She missed Marcel and the vampire community.

"Mary."

"Diego."

The two hugged and went to the balcony of the Mikaelson mansion.

"It's good to know you're back."

"It's good to be back."

Silence fell between the two, who were just watching the French Quarter move at that hour.

The crowd noticed a young girl who was being tormented by some boys and, to help her, decided to cast a small spell to torment the boys and the young woman could go the rest of her way in peace.

"Why do you care so much about them?" asked Diego, unexpectedly.

"What?" she was confused

"The humans. It's pretty clear that you care about their race. Why?"

"These are people are everything I always wanted to be ..." she paused and faced the vampire "Normal."

Diego and Maria were very close, one of her best friends in New Orleans. And now he was dead and she didn't even have a chance to say goodbye.

She tried to get these memories out of her head and turned off the water.

She dried herself with the towel and put on simple clothes.

She returned to her room and surprisingly, Alec had not yet left the bathroom.

"Alec, you're taking too long."

"Don't rush me, Mar. Looking nice this way takes time."

"Then hurry up there and get dressed, hot boy." she smiled.

While the human finished dressing, Maria put on a simple make-up.

A few minutes later, they ended up leaving the room and the vampire left a note telling her friends that she had gone out with Alec.

The trip to the French Quarter was not long and the two walked through the streets until reaching the place.

"Rousseau's?"

"Yes," said Maria, "it's not a bad place."

They entered the establishment and headed for the bar, where a bartender with her back was.

"What will you want?" she asked, turning to face the customers.

"Carmen, I didn't expect to see you on that side of the counter." commented Maria.

"Cami." corrected

Alec laughed and ended up licking his friend's elbow.

"I'd like a beer, please." he asked

"Me too."

Camille took the drinks and handed them over.

"It was a pleasure to see you again, Camille."

"You too, Maria."

Maria looked at the psychologist and turned to Alec.

"Alec, go look for a table, I'll see you soon." she asked politely.

The young man left the two women alone and the trybrid began to speak:

"Let me guess how you found out ... Klaus? Your boyfriend who is not a boyfriend but who is complicated?" The blonde nodded "You know what, Camille? I was here thinking ... when the Mikaelson family knew I could be alive, Elijah went to Marcel and he said that I was dead, because I asked him not to say anything to anyone. However, a few days later, there is Elijah back to say that he knows that I am alive. I was curious about how they found out and then I remembered that the only person who had seen me and been with me was you." she sipped his beer "You seem to be a smart person but I don't think you could understand that if you met me under a false name, you were not supposed to say that you saw me and know my real name."

"They had a right to know that you were alive." contradicted the human

"You have no right to make that choice." she took the money to pay for the drinks "here it is. Keep the change. Oh and ... Don't play with the fire, Camille. You could end up burning yourself."

And with just one look, Maria made the coffee machine go out of control.

She turned away, gave one of her typical sly smiles and went to Alec.

"You're a terrible person." he said laughing, when she sat down

"But you still like me." she blinked and took another sip of beer.