Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Hope Mikaelson is stunning. Lizzie always knew this, despite herself, despite the times she and Hope weren't friends. Hope was beautiful when they were nothing and everything and then nothing all over again. So she had always known that.

At some point, she got Hope. Or Hope got her, however you want to say it. And then she went back to New Orleans and that was over.

Somehow they had ended up here.

"Lizzie, hi." Hope greets her at the door of the compound she's never been to, and Lizzie's eyes land on a slightly taller, long-haired, two years older Hope Mikaelson. She looks good. Damn good, but that's not surprising in the slightest. Lizzie knew that the little fluttering feeling she felt in her chest that was only provoked by Hope Mikaelson never went away.

Love...it's a fickle thing, isn't it.

Somehow she ended up here, staring at Hope and feeling like the sight of her alone has just stolen any words she could have prepared from her lips for the millionth time.

"Hope." Lizzie nods, "I see you've learned how to put together an outfit."

Hope snorts, rolls her eyes fondly at Lizzie. "I guess so. Come in," she waves her in, and sure it's a bit awkward, maybe because she's staring at Lizzie, how beautiful she is now and always was, but they both ignore that.

"Your room is—ugh," Hope lifts her suitcase and directs a wide-eyed look toward Lizzie as she starts up the steps. "Your room is upstairs, connected to mine." She finishes with a laugh.

"What, the mighty Tribrid can't carry my suitcase up the stairs?"

Hope scoffs, "I should have known you would pack your entire bedroom up and bring it here."

"I am moving in, aren't I?" Lizzie says as they reach the hallway that looks over the floor of the compound.

Hope stops and places her suitcase just inside her room for her, leaning against the doorway and watching as she makes her way into her new room.

"Lizzie..." she says quietly after a moment, "Liz, I appreciate this you know."

Lizzie turns to face Hope from her balcony door and tries to hide her shock at the use of the nick-name."I didn't really have a choice did I?" She says and Hope sighs. She had hoped that Lizzie wouldn't feel trapped by this.

"Relax, Hope. I was kidding." But she's not, really. She didn't have a choice but someone had to do it and it couldn't have been Josie because she has Penelope. And because Lizzie wouldn't let her.

Hope steps into the room with a mildly serious look on her face, "I just—I know it's really complicated. With you and me, I mean."

"I know." Lizzie chuckles as she pushes the balcony door open. "I was there."

Hope is impressed by how carefree Lizzie is; or at least she appears to be more carefree. Less burdened, maybe, now that the Merge is over. Hope steps across the room to join her on the balcony, because they do need to discuss things, how this is all supposed go.

"Right," she whispers under her breath as she steps through the door, "So, um...my Aunts will be back soon—Freya and Keelin still live here, they have a cute kid. Rebekah and Marcel moved back here and they live in our old mansion..." She starts to explain, jumping into the details.

Lizzie hums, "So you aren't going to ask me how I've been?" She says, sounding bored with the direction this is headed.

Hope smiles in a way that only Lizzie can elicit from her. "How have you been, Lizzie?" She asks gently, leaning against the railing and looking at Lizzie as she looks out into the city.

"Why don't we get food? You always said it was good here and I've never been here, so."

Hope's smile widens, "Okay fine. So you'll tell me how you've been once we get food?"

Lizzie shrugs, "Oh, I don't know. Maybe." She teases.

It takes Hope three tries to pick a restaurant that Lizzie approves, which is not at all surprising but they're both starving and Lizzie is a bit snippy by the time they get there.

"So, is this a tribrid-friendly establishment?" Lizzie whispers (loudly) as they sit, and Hope sighs as she looks around. She hates to admit it, but she is extremely recognizable in New Orleans and she wouldn't want to turn heads it the midst of heavy conflict.

As Hope scans the room, Lizzie kind of laughs at her. "When did you get so uptight?" She asks, kicking her leg under the table and tilting her head with a smirk, "Oh wait, you always were."

Lizzie orders them a bottle of wine before she even looks at the menu, and Hope would be lying if she weren't impressed by the matured version of the blonde. She just seems like she has it all together and Hope, frankly, feels guilty bringing her away from whatever stability she found in Mystic Falls.

"So have you been seeing anyone?"

Lizzie's eyebrows shoot up over the glass of red she's drinking. "Right to the point, are we?" She snags a piece of bread from the basket and rips it into pieces.

"Have you?" Hope asks again, desperately needing to know for her own reasons.

"Not seriously." Lizzie rolls her eyes. "Can you relax please? If I was mad about coming here, you'd have been able to tell by now."

"True." Hope laughs, looking down in embarrassment at the blunt question she couldn't help but wonder out loud.

"And you?" Lizzie prompts, pointing to her with a butter knife. (Un)Surprisingly, it is not the first time Lizzie has pointed a knife at her.

Hope pours herself a glass now, "What about me?"

"Have you been...with anyone?" Lizzie hides behind her glass once more.

Hope shakes her head, "No, too busy."

Lizzie hums happily and goes back to the menu for a moment, until Hope leans forward and she looks up at her.

"You swear you aren't upset?"

"Oh my God." Lizzie drops the menu, leans forward to meet Hope's gaze. "Can't you pretend I'm just your ex that's visiting you or something? Just for tonight, because every night after this I'm supposed to be your girlfriend, your fiancee, your wife...so for a few hours just don't talk about that, and we can pretend we aren't both stressed about it."

"Liz—"

"And no, that does not mean I'm upset about it. Because really, I'm happy to see you and I don't want to talk about New Orleans witch drama."

"Okay," Hope leans back into her chair, surrendering because she isn't prepared to talk about that anyway. "So I hear you went to college for a month and dropped out?"

"Who told you that?" Lizzie glares, and its Hope's turn to hide behind her oversized glass.

"Josie."

"Traitor." Lizzie rolls her eyes. "And you can't blame me, it's awful. I mean trust me, nursing school is too hard and a waste of time..."

Hope sits and listens to her ramble about her short stint in college, about what the Salvatore School is like now that it's run by her Mother, all kinds of things. It calms her, listening to Lizzie speak. It calms her that it's Lizzie who she has to do this with, Lizzie who she knows. Knows very well—or at the very least, used to know. It doesn't feel too unfamiliar, and if she's honest she's had hundreds of dreams about marrying Lizzie, though the circumstances were extremely different.

They walk back to the compound because isn't that far away and the weather is nice, and Lizzie asks her about New Orleans business on the way back.

"You really want to know?"

"That's why I asked, dumb ass."

"Don't get all combative now that you're wine-drunk."

Lizzie gasps and shoves at Hope's shoulder, "I am not wine-drunk! Now tell me."

"Well you are, but fine." Hope says as she turns a corner and reaches for Lizzie as an afterthought, pulling her in the right direction and dropping her hand when she's back by her side. She forgets people don't know the city like she does sometimes. "Anyway you were right, it is all drama. After your....after Alaric exposed magic to the Mayor shit hit the fan."

Lizzie sucks in a sharp breath there, but Hope keeps going. "And I was accused of not caring enough about the witches even though I am one...and when they found out that I knew Alaric they tried to like, dethrone me." Hope laughs, because dethroning her from this city...an impossible task.

"I'm sure that went well for them." Lizzie drawls, pausing on the corner of Bourbon street and looking around; at the musicians on the corner, the sparkle of the streets from whatever parade took place that weekend.

Hope doesn't tell her just how bad it went for them, because Lizzie wouldn't want to hear that.

"Yeah." Hope says lightly, shelving the in-depth discussion of New Orleans supernatural affairs for now. "So I had to do something about the Alaric situation or they'd never trust me or listen to me and...."

"And here I am." Lizzie says quietly, and Hope falls silent.

They stand for a moment, and Hope is more than conscious of the fact that this was one of her father's favorite places on earth. Just inches away lies the small island in Bourbon street where he used to paint.

"I guess it's not an awful place to live." Lizzie says after a moment passes, turning her head to meet Hope's eyes.

"It's not, I promise."

Chapter Text

Hope appears untouchable as she looks over the balcony. Her eyes rake over the crowd gathered in the common space pointedly, like she's looking at each individual.

Sure, she's invited all of New Orlean's supernaturals into the Mikaelson home to air out their issues, but she isn't exactly taking them kindly.

When a werewolf asks her about reshaping the bayou borders between packs, she says it's bullshit and goes right to the next person. The werewolf sat down in shame.

A witch asks about something relating to the graveyard and Hope answers it easily, something about the ancestors and a certain spell.

Everything stays calm and under Hope's control until Lizzie is brought up. People are hardly ever mentioned, much less people close to the Mikaelsons.

"What are we to make of Miss Saltzman?" A short woman with a short haircut stands and asks, loudly. "For one, she is the daughter of that bumbling fool...for another, she is a siphon and I doubt she will find a place in New Orleans. We have all heard the stories of chemically imbalanced siphons; take Kai Parker—"

"That's enough!" Hope interrupts her by slamming her fist down on the railing. Lizzie catches some wood break off the railing because she's watching Hope so closely.

Lizzie, from her seat between Freya and Rebekah, panics. She goes pale, she feels it, and both of the Mikaelson women place a hand over hers.

"Don't listen to them." Freya whispers, "Hope will shut her down."

Lizzie nods and keeps her head up. That goddamn chemical imbalance comment, like she hasn't had enough of those to last a lifetime.

And it's unfair, too, because she's gotten those outbursts under control. Rooms don't just shake when she's upset anymore, and she's worked hard to not become angered over trivial things. A lot of that has to do with having her Mom around more and her Dad around less, unfortunately.

"Miss Saltzman has found her place in New Orleans, and it's here. Thank you very much for your concern though, Lydia." Hope says evenly, spitting the woman's name back at her with spite. "Any other concerns?" She asks, and when no one speaks she ends the meeting.

When it's over, Hope turns to Lizzie and her Aunts.

She quickly walks over to them and crouches in front of Lizzie, grabs her hands in hers.

Hope understands it; she knows how those comments affect Lizzie no matter how untrue they are.

"I'm so fucking sorry she said that. I had no idea, I didn't know they think that—" Hope stops as she catches sight of Lydia making her leave. "I'll be right back." She squeezes Lizzie's hands, and the siphon can only blink before Hope, and Lydia, have disappeared before her eyes.

Lizzie sighs and stands. As much as she'd love those comments to roll off her back, they don't, and she takes a few deep breaths and reminds herself that those words aren't true before she can get the comment out of her head.

Freya leans over the railing with her, "Are you alright, Elizabeth?"

Lizzie likes that the woman calls her by her full name, it seems so much more official, and kind of motherly. She nods, "Yeah, just...I could tell she was trying to get to me." She chuckles. "And it kind of worked, I guess."

"Yes, she was. Lydia is a rebel of sorts, her coven doesn't follow traditional magic and so she thinks she's indestructible—which she is not." Freya explains, "Unfortunately her comments won't go away if you are meant to marry Hope."

"No, I know. I have more than a few ways to deal with those...blowing stuff up, for one." Lizzie says dryly, and Freya smiles at her.

"Well, Hope does something similar, you know."

Lizzie hums, she remembers Hope and herself helping each other through those times when rage got to be too much, or when it was all just too much to handle without boiling over.

"Who do you think taught her?" She says lightly.

"Huh. She once tried to blow me up when I tried to help her with her anger." Freya pauses, "She doesn't like help very much, she's a lot like her father at times."

Lizzie flushes, "Well we...we get each other." She tries to explain, even if time has passed and they no longer understand each other to the extent they used to.

"I can tell." Freya pats her shoulder, leans over the railing to look for Hope. "Where is she, anyway?"

Freya goes off to look for her, and Lizzie is, for some reason, drawn down the stairs and onto the first floor of the compound. As she gets to the bottom of the steps—and hates the eyes of everyone on her, she hears a scuffle in the hallway that leads to the quaint kitchen Freya has re-designed.

It's dark, but when she looks down the hall she can see two people and hear some hushed, clipped words being shared.

"Keep her name out of your fucking mouth, understand?"

Lizzie can't tell what she's saying, but she knows its Hope by the curled hair over her shoulders and that leather jacket she always seems to wear.

All that's legible in return is a grunt and the sound of hands pushing, pushing Hope away.

"I said, do you understand? She's family now, you'll respect her as you respect me."

"I—I do not." The woman chokes, "I've never respected you. Or who you consider family." She says through a choked, ragged whisper.

Hope grunts and there's a thud of someone's head hitting the wall. It isn't Hope's.

"You'll learn to. Or I'll fucking end you, you understand me? You don't have to respect me, but speak about Lizzie again and you are dead." Hope says, and then there's a breath of relief and Hope is telling her to fuck off.

Lizzie feels awkward lingering by the hallway. Especially when she doesn't know if she should have overheard what was just said. It feels more awkward watching Lydia walk by with her shirt bloodied. There's a hole in it, right where her heart is in her chest.

"Uh, Hope?" Lizzie inches forward, into the dark. Hope turns and looks at her as she wipes her bloodied hand on her own shirt. The blood is all the way up to her forearm, and Lizzie can connect the dots.

"Hey." Hope says, turning to look at her. "Sorry, did you hear that?"

Lizzie shakes her head, "Just the end, I think. Did you—you didn't have to do that."

"Yeah I did. They need to know you shouldn’t be messed with like that. It's out of line. Now she's been made an example, and everyone will watch themselves." Hope says easily.

"But...for me?"

Hope grins, "Yes, for you Lizzie. Don't act like you don't deserve it. Plus, I only grabbed her heart. I could've killed her." Somehow, this makes her smile widen, and somehow Lizzie finds it attractive. That she'd kill for her.

"Oh. Well thanks." Lizzie mumbles dumbly, not sure what else there is to say.

"Of course." Hope says easily, taking a deep breath and closing her eyes for a moment, and when they open again she looks calmer. Her shoulder drops, her stone face becomes more recognizable. "Hey, you're okay right? I'm really sorry she said that."

"Yeah I am. It's...I've handled that. It's still sensitive, though, y'know?"

Hope nods, "Of course, yeah. I'm glad you—I'm glad you're okay. She won't talk about that again, promise."

"Don't worry about it, it's fine." Lizzie says, but Hope doesn't look lie she really believes her. "It is."

"I will worry." Hope says easily as she looks around, and she doesn't even see the shock settle on Lizzie's face as she says those words so easily. She turns back to her and taps the wall. "Do you want to get some coffee or something in a bit? I just need to talk to some people."

Lizzie nods and Hope rushes off to chat with people.

It's crazy, how Hope can shift from being so in control, how she can literally hold someone's life in her hands and then just be...herself when she talks to Lizzie.

Sometimes Lizzie felt like she was the only one who understood Hope, really understood her.

She always saw Hope, and Hope always saw her. Always, and maybe...maybe that hasn't changed as much as she thought.

Anywhere else is hollow

They walk to a little coffee shop Hope likes and on the way there Hope tells her Lydia has never liked her, and that she still holds some sort of animosity toward her. Lizzie gets the idea that there's more to that story but Hope just won't say.

"What are you doing?" Lizzie whispers as Hope steps suspiciously close to her.

Hope chuckles, apparently amused by her reaction. "That person behind us...will report back to the vampires." Hope whispers in her ear as she steps closer.

Lizzie moves to glance at whoever Hope is talking about, but Hope grabs her elbow before she can. "Don't look. He doesn't know I saw him yet."

"Uh o-kay." Lizzie mutters, "Well what am I supposed to do?"

"Nothing." Hope shrugs, and their shoulders brush. "Just act normal and order your coffee."

"Don't tell me what to do." Lizzie whispers, and Hope laughs lightly, looking down to hide it.

"You asked me!" She says, stepping up to order their coffees; somehow, she still knows Lizzie's order.

Hope pays, and Lizzie rolls her eyes because that's something she's always done. Meals, coffees, when Lizzie dragged her shopping—she would outright refuse to let Lizzie even think about paying.

They settle at a table by the window, but it's still visible to most people who enter the cafe. Lizzie thinks that might be the point, but Hope hasn't mentioned anything about this outing serving a purpose.

"That's ridiculous." Lizzie eyes Hope dumping sugar into her black coffee.

Hope smirks, "Come on, I always took it like this."

"Well I thought you might have gotten taste in coffee over time."

"I always had taste." Hope says with a wink, and Lizzie has to hide behind her coffee cup.

A beat passes before she can think of something to say. "Taste? Landon? I don't know..." Lizzie mutters, and Hope smiles and rolls her eyes fondly.

"Stop it, Landon was...I didn't mean Landon when I said that." She defends, and now there's a light blush on her cheeks. "You know, I have no idea where he went after school, anyway."

"Why? Curious?" Lizzie smirks, and Hope kicks her under the table.

Hope sips her coffee then puts another sugar in it.

"So, those meetings were your idea?" Lizzie asks, and Hope nods, brushing stray sugars off of the table.

Her side of the table is covered in ripped up sugar packages, the lid of her coffee, and a spoon. She's a mess—a childish, downright adorable mess.

"Uh-huh. I thought...well, I thought it would be better for everyone if we had public discussions to air out issues rather than private ones that ends in murder." Hope says, sipping her coffee.

"It's a great idea." Lizzie says honestly, "The whole idea of like, bringing people in your house is smart."

"Oh, thanks." Hope looks surprised for some reason.

Lizzie taps at the table, squinting at Hope, "So what's the deal with Lydia then?"

"She's a bitch." Hope replies and looks around the cafe.

"Yeah, I kinda got that. I mean why doesn't she like you." Lizzie scoffs.

Hope shrugs, "The usual reasons. I'm a Mikaelson, I'm too controlling, I have too much power. Whatever." She takes another swig of her coffee and Lizzie just does not believe she's getting the truth.

"You're not telling me the truth."

"That's not true."

"Uh, yeah it is. You're lying. What, did you guys like...or something?"

Hope flinches. "No, Jesus! I'm getting a danish."

She stands quickly and walks to the register again, and Lizzie hums. So they did have a thing.

"That guy is looking." Hope whispers in a brief warning as she leans over her chair, and then she presses a kiss to her cheek before she sits on the other side of the table.

Lizzie blushes, and a flurry of...something stirs in her chest.

Hope cuts the danish in half and pushes the bigger half toward her.

"Did you know Penelope was helping with the Merge that whole time?" Lizzie blurts, and Hope quirks an eyebrow as she takes a bite.

"Hmm..." Hope hesitates. "Define the whole time?"

Lizzie rolls her eyes, "So you did? I'm not—it's over, I'm not asking 'cause I'll be mad or something, I just want to know."

"I figured it out a year and a few months after she left. The school she talked about didn't even exist, and my Aunts knew your Mom was in Belgium and they told me—I think by accident, but I connected the dots obviously."

"Oh." Lizzie nods, and that's fine because it wasn't long after that her mother showed up to the Salvatore school with a dozens of ancient books, a half-maimed Penelope Park and a plan.

Lizzie scratches her head, "Uh, my Mom might have mentioned..."

"That I called her a few times." Hope finishes for her. "Yeah, I did. It was...well I was worried too, of course, so I did some looking on my own."

"Why didn't you ever say?" Lizzie asks and Hope just hums and smiles at her and her eyes sparkle.

"Didn't have to, Caroline and Pen had it under control. I wasn't gonna take credit." She chuckles.

"Thank you, though."

"Oh shut up." Hope shakes her head and leans forward to snag the last piece of the danish Lizzie has left.

They only sit for a few more minutes, and Lizzie finds herself wondering what the purpose of this was. They didn't even kiss, didn't even act, so why did they come.

"Agh, Rebekah texted and they're going out so we gotta watch Nik for a bit." Hope says and gathers all of her sugar wrappers in her hand.

As she stands and Hope waits for her by the table, she realizes that they didn't even need to pretend to be a couple.

They already look like one.

-

Something Lizzie's started to notice is that Hope lingers around the house. She's positive Hope has something important to do, yet she continues to show up by her door and idly chat with her, bring her out to lunch and ask her if she wants to go on walks with Nik.

She's checking in, it's obvious. She was never subtle about it then, and she isn't now either. Except now Lizzie doesn't know how she feels about it, it feels a bit strained.

Lizzie is still adjusting, she's sure that's why Hope is set on babysitting her like this.

After a week or two passes, the fake-courtship commences and Hope brings her to some New Orleans political dinner. Then another important dinner—Lizzie has no idea what it was for, and then for the next one she buys her a dress and brings her to some gala.

The second they get there Hope's hand glues itself to her lower back and doesn't stray for a second. It drives her crazy. This is the most affectionate she's been so far, and the jump from skirting around each other's touch to being an affectionate couple is intense.

They don't talk about it either, they go in with no plan because pretending is pretending and this isn't one of those romance novel plots where they kiss 'for practice' or other bullshit. They know how to kiss each other, and they know each other.

Hope is in heels tonight, and she jokingly tells Lizzie its because she makes her feel small in the car. Lizzie doesn't even think she remembers what she's just referenced, but it was a moment Lizzie has never forgotten and never will.

"You make me feel small." Hope said, tucked into Lizzie's side. "Not in a bad way, just...I feel like I can be small with you. I don't have to be the Tribrid or a Mikaelson. Just Hope."

"Oh," Hope's hand squeezes her side, pulling her from the memory. They're now in a ridiculously large ballroom with huge chandeliers hanging from the ceilings at various heights.

"We have to talk to him, he needs to be convinced." Hope nods subtly at a man across the room. "He's the alpha of a pack on the other side of the bayou. We don't get along but we coexist, I guess. You know how it is." Hope says, and Lizzie doesn't know, but hey, Hope is telling her now anyway.

She's still stuck on that moment in bed when the man approaches them. It was during that calm period between Malivore's defeat and The Merge and when Hope had to go back to New Orleans. Nothing has ever been that easy since.

"Hope." The man, tall, hairy and wearing a too-small shirt, probably on purpose, greets Hope with a grimy smile.

"Ah, Charlie." Hope sighs, "I was hoping you wouldn't be here."

"Same to you, Mikaelson. Who's this arm candy you brought with you?"

Hope clears her throat and his eyes snap from Lizzie's dress to Hope's face guiltily. "This is my girlfriend, Lizzie."

Charlie reaches a hand out and Lizzie drops her hand in his unceremoniously. "Nice to meet you, Lizzie."

"Yeah." Lizzie yanks her hand back as he tries to kiss it. "Pleasure is all mine."

Hope looks to her with an amused smile and Charlie laughs as he looks between them. "So I see why you two make a good couple. You both have that rudeness to you."

"One might even say she's worse you get to know her." Hope smiles falsely at him, lowering her voice as she takes a slight sep forward. "But don't worry, you won't get to know her."

The threat sends a chill up even Lizzie's spine, and surprisingly Hope's hand moves up and down her back as she catches Lizzie shift.

Hope guides her away from a stunned Charlie and toward the bar, her hand moving across her back and then down her arm to hold her and and pull her along.

Lizzie lets go as they lean against the make-shift bar, because Hope being so close and so doting might stir up certain feelings. And has the distinct feeling that it would not be hard to stir up her feelings for Hope Mikaelson.

"Drink?" Hope asks, shifting closer. "Champagne?"

"Uhm, Bourbon. Rocks." Lizzie says, and Hope's eyebrows shoot up as a smile traces her features.

"Okay..." Hope says, ordering one for herself and then bumping their glasses together.

Lizzie takes a sip and flinches at how strong it is, it must be the rich people kind—nothing like the cheap shit she used to steal from her Father's office.

"I knew you'd flinch." Hope chuckles, and Lizzie realizes they're closer now.

"I didn't flinch." Lizzie rolls her eyes, but she leaves that when she sees a woman standing behind them. Lydia. Hope says something about her inability to hold her liquor, which they will most certainly circle back to later.

She nudges Hope's shoulder, "Lydia is here." She says, trying to be nonchalant.

"Oh." Hope says and turns to look over her shoulder, holding up her drink to her with a smug smile. The woman grimaces and turns away.

Hope scans the room after she turns, "Looks like her whole coven is here," she steps closer and places a hand on her waist. "That okay?" she whispers quietly, and Lizzie nods. It doesn't feel...unnatural.

She maneuvers them slowly, until Lizzie is leaning against the bar facing Hope and Hope has an arm on either side of her. Lizzie feels goosebumps raise on her skin at the touch. "Can I kiss you now?" Hope whispers, and Lizzie's heart jumps to an embarrassing rate—it's even more embarrassing that Hope definitely heard it.

"For the—for, so they believe it," Hope stutters, and Lizzie is glad that she isn't the only one nervous that the first time they'll kiss in years is to sell their relationship to a crowd.

Lizzie nods, "Okay." She says slowly as she leaves her drink behind her on the bar. Hope's other hand finds the back of the bar, circling around her waist and pulling her into her firmly.

"Why is this awkward now?" Hope chuckles, feeling like she's calculating every move to make it believable.

Lizzie laughs too, it feels so obviously forced to her but she's sure it looks convincing to the people around them.

"Because we know everyone is watching." Lizzie says, her eyes falling to Hope's lips as she wets them.

Hope nods as she leans in, "Try not to look like you hate it." She whispers.

"I don't think that'll be too hard—" Lizzie is silenced by Hope's lips on hers, and she stills for just a second before she moves her hand form Hope's shoulder to her neck.

It's strange, it doesn't feel like it's been that long since the last time they've kissed. There's no awkward forehead bump, no uncomfortable clash of lips; it's like everything snaps back into place. Hope's lips gently brush hers and slot themselves perfectly between her lips as she presses harder.

She wouldn't be able to explain it to anyone else. It feels completely natural.

Lizzie leans up and into Hope—to sell it, obviously. It's a good kiss, it's definitely believable, and it goes a step further when Hope licks into her mouth. That—she isn't sure that's necessary, but she doesn't stop it. It sends a jolt into that part of her heart that has not been touched since this very person owned it.

She tilts her head to meet Hope's kiss, and then, well, they're fully making out in a public place. They're just really great at pretending to be into each other, that's it, they've just had a lot of practice.

A full minute goes by before Lizzie pulls away for air, and she keeps herself close to Hope as they catch their breaths.

Hope chuckles, tapping Lizzie's side before she pulls away. "Great work." She mutters, and Lizzie just nods because words would probably betray her. She swallows, grabs her drink, and downs the whole thing in one sip.

-

"Ow, fuck."

Lizzie frowns as she enters her room and hears someone groaning. She had just been out shopping with Rebekah and last time she checked Hope wasn't home so she freezes. A moment passes and she drops her bags to follow the noise.

She peers through the doorway to Hope's room and finds the Tribrid sitting on her white comforter that was once white but is now red, wiping her hands off on the bed.

"Hope?" Lizzie is walking toward her before she even thinks.

"Lizzie!" Hope breathes, "Thank god, no one else is home, and I can't—" she interrupts herself with a wince as she shifts on the edge of her bed. "I can't quite reach this piece of a stake."

Lizzie sighs and pushes Hope's hands away, they're obviously not able to find it, and they're practically dripping in blood.

"Who the hell staked you?" Lizzie asks as she pokes at the wound and Hope winces. It's not ofte, mostly never that the Tribrid winces, or is affected by much of anything that normal species are hurt by.

"Charlie." Hope gasps out as Lizzie wipes at her with a discarded cloth. "I was over our lines, I didn't realize. It's fair, I've done it to him for the same reasons."

Lizzie nods, "Okay...but why is it affecting you so much? It's just a stake."

"Wolfsbane." Hope says, falling back on the bed as the wood shifts when Lizzie looks at it. "Jesus—and a lot of it. Maybe vervain too, I don't know."

"Oh. Okay, well I'll get it just stay still."

After a second of squeamishness, Lizzie pushes her hand inside Hope's body. Like actually inside her guts, or something. She doesn't know, she dropped out of nursing. It would be so gross if it wasn't Hope in trouble—well it is gross, but she tries to push past it for Hope's sake.

When she sticks a finger forward Hope gasps and she winces for her. She's just trying to fix this as fast as she can.

"That's my fucking heart!" Hope looks at her incredulously, stopping her hand where it is. Lizzie quickly realizes she's sweating now, really in pain.

"Stay still! I think I feel it." Lizzie pushes her back down and leans forward. After another moment of blindly moving her hand, she thinks she has a feel for it.

"Okay..." Lizzie whispers. "Hold on."

Of course the thing Hope decides to hold on to is her free hand. "Wait." Hope says, her chest heaving.

"God, do you want me to get it out or not?"

Hope squeezes her hand, "I hate you. Just shut up and do it now."

And Lizzie wraps her fingers around it, straining her hand to reach the tiny, broken piece of wood, and then pulls it out of Hope quickly. Hope gasps like she's just been brought to life and Lizzie watches her carefully.

Lizzie looks at it in her hand, it's just a small, triangular piece of wood doused in Hope's blood.

"Look." Lizzie says, holding it in front of the Tribrid.

Hope looks at her instead with a sorely unamused face.

Lizzie can't help but laugh. "You're welcome." She teases.

Hope rolls her eyes, "Thank you, my savior." She says sarcastically, but Lizzie takes it.

"Does it still hurt?" Lizzie asks, poking at the wound that is still not fully healed. She climbs up on the bed, the side that isn't covered in blood, and Hope pushes her hand away.

"Yes." She says through gritted teeth, but Lizzie is mostly unaffected by it. She wipes the blood off of Hope's abs for her—which, yeah, she has abs that are much more defined than they used to be, now that she's looking.

Lizzie swallows and looks away from the shiny, sweat covered skin. "Did you think about not ruining your bedspread?" Lizzie says as a desperate subject change.

Hope shrugs and stands, "I'll just buy a new one," She says, smirking as she downs a half-drunken blood bag from her nightstand. Lizzie forgets how loaded she is sometimes, she never really brags about it but she does occasionally through her money away on stupid things.

The Tribrid holds her shirt up to watch as her cut heals, and smiles while the veins behind her eyes disappear. It's...it's a sight, for sure.

But Lizzie is distracted by other marks. "Where did those come from?" She asks, standing in front of Hope, almost reaching to trace the marks before she stops herself.

There's lines, scars and marks on Hope's abdomen that she does not recognize. Since when do Tribrid's scar?

"Oh." Hope quickly pushes her shirt down. "There was a...disagreement with the witches a year ago. They made a fancy potion and tried to kill me, blah blah blah, it didn't work."

Lizzie's jaw drops, "They tried to kill you? I thought you had alliances and were on good terms—"

"We are, now. The people who did that were sent from the ancestors. Their bodies were taken over, but it's under control now. Many of the ancestors have been silenced thanks to me and a few witches who went against their own coven."

Lizzie still looks wary, but she nods because when Hope says she has something under control, it's under control.

Hope surprises her when she steps forward and brings a gentle hand up to trace her eyebrow.

"How did you get this?" She asks, her finger lingering over the small scar on the end, right over her eye.

"Just a sparring moment with MG." Lizzie reveals, "It broke the skin, he hit me right here with the wooden stick thing. Accidentally, obviously." She keeps talking and she doesn't know why, maybe its that she's unnerved by Hope's silence and her gentle touch.

Lizzie lifts her hand to where Hope's is, pointing right above her eye, to where MG had hit her and left her with a bruised eye for a week.

"Could have been your eye..." Hope whispers, her eyes shifting to meet Lizzies. She smiles in that goddamn perfect way she does. "You have beautiful eyes, Liz."

Lizzie feels heat rise to her cheeks, and suddenly she's feeling every single centimeter Hope moves her hand, until it's resting on her cheek and the girl is leaning up to press a kiss to her scar. However strange it is to kiss someone there, Lizzie doesn't care.

Hope leans back, and Lizzie thinks she might just kiss her. She looks like she might. The look on her face, her eyes widen slightly, her smile flattens out. She's staring into her eyes, her hand is on her face and Lizzie wants to kiss her—

—and the phone rings.

"Oh that's Marcel, he was looking into where they got that wolfsbane." Hope explains as she digs around in her coat for her phone, breaking the trance.

When Hope looks at her like that, Lizzie swears there are no walls between them.

Here they all literally showing each other their scars, having small moments, and Lizzie still has to convince herself that it's not real, it's for show.

But it isn't all for show, it can't be. Hope has never been that good at lying, at fooling people. Her hand doesn't feel stiff in hers, her kiss doesn't feel foreign, none of it feels fake even though it's supposed to be.

So it's the private moments between them that keep her hoping.

Hope steps outside onto the balcony, her heart racing. God, she almost kissed Lizzie just then. She should know not to want that now, she really should. She asked Lizzie to come out here and pretend with her.

So how is she supposed to tell her she was never pretending?

-

"I don't know, I feel like this one might be alright." Hope says as they walk down the streets of New Orleans, completely overdressed on their way to another ridiculously expensive event.

"Why? Are you actually friends with these people or something?"

Hope nods and when her eyes catch Lizzie's dress getting stuck on a crooked piece of the sidewalk she jumps to fix it for her. "Yeah, and Charlie definitely isn't coming. So that's good, we can just hang out and you can meet some normal people."

Lizzie laughs, "You really want me to meet these people?"

"Well for the, for pretend, but also yes. They're cool and you might get along with them."

Lizzie swallows, for pretend, right. She should really stop getting her hopes up.

"Okay, here it is." Hope slows and pulls the door to a restaurant that looks like its stuffed into an old stone building.

Hope opens the door to encourage Lizzie to go in first, guiding her with a hand on her back as Lizzie takes in the room. Like most things about New Orleans, the place is not what she expected.

Instead of the small, classy restaurant she expected to find in the building she's met with a huge room with tables scattered around. Hope said that this is a smaller event, and she sees the group gathered by the bar.

"So who are they?" Lizzie asks, and Hope doesn't really answer. "I'll introduce you!" She says as she starts toward the crowd and Lizzie feels herself grow nervous. A heads up on some things would be nice and she wishes she could be the slightest bit informed on Hope's plans before she just throws her into them.

Hope stops when a curly-haired woman calls out for her and wraps her in a tight hug, and she lets go of Lizzie's hand when she does.

"Hannah this is Lizzie." Hope says as she steps away from the embrace, smiling.

Hannah smiles pleasantly at her, offering her hand out to her, "It's nice to meet you. I've heard very good things." She teases and looks to Hope, and the Tribrid looks away shyly.

"You too." Is all Lizzie can say because unfortunately she hasn't heard anything about Hannah.

Hope looks back to her and pats Lizzie's arm, "I'll get us drinks, be right back."

"Sure." Lizzie nods, wondering why she's choosing to leave her with someone she's never met.

"So when did you...meet?" Lizzie asks awkwardly, cringing at the small-talk.

Hannah faces her fully, "Oh, Hope and I met kind of right when she came back. I come from a small group of witches that don't belong to covens and she helped us and now we're friends-ish. I only ever see her at these kind of things though."

"Oh, cool. Great." Lizzie stumbles, "Hope has never actually told me all of the things she's done here, I just keep learning more from other people."

"That sounds like Hope." Hannah laughs, "I feel like she's always busy doing something and then playing it off like it's not a big deal."

Lizzie chuckles, "Yeah, it's definitely Hope." She agrees and wonders where Hope is with the drinks.

Hannah turns when she hears her name behind them and then explains to Lizzie that her boyfriend is here. She did say it was nice to meet her though, and that she had wondered who had kept Hope away from relationships as long as she had known her.

Lizzie lingers by herself for a moment, watching Hannah reunite with her boyfriend and then she turns to Hope.

Hope seems to have been stopped by someone by the bar and is engaged in conversation with a small group of people. She notices she has two drinks in her hand, so after a moment of hesitation she walks over to her.

Someone else is speaking when she situates herself next to Hope, and the girl kind of jumps with the realization that she should have brought her the drink moments ago. She mouths a sorry and when she speaks again, something about werewolf folklore that she claims her father and her uncle made up just for kicks, Lizzie is somewhat surprised that Hope doesn't introduce her.

"That is ridiculous, Hope. Your family doesn't have the monopoly on all things supernatural." A man chimes in, and Hope smiles, smug.

"I know, I know, but...don't we?" She shrugs, and the group erupts in sounds of disagreement. Hope only laughs, knowing she's stirred the pot.

"Sorry, they obviously cornered me." Hope says, "White wine is okay, right?"

Lizzie nods, "Yeah, it is. And it's fine, they're your friends."

"Cool. So Hannah is cool, right?"

"I mean we only talked for a minute because her boyfriend got here, but she told me about how you helped her and her coven." Lizzie says, trying to ignore some lingering glances toward her. Why hasn't Hope said anything?

Hope rolls her eyes. "Of course she did. She always tells people nice things about me because she thinks I have a 'bad rep'. How ridiculous is that?"

Lizzie hums, "Well you never tell anyone anything good you do, it's stupid. Maybe she has a point." She sips her wine and looks around, not seeing any familiar faces from where she's been before.

"I need to have a certain level of intimidation, you know. If everyone thinks I'm just a good guy nothing gets done."

"Hope," Lizzie laughs, "nobody thinks you're a superhero. But don't you think it would be good for people to think you can be nice? Then they wouldn't be too scared to ask you for help, or something. And it would make the Mikaelsons a bit more human, I think."

"I—whatever." Hope mutters, unable to think of any disagreement at the present moment. Maybe she just doesn't want to tell people everything. She just does nice things because she does, she doesn't need any credit for it.

Lizzie is about to ask why Hope isn't showing her off to everyone like she has at past events when the girl gasps and strikes up another conversation. Another conversation Lizzie isn't included in.

She doesn't know enough about New Orleans to have any good input, and Hope doesn't actually try to include her anyway. So Lizzie turns to the bar with a sigh and orders herself another glass of wine.

"And don't be shy with the pour." She says to the bartender. The man laughs but she's dead serious.

When she steps back toward Hope, its like she didn't even notice she had turned away. Is it too much to ask for an occasional comment thrown her way? At the very least, Hope could hold her hand or put an arm around her like she usually does when they're pretending. But she's too shy to do it on her own.

Lizzie gives up and walks off with her. new glass of wine, looking around the room and wandering the empty halls.

She doesn't know how long she's been gone, looking at the art hanging on the walls and the shiny marble steps when Hope finds her.

"Lizzie!" She calls out, speeding over to her.

Lizzie sighs, "Hello Hope. I thought you had forgotten I was here."

Hope frowns, chuckling at Lizzie. "What do you mean? I was just looking for you."

"What are we doing here, Hope?" She asks, spreading her arms wide as she asks. "You've barely spoken to me since we got here, you haven't introduced me to anyone as your girlfriend which is like, what we do when we go out places together, and I'm bored! When other people are around you forget I even exist."

"No I do not," Hope says, her face set in anger now. "I'm just, I'm talking to friends I haven't seen in a while."

"Fine, go ahead, I'll just be here." Lizzie says, walking further down the hall in her stubbornness.

Hope shakes her head, "Come with me."

"No." Lizzie says, "Why would I do that? So I could be further ignored by you and everyone else?"

"Lizzie I am not ignoring you! I told everyone you're my girlfriend already, and they believe it—"

"That is so not the point right now." Lizzie snaps. "The point is, is that you're just leaving me alone. If I didn't need to come to this, why did I? I could just be at home and you could be having more fun without me. You know what, yeah, I'm leaving."

"Please don't." Hope begs, struggling with her words. She wants to tell Lizzie that she's here because she wants her to be, but she isn't sure how. Maybe it would be too much. "We'll leave in like, an hour. Can you hold on, please? I swear I don't mean to—" Someone walks past them and it must look like they're arguing at the last thing they need is for all of this to fail, so Hope puts an arm around her to make everything seem okay.

Lizzie pushes it off. "Fine, I'll stay." She huffs and walks back toward the room, more annoyed after that. She'll just ignore Hope the same way she's been ignoring her.

When she gets back to the main room she doesn't see many people left, most of them were in the dining room she passed earlier and now the only person she recognizes is Charlie.

He doesn't see her come in and sit at the bar, and she definitely won't concern herself with the guy on purpose so she ignores him. She just waits for Hope to get back, and apparently the Tribrid is taking her time, so she has time to prepare the silent act.

Only the person who sits next to her isn't Hope, it's Charlie and he has a nasty smile on his face.

"I heard about that meeting the other day, what Lydia said." He says, and Lizzie quirks an eyebrow at him.

"And?"

"Don't worry, I like 'em crazy." He says, leaning closer to her and she grimaces.

"Don't be disgusting. I don't care how you of all people like 'em. Leave me alone." She snaps, she's already not feeling great and now Charlie just has to come around and make her feel like crap.

Charlie, despite the obvious rejection, stands from the barstool and inches closer. Lizzie swallows at the creepy look in his eyes, but she can hold her own.

"I don't see Mikaelson around." Charlie observes with a smirk.

"She's here." Lizzie says, "She's coming back in a—"

"Well I have something to say while she's gone..." he smirks as he cuts her off, "Hope thinks she's indestructible, and maybe she is, but you're not. So if you're what Hope loves, you are my new target."

Lizzie pushes him away with a hand on his chest when he leans in to threaten her. "Your breath is rancid." She says, "And I can handle a pup like you, nice try though." She tries to stay strong but she thinks her voice might have wavered.

Charlie moves swiftly, the comment setting him off. His close proximity makes Lizzie get off her stool, and then she ends up cornered against a wall.

"Oh I promise you, you can't." He says, laughing, and Lizzie is wondering where the hell Hope, or literally anyone else is to get her out of this.

When he moves closer, tries to catch her, Lizzie uses what little power she has siphoned and stuns him. He hits the stools and looks up from the floor with bright yellow eyes.

Lizzie contemplates running, but she's not sure she would get far, and Charlie is jumping to his feet and running at her before anything else can happen.

She closes her eyes tightly and reaches for him as he approaches, trying to find a way to siphon from him, but he grabs her wrist and throws both of her hands to the side as he collides with her. Her head slams against the wall at the impact and she scrambles and tries to reach for him again.

"Get off of me!" She yells and he just laughs hollowly in her ear.

"Where's Hope now, huh? Will she miss you when you're dead?" And he pulls a hand back, aiming for her chest to rip her heart out, most likely, but he doesn't get to.

Before anything can happen Charlie has flown across the room and Hope is standing over him.

Her heeled boot is digging into his throat, and her hand hovers in the air over him, obviously keeping him down.

"Are you okay?" Hope looks to her, eyes sharp and focused.

Lizzie nods but she isn't quite sure. Maybe if Hope hadn't just pretended she wasn't there earlier she would be fine.

Hope lifts her foot and stomps right on Charlie's face, hard. Lizzie has to look away when his nose starts gushing blood. The Tribrid yells for a few people waiting in the hall, and when she whispers something to them the do what she says.

The women drag Charlie away and Hope rushes over to her.

"Lizzie, are you okay?" She asks, looking all over her as if to check. Hope nudges her to sit on the stool behind her. "What did he do, Liz?"

Lizzie sighs as Hope moves to stand in front of her. "He's just annoying and wanted to hurt you, it's fine."

"No, it's not fine." Hope says quickly. "Did he hurt you? I'll kill him if he even touched—"

"He tried to, but he didn’t." Lizzie says, "I'm going home now."

Hope looks puzzled as she pushes off her stool, "Wait, I'll go with you."

"You should handle this, right? I just want to go." Lizzie says, and chuckles after a second. "I've wanted to go."

Hope sighs and looks around. "You need to be safe, just wait one second and I'll go with you." She insists, and grabs Lizzie's hand to get her attention. Lizzie doesn't say anything and she doesn't look at her either.

"I should have followed you back." Hope says quietly. "I'm—"

"Hope!" Someone calls out by the door. "He's asking for you and being extremely difficult, can you—oh, sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt..."

Hope sighs and her jaw clenches when Lizzie drops her hand.

"Told you, you should stay." Lizzie mutters and Hope pinches her nose.

"I don't want you to go alone." Hope says, turning to Lizzie and still speaking in voice just above a whisper.

"I can handle myself, Hope. Just stay."

Hope grunts stubbornly, running a hand through her hair in stress. "Tell Rebekah to call me when you get home." She acquiesces, watching Lizzie carefully.

Lizzie turns to leave but Hope steps to the side to block her. "I'm really sorry this happened to you." She says gently, and the words go right to Lizzie's heart. Hope has that serious look in her eye, and she speaks quietly because she means it and doesn't want anyone to overhear.

When Lizzie nods, Hope breaks their eye contact. "I'll see you at home." She says, stepping out of Lizzie's way.

"Okay." Lizzie mutters as she walks away.

She releases a deep breath when she steps outside of the building. At the start of the night she never would have expected it to go so horribly, especially when Hope had been excited about it.

And it seriously annoys her that she was so upset with Hope and the girl still managed to leave her with a warm feeling in her chest when she said she didn't want her to be alone, and that she was sorry.

Infuriating as it is, it's something Hope has always been able to do. No matter what, Hope is able to reach her.

Who was she kidding when she thought it wouldn't be the same now?

It's like if you build a stone wall on a root of a willow tree. Say it rains and the root grows again, or the tree is still young and growing...the whole wall will come down.

Hope is like roots. She's rooted in Lizzie's brain. She's under her walls, she's slipping through the stones and rooting herself there until she grows and grows and grows and then she might as well be the wall. And the wall means nothing, because once the willow tree has infiltrated it again, it's useless.

She doesn't know if it's the same for Hope. There was a time where Lizzie knocked her walls down, but there are new walls in their place. Is she Hope's willow? Does she slip between her cracks and pull her walls down?

When she reaches the compound she takes a deep breath and stops thinking so much.

She wishes it wasn't like this, though. She wishes they didn't have to act it out so much, and she wishes Hope could express her goddamn feelings—whatever they are—instead of what she did tonight. And she knows, even though she's upset with Hope now, that this is what she does.

Expressing her feelings had never come easy to the Mikaelson, Lizzie knows that very well. So Hope struggles, tries to push her away, but Lizzie will forgive her. She knows she'll forgive her because she understands it; she's just as confused by this situation.

"Elizabeth, are you alright? Where is Hope?" Freya asks as she stomps through the living room of the compound, and Lizzie slows to a stop at the bottom of the stairs.

"Hope is still out, taking care of something." Lizzie sighs, "I'm fine, and she asked Rebekah to call her when I got back."

Freya's face morphs into confusion, "Why wouldn't you call her?"

"Because I'm not speaking to her." Lizzie shrugs as she walks up the steps, and Rebekah chuckles into her hand as she calls Hope.

"Oh." Freya nods, as if that's normal.

Keelin raises her eyebrows at Lizzie's anger, "I wonder what your niece has done now." The woman hums, flipping through her book, and Freya shrugs.

"Nothing un-fixable, I'm sure." Freya says as she rests her head back on her wife's shoulder.

"Uh, I wouldn't bet on that." Rebekah scoffs as the phone rings in her ear, "This thing was bound to blow at some point. It's a, a...political marriage of exes, I mean come on!" She pauses, "Oh, Hope! Lizzie is here and she's mad at you." She says in a sing-songy tone, and everyone hears Hope scoff on the line.

-

"Lizzie?"

Lizzie's head is on the pillow, yet she swears she felt Hope coming before she even spoke.

She's tucked in, facing away from the door as she hears Hope creep in.

The Mikaelson stops by the side of her bed, and she must be able to tell she isn't asleep.

"I'm sorry for tonight." She says, and Lizzie rolls onto her back to look up at her.

"I just don't know how to act. You didn't seem to be enjoying yourself, and I...I thought you'd want some space. The last thing I meant to do is upset you or leave you alone with Charlie." She says, and Lizzie can smell the booze in her breath but she sees in her eyes that it's genuine.

The root grows, and the wall tumbles down all at once at the look on Hope's face.

"It's okay, Hope." Lizzie says, and Hope beams.

Hope sits on the edge of her bed and timidly reaches for her, takes her hand in hers. "He's taken care of, by the way. He definitely won't be bothering you again."

"What does that mean? You killed him?"

Hope shakes her head instantly, "No, no of course not. He's cursed and his memory was erased."

"Oh." Lizzie mutters, so he really won't be bothering them.

Hope hums and shifts closer, so her side is touching Lizzie's. "You are okay, right? You'd tell me if he hurt you or did something?" And she moves her other hand to brush stray curls from her forehead.

Lizzie swoons at the affection from Hope, how focused she is on her. "I am, I promise."

Hope breathes in relief and her head falls to the side as her eyes turn soft. "I didn't mean to be an asshole earlier. I wanted you there, I really did, I just...well I guess I forgot it was fake for a second and got myself all confused. I should have told you tonight was just for us to go out and not to pretend. I suck."

"You don't suck." Lizzie rolls her eyes and sits up on her pillows, "Sometimes I forget it's fake too."

Hope opens her arm for her, and before Lizzie can even fall into her embrace Hope is pulling her in with arms around her shoulders. She instantly tucks her head into Lizzie's shoulder, and Lizzie lets out a sigh at Hope seeking her touch.

Lizzie wraps her arms tightly around Hope's waist—this is her girl, she knows it.

When they let each other go, Lizzie briefly wonders what it means. Maybe it was just because tonight was tough, or maybe it could be a start.

"Let's get you to bed." Lizzie clears her throat and pushes her covers off, pulling Hope through the door and into her room, their hands intertwined even if it's only a few feet that separates their bedrooms.

When Hope is in bed looking up at her and Lizzie has the urge to lean down and kiss her is when she knows she's done for.

Chapter Text

"Lizzie!" Josie screams, running through the doors and crashing into her twin while Hope trails behind her.

Penelope follows her girlfriend, grumbling about having to carry all of their luggage from the car.

She drops the bags with a huff and walks over to Hope, smacking her on the back.

"Hope," she says with a smirk for no apparent reason.

"Hello Penelope." Hope chuckles, throwing an arm around her in a half-hug. They don't really do physical affection, but it has been a while, so.

Penelope steps away first. "Woah, have you gone soft on me Mikaelson?"

"Fuck off, "Hope smirks back at her.

"Hope!" Josie is smiling wide, already rushing toward her with arms outstretched.

"Hi, Jo." Hope hugs her lightly, patting her back.

Penelope and Lizzie hug cordially beside them, Penelope teasing the blonde Saltzman about Hope while they do.

Lizzie smacks her shoulder and Penelope dodges her with a cheeky smile.

"When did you two stop wanting to kill each other?"

Penelope shrugs, "I was hypnotized and held against my will."

"Stop being an asshole." Lizzie rolls her eyes but it still lacks the bite it used to. She's smiling and Penelope isn't offended, it almost seems...familial to Hope.

Penelope turns to Hope, "And hey, sorry we're late, Josie took a wrong turn."

Josie gasps and turns away from Hope, "I did not!"

Penelope is smiling when Josie looks at her. They were supposed to be here hours ago, when it was still light outside, but Josie took a wrong turn and then Penelope said they might as well stop for food.

"Kidding, babe." Penelope takes her hand, pulling her into her side. "Not to like, ruin the reunion but we're exhausted. We drove like 4 hours each, so...bed?"

"Yeah," Lizzie points up the stairs, "You guys will be in my room 'cause Hope's family is using the other ones. Hope can get your bags."

Nobody comments on the different rooms even though they are all thinking it, Lizzie especially, and Hope lugs a few bags up the stairs behind them.

-

With Penelope and Josie in her room and Hope's family filling the rest of the spare bedrooms, Hope tells Lizzie to just sleep in her bed.

It was an obvious solution anyway, one that everyone else had assumed they had come to already. It is't a big deal, but it is. It is because they haven't slept in the same bed in years. They've kissed, spent time together, but not that.

So Lizzie makes a big deal. Ish.

"No, Hope. I'll sleep on the couch, or the floor, or—"

"Uhm, no you won't." Hope insists. "It's a big bed."

"I don't care if it's a big bed, it's the whole...it's a thing." Lizzie reaches to pull at the extra blanket on the end of Hope's bed, and she'd bet anyone any amount of money that Penelope and Josie both have an ear on the connecting door.

"You don't want to sleep with me?" Hope tries, pulling back at the blanket.

Lizzie blushes. "Don't say it like that."

"Like what?" Hope blinks, and Lizzie rolls her eyes.

"I'm brushing my teeth." The blonde says as she stalks off toward the bathroom, closing the door behind her.

Hope sighs as she falls back onto her bed and pulls the heavy blankets over herself. She leaves the lights on because honestly, she's waiting for Lizzie. She wants to be close to her, she just had no idea how to ask before now. Now, she has a chance to play it off.

Lizzie flicks the lights off before quietly walking toward the other side of the bed. Hope celebrates quietly to herself; if the lights were on, her smirk would have been visible to Lizzie.

"Don't make a thing about it."

Hope chuckles, "Me, make a thing?"

There's only a slight shift as Lizzie climbs in beside her, fixing the blankets around herself. She isn't on the very edge of the bed, but she's close. Hope tries not to comment on it—tries to stop herself from pulling Lizzie into her.

"Goodnight, Hope."

Hope sighs. "Night." She mutters, a bit defeated. Last week Lizzie was walking her to bed and now she's getting the cold shoulder in her own bed.

She tries to will herself to sleep, she really does, but she can smell Lizzie's shampoo. And just knowing that she's there makes her unable to do so.

She senses Lizzies discomfort—if that's what it is. By that she means she feels it. The blonde tosses and turns, sighing every few minutes. Hope, on the other hand, stays still and feels every move Lizzie makes. She wishes she would say what she's so obviously overthinking. She used to be able to read her mind.

"Lizzie, please stop moving." Hope mutters, sick of watching the girl move around and hearing her small sighs of frustration. She stares at her back, and Lizzie rolls over to face her.

"Oh thanks Hope, that really helped." Lizzie says dryly.

Hope chuckles and rolls onto her side. She leans on her hand to look at Lizzie, "Why can't you sleep?"

Lizzie rolls her eyes at the question and it only makes Hope smile.

Maybe it's because she's a bit too tired to over-think it, but Hope reaches for her. Lizzie tenses when her hand settles on her waist, but she sighs and shifts a bit closer to her after a second passes.

"What, is that supposed to help me sleep?" Lizzie huffs, but Hope brushes her thumb across her hip because she can see Lizzie has already welcomed the contact.

Hope shrugs and meets Lizzie's eyes when she feels her staring. They're both laying on their sides now, facing each other.

Hope blinks slow as they look at each other. She knows she's tired but she wants to stay up with Lizzie, and she wants her to get some sleep too.

"What's keeping you up?" She asks, shifting closer. She's on the edge of her pillow now, and her hand slides further onto Lizzie's back.

Lizzie bites her bottom lip, seemingly thinking on her answer. "You..." she says eventually, and reaches for a curl blocking Hope's face.

Hope smirks, "Me? Go on."

"Shut up." Lizzie scoffs, "I was...I don't know, we haven't slept in the same bed since the night before you left. I was just thinking about that."

"Oh," Hope breathes, "well, that was a sucky day."

"Yeah," Lizzie nods, her head sinking into the pillow.

Hope shifts up on her arm again, "I missed you." She whispers, "I'm happy you're here now. I like having you here." She starts to move her hand up and down Lizzie's back to relax her, and the blonde's lip quirks up in a smile.

Lizzie's heart soars. Hope hasn't exactly confirmed or denied that she's happy with their situation. She knows she's not indifferent; they spend time together, talk a lot, live together, but...that's nice to hear.

"I missed you too." Lizzie says, looking down as her voice waivers.

Hope sighs, "Sorry," she mutters when she realizes Lizzie is crying. She keeps doing that, saying sorry. "I didn't mean to..." and she trails off, wondering how she can comfort Lizzie. What's right, what's wrong, she isn't sure.

So she just holds her, pulls her closer and holds her.

Lizzie lets out a breath as her forehead makes contact with Hope's shoulder, and Hope doesn't know if its good or bad, but Lizzie is grabbing at her shirt as if that will make them closer.

"I'm not crying." Lizzie says, "I mean I almost did, but I'm not."

Hope watches her as she pulls her head back, but she doesn't go far. She leans back slightly as if to prove it, and all Hope sees is her bright blue eyes.

When Lizzie realizes how close they are, her eyes dance around Hope's face, her gaze lingering around her eyes and quickly dropping to her lips. She hasn't had the time to observe Hope like this since she's gotten here. All of the kisses for show were never all that romantic, and so she never just looked at her. She used to look at her all the time—she could stare at her for years. Lizzie notices things, the way her eyes are a bit more sunken in now, a bit darker than they used to be. Her hair is curlier, longer, and her cheekbones are sharper.

Lizzie moves forward and nudges their noses together, begging Hope to do something, do something that shows her she wants her. She wants her so bad. She hesitantly traces her cheek as their eyes are lock on each other's.

She almost gives up, almost pulls away and forces herself to sleep but she doesn't because Hope moves toward her, too. Hope's nose bumps against cheek and their breaths exchange for the briefest of moments until Hope presses forward and kisses her.

There's no hesitance this time, it's like a switch has been flipped. The way they've kissed in public is so different from how they kiss each other now. Hope's hands instantly grip her waist and Lizzie's climb up into her hair as their lips clash and she's pushed onto her back. It's soft, it's harsh, it's everything she had been feeling hitting her all at once.

It's Lizzie who deepens it, once Hope's thigh slips between hers.

Hope's kiss is frenzied, she has no control of herself and she is not interested in finding any as she kisses Lizzie. She doesn't stop herself, she just takes it and kisses her.

Hope nips at her lip, spurs a hitch in Lizzie's throat and bites back a smile as Lizzie's hands tug at her hair. Her hands dig into Lizzie's sides, bunching up her shirt and leaving marks on her skin in their wake.

It's almost too much and not enough for Lizzie. She meets Hope in every kiss, in every movement. Hope kisses her with such urgency, such need and yet she still wants more. She wants to feel her, all of her.

Hope pushes her back onto her side, slides her hands down to grip her ass as Lizzie sneaks a hand under her shirt, and Lizzie thinks they're the same. They both want each other that bad. Hope's hands are moving so fast and her lips are so frenzied on hers that there is no other possible explanation.

Lizzie is about to try and pull off Hope's shirt or do anything to get closer to her, but then...

then Hope pulls away.

The Tribrid is breathing heavy as they part, her breath landing on Lizzie's cheeks in waves as they stay close. Hope leans in for a second more, her lips hovering over hers in hesitation. Her eyes are still closed and Lizzie watches her.

Waits for it.

"We should go to bed." Hope says quietly, pulling her hands away from Lizzie. "Big day tomorrow." She's referencing the Ball the Mikaelson's are hosting tomorrow, and Lizzie does not care. She wants to kiss Hope some more.

But Lizzie clears her throat and takes her hand back. "Right." She turns away from Hope with a sigh, because she doesn't know what to make of that. It stings like something akin to rejection.

For a moment she thinks about getting up and sneaking in Josie's bed, or maybe she could sleep on that uncomfortable couch, but then Hope places an arm around her and pulls her into her front.

And the mixed signals are just so insanely Hope Mikaelson it makes Lizzie's head spin as she finally falls asleep.

-

Hope is up early the next morning, she has to work on the set-up of the family event tonight and she wants to show her Aunts something important.

"What are you doing up so early? Didn't I see your Saltzman in bed with you this morning?" Rebekah looks up from where she's carrying a large flower pot at the bottom of the stairs.

Hope rolls her eyes, "Yes, and I'm up because we have things to do! Where's Freya."

Rebekah eyes her skeptically, "Okay, weirdo. Freya is with Keelin trying to get the lighting sorted out."

"When she gets back, will you both find me? I have something to tell you guys."

Rebekah drops the flower pot with a group of others items that apparently don't work with the theme of the evening. "You are so suspicious." She mutters, "Anyway if you want to start you can probably move all of these to the backroom."

Hope nods and picks two up, mumbling a spell to get the other ones to follow her out to the storage room in the back of the compound.

Behind her, Rebekah mutters something about witches under her breath.

Hope places all of the dying flowers down, wondering why Freya never waters them once they're in the pots. She's sure there's a spell for it.

She follows Rebekah around as the woman re-organizes, and promptly walks into her as she stops short.

"Okay, what's got you all jittery."

Hope scoffs, "Wha—I, I am not jittery, I just want to tell you something and I'm waiting for Freya."

"Well spit it out! You're annoying." Her Aunt yells, and Hope fails to hide her laugh.

Hope chuckles and shrugs, "Sorry." She mutters and digs a hand deep in her pocket. "I just wanted to tell you tonight I'm...gonna ask Lizzie."

"Ask Lizzie what, love?" Rebekah prompts her, and Hope pulls a box out of her pocket.

Rebekah gasps, "Oh Hope, is this why you wanted to have the Ball?" Her Aunt sits on the couch behind them and takes the ring from Hope.

When Hope nudges her to open it she recognizes it instantly. "Your mother's ring," The blonde grabs her niece's hand and holds it tight, the sight of Hayley's ring making tears sting her eyes. "I didn't even know you had this, Hope."

"I thought it would be nice." Hope says, "Just with how Mom got married it's kind of similar? But I—I, you know, Lizzie and I..."

"Right, I know love." Rebekah nods, "It is very nice. I think Hayley would love it."

Hope hums as Rebekah passes it back, looking at it for a second before closing it. She thinks it would nice for it to be kind of surprise instead of planned and forced. Plus with last night's kiss she thinks they're making progress.

"I'm gonna go show Freya and Keelin." Hope stands, "Then we can finish the clean up, or...whatever you're doing."

Rebekah laughs and it brings her out of her thoughts; how sad she gets for Hope when Hayley or Niklaus are mentioned.

"Alright, yeah, show Freya. You seem very excited."

Hope smiles, "I am. I was gonna surprise all of you but I couldn't keep it in."

-

"Good Morning, Elizabeth!" Penelope's voice rings out from the doorway and Lizzie instinctively rolls her eyes even if she isn't bothered. "You good?"

"I'm fine. Where's Josie?"

"She went to get us coffee." Penelope says, peering into the room. She's in silk blue pajamas that are too long around her ankles and the sleeves are so long that her hands aren't visible until she rolls them up. They obviously belong to Josie, her much taller girlfriend.

"You wanna see something?" The brunette whispers suspiciously, and Lizzie nods, pulling at her covers as a signal for Penelope to climb in.

The Park witch pulls her sleeve up and unveils a small, black box in her hand as she clambers onto the bed. She passes it to Lizzie as she moves around in place, eventually lying on her back and sinking into the fluffed up pillows on Hope's side.

"Wow," Lizzie hums as she opens the box and looks at the elegant ring sitting inside. It's a thin silver band with a humble sized diamond. Not too big, not too small, it really is perfect for Josie. "Took you long enough." She teases as she passes it back.

Penelope hums, flipping open the box to stare at the ring herself. "Could say the same for you and Mikaelson. I was there for all the in-between stuff." She says back, "And don't you worry—I won't propose at your wedding, but I have thought about it." She stares at the ring as she speaks, almost entranced, and Lizzie would find it sweet if she didn't have to be such an ass.

Lizzie swings her arm across the space between them to smack at Penelope. "We aren't even engaged yet, you idiot."

"Oh. Right." Penelope nods, unfazed by Lizzie smacking at her cheek.

A beat passes and Lizzie feels the urge to confide in Penelope about Hope—it's something they've been doing for a while. Since the Merge ended, since Hope left they talk about things a lot. Sometimes there are things she can't talk to Josie about, or she doesn't want to, and Penelope is a good listener. Lizzie rarely admits it out loud, but Penelope is like a sister to her sometimes. Soon to be sister-in-law, she guesses.

"I always thought about marrying her." She says, looking at the ceiling. "Hope. And I thought coming here and doing this might give us the time and space to work things out. To get back to where we were before, pick up where we left off. Like, maybe when we get married we actually love each other when we do. I thought things would click back into place and they haven't."

Lizzie rambles and Penelope hums and nods in all the right places.

"We've had some moments though. When we almost kiss its so intense and when we do for like, pretending it's like I'm not pretending at all. I don't have to." Lizzie pauses, "We kissed last night, actually."

Penelope gasps, her face morphing into a smile. "Oh I knew it. I knew something would happen. It was the bed-sharing thing, huh?"

Lizzie rolls her eyes, "Yeah. And I feel like that could have been...important or something but then when I woke up she wasn't here."

"How has it been? With the like, pretending stuff? You haven't said much since you came, and I know you don't tell Josie all of it because you don't want her to feel bad."

"It's been confusing. We don't talk about it much." Lizzie says, "I just...like I said, I thought it'd be easier. I would. I'd—you know, I'd be with her if she asked, or I would want to try but she just doesn't communicate like that. She never has. And I won't ask, because I can't be sure how she feels."

"Have you talked about it at all?" Penelope asks gently, "About your history?"

Lizzie shakes her head, "Nope." She sighs, wishing they had.

"Maybe it would help. Like if you said you had expectations. Or that you want to start over. I highly doubt Mikaelson would be opposed."

"Maybe," Lizzie sighs sadly. "But I don't know, it's hard."

"Yeah, I know. You know I've been there." Penelope sits up and pats Lizzie's head. "But I think it'll work out." She says confidently, and Lizzie just hums.

Kissing Hope last night had been like finally seeing the light, and now it's dark again. Or half-dark. Either way, Lizzie is confused and not very good at metaphors.

Before any more advice could be given, Josie calls out from in the other room.

"In here, babe!" Penelope says and scrambles frantically to stuff the ring box deep into her pocket. Lizzie laughs at her, in shakes her out of her thoughts.

Josie comes through the door smiling, a tray of coffee in her hands. Lizzie thinks she looks really happy—like, ridiculously happy, but that's the affect Penelope has always had on her.

"Aren't you two cute." Josie kicks off her shoes and squeezes herself between Penelope and her sister, dropping a quick kiss to her girlfriend's lips as she passes out the coffees.

"We are cute." Penelope nods, "Elizabeth here was just telling me about Mikaelson, but I'm sure you're all caught up."

"I am." Josie giggles, turning to her sister. "So when do we get our dresses for tonight? I'm kind of excited."

Penelope rests her chin on her shoulder as they talk about their dresses. Apparently Lizzie went for gold on Rebekah's suggestion.

"I don't know. Are they set up down there already?" Lizzie sips her coffee, "Is Hope down there?"

"Yeah." Josie smiles, peering over Penelope. "Did you guys snuggle up last night?"

Lizzie groans and climbs out of Hope's bed which is, unsurprisingly, more comfortable than hers. Or maybe it's that she felt more comfortable with Hope in it with her.

"You know, I liked life better when you two couldn't bother me at the same time." Lizzie grumbles, and Josie laughs.

"No you didn't!!"

-

A few hours and an extra-long dress fitting that consisted of her sister telling her every single excruciating detail of her relationship since moving in with Penelope, Lizzie is in her dress behind the double doors that lead into the ball taking place in the central room of the house.

She doesn't know where Hope is, assumes that she's already in there since she's kind of the guest of honor and she has to be there, and Lizzie did have a slight disagreement about the length of her dress. It was too long and she isn't that tall.

When she pushes the doors open, some eyes land on her, but not too many. The compound has been transformed, those old waxy candles on the walls have been replaced and lit and there's nice flowers all around—Lizzie suspects that's Freya's doing, she's been very into gardening as of late. She likes to help her.

Lizzie starts back to life as the music reaches her ears and she spots Josie by the door in the corner of the room.

Josie jumps into her with a wide smile on her face, her dress flowing every which way. "Lizzie! This is so fun. So much fun. I like the Mikaelson balls, they're so cool—"

Lizzie laughs as Josie rambles, "Oh god, you're drunk."

"Yeah..." Josie giggles. "I like champagne...so bubbly." She says, and Lizzie rolls her eyes as Penelope appears next to them.

"Great job." Lizzie points to her twin, who is now giggling with her arm hung low around Penelope's waist.

Penelope stumbles as Josie crashes into her. "Well, yes. Probably. But she's cut off." She chuckles and leans down to kiss Josie's cheek.

Lizzie fake-gags and looks away, and as she does her eyes land on Hope walking toward her with two glasses in one hand. She looks absolutely insane in the perfectly tailored suit, her white shirt only half-buttoned and showing off plenty of skin—a distracting amount for Lizzie, and she flushes at the sight.

"Hey, no drink?" Hope asks as she stops in front of her and hands her a glass.

"No—I, well yes, but Josie has had enough for all of us."

Hope smiles at her, steps closer as they both face the couple. "You nervous, Saltzman?" She whispers right in her ear, and Lizzie shivers. It's honestly kind of embarrassing that just looking at Hope made her stumble like that.

"So, enjoying the bar, Josie?" Hope turns and teases Josie. As she does, she grips Lizzie's waist and pulls her into her side. Her touch is warm and firm and Lizzie can't believe the way her mind spins.

Josie smiles, "Stop making fun of me, I'm not that drunk." She pouts, dropping her head to Penelope's shoulder.

"Debatable." Lizzie mutters, and Penelope raises her eyebrows suggestively as she eyes her and Hope.

Lizzie gulps down her champagne, and she absolutely should not have spoken to Penelope about this because now she'll be teased relentlessly.

"You know what, Hope-y, I think I out-do you in the suit." Penelope says after a moment, and Josie whispers something in her ear that makes her blush. "What do you think, Liz? Who wins?"

Hope laughs, seeing where Penelope is going. "Yeah Lizzie, tell us?" She teases, her hand sliding across her back painstakingly slow as she turns toward her. Lizzie sighs and looks between them, ignoring Hope's flirty smirk pointed at her.

"Penelope." Lizzie says eventually, her heart hammering in her chest as she lies. All of them know it's a lie, even she half-laughs as she says it.

Still, Hope gasps in her ear, either she's shocked or pretending to be.

"Lizzie!"

Penelope laughs, smiling wide even if she knows it isn't her real answer—Josie has already assured her, multiple times, that she looks good in the suit anyway.

"I think we should dance while they fight over me." Penelope pulls Josie's hand and spins her around on the dance floor.

Josie smiles wide as she's pulled away, and Hope turns Lizzie to face her with hands pulling at her hips. She's abandoned her glass of champagne somewhere, and now she's focused on Lizzie.

"That was kind of rude." Hope tilts her head, flashing her a quick pout.

Lizzie smirks, "I'm kidding, obviously." She says, and reaches out to trace the collar of Hope's shirt. If Hope can touch her in such a distracting way, she can do the same.

"You're making me very insecure." Hope sighs dramatically, and Lizzie laughs.

"Fishing for compliments isn’t polite."

Hope grumbles and Lizzie continues to fiddle with the collar of her shirt as a partial distraction. Her hand climbs around to the back of her neck to smooth it out because somehow Hope has already messed it up, and she steps forward so she can lean down and whisper in Hope's ear.

"I think you look stunning."

Hope smiles brightly, "Thank you." She says quietly and leans up to kiss her cheek.

Lizzie turns her head to look at her, and somehow they've ended up close again. If she took a step closer she could probably kiss her. Probably.

"Um, are we going to talk about..." Lizzie whispers, but Hope shakes her head simply.

"No need to." She says, pulling at her waist so they are well within kissing range. Lizzie isn't sure that's true. In fact, she's pretty sure there is a need to. But she won't say so, not now. She's desperate for Hope to kiss her first and not pull away this time.

In a brief second, she does. Lizzie can't be sure what her reason is, can't tell if she does it because she wants to. Hope leans up and kisses her softly, just a slow brush of their lips.

Lizzie breathes out and kisses her back, a shiver running up her spine as Hope's hands press into her, smooth out her dress as they move.

Just as quick as Hope leaned in, she pulls away and flashes her small smile.

"Want to dance?"

Lizzie, still a bit dazed, agrees. Hope has never asked her to dance—she used to have to beg her.

Hope spins her around and dances really, really well for someone who used to be extremely opposed to doing so.

"I thought you didn't dance." Lizzie says when they're face to face again. Hope shrugs, spinning her again and steadying her with firm hands.

"I didn't like to—I mean you know that, but I just learned eventually. Against my will, obviously,"

"Obviously." Lizzie nods and swallows at the way Hope is looking at her. Like most everything between them, it's intense.

It's almost...dopey. The way Hope is looking at her. A look where her eye's smile, too, and there's a certain sparkle in them that Lizzie only ever notices when the Tribrid is looking at her.

"What?" Hope asks, catching onto her staring.

Lizzie shakes her head as the song changes to a slower one.

"I asked 'cause I know you like to." Hope seems to know what she wanted to ask and answers for her.

"Oh." Lizzie blushes and looks away for a moment. Hope is, once again, in heels, so they are eye-level, unlike usually.

Hope leans up and nudges her nose into Lizzie's cheek. It makes Lizzie's heart stir, such a strong pull that it almost makes her uncomfortable. Hope's head is nudged against hers, and they're moving slowly to the song playing.

Everyone is watching them, and it makes Lizzie feel a bit less wooed by it. Like maybe, Hope is doing this intentionally and there's no reason for her to feel this way.

"Hey Liz, listen..." Hope starts, whispering in her ear, but Lizzie pulls away at that very moment, her heart heavy as she feels the need to run. But she sticks around for just a second.

"I have to—I'm going to the bathroom, be right back." She says, dropping Hope's hand.

Hope gasps, "Wait, Lizzie hold on."

"Be right back." Lizzie says and turns toward the hallway. She needs a minute. A few minutes, actually, she’s feeling a bit overwhelmed already.

The Mikaelson looks a little saddened as she watches Lizzie go, her hand lingering in the air where Lizzie left it before she drops it.

-

After spending a bit too much time in the bathroom, having grabbed a glass of white wine on her way and splashed water on her face a couple times, Lizzie takes a deep breath and walks out.

Josie is standing there, waiting for her when she steps out "Hey, you okay?"

"Fine." She lies.

"I saw you like, run from Hope." Josie says, and Lizzie winces. Was it that noticeable?

"Why didn't you come in...?" Lizzie asks, confused.

"I don't know, I thought you needed a minute." Josie shrugs, "Are you okay, really?"

Lizzie nods slowly.

"Okay..." Josie says, disbelieving, "Hope said she's looking for you on the balcony." She says as they start to walk off.

And Josie stumbles into a laughing Penelope, talking to Davina Claire about something, probably some ancient magic.

"I'll go find Hope." Lizzie mutters as she watches Penelope pry a fresh glass out of her twin's hands.

When she walks over to the balcony, she finds Hope with her arms resting on the railing and her back to the room.

"Hope?" She says, taking a step forward.

Hope turns, and she really is pretty. Her hair flings itself over her shoulder as she looks at her, and it's crazy, it's like she's immediately focused on Lizzie.

Hope takes a few big steps forward, closing the space between them. They're in the doorway of the balcony now, and people can still see them and Lizzie partially wishes they couldn't.

"You look really nice, Lizzie. Seriously I didn't say it before, but—nice isn't even the word. You're perfect, honestly."

Lizzie blushes and looks away again, feels Hope take her hand to get her attention.

When she looks back, Hope is on one knee in front of her, and she stops. Stops moving, stops thinking, stops breathing, too, choking on air at the sight in front of her.

And she knows this is time for the show. She should act. Act happy, surprised, anything but shell-shocked and utterly confused. But she can't shake the feeling that they're moving really quickly through this thing. And she finds herself unable to pretend.

Hope is saying something, a fake proposal speech, probably, when Lizzie forces herself to tune back in.

"Marry me, Lizzie?"

Yes.

Yes—that's the right answer, that's what Lizzie would say if this was real. It's the answer that's on the tip of her tongue, but she can't spit the stupid word out.

Instead she thinks no. She thinks that she can't do this, she's not made for a pretend relationship. She needs to be loved and she needs Hope to love her, and it's seems that Hope can't, or doesn't love her now. Not with how she's been acting and that confusing kiss last night, and just a few minutes ago.

Her hand is over her chest, her jaw slack as her thoughts race. That ruins the act—anyone who wants to get married yells "YES" before the proposal is even finished, or that's what she's learned from all of the romance novels she used to read.

It's true that you don't know the answer until you're asked, you might say that yes is the answer all you want, but it's not until Hope is on one knee in front of her, eyes wide and smiling that she stumbles upon her answer.

And it's not the right one.

Lizzie's mind—her silly mind that always tricks her and makes her look so discombobulated in these situations—her mind convinces her that Hope doesn't love her, and if she said yes now, she never would. Her mind says it's naive to believe something like that. This isn't a a fairytale.

That's when the room starts to shake.

The glasses by the Dom Pérignon that is supposed to be popped in celebration, but now evidently won't be, start to shake. They bump against each other and as they start to clink it catches everyone's attention. And then when Lizzie feels their eyes, feels scrutinized and crazy like everyone says, they shatter.

Hope's eyes widen in realization, and she stands in an instant to approach Lizzie but it's too late.

Lizzie is pushing her way through the crowd and Hope's hand falls short of her as she steps away from the balcony, the opened ring box belonging to her mother in her hand.

As the couple separates, as Lizzie leaves with no reason to give, not a word said, the crowd begins to murmur.

Hope is there, standing crestfallen on the landing as they whisper. No one claps, not like she thought they would. There's no celebration.She thought she'd be smiling by now, begging for a look at her mother's ring on Lizzie's finger.

She overhears a woman say "She would have made a lovely bride." As Lizzie runs by her. Hope agrees, she would.

Until the woman beside her mutters, "It's a shame her mind is fucked."

-

Lizzie finds her way to a train to Virginia that conveniently leaves in twenty minutes. She boards early, sits in the dark corner in the back, if only to torture herself with the silence. There are other people on the train, but she's still in her flashy gold dress and she wants to sit and just be...hurt. She doesn't know if she can—she is the one who left, who ran, but there's still that dull pain in her chest.

The feeling you only get when a Mikaelson breaks her heart. She knows the feeling.

After a while, when the train has passed New Orleans and Lizzie watched it go with tears in her eyes, the consistent sound of the tracks lull her to sleep, her head knocking against the cool window.

She dreams of Hope Mikaelson, who else? Except they aren't dreams, they're memories.

"Get in the car, Lizzie! I'll fix it, just—you stay dry." Hope yelled, a jacket she's holding over her head doing a poor job at keeping her dry.

"It's a little late for that." Lizzie said dryly as Hope pushed her back into the passenger seat and closed the door behind her. She pointed a scolding finger at her as if to tell her not to get out of the car, and Lizzie rolled her eyes.

She told Hope that her stupid chevy would not make it to D.C. and of course the Tribrid did not listen.

Just outside of the city the hood had started to smoke, and ten minutes later it broke down on the side of a road next to an abandoned farm.

In the pouring rain.

Needless to say, Lizzie likes to be right. She would have liked to have been wrong this time.

Twenty minutes later, Hope rounded the car with a grin on her face. She wiped her face with her glove and tried the ignition, turned it three times before the car roared back to life.

"Got it!" She cheered, pumping her fist, she didn't even care she was soaking wet.

"Everything you touch just turns to gold, huh? You know, if I had tried to fix it—"

"Wouldn't that make you golden, my love?" Hope chirped, her expensive coat soaked, her curls flattened. She still looked absolutely stunning when she said that.

"Oh gross, Hope!" Lizzie had looked away, pretending to cringe but she really only did it to hide her blush. Hope smirked to herself, cranked the heat up. She always loved making Lizzie flustered.

She reached for Lizzie, turning her back to face her by her chin. "I'm glad you stayed dry, at least one of us will still look good tonight." Her hand traced Lizzie's cheek, and she leaned up over the console to kiss her.

"You're all wet, we should probably just head back—" Lizzie tried between kisses, gasping when Hope climbed over the console and into her lap.

"Hope! Now I am going to get wet and we don't have any..." Hope pulled off her coat and tossed it in the backseat.

"I brought extra clothes in the trunk." Hope muttered, breathless, "You tend to spill things—"

"—I do not!"

"Go with the flow, baby." Hope whispered, kissed Lizzie's lips once more. "We have to wait for the car to warm back up and I can think of a few ways to pass the time and I love you so..."

Lizzie grabbed the back of her neck and pulled her in; she was sold.

They got to the play right as it started, and they had to ditch the car in the end and take a train and bus back to Mystic Falls.

Lizzie has always remembered it as one of the best trips of her life. Never mind Paris with her Mother, all she needed was Hope Mikaelson, a play she really wanted to see, and sex in a car. She never thought she was that easy going in her life but Hope brought it out of her.

"Ma'am? Excuse me, Miss, this is the last stop. We're in Mystic Falls, Virginia."

Lizzie's heart sinks, for a second she thought she would wake up and the world would be like it was in her dreams.

Despite her disdain for the town of Mystic Falls and how small it is, she drags her feet from the train to the school. It's a long walk, it gives her time to think.

Time to explain to her mother what the hell happened, time to convince herself that she wasn't wrong to leave. Maybe it was drastic, maybe. But she had to, it was too much.

Back then she was convinced everything Hope touched turned to gold, in the earlier years. Hope had been convinced of the very opposite, that she ruined things simply by touching them. Lizzie always thought she was perfect, the perfect daughter for her father, the perfect witch, the perfect everything.

So there was so much hesitance. They disagreed. Hope always harbored so, so much worry that she would ruin Lizzie. Lizzie had said she was pretty sure she was already ruined, and that was it. It sent Hope off on a tangent that ended in her blurting something like I love you.

Lizzie hadn't realized, but she was so caught up in her thoughts and worries she had kept walking until she reached the front door of the Salvatore School.

Even then, she's reminded of that time someone had called her dorm a literal madhouse, after an episode or fight with Josie or something.

Hope had said that the only thing either of them are mad about is each other, and Lizzie rolled her eyes but it made her feel a bit better, actually. Hope had never thought she was crazy, never like anyone else.

She's lost in thought when the door opens.

"Lizzie?" Caroline gasps, a shawl around her shoulders that Lizzie would have called unfashionable in any other case.

"Mom," Lizzie mutters in relief, resigned at the eventful night. She's still in her gold dress, and it's midnight now and the day is over, and her Mom is bringing her inside to get her some tea so she can call Josie.

Hope will find someone else, Lizzie thinks as she sits on the stool in the kitchen, looking out over the pool. She pushes thoughts of Hope away even though it doesn't really work. This place reminds her of her. Everywhere does.

But there's someone out there for her, someone who won't abandon her on the dance floor, who won't run at the sight of her Mother's engagement ring, someone her town would approve of. Someone who isn't crazy.

Someone who doesn't have a weak mind over non-trivial issues like her. Who won't add their own champagne problems to Hope's already complicated life.

Chapter Text

"Are you awake?"

It's Penelope that answers. "I'm not sure I'm the person you want to be awake." She says.

"No, you are."

Penelope hums.

"I just—did you guys know? That she was going to do that?"

"No." Penelope says, "Josie would have told you."

"Yeah." Lizzie nods to herself. "I wish she would have told me and not..."

"—Ambushed you?"

"Well, yeah."

There's a moment of silence before Penelope speaks, "Why did you run? I mean, not that I blame you but—you know...you could've said yes."

And yeah, Lizzie knows what she means. She could have kept up the act. But she really couldn't have. "I couldn't do it. I knew I was supposed to say yes, and I physically could not spit it out."

Penelope hums, "But there's...more to it, right?"

Lizzie grunts, she doesn't like that Penelope can tell she's holding back. "While I was just standing there like an idiot, stunned—"

"—you aren't an idiot. You had every reason to do what you did. I'm only asking in case you want to talk about it." Penelope interrupts her, speaking sternly.

"Whatever. I was standing there surprised and I was just thinking that she doesn't love me...and if I said yes, it would keep going the way it is now. That's really why, because it's pretend and we haven't talked..."

Penelope hums, tight lipped like she isn't convinced everything Lizzie said is necessarily true. Luckily, before Lizzie can say anything more about it, Josie stirs from her position squeezed between them.

Josie mumbles something in her sleep and rolls over—almost completely on top of Penelope. "Oh," Penelope chuckles lightly, shifting so she can hold Josie in her arms.

"That makes complete sense Lizzie. Of course it does. Just get some sleep, you don't need to stay up over it now." Penelope whispers, resting her head atop Josie's.

"OK." Lizzie sighs, but she doesn't fall asleep for another hour. Penelope, on the other hand, is asleep in minutes.

-

Hope wipes her eyes as she walks, well more like stumbles, down the stairs at the same early hour of the morning Lizzie is finally falling asleep.

"Hope."

It's Freya who stops her, her hand gripping her wrist before she's able to open the fresh bottle of bourbon.

Hope sighs, pulling her hand back to reach for it again.

"No, Hope. I don't think so." Her Aunt steps forward, inserting herself between the bar and her niece.

Hope squeezes her eyes shut, "Freya, you were there, I just...ugh, I just want to be drunk so move."

Freya huffs and she pushes Hope backwards by her shoulder. Just when she thinks Hope is going to side-step her or maybe toss her out of the way, Rebekah sleepily walks down the stairs, presumably woken by the two of them.

"Having a—what should we call it—morning cap, Hope? It's a bit early, love." She says, half-laughing to herself, but she's serious by the time she stops in front of Hope, standing by Freya's side.

Hope groans, looking up at the sky with an annoyed look on her face. She is so not in the mood for her Aunts to yell at her.

"Sit down, Hope." Rebekah says as she walks toward the couch.

Hope makes a move for the bar one last time, and her Aunt tosses her into the couch. Rebekah sits on the table in front of her.

"Okay." Hope says dumbly, pulling her robe over herself.

"Listen," The woman says, "I will not let you repeat history—or ruin this for yourself. Your father....your father loved your Mother, and he never said what he meant, he never told her until she was gone because of everything going on around them. He did this with all of his women, really...he had trouble telling people that he loved him. So don't get caught in things that don't matter. I'm telling you, love is more important than any of this stuff. Way more important than New Orleans, it's about time we all figured that out."

With that said, Rebekah places her car keys beside Hope on the couch.

Hope shakes her head sadly, crosses her arms. "I...I do love Lizzie. She knows that."

"Have you said that?" Freya says gently, settling beside her niece. She's always been able to get through to Hope, she understands her.

Hope looks to the ceiling again, shaking her head and both women can see tears in her eyes.

"It's complicated to pretend, Hope. You need to communicate with her. Forget about getting married for civility, or whatever reason."

"I don't even know where she is." Hope grabs the car keys, fiddling with them in her hands. "I tried a bunch of tracking spells last night, I mean I was drunk, but still." She rambles.

Rebekah taps Hope's leg, "You know where she is, love. You know."

"She—she ran from me, she doesn't want to see me." Hope says weakly, knowing its not really a reason to not follow her.

Freya brushes through Hope's hair, "Come on, Hope. You know Elizabeth, you know what she needs to hear from you. And you know you want to fix it."

Hope squeezes her eyes shut—she knows she should chase Lizzie but she doesn't want to face rejection when she gets to her. But it is Lizzie, and she's been a shitty communicator with her for too long. And she got too caught up in the surprise to realize it wasn't a good idea, and that Lizzie wasn't loving New Orleans as much as she thought.

She takes a deep breath, swallows heavily. "Alright, I need to get changed." She says as she stands, and her Aunts exchange smiles as she rushes up the stairs.

-

"Is Lizzie here?" Hope asks, breathless and panicked in front of one Caroline Forbes.

They've always had a kind of strange relationship; Caroline looked out for her in that motherly way and they both tried to play it off as casual, but it meant a lot to both of them.

After he died, Hope stumbled upon letters from her father, and apparently he had started writing in journals after Hope was born, things about his life he wanted to share with her. He said a lot about Mystic Falls and, of course, Caroline in them. But Hope never told her.

But now...now Caroline is definitely not in her doting-mother mood. Her arms are crossed and she ignores Hope's question.

"It's seven in the morning, Hope."

"I parked at the church in town and wolfed out and ran the rest of the—can you tell me where Lizzie is, please?"

Caroline bites her lip in thought, contemplating giving out her daughter's location. She probably isn't awake yet. She's probably still distraught.

"They're..." She sighs, truly torn between wanting them to finally work this out and wanting to protect her daughter.

"She is at my house in town with Penelope and Josie—they live there now." Caroline gives in, grabbing Hope's arm before she can head there. "But do not wake her up. And please, for the love of God, use your words, Hope. I know it doesn't run in your family, but...try."

Hope nods solemnly before she's speeding away through the woods.

She skids to a stop in front of Caroline's house after almost running into a tree and stops at the bottom of the stairs

She hesitates before she walks to the porch. Caroline told her not to wake Lizzie up, so what is she supposed to do, just walk in?

Suddenly she's nervous about being here. Her Aunts convinced her to come and she definitely thought about what she might say but now she has to say it. And she's sure Lizzie is sad or mad, or both, and Hope hates that.

Eventually she shakes it off, convinces herself she can do it, and works up the nerve to knock and hope that Lizzie doesn't wake up.

To her surprise, when she knocks gently on the window pane, the door nudges open. She would say that's unsafe, but, well..its Mystic Falls and she isn't really in the position to comment at the moment.

Anyway it's stupid to think someone broke in, they are all more than capable of defending themselves and she's just looking for a reason not to go in.

Hope doesn't realize she's already walked in until she's standing behind the master bedroom door, just beside the living room. When she looks inside she sees Penelope, Josie, and Lizzie in the bed.

"Hope?" Penelope croaks and sits up slowly, looking to her side to make sure Lizzie and Josie are still asleep. The witch puts a finger over her mouth and points outside as she gets up and pulls a robe on.

"Were all three of you in the same bed? What's that about?"

Penelope sighs, wiping her eyes. "It's a twisted sister thing." She says, as if that explains it.

Hope moves her hand as if asking for more, and Penelope frowns. "You haven't seen Grey's Anatomy? Mer-Der...Christina? Whatever."

"Uh, is she..."

Penelope blinks tiredly at her, rubbing her eyes. "Is she what, Hope? Upset? Yes, among other things. Look, let's just get coffee and they'll probably be awake when we're back. Lizzie only fell asleep like, five hours ago I think."

"Okay." Hope sighs, following Penelope out the door.

"You're lucky it's early, if anyone sees me in my bathrobe and slippers I'll kill you." Penelope mutters as they start down the street.

Hope laughs, but it's not real and Penelope notices. She smacks Hope's back as they walk, "Look, she's upset and kind of mad. But it's not un-fixable okay?"

Hope nods, she knows Penelope wouldn't lie to her about this. "That was stupid of me."

"You had the right idea, bud." Penelope says, "Look, just talk to her about all of it. From the beginning, okay?"

"Everyone's telling me to talk about it." Hope grunts.

"Maybe you should, then." Penelope says, and there's a pause in conversation. Penelope shoves her hands in her pockets and Hope sighs.

"You know I got a ring for Josie?" Penelope says, changing the subject to take Hope's mind off of things until they get back.

"Really?" Hope smiles genuinely, happy for the pair. "When are you gonna ask her?"

Penelope walks through the door, a tray of drinks in hand and muttering about how their neighbor seeing her in her bathrobe is the worst thing to ever happen to her when Josie walks around the corner and gasps when she sees Hope.

"Hope!" She whisper-yells, smacking her head gently and then turning to Penelope to find her coffee. Penelope kisses her on the forehead, muttering a "Morning." And Hope sighs quietly, wishing she could have it that easy.

"I need a coff—" Lizzie rounds the corner, stopping mid-step when her eyes land on Hope.

Hope freezes, mouth agape with eyes on Lizzie. Lizzie simply grabs her coffee with a glare.

Penelope and Josie tense up, grab the bag of pastries and hide on the front porch.

Hope rolls her eyes, "Um, hi Lizzie."

"Oh hi, Hope." Lizzie's voice drips with sarcasm, "Was it you who proposed to me out of nowhere after kissing me in the middle of the night and then left me to wake up alone, or was that a dream. I can't remember!" Her voice ticks up and Hope cringes as she turns on her heel and walks the other way.

"No, uh, that was me." Hope says weakly as she follows her, and Lizzie stops suddenly in the middle of the hallway to turn to her.

"What are you doing here?"

Hope scratches her head in that way that always reminds Lizzie she's part-wolf, its so endearing, and Lizzie hates it right now.

"I'm...I'm chasing you—"

"Uh yeah, I can see that. Why?"

Hope sighs, she knew this would not be easy. "Because I want to talk to you. And fix it, and...communicate."

"Oh you do, do you? Hope Mikaelson, the big communicator."

"I know, I know. But I just—I'm sorry I made you run. I know it's not easy. I know I pretend it is, but it isn't easy for me either." Hope forces out.

Lizzie hums and watches her curiously as she sits on the couch. Hope follows her slowly, but doesn't dare sit next to her.

Hope clears her throat, psyches herself up to really apologize. "Look, I was talking to my Aunts, and...they were talking about my Mom and Dad and how they thought they had all the time in the world to figure things out, so they kept pushing it off, pretending it wasn't that important." Hope starts to pace. "But then they lost each other because they waited around too long, and be-because they didn't take it seriously. And, I don't want to do that. My parents were gone just like that, and if I'm risking the same happening to me I'm...I'm an idiot."

She stops in front of Lizzie, looks down at her and sees that she's really listening. "You're important to me. It was dumb of me to try and pretend, to use us as something to prove to New Orleans. That doesn't matter, I—" Hope loses her train of thought.

"What I mean is, I don't want to waste any time we have together. New Orleans, getting people to believe in me, I really don't care about any of that." She sinks to her knees and is surprised to find Lizzie grab her hand. "So you don't have to marry me, but will you just give me a chance?"

"I'm important to you?" Lizzie repeats, like it isn't the word she's looking for.

"I love you, Lizzie." Hope says, unfiltered. She's not just saying what Lizzie wants to hear. She means it, she knows she loves Lizzie.

Lizzie sucks in a sharp breath, her eyes widening. She doesn't bother hiding her shock at Hope's words. Especially after how its been in New Orleans...she didn't expect it.

"I love you, I do. I never stopped" Hope says, leaning up to Lizzie. They're close now, foreheads almost touching, eyes fixed on each other. "I just didn't want to pressure you, to make this something it wasn't. And I ended up doing anything I could to avoid it and I—I'm sorry Lizzie."

Lizzie's shoulders drop, and she breathes out in relief, but a hand on her shoulder pushes Hope back. "Okay." She says slowly, wiping under her eyes.

Hope leans away from Lizzie after being nudged away. "I'm staying for the week." Hope decides right then and there.

"What about—"

"Doesn't matter." Hope says, "I'm here for us. I'll be at the school, okay? I just wanted to...I needed to tell you that."

Lizzie's eyes follow her as she stands, "Okay." She whispers.

Hope nods and looks over her shoulder at Lizzie, feeling a little lighter as she leaves the house.

"Is it a war zone in there?" Penelope mumbles through a scone, and Hope shakes her head as she steps off the porch.

"No, you're safe."

"And how did you pull that off?" She asks incredulously, crumbs flying out of her mouth as Josie rushes inside to find out what she said.

Hope waves a hand, "Trying to...communicate and stuff."

"Oh, right." Penelope laughs in disbelief as Hope walks off.

-

Looking out off the dock in the moonlight used to give Hope an unmeasurable amount of peace at the Salvatore School. It used to remind her of the dock by the Bayou her Mother brought her to sometimes.

Something about being able to see the moon and being able to sit by herself (mostly because she made a point to isolate herself at the start) calmed her down. Being back now makes her realize she doesn't have as much calm in New Orleans.

She didn't realize she missed the school, being able to relax, until she was here with her feet dangling from the dock, an occasional splash from the water hitting her legs.

This time all she thinks about is Lizzie. Is it fixable? Does Lizzie care that she came out here? Is loving her even enough after the mess she's made?

Her thoughts are interrupted by rustling in the trees behind her, and though she hears it from far away, it makes her jump.

"It's me." A small voice calls, and Hope's heart jumps. It's Lizzie.

The blonde walks down the dock and settles beside her, "My Mom told me you were out here." She says, looking to Hope.

"Oh." Hope nods.

"Yeah." Lizzie says.

It's quiet for a few standstill moments. They used to sit out here a lot, sneaking away from their rooms late at night. There was that one time Hope pushed Lizzie in.

"Um, so..." Lizzie starts, and Hope turns her body to face her. "I want us to have a chance. So bad." She says, and Hope's heart grows in her chest. "And I want to say some things too."

"Okay." Hope says, over-eager.

Lizzie smiles. It's small and it's brief, but it's there. "I talked to Penelope about us before the whole Ball thing. And she said I should really talk to you, so...let me tell you what I was feeling from the start." She quickly glances up to Hope to make sure she's listening and takes a deep breath.

"When I agreed to come to New Orleans, I had a lot of hope. I thought, maybe naively, that we could pick up where we left off. And we would both want to be together." Lizzie rambles, like a dam has broken and all she's been holding back comes out.

Hope nods, her heart kind of breaking as Lizzie goes on. God, she's such an idiot, she should have talked to Lizzie from the start, she should have said she was hoping the same thing would happen.

"I thought we might actually be in love when we were supposed to get married. That's what I wanted. So that's part of the reason why I ran, and I just made myself look crazy." She finishes with a self-deprecating laugh, and Hope frowns.

"Don't say that." Hope says quickly. "I made a mistake and you...reacted reasonably, to be honest. And you know, I wanted that too, I always wanted to be with you. Really bad."

"You did?" Lizzie asks, a look of wonder crossing her face.

Hope nods, "Yeah."

Lizzie nods, seeming to think it over. She pulls her wrist away from Hope, and Hope thinks she's probably failed until Lizzie flips her hand over and takes Hope's hand in hers. She moves closer, limiting the space between them on the dock.

Hope just watches her, in a state of disbelief by it all.

"Let's just sit." Lizzie whispers. "Like we used to," She adds.

"Yeah, okay." She says and squeezes her hand to make sure it's really there.

After a moment of staring at the Moon, looking across the lake, Lizzie hesitantly rests her head on Hope's shoulder.

At first Hope stiffens, surprised, but after a moment she relaxes and rests her head atop Lizzies.

Everything seems to slow to a stop around them.

Hope's thoughts aren't racing like they have been all day, and Lizzie's worries about Hope have passed with Hope's apology and the day to think it over.

Sure there's more to say, but they sit, content with knowing they both want this with each other.

-

Lizzie jumps at the sight of Hope at her door when she looks up after hearing a knock at her door.

Hope seems nervous, she waits for Lizzie to let her come into the room. She doesn't even move, just stands by the threshold.

"Hey." Hope says quietly, almost shy. She's looking around the room as she says it, taking in the differences.

"Um, what are you doing here?" Lizzie sits up in her bed, moves to the edge. She's only here herself because she's supposed to be helping her Mom, which she is most definitely not doing after slipping away to hide in her own room.

Hope shrugs, "I was just looking around at my old room and stuff...I didn't realize you—the school, I mean, kept it the same."

Lizzie blushes, "It was me." She says quickly, but brushes over it before Hope can react. "So you came to just see your room? No other reason?" Hope hasn't been her all day, and now she's looking at the room she's already been living in? Yeah right.

Hope's mouth ticks up into that half-smirk. "No, I'm looking for a certain someone." She mutters, and Lizzie rolls her eyes at the cheesy phrase.

"Would you come to the Grille with me?" Hope asks, still lingering by Lizzie's door.

Lizzie looks up from the movie she's watching with a quirked eyebrow, "Are you asking me out?"

Hope chuckles and nods, "Yeah." She says, again with the soft tones. "C'mon, let's go."

"I didn't say I'd go." Lizzie crosses her arms, leaning back on her pillows stubbornly.

Hope hums knowingly and finally enters the room.

Lizzie pretends to ignore her and only glances over when Hope stops beside her bed.

"Please?" Hope whispers, leaning in painstakingly slow before pressing a quick, nervous kiss to her cheek. Either way, her trick works.

Lizzie looks up at Hope, a light blush on her cheeks as Hope stands beside her. "Only because I'm hungry." She lies, and Hope smiles.

"Right, not the company or anything."

"Right." Lizzie shoves her shoulder lightly, dead set on letting Hope feel guilty for a day or two. She knows Hope must feel awfully guilty anyway, though.

Lizzie stops in her tracks at the sight of the ridiculous car Hope is driving.

"What is that?" Lizzie's lip curls in disgust as she descends the steps of the school.

Hope chuckles, "It's my car... the one that Marcel and I fixed up." She says, seeing how particular Lizzie still is about this kind of thing.

"It could use a bit more fixing." Lizzie observes plainly, eyes lingering on the mud on the tires. "I mean...the paint job. It's all muddy."

"Just get in, come on." Hope insists, waving her hands.

"I'm going to look like a local!" Lizzie whines as Hope closes the door behind her.

Hope laughs again, "You are a local, Lizzie."

Lizzie gasps in offense and Hope immediately puts her hands up. "Okay, born here but not a local." Hope says in her defense. "Far from a local." She adds, and breathes easier when Lizzie nods, pleased with Hope's restatement.

"And how are you so rich and driving this piece of crap anyway? Your Aunts drive Porsches."

Hope leans on the car with a sigh. "If I buy you a Porsche will you get in the damn car? I'm hungry."

Lizzie pulls her door open and climbs in the passenger side, "I'm holding you to that."

"I didn't doubt that you would." Hope winks at her as she shifts the car into drive and it makes a loud squeaking noise. Lizzie shoots a bewildered look at Hope as she drives and Hope mutters something about needing to 'oil her up'.

Hope leads them to a booth in the corner with a nervous demeanor to her, one Lizzie recognizes easily. She's unsure, something Hope Mikaelson rarely is.

Lizzie isn't sure what she can do to fix it, considering she's in a similar state herself. Neither of them know where this will go at this point, and there's been so much touch-and-go with them.

Their waiter being one of the things that Lizzie used to try and get over Hope did not help. Not in the slightest.

"Hey, Lizzie. I thought you moved to New Orleans?"

Lizzie's shocked expression tells Hope everything she needs to know about this wolf-boy who's smiling at her.

"I did. Yeah, we're just back for the weekend." Lizzie turns his attention from her to Hope, "This is Hope, my—uh, girlfriend." Hope's eyebrow quirks up, but it goes right back down when she looks back to Ethan.

She's probably doing it to cover her tracks, Hope thinks. Or make him jealous...no, no that couldn't be it.

Ethan nods, sticking a hand out to Hope. "Oh, the great Hope Mikaleson." he says, chuckling, but Hope doesn't crack. She is the great Hope Mikaelson.

"That's me." She says, staring until her attention is stolen from Lizzie swiftly kicking her under the table.

"Oh, uh well I should get back to work." Ethan scratches the back of his head shyly, nodding to Lizzie one more time before he rushes off. He looks like he's begging someone else to take the table seconds later.

Lizzie looks to Hope sheepishly, "Um, that's—"

"I don't need to know." Hope cuts her off, and Lizzie looks to her, completely confused.

"What do you mean? I—you were just looking at him like you wanted to burn him." Lizzie says exasperatedly.

Hope shrugs, not denying her jealousy. "If I wanted to know who you were with while I was gone, I would have asked."

"Are you serious?"

"Look, I left. I couldn't possibly be mad at you for being with someone else. Even if I don't..." Hope swallows and glances over to Ethan, and Lizzie smiles at her trying to rein in the pointedly jealous look on her face. "Even if I don't like it...I really don't need the details."

Lizzie inches her foot forward under the table until it bumps into Hope's. Hope's eyes shoot from Ethan by the bar to Lizzie. "You're cute."

"O-oh."

Lizzie snorts to herself as Hope blushes, and it turns into a full laugh when Hope's ridiculous peanut-butter blast arrives at the table.

"Most adults drink beer, you know. Not childish diabetes-filled drinks."

Hope rolls her eyes fondly, a happy smile on her face as she takes her first sip.

Lizzie remembers the first time she came to the Grille with Hope as an official date. There was...repeated confirmation on Hope's part that it was a date. Hope only told her after that she pretended to like the Oreo milkshake they shared the whole time for her sake.

"You know they're my favorite." Hope mutters shyly.

"I know," Lizzie smiles back at her. Under that serious hero-complex and her childhood, Hope has always just wanted to be a kid.

Dinner goes smoothly after that, there are no other boys to interrupt them and they get to just be themselves. Hope is struck with the realization that nobody in town knows them anymore, they've grown up, and so she convinces Lizzie to sing karaoke with her.

Lizzie ditches her halfway through, but Hope finishes a terribly off-key rendition of "Ironic" by Alanis Morissette on her own.

She steps down from the stage with a wide smile stretched on her lips, her eyes searching for Lizzie until she finds her and rushes over.

"That was...something." Lizzie jokes, and Hope shrugs. She's a bit breathless, her eyes wide and a big smile on her face. She looks happy.

"I'm a bad singer unless I'm in the shower. But it was fun." She says, stepping closer to Lizzie as people move around them. "You want to go?"

Lizzie looks around at all of the High School students and nods, feeling a bit old. "Yeah." Lizzie says.

When they get to Hope's piece-of-junk car, Lizzie realizes Hope is driving her back to Josie and Penelope's, and she doesn't want to be done with tonight already. Plus, the couple is sickening. In a bad way.

Hope opens the passenger door for her and turns to Lizzie, who is standing a foot away with her eyebrows furrowed in thought.

"Lizzie?" She prompts, and Lizzie steps closer. Their shoes are touching now, she's in her headspace.

"I don't want to go home yet." Lizzie confesses in a quiet voice.

Hope swallows, "Oh, uh, well what do you want to do?"

Lizzie sighs, "Can you just...can you shush for one second." She says, thinking. Thinking that she wants to kiss Hope, mostly, and that she's pretty much over the proposal thing now that Hope has explained it to her. She wants to hear more about it but she doesn't like holding the cards. With everyone else, yeah, she'll take the upper hand, but not with Hope.

"Why don't we all just call it even?" Lizzie says suddenly, her lips hovering awfully close to Hope's. "I hurt you, you've hurt me...let's be done with it."

"Seriously?" Hope says, pulling away with wide eyes. "Just like that?"

"Not just like that, but let's not overdo the same things again and again. They're in the past now."

Hope idles for a moment, "Okay," she says, eyes fixed on Lizzie's. "We can call it even."

Lizzie's lips are on hers the second the words leave her mouth.

It feels like relief, like coming home, actually, but then it's gone and Hope pulls away, motioning for Lizzie to get in the car.

Lizzie frowns as the door closes behind her. Of course after everything, Hope must have found yet another way to complicate things.

"Hope, what the hell was tha—"

Hope is leaning over the console and reaching for Lizzie the second she's in the car, silencing her mid-snap with a firm kiss.

The rest of Lizzie's sentence is muffled against her mouth, and it makes Hope smile against her.

Lizzie's hand falls to her thigh and starts to climb and Hope nearly jumps over the console into her lap before she remembers its a public, busy street, and Lizzie pulls away. "Take me back to the school." She whispers, and Hope throws the car in drive.

The windshield glass is foggy as she drives off.

Somehow Caroline doesn't see them come in at almost midnight, or at least she doesn't make herself known as they rush from the entrance to the side stairway that leads to Hope's old room.

They're kissing as Hope tries the door, her arms circled around Lizzie's waist and Lizzie's gripping her shoulders. Eventually Hope mutters an un-locking spell against Lizzie's lips and the door opens.

Lizzie pushes her backwards, sliding a hand up her neck and into the back of her hair in a way that sends a shiver right up her spine. As they near the bed, Hope pulls back slightly but she's already being pushed onto her back.

Hope looks up at Lizzie, her chest heaving as she leans up on her hands.

It takes Lizzie half a second to lean down, push Hope onto her back and climb over her.

Hope thinks its absolutely insane how electric this feels. She feels every movement Lizzie makes. Soft hands on her cheek, a rough pull of her hair, a sigh she lets out when Hope grips her shirt...

She's already stifling a moan as Lizzie's mouth takes control of hers. She knows she doesn't have the upper hand here, and she's okay with that.

Nothing but the moonlight shines into Hope's old bedroom, and nothing can be heard but the rustling of clothes being shed and lips re-connecting.

Lizzie sits up on top of Hope after a moment, breathless and shirtless now as Hope's hands grip at her waist. It's that ache in her chest that just screams for Hope, yearns to be near her always. She sees flashes of Hope's lazy side-smile, her warm bed, just that nagging feeling she gets that she knows Hope put there forever.

Hope looks worried for a minute, like Lizzie might be regretting this already, but when she sits up Lizzie presses soft hands to her cheeks, holding her there and just looking at her.

They sit there for a while, just looking at each other. Hope has always loved Lizzie's blue eyes, the comfort in the way she could catch that bright blue from anywhere in a room and know she's okay.

She's stunned by Lizzie, she always is, but now in the pale moonlight and her in that dark lace...

Lizzie drops a soft kiss onto her lips and all thoughts leave her mind that very second. Hope shifts and rolls them over so that Lizzie is on her back, below her, and she starts to leave a line of open-mouthed kisses down her neck.

"Fuck, babe," Hope hears from Lizzie in a strained voice, her hand gripping her hair to keep her there.

Each touch is feather-light, hesitant, but laced with intent and that feeling of knowing they've been here before.

And neither of them feel the need to keep any track of time passing, too caught up in each other, but when they're finally exhausted enough to let sleep overcome them, the sun is coming up.

-

"What are you doing here?" Penelope asks as Lizzie bursts through their kitchen door.

"Need clothes." Lizzie smiles, and Penelope notices the extra spring in her step.

"Oh you so got laid, didn't you?" Penelope snorts, and Lizzie whirls around and points a finger at her. "That's where you've been for the past two days. I thought you died."

"She did not." Josie walks back in from the garden at that very second, "Liz, you didn't call me." She says, smiling as she leans against Penelope.

Lizzie grunts, "Okay, we went out and then went...back to the school."

"Oh?" Josie smirks, an irritating habit she's gotten from her years with Penelope. "And you..."

"Yes."

"You've been at the school since? Teaching is out of the question, I'm sure, unless..."

Josie smacks Penelope's shoulder, scolding her dirty mind and still laughing as she does so.

Lizzie clears her throat and gets both of their attention right back.

"Oh my god." Penelope can't contain her laughter, and Lizzie flees to gather her clothes.

Josie looks out the kitchen window to see none other than Hope waiting in...a run-down truck?

"Pen." She nudges Penelope and points out the window.

Penelope promptly snorts and opens the screen door, "How'd you acquire the run-down truck from High School Musical 3, Mikaelson?"

Josie says that's exactly what she was thinking, and Hope rolls her eyes. "I've heard enough from Lizzie about this, okay."

"You got Lizzie in that thing?" Josie gasps, and Hope nods proudly, choosing not to mention it took a...large bribe.

Lizzie then pushes through them with a duffel bag that certainly belongs to Josie, saying a quick goodbye as she runs down the stairs.

Hope is immediately drawn to her, forgetting she was talking to anyone else at all as Lizzie enters her sight.

"Well screw us, I guess." Penelope mutters as Hope smiles dopily at Lizzie and gets back in the car.

Josie chuckles, "At least they're figuring it out. If Lizzie's in the car...must be going well." She shrugs, watching as the pair drive off.

Penelope shrugs, and goes back inside to ask Josie for hints on the crossword.

-

Hope wakes with a start in the middle of the night, gasping as she shoots up out of her sleep. It's strange for a moment, she gets deja-vu remembering how every night for months—months—she would wake up from a nightmare about her father, or her Mother, or just have a bad dream.

She hadn't noticed, but Lizzie woke up beside her, and she reaches up to rub her back as she wakes.

"A nightmare?" Lizzie asks gently, but Hope shakes her head.

"No, uh, just couldn't sleep."

Lizzie sits up then, rests her chin on Hope's shoulder. "I didn't know you still got those." She says, not believing Hope for a second.

"I don't." Hope defends, "I think it's just...this place, I don't know. I used to have them a lot."

Lizzie hums in thought, "I know. I was here for a lot of them, I think." She says as she pushes Hope's hair over her shoulder, gently brushes her lips against the back of her neck.

"No," Hope mumbles, "I had them for years when I first came here." She picks at the lint on her blanket as a distraction, "About my Mom and...stuff."

Lizzie's eyebrows draw together in confusion, "What? You never told me—anyone that?"

Hope shakes her head, "You knew eventually. I didn't want to be a bother, and honestly, I didn't want to tell anyone that. Plus if I told Alaric and he helped you would have been mad at me for taking his attention..." Hope says, teasing, but Lizzie frowns.

She presses a firm kiss to Hope's cheek, to her forehead, her other cheek. "My heart breaks for Hope Marshall sometimes, you know." She whispers.

"Oh, stop."

"No, I...I wish I was nicer to her. Really. And I wish the whole world wasn't so tough on her." Lizzie pushes through her hair and looks on at her until she looks back. "I could have helped you then, I bet we could have helped each other." She says sadly, and Hope shrugs.

"It all worked out." She says, her eyes soft. "You help me now."

Lizzie looks elated at those words and leans down to gently kiss Hope's cheek.

"What was your nightmare about?" She whispers, and Hope grunts quietly, leaning back into Lizzie.

Lizzie brushes through Hope's hair patiently, giving her time to process it.

"My dream was that..." Hope starts, chuckling a bit, "that...you know how I was born, don't you? These witches took my Mom and basically forced her into labor, and then they were going to kill me as a baby."

"Yeah I know." Lizzie nods.

"So my dream was that, uh, that some people took you from me and tried to kill you, like my Mom. Only you weren't pregnant in my dream."

Lizzie frowns, "I can hold my own, I think."

"I know you can." Lizzie can hear the smirk in Hope's voice. "I think it's because...well my Aunts were talking about my parents, how they lost each other to time and all of the dangers then. I don't want that to happen to us. And I don't ever want to see you hurt."

"When were your Aunts talking about your Mom and Dad?" Lizzie asks, her chin on Hope's shoulder. "I don't hear you talk about them often."

Hope pulls the covers back over them, "When I was uh...drunk off my ass the night you left. It was like, four in the morning I think. And they said my parents let everything else get in the way. And they did say I should use my words, too—"

"and you did for once." Lizzie chuckles.

Hope smiles and plays with Lizzie's hand in hers. "Well...you're worth it."

"I'm worth it? I think what you said was you love me."

"I do." Hope says quickly, smiling wider as she feels Lizzie shift behind her until she's on her back below her.

Lizzie peppers kisses across her cheek as she settles on top of Hope, smiling herself as Hope nudges her head against hers and slides her hands up and down her back, under her shirt.

"I love you too, Hope." Lizzie whispers in her ear, and her heart grows at the look of sheer adoration in Hope's eyes as she looks up at her.

"You do?"

Lizzie sighs, "Do you know how hard it is not to?"

Hope shakes he head slowly, her smile growing. Lizzie quickly dips down to cover her smile in a kiss.

-

Lizzie wakes up to bright light streaking across her face, making her roll over and whine at being awoken at all. She rolls right into Hope, of course.

"Missed you." Hope says, having been trying to wake Lizzie up for ten minutes by now.

Hope slides her hand around Lizzie's waist, keeping her close as she wakes up slowly.

Eventually Lizzie lifts her head up, but Hope doesn't expect her to actually get out of bed. That was so not the point of waking her up.

"Where are you going" Hope asks, a crinkle in her eyebrows and a pout on her lips.

"Gotta get up." Lizzie mutters, wiping her eyes and looking like she could fall back to sleep in seconds.

"Uh, why?"

"We haven't left this bed in days." Lizzie says intent on being productive today.

Hope hums against her, a hand streaking across her back under her shirt. "Don't see why that's a big deal."

Lizzie turns onto her side and pulls Hope's hand off of her. "Let's go for a drive or something in your stupid car."

"I like this warm bed." Hope whines, "And it's warmer when you're in it."

"How sweet." Lizzie mutters, pressing a long kiss to Hope's lips. "But I want to go do something." She says and pulls away, leaving Hope to chase her lips.

Hope falls onto her back and crosses her arms. When Lizzie isn't swayed, she sighs heavily and sits up in bed, "Fine...but you should wear those overalls you used to in school."

Lizzie tilts her head confusedly, "I only wore them a few times."

"I had a thing for them." Hope admits with a smirk, resting her hands behind her head.

Lizzie narrows her eyes as she digs through her closet for them, and after a moment and Lizzie suggesting it, Hope finally gets out of bed and puts clothes that aren't pajamas on for the first time this week.

Hope tugs on a pair of jeans that Lizzie is sure belong to her, and are too big for Hope, but she doesn't say anything. By the time she's located her overalls and put them on over a long sleeve, Hope is settled on the bed in a t-shirt and jeans.

"What are we doing?" Hope asks, her head resting on her knee.

Lizzie feels the urge to kiss her and tell her that they aren't doing anything and just get back in bed with her, but she can't give Hope that satisfaction now.

"I don't know, let's just drive and stop somewhere."

Hope grunts, "That just means I have to pick because you won't like anywhere I suggest."

Lizzie hums to herself, that's probably true.

"Well come on, we better get that process started now." She says, waving her hand at Hope until she feels her take it.

They walk down the steps and through the lobby hand-in-hand, a first for the pair in the school. Hope always felt bad for Landon and Lizzie was never one for PDA.

As they're about to reach the doors, a familiar voice calls out from behind them.

"Miss Hope!"

Hope turns around, a confused smile gracing as her face and growing as her eyes land on a much-taller version of Pedro.

"Pedro!" She practically squeals, and Lizzie lets go of her hand as she walks over to the boy—who looks pretty close to being taller than Hope in a month or two.

She pulls him into a hug, which obviously bewilders him and makes him a bit shy of his friends behind them.

"You don't need to call me Miss Hope, Pedro." Hope says as she pulls away, and Pedro nods.

"Oh yeah, I forgot."

"Time flies, buddy. You're tall." Hope says, ruffling his hair, and he ducks away.

"You know, there were rumors you were here but nobody saw you. Nellie, a first grader said she saw you driving an old white truck but nobody believed her." Pedro says, fixing his hair as he talks.

Hope laughs, "Oh. Well I am here, only for a few days though."

Pedro looks over her shoulder, lowering his voice. "Are you...with Miss Lizzie?"

"Just Lizzie, Pedro." Hope corrects quietly, "But yes."

"Miss Forbes says you're getting married. Can I come? I've never been to a wedding." He whispers with wide eyes, and Hope nods.

"Well, maybe. You can come, of course, but it's a bit up in the air at the moment. Definitely one day."

Pedro looks confused by this, "How do you know one day but not now?"

"You know Miss Lizzie is complicated, but I know one day I'll marry her. You just know these things..." Hope trails off as Lizzie walks by them. She knows its intentional, to get her attention, but she still falls for it.

"I have to see you later Pedro, how about we can talk about you then."

"Okay." The boy smiles toothily and waves as Hope walks away, turning back to his friends with a dopey smile as they all ask about how he knows Hope, and if she's scary.

"You were so just looking at my ass." Lizzie accuses as Hope descends the stairs. '"Is that what you were doing at school? I thought you were glaring at me, but you were checking me out!"

"No.." Hope denies, "Well just then, yeah, but I wasn't always."

"You're full of shit." Lizzie says, leaning against the back of the truck with a smile.

Hope flushes, "Well...yeah, I totally am." She admits, and Lizzie pulls her in by her belt loops.

In the first floor window, Caroline pulls her curtains and calls Freya to tell her its all worked out, since Hope has apparently left her phone in New Orleans and been ignoring her Aunts.

-

It's the night before Hope kind of has to get back to New Orleans. She's been assuming Lizzie will come back with her now that everything is okay, but there hasn't been much talking besides the first day.

It's the night before she—or they are leaving, and Lizzie says:

"I think we should get married."

"What?"

"Hear me out." Lizzie stops her, "I mean, we do it for you."

"I don't—" Hope says, but Lizzie shushes her.

"Listen, Hope. Then talk, okay?"

Hope nods slowly, unsure.

"So we get married for you and all of those reasons, but we aren't really married. I mean yes, legally, but we'll be how we are now. Like we're dating. We can take it slow and officially we're married, but we're still figuring stuff out. Does that make sense?"

Hope lets out a heavy breath, eyes glancing up at Lizzie's face from where she lies below her.

"Lizzie, we just had a whole thing about—I chased you here to fix that, we don't need to do that."

Lizzie nods, "No I know that. But I never—I didn't run because marrying you is scary, I ran because I wanted us to talk and do...this. And now that I'm coming back with you, we can say we fixed things." She says, lifting her hand to hold Hope's.

Hope looks at her seriously, in such a pure look it actually stops Lizzie's heart.

"You're coming back with me?"

Lizzie rolls her eyes, "Of course I am."

"Oh. Well...if you think—if that's what you want." Hope says, and Lizzie shakes her head.

"Whatever we do next, I want us both to want it. You don't have to do it because I want to."

"I just didn't think you wanted to marry me..." Hope trails off, and Lizzie gasps.

"Have you always been this stupid, Hope?"

Hope finally chuckles, "Um, I think so."

"Do you want to do this? Will you be my girlfriend-wife, Hope?" Lizzie asks, pulling a wide-eyed pout to get a reaction from Hope.

Hope laughs, lifting her hand to trace Lizzie's bottom lip jutted out in a pout. "More than anything, actually." She says, and when Lizzie's eyes re-focus on her, she's smiling that bright, pretty smile.

Lizzie leans in slow, and Hope's lips meet her halfway.

"You still owe me a Porsche." Lizzie mutters against her, and Hope laughs into her mouth.

"Consider it a wedding gift." Hope says, silencing her with a firm kiss. She already seems more relaxed, now that Lizzie will come back with her. And she's ecstatic to marry her of course, but she's seen the blonde's wedding binder...