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Disclaimer: I don't own anything at all associated with The Originals. I just like to play around with the characters at times. I only own the plot... mostly.

Chapter 18 - Overcoming Fears

Hayley lifted her arms up above her head, stretching as her eyes fluttered open. Despite going to bed late, she'd had the best sleep she could remember. She'd forgotten how tiring sex could be. Not that she was complaining.

With a smile on her face, she turned over and folded her hands under her head.

"Morning," she said quietly, finding Elijah awake and staring back at her.

"Morning to you, too," he replied, leaning forward to kiss her.

Somehow that kiss turned into heavy petting which turned into something even more.

Elijah pulled away from her, beginning to kiss his way down her jawline to her neck and down to the flesh above her breasts. He took his time marking every inch of her skin as he moved lower and lower.

"Elijah, please," Hayley moaned, gripping his hair.

"Please what?" he asked, lifting his head.

"You know what."

"Yes, but I want to hear you say it."

"Use your mouth please," Hayley bit out, realizing she wasn't going to get what she wanted until she did.

"Well since you asked nicely..."

~AllAtSea~

"Fuck!" Hayley exclaimed, releasing her grip on Elijah's hair.

Elijah chuckled, crawling up her body. "I think I can arrange that." He grinned, sliding himself in to her.

"Shit. Fuck. Ohhhhhh…"

"You like that?" he asked, slowly pulling out and pushing back in.

"Yes," Hayley moaned into his ear. "Faster please," she groaned, raking her nails down his back.

Elijah hissed as her nails broke skin in some places. The pain must've urged him on because he instantly starting moving at a quicker pace. In and out. In and out. Push and pull. Push and pull. So damn good.

"Yes! Right there!" Hayley screamed as he hit the right spot inside her. "Don't stop. Please, please don't stop!" she pleaded, digging her nails deeper into his back, causing him to speed up his pace even more.

Hayley was pretty sure she could make out the headboard hitting the wall, but couldn't bring herself to care. She and Elijah had heard Freya and Keelin the first night they'd hooked up. Payback was a bitch. Now they'd know how she and Elijah felt.

Hayley pushed at Elijah. "Let me on top."

Elijah nodded, pausing only for a second to role over onto his back. Hayley went with him, quickly starting the pace back up. Up and down. Up and down. The new angle allowed for Elijah to hit that spot inside her more often. They kept up with the angle and movements until finishing within seconds of each other.

~AllAtSea~

The water cascaded down Hayley's body washing the soap away. The heat from the water helped ease her aching muscles. Not that she minded the achiness she was feeling. It was a welcomed reminder of the night and morning activities.

Everything was going right in her love life for the first time in a long time. Nothing could ruin her mood. Absolutely nothing. Elijah cared about her. He slept with her, so he had to care about her. That's what he said. He cared about her. That was good. Right? That was good. So good.

But he had said he wasn't the type of guy who sleeps with someone that he doesn't care about. Did that mean he actually truly did care about her? Was she ready to be cared about like that? He didn't want to be her boyfriend did he? It was too soon. Oh, no. What exactly did he expect from her? She didn't think she was ready for that kind of commitment.

Great. Now she was getting herself worked up. Hayley sat down on the shower floor as she tried to get herself to relax. She was so close to having a panic attack. A self induced one. She really needed to calm herself down and stop overthinking everything. The last thing she needed was to ruin whatever was going on. Maybe it wasn't that serious yet, and she was freaking out over nothing. Which was very likely.

What the hell was wrong with her? Even when she finally thought she was over Jackson's betrayal... this happened. She was overthinking everything to do with Elijah and his words and actions... again. Because she was still deep down so untrusting after Jackson did what he did. When the hell would she finally be over that bullshit?

~AllAtSea~

"Why are you acting so distant this morning?" Elijah asked, breaking the quiet in the room.

Hayley shrugged nonchalantly, taking a sip from her soda can. "I'm not being distant."

"Yes, you are, Hayley," Elijah told her pointedly. "You haven't talked to, let alone looked at me since after our morning together."

Hayley turned to him, offering him a fake smile. She hoped it would fool him. But she knew it wouldn't.

Elijah frowned, shaking his head.

"It's nothing Elijah... just..."

Elijah stood up from the chair to walk over to the bed, sitting down next to Hayley.

"Forget about it, Elijah. It's nothing. Nothing at all."

Hayley sighed, letting her shoulders go limp to signal defeat. "Fine. It's just that..."

Elijah sat there quietly, waiting for her to continue.

"I mean... I've only been single for a month. It is way too soon for me to start a new relationship?"

"Who said anything about starting a relationship?"

Hayley raised a brow. "Did you or did you not tell me last week that you're not the type of guy who sleeps with someone that you don't care about?"

"I didn't necessarily mean care about as in "we are in a relationship." I meant care about in general as in I really like you and maybe it could eventually be love," Elijah explained.

"Oh."

Reaching forward, Elijah placed his hand on hers. "I care about you, Hayley. I care enough not to push you into anything," he told her, rubbing the back of her hand with his finger. "You aren't ready for a relationship. I get that. There's no rush or pressure."

Hayley smiled, leaning forward to place her head on his chest. "Thank you," she said quietly. "And for the record, I care about you as in I really like you and could love you one day, too."

"Let us give this a chance. No labelling needed. We can take it slow."

Hayley remained silent.

"Especially since this is the second to last night on the cruise."

"Yeah, okay. We can do that."

~AllAtSea~

"Yay! You're not hungover today!" Keelin exclaimed, throwing the door open so quickly that it banged against the wall.

Hayley rolled her eyes. "No. No I am not."

"We get to leave the ship together and have some fun this time."

"That we do."

"We can do some hopping excessive shopping. Eat really good food. Explore the island."

"We have a few hours before we meet up with Elijah and Freya so if you think we can do all that in that amount of time..."

"If we go now we can!"

"We're still here?" Hayley asked teasingly.

"Shut up." Keelin laughed, walking out the door and down the hall, pulling a laughing Hayley with her.

~AllAtSea~

"Elijah and I had sex last night... and this morning," Hayley admitted as she and Keelin walked down the sidewalk together.

Keelin turned her head to look at Hayley, grinning from ear to ear. "I knew I wasn't imagining hearing things last night!"

Hayley shrugged. "Now you know what Elijah and I had to go through the night you and Freya first hooked up."

Winking, Keelin smirked. "Touche, Hales. Touche."

"Turn about is fair play."

"So how was it?"

Hayley bit her lower lip as the memories coursed through her. "So damn good, Keelin," she admitted. "I've never felt that way with anyone I've been with in the past."

Keelin stopped walking and turned her body fully towards Hayley. "You're falling for him. It always feels different when you're falling in love."

"Maybe I am."

"I mean, like really falling, Hayley. As in you've never fallen for someone like this. Not even Jackson before he turned out to be a jackass."

"You mean like you think I'll actually truly love Elijah, unlike how I never did with Jackson."

Keelin nodded. "Exactly that."

Hayley sighed. "I don't think you're wrong. I mean, I loved Jackson. But I don't think I was ever in love with him. I just never felt that butterfly feeling that I feel when it comes to Elijah."

Keelin smiled, stepping forward to pull Hayley into a hug. "This is what real love feels like."

Hayley hugged her back for a moment before pulling away. "And how would you know?"

Keelin looked down at the ground, trying to hide the full on grin that appeared on her face.

"Oh my god. Keelin, do you already love Freya?"

"Maybe I do."

"You know this is partly all your fault right?"

"What? How?"

"When I first told you about the cruise, you said wouldn't it be ironic if you fell for someone on the cruise that you were supposed to take with your ex..."

"Okay, so I said that... but how is it my fault."

Hayley laughed. "Literally nine times out of ten when you say something like that it ends up happening."

Keelin thought for a moment before she replied. "Yeah, that is... I do have a track record with those things."

"I mean, I'm not complaining about it."

"Oh, of course. I know you're happy about it. No worries."

"I'm sure I would've fallen for Elijah even if you hadn't put it out there."

"I completely agree. There's just something about you and Elijah."

"And you and Freya."

"Maybe there is something about the Mikaelsons?"

Both laughed at that.

But Hayley agreed. "You may be onto something there."

"I may be."

"To falling in love on the cruise then."

"Hear! Hear!"

"So where are we supposed to meet Freya and Elijah to switch off?"

"Uh... the ferris wheel."

"The ferris wheel?" Hayley stopped walking, swallowing the lump in her throat.

"You don't have to ride it. Just meeting up there because it's the easiest thing to spot."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure." Keelin smiled. "I mean, at least not with me."

"What?!" Hayley shrieked.

Keelin shrugged. "I don't know what Elijah has planned for you."

"Even if he wants to, I'm not going to!"

~AllAtSea~

Damn it. She did. Elijah brought up riding the Ferris Wheel and before Hayley could stop herself she said yeah, sure. And that's exactly why she was on the ferris wheel trying not to kill herself with an extreme panic attack. She'd honestly be surprised if she even made it through the ride.

"Are you okay, Hayley?"

Hayley nodded, flashing a fake smile in Elijah's direction.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure," she answered him, her squeaky voice giving her away.

"You are not okay," Elijah said, reaching over to take her hand in his. "Look at me."

Hayley shook her head, not wanting him to see the fear in her eyes.

"Please."

Hayley sighed. Yeah, she sucked at holding her ground. She turned her head to look at him.

"Are you afraid of heights?"

She nodded her head, choosing not to use words because she felt she might get sick as she noticed how high up they were out of her peripheral.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Hayley shrugged. Honestly she really did not know why. Saying yes to his suggestion to ride the ferris wheel was an impulse response. That's all. No sensible reason behind it. Not even a small one.

"You don't have to keep things from me, you know."

"I know... I just... honestly I don't know why I answered with yes so quickly."

"Next time, feel free to tell me no. I assure you I won't get mad."

"I know you won't. I just panic in stressful situations and say and, or do stupid things."

"We all have those moments. Believe me... I have had plenty of them."

Hayley chuckled. "Well, I'm happy I'm not..." she trailed off as the wheel began to move up higher. "Oh, shit," she groaned, gripping the bar in front of her so hard her knuckles turned white.

Elijah wrapped his arm around her and pulled her closer to him. "I'm right here. I promise I won't let you fall."

"If this car thing falls, you won't be able to stop it."

"Hey now," Elijah said, cupping Hayley's chin and turning her head towards him. "Talking like that will not make it easier on you."

"I'm aware of that, but I can't help i…"

Her words were cut off as Elijah pressed his lips to hers.

All words and thoughts rushing through her head were no more. The only thing she could think about was him kissing her. How amazing of a kisser he was. The feel of his lips on hers and his tongue in her mouth. Nothing else mattered. Just him. Just them.

It didn't feel like that long but suddenly someone was clearing their throat. Hayley and Elijah pulled away, turning towards the person who interrupted them. It was the ride operator.

"The ride is over."

Hayley shook her head. "One more time around."

She heard Elijah chuckle from beside her.

Not even giving the ride operator the chance to respond, Hayley turned back to Elijah, leaning in to kiss him again.

~AllAtSea~

"Now get some sleep," Elijah said, running a hand up and down her back. "I'm sure we'll all be going something together tomorrow. It being the last night and all."

Hayley frowned at his reminder of the cruise being over soon.

Realizing immediately what he said, Elijah assured her, "We will figure everything out. I promise."

"I believe you."

Elijah smiled. "That's good to hear."

"I'm pretty sure I have said it before, but I'm really glad that I met you."

"And I you," Elijah said, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

"This may sound weird, but... can we sleep like this tonight?"

"Of course."

"Waking up looking at you would be a nice way to start the morning." Hayley thought about it for a moment. "Alright, that sounded creepy."

Elijah laughed. "Could've been worded better."

Hayley rolled her eyes, playfully slapping his arm.

"Goodnight, Hayley."

"Goodnight, Elijah.