Disclaimer: I do not own The Originals, all rights to the show belong to Julie Plec and the CW.

Hello, my lovely readers. This fic is dedicated to Qwertyismyname who asked me to write this story and the majority of the plot is a joint effort on our part. We hope you like it. On with the show…

Chapter 1: What Are Friends For?

November 29, 2012

Wind slapped her across the face. What should she expect in the Windy City? Standing on a corner, Hayley Marshall shouldered her briefcase while she waited for the light to change. People surrounded her. Other weary women and men on their way to work during the early morning hours. Winter winds bit through her wool coat.

Hayley shivered as the light changed and she moved quickly before the mob buried her under their heels and loafers. She was buoyed toward the long set of wide stone steps leading up to the thick double oak doors of Mikaelson & Gerard. Her heels bounced up the steps. Her mind completely focused on the possibility of a new case to deal with.

As one of the newest hires at M&G she had a lot work to do to prove herself and to gain the attention of the main partners. Mikael Mikaelson might be her best chance of getting anywhere. Mr. Gerard Sr. made Hayley feel nauseous every time she had to deal with him. His treatment of his younger son, Marcel, and his roving eyes made her nervous.

The lobby of M&G buzzed with the excitement of the first day of a new work week. Hayley walked by the front desk, nodding at Cami O'Connell who nodded back. Cami was always smiling and had a good quip on the tip of her tongue most days. She sat behind her desk, talking rapidly to a client and transferring a call upstairs. Hayley moved to the bank of elevators which always took a little longer than they should, just because it was a Monday.

The elevator's doors slid open and Hayley felt relieved that she could get on, by herself. She needed time to think. Someone had to have a good case that they'd allow her to get in on. Her thoughts were moving rapidly through her head as she tapped the button to the twentieth floor when someone cried out. "Hold the elevator!"

Hayley sighed but dutifully hit the "doors open" button to her right. A swirl of blonde hair and a Chanel suit hopped onto the elevator with a wide smile and a light laugh. "Oh, thank you, Hayley. You are a lifesaver."

Rebekah grinned as she leaned in front of Hayley to hit the "doors close" button. Just as the doors began to shut, a light brown briefcase became lodged in the opening, stopping the doors from closing. "What in the bloody hell?" Rebekah cried, infuriated at the intrusion.

Hayley's lips pursed as Marcel Gerard came into view. He grinned at them. "Ladies. Good morning," he said, lowering his briefcase to his side and stepping onto the elevator. "Are you ready to play co-counsel?" he asked Rebekah.

Stifling a laugh, Hayley peered around Marcel at Rebekah who glared at the elevator doors. "I am looking forward to hearing my brother in action," she snipped.

Marcel looked to Hayley. "She's in love with me."

Rebekah scoffed. "You are delusional, Gerard."

Marcel puckered his lips at her and Rebekah flushed, adjusting her jacket and practically running off the elevator the minute the doors opened. "See you at noon." Marcel watched Rebekah running away before turning to find Hayley, shaking her head at him. "What?" he asked, waiting for her to lead the way to their side of the floor.

"Nothing," Hayley said, shaking her head.

"It's something," Marcel said. "I know women. You've all got something on your minds."

Hayley shook her head. "You know that Rebekah does like you. And if you like her back, maybe you should, I don't know, do something crazy: like ask her out for a cup of coffee." Hayley walked up to her office door and turned to look at Marcel who opened the door to his own.

They stood facing each other. "Right. Like Rebekah Mikaelson is going to just go for coffee. If I offered to take her out to coffee in Paris, maybe. Here. Not so much. She'll have me spending a week's salary on renting out Wolf Gang Puck's restaurant so we can have a 'private meeting.'"

Hayley rolled her eyes. "Fine. Don't ask me for advice again."

Marcel huffed. "I don't believe I did ask you for advice."

"It was implied," Hayley snapped.

"Have a good day," Marcel told her.

Hayley rolled her eyes. "You, too." Turning around, Hayley started to go inside and then stopped. "You know what?"

"Uh?" Marcel retorted, picking up some mail that had been slid under his door.

"Why don't you just invite her to your office and show her your briefs?" Hayley asked with a wide grin.

For a moment Marcel just stared at Hayley. He suddenly started laughing. "Marshall, you crack me up. Show Rebekah my briefs. I need to tell Klaus that one. Or not." Thinking about it, Marcel stopped smiling. "Yeah. I'm definitely not telling him that one."

"Why not? He's millions of miles away. What's he going to do: have a hit put on you?" Hayley inquired, leaning in the doorway.

"No, he'll tell Kol who will come at me with his baseball bat. Again." Marcel grinned and waved good-bye. "I'll see you later."

"Lunch? Your place or mine?" Hayley asked him.

"The hallway sounds good. Finn will love the idea of specks of food on the carpet." Marcel shook his head.

Hayley began to laugh, imagining Finn Mikaelson's reaction to seeing crumbs on the ten-thousand dollar carpeting, installed last month. She waved good-bye and went into her office. No more than had she closed the door than Aurora de Martel popped her head inside. "Hayley, you've got an urgent call. Line one."

"Aurora, you know you can just use the phone," Hayley informed her new assistant.

Aurora smiled. "Yes, well, I don't like sitting behind the desk all day. It's boring." The girl proceeded to enter Hayley's office and to sit down on her couch, checking her pedicure in her peep-toe heels.

Hayley could only gawk at the girl. She hadn't been sure why it was that Aurora had been hired, probably by Gerard Sr., to entertain himself with. In any case, Aurora turned out to be pretty bad at her job. She took extended lunch breaks to go shopping. She flirted with all of the male associates. She had no idea how to take a message and she made Hayley want to hurl her briefcase at her. Aurora's saving grace was that she could be funny. Sometimes.

Picking up her phone, Hayley hit the first line. "Hello. Hayley Marshall," she answered briskly.

"Hay-ley," a muffled sob met her ear.

"Yes?" Hayley thought the voice sounded familiar but the sobbing made it a little hard to be sure.

"It's me." Caroline sounded hysterical.

"Aurora, get out!" Hayley snapped at Aurora who had begun to file her nails.

"What? Why?" Aurora looked confused.

"Because I am your boss," Hayley snapped, glaring. "And I am asking you. Nicely."

Aurora huffed. "Fine. Can I go out for a brunch break?"

Hayley nodded, turning her chair around to face the window. She had a nice view of Wicker Park from here. "Caroline, what's going on?" she questioned her long-time friend.

Caroline inhaled slowly and then exhaled loudly. "I… Klaus… I…"

"You. Klaus. You," Hayley tried to follow the logic here.

Hayley knew that Caroline and Klaus had been off and on for the past five years. Hayley and Caroline had been college roommates and backpacked through Europe together. There had been a strain on their relationship when she went to law school because Hayley did not have enough time to keep up with her friendships. Since she took the position at M & G and Caroline had moved to Chicago, they made time to have lunch, every two weeks to catch up.

"Klaus knows about Fee," Caroline cried. Closing her eyes, Hayley remembered the day that Caroline had come to their little table for two at The Wormhole Coffee, sporting a few more pounds than usual.

June 14, 2009

"Big lunch?" Hayley had quipped, getting up to hug Caroline.

Caroline nodded. "Yeah. Real big. About three and half months big." Placing her hands over her stomach. It wasn't that noticeable but the two women tended to notice the little things about each other, like when Hayley pierced her ears for the fifth time.

February 1, 2004

"Doesn't that hurt?" Caroline had asked their sophomore year. Staring at Hayley's new dangly hoops.

"Nope," Hayley had said.

June 14, 2009

"Klaus,' right?" Hayley had asked as a waitress set another glass of water in front of Caroline's side of the table.

Caroline smiled at the waitress. "Thank you," she said. When the woman left, she picked up the menu, although they'd been here so many times she could recite to the staff what they had to offer. "Yes." Just one word that carried so much meaning.

"Did you tell him?" Hayley asked, feeling concerned about what Caroline's plans were.

"No," Caroline shook her head. "He'd come home and propose. That's not what I want. I don't want to get married like my mom and dad did."

"Caroline, I don't think that Klaus would marry you just because you are pregnant. Not if he didn't want to marry you," Hayley reasoned.

Caroline shook her head. "Can we just not do this? Please."

Hayley nodded. "Okay. Sorry."

November 29, 2012

"He knows," Hayley said slowly.

Caroline let out another sob. "Uh-huh."

"And he'd doing what?" Hayley knew she was not going to like the answer to this inquiry.

"He's suing me for full-custody. He said I had no right to keep his daughter from him. He had the nerve to accuse me of being a bad parent. Me! I'm the one who has been loving her and caring for her. He doesn't know what her favorite color is or that she likes Honey Nut Cheerios for breakfast and she watches Sesame Street in her Dora the Explorer PJs. Oh, God, Hayley, what if he takes her away from me?" Caroline's sobs increased in volume, "I can't breathe, Hales, I can't breathe."

"Care, slow down. Breathe in for me," Hayley sucked in a deep breath. "And out. Like in Lamaze. Remember?"

"Like when the poor instructor thought we were a couple and everyone kept being overly nice to the pretty lesbians?" Caroline joked. "Oh, my God!"

"Yeah. Like that. And you know that we would make a great couple," Hayley teased Caroline who laughed. "To hell with guys."

After a long moment, Caroline calmed down. "Can you help me?"

Hayley's eyes moved over to the trees in the park. There was a bird that flew from one to the other. "I don't know, Care. I'm trying to get into criminal proceedings. If I start working family law, they might try to keep me there."

"With the mommies and babies. I know, I get it, Hales. Please, I need you. You know me. You know I am a great mom to Fiona. I need an advocate that I can trust," Caroline pleaded.

Hayley could see the puppy dog eyes now. She could also see Klaus' death glare from the other side of the courtroom. Then she thought of Fiona who at three was still a baby to Caroline and Hayley. "Yeah. Okay. Yes. I'll help you."

"Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!" Caroline squealed.

"Thank me when we win," Hayley replied.

"I will. I will take you on an all-expenses paid vacation to wherever you want," Caroline cried happily.

Grinning, Hayley imagined the two of them laid out on a pair of deck chairs on an Italian beach or standing at the bottom of Big Ben. It would be like old times. If only she didn't have so much work to do.

"I'll let you know if my schedule loosens up sometime between now and never o'clock," Hayley replied.

"When did you want me to drop by?" Caroline asked.

"Hmm… Hold on," Hayley spun around in her chair and she turned on her computer. Finding her calendar, she found a two hour slot, two days from then. "How about December 1st at 11:30 a.m.?"

"Perfect," Caroline replied. "I will see you then."

"Bye. And try to not let Klaus get under your skin," Hayley advised.

"He lives there," Caroline retorted. "Bye."

The line clicked and Hayley sighed. Looks like she had her work cut out for her.

"Ready for lunch?" Marcel asked, popping his head into her office. "The carpet is looking pretty nice today."

"Let's just go into your office," Hayley said, closing a book on family law and getting up.

"Got anything interesting?" Marcel asked her.

"Just a custody battle," Hayley said.

"Forbes vs. Mikaelson?" His quick response made Hayley frown.

Marcel's eyebrow rose. "Sorry."

"Who told you?" Hayley demanded.

"Rory," Marcel said with a grin.

Hayley gritted her teeth. "I'm going to kill that little blabber mouth."

"Please, don't. She makes the day go a little quicker with Rebekah blowing me off all the damned time." Marcel set a bag down on his desk and began to pull out sandwiches.

"Please, do not tell you are sleeping with Aurora," Hayley snapped. "I don't think we can still be friends if that's your taste level."

"Nope. I just like to look. And she likes to flirt," Marcel said, handing her a tuna on rye.

"Men," Hayley grumbled.

"You should get laid," Marcel told her.

Hayley had just taken a large bite of her lunch and choked at his words. "Excuse me!" she said, holding a napkin in front of her mouth.

Marcel grinned at her, before reaching into his mini fridge and pulling out a bottle of water. She took it, glaring at him as he sat down across from her. "I'm just saying. You never get out. You're moody as all hell. You need to get laid, Hayley."

"You first," Hayley snapped, taking another healthy bite of her sandwich.

Marcel rolled his eyes. "I'm trying," he grumbled, taking a bite of his turkey club. "I'm thinking about that whole showing Bekah my briefs thing you suggested."

Hayley choked again. "Seriously?"

"Not those," Marcel rolled his eyes and laughed. "I meant my legal briefs. Get her in late and we're getting all worked up about the case, I crack open a bottle of wine, maybe turn on some mood music. Let things go where they go."

Shaking her head, Hayley rolled her eyes. "You're going to get fired by Mikael."

"But it will be worth it," Marcel said with a wide grin.

Hayley set her sandwich aside as laughter bubbled up her throat. Marcel laughed with her. After a couple of minutes they settled into a comfortable silence. This is why Hayley loved to hang out with Marcel, it was just so uncomplicated and how many times could you say that about hanging out with a guy?

A knock sounded at the door and Aurora popped her head inside. "Hayley, Mr. Mikaelson wants to see you," she said soberly. She looked a little pale.

"O-kay." Hayley looked to Marcel whose eyebrows had risen. "Thanks for lunch. I'll see you later." Marcel nodded and Hayley picked up her sandwich wrapped and tossed into the trash before depositing the water bottle into the recyclables container.

Aurora led the way out into the hall. Hayley peered at the lights in the ceiling. Had it just gotten darker in here or was her mind playing tricks on her?

They arrived at the elevators. Aurora punched the button for the one going up and stood, her foot jiggling, her eyes flicking up to the numbers popping up above their heads. Her lips were pursed into a little O. Hayley wished that Aurora would cut down on the drama. Hayley felt nervous enough. She didn't need Aurora adding to her sense of unease.

When the doors opened, a floor of lawyers and legal aides spilled outward, into the hall, passing around Hayley and Aurora. The two women stepped onto the elevator. Hayley felt like telling Aurora that she did not need to deliver Hayley to Mikael's doorstep like the morning paper but bit her tongue.

Aurora stabbed at the button to the thirty-fifth floor before clasping her hands in front of her and staring at the numbers in numb silence. The only person that seemed to scare everyone in the entire firm was Mikael. Hayley had heard that Klaus could have been an equally impressive tyrant, if he did not want to be an artist and if Mikael hadn't treated him like an unwanted family pet.

A tiny bell dinged and Hayley frowned as the doors slid opened. They had arrived. Aurora stepped off first, leaving Hayley to follow her. A short walk down a wide hallway found them standing outside of the double doors of Mikael's office. Aya, Mikael's assistant's, eyebrows rose and something resembling a smile quirked at the corners of her lips.

"Hayley, he's been expecting you," Aya said. She pushed her chair back, standing to reveal a perfectly tailored suit that made her look like a fashion model and gave Hayley another one of those mysterious, little smirking-smiles.

Aurora did not move a muscle, seeming to have become paralyzed as Aya set that smirk on her, the younger assistant. Hayley followed Aya to the door. Aya lifted her hand, curling her fingers into a ball and rapped: once, twice and a third time.

Mikael's voice sounded through the think wood. "Come in," he called. His tone was brisk and his voice carried through the area.

Aya opened the left door, slipping inside. "Hayley Marshall is here, sir," she told Mikael.

"Thank you, Aya. That will be all for now." Mikael said, standing up.

Aya smirked at Hayley and Hayley stepped into the office. She heard the doors close behind her. Inside the lion's den, Hayley thought, not for the first time.

Mikael smiled at her which did not set her at ease. "I hear you have a new case."

"Yes," Hayley replied.

"And you intend to win. For your friend, yes?" Mikael asked her with a glimmer of humor in his eyes.

Hayley forced herself to smile in return. "Yes, for my friend."

"And for the firm," Mikael added, picking up a letter opener and twirling it atop the desk top.

Hayley watched the letter opened spin before she forced her eyes to meet Mikael's. "Yes."

"Good." Mikael smiled widely. "I knew you were the right pick for this place. You're a shark, Marshall, now go swim with the fish."

"Yes, sir," Hayley nodded and turned, opening the door and stopping to close it behind her.

Aurora led her back to the elevator but did not speak until they were going down. "How did it go?" she asked.

"Fine, "Hayley replied.

Aurora sighed and grinned. "I thought you would be fired. Couldn't tell my father I got sacked for the fifth time in a year."

Hayley rolled her eyes and followed her assistant back onto their floor. She'd lied to Mikael. Helping Caroline had nothing to do with this firm and she hated that she was now caught up in another one of Mikael's plots to make Klaus miserable. It was the job. Or so she told herself. She just hoped that Klaus found himself a good lawyer, to make it a fair fight.

I hope you enjoyed the first chapter because there is quite a bit more to come.

Thank you for reading, faving, following and reviewing.

Peace,

Jessica