Hey guys! Long time! I am so sorry for my absence. It's been far too long but I have been absolutely swamped with work. Being a teacher is very exhausting. I hope this chapter makes up for my absence. I have no ides when the next update will be as I will only be able to write during my very limited spare time but I promise to try to update during my next break from school :)
I am totally in love with the Originals! And with Haley/Elijah 3
Big thank you to everyone who reviewed on the last chapter :)
"What are you going to do?" Elijah asked his younger brother; watching the blonde-haired man pace furiously up and down the office.
Klaus held his hands in his hair, fists balled, frustrated by the predicament he had found himself in. How could he have been so stupid? So utterly foolish? He thought to himself. In one moment his whole life had changed. His plans for a future with Lacy were now in tatters.
"I don't know, Elijah!" Klaus yelled.
Throwing himself down onto the couch in his brother's office, Klaus held his face in his hand and sighed heavily. The pressure he felt to make a decision made him feel like he was being crushed; suffocated by the weight of the entire world.
Sitting next to his younger brother, Elijah placed a hand on the troubled man's shoulder and frowned. He could only imagine how much turmoil Klaus was experiencing in that moment. He himself had never been faced with such a situation, but he suspected that a large majority of Klaus's anger, confusion and worry was not to do with the fear of the situation itself but with Lacy and how she would react upon hearing the news. Elijah was not sure the friendship between the two would survive.
"Niklaus, this isn't going to just go away. You need to face up to your responsibilities and make a choice."
"Don't you think I know that?! This wasn't supposed to happen for god's sake!"
"But it did and you have no other option. You need-"
Klaus cut Elijah off when a menacing stare.
"The only thing I need to do is find Lacy and make sure no-one tells her."
"Klaus-"
"Elijah, she can't know. Not until I have a chance to tell her how I feel!"
"And what would that be, brother?" Elijah enquired, quizzing; already suspecting the truth as he had done for months.
His entire body running on adrenaline and fear, Klaus froze for a split second - realising just what he had let slip from his mouth - before composing himself as best he could and shaking his head furiously at Elijah.
"I need to find her." he stated, finally, before storming from the room and leaving his older brother behind to ponder not only upon Klaus's predicament but on the future of his friendship with Lacy.
Kol stared longingly at Lacy as he watched her interact with his only sister; the two women discussing the events of Rebekah's birthday party just a week before. Little progress had been made for Kol in gaining Lacy's full affections and he grew ever more frustrated and desperate with each day that passed. He had spent many nights silently cursing himself; half wishing that he had never met the woman who had come to mean so much to me. If he had never met her, he would never have cared for her and if he had never had cared for her, he wouldn't have fallen so hopelessly in love with her and be experiencing the sting of longing and unrequited love. It had meant to be nothing but physical want but somewhere along the way, Kol had fallen hard for Lacy.
"Hello, Lacy."
The polite tones of Esther Mikaelson, the matriarch of the Mikaelson family, rang out and caught the attention of Lacy and the two youngest siblings. As each one turned to see the woman enter the room, Lacy did not fail to notice the fleeting look of disapproval which covered Esther's elegant, still youthful looking face. It was no secret that both Mikaelson parents did not care for Lacy, nor did they approve of her closeness with each of their children but, for the sake of each child, Esther tolerated the presence of the young brunette woman.
It was not that she hated the girl. No, not in any sense of the word. It was more that she saw her as the major obstacle to a reconciliation with Klaus; her lost son. Esther firmly believed that if it were not for her son's bond with Lacy then he would have returned fully to the family flock years before.
"Hello, Esther. How are you?" Lacy replied, smiling her best smile.
"I'm very well. Did you enjoy Rebekah's birthday party?"
"I did, thanks."
The conversation ended there and awkward silence quickly followed; filling the air like thick black smoke that choked the oxygen out of the atmosphere.
Finally, Lacy spoke.
"Well… it was lovely to see you again, Esther but I'd better get home."
Making to leave, Lacy bid goodbye to Rebekah, hugging the girl warmly, and smiled her farewell to Kol. Her hand was barely on the door handle when she heard the Mikaelson mother address her once more.
"Please tell Niklaus it would be nice to see him more often."
Pausing for a few seconds, Lacy nodded.
"I will."
Leaving the Mikaelson Manor, Lacy shut the door quickly behind her and sighed with relief. She always felt slightly ashamed whenever she lied to Esther yet she felt no remorse. She would not pass the message on to Klaus. He was better off without his parents. They had done enough damage and Lacy had been vowing for years that she would not allow them to do any more.
Anxious. Afraid. Nervous. There were so many emotions toiling around inside of Klaus that he felt physically sick, as he waited for Lacy to return to the home they shared.
Did he really have the courage for this? To admit to Lacy just how deeply his feelings for her ran? Did he really have a choice, he thought. Time was of the essence and it was vital that he told her now before it was too late and he lost his chance. He hoped - he prayed - that Lacy was love him back and that, that love would be enough to get them through the news he had for her. Would she stand by him? Was it fair of him to expect her to?
Klaus was torn from his spiral of thoughts and doubt by the arrival of the one woman he had been waiting so desperately for.
"Hi, Nik" Lacy yelled out as she shut the front door and shrugged her jacket off; throwing it over the sofa that sat in the corner of the room.
Klaus was by her side within seconds.
"Woah, personal space." joked Lacy.
His lips crashed into hers the very moment her sentence was finished and Lacy almost choked on air with surprise. Klaus's arms had locked themselves around her waist and pulled her body so close into his, that she could feel every contour of his chest through the material of both of their shirts.
He kissed her with the vigour of a drowning man trying to gasp helplessly for air and the sheer force of it almost knocked Lacy sideways.
"What are you doing?" Lacy finally managed to mumble as Klaus's lips continued to mash against hers.
Klaus stopped. Only for a second. He did not reply. Instead, he rested his forehead against Lacy's and took one deep breath before beginning his attack with his lips once more.
Her mind was screaming at her. What on earth had gotten into Klaus? Why was she questioning it so much when Klaus kissing her so passionately had been something she'd been dreaming of for so long? Still, though, she couldn't help herself and as she felt Klaus's hands graze down her sides and push ever so tentatively under the rim of her shirt and splay across the warm skin of her tummy, she pulled her lips away from his.
"Nik-"
"I love you."
Lacy stood, for a moment, with Klaus's arms still wrapped around her waist, stunned. Her heart was pounding at a furious pace and her entire body was rushing with adrenaline. Klaus was declaring his love for her. Was it all just a cruel trick her mind was playing on her or had she actually heard him correctly? Did Klaus really love her?
"I know it's sudden but it's true. I love you and I hope that you're in love with me."
Vulnerable. That's how Klaus felt in that second. Never had he ever declared his love for someone in such a way. Never had he ever been in love with a woman like he was with Lacy. He was pouring out his inner most feelings and hoping desperately that the girl he had called his best friend for the majority of his life thus far, would not smash his heart into pieces.
"You love me?"
"Yes."
"For how long? How long have you loved me?"
Klaus loosened his grip on Lacy slightly and paused briefly before answering
"Most of my life."
"And you never told me?" Lacy replied, her voice rising a little.
"I was scared."
"Of what? That I'd reject you?"
"Yes!"
"Niklaus Mikaelson! I have stuck with you through everything! I have given my time and my energy and god only knows what else! I have been there for you when no-one else was and you didn't think I deserved to know that you're in love with me?! You selfish, arrogant, son of a -"
Klaus cut of Lacy's rant with a press of his lips. He found her anger to highly amusing and couldn't contain the small shot of laughter that escaped his mouth, and earned him another telling off.
"This isn't funny! We could have been together years ago. Do you have any idea how much it hurts to see you with other women?! But no, of course not because you only think about yourself!"
Another bout of laughter left Klaus and he struggled to keep his beaming smile in check as he gazed upon a highly flustered and annoyed Lacy.
"You love me too."
"Well of course I do, you selfish jackass!"
"You love me."
"Yes!"
"Then be mine."
It was Lacy's turn to laugh.
"Nik, don't you get it? I've always been yours."
Elijah woke suddenly as the shrill ringing of his phone filled the morning air of his bedroom. Groaning at the early hour, he paid little attention to the caller id and answered with a gruff hello. The voice which greeted him caused his spirits to lift and Elijah found himself smiling.
"Good morning, Elijah."
"Good morning, Haley. What can I do for you?"
"Breakfast. You, me, coffee."
His smile widening, Elijah couldn't help but feel ecstatic as he listened to the young woman ramble on and make plans for breakfast for the two of them. Haley. Now there was trouble, Elijah thought to himself. She was a sweet woman. Funny, sarcastic, spontaneous and extremely caring and beautiful. He golden brown locks that stopped just past her shoulders enticed him whenever he saw them move, and her brown eyes held just a speckle of green and shined brightly whenever she flashed a smile.
Everything about Haley called to Elijah but she was not his. She belonged to no-one as much as Elijah desired her to do so. A part of him suspected that if he claimed Haley as his own the woman would not resist, but something was stopping him and that something was their age difference. At eight years his juniour, Haley was just too young for the oldest Mikaelson child. He knew that neither his father nor mother would approve of his affections for the young woman.
"Elijah? Are you there?"
Realising he'd gotten himself lost in his thoughts for longer than he should have allowed, Elijah shook his head lightly and responded to Haley.
"Sorry. Yes, I'm here. Coffee sounds great. Meet at my office in an hour?"
"Perfect."
Lacy typed away at the computer on her desk, paying little attention to the menial task Elijah had set her for the workday, with a smile so wide it was causing her cheeks to ache. But she couldn't stop. Happiness was overwhelming everything within her. Klaus was hers and she was his. Their night had been spent making such passionate love that when both had awoke that very morning they were left speechless.
"Hello, love."
Lifting her head, Lacy was met with the beaming face of Klaus; his blue eyes sparkling with love at her. He wasted no time and did not allow her to answer before leaning over the desk and planting a soft kiss on the woman's lips.
"What was that for?" Lacy asked, grinning, referring to the unexpected kiss she had received from the man she know called her own.
Klaus did not answer but instead, gifted the woman he loved so deeply with another smile before heading off to his office to complete the work he still had set for the day.
It was a few hours later, as Lacy was shutting down her computer and gathering together her things that she heard her name being called. She looked up to find herself face to face with a person she had not seen in many months and the smile she had been wearing all day long finally faltered.
"Congratulations, brother." said Elijah as he hugged his younger brother.
It had been extremely evident to Elijah, from the second he had witnessed Lacy and Klaus enter the building that morning holding hands, that his brother had finally plucked up the courage to tell the woman his real feelings for her. And, just as Elijah had always suspected, Lacy had clearly returned those feelings too.
He couldn't help but feel ecstatic for Klaus. If there was any member of his family that deserved happiness it was Klaus. Yet, there was still the matter of the predicament that faced the blonde haired man to address.
"Thank you, Elijah." Klaus beamed back.
"Niklaus" Elijah began, clearing his throat. "I'm very happy for you but there is still the matter of-"
"Yes, I know."
"You need to tell Lacy."
"I know that, brother. I will but just not yet."
"Niklaus…."
"Not yet."
Klaus's word was final and he sighed heavily before holding the office door open for his older brother and following the man out. All Klaus wanted was to get to Lacy. Within just a minute Klaus was graced with the sight of his newly girlfriend's figure and smiled despite the fact that she had her back to him.
His smile, however, was gone within seconds when he realised who Lacy was talking to.
"Klaus."
Caroline's voice rang out and Klaus watched in horror as Lacy turned to face him with a look of sheer betrayal plastered on her beautiful face. There was no other way to describe it. It was clear that Lacy was wounded and how could she not be when Caroline was stood there, her hands placed gently on her very prominent baby bump.