It had all started with a sigh. Simple, really, in the grand scheme of things. Certainly simple compared to their usual situations. It had been late, or early, he forgot which side of midnight, but their insistence to wait in the abandoned woodland cabin they'd once found while they awaited Klaus' confirmation of safety had a calming stillness falling over them. Hayley would never have considered it before, but she had been very tempted to fall asleep. Usually her senses would have been on high alert, but with Elijah beside her and more than wide awake to keep an eye on things, she found herself giving in to her body's exhaustions. She wasn't sure how she'd ended up with her head on his shoulder but he can't have minded because he made no attempt to move her.
Elijah had remained stationary as she slept against him. He couldn't see her face from the current angle but he was watching her hands as they sat side by side against the wall on the rickety old cot. One arm was draped over her ever growing stomach, only two months now until the child was due, but her free hand was entwined with his own. What had started as a small, comforting gesture had become a united front for them both while they waited in the cabin. He didn't mind – how could he? – but they had been sharply removed from one another when his phone rang; Rebekah confirming that it was safe to return home.
Just before he'd answered Rebekah's call, he'd had a moment to appreciate what it felt like to have her face pressed against his neck with her breath hitting his collarbone and yes, she had moved into him for a brief moment before pulling away.
After they had returned home and all family members had retired to their own rooms, Elijah had opted to stay in the main living area in his favoured reading chair. He hadn't been able to stop thinking about that moment. Despite wanting to push it from his mind and remind himself of the reality that she was growing his brother's child in her own form, he found himself granting more attention to the memory of her closeness than the words of the book that lay in his lap. He couldn't get the feel of that tiny release of breath against his skin off his thoughts. Was this what he had been reduced to? The helplessness of human emotions fated to consume him one again? To seek such adoration in another that even the smallest action set his mind wandering.
He was still in his chair, a cold cup of tea at his side, book still opened on the same page when he heard the soft padding of feet on the staircase leading down into the room. He felt a small smile touch as his lips at the knowledge it was her; he'd paid attention to the changing rhythm of the steps as her stomach grew and her grace, despite her best efforts, deserted her. He didn't look up from the untouched pages. "You should be resting," he said softly.
"As if I didn't sleep enough already," she returned, but her voice was equally as soft.
"It's natural that you'll sleep more the further your pregnancy progresses," he recited from memory. "Your child is taking most of your energy."
"I get the feeling she'll be doing that even more when she's here," she responded, and he felt the subtle shift of the floorboards as she took a seat on the arm of his chair. "Are you going to do this all night?" she asked.
"Reading?" he queried.
"Brooding," she corrected.
He raised an eyebrow, closing his book. "Thinking," he corrected her, with a small smile as he raised his head and glanced at her at last. Settled on the edge of the chair, she looked radiant even in her exhaustion. A long cardigan settled over her pyjamas, and her hands both rested on the growing bump of her stomach.
"Something important?" she said quietly, as he drummed his fingertips on the spine of his book to occupy his hands.
"Very much so," he insisted, his eyes locked on hers. "But the small hours are not time for intense thoughts," he said, taking a breath as if to stand. "There's at least one more hour until sunrise, and you should certainly be sleeping through that."
"Anyone would think you're trying to get rid of me," she mused lightly.
"Far from it," he assured her with a smile. "But I keep my promises, as you know."
"I don't recall your promise involving beds," she said, her eyes all but dancing at the suggestive undertones.
He matched with a small smirk. "I promised to protect you both," he reminded her, though she didn't need an echo of that promise. "Think of it as protecting your daughter from her insomniac mother."
She batted his arm lightly, but she was smiling. He got to his feet and let his hand trace her forearm until it drew one of her hands away from her stomach. His plan to lure her back to resting, however, fell short when she gripped his hand with more force, letting it draw him back to her. "Elijah," she said quietly, her voice holding a knowing tone.
His smile held less conviction this time. "Let's not have the 'complicated' discussion again, Hayley. Not tonight."
"It doesn't have to be," she said, her voice soft.
"It will always be so," he reminded her. "For the simple reason that Klaus fathered the child inside you. He would not stand for any coercions involving the two of us and the sooner we forget that fact that sooner I place you both in great danger."
"Klaus wouldn't hurt me," Hayley stated simply.
"Klaus would separate us," he replied. "Either by a dagger in my heart or by other means, he would find a way to drive us apart."
"Elijah," she whispered again, her hand on his not relinquishing its grasp. "Thousands of years you've put your family first, your siblings before your own chance to be happy…let it be your turn for once."
The urge to touch her, more than her hand, was overwhelming. "Consideration of my own desires doesn't guarantee anything other than an exercise in imagination."
"And what do you desire?" she challenged him.
He stared at her for the longest time, torn between words and the overwhelming desire to kiss her. Neither option seemed appropriate. He couldn't risk putting his arms around her in case he never decided to let her go. He couldn't speak because he knew the words couldn't display what he felt with enough conviction. He hadn't planned on this; on falling for her. A werewolf carrying his brother's hybrid child. He thought it was a fleeting attraction for those large brown eyes that would fade in time, or that her undeniable connection to Klaus would get the better of him, but instead he had fallen hard for the strong woman that lay beneath those uncertain eyes.
"For you to get some sleep," he whispered instead, attempting to unlink their hands.
"Elijah," she said, getting to her feet and wrapping her arms around his neck.
It was a usual position for them, but one that was becoming increasingly hard to manage with her growing stomach between them. Her skin was warm against his own, and it was too much to resist leaning into her and seeking more of that unique touch. It was as calming and peaceful as reading a Bronte novel. He hadn't been wrong all those hours ago when he mused about her skin against his. Her cheek brushed against his before she lowered her forehead to his shoulder, and then he felt more of her, closer, and was she…? Yes, she was. Why would she do that? Hadn't she considered how distracting that had been to him? He suspected yes, but she was doing it anyway. Her face gently pressed into a place he had designated as exclusively hers, and her exhale dusted air against the part of his collarbone that his shirt exposed.
Before he had time to consider whether or not it was a good idea, of which he knew it certainly wasn't, his hands were already at her shoulders, trailing down slowly until they reached her elbows. He wrapped his hands around the tiny points and gave a sigh that fell into her hair, the chocolate curls muffling the sound enough to hide it from her. "Hayley," he whispered, not even certain himself what the rest of that sentence he was going to be before he was interrupted with a new sensation against his collarbone – her lips. It was a fleeting brush, but certainly not an accident.
He moved a hand away from her elbow to lift her chin away from his shoulder so that he could see her face. There were many words that needed to be spoken, but neither of their lips parted for words. He'd imagined his lips against his many times since that calm moment hours ago. They moved so slowly, faces brushing together so for a moment they simply shared the same air, and then their eyes flickered shut as lips finally brushed against each other's. Content sighs escaped them both, and he'd have stayed there all night, finally having her in his arms, her lips and hands against his owns, her breath filling him and knowing that she wanted this just as much. But if all their encounters and sacrifices were leading up to this moment in a twisted dance, then now wasn't the moment to remain still, it was time to move forward, if this was the only moment they had.
It was Hayley that moved first, bringing her hands to the back of his neck and entwining them in the strands of hair at the base of his skull. His own hands ventured up, running through the entire length of her curls; he left one of them entangled in the locks but the other returned to her cheek. He wanted to feel her hair and her skin, to remember what it was like at the exact moment he got what he wanted, but he was unable to focus on anything other than the feel of her lips.
The full intensity of the moment hit them and they parted for a moment to meet one another's eyes. The reciprocated look of "I want this" shimmered off their eyes, matching for the first time in something other than focus. With this, the usual sense of rigid control in Elijah snapped and he leaned in, claiming her lips fully with his own. It took a staggering few moments for her to react, moving into the kiss with as much enthusiasm. Her hands, already clasped around his neck, began to stroke the skin below his hair, which turned out to be a very sensitive area where his hairline faded. The sensation sent a shudder through Elijah's body as he deepened the kiss, parting his lips further and tracing the edge of hers with his tongue, begging for entrance. All other thoughts were set aside when she relented and knotted her tongue around his. Their mouths danced together with a burning passion, but then she let out a moan against him, so feminine, so passionate, so delightful, that he was driven forward to hear that sound again.
He pressed against her, crowding her against the back of the chair until all that was between them was the shape of her own body. He waited for his own sense of duty to interrupt him, remind him that he shouldn't be doing this, but it didn't happen. The kiss deepened even more, her breath growing ragged in her chest and yes, even a smile upon her lips. Eventually, however, the need to breathe was too great and they had to part. Their foreheads remained pressed together, his arms never releasing his hold on her.
"Hayley..."
"If you insist on me going to bed, I'm going to insist that you accompany me," she said, sounding rather breathless as she made her point.
To the surprise of them both, he nodded at her request and followed her up to her quarters. He'd tried not to react to the feel of her eyes sweeping over him as he undressed down to his underwear and undershirt, folding the rest of his suit over the chair at the dresser, but he did purposefully let his eyes linger on the curve of her shoulders as she dropped her cardigan at the end of the bed. When they fell into the bed, they lay on their sides facing one another, and when Elijah moved to place a pillow between them, it took her only a few moments for her to realise it was to make her more comfortable with the baby.
He moved a curl from her forehead and tucked it behind her ear. "In the morning we need to have a discussion," he realised aloud.
"In the afternoon," she corrected. "It's already morning."
He allowed himself a small smirk, settling his hand in the curve of her waist. "I thought you weren't tired?"
"I thought you had to protect someone from an insomniac mother?" she countered as her own hand dropped to rest on her stomach. "No sneaking out before I wake up," she warned as her eyes closed, letting the tiredness consume her.
"And risk angering a werewolf?" he humoured her, leaning in to touch his lips to hers once more. "Until tomorrow."