Klaus starts making plans to try to fix the mess that his family has become, and Hayley breaks up with Declan

~The Path To Forever~

Klaus watched Freya respell the stone in Greta's Daylight Ring to work for Hayley. It was oddly quick. "Are you sure that it's done? That it will work for her?"

"This spell was invented by our mother. I got it directly from her own grimoire. And if anyone can get it to work, it's me. I'm sure, Klaus. Thanks for that vote of confidence, though. I really appreciate it."

"I'm sorry. I'm just feeling a bit punchy, is all."

"Yeah, well… Maybe if you had been around a bit more. Hope missed you. So did I."

"Don't Freya. I know how much of this is my fault. I don't need your reminders."

"Sorry. You aren't the only one feeling a bit punchy. Now, I have to go give my best friend a ring that she shouldn't need." And then she was gone, leaving Klaus alone with his thoughts.

His thoughts, and a box. A box that he did not want to open. He stared at it for several minutes, trying to get up the courage to open it. He already knew what was in it. He picked the box up and put his hand on the lid. But, he couldn't bring himself to open it. To face what had been done to Hayley. Because of him. Because one of his many enemies found the two people he cared about that were the most vulnerable.

But, he couldn't run from this, forever. He was going to have to face the price Hayley had paid for being a Mikaelson in everything but name eventually. He took a deep breath and opened the box. And stared at the small patch of skin nestled inside. The crescent moon birthmark that all of Hayley's pack bore.

Had he seen this earlier, he might have let himself be fooled into thinking it might not have actually been Hayley's. But, he had stood behind her today to help Elijah lower her and Greta to the floor. He had seen the angry scar where this birthmark had been.

That might heal, eventually. After all, she was a vampire. Though, the witch who did this to her might also have hexed it to keep it from healing properly. And, even if it healed, what it had stood for was gone, now. And there was no healing that. She would never allow the ritual necessary to unbind her werewolf side.

Though, Klaus might not give her a choice. Somewhere, there had to be a werewolf and vampire who deserved to die to fix Hayley. It was actually a shame that Elijah had already killed Greta. Using her as the vampire in the unbinding ritual to undo what she herself had done would have been quite fitting. Not that he blamed his older brother for wanting the woman who had hurt Hayley dead.

Of course, the other problem with this was the lack of doppelgangers. So, obviously the spell used to unbind Klaus wasn't going to work. It was a shame that Katherine had been killed. She had been human again, after all. It would have been a beautiful irony to have her escape from him five hundred years ago, just to be used in that same ritual to save Hayley.

Then again, they hadn't used doppelganger blood to bind her, so maybe they wouldn't need doppelganger blood to unbind her. He still couldn't be around Hope. And now that Elijah was back, he couldn't stay in New Orleans, either. Somewhere, there had to be a witch who knew how to undo this. He would make it his mission to find them. And, while he was at it, it was past time that more of them besides Freya and Davina looked for a way to get rid of the Hollow so that they could be a family again.

Especially since he wouldn't be surprised if Vincent was sabotaging Freya's efforts as a way to keep the rest of the Mikaelsons away from New Orleans. It was no secret that he hated all of them. Klaus was actually surprised that he tolerated Freya, Hayley, and Hope.

So, while Klaus looked for a way to get Hayley back, he would look for a way to get his family back, too. He was going to make everything right, again. After all, it was mostly his fault that things were such a mess. Maybe it should be up to him to fix it.

But, apparently he had spent way too much time thinking about this. Because Freya and Hayley came in, then. And Hayley looked like she had been crying. Before he could ask her if she was going to be okay, and tell her not to worry because he was going to find a way to fix this, she had stormed off up the stairs. He heard a door slam a minute later. Part of him wondered how it had taken so long. But, that was a question for later. The more pressing concern was why she was slamming doors to begin with.

"Okay, what was that about? I mean, I understand that she's been through Hell. And nobody knows better than I do how much a werewolf binding hurts. But… she seemed mostly fine when I left her and Elijah together. And she's been with Elijah this whole time. I expected her mood to have improved, not gotten worse."

Freya sat down with a sigh. "Our brother is an idiot. That's pretty much the only explanation I can think of, right now. I honestly have no idea what can possibly be going on in that man's head."

Klaus sat down next to his sister and put an arm around her. "Well, nobody knows Elijah better than I do. So, maybe I can help you figure this out."

"He's not coming here. He didn't say as much, but it's pretty obvious. He kissed her on the cheek, told her to be happy and have the life she deserves, and then walked out. He's going back to France. Hayley is sure that he's going back to Antoinette. And… it actually seems that way. But it doesn't make any sense! You didn't see him, Klaus. He stood right there. Not two feet from where we are now. He stood there and he told me that the only times he's ever felt that scared and helpless were when he thought that Hayley was dead or dying. He stood there and told me that he can't go through that again. He obviously still loves her. The panic in his voice and his eyes when he got his memories back and he realized that she was missing… He loves her. So, why is he going back to France? Why did he tell her to be happy like he's not coming back? What the Hell is going on with him?"

Klaus ran a hand over his eyes. "Knowing Elijah, he's probably being a fucking martyr, again. He's blaming himself for everything, and has decided that Hayley deserves better than him. You're right. He's an idiot. And I feel like going back to France and dragging his ass back here and making him talk to her."

"You can't. You know that you can't. It was bad enough the two of you being together before. You did that because you needed his help to find her and get her back. You need to think rationally again. Hope needs you to think rationally. Any talking you do with Elijah needs to be over the phone, now. You know it has to be that way, Klaus."

"I know. I don't like it, but I know. Dammit! I'm going to murder that man, I swear. The look on Hayley's face when she saw him. It was—How he can possibly think that she's better off without him is beyond me. But, that's the only explanation I can think of for him leaving, again. It's probably why he left the first time."

"Great. So, you know him better than anyone. How do we fix this?"

Before Klaus could answer, there was the sound of an unfamiliar voice calling for Hayley. Freya waved her hand, and the box containing the piece of Hayley's skin that had been cut off closed. She put a finger to her lips. "Declan doesn't know that we aren't human," she whispered, so quietly that only a vampire could have heard her.

He wanted to ask who Declan was, but that was going to have to wait, too. Because then this Declan person was in the room with them.

"Where is Hayley?"

"Probably up in her room. Umm… Declan… I'd like you to meet my brother Klaus."

The man—Declan—stared at him for a minute. "You're Hope's father?"

"I am, yes. And you are?"

Declan smirked and pulled a ring box out of his pocket. "I'm Hope's future stepfather. Now, if you'll excuse me. I need to go talk to my girlfriend."

Klaus watched him walk up the stairs, and then turned to Freya. "I'd almost feel sorry for him, if I didn't already dislike him. But, I don't see this going quite the way he expects."

"Yeah… I honestly doubt she would have said yes even before. Now? Elijah may not want her, or at least that's what she thinks. But, he's still back. All of her old feelings just got dredged up a few hours ago. This is not going to go well for poor Declan. It's a shame. I like him. I mean, not enough to be all that happy about him replacing Elijah, but I like him. He's Cami's cousin, by the way."

Klaus laughed. "Hmm… maybe I should tell him that we have more in common than just the fact that we've both slept with Hayley."

Freya stared at him in horror. "Oh, that'll probably go over really well. He already hates you for leaving Hayley to raise Hope alone. Since he obviously doesn't know why. I'm not sure that telling him that you were also banging his cousin will exactly win you any brownie points with him."

"And why should I care about winning brownie points? As I said, I already dislike him. Plus, I'm the Original hybrid. He should be worried about me, not the other way around."

"You, little brother, are hopeless. Don't make things harder for Hayley than they already are. Okay? Be nice to him for her sake? Plus, Hope likes him. It just might break her heart that he's about to be out of our lives. So, you might want to consider that before you go all Klaus Mikaelson on his ass. Especially since his only crime was to be the one to try to put the pieces back together when our idiot brother broke Hayley's heart."

Yes. Their idiot brother. Who certainly had a lot of explaining to do. Klaus might not be able to go to France and get that explanation in person, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to get one. If nothing else he could give Elijah's dagger to one of Hope's hybrids and have them bring his wayward brother home to talk to Hayley. Not that he was about to let anyone else know about that little plan until it was done. Save himself some arguments.

~The Path To Forever~

Hayley wasn't in her room. She had gone there, stood in her doorway, and looked inside. Looked at the window she had been standing at when Elijah had told her how frightened he had been when he thought they were about to lose her. At the spot they had stood when she finally got up the courage to do what she had wanted to do at least since he had returned from Davina's attic. She closed her eyes and let the memory of the first time she had felt Elijah's lips on hers wash over her.

But, this room was tainted with other memories, too. She and Elijah may have shared their first kiss here, but they had never been naked together in here. This was the room where she and Jackson had consummated their marriage. It was the bed she had shared with Declan. And she didn't want those memories, right now. She wanted Elijah.

She turned and walked down the hall to Elijah's room. Being in here was painful, but it was a good kind of pain. Though, she couldn't help slamming the door closed behind her as she stepped inside. It was a small act of defiance, better suited to her teenage daughter than to the mother and werewolf queen she was supposed to be, but she needed to express her frustration somehow.

She stripped down to her underwear, and then went to the closet and pulled out one of Elijah's shirts and put it on. After seven years, even her senses couldn't pick up his scent, but that was easily fixed. She grabbed his bottle of cologne and sprayed it on his pillow. It wasn't perfect, as a wolf—and then a hybrid—Hayley had always been able to pick up more than just the cologne. There was no way to duplicate the natural scent of Elijah that had always been there underneath the soap, the aftershave, the cologne. But, it was better than nothing. She laid down on Elijah's bed, hugged his pillow to herself and cried herself to sleep.

She woke up to the sound of Declan calling her name. She jumped out of Elijah's bed and walked out into the hallway. Part of her realized how this had to look—her coming out of a room that wasn't her own, wearing nothing but a man's shirt, her hair probably a mess. And he had probably met Klaus. He didn't know about Elijah. Not really. He knew that she had an ex who had broken her heart and abandoned her. And he knew that that ex was Freya's brother. But, they had never clarified which brother. She was pretty sure that he had naturally assumed it was Klaus. After all, he was Hope's father, who wasn't around at all.

He was staring at her. She closed her eyes against the pain in his. Though, she knew that she was going to have to cause him even more pain. She was going to have to break up with him. It wasn't fair to him to keep trying to use him as a substitute for Elijah. No, Elijah didn't want her, anymore. But, that didn't make it right for her to keep Declan around as her consolation prize. But, just because she was going to have to break his heart didn't mean that she had to let him think she had cheated on him, too. "This… it isn't what it looks like."

To her surprise, he nodded. "I'd like to think that Freya would have warned me about what I might find up here if you had spent the time I was gone in your ex's bed."

Her heart clenched at the unintended accuracy in his words. The truth was that she had spent the past hour or so in her ex's bed. She had just been there alone. "I've just had a really long couple of days, and this helps. I wish I could explain it better."

"Yeah." There was understanding in his eyes, but sadness, too. Then again, how could she blame him. He probably realized what was coming. After all, she had just admitted that when she was feeling down, she went into a room other than the one she shared with him. She put on a man's shirt that wasn't his. It wasn't him that she did her best to feel close to.

He looked down. "I… I was going to…" He closed his eyes. And then he pulled a ring box out of his pocket. "I had gone back to Dublin to get my grandmother's engagement ring."

She put her hand to her mouth. "Declan, I… I don't know what to say."

"Just tell me one thing. Is this because of Klaus? Because he's back? After everything he did to you…"

Hayley closed her eyes. "It was never about Klaus. Hope was conceived in a drunken one night stand. This… this is about Elijah. Klaus's brother."

He blinked at her. "The ex that you were so hung up on is Hope's uncle?"

"God! When you put it like that, you make it sound so sordid. But, yes. I… I came to New Orleans to try to find my family. Instead, I found Hope's family. I found Elijah. And I fell in love with him. And then he left. He had to, really. It's too complicated to explain. But, he had to leave. They all did. But, Elijah… when he left, he took my heart with him. And, then I met you. And I thought that I could… not forget, because you don't forget something like that. Like what we had together. But, I thought that I could move on. I knew I would never love you the way I loved him. You only fall in love for the first time once. You know? But, I thought that I could love you enough. I really did think I could. And, a part of me did love you. Does love you. But, just…"

"Just not enough."

"Elijah's back. We aren't back together. I don't think that will ever happen. But, he's back. I can't explain what that means, or where he was. But… I saw him, today. I saw him, and the past seven years just melted away. I saw him, and I realized that I could never love anyone else. Not enough. Not enough to ask him to spend his life married to someone who would always be wishing that he was someone else. Because it's always going to be Elijah. And I'm sorry, Declan. I am so sorry. I wish I had realized sooner. I just need you to know that I didn't mean to lead you on. I really did think I could come to love you enough. And I'm so sorry." And then she burst into tears.

"He's an idiot. Any man that would willingly walk away from you is an idiot. And the truth is, that this would actually be easier if you were back with him. At least then I could console myself that at least you were happy. But knowing that you're walking away for a memory… I understand, Hayley. I think a part of me always knew it would come to this. Even as I went to Ireland to get this ring, there was a part of me that knew that you would never wear it. But, I had to try. I would have gladly spent my life with you, even knowing that you wished I was him. I guess I'm just that much of a martyr. Do me a favor?"

"What?"

"Don't keep me from Hope?"

Hayley gave a humorless laugh. "She's fifteen. And she inherited her grandmother's… stubbornness. I couldn't keep you from her if I wanted to. And, honestly, I'm glad that you don't want to cut her out of your life, too. She loves you, you know."

"Yeah, I know. I just wish that her mother did, too. Be happy, Hayley. Go find this guy, tell him how you feel. Don't give up without a fight."

"We'll see. Maybe I will. Eventually. Not right now, though. I have a lot of things I need to process, first."

He shook his head. "It's kind of ironic, really."

"What is?"

"Me giving you advice I have no intention of taking, myself. I'm not going to fight for you, Hayley. Not because I don't love you, but because I do. You know the saying, right? I'm letting you go. And I know you won't come back. I know that you were never really mine. I guess I always did." He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. "Be happy, Hayley. I mean it. Fix this."

She smiled. "Thank you. And I really am sorry."

He just nodded and walked down the stairs, leaving her alone with her thoughts—and Elijah's ghost.

~The Path To Forever~

"Your brother is an idiot."

"Tell me something I don't know. What happened?"

Declan scoffed. "What happened is that I'm stupid. I went up there to propose. To a woman who was trying to figure out how to break up with me. Because your brother is an idiot."

"Yes, well. I would apologize, but… those two have been circling around each other for sixteen years. It was always going to be Hayley and Elijah in the end. I don't think that even death can ever truly tear them apart. They're soulmates. They were destined for each other. And that was written in the stars a very long time ago."

Freya laughed. "I never pegged you as a hopeless romantic, little brother."

"Oh, I have my moments. Declan, I'm not going to pretend to be sorry when I'm not. As I said, Hayley has always been destined for Elijah. But, that doesn't mean that I am totally without manners. I have some excellent scotch in the cellar if you need a drink or ten."

"Maybe another time. But, right now, drinking with the brother of the man who stole my girl doesn't sound like my idea of a good time. I really don't need to listen to your talk of soulmates and destiny right now. Not while I'm still trying to pick up the pieces of my broken heart. But, give me a few days, and I might take you up on it."

"Well, unfortunately, I'll be leaving town again, soon. It was nice meeting you, Declan. Sorry things didn't go the way you wanted them to."

When Declan left, Freya turned to look at Klaus. "Are you really leaving? You don't have to. Hope is away at school, and with Elijah back in France, there's no real reason you can't stay for a while. I've missed you, brother."

"Unfortunately, I do have to leave. But, this won't be like last time. I'll keep in touch. And I'll call Hope, fix things with her. But, I have things I need to do."

"Like what?"

"Like finding a way to undo what was done to Hayley. For starters." He stood up. "But, before I leave, I should probably go have a little chat with Hayley."

~The Path To Forever~

Hayley went back into Elijah's room after her confrontation with Declan. After breaking the heart of a man whose only crime was loving her and trying to help her move on from a man who meant more to her than he could have possibly realized, she needed to feel close to Elijah more than ever. Plus, she could hardly go into her own room after that.

It was only a few minutes before she wasn't alone. She looked up when she heard the door open, to find Klaus standing there, looking at her. She gave him a sad smile. "I'm guessing you heard."

"I did, Little Wolf." Hayley winced at that, and Klaus shook his head. "Sorry, but that will always be your nickname. Like I said earlier, you will always be my little wolf. You might as well get used to that."

"At this point, I really don't even know what hurts the most. I…" She closed her eyes, trying to get her brain to function enough to form coherent sentences. "I lost so much, today, Klaus. I lost being a wolf. I lost Elijah. I lost the damn fairy tale I'd been living in for the past seven years. No, not for the past seven years. The past sixteen years. The fairy tale I've been living in from the moment I laid eyes on him."

"You want to tell me about this fairy tale of yours?"

Hayley gave a humorless laugh. "Oh, you know the one. Girl meets boy. Girl and boy fight dragons together. And then they live happily ever after. I mean, the past seven years added a fun twist to it. Boy gets amnesia. Girl finds boy wandering lost in the woods. Boy falls in love with girl all over again. They live happily ever after. I just wanted my happily ever after, Klaus. Was that really so much to ask? Don't I deserve that?"

Klaus sighed and walked the rest of the way into the room to sit next to her on Elijah's bed. "Of course you do. You deserve that more than almost anybody I know. And you deserve it with Elijah. The two of you have been through so much. You do deserve that. Something is going on with him, Hayley. I really don't think his leaving again is because of Antoinette. I think it's just Elijah being Elijah. We'll fix this. You'll see. I can't go to him again. I've already risked far too much, and we're lucky that that didn't blow up in our faces. But, I have his phone number, now. I'll make him talk to me. I'll fix this for you. I promise."

"Don't bother. I don't want anybody forcing him… If he doesn't want to be with me anymore, then that's that. I want him to be happy, too. And, I guess that what happened in Freya's pendant and… what happened after Freya's pendant… I guess that was just too much for him. I guess I found the one thing that Elijah can never forgive me for. And I can hardly blame him. I was such a bitch to him. Over something that wasn't even really him. I pushed him away, threw away everything we had, the future we had planned together, over who he had been a thousand years ago. And I don't blame him for hating me for that. I hate me, too."

And then Klaus's arms were around her. "Hayley don't. Elijah doesn't hate you. He loves you. He has always loved you. I don't know what's going on with him, but this is not about him not loving you. You have to believe that. He loves you. If you don't believe me, then ask Freya. Ask her what he said when he got his memories back. Ask her how he reacted to seeing…" He trailed off then, but his fingers brushed against her scar, and she knew what he wasn't saying.

"They sent my birthmark here?"

He nodded against her head. "They did. Had it delivered to Freya. I've seen it. And so has Elijah. And he kind of lost it. You saw him, today, Hayley. The man is a thousand years old, and I can probably count on my fingers the number of times he has acted without thinking. Today, when he saw you, was one of those times. He loves you, Hayley. Whatever may be going on in his head, right now, never doubt that he loves you."

She just nodded and held onto him. And cried. She wasn't sure if she was crying for herself, or for the future that she still didn't believe she would ever have. Or if she was really crying for Elijah. For whatever pain he was in, right now. But, she had one tiny scrap of hope. Klaus was the least tactful person she knew. She couldn't imagine him just telling her what she wanted to hear if he didn't truly believe it, himself. And so she clung to his words like a liferaft, and prayed that somehow, everything would be okay and Elijah would come back to her.