Hayley froze. She just knew in her heart. She was dead.

Klaus saw the girl who made him look like a buffoon to his father and the whole village, the supposed gigantic man who by the description would quake fear into even the bravest of mens' heart.

He had been a fool to have not killed her right then and there when she had attacked his village. She deserved to die.

But seeing her now, helpless and fearful, she just looked like a scared little girl. It was her eyes, those blasted eyes that always struck him. Those emerald eyes that had once shown back at him with such fierceness and defiance were no more.

Klaus was seeing her for the very first time, not the mask she had placed before, but he truly saw her, looking deep into those hauntingly beautiful emerald eyes, he could see her soul. It was covered with bravery, defiance, courage… she was a fighter he could tell, but as he dug deeper, as he dug through the other pieces of her heart, there it was, he could see it. Through eyes he could see who she really was …alone, lost, and scared.

It was as if he could see himself staring back at him, his mirror, the parts of himself he did not want to face or acknowledge. The parts he dared not show to the world. There they were staring back at him and he was entranced…

" Do you see anything Klaus!", Bram asked, wondering what was taking Klaus so long. "Anything there?"

What was he waiting for? , Hayley wondered. He surely had to know it was me who attacked his camp.

But as she looked into the boys' eyes the anger that was once there was no more. It was replaced with a sudden sense of knowing, as if he was reading her. He looked at her as if he was reading her like a book, her fears, her doubts…and she hated it.

If anything Hayley hated most in the world it was to appear vulnerable, weak, it gave people power over her, it gave them control…it was her deepest fear.

It was bad enough that he had her life in his hands, but to see her vulnerability too, too see her weaknesses, to see the parts of herself that she had tried so hard to keep hidden, that made it all the worse…she had lost control and she hated him more than anything.

"Do you see anything Klaus?" one of Mystic wolves called out.

The boy named Klaus did not respond, he just kept looking at her. His gaze fixed on her completely, looking at her wondrously.

Perhaps the boy was just biding his time, Hayley thought. Torturing her with the suspense of her ultimate death. Perhaps giving her hope just to tear it away.

There was no chance Hayley would let him have that hold over, to let her have some sort of hope just for him to shatter any shred of hopefulness she had.

Hayley looked back at him defiantly. Her emerald eyes burning with hatred, she covered her fear with indifference, feigning to show no fear, to show no care.

"Go on then, turn me in you bastard. I have no fear of death", Hayley thought to herself, making herself believe her lie.

There was nothing but contempt staring back at the boy, but he his expression did not change.

He still looked at her wondrously.

"Klaus!" a different voice yelled. "What do you see?", it asked.

The boys' eyes softened and he smiled a small smile that only she could see, he was not fooled by the mask the girl had placed, he had seen too much of who she was, who she really was.

"Nothing", the boy named Klaus responded. "Nothing here"

Hayley was dumbstruck. "What?", she wondered. This had to be a trick, a cruel attempt to give her a false sense of safety before coming back to capture her.

The boy put the tablecloth back down and stood up. "There's nothing there", he proclaimed. "Just an enormous rat…but not who we're looking for"

"Then PLEASE be on your way", a loud male voice boomed, no doubt Rebekah's father Hayley thought.

"Yes sir, sorry to be a nuisance" one of the other voices said with sincerity.

More footsteps passed and the door closed.

"Imbeciles!, Rebekah's father growled. " How dare those dogs barge into my house this late in the night"

"What were you doing up this late anyhow!", he fired.

"I…I was just up because I was hungry so I wanted to get a snack", Rebekah answered. "That's when they came to the door"

"But I heard you talking to someone" her father asked. "Who?"

"Nnn..no no..no one", Rebekah lied. "I was just talking to myself. "

"Don't you lie to me girl!" her father boomed.

" I swear father!", Rebekah whimpered. "I swear"

Perhaps satisfied that perhaps his daughter was telling the truth, Rebekah's father and the rest of this Mikaelson clan trudged off and headed back to sleep.

But not before leaving Rebekah with the mess to clean up.

" Clean up this mess those dogs made!" her father ordered and then the tyrant of the household went off to sleep his wife in tow.

Hayley heard Rebekah breathe a large sigh of relief as all the footsteps had finally cleared the room and the house was silent.

"I think its safe now" Rebekah whispered.

Hayley crawled from under the table and looked around making sure no one was around.

"Why didn't he tell on you?" Rebekah asked in a hushed whisper. "I thought for sure you were a goner"

"I don't know" Hayley whispered just as confused. "Maybe they're waiting for me outside. To trap me."

"Its possible", Rebekah conceded. "I could sneak outside to see if there's anyone around." "You stay here"

"I have to get home", Hayley declared. "My parents are probably going insane"

"You can't go home now silly", Rebekah said as she rolled her eyes at Hayley's ignorance. " The others are probably still out there looking for you. It's safer just to stay here for the night" "I'll wake you before the others arise and then you can be on your way."

Hayley rolled annoyed that her friend was right. It wasn't safe for her to head out now considering they were most likely still close by.

"Simply stay and rest here for tonight, don't be stubborn", Rebekah pleaded.

Hayley sighed, "You're right…as usual" Hayley said with annoyance. "I'll stay here for tonight"

Rebekah smiled a smug smile and headed towards her bedroom. "Come on" she waved over.

"One of the perks of being the only girl is that I get my own room" Rebekah smiled proud of one little fortunate aspect that there was to being a girl in a family of men.

Hayley tiptoed towards Rebekah's room and entered shutting the door.

"Here are some blankets", Rebekah said as she handed over them to Hayley.

"Make yourself comfortable."

Hayley laid the blankets down and plopped down to the floor exhausted from her long day.

"Don't think you're going to bed on me now" Rebekah said assuredly. "I want an explanation" "What on Earth happened?"

"It's a long story" Hayley replied exhausted from her day. " Long story short, I ran away because because my parents were trying to fix me into an arranged marriage with you'll never believe it…Jaxxon. Jaxxon of all people", Hayley said infuriated.

"Grotesque" Rebakah declared. She had never met Jaxxon but from Hayley's earlier tales of him she can see why Hayley was so upset.

" There was no way I was going to marry him", Hayley continued. " I rather die, so…

I ran away", Hayley admitted.

"You ran away!" Rebakah shrieked

"Shhh" Hayley hushed. "Your parents could hear", she reminded her.

"Yes, I ran away. I was going to try and make it up the coast, and start a new life"

"Without saying goodbye", Rebekah said clearly hurt.

" I'm sorry, but I couldn't risk getting caught. I had to leave as quickly as possible"

"So then what stopped you?" Rebekah asked confused. "Did the Mystic wolves spot you and try to kill you?"

Hayley remained silent.

"Well?", Rebekah prodded.

"Not exactly…I sort of... tried to… kill their chief and his son" Hayley admitted.

"You what?" Rebekah yelled astounded.

"Shhhh!" Hayley reminded her.

"Are you insane?", Rebakah scolded. "Did you really want to die?"

"That wasn't the intention", Hayley declared. " I figured if I could capture the chief my father would be so proud of me that perhaps maybe he would allow me to not have to marry Jaxxon."

"And you really thought your plan would work?" Rebekah asked curiously. "You really thought you capture the powerful Mystic wolf chief and then fight an entire village full of Mystic wolves?"

Hayley knew her plan was a bit outlandish, but she hadn't realized how stupid it sounded until it came out of Rebekah's mouth.

'I suppose it was a bit unrealistic", Hayley confessed.

"Unrealistic?" Rebekah scolded. "Downright idiotic is the term you're searching for."

Hayley rolled her eyes. "Yes, yes I know"

"What am I going to do with you?" Rebekah asked as if she was an exasperated mother. "So continue! After you had your 'genius' plan to take on an entire village of wolves, then…?"

"I snuck into the camp and that's where the boy caught me, he almost killed me, but he didn't"

"The same boy?" Rebekah asked, "The one who didn't tell where you were hidden?"

"Yes the same one", Hayley replied.

"Well, why didn't he kill you?", Rebekah urged, eager to know. "What did you beg for your life?" she mocked.

Hayley side eyed Rebekah and threw a pillow at her and Rebekah caught it with ease.

"No way! If anything I urged him even more to kill me. But he didn't have the manhood. Looks like I was right." Hayley said with a smug smile.

"Perhaps", Rebeah said unsure if that was really the reason.

"What?" Hayley questioned, aware of Rebekah's uncertainty.

"Well, this same boy…Klaus I believed the others called him…He let you live…TWICE", Rebekah summarized. " Perhaps, he may be… fond of you?" Rebekah guessed.

"Don't be ridiculous!", Hayley declared. " He was simply a boy who didn't have the stones to do a mans job" "Nothing more nothing less"

" Well maybe I'm just a naïve hopeless romantic, but there has to be some reason he let you live…twice" , Rebekah emphasized.

"I don't know why! I don't even know the boy. Tonight was the first time I've ever even seen him", Hayley replied. "But I assure you, it's not because of silly romantic reasons you've cooked up in your head"

"Alright. Fine then", Rebekah surrendered. " He's just a boy who couldn't do a man's job", she acknowledged, still deep down not believing that was the reason.

"Precisely" Hayley said with assurance. "Now can I go to bed or you going to badger me all night?"

Rebekah rolled her eyes and gave her friend Hayley a small smile.

"Good night" she said, and with that the twosome closed their eyes and let themselves fall into a deep slumber.

However, before Hayley let sleep take hold, one last thought kept her awake just for a moment longer.

Perhaps he may be … fond of you

Could it be possible that the boy with the innocent laugh and bright blue eyes was fond of her? Her?

Hayley shook the thought away

"Not a chance" she reassured herself and let her mind fall into slumber.

As Niklaus walked with the others back to the wolf camp the others moved on ahead of him. It had been strange to see his mother and siblings all in the room there with him, none of them aware of who he was…their brother, but when he saw his mother she could see her heart sink

He had never spoken to her, but they both knew who the other was. Saddened by her gaze Niklaus had done his best to not keep eye contact with her.

He did not want to appear suspicious as if he knew who she was.

He focused simply on doing anything but looking into her eyes. He fumbled around, looking under crooks and crannies…until expectedly he found her, what they really had been looking for.

The girl.

He didn't know why he didn't turn her in, he knew he should have, that she tried to kill him, his father, but he did not want her harmed.

It was her eyes, those damn eyes that always entranced him, and then when he saw her so vulnerable, parts of who she was all open for him to see, he couldn't do it.

He couldn't kill her. She was a beautiful girl and at first that had been the reason he had refrained from killing her, surprised by her beauty, but this time it was her heart that caused him to spare her life.

"Thinking about a girl you're fond of?", Bram questioned teasingly as he walked up behind him.

"I thought you were up ahead with others", Klaus said surprised.

"No", just taking in the air", Bram said as he watched as the multi-colored streaks covered the sky, daylight fast approaching.

"That was a worthless trip. I could've sworn I saw him go into that house"

"We'll find him another day", Klaus promised keeping up his lie.

"Yeah, another day", Bram concluded and with that he set off further towards the others and left Klaus alone.

As Klaus walked towards his village and the thoughts of the events of the night had flashed through his mind, one thing stuck out

Thinking about a girl you're fond of?

Bram had only meant to tease him, but the thought lingered in his mind. Was he fond of her?

The girl with the enchanting emerald eyes, the girl who had already done so much damage and nearly killed him? Her?

Klaus shook the thought away.

"Not a chance", he assured himself and trudged on back home.