Après Moi, Le Déluge

Hayley walked down the middle of the abandon street and shut her eyes. So much had happened today that had stirred so many emotions. The guilt of reading Elijah's journals gnawed at her, but she was also a little annoyed that he was so upset. I mean, it had been two hundred years, right? Though the consecration of Celeste hadn't actually worked, it led them to using Esther in the end.

What really got to her was Davina. How the hell hadn't it worked? Why did no one come back? If the Harvest had been happening for thousands of years then why had it stopped working now? Something wasn't right at all.

She continued to walk and glanced down an alley to her left. Sure enough, Elijah was making his way towards her probably ready to yell at her some more. She stopped and waited for him to reach her before she started walking again.

"Are you ready to forgive me yet?" she asked as he met her in the middle of the street. The pair began walking briskly down the empty street and Elijah sighed.

"It's not that easy, Hayley," he replied gruffly. Great, he was still pissed.

"Elijah, I was wrong to go through your journals, I was wrong to tell Sophie about Celeste, but after everything that happened today, I don't know why we can't see past this," Hayley countered.

"And you of all people should know why. During my fever in the bayou, you were inside my mind. You know what Celeste means to me." Means.

"Don't you mean meant to you?" Hayley asked cautiously.

"No," he said bluntly. "Do you have any idea how rare love is? In a thousand years, I have found it but twice, and when I have, I have honored it."

Hayley narrowed her eyes at him and clenched her jaw. For someone who's been around for a thousand years, he sure was acting like a child. She's dead. She's been dead for over two lifetimes.

"I know what a promise means to you, Elijah, but you made it two hundred years ago. I live in the now. If I feel something, I act. If I want something, I take it. I won't choose the dead over the living, so why are you?"

He studied her face and swallowed. She was right. She knew she was right and he had nothing to say back to her. All he could do was stare. Hayley averted her eyes and shook her head.

"I'm sorry, Elijah."

Hayley looked at him one last time before beginning to walk past him, but he grabbed her arm and swung her towards him before she even take a third step. She spun around to face him and found herself staring at his mouth that was maybe six inches away from her own. She flicked her eyes up to meet his dark alluring gaze. The two studied each other for a moment before Hayley found her mouth centimeters from his. She felt all of the air in her lungs cease to exist and her heart pounded at a thousand miles an hour. But before they could make contact, he pulled away.

Hayley looked at him, angry, hurt, and confused. Why did he keep doing this to her? She began to back away slowly and eventually turned around. Fine, if he wasn't going to act on anything, then she was done. She couldn't keep getting so close to him only to be pushed away. Hayley walked quickly down the street and didn't stop. Not even when the tears threatened to fall.

Hayley turned the corner at the end of the street and ran smack into a wall- or so she thought. She looked up through her tear-filled eyes and saw Elijah standing inches in front of her with a pained expression of her face.

"Elijah…" Hayley breathed. Instead of answering, he snaked his hand around to the back of her head and kissed her. She was so taken aback that she almost forgot to kiss him back. Almost. She relaxed and leaned into the kiss, earning herself a strong arm around her back. Elijah pulled her close to him and pulled away slowly. He leaned his forehead against hers with eyes shut as they both caught their breath.

"Thank you for reminding me to let go of the past."