Kissing Elijah Mikaelson felt unreal to Hayley. She knew that he was there with her, in her bed. But there was also a part of her that was outside of the situation watching the two of them. They were rolling around on her bed exploring each other's bodies. "Hi," Hayley whispered as she rolled on top of Elijah and he reached up to brush a lock of hair behind her ear.
"Hello to you, too," Elijah whispered back, pressing a light kiss to her collarbone, his hands sliding to brush over the back of her pants making her wonder why she was still wearing them. With any other guy they would have been naked and he would be leaving in the next fifteen minutes with an "I'll call you" which he never would. Somehow Elijah was different. He was taking his time. This was a nice change of pace.
"So how long do you usually take with the foreplay?" Hayley murmured into Elijah's ear who smirked up at her as she pulled back to stare down at him.
Before answering Elijah slid his thumbs under her bra straps and sat up, bringing his face close to hers and making her heart begin to beat frantically with anticipation. "Is that a question or a complaint? Because, Hayley, it has been rare for me to receive too many of the latter."
Hayley began to laugh. "Oh, Elijah, somehow I had you pegged for a humble type of guy," she told him as he pulled her legs around his waist more tightly making her scowl at him. "Tease," she mumbled into his ear.
"I am the humble one in the family. Unless you count Finn," Elijah answered, flipping Hayley onto her back and placing his mouth to the line of exposed stomach just above her pants. She could feel the heat of his breath as his tongue traced her flesh and she was about to scream if he didn't take her pants off when there was the sound of something from the other room. Not registering what the noise was, Hayley pushed Elijah backward and grabbed his belt. Yanking it off, she unbuttoned his pants, moving forward on her knees she was about to pull his shorts down when the noise came again, louder this time.
Groaning, Hayley fell back on the bed.
"If it is that annoying little man I get rid of him," Elijah told her, pressing a quick kiss to her lips before getting off the bed and walking to the door. Hayley stretched out on her back with a yawn. If Elijah wanted to handle whoever it was then she had no problem with that. "Hayley," Elijah called from the door and Hayley propped herself on her elbows, waiting for Elijah to tell her who it was.
"It's Hope and some man," Elijah told her with a frown.
"Shit," Hayley said. She had forgotten that she was late to pick up Hope from Josh. "I'll be there in just a minute," she shouted.
"Take your time," Josh called through the door, causing Elijah to frown again.
"Who is that man with Hope?" Elijah asked, as he strode into the room and picked his shirt up off the floor.
"One of my neighbors," Hayley replied quickly as she buttoned her own shirt and hurried to the door. "Hey, Josh. Hi, baby," Hayley said, leaning down and kissing her daughter on the forehead before allowing them into the apartment. She felt relieved when she found that Elijah had tucked his shirt back into his pants. He looked as he did before they had entered the apartment.
"Oh, my," Josh exclaimed with a wide grin that said that he did not believe that nothing had been going on between the two. "I'm sorry. Should we come back later?"
As Hayley tried to formulate a response that would not lead to more uncomfortable questions, Hope went flying toward Elijah. "Elijah," she squealed, throwing herself into his arms as he bent to pick her up. "You came back. I thought that Mommy scared you off. She does that sometimes."
"Hope," Hayley admonished with a frown.
"Hello, I'm Elijah Mikaelson," Elijah called to Josh, holding out his hand to the younger man.
"Hellooo there, Mr. Mikaelson. I'm Josh, Hayley's neighbor." Josh informed Elijah. "I wouldn't have brought the little one back so soon if I had known that you two needed to... ummm... talk." Finishing with a laugh, Josh jammed his hands into his pockets. "So... how do you know our Hayley?"
Hayley bit her lower lip, she loved Josh but sometimes he did not know when to just shut up and go away. "We just met." Elijah told him. "About a week ago. She was looking for my brother but as luck would have it she found me instead."
"Is your brother as cute as you are?" Josh asked automatically and Hayley grinned. Walking over to her coffee maker, Hayley decided to make a pot while the men tried to figure out who the other one was. Mainly, she wanted to stay out of a horribly awkward conversation. And in the meantime she would try to cool down from the events that were rudely interrupted. Opening the freezer, she pulled out an ice cube and began to run it over the back of her neck.
"Are you hot, Hayley?" Josh asked from behind her, making her jump.
"Oh, Jesus," Hayley cried as she dropped the ice down the back of her shirt and she felt it slide down the back and into her pants. Not the worst place it could find to settle but a bit embarrassing.
Twisting her head, Hayley found that Josh was looking in the freezer. "I was looking for a popsicle for Hope. If you don't have any I could go down the hall and grab some. Then I saw you with the ice..." Lowering his voice, Josh began to whisper to Hayley. "Where did you really find him? I mean, Hayley, I don't think that I've ever seen you bring a guy home. Do you want me or D to take Hope sometime so that you two can... whatever it is you want to do with him?"
Hayley felt her cheeks beginning to burn. "Josh." Sighing, Hayley reached into the freezer and pulled out a grape popsicle. "Put this in your mouth and think before you speak again."
"Yes, Mom," Josh replied, unwrapping his frozen treat and sticking it in his mouth. Hayley could still see a wide smile on his face and stopped herself from smacking him. Pulling out three more popsicles, she retraced her steps back to where Hope was telling Elijah all about how the giraffe at the zoo was that much taller than he was.
"He was this tall," Hope was saying, stretching her arm above Elijah's head to show him how tall the animal was.
"Oh, and how do you know that it was a he?" Elijah teased the child whose eyes widened.
"I don't know," Hope replied and then looked to Hayley. "Mommy, how can you tell if the giraffe is a boy or a girl?" Elijah's eyebrows rose at Hope's question while Josh began to choke as he began to laugh with the popsicle still in his mouth.
"What kind of popsicle would you like?" Hayley inquired, changing the subject and Josh shook his head coughing into his curled fist.
"Orange. Elijah, did you come to take me to breakfast and the park?" Hope asked Elijah.
This sent Josh into another laughing fit. "Josh, isn't Project Runway on?" Hayley asked her babysitter who shook his head "no" and then realized what Hayley was trying to do.
"You know, come to think of it you've got the full season of Grey's, right?" Josh went over to look through Hayley's DVD collection and began to search.
Turning around, Hayley looked at Elijah. "Elijah, didn't you say that you had a meeting?" His head lifted from where he had been examining the popsicle that Hope had said would make a cool hair color.
"I'm sorry, what?" Elijah asked, absentmindedly adjusting Hope on his hip and smiling when she tried to feed him her treat. "Oh, thank you, sweetheart but I can get one of my own."
Walking over to her daughter and the girl's uncle, Hayley held up the remaining popsicles. "Cherry or Orange?" She asked. As much as she wanted to kick him out of her apartment before things became more awkward, she also wanted him to stay.
"Cherry," Elijah said, holding out his empty hand for the frozen junk on a stick. "Klaus likes Orange."
"Oh, my favorite is cheery, too," Hayley told him as she unwrapped her popsicle.
"Who's Klaus?" Hope asked Elijah who looked at Hayley as his lips pursed. She could see he was posed to give the child an answer but was waiting for Hayley to reply. "Is he your friend, Elijah? Like Josh. He likes boys."
"Hope, it's not nice to tell people other people's personal business," Hayley scolded and Hope stuck her bottom lip out. For a moment Hayley saw an image of Rebekah and shook her head to rid herself of it.
"It's okay. It's not like I keep it a deeply guarded secret," Josh called as he opened the box to Grey's season one and stuck it in the DVD player. "I love Patrick Dempsey. He's got great hair."
"Who's Klaus?" Hope cried out loudly. Hayley felt uncomfortable about why her daughter was fixating on Klaus.
"He's my friend... and my brother," Elijah answered slowly.
Hope smiled and then frowned. "I don't have a brother. Maybe I will one day. After you marry my Mommy then you can make me a baby brother."
"Hope Marshall," Hayley yelled and then winced when Hope's lower lip began to wobble. "Hope, you can't say things like that to people. Elijah, I'm so sorry."
"I think I gave her too much sugar," Josh told Hayley. "Hey, kiddo, want to watch some silly people get cut up and play kissy face?"
"Okay," Hope said, holding out her arms to Josh. "But first I want to hug Elijah good-bye," wrapping her arms tightly around Elijah's neck, Hope squeezed whispering, "Bye." Letting go she allowed Josh to take her.
"Good-bye, Hope," Elijah called, waving at her as she sat on the couch and waved back with both arms flying.
"Well, this has been an exciting day," Hayley told Elijah as she stood close to the door. Elijah was leaning with his back against the doorframe. "I guess I'll see you around
"Unless you would like to make a plan to see each other... sooner rather than later," Elijah replied as he looked down at her and Hayley searched his eyes trying to figure out what he was thinking. However, she could find no clue. He was his usual calm self and she found that infuriating. Why could he not show some kind of emotion that would tell her that he felt something, anything? It was ridiculous. She did not need this kind of drama in her life. She would be better off if he just left and never came back.
"I don't know if that would be such a good idea," Hayley replied quietly. She did not want Hope to hear her and to protest. That would just make this even more difficult.
"If that is what you wish," Elijah replied. Turning, he reached out and unlocked the door and then twisted the knob. Hayley wanted to beg him to not go but she refused to do that. She was not needy.
"Good-bye, Hayley," Elijah said with a smile.
"Good-bye," Hayley replied as she closed the door and she could see him walking down the hall.
Pressing her head against the door, Hayley cursed her life and herself for being a fool and for being a proud fool on top of it. Turning around, Hayley saw that Elijah had left his jacket and tie on the back of her desk chair. "Josh, I've got to take those things to Elijah," Hayley said as she hurried over to grab the belongings of her guest.
"Sure, take your time," Josh called, his eyes glued to the screen.
Hayley went to the door and pulled it open. She locked the door before running toward the stairs. Taking the extra time to make sure she did not fall was killing her as she got to the front door. Yanking it open, Hayley ran out to the sidewalk and began to run down the street hoping that she would see Elijah. As she went around a corner, she collided with a man and gasped.
"Hayley," Elijah seemed amused as he caught her around the waist.
"Hi, I was looking for you. You forgot you're jacket and," Elijah did not give her time to finish her sentence as he covered her lips with his. "Tie," Hayley finished as he pulled away. "We have to stop doing that," she breathed while reaching out and pulling him to her and kissing him back.
"Hayley, what are doing?" Elijah asked when she pulled away from him.
"I have no idea but it feels incredible," Hayley told him as he pulled her to him again.
"Get a room," someone yelled at them but they did not care because they were far too interested in each other.
Finally, Elijah took a step backward. Pulling out his wallet, he withdrew a card and began to write on it. "This is my number at work, one at home and my cell. You call me anytime and we can figure out what exactly this is," he said before pulling her to him and kissing her again.
Sighing as Elijah stopped kissing her and began to walk away, Hayley wanted to follow him. She wanted him to take her home with him but she needed to go home. There were things that she needed to do. Smiling to herself, Hayley walked back to her apartment. Having no idea what she was going to do with the card, she tucked it into her pocket and walked back into her building. Perhaps she would call. Perhaps she wouldn't. Thinking of Elijah's lips, Hayley had a feeling that she would be calling him sooner than later. She just hoped that she did not come to regret it.