Back in Mystic Falls

25. Faded Memories

No Pairing

Mikaelson Estate

Monday, July 30, 1855

Elijah went out to meet the school teacher. He escorted her to the parlor and had the housekeeper bring them hot tea with cream and sugar. She looked so lovely in the evening. He got distracted by her hazel eyes.

"Mr. Mikaelson! Are you listening?" Hayley chided.

"No, I am sorry, Miss. I am distracted tonight. We have had some family....issues," Elijah clarified with a smile. He shooed the housekeeper away and took it upon himself to pour the tea.

"You are lucky I don't have my hickory stick here, sir. Boys who do not pay attention get three licks," Hayley informed him with a slight upturn of her lips.

"I beg your pardon. I will be on my best behavior. I can see you have something important to say," Elijah said trying to suppress his grin at her put-upon ire. "Though I can be a slow learner at times..."

"You are not alone, sir." Hayley unleashed the whole story in a rush, "I do not know how to say this but the girls at the boarding house are planning to kill your brother, Niklaus. Something about a white stake from an oak tree?"

Elijah smiled, "Miss Marshall, would it surprise you to know that even our own father has been trying to kill my brother from over 800 years?"

"800 years? Sir, if you are toying with me, I will find a good stout stick and bend you over right here and now in your own parlor....," Hayley huffed in indignation. "Do not think I will not, sir."

Elijah grabbed her hand, "Miss Hayley, if I may be so bold, from the moment you stepped off that coach, I fell in love with you. I think it only fair that I tell you the truth, everything."

Hayley melted into his eyes as he started from the beginning. Mother. Father. Henrik. The Wolves. The Immortality spell. The bloodlust, the white oak...their struggle to survive, their crimes, and how they came home again.

"And Miss, I know something of your secret," Elijah said calmly, bringing his tea cup carefully to his lips. "I saw you in the woods...or your clothing rather. I was attacked and I think your wolf form tried to save me. From what? We know not."

"Good lord, have I stepped into the pages of some mad fairy tale? I only found out not two months ago. I was an orphan. Brought up by the nuns in an orphanage. A man attacked me at dusk as I walked in the woods. A vagrant man, and I slew him.... I only knew what I was because I had dreamt of being of wolf. If you want me to resign and leave this land, I will. I understand, " Hayley said getting up.

Elijah got up and took her by the arm, as she turned to face him, they kissed.

For Elijah, he felt the world stop on its axis, orange fireworks burst in his held. He held her and never wanted to let go.

Elijah pulled away first, but only to tell her, "I do not want you to go. Ever, unless you want to."

"I do not want to. I want to stay," Hayley smiled. "But it would not be proper."

Elijah felt like everything would be all right.

"The witch Emily actually confided in Niklaus and helped him break his curse. He is now a hybrid. Both vampire and wolf, the only one of his kind. But the white oak crafted into a stake is the one thing that can kill us. Emily wants her son back that, this Kathy, is having held by a group of witches called the Travelers. Kol and Marcel have gone to get the boy back. Our memories were wiped in New Orleans, but under the effects of the venom, I did remember Kathy, but only as a Bulgarian girl named Katerina in the 1490s...Oh Hayley, I am sorry to drag you into this muck," Elijah scoffed. "Maybe you should go back? Far away from this danger."