Late one night, when Hayley was about six months pregnant, Klaus came into the compound covered in blood, drunk, and loosely holding on to bottle. Hayley sat by herself in the living room eating chocolate ice cream and watching a cheesy horror movie. Tonight wasn't much different than most other nights, and normally Hayley knew better than to stick around. She would go to her room, shut the door, and wouldn't come out till morning; it was just better that way. However, tonight was different, she was tired of Klaus acting this way with no repercussions. Normally what Klaus did with life wasn't any of Hayley's concern, but it finally hit her that this man would be a father in a matter of months, and she would hate to have her daughter grow up in this environment.

Hayley put her ice cream down and stood to face the hybrid. "Why do you think it's okay to always come home like this?" she questioned him.

"I don't know what you're talking about, love."

"You're always drinking or drunk, or having sex with that redheaded witch!"

"Watch your tone, little wolf, what I do with my day is none of business." Klaus' voice started to rise. "I have provided everything that you need and more, and you're going to pester me about who I spend my time with and how I spend it?"

"You know, up to this point I have ignored all of your ridiculous behavior, but I can't anymore!" Hayley was getting stressed out, which she knew wasn't good for the baby, she sighed, and spoke much softer this time, "I just wish you could realize that you have other responsibilities."

This silenced him for a moment, before he was enraged again, "enough, Hayley, enough!," he yelled at her and threw the bottle he was holding at the wall behind her.

Hayley flinched and decided it would be better to leave before she got hurt. She quickly turned and started leaving.

"Where do you think your going?" Klaus spat at her as he grabbed her wrist.

Hayley tried to pull her hand away, but he had a strong grasp, "stop being such an asshole and let me go!" Then she slapped him across face with her free hand and he let her. She didn't waste another minute and stormed out of the room, not saying another word. Obviously, trying to get through to him had been a waste of time.

Klaus stood in the middle of the room in shock. No one who wanted to see the light of another day would talk to him the way Hayley had, let alone strike him. Lucky for her, she was carrying his child. However, he did admire that she had the nerve to stand up to him, when she knew he had the ability to rip her heart out in a half a second.

He started to think about how ignorant and stupid he had been. Had things gotten more escalated Hayley could have gotten hurt. What if had thrown that bottle at Hayley? He would never forgive himself if she or the child were hurt. Even though he hadn't hurt her physically, Hayley was yelling and became very stressed out. That was his fault, and he knew it wasn't good for the baby. He desperately wanted to check on her and make amends, but after what he had just done he knew Hayley wouldn't allow him to get close to her. Instead he went to his study, drank more bourbon, and brooded.

The next day Hayley was sitting in the living room like always, Klaus came in surprisingly clean and sober, this time carrying a large box. She got up to leave, not wanting to see him for a while, at least.

"Hayley, wait, please." Hayley paused and turned back towards him, rolling her eyes, and folding her arms over her chest. "Look, I can't stop thinking about last night and I –uh, well, I got you something." He shyly set the box down next to Hayley.

Hayley looked at him in disgust, he was insane if he thought he could buy her forgiveness. "Whatever it is I don't want it-"

There was some whimpering and shuffling that started to come from within the box that immediately got Hayley's attention. She kneeled down and eagerly opened the box to small black and tan German Shepherd puppy with a big red bow around its neck looking up at her. Hayley's demeanor immediately changed; her eyes lit up and a huge grin spread across her face.

"Consider her an apology for last night, and an early birthday present for the little one." Klaus was relieved at Hayley's reaction, and even though he knew it wouldn't entirely fix what happened, at least it made Hayley happy.

Hayley lifted the puppy out of the box, planted a kiss between her floppy ears, and stood back up with Klaus' help. Hayley had always wanted a dog when she was growing up but her adoptive parents would never allow her one. She wasn't sure if it was those desires resurfacing or her maternal instincts kicking in, where she just wanted to nurture something, maybe it was both, but in any case this puppy was the cutest Hayley had ever seen, and she gave it a strong squeeze. She knew she shouldn't forgive Klaus so easily but her hormones were going insane and she couldn't resist that face.

The puppy was just happy to be out of the box, eager for human contact; she nuzzled Hayley's hand and wagged her tail excitedly. She was soft as velvet and had the most adorably pudgy face. Even though she had just met Hayley, she was very friendly, and full of energy; the puppy started to squirm, wanting to check out her new surrounding, and Hayley set her down on the couch.

"So do you like her?" Klaus questioned.

"I love her!" she excitedly chimed, as she gave Klaus a hug, "thank you."

"Well I feel bad that you're here by yourself so much, especially now with Rebekah gone." Klaus was feeling quite proud of himself, he hoped Hayley would be this excited, but he wasn't at all expecting a hug. He didn't know what he would have done had Hayley not wanted her. "And I figured she would be good practice before the baby comes."

All the while the puppy explored the living room, before she returned to Hayley, looking up at her with big brown eyes, asking to be picked up again; Hayley obliged. "I guess she will be good practice, won't she?"

The puppy whimpered and licked Hayley's face. "Well now we've got to come up with a name for you too, baby." She addressed the puppy. "What do you think?" she questioned Klaus.

"It's entirely up to you, Little Wolf."

"Hmmm… I'm going to think about it for a few days, in the meantime I'm going to show her where she will be sleeping." Hayley began carrying the tiny puppy to her room. She stopped at the door and turned back toward Klaus. "Thanks again, I know this sort of stuff doesn't mean a lot to you but it means a lot to me, and I really appreciate it," she said sincerely before exiting.

Elijah had been in the next room over and overheard everything. He went into the room with Klaus after Hayley left.

"Was a puppy really necessary? Would flowers not suffice?

"Yes well I'm trying to get on Hayley's good side so she'll allow me to be around when the baby is born, and something tells me it takes a little more than flowers to impress her."

"That was surprisingly uncharacteristic of you, brother, but I'm impressed, though I don't how I will take to a puppy terrorizing the house."

"It can't be any worse than what's to come," he smirked back at his brother, "but I would keep your fancy shoes hidden." And with that he exited the room leaving Elijah by himself.

"There might be hope for you yet, Niklaus." Elijah muttered under his breath before picking up his shoes off the mat.