Klaus and Hayley were driving away from New Orleans. Hope was in the backseat sleeping. They had been driving for hours. Sitting in silence. Tired of the silence Klaus began to speak.
"Do you ever wonder?" Klaus asked with curiosity in his voice.
Hayley looked at Klaus with a confused expression on her face. She wasn't sure what he was asking at the time.
"What it would be like if we were together? Klaus mumbled. He wasn't speaking as he usually did. Proud and strong. He almost sounded unsure if he should be asking this.
"We would be the King and Queen of New Orleans" Klaus declared. Confidence fleeing back into his voice.
"Sometimes I do think about us together. Undoubtedly we would drive each other crazy. Though I believe we would be happy. While we were sitting in silence I was thinking. Thinking about what it would be like to run. Run away from New Orleans and never come back", Hayley admitted.
"Hope would be happy. She might even grow up to live a normal life", Klaus responded.
"That's highly unlikely. Hope will never live a normal life. We just have to do our best. To make sure she lives a good life. To make sure she doesn't grow up like we did."
"It's my mission to make sure Hope has a better life than I. She is the light in my life. I refuse to ever let her go dark like I did", Klaus stated. Then he looked back and stared at Hope. She looked precious. Not a care in the world. She was oblivious to what was going on. The attack upon her family. Klaus envied that. He wished for her to stay like that forever. Though he knew that sadly that wouldn't be. One day she would grow up. She would feel pain and suffering. She would have her own demons.
"Klaus, you've made many mistakes", Hayley stated.
"Indeed I have", Klaus acknowledged with a hint of humor in his voice.
"However you have never made a mistake by Hope. You've done questionable things (casting the curse upon Hayley). However they were all driven by your love for her", Hayley explained.
"Do you want to run away together Hayley"? Klaus asked. It wasn't a proposition though. It was a question.
"I do" She smirked, "It would be less complicated. Maybe even less dangerous".
"That's true. But of course we cannot", Klaus stated. "We cannot run away together. We would leave to much behind. My family, Camille, New Orleans. For a while it would be okay. For a while we may even be happy. Eventually though we would begin to resent our decision."
"At least we would have chance at happiness" Hayley pleaded.
"I've been running for most of my life. Running away doesn't fix problems. It puts them on hold temporarily. Eventually we all have to face our demons", Klaus explained. "We have something in common Hayley. This "trip" is a blessing. Were both running away from the same thing, love."
Then they sat in silence. Nothing more was needed to be said. They continued to think about what could have been. They both knew that it would never work. However there was no harm in dreaming.