Running her hand up and down his chest, enjoying the way he felt against her, Hayley had a thought, and, she stopped what she was doing, to rest her head on his chest.
"Elijah," she sing-sung and he frowned playfully, knowing quite well she was about to ask him something about his life before her, or hell, maybe even about his life with her.
"Yes my love?" He answered, looking resigned to whatever she had in mind.
"Katherine..."
"What about her?"
"That's my question actually, what about her?" She said, with a smile.
"What about her?" He asked again.
"Jeeze, what's going on with this echo? I don't know what I'm asking here, really, but you loved her. You love me. Don't you think I should know a bit more about her?"
"Honestly, no. It never crossed my mind."
"Come on. Tell me what you liked about her, what you loved about her." Hayley said, looking at him expectantly.
"Why do I feel like you want to draw a comparison?"
"I don't, I really don't!" She exclaimed.
Except, if she was honest, she sort of had an ulterior motive she hadn't been aware of. Katherine had been a big part of his history, as Celeste had been. She had seen how hurt he had been when he had thought he had lost Celeste, and how betrayed he had felt when she had played her tricks on them. Katherine had been another person he had loved, and lost, and she wondered how she fitted herself in his life.
"Katherine... I loved her, as you know," he said, giving in to her request. "She had this frailty I felt drawn to, and I wanted to protect her. Most of the time she didn't need me to take care of her, she was already on it, having come up with various schemes to make sure she would make it out alive and well, yet, when I was with her, she made me believe I was the one who would make everything okay. Nothing will convince me though that the frailty I saw wasn't real. I think she was insecure or didn't know how to trust, and I can't blame her. I understand it."
"Do you miss her? She asked, feeling quite insecure herself.
"Some days I do. I think about her from time to time, less and less as time goes by. She is my past though."
He didn't say the word, but she knew he meant that she was his present.
"If I'm your present, then what does the future has in store for you?"
"That would be entirely up to you," He said, rolling them over so that he was over her and he started kissing her neck.
"Elijah..."
"My love, don't doubt me. I love you and the women who came before only matter as far as they lead me to you."
"But we're so different..."
"You and Katherine? I love it. And you're not so different. You both are fierce when it comes to protecting your own, but unlike Katherine, you are willing to count many people as your own, as being in your charge. You defend them, whatever it takes, my little She-wolf."
He was a smooth talker, she knew it, yet it made her melt.
He kissed her finally and she was putty in his hands.
A cry was heard, and they both smiled against each other's mouth. Hope was waking up. Hope was with them. Even when she interrupted their lovemaking, they could never begrudge her.
"I'll take care of her," Rebekah yelled from somewhere in the house, "go back to shagging."
"I will be the one taking care of my daughter, thank you very much," they heard Klaus said.
Elijah and Hayley shared a laugh again, before getting up themselves, to make sure Rebekah and Klaus didn't end up killing each other. Thus was the life they led, in their unconventional household.
