Disclaimer: The Originals, and all characters therein, do not and never will belong to me. Not even Klaus. More's the pity.

A/N: So I'm not really a big fan of Hayley (and I'm even less of a fan of the "romance" between Elijah and Hayley) and yet despite that there is this piece, told from her perspective. And it probably gives her more credit than she deserves but... it's what came out. And I think I'm more or less pleased with it.

Be warned - definite spoilers to 2x22 ahead.

Damaged Pieces

It's only after she's back in wolf form that Hayley allows herself to think again of Elijah; to dwell on those few precious moments with him before Jackson had come out of the woods.

Jackson. Hayley pads softly over to him, following her nose in the darkness, and lays beside him with a sigh. She loves him, she does, but she can't deny the part of herself that treasures any time spent with Elijah. Even if that time is spent (as all her time is spent) worrying about her daughter and hating Klaus.

Klaus, who cursed her to this form and stole her child away from her. 'No more than you tried to do to him,' a nasty part of her mind whispers, minus the cursing him to wolf form, of course.

Still. Even as she hates him for it Hayley can't entirely blame him. And she can't argue with the undeniable fact that his plan worked. Dahlia is dead. Hope is safe.

Safe with her father. And Hayley knows Klaus would never intentionally harm their daughter but she can't help worrying. Even without his plethora of enemies it's the people who love Klaus the most who always end up the most hurt by him.

Rebekah. Even Kol.

Elijah.

All victims of Klaus, in one way or another.

Elijah, who had taken her into his arms and given her the first real moment of comfort, of safety, that she'd had in longer than she cared to remember.

It all always came back to Elijah.

She had seen pain in his eyes, in those few moments they'd had alone in the bayou. Pain at what his brother had done. To Gia. To her.

And she had known in that moment what she had never entirely realized before.

Elijah needed Klaus. Despite everything Klaus did and everything he was Elijah needed his younger brother.

Oh, she had known that Klaus needed Elijah. Had known Elijah kept Klaus grounded in a way no one else had ever achieved but she hadn't known, had never quite grasped, that it worked the other way around too.

She had always assumed that Elijah would be better off if only he would leave Klaus behind.

If only he could be free of him.

Looking into Elijah's eyes in the bayou she had realized how wrong she had been and how lost Elijah was without his brother. How damaged.

Elijah dedicated himself to Klaus and to Klaus's redemption and while Hayley was unsure such a thing was even possible at this point... Elijah had always believed. And that belief had given him purpose. Klaus had given him purpose. Reason. Something the elder Mikaelson needed. Whether he realized it or not because without it...

Without it Hayley wasn't certain what would happen but she had been suddenly quite sure it wouldn't be good for Elijah. Or anyone else for that matter.

The hollowness in Elijah's gaze spoke volumes.

And Hayley had found herself telling Elijah to go back to the compound. Back to Klaus. She had told him it was for Hope. That Hope needed him. That Klaus couldn't be all her daughter had.

And she meant it. She believed everything she told him. Hope did need her uncle. All of the Mikaelsons needed each other and if Klaus was going to be a single father (stabbing pain in her gut at the thought and she forced it down) then he needed his brother and so she had to send Elijah back to him.

As certain as she is of everything she told Elijah (and everything she didn't tell him) she is also certain that he would go back to Klaus, and even forgive him, on his own. In time. Maybe too much time, with untold damage to both of them and to Hope.

So she had given him the push he had needed to go back sooner.

And Elijah had taken it. Hadn't argued. Hayley hadn't failed to notice that.

He wasn't yet ready to forgive but... he had taken the excuse to return.

Hayley knows she did the right thing. For all of them.

Even for Klaus (who she wants desperately to hate but can't quite... he is her daughter's father after all and she has seen the good in him).

Certainly the right thing for Hope, to give her both of the Mikaelson men, if not both of her parents.

And definitely the right thing for Elijah. Always for Elijah. Somehow, in Hayley's mind, it all always came back to Elijah, whether she wanted it to or not.

And Elijah needed Klaus.

-End.

Comments welcome!