Everything has changed for Hayley. She now knows the truth about her marriage and she definitely has no problem breaking it. Klaus never loved her. He would have never tried what he did today if he did love her. Hayley wants to call it an attempted rape, but it feels wrong. It feels wrong to say that her husband tried to rape her. But it is the truth... a truth that Hayley has desperately been trying to hide from since she left her apartment with Elijah.
It won't be her apartment for long though. After what Klaus did to Jack, there is no way Hayley is going back to that apartment, not when Jack's life is in danger there. It was terrible that Klaus was abusing her, but the second he put Jack's life in danger Hayley knew she was never going to go back there. She has put up with a lot from Klaus, this she will not put up with.
Elijah parks the car outside of Rebekah's house and stops the engine. Hayley watches him stare down at the steering wheel, waiting for him to speak, but he never does. He sighs and opens his car door before stepping out. Hayley bites her lip nervously as Elijah shuts the car door a little harder than usual. He probably still has quite a bit of pent up anger from his fight with Klaus.
Her door opens and she looks up to see Elijah stood there, one hand on the door handle, one hand midair for her to take. She can see blood on his knuckles and she wonders whether it is his, or her husbands. She takes his hand regardless and steps out of the car. He shuts the door behind her and she slowly makes her way to Rebekah's front door, still limping slightly.
Elijah takes his blazer out of the front of the car. He locks his car and quickly walks up behind Hayley, wrapping his blazer around her shoulders. She flinches a little as the blazer is dropped around her shoulders, as if she is scared of him. But Elijah knows she is not scared of him. He understands that she isn't herself right now and he doesn't blame her. If he had not of got there on time, then Klaus could have wounded Hayley for life. And unlike physical wounds, that wound would not have healed.
Elijah goes ahead of her and opens the front door for her. Hayley mutters 'thank you' as she limps past him and goes into the house, pulling his blazer tighter around her. Elijah follows her into the house, shutting the door behind them and the second the door clicks shut, Rebekah comes from the kitchen.
Hayley immediately feels like she needs to escape. She knows Rebekah will have questions to ask about what happened and why Hayley is back here, and Hayley isn't ready to answer her sister-in-law yet. She can feel tears trying to slip out of her eyes at the thought of telling Rebekah what happened and the last thing she wants to do right now is cry. So, she puts her head down and walks past Rebekah as quickly as she can before she goes up the stairs and into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her.
Rebekah frowns up the stairs at where Hayley just was, wondering what that was about. She then turns to look at Elijah and they make eye contact. She lets her eyes wonder over him and she can see that something bad has happened just from looking at her older brother. He has blood on his face and his knuckles, his shirt has blood on it and he doesn't look as elegant as usual.
"What happened?" Rebekah finally asks.
Elijah looks down and lets out a loud sigh. He pushes his left hand into his pant pocket and looks up at his sister.
"It's a long story" he says and goes to follow Hayley.
Rebekah grabs his arm as he tries to walk past her and he turns around to look at her. Rebekah can see the pain in his eyes, what happened at the apartment has effected him more than he is showing. Her grip on his arm softens and she rubs her thumb gently on his forearm, trying to comfort him.
"Time will heal us, Elijah... it always does."
It is true. No matter what they seem to go through, the Mikaelsons always find there way back to each other. But this time it is different. No matter how much they have been through together, Elijah knows that this will break their family for good.
Elijah shakes his head.
"Not this time, sister" he says and gently pulls away from her.
He walks up the stairs slowly, fully aware of Rebekah watching him. He knows that when his sister finds out about what Klaus attempted she will break off any ties with him. Rebekah is a feminist and Hayley is her friend. She will take what Klaus has done very personally. And he doesn't blame her, because he also takes what Klaus has done very personally. But his reason for that is very different to what Rebekah's reason will be.
Elijah knocks on the bathroom door and waits for Hayley to open it. She doesn't. She unlocks it, but she does not open it. Elijah assumes that he is allowed to enter and slips into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him.
Hayley is sat on the edge of the bathtub with her head in her hands. She looks broken and tired. Elijah feels a strong discomfort seeing her like this. He crouches in front of her and slowly wraps his hands around her wrists, in the exact same place where there are small bruises from Klaus. He gently pulls her hands away from her face and holds both of her hands in his as he looks up at her.
Biting her lip, Hayley looks up just enough to make eye contact with Elijah. He can see the hurt in her eyes and it upsets him more deeply than he would like to admit. He pulls her left hand to his mouth while maintaining eye contact and kisses it as gently as he can. He does the same with her right hand and then raises his hand to stroke down her swollen nose. It isn't broken, but it isn't far off. Klaus certainly did a number on her.
Hayley slowly takes her free hand and lifts it to Elijah's split lip. She strokes it tenderly, running her thumb over the small slit. Hayley looks at Elijah and he looks away quickly, knowing he has been caught staring. He stands up straight and is about to speak when Hayley also stands up. There is barely even an inch between them and Elijah wants to kiss her so badly, but he knows it is too soon. He understands if she needs space.
But she surprises him and leans forwards, pressing her lips against his. He returns the kiss, being extra gentle with her. She pulls away and runs her hand down his chest before she walks behind him, opening the cabinet above the sink. She pulls out a pack of cleansing wipes and a packet of butterfly strips.
Elijah sits down on the edge of the bath and starts to undo the buttons on his shirt. Hayley turns around just in time to see him undo the last button on his shirt and reveal the black and purplish bruises on his ribs where Klaus kicked and hit him. She quickly moves towards him to get a closer look at his wounds. She comes to stand in between his legs and tucks her hair behind her ear with one hand whilst gently stroking his bruised ribs with her other hand.
As she strokes his ribs, Elijah expects to feel some kind of sharp pain, but he doesn't feel a thing. She is extra gentle with him and he can't help but fall for her that little bit more. Hayley looks at him and strokes his cheek with her free hand before she turns around and grabs the cleansing wipes.
Hayley opens the box and pulls out a cleansing wipe. She then puts the box into the sink. She comes to stand in between Elijah's legs again and puts one hand on the side of his head as she slowly wipes the slit on his lip with the wipe. It stings slightly, but Elijah shows no signs that he is in pain. She then wipes the dried up blood from around his nose before she puts the wipe into the bin to her left. She then turns around and grabs the butterfly strips.
She opens the box and pulls out a strip of the butterfly strips. She puts the box in the sink with the box of cleansing wipes and peals a strip off. She puts her hand under Elijah's chin and tilts his head upwards before she carefully places the strip over the slit on his bottom lip. She then runs her thumb over it to secure it in place and then leans down to place a gentle kiss on his lips.
Hayley holds Elijah's shirt open and looks at his ribs again.
"You'll need cream for that. Painkillers too" she tells him and he nods.
"I'll tend to it later" he says and stands up.
Elijah moves her hair from the left side of her neck to reveal a bite mark and small bits of dried up blood. Anger bubbles up inside of him upon seeing that Klaus has marked her, but he knows now is not the right time for aggression. He runs his thumb over the wound and Hayley closes her eyes as if she is ashamed of it.
Elijah leans around her and takes the box of cleansing strips out of the sink. He pulls out a wipe and then puts the box back into the sink before gently rubbing the bite mark with the wipe. Hayley holds onto the bottom of Elijah's shirt as he cleans the wound. He then throws the wipe into the bin and once again examines her neck. He can seen strangulation marks, small black bruises starting to come up on each side of her neck.
Suddenly remembering how Hayley was limping, Elijah moves around her and opens the cabinet above the sink. He pulls out a box of bandages and Hayley watches him before sitting down on the side of the bath. She slips her shoe off as Elijah also pulls a roll of tape from the top of the cabinet. He then turns back to her and drops to his knees in front of her. A part of Hayley finds the sight very amusing, but she doesn't have it in her to laugh right now.
Elijah carefully takes off her sock and touches and squeezes her foot until she flinches. He then takes the bandage out of it's box and starts to wrap it around Hayley's sore ankle.
"I had to bandage Niklaus' ankle up once when we were younger" Elijah says.
Hayley stays silent and waits for him to continue.
"We had been fighting again. He accused me of stealing his latest painting, I assumed he accused me because we had been arguing frequently. We argued again. But I quickly ended the argument and walked away from him. However, Niklaus was not done" Elijah tells her.
He finishes bandaging her ankle and grabs the tape from the floor next to him. He starts to stick pieces of tape on any looser parts of the bandage to secure it.
"He pushed me down the stairs" he says and Hayley's mouth drops open in shock.
"Seriously?" She asks, unable to believe it.
Elijah nods and Hayley shakes her head in shock.
"Oh my god, how old was he?" She asks.
Elijah lets out a deep breath and thinks for a few seconds.
"He had just turned 12" he replies and Hayley is gobsmacked.
"He pushed you down the stairs at 12? What a horrible kid!" She says and Elijah gives her a half smile.
"He was certainly troubled" Elijah says as he puts the last bit of tape on Hayley's bandage.
He admires his handy work before he looks up at her and continues the story.
"I didn't let him get away with it. I ran back upstairs and chased him into his room. I got hold of him and I wanted to kill him, and no one was there to stop me. I started to hit him, but it didn't feel like enough. I wanted to get even. So, I dragged him to the top of the stairs and threw him down" Elijah pauses. "He screamed when he reached the bottom and held onto his ankle tightly; he had sprained it. That's when I noticed father stood in the living room doorway."
Hayley swallows nervously, she knows that their father isn't a nice man.
"I expected him to beat me to death. He did no such thing. He simply went into the living room and returned with Niklaus' painting, it had a big scratch down the middle of it, it was ruined. He then pulled the knife that did the damage from behind his back and scratched the painting again before dropping it in front of Niklaus and walking away."
"Poor Klaus" Hayley says, surprising herself and Elijah.
"I felt guilty for throwing him down the stairs, so I carried him back upstairs and tended to his ankle. I apologised and so did he. After that we did not argue again until a certain woman came in between us" Elijah says, referring to Katherine.
Hayley looks down at her ankle and is impressed with how well Elijah has bandaged it. She looks up at him and watches him put the boxes back in their places inside of the cabinet. She thought she had it bad when she was a child, but she had never been told much about any of the Mikaelson's childhoods. All she had ever been told was that they all had it hard growing up, that there was plenty of fighting, there was a lot of negativity in their household and that it all usually stemmed from their father.
It seems to Hayley that out of all of the Mikaelson siblings, Elijah and Klaus have the most strained relationship. And after hearing Elijah's story, she is not surprised. There is a lot of bad history between the two brothers, some of it caused by their father, like in the story Elijah just told her. The rest was most likely caused by Klaus, like the Katherine story. But she can't be too sure that Elijah never caused any trouble between them. Hopefully, she will find out.
Hayley stands up and gently puts her heel down, careful of her new bandage.
"You're good at this" she says and Elijah turns around to see she means dressing her bandage.
"I've had plenty of practice" he says, emotionless.
He looks in the mirror on the back of the door at his ribs. There is quite a large area of black and purple, Klaus didn't go down without a fight. He runs his index finger over the bruised area, testing where it hurts the most.
"Do you think you have broken one of them?" Hayley asks, referring to his ribs.
"None are broken" Elijah tells her and Hayley frowns.
"How do you know?" She asks.
"I've broken ribs before. I know the feeling" he answers simply and opens the door.
Hayley follows Elijah out of the bathroom and wonders whether it was Klaus, or his father who broke his ribs. But she doesn't ask. She follows him into his bedroom and shuts the door behind them. He walks around to his side of the bed and opens the top drawer to pull out some cream.
Hayley limps to the bed and sits down, it's best she doesn't stay up on her ankle for too long. Elijah comes to her side of the bed and stands before her, holding the tube of cream out to her.
"Do you mind?" He asks, wanting her to rub the cream on him.
Hayley gives him the best smile she can manage with her aching face.
"No" she says and takes the tube from him.
Elijah takes his shirt off completely and drapes it onto the bed next to Hayley. She unscrews the lid off the tube and squeezes a blob of cream onto her fingers. She then puts the tube on the bed and puts one hand on Elijah's good side whilst rubbing the cream into his bad side.
Once again, he shows no signs of pain. Hayley guesses this is because he is use to pain. The stories she has heard so far suggest that he is almost immune to pain.
When she has done rubbing the cream in, she gets another blob from the tube and rubs some more in. She hopes that the more she uses, the faster his bruises will heal, but she doubts it. Still, she rubs some more in. She then puts the lid back onto the tube and gives it back to Elijah.
Elijah puts the tube of cream on the bedside table and sits down on the bed next to Hayley. He tucks her hair behind her ear and kisses her shoulder, careful not to give her the wrong idea. He is happy to just sit here and be with her, he doesn't need her to give him anything for him to be happy with her. He hopes that she knows that.
"Do you think Jack will be okay?" Hayley asks, she has been dying to ask all day, but has been too scared of the answer.
Elijah nods.
"If he is anything like you, then he will be perfectly fine" he says, stroking Hayley's cheek with the back of his index finger.
Hayley sighs and nods to herself. Jack is strong, she just hopes that he is strong enough to pull through.
Elijah lies back on the bed and looks up at the ceiling. Hayley turns to look at him and on the inside she smiles. She never thought she would have ever seen this kind of side to Elijah, he is more than just a fancy suit and a posh pair of shoes when he is with her. She runs her hand down his stomach and looks at his ribs for a few seconds before she lies down next to him, taking his arm and wrapping it around her.
She puts her head on his shoulder and holds his arm around her. She feels secure here. Elijah kisses her forehead and holds her tighter, closer.
"You'll need some ice on your nose" he says as he notices the swelling has not gone down.
Hayley looks up at him.
"I think you'll be the one needing the ice, how many hits did you take?" She asks, rhetorically.
"Not enough to break me" Elijah says and Hayley smiles a bit.
Then she plucks up the courage.
"Elijah... how did you break your ribs?"
They sit in silence for a minute and Hayley wonders whether it was wrong for her to ask. Maybe she is being insensitive. It might be something he keeps private. But eventually he answers her.
"My elder brother, Finn and I use to go to kickboxing lessons. We were both undefeated and no matter how many times we faced each other, none of us could ever beat the other. It was a brilliant rivalry. Our father did not think so. He tried to teach Finn how to beat me, but Finn refused. He said he had no interest in beating me, he was happy sharing the number one spot, as was I, until father got into my head" Elijah tells her.
He pauses and Hayley starts to draw shapes on his chest with her finger. He takes a deep breath and carries on.
"He showed me how to mix my kickboxing with a bunch of mixed martial arts combats. And I used every single one of them to defeat my brother the next time we were put into the ring together. I could see the terrible pain Finn was in, but I could also see father in the crowd, he was pleased. So, I carried on. I didn't stop until he passed out."
"Your dad talked you into doing it, Elijah, you can't take all of the blame" Hayley says.
"Father made sure I took all of the blame when we got home" Elijah tells her. "While mother took Finn to the hospital, father took me home. He dragged me into the back garden and tried to make me fight him. I was too frightened to hurt him, so I let him hit me time and time again. He didn't stop until there was a loud crack. He broke two of my ribs."
Hayley moves closer to him.
"That's horrible" she says and he nods.
"He didn't touch me for six months after that. No matter how badly behaved I was, no matter what wrong I did, he did not lay a finger on me during those six months" he tells her.
"What about Finn?" Hayley asks, curiously.
Elijah smirks.
"I offered him justice, I offered him countless free shots, he didn't take any of them. He said that what father did to me was justice enough" Elijah replies.
Hayley raises slightly and leans in for a kiss. The kiss is slow, passionate and romantic. It is short, but filled with the feelings that they share. When Hayley pulls away, she strokes Elijah's prickly chin and gives him a small smile.
"You came out pretty good considering you got a lot of shit off your dad" Hayley says and Elijah chuckles.
He shakes his head.
"I am just as messed up as the rest of them. The only difference is that I keep my demons hidden" he says and leans up, kissing her again.
Hayley happily accepts the kiss and then cuddles back up to him. It has been a long day and she is exhausted. Tomorrow, if she has the courage, she will phone the divorce lawyer. There is no way she is staying in her marriage after today. She will also phone the vets, it's time for Jack to come home.