this takes place after elijah gets his memories back and hayley is not too sure how to feel or act around him.
this is going to be more than one chapter and i'll hopefully be able to finish it soon
She could hear the flickering of the fire he had lit in the room above. No doubt basking in every moment from the past 1000 years. 8 years seems nothing in comparison to the happiness or heartbreak experienced in over a millennia, and yet, it had seemed like all the time in the world had passed. He wasn't himself. He wasn't the Elijah Mikaelson she had fallen completely for. And yet in the mere hours that he had his memories returned to him, it almost felt like his "new life" never even existed. Almost being the keyword. But too much had happened in that time, and Hayley wasn't going to wait around any longer.
She ended up climbing the stairs and in no time at all, stood at the entrance of his room. And again, like many times before, he sat beside his fireplace, trapped in his own thoughts. What if they made a mistake? What if they took away the tiniest bit of happiness in his life? Hayley's heart ached for him. He deserved all the joy and love that he gained from these 8 years, but what if bringing back his memories only destroyed it? All these questions racing through Hayley's mind that she didn't realise the pair of eyes gazing at her. And there, in that moment, it felt like nothing had changed. It was the same as it was 13 years ago.