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All I will say before you read this chapter is... please don't hate me.

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 20 - For the Best

The noises coming from the room were much too familiar to not cause Hayley to panic. The tall tale signs of two people, a man and a woman, having adult fun was not something hard to decipher. Hayley continued down the hall towards the noises. Making it to the door, she slid her keycard out of her pocket and put it into the door.

Taking a deep breath, she turned the handle and pushed the door open. The room wasn't lit up too much and the bed was situated around the corner. Hayley slowly walked into the room, tiptoeing as to not give away her presence. Turning the corner, her heart sank.

"No. No. No." Hayley slapped a hand over her mouth, shaking her head as tears began pouring down her face. "How could you, Elijah?!" she asked, staring at the sight of him and some chick in the bed... not just any bed. But their bed.

His eyes widened as he turned to face her. "Hayley..."

Hayley wasn't sure how to respond, so she didn't.

A maniacal laugh came from behind her, causing her to do a quick 180 turn. Through her blurry eyes she could make out Jackson standing there.

"I told you so," he said before continuing to laugh at her.

Hayley's knees buckled underneath her and she collapsed to the floor.

~AllAtSea~

Hayley bolted up right in bed, gasping for air. She instinctively placed a hand on her chest and felt her heart beating as if it was going to come out of her chest. She was covered in a cold sweat and could barely make herself move her head to look around the room.

Light peeked through the gap in the curtains. And upon glancing over at the clock, she learned that it was 10am. Two hours before they were to get off the ship.

Elijah was still, surprisingly after the noise she'd made, asleep next to her. Hayley laid back down, turning towards Elijah. She studied his peacefully sleeping face, taking in the subtle wrinkles in his face as his muscles move while he had some sort of dream. He looked so handsome and so peaceful... and so undeserving of her. He deserved better than her. Deep down she knew it. He had to know it, too. Or at least he should.

Hayley huffed as she rolled away from him. She needed to stop with the negativity. Her nightmare had been just that. A nightmare. She knew that. And she had to fight to not let it affect her. She had to fight not to let Jackson affect her anymore.

Throwing the covers off of her, Hayley got out of bed and made a beeline to the bathroom. She flipped on the light and closed the door quietly. She went about her personal business and washed her hands, then afterwards stood there at the counter looking at herself in the mirror.

She looked tired, almost broken. Not that she had any real reason to be. These past two weeks on the cruise had been for the most part amazing. Meeting Elijah had been one of the greatest things to happen to her in life. She really enjoyed his company. And she had fallen for him. She was pretty sure she loved him.

"I love him," Hayley whispered to herself in the mirror. "I love Elijah," she said a little louder, a small smile forming on her face. "In two weeks, I have fallen for him."

Just then, her smile faded and panic suddenly took over.

Jackson's voice filled her mind repeatedly. "Two weeks." Those two words repeated in her head over and over to the point where she was gripping her hair and pulling, trying to make it stop.

They'd said I love you within two weeks and then months later Jackson had cheated on her. He'd loved her and fallen out of love with her within months. What if Elijah did the same? No, he'd never. Hayley knew he would never. But that small voice that was clearly Jackson's refused to shut up about two weeks.

She had to get out of here.

Hayley let go of her hair and suddenly went into overdrive. Toiletries and clothes and everything else of hers was being thrown into the bags and suitcases she'd come in with. It took her about five minutes to manage to throw everything in and to get the bags and cases to close.

Tears of sadness and frustration were rolling down her cheeks by time she was finished. She placed her bags by the door before turning to go back to where Elijah still slept. Apparently he was a very hard sleeper because he hadn't budged an inch during her frantic packing.

Hayley glanced over his sleeping form and smiled sadly. She really hated what she was about to do. She was bitch by doing this. She'd be the first to admit that. But she couldn't handle all of this. She did love Elijah. And that scared the fuck out of her.

Hayley stepped forward, rounding his side of the bed. Leaning down, she placed a soft kiss against his forehead. He was so peaceful and happy. It'd be ruined when he woke up and found every trace of her being there gone. Maybe that was for the better. He'd be so heartbroken and, or angry that he would let her go. He deserved better than her damaged self.

She stepped back and gave Elijah one last look over before turning and heading for the door. Grabbing her suitcases and bags, she glanced back around the room one last time. She smiled sadly again thinking of all the good times she would remember even though she was leaving them behind. This was for the best.

Hayley took a deep breath and then left the room.

~AllAtSea~

Running into Keelin and Freya was not something Hayley had thought would happen. Although, honestly she hadn't thought any of this through. She'd had a panic attack and bailed. She really should've planned this shit out.

"Hayley? What's wrong?" Keelin asked before looking down and noticing Hayley had her bags and suitcase with her. "What are you doing? Where do you think you're going?"

Hayley looked anywhere but at her, she couldn't take the disapproving look she knew Keelin was giving her. "Please tell Elijah that I am so sorry," she said, glancing over at Freya. "I... I just... I can't." Hayley swallowed thickly, feeling tears well up in her eyes.

Freya's eyes widened. "What?!" she squeaked out in shock.

"Hayley," Keelin said, reaching for her hand. "Don't do this."

"It's been two weeks." Hayley managed to get the words out, but just barely.

"Yeah, and? So what?"

"I am falling for him."

"And again I ask you... so what?"

Hayley frowned. "I feel for Jack in two weeks... give or take," she said, shivering at the reminder; it was not something she ever liked looking back upon. "And look how that ended up."

Keelin sighed, shaking her head. "Hayley, we have been through this already. Elijah is not Jackson."

"I know, I know. Elijah is so much better than Jackson could ever dream of being." Hayley agreed. "But I still can't."

"Hayley..."

"I... I truly am so very sorry about all of this."

"How could you do this to my brother?" Freya asked, her tone still conveying her shock at everything.

"Elijah deserves so much better than my messed up and untrusting self," Hayley said sadly before turning to Freya. "Please tell him that I am sorry, and he'll thank me for this. I want him to be truly happy."

Hayley rushed by them before either could say anything in response to her.

~AllAtSea~

Tears were streaming down her face by time Hayley made it to the deck she'd be leaving the ship from. It hurt her to do what she was doing, but she couldn't help feeling like this was the best option. Elijah would be hurt, too, but they'd both move on from this. Whatever this was. Right?

She was making the right choice by leaving. Elijah deserved better than to constantly have to worry if her asshole ex would show back up. If he'd show up and get in her head again. That he'd show up and cause Hayley to unnecessarily compare the two.

Deep down she knew Elijah would never treat her as Jackson did. Unfortunately, though, deep down there was also that small amount of doubt in her that assured her eventually Elijah would. That small amount of doubt was awful, however, strong enough to nag at Hayley, too.

As far as Hayley was concerned, she was too damaged to deserve anyone. Especially Elijah. He deserved the world and a woman he could be happy with and not worried about. That was not Hayley.

Hayley wiped the tears from her face as she sat down at the closest empty table. Her phone dinged, signaling a new text message. She knew who it was before she even took her phone out to check the name.

Hayley, where are you? We need to talk. - E

Hayley hovered her finger over the reply box, contemplating whether to respond or not. Responding would make things much harder, would it not? Taking her finger away, she instead deleted the message and put her phone back into her bag.

Elijah deserved better than her. And her mind was set. No matter whether they talked or not, she couldn't do this... not right now anyways. She was not cut out for a relationship and that was clearly the next jump they would take once she completely fell for him. She couldn't do it. He deserved better. Eventually she'd write him a letter explaining everything. But for now. She just couldn't.

She hated going about everything like this. But it was for the best. At least, it was for the best in her mind.