Maeve paced around the living room. Her steps were forced exerting and occasionally a stomp forcing some energy building into her in the ground. She rubbed her hands together as her mjnd ran at a speed of a race car. Thought spiralled and kept banging against her brain further binding her to the turmoil within her.

The loud wails of baby Hope interrupted her. She ran up the stairs and into the room. "What happened? Is she okay?"

Patrick raised his hands up attempting to calm a panicked Maeve. "Relax. Relax...calm down. She just filled her diaper, that's all. Calm down."

Maeve breathed a sigh of relief. "You seem crazier than usual." she glared at Patrick who raised his arms up again this time in surrender.

"What happened is that council has refused my formal application of abdication. They want me to take throne in eight months."

"Good. They seem smart."

"Patrick!" Maeve yelled at him. She carried Hope in her arms and to her changing table.

"I'm serious. Your decision to abdicate throne was senseless. You made decisions too fast."

"Patrick!" she yelled at him. "You don't understand."

"Of course I don't because Hecate forbid if you ever completely tell anyone what goes on in your head."

"I can't. The more people get involved in this the larger the possibility of word going out. Please──"

Patrick sighed. "What now?"

"I have to move. If Zoltan found me, there isn't much time before Zeke would too. Being so close to Maywater settlement, it's about time that Maverick finds out as well."

"But where will you go?"

Maeve looked up at Patrick, tears already welling up in her eyes. "Only place no one can even think of me going."

Patrick knew immediately where it was that Maeve thought would be for the best. "Maeve, are you sure?"

"It's perfect for Hope. No one will try to look for her there."

Maeve looked up at the abandoned house in front of her. She swayed her hips sideways bobbing Hope in her arms. "Look at that." she told Hope.

"That's where I got my found family." Maeve cooed. Hope looked at her with her bright wide eyes. "Yes, that's where your dad saved me from myself. Where I told your uncle Elijah that I was not scared to take a step ahead. Where your uncle Kol and I bonded. This is where it all began."

The Mikaelson Mansion looked exactly like it was the last time she was here. Nothing looked different except the overgrown grass.

"You are an idiot." said Patrick. "This is crazy...even for you."

"This is ingenious. No one will even think about me being here. Let alone this sugar ball." They entered the house, covered in cobwebs and furniture covered with a white cloth.

"So much cleaning." whined Patrick.

"Leave, I'll do it."

"And how will you explain to the Mystic Falls people about the sudden residency?"

"Easy. Confundus charm."

"I──" Patrick paused before he just shook his head. "I'll take her into the other room. Hopefully the rich bastards left some of their good bourbon behind."

Maeve reached for her phone. Surprisingly she switched it on while travelling. A dangerous risk but she did it, letting her intrusive thoughts win.

There were a hundred messages from everyone but they surprisingly stopped after a week. Missed calls only a few...but there were so many voicemails. At least a circa seventy voicemails all from Elijah, Klaus, Kol, Rebekah, Ezekiel and Amara. There was only one from Hayley which was the most recent one.

She clicked on it and pressed the phone to her ear.

"Hi Maeve. You probably won't hear this but I had to call you. How is she? Is she okay? I know you are taking the best care of her. I'm calling from my phone and it's the bayou early in the morning. How are you? Everyone miss you both. Elijah hasn't been himself since you left. There's a rumour that you joined Francesca. She spread it herself, apparently. No one knows why but Elijah says he doesn't know you anymore. Maybe reach out to him? Just once? Something...some way just show yourself to him. He is miserable. All he does is look out for me and Klaus. Kol minds his own business and is rarely here. Rebekah is in her own world...no one is exactly the greatest. I miss her so much! Hopefully soon I can kill Francesca for what she did. Give my love and a kiss to Hope. Thank you for everything."

The voice message ended. Maeve pulled the phone away from her ear. It was only now she noticed there was another voicemail at the top of the long list of voicemails. It was Caroline, sent just two days ago.

The voice message was short. Caroline's distraught voice made her feel a pit in her stomach. Not that it wasn't there before either.

Maeve was debating her chances. She knew the risk of even being there but Caroline needed her. She couldn't decide what she should do. Should she go? Or should she just ignore it. Both the sentences scared just as much.

"Patrick?" she softly called out his name.

"Now what?" he asked her. Patrick strolled back into the foyer, this time nursing a glass of bourbon in hand.

"I have to do something."

Klaus, Elijah and Hayley were gathered in the dining area debating a secure plan to collect all the moonstones that rendered Klaus powerless one night of the full moon every month.

"Tonight's the full moon. Francesca believes that we have the stake and she will try to attack. Tonight."

"Promise me Francesca does not come alive out of this." Hayley was boiling with rage but the silent and calm demeanor of hers was startling.

Klaus gazed back at her rather grimly before a malicious half smile appeared on his face. "Her head will be handed to you on a silver platter." he replied.

"Klaus?" Klaus' smile dropped instantly at the sound of his name.

"What is she doing here?" Klaus asked his brother but didn't wait for a proper response. Instead he sped away and into the compound.

Klaus appeared into the compound mere steps away from the person who called out to him.

"What are you doing here, Caroline?" he asked her.

Caroline's eyes softened as they met with Klaus. "Klaus I'm so sorry for your loss. Hayley...I can't even imagine what you all must be going through."

Everyone exchanged glances of confusion at Caroline's sympathy. Klaus however quickly returned his state to her. Something about the sympathy she showed felt distant and insincere.

"What are you saying?" asked Klaus calmly.

Caroline took a step closer to him. "Maeve told me you lost your daughter because of the witches."

"She had no right to tell you our business. When did she meet you?" Elijah spoke adamantly ignoring the fact that Klaus was about to respond to Caroline.

"Caroline...are you alright?" asked Klaus.

"What do you mean?" asked Caroline, her eyes unnervingly gazing back at him and remaining so without the smallest movement other than the blinking of the eye lid.

He took a quick another look before he spoke again, "you inquired about me...and barely a sentence about Hayley. You haven't even looked at Elijah. Caroline usually inquires about everyone especially when it involves grief and loss. So I'm beginning to doubt you are even Caroline."

Caroline's entire appearance shifted. The soft eyes turned cold and her shoulders straightened. "Gosh, you really are a love sick original if you know me that well." she chuckled. "To tell you, I switched my humanity off."

Everyone became alert at her words. Humanity-less vampires were always unpredictable and they could not afford a liability like a humanity-less Caroline Forbes.

Seeing the sudden shift in everyone Caroline warned them herself. "Relax. I made a promise to Maeve that I will not do anything stupid or reckless. I'll be myself with no grief emotion, that's all."

"Why did you switch off your humanity?"

"My mom died of cancer. I called Maeve and switched off my humanity. Not before signing a long boring list of terms and conditions Maeve put forth."

"Wait she answered? How?"

"I called her and she replied." Both brothers looked sternly at one another avoiding showing any form of change in their composure. But an emotion less Caroline was less considerate than before and spoke up about what he brain had connected.

"You're telling me that for months, you probably tried to contact her in some way, excluding a simple trace of a cell phone? Really?"

Hayley noticed that Caroline might begin to ask more prodding questions or attempt to contact Maeve herself...again. She instead drove the attention away from Maeve to the evening's plan.

"Can we focus on today's plan?" she asked.

"What plan?"

"We are going to end the pack of Francesca Correa."

"Does that mean reckless killing?" asked Caroline. "Because if I'm helping you, I can recklessly feed and I am not violating the terms and conditions of Maeve."

Caroline didn't wait for a response from anyone but strolled into the Abbatoir like she owned it.

"She is risking a lot of things by going to Caroline....in Mystic Falls? Has Maeve forgotten how risky just being there can be──especially given the recent changes?" Elijah furiously vented out, but kept his dialogue as vague as possible so as to not feed new information to the recent new tenant.

"It's Maeve, she must have thought of everything." said Klaus. The brothers had switched roles ever since Maeve left without a notice six months ago. Klaus kept optimism and positivity despite becoming a recluse from society. Howsoever Elijah attempted to quiet the demons lurking in the shadows of both Hayley and Klaus' mind, he was not addressing the demons he had as pets in his own shadow.

"Why don't I believe you. All she's ever been like since she came here and did that controversy with the packs is spontaneous and reckless and most of all, a hypocrite."