"Are these outfits really necessary?" Klaus grumbles readjusting the collar to his suit.

"I hate to say this, believe me I do, but I'm with Nik on this one," Kol says gaining more than one interesting looks. "Why should we dress up for the woman who not only tried to kill us on multiple occasions but our mate, as well" He growls buttoning his jacket.

"Appearance is a way of showing respect," Elijah strains barely able to accept that their mother is alive and coming into their home. "Mother will be more likely to surrender her true intentions,"

"Well, I doubt her guard will drop just cause we're dressed like bloody lawyers," Klaus grumbles. Kol nods in agreement.

"We need every advantage we can get, Niklaus," Elijah exasperates.

"You always did excel in diplomacy," Klaus complements. "Just know, if she tries anything, I'll tear her new body to pieces,"

"If you can get to her first," Kol smirks at the idea of fighting his brother for the ability to kill their mother first.

"If you do kill her, make sure you kill her somewhere where it's easy to clean... I'd hate to see you two stay up all night cleaning blood out of carpet," Claire says joining them with a playful grin. 

"You look stunning," Henrik says instantly appearing in front of her. She smiles, her shoulders visibly relaxing. She raises her hands and gently straightens his tie.

"Thank you," She whispers softly. "And you look extremely handsome," She purrs lifting her gaze to meet his. She kisses his cheek lightly, leaving a slight smudge of red lipstick before moving around him. "I just got off the phone with my mom, Madelyn wanted to say goodnight before she went to sleep. She told me that she wants you to take her and her friends to the market tomorrow," Claire tells Klaus.

"An afternoon watching after children that aren't even mine," Klaus rolls his eyes not talking about Madelyn, seeing as he considers her very much his own daughter, but her rather pesky young friends.

"You're the one who promised her that you would do something fun with her," Claire grins towards him. He releases a slow breath already feeling a headache form. Claire giggles at her mates obvious distress. She gently presses her hand to his chest before leaning over to kiss his cheek. "It'll be alright, you've survived worse,"

"I have survived a lot, but an afternoon with a group of 6 year old's is a completely different task with a much lower survival rate," Claire laughs again shaking her head.

"You won't be alone, I'm sure if you ask one of your brother's they'll go with you," Claire turns her head only to be reminded by how fast vampire move as they disappear into different rooms of the house. "Well, then," She whispers shaking her head. "Perhaps you'll have better luck with the hybrids,"

"How about you?" Klaus asks grabbing her hand. He lifts it and twirls her around, the ends of her dress fanning out before resting against her legs once more.

"Will you not join me and keep me from going utterly insane?" He asks holding her hand tenderly in his while his other hand rests warmly on her hip. He deeply desired to lower his hand and caress the soft skin of her thigh that is so deliciously exposed through the slit of the dress but restrains himself.

"I don't think there's a person in the world that could keep you from insanity," She says raising her hand to caress his stubbled jaw. "But I wouldn't have you any other way," She whispers slowly drawing closer to him. "But there's still hope for me," She teases. "I'd like to hold onto my sanity for as long as possible,"

"I don't think you're as sane as you think, sweetheart" Klaus confesses connecting their foreheads. "But I wouldn't have you any other way, either" 

"Good," Claire whispers dragging her nails across his skin to the back of his neck. The hands that are connected intertwine and the arms that are around the other tighten. "I love you," She whispers kissing his lips lightly.

"We should leave the girls at your mothers more," Klaus smirks gazing into her eyes. "I want you to myself,"

"As much as I love being with you, you're going to have to share," She reminds him. She could only imagine the annoyance of her other mates should she fall pregnant with his child before the others had their chance at a kid. "But maybe if tonight goes well, I'll suck it up and join you tomorrow... Maybe" Klaus smiles kissing her nose before releasing her.

Soon, the other brothers begin to reenter the room. Finn begins to fill the glasses with wine, Kol picks at the food unwilling to wait much longer, and Henrik takes a seat at the table bouncing his knee while staring towards the entrance of the room. Claire glances towards Elijah smiling warmly when she notices what he's doing.

"Elijah Mikaelson, are these damn things giving you trouble once again?" Claire asks softly. She walks up to him, gently taking his hand in hers. His lips turns upward. He watches as she fixes his cufflinks. She does one arm before going to the next. Once she's done, she gently holds both in her hands.

"Thank you," He whispers. She hums kissing him lightly. "You look beautiful," He whispers to her. She smiles kissing him once again as a thanks for the complement. 

"Where is she?" Kol growls feeding on some grapes. "Is being late to dinner a way of showing respect, brother?" Kol questions Elijah sarcastically. Elijah simply sighs and rolls his eyes. 

Claire smiles amusingly before walking towards Henrik. Out of everyone, he's the only one so openly nervous about the confrontation. She walks up behind him and rubs his chest soothingly. He sighs slowly and leans back against the chair, his head pressing against her stomach. He lifts his hand and rubs her arms slowly.

"Are you just going to sit there or are you going to kiss me?" Claire whispers in his ear. Henrik smirk leaning his head back even more. He puckers his lips. She smiles connecting their lips lightly. "Don't be nervous," Claire mutters to him. "We have her out numbered and she's coming into our home. We have the advantage at the moment, it is her that should be nervous,"

"The last time we saw her, I almost lost you," Henrik whispers.

"That won't happen again," Kol growls gaining their attention. "Mother doesn't get within six feet of you," He says sternly. "She doesn't touch you, you don't touch anything she touches. If she so much as tries to mutter a spell, I'll rip her throat out and we'll start this all over again when we find her second body." Claire smiles nodding to him.

"Oh, my darling son," Esther says appearing in the doorway. All eyes instantly turn towards her. "I've missed you, too," She smiles at him. Kol snarls not bothering with niceties. Elijah gives him a look not wanting tempers to flare before they've even sat down.

Kol huffs speeding towards his mate. He pulls her chair out for her. She kisses his cheek, her lips lingering in an attempt to sedate him. While he relaxes, Claire can still sense a tension she doubts will remain until Esther is gone.

Slowly, Claire sits beside Henrik. She instantly reaches for his hand, which he willingly gives her. Kol quickly takes the seat on the other side of her before any of his brothers can claim it. Klaus takes the head of the table while Elijah and Finn sit on the other side of the table.

"Why don't you say what you came here to say, so this wretched night can end?" Klaus demands.

"It pains me that you all look at me with such distain," Esther says with a tone of sorrow that none of them believe. "I wish you could see that my every action has been to protect you," She states defensively. Claire's mouth literally drops.

"You actually believe that, don't you?" Klaus laughs ridiculously. "I knew you were a liar, but now I see you're utterly delusional"

"If you can forget the hatred that you cling to and remember all the times I've mended and healed you" Klaus laughs while Kol continues to snarl.

"Yes, let's forget all the times you tried to kill us," Kol rolls his head. "As if that wasn't too long ago," Esther gives him a stern look.

"Elijah," Esther says looking towards him. "Do you recall the day Niklaus challenged your father to a duel? Did I leave your brother to die alone? What did I say, when you came to me and asked me to help him?" She asks raising her eyebrow.

"That you would rather die than see any of your children suffer," Elijah sighs. Anger fills Claire as Esther brings up memories from a thousand years ago while her deadly transgressions occurred much later. How dare she try to justify her acts of treachery with her small acts of 'kindness' from when they were human. It didn't matter what she had done while they were human, that time has long since passed and they're all very different people. However, before she could speak up, Klaus beats her to it.

"The necklace," Klaus whispers his pupils dilating with realization. Claire frowns her eyebrows as she looks towards him. He continues to stare at his mother in not only disbelief but horror as well. "It wasn't spelled to protect me, it made me weak"

"I sought to protect you from yourself! If you had killed your father in that duel, or anyone else in the course of your life, you would have activated your curse!" Esther shouts at him desperate for him to see her reasoning. Claire felt her heart shatter at the pure anger and heartbreak in his eyes. She watches as tears swelled and his fists clenched. 

"You ruined me!" He shouts slamming his fist on the table. "You left me to suffer at the hands of a father who valued only strength!"

"I kept you from becoming a beast for as long as I possibly could!" Esther shouted back, a look of guilt crossing her eyes. Klaus slams his hand against the table once more before shooting out of his chair.

"Oh, you lied to me! To hide your own transgressions because of your own fear! My whole life, I sought the approval I was denied by the man I thought was my father! You turned me into the weakling he hated" Klaus growled. Despite the fact that tears puddled in his eyes, he desperately fought to keep them from falling. Esther lowers her gaze but the action makes him snap. "Look at me! You rant and you rave about the monster I have become, but you, Mother, are the author of everything I am"

Unable to take the pain in her mates eyes any longer, Claire stands and moves to his side. She's grateful he doesn't push her away as she grabs his hand. He clenches it so tight she feared it would break but she didn't dare attempt to pull away. She unbuttons his shirt just enough to slide her hand inside and rest on his chest knowing that skin-to-skin contact helped soothe him more than anything.

Sudden movement causes her to look over. She see's Esther falling forward. Finn reaches out and stops her. They all look at him confused as he pushes her limp body back against the chair.

"She's gone," Finn whispers. Klaus roars in anger as he speeds to the body.

"Where is she?!" He hollers in anger. A moment later the girl begins to wake up.

"Where am I? What's happening?" She asks in confusion. Klaus snaps and yanks her out of the chair. His hand wraps tightly around her throat. Elijah is quick to separate them.

"Leave her," Elijah demands. "She's a puppet." Klaus growls glaring at the girl. "Niklaus, look at her!" He shouts. "She has absolutely no idea"

"What are you talking about? Who are you?" She cries. Despite the fact that Esther had been in her body mere moments ago, Claire couldn't help but to sympathize for the girl. She didn't choose for this to happen, Esther had forced it upon her.

"Shut up!" Klaus shouts in anger. "Stop talking, right now!" He compels her. She whimpers but does as demanded. "Our mother orchestrated this entire evening just to torture us, and then simply vanishes" Klaus stalks back to the young witch. "Why?"

Claire quickly moves between them. She didn't truly know if the girl knew nothing but that wasn't what she was worried about. She just wanted to help him calm down knowing Klaus is very dangerous and unpredictable when angry.

"We'll find her, we'll figure this out," Claire promises him. She lifts her hands and cups both sides of his face. He tries to pull away but she holds onto him strongly. "Look at me," She whispers softly. "I know you're angry, I am too, believe m" She says holding onto him desperately. "But we can't accomplish anything if we're blinded by rage,"

"I want to kill her," Klaus growls. "I want to rip her apart, I want to bleed her out"

"I know, I know" She whispers pulling him deeper into her arms. He buries his head into her neck, holding onto her painfully tight. "I love you," She whispers into his ear. "And I swear to you, we will find her and we will kill her,"

"Claire," Henrik says hesitantly. Reluctantly, she steps out of Klaus's hold and looks at him. He hands her her phone. She pinches her eyebrows when she notices that there's multiple missed calls from her mother. An unsettling feeling rests in the pit of her stomach as she quickly calls Liz.

"Claire," Liz says picking up after two rings.

"Mom, is everything alright?" She asks while slowly pacing.

"It's Hanna, something's not right,"