Hello, my lovely readers. This chapter is dedicated to MGtv. We're still in Vegas and will be through Ch. 15, before the story takes a dramatic twist. On with the show…
Chapter 13: What Happens In Vegas…Part II
Yet, again, Hayley Marshall felt herself being reminded of why she did not see herself walking down the aisle. Weddings were ridiculous occasions in which you spent far too much money, someone ended up hooking up with someone who was not good for them and Hayley caught the bouquet before shoving it into the face of someone like Rebekah. (And one occasion had been Rebekah.) So, yes, weddings bad.
"Good job, guys!" Hayley hissed at both Mikaelson brothers.
Klaus gave Hayley a long, danger-filled glower, his lids hooded and his entire posture telling her that he might spring on her. Well, that was too damned bad. Hayley didn't care what Klaus thought.
Sending a look Elijah's way—trying to convey both her desire to help him ice his jaw and knowing that where she ought to be was with Caroline—and spinning on her heel to head for the elevator.
"Where are you going?" Klaus demanded, stomping after Hayley. "You're not going to fill Caroline's head with nonsense about how to take my child from me, you blasted lawyer!" He was waving, and his face transitioned through several colors of sunset before settling on a violent red. "Hayley!" Klaus thundered, grabbing Hayley's shoulder as she furiously punched at the elevator door button.
Whirling on her heel, Hayley spat in Klaus' face, "Get the hell off of me!"
Taking a half-step back, Klaus recoiled before his eyes darkened and he tightened his grip. "You are not going anywhere."
"Let go of her, Niklaus!" Elijah said, his voice steely and Hayley caught Elijah's eye. This would not end well if they all got kicked out of the hotel and casino for fighting.
Klaus looked back at his brother as the door let out a tiny chime and Hayley stepped on Klaus' foot, bearing down with her toes and then slipped into the elevator the second Klaus let go of her. "Hay—" her name was cut off by the doors closing in Klaus' face.
Sighing in relief, Hayley leaned against the back of the elevator. Her eyes moved to numbers ticking by. If she were Caroline, where would she go? That was an easy question.
Once the elevator stopped, Hayley exited and moved toward the lobby. She went to the front desk. "Hi. I was wondering if there were any stores, in the casino?"
"Yes, ma'am, but they are closed at this time," the young man at the desk said in a clipped tone.
Thinking, Hayley looked around before she thought of something else. "And the bar?"
"Will be open for the next three hours," the attendant told her.
"Great," Hayley said, offering him a big, fake smile before she walked away. She knew where the bar was. She'd heard a couple talking about it while she and Elijah checked in.
Making her way to the bar, Hayley spotted a blonde head, bent over a fruit-laden drink. "Hey there. Think I can get one of those?" Hayley asked, coming to sit down beside Caroline.
Caroline glanced at Hayley and shrugged. "I hope you didn't come here to convince me I'm making a mistake."
"I'm not here to tell you you're making a mistake. I'm here for the drinks," Hayley said, signaling the bartender. "I'll have what she's having."
The bartender began working on Hayley's drink and Hayley watched Caroline play with a piece of pineapple. "I would like to know what the rush is about? I thought you always intended to have one of those massive, royals-inspired weddings, with a carriage at a castle in Europe." Chuckling, Hayley added. "Where you would try to push some guy you thought was my Prince Charming on me."
Caroline nodded dully at her drink, her shoulders slumping. "I do want that. But Tyler said Klaus would just keep trying to ruin our future if we don't get married: Now!" Her eyes moved to meet Hayley's and Hayley saw the confusion in them. "I don't know what to do, Hales."
"You shouldn't let some guy pressure you into a decision you're not sure about, even if he is Mr. Right, which I am not saying he is," Hayley waved her hands and softened the comment with a smile.
Rolling her eyes, Caroline took a bite of the pineapple as the bartender placed Hayley's drink in front of her. "When did life get so complicated?"
"When you spawned," Hayley said, patting Caroline's back.
"Thanks. I'll be sure to tell Fi that Auntie Hayley calls her 'my spawn.'" In spite of the sarcasm in her voice and the narrowed eyes, the trace of a smile on Caroline's lips told Hayley that they were making their way back to friendly territory. "So, how did you find me?"
"A little birdy told the Mikaelsons you ran off. And as your lawyer, and best friend, I felt it my duty to talk to you before you made any rash, life-altering plans for the future in one night," Hayley retorted with an upraised eyebrow.
"Oh?" Caroline looked skeptical. "So, you're not helping Klaus?"
"Hell no!" Hayley cried. "I would happily help Klaus off the side of a cliff, with one of those cartoon boulders."
Eyes glowing, Caroline threw back her head and laughed. "Dynamite. Nothing like TNT to rid us of our Klaus-sized problem."
Hayley held up a hand. "He's your problem, not mine. I have my own problems."
"Such as?" Caroline tilted her head. "First word: Elijah, second word: Mikaelson." Her wide smile made Hayley shake her head and pick up her drink, taking a long sip and giving her time to both avoid Caroline's gaze and not answer the leading question.
"Nope," Hayley said, placing her drink on the bar top. "Elijah is not a problem."
"Okay. Then tell me, what is he?" Caroline turned her entire body to look at Hayley. "You ruined my impulse-wedding, the least you can do is tell me what is going on with my baby's uncle?"
"Caroline," Hayley groaned, shaking her head. "Nothing is going on."
"Bullshit!" Caroline shouted, making a few heads lift before they went back to their own problems, mainly gambler's debt. "You came here, together! There's something going on! Are you two hooking up?"
"Noooo," Hayley shook her head. She picked up her drink and took another, longer sip, feeling the alcohol going to her head as she sipped and shook her head at Caroline who kept nodding at her. "No. No. No!" Hayley tried.
Thankfully, someone decided to stop their conversation.
"Caroline!" Tyler came into the bar, his hands held up in the semi-universal sign for "What the hell?"
"Tyler?" Caroline looked guilty. "Hi!"
"You ditched me at the altar!" Tyler said, coming to stand over Caroline, placing a hand on the bar and leaning into his fiancée's personal space. "Because Klaus showed up?"
"Um, excuse me, Tyler," Hayley said, placing a hand on his shoulder and giving him a shove away from Caroline. Tyler took a step back and gave Hayley a dark look. Standing up, Hayley placed herself between Caroline and Tyler. "I think when a woman runs from her own wedding, that means she needs to think. Now, give her some space."
"I think your job is not to tell Caroline, or me, what Caroline needs," Tyler retorted, glaring at Hayley.
"Actually, Caroline can think for herself," Caroline muttered, behind Hayley.
Hayley would have re-taken her seat and waited for Caroline to say whatever was on her mind but a series of actions prevented that.
"Caroline!" Klaus cried, entering the bar and marching toward them.
"Klaus!" Elijah, Hayley, Caroline and Tyler yelled at a point so close that their voices overlapped and it sounded like they spoke in unison.
"Caroline, we need to talk," Klaus said, straightening up his posture as he came to stand next to Tyler.
"No, Caroline's talking to me, first. I was here first!" Tyler snapped at Klaus.
Elijah made his way over to join them. "Truly, brother, I think you should try to sober up before talking to Caroline."
"I really wish everyone would stop telling me who can talk to me and who can't," Caroline muttered, but no one paid any attention, because they were too busy arguing with each other.
"I think I was with Caroline before you were, mate," Klaus retorted to Tyler's remark with a bitter smile. "And seeing as I am the father of her child, and have more claim on her as family—than you as of now—I would back the hell off."
"It's you and your brother's fault Caroline and I aren't family right now!" Tyler shot back at Klaus. "You had no right to barge in like that!"
"I bloody well did!" Klaus snarled, getting into Tyler's face. "I love her!" he stabbed a finger in what he seemed to think was Caroline's direction but his eyes were on Tyler.
"You love Hayley?" Caroline demanded, peering around Hayley and sipped at her drink furiously. "You…you…you jackass!"
Klaus looked at Caroline, then at his finger which he had pointed at Hayley's chest and then he rolled his eyes before re-directing his digit at Caroline's face. "You! Love, I love you!" He tried to move closer to Caroline, but Tyler would not budge, and Hayley did not have enough space to let Caroline off her bar stool.
"You do not!" Tyler argued. "You only want her because she's mine!"
"I'm not anyone's!" Caroline shouted at them, slamming her drink glass on the bar top and breaking it.
"Ow!" Hayley cried as a shard flew and embedded itself into her arm. "Ow! Ow!" She stared in shock at the piece of glass embedded in the flesh of her upper arm.
"Hayley! Oh, no! I am so sorry!" Caroline cried.
"Excuse me, everyone! You're going to need to leave before I have to call security," the bartender told them.
"Ow!" Hayley moaned, trying to decide what to do about the glass.
"Sorry!" Caroline moaned as Elijah placed a hand on Hayley's un-injured arm and directed her out of the bar.
"We need to go to the emergency room," Elijah said.
"It's not that bad," Hayley tried, not sure if that was true.
"A doctor will be the judge of that," Elijah said.
"Who's driving?" Klaus asked them.
"Not me," Caroline sighed, running her hands through her hair.
"I can," Tyler said.
"No wants you there," Klaus sneered.
"Guys, enough!" Hayley snapped at Klaus and Tyler. "You should both stay here. Or one of you should go home."
"I'm not going anywhere," Klaus said.
"Neither am I," Tyler said.
The two men stood, watching Caroline who shook her head at them.
"I'm going with Hayley and Elijah." Caroline followed Hayley and Elijah out toward the lobby and none of them had to question Elijah being the one to drive them to the ER.
Once inside the ER, Caroline led Hayley to an available seat while Elijah went to collect the forms that always gave Hayley a headache. Like she didn't fill out enough forms during her day-to-day life, now she had to go through the process of filling out all of the usual info to make sure you would pay—one way or another.
Taking a seat beside Hayley, Elijah sat the clipboard on his knee. "Would you prefer I did this part for you?" he inquired.
"I guess." Hayley nodded, eyeing her arm, again. "Thanks, Elijah."
Elijah nodded. "Your middle name?"
"Jane," Caroline offered, Hayley gave her friend a look. Caroline was trying to be helpful. "You need her address, too?"
"No," Elijah said and continued writing.
"Nothing is going on," Caroline mouthed to Hayley before smirking.
Hayley shook her head. "You're impossible," she muttered, leaning her head against the wall behind her.
"Excuse me?" Elijah blinked at Hayley.
"Not you," Hayley said and inclined her head at Caroline.
Caroline let out a nervous giggle. "I hope they don't have to give you a shot."
"That makes two of us," Hayley said.
Elijah looked at them, a question on his lips.
"I hate needles," Hayley offered.
"Oh." Elijah nodded.
"You'll need to know that," Caroline said and Hayley wanted to elbow her, but Caroline was on the side of Hayley's injured arm.
After another long moment, Elijah got up and went to the desk to give the receptionist the clipboard and Hayley looked at Caroline who was looking at her phone. "What's that? Hayley demanded, thinking she saw Klaus' name.
Caroline looked up, chewing on her bottom lip. "Nothing," she said, trying to put her phone up when Hayley lunged over and jerked the phone away. "Hey!" Caroline cried.
"You can have it when we're done here!" Hayley snapped, slipping Caroline's phone into her purse. Hayley just hoped that they would be done soon.
~0~
"Oh," Hayley groaned as she stepped out of the bathroom of her hotel room. "No playing the slots tonight," she moaned.
"They've got the whole cable package, and I took a bag of nuts from your mini fridge," Caroline said, plopping down on Hayley's bedside. Since Hayley was using the great power of guilt to keep Caroline in her room; they were making the best of it.
"Are you still in pain?" Caroline asked, picking up a mini bottle of vodka.
Hayley nodded. "I just don't want to fill the scrip for the Oxy. That's how people end up dead in some alley. One minute, you're taking Oxy, the next you're all jittery, looking for a fix."
Caroline nodded. "True. You do not want to end up as the movie-of-the-week."
"Speaking of not being a total cliché," Hayley called, slipping out of her shirt and trying to open her suitcase one-handed. "You're not planning on marrying Ty tomorrow morning, are you?" She gave Caroline a long look over her shoulder.
Shaking her head, Caroline sighed. "Nope. I think I need to put the wedding on hold, for now."
"But you still plan on marrying Tyler?" Hayley inquired, not sure how she felt about it. "Even though Klaus is still in love with you."
"Psst," Caroline shook her head as she blew out air. "Klaus said that because he's drunk. And he's possessive. And he's obviously lost his mind."
"Maybe you should wait until you sober up before you make up your mind," Hayley said, finally freeing a t-shirt and then tried to pull it on. "Agh!" she yelled as she bent over, holding the t-shirt between her teeth and one hand. "Help!" she groaned.
Giggling, Caroline came over and tugged the t-shirt from Hayley's mouth. "Okay. Okay. One arm at a time." Gently, Caroline eased the t-shirt over Hayley's wounded arm and smiled while they were face-to-face. "See, I am a good mom, if I am nothing else."
"You're a good friend," Hayley said. "Apart from stabbing me with your glass."
"Accidently stabbing, counsel," Caroline corrected, climbing under the covers and patting the other side of the bed. "Come to bed. I want to cuddle."
"Don't try any funny stuff, lady," Hayley said, waving a finger at Caroline.
Caroline grinned. "I won't. Promise. Besides, I wouldn't want Elijah to get jealous."
"Would you cut it out with the Elijah stuff," Hayley groaned as she climbed onto the bed and allowed Caroline to snuggle up to Hayley's un-injured side. She threw her un-injured arm around her friend, resting her head against Caroline's. "It's complicated."
"You mean like me and Klaus complicated, or like, you're working opposite sides of a case complicated?" Caroline asked, yawning and flipping through the channels too quickly for Hayley to register what was airing. "Oh, Titanic."
"Really? People dying?" Hayley complained.
"Nuts?" Caroline said, pulling a bag out from under the covers.
"Caroline! You're eating in my bed?" Hayley shook her head.
"But we have room service," Caroline said.
"Go to sleep," Hayley said, patting Caroline on the top of her head.
"Um. 'kay," Caroline sighed, pressing her face into a pillow. "You're a good mommy, Hales."
"Ha," Hayley grunted before she buried her face in a pillow and decided to ignore Leo as he plunged into the icy deep to save Kate. No one would ever do that for Hayley. She felt about fifty percent certain about that.
~0~
Early the next morning there was a knock on the door and Hayley sat up. "Caroline?" she called.
"In the bathroom," Caroline called back.
Rubbing her eyes, Hayley sat up and felt a spike of pain in her right arm. "Damn it," she groaned, remembering being stabbed by her bestie before she edged off the side of the bed.
The knock came again and Hayley shuffled to the door. "I'm coming!" she yelled at whoever it was.
"Maybe it's room service," Caroline called, exiting the bathroom, a toothbrush in her mouth.
Hayley shook her head. "I didn't order. Did you?"
Caroline shook her head.
Opening the door, Hayley forced down a snide comment when she found Tyler outside the door. "Hey, Hayley. Is Caroline in?"
"Um." Hayley took a second and peered back inside the room. Caroline shook her head, still brushing, with a new vigor. "No. She just went out."
Tyler gave Hayley a look like he didn't believe her but he sighed and looked at his feet. "Okay. Well, I am going downstairs. To check out. After last night, I think that maybe I should give her a minute to think about what she wants. If she wants to talk to me—before I leave—tell her to give me a call."
"I will," Hayley promised and she watched Tyler leave before she closed the door.
Caroline was now sitting on the floor, just outside the bathroom. "He's leaving?"
"Looks like," Hayley replied, leaning against the door. "If you want, you could probably catch up with him…"
Caroline shook her head although she seemed to be looking at nothing. "No."
"Okay." Hayley crossed the room and went over to her still-open suitcase. "Well, if that's it, for the wedding, I am going to get dressed and start planning our trip out of here. I have to get back to work before Mikael kills me for skipping town without telling him first."
"Yeah." Caroline was still sitting on the floor.
Sighing, Hayley walked over to the nightstand and checked her phone. There was a text message on it and several missed calls from the office. Oh, yes, she was in big trouble with her firm. Oh, well. One drama at a time.
Opening the text Elijah had sent to her, Hayley's brows rose.
Meet us for brunch.
-E
"So, it looks like Elijah asked us to brunch. What would you like me to say?" Hayley inquired, eyes flicking from the screen to Caroline. Hayley was already formulating excuses for why they couldn't go when Caroline pushed herself to her feet.
"Brunch?" Caroline said, removing the brush from her mouth and she looked like she had just woken from a long slumber.
"Yes, the breakfast that doubles as a lunch meal," Hayley said.
Brows coming together, Caroline nodded. "I could eat."
"Yeah?" Hayley felt a little bit confused. "You know Klaus will be there." Elijah had not specified that the "they" included Klaus, but Hayley could not reason who else it would be.
"I know." Caroline walked across the room. "Can I borrow some clothes?"
"Sure," Hayley nodded, watching Caroline go through Hayley's clothes. "Are you sure you want to go? After Tyler decided to leave like this?"
Nodding, Caroline offered Hayley a serious look. "I need to deal with Klaus. For Fiona. I haven't really been thinking about what she needs. I've been thinking about how pissed I am at Klaus for leaving me. And no matter who I'm with, he's going to be a part of Fi's life. It's time that I learned to deal with that."
Hayley realized that this might mean Caroline no longer needed her services. It would also mean she and Elijah would no longer be working on opposing sides of a case. A butterfly began to flutter its wings in her middle and Hayley felt a smile on her face which she tried to contain. This might be good, she just needed to tread carefully before she got hurt.
Answers to guest reviews:
Guest: Thank you for the sweet review! Sorry about the long wait. Hopefully, it will not take nearly as long to get a new chap up for next time.
Anna: Agh! It's been a long time since this got an update. Sorry! Rumor Has It was updated last week. If you'd like to—feel free to ask for an update of this story, and I will put it on the schedule.
Thank you for reading, faving, following and reviewing.
Peace,
J