꧁𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐠𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐞꧂
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GRACE WAS JUST SAT IN HER ROOM, trying to really just calm down after her altercation with Hayley. Honestly, she should have punched the girl. Hayley was acting so entitled and like she or Elijah have never done anything wrong. It was infuriating for grace, especially since Hayley seemed to think she always had to be on her side. Just because they grew up like sisters, didn't mean that she had to agree on everything. Especially when it came down to taking someone's daughter away.

She heard her phone ringing but was just ignoring it, she didn't know who it was but she didn't care. Grace was about to toss it off of the balcony.  She understood why Hayley wanted to take Hope, it was mainly to protect her, but the way she was blatantly stating that she didn't think Klaus was good enough for Hope, that's what pissed her off. Just because he's made some bad choices, doesn't mean that she can just take being a father away from him.

Grace groans as she hears her phone ring her again. She rolls her eyes as she glances towards it, seeing that it was indeed Hayley who was calling her. She didn't know what the woman wanted, but Grace knew it would involve more bashing of Klaus. Grace understood the bad things that Klaus had done, she wasn't an idiot who was blatantly ignoring it. But Elijah had also done bad things, Rebekah, Kol, Marcel, every single person basically.

Hayley just needed to get a grip and not make everything about her. Again, she didn't blame Hayley for wanting to protect Hope, it was just the pure entitlement that she seemed to have. She wouldn't even be a hybrid if it weren't for Hope being Klaus' child. As she hears her phone ring once more, she just clenches her jaw before roughly grabbing it.

"What?" Her voice was harsh as she answered the call. Grace runs a hand through her hair, shaking her head. She should have just continued to ignore it but she knew Hayley would just keep calling and if she tried turning off her phone, she would just show up.

"Did you know?" Hayley asks, seeming upset about something. Grace furrows her eyebrows, her patience was practically at zero at this point.

"Know what? I'm not a mind reader, Hayley." Grace retorts with a sigh, biting the inside of her cheek. She stares at her finger nails as she waits for Hayley to answer, by her heavy breathing, Grace could tell she was angry.

"That Klaus killed Aiden." She states which makes Grace stop what she was doing for a moment. Her eyes narrow as she thinks to herself, tilting her head.

"Are you sure you're not just spewing out accusations because he's the villain?" Grace suggests, she knew it was a possibility since Klaus did do unpredictable things, but why on earth would be kill Aiden? The man was literally doing everything he asked for.

"He confessed to it, stop trying to make excuses for him." Hayley snaps at her which makes Grace scoff. She wasn't even making any excuses, she was just asking if there was  any basis to what she had said. Grace wouldn't be surprised if Hayley had made it all up.

"I'm not making excuses for anyone." She replies, already getting annoyed enough to want to hang up on the hybrid.

"Do you even believe me?" Hayley asks, her jaw clenched. Grace just listens to her, knowing she was gonna say some more nonsense. "Do you still have faith that he's such a good guy?" She questions. Grace did believe that Klaus was a good guy, clearly not to everyone, but he was good to her and he really wasn't the big bad villain people painted him out to be.

"Maybe he had a reason." Grace suggests, going back to looking at her nails. She knew Aiden wouldn't have really done anything to piss Klaus off like that, which was why she wasn't really believing that he had actually killed the werewolf.

"A reason to kill a wolf who has always helped him?" Hayley replies with a scoff, not understanding how she was still defending Klaus.

"There's a reason for everything, Hayley." Grace points out, there was a reason that Aiden was killed, they just had to find it without all of the unnecessary banter and hatred.

"You're such a bitch." She hears Hayley mumble which makes her eyebrows raise. Of course she wasn't brave enough to say something like that to her face.

"Because I give people the benefit of the doubt?" Grace asks, she wasn't just going to blindly believe them. She didn't care if Klaus admitted it, she wanted to hear it from him. "Go back to your little boy toy Elijah.. oh wait, I meant Jackson." She states with a smirk before hanging up on the good. Seriously, Hayley needed a reality check big time.

Grace puts her phone down, glancing towards the door. As she gets up from the bed, she makes her way out into the hallway and towards Klaus' room instead. She didn't know if he was in there but she knew it was better to talk to him now then wait for everyone to gang up on him.

"Nik?" She says as she knocks on the door. After not getting a response, she decides to open the door anyway, seeing the man standing by his patio. "Are you okay?" Grace asks as she walks over to him before stopping beside Klaus. He didn't really glance at her, just keeping his eyes in front of him.

Grace lifts her hand to his arm and she could see the way he softened beneath her touch. "I know you didn't kill him." She says, seeing the way his ears perked up a bit. "Aiden." Grace adds, trying to read his face for an answer but it was rather stoic with a bit of hurt in his eyes.

"Love, please just, leave this be." Klaus replies with a sigh as he glances down at the ground. Grace shakes her head, she didn't want to leave him alone right now.

"Why would you just confess to something like that?" Grace questions, knowing that the avoidance of the question meant that he didn't actually do it. She believed that he would admit it to her if he did, the fact that he didn't even like said a lot.

"Everyone already paints me as the bad guy anyways." Klaus states, what was it having a few more people hate him. None of them were really focusing on Dahlia and getting rid of her, they were more targeted towards getting Hope away from him.

"Hey." She says softly, lifting her hand to his cheek and turning his head towards her. Klaus gazes down at her, finally meeting her eyes. "Not everyone. Not me." Grace assures him, wanting him to know that she was there for him. It may not be a lot but she had hoped it would give him just a little bit of comfort.

"Maybe it's better if you do." He says as he goes to grab her hand to move it but she just places her other hand up as well.

"I will never abandon you, Nik." Grace never wanted him to believe that she would ever leave him. If she was, she would tell him and give him an actual reason. She wouldn't let him push her away. "I don't care how much you try and push me away." She states, stroking his cheeks but again, he just shakes his head, moving her hands down to her sides.

"Your relationship with Hayley is strained--"

"Because of her." Grace points out, it was nothing that Klaus did or said that has caused the rift between her and Hayley. Hayley had made that mess all on her own. "Because of the choices she  has made." She tells the man who still seemed a bit reluctant.

"Love-" He starts but she just cuts him off again, not about to let him do all of this on his own.

"Nik, I trust you completely. I know you have a plan and I will be by your side, no matter what." Grace says as she grabs his hands, giving them a squeeze. She could tell that Klaus was grateful that she wasn't just leaving when he gave her an out.

"I don't deserve you." Klaus admits as he shakes his head, gazing down at the woman he loved. He truly didn't think he deserved a woman like her, someone who believed in him and never saw the worst. Well, now she didnt, she definitely didn't like him when they had first met.

"Maybe not." Grace replies as she wraps her arms around his neck, pulling him close to her."But I will never leave you." She assures him with a soft smile on her face before planting a gentle kiss on his lips. Klaus returns it before she pulls back from him.  "Unless you do something to me, then I may kill you myself." She threatens as she narrows her eyes at him. Klaus chuckles as he tilts his head.

"I would expect no less."

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GRACE'S PHONE RINGS IN HER POCKET AS SHE WALKS DOWN THE STREETS OF NEW ORLEANS. Furrowing her eyebrows, thinking it must have been Klaus, she takes out her phone. As she looks at the screen, she notices that it was actually Paul who was calling her. She was a bit confused since she didn't know what he would need from her, they were supposed to be out of the city by now. Answering the phone, she brings it up to her ear. She couldn't get anything out before Paul frantically started speaking.

"Grace, I need you to come right away." Paul tells her and Grace could immediately tell that something was off. He seemed worried and frightened by something. Grace didn't think it was Dahlia related but one could never be too sure.

"What's wrong?" Grace asks curiously as she stops walking, glancing around for a moment. It was silent for a moment, she couldn't tell if anything was still happening or not.

"I just-- please." He didn't want to explain it over the phone, especially the nature of the subject. Grace knew he was in shock about something that had taken place or maybe that was still occuring, he wasn't really telling her much.

"Okay, just calm down. Where are you?" She asks, needing to know where he was so that she could go to him.

"In the lobby of a hotel just near the outskirts of the city uh.. the Grand Royal." Paul states, his voice almost trembling. Grace looked down the street, it was close but not close enough to just run to.

"Im on my way." Grace says as she waves down a taxi which pulls over for her. "Just stay there, okay?" She tells him before hanging up the call, getting into the taxi and telling the driver where to go.

As they head down the street, her mind just kept going to the worst possible scenarios that she could think of. That Hanna was injured, or maybe even worse. Even Paul could be injured, although he didnt seem like it over the phone. He was a bit frantic about something though, and that just racked through her brain. She didn't even want to think of either of them getting hurt, by Dahlia, or anything else that could come their way.

The ride to the hotel was seemingly the longest drive ever, since she was in a rush and really needed to get to the hotel. As the taxi pulls over near the parking lot, Grace quickly tips before getting out of the car. She rushes towards the hotel doors, her heart beating quickly as she could feel her hands sweating.

She didn't want anything bad to have happened but by Paul's tone on the phone, she knew that was inevitable. "Paul?" She calls out, walking through the Lobby. Grace didn't see any staff or anything that was relatively off about the place. "Paul, are you here?" Grace asks, looking around for another moment. She notices Paul walking towards her from the foyer.

"Grace." He replies as he runs over to her. Grace places her hands on her hips as she stares back at him, Paul stopping right in front of her.

"Hey, what's going on?" She questions, furrowing her eyebrows. Paul glances behind him for a moment which makes Grace look aswell.

"It all just happened so fast." Paul admits as he starts to walk in the direction he came from with Grace following after him. They get through the doorway and that's when grace sees the body of a teenage girl on the floor of the rooms just below the stairs.

"Oh, my god." She gasps, her mouth parting slightly as her eyes widened. Usually she wouldn't really react to seeing someone who appeared dead, but the fact that it may have been because of them, was what really got her. Grace glances over to her right, seeing Hanna visibly shaking as she rocked back and forth on the bench. "Did she.." Grace starts to ask but Paul just nods his head at her. She lets out a sigh, biting the inside of her cheek as she moved over to Hanna.

"What's happening to me?" Hanna asks, tears streaming down her cheeks. It was clear that she had started the transformation process since her eyes glowed amber every few seconds.

"Hanna, everything's gonna be okay." Grace assures her, rubbing the girls shoulder for a moment before turning back to Paul and lowering her voice. "How did this happen?" She asks, wanting to know how exactly this occurred. It seemed like an accident but Grace needed all the facts.

"I don't know, this girl just started to attack her for no reason." Paul tells her, it wasn't like it was a provoked attack at all, it was completely random.

"What?" Grace responds, there had to be a reason why the girl had chosen to fight with Hanna. There really was only one thing she could really think of. "She must have been compelled." She states, crossing her arms against her chest.

"By who? Who would want to do this to her?" Paul questions, Hanna hadn't made any enemies, at least that they knew of. And Dahlia seemed to not even have them on her Radar.

"Was there anything the girl said? Any indication as to who might've done this?" Grace asks, wanting to see if any clues could help her piece this all together.

"All she said was, 'Now you will know what its like to suffer.' and then she just attacked Hanna." Paul explains to her and Grace nods her head for a moment. She narrows her eyes, racking her brain as she clenches her jaw.

"What it's like to suffer?" Grace repeats, almost to herself as she tries to think of someone who would say that to Hanna. Suddenly something clicks as she looks back at Paul. "Could this have possibly been Ann?" She asks, thinking of her mother as a culprit that could've had a hand in this. Paul looked a bit confused, not completely buying it.

"Why would she do something like this?" Paul questions, crossing his arms against his chest. He knew they left on bad terms but he didn't believe she would want to willingly hurt Hanna. Then again, she allowed grace to be harmed when she was way younger than Hanna.

"What if.. she somehow found out about Robert?" Grace suggests, even though they had gotten rid of the evidence, it was a possibility that Ann could've found out about it in some way.

"There's no way she could have."

"But say she did, she's capable of something like this." Grace didn't even need to ask it as a question, she knew her mother could do this, and would probably be smirking while doing it.

"I guess but how did she get this girl compelled?" Paul asks, still a bit confused on how Ann would've been able to pull something like this off.

"She knows about vampires so she couldve found one and made a deal." Grace points out, it wasn't that big of a stretch actually. She just couldn't believe that her mother would dare do something like this when she knows they could retaliate.

"I don't know what to do, Grace. I didn't want her involved in this world, especially not triggering her curse." Paul explains to her with a sigh, rubbing his face. He didn't care about Ann right now, he just wanted to help his daughter.

Grace looks back towards Hanna who was just staring at her hands. She walks over to the girl, sitting beside her. "Hanna." She says softly, gaining the girls attention. "I know this may be a lot for you and you are probably confused on what is happening." Grace starts, it wasn't exactly something you think would ever happen to you. Hell, even when she first found out, it was a bit shocking knowing there were supernatural creatures out in the world.

"I killed someone." Her voice was fragile and broken which made tears want to well up in Graces eyes. She reaches over, grabbing Hanna's hand and squeezing it.

"That was not your fault, you were protecting yourself." Grace assures her, this was not going to go back on her in any way. She wouldn't allow it to. It was self defense, plain and simple.

"But-"

"Hanna, I swear it'll all be okay." She states, not wanting the girl to worry, she just needed to tell her what exactly was happening. "Now, what I'm about to say next, cannot be repeated to anyone, okay?" Grace tells her and Hanna slowly nods her head, her eyebrows furrowed as she sniffles.

"I'm gonna tell you what's happening to you, I'm gonna tell you everything."

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WALKING AROUND THE COMPOUND, grace couldn't hear anyone talking or even in one of the rooms. She was a bit skeptical why it was so quiet since it usually never was. After dealing with what happened with Hanna, she was already on high alert since she was pretty certain her mom would try and pull a similar stunt with her. She hated that Ann was the one who practically forced Hanna to break her curse, Grace thought they'd gotten rid of her but apparently not.

As she walked through the courtyard, she couldn't even find Klaus anywhere. She was wondering where he had gone off to. "Grace." She hears from behind her causing her to turn, only to see that it was Elijah. Grace furrows her eyebrows as she just stares at him for a moment, wondering where he had just come from.

"Elijah, where is everyone?" Grace questions as she walks over to him, seeing that he was a bit reluctant to even talk to her.

"There's been a.. change of plans." Elijah says hesitantly, his jaw clenched. Grace was confused, wondering why they were even still thinking of plans since obviously none of them were going to work.

"What are you talking about?" She asks, a bit of a sigh leaving her lips. Elijah glances around the compound for a moment before looking back at Grace.

"Hayley told you about Aiden, yes?" He responds, raising an eyebrow at the blonde. Grace nods her head, placing a hand on her hip.

"Yeah, but Klaus didn't kill him." Grace states, she knew that he most likely wouldn't believe her but if Elijah couldn't tell when his brother was lying, that was his problem.

"But he has been out of control for far too long now, it was better to keep him down in order for the wolves to still protect Hope. Elijah responds, not really surprised by the 'revelation' that Klaus was innocent.

"Keep him down?" Grace asks, a bit confused by what Elijah meant. What exactly had he done to Klaus?

"I daggered him." Elijah tells her and grace just instantly froze. She didn't believe that she had heard him right because one, where did he even get a dagger that worked on Klaus and two, why would he even do that? She understood that they didn't agree with his antics but they needed him to fight Dahlia, he was just blowing it all up and for what, because Hayley was pissed at him and wanted Hope for herself?

"You what?" Her tone showed hostility as her eyes glared holes into Elijah's skull.

"It was the only way to protect Hope." Elijah admits which to Grace was complete and utter bullshit. This had nothing to do with Hope, especially not to Elijah.

"Klaus can protect Hope better than any of them." Grace points out, he was always putting Hopes interest in front. The werewolves cared for their lives more than Hope's, no matter what kind of pact that they made.

"No, he can't."

"Elijah, you aren't the one to be able to make this decision." Grace understood that he was probably just doing what others told him, but deciding that Klaus wasn't fit to protect Hope, she thought she knew him better than that. Elijah seemed to not even care if Klaus didn't get to see Hope anymore, he seemed to be more on Hayleys side.

"It's already done, grace." Elijah responds to her. Grace just stared at him, shaking her head. She just scoffs before turning in order to try and find where they his Klaus. Elijah stops her by grabbing her arm tightly, pulling her back towards him.

"Let me go." Grace demands as she looks up at the original who doesn't respond.  "Elijah, let me go." She says once again, but this time her expression was deadly and her tone was way more firm.

"I cannot do that." Elijah denies, he knew that she would go and search for Klaus, and he couldn't let that happen. "I will not allow you to undagger him." He states and Grace clenches her jaw, narrowing her eyes a little bit.

"Are you sure this is about him being out of control, or is this just your revenge because he's daggered you?" Grace asks, crossing her arms against her chest. She knew that Klaus had daggered his siblings over the centuries, and now that they finally have a weapon to do the same thing to him, she wasn't buying that this was all because of Hope.

"This has nothing to do with me." Elijah denies, narrowing his eyes. Grace raises her eyebrows, scoffing as she tilts her head. She had a really hard time believing him right now, especially since he could barely look her in the eye.

"Right, this is all in the name of protecting Hope." Grace retorts, rolling her eyes a bit. She wanted to protect Hope, and she knew that the way that Hayley and Elijah were going, definitely wasn't going to do that. "You know he is one of the only people who has the guts and the knowledge of being able to kill Dahlia." She states, she knew Freya was useful but with the way she hates Klaus as well, it seemed that everyone was more against him than they were Dahlia at the moment.

"We have a plan." He tells her, needing her to not screw it up by pulling out the dagger.

"Your plan will most likely fail." Grace responds, Dahlia could sense a trap from a mile away, how did they expect to trick her? "Now, let me go." She sneers harshly as she looked down at her arm which was still enclosed by Elijah's hand. But before she could rip it from his grasp, Elijah pulls her towards him, using his free hand to grab her chin gently.

"You will not undagger him, you will not even touch that dagger in his chest." Elijah compels her as he stares into her eyes for what seemed to be the first time within their whole conversation. As he lets go of her chin, grace blinks a few times before pure rage fills in her eyes.

"Did you just compel me?" Grace asks, she knew she should've drank that stupid vervain or had some sort of protection, but she never thought that any of the originals would ever even think about compelling her. Apparently she thought too highly of Elijah.

"Leave it be, Grace." Elijah states with a stern voice but she could see his gaze was faltering quite a bit. It was clear he didn't want to use compulsion but felt like he had to. Grace didn't care either way, she would never trust him now that she knew he wished to compel her.

Grace gets her arm out of his grip, bringing up her hand and slapping him harshly. Elijah doesn't really budge but he hadn't really been expecting it, so he was quite shocked. She glares up at him, a scoff leaving her lips. "Screw you, Elijah." She sneers with a venomous tone. Elijah doesn't stop her as the woman starts to turn and head for the staircase.

After all, she wouldn't even be able to release the dagger from Klaus' chest.

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STANDING OVER THE COVER THAT HAD KLAUS' BODY IN IT, all Grace could do was stare at his lifeless corpse, not being able to do anything to really help him. She despised Elijah for compelling her, how dare he think that he could do something like that to her. Especially when he was already so hell bent on helping Hayley with whatever fantasy plan she had going on. For all Grace cared, those two could go smell the roses somewhere else, as long as Hope was with Klaus. It was clear they loved each other, and since they couldn't have each other, they're taking out the pain on other people.

Usually Grace sympathized with things like that, but for them, there was not a single ounce. Until they got their act together and stopped acting like Klaus was the only 'villain' she would never feel sorry for them. She gazes down at Klaus, a sigh leaving her lips as she touches his shoulder lightly. "I'm so sorry, Nik." She admits, wishing she could do something to help him. Grace could always go grab Camille to take it out instead, since technically she wouldn't be undaggering him.

Before she could move though, she saw the veins slowing disappearing from Klaus' skin. Grace just watches in confusion as the man seemingly comes back to life with no help whatsoever. When his eyes open, Grace just stared down at him, not knowing what to do. "Nik?" She asks, a bit still taken aback by what had just happened. Klaus glances around, meeting her eyes as his hand comes up to grab the dagger in his chest, pulling it out.

"Love." He responds, his voice weak for a moment as he fully comes to from the dagger. Grace was just staring in pure shock, not understanding how he was awake right now.

"How did you... I didn't do that." She states as she watches him sit up in the coffin. Grace could tell that he was still needing to adjust as he looked a bit rigid. She helps him get out of it, making sure he was able to stand on his feet.

"No, Dahlia did." Klaus answers her, gazing at the woman. Grace furrows her eyebrows, now even more confused on what the hell he was talking about.

"Dahlia? Why would she undagger you?" Grace asks, there was no reason why Dahlia would do it unless she got something in return. She hoped it was nothing too great of importance but she feared it might be.

"I made a deal with her." Klaus admits, knowing that Grace may be a little bit wary of it. She knew he wanted to get rid of Dahlia and couldn't do it from a coffin, but what kind of deal did he possibly make with that lunatic?

"Why would you do that?" Grace asks, even she hasn't been so idiotic as to make a deal with Dahlia. Although, Klaus most likely needed to make it in order to get undaggered.

"It's the only way to ensure I get close enough to her to find her real weakness." Klaus says, he would never willingly join Dahlia if he didn't have to, but he feared that this may be the only way, especially with his entire family now turned against him.

"I would've pulled the dagger out myself but I was with Hanna because she triggered her curse-" Grace starts to ramble, not wanting him to think that she was just allowing him to be daggered. Although, it was clear that his mind has never even crossed that path.

"She what?" Klaus asks, furrowing his eyebrows as he stares at the blonde. Grace sighs with a nod of her head.

"It was an accident." She tells him, if she had gotten there maybe thirty seconds earlier, maybe she couldve prevented it. "But, Nik, she was so distraught and confused, I had to tell her everything." Grace says, still reeling from her conversation with the young girl. She felt eternally hurt for Hanna, and even more for Paul who tried do desperately to keep her out of the supernatural life.

"Im sorry you had to go through that alone, love." Klaus apologizes with a small frown, if the world wasn't so hectic right now, he could've been there for her. Grace shakes her head, he was there in her heart and that's all that mattered.

"When Elijah finally told me, he compelled me that I couldn't pull the dagger out." Grace states, instantly she knew she had made a big mistake by saying something. She didn't care if Klaus went after Elijah, but right now, she needed him to tell her what was his plan with Dahlia and it might expose him if he went to Elijah right now.

"He what?" Klaus sneers, his eyes showing deep anger as he glares down at the woman but it was clear that it was pointed at Elijah and not her.

"Don't do anything, Nik. It's not worth it." Grace admits as she takes one of his hands, giving it a squeeze. It seemed that Klaus didn't just want to forget about his brother daring to compel her, but he would set it aside for now.

"I'm gonna make everything right, okay?" He assures her as he gazes down at her, his anger turning to love and admiration for his girl. "I will rid Dahlia of this world." Klaus states but although Klaus could give her all the reassurances in the world, it would never be enough.

"It's dangerous. What if she figures out you're trying to double cross her?" Grace questions, fiddling with her fingers. She knew she couldn't even go with him because he would never put her in harm's way.

"She won't."

"But what if she does?" She didn't like how confident he was, when literally the whole thing could go up in flames. "She could hurt you, or worse..." Grace trails off, she knew the very real risks to all of this. It was clear Dahlia could kill him if she wanted to.

"I'll be fine." Klaus tells her as he places his hand on her cheek. Grace let's out a sigh, learning to trust him as she just leans into his touch.

"I suppose you don't want me telling anyone so you're still looked as the bad guy who killed Aiden?" Grace asks him, she didn't know who knew the truth about Aiden's death but right now, she couldn't really care less.

"Yes, love."

"Just promise me you'll be safe." Grace says, needing him to not get killed because she honestly didn't know if she could allow another person into her life the way she has with him. Klaus strokes her cheek, smiling down at her before he rests his forehead against her own.

"Of course, I will always come back to you."

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Hayley and Elijah both need huge reality checks. The end of this season is gonna be so messy 😬