Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

She gripped and wrung the steering wheel in her hands as she sat in her parked car in front of her home.  The windows had become fogged and the air inside the car had become thick from her constant shaky breathes. She moved one hand from the wheel to place the tip of her thumb in her mouth as she began to gnaw away at her already disheveled fingernail. Her eyes were glued on the window that looked into the kitchen.

There with a little girl with light red hair and eyes that mirrored her own, was her husband. He held a pan in one hand and his daughter in the other. She watched his mouth move, probably explaining everything he was doing to the little girl who wrapped him in her embrace. Ever since his sister had told him how important talking to children was to teach them to have an expansive vocabulary, he hadn’t shut up whenever their daughter was around. Only five and she already knew the meaning of the word lurid and used it regularly. Hayley smiled slightly with her thumb nail still between her teeth at the thought of her daughter spitting out words that should be kept deep in a dictionary. But even the thought of her daughter greeting her with a gapped smile and tiny flailing limbs could not motivate Hayley to enter her suburban home.

She averted her attention back to her husband as she toyed with her wedding band on her left hand. He was just placing his daughter down to the floor and out of frame to Hayley’s eyes. She gazed at his concentrated look as he watched whatever he was cooking in the stove intently. Her heart ached for the days when she’d wake up and see that same expression on his face while looking at a canvas.

She adorned nothing but a white sheet around her body, one hand tapping on her knee to the soft rock that filled the room and her other holding up her face with a burning cigarette in her fingers. She held it a safe enough distance from her eyes so they didn’t burn and water from the smoke. Her attention trained on the man before her with a slim brush making manic movements spreading the pigments around.

“What’s on the agenda today, Botticelli? Another desolate landscape or an abstract look into your deep and wounded soul?” Hayley asked taking a drag and displaying a sly smile.

“With you around I can only ever paint the way you make me feel,” He spoke, not turning to look at her until he paused.

“Utterly depressed and miserable.” He threw her his classic crooked smile and a wink before turning around back to his work.

“I am deeply wounded!” Hayley feigned hurt as she put the back of her hand to her forehead in a dramatic fashion. 

“I’m sure you are, love.” He muttered, too focused on his work to fully reply.

Hayley shimmied around on the bed to place her feet on the cold floor before walking to him, cigarette and sheet still in mind as she went over to his easel.

“The next great painter…” She murmured into the skin on his shoulder, pressing her cheek to the middle of his back.

“Niklaus Mikaelson.” She whispered in his ear, the smile evident in her voice.

He placed his brush down and reached behind him and pulled her around to his front.

“Yes, and with you by my side as my queen.” He took the smoke from between her fingers into his own and inhaled. His other hand came to her waist to press her into him.

She watched as the grey smoke left his mouth. There was something erotic around the way it drifted out between his lips and went to linger in the air.

“Mhm.” She nodded in agreement and placed her head under his chin.

“Just you and me, love.” He moved his hand to the back of neck to hold her securely in place.

“Just you and me.”

Hayley was snapped out of her trance by the sound of rain hitting her windshield creating a constant soft noise in her mind.

‘Get out of the car, Marshall. Get. Out. Of. The. Car.’

She started to take deep breathes in through her nose and out through her mouth as she pled with herself to open her car door and walk into the home where her family was.

But she couldn’t.

Every time she thought about her life, she got this horrible feeling of motion sickness wash over her. She felt an instant pang of guilt after every wave because she knew how grateful she should be. This should be everything she ever wanted, and in a way it was. She had a handsome husband and an incredible daughter who she loved with her entire heart. She never knew it was possible to love two people so much until they came into her life.

But there was always a present part of her that wanted to know what her life would have been like if she hadn’t gotten pregnant. If she hadn’t kept her baby, if she hadn’t married Klaus, if she hadn’t dropped out of college.

“Hayley, love, just please open the door.”

She noted he sounded weak and defeated. She felt the same way though her face would never show it. She was still in shock of the little white stick with little blue lines on it lying next to her on the cold bathroom floor 

“I’m sorry…” She mumbled, more to herself than him, knowing it was near impossible he ever could have made out her words.

Eventually she pushed herself up and opened the door, knowing that if she didn’t he would never leave. When the barrier opened, it revealed Klaus pushing himself up from the floor to stand in her presence. Her face was emotionless, completely blank as she numbly handed him the white stick in her hand. His face drained of the flush he had gained while pounding his fists against the door as he starred at the small object he now obtained. He barely noticed when she quietly pushed passed him and went down the hallway and shut the door to their bedroom.

This isn’t happening.

She climbed under her sheets still in her jeans and shoes and looked at the ceiling, her eyes glazing over.

Hayley couldn’t decipher time, or her surroundings at this point… her brain barley held the capacity to think in her current state. All she heard in her head was her own voice repeating the same words:

This isn’t happening.

Klaus came into the small dark room, slipped of his boots and sat at the end of the bed where she currently resided complete catatonic. He didn’t want to frighten or anger her but there was one question that was burning to spill from his lips.

“What are you thinking?” He opted to say instead of what he wanted to ask.

She just shook her head, eyes glued to a small crack in the plaster over her.

“Do you want me to call Rebekah?”

She shook her head.

“Camille?”

Once more, her head went left to right.

“Can you tell me what to say then?”

Again.

“Bloody hell.” Klaus whispered harshly under his breath, as he pushed up from the corner of her bed and went towards the door.

“You know me,” Her voice broke the silence in the small room.

“And she speaks…” He said, turning around to face her.

“You know me,” She repeated flatly, “You know I never wanted children. You know that. I never wanted children. I still don’t.”

“You really feel that way? Even now? Because of the circumstances?”

“Even now, regardless of the circumstances.”

He stood leaning his shoulder against the doorway, looking at her body.

“Do I get a say in this?”

“Why do you care? You don’t want children.”

“Well I think I should still be allowed to state my case.”

“For what?” She finally pushed herself up onto her elbows.

“My case for my child, Hayley.” His voice was low and tight.

“You can, but I can assure you it won’t change my mind.”

“Oh, and why is that?” His voice started to raise.  

 “Because I was under the impression that neither of us ever wanted kids, Klaus!” Hayley snapped, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Well maybe I changed my bloody mind!”

“No, you haven’t! No, you fucking haven’t!” She threw back the covers violently and her feet hit the floor loudly.

“You haven’t changed your fucking mind, you’re just being difficult because you can’t stand that something in out of your power and control!” Hayley jabbed, unable to resist bring an old fight’s subject into this one.

“I hate to break it to you, but this is still very much in my control, because this is my fucking business and my fucking life!” He pointed a large finger in her direction to stress his sentence.

“Yeah, well it’s my life too. I’d be carrying the thing and I’d be pushing it out of me! I’d be the one taking care of it!” Hayley took a step towards him in confrontation.

“And I wouldn’t be? Is this you leaving me? Is that it? Is that why you don’t want this child?”

Hayley couldn’t help but see a flash of panic wash over his face, before his stony anger came back to override it. But she knew him. She knew the thought of her leaving terrified him.

“I’m not-!” She started off her sentence ready to continue their war, but soon realized that this all wasn’t worth it.

Because, after all, she knew him better than he knew himself. Fighting wasn’t going to get them anywhere in this argument. This was a fight they were just reliving with a slightly different subject matter. The underlying cause was always the same: they were both terrified of being left alone. 

“I’m not leaving you, okay? You know I wouldn’t.”

“Do I?”

His face was still as cold as ice, but tears rimmed his eyes.

She didn’t reply. She didn’t know how. Hayley knew that one person can only reassure someone so many times. And she could only do her best to reassure Klaus so many time that she wouldn’t never leave. The words become empty and hollow and lose all their meaning after so many times repeating them. Her words became useless years ago, and they both knew that. 

So she didn’t say a word. Hayley just walked straight into his chest and rested her weary head there. And Klaus pinned her body to him, like he was afraid if he didn’t she was drift away. Tears dampened her hair and she knotted her hands in the back of his t-shirt.

She ended up keeping her baby, made obvious by the thick translucent stripes on her abdomen. She hadn’t regretted this decision for a moment, but it had drastically altered her life. Hayley watched rain drops race down her windshield and rested her head on her driver’s side window. The fog disappearing in the small section on the glass where her skin touched. She could practically feel his breath on her face just like the night of the baby fight as she sat in her car and reminisced.

At least they fought then.

After Hope was born, the passion- both good and bad, left their relationship. It wasn’t all at once, it was so slow that they had taught themselves that living in uncomfortable silence was normal. They become more distant from one other, some days the only interaction they would have would be shared forced smiles and murmured good nights. Sometimes Hayley would lay awake at night and just look at his back. His steady breathing the only sound she could hear, that and the sound of blood rushing in her ears. The distance had become unbearable even when they were sleeping inches apart.

“Mommy!” A small shrill voice broke through the air.

Hayley’s eyes snapped to where the sound emanated from. Her daughter stood in a blue puppy pajamas and one blue sock, smiling a hundred watt smile at her mother. She wiped the pained expression off of her face to replace it with a happy look for her daughter to see. She reached to the passenger seat and picked up her purse and final opened the door to leave her car.

The cold air pricked her skin and the rain slid down her face as she jogged across the grass to the front door of her home.

“Hi baby!” She gushed, “How are you?”

“Impeccable.” Hope said, showing off a new word her father no doubt taught her.

“That’s lovely.” Hayley said picking her up and settling her on her hip as they walked inside.

“Dad’s making dinner.” Hope announced loudly as they walked into the house.

Hayley glanced through the foyer into the kitchen where Klaus stood looking at them. She felt her heart hurt as she realized his expression was blank and distant. He was looking at her but it lacked any sort of emotion. It lacked anything.

“Yes I am,” Klaus spoke glancing towards his daughter now, “And it is almost ready.”

Hope squirmed from Hayley’s grasp and ran to her father. She watched as Klaus pulled a chair out for her and she hopped up and sat on her knees as he pushed her into the table.

“I’m going to, uh, I’m going take a quick shower. Then I’ll be down to eat.” Hayley spoke, mostly to her daughter.

Klaus just nodded with his back turned to her, stirring something in a pot that sat on the stove. Hayley shook her head and walked up the stairs in a silent huff. Going into her and Klaus’ shared bedroom, she walked into her closet and stripped out of her white button down shirt and black slacks. She grabbed a pair of sweats and an old t-shirt and walked into the bathroom. Hayley shut the door with her hip and locked it behind her. She set her folded lounge wear on the counter next to the sink and then went over to the bathtub. She opened the shower curtain that surrounded the clawfoot tub and turned the faucet, watching water rain down from the shower head perched on the wall. She moved the curtain shut, letting the water run.

She proceeded to walk back over to the sink and crouch down to open the cabinets underneath it. She reached her hand to the back of the cabinet, rummaging through it’s contents until she found what she was looking for. She pulled out a box of tampons, something she knew Klaus would never snoop in, and opened the box. She moved around the products to revel a pack of cigarettes hidden at the bottom. Hayley fished the small pack out and set the box down and pushed herself up to stand.

They had both promised to quit for good after Hope was born, but she had been smoking secretly for two years now. Klaus was never the wiser.

Flipping open the flap at the top of the pack, she placed a smoke between her lips and took out the red lighter that was also in the box. Without looking, she turned on the bathroom fan and lit her cigarette. She reveled in the feeling of the first drag holding it in her lungs before letting it out through her teeth. Hayley crossed her arms and glanced up at herself in the mirror. With her work clothes in a pile in the closet, she only wore a black bra and a matching pair of panties. She rolled her shoulders back and stood up straighter. Turning her body to the side she sucked in her stomach and ran her hand slowly across her abdomen.

She’d always been confident in her body. She’d always been relatively slim and toned, even after she had given birth. But she couldn’t help but see every last small imperfection. How her stomach wasn’t perfectly flat or the slight sagging of her skin on her waist or how her the skin on her thighs wasn’t as smooth as it used to be. Hayley just sighed and walked back towards the bath tub. Next to the tub was a small window, which after she sat in the edge of the porcelain, she opened. It was one of those windows that if you weren’t persistent in opening it, you would probably give up, deeming it not worth the trouble. But Hayley persisted and cranked the small handle and watched  the window pane open at a painful pace. Once it was as open as it would get, she leant her temple against the cold tile of the wall beside her and stared outside.

She hated that this was the highlight of her day. Her secret cigarette she would take while pretending to take a shower after work. Blowing smoke out the small window, she toed the frame and ashed her cigarette into the bath tub. Her brain was turning off and her eyes glazed over, trying to relax into this one moment of solace she would get today. It wasn’t that the rest of her night would be full of hectic actions or anything particularly tiring and she would probably have alone time from eight pm until she went to sleep because Hope would be long in bed and Klaus would be doing his own thing. But right now, was a secret on her own time, where she wouldn’t have to worry about what Klaus was doing or if Hope was sleeping through the night or what deadlines she needed to meet at work. She could just turn everything off.

A car drove past the house with the music blaring. Due to the speed of the car and the distance away, Hayley only caught a glimpse of the song, but she recognized it.

It brought her back five years ago…

Tugging at the hem of her dress, Hayley sat on a cold metal bench outside a brick court house. She noted that this truly was a beautiful scene around her. An array of multicolored flowers lay behind where she sat, soaking up the hot sun and the tap water she had just watched a woman pour over them. There was a light breeze running around her, just enough so she could hear the leaves on the trees shake. The sun was full, bright and high, as it was almost noon on this Saturday. Her white dress she was wearing was just above her knees, second hand, and ivory in color with a lace overlay. She fingered a small tear in the lace on her midsection while she watched cars pass by, trying to place the songs that billowed out of them. Her pregnancy was showing now, but only if you stared at her and squinted. It was part of the reason she hadn’t opted for a tight dress like Klaus had suggested.

She was still waiting for him and his brother to come out of the building and usher her in for their nuptials. They had been waiting in line since nine in the morning- wanting to get an early start to this wedding. But apparently, they had terrible timing in every aspect of their lives because there was about seven or eight people in front of them. After five people went and they still stood in the musty court building, shifting their weights from leg to leg, Hayley offered to wait outside for Rebekah to arrive.

“Are you sure? Are you feeling alright?” Klaus had questioned her when she suggested this to him.

She had only nodded and gave him a kiss on the cheek, and the most painfully fake smile she had every wore.

He’d bought it, or so she hoped. She gave the same look to Elijah who stood next to her, and she walked herself outside to the bench where she currently sat.

And like her dress, and the day, it was almost perfect.

Almost.

Because it seemed to her that all dresses have holes in them and all weddings start at court houses with a pregnant girl sitting on the bench outside, hiding her tears by staring at her Mary Janes.

A red convertible soon parked in front of her, and a woman with smooth blonde hair stepped out, apology already coming from her.

“It’s alright.” Hayley said to her, standing to meet her with a hug.

“It’s not though! It’s your wedding day darling, I shouldn’t be worrying you!” Rebekah said.

“It wouldn’t be a Mikaelson family outing without you being late, Beka.” Hayley gave her a small smile, a genuine one this time.

Rebekah threw her a smirk and a playful eyeroll. But upon closer examination of the bride to be, she spoke.

“Are you alright, love? You look pale, do you want me to call someone?”

“No, no. I’m okay. It’s just hot is all.” Hayley brushed off her comment.

“Not getting cold feet, are you? Nik may be my brother, but I will drive your getaway car if you need.” She placed both her hands-on Hayley’s shoulders.

Hayley fought off her tears and shook her head, “No. I’m okay. I just…”

Deep breath, Marshall…

“I love your stupid brother. I do. And we are in this together. This is the right thing to do.” Hayley shrugged.

“The right thing to do is to marry him because you want too and because you love him. The right thing to do is to make sure you’re happy over anything else.”

“But it’s not just about me anymore. It’s never going to be just me again.” Hayley looked back down at her shoes.

She noticed a small scuff on the black patent leather.

“I want you to be happy.” Rebekah sighed, “So this is my final offer. Get in the car with me now and you and I will go meet Marcel in Italy. What do you say?”

Again, a genuine smile was given to Rebekah, “That sounds amazing but I am going to pass. I want this.”

And Hayley actually meant it.

“Hayley?” A voice came yelling from behind her.

Her and Rebekah turned to see Elijah peaking half his body outside of the court house’s entrance.

“It’s time.”

So, Hayley and Rebekah walked arm in arm into the court house, following Elijah. Hayley liked to think of this as Rebekah “giving her away”. Having a dead father and a mother she was estranged from, she liked the idea of Rebekah, the sister she always wanted but never had, giving her away.

They all rounded a corner to see Klaus, leaning against a small wall next to a pair of double doors. At the sight of Hayley, he straightened up and did the same to his suit jacket.

“We obtained a license, and a judge,” Elijah started.

“And now that our second witness has arrived,” Klaus continued for his brother and motioned to his sister.

“We can begin.”

Hayley smiled at Klaus, a real one this time. And he gave her one back. The smile he gave her without showing his teeth where he reminded her of a child. It was one of her favorites.

Rebekah handed Klaus Hayley’s bent arm and he took it with ease and Elijah held the door for all of them to enter.

-

The ceremony was quick and incredibly impersonal when it came to the judge’s speaking portions. He seemed bored with his job, and especially bored with having to marry two people. But when it came to the vows, Hayley was surprised Klaus had written anything.

He pulled a small piece of paper out of his slacks, and unfolded the worn piece of parchment. She didn’t expect to start crying when he began to speak, but she did.

She didn’t expect him to be so kind and thoughtful, and mention her career goals, her love of Fitzgerald and the fact that she could shotgun a beer faster than anyone he’d ever met.

But he did.

She didn’t expect him to get misty eyed when he mentioned their baby.

But he did.

And she didn’t expect him to say what he said lastly:

“No matter what happens in our life, I will love you more than I will ever love myself. And I hope you will let me.”

And they kissed and Rebekah threw rice that she had somehow inquired and the judge scowled, but the four of them didn’t care. Elijah and Rebekah had gained a sister and Klaus had gained a partner in life and Hayley had gained a family.

A real one this time. Not an adoptive one that shunned her when she made mistakes or decided to move away.

One that would love her. And she decided to let them.

So, they all went in the front of the church, and Hayley and Klaus stood next to each other while Rebekah rummaged through her purse for her camera. Out of the corner of her eye, Hayley saw Klaus staring at her. He looked at her with the utmost fondness and like if he looked away from her, even for a second his heart would burst.

And she looked back at him with a look of adoration, and hope. Hope that everything would be okay.

He kissed her then, and she kissed him back while a smile pulled at her lips. The flash from Rebekah’s camera broke through her closed eyes, and they broke away and smiled at each other then back to his siblings.

And for a make shift reception, they went to Hayley’s favorite diner where she ordered pancakes and he ordered bacon and eggs and Klaus bribed a waitress to play Pale Blue Eyes and they danced in the middle of the diner at two in the afternoon. And later that night they went home.

And later. they faced each other lying on the bed, Klaus gripped her face with one hand, his other laying on her hip, and Hayley didn’t have to chant in her head anymore, trying to convince herself with her mantra because she knew,

He loved her.

Hayley hummed the ending of Pale Blue Eyes and firmly wiped away a tear that had fell from her eye. She longed for the days when she knew without a doubt that he loved her. When they would laugh about movies and go out until three in the morning, taking shots and throwing caution to the wind.

She missed when they were young and in love. She just missed when it was simple.

Her cigarette was down to the filter now, indicting it was time for her to leave her sanctuary and go back to her real life down in the kitchen.

Hayley moved her foot from the windowsill to the lid of the toilet. She pushed up the lid, and tossed the cigarette butt inside. She walked to the sink and washed her hands thoroughly a few times to get the smell of smoke off them. She slipped out of her bra as to not to get it wet, then went back to the bathtub and stuck her head under the stream of water from the showerhead. She held her head there for a few moments to make it believable that she had just taken a shower then turned off the tap. Hayley squeezed the excess water from her hair, then finally put on her t-shirt and sweats.

She took one last look at herself. Her hair was soaked and slicked back, the mascara she had applied earlier this morning had run down her face due to the factors of the rain, her tears and the shower water. She tugged at the hem of her shirt and wiped away the streak of black from her face with her knuckle, before turning around, unlocking the door and walking downstairs.

Chapter Text

His daughter babbled while they walked up the concrete driveway to their home. Her small hand clutching three of his fingers and swinging his arm like a pendulum. Once they walked through the door, she stripped her small backpack to the floor and ran to her playroom that resided down the hall. Klaus sighed and picked up the green bag from his daughter had discarded and put it on a hook by the door and his keys in a ceramic bowl that was crudely painted by her just a year before.

Klaus went his way into the kitchen to get himself a glass of bourbon; and after the day he had just had he deserved one. His dreams of being an artist in a stylish loft in New York City had shriveled and died years ago. Once Hayley had had their child, he was plunged into the harsh reality of real adulthood. Working a nine to five job in a small office under his father’s reign instead of being out all night with liquor on his tongue and a smile on his face. A semi-successful artist’s salary was not enough to support a child on, he knew that. But he also knew that he wanted to be the kind of father his father never was. He wanted to be present, loving, and a constant figure in his child’s life so they would never have to wonder if they were loved.

“You don’t have to do this…” Klaus heard Hayley murmur from behind him.

“I don’t have to do anything, love.” He sighed.

“This is something I must do.”

“You shouldn’t have to give up your dream or ask anything from that prick! We’ll make this work!” Hayley said, throwing her hands up in anger behind him.

Klaus turned around to see his pregnant wife, a burning anger in her eyes and a disgruntled look on her face. Her hair was wild, and the t-shirt she adorned barley covered her growing stomach, a small sliver of pale skin peeking out from the bottom. He knew that she hated this idea almost as much as he did. Neither wanted him to run back to his father with his tail between his legs after he had repeatedly rejected his offers for a job.

“I take this job, we can provide a life… a life for her.” Klaus spoke about their daughter with such passion, he already wanted everything to be given to this baby.

He knew Hayley was contemplating dropping out of school to make ends meet, even though she was so close to her degree she could taste it. He needed to put her and their daughter first, because God knows he had put himself first more times than he could count.

Klaus walked toward her, smoothing her hair down with his palms, then resting them on her neck so she would look at him. As if she could tear herself away from his eyes. He gave her his signature crooked smile, the one he knew never failed to make her swoon. Though he knew even better that she knew him like the back of her own hand, and this flimsy excuse for a reassuring smile was not fooling her. So Klaus leaned forward and gave her a chaste kiss to her forehead, then exited their room before she could fight with him to stay.

He still remembered the sinking feeling as he sat in his father’s office while he was mocked and ridiculed left, right and center. Klaus remembered feeling like a child again as Mikael towered over him, spitting insults at him before finally granting him a job. He remembered how he hollowly walked to his car in a desolate parking garage. He remembered driving home, parking his car and walking to his and Hayley’s old small apartment, stripping his clothes as he laid down beside her already sleeping form. He remembered a small part of him that began to resent her for being the reason he had to bow to his father. He knew that it wasn’t her fault, but he couldn’t help but blame her all these years, the idea of a better life festering and growing inside him since the second he started working for his father’s company.

Grabbing the bourbon out of the cabinet and a glass that resided next to it, he poured himself a generous portion. He took a long pull from the glass before replacing the amount he had just ingested back into the glass. Setting the bottle back in the cabinet, and rested his lower back against the counter. Taking another sip, his eyes caught a picture on the opposite to him. Klaus walked to the picture, and picked it up, running his thumb over the frame’s glass. Forever still in time, was a smiling Hayley and himself in wedding attire. Rebekah had taken it while on the phone with his brother Kol, who hadn’t been able to make it to the wedding because he and his girlfriend, Davina, had been vacationing in Istanbul. Rebekah had him on speaker on her cell phone as he, Rebekah, and Elijah joked and laughed with Klaus and his new bride, making a complete scene and utter fools of themselves in the small diner. Rebekah had somehow captured the moment perfectly.

Klaus pined for the days. When everything was full of potential, all their hopes and dreams still hung out over the horizon. He missed when he and Hayley smiled and when they couldn’t wait until they could see the other again. They never had been overly affectionate with the other. They had been taught to keep their emotions locked up all their lives, so sharing how they felt was always hard for the two. They were all about soft, effortless touches; they were always touching each other in some way, even if it wasn’t noticeable. They were always engaged in heated glances and playful banter. Even when they were in the middle of a venomous fight, it was clear to anyone around that they loved each other.

But now, Klaus suspected that if anyone watched in on them they would only see two people who were shells of their old selves drifting around. Klaus couldn’t remember the last time they touched, kissed, made love, or even had a conversation that was more than a few words in the mornings and in the evenings. He knew this was no way to live. Even after having to watch his mother and father’s fucked up marriage, he knew that this definitely wasn’t one.

He hated this.

He hated this feeling like he didn’t know her anymore. She had always been a mystery to him, but never like this. Hayley Marshall was a stranger to Klaus now.

Heading to his bedroom to change out of his work attire, he saw a small sticky note on the closed door.

Call Rebekah,

-H

Klaus rolled his eyes and snatched the note from the door and crumpled it in his fist.  She drove him crazy, and not in the way she used to.

After changing, he walked to his side of the bed and laid down. He starred at the ceiling for a long moment before sighing and dialing Rebekah’s number.

“Hello, hello?” His sister cheerful voice came through the receiver of his phone.

“Hello, dear sister. I have been ordered by a small yellow paper to call you.” Klaus let out with a heavy breath.

“Yes, I spoke briefly to Hayley last night, I’m surprised she didn’t just tell you what I wanted yesterday.”

“Well, it must have just slipped her tired mind.” Klaus gripped the bridge of his nose with his pointer finger and his thumb.

“I just… Nik are you alright?” Rebekah’s voice sounded worried.

“Yes, why wouldn’t I be? I have a wonderful daughter and-“ Klaus paused trying to finish his sentence but he couldn’t.

“And?”

“That’s it I suppose.”

“You suppose? You have a beautiful wife and a roof over your head, a very nice one at that.” Rebekah said.

“Ah, yes. My lovely wife who hasn’t spoken to me in weeks. Oh, how thankful I am for her…” Klaus shook his head.

“I talk to her frequently and she hasn’t once mentioned such a thing.”

“Well you know our Hayley, never wants to open up to anyone. Not even the people who love her.”

“You aren’t innocent either, Niklaus. You could have come to me…” Rebekah spoke sadly.

“You know me, Rebekah. Never wanting to open up to anyone, even the people who care about me.”

“Nik, what the hell is going on between you two?”

“What’s there to say? We are two ghosts in this marriage, only conversing when it is about Hope. Any other topic to arise is left to notes around the house and short voicemails. We don’t speak, touch, or even fight,” Klaus let out a dark chuckle, “Imagine that? Klaus Mikaelson and Hayley Marshall not fighting… must be the end of the world.”

“Nik… I’m… I’m sorry. I had no idea.”

“I know… I know.” Klaus said after a long silence.

“What I wanted to speak to you about is that I miss my niece. I wanted to get together this weekend to see her. But on behalf of this new information, I will be taking her to mine tonight. Her and I can have a good old fashion sleepover while the two of you work out your differences.”

“Rebekah, no-“ She cut him off.

“No to you, Nik! I will be by at eight o’clock sharp to pick up Hope. So make sure she has some pajama’s and her favorite bunny packed.” Rebekah spoke with conviction.

“You don’t have to do this. Her and I can work this out on our own. I don’t need you taking care of this… me.” He replied to his sister after a long pause.

“Don’t be a martyr, it isn’t becoming.” Klaus laughed at this.

“And Nik?”

“Yes?”

“I’ll never stop taking care of you.”

“Really?” Hope said with a large smile.

“Yes, and she will be here after dinner.” Klaus said.

“I can’t wait to tell Mom when she gets home!” Hope jumped up.

“Actually, this needs to be a secret between you, me and Aunt Rebekah.”

“Why?” Her little face fell.

“Because this is as much of a surprise for Mom as it is for you. So gather some things so you are ready when Auntie Rebekah comes.”

Hope frantically smiled and started to grab things and put them into a little bag. Klaus felt a small tug at his lips as he exited the room and walked backed to the kitchen. He ran a shaky hand through his hair before glancing towards the clock.

7:05 PM.

Hayley would be home soon.

Klaus pulled out a few pots and pans from around the kitchen to make them a simple dinner for the night. Spaghetti with homemade marinara sauce. A dish that he knew Hope loved and something Hayley would tolerate.

Gathering ingredients from the fridge and pantry he began chopping oregano and boiling some water.

“Daddy!?” Hope’s shrill voice tore this the house.

“Have you seen my bunny!?”

Klaus chuckled under his breath, setting his chopping to the side to grab her favorite stuffed bunny off the living room coach where he had just seen it when he passed to go up the stairs earlier.

“Here you go, darling.” Klaus said to his daughter, a smile on his face.

“Thank you.” She said taking the stuffed animal from his hands, and giving him a wide smile before turning around to place her bunny in the small bag she intended on taking to Rebekah’s.

The once white bunny was now dingy with age and it’s fur matted and short after repeated runs through the washing machine. Klaus was surprised that the thing had held up this long, Hope took it everywhere.

Klaus picked up the stuffed bunny from the passenger seat of his car. Hayley had been home with a month-old Hope all day by herself. It was the first week without the hired help and Rebekah at her beck and call since the baby was born. Klaus had had to go back to work only a few days after his daughter was born, Mikael taking the time he was gone out of his pay and telling him they were simply his unpaid sick days instead of paternity leave. Every night when Klaus returned home this week Hayley would put on a brave face and tell him she was alright. But Klaus could tell in her sleep deprived state, home alone in their big house, life was getting to her. He wished he could do anything to help, but all of his tries ended in a crying baby or an even more agitated Hayley, so he had stopped trying to interfere.

Walking up the concrete of the drive and into the house he walked on lightly, incase either of his girls were sleeping. He removed his loafers, and tiptoed up the stairs to his and Hayley’s bedroom and peeked inside. Appearing in the middle of their large bed was his wife and their tiny daughter. Hayley was on her side, intently staring at the little baby that was fast asleep next to her. When Klaus nudged the door open, Hayley’s head shot up to look at him. She pressed her index finger to her lips while he slowly walked towards them.

“After a day of screaming and crying and throwing up all over everything… she is finally asleep.” Hayley said in a loud whisper.

“Funny, I spent my day dealing with Mikael doing the same thing.” Klaus threw her a crooked smile which she returned, slowly and carefully moving off the bed to go to where he stood.

“Nice to know that with our lives being turned upside down, Mikael being a complete dick is still a constant.”

“I don’t think any of us will see the day when he’s not.”

Hayley gave him a soft smile.

Klaus could tell she looked defeated. Her hair flat against her head, a two-day old t-shirt wrapped around her body and her eyes were dead and hollow.

“When do you go back to school?” He asked, rubbing his hand up and down her arm.

“I don’t know… soon. I think…” She lied.

Klaus knew that she was already far too behind in all her class to pass any of them at this point. Any time he offered to pay for a tutor for her or to ask her to call the school and explain she would throw a fit. Even after all this time she hated being taken care of or pitied. He knew she worried that people would cut her a break knowing she just had a child and she didn’t want that. She always wanted to earn everything, she never wanted anything handed to her.

“Well, even with all the expelled bodily fluids and constant screaming, I hope she didn’t give you too much trouble.” Klaus said, changing the subject.

“She was okay. She’s just being a month-old baby. Month-old babies are hard. She’ll get better, I know it.” Hayley turned around and smiled at their child who, thankfully, was still fast asleep.

Klaus raised his eyebrow at this stamen when she turned back to face him.

“I just know she will be the perfect little girl. But even if she isn’t… I will love her. I will love her with everything I have for the rest of my life.” Hayley didn’t look him in the eyes when she said this.

Her voice shook with tears and he didn’t know if it was because she hadn’t slept in twenty hours or if it was because she was thinking about her own miserable loveless childhood. Klaus guessed it was a little of both.

“She will never go a day on this Earth without knowing we love her. We will not become the parents who long broke and battered the children they bought into this world.” Klaus reassured her, placing a gentle hand on the side of her neck.

Hayley sniffed and ran the back of her hand under her nose, “I know.”

“What’s that?” She asked when she finally looked up from her feet and gestured to the small toy under his arm.

“Oh, just something that was left on my desk today with a card wishing me congratulations on my new role in fatherhood.” Klaus spoke, taking the animal from under his arm, as he and Hayley inspected it.

Hayley took the stuffed bunny from his hand and walked to the bed and softly placed it next to Hope.

“Look, it’s bigger than her.” Hayley spoke peacefully with a smile.

Klaus went to where his wife stood and they both looked down at their daughter who was still so small a toy was larger than her. Klaus looked at her adoringly, then gave the same expression to the woman he now had his arms wrapped around.

“I love her… and you.” Klaus whispered into Hayley’s hair as she relaxed into his embrace.

Hayley chuckled, turning in his arms so they were face to face. She reached up and encircled her arms around his neck.

“Me too.” She gave him a cheeky smile, and Klaus rolled him eyes.

They both smiled at each other for a long moment before he leaned down and pressed a kiss to her lips.

They had so many memories like this. Small and loving moment where they were such a good pair. This was the reason he no longer fought the idea of talking to Hayley about their distance. When he had first realized things had been tough was when he stopped fighting her. He’d come home to a stack of unpaid bills and a fuming and stressed Hayley waving them in his face. It was a conversation they had had a million times, always ending in a vicious retort from one of them that would go way too far. At the time though, Klaus couldn’t even entertain the idea. He could practically feel the fight beginning but before it could, he just placed his hand up, signaling for Hayley to cease, then walked to their room, locked the door and went to sleep. After fighting with Mikael and clients all day, the last thing he wanted as to fight in his home with someone he supposedly loved.

When she was in college and he was just an artist, fighting was a corner stone of their relationship. They were both very strong opinionated people who hated to hear the word no. Klaus was manipulative and selfish and Hayley had a sharp tongue and an unshakable will. If they were anyone else, they would have broken up after the second date. On paper, they were both far too similar to make a working relationship. Their pasts held an uncanny symmetry that when they spoke about their childhoods, it sometimes sounded like the same story. Hayley had channeled her anger and resentment to her past into an education, to prove everyone wrong who had only known her as the bad-mannered party girl she was in her youth. Klaus had turned to the arts, never wanting the formal education that his parents had lobbied for his entire life. Once he was old enough, he moved to New Orleans to escape his family and to be in a place of art and culture. Hayley had ended up there by pure chance, and fate caused them to cross paths.

Klaus sat at the rowdy bar, a bourbon is his hand and his eyes glued to the television that was by the liquor on the wall.

“Can you at least not look like are going to tear someone’s head off? You’re going to scare them off.” Stefan said to him, yelling over all the other mixed voices around them.

“This is my face, mate. If she’s going to spend the night with me, she’s going to have to get used to it.” Klaus rolled his eyes.

Stefan, a man he had met in the city about a year ago had become a drinking buddy and occasional confidant, had asked him a favor for the night. He had been trying to woo some girl, and to do so tonight Klaus would be stuck with a friend of hers while Stefan and his girl undoubtedly would ditch the two even though he had promised earlier in the night not too.

“Come on, man. Just be… not you.” Stefan joked, slapped Klaus on the back.

“I will try to be tolerable for your sake, mate.”

“Thank you, I owe you one.” Stefan said, before his eyes left Klaus’ direction and too the door.

“Caroline!”  Stefan yelled, waving his arm around to get her attention.

Klaus sighed and shot back the rest of his bourbon, and then signaled the bartender for another.

“Hey, you!” A blonde woman gushed to Stefan who Klaus assumed was Caroline.

“Hope you found the place alright.” Stefan said, giving her a kiss on the cheek.

“Yeah we did, I don’t think I would have found this hellhole without Hayley’s help,” Caroline scowled at her dirty and crowded surroundings, “I guess she’s been here before.”

“Where is she?” Stefan asked looking around.

“Uhhh,” Caroline looked around behind her and through the thick crowd for her friend, “There!”

Caroline pointed to a brown-haired woman who made her way to Caroline, her glass of whiskey perched in the air so not to spill it in the close quarters.

“Oh, Caroline, this is Klaus.” Stefan introduced, their attention turning to Klaus who still sat on the bar stool.

“Pleasure.” Klaus said tightly, earning him a death glare from Stefan.

“Well it is. It’s always nice to meet Stefan’s friends.” Caroline said sweetly.

Her cheery optimism did not bode well for Klaus, assuming cheery optimists usually hung out together and he didn’t know if he could be civil to a ray of sunshine all night.

“Hayley!” Caroline said when the brunette girl finally arrived with her whiskey in hand.

“Hayley, this is Stefan and this, this is Klaus!” Caroline smiled, and gestured to Klaus who was eyeing the girl who he had just been introduced too.

She was breath taking. Absolutely exquisite. She stood only a few inches shorter than him, with her perfect locks cascading around her face and down her back. Her features were striking, and her eyes piercing. Klaus could barely tear himself away from drinking her in to fall back into his stand-offish composure.

“Hey, man.” She said to Klaus sipping her drink.

“Well, I’m going to go catch up with Stefan, but we will be back soon!” Caroline said, already ushering her and Stefan away into the sea of people so neither Hayley nor Klaus could protest.

Hayley sighed, and pushed aside a man who was standing in the way of the bar stool next to where Klaus was.

“I’d apologize for her pawning me off on you, but your boy seemed all too happy to do the same thing, so…” She shrugged, taking another sip from her glass.

“Yes, Stefan was all too keen to go back on his word to stay here all night for a woman.” Klaus said to me.

“Yeah, she didn’t promise me anything but buying my drinks all night.” She said before pouring the rest of the liquor in her throat and ordering another.  

“Some friend she is.”

“We aren’t friends.” Hayley scowled.

“Oh?” Klaus quirked an eyebrow at her.

“We have had a few class together and become acquaintances, I guess. She asked me this favor because all of her other friends are already in relationships.”

“So this is a date, is it love?” Klaus smirked at her.

Hayley’s face slightly blushed, and scoffed.

“Absolutely not. I’m just here for the free drinks.”

“Sure thing, love.” Klaus nodded and smiled.

“Don’t think that’s going to work.” Hayley said, leaning a bit closer to him.

“What’s not going to work?”

“The whole British accent, rugged man thing. I’m not falling for it.”

“I didn’t know I had a ‘whole thing.’ But it’s nice to know you will not be falling for it.” Klaus closed the gap between them so their faces were quite close.

Hayley’s eyes flashed from his face to his lips, and bite her own. Klaus did the same. He removed himself from her intoxicating presence and went back to his drink. He had a feeling tonight would have a different outcome than the miserable one who had anticipated.

He swore that night she had wiggled her way into his heart and set up shop forever. That’s how he knew that this was worth fighting for. Their love was wild, crazy, and even vicious at times. It was something he would never be able to find in any other couple or replicate with anyone else.

It was just them.

Hayley and Klaus.

Klaus and Hayley.

Even in the shameful remains of their relationship where they now were, he knew without a doubt that she was the one for him.

But thinking about her now, and remembering these memories hurt. Even though he knew he loved her, and he loved their family, he sometimes wished it would all go away. He dreamt of a life full of meaningless sex, bad decisions, and paint soaked canvas’. After a life alone as a cast off, it was still hard for him to accept love, or anything good into his life. Sometime while he slept he had this urge to get into his car and just drive away until his car ran out of gas. But he knew the guilt would eat him alive if he did, even more than the guilt he felt just fantasying about this.

He knew he made a promise to Hayley to stand by her side, always, but it was just getting hard. The fight to keep his marriage together was a constant struggle, and he felt like both of them had tapped out at this point.

“Daddy? Can I watch you cook?” A small voice came from beside him.

He glanced down to see Hope looking up with him with her huge innocent eyes. Klaus quickly wiped the somber look off his face and smiled at her.

“Of course, darling. Come here, I’ll show you what I’m making.”

She stuck both of her hands into the air, a sign for him to pick her up. So he did, placed her on his hip, explaining everything he was making to her. He slipped from his sad, contemplative state, into the role of dutiful father so that his little girl wouldn’t have to see her own father break.

Chapter Text

Once Hayley returned from the bathroom, she came into the kitchen where Hope and Klaus had already sat down to dinner. She walked to Hope, kissed the crown of her head before going to the stove and dishing herself up some spaghetti. She poured herself pouring a glass of wine before walking to sit next to her daughter at the table. She stabbed the noodles with her fork, and ate silently.

“How was your day, Mom?” Hope asked.

“It was alright, lots of paperwork, but you know… fine. Thank you for asking, baby. How was yours?” Hayley smiled at her daughter.

“Well…” Hope said, taking a deep breath in before rambling on about her day excitedly.

Hayley and Klaus listened intently, nodding and replying when necessary. They both knew using her as a buffer between them wasn’t fair to her or themselves, but they couldn’t help it. It seemed all they had in common anymore was their undying love for their daughter, so they channeled their old love for each other into her to keep from remembering what they used to be. But as of late, it was hard for them to forget their old life. The old fights, old and broken promises, and loneliness seemed to be at too much and it seemed that the tipping point was coming.   

There was a loud knock at the door that interrupted Hope’s story. Hayley glanced to Klaus, confused, then to their daughter, who’s face had just lit up like the sun.

“Who’s here?” Hayley asked, and their daughter scrambled from her seat and too the door.

Before Hayley could stop her, Hope had pulled open the door to reveal Rebekah standing on their doorstep.

“Auntie Bex!” Hope screamed happily, throwing her little arms around Rebekah’s legs.

“Hello, darling! Haven’t you grown since the last time I saw you.” Rebekah chimed happily to the little girl. 

“Rebekah, I thought we talked about you coming to see us this weekend for dinner?” Hayley asked when she reached the doorway.

“Yes, but I talked to Nik this afternoon and we decided it would be nice for me to take Hope tonight for a sleepover.” Rebekah said, changing her enthusiastic smile she gave Hope, to a soft one for Hayley.

She hated feeling like her and Nik were ambushing Hayley with this. She felt even worse because she knew the second she and Hope walked out the door, Hayley and Klaus’ night would be full of miserable conversation, awkward silences, and tears. As horrible as it sounded, Rebekah hoped that that’s how the night would go, she knew it would be good for the two to finally fight and work things out.

“I thought it’s be nice for Hope to spend some nice one on one time with her Aunt, tonight. It is a Friday so we don’t have to worry about getting her to school tomorrow.” Klaus said.

He stood behind her, close enough for Hayley to feel the heat of his body. She couldn’t tell if it was relaxing or agonizing.

Hope ran to her room to gather her things, leaving the three adults alone.

“What brought this on? Is everything okay?” Hayley asked Rebekah.

“Can’t I want to spend some quality time with my only niece?” She returned. 

“Yes, but-“ Rebekah cut her off.

“No, buts! We will see you tomorrow.” Rebekah said at the sight of Hope running out of her room, overnight bag in hand.

“Ready?” Rebekah looked down at Hope, who eagerly nodded.

“Well, give your mother and father a hug and we’ll be on our way.”

Hope set her bag to the floor, and reached for Hayley. Hayley scooped her into her arms and hugged her tight. She had spent a total of three nights away from Hope since she was born, and she hated the thought of her baby not sleeping under the same roof as her. Even though she knew Rebekah would die to protect her daughter, she still worried. After a few good squeezes and kiss to the cheek, Hayley passed Hope to Klaus who took her into his arms.

Hayley wrapped her arms around herself as she watched Klaus set their daughter to the ground and walk to stand next to Rebekah who now held Hope’s small bag.

“I’ll call you in the morning.” Rebekah said, placing a gently hand on Hayley’s shoulder.

She then took Hope’s small hand into her own and walked them to her car with Hope telling Hayley and Klaus ‘I love yous’ as they went, which they returned.

The pair watched with baited breath, knowing that once the door closed it would seal their fate. They would be really alone for the first time in five years. The sound of the door closing, made Hayley’s heart jump and her stomach lurch. Klaus’ palms began to sweat as he scrambled to find words to speak to her.

“I’ll do the dishes,” Hayley spoke quietly, “I had a long day. After that I’ll probably just head to bed.”

Hayley tried to deflect any conversation that could arise with this statement. If it was any other day but tonight it would have worked. But even she knew that they had reached their point of no return and they couldn’t avoid anything anymore.

“The dishes can wait.” Klaus spoke up.

He was terrified about how this conversation would go, and it took a lot to terrify the great Klaus Mikaelson. He was also the one be scary, he only became scared when he met her.

“But it’d rather get them done now, I don’t like when the sit in the sink overnight.”

“Hayley, stop.” Klaus said while she walked to the kitchen.

Hayley felt a bout of panic roll through her. She wanted to avoid the inevitable as long as she could.

“What? I’m just tired. I’d rather just finish them now.”

“Hayley how was your day?” Klaus blurted out.

“What?” Hayley turned around.

“How was your bloody day?”

“I told you at the table, it was fine.” She shrugged.

“No, it wasn’t. You used to honestly tell me. You used to actually tell how your fucking days were, even if I never asked.” Klaus said as the tension built between them.

 “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” Hayley placed her arms across her chest.

“Don’t act stupid Hayley, it isn’t becoming.” Klaus knew exactly what it was doing.

He was going to poke and prod at her until she broke.

“It was shitty? Is that what you want to hear? I hate my fucking dead-end job with a burning passion! Is that better?” She rolled her eyes at him.

“It’s a start! How’s life, love? How are you doing?” Klaus took a step forward as he spoke in a patronizing tone.

“The hell are you doing?” Hayley asked, taking a step back.

“Tell me, are you happy, sad, miserable?” Klaus asked.

“I’m fine.”

“You’re not! Neither am I, Hayley so tell me the fucking truth. How. Are. You?” Klaus yelled at her in the close quarters of their stances.

“I’m horrible! Utterly awful! Does that make you feel better? Are we good now? Can I fucking go?”

Hayley yelled at her, gaining her confidence back and advanced towards him.

Klaus chuckled darkly as he watched Hayley’s eyes turn black.

“What are you trying to do here, Klaus?”

“I’m trying to get you to speak! To say anything! God, Hayley, you know just as well as I do that we aren’t good! We are not happy we are not… anything.” Klaus slammed his fist against the granite of the counter top.

A weaker woman would have shuttered at the vibration, but Hayley stood tall.

“You’re right, I’m miserable.  I’m at a job all day where I am ignored and rejected at all day and I come home to more of the same! The only conversation that I have that’s enjoyable in a day is the brief time I get to talk to my daughter at dinner before she goes to sleep because my fucking job always keeps me so late!” Hayley pointed her index finger accusingly at Klaus’ chest.

“I hate my life. I hate this life.”

“Finally. The queen leaves her thorn and admits she like the rest of us with a miserable life with a miserable job.” Klaus rolled his eyes.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” She recrossed her arms.

“It means that I’ve been working for Mikael for five years and been miserable since then. It’s about time you understand how I’ve felt.”

“Are you kidding me? You are so petty and childish that you have to see someone else go through pain to feel better about yourself?” Hayley spoke through her teeth. She knew if she raised her voice any higher things would get to volatile.

“It doesn’t make me feel better, but at least you know.”

“Shut up, Klaus. Just shut up! Because it doesn’t make me feel better to know that you are in pain, or that for more than half of our relationship hating and resenting me!”

“Well I’m not you, Hayley. I am a selfish, abhorrent bastard who likes when other people are worse off than him.” Klaus smiled maliciously.

“Trust me, I know, I married you.” Hayley snapped back at him.

And for some reason, unknown to both, that comment caused them to silence. They had thrown toxic jabs and wicked remarks at each other, but this is what made the two fall silent. They both just stood with clenched fists in their big kitchen, in the large suburban home, both feeling the weight of their wedding rings now more than ever.

Hayley was the first to let her arms so slack and let out a sigh.

“What happened to us?” Her small voice broke through the room.

“I don’t know. Somewhere along the way we just…” Klaus trailed off, unable to finish.

“Yeah, I know.” Hayley ran a hand through her damp hair.

“We don’t even fight anymore. Hayley Marshall and Klaus Mikaelson not fighting… that’s a true mystery if I’ve ever heard one.” She laughed macabrely.

“I said the same thing to Rebekah earlier…” Klaus said sadly.

Hayley looked up at him when he said this. Somehow after everything, they still thought the same.

“I don’t want to be like this. Just drifting past each other in the night with a series of uncomfortable glances, secrets, and sticky notes.” Hayley said, tugging at the hem of her shirt.

“I don’t either. I don’t want to raise Hope with us at odds.” Klaus sighed. “She deserves better. She deserves what we didn’t have.”

“I know, and I will give her everything. Everything and more.” Hayley reassured him.

A long silence came over them again before Klaus broke it this time.

“But we need to figure out if we want to give Hope everything we can together or…” Again he couldn’t finish his sentence.

But this time it was on behalf of Hayley’s stunned look. She wore a look of utter shock and hurt.

Hayley, even in her darkest fantasy’s, had never once entertained the idea of divorcing Klaus. Even when he drove her to insanity and made her feel like pulling her hair out, she never once thought about it. Now that she mulled about it, it was odd she never had. I mean a woman in an unhappy marriage first thought is most likely divorce, but never Hayley. She always just wallowed in silence and lived hollowly. She couldn’t picture her life without him, but if he wanted out, she would give it to him. She wasn’t the type of girl to beg for someone to love her, not even when that person was Klaus Mikaelson.

“Well what do you want?” Hayley tried her hardest to keep her voice from breaking.

Klaus opened his mouth, then closed it. He had at times thought about leaving, starting a new life, with a strange woman and enough bourbon to numb the thought of his old life. Though, somehow through all of that, Hayley and his marriage was never dissolved. Klaus always wanted her, no matter what alternate timeline he imagined. He loved her.

“I want this. You and I.” Klaus said to her finally.

“Me too.” She nodded rapidly.

“So, we work on this. We don’t run.” Hayley said, looking up into Klaus’ eyes.

“It’s not like us to run. No matter how much we would want to. You and I always fight when we are backed into a corner.”

“What do we do? I don’t even know where to begin to repair us.” Hayley said somberly.

“We try harder to reconnect. We talk, we laugh, we fight, we do things without Hope every now and again or let her stay with Rebekah so we can be a normal couple again.” Klaus suggested.

“We were never that normal to begin with…” Hayley said walking to the table to sit, Klaus following close behind.

“Well, back to our own brand of normal.” Klaus spoke.

When they reached the table, Hayley placed her head and her hands and mumbled to herself.

“What?” Klaus asked, unable to hear her muffled words.

“It’s never going to be the same. We will never be the same.” Hayley’s head didn’t leave her hands.

“I’m aware,” Klaus nodded.

“I think we fell so far because we never really prepared ourselves for the change our relationship would take after you gave birth.”

“Yeah. I guess it’s not our fault… we never had any healthy role models to show us how to act in a marriage or a family dynamic.” Hayley raised her head and shrugged.

“We were just two kids. We had Hope at twenty-four and twenty-five. Now we’re almost thirty… fuck we’re almost thirty.” Hayley shook her head and chuckled.

“I know. We are officially elderly people.” Klaus chuckled back.

“Old people who lost their youth, but gained a wonderful little girl…” Hayley trailed off.

“As much as I long for what we were, I don’t regret anything. At least not with our little family.” Klaus said, reaching across to take his wife’s hand.

Hayley had forgotten how good his touch felt.

“I regret so many things in my horrible, pathetic life. But marrying you, and having Hope isn’t one.”

And he meant it.

Hayley had tears brimming her eyes.

“Sometimes I think about where we would be if we hadn’t had her, or if I would have gotten the abortion like we planned. I don’t know where we would have ended up. Sometimes I like to think about where we would be. You, a famous painter, me… who even knows…” Her eyes drifted to the window.

“Do you think we would still be together, if we hadn’t had her?” She said, speaking a burning question she had thought about a million times.

“I do.”

Hayley averted her attention to Klaus.

“I don’t know if you have ever met yourself, Hayley Marshall. But you have a way about you… you take ahold of people and never let go.”

Hayley now had tears flowing freely from her eyes. This was the most candid Klaus had ever been about his feelings for her since their wedding. It made her heart clench, and curse herself for not having this conversation years ago.

“You have me too y’know. You always did. Even when I pretending to detest you that night with Stefan and Caroline.” She laughed and wiped away some stray tears from her cheeks.

“Oh I know. I am a very charming lad.” Klaus winked at her.

“You wish.” Hayley said, a small smile gracing her lips.

Klaus chuckled under his breath, and squeezed his hand around her quivering ones.

At his gesture, Hayley looked into his eyes, this silence glance spoke a thousand words.

They were together in this, always. They were partners.

They were under each other’s skin, at this point it would be impossible to decipher were one of them ended and the other began. They lived in a comfortable understanding that even after the struggle and hardships that time sets on them, they are still inseparable after all this time.

Hayley leaned forward and set her forehead on Klaus’ shoulder, borrowing her nose into his chest, inhaling his scent. Klaus placed one hand firmly on the back of her neck and the other on the small of her back, holding her as close as he could with the kitchen table would allow. Tears welled again in Hayley’s eyes, threatening to spill down her cheeks. She never knew that this distance between her and her husband had been holding her down so much until now. She felt like she could finally breath again. She had been drowning and now she was finally afloat.

Klaus gently kissed the crown of her head and rested his chin on top on her head. They were shattered, broken and maimed beyond repair. But somehow Hayley and Klaus’ jagged edges fit perfectly together.

Klaus laid with his back pressed against the headboard of his bed as he watched Hayley scurry around the room gathering her discarded clothing. His eyes followed her around. He couldn’t help but note how she seemed so right in his room, like she belonged there.

The moonlight played on the pale skin of her back as she bent over, and Klaus let his eyes wander up the notches of her spine her tongue had just graced.

They had been in this constant dance since the night Stefan and Caroline had introduced them. One would call the other in a drunken haze asking for a good time for the night. They would meet and share a night of pure, unadulterated ecstasy. Then they would part like they never met.

It was the new normal for the two.

But in Klaus’ case, as well as Hayley’s unbeknownst to him, they craved more. He desired her form wrapped in his sheets, and her needed the sound of his voice in her head. This casual sex that they had been in for months somehow wasn’t enough anymore.

But their similarity was both a blessing and a curse, and they were both far too proud to admit they needed anyone but themselves.

“So, uh, I’ll call you later… I guess.” Hayley said slipping on underwear.

“Well, next time your lonely I will be more than happy to help out, love.” Klaus smirked as his eyes traced the curve of her body.

She refused to admit it to herself, and pushed the feeling far back in her mind, but she silently wished he would ask her stay.

Klaus leaned over to his bed side table, and picked up the small green ash tray and pack of cigarettes that sat on top of it. He placed one cigarette between his lips and lit the end, blowing out a cloud of grey smoke.

Hayley clasped her bra and walked back to where Klaus lay to pick the cigarette out from between his lips and took a drag.

“Ya doing anything this week? I might get bored after school on Thursday if you aren’t busy?” Hayley smirked down at him.

“Are you scheduling one of our rendezvous? Isn’t that against the rules, love?” Klaus quipped, lighting a new cigarette, letting her keep his old one.

“Fuck you, never mind.” Hayley rolled her eyes, pushing herself up to continue redressing.

“You can stay if you want. Then, in the morning we can have an unscheduled spontaneous meeting?” Klaus quirked his eyebrow suggestively.

“Still kind of planned, which defeats the point of this, right?” Hayley said buttoning her jeans.

“Don’t make me say it, Hayley.” Klaus sighed, taking a drag.

“Say what?”

“Never mind, I’ll see you later.” Klaus stubbed his smoke, and placed his ash tray back on the nightstand.

“No, tell me!” Hayley demanded.

She walked back over to him and straddled his waist, inching her face closer to his.

“Tell me…” Hayley extended the words in a sing song voice with a smile on her face.

“Fuck off.”

“No! Tell me, come on!” Hayley smiled at the man below me.

“Stay.” His voice was barely above a whisper when he spoke.

Hayley stayed were she sat on his lap but straighten out to look at his face. He was looking at her with a vulnerable expression. This was the first time his composure wasn’t cocky, sarcastic or annoyed. She felt this look send a pang to her heart.

This look showed her he was just as deprived of human interaction as she was. They craved people though they never said. They wanted attention but never asked for it. But now here we was: asking. 

Silently, Hayley leaned over to the nightstand and put out her cigarette. She pushed herself down so she could comfortable place her head in the crook of his neck as she still laid on top of him.

Klaus wrapped both of his arms tightly around her, keeping her securely in place on his naked chest. He had never felt so connect to a person before. He had had friends and lovers before, but no one ever like her. She was changing him in a way he wasn’t sure he enjoyed just yet. But for tonight he decided to push his concerns aside and just hold her.

When she was settled comfortably above him he heard her mutter,

“Okay.”