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Thank you. [She nods, taking another moment. She glances to him.]

It's okay, though. I'd rather talk it out than just let it sit with me.

[She rubs her thumb against her ring finger. She'd taken it off when she arrived, but she still feels a bit odd without it. She'd held onto it, kept the symbol, but arriving here she didn't want the reminder.]

Jack... Jack and I did get married. It was good for the pack. Good for Hope. Good for me. [The last part she admits a bit quieter than the rest.]

He was a good man. A decent man. He died protecting me. Protecting my family. [It's a broad statement, one that even she can't really settle on because she still feels the guilt over Jack being there in the first place. She had gained closure, she had ended the lives of those that took her from him, but she still feels unease about it. Unease about being here and betraying his memory.]

[ He can understand that too. Needing to get it off your chest. Sometimes with intense emotions it can often be a flip flop. Hit and miss. You never know what you want to do with them until you're there in the moment.

Derek's quiet as he listens to her talk about Jack. How he was good for her and hope at the time. How he was a good pack leader. That's not easy. Derek knows. He failed. He frowns when she says that Jack died protecting her and his family. ]

Sounds like he was an even better man than you could have hoped.

He was. [She nods, letting her hands clasp together, because she doesn't know what else to do with them.]

Things aren't better, though. Jack isn't the only one that we've lost and I'm here so we don't lose anyone else. So that maybe something can stop the horrible things from continuing to happen.

I'm -- [She's tired of losing people. Tired of watching all their efforts, their plans going astray. Tired of people thinking that they know better.] I'm just tired.

[She frowns.]

[ That's not good though. If things haven't gotten better. If they've just gotten worse. He knows about losing people. Derek Hale knows more than a thing or two about losing people. He watches her though. Because clearly she lost someone else. Someone who wasn't Jack. Someone who had a bigger impact. ]

Who'd you lose, Hayley? [ He tilts his head. ]

[She frowns, because it's not so much someone she lost -- but someone that she could lose. Someone that came close more than a few times to being taken out of the equation.]

Klaus has three brothers and a sister. Kol and Finn have already died. Finn was the most recent. He died before I returned. The thing is that they're meant to be extremely hard to kill and beyond that, their death would mean the death of any vampire that's on their lineage. It would mean countless deaths.

Klaus has been unlinked from that. They tried with his other brother, with Elijah. [She's quiet.] Elijah has always been there for me. From the moment I was taken against my will into New Orleans and found out I was pregnant.

Over time... [She takes another breath, pausing.] I care a lot for him. It's just always been complicated. With his life, his family. With Jack.

When he was here, we were together. He returned home, though. He said he needed to know if what Klaus had told him was true. He hasn't come back. That was months ago.

Back home, I walked away. I did it because Jack loved me and he knew how I felt about Elijah. He stood by my side. He died in front of me.

[She is quiet for a moment.] What we're facing right now. It took Finn and it could take any of them. I could lose them all.

I understand. Watching someone die in front of you.

[ He knows what it's like to lose people. To be in a fight that feels like you're going backwards. That's taking casualties by the second. He knows what it's like though to see the person you love just fade away in your arms. ]

When I was a kid--a stupid kid there was a girl. She died in my arms. Nothing I could do. Someone that trusts you and believes in you though. It does something. [ He nods. ] When I was young I thought my family was just indestructible. We were peaceful. Why come after us? Then they're wiped out and you realize that the people you love are capable of being killed.

[Hayley nods. She thought for sure that he'd ask more questions, that he'd want to know if she still feels that way about Elijah. She wonders if it matters anymore. He's always going to be someone she cares for, but their circumstances seem to always put them into a place where it just isn't going to happen. They'll remain in a state of complicated. Here they had a chance, but she doesn't want to go through that feeling again of having him leave. Of having to go back and him not remember, having him not know all that they had.]

It's hard to let go of that hope that once you're together nothing will break that bond. [She smirks a bit to herself.] They have this saying: Always and forever.

They're immortal, so it seemed fitting that they could make a promise like that. It goes beyond that, though. Beyond the always part of it. I'm learning that, but it just really sucks to see those that don't make it through to that always part of it.

[ He's not one to ask about personal feelings like that. It's a lot. He knows there's something there. Something she's not telling him. If she wants to tell him how she feels about Elijah than that's something she can do. He won't push her on it though. ]

They sound more like a wolf family than vampires. [ Not that he has much vampire experience beyond knowing her. But the connection that's so strong that you don't think anything can break it is familiar. ] I'm really sorry, Hayley.

[She smirks a little at that, because loyalty is loyalty and that's how a family should work. Except, most of the time it's not something they decide together and the forever part could mean small time-outs in a coffin. They're complicated.]

It's what I chose. Which, not many people get to pick their family, but after losing mine and searching for one for so long... I'm okay with what I have.

[ Well, to be fair Peter had tried to kill him and succeeded in killing his sister. So even wolf families aren't even completely normal. There's always one that just doesn't know how to behave himself. ]

I get it. I'm glad you have them.

I am too. [She takes a breath and moves over toward where he's cooking.]

Can I taste? [She's looking to ease off the topic. Having put all of it out there she feels better. She knows there's still pieces of it stuck. That they're not all out there, but it's enough for her now.]

[ He can appreciate her wanting to ease off this. He nods his head with a smile when she asks if she can taste. He gives her one. After that there's some dinner and things. ]

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