Later on, after the Mikaelson family had saved their sister, Ophelia stood in her room when Jackson entered, "You ready to go?" He asked her curiously.

Ophelia walked closer to Jackson, a small smile on her face, "Look, Jack, I'm really sorry. I know I promised that we'd spend the night alone. I even had this really dumb plan that we were going to drink egg nog and watch It's A Wonderful Life together. Yet, here we are..." She trailed off with a sigh.

Jackson gave her a reassuring look, "You don't need to apologize. Today, it was me that saw their house on fire and decided not to let it burn."

Ophelia was quiet for a moment as she gave him a curious look, "Why did you decide to help them after everything?"

Jackson hesitated for a moment and rubbed his face contemplatively before he finally answered, "Instinct. I don't know. I felt like one of my pack was in danger, and I acted. I mean, don't get me wrong—my in-laws really suck."

Ophelia couldn't help but burst out laughing at his remark, "But, hey, they fought like hell to protect each other today, and I respect that," Jackson paused, smiling at Ophelia, "I was born to love you, Ophelia, and if that means I have to deal with the Mikaelsons, then okay. I'm in."

Ophelia, touched by this reaction, leaned forward and kissed him passionately, wrapping her arms around his neck as he wrapped his own around her waist.

When they broke away from the kiss, Ophelia smiled at Jackson bashfully, "If we leave now, we could still catch the end of It's A Wonderful Life..." She trailed off, nervously biting her lip.

Jackson smiled down at Ophelia, "I got a better idea," He told Ophelia, who raised a brow at him, "Hayley and Hope are already waiting for us in the hall."

Downstairs in the courtyard, Elijah, Freya, Klaus, Rebekah, and Cami were all dressed in their best holiday clothes and standing around the lit Christmas tree. Elijah had just placed a large, beautifully wrapped gift for Hope under the tree and adjusted some of the ornaments on the tree nervously as Freya became behind him and placed down a gift of her own. They then stood up and walk toward Cami, who handed each of them a glass of red wine. Klaus came out next with two more glasses of wine and smiled as Freya came over and kissed him affectionately on the cheek.

Just then, Jackson led Ophelia and Hayley, who was holding Hope in her arms, to the top of the staircase, where Ophelia immediately stopped and stared in awe at the holiday gathering below them.

When Klaus saw them, he walked toward the bottom of the steps, and Elijah, Freya, and Cami turned to look up at them with smiles on their faces.

The female duo was positively beaming as they walked down the stairs, Ophelia, looking up at Jackson affectionately as she did so, "You told me that you wanted a happy family Christmas after decades of not having one. Well, the family's all here."

Ophelia turned to Klaus, smiling at him as Hayley walked over to Elijah, who had eyes only for Hope at this moment, "Merry Christmas, little one."

As soon as Ophelia looked away from Klaus, Klaus walked over to Jackson with a smile and handed him a glass of wine, which caused Ophelia to raise a brow at him in concern, "Thank you for helping Freya." He thanked Jackson.

Jackson looked absolutely surprised by Klaus' uncharacteristic kindness. He shared a glance with Ophelia before he took the glass, and Freya smiled at Jackson gratefully from behind him, "Unfortunately, we're all out of mason-jar moonshine." He added in, earning a playful eye roll from Ophelia.

Klaus couldn't help but chuckle at his own joke, and Jackson smiled in reluctant amusement as well before Rebekah, in a berry-red holiday cocktail dress, walked toward them to join the party, "Well, Nik, you are positively merry tonight!" Rebekah stopped and looked over at Cami with a bemused smile, "All that therapy must be paying off."

Suddenly, Klaus' face looked horrified as he noticed a very large metal bowl full of burning wood had been set up by Rebekah on the other side of the room, "Oh, no!"

Rebekah looked even more pleased by how terrified Klaus looked at the prospect of their family's holiday bonfire, "Yes, I know it's not exactly a bonfire, but I improvised."

Klaus continued to look nervous about it, but Rebekah just groaned in mock frustration. Ophelia smiled, walking over to Rebekah as she wrapped an arm around the female original, "Come on, Klaus. It's tradition! We have to."

Cami, who was confused, look around them in confusion, "Tradition?"

Klaus sighed, turning to face Cami, "We write our wishes and then burn them for luck. Strangely, I don't recall wishing for an influx of enemies, and yet year after year..." He explained to him before turning off.

Elijah smirked as he sipped his wine, "How odd. Forever on Santa's naughty-list."

Hearing Ophelia laugh at Elijah's remark, Klaus turned to face the woman, "Well, I believe there was someone who has always joined me on that list." He commented, earning a glare from Ophelia.

"Well, for once, I aim to be on the nice list," She responded, causing Klaus to laugh loudly.

"Like that's going to happen," He remarked and Ophelia rolled her eyes at him, yet still continued to laugh, which earned a smile on Klaus' face.

______

After the Mikaelson's Christmas, Rebekah was forced to leave the city, of course, after apologizing to Ophelia. Ophelia had headed back with Jackson, but after he had fallen asleep, Ophelia found herself back at the compound when she having the inability to sleep with all that was going on around her.

Klaus, who also couldn't sleep, walked out of his bedroom and onto the balcony, where he found looking out onto the streets of the French Quarter. His eyes widened, clearly not expecting her to still be at the compound.

After a moment, he recovered and began to speak up, "You look..." He trailed off and Ophelia turned to look at him, smiling in amusement.

She walked closer to Klaus, pointing a finger at his chest, "Don't you dare say tired," She demanded in a playful manner, "You've lived long enough to know you should never tell a woman she looks tired! Especially when that woman happens to be me."

Klaus smiled widely at Ophelia, "I was going to say 'beautiful', but tired works well, too," He responded, gesturing down to the red dress she wore.

Ophelia rolled her eyes and laughed sarcastically, "Ha! Very funny."

"A penny for your thoughts?" He questioned her, leaning his arm against the railing of the balcony while facing her.

"I was thinking about you, actually..." She trailed off, nervously biting her lip.

Klaus' mouth gaped open in shock, though he wasn't expecting what came next, "And the fact that I think Rebekah was right. At times, you do try to keep me behind glass, but I always defy your demands, which sometimes leads me into trouble. Like, with Aurora..."

Klaus seemed to tense up at the mention of Aurora, quickly shaking his head, "Don't," He insisted in a tone that was almost pleading, "Please. When I think of all the ways she could have hurt you..."

"She didn't. Klaus, she didn't..." She trailed off, taking a step closer to him as she grabbed his arm, "All because of you. You've always been there for me. Whenever I've needed you, you've been there. When I turned, all the times I've almost died, always," She paused, letting out a sigh, "But I need to know the absolute truth about something. Why did you want me to marry Jackson so bad?"

Klaus was silent for a long moment, avoiding eye contact with her. Finally, he turned to her, a sad look on his face, "Because he could give you something I couldn't. True happiness. Purity. Someone stable. Because I also knew saving the Crescents was important to you," He paused, taking a step toward her, "And what's important to you will always be important to me as well. What makes you happy makes me want to keep you so, no matter what it takes. What scares you I want to tear apart. And whoever wrongs you or tries to hurt you, I would kill without blinking, regardless of who that person may be," Klaus hesitated, and Ophelia was completely stunned at his declaration of affection from him, "I do not wish to watch you from glass, as Rebekah says I do."

"Well then, what do you wish for, Klaus?" She asked him, her voice just above a whisper.

Klaus stared the woman in the eyes for a long moment. He stood silent for a moment, hesitant to do what he wanted to do. His lips parted briefly before quickly leaning in and crashing his lips against hers, not caring for the consequences or who may see.

Ophelia was shocked for a moment, unable to think of the consequences. Soon enough, she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back, and the two began to make out on the balcony as Klaus slid his arms around her waist.

Klaus eventually pulled away, and Ophelia smiled at him in bliss, "That was definitely the wrong thing to do," He remarked, referring to Ophelia being married to Jackson.

Ophelia continued to smile, shaking her head, "I don't care," She responded, giggling happily, which made Klaus laugh as well.

Klaus lifted Ophelia off the ground, causing her to laugh as he carried her to his room.

Ophelia and Klaus stood next to Klaus' bed, staring at each other intensely while Klaus softly trailed his fingertips up Ophelia's arm and toward her neck. Ophelia sat down on the bed and tugged Klaus closer toward her by the front of his shirt.

Klaus smiled in utter awe as they both laid back on the bed with Klaus laying on his side next to her. The two of them began passionately making out on his bed, not caring for the consequences.

Klaus broke away from the kiss, and he and Ophelia stared into each other's eyes as Klaus gently ran his fingers through her hair. He continued to stare intently into eyes with such love and admiration as she ran her own hand down his chest.

______

Meanwhile, Ophelia woke up in Klaus' bed at the compound to find Klaus sleeping soundly beside her. She smiled at the sight of Klaus looking so peaceful, but after a moment, she was reminded of the fact that she needed to get home before Jackson could question her. She knew she was going to tell him the second he woke up, but she wanted to be there before he did.

Ophelia quickly got up from the bed and walked toward the bedroom door. She opened, only to find Cami standing there, her eyes looking almost blank, "Cami?" she called out in worry, only to look down to see that Cami held a black colored stake in one hand and a knife in the other.

She began to back away in worry as she came to the conclusion that the woman was compelled. Suddenly, as Ophelia stood right in front of Klaus' bed, Cami stabbed Ophelia in the heart with a special spelled wood stake, one that had been given to her when being compelled by Aurora. It was a certain stake that was sure to kill not only any non-original vampire, but also a hybrid, even if hybrids weren't supposed to be able to be killed with a wooden stake.

Ophelia gasped out, her eyes wide as she watched Cami slit her own throat, "Klaus," She managed to croak out, but Klaus didn't hear her calling out for help as she dropped down beside him, now fully dessicated.

Several moments later, Klaus awoke to find that he was spooning with Ophelia, whose body was turned away from him. He smiled and lifted his hand to stroke her hair away from her neck, but his contentment immediately turned to horror as she noticed the color of Ophelia's skin was completely grey.

Klaus, nearly sick with fear, shakily lifted himself up to find that Ophelia was dead, staked in the heart with a black colored stake that seemed to be one of the dark objects owned by the Strix.

He turned his head and became even more horrified at the sight of Cami's dead body laying on the ground, her throat slit. Klaus wasted no time ripping the stake out of Ophelia's heart, hoping that she would come back alive, seeing as though she was a hybrid and shouldn't have been able to be killed by a wooden stake.

Klaus gasped in horror and shock as he tried to lift Ophelia up, but her desiccated body laid slack in his arms, not turning back to its normal color as he hoped it to be, "No, no, no," He silently cried as he clutched Ophelia's body to his tightly as he began to panic at the extreme.

He was shaking from just how devastated he was to find the love of his live dead after everything that had happened to her, after all that she had gone through in the past few weeks.

"No!" Klaus roared at the top of his lungs, the sound of his voice probably being heard by the entire french quarter.