Chapter Six: Come Right Back To You

Author's note: I know it's been so long since I've updated, well, anything but here's a short chapter I've been working on from Hayley's perspective. The chapter title comes from a great Klaus/Hayley song called "Nitesky" by Robot Koch. I first heard it in a Klaus/Hayley video, actually, and loved it right away. If you want to check out the video I've put a link up on my profile. So, have a good week and let me know what you think. :-)

In the end, Hayley wasn't as convinced as Rebekah or Hope for that matter that all this "NOLA warzone" thing was what Jackson's grandmother or this so-called long-lost Mikaelson sister was saying it was. She trusted Jack and she was inclined to trust Marcel, Josh, and Cami . . . but something about this was just . . . off . . .

Ever since she'd returned to New Orleans, she'd had this feeling in the pit of her gut – the city she'd left definitely was not as she'd left it. Not that she'd left it on very good terms – the town was on the verge of being taken over by a merging of Guerrera wolves and the witches – but this, now . . .

It was off . . . and she didn't know how to explain it or handle it.

She had her little girl back – Hope was alive. Her daughter was here, in her presence where she wouldn't ever let go of her again. Even if Hayley herself was not a witch of any kind, she could still feel the magic radiating off of Hope.

From what Rebekah had told her, Hope seemed to be able to sense things or read things that the others around her couldn't. Hope hadn't shown anything but contentment since Hayley had awoken, before that even. Hope reveled in the attention from every one of the beings in that small cottage. The small girl had never met any of them and yet she was at ease with every single one of them. Hayley herself only knew a few of them. Hope seemed to trust them . . . but Hayley didn't know the limits of her daughter's powers.

She was just a child, after all.

Even now, as she watched Hope play in the corner with Freya, every instinct within her told her to pick up her daughter and run.

She felt a hand on her shoulder (though she'd heard him walk up to her even before) and turned to find Jackson sitting down on the chair beside her.

"You know if you think too much, your ears'll fall off." He smirked.

She rolled her eyes, chuckling. "Am I that obvious?"

He shrugged, patting some dirt off the knee of his jeans. "You've got the whole 'momma bear' vibe coming off you right now." She let out a breath. "You can trust Freya. In fact, you can trust everyone here."

"It's not that easy, Jack." She told him.

"I know." He nodded. "Just give it time. Things around here are so much different than they were."

"Obviously." She looked around. Vincent and Aiden were in the kitchen cutting up vegetables for a stew. Cami and Mary were going over maps and blueprints, several of what Hayley recognized as the dark objects her uncle left her scattered on the table. Marcel, Rebekah, and Josh stood guard outside in the trees, hidden from plain site but with her enhanced senses she knew they were out there. Never did she think she'd see so many different supernatural species co-existing like this.

"I was lost, for a long time, when I found out what happened to you – to your daughter." Jack cleared his throat. Hayley looked down, remembering the last time she'd seen him. "It nearly killed me, learning what Oliver did – betraying our pack, selling us out to Francesca and her goons. And now, most of our pack is either dead, missing, or working for that witch. Freya and Cami found me and we found my grandmother hiding out in the bayou with Aiden. We took shelter out here and started mobilizing, trying to figure out what to do and how to get the rest of our friends and family back. Along the way, Marcel and Josh managed to get out of there and brought Vincent with them. Since then, we've been here. That was about a year ago."

"And this Dahlia hasn't found you guys yet?" Hayley inquired.

"Between Freya and Vincent, they keep the place cloaked. We all take turns keeping watch." Jackson told her. "We've made a few trips into town, tried to gather other people . . . but Dahlia's reach is just too far."

"If this witch kidnapped Freya as a child, how do you know she isn't working with her?" Hayley said.

"That isn't my story to tell . . . but I'll just say that Freya knows Dahlia's torture all too well. She survived her a thousand years, and it's made her all the stronger." Jackson glanced over at the witch playing on the floor with Hayley's daughter. Hayley turned her head, looking from Jackson to Freya and back.

She leaned in closer to him, subconsciously sniffing the air. She tensed, her back straightening. "And how long have you been sleeping with her . . ." She lowered her voice, a slight growl in the back of her throat.

Jackson also tensed. "Whoa. Hey . . . it's nothing like that." He held out his hand.

"How do I know she doesn't have all of you under her thrall, keeping you exactly where Dahlia can find you . . . find Hope." The muscles in Hayley's jaw flexed, the rest of her body on alert.

"Hayley, calm down." Jackson held up his hands, submitting himself to her. "It's nothing like that. Just let me explain." Hayley paused, just staring at him . . . ready to grab Hope and disappear with hybrid-enhanced speed at a moment's notice. "Yes . . . Freya and I are involved." He reached into the collar of his shirt and pulled out a chain, a ring sliding across his hand.

Hayley looked over to Freya, noticing a chain also around her neck, barely visible through the blouse she wore. She relaxed a bit – but not much. "You're married . . ."

"Yeah." Jackson nodded. He let out a breath, glancing over to Freya who smiled at him. He smiled back and then turned back to Hayley. "I told you – things are different. We are in this just as much as you are – all of us. Dahlia's got all of New Orleans under her thumb – it's only a matter of time before she decides to expand her roots."

"Yeah . . . and she's got Klaus and Elijah to do her dirty work." Hayley sighed. She could only imagine how much it was killing them – thousand-year-old powerful vampires and they were stuck under the control of a witch.

She remembered briefly those last moments before the witches has slit her throat. She remembered the look of terror on his face as Klaus was held against that wall and forced to watch as the witches killed her and took their child. She'd never before seen him so afraid, so tortured and helpless. And yet even with all the terror, the pure joy and elation she'd seen in him upon seeing their daughter for the first time still haunted her to this day.

There'd been many a moment in the nine months she'd spent living with the Mikaelson's that she honestly questioned whether or not a beast like Klaus could love someone – let alone his own child. Could this hybrid whose body count was higher than Hitler's let a tiny, innocent child into his heart where no one else, even arguably his siblings, had lay claim before?

In those last moments before her death, she'd been scared out of her mind – but not for her sake. No, she'd been afraid for her daughter. Literally surrounded by enemies in her first moments of life, she'd been scared for her daughter because on some level Hayley knew that she wouldn't be there for her. And when she locked eyes with Klaus, seen that joy on his face, it had given her peace. She'd known in that very moment that this man – this hybrid – who'd only known death and torment and suffering (not only on others by his own hands but inflicted on him as well by people who were his own family) truly loved his daughter. She knew in her final moments that where she would fail to protect their daughter, he would always honor his word that she was kept safe.

When she'd come back and heard him tell Cami that she and the baby were dead, she'd heard the anguish in his voice. Now she knew it had been a ruse and he'd known that Hope was alive but still . . .

He truly had kept their daughter safe. He knew that she'd be in danger in New Orleans with him so he'd given her to the one person who could protect her on the run – Rebekah.

He honestly and truly loved his daughter, completely and unconditionally, and now he was away from her while living under the control of the one who now threatened Hope's very life.

"Hayley?"

She blinked, coming back to the moment in front of her even as she could still feel the cold hard steal of the young Harvest witch's blade slice her neck. She sincerely hoped that little bitch was dead – or else she'd see to it herself that would be soon.

Jackson had his hand on her shoulder. "Hey, you okay?"

She cleared her throat, shrugging his hand off of her. "I'm fine."

"Mumma . . ."

The tiny voice drew her in, a little hand tugging on the fabric of her jeans and resting her elbows on Hayley's knees. She looked down to see Hope at her feet, staring up at her and holding her stuffed wolf toy.

"It would seem she's in need of some mother/daughter time." Freya stood from where she'd sat on the floor, coming up to stand behind Jackson. "We'll give you two some time." Jackson nodded, rising to his feet and entwining his hand with his wife's.

Hayley focused her attention on Hope as Freya and Jackson left the room. "Hey, baby girl." She picked Hope up and set her on her lap.

"Why Mummy sad?" Hope bit on her bottom lip, holding out her little hand to touch a tear that fell down her mother's face.

Hayley pushed a strand of hair out of Hope's eyes, letting out a breath. "Mommy's just thinking about things, nothing for you to worry about."

"You want my wolfy? It make me feel better." Hope asked her, holding up the toy.

"All I need is you, you'll be my little wolf." Hayley wrapped her arms around the girl, kissing her forehead.

Hope giggled. "That what daddy call me."

Hayley smiled. "Oh really?"

Hope nodded. "I only see him once, but I 'member. He call me 'littlest wolf'."

"Well . . ." Hayley leaned back in the chair she was sitting in. "You want to hear something cool?" Hope nodded. "Your daddy used to call me "little wolf" when you were in my tummy." Hope's eyes widened. "That's right. He and I . . ." She paused, trying to figure out the best way to explain this to a three-year-old who knew nothing of the supernatural. "Your dad and I both liked wolves."

Hope turned her head to the side, leaning on Hayley's arm. "Me miss Daddy."

Hayley let out a breath, feeling her heart melt even more for the little girl in her arms. How was it that Hope could voice what she herself had just been thinking about? Oh yeah, she was part witch . . . Hayley smiled, holding Hope close. "Me too, little wolf. Me too."

To be continued . . .