This story takes place six years before the events of Thanksgiving Sucks. Hayley is 20. Elijah is 24.
Hayley Marshall, twenty years old and recently pregnant, had never, ever, in her entire life enjoyed Halloween. Halloween was the night that her parents had been murdered seventeen years earlier, and her first comprehensible memory was sitting in a police station crying. Halloween was not a happy time, and it never would be a happy time.
That said, Hayley was not a monster. So, at six o'clock, when little children started trick-or-treating with their parents, she placed a bowl of candy on the welcome outside of her apartment. Usually Hayley would spend the holiday with a beer and Jackson, but he wasn't talking to her since he'd found out about her connections with Klaus, so she was left on her own this year.
Hayley flopped down on her couch, flicking on the TV as she did so. She surfed through channels, trying to find something decent to watch before she stumbled upon The Nightmare Before Christmas. She watched the story unfold while mourning the loss of alcohol. Being pregnant really sucked.
In all honesty, she didn't blame Jackson for getting mad at her. After all, they were engaged. They had been since they were children, back when she was still Andrea. Throughout her childhood, from foster home to foster home, Jackson had been there. He was her best friend, her constant, her brother.
That was the problem. Hayley knew that she should be in love with Jackson, but she couldn't bring herself to see him as anything other than a brother. She couldn't love him, not how he wanted her to. Not like how he loved her. They just didn't work that way.
Jackson was understanding, but he'd never get it. He'd never know what it was like to be the sole heir of Lebonair Enterprises and still be passed around like unwanted luggage. When she was younger, she had believed that Jackson could save her and that she would go to live with him and his grandmother. She was stupid then. No one was about to let Andrea Labonair live with the wife and grandson of the man who had killed her parents.
Theirs was a political arrangement. It always had been. The Crescent Conglomeration needed strong united leaders and they were the solution.
Jackson was good, and she should love him, but she didn't. She supposed that was why she had slept with Klaus. The bastard Mikaelson understood what it was to be rejected. She had felt a connection with him. She wasn't in love with him, but they were kindred spirits. Weird. It was even weirder because they were having a child together.
Jackson needed to get over himself.
There was a knocking at the door, bringing Hayley out of her thoughts and into the moment. Probably trick-or-treaters. With a sigh, Hayley sank down further into the cushions. Why couldn't they just leave her alone? Moments later, Hayley heard a key turn in the lock. That wasn't...the only person with a key was…
"I thought that I might find you here." Elijah Mikaelson entered her crappy apartment with a grocery bag in one hand and her candy bowl in the other. "It would appear that someone has decided to raid your candy supply."
"What are you doing here?" Hayley asked, "Don't you have a party to go to or something?"
"I do," Elijah said, setting the bowl down in the kitchen and rummaging around in her drawers. "But I've always found social gatherings to be dreadfully boring, and I figured that you could use the company." He pulled her ice cream scoop from the drawer and removed a carton of double chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream from the grocery bag.
"You brought me ice cream?" Hayley didn't bother to hide the surprise in her voice. She had never imagined sharing an ice cream with Elijah Mikaelson, who was still dressed in a dark suit.
"You're unable to drink alcohol," Elijah said, "So, I got the next best thing." He grabbed the bowls from the counter and crossed the room, taking a seat on her couch next to her.
"Thanks," Hayley muttered accepting the offered spoon. "What brings you to this side of town?"
"You weren't answering your phone."
"Oh." She had turned it off earlier that morning and hadn't bothered to turn it back on. She hadn't thought that anyone would bother to call. It was nice to have been wrong this once. "Did something happen?"
"No," Elijah said, "Not yet, at least. I simply wanted to check in and see how things were going considering…"
"That it's the anniversary of my parents death," Hayley finished, "You can say it, Elijah. I figured that you did a background check on me as soon as you discovered that I was pregnant. Even then, you have access to Wikipedia. It was all over the news when it happened. It wouldn't be hard to find now."
"It wasn't."
"Well, thanks for checking in, but me and the baby are good. I'm not about to do something stupid and get myself killed. I got over it a long time ago."
"I'm sorry."
Why did he have to apologize? Why did he have to sound like he meant it? Why did he have to be so damn thoughtful? It was unfair, really. How was she supposed to think straight when Elijah was hanging around being all noble and perfect? How was she supposed to beat that?
She wasn't.
"Thank you." Hayley's eye met Elijah's, and, for a second, she thought that he was going to kiss her, but then he broke away, turning his attention to the television.
"The Nightmare Before Christmas," he said, "I can quote this movie."
Hayley's jaw dropped. "No way!"
"I can," Elijah said, "It was one of my favorite movies growing up." Hayley grinned as Elijah settled back next to her and watched the movie.
When she had gotten into this mess, she really hadn't known what to do. What was she supposed to do? She wasn't ready to raise a child. But then Elijah had been there. Even if Klaus was crazy and Jackson was mad, Elijah was there, and that made everything okay. He seemed to really care, and Hayley hadn't had anyone like that in her life for a long time. She liked him.
She might even be in love with him, but she couldn't tell.
Not yet.