#inspired by: jackie evancho - writings on the wall

[my-yesterdays87]

Safe and Sound

For once in his immortal life Elijah Mikaelson decides to pursue his own happiness, after the events that tore the Mikaelson family apart. His devotion to his younger half-brother Niklaus might run deep and he will protect his sister Rebekah at all cost, but what really consumes him is the love for Hayley. Thus he doesn't get his memory erased and while Rebekah stays in New York with Marcel, Elijah settles in Birmingham. Hayley visits him for a few days on any number of occasions, leaving Hope safe and sound in her school in Mystic Falls. Until the day Freya and Hope will be able to break the curse that tore Mikaelson family apart...

I know this might seem quite a stretch, but in my world the Mikaelson family actually uses their cellphones and mail to stay in contact, not seeing each other for years on end in person, but via technology and framed pictures.

Hayley drove five hours on end through a sunday night, for the single purpose of beeing with the one, who couldn't get near her daughter.

- It was crazy for him to stay this close for all these years, but after everything they had gone through, they deserved this, Freya had been right. As long as Elijah stayed away as far this and Rebekah remained in New York, everyone would be save. Hayley had gotten so used to these long drives, that she couldn't remember a time when she did not have whole hours to herself to just think and feel a weight lift from her the further she got to her destination.

Hayley smiled, when she embarked from her car, the scent of forest making her close her eyes in comfort. After years of spending time with him in a tiny attic flat in the middle of the city, he had found them a small cottage near the woods in the outskirts of Brimingham.

- Since Hope was old enough, she stayed in her school in Mystic Falls right up to the holidays, giving Hayley the time to be in Birmingham for a few weeks rather than days in a row. Returning to New Orleans with mixed feelings every time. She was still the alpha of her pack and Freya was still trying hard to find a permanent solution for their problem, and did not deserve to protect their family home all on her own. And even so everyone constantly assured Hope, that she was worth everything, the littllest Mikaelson doubted that every now and then. She knew that her family was trying hard to keep their distantce and neither her uncle Elijah nor her mother, would ever do anything to risk her happiness for theirs.

Hayley walked up to the front porch with mixed feelings, finding his car gone and the house dark. It was the first time ever she had not told him about her arrival and couldn't have been sure that he would be home, but she had somewhat expected it. The house was beautiful and quiet, made of wood and glas. Maybe to quiet. She walked through every room, finding everything the way they had left it a few weeks prior. There was no sign of Elijah anywhere.

- She missed waking up and falling asleep next to him, without beeing interrupted by family troubles or a town in jeopardy, when she was with Hope. The same way she worried about Hope and the town and her duties as an alpha, when she was with Elijah. It felt like beeing torn apart.

Hayley stood in front of the empty house and could not believe how dense she had been all these years.

- They had finally found a way to "store" the Hollow in someone else than the four Mikaelsons it currently inhabitted. Which meant Hope and Freya had figured out, that the oldest vampire sire-line was almost as good as an original and that while Aurora was under a sleeping curse, she was the perfect vesel for this powerful entity. They had 24 hours to prepare and then they all would be free to return home and Hope had send her to be with Elijah. Klaus was with Caroline and Rebekah with Marcel, while Kol had Davina with him. Hope, Freya and Vincent were not on their own either.

Hayley sighed, when it finally dawned on her and she rushed through the streets, leaving her car in the garage, knowing exactly where she would find him.

***

She knocked on the door of his old attic flat and was not even suprised when he opened the door an instant later, beeing all dressed up.

"Sorry for barging in like this.", she said. "I thought you might like some company."

Hayley held a bottle of Bourbon and a six-pack up for him to see, but he still only starred at her.

She could see all the questions in his eyes he wanted to put into words, but wouldn't... Why are you here and not with Hope? How did you know where I would be?

Hayley let the beverages sink and returned his look.

"I am sorry. Do come in.", he said finally.

The curtesy with which he treated her, betrayed the look in his eyes.

"I was at our house, but it was empty, thus I figured...", Hayley turned to him, when she had sat the beer and whisky down on the counter, leaning back against it.

"Is my niece save?", he asked instead of answering her underlying question.

Hayley could tell, that he was relieved to see her, but the worry about their situation clouded everything.

"Hope and Freya will be fine.", she explained to him, since he obviously needed her to say it.

"Good.", he breathed. And in an instand, he was close to her, his hand in the back of her neck, his lips on hers and Hayley let her eyes fall shut. This was exactly were she wanted to be. Much to soon, Elijah let go of her lips, but leaned his forehead against hers.

"Good.", he said again, making Hayley smile. She let her hand trace down his arm and took his hand, leading him to the small table.

"Let's drink to Always and Forever.", she said solemnly. Elijah touched his whiskey glass against her bottle of beer. She didn't know if it was a good idea to drink the night away, but the hours ticked by faster like this. Hayley's eyes began to feel heavy, when she lying next to Elijah in the beginning dawn. Since he was asleep on his back, Hayley was squeezed between the wall and his body, his right hand on her hip, hers on top of his, her elbow propped up against a pillow, watching him sleep - and she would not have it any other way.

"What's the first thing you are going to do once this is over?", she whispered, when he woke mere minutes before the time, Freya had predicted to be able to lift the curse on the siblings.

Elijah opened his eyes. "Rebekah will be on her way here, once everything is done.", he said instead of an answer.

Hayley returned his look, while their fingers intertwined. "This way Klaus will be the first to be at Hope's side.", she remarked, using her free hand to run it through his hair. Elijah smiled at her, apologetically but not sorry.

Suddenly his body moved on his own, his eyes closed and a scream tore through the air, that made Hayley shutter. She held him down, when the Hollow tore free and watched it leave, while Elijah's body came to rest motionless next to her.

"Elijah.", she said again and again, but he did not move for a long time. Finally, when he opened his eyes, without so much as a word, he cupped her cheek and pulled her in for a long kiss. - This was, what he was the first thing he was going to do all along, and Hayley smiled against his lips.

When his cellphone buzzed, however, he answered it. "It worked. We are on our way.", Rebekah's voice sounded cheerful.

And within a few hours, Hayley and Elijah stood in front of his Bentley, outside the apartment building they had shared for a long time.

Rebekah's car pulled to a stop in front of them and the wheels had not yet finished turning, when Rebekah jumped out and fell into her brother's arms. Hayley walked up to Marcel and smiled, while he too watched both siblings embracing each other. These particular Mikaelson siblings had been apart long and often, but nothing had ever felt like an eternity like this before.

Rebekah tried her tears, when they stepped to their loved ones and greated the other. "We did it.", she said cheerfully and pressed Elijah close, who answered her with a tender kiss to her cheek.

"Let's go see our niece.", he encouraged her, but looked at Hayley, when he said it. Rebekah huged Elijah one more time and then they were on their way towards home.

"Klaus is already with Hope.", Elijah informed Rebekah, having activated the speakerphone the minute they were inside the Bentley. Hayley bit back a smile and took his hand, knowing that the eldest living Mikaelson brother had intended it exactly like this. Giving the father some time alone with his daughter, before the rest of their family would join them. Hayley felt her heart beat faster, when they drove back to New Orleans together for the first time in what felt like a lifetime. She could feel the siblings aggitation, while they talked throughout the journey and knew, that Hope would be happy to have her family back soon.

When they came into the city a few hours later, however, she felt giddy and unsure. Klaus was there and once he was in power again, would he cost Elijah and Rebekah their happiness once more? Would everything they had build in his eight years fall apart just like this.

"Klaus doesn't need us anymore.", Elijah said into her thoughts, steering the car through the well-known streets of his home town. "He has finally found what he wanted all his life.", Elijah paused for a second, taking a narrow short cut. "The unconditional love of family. He has Hope now."

Hayley could tell, that this revelation should have made her happier, than it did. "Hope loves him." - "He loves her." They both fell silent, when Elijah parked next to Rebekah's car. Both siblings and their loved ones embarking from the cars, walking inside without giving them much time to think.

"Mom.", Hope screamed and ran into her. "We did it!"

Hayley congratulated her daughter, hugging her close and looked up to find Freya, Vincent, Caroline and Klaus who grinned at her.

"Hope.", Rebekah said, her voice almost out of breath.

"Auntie Bex.", the teenager smiled and huged her close, leaning against Marcel, as he joined in.

Hayley stepped back, watching the scene, when Kol and Davina appeared behind Elijah, who walked away to greet his brother. They huged for a long time, silently crying in each others arms, but content and Hayley felt her heart grow heavy.

She realized only when Freya spoke, that the oldest Mikaelson sister had taken Elijah's place beside her. "We will need to reinforce the sleeping curse over time, but maybe it is better, we drop her into the deepest ocean we can possibly find."

"We can do that.", Kol said, leading everyone to stare at him and his wife.

"Freya placed a dark object inside Aurora's coffin, thus we can do it from afar.", Hope explained, visibly proud.

"Thank you." It was Elijah who had spoken, appearing beside Hope, on Hayley's other side, but speaking to the youngest living Mikaelson brother. Davina raised her eyebrow, when Kol and her disappeared as soon as they had shown up, with the coffin that would keep the Hollow and Aurora safe under water.

A collective sight went through the rest of their family and Hayley smiled, when she felt Elijah's hand slip around hers. "Thank you.", he whispered close to her ear and she had the definite feeling, that despite the troubles they would face in the future, Always and Forever was alive once more, including her and Hope at long last. Letting Elijah's promise of a life together for the three of them, seem finally withing their reach.