January 31, 2012

It had been fifteen hours since Hayley went into labor. Fifteen. Excruciating. Hours. The Mikaelsons had insisted upon a home birth, as none were quite fond of hospitals after their last experience with them, and Hayley just could not bring herself to care, so a midwife and a team of nurses had been called in around three o'clock the previous afternoon.

After a basically sleepless night due to the whimpers and groans of pain coming from upstairs, the endless traipsing of relief nurses throughout the manor, and just the general air of unrest and tension, everyone was just ready for the baby to make an appearance. Katherine and Bonnie were really the only ones who had gotten any sleep the previous night; the former because she just did not care, and the latter because she lacked supernatural hearing.

"You know, if you want to go up there, I won't be like…upset." Caroline whispered to the father-to-be as he looked towards the floor, elbows on his knees. A particularly loud scream echoed from above everyone, and a few winced.

"I'm fine, sweetheart" was all she got in response. She nodded, and squeezed his hand, which was currently holding hers.

"God, I am so glad I only experienced that once." Katherine dryly commented, looking towards the ceiling. "Nothing like the excruciating feeling of pushing a child out of your lady parts to make the day brighter."

"Is it normal for it to take this long?" Rebekah asked the only person who had actually experienced labor and delivery in the room, rubbing her eyes. "She's been at it all night."

"I had it easy, and from what I remember, my mother did as well. Petrova women have quick deliveries." Katherine crossed her arms, leaning her head on Elijah's shoulder, who looked up from his book.

"Mother took longer than this with you and Kol, sister." He interjected. "I am sure Hayley will be finished in time."

"But it took Mother less time with Henrik, correct?" Kol asked. "We went berry-picking that day, if I remember correctly, and that could not have been more than a few hours."

"I assume it varies." Elijah shrugged.

"It does." Caroline piped up. "My Aunt Mary took five hours with one of my cousins, and thirty-six hours with another. There's no set time, sadly."

"Oh, I remember that one." Bonnie nodded, grimacing at the memory. "Because we were staying with her in like the middle-of-nowhere Michigan, and had to sit at the hospital with her until Bob could get there." She shrugged. "It took forever."

"I cannot take twenty more hours of this madness." Klaus ran a hand over his face.

Caroline tuned into the voices upstairs, and then stood up suddenly. "Ohmygod she's pushing."

Klaus stood up and began pacing the room, restless. He may loathe the woman who was currently delivering his child, but the baby bore none of her mother's sins. And, hopefully none of her father's either. He was the man who proclaimed love was a weakness, and yet here he was, in love with a marvelous woman, and already feeling protective over his unborn child. It was terrifying. What if he ended up like Mikael? What if his child preferred one of his siblings to himself? What if she hated him? Damn it, he was not supposed to be worrying about these things. He was the Original Hybrid, brought to his knees by the imminent reality of a baby.

Suddenly, a new sound filled the ears of everyone present. It was a baby's first cry; loud and healthy, the child appeared to have inherited its family's tendency to be vocal.

In a flash, Klaus had zoomed upstairs to the room where Hayley had given birth. Not even bothering to knock, he barged right in. The midwife turned at the sound, holding the blanket-wrapped newborn in her arms. "You have a daughter, Mr. Mikaelson. A very healthy daughter." She smiled. "Would you like to hold her?"

"Yes." He nodded, and held his daughter in his arms for the first time. For one who prided himself on knowing what true beauty looked like, Klaus felt that his child was the living definition of it. She was…darling. Sighing, he turned to the spent werewolf. "Would you like to hold her, before they take you to the hospital to recover? Because afterwards, you will not be returning, in accordance with our previously agreed-upon terms. Your things have already been packed."

"No." Hayley closed her eyes. "No, I'm treating this like an adoption. I didn't particularly want a baby anyways yet, and with the new pack taking me, I'll still have a chance to have real werewolf children in the future. Not strange, unnatural, hybrid ones." Her voice held disgust towards the label 'hybrid', as if it were something nasty-tasting in her mouth.

"As you wish." Klaus barely contained his anger at her bitterness towards the child she had carried. "In that case, this is goodbye." Not waiting for an answer, he took his newborn daughter out the door, mentally closing Hayley out of their lives for forever.

When they reached the lounge, the new father carried his daughter into the room of her family members. Rebekah was the first over, eager to meet her niece. "Oh, Nik, she's positively lovely." She brushed a finger down the baby's cheek. "Hello sweetie. I'm your Auntie Bekah."

"I don't think she can understand you, sister." Kol sauntered over. He was interested in the child, even if not as emotionally invested as his siblings. "Though, she is a pretty little thing. Good work, Nik."

"You have done well, Niklaus." Elijah had made his way to his siblings unnoticed. "What is to be her name?"

"We will go to the tree for that, brother." Klaus said cryptically. Seeing that the siblings' moment was over, Caroline joined the group, Bonnie and Katherine directly behind her.

"Oh!" The blonde's nose crinkled as she smiled down at the baby. "She really is beautiful." Caroline looked up at Klaus, placing her hand on his arm. "I think she has your eyes." He looked down, a slight smile on his face as she said so.

"We should be leaving. It is nearly sunrise, after all." Klaus had a perpetual look of tenderness upon his face whenever he looked down at his daughter.

"Klaus… It's like forty degrees out there. You can't take a baby out in that." Caroline raised her eyebrows, confused.

"Oh, tosh." Rebekah interjected. "I was born in the dead of winter, and it was much colder back then, and I survived. Besides, we're going to the tree to officially name her. It'll only take a few minutes." She disappeared and was back a mere moment later, carrying extra baby blankets. "We'll wrap her in these, and then be back in the warm car in no time."

"We will be leaving in two minutes. Go grab whatever you need." Elijah took over, seeing as Klaus was too entranced with his child to give out orders.

-0-0-0-0-0-

The tree the Mikaelsons had spoken of was located about ten minutes away from the manor, and it was an old southern oak, which stood by itself on the top of a very small hill. The sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon as the seven adults trekked to the tree, Klaus still holding his daughter. Rebekah had attempted to take her from him at least twice on the ride over, but the father did not budge. It was his baby, damn it. She could go find her own.

When they finally reached the base of the tree, the meaning for naming the baby at this particular place was revealed to everyone. About halfway up, nearly out of arm's reach, a family tree was carved. The Mikaelson family tree, to be specific. Each family member's name was written in Nordic runes, their mother tongue. Even Marcel was named upon the tree, written off to the side as he had been a family member to them.

When they finally stopped, Klaus turned to the woman beside him; the woman he would love for the rest of time. "Would you hold her for a moment?" He asked. Caroline nodded, a gentle smile upon her face as she looked down at the pretty baby. Elijah handed him a carving knife as he headed to the tree, one vital item the hybrid had forgotten to bring. "As the first Mikaelson to be born in over one thousand years, my daughter already has a legacy which will be bestowed upon her. Her name must live up to this legacy, as well as represent all which she should strive to be. She is a princess, of supernatural royalty. She will be raised to be wise, and to be strong." Klaus paused, his hands clasped behind his back as he looked at the little baby in Caroline's arms. "As such, I bestow upon her the name Contessa Cornelia Louise, as it exemplifies all which she is and will be raised to be." There was no coincidence that Cornelia was Caroline's middle name, nor that Louise had been on Rebekah's list of name suggestions, and all present knew it. Klaus turned towards the ancient oak, which had stood since they had first lived in the city, over a century so. He took the knife and wrote his daughter's a bit beneath his in runes, connecting the two with a line.

Afterwards, as Klaus walked to his family and took his daughter back, the sun took the last step over the horizon, and bathed the world in light. The eight people stood on the hill and looked upon the great tree; the tree of their family; the tree of their life.

In the end, they all recognized the sacred bond of family.

AN: So, that's it. A Tree Called Life is done. This six-month long journey is over, and I am so utterly proud of myself. I had never written anything longer than a fic which I only got halfway through, and then gave up on, before I started this story. ATCL has really helped me to learn to write, and finish, a story, and I cannot thank you all enough for joining me on this ride. What did you all think about this epilogue?

Anyways, I do have plans to continue in this universe, with rough sketches for a mutli-chapter fic chronicling Katherine and Elijah's time in London, as well as a drabble series set post-ATCL. There are a lot of things which could be continued in the latter, with Kol and Bonnie's relationship, Rebekah and her blossoming...thing with Lachlan, the joys of parenthood for Klaus, Kalijah going to France, etc. all being open avenues to chart. I don't know when I'll start upon either story, though, because I have a hot new summer fic for everyone!

I know I teased everyone about this a while back, but the official title of my summer story is Always Been A Daughter, and basically it's an AU post TO 1x15, and TVD 5x15. I won't be releasing the premise of the story, mainly because this AU has never been done before, and I really want to keep it under wraps until the first chapter is posted; that should be within the next week or so, as it is already written.

Anyways, before I go sob in my bed for like five hours, I just wanted to thank you all one more time. I know I say it with nearly every update, but I truly mean it when I say that you readers are the reason why this story has come this far, and it is true. I wouldn't have dared continue on had I not received the exceedingly positive response from the fandom that I did, and just... Thank you all so much.

With much love and sorrow,

Abi