~~~

Hope Mikaelson has lived in New Orleans her whole life. Her family has taken her on a lot of different trips across the world throughout her life, from Paris and New York with Rebekah to Italy and Finland with Freya and Keelin to Australia and Belgium with Marcel and Mystic Falls and Denmark with her dad. Between all of her family, she’s extremely well traveled. But at the end of it all, she always ends up back here, back home. 

Things have massively calmed down and improved since she was a child, especially from the stories she’s heard of the times before she could really form memories. But there’s a good bit of bad that she does remember. And things are undeniably better now, not just better than they were then, but also better than most other supernatural-filled communities. It’s not perfect, but it’s as close as she thinks it ever could’ve gotten. 

Still, though, she remembers when they weren’t. And she’s been pretty cautious about new people coming into her home for a long time now. She keeps a pretty close eye on any newcomers she notices. And so, when two girls who are both clearly supernatural come into town, she pays attention. 

At first, it’s because of concern for her home. And she’s as non-creepy about it as she can be, like always. As long as it doesn’t seem like they’re plotting something harmful, and they really don’t seem to be, she doesn’t listen in. She doesn’t watch too closely either, she just wants to be safe after everything that’s happened, after losing her mom to something she wishes she’d seen coming. She won’t lose any more of her family. 

At least, that’s how it starts. But, well, after only a few hours of them only acting like normal tourists, she determines they’re probably not a threat. She doesn’t stop paying attention all together, but she definitely calms down on it a bit. But… Well, when the blonde girl laughed in the cutest way Hope had ever seen in her life and the redhead had looked at her with a gorgeous smile, maybe Hope’s eyes started drifting to the two of them for non-safety related reasons. She wasn’t listening to their conversations or watching anything they wouldn’t want anyone to see, really. And it’s not really her fault that they were both being extremely cute at coffee shops and museums she already frequented. Really. 

And okay, maybe she had heard the redhead say they should go to a restaurant that Hope herself happens to love that night when she’d walked by them after getting her coffee order, but that wasn’t her fault. It wasn’t even her fault that she ended up there. Freya had asked if she wanted to go, and well, the idea of saying no at that point just seemed impossible, like there was just something pulling her to the two. 

She steers Freya to a table that’s far enough away that she really can’t see them when they are in fact there when they arrive, because she’s really not trying to be weird, and she doesn't want them to notice and think she is. But when she does pass by them and sees them joking with each other and having fun, a part of her longs to be a part of the conversation. But she’s not going to interrupt and be weird, of course. Besides, they’re clearly a couple, and she’s just a stranger, so.

After that day, she tries to focus on other things, even though she feels a little more empty than she did before she saw them. It’s weird, and it doesn’t make sense. She doesn’t even know them, but she wants to. But still, it’s hopeless. They’re probably leaving soon anyway. So she focuses on her art and her lessons. She sees them a few times, but only in passing, never on purpose.

And then, three days later, she’s walking into her favorite milkshake shop when she bumps into the blonde, and subsequently manages to make the girl’s two milkshakes end up on both of their shirts.

“Sorry,” Hope says before realizing how annoyed the blonde looks.

“What the-” the blonde says, sounding angry before looking up from her stained shirt to Hope's face, and then she pauses and her eyes widen. And suddenly Hope is extremely worried that she has totally looked like a stalker this week, and- “It’s fine,” the blonde shrugs, more calm now. A smirk comes to her face, though, and she adds, “you owe me a new milkshake now, though.”

Hope stares at her for a second with wide eyes and for a second she really thinks the girl’s flirting with her based on her facial expression and tone of voice, but that’s not possible right? There is no way Hope is anywhere near that lucky, and she’s pretty sure that she’s dating that redhead who had to be who the other milkshake was for, so-

“I’m Lizzie Saltzman,” the blonde says, holding out a hand, cutting Hope out of her thoughts. Hope acts very normal, thank you very much, and takes her hand and shakes it.

“Hope Mikaelson.”

“Well, Hope, are you gonna buy me another milkshake to make up for this?” Lizzie asks lightheartedly, gesturing at both of their milkshake covered shirts. Hope laughs.

“Yeah, of course,” she finally manages. She tells herself to act a little bit more normal and asks Lizzie what kind of milkshakes she got before ordering them along with her own, and after she’s paid and they’ve waited in awkward silence and then retrieved their shakes, Lizzie thanks her and then just stares for a moment, like she’s trying to make a decision. 

“Do you want to drink your shake with, and, ya know, maybe hang out with me and my girlfriend? She’s sitting at a table outside, but we’re planning to go walk around Bourbon Street, see anything cool. We’ve been here a few days, as you know, but we could still use a seasoned guide,” Lizzie finally says.

“Oh,” Hope says, a little too stunned to think about the fact that Lizzie was almost definitely pointing out that she noticed Hope keeping an eye on them. “Uh, I don’t want to be a third wheel. You don’t have to-”

“Please,” Lizzie rolls her eyes. She pauses for a second and looks at Hope like she’s trying to decide if she’s safe or not, and then says, “honestly, we’ve both been kinda interested in you since we saw you in the coffee shop. I don’t want to press any boundaries, but like, if you’re interested, which, no offense but you’ve seemed pretty interested, we do date other people, so,” Lizzie says and she looks nervous but honestly Hope doesn’t even notice. She’s just a little too focused on the fact that there is no way in hell that this is real. There is no way that both of the people she’s been crushing on for the last few days are into her and polyamorous. It’s literally not possible. 

“Sorry, I’ll just go,” Lizzie says, her nerves getting the best of her and it snaps Hope out of her thoughts. 

“Wait,” Hope says quickly as Lizzie starts to walk away. Lizzie looks back at her. “Sorry, I wasn’t expecting that. But I’d really like that,” she says quickly. Lizzie only hesitates for a second before nodding and leading her over to the table the other girl is at. 

“Stole a person,” Lizzie says to the other person as she grabs their hand as they stand. “Hope, this is my partner, Jen. Jen, this is Hope Mikaelson,” Lizzie says and Jen smiles at Hope and holds out her free hand. Hope shakes their hand with a smile. Jen looks at Lizzie with a raised eyebrow and Lizzie nods with a proud smirk.

“So, are we going on a date or just hanging out?” Jen asks, looking between the two girls. “Because both are totally cool. I’m just asking,” she clarifies, looking at Hope to make sure she gets that it’s fine if it’s not a date.

“I’d really like if it was a date,” Hope admits a little more shyly than she’s used to being or feeling.

“Hell yeah!” Jen says, pumping a fist in the air. “Just to get it out of the way, though, because you’re obviously supernatural and we should just talk about it now, I’m a god.”

“What?” Hope asks, surprise setting in so hard she can’t even worry about the awkwardness that tends to come with explaining her own specific supernatural identity. Jen just shrugs, like that’s not absolutely insane.

“I’m a heretic,” Lizzie adds nonchalantly, like hearing her girlfriend say they’re a god is extremely normal. “Part witch, part vampire.”

Lizzie’s species isn’t that hard to process or wrap her head around when Hope remembers her Dad once mentioning a heretic he’d come across. Even without that, heretic doesn’t feel anywhere near as impossible as a real, actual God. So she thinks she can be forgiven for not quite believing it right away, and Jen and Lizzie don’t seem mad about it, luckily. But after some explanation and a (more private) show of power as proof from Jen, Hope starts to stop feeling like it’s so absurd. And it almost makes sense. Not the God thing, really, but what in Hope Mikaelson’s life has ever been normal? 

It’s weird to feel scared about telling them about her own nature after finding out that one of them is a hybrid and the other is a literal god, but well, it turns out that being called an abomination a million times sticks with you even when it’s been a while. But she does tell them, and they think it’s cool. Lizzie even mentions that she called herself a “bibrid” as a bi joke for a while before she realized she was unequivocally a lesbian, and well, it kind of feels really nice to be around another hybrid besides her parents. And then Jen piggybacks off of Lizzie’s coming out to mention she’s a demigirl, and god does Hope hate to see Jen look a little nervous when she says it. They mostly hide it well, but it’s there, and while things have mostly been good for Hope in terms of her own queerness (hell, half of her family is bi), she definitely still gets it. She tries to be as reassuring as she can, though, and Jen gets back to being casual pretty quickly.

“So,” Jen says after it’s all been said. “Now that we’ve all come out in a variety of ways, can we go get something to eat? My milkshakes gone, and I’m starving.”

“You should see her when she gets the munchies,” Lizzie says, rolling her eyes. Hope just laughs as Jen shoves Lizzie lightly. 

“So, as our seasoned veteran of New Orleans, do you have any suggestions for the best place to go?” Jen asks, looking at Hope. 

“Do you like beignets?” she asks. Jen smiles. 

“I like the way you think, Mikaelson,” she says and grabs Hope’s hand, and Hope feels her heart skip a beat in shock, and by the smile Lizzie and Jen share, she’s pretty sure they heard it. Which does not help the blush she’s trying to hide. She kind of wishes Lizzie was holding her other hand, but she’ll happily settle for this. She knows that she doesn’t know what comes next, after today. Jen and Lizzie are new, and they seemed like tourists. They’re probably leaving soon. And that makes Hope a little sad to think about, but she tries not to think about it. She can have fun with them today. Everything else can wait. 

When they get to the restaurant Hope brings them too, they ask about her family, and that tends to not be a fun question. She loves her family, more than anything, but she’s also aware of her past and their present, even if almost all of them have gotten a lot less murder-ey. But when they see her hesitance, Jen just smiles at her.

“It’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it, you know? My dad was a dick. I locked him in a magic coffin,” Jen says, somehow managing to sound so casual. 

And Hope laughs, and she kind of loves the way Jen’s own insane family somehow makes her feel better about her own awkwardness. 

“My dad kinda sucks sometimes, too, but he’s not that bad,” Lizzie shrugs. “We’re still kinda close, though. Seeing him in moderation helps.” 

“I mean, honestly, I’m a little surprised you both didn’t pick anything up from the last name Mikaelson,” Hope admits before taking a sip of her drink.

“Oh, I kinda did,” Lizzie admits calmly and Hope almost chokes on said drink. At least Jen is also looking at Lizzie a bit confused. Lizzie just shrugs. “My parents have mentioned a Klaus Mikaelson before. A couple times, actually. I think I’ve heard other names with the name Mikaelson too, but I don’t remember them.” 

“What’d you hear?” Hope asks. 

“They’re pretty divided. Apparently they both knew the guy, and like, I’m sorry ‘cause you’re clearly related to him, but my dad definitely hates the dude. I think my mom might’ve dated him once? But that’s not, like, why my dad hates him. My parents aren’t even together. But he’s called him a mass murderer more than once, so,” Lizzie shrugs, trying to not come off as rude. But Hope asked, so.

“Huh,” Hope says. “You think your mom dated him?” 

Lizzie shrugs. “I mean, maybe. It’s hard to figure it out. I’ve never been given the story of how they knew him or anything, but like, based on vibes and little things I've heard? I think she at least had a thing for him.”

“Huh,” Hope says again.

“So are you related to him?” Jen asks.

“Yeah,” Hope says. “He’s my dad.” 

“Oh damn. I really hope they didn’t date, then,” Lizzie says at the same time as Jen breaks down into hysterics.

“Oh my god,” they say between laughs. “You- you got a crush on the daughter of your moms crush!” 

“Shut up,” Lizzie says, burying her face in her hands with a blush.

“I mean, you are a lot like your mom,” Jen points out. Lizzie glares at her half heartedly. 

“I hate you,” Lizzie says.

“Oh, I’m wounded,” Jen says, putting a hand on her heart jokingly. Hope can’t help laughing at the way these two are so good at helping her move on from her own fears and awkwardness. After the three of them calm down, Hope speaks up again.

“My dad hasn’t always been a good person,” she admits. “He was a mass murderer, and he still kills people if they’re a threat to his family, but he doesn’t kill people for no reason anymore. He hasn’t since I was a little kid. He’s a better person now. And he’s a really good dad.”

“Oh,” Lizzie says. “Well, I’m glad you’ve got a good dad. And we’re not gonna like, hold anything against you, for the record. People change. There’s nothing wrong with you loving your dad just because he used to suck.”

“Thanks,” Hope smiles. She’s not embarrassed of loving her dad, really, but she knows that the fact that she does even after everything he’s done can make people less trusting of her. 

“Anyway,” Jen says, “what kind of shows do you like?” 

And just like that, they settle back into lighter conversations. They go from finding shows they all like or that two of them like to talking about milkshake preferences to talking about Lizzie’s old school to talking about places Jen’s traveled to places Hope’s traveled.

“I’m sorry,” Lizzie cuts Hope off when she’s talking about her trip to Paris. “How are you going to all of these places? Like, money-wise. Are you like, super rich?” 

“My family is, yeah,” Hope shrugs. “Thousands of years of building wealth and all that.”

“Damn, I should’ve made you buy us each 20 milkshakes,” Lizzie shakes her head in awe. “Also, for the record, like, not to be weird or whatever, but if we end up hanging out more, you are so taking me to Paris.”

Hope knows there’s no way her smile isn’t huge at that. Because Lizzie wants to spend more time with her, wants to go to Paris with her.

“What about me? Are you forgetting about me already, Saltzman?” Jen jokes, looking extremely amused by Lizzie's behavior.

“Yep, Hope’s my new and only girlfriend or partner. You’re out,” Lizzie says, faking seriousness for a second. Jen rolls their eyes.

“Been to Paris, but I’ll definitely tag along to hang with you guys,” Jen shrugs, and the smiles that come to Lizzie and Hope’s faces makes them really happy. 

They end up hanging out for a while longer, Hope showing them around to some of the places they haven’t been yet. As they say goodnight and Jen and Lizzie head off to their hotel with plans to meet up with her tomorrow, Hope feels so hopeful and happy. It’s been one of the best and most fun days she thinks she’s ever had, and she can’t wait to hang out with them more. 

When she gets home, Freya sees her coming in. “What’s got you so happy?” she says with a smile. “Did you run into those people you saw while we were eating the other day?”

Hope stares at her incredulously for a second. “How did you-” 

“I’m your aunt, Hope. I know you,” Freya says with a smile. “You don’t have to tell me about it if you don’t want to, but I’m really glad you had fun. I trust you’ll tell me about it if things get serious?” 

“Yeah,” Hope smiles, genuinely happy. “I definitely will. Thank you, aunt Freya.”

“You’re welcome. I love you, sweetheart.”