new story! this was suggested to me by Arianna Le Fay as an AU version of my story "Look After You" (where Klaus discovers he has an adult daughter Jade who eventually has Hope - if you wanna check that one out) in this version he'll know about Jade from when she's young and take part in raising her! i really wanted to write this bc it always made me sad watching TO and klaus/hope didn't get many normal moments together. some of the story/mythology is a little different, again this is AU, and i wanted to have things be a little simpler when he finds jade

this won't be a full blown story, just one shots based off lines from my other story (things either Jade or Klaus wished they had been able to have as she was growing up) which will be at the top of each chapter

Hold My Hand

"I should have acted on that impulse to go to Virginia. I should have found your mother, I should have known about you." - Klaus, Look After You, Chapter 29

1992

"You're going where?" Elijah was asking in disbelief. His younger brother had certainly gone off the reservation this time. Some of his plans made him seem mad, but there was usually a method to the madness. Now he was purely just flying off the handle.

The last five years he had seen a change in his brother that he couldn't quite identify. In truth, Klaus should be the happiest he had ever been. It all started with the return of their older sister Freya in the late 1970s. She had come to them on her year awake, begging for help to free her from their Aunt Dahlia. After Dahlia was defeated, she helped Klaus break the curse that was keeping his werewolf side dormant. While she herself couldn't break it she suggested a coven she knew of that had witches that were able to siphon off magic. After they took the curse away Klaus was a hybrid fully and able to turn hybrids as well. With Esther long dead and Dahlia defeated there was only one other force they were left to face; Mikael.

That all came to an end in the late 1980s when the brothers managed to get a hold of some white oak, killing their father and freeing themselves from his torment. With Mikael gone and Freya linked to Klaus so she wouldn't age the only other thing to do was wake their remaining siblings. Well, everyone but Finn. Freya protested that the oldest Mikaelson brother should also be awake, but Klaus wouldn't budge and the others seemed to side with him.

They had everything that they wanted, they were traveling freely without worry. And now his brother was taking off?

"Mystic Falls," Klaus answered in annoyance, though he wasn't sure if he was annoyed with his brother or himself for actually going through with this.

"Why on earth-"

"I don't know," Klaus cut him off in exasperation. "I don't know why, but I can't..." He shook his head. "I can't shake this feeling, this heaviness," he motioned to his chest. "There's some draw in my mind, some voice telling me that I have to go there, but I have no idea why." His brother nodded sympathetically.

"Let's go then," Elijah told him. Whatever it was, they would face it together.

Early the next morning they arrived in Mystic Falls. They parked the car and began to walk around the small town. Elijah asked his brother if he was sure where he was going and Klaus just shook his head. Whatever this draw on his heart was was what was leading him, though that felt a little too cheesy to admit. Eventually, they were stopped at a busy playground; school was out for Thanksgiving break.

"What is it?" Elijah asked and Klaus just shrugged.

"I'm not sure," Klaus said, scanning the playground. Why come here of all places? Surely after all this time, all this torment in his mind, there had to be something here. That was when he spotted her. He nodded ahead at his brother and Elijah followed his gaze.

"That woman there?" Elijah asked and Klaus nodded; he looked a little closer. "Wasn't she in Chicago a few years ago?"

"She stayed with us in Chicago," Klaus elaborated and Elijah realized what he implied, remembering her now.

"You dragged us here over a feeling for her?" Elijah asked with some sarcasm.

"Why when you say it do you make it sound cheap?" Klaus asked.

"What was her name?" Elijah asked with raised eye brows.

"Kelly," Klaus announced without hesitation, seeming pleased with himself.

"Her last name?" Elijah questioned with a smirk; Klaus didn't answer but slightly smirked back.

"I don't know what to tell you," Klaus confessed, smirk fading. "But, I'm here for a reason and she's the only one I..." He was going to say recognized but he stopped. "Elijah."

"Hm?" Elijah asked, following his gaze again. As he was looking, Kelly was calling for someone.

"Jade!" Kelly was calling into the playground. "Baby, we gotta go!" A little girl no more than five was scurrying over to her mother, her wavy blond hair flying in the wind behind her. "C'mere!" Kelly grinned, scooping down to pick her up. Jade giggled as her mom planted a flurry of kisses on her cheeks. "Are you ready to get Vicki and Matty?"

"Yeah!"

"Yeah," Kelly smiled back, holding her daughter still as she grabbed her purse and started to walk away.

"...how long has it been since you've seen Kelly?" Elijah asked now, both of their eyes glued on Kelly and her daughter.

"Oh my God," Klaus was saying as they both realized.

He was pulled there because that little girl was his, he knew it the moment they saw her.

After dropping her kids off at the sitter's for that afternoon Kelly went into work. She was exhausted, caring for Jade, toddler Vicki and recently born Matt. The pile of bills weren't going to pay themselves though, so here she was at the grille at her job as head bartender. It was mid afternoon so it wasn't too busy, most people coming in just for a late lunch. Looking up though her eyes caught the sight of two men entering the restaurant.

"Roberta!" Kelly called. "I'm headed out back to smoke." Her manager nodded, coming over to watch for her. Kelly rushed out the back door to the small alley, remembering both of them when she saw him. No one would ever believe her about what he was so Klaus never bothered compelling her. Running into someone now, she screamed.

"Easy," Klaus emphasized, letting her go.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Kelly asked fearfully. Klaus looked her over once; she was very different than the last time he saw her. At twenty she was full of life, having a bit of a wild side, a spark that attracted him to her. Now, just a few years later, she seemed so worn; it was like life had knocked her around one too many times.

"We don't want any trouble," Elijah assured her.

"You're not here for her, are you?" Kelly was asking, still scared.

"She is mine," Klaus confirmed and Kelly nodded.

"I know what you are," she told him, remembering everything. "I know that's why there's something wrong with her," she continued.

"Wrong with her?" Klaus asked in concern.

"She," Kelly struggled for words. "She has these...outbursts," she settled on the term. "Whenever she gets really upset things literally go flying." Klaus looked to his brother, both knowing she was a witch because of their mother. "And she heals like you wouldn't believe, she's the only five year old that's never had a bruise or scrape-"

"Is she upset often?" Klaus asked now, seeming genuinely concerned, which Kelly could see. He noticed something on her arm now, with Kelly immediately tugging her sleeve down over her wrist; they were bruises.

"Things aren't easy in our house Nik," she admitted, crossing her arms over herself, avoiding looking at him.

"Your husband?" Elijah questioned; Kelly nodded.

"Jade's step dad," Klaus said, angry though not at Kelly. It was a little too much like his life for his liking.

"I'm not a bad mom Nik," Kelly told him, her eyes welling up. "But, I have two other kids," she said, wiping at her eyes. "We don't have anywhere else to go."

"You do," Klaus told her now. Elijah was seeing something different in his brother, something he hadn't seen for so long. There was a warmth about him, him wanting to comfort Kelly like he often comforted a scared Rebekah when they were children. "Is he home?"

"Now," Kelly nodded. "But, he's got the night shift later. But, I couldn't-"

"Pack your things after you're done here," Klaus stopped her. "We'll get you and your kids out of this place."

"Do you think this is what has been bothering you this whole time?" Elijah was asking that evening as they made their way towards Kelly's home. They hadn't spoken very much since they had left Kelly aside from making their plans on where to take her and her three kids.

"After we discovered...mother's secret," Klaus settled on the term as he drove, referring to the night he activated his curse and everyone found out he wasn't really Mikael's son. "...I never meant to kill her," Klaus continued for his brother. "I only meant to confront her, about keeping me from my real father all that time." Elijah nodded, knowing how Mikael had treated him his whole life. "She told me that he came for me, that he could sense me when I was young." He shook his head. "She killed him to keep her secret."

"You never told me that," Elijah said quietly though he understood why his brother never said anything.

"I don't know if I'll be a good father," Klaus admitted as they turned down the right street. "Or if I should even stay after this." He shook his head. "But, no child of mine is going to live like this."

"No child should," Elijah said, looking over to his brother as the car stopped.

Klaus didn't return his glance, nodding at the house; there was Kelly's car, but also a truck they assumed belonged to her husband. No sooner had they parked the car did they hear screaming. They took off for the house, able to make out the yelling. Kelly's husband must have found her bags because he was asking where she thought she was going. Klaus kicked the door in, though neither of them could enter without invitation. Her husband, Matt senior, had her by her arms and had been screaming in her face though stopping suddenly at the splintering door.

"Rescue party?" he scoffed, looking at the two of them. Kelly wondered why they weren't coming in and she wondered if it had to do with what they were. Though he had never met Klaus, there was something Matt senior recognized about him, some features. "Oh," he laughed now, looking at Kelly. "Did you call Jade's dad?" He was mocking her, grabbing his drink now off the coffee table and finishing it before motioning at the stairs. "If you want that little brat, be my guest to go take her."

That was enough invitation for Klaus as he went speeding into the house. He didn't see Kelly's husband though as he grabbed him and sped into the next room; he saw Mikael. He heard Kelly calling for Elijah to invite him in. In his rage it didn't take him long to bring an end to Kelly and her children's torment. Standing in the kitchen now he could hear Kelly scrambling upstairs to where her kids had been hiding. He felt Elijah appear next to him, handing him something to clean himself up.

He knew that this was going to be the part he was good at, the part where he took care of Kelly's abuser. While he had been pulled here all this time though he wasn't sure he should be the one to be around Jade. Part of him wondered if he shouldn't just leave Kelly with the means to take care of herself and her kids before taking off and never returning.

"You need to see her at least once," Elijah said as though he could read his brother's mind. Nodding in agreement, Klaus made his way for the stairs, following the sound of Kelly's voice.

"Oh my brave girl," Kelly was telling Jade as she knelt down to her. Klaus stood in the doorway and saw what she had done. She had hid in the closet, but not before leading her little sister in there and pushing her brother's baby seat in there to hide him too. "You did so good," Kelly was promising her, wiping tears off her daughter's face.

"Mommy," Jade was still crying.

"We don't have to be scared anymore baby," Kelly was promising her. She didn't know what was next, but she knew her children weren't going to be hiding in closets anymore.

"Who's that?" Jade asked as she looked past her mom now to the doorway.

"Come here," Kelly was motioning for Klaus and he came closer, kneeling next to Kelly. "Honey," she smiled softly, taking her daughter's hand and kissing the back of it. "This is your dad." She looked at Klaus now. "Nik, this is-" But she stopped as Jade already threw her arms around her dad, him cautiously hugging her back. "This is Jade," she finished, resting her hand on his back. "Your daughter."

And whatever doubts he had before, he knew just from holding her that his only place was to be with her.

thanks for checking it out! i really hope you liked it, please let me know what you thought! i'll be trying to keep this in order as much as i can, again it's just going to be some one shots based off lines from the original story. thanks!