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True. [ He stares at her for a beat with a huge smile when she says she'd go. That's good. At least he won't suffer alone. His brow goes up though at the question. ] Are you okay? [ Derek is used to the worst. ]

[Her brow knits together, the heavy thoughts still on her mind, but wanting to reassure him.]

Yeah, I'm fine. [She cants her head, trying to lessen the deeper focus in her expression.] I just wanted to talk to you about something and [She lets her expression warm slightly, the hint of amusement slipping onto her features.] as lovely as your choice of camera angles is on this, I'd rather have you here.

[ He's a little hesitant, but not completely wary. He's just always expecting the worse from situations like these. Unfortunately Beacon Hills has sort of ruined him. ]

Okay. Then I'll be there. I'll come right now.

I'll leave the front door unlocked. Just come inside when you get here.

[So trusting of her neighbors!! Or she knows she can kick their asses.]

[ Derek is pretty quick to get himself over to Hayley's. He's worried despite her having said she's okay. There could be a number of things she wants to talk about. She was going to call him before he called her first for the vacation. He calms himself though on the walk because he knows she'll be able to smell the anxiety on him. Probably still will be able to despite his best efforts.

Upon arrival he enters without knocking. Once inside he locks the door behind him. Not wanting to have this discussion interrupted if it's serious or anything along those lines. It's pretty easy to follow the scent of her right into the kitchen. Stronger than the rest of her scent in the apartment. ] What's up?

[Hayley glances up from the counter where she has the framed photo of Hope. She hasn't really hidden it, but they don't exactly linger around her shelves and the photo she'd had on the fridge had been moved into her bedroom, tucked into a book she's been reading.

Seeing him, she exhales and laughs nervously.]

This was so much easier when I was just talking about doing it. [She picks up the photo, the frame being held tightly in her hands before she turns it so that he can see it.] This is Hope.

[Saying her name makes it more real and it hurts a bit more than she anticipated.] She's my daughter and I'm here for her.

[ That anxiety scent kicks up when she starts the conversation like that. Not sure what he's expecting. Especially when she turns around. He's worried that this is going into a darker direction, but when she shows him a picture of a child he looks at her. Calmer than he was five minutes ago. He reaches out and holds out a hand silently asking to take a closer look at the photo. Once she relinquishes it he's quiet.

After a moment he looks up at Hayley. Not upset or anything. Just curious. As to what she'd need from this place for her daughter. ]

She's beautiful. Like her mother. [ He clears his throat. ] Why for her though?

[A small amount of relief falls to her as his questions start with that instead of her father or anything surrounding that.]

From the moment she was conceived someone has tried to kill her -- kill me. [It's so much more complicated than that, but everything stacks up so quickly that it's hard to really tell the story without telling all of it.]

It's not safe for her and right now, at least the last I saw her, she's been hidden away from everyone. We had to lie, to tell everyone that she died. So, I'm here so that she can come home.

[She takes a breath and exhales it slowly.] At least I was. I'm -- I'm from a spot in time that's different than the other people in my world and apparently - apparently there are things that happen, things that I do that change all of that. I want to believe it's because of being here. That somehow, that's why it's been fixed, but I've been here for a year and I miss her.

[ He's quiet as she explains. He doesn't feel the need to speak up or ask any sort of questions. Not yet. She's going through a painful memory just trying to explain this to Derek. He doesn't want to detract from that or make it anything less than what it is. He instead looks at the photo of Hope. Smiling despite himself because Hayley is going to take really good care of this child once she gets her incentive. Most well guarded kid on the planet he's convinced. Without even know Hope's father.

After a moment he puts the photo down on the counter and steps towards Hayley. She misses her child. Which is painful. He doesn't understand it, but he figures it's probably the worst pain you can feel. So he moves towards her and he hugs Hayley. Tightly wrapping her up in his arms. ]

[It's easy for her to accept the embrace. She's not usually the sort of person to hug, to seek solace in this way, but she is grateful for it now. She clings for the moment, takes it for the comfort it provides before she pulls back. Her hair is tucked behind her ears, both hands at the same time. That nervous habit kicking in quickly.]

I asked if I could go back. [She looks to him.] To see her. To see that what I was told is true. It'll be two days here, but -- longer there.

[ He doesn't naturally want to hug people. He does though when it's someone he finds himself drawn to. Someone he cares about on a real level. Derek watches her closely though when she pulls back like that. He pays attention. Zeroing in on her. ]

I don't know how you do it here without her. [ It's just an observation. One that sort of sums up that he understands her need to go home. To be with her child. ] Can I ask a question? If it's out of line please just tell me.

[Hayley laughs softly, shaking her head.] I do it thinking that when I do go home she'll be safe. That she won't know I've been gone.

[She takes a breath and nods, looking up at him.] You can ask me.

Still. It's a lot to take. She may not know that you were gone, but you definitely know how long you've been away from her.

[ She's stronger than he'll ever be. Not just because of her abilities either. Her resolve. Her hope. Her bravery. It's all kind of mind blowing for him. ]

Does her father know about any of this?

[She didn't want to think that his question would come to him, to the way that complicated is spelled Mikaelson in Hayley's dictionary. Her hands wring together as she glances away from Derek then back to him.]

He's here. In Eudio. [She sighs and fidgets a bit on her feet, shifting her weight.] He's been here and left and come back a few times, now. Each time pouring some part of a truth to me, telling me things that I've done - mistakes that he finds unforgivable.

He's... [She sighs again, heavier this time. Frustration and yet compassion being two very different emotions to feel in the moment.] He loves her, but he also thinks he's the only one that knows how to keep her safe. Saying he has trust issues is stating it plainly.

[She looks to Derek and cants her head.] We aren't together. In either realm of possibility. It had been a single night. A single night that changed my entire life.

[ He didn't expect that. When she told him that her father was here he sort of doesn't know how to process that. But he stays silent because Hayley has more to tell him. He's not angry or anything because this is her personal business. Her life. He can't expect her to have just told him everything from the jump. That wouldn't be fair.

The baby's father sounds like he's a piece of work. It reminds him a little bit of Peter. He doesn't feel the need to tell Hayley that though. Just a musing that passes through his head. ]

He sounds--[ He searches for a word. Something to express it. ]--like a dick.

[Laughter comes easily from her as he offers his assessment of Klaus.] He's been around for over a thousand years. It's hard to tell him to trust people when his own parents have tried to kill him more than once.

He's not that bad. I probably paint a horrible picture, but I've seen how far he goes to protect his family. It might not be the best way, but [she nods, recalling the determination in him.] he's not all bad.

And trust me when I say that Klaus isn't the most complicated part of going home.

I guess I get it. My uncle has tried to kill me on more than one occasion. [ He can get that desire to not want to trust people after having a betrayal like that. Especially because Peter used to be someone he trusted with everything. Someone who helped him through everything. ] Not counting the time I actually did kill him.

[ But it didn't exactly stick. ]

What's the most complicated part?

[She nods and then he asks about the complicated part and she takes a breath and gestures over toward the living room. Because, she wants to be seated for this part. This very long and complicated part.]

Let's sit. [She takes up a seat and looks at him. It's such a mess of even longer stories and promises that were made by parents that gave her up -- she's not even sure how to start into all of this.]

So. [Inhaling deeply, she sighs and then just starts into it.]

Back home I'm a Crescent wolf. There are seven main packs, seven bloodlines that run through New Orleans and the surrounding area. I'm the few remaining crescent wolves. The birthmark on my shoulder - that -- that is something that all of my line have.

In New Orleans there's always been a power struggle between witches, wolves, and vampires and when I was a baby the other wolves of the bayou were cursed by the witches. They would be wolves except on the full moon, when they would be humans. They thought I was dead. I had been brought out of New Orleans and raised by another family; adopted. I didn't even know what I was until I triggered the curse. I was young, I was -- [She shakes her head. It's not important.] I spent the rest of my time searching for my birth parents, for answers as to why they gave me up.

They did it to protect me, at least, that's what I was told. But, before they had to give me up - they also promised me to one of the families of the pack. That when I was old enough that I'd marry their son and we'd unite all the packs. So, when I finally found my family, when I helped break the curse that was keeping them from actually having normal lives -- I wasn't also expecting to be betrothed to someone.

[She frowns, picking at a frayed piece of denim on her shorts.] It would be good for the pack. It would mean that they'd help protect Hope, that they'd be on the side that is trying to do the right thing. I was here to try and find a different way. To make it that I didn't have to marry a man I didn't love.

[She glances up to Derek, chewing on her bottom lip for a moment.] Elijah, Klaus' brother, says that it happens. [She leaves Elijah as the brother, because she's not sure she wants to also add in that she is actually in love with him to this story.]

That I marry Jackson. That I unite the packs and that it makes them stronger. That there's a ritual with the wedding and that my strengths, my abilities, become the abilities of the pack. That other packs join in, that it's a good thing.

[Her fingers fidget for a moment.] So, if I go back and I stay long enough, I'm going to marry someone and when I come back, I might come back married. [She cants her head, trying to dismiss it with more things to consider.] I might come back with a whole new sort of complicated life, but right now, what I know is that much of it.

[She also knows that Klaus curses her. That she might not make it back at all. That she could be stuck a wolf and unable to make any sort of deal to save herself.]

Edited (ha ha that's good enough) 2016-05-22 22:55 (UTC)

[ He didn't expect her to say it was complicated enough for them to sit. He does as she asks though and takes a seat with Hayley. She talks of a birthmark on her and Derek shifts in his chest. Reminded of the tattoo on his back. The one that reminds him of how easy it is for any wolf to fall and rise. The same triple spiral his mother used to instill control in her children when they were struggling with full moons. It reminds him that he had people and that Hayley did. Which makes him more worried for her.

Derek listens closely to what she tells him. How her world was turned upside down by witches and she was sent out of the bayou. He's not too fond of witches right now. He's happy he doesn't have to deal with them. Druids would be the closest thing to it, but they're not like that.

His gaze narrows when she mentions Klaus' brother telling her that she married this man. The one she was betrothed to. Promised. He didn't think that was a thing anymore. Apparently he's wrong.

Finally once she's quiet he nods his head slowly. Trying to sort through his thoughts. ] What you did was brave. Marrying him for those wolves. [ He can't imagine going through with something like that. ] In the interest of honesty--I have a girlfriend back home. She's a bounty hunter. Her name's Braeden.

I haven't done it, yet. But apparently it's only a matter of time passing.

[She takes a deep breath, though. Relieved that the conversation went as well as it did. Granted, she did leave out most of the information regarding Elijah. That's a problem for another day. At the mention of his own relationship, she glances to him with a hint of concern.]

Are you okay with -- I mean, if I had known I wouldn't have... been so direct.

Still you're going to do something selfless and brave for your people.

[ Derek definitely admires her for that. He shakes his head immediately when she sort of starts to worry about how forward she was originally. He knows that Braeden wouldn't have been angry about this place. She's smart and if you're told how something is then you follow that way. ]

It's okay. I actually liked how direct you were. Not many people are like that with me.

Because of the wolf thing or something else?

[She can see how he might be a bit intimidating, but if someone is interested - they should make the effort.]

That and people back home used to be a little afraid of me. For a long time me, my sister and my uncle were the only ones to survive the fire set that murdered my whole family. I think they all sort of thought I had gone crazy or something.

[ Before they knew about the wolf thing. Scott and Stiles thought he killed Laura at one point before they knew about wolves. ]

That's not the usual reaction to that sort of tragedy. I mean, what happened to being understanding and trying to help people?

It kind of went out the window. For a long time they didn't know who killed them. It went unsolved [ Something that tore Derek up on the inside. ] I don't blame them though. They were just scared. My family was different. We had a house in the woods. It made people tell stories.

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