After staring at Rebekah for a good minute, Hayley finally regains control of her body and drops the pregnancy test back into the sink. She should hide it, or throw it in the bin, or do whatever the other hundreds of women do when they find out they are having a baby with a man they haven't even known for a year. But Elijah is home, and after the initial shock of him arriving at a very inconvenient time, that is all that matters, that he is home.
She wastes no time exiting the bathroom as fast as she can without running and makes her way downstairs. Elijah is stood there by the front door, still in last nights clothes and looking rather nervous. Hayley doesn't care though, she makes it down the last few steps and takes the final steps before she wraps her arms tightly around Elijah's neck. She holds on to him tightly, letting him know just how much she worried about him without having to use her words.
Elijah doesn't return the hug straight away. He seems like he is too tense, too unsettled for the intimacy, but after a few more seconds, Hayley feels his arms wrap around her. She smiles as she feels his hands come to rest on her back, one on her higher back, one on her lower back, both holding her slightly tighter than usual.
Rebekah watches from the top of the stairs, debating whether she should give them a moment alone, or not. She can tell from the look on Elijah's face that something happened last night that he definitely won't want to talk about when she questions him on it later. Just that alone makes her want to go down and hug him herself, let him know that even after whatever it is he has done, she will always be here for him. But Hayley probably needs this moment more than she does right now. Especially after what she has just found out from one of Rebekah's little white sticks. So, she makes her way to her bedroom and decides that she and her brother can talk later.
Hayley hears Rebekah's bedroom door shut, but doesn't think much of it. She is glad that the blonde has given her some time to be alone with Elijah, even if she comes out again in ten minutes, the alone time is appreciated.
Hayley nuzzles her face into Elijah's neck and inhales deeply. She feels a small wave of content take over her body as she catches the scent of his usual expensive fragrance. Even though she thinks he pays way too much money for a simple bottle of cologne, she absolutely loves the smell of it and she honestly wouldn't have it any other way.
She wishes she could say she feels happy right now in this moment. But with the little life inside of her, that is currently resting in between them, threatening to possibly ruin them, she can not say that happiness is what she feels. She definitely feels content and maybe just about fine, but happy can not be used to describe Hayley at this moment in time.
"Are you okay?" Elijah speaks right next to her ear and it sends shivers down her spine.
Hayley moves her head back from the hug so she can look into his eyes. She looks over his face, checking for any scratches, marks, or any signs that he has been fighting. When she is satisfied that he is free from any injuries, she nods.
Elijah nods his head in acknowledgement and then his gaze shifts to look at the top of her head. She assumes that he is looking for her head wound and she brings one hand down from his shoulder to rest on his chest.
"It's barely a scratch" Hayley says, but Elijah doesn't look convinced.
"Show me" his tone is so soft and gentle that she can't say no.
Hayley bends her head downwards, almost leaning it against Elijah's chest so that he can see the wound. She is now staring down at his shiny shoes and hoping that he won't worry more than he has to. He doesn't say anything, but she does feel his fingers on her head, just next to the wound. His other hand stays on her waist, anchoring her to him.
"I could take you to hospital" Elijah offers and Hayley immediately shakes her head.
She looks back up at him.
"No, it's fine. The last thing I need is a bunch of doctors poking and prodding me right now."
He understands and nods.
They stare at each other in silence for what feels like an awfully long time and it makes Hayley feel nervous. She bites her bottom lip as flashes of a white stick with two red lines marking it flash through her mind. She should tell him. She has to tell him. But is now really the best time to tell her potential murderer (depending on what he was doing last night), kind of boyfriend, kind of not, that she is having his baby?
Maybe there will never be a right time and she should just blurt it out.
"Coffee?" Elijah asks.
Hayley nods and Elijah walks into the kitchen. Hayley follows slowly, her brain working so hard with the constant overthinking that it is failing to actually take her to her desired destination.
After an embarrassing slow walk, Hayley finally makes it to the table in the kitchen. She sits down in one of the chairs and sighs as she looks up at Elijah, who currently has his back to her. He is looking out of the window while waiting for the coffee machine to produce.
Hayley bites her lip again and leans back in her chair as she looks at Elijah. Rebekah is right: he is a good man. Even though he took part in the affair, even though he has done bad things in his life, he is a good man. Everyone has done bad things in their life, anyone who says that they have not is a liar. Doing bad things does not make someone a bad person, not if they are good the rest of the time. But what if he has killed someone... that would probably change things.
She has no idea where Elijah went last night and she has no idea what he was doing. All she knows is that he was likely with the man who assaulted her and after seeing how he treated Klaus the last time the three of them were in a room together, it makes her wonder just how fair Elijah is willing to go to protect her. Hopefully, not too far.
Hayley is just about to bring up last night when Elijah turns to face her and beats her to it.
"I'm sorry I was absent all night" he says, leaning against the counter with his back.
Hayley bites her lip because she has no idea what to say. Elijah takes her silence as her wanting him to explain more, so he does.
"I was taking care of some business... personal business."
Hayley swallows nervously and nods. She knows exactly what that means and she can already feel her nerves threatening to bubble over and burn her from the inside out. She has to be stronger than that. She has to say something.
"What happened?" She finds herself asking before she can stop herself.
Elijah holds his breath because this is not a conversation he wants to be having with Hayley. But he has no choice. This conversation was inevitable from the moment he saw what that man had done to Hayley.
"Do you want brutal honesty, or a very convincing lie?" Elijah asks. He has both prepared.
Hayley frowns slightly as if she doesn't understand the question. Elijah knows that she does understand though, she is a very smart woman despite what her high school grades might have to say about her intelligence.
"I want the truth" she says as expected.
Elijah nods his head and turns away from her to pour the coffee into the two cups on the side. He pours coffee into both cups and then moves around the table, coming to sit down in the chair next to Hayley. A part of him considers that she might not want him this close to her, but he decides that he would rather be sat close to her whilst having this conversation.
He holds out a cup to Hayley and she takes it, giving him a small and quick smile as a thank you. She instantly takes a sip from the cup, but then thinks back to this one magazine she read that said something about coffee being bad for the baby during pregnancy and she puts the cup down on the table instantly. She will definitely be googling whether that is true, or not later.
"I took the man who assaulted you somewhere quiet and we discussed our mutual interests" Elijah says and Hayley thinks he is being far too formal and distance for it to be that easy.
"And that was it? Come on, Elijah, no conversation lasts that long. What really happened?" Hayley asks.
Elijah lets out a small sigh and looks down at his coffee cup. His body language is helping Hayley calm her nerves in no way whatsoever. No matter what words leave his mouth, Hayley knows that more happened than him and some random guy having a chat. And if he won't tell her what happened, then she will have to push it out of him.
"Did you kill him?" Hayley asks, bluntly.
Elijah's eyes shoot up to hers and he honestly seems shocked that she has asked.
"No" he answers.
Hayley's nerves calm slightly and she lets out a breath she didn't realise she was holding. At least he didn't become a murderer last night. That makes her feel more encouraged to tell him about the baby, which she is sure all the burning nerves and stress won't help with.
"What is it then?" She pauses, giving him the chance to answer. He still doesn't. "Did you rough him up a bit? Hit him, beat him?"
"A slight bit more than beat him, but that seems like an adequate term to use" he says.
Hayley knows that what Elijah means to say is that he tortured the man, but that isn't something she is sure she can hear. She is definitely sure that he is talking about torture when she sees a tiny spot of dried blood on the sleeve of his jacket. She considers pointing it out to him so she knows that he definitely knows that she knows what he is talking about. She decides against that and carries on with the conversation.
"What did he tell you?" She asks, which seems to shock Elijah.
Maybe he was expecting her to shout, or argue with him. She really isn't in the mood for any of that though and just wants to know any information Elijah might have gotten from the man. Besides, as long as they are both safe, nothing about last night matters.
"He was given a job by a man named Tony Castle to abduct you" Elijah tells her.
Hayley frowns, "I don't know any one called Tony."
Elijah takes a sip from his cup.
"Neither do I, but I have an inkling that he is part of the gang Kol socialises with" he says.
"What makes you think that?" She asks, wanting proof that Kol is involved.
"Kol had some of the gang members attack me on behalf of Niklaus, there is nothing to stop him from having the same thing done to you" he explains and Hayley sees the logic behind it.
Elijah takes another sip from his cup.
"Kol was never cruel to me, why would he side with Klaus?" Hayley asks, looking for answers that she realises Elijah might not have.
"He has always sided with Niklaus" Elijah says.
Hayley expects him to say more, but does not question him when he doesn't. Maybe there isn't more to that story, it might just be as simple as Klaus and Kol always side with each other. Or, there could be a deeper story there to be investigated, but now is not the time to be asking about that.
"I truly am sorry about last night" Elijah says and Hayley looks up to look into his honest, brown eyes. "I know I should have been here with you, not out there...". He looks like he wants to say more, but he doesn't. He leaves his sentence unfinished and Hayley is just fine with that.
She takes the coffee cup from his hand and places it next to hers on the table. She then takes his hand in hers, pretending not to notice the slight bruising of his knuckles. She holds his hand in both of hers and gives him a small smile.
"Don't be sorry. We had to find out what he wanted with me somehow" she says, and she means it.
Elijah suddenly seems quite tense again and he leans his elbows on his knees as he puts his free hand over Hayley's hands that are still holding his other hand. He puts their joined hands to his lips for a few seconds, but doesn't do anything else, almost like he is scared of pushing her too far.
He looks up at her and Hayley is sure she can see fear in his eyes. Like a real genuine sense of fear.
"I'm not like that." He pauses and swallows, his eyes looking teary. "I don't do stuff like that, not anymore. And I understand if you don't want to be involved with me anymore, if I crossed a line-"
Hayley shakes her head and he stops speaking. She is glad that he has shut up because she doesn't want him thinking that he has pushed her away. He has made her worry, he has made her panic a bit, he has made her want to ask about the "not anymore", but he hasn't pushed her away. Yes, he was out torturing a man last night, but he did that for her.
Hayley also leans forwards, stopping when their faces are almost within touching distance. She also removes one of her hands from his and places it on his face, rubbing her thumb gently over his cheek.
"Don't say that" she tells him.
He looks confused, but less worried and tense.
"I'm not going anywhere" she says, just to confirm that he hasn't lost her because he doesn't seem to understand that he hasn't.
Elijah nods his head in acknowledgement and lets out a sigh of relief. He then presses his forehead against Hayley's and she moves her other hand from his. She bites her lip and places her hand on his chest, grabbing a handful of his t-shirt before she pulls him closer to her. Their lips meet in a slow, but very passionate kiss.
It honestly takes everything that Hayley has in her to not drag Elijah to his feet and upstairs. Because even after everything that has been said and everything that still needs to be said, he is home and he is safe. To Hayley that is all that she cares about right now and she would love to carry things on upstairs to show Elijah that she isn't going anywhere, but two things are suddenly shooting through her mind. One of them being that sex is exactly how she got herself into her current predicament, so maybe it is best to lay of it for a short while, and two being that Rebekah is roaming around the house somewhere just waiting to jump out and yell "Hayley's pregnant!", which unfortunately doesn't work very well for Hayley.
Hayley pulls away from the kiss slowly and Elijah doesn't protest, still hesitant after their conversation. She leans back in and gives him one last quick kiss before she pulls away from him completely, sitting back in her chair. He also sits back in his chair, picking his coffee cup back up and taking a sip from it.
"Where's Rebekah?" Elijah asks, changing the subject.
Hayley knows she has to get to Rebekah before Elijah does so she doesn't blabber mouth to him. She has the perfect plan already in mind as well and she has no doubt it will work.
"I think she is in her room. I'm actually gonna take a bath, so I'll go get her for you if you want?" She offers, hoping he will take the bait.
Which of course, he does.
Elijah nods and Hayley gives him another small smile. She stands up and walks forwards, coming to stand in between his legs. She then wraps an arm around his neck and he looks up at her as his free hand comes to rest on the small of her back. She smirks down at him and hugs his head to her stomach for a few seconds before she moves his head for him to look back up at her again.
"Join me in the bath when you're done talking to Rebekah" she says, not sounding too demanding.
Elijah smirks up at her and she has to bite her lip to control the almost massive smile she lets out. That is definitely her most favourite Elijah smirk. It is full of cheekiness and charm and she absolutely loves it.
"I'll make sure it's a very short conversation" he tells her, still smirking.
Hayley chuckles and leans down to give him a quick kiss. She then leaves her spot in between his legs and makes her way out of the kitchen. She is rather gutted that she didn't get to have her coffee, but she hasn't googled about how it will effect the baby yet and she really wants to be sure rather than just risk it.
She runs up the stairs and walks to Rebekah's bedroom door, which is just slightly open. She knocks twice and pokes her head around the door to see Rebekah sat on her bed. She has her phone in her hand and a lottery ticket in the other.
Hayley assumes she is checking the numbers and asks, "did you win?"
Rebekah does a fake laugh and says, "did I fuck. When do I ever get that lucky?"
Hayley smiles and steps into the room, keeping one hand on the door knob.
"How is he then?" Rebekah asks, referring to Elijah.
"He's fine. He wants to speak to you actually" Hayley tells the blonde.
Rebekah rolls her eyes and Hayley smiles, but frowns.
"What?" Hayley asks.
"He's going to quiz me on whether I was a good nurse to you last night" Rebekah says.
Hayley chuckles and shakes her head.
"I doubt it, he's probably just going to fill you in on everything."
"I hope so" Rebekah says, dropping the lottery ticket on her bed. She then picks up a white stick and Hayley's heart beats a little faster when she realises what it is in Rebekah's hand. "So, are we just going to ignore the elephant in the room?"
"You can't tell him, or anyone" Hayley says, her tone very serious.
"I thought you were going to tell him" Rebekah says, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah, but not now" she tells the blonde.
"Why the bloody hell not?" Rebekah asks. Anyone else would be slightly offended by her choice of tone, but Hayley knows better than to take it to heart.
"Because he has been up torturing that guy who attacked me all night, so I don't think he wants to come home to me stood there with a white stick in one hand and a 'I'm having your baby, you're going to be a daddy' balloon" Hayley says, quite dramatically.
Rebekah smiles at the thought and knows that buying a balloon with those exact words on will be what she does when Hayley tells Elijah about the baby.
"Alright, I won't tell him" Rebekah says, genuinely.
Hayley nods and says, "thank you."
Rebekah then drops the pregnancy test from her hand. Hayley points to the test.
"You need to get rid of that."
Rebekah frowns.
"Erm, how?" She asks.
"Hide it, bin it, destroy it. I don't care, just don't let anyone see it" Hayley says before she walks out.
Rebekah lets out a huff after Hayley has gone and looks down at the test. Her eyes suddenly widen and she looks down at her hands in disgust before looking at the pregnancy test again.
"She pissed on that and let me touch it the bloody scruff" she mutters to herself.