There was no question or doubt that the world outside the large building, was burning while Maeve had spent the last two days having a party and celebrating a victory that was long time coming.

Now, here, standing inside the Abbatoir she faced an unlikely scene. A dinner table was set up in the courtyard, a clear indication of some form of celebration. The vampire army, including Marcel and his closest friends, were seated around the table, and Klaus and Hayley were at each end of the table. Klaus was on the other end of the table, on his feet and holding up a glass in hand and a fork in the other.

"What did I just walk into?" she asked herself.

"Maeve!" Klaus said with a cheerful smile on his face. "Please join us." He gestured with his hand to the table. A compelled waitress approached the table with a chair for her. Maeve looked around the room and reluctantly sat down at the table. She sat the bottle she brought with her on the floor next to her chair.

Klaus continued, "Let us begin with a toast to our shared gift: immortality. After a thousand years, one might expect life to be less keenly felt, for its beauties and its sorrows do diminish with time. But, as vampires, we feel more deeply than humans could possibly imagine."

Compelled waiters and waitresses, collectively approached the table, in order to serve the vampires at the table. " Insatiable need, exquisite pain..." the waiters and waitresses slit their wrists with knives and poured their blood into glasses, "Our victories, and our defeats." Klaus raised his glass and added, "To my city, my home again. May the blood never cease to flow..."

Marcel lifted up his glass, "...and the party never end!" he said. Everyone in unison cheered on the toast to the city. 

"I understand that some of you may have questions regarding the recent change in leadership, and I invited you here tonight to assure you that you are not defeated. No, my intentions moving forward are to celebrate what we have. What Marcel, in fact, took and built for this true community of vampires." 

Diego rudely pointed at Hayley, "What about her? The wolf."

Hayley looked offended by his comment, "What about Maeve? She is a Lycan...just like me." Diego looked over at Marcel hoping his leader slash friend would respond.

"Lycans are different. They have been here for almost a decade. Maeve is an old friend and Kalons are a part of this city."

"We all are well aware of the connections Maeve had with the previous government. Furthermore, had you'd let me finish, Diego, you would know that there is, of course, one further matter I would like to address." He walked over to the other end of the table where Hayley was sitting. "As many of you know, the girl is carrying my child. Consequently, I trust you will all pay her the appropriate respect. However, I understand that some of you are concerned by this vicious rumour that I intend to use the blood of our child to create hybrids. I assure you I do not."

"Father of the year." said Hayley with a hint of sarcasm. Maeve smiled lopsidedly at her. She held up her glass of Scotch looking at the werewolf, she winked at the werewolf.

Klaus looked mildly frustrated at the short quick interaction between the two, he decided to speak further. "It appears I will have to earn your trust. Very well. We'll eliminate the root of your anxiety. You see, how can I sire any hybrids if there are no more werewolves alive in the Bayou to turn?

Hayley sat up immediately, horrified by the solution Klaus offered, "What? Klaus, no!"

Klaus decided to ignore Hayley and add, "So──eat, drink, and be merry. And, tomorrow, I suggest you have yourselves a little wolf hunt. Go ahead, have fun. Kill them all!"

Hayley looked over at Maeve, silently asking for her help. Maeve looked up at Klaus questioningly. He glanced back at her with only a smirk.

The dinner ended soon after, although Maeve unfortunately was still hungry given most of the food was just appetizers. Maeve made her way up the short flight of stairs and into the study room where she knew she'd find the original hybrid with a bottle of bourbon.

Just like she had guessed, Klaus stood by the fireplace inside the study nursing a glass in hand. "Surprised you came out of your castle." he crudely said turning around to face her.

"Yeah...I got time today to slip out. So..." she stepped further into the room, "what exactly happened in the last two days?"

Klaus turned around with a knowing glare evidently set on his face. "Marcel believed he could best me. He concucted a plan...alongside Rebekah to subdue me."

Maeve's jaw was on the floor hearing Klaus. Klaus walked around her and to the table carrying the tray of alcohol.

Maeve stopped him before he could pour one for himself. "Open this. I got it for us." she said holding her hand up for Klaus that held the bottle she brought with herself.

Klaus hummed as he took the bottle from her. "A thank you bottle, I presume."

Maeve grinned back at him before she corrected him, "a victory celebration."

"Tell me more." he said showing his intrigue for details.

"Later. Tell me about Rebekah and Marcel."

Klaus poured two glasses of bourbon Maeve brought and began narrating, "well, as you know I have been attempting to find a way to break Marcel's reign in my home."

"Yeah I get your power grab thirst, drama queen. Skip to the latest episode." Maeve interjected. She took the glass from Klaus and walked over to the couch to settle down.

"Alright then. Marcel and Rebekah thought that with the number of vampires he could find a way to take me down." Maeve grimaced immediately at those particular words.

"Geez..." she groaned, "for someone who basically warned me and Zeke to lay off of your path he sure doesn't take his own advice."

"Yes, he clearly does not." Klaus laughed along with her. "Anyway, I played my part and offered the pitiful number of vampires gathered to fight for your dear friend Marcel a chance for mercy. A trick I borrowed from Marcel himself. Pick up the coin and join me or die."

Maeve whistled and shifted on the couch. She now faced Klaus completely, her legs crossed up and impatiently waiting for Klaus to continue. "Action and drama, continue."

"No one picked up the coin and the fight began."

"And?"

"I murdered quite a bunch of them. I cannot be bested so easily now can I?" he asked rhetorically with a hint of condescension in his tone. "When Marcel saw me overpower his band of goons quite easily he picked up the coin. And this kingdom is now mine."

"He just handed it all over to you? Wow. That is wow." she showed her surprise and shock evidently with the way she gulped down the drink in one go and had her eyes widened throughout the time.

"And what did Rebekah do in all this?"

"Took his side. Stood by him, helped him." Klaus sourly informed her. "All I have been doing these past few weeks is listen, and act differently be different and both of them chose to stand against me."

"Nik, stop. They didn't stand against you, they stood up to you."

"Ofcourse." said Klaus bitterly. "You'd take their side as well."

"I'm not. I am still mad at Elijah and Rebekah. Well, with Rebekah mostly for the nearly bordering incest she's got going on with Marcel given the relationship you and Marcel share."

"You stood by me."

"I did. Mostly because I believe in you."

"Why so much believe? Faith?"

Maeve rolled her eyes and threw her head back groaning annoyed. "This again. Because Niklaus Mikaelson, you have had so many chances to kill me and bury me somewhere no one would ever find out and yet I'm not dead. You could have disposed me off that summer but you showed more humanity than anyone else. I don't care actually that you are a Villain for many but to me you and your family will always be those who are my safe house."

Klaus smiled warmly at her. "Another drink?"

"Yes, please."

"Tell me how did the meeting with the council go?"

"Oh, it made me realise a lot of things." said Maeve, "foremost is that there are people with bigger egos than you."

Klaus looked at her as if her words hurt him, "ouch. Is that true?"

"Don't prove me otherwise." she sassed him. "The thing is..." she narrated the entire meeting to him.

Laughter and jokes filled the room, either of them ignoring the presence they felt of someone outside of the door. Hayley stood for a good ten minutes outside the room listening to the two of them.

The following evening Maeve walked around the city, breathing in the quiet surroundings. Not many were still around and it gave Maeve the much needed quiet time to herself.

The casket girls Festival was over and she had finally gotten a break from smiling constantly and acting stiff and strict unlike her usual laid back way of going about in life. Maeve strolled over on Bourbon Street sighing to herself.

It wasn't long after that she felt someone around her, "two seconds that silence lasted." she commented, slightly louder for the person behind her to hear.

"I always seem to find you alone in the dead of the night." the answer came back. Maeve smiled unknowingly at that and turned around to face him.

"Elijah."

"Hello Maeve." He took a small step ahead and stood right in front of her──still maintaining a reasonable distance.

"Don't you have anything else to do?"

Elijah smiled at her, "none as important as this."

"What? Stalking me?" she feigned fear glancing his way.

"Checking up on you. Niklaus told me about you." said Elijah. "congratulations. You finally showed them your worth."

"Thank you, Elijah. I appreciate it."

"Hayley conveys her thank you as well. If I'm not wrong, Niklaus sends his 'she gets on my last nerve' swear as well."

Maeve hummed at his words acting aloof. It lasted for only a few moments before she burst into laughter. "I don't know why that is?"

"Strange because when Rebekah and I went to help the wolves escape the vampires, they all seemed to already be running away from a particularly large black wolf with burning red eyes and a growl that echoed for miles." taking a leap of faith and dare he stepped even closer, silently praying Maeve wouldn't step away. He sighed inwardly to himself when she remained standing in place.

"Yeah well, I don't always agree with Nik's decisions. Sometimes he is a nerve wrecking stupid idiot."

"I think he is always a nerve wrecking stupid idiot." Maeve chuckled along Elijah. Neither spoke for a couple of moments. Elijah stole quick glances at Maeve waiting for her to speak.

Maeve sighed before she asked him, "Would you like to walk with me?"

"I would love to." said Elijah with a smile. The two continued strolling on the bourbon street side by side.

"How are you feeling now?"

"How is it possible that you are the only one who noticed right away that I had changed? No one else said anything?"

"I pay attention to everything that is important." a giggle escaped Maeve involuntarily. She covered it with a cough almost immediately.

"How are you feeling now?" Maeve sighed to herself.

"I'm feeling great. And yes, I was a different person the last couple of months."

"So I was right."

"Sorry I snapped at you." Elijah offered her a genuine smile in response,

"Don't apologise Maeve, I quite understand what you might have been going through."

Her shoulders, usually squared with determination, slumped ever so slightly. "I had to become someone I'm not. Stone cold, ruthless. I had to embrace a version of myself that I thought was necessary to achieve my goals."

"You did what you thought was necessary. Do not ever apologize for something so determined and dedicated as that." Maeve smiled softly at his words. Perhaps the weight she felt of her heart was of a judgement she unconsciously believed would be on her.

"I don't have my magic anymore..." she began to confess. "I needed to proof myself that I am not invalid." Elijah recognised that even though he had met a different and changed Maeve, the core to the phenomenon named Maeve remained as steady as it had ever been.

As much as he did not like that particular thing in her, he let her be...he let her ramble on more about the necessity she felt in proving herself as deserving heir to the throne she inherited.

While Elijah gambled with his thoughts about everything that had happened early the same night and wanting to share them with Maeve; with his consious begging to not bring up anyone other than him. It begged him to silence whatever he would have or should have mentioned and let the night take him away as Maeve would lead. After all, it had been months since he had last conversed so stably with the Lycan.

Maeve's story wasn't far different from Elijah's. She hated how much she liked how easy it was for her to open up to the Original. She hated that even after everything she had begun to hate in him, it was him who brought her intrusive thoughts out into the open.

Confessing her insecurity about giving up her magic, the fact that she missed having them flowed so swiftly and efficiently, Maeve herself drowned in a losing battle of stopping from speaking more and wanting to not stop speaking at all.

"And I am again dumping all on you." one side won the debate inside Maeve's head. "I'm sorry."

Elijah stopped her in the tracks and placed his hand on top of hers. "Do not ever apologize for speaking your mind. Especially to me. How many times must I keep telling you to never apologize for speaking to me about anything."

"Times are different now." Maeve retracted herself from the intimate space she felt rise between the two. "Our relationship was very different back then and now...it's complicated."

"Maeve...please, it is not so complicated."

"Elijah...don't." she said, shaking her head. She gazed into his eyes that were already set upon her. His gaze soft pierced through her directly reaching for her soul.

As always, the gap between began to close, both leaning in again. The striking comfort that erupted with only the presence, enticed both equally. There was another feeling that burnt through Maeve, turning her cheeks flush red. She couldn't remember any word in the entire English language she knew that might define that feeling she felt in her.

Maeve looked from his eyes to her lips, unsure of why it was that she allowed herself to lean in. Taking note of it, Maeve stepped away.

"We shouldn't. I──it's not right. Not when it is probably best we...mo──" she gulped a hard lump she felt in her throat down and continued. "Move on."

Elijah hated every single word in the sentence. After everything he hoped that if not completely──but by some push, they would at least speak. Maybe he had taken it a step too far. Would it be possible that he stepped too forward? Even if so, he had to tell her he did not move on.

"Why?" he asked her, a sense of impatience evidently laying within the enunciated syllable.

"Because you have." she rudely pinpointed at him. "I see how you look at Hayley, how much you care. It's quite alright, Elijah. Don't overthink it. If it's so, it is so." keeping her piece short and simple, Maeve turned around to walk away.

Elijah pressed his hand on her arm, just above her elbow and forced her to turn around. He had tugged on her arm that brought her close to him. Maeve gasped at the jerk her body felt from his actions. Maeve was pressed against his chest, face mere inches from his.

Under the midnight blue sky, a single streetlight and an empty bourbon street feel utterly silent giving them a chance to talk──atleast to Elijah.

Elijah had his right hand still on her arm, while his left hand rested on the back of her waist, steadying her.

"I failed us. It is a regret I will carry on as one of the worst mistakes I ever made in my entire life. I know that very well. I will apologize to you for what I did to you for the last almost half a year now, until I find myself actually having redeemed it. I am truly and completely sorry for everything I did to you, Maeve." he confessed to her. His breath fanned over her face.

Elijah licked his bottom lip, his eyes flickering from her wide bright eyes that glowed under the street light and her lips parted in surprise of his words.

He added more to his confession wanting to be frank and honest with Maeve, "Maeve, I don't know how to love someone who isn't you. I don't know how not to miss you."