"You have got to be kidding me," Hayley whispered to herself as she walked into a bar. A bar with a lot of people in their fanciest clothes. Thankfully they weren't dressed for the opera or something. For the most part they looked like they were dressed for a nice cocktail party. Hell, maybe that is what this was. Shaking her head with a smirk, Hayley walked around the fringes of the room, trying to keep a low profile. She was wearing her funeral dress but it did not seem to matter. No one was paying her much attention.
"God, this boring," a young woman said. Turning on her heel, the woman turned to come face to face with Hayley. "Who the bloody hell are you?" the woman asked and Hayley thought that she recognized her but could not place her immediately. After a moment it dawned on her that this was the woman who had come to see Elijah. Or maybe she lived with Elijah.
The blonde was still staring at her pointedly when Hayley realized that she had not replied. "I'm... ummm... a friend of..."
"Caroline's?" the blonde asked, "because you do not look like the type that the Queen of Mystic Falls would befriend."
"Excuse me?" Hayley replied. She was not sure whether she or the bride to be should be more offended.
"Let me guess. You just came to town and someone driving along said 'Hey there, little lady, there's free food and drink in that bar over there. Go on and say hello to our Queen Caroline," the blonde said sarcastically. "Because that is how I received my directions to this pitiful little hole in the wall of a town. Dear God, what is that girl wearing?" The blonde wrinkled her nose in disapproval. "I mean, really? That is more 2009 than 2014. Anyway, where was I? Oh, yes, that is how I received my directions. Can you imagine? The sister of the groom-to-be has to be given instructions by some random man in a truck. It was preposterous."
"Yeah, that's about how it happened for me, too. I'm Hayley," Hayley told the blonde with a relieved smile. If she was the sister of the groom then that meant she was Elijah's sister as well and a possible way to meet Klaus without any more pretense.
"Rebekah Mikaelson. Charmed, I'm sure," Rebekah replied with a tight smile. She barely looked at Hayley as she searched the crowd for someone. "My date is around here somewhere, probably kissing up to Nik. That's my brother in case you didn't know the name of the groom."
Continuing to glare at the other guests, Rebekah spotted three people across the room. Hayley felt her heartbeat pick up speed as she spotted the blonde from the photo. She was hugging and kissing a young woman with long, brown curls who was standing beside a man with raven hair. "That would be the Queen herself with part of her court, Elena and Damon Salvatore. They apparently got married right out of high school. Or rather, Elena was right out of high school. Damon was a junior in college. Heard it was a real scandal. Oh, and the man over there who is brooding would be part of the outer part of the court, Damon's brother, Stefan. He used to date Elena. Over there is Bonnie Bennett. She's being chatted up by my brother, Kol. It's so funny because she's with that tall fellow over there, Jeremy, brother of Elena. He's talking to Tyler Lockwood who used to date Caroline and so did the other man with them, Matt Donavon. Oh, and there is my errant date, Marcel Gerard, who is, of course, with Nik and Lijah. Probably plotting world domination."
Hearing Elijah's name, Hayley nearly jumped when she looked over in the direction that Rebekah was focused on. Of course Elijah would be there. He was, after all, the brother of the groom. But if he saw Hayley he would have something to say and Hayley did not trust him to not say it in front of everyone in the room. "I would go speak with Marcel but he seems to be more interested in spending quality time with Nik before Caroline runs off with him and we never see him again."
"Oh," this was the most intelligent thing that Hayley could think to say because she had no idea what to say exactly.
"Let's ditch this place. It's rather dull. Wouldn't you say?" Rebekah was already headed toward the door before Hayley could reply. "Coming?" she called. Hayley did not want Rebekah to raise her voice and call attention to them more than she already had.
Forcing her feet to move toward Rebekah, she smiled widely. "Sure. Let's ditch this place. I've had more fun knitting with my grandmother." In truth Hayley had never met her grandmother but Rebekah did not need to know that. Maybe she could use this as an opportunity to learn more about the family. Or she could just come clean and tell Rebekah everything and Rebekah could advise her where to go from there. Probably not.
Walking to the front door, Hayley noticed the parking lot was full. She was happy that she had walked to the Grill rather than driven because there was no way that she would be able to find her car. "Where is my car?" Rebekah yelled, looking from one side of the parking lot to the other. Her eyes narrowed as she moved between the vehicles. "Bloody hell," she groaned. "I knew I should not have allowed Marcel to drive. Damn him."
Hayley let out a laugh. She didn't mean to but she couldn't help it. Rebekah was so drunk Hayley was shocked that she knew her own name as she tottered around on her five inch heels. "Are you sure that it wasn't parked closer to the door?"
"No, we were late thanks to Nik not bloody well giving us the right directions. He's a real arse when he sets his mind to it. Sometimes it can be a tie between him and Kol over who can be the bigger arse." Rebekah was saying as she began to examine license plates and she blinked as if she was in the middle of a dense fog. "Wanker," she snarled. "I bet Nik took the keys from Marcel and drove it somewhere. That would be just like him. But the joke is on him because his bride gave me his keys and I know where his car is."
Grinning genuinely for the first time since Hayley had met her, Rebekah strode over to a large, black SUV. "This would be the Dodgy Wanker mobile," she said. Jamming the key into the driver's door, Rebekah nearly fell down trying to get into the car. Hayley had to help her in and then thought better of it.
"Hey, Rebekah. I know that we just met but I think you're wasted, so if you don't mind letting me drive..." Hayley's words trailed off as Rebekah's fingers curled over the keys as her lower lip came out and Hayley was reminded of Hope. At that moment Hayley felt her heart melt as she looked at the snobbish, young woman who might have been nineteen at the most.
"'Kay," Rebekah said, taking her fist, she placed it over Hayley's hand dropping the jangly objects into the other woman's hand. "Just don't crash it. Nik will kill me. Quite literally." Climbing into the back, she laid on her back across the seat with her arm over her eyes. "I think that we should go to the Salvatore Boarding House. That is where everyone who is part of the wedding party is staying and I have heard that Damon has quite the liquor cabinet."
Hayley smiled. When was the last time she had allowed herself to drink more than half a glass of champagne? It must have been before she had Hope. Well, this seemed like a good occasion to break that rule. Come to think of it the last time she was drunk she had been in the company of a Mikaelson and on the bright side she did not have to worry about becoming pregnant this time around. "Why not? Sounds like a party."
"Yes. A party. I want to trash Damon's room," Rebekah said as she stared at the hood of the car.
"Why?" Hayley asked, she didn't care but she just wanted to make the time go faster.
"Because I made the mistake of sleeping with the jackass once before he married Princess Elena. This was shortly after Nik met "the love of his life." He felt the need to introduce all of us to all of her little friends. The day after I slept with Damon he threw me out like I was some kind of tramp who came on to him. Everyone knows that before he married Elena he was a whore. So, was Nik. Now, he's "reformed" I just can't wait to see how long it takes before he cheats on Caroline like Mother cheated on Father. You know Nik had a new girl in college... what was it... every night, I think. Maybe more often. He didn't have a little black book, he had a phone book. His list was longer than the bloody yellow pages for God's sake." Rebekah was still talking when Hayley tuned her out.
'Gee, I feel really special now,' Hayley thought. 'I wonder how many other women he fathered children with. Good luck to you, Caroline. You're going to be a stepmom to a whole school full of kids if you go ahead with this wedding.' Rolling her eyes, it occurred to Hayley that she should ask Rebekah for directions but Rebekah was on to Elijah and Hayley could not help but listen.
"Then there is poor dear, sweet Elijah. He is so patient with all of us and loves wholeheartedly but he has atrocious taste in women. First there was Elena's twin, Katherine, thank goodness she did everyone a favor and moved to Bulgaria. That girl was trouble with a capital T. Horrid girl. Far meaner than ever I was. She was a serial dater with no intention of settling down with anyone. Ever. Then there was Celeste. She was sweet but then they were in an accident. She had a bump to the head and went a little, well, how to be delicate... she went quite mad. Believed that Nik and I were "bad" for Lijah and decided that she needed to try to kill us. Thankfully, we're here to tell the tale." Rebekah finished and sat up. "You're going the wrong way. Make a left turn and go straight. "Where was I? Oh, Kol. Stay away from Kol. He is a horrid, little man, even if he is my brother."
Hayley tried to process the new information about Elijah. It might come in handy one day. How, she had no idea. "Over there," Rebekah suddenly yelled, causing Hayley to swerve. However, it wasn't enough to cause an accident and she blew out the breath she did not know that she had been holding. "It's that one," Rebekah called. Sitting up, she opened the door and practically fell out of the truck.
"Are you okay?" Hayley asked as she hopped out of the car and came around the side to make sure that Rebekah was still in one piece. Rebekah began to giggle as they walked toward the Boarding House. Hayley looked apprehensively at the house. Sure, it was large but she wondered if it could actually house all of the guests of the Mikaelson-Forbes party.
"I'm wonderful. Off we go." Rebekah said. She staggered up the walk, only stumbling once. The Mikaelson sister pulled out a key from under the doormat and smiled triumphantly. "The key to the dungeon. Ahem, I do apologize, the kingdom. After you, Lady Hayley," Rebekah said far too loudly to the empty air as she flung the door open and swept her arm out to usher Hayley into the house.
"Thank you, Lady Rebekah," Hayley replied with a curtsey. It was nice to get away from her real life but she was beginning to miss her daughter and knew that one half glass of champagne was in her future if she wanted to get home.
"Let me go get our drinks and then off to Damon's boudoir. He has a wonderful bathtub. In case you would like to know how the other half lives. That is how they put it, right? Sorry. I've only been in the States for about two years. Nik made me move here after our parents died." Rebekah said absently as she walked through the house.
"Your parents are dead?" Hayley frowned and Rebekah shrugged.
"Another accident. House burned down with them inside. I happened to be at school at the time," Rebekah told Hayley who gasped in shock. "It's not as horrible as you might think." Rebekah told Hayley finally making eye contact. "Our parents. They were not kind people. They were not abusive... but they were distant and we simply were never close. Not like some families are. When they died Kol and I came to live with Elijah and Nik and then just Lijah after Nik moved to Italy and then he met Caroline."
"But you're close with your brothers?" Hayley could not help but ask. After all, the brothers were Hope's family, too.
"Yes, we are quite close. We would die for each other. Literally." Rebekah nodded as she spoke and rummaged through the bottles before selecting a long necked bottle of red wine. "I always thought that Elijah would be a wonderful father. He practically raised me and Kol when we were young. Nik... I'm not sure about but we shall see, shan't we? But Lijah. Yes, he would be a magnificent father if only he were to meet the right girl. Perhaps I shall introduce you two." Looking thoughtful, Rebekah walked out of the room and headed toward the staircase.
"Me?" Hayley choked out a nervous laugh. "Why would you want Elijah to meet me?"
Rebekah stopped halfway up the stairs with her hand on her hip. She was looking down her nose with that smile that seemed to be a Mikaelson trait stretched across her mouth. "You're not a bitch like the last two. You're not boring. And I can stand to be around you for more than five minutes. All of those seem like good enough traits to me."
Hayley followed Rebekah the rest of the way up the stairs and watched as Rebekah swayed at the top of the stairs. "Maybe you should go to bed," Hayley said gently as Rebekah rolled her eyes. "Definitely made for Lijah," Rebekah murmured as she allowed Hayley to move her down the hall. "My room is right here," she said and Hayley walked her to the bed which she flopped on top of in a very ungraceful way. For some reason Hayley wished she had a camera as Rebekah crawled around in the bed before she settled on her back. Pulling the covers up to her chin, Hayley smiled down at Rebekah. "Night, Auntie Bex," Hayley whispered, kissing her lightly on the forehead.
"Night Mummy," Rebekah replied with a loud snicker as Hayley walked out with the wine bottle in hand. She closed the door and walked downstairs. Setting the bottle down on the table near the entryway, Hayley walked out into the night. Getting in Klaus' car, she hoped that whoever the law enforcement of this tiny town was that they were still back at the Grill.
Getting out of the car, Hayley smiled to herself. She figured that Rebekah would enjoy the joke of Klaus' vehicle being parked in the Greyhound parking lot station before she headed inside to catch the last bus. She wanted to get home before Hope woke up the next day. Sure, she had not been able to ask Klaus for help yet but she felt like she had gained far more from her trip than she had expected to. She had found out that her child had a family that she had never had growing up. Now, it was just a matter of time before they all met.
Okay, I hope that you enjoyed the chapter.