Chapter Text
Klaus had eagerly awaited this day. Finally, Freya would turn him back into a human. He spent the day with Hope, taking a long walk, then a nap, and then he helped her wrap Christmas gifts for the rest of the family. Both of them were banned from helping with decorating the tree - Elijah was much too neurotic about that to let anyone help - but they sat on the floor and watched him do it.
Elijah carefully took the star-shaped tree topper out of its box. “Hope, would you do the honours?”
“You can’t reach it on your own, can you?”
He watched Hope tilt her head in that annoyingly self-assured way she had inherited from her father. Elijah clenched his jaw. “No, I cannot,” he confirmed. Hope smiled and reached out with her hand. Elijah felt the tree topper being lifted into the air and watched in awe as Hope set it down on top of the tree. “Wonderful. That concludes the last remaining task. Now, I will go fetch some clothes for your father, and then we can go to see Freya.”
Klaus couldn’t stop wagging his tail after that. When they arrived at Freya’s place, she was barely able to stop him from wiping away her pristine salt circle with his tail.
“Okay.” Freya went over her mental list. “I have a celestial event, I have the spell, and I have our brother. Let’s get this show on the road, people.”
An hour later, Klaus emerged from the shower, hair wet, dressed in his usual jeans and Henley. He smiled at Hope, who was sitting on the kitchen counter, sneaking freshly baked chocolate cookies off a baking sheet. “Littlest wolf,” he said affectionately, wrapping his arms around his daughter so firmly she gasped for air.
“Dad, I can’t breathe,” she chuckled. “And also, I’m pretty sure my wolf form is bigger than yours.”
Reluctantly, Klaus let her go and took a cookie. “Lies. Slander. Absolutely untrue, we shall have your uncle Elijah get a measuring tape the next time we both turn.”
“I refuse to be part of whatever mischief you are planning, Niklaus.” Elijah stepped into the kitchen. “Oh, good, you found your cookies. I felt bad for you after everything that happened, so I made you a fresh batch while you were in the shower. It is quite the relief that you are not purple anymore.”
When reminded about his earlier predicament, Klaus took a deep breath. “Oh yes, remind me to kill Kol and Rebekah.”
Over Christmas dinner, Klaus told Hope the entire horrifying tale of his time trapped as a wolf. When he was done with the tale, he decided to list which one of his loved ones had dealt with it in the best way, deciding to go through the list by age. “Freya, you did well. Although, I wish you could have turned me back sooner.”
Freya rolled her eyes, but said nothing.
“Finn,” Klaus narrowed his eyes. “You dressed me up in a ridiculous costume. But then again, I daggered you. And also, somehow, you were the only one among our siblings who could tell the difference between me and the impostor. Now, for Elijah.”
Elijah swallowed.
“You threw me out of the house, you kicked me off the counter, you waterboarded me-”
“Bathed you,” Elijah corrected. “It was necessary.”
“But,” Klaus continued, a benevolent smile on his face that had nothing to do with the spirit of Christmas and everything with the herbs Hope had slipped into the cookie dough, “I think we bonded on a new level these past days. And I think we needed that, brother.”
Klaus watched his younger siblings intently. “Kol. I spent several days in the bayou, all alone, wet, and hungry. But watching you struggle with the decoy wolf was quite amusing, plus, I bit you, so we are even. No dagger for you.”
Kol breathed a sigh of relief and squeezed Davina’s hand under the table.
“Rebekah.” Klaus smiled at his sister. “My sister. You let me into the house when I was cold, you made Elijah be nice to me. You saved me from death by exposure. And you gave the nicest scratches.”
She shrugged and gave a little wave with her fingers. “It’s the nails.”
“And your kindness will not be forgotten,” Klaus insisted solemnly. “So I will forget about the incident with the purple stuff. And I will also forget about the ungodly amount of lipstick on my face. And I will forgive all three of you for not recognizing me. All in the spirit of Christmas.”
Elijah, Kol, and Rebekah were all completely baffled. They had expected a massive tantrum, threats of daggers, general paranoia, but nothing. Their brother was - happy.
With Nik having forgiven all of his siblings, the night turned more cheerful. A lot of wine was had, even by Hope. Elijah slipped a few drops of his blood into it, so she would sober up again. She rolled her eyes at him. After dinner, they all went outside to burn their wishes for each other. Klaus still insisted that the tradition was stupid, but Hope liked it, so he did too.
...
The gifts under the tree had always been rather scarce in the Mikaelson household. Elijah, Klaus and Rebekah had never really exchanged presents. With the addition of Freya, Finn, Kol and Hope, however, it had escalated. The tree was largely obstructed by a wall of meticulously wrapped boxes.
The newest member of the Mikaelson family, Comet, also got plenty of gifts. Hope presented him with a little black bowtie. “You can match outfits now, Uncle Elijah,” she explained, carefully adjusting the tie.
“Come here, Comet, let me see that tie,” Elijah called, and the dog came, proudly showing off his new accessory.
Comet loved the Mikaelsons. He loved Elijah and Rebekah most of all, the siblings who cuddled with him in the morning, made sure he got the best food, always looked clean and smelled nice, and scratched behind his ears whenever he wanted. Comet suspected it would take time for the other one - Klaus - to start liking him. They hadn’t spent much time together as dogs and Comet felt slightly betrayed when his potential new best friend turned out to be a human. But Rebekah had promised that everything would work out, and the dog trusted her intuition. The Husky flopped down on Elijah’s lap with a contented sigh. Yes, Comet Mikaelson was the happiest of dogs.