Hello, Brother

It had been years since Henrik had moved to Mystic Falls and it still seemed that there was always something going on in the town. Right now he and his family still had the threat of Dahlia looming over their heads and he wasn't sure that was going to change any time soon. In the past she had only been able to stay awake for a year at a time but now things were different. He had severed Freya's connection to their aunt and instead of leaving them all to it she seemed intent on taking their firstborns. That was something that Henrik knew he wasn't going to let happen so he was doing everything in his power to keep them all safe. His spell had backfired when it had reacted badly with one of Dahlia's and so many kids around Mystic Falls had become teenagers overnight. There wasn't anything that Henrik could do about that or the fact that the spell was still lingering over Mystic Falls but he could at least try and help those kids as well as his own family.

It would be so much easier with Nik around but his brother had decided to strike out on his own the same way he often did and the rest of them had been left in his wake. It wasn't easy without him and he knew that Hope missed her dad so he had been trying to be there for all of them as much as he could. A part of Henrik understood why Nik had decided to go but at the same time a larger part of him was annoyed that his brother had left them when they needed him the most. Henrik had always looked up to Nik and he still remembered how close they were when they were younger and even though things had changed he still wanted Nik to be happy. Henrik was at home alone when the knock on the door came and he rolled his eyes at his brother's words. For a moment he thought about not answering but the truth was that he has missed Nik and ignoring him wasn't something that he would ever be able to do so instead he made his way to the front of the house and opened the door. "Least favourite brother, I think you mean," he teased, his back resting against the doorframe for a moment as he looked at Nik before stepping aside to let him in. "It's good to see you. When did you get back?"

NIKLAUS MIKAELSON

Henrik had understood why Nik had decided to leave in order to find a way to protect Hope, of course he did considering that he was a father himself now, but that didn’t mean that their whole family hadn’t missed him. Henrik had always been close to Nik before he’d died and even though things had been a little rocky between them at first after he came back they had found their footing again and for that Henrik truly was grateful. He knew that his siblings had all changed, that had been evident from the very beginning, but he knew that it was to be expected after everything they had been through and how long they had lived. Deep down he knew that the brothers and sister he had grown up with were still in there and now and then Henrik was able to catch glimpses of those people. Nik perhaps had changed the most but considering he had suffered their father’s cruelty the most Henrik knew that wasn’t that surprising. Even he still had his moments of acting like the big brother Henrik had known before he’d died, though, and he knew that wasn’t a bad thing.

“Your words, not mine, and I’d like to see you try,” Henrik chuckled, his tone teasing in return. He knew that Nik wouldn’t do such a thing, not to him, but Henrik wasn’t the defenceless boy he had been when he’d died either. He too had changed a lot since then and with Crowley’s help he had learned how to access his magic and he had learned even more about what he could do with it. Ever since reuniting with his family in Mystic Falls he had been doing his best to help them in any way he could and he knew that wasn’t going to change.

“Hope’s the one person I’d accept you seeing before me,” he nodded. “I know how much she’s missed you.” Henrik had been doing his best to look out for her as much as he could in his brother’s absence but he knew that nothing could compare to having Nik around for Hope so he truly was glad that his brother was back. The next words out of Nik’s mouth were ones that Henrik hadn’t expected at all, his brother never apologised for anything but here he was doing just that and Henrik held his hands up in a gesture of surrender as Nik said that he would revoke it if he made a big deal of it. “I wouldn’t dream of it,” Henrik assured him before feeling a smile tug at the corners of his lips at Nik’s apology. “It’s okay, you’re here now and that’s all that matters,” he said as he pulled his brother into a hug. “Welcome home,” he added before releasing him. “Did your trip turn up anything useful?”

NIKLAUS MIKAELSON

For a long time Henrik had felt guilty about the fact that his siblings had become vampires as a result of his death following his decision to sneak out and watch the men turn into wolves with Nik. He had felt sure that his siblings blamed him for it too but as time went on he had started to realise just how wrong he was. He loved his siblings and they loved him and even though so much had changed during the centuries that had followed since he’d died, Henrik knew that they were finally back together where they belonged. He knew that his siblings had done some awful things since becoming vampires but they were still his brothers and sister but he had made mistakes along the way as well and he knew that he was never going to turn his back on them. Reconnecting with them was one of the best things that he had ever done and he was never going to regret it.

“I know. You were doing what you thought was best for her,” Henrik nodded. Nik had done a lot of things, that much was true, but ever since Hope was born he had seen his brother turn into the man that he had always known he could be and Henrik was proud of him for putting his daughter first all the time. “She already is,” Henrik said, a smile touching his lips as he nodded. Hope, Alice and Connor were the best things that had happened to their family in such a long time and even though they had struggled after being aged up at first, Henrik had seen the way that they had grown to take it in their stride now and he really was glad that they all got the chance to get to know the versions of them that they were now. “I have been helping her but it has been a pleasure. She’s a really talented witch and I know she’ll do great things,” he admitted. Hope seemed able to do whatever he threw at her and she never backed down from a challenge which was something that he knew she had inherited from her dad.

Pulling Nik into a hug, Henrik wasn’t sure that he bought his brother’s answer when he said that nothing of note had happened but he knew better than to try and push Nik for answers when he clearly wasn’t ready to give them just yet. Instead he simply nodded and he felt a smile form on his face as Nik asked how he had been while he was away. “I’ve been pretty good, I’ve been gathering ingredients for a spell to make myself immortal and I’ve had a few other projects I’ve been working on but the main thing I should tell you is that I asked Olivia to marry me and she said yes,” he said, his smile turning into a grin as he said those words out loud, hoping that his brother would be happy for him.

NIKLAUS MIKAELSON

Henrik had thought that his family had died centuries ago when he was brought back but he had eventually learned the truth when he had bumped into Elijah in Mystic Falls. It had come as a surprise to learn how much had changed since he’d died but since then his memories of his time in Heaven had been returned to him. The angels had hated him and it was only Castiel who had checked on him and in the end the angel had become family to him. Henrik knew that each of his siblings could have held a grudge against him for what had happened and could have turned their backs on him but they hadn’t done it. Instead they had welcomed him back into the family with open arms and not a day went by when Henrik wasn’t grateful to them for that. He still felt like he had a lot of ground to make up for but he was doing his best to help all of them and he knew that he really couldn’t do much more than that.

Now Henrik’s life was so different to the one he’d had before he’d died but he knew that he wouldn’t give this life up for anything in the world. The angels had taken him once before but his friends and family had fought tooth and nail to bring him back and he knew better than to take that chance for granted. Now he had a fiancée he loved and two children he adored along with his friends and family around him and he knew just how lucky he was.

He wasn’t the only one who was lucky, Nik had Hope now as well and seeing his brother as a dad was like seeing him become the man he was always meant to be. “She’s already more than capable of protecting herself but I understand the instinct,” Henrik admitted. Hope always took her magical training so seriously but it was the same with her combat training. She was incredible and Henrik knew that she would be fine but he couldn’t blame Nik for being protective of her because the truth was that Henrik was protective of Hope and his own kids as well.

He knew what it was like to lose his life far too young, he was only thirteen when he died and his life had come to an end far too soon. He didn’t want that for any of the kids and he didn’t want that for himself again either. Everyone Henrik loved was immortal and all three of the kids had the opportunity to become immortal as well so Henrik knew that he was the odd one out in that respect. He had been thinking about it for quite some time but he had only recently started taking steps to make it happen and he could see how relieved Nik seemed to become. “I take it that means you approve?” he asked, a small smile touching his lips as he looked over at his brother.

For the first time things seemed to be falling into place for all of them and Henrik knew that he wouldn’t want it any other way. “I’ve yet to see one of those but I hope that I will one day,” Henrik admitted with a smile as Nik said it had been a while since one of them had had a proper wedding. “Hopefully soon you’ll find someone special too.” He knew that Elijah and Tatia were happy together and so were Rebekah and Matt so with any luck it would only be a matter of time but only time would tell. “I’ll have to run it by Olivia but if she’s in then so am I,” he chuckled, knowing that it would be great to see what Nik was able to do after hearing about some of the events he had thrown over the years. “I’m glad you think so,” he grinned as Nik said he knew that Henrik was worthy of Olivia. “I’d love it for you to get to know her better and I know the kids have missed their uncle Nik too,” he added. “Shall we have a drink to celebrate?”

NIKLAUS MIKAELSON

“I know what you mean, I would do the same for the twins. I never thought either of us would get to experience what being a parent was like.” For Niklaus it should have been impossible, his vampire side made him immortal but his werewolf side made his body able to change. Hope was a loophole in the spell that their mother had cast all those years ago but as far as Henrik was concerned that was definitely a good thing. She was an amazing girl and she had inherited all of the best traits from her parents. She loved learning about magic and there was a lot that they still didn’t know about what she was but he knew that in time they would figure it out. For now Henrik just wanted Hope, Alice and Connor to have the chance to be regular teenagers and being at the Salvatore School gave them that chance to an extent which definitely wasn’t a bad thing as far as he was concerned.

Henrik, on the other hand, had died a thousand years ago and he had spent much of that time in Heaven separated from his family. Even the angels had given him a wide berth, the only one who had taken the time to get to know him was Castiel and he had given Henrik the sense of family that he had been missing. Crowley had done the same perhaps without meaning to when he brought him back, for a while Henrik had hated being made to do the demon’s bidding but in the end he had become family and now Henrik had two people in his life who were better fathers to him than his own had ever been.

As Niklaus said that he was happy if Henrik was happy, Henrik felt a smile touch his lips. “I am. You’re immortal and so are all of our siblings apart from Freya. Olivia and the kids can choose not to age and Hope will stop ageing eventually too. There are too many people I love who are staying the same while I get older with each passing day and I don’t want to be separated from you all again one day,” Henrik admitted gently. “This is what I want and it means I’ll be able to keep my connection to my magic.” That had been the main thing for Henrik, he had known that he could become a vampire but it would mean severing his connection to something that had been a part of his life for such a long time now. That wasn’t something he had wanted to do but at least now he could have the best of both worlds.

“We’ll definitely get everyone together again, don’t worry. I want all of you there,” Henrik assured him. “I’ll speak to Olivia and see what she wants to do, we haven’t figured out any of the details yet.” There were other things going on right now but Henrik knew that they found figure it out sooner or later. “I have more faith in you than you do,” Henrik corrected. “You deserve to be happy and I know you’ll find it one day,” he assured him before nodding as Niklaus suggested they have a drink and then he can tell him more about Olivia. Making his way through to the kitchen, Henrik grabbed two glasses from the cupboard and poured them each a drink before holding one out to Niklaus. “What would you like to know?”

NIKLAUS MIKAELSON

Henrik had spent years believing that his siblings were dead before he had run into Elijah in Mystic Falls and he had realised that he wanted a life surrounded by the people he loved more than anything. At first he had blamed Crowley for not telling him the truth but he had eventually come to realise that he wouldn’t have been ready to hear it even if the demon had come clean about his family. For a long time Henrik hadn’t felt that he deserved to be loved but Olivia had helped him see that he was wrong. They had met before she had made her way to Mystic Falls and she had made a lasting impression on him but it had taken them a while to find their feet. Now the life he had seemed like a dream at times, he had an incredible fiancée, two amazing children and all of his siblings around him. There were so many people in his life that weren’t related to him by blood but were family as far as Henrik was concerned as well so he knew that he was incredibly lucky. The life he had was the kind that he had never thought possible, back before he’d died he had been destined for just a simple life but now it was so much more, full of magic and the supernatural world and he wouldn’t have it any other way. Castiel and Crowley had raised him more than Mikael ever had done and he was grateful to them both for showing him the way that a father should be even if they weren’t human themselves.

Now not only did he have children of his own but Niklaus did as well and that in itself was a miracle. “I can’t blame you for that. You all tried to shield me from Mikael but he was worse towards you than he was the rest of us and I still saw that,” he said gently as he placed a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “Having a child should have been impossible for you but Hope is the loophole and she’s lucky to have you. You’re a great father.” Nik had defied the odds given the way he had been raised and everything that had happened since and to say that Henrik was proud of him would be an understatement. “You’ve always thought of yourself as a monster, brother, but you’re far from it,” Henrik assured him. Niklaus had done some monstrous things, that was for sure, but he was far from a monster. He was still capable of love and Henrik saw a different side to his brother whenever he talked about Hope. She had changed Nik into a much better person and Henrik wasn’t sure that she would ever truly see the difference she had made.

“No pressure then, huh?” Henrik asked, nudging his brother’s shoulder gently with his own. “Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere,” he added. As difficult as it must have been for the rest of their siblings, Henrik knew that it would have been worse for Nik. He had been there with Henrik for his final moments and Henrik had been comforted by his brother’s presence but he knew that damage that must have done because he had felt his heart break when Olivia had died in his arms. He never wanted any of them to go through that pain again, not at his expense. “My biggest regret will always be putting you through what happened that last night,” he said gently. He could never take it back but he could make sure that it never happened again.

As Nik spoke again, Henrik’s expression softened. “I know it is. You’ve been through so much but I’ve always believed in you and I always will,” Henrik assured him. He hadn’t seen Nik at his worst, he had been reunited with his brother shortly after Nik had broken the curse their mother had placed on him years before but by then he had already started to change to an extent. Now Henrik still saw glimmers of the brother he had known before he had died and he was glad that some things still remained. As Nik asked what it was that drew him to Olivia and what made him love her so, Henrik’s expression turned thoughtful for a moment. “It’s difficult to explain. When I met Olivia I was lost, I thought you were all dead and I was doing as Crowley asked but I wasn’t really living. She helped show me that even though I was in a different time I could still do some good with my life,” he said, hoping that it made sense. “When I found her again in Mystic Falls after finding out that you were all alive she helped me see that I deserved to be loved even after everything you had all endured because of me. She has the purest heart of anyone I’ve ever met and with her and all of you I found my home.”

NIKLAUS MIKAELSON

Henrik couldn’t ignore the way Nik tensed up at the mention of their father and Henrik felt a pang of guilt for having brought him up. It wasn’t difficult to see why Nik had never imagined himself as a father though, even without the whole vampire turned hybrid thing taken into account they had never really had a good role model while they were growing up. Mikael had been awful but he had taken it out on Nik the most and despite the best efforts of his siblings to shield him from that, Henrik had still seen the way their father was towards Nik. Perhaps that was one of the reasons why Henrik had gravitated towards Nik at times, he had wanted to try and make things better for his brother as much as he could but in the end he had only made things worse. “I know you didn’t. He never hurt me the way he did you but I saw how he treated you and I hated him for it,” Henrik admitted. He was the youngest and he had felt powerless to stop what was going on back then but if he could have stopped his father from treating his brother that way then he would have done.

“It’s amazing how that happens. I feel the same way about the twins,” he chuckled. He had never known that it was possible to love anyone else that much but that was exactly what he felt towards Connor and Alice and he knew that Olivia felt it too. “You’re already a good father but if you ever need anyone to talk to, I’m here,” he offered, knowing that he didn’t want Nik to feel like he had to go through this on his own. Being a parent wasn’t always easy but their kids weren’t just any kids, they were supernatural and that brought with it a whole new level of difficulty. “You don’t need to thank me, you might have written yourself off but I haven’t and I never will.” There were times when he still saw the same Nik that he had grown up with but the truth was he wasn’t sure whether anyone else got to see that side of him. They had always been close and Henrik knew that he was perhaps a little biased when it came to his brother but as far as he was concerned it was more than justified.

As Nik said he should have protected him back then and he wouldn’t make that mistake again, Henrik shook his head. “You didn’t do anything wrong, Nik. We both wanted to watch the werewolves turn but I was careless. If I had been more careful or if I had said we shouldn’t go then none of this would have happened.” His siblings wouldn’t have become vampires, Nik wouldn’t have spent centuries with his werewolf side bound and they would have been able to live out their normal lives like they were meant to. Henrik knew that some good had come of it in the end but the guilt of what had happened that night and afterwards was something that he would always carry with him.

One good thing that had come of it all was definitely the fact that Henrik had met Olivia and the kids – the twins and Hope – fell into that category without a doubt as well. Henrik knew that things would have been so different if Olivia hadn’t come into his life but the truth was that he couldn’t imagine not being with her. He had fallen for her a long time ago and it still felt like every day he loved her that little bit more. “I am lucky. Without her, I would have given up a long time ago,” Henrik admitted. Crowley had tried his best and he had become a father figure to Henrik in the end but it had been meeting Olivia that had made him realise that he deserved to be loved by anyone. As Nik said that Olivia was lucky to have him in return, Henrik couldn’t help but laugh. “I think you’re a little biased there, brother,” he chuckled.

NIKLAUS MIKAELSON