Chapter 13
Locksley Manor was all but quiet, except for the servants going around doing their usual business. The only other people awake were Guy of Gisborne and Archer. Hearing a guard, talking to someone outside, the two men looked at each other, but glanced to the door when the guard had opened the door.
“My Lord, there’s a woman, Hope Mikaelson, who wishes to see Lady Gisborne,” The Guard spoke.
“Let her in,” Guy ordered, glancing back to Archer.
“I’ll leave you to it. I don’t fancy having another argument with her,” Archer said, leaving the room.
“Thank you,” Hope said to the guard, entering the house, “Is Louise….” Hope trailed of a confused look appearing on her face when she saw Archer, “Matthew?” Hope asked quietly, glancing to Guy, “Where is Louise?”
“Upstairs, sleeping,” Guy replied, raising an eyebrow upon seeing Hope going upstairs, “Louise won’t be happy if you wake her.”
“She’s never complained before,” Hope remarked, glancing to the two males, “I need her help with something,” She stated, walking into the bedroom.
Hearing voices outside of the room, Louise wasn’t sure on whether she was imagining them or whether there was real. With the clicking sound of the door opening and the female voice becoming louder, her eyes shot open, glancing to the door. Seeing Hope entering the bedroom, Louise’s eyes widened in disbelief.
“Hope it’s early…” Louise started.
“Matthew?” Hope asked, glancing at her cousins, “He’s downstairs.”
“It’s complicated,” Louise said simply, keeping her gaze on her cousin, “And it is not my secret to tell.
“When did we start keeping secrets from each other?” Hope asked, sitting on the edge of the bed.
“If I could tell you, I would,” Louise said quietly.
“Calypso,” Hope said quietly, a cheeky smirk appearing.
“I’m not saying,” Louise whispered, knowing exactly what Hope had meant when she had mentioned her middle name.
With the door opening, both women glanced to the door with Guy entering.
“Morning,” Louise said sweetly.
“So, Matthew,” Hope started, “What’s the story?”
“Sorry,” Louise whispered, “Hope just drop it,” she said sternly clearly annoyed with how Hope was going on about Matthew.
“Archer or Matthew as you know him by,” Guy started, glancing at Hope, “is my brother,” He finished, leaving the room.
Hearing Guy’s reply, Louise glanced at Hope, who seemed to be shocked, who seemed to be starting wide-eyed at the door. Well, that was a first for Hope.
“Hope,” Louise said quietly.
“Brother?” Hope whispered, glancing to Louise.
“You heard Guy, Hope<” Louise said quietly, “What is it you want?” She asked, hoping to change the topic of the conversation.
“Help with getting things ready for a little get together,” Hope replied, glancing to Louise, “How long have you known?”
“Do you think having a get together is wise?” Louise asked, sighing softly, “A couple of days.”
“After the last few years, yes” Hope replied, “What’s the worst in what can happen?” Hope asked cheekily, “Before or after I slapped him.”
“After,” Louise replied, “Fine but if anything happens, I’m holding you responsible.”
“Nothing will happen,” Hope said trying to reassure Louise.
“Now if you don’t mind,” Louise said, glancing to the door.
“Of course,” Hope said, walking out of the room.
Being left alone in the bedroom, Louise ran a hand through her hair, sitting up. Of course, Hope was going to find out about Matther sooner or later, but she would have preferred it to be on her own terms. Removing the cover, Louise quickly got dressed, wondering on whether she would have to intervene in another showdown between Hope and Matthew. The fact that she couldn’t hear raised voices should be a positive. Having got changed into a purple gingham t-shirt and black trousers, Louise headed downstairs to see that Hope and Matthew were talking quietly. Smiling to herself, Louise watched the two for a moment.
“Hope,” Louise said, keeping her attention on the two.
“Louise,” Hope said, glancing and walking over to her, “Shall we get going?” Hope asked with Louise nodding her head.
“My Lady, how long will you be?” the servant asked.
“All day,” Hope replied, glancing to Louise.
“I will be back tomorrow. You can tell Sir Guy; I will be staying at the Mikaelson’s tonight.” Louise replied as the two women heading out of the house.
Standing in an empty room, Louise glanced to Hope for a second,
“Well, we’ve done a good job,” Louise said referring to how the room was decorated.
It was decorated with tuille fabric, coming down from the ceiling along with roses in each of the corners of the room. There was also a small dancefloor which Hope had insisted on having. There was also place for food and drink.
“Yeah, we have,” Hope smiled, glancing at her cousin.
“So, who’s coming?
“The usual people,” Hope replied, glancing at Louise, “I also invited the students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang who attended Hogwarts that year.”
“Hope, you said this was a little get together,” Louise remarked.
“And it is. They’ll be no trouble,” Hope said simply, rolling her eyes, “No one from Durmstrang has responded so I’m guessing that they are not coming.”
“Can’t blame them, can we?” Louise asked, “I mean the last time they were over; all hell broke loose.”
“True, that year was insane,” Hope commented, “And it also changed people.”
“For better or worse,” Louise asked.
“Well, it made some people worse like Malfoy and the rest of the Slytherins, but for others, we grew up and some became very resilient.”
Hearing Draco Malfoy’s name, Louise pulled a face in disgust.
“Yeah well, all of that is over,” Louise simply said, “I just can’t believe Mrs Malfoy lied to Voldemort.”
“Yeah that was pretty messed up and I thought my dad did some questionable crazy things,” Hope said.
“The things we do for family, eh?” She asked, a warm smile on her face.
“Well, you should know, you disappeared for months,” Hope reminded her, glancing at her watch, “Although I think we should get ready. They’ll be here soon.”
Having got change into their dresses, both Louise and Hope was stood in the room, waiting for there friend to arrive. Louise was wearing a purple dress with a u-shaped neck, which came to fall just above her knees. The sleeves were short and had multiple flowers on. There was also a belt which was fastened in a bow on her left side front which made her bump much more visible. Meanwhile, Hope’s dress was a knee length light blue V-neck which finished just above her knees.
Taking a seat, Louise sighed softly to herself. She had wondered on whether this had been a good idea, but she also knew that there was no talking Hope out of things, in when she had made her mind up.
“Come on Louise, it’s supposed to be a party,” Hope said, with music filling the room.
With the door opening, Louise stood up, watching who was coming for the people who had entered were: the Weasleys- well except for Charlie, Percy, Arthur and Bill; Fleur; Hermione; Neville; Seamus and Luna. Getting a bottle of Butterbeer, Louise was surprised when the door opened again with Viktor and Mattew entering. Everyone in the room was looking perplexed, while Louise and Hope just glanced at each other.
“Well, I wasn’t expecting you two,” Hope said surprised.
“Thought we’d just turn up and surprise you,” Matthew replied.
“Well, you’ve certainly did that,” Fleur said, her French accent clearly visible, “You didn’t even come for your friend’s wedding.”
“More like brother’s wedding,” Hope said quietly.
“Hope!” Louise said, clearly unimpressed with what she had said.
“What do you mean?” Fleur asked.
The rest of the room had clearly heard what Hope had said and was waiting for an explanation.
“Brother?” Hermione asked, “Thought you was an only child.”
“It’s complicated,” Matther said, casting a disapproving look in Hope’s direction, “But I was adopted and have recently been in contact with my birth family."
"You don’t have to say Matthew,” Louise said trying to reassure her friend.
“You know?” Ron said, glancing between Matthew, Louise and Hope, “You three know.”
“You said brother,” Hermione started but stopped which Louise could only assume that she had fitted all the pieces together, “He’s your brother?” Hermione asked, as Matthew just nodded his head.
“Who is his brother?” Ron asked.
“My husband,” Louise found herself replying, before she could even stop herself.
“I bet that’s going to be complicated,” Ron said, trying to break the awkwardness between the group.
“Feel free to help yourselves to drinks and food,” Louise said, glancing to Hope with a serious look, “A word now,” She ordered, walking to a quiet corner with Hope following.
“What were you thinking of, outing him like that?” Louise asked angrily, keeping her voice as low as possible.
“Sorry, it just slipped out,” Hope said calmly, “I didn’t mean to.”
“Just apologise to him,” Louise said sternly, looking across the room, “And make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Arriving back at Locksley Manor, Guy of Gisborne had been expecting his wife to be at home. Obviously, they had needed to talk about how Hope had taken the news and why she had called Louise, Calypso? However, on his arrival, he had been informed that his brother was out seeing friends and that Louise was spending the night at the Mikaelson’s Guy did wonder on what situation Hope would have gotten Louise into. In his mind, Louise was in a delicate condition, with being five months into the pregnancy. Deciding to surprise her, he had made his way to the house and was surprised with what he saw. Seeing a small building, Guy’s eyes widened walking towards it. As he got closer, he could hear music and voices, he just stood there listening to what was being said. It was nice to see the real Louise- the Louise who didn’t seem to have any walls up around certain people.
“They won’t be happy, if you’re caught,” A male voice said, pulling him out of his thoughts.
Turning to the voice, Guy saw that it was Elijah, “Why?”
“In Hope’s words, they are simply trying to move on and to remember the family and friends, they have lost over the past few years,” Elijah replied, “They’ll be a while yet, so why not come inside,” he suggested, “Louise will be fine. They are her friends in there.”
“I just haven’t seen her like this before.”
“Louise has been through a lot, these past few years, but she’s been resilient, and she’ll get through anything, with time, “ Elijah explained, “You’ve only known her a few months. We’ve known her since she was one year old and she’s a fighter and fierce protected of her family and friends,” Elijah finished.
Guy nodded, knowing that Elijah was right. He was bound to find out who the real Louise was overtime.
Sitting on the bed in Louise’s room, Guy was waiting for the gathering to end. He now finally understood why Louise had said that she was going to return tomorrow- the gather was finishing late- later than he would have preferred but hearing two female voices entering the house, he got the impression that the gathering was over.
Opening the door, Louise’s eyes widened in surprised at seeing her husband there. He was a very nice surprise- one she was not expecting. In truth, she had anticipated that Guy would have stayed at Locksley to make sure that everything was in order. Closing the door, Louise kicked of her shoes.
“You are a lovely surprise,” She whispered, placing a kiss on his cheek.
“I am, am I?” He asked, a cheeky grin on his face.
“Yes, I wasn’t expecting to see you until tomorrow,” She replied, sitting down on the bed.
“Well, I’m here,” Guy said, placing an arm around Louise.
Feeling an arm around her, Louise smiled cheekily, glancing at her husband, “Are you trying have your wicked way with me?” She asked quietly, turning round to face him, placing a hand on his face.
“You never complained before,” He whispered, kissing her on the lips.
“Well, we were at our home,” she whispered, knowing that she was just about to given in to his touches on her body.
Every touch he made on her skin, just sent warm, fuzzy shivers down her spine. It was a feeling she was quite enjoying. With Guy taking her dress of, Lousie moved her hands up and down his body. Her touches being like ecstasy to Guy, and it wasn’t long before the dress of and was a crumpled mess on the floor. Taking in the colour of her skin, Guy ran his hands down her body, highlighting every curve she had. With his hands being on her stomach, his hands stayed there. He wasn’t sure but he could of swore that she was getting bigger.
“Our little prince or princess,” He whispered, kissing her on the neck with Louise attempting to take his trousers of.
Wrapping her arms around Guy, Guy was surprised at how willing she was, especially when he seemed to be overprotective of her and her bump. Kissing her multiple times on the neck, the way Louise was acting was the way he had hoped. There were no objections, no refusals and more importantly no excuses.
“Let me know if it’s too much,” Guy whispered, wanting to make sure that he didn’t hurt her.
With the sun light streaming into the bedroom, Louise’s eyes opened remembering the night before. Feeling Guy’s arm around her, a smile appearing, knowing how perfect the last twenty-four hours had been, well apart from the little incidents with Hope. Turning over to look at her husband, Louise smiled slightly, placing an arm around him, trying to be careful as not to wake him up, but it seemed like it was an impossible task.
“Morning,” He whispered.
“Morning,” She said quietly, “Hope I didn’t wake you.”
“You didn’t. How was last night?”
“It was good- just what I needed,”
Hearing her reply, Guy smiled slightly, keeping his gaze on Louise.
“I got speaking to Freya and Elijah last night and they suggested spending Christmas here,” Guy suggested.
“But what about…” Louise started, “It’s a wonderful idea and I would love to,” Louise replied, “But only if, you’re sure?” She asked.
“Of course, I’m sure. They are your family and after missing it last year you should be here this year,” Guy explained.
“Thank you,” She said quietly, placing a kiss on his cheek, “Will Locksley survive with just Archer being there?” She asked.
“Archer is also invited,” Guy replied, with Louise nodding her head.
“In that case, there’s going to need to be a discussion with the family,” Louise started, “And unfortunately you’ll probably witness Klaus lose his temper.”
“Do we have to tell them?
“Well Hope can’t keep a secret and knows him. Rebekah has seen him,” Louise started, “And, truthfully it is better to tell them. It may not be what either of you want but it will be worse if they find out,” she said truthfully.
“I guess you’re right- you know them.”
“Exactly,” Louise said softly, getting out of bed, picking up the pink dressing gown from the bedroom door.
“Hope can’t keep a secret?” He asked, “I thought she had been a surprise bridesmaid.”
“I guess it just depends on the secret.”
“Did anything happen last night?” Guy asked.
“No nothing happened,” Louise replied.
Being in the kitchen of the Mikaelson’s, Louise made herself a slice of toast with chocolate spread on.
“What?” Louise asked, glancing to Guy, raising an eyebrow slightly.
“Nothing,” he replied, placing an arm around Louise.
“Shouldn’t you be going?” She asked, taking a bite of the toast she had prepared.
Seeing Hope enter the kitchen, Louise glanced at her as the two girls’ gazes met.
“Don’t start Louise,” Hope said, getting herself a drink, “Yesterday was a mistake.”
“Hope,” Louise said with a tone of authority in her voice.
“And I’m going to make it right. I shouldn’t have outed Matthew like that,” Hope carried on, turning round. Seeing Guy there, Hope swallowed hardly nearly choking on her drink.
“What?” Guy said, glancing at Louise, “You said nothing happened.”
“I shouldn’t have said that” Hope whispered, “And Louise is right- nothing happened well apart from me outing Matthew. It was an accident,” Hope said, keeping her attention on Guy.
Hearing Hope, Louise swallowed hardly, knowing that she was partly to blame, “Thank you,” she mouthed to Hope.
“And nothing happened like Hope said,” Louise said looking at Guy, “We were friends catching up with each other,” she said, hoping it would be enough to reassure him.
With Guy nodding his head, Louise smiled, with him kissing her on the cheek, “See you tonight,” he said quietly before leaving the house.
“I’m sorry,” Hope said quietly.
“It’s fine, Hope,” Louise said, sighing softly, “People have done much worse.”
Hearing a knock at the front door, both girls glanced at each other, walking into the hallway, wondering on who could be at the door.
“You two expecting anyone?” Freya asked, coming from the living room.
“No, we’re not,” Hope replied, with the two girls going into the living room- well Hope had lightly shoved Louise into the living room, “Guy wouldn’t forgive me if anything happened,” Hope whispered, which Louise just smiled at in agreement.
“Hello sister,” a male voice said, as soon as the door was open with both girls glancing at each other.
“What a lovely surprise, Kol,” Freya said happily, “It’s been what, seven months?” She asked cheekily.
“Kol,” Hope said from the living room doorway.
“There’s our fighter,” Kol said hugging Hope, in the doorway, “Where’s the other little Mikaelson?” He asked, glancing at Hope and then onto Freya.
“She’s here,” Louise replied, a smile on her face.
“Louise Calypso Lily Mikaelson,” he said taking in her appearance, “You are a sight for sore eyes,” he said giving her a hug.
“Now now don’t be starting that of,” Louise said cheekily.
“Hang on one minute,” Klaus started from the stairs, “How come when I call you your full name, you threaten me with violence,”
“Because Kol is my favourite uncle,” Louise replied cheekily, “And the last time you called me it, my emotions was all over the place.”
“Yeah, we don’t need to be reminded of that day,” Freya said softly.
“What happened?” Kol asked looking at all of his family members, “Has it got something to do with that man leaving before I came?”
“Long story,” Louise said quickly.
“When did you start saying long story?” Kol asked, “Don’t tell me they’ve corrupted you?”
“As if I’ll let them do that,” Louise said smiling.
“Before I forget, this was at the old place,” Kol said, pulling an envelope out, “For Freya. I was going to open it, but Finn said it should have been Freya.”
Seeing the envelope, Louise’s eyes widened recognising it to be the envelopes which was used for her wedding invitations. Upon hearing Finn’s name, a frown appeared, “Finn?” she questioned.
“Ah, I was supposed to tell you,” Hope said, “Finn’s back.”
Hearing Hope, Louise shook her head in disbelief and looked at Freya, upon hearing her gasp.
“Everything okay, Freya?” Louise asked.
“You should have opened it, when you received it,” Freya said, “We were invited, the invitation just got lost.”
“Invite for what?” Kol asked, glancing around at his family. With no one prepared to tell him, he grew annoyed, “Well is anyone going to tell me?”
“It was an invite to my wedding,” Louise explained.
“Wedding,” Kol asked surprised, glancing at Louise, “I think I need the full story,” Kol said simply.
“And maybe a drink,” Louise said.
“Oh, you’ll definitely need a drink,” Rebekah commented, making her way down the stairs, closely followed by Marcel.
“Still falling into the same habits, Bekah?” Kol asked, a smirk appearing.
“You know me,” Rebekah said.
“I should go, before, “Marcel started.
“He’s not here,” Louise said, interrupting Marcel, walking into the living room,
“What on earth has happened?” Kol asked.
Taking a seat on the settee, Louise waited until all of the family was in before telling Kol of everything on what had happened since the Battle of Hogwarts- up until the present day.
“Flipping heck, Louise, you don’t do things by halves, do you?” Kol asked, slightly shocked with what she had said, “Congratulations on the pregnancy and the wedding.”
“Thank you,” she said quietly, noticing that Kol had got up and was walking towards Marcel.
“You kidnapped your own cousin,” Kol said, looking at Marcel, “A Mikaelson- didn’t the oath mean anything to you?” Kol asked with his voice getting louder.
“Kol, you need to calm down,” Elijah said, stepping in between the two males.
“I didn’t realise it was Louise until she had said her name,” Marcel stated, “When the Sheriff approached me, he called her Lady Gisborne. If I thought for one second that it was Louise, I would not have taken her like I did,” Marcel finished as all of the Mikaelson’s stared at him.
“I need some air,” Louise whispered, standing up and making her way out of the house into the garden.
Being out int the garden, Louise wrapped her arms around her body, not expecting it to be as cold as it was. She had known that them few days was going to be mentioned at some point, but she had hoped that it would have been when she had managed to process everything in which had happened. Hearing Marcel have his say of them days had made Louise feel uncomfortable and it seemed like she was about to relive the days and to avoid any violence which may have broken out. Hearing the door open, Louise looked round to see Freya at the door.
“Are you ok?” Freya asked, stepping outside.
“Yes, I am,” Louise replied, a weak smile appearing, “Just didn’t want to relive those day,” She admitted.
“Louise,” She whispered, pulling her into a hug, “You won’t ever have to go through that again,” She said quietly, “We won’t let it happen and I’m sure Guy won’t.”
Hearing Freya’s words, Louise felt safe which was probably the first time in a few years.