8. The Kiss
Hayley stood on the back porch, looking out onto the vast grounds. It had gone dark hours before. In fact, it was close to midnight. She sighed heavily. This day was about an hour away from being over. She felt relief. But also a palpable sadness she couldn't explain. Or maybe she could. She just didn't want to.
She didn't turn to look at him when she heard him approach, but he came to stand beside her, looking out over the gardens much as she did. Their shoulders almost touched. She wrapped her arms around herself just a little tighter. He always came to find her at the end of the day. Even if it was just to say goodnight. He always finds me.
They stood in silence for a long time. She appreciated how much he seemed to understand her. Maybe he sensed she didn't want to talk. Or that she wasn't ready. Elijah never pushed. He always waited, patiently, until she was ready. And eventually, his patience always paid off.
She felt her eyes fill with frustrated tears and her chin dropped a fraction. Dammit. Every year she vowed she wouldn't cry. And then this day would almost be over and she would almost make it. Almost, but not quite.
She felt a hand between her shoulder blades and he gently rubbed there, offering her comfort for words she had not yet uttered. She closed her eyes and swallowed. Two tears squeezed from between her lashes and gravity worked its inevitable magic. They fell to her chin, clung for a moment, before falling to the ground.
"It's my birthday today," she said finally. With a humorless laugh and an awkward shrug, she added, "It's almost over." She sounded relieved.
Elijah turned towards her then, only slightly. His hand had stilled for a moment, but then it continued its soothing circles.
"I didn't know."
"I didn't say," she confessed. "I don't celebrate it. Ever. Its not a big deal."
She hated the fact that even to her own ears, it sounded like a lie. He waited for the rest and she couldn't help it. He had a way of making her want to tell him all her secrets.
"I feel…" her lips trembled and she bit her lip for a moment, feeling the sting. Eventually she finished her thought, "…lost, Elijah." The tears returned, burning in the back of her throat. "Lost and alone. I have no one. No real family. Maybe it's just some pipe dream I have of finding real family out there. But the thought of it, the hope of something that's mine, a place I belong, people I belong to, it's what keeps me going."
She caressed her belly. It curved gently, a sign that the life there was growing.
"I have a baby inside of me. And half of me is so afraid of this damned witchy prophecy and the other half - the half that's trying to be rational and positive - keeps trying to tell the scared half that this baby is fine. That she will be healthy and good. Better than either Klaus or myself ever was. And that this time, this time the world, the fates will be on my side. And I won't be the one on the receiving end of being monumentally screwed over."
"Shhhh." He turned her towards him then, placing a gentle finger to her lips.
She removed it with her own, looking him straight in the eyes. "You say I am family Elijah. But I'm not. I'm not related to any of you. I'm here because of some messed up cosmic circumstance and if anything were to happen to this baby-" He began to interrupt but she shook her head, speaking her truths before she lost the nerve. "-there would be no reason for me to be a part of this family. Like everything else in my life, this is temporary." You are temporary.
She swallowed a few times, struggling to hold her emotions together. "Everything in my life has always been temporary. I guess… I'm terrified that this will be too." She admitted it to him. She would never have admitted it to another soul. "So I must find my family."
"Hayley, I have vowed to always take care of you. You know this. Always. That is not a temporary pledge. It means forever. The minute I found you, you became a part of this family." Her eyes had dropped and he raised her chin, willing her to look at him. "No matter what happens, that will always remain."
"How can it? We share no blood. You, none of you, owe me anything."
She would have pulled out of his hold then, but he wouldn't let her. Instead, his hands found the nape of her neck, cradling her face.
"Do you remember the night I came home, after being undaggered by Davina?"
She frowned, confused by the change in conversation. She nodded. "Yes."
"This exact spot, this is exactly where you were standing when I rounded that corner." He gestured over his shoulder. "You stood here, bathed in the moonlight." His thumbs caressed her cheeks where they cradled her face. "I wanted to kiss you then."
Her eyes widened, then she smiled. It was watery, but it was a smile. "And I slapped you. Classic me." She wrinkled her nose. "Kind of ruined the moment, didn't I?"
He chuckled. "Perhaps. Or maybe you were just postponing the inevitable."
Then his lips drew closer and her breath caught. They shouldn't. She shouldn't want this. But I do. I want it more than I have wanted anything in forever. She didn't want to fight the attraction any longer. It was almost midnight, on her birthday, and she didn't want to have another miserable milestone.
Her eyelids fluttered shut and his lips brushed her eyes, then her cheeks, kissing at the tears that still clung there. She lifted her chin, wanting more. There was the most unbearable moment when she feared he wouldn't kiss her. She strained towards him, the pull so strong. But then the moment passed and his lips touched hers.
Hayley pushed closer to him, her hands fisting in the front of his shirt, pushing herself into him, holding him anchored to her, rising into her toes slightly. His lips were soft, warm, but firm as they moved across hers. When she felt his tongue brush against hers, her knees trembled and it was his turn to anchor her.
His arms came around her and she sighed into him. The kiss, which started out slow, explorative and tentative, became an inferno of suppressed desire. The kindling had been lit and now the fire raged. She couldn't get close enough to him and his hands couldn't touch everywhere at once. Their lips broke apart and Elijah's mouth travelled to the base of her neck, where her pulse beat rapidly. He licked there; then nipped slightly. She felt her eyes pinch close in the most delicious way, the moment the most erotic thing she had ever experienced.
"Elijah," she whispered. She pulled him back to her lips, her arms winding around his neck, her hands fisting in his hair.
Eventually, he pulled back. All good things had to come to an end. And when she opened her eyes, she knew the magic moment was over, but the spell was not broken.
He placed a kiss to her lips, a final one. But then another followed. A third. Butterfly kisses, the softest, sweetest whisper. Then he stepped back and buried both his hands in his pockets. She knew it was to stop him reaching for her. That knowledge warmed her almost as much as his kiss had.
His smile was wry, a little unsure, his hair slightly mussed and his shirt was wrinkled where she had fisted it with her hands. He looked like he had been ravished and Hayley was undeniably pleased by her efforts. She was witnessing an Elijah that was out of his depth. It made her feel like they were both experiencing the same tumultuous emotions. It was comforting.
"I think I'd better..." she gestured inside. He nodded indiscernibly, but his eyes were still fixed on her mouth. She licked her lips, her throat going dry again. She knew she had better get inside or they would be courting trouble. Even more than they already had.
"Good night Elijah."
"Happy Birthday."
She left him there, vowing not to look back. But she did, watching him watch her walk away. A shiver tracked down her spine and she hurried then. I am in love with him. She knew it. I am in love with him. It was a certainty.
She made a detour to the bathroom and leaned against the closed door for a while until her heart rate returned to normal. The mirror revealed a flushed face, swollen lips and sparkling eyes. Happy eyes and a giddy heart.
When she eventually returned to her bedroom, she noticed a book lying on her pillow. She sat on the side of the bed, reaching for the tome. It was a bible. Old, leather bound, the pages thick and yellowed. She frowned, looking around. There was nothing and no one else.
Hayley opened the cover and a pressed rose fell into her lap, the floral scent discernable even after so much time had past. The inside of the front cover had writing in it. It was a family tree, like old bibles used to have, tracing the lineage of a family. It belonged to the Mikaelson's.
Mikael (m) - m. - Esther (f)
Offspring
Unnamed firstborn (m) - Elijah Mikaelson (m) - Finn Mikaelson (m) - Kol Mikaelson (m) - Rebekah Mikaelson (f) - Henrik Mikaelson (m)
And Niklaus Mikaelson. He was a dotted line between Esther and an unnamed male
Mikael (m) - m. - Esther (f) - - unnamed (m) - - Niklaus Mikaelson (m)
Hayley traced the bold penmanship. It had been written in ink, with a quill. But then she saw it. Her name, written in a different, but similarly bold script had been added to the Mikaelson family tree. She was a dotted line beside Klaus. Between them, there was an empty space for the name and gender of their unborn baby.
Niklaus Mikaelson - - - - Hayley Marshall
Baby Mikaelson
Her eyes filled again. Elijah. He had placed the bible on her pillow, he had written her name into their family bible. In doing so, proving that she was no temporary addition to their family. He had always said that she was family. Now, he had made her family too.
Hayley hugged the bible to her, smiling. In the distance, she heard the large clock in the lounge chime. It was midnight and her birthday was over.
For the first time in years, her birthday ended with happy tears.
a/n: a massive, huge, terrific thank you to all of you readers. i love that so many of us love haylijah too :)
Just fyi: I update as inspiration strikes for one-shots. If i don't have ideas, updates might be slow. Feel free to leave prompts. x
