#wrtg

Grace was sleeping fitfully, dreams of Esther’s schemes haunting her every time she closed her eyes. Almost a month had passed since the night of the ball. Since Elijah’s mother had linked all her children together in an attempt to kill them. In her dreams, Grace had to watch, over and over again, as Elijah, Klaus, Rebekah - her family, those she loved - drank the champagne, dooming themselves to death. And every night, Grace was helpless, watching Esther plunge the white oak stake into Finn’s heart. And one by one, they all followed, dropping like marionettes with their strings cut. In her dreams, Grace cradled Elijah against her chest, holding him gently as he coughed up blood, choked on it, went limp in her arms - dead.

“Grace.”

She woke with a start. Her cheeks were wet. “I’m sorry,” she murmured drowsily. “Sorry, Elijah, I didn’t mean to wake you.” Grace sighed and settled into his embrace, turning over to press her face into Elijah’s chest. She shivered when he kissed the crown of her head.

“Will you tell me what’s wrong?” Elijah asked.

Grace shook her head. “Just a dream.”

“You’ve been having nightmares for weeks, Grace. I am not an idiot. You screamed.”

Elijah focused on a noise in the hallway. A heartbeat. “Seems I’m not the only one you woke.” The door was cracked open - just a little bit. Just enough for Miriam to slip into the room, soundless like a cat. He sighed. “Everything is alright, Miriam. Grace just had a bad dream.”

“I’m sorry, Miri,” Grace whispered, reluctantly sitting up. “I didn’t want to wake you. Please, go back to bed.”

They both assumed Miriam didn’t entirely understand them yet. For a second, at the ball, it had seemed as though Miriam was herself again, but just a little while later, she had returned to the state she had awoken in.

But she learned.

Slowly, she learned how to be in this body again. Grace had discovered it first, when Miriam lifted her head when she heard her name. Then others’ names. When Grace said Kol’s name, Miriam looked at her younger brother and smiled. She didn’t talk, though - her means of communication limited to small, abstract sounds and pointing at things.

Hesitantly, Miriam walked towards the bed, giving her brother a wide berth. Neither Grace nor Elijah knew why, but he seemed to intimidate her. Grace untangled herself from the blankets and sat on the edge of the bed, patting the empty space on the mattress beside her.

Miriam sat, and her hand - small, warm, nails cut short and chipped, as if Miriam had clawed herself out of her own grave - immediately found that of her sister-in-law - cold, pallid skin, long fingers with perfectly manicured nails. Grace smoothed her other hand over Miriam’s unbound hair.

Elijah turned on the lamp on his bedside table. “Sister, are you alright?” Her eyes locked onto his - bright blue, like Rebekah’s - and Miriam shook her head. “What’s wrong, Miriam?” Elijah prompted.

Miriam pointed at Grace and looked at Elijah again, willing him to understand that his wife was crying, and that decidedly not alright.

“Are you worried about me, Miri?” Grace asked, suppressing a laugh when Miriam began frantically wiping at Grace’s cheeks, trying to dry her tears. Gently, Grace caught her hands and settled them in Miriam’s lap. “It was just a nightmare, Miriam. I’m alright now, Elijah woke me up. You don’t have to be afraid.”

Miriam flinched when her brother sat up and reached for something, but Grace stayed still, so there was no danger. Her brother offered his wife a handkerchief, and Grace gently dabbed at her face.

“See? All better now. You can go back to bed, Miri.”

Stubbornly, Miriam shook her head.

A confused look passed between Grace and Elijah. “Sister?” Slowly, Elijah reached for her, gently laying one of his hands on top of hers. He could feel her heart rate spike, but Miriam allowed the touch. “Do you wish to stay here with us?”

Miriam looked at Grace, who smiled at her warmly. “You can stay if you want.” She lifted the blankets, creating a space for Miriam between herself and Elijah, safe and loved and held, but Miriam refused. Grace knew it hurt Elijah, that his sister was so skittish around him. She got comfortable in the middle of the bed, and finally, with a warning look at Elijah, Miriam curled up at the very edge of the bed.

Elijah turned off the lamp again, drowning the room in a darkness that was only broken by a ribbon of light, flooding in from between the curtains. “Tonight is a full moon,” Elijah remarked. “The first since-”

“Don’t,” Grace warned. “I am in no mood for your attempts at psychoanalysis tonight, Elijah.” She tugged on the blankets, trying to get enough slack to drape them over Miriam as well.

Elijah grumbled and moved closer to Grace. “Sister, would you kindly come a little closer? My wife is hogging the blankets on your behalf, and I find it quite rude.”

Miriam froze at the bite in Elijah’s voice, but Grace laughed, so she assumed it was alright. She rolled over, bumping into Grace, who seemed utterly content when Elijah kissed her neck. She watched, eyes wide, as Grace turned her head to kiss him back.

“Good night, girls,” Elijah mumbled, and closed his eyes, breathing in the scent of Grace’s hair. Elijah wrapped his arm around his wife’s waist, anchoring her to him.

For a long while, Miriam and Grace just looked at each other, hands loosely intertwined as Miriam played with Grace’s rings. Ever since she had first seen Grace, Miriam had been fascinated by them, especially her engagement ring - a sapphire, blue, like the woman’s eyes, surrounded by diamonds, but upon closer inspection, what held Miriam’s attention was Grace’s daylight ring, an almost perfect twin to the one the rest of the family wore. Grace had explained that it had been a gift from Klaus, a symbol of her joining the family.

Grace grumbled happily when Elijah wrapped himself around her even tighter, like a large snake about to devour its prey. Miriam remembered that he liked to sleep like that. Rebekah, Niklaus and Elijah, huddled together in the caves on every full moon, desperately craving each other’s warmth, the safety of family. Miriam didn’t know what it felt like to be held by Elijah. She had never been included, not even as a small child. Her place had been with Kol, and later with Henrik, her warm body shielding him from the cold, distracting him from the howls of the wolves outside so he wouldn’t be afraid. But Henrik was dead and gone. She had felt him leave her. Last month, he had tried, he had tried so hard to give Miriam another chance. It had only been enough for her to reveal their mother’s scheme and save her siblings, but now, even the ghost of him was gone, and Miriam felt the loss more acutely than ever.

She snapped back to attention when she felt a hand on her cheek. Grace was wiping away her tears. Miriam tried to smile, but it came out wrong, all teeth. Grace pulled her hand away, and Miriam felt bereft. Grace was soft, Grace was warm. And yet- Grace looked like someone who had only ever been kissed once. Never a second time, never for later. Miriam supported herself on her underarms as she leaned over her sister-in-law, lips hovering over her cheek for a few seconds as she glared at Elijah, whose eyes remained open, vigilant, as if he feared that Grace would come to harm if he let Miriam too close. Well, Miriam feared the same. She knew who he was, what he was. And when she regained her full ability to speak, Elijah would know, too.

Gently, she kissed Grace’s cheek. Once. Then a second time.

“One for now, one for later,” Elijah whispered, astonishment evident in his voice. His sister was coming back to them, those two kisses heralded it. Elijah had never received any kisses from Miriam. The two of them had never once had to worry about each other, both sticking to their wordless agreement of who took care of which siblings - Elijah had Klaus and Rebekah, Miriam Kol and Henrik. But with lack of worry came lack of - not love, never lack of love, but lack of belonging.

Grace smiled, eyelids already fluttering shut, when Miriam settled beside her. “One for now,” Grace whispered, leaning in to kiss her sister-in-law on the cheek. “And one for later.” Another kiss. “And now it’s time to sleep, Miri.”

Miriam wrapped her arms around Grace, enveloping her in a warm embrace. She hissed when her hand touched Elijah’s arm and drew it away, but her brother caught her wrist. Decisively, he locked Miriam’s arm around Grace, his own arm on top. Grace was safe now, well-protected. And that was all that mattered. For that, Miriam could tolerate Elijah’s proximity.

Grace slept without nightmares.

Miriam was the first to wake. Her brother was snoring softly, his arms firmly wrapped around his wife. Miriam understood her brother. They had, after all, always been the most alike. His need to hold, to protect, was her need as well.

The increasing speed of Elijah’s heart alerted Miriam to his imminent awakening. When he opened his eyes, he saw Miriam, and he put a finger against his lips as if expecting Miriam to say something. He looked ashamed when he realized that she had not uttered a single word since they had undaggered her. Perhaps, today, she would. She wanted to try. She wanted to succeed.

“Grace likes to sleep late,” Elijah informed his sister in a hushed voice. “She can, however, be persuaded to wake up if you do it very gently.” He dragged his lips over his wife’s arm, up to her shoulder, where he kissed her. Once. Twice. His eyes met Miriam’s. “One isn’t enough. But two aren’t enough either. Not for her.” So he continued kissing her shoulder, her neck, every bit of skin Elijah could reach, until Grace began to grumble in her sleep.

Miriam watched her brother with an empty feeling in her heart. How many times had she kissed Henrik’s face until the both of them had doubled over with laughter? She had never thought Elijah would be... affectionate.

Perhaps in another life, a kinder life, where all Elijah ever had to do was be her brother, he would have kissed her face until she laughed.

“Grace,” he cooed. “It’s time to wake up, my darling.”

She pretended to be asleep, but the corner of her lip twitching up when Elijah’s hands slipped underneath the hem of her nightgown betrayed her to him. Grace opened her eyes and found Miriam beside her. She gasped in surprise, having forgotten that she was there. “Good morning, Miri. Can you please get Elijah to stop trying to wake me up?”

Elijah’s laugh was cut short when his back hit the floor, Miriam’s body knees digging into his ribs as she knelt on top of him.

“No.”

Grace sat up, wide-awake all of a sudden. “Miri?” That voice, it scared her. It was not small, not like she had expected from Miriam, but more similar to an animalistic growl, not unlike Klaus mid-transformation.

That was not her voice, was it? Miriam tried again. “Grace?” Better. That sounded human.

“Yes, Miri?” Tears flooded her eyes. A month. They had been trying for a whole month to get her to talk.

Miriam looked at her brother, who stared up at her, at a loss for words. Then she looked back at Grace.