You'll Find Me in the Shallows

Chapter 4

Two weeks had passed since Klaus and Hayley first started their late night hunts.

Hayley fed on random humans for another 3 hours after she and Klaus finished off that couple on the riverbanks. Klaus waited the entire time. For a minute he got concerned that she had went off the deep end and decided to take off, but then he saw her deep brown waves coming towards him and that concern disappeared, of course she wouldn't take off, she needed him and he needed her. After that night Hayley came to him again, and again, and again, and before they knew it they were out almost every night blowing off steam and feasting on warm blood.

Hayley's emotional state appeared to get better as the days went by. Klaus managed to squeeze in lessons on how to control her emotions every time they went out which helped Hayley immensely. She noticed a change after the first week had passed. She no longer felt like she was going to loose it every hour and she found that gradually she cried less and less. By the time the middle of the second week rolled around she wasn't even crying herself to sleep anymore. Klaus knew she was getting better when he went to her room after a rough night for him. Unlike most nights he was the one seeking her out to let out some steam. He expected to see her ducked off in the nursery like he used to find her but instead he found her snuggled up with Hope's blanket watching television peacefully. He hadn't seen her that relaxed since before Hope's birth. That sight alone made him feel better and he completely forgot about how he was feeling at that moment.

Even Elijah noticed a change in Hayley's behavior. He commented that Hayley appeared to be in better spirits more than once to Klaus. Klaus usually kept the exchanges brief. He didn't want to talk about Hayley that much with his brother, especially not now. Despite not objecting to their romance or whatever it was they had it still made him uncomfortable, especially since he and Hayley had been getting a lot closer these last few weeks. They did more than just kill when they snuck off at night. They actually talked to each other candidly. They talked about Hope, the city, their likes and dislikes, and even their pasts a little. They didn't have long heart to hearts with tears included but they actually listened to each other and talked without apprehension or filter. It was refreshing for both of them and some nights they would get so caught up in conversation they would forget what they had snuck out the house to do in the first place. Their time spent together did a lot for Klaus's fragile psyche and he felt an intense urge to protect that at all costs. For some reason he couldn't quite explain, it felt sacred to him and he couldn't handle having it tarnished by Elijah. That meant he needed to avoid thinking about her and Elijah at all costs. Which meant conversations with Elijah about Hayley were off limits for him.

Elijah noticed Klaus's reluctance to talk about Hayley even briefly; his abrasiveness when it came to her took him off guard considering Klaus showed no objection to him catering to Hayley since Hope's departure.

Hayley also avoided Elijah most of the time. He didn't know about her late night sneak outs with Klaus and she wanted to keep it that way. She was afraid that being around him too much would cause her to get angry like she usually did around him and if she got angry there was no telling what would slip out of her mouth. She felt so distant from Elijah and the more time she spent with Klaus the more she felt the fragile grip Elijah had on her heart loosen. Of course she didn't want him to know because she knew he wouldn't approve so that was also another reason she avoided him. She wasn't completely oblivious to the dynamics of her relationships and how complicated they were. She was involved romantically with the father of her child's brother. It was already messy and adding the intense and strong bond she felt to Klaus right now just made things even messier.

It was easier to avoid Elijah that it was to string him along and fake the connection to him that she once felt. If she was being completely honest with herself she didn't feel the same thing for Elijah that he felt for her, she never has, but even what she did feel was fading and it was fading fast and every night she spent out with Klaus made that fact more obvious to her. Hayley hoped just like Elijah did that once she got herself under control, once she actually started coping she would find her way back to him and where they were before the tragic events surrounding Hope's birth, but that's not what happened at all. In fact, getting control over her emotions was having the opposite affect on her; it made her feel even farther away from him that she was before.