Chapter Text
They move out of the compound.
She’s not wholly sure which of them actually makes the decision, but Hayley and Freya both look over at each other and then stare at the walls; it's clear that neither of them wants to continue on living here without the rest of their family.
Hope offers up no arguments, so Hayley quickly gets to work packing up their things and then drags Freya down into the bayou.
(Freya has plenty of arguments against that particular decision, but, all of her siblings are gone and she is the most fiercely loyal person that Hayley has ever met, so—she’s not going to leave Hayley or Hope. No matter how much she complains about the swamp, or the humidity, or the mosquitos. She could. Hayley keeps reminding her that she can go see them. She can go with one of them, all of them, even, if she wants to. The Hallow isn’t inside her, it won’t do any damage. But—)
Freya gets absolutely plastered on a Tuesday their third week out in the bayou and then she screams at Hayley for nearly a full hour straight. She sucks in a watery breath and then tells Hayley to fuck off with no malice whatsoever and then goes and passes out in her room.
The next morning she is up before dawn, making them all breakfast with red-rimmed eyes as if it never happened at all. Keelin sits silently in the corner and shakes her head when Hayley opens her mouth to try and start their fight all over again.
Neither of them leaves. Hayley doesn't know how to voice the grateful tug that sits heavy in her chest, one that sounds a lot like her adoptive parents, kicking her out, like no one ever picking her first and staying, so she doesn’t try to. After Hope bounds into the kitchen and starts chattering away about the potential shape of her pancakes with Keelin, Hayley walks over to Freya and slips her arms around Freya’s back and holds on tight. Her frame is slender and frail and Hayley has to focus hard in the moment not to squeeze her too tightly and crush all of her bones. She wants to; she wants to wrap herself up with Freya and hold on for dear life. She doesn’t know how it came to be that they are the only two left, but they are, and Hayley is so, so terribly relieved that Freya chose to stay. She doesn’t know how to say the words. Freya turns them around after a minute, gripping Hayley back tightly around the neck and pressing her cheek to Hayley’s forehead, wrapping her whole tall body around Hayley’s. They stay like that, silent, for about a minute or so till Hope calls out to them both.
“Is everything okay?” she asks, far more worried than a seven-year-old should have to be at the sight of her mother and aunt sharing a hug.
“Everything’s fine, sweetie,” Hayley assures her. “Go on and grab your backpack. I’ll walk you to school.”
Hope lights up and runs into her bedroom. The idea of finally getting to go to a real school with kids her own age is too enticing to keep on worrying about her father or her aunt and uncles, scattered to the wind on her behalf. Keelin shoots them both a look that very much reads as I told you so, idiots and Hayley and Freya both sip at their coffee and avoid her gaze. It’s awful, knowing that they lost. Knowing that Hope still doesn’t have all of her family back, might never, even, but—
Having Freya and Keelin and Mary helps. Not having to constantly be on the run anymore helps so much. It’s still awful, but it’s bearable.
It has to be.
…
…
Hope loves her new school. This is New Orleans, so she is not the only supernatural kid attending, not by a long shot. It takes a bit of wavering, but Hayley ends up putting down the name Marshall down on her fudged homeschooling transcripts. Something about it seems safer, even as she watches Freya wince at the erasure of her name.
“Smart,” she says. Hayley nods and leaves it at that.
Hope comes home chattering excitedly about all of the things you get to learn about in second grade, and one of the pack kids that she already recognizes named Henry, and some of the witches that Vincent told her to introduce herself to.
She’s excited and happy, and she’s learning to have some semblance of a normal life, and Hayley couldn’t ask for more under the circumstances if she tried.
…
…
Hayley saunters into Rousseau’s and plops down into a booth next to Vincent. “Hi,” she says, smiling at him awkwardly. They don’t hate each other, but they’re not exactly what Hayley would consider to be friends, either. Vincent is wary of all of them, save Cami and maybe on a good day, Freya. But, they all respect each other and they all want the same thing, so—
Factions are back. Peace talks are back. Hayley is the alpha and she’s got a hell of a lot of responsibility, nowadays.
Cami slips over and passes Hayley a glass of water with a wink and says that she’ll be five more minutes, tops, just as Marcel walks in and sits down beside Hayley. His arm slides across her shoulders, casual, easy-like and Hayley smiles. She has always liked him, and it’s far easier to have him be on her side than not. She likes the friendship that they’ve slipped into over the past few weeks. He’s missing Rebekah and Klaus just as much as Hayley is (not Elijah, probably, but two out of three isn’t bad). He gets it, and that matters right now.
Josh isn’t far behind Marcel but he looks agitated and keeps on tugging at the collar of his shirt. Marcel’s lips are pressed into a thin line but then he grins wide and easy and calls out to Cami and teases Vincent and fools exactly no one.
Josh doesn’t say it until Freya and Keelin get there and Cami finally sits down, but once he does Hayley’s not actually all that surprised.
“I’ll be back,” he insists. “I’m sure of it. I just… there’s a lot of the world that I haven’t seen, and a break from NOLA would be nice, and—”
“Josh,” Marcel cuts in, soft. “It’s all good,” he raises his glass and his lips aren’t that thin line anymore, his smile almost seems real. Sad, but real. “To seeing the world,” he toasts.
They all clink their glasses. Josh chugs his, and then the three more that Cami passes his way, and then he slips out, not wanting to stay any longer than he has to.
“So,” Vincent says. “You and Cami gonna be the solo Vampire and Human faction leaders, then?”
Marcel does the cocky, almost fake smile again and shrugs. “We’ll see.”
Vincent doesn’t look too happy, but Hayley sees Freya reach over and pinch his thigh underneath the table.
“So,” Hayley says, changing the subject. “I want to talk about relocating some of the wolves out of the bayou.”
Vincent and Marcel go tense, arguments ready on their tongue, but Freya wants out of there more than anyone and Cami’s been on Hayley’s side on this for a while now. Hayley listens carefully to their arguments and calmly shoots each one down. “It doesn’t have to be everyone,” she insists. “Lots of the wolves like the bayou.”
“God knows why,” Freya mumbles. Hayley kicks her underneath the table and finds satisfaction in the way that she grunts in surprise.
“Everyone else has at least a neighborhood in the city that they can claim. If we’re actually trying to build something lasting here, then it’s only fair that the wolves have one too. I’m not going to back down on this.”
“She shouldn’t have to,” Cami adds. Vincent and Marcel both deflate at Cami’s words.
“Fine,” Vincent says. “Pull up a city map. Let’s talk.”
It all gets very boring and technical after that and Hayley is only delighted when the clock strikes 2:55 and she has to bolt out to pick up Hope from school.
…
…
Hope is miserable whenever she remembers that Klaus, Rebekah, and Elijah can’t ever come home. Rebekah calls every Thursday evening and Hope eagerly tells her every single mundane detail about her week (including what she had for breakfast and when she brushed her teeth) and that helps, but each time that they hang up, Hope is petulant. She either snaps at everyone for at least an hour, or she climbs up onto Hayley’s lap and refuses to move for the duration of the evening. Hayley doesn’t blame her. She misses Rebekah too, and she is technically twenty-eight, not seven.
It’s even worse whenever Klaus calls. He isn’t nearly as punctual or reliable as his sister is and Hayley honestly doesn’t think that he will ever be. She knows that he is miserable. He doesn’t do well alone—especially not apart from Elijah—and it shows. He locks it down for his phone calls with Hope, but everyone else can see the cracks of it the minute that Hope isn’t looking anymore.
He calls Elijah with far more frequency than his calls to Hope, and part of Hayley wants to scream at him for it, but mostly, she’s just grateful that he is keeping it together enough to pick up the phone and call her at all.
…
…
Being the alpha is hard.
Hayley has always known this, it’s not new information, but it comes as a shock that it feels a hell of a lot harder now that it’s not life or death stakes anymore. When it’s not running and running and running, scrambling for purchase and one final thing to save them all, but instead, an everyday grind of helping out her people, day in and day out. Mundane problems are somehow much harder for Hayley to deal with than the end of the world problems.
It is a very annoying revelation to have.
Lisina, the guardian of Hope’s new friend Henry, becomes a solid steady presence at Hayley’s side with the pack. As close to a beta as she’ll ever get, probably. Keelin takes a while to fit in—her entire pack has been dead for years and she’s always fought against her werewolf side in a way that Hayley never did—but, after about a year or so, the three of them have a really good rhythm going. Keelin’s doctor skills come in exceptionally handy for the members of the pack who are more recluse, prefer to stay out in the bayou, and don’t have health insurance.
In the first year of living back out in the bayou, Hayley:
(a) learns how to set up and build an entire crib from scratch for her neighbor throughout a very frustrating afternoon;
(b) deals with the in-faction fights and zoning laws that come along with relocating a solid half of her pack into the New Orleans East area;
(c) tries to get Hope to eat at least three vegetables every day and tries not to beat herself up when she fails;
(d) dodges the flirty looks coming from Cami’s cousin as he spends the year as the new cook at Rousseau’s;
(e) writes letters to Klaus (sometimes to Elijah) and tries to stay out of Rebekah and Marcel’s endless fights;
(f) sort of accidentally, but not quite, has sex with a new vampire in town that she meets in a bar, and is interrupted by a horrified Freya who comes back from the movie early to grab an extra sweatshirt for Hope;
(g) cries in Mary’s arms for no describable reason that she can think of, three days before Hope’s eight birthday;
(h) helps paint multiple houses and bedrooms, carries heavy boxes, distracts children, and is declared to be no help whatsoever with a hammer as she helps members of her pack move into their new homes;
(i) avoids listening in on Freya and Keelin’s fights about Doctors Without Borders and tries not to pick a side in the matter;
(j) works tirelessly with Freya to try and find a cure for the magic that’s coursing through their family’s veins and comes up with jack all;
(k) turns twenty-nine, but still looks exactly the same as she did when she was twenty-one.
It’s both the longest and the shortest year of her life. After Hope has gone off to bed and Keelin’s shuffling some of her paperwork for the next day in the living room, Freya slips out onto the porch and joins Hayley. She’s got two mugs in her hands and passes one over to Hayley with a soft smile before squatting down next to her on the steps. Her shoulder brushes up against Hayley’s and the warmth of her skin fills Hayley up with something that she doesn’t bother naming.
“Happy birthday,” Freya says, low. The cicadas are hollering at them, filling up the bayou with a chorus of sound that echoes through Hayley’s skull. She focuses her senses for a moment and then tunes the sound out a bit, listening instead to Freya’s steady breathing.
“Thanks,” she says and sips at the tea Freya made.
They’re quiet together for a minute or two, just listening to the sounds of the bayou that Freya hates and Hayley loves. Hayley reaches over and takes Freya’s hand and squeezes it tight, grateful beyond measure that she is here, even though she doesn’t want to be. Hayley isn’t her family in the same way as Rebekah, or Kol, or any of them. Freya didn’t choose her, like she chose Keelin. Hayley was just tossed into the mix and Freya showed up and went along with it because of Hope. All of them are here because of Hope.
“Not true,” Freya says and Hayley frowns. She knows that she didn’t voice that thought out loud. If Freya is experimenting with magic that lets her read minds, Hayley is going to have something to say about it. Freya laughs and knocks their shoulders together further, holding onto Hayley’s hand and looking out at the swamp. “I just know you,” she assures Hayley. “Nothing nefarious, promise.”
Hayley turns and stares at her. “Do you?” she asks. Freya looks a bit surprised at the question. Maybe even a little hurt. “I mean… all I’m saying is that… never mind, it’s dumb.”
“No,” Freya insists. “Tell me.”
Hayley doesn’t want to. She doesn’t want to sound desperate or weak or give Freya a reason to think anything less than she already does of it. Instead, she just shrugs and sips at her tea, looking out at the water. Freya is disappointed, Hayley can tell, but for once she doesn’t push. She sips her own tea and stays there with Hayley in the quiet as the last year settles onto her bones.
…
…
Caroline Forbes shows up in New Orleans a few weeks after Hayley’s birthday.
Hayley remembers her—she’s pretty sure that she snapped her neck, once, back in Mystic Falls. Now, she’s got a pair of six-year-olds in tow and looks… unsure isn’t the right word, but it’s edging somewhere close to it.
“Hi,” Caroline says, suddenly going overly perky. It grates on Hayley the same way it always did with girls like Caroline, back when she was younger. But that was immature and Hayley’s trying to move past that and so she grits her teeth and squashes any negative thoughts down. Caroline jams her hand out into the air between them. “Klaus has told me a lot about you over the years. It’s nice to finally meet again under better circumstances.”
So, she definitely remembers the whole neck-snapping thing, then.
They’re not teenagers anymore. They’re not running for their lives or making snap judgment calls on trust. They’re adults. They’re mothers. Hayley sticks her hand out and takes Caroline’s with a smile that hopefully looks as inviting as she’s trying to be.
“Hayley, nice to meet you again.”
Caroline starts chatting about a boarding school for supernatural kids back in Mystic Falls. She talks faster than just about anyone that Hayley has ever met, and it takes her a second to catch up and pay attention. “Oh, Hope is… there are magical kids here.”
“I know,” Caroline says. “I just thought that I should let you know. It’s an option if you want it. The girls are starting in the fall for their second year and… well, last year went really well.”
(They sort of skimmed over the whole… magically impregnated thing pretty quickly and while Hayley is sure as hell curious, she sort of knows the drill, so she doesn’t pry further).
“I think it’s important for Hope to be around her family right now, but thank you. I’ll keep it in mind.”
Caroline is jittery. Lizzie and Josie climb up on top of the bar and then run around chasing each other. Cami makes them Shirley Temples and smiles at Caroline, and neither of them says, I have a thing for Klaus but both of them know it about each other anyway. Hayley waits for a fight to erupt; something catty and petty that will have to turn into her sweeping up a pair of six-year-olds up and entertaining them for a while, but it never comes. Cami smiles at Caroline and it’s genuine. A little wary, maybe, because she has managed to survive as one of the only humans around vampires for a long time and it’s not by trusting every person who comes waltzing through that bar door with a past that’s tied to the Mikaelsons.
Caroline isn’t seventeen and desperate for affection anymore, so she smiles back at Cami just as genuinely. She compliments her necklace and the drinks that she makes for her daughters and asks if she knows of any good apartment listings in the area.
“Wait,” Hayley snaps back to attention. Lizzie had been trying to get her to curl up her tongue in the same way that Josie can, devilish little face infectious, but Hayley whips around and looks over at Caroline, now. “I thought you lived in Virginia.”
“I do. Did. I…” Caroline shoots a look over at her daughters and Cami reacts quickly, asking them if they want to pop over to the flower shop across the street.
Caroline nods her approval when the twins look over towards her and then they grab Cami and all but drag her outside. Caroline sighs once they’re all out of the empty bar. Hayley waits her out. They don’t know each other well enough for her to read Caroline’s mood or feel the urge to pry. As it is she’s mostly just curious.
Also, Klaus has a type, and from the looks of things, she was never really it. Hayley laughs to herself, so grateful that she’s at a place with him now that’s comfortable and easy and solid in a way that she never fucking thought it’d be.
“The school was always more Ric’s idea than it was mine,” Caroline says. She’s staring at her water glass, contemplative, and Hayley stays quiet and listens. “He’s the academic. I love it, don’t get me wrong,” Caroline adds, quick. “I actually thrive on like… the administration aspect of it. I love telling people what to do. I love coming up with solutions for problems, I like the kids. I like the job,” she shrugs. “But…” she picks at the coaster resting in between the two of them. “I’ve lived in Mystic Falls my whole life. I thought — I don’t know, maybe I’d feel exactly the same if Stefan were still alive but, I feel like I should be experiencing more. I obviously never planned on dying at seventeen, or becoming magically pregnant, or even staying in their lives at all, if I’m being honest. But, I don’t know, I need a change. At least, part of the time. Klaus always used to talk about how much he loved this city, I thought…” she shrugs again, trailing off and laughing, self-deprecating.
“Well, I’m sure that you’ll fit right in,” Hayley says. “Let me know if you need anything.”
Caroline smiles. “I’m going to take you up on that.”
Hayley believes her.
…
…
Marcel hates Caroline.
Or, rather, he loves her and he knows that she and Rebekah have a weird, competitive, shitty (but sort of not?) relationship thing going on and he is terrified to do anything to fuck up his relationship any further than he already has.
Staying in NOLA instead of traveling with Rebekah hasn’t been going well for anyone involved, from the sounds of it. Hayley is trying—so hard—to stay out of it and not pick a side and the truth of it is, she wants both of them around and that’s not something that can happen right now.
Marcel is a good leader when he stops trying to be like Klaus and puts his ego aside and actually gives a shit about the people that he’s looking out for. Caroline is good at reminding him of that fact. It works, whether Rebekah likes it or not.
(Hayley goes and does something absolutely fucking stupid and mutters that fact underneath her breathe during a very annoying and lengthy phone call rant on a Thursday and she swears, she can feel Rebekah simmering through the cell. She is promptly hung up on, and though Rebekah still calls every Thursday without fail, she calls Freya’s phone and talks to Hope there and refuses to speak to Hayley for a solid month).
Caroline is mopey with missing her daughters and she starts hanging out with Hayley and Hope to compensate a bit. At first, it’s strange. All that Hayley really knows about Caroline is secondhand information from Tyler Lockwood, Klaus, Rebekah, and Katherine fucking Pierce. None of them are what Hayley would ever consider to be impartial parties. Hayley’s only prior experience with her was annoyance—for taking up Tyler’s time when she needed to get the hybrids for Katherine. With that out the window and both of them with a hell of a lot more life experience, she doesn’t quite know where they land with each other. She is great with Hope and she mostly just seems to miss her kids and Hayley’s fine with sharing hers, a little. So, it’s not all that hard to let Caroline tag along on ice cream missions or runs through the bayou or homework help.
It’s all the other stuff when Hope isn’t there, that’s the issue.
Per usual, Cami saves the day.
The weather’s getting cooler and December is almost upon them, and Hayley has been thrumming with nervous energy and avoiding Declan like the plague, and Cami is getting real sick of everyone’s shit. She hollers at Hayley for ten minutes, then she calls up Rebekah and hollers at her over the phone, too. She orders Marcel to go visit her for the weekend and then declares that everyone who is not Hayley, Caroline, Freya, Keelin, or Lisina, needs to get the hell out of her bar.
(She gives Hope a kiss and a Shirley Temple as she ushers her outside with Mary; everyone else just gets a glare).
Hayley plops down into a booth beside Freya, trying not to look as petulant as she feels and probably failing, from the exasperated look Cami gives them all.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” she asks.
“Look, Cami—” Keelin starts.
“I don’t wanna hear it,” she cuts her off. “Everyone here is drinking and dancing and shutting the fuck up for the next two hours. Then we are going to eat greasy burgers made by my cousin, and go for a walk.”
No one makes to argue further.
Hayley downs a few shots and then climbs up on top of the bar. She used to know how to have a good time and she’s not going to let some ancient curse take that away from her. Maybe Klaus, Rebekah, Elijah, and Kol are gone, maybe they’ll find a way to get them back and maybe they won’t, but Hayley can’t just put her whole fucking life on hold until then. She can’t let Hope.
They’re alive. The factions are working. Crime is down, Hope loves school, and Hayley loves being the alpha. She’s where her parents always wanted her to be. For now, maybe forever, that’s going to have to be enough.
Hayley spins on the bar and finds that Caroline is suddenly right there beside her. She takes a single breath and then opens her arms. Caroline pauses, then fucking beams and spins into them. Hayley doesn’t stop dancing until Declan comes laughing into the room, two full brown paper bags in his hands, grease seeping into the bottom.
“You’re having a nice night, cuz,” he drawls towards Cami.
“I am,” she declares and snatches one of the bags and digs into a burger. “God, these are good.”
Her cousin wiggles his eyebrows at her and she slugs him. Declan turns his gaze up towards Hayley and holds a burger out to her. She digs in gleefully and releases a similar groan of contentment. Declan’s grin goes ridiculous and smug. Hayley gives him an unimpressed look that doesn't manage to conceal the way that the corner of her mouth is twitching and Declan preens.
“Let’s go for that walk,” Hayley announces and leaps off the bar, snatching the other bag out of Declan’s hand and walking with purpose towards the front door. Caroline is at her heels immediately, the rest of them slower to follow.
“Well, he sure is cute,” Caroline whispers and grabs a burger out of the bag for herself. “And he likes you.”
“Shut up,” Hayley says, very maturely.
Caroline only laughs and hip-checks Hayley, turning back around and passing out food for everyone.
They walk out along the Mississippi River and gorge themselves on Declan’s burgers. Hayley turns and looks behind her and sees Freya and Keelin, looking content and arm in arm for the first time in a week and smiles. Lisina and Cami are excitedly talking about the plot to some movie that Hayley hasn’t seen, and Caroline is walking beside her, quiet and looking out at the water.
“I’m glad that I came here,” she whispers, more to herself than anything but Hayley smiles around her burger. “I thought maybe I made a mistake,” she admits, now truly talking to Hayley. “I miss the girls so much and I can’t believe it but, I actually miss Mystic Falls a little, but—” she trails off and Hayley passes her the last burger. Caroline accepts it, chewing quietly as the river whirls beside them. A minute or so later she asks, “is this anywhere near where you thought your life would go?”
Hayley snorts. “No.”
“Not even like, five years ago?”
Hayley thinks about it. Five years ago, she was on the run with a toddler, dragging her family around in coffins and trying to raise her daughter and keep them both alive and figure out a way to save their family all by herself. All she could envision or hope for was a cure and a finish line where they were all together. After that… it was always just a blank space, waiting to be filled.
“No,” she answers. “But… apart from the whole, ancient magic being a dick and separating my family thing, I think I like where I am.”
“Me too,” Caroline hums. “Well… my family isn’t separate. They’re dead. Or… mostly dead. But, children are supposed to outlive their parents anyway,” she shrugs, going quiet. Hayley can see her lip wobble, just a smidge, and she is filled with a sudden burst of affection for Caroline that nearly bowls her over.
“That doesn’t mean your family is gone,” she says, with perhaps a bit more ferocity than either of them was expecting. If Lisina and Keelin can hear, they don’t acknowledge it. Caroline’s smile goes real wobbly, now, and she smiles through it. “I suppose not.”
“I wanna jump in the river,” Lisina suddenly announces.
“No,” Cami looks horrified. “No, god that’s a terrible idea—”
Lisina strips down to her underwear and leaps in.
“Fuck,” Cami breathes.
“Ew,” Freya mumbles. “It’s got to be dirty as hell.”
“Seems nice, actually,” Keelin starts.
“Don’t you dare,” Freya hisses, grabbing at her.
“Lisina, you’re gonna freeze!” Cami hollers.
“It does seem kind of cold,” Caroline hums, looking out at the water with a curious gaze.
Hayley shucks her clothes and dives after Lisina, her friends shrieking behind her and the cool water embracing her and waking her body up.
She starts to fill in the blank space.
…
…
The second Christmas with everyone separated goes much worse than the first one.
Mary is sick.
She tells Hayley only after she absolutely has to. She grumbles through the whole conversation, damn docs won’t let me drive myself to chemo, bastards. Gotta have a name on my contact list, yours is as good as any, kid.
Hayley cries. Then she straightens up her shoulders and says that they can do this, with a firm nod that even has Mary going a bit soft and nodding back. Hayley takes Mary to her first session two days before Christmas Eve and holds her hair back as she pukes, her whole body shaking, the next morning. Mary is determined not to tell Hope, not to have her worry about anyone else, but that can’t last for long. Everyone is on edge the morning they wake up and open presents. Mary feels awful, can barely drag herself out of bed, and Keelin has finally made the decision to go to Doctors Without Borders, and Freya is furious and sad and Hope picks up on all of it.
She takes off her bracelet and screams in frustration and the front door flies off its hinges and out into the bayou.
Hayley has been Officially Declared Useless with a Hammer, so she doesn’t try to put it back on. She takes Hope into her bedroom and gives her a lecture about using her magic in frustration while Freya and Keelin fix her kid’s mess. Mary falls asleep and then Hope takes an angry nap and Hayley goes for a run to avoid listening in on Freya and Keelin’s final argument before she packs up and leaves.
She has had shittier Christmases, that’s for sure, but this makes it into the top ten.
…
…
Keelin holds her tight and whispers, “Please, take care of her,” into Hayley’s temple. Hayley gives her a sharp nod and grips just a little tighter.
“Take care of yourself,” she orders. “Fucking come back in one piece after saving half the world’s babies.”
Keelin snorts. “Will do.”
Freya hovers on the porch, wrapped up in like eight layers against the chill of the early morning December air that's coming off the bayou that she hates. She wraps herself up and stands there and says goodbye to the woman that she loves and refuses to go with because of Hayley.
Sort of.
Because of her siblings. Because of Hope. Because she won’t let herself be happy until they are. She won’t start to fill in the space if they’re not allowed to, yet.
It’s bullshit. Hayley told her so, told her to go and actually meant it. (She wants her here, selfishly. She hates Keelin just a little bit for this, too, but she had meant it. Hayley has people. Freya can go and be free and in love and happy, Hayley isn’t ever going to be the one to stop her). Freya had looked at her coldly and told Hayley that was the cruelest thing she ever could have said, and hasn’t spoken to her since. Being iced out by the Mikaelson sisters fucking sucks. Hayley’s grateful that after Marcel spent a long weekend with Rebekah, and then Caroline found her in New York and they… punched each other? fucked each other? Hayley has no idea, but it’s all settled and fine now and Rebekah is talking to her again. Or, it’s as fine as it’s going to ever be with Marcel wanting to be in New Orleans, even if that means he is not with Rebekah full time. Hayley doesn’t think that she could handle both sisters not talking to her at the same time.
She doesn’t think she can handle living with Freya and not talking to her at all. She wouldn’t have thought that would be where she was, seven years ago, but—
Here they are.
Freya swallows thickly and walks down into the dewy, cold grass, barefoot. Keelin releases Hayley and she steps back and Freya slips into the space that she had been occupying. The two women just stare at each other. They’ve had every argument that there is to have about this in the last year and a half. The problem is, they’re both sort of right, and they know it.
“I love you,” Keelin says. Hayley steps further back, onto the porch. Mary and Hope are inside, Keelin’s already said tearful goodbyes to them.
“I know,” Freya whispers, looking down at her bare feet. She shivers and Keelin immediately wraps her arms around her girlfriend.
“I’m coming back,” Keelin promises.
“I know that, too.”
Hayley steps further back, hovering in the doorway, letting the chill into the house.
Freya lifts up her chin, straightens her spine, and accepts what’s happening. “I love you,” she says. “I’ll see you in a few months.”
Keelin kisses her, and that’s when Hayley finally slips inside to give them a moment to themselves.
Hope is sullen most of the day and then she abandons them to go play at Henry’s in the afternoon. Mary goes off to take a nap and Freya corners Hayley in the kitchen when she slips out of her own room to get another cup of coffee.
“Don’t you ever tell me to leave again,” she says, voice clear as a bell.
“Freya—” Hayley starts, “that’s not what I meant—”
“Fucking, don’t,” she says.
Hayley presses on, because she never did quite know when to give up. “I don’t want you to put your life on hold because of us. You deserve to be happy, Freya.”
“Did you ever stop to consider that maybe I am?”
No. Hayley absolutely did not.
“You hate it here,” she says, holding her arms up at Freya, still donned in something like four layers at least, cursing out the fucking swamp at every opportunity that she gets.
“I hate the swamp,” she says, rolling her eyes and moving to pour herself coffee too. “I hate that my siblings are all scattered to the wind,” she grabs the mug out of Hayley’s hands and fills it too, sort of shoving it back at her in a way that spills the hot liquid out and would do a hell of a bit of damage if she weren’t a hybrid. “I hate that Keelin wants to go so far away. I fucking love you and Hope. And I love this city the same as my siblings. So stop fucking telling me to leave.”
“I think that today is the most that I’ve ever heard you say the word ‘fuck’ consecutively,” Hayley says, because she is a goddamn idiot and if she doesn’t say something stupid than she is going to say something really stupid like, I fucking love you, too, and I’m so, so glad that you are staying.
Freya rolls her eyes. “You’re making dinner,” she declares. “Don’t go down to Rousseau’s and get Declan to give you takeout.”
“Do you want me to accidentally poison you?”
“No, I want you to cook me an edible meal because my girlfriend just went halfway across the world and the rest of our siblings are just as far away. You’re the one who’s here, so you get to cook for me in lieu of Elijah. Congratulations.”
Freya doesn’t seem to realize what she just said, or if she does, she’s glossing over it as if it means nothing. As if it’s normal. Our siblings. Hayley’s whole body is thrumming with space that’s filling in and she can’t stop herself from squeezing Freya tightly for half a second.
“Okay, fine, but in a few hours, remember that you asked for it.”
“I believe in you,” Freya says. She somehow manages to sound sarcastic and sincere all at once.
…
…
Hayley burns the pizza.
Freya, Mary, and Hope all laugh at her from the table as she waves a t-shirt at the smoky oven and grumbles at it for being traitorous.
They eat ice cream for dinner, and Hayley doesn’t feel bad about it at all.
…
…
They have been scouring through Kieran’s old files for the last two years, digging up minuscule lead after lead and sending Rebekah, Elijah, and (sometimes) Klaus on a wild goose chase. Very rarely, Hayley leaves Hope with Freya and joins one of them. Even more rarely, Freya does the same. It hurts more each time that they leave again because they come home to Hope’s open and devastated face asking about her family and if it worked, this time.
The answer is always no.
Hayley goes to Amsterdam with Elijah on a lead during the second autumn. It’s impossibly weird to see him again. They don’t ever really talk anymore. He calls Klaus every single day—usually more than once—and he talks to his sisters and Kol on a regular basis, but Hayley…
She doesn’t know what to say to him anymore and neither does he. The truth is, Hayley’s not sure if she ever knew what to say to him. He was kind to her when it mattered and he is the reason that his siblings pulled her into their insular family but—
He’s not who Hayley thought he was and she’s realizing that that is okay. She tells him this, because she’s sick of this strange avoidance that’s not helping either of them. Elijah sort of looks like he’s been punched, for a flash of a moment and then his mask slips back on. He smiles and nods and says alright. Hayley bends forward and kisses him on the forehead and she hears him suck in a breath. “Please, live your life, Elijah,” she begs. “For yourself. This might never change. We can’t leave everything on hold. Okay?”
He nods but she doesn’t know if he’ll actually do it. The Mikaelsons are the definition of co-dependent, and in the last two years, only Rebekah and Kol are managing to scrape up some sort of life among the pair of them. Klaus is clearly unraveling but trying as hard as he can not to. Elijah just sits around and waits to talk to him. Freya barely sleeps. Hayley is sick of watching it all. None of this is good for Hope. It’s not good for any of them.
Hayley goes home, tells Hope not this time, sorry, all over again and shoves Freya into bed when she finally crashes over an ancient tome from Kieran’s collection, sometime around three a.m.
Freya slowly starts to sleep more. For the last two years, she’s been running on coffee and adrenaline and Hayley has been getting more and more worried. She has done this once before. She already had five years of running, alone, searching for answers. But she had to give Hope a life, too. Freya doesn’t have that ringing in the back of her head. For her, a life for Hope means having her entire family there.
It’s devastating when the realization hits Freya that they might not be able to solve this one. That she is going to have to decide if she wants to spend the rest of her (mortal) life desperately clawing to keep all of her siblings together.
Thankfully, she chooses a night when Hope is sleeping over at Henry’s with Lisina to do it because she lets out a feral scream that rattles around inside of Hayley’s skull and clings. When Hayley runs into the living room, Freya is down on the floor, a keening wail coming out of her and books and spell components strung about.
“Shit,” Hayley mutters and runs to her.
“I can’t—” Freya gasps.
Hayley manages to get her arms around Freya and holds on tight, as tight as she dares and just starts to hum. It’s stupid, but it used to be the only thing that worked on Hope when she was little. There was a phase there when Hope was about four where she would just start screaming and crying at the slightest provocation and the only thing that Hayley could think to do was hum some fucking old nursery rhyme. She doesn’t even know the words to it except for, Daisy, Daisy, something something something do? I’m half-crazy all for the love of you. We’ll spend every day together, regardless of the weather? And you’ll look sweet upon the seat of a bicycle built for two. She doesn’t know and to be honest, she doesn’t care. She thinks that maybe, somewhere in there, she has a memory of her adoptive mother singing this, but it could easily have slipped in there some other way. Hayley never bothered dwelling on it. She sung the bits that she knew and hummed the rest and then just hummed, over and over again until Hope went calm and sleepy. It worked every time.
Hayley starts humming it now on instinct. About halfway through the third round, Freya sucks in a shaky breath and asks, “Are you humming ‘Bicycle Built for Two’ to me right now?”
“Um… maybe? Is that the title?”
Freya gives her an incredulous look. She’s not a sobbing mess anymore though, so Hayley is counting this as edging somewhere towards a win. Hayley shrugs and explains her thought process. Freya is quiet for a single beat and then she bursts out laughing, clinging to Hayley through the same shaky gasps as before, only there is a different energy to them now. That awful tension evaporates and Hayley starts laughing, too.
“Jesus,” Freya chokes out, still basically curled up in Hayley’s lap, head tucked into her neck. “That’s the weirdest thing to happen to me in… the last three centuries, at least.”
“That?” Hayley scoffs. “Of all the things?”
“Yep,” Freya grins up at her. “Thanks, I needed that.”
“Freya—” Hayley starts, but she shoves herself (gently) out of Hayley’s arms and starts gathering up her mess, cutting Hayley off.
“I know,” she says. “I just… I’m their big sister. I can’t give up on them.”
“No one is asking you to,” Hayley says. “But you can’t keep on doing this.”
“I know,” Freya says. Her shoulders slump. “I know.”
…
…
Hope goes sullen and quiet and then Klaus suddenly stops calling.
Hayley is raging. He hangs up every time that she calls, won’t answer a single goddamn letter, and won’t pick up for Rebekah or Elijah, either. Hope won’t tell her what happened, no matter what way Hayley tries to come at it. After a solid four months of radio silence from Klaus, Hayley makes a snap decision and grabs Caroline and the two of them get on a plane to go kick his ass.
He goes slack-jawed and humble at the sight of Caroline and Hayley is suddenly very glad that she dragged her along at the last minute.
“You unbelievable asshat!” Caroline hollers, slapping him on the back of the head.
Klaus won’t fess up, not even to Caroline, not at first. Hayley tries a different tactic, she starts chattering away about the day to day in NOLA, forces Klaus to show them both around Paris—neither of them has ever been, might as well see the sights. Klaus preens at the notion of playing tour guide and offers them both his arms. The three of them parade about the city—the dirty, loud, city—and wind up sitting on the banks of the Seine, watching the Eiffel Tower’s hourly light show. It’s stupid and touristy, but it’s got a kind of magical quality to it all the same. Hope would love it. Hayley says so and Klaus immediately stops trying to flirt with Caroline and goes all sulky.
So, Hayley pushes Klaus into the river.
“What the fuck happened?” she demands. “She’s our daughter Klaus. You tell me right now or I swear to god I will make the rest of your immortal life miserable.”
“Fine!” he screeches. He’s a soggy pathetic mess when he hauls himself back up beside them. Caroline gets up before he can say anything, flouncing over to purchase a crepe because when in Rome, and all that! Hayley and Klaus are both highly aware of how obviously she is trying to give them a moment of privacy, but they say nothing as she leaves. Hayley gives him a minute or two, waits him out, and then he finally says, “She astral projected in to see me.”
Hayley freezes. “What? When? How does she even know how to do that?”
“I don’t know,” he laughs and it sounds fond and terrified and Hayley knows exactly how he feels. “Probably, she has been snooping about in Freya’s things. Which, I’d do something about, if I were you.”
“Don’t fucking give me any parenting lectures. You haven’t spoken to her in four months.”
“She came at a horrible time,” he says, voice scrapped raw. Hayley’s blood goes cold, imagining the sort of horrors that Hope could have seen her father doing.
“What did she see?” Hayley demands, deadly calm. Klaus flinches at the tone of her voice, at the memory, maybe both.
“Her father, the monster.”
“You fucking—” Hayley trails off, pressing her palms against the cement and gritting her teeth.
“I know,” he says. “There’s a reason I’ve stayed away. I’m not good for her.”
“Just fucking leaving isn’t what is—”
“SHE SAW ME MURDER AND FEED ON HALF A DOZEN PEOPLE!” Klaus roars. “What about that could I possibly explain to a nine-year-old?”
“You could have fucking told me and then we could have figured something out. But now, she’s had four months to think about all the worse possible scenarios by herself, while you haven’t said a goddamn thing to her. Plus, you missed her birthday. You won’t even pick up Elijah’s calls, Klaus. What the fuck?”
“I’m sorry,” he says, and for once in his goddamn thousand-year life, he sounds like he means it.
Hayley drops back down to the cement and Klaus, after a beat of hesitation, follows down after her. They stare up at the tower as it starts its blinking show again. Another hour has passed.
“I didn’t know how to fix it,” he admits. “I didn’t know how to handle her looking at me like I was a monster. Her, of all people.”
“So, you tell her that,” Hayley says.
“What?”
“Tell her the truth; you are a monster. Tell her that you have done unbelievably fucked up things, a hundred times over. Tell her that you have hurt more people than you could count in your incredibly long life. Tell her that everyone fucks up but our family tends to do it in extremes. Tell her that you have to try—very hard—every single day, not to make those same mistakes again.”
Klaus is silent, then. “Okay.”
Not two seconds later, Caroline—obviously eavesdropping—pops over and shoves crepes into both of their hands. “I wanna see the Mona Lisa before we leave,” she demands.
Hayley and Klaus both crack a smile; Hayley is very, very glad that she brought her along.
…
…
“Mom!” Hope calls out. “Watch this!” Hayley turns around and watches as Hope—under Freya’s watchful eye—holds up her hands and closes her eyes, muttering an incantation under her breath, and then Caroline floats into the air, laughing.
“Nice job, honey,” Hayley calls, then sends Freya a death glare and promises to stab her in her sleep if Hope ever starts bouncing her around into the air without warning.
Caroline, after being gently set back down to the grass, flounces over to Hayley while Hope and Freya keep going with their daily lesson. “That is cool, but I hope my girls don’t learn that one. Lizzie would use it to her advantage way too often.”
“Are they coming down here this summer?”
“Yep,” Caroline is practically vibrating with excitement at the prospect. It’s infectious. Hayley watches Hope go giggly with laughter at something Freya says and smiles, passing Caroline the rest of her sandwich. “I’m a little nervous though,” she admits.
“How come?”
Caroline shrugs and doesn’t elaborate. Hayley means to prod, but Mary starts coughing violently from inside the house, and she jumps up to go help instead. It seems like the chemo is doing more damage than help, as far as Hayley can tell. She doesn’t know enough to offer alternatives, but Mary is looking gaunt and shrinking by the day.
“Cause I’m dyin’, kiddo.”
“Shut up,” Hayley orders, tugging the covers closer up to her chin. “No, you’re not.”
Mary wheezes. “I am,” she insists. It’s not the first time she’s said this and it’s not the first time it’s left a sinking feeling in Hayley’s gut. The doctors are starting to run out of options and Hayley is starting to panic.
“Kid, I’ve lived a long, good life. I’m alright if it’s my time.”
“It’s not.”
“You’ve got people. You’re solid. Those Mikaelsons are out of your life. The pack is doin’ swell, I even really like that Freya one now. You’re gonna be just fine.”
“Mary… shut up,” Hayley begs.
“Okay,” Mary agrees. “It’s not gonna be today. But kid, you gotta get your head right with this. I can feel it. It’ll be soon.”
“Caroline could turn you,” Hayley offers, before she even knows what she is saying. It’s a desperate, awful thing and Mary reacts as though Hayley has slapped her. It’s exactly how she felt, when she initially woke up and realized that she was a hybrid. Hayley says so, tries to talk Mary into something that she has never wanted, and isn’t ever gonna budge on. It’s a hard no and then Mary falls asleep. Hayley walks out of the room, frustrated and tired and so sick of trying to keep her shit together when Caroline walks up and flicks her on the forehead.
“For the record, I never consented to turning anyone. It’s not some small thing.”
“Shit,” Hayley mumbles, feeling eight-thousand times shittier.
“I would, if she wanted it,” Caroline says.
“Really—”
“She doesn’t,” Caroline says, as flat and final as Mary. It’s like a slap in the face and it’s the last straw, Hayley breaks down crying. Caroline wraps herself around Hayley and quickly shuffles her into the closest bedroom—Freya’s—as she walks inside with Hope. She must make some desperate signal to Freya, because she cops on enough to keep Hope occupied while Caroline shoves Hayley onto Freya’s bed and holds her while she cries herself to sleep.
The next thing she knows, it’s well into the early stages of morning, and Freya is curled into her side, Caroline nowhere to be found. Hayley rolls over and looks at the clock: 4:07 a.m.
“Go back to sleep,” Freya mumbles.
“Is Hope—”
“Fine, sound asleep. Shut up.”
Hayley sighs. “Mary’s dying.”
Freya doesn’t open her eyes. “I know.”
“Caroline will turn her if she would let her.”
“She won’t.”
“Is there anything that you could… I mean, you and Dahlia were immortal for… it was more natural than—”
“She won’t,” Freya repeats. “Also, that was awful. It was only a year of life once every hundred years, Hayley. Even if she would choose that, I don’t know if I could do it. Dahlia was more powerful than me and it took a lot out of her.”
“I just…”
“Love her and don’t want her to die. I know.” Freya opens her eyes and flings an arm over Hayley. They’re not often all that touchy-feely with each other, but they have been becoming more so, recently. Hayley suspects that it’s a combination of Caroline’s influence, maturity, and Freya missing Keelin.
Hayley doesn’t say anything. There isn’t really anything to say. Mary is dying and it sucks. Hayley lets Freya hug her and goes back to sleep.
…
…
It happens in the summer.
Hope turns ten. Hayley turns thirty. And then Mary dies.
Hayley’s chest hurts in a way that she didn’t know was possible. It hurts worse than Jackson, somehow. She’s known Mary longer, loved her harder, she supposes. She doesn’t dwell on it because that will only make this hurt worse and she feels enough like shit as it is. She has to pull it together, for Hope.
Every werewolf in New Orleans comes down to the bayou. Nearly a hundred wolves from across the entire country come down to pay their respects as well. It’s astounding, the loyalty that one person can cultivate just by showing up and giving a shit about people. Hayley can see them all looking to her, sizing her up to see whether or not she is worthy of them shifting that loyalty on over to her. Honestly, Hayley doesn’t think that she is. Mary wasn’t ever even the alpha. Mary wasn’t ever their enemy. Mary never fought against her own kind.
Hayley walks towards Mary’s body holding the torch with vampires, witches, and a human at her side, the wolves all tense as she lights the boat aflame.
“Thank you,” she whispers. “For everything.” When she turns to face her pack, their eyes are watery, their faces full of grief, but their bodies all shift towards Hayley, not one of them looks unsure about that.
It blows her away and the second that she gets a moment to herself, she breaks down crying under the weight of it all. Then, she straightens up her spine and goes and hugs Hope and watches the sun set over the water.
…
…
A tiny brunette Josie Saltzman-Forbes comes barreling through Hayley’s kitchen and skids to a stop in front of Hayley, Caroline, and Freya.
“Um, hello,” she says, clearly not expecting them to have been there. She bounces and tries to shift to glance behind them.
“Hello,” Caroline says, voice full of amusement.
“Um… so…” Josie sighs, contemplates her choices, and then admits, “I’m here on a scouting mission. And you’re kind of ruining it, Mom.”
Caroline presses her lips together and Freya knocks her head into Hayley’s shoulder to hide her laughter. Hayley keeps her face very carefully blank and stares Josie head-on. “How am I doing that?”
“You guys aren’t supposed to be in here!”
“Oh, obviously,” Caroline says.
“Mom, we’re stealing Ms. Marshall’s ice cream,” Josie says seriously.
Hayley can’t hide her laughter anymore as Hope and Lizzie’s horrified yells of protest come from the kitchen window. Lizzie’s face floats up in front of it and Hayley really wishes that Freya had never taught her how to do that spell. “Josie, you traitor!” she yells. “If you got caught you weren’t supposed to talk! You were supposed to be a vault of steal!” she admonishes, with all the drama that Hayley would expect a child of Caroline Forbes would possess.
Josie rolls her eyes. “I said that we should just ask for the ice cream, this is your fault.”
“Girls,” Caroline cuts in. “Please don’t teach Hope to steal and lie, that will make Hayley hate me.”
“Don’t put this on me,” Hayley protests as the twins shift their outraged faces towards her. “They can have all the ice cream they want.”
“YAY!!”
“No, they can’t,” Caroline hisses underneath her breath.
“You guys should all visit more often,” Freya says happily. “This is very entertaining for me.”
…
…
Faction meetings don’t ever become less dull, but they do slowly inch their way to something that no longer resembles downright hostility. Vincent, Freya, and Ivy speak for the witches. Marcel and Caroline speak for the vampires. Hayley and Lisina speak for the wolves and Cami remains the sole human representative. The mayor sends her roses every Christmas in thanks for never having to lower himself by coming to the meetings. Cami never once sends him a thank you card in return. She just calls him a prick and says that it’s all going perfectly well, thanks, and Hayley doesn’t understand her at all.
Caroline corners Hayley one afternoon and asks her what her sexuality is out of the blue.
“Um…”
“Because I’ve always considered myself to be straight but… I think that was incorrect on my part,” she says, not waiting for Hayley’s response.
“Um…”
“In retrospect, I absolutely should have realized that I was bisexual, but apparently heteronormativity is alive and well and my daddy issues maybe extended a little further than I realized.”
“I… don’t know what that means,” Hayley says.
“Oh, my father was closeted for a long time and then he came out and then he left us. Also, he tried to kill me and was a vampire… sort of hunter? It’s all… a whole thing. Not important. What is important is that I think, hilariously, I might have a thing for Cami. Have you ever gotten a single queer vibe from her?”
This conversation is giving Hayley whiplash.
“Um… I honestly have no idea. All I know is that she was into Klaus, and once, she and Marcel slept together.”
“So was I,” Caroline hums. “Marcel? Really? Does Rebekah hate her, too?”
“Honestly, I think she did for a while,” Hayley shrugs. “I think Rebekah hates a lot of people, when she first meets them. She tends to come around in the end.”
Caroline says nothing in response to that. She has worked out whatever strange relationship she is going to have with Rebekah now, and it’s fine. Caroline looks out the window, contemplative. “Shared inappropriately placed crushes on Klaus. I can work with that.” When she grins, bends over and smacks a kiss on Hayley’s cheek and hums, “thanks!” Hayley truly has no idea what she could possibly be thanking her for. She bends back over and keeps typing up her paperwork for the latest Faction meeting.
Paperwork. She didn’t think this is how her life as an alpha was going to go. There is a ridiculous part of her that finds comfort in it. Out of all the crazy shit that’s happened since she turned thirteen, some semblance of mundane normalcy still found a way to seep in.
…
…
Hayley walks into Rousseau’s three weeks later and finds Cami and Caroline making out like a bunch of teenagers on top of the bar, hollers, covers her eyes, and yells out “Sorry!” before quickly backing outside. Their laughter echoes and follows her.
“Ow,” Freya says as Hayley slams into her. “Why’d you walk—”
“They’re, um, occupied,” Hayley says, redirecting Freya and quickly walking down the street. “Hypothetically, do you think that your brother is the type to go on a murder spree if his exes ever got together?”
Freya’s eyes widen and she tries to turn and peek back into Rousseau’s. “Which brother?”
“Take a fucking guess.”
“Um… probably… wait — Cami and who?”
“Also blonde. Perky. Made out with your brother that one time. That I know of.”
“Caroline?”
“That’s the one.”
Freya bursts out laughing. “I want to be the one to tell Klaus. Oh, please let me. I’ve waited centuries to be able to do some proper big sister torturing like this. I deserve it.”
“It’s all you, babe,” Hayley says. “Now where do you want to eat lunch instead?”
…
…
Hayley and Freya make a deal. They spent two years in a half-limbo situation, searching for answers to rid their family of an ancient magic and putting their lives on hold, and somewhere during the third year, they figure out a balance that works.
Mondays are dedicated to The Search. Unless they find a promising or urgent thread to pick up, they don’t think about it for the rest of the week.
Hayley follows Freya up the steps to Cami’s apartment and slides into the super-secret extra room that Kieran built. Cami and Vincent are already sitting around a table with coffee, laughing at something that Vincent is showing Cami on his phone. Hayley stalls; they’re not usually here. It’s not their family that’s separated. Vincent, in particular, has been rather vocal about liking the new normal of Mikaelsons spread to the corners of the earth and banished from New Orleans. At this point in the conversation, Cami usually smacks him and mumbles something about insensitivity, but agrees with the general points about willingness to help and offer up her uncle’s things, and unwillingness to put her life on hold for beings that have already had a thousand years to do whatever they want.
“Um… hi?” Hayley says as they both look up, mid-laughter, and nod over at them. “What’s up?”
Vincent clicks the phone off, shoves it into his pocket and suddenly goes all business. There’s still warmth on his face, but there’s a hard edge to it that slides towards serious. Cami mimics his tone and Hayley feels Freya tense up behind her.
“Hi,” he says. “So… I found something in one of Eva’s old books last night.”
All of the sound drops out of the room. They’ve all said some variation on these words to each other before; I found something, maybe. The way Vincent is holding his spine, there’s no hint of the maybe there and all of them can feel it.
“It’s a long shot,” he warns, but that doesn’t do a single fucking thing to ease the tension in the room. Freya jerks towards him, her limbs aren’t working right, she slams her body into the chair too hard. “It might not be anything,” he adds, but not a single one of them believes he means that. He wouldn’t be here otherwise, and they all know it.
“Just tell them,” Cami says. “They know the drill by now.”
Vincent sighs. “Ivy is on her way. I asked her to look over what I found. To be sure, before—”
Freya is vibrating out of her skin now. Hayley walks over and places her palms down on top of Freya’s shoulders before she leaps up and strangles Vincent for not getting to the point fast enough. Thankfully, Ivy comes barreling into the room a few tense moments later, gives Vincent a tiny nod, and then plops down and steals his coffee.
“Is anyone going to tell me what the hell you’re all so keyed up about?” Freya snaps.
“Freya, take a breath,” Cami says gently as Hayley says, “You’re the one who’s keyed up, fucking breathe,” at the same time. Freya punches Hayley. She accepts the tea that Cami passes over. Hayley—maturely—sticks her tongue out at Freya as she sits down beside her. Cami pointedly does not give her a cup of tea.
Hayley drums her fingers on the table as Vincent, Ivy, and Cami take turns explaining what they found. Freya’s gone still and calm, now Hayley is the one jumping out of her skin. It all sounds plausible enough to her. Magic doesn’t make much sense. It’s when they say, two years from now that Freya kicks back to life and Hayley goes still.
“What?”
Cami finally gives Hayley her tea. “Planetary alignments, blah, blah, something else magical,” she says. “There’s all these other factors that only happen every hundred years or so.” Cami rolls her eyes but then her whole body goes soft. “The point is, it could work.”
Vincent nods. “Honestly, it’s the clearest solution I’ve seen. Just have to wait for it.”
“For two years,” Freya stresses.
“Already done that,” Vincent points out. “You can do it again.”
“Let me see the books again,” Freya demands. Hayley catches Cami’s eye across the table and the two of them slip out and leave the witches to it. Freya is going to want to go over everything at least once, if not twice. Hayley doesn’t need to hear it again. She’s not going to understand it any better. The only thing that matters is that there is an end date. Two more years, and it’s over.
Hayley can work with that.
…
…
“Really?” Hope breathes, slow. Her face is pinched. “Two whole years?”
“Really,” Hayley pulls a smile and knocks her shoulder against Hope’s. “They need to wait for some planet thing to be in alignment, and there’s a comet or something. It doesn’t really matter, yeah, it’s a long time. But, two years isn’t that long. August 12th, then they can all come home.”
Hope inhales and then her face splits into a breathtaking smile and Hayley only has half a beat to adjust her stance before Hope flings herself into Hayley’s arms. “REALLY! REALLY?” she screams, cheering.
“Really, really,” Hayley smiles.
“Does Aunt Freya know!? Does Aunt Rebekah!? DOES DAD?!”
“Freya knows, no one else, yet,” Hayley says. Hope slithers out of Hayley’s grasp and then yanks her into the living room, she pushes Hayley down on top of Freya and then flings herself on top of them both, laughing and trying to shove them all into a three-way-hug. Freya’s not as happy as Hope about the news, but she’s slowly growing somewhere close to it.
“We can do two more years,” Hayley whispers to her. “Hell, you were patient for centuries for them, once.”
Freya rolls her head over towards Hayley, her arms around Hope, and allows herself a small smile. “We can do two more years,” she agrees.
“Can I call Dad and tell him?” Hope asks excitedly.
“Sure babe,” Hayley says and pulls out her phone. She listens as Hope chatters away, words spilling excitedly out of her as Freya watches, biting at her lip.
Two years, piece of cake.