Hey everyone!

Thank you all for reviewing, favoriting, and/or following the story so far everybody. It means so much more to me than you'll ever know.

The Hayley/Klaus scene in my mind wouldn't leave until I wrote it so I caved in wrote it. I assure you it is important to the story...in order to cover all bases.. I hope you all enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything associated with The Originals...I just like to play around with the characters. I only own the plot.

Chapter 4 - Shocker

The door slammed shut behind her as Hayley glanced around the seemingly empty courtyard for any sign of Elijah being or having been there recently. She hadn't seen or heard from him since she'd turned the tables and was the one to walk away from him. It turned out to be a not so good idea on her part though, especially since she had just learned the truth from Rebekah and needed to talk to him about it. Hayley was intent on making things right between them again, but she couldn't do that if she didn't know where the heck he was.

When she saw no signs of him being there she ran upstairs to Elijah's study to see if he was in there. Much to Hayley's dismay, he wasn't there either.

Hayley shook her head and sighed.

"I take it you're looking for my brother?"

Hayley, startled, jumped at the sound of the familiar voice. She hadn't heard anyone come in or seen anyone there when she'd been looking around downstairs for Elijah. Apparently, she hadn't been looking hard enough...or maybe he had been in another upstairs room? But that would still fall under the category of not looking hard enough. Either way it didn't make her feel any better about her current predicament, especially since he was the last person she would have expected to come across at the moment. After all, he had never been one to start a conversation between them before...well, alright that's a lie...on occasion he had, but that occasion wasn't very often.

After regaining control of her currently fast beating heart Hayley spun around to come face to face with Klaus.

"Do you know where he is?" she asked him cutting to the chase, an eyebrow cocked slightly out of curiosity.

"I might," Klaus answered simply, not being much help.

Hayley wasn't at all surprised by his answer, she'd come to expect as much from him over the past nine months or so.

"Do you know where he is or not?" Hayley asked again as she crossed her arms over her chest.

Klaus smirked. "Answer my question first, love."

Hayley raised both eyebrows in confusion. "You didn't ask me a question," she stated, cautiously.

"What's going on between you and Elijah?" he asked as he propped himself up against the wall that was closest to him.

Hayley opened her mouth to say something but Klaus beat her to it.

"And I just did," he replied, grinning smugly.

Hayley was momentarily confused by what he meant before she remembered what she had last said to him. She scoffed upon realization and rolled her eyes at his somewhat childish antics.

"Real mature," Hayley muttered under her breath knowing full well that he could hear her.

He ignored her. "Are you going to answer my question?"

Hayley thought about it for a few seconds before she shrugged her shoulders and answered, "It's nothing, we're just friends."

And it was the truth, sort of. She had no idea what was really going on between her and Elijah. All she knew was that they had feelings for each other, but that was it. She didn't know whether they'd ever be more than what they were now...friends. Were their feelings for each other strong enough to get them out of the friend zone? Her first guess and hope would be yes.

Klaus being Klaus noticed and called her out on her doubts. "You don't sound so sure."

Hayley was about to reply with a snarky remark but decided against it at the last second. Instead, she shook her head and asked in an annoyed tone, "Why the hell am I standing here and having this conversation, or lack thereof, with you?" She then waited a couple seconds before adding, "I mean, you of all people are the last person that I should be talking about any of this with."

Hayley turned to walk away but stopped halfway towards the staircase and turned back around when something occurred to her that she hadn't thought about before because she'd been so surprised by him talking to her.

"A better question, though..." she trailed off momentarily. "Why did you bring up the subject?" she asked truly curious. "All I did was ask you if you knew where he was and then next thing you know you're asking about us."

He didn't say anything back at first, he just stood there looking deep in thought as if he was choosing his words carefully. "I was just curious," he finally answered nonchalantly as if the situation really wasn't all that big of a deal...Hayley would beg to differ.

Hayley was doubtful. "Why?"

Klaus shrugged his shoulders. "Believe it or not, I'm not all bad."

Hayley couldn't help but laugh at his answer, there were tears in her eyes almost immediately. After all the angst from the past week she had needed a good laugh and Klaus's answer had provided just what she needed.

"Yeah, right! You and not all bad in the same sentence?" she asked once she had control over herself again. "Did you hit your head or something?"

"I'm glad you find my words humorous."

"What did you expect?" Hayley questioned. "The words came from you."

Klaus glared at her. It was obvious to Hayley that he was experiencing the whole, "it's not fun when you're the brunt of the joke," feeling...not that he'd ever admit it, he'd just mask it with glares and any other look of anger...but Hayley wasn't fooled.

"Alright, let's get serious again," Hayley said having had enough of teasing Klaus and now back to wanting to get to Elijah as soon as she could. "Do you know where Elijah is or not?"

"Check the plantation house," he told her.

Hayley smiled briefly. "Thank you," she replied sincerely as she turned to walk away. "Now had you just told me that first thing, I could have been on my way and that awkward conversation wouldn't have taken place," she muttered to herself under her breath.

"Oh, and word of advice," Klaus called after her just as she was about to reach the door to her bedroom.

Hayley paused. "What advice?" she wondered out loud.

"Just do what I do when dealing with Elijah when he's being stubborn," he said.

"What is he talking about?" Hayley asked herself. "I'm not gonna stake him." She grinned teasingly as she turned around to look at him yet again. "I'm not you."

Klaus grinned back at her. "Never said you were."

Hayley rolled her eyes.

It was Klaus's turn to laugh. "That's not what I was getting at either."

Hayley raised an eyebrow. "Then what were you getting at?"

"Make him listen to you, to see things your way," Klaus offered her.

Hayley was extremely confused as to what was now being talked about. "Wait, what?"

A bigger grin had made it's way onto Klaus's face. "Don't give up as easily as you did last night."

Hayley's eyes widened as she suddenly realized what Klaus was talking about. "Did everyone witness that?" she practically shrieked.

"Don't sound so surprised, love." Klaus laughed. "You weren't exactly the poster child for private arguments at the time."

Hayley didn't say anything back for a while as she took everything in that had so far transpired between her and Klaus in the past few minutes. She couldn't help but wonder why he had not only started the conversation between them but also why he was giving her advice on how to handle Elijah. This wasn't the Klaus behavior that she was used to seeing. Maybe there really was a different, nicer side to him than she'd seen.

"You're okay with all of this?" she asked curiously not being to help the question from falling passed her lips. "Not that it matters what you think, I'm just curious why you're fine with everything?"

Whatever Hayley had just witnessed of the nicer side of Klaus was suddenly gone. "What makes you think I even care?" he asked harshly.

"What did I expect?" Hayley asked herself as she shook her head and scoffed. "Nevermind," she snapped at him and turned to stomp off.

"You're the only one I've ever approved of..." she thought she heard him mutter under his breath. "...even just a little bit."

Hayley stopped short, shocked, and frozen in place. "I'm sorry," she spoke slowly turning back...again. "I don't think I heard you correctly," she said not being able to find it in herself to believe her ears.

"You heard me just fine." He called her bluff. "I won't repeat it."

"Why?" Hayley asked before she could stop herself.

Klaus shook his head and pushed off of the wall where he'd been standing the entire time.

Hayley stared at him intently and she was able to read something on his face before he immediately put his mask back up and looked away from her.

"I'll be damned," Hayley muttered in awe as everything finally clicked in her mind. "Deep down you just want what is best for him." She stared at him, eyes wide. "None of his past...umm...loves..." she trailed off trying to figure out what to say next. "You didn't think any of them were good enough for Elijah, did you?"

Klaus didn't answer and an awkward silence fell between them.

"Why me?" she asked him breaking the silence.

Klaus shook his head as he walked past her. "It's not important."

Hayley immediately followed after him. "It is to me!" she yelled after him.

A reply was still nonexistent.

"It's because you don't feel threatened by me, isn't it?" she guessed just as they reached the top of the stairs.

Klaus paused but didn't turn around.

"All of the others were going to take him away from you in the end," she continued when he didn't object, crossing her arms. "Or at least that's what you thought so you had to do something to make sure it didn't happen."

Klaus was quiet and didn't move for at least another minute before finally saying, "You guessed it."

Then he disappeared down the stairs before Hayley could even think of something else to say.

Hayley stood there in stunned silence for some time before she shook herself out of it. She could replay the conversation that she'd just had with Klaus over and over on her way to the plantation. As shocked as she was by what Klaus had told her and just by him talking to her in general...she still had more important things to do...like make things right between her and Elijah.

With one last glance in the direction that Klaus had just disappeared, Hayley made her way to her room to retrieve her car keys.

Alright, so there it is. Thoughts? Review, please?!

I just want to give you all a heads up, the next chapter will be the last chapter.

Next chapter; Hayley and Elijah's second confrontation of sorts.