#tvdufemslashweek

Penelope’s face drops, “I’m sorry.”

“What for?” Josie asks, confused.

“I should have told you what the Merge was, but I just couldn’t. I couldn’t be the one to tell you it was between you and Lizzie,” Penelope explains.

Josie looks down at her hands, “It wasn’t on you to tell me. I should have known all along. My parents never should have hidden this from us.”

Penelope nods in agreement, but she says nothing else. Josie isn’t sure where to take the conversation. She should probably explain why she’s in Belgium at Penelope’s new school.

“Um, so anyways,” Josie says, “I decided I needed to be away from my family. My parents lied to me, and knowing what we are going to have to go through, I just can’t face Lizzie right now.”

“That’s understandable.”

“Yeah, I thought so,” Josie takes a deep breath before she says in a rush, “I enrolled here.”

Penelope’s eyes widened, “Here?”

Josie nods, “Yes, I just wanted to get away from Mystic Falls, and this was the first place that came to my mind.”

Penelope smirks, “Oh, and what attracted you to Belgium?”

Josie returns her look and shrugs her shoulders, “There was someone that I wanted to see again.”

They stand there for a while, just smiling at each other. It had been a while since the two of them could just be. There was no other drama, nothing pulling them away from each other. Everything was out in the open now.

A student coughing brings them out of their haze and Penelope offers her arm, “Let me show you around.”

Josie links their arms and Penelope shows her the campus. It isn’t as big as the Salvatore School, but it’s catered to witches. Josie had looked at her schedule, and she is excited to learn so much more about her powers and her heritage.

“Do you like it here?” Josie asks Penelope as they walk.

Penelope smiles, “I’m liking it a lot more, now.”

Josie turns her face to hide her blush. Penelope was the only one who could bring this reaction out of her. This is what Josie wanted, some time to focus on herself, to figure out what she wanted. She wanted to learn to be a little bit selfish, and she knew who she wanted to teach her.

“A noble quest,” Penelope smiles, “I shall take my role with the utmost sincerity, I promise you, Josette.”

“You know,” Penelope says, “There’s a great place that has the best waffles. Josie, you need a true Belgian waffle now that you are in Belgium. Please tell me that you haven’t had one yet, I want to be there for your first one.”

“You’re in luck, I haven’t been anywhere yet,” Josie says, “My mom picked me up at the airport and dropped me off here. That’s all I’ve seen of Belgium so far. You’ll have to be my guide.”

They continue to walk with their arms linked and Josie asks, “Is this an all-girls school?” She has only seen female students walking around the campus.

Penelope throws Josie a look, “Did you do any research on this place before you jumped on the plane?”

“It had everything I was looking for,” Josie shrugs. Penelope still doesn’t seem to understand, so Josie clarifies, “You.”

Penelope pauses in her steps, “You really came all the way here just for me?”

Josie looks away. There is no other place she wanted to be, but she wasn’t sure where she and Penelope stood, “Yeah. After the whole mess, you’re the person I wanted to see.” Admitting it was hard, but she needed to do it. Lies had messed up her life for too long, she needed everything to be out in the open.

“Well,” Penelope muses, “then I guess our waffle excursion might be a date.”

“I was hoping it would be,” Josie blushes.

An honest smile shines across Penelope’s face as she confirms, “It’s a date.”

But when Lizzie wakes up today, Hope isn’t lying next to her, which has really become her least favorite way to wake up. But Hope’s pretty good at sneaking out without Lizzie noticing, so she just sighs and gets up and gets dressed, knowing Hope’s probably painting in the art room or hanging out with MG or something. 

After Lizzie’s dressed and about to go try to find her, Hope walks in the door. “Hey, Lizzie,” Hope says with a smile so soft Lizzie thinks she could melt.

“Stop looking at me like that, Mikaelson,” she rolls her eyes with no heat at all. “Where’d you go? You wake up too fucking early.”

Even when Hope actually stays in bed, she’s normally up before Lizzie. And Lizzie likes to think she wakes up pretty early. Hope rolls her eyes and smiles.

“Planning.”

Lizzie raises an eyebrow. “Planning what? Is there an event I don’t know about?”

“I mean, it’s up to you, but I thought maybe we could have an us day. We could do it another day, but-”

“Oh, no, I’m definitely in,” Lizzie says, getting closer and kissing Hope. Hope smiles and when they pull away, she grabs Lizzie’s hand. 

“When do you want to go? I was thinking we could head out at like 2?” Hope asks.

“That works,” Lizzie smiles. “But that is hours away, so why the fuck are you plotting so early?”

“Plotting makes it sound so ominous,” Hope rolls her eyes with a smile. “I just wanted to be prepared.”

“So what are we doing?” Lizzie asks, leading Hope back over to the bed by the hand. 

“It’s a surprise,” Hope smiles, giving Lizzie a quick kiss. “You want to watch tv for a while?” She asks. 

“Absolutely, but first, I’m going to get something to eat from the cafeteria. Then you’re getting back in bed with me, because you wake up too freaking early.”

“Get me a blood bag?” Hope asks, and Lizzie just nods before heading out. 

A few hours pass of laying in each other’s arms catching up on a show Hope’s been watching before Hope asks if Lizzie wants to head out.

 After they’ve put on their shoes and jackets, they head out in Lizzie’s car with Hope driving. First, they go to a dress store Hope knows Lizzie loves, because Lizzie’s already agreed to be Hope’s date to the prom, and normally, she’d probably not bother going, but it’s the first event she can go to as Lizzie’s girlfriend, and she knew Lizzie cared about it, and she can’t let Lizzie not have the best dress money can buy. 

Seeing Lizzie fashion show multiple dresses for her makes Hope so, so happy. Lizzie deems that Hope doesn’t actually get to see the one she finally decides is good enough until the night itself, but there were a couple Lizzie did like but didn’t find good enough that Hope buys too. Lizzie makes a joke about her being a rich kid, and Hope just rolls her eyes with a smile. Then, they find a dress for Hope, and when Hope walks out of the dressing room in it, Lizzie can’t talk for a minute, and Hope knows it’s the right one because the awed look on her girlfriend’s face is extremely endearing and a little hilarious. She kisses her with a huge smile, and then they head out to play a few games in a nearby arcade, because frankly, watching Lizzie’s competitive streak is always fun. 

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Lizzie asks after losing a shot while playing basketball connect four. 

“No reason,” Hope lies, as if Lizzie’s level of focus on the games isn’t really endearing. 

“You’re still losing, Mikaelson,” Lizzie says while trying to stop herself from blushing. Lizzie knows she looks at Hope just as endeared and in love as Hope looks at her, but sometimes the way Hope looks at her makes Lizzie so happy and feel so loved that she thinks maybe she’s even worth it. But there’s no way in hell she’s about to tell Hope that right now. Hope just smiles and takes her shot.

After the arcade, they go eat at a fairly fancy restaurant and get a couple pictures, and Lizzie still has no idea why Hope’s doing all this, but she doesn’t really care to question it. As they walk out of the restaurant, it’s getting pretty late, and Lizzie thinks they’re gonna go home, but as they walk to the car, Hope turns towards her. 

“Can I blindfold you?” she asks, and Lizzie’s eyebrows shoot up.

“What?” She asks in complete shock.

“I have one place left I want to go. But I want it to be a surprise,” Hope smiles. Lizzie looks at her skeptically. “It’s only a five minute drive.”

“Fine,” Lizzie says, beyond curious. Hope smiles and wraps a scarf she apparently had in the backseat around Lizzie’s head, covering her eyes. When Hope does park at wherever it is she’s bringing them, she walks around to the passenger side and helps Lizzie out of the car before helping Lizzie take the scarf off. When Lizzie takes in where they are, she laughs incredulously. 

“Hope Andrea Mikaelson,” Lizzie says, “did you really bring us to a carnival?” she asks. Hope laughs, but Lizzie’s not done. “I thought we agreed no more carnivals. It didn’t go so well last time. Besides, I think we’re a little late. It’s literally closed.”

“That’s kind of the point,” Hope says. “And the fact that it went badly last time is exactly why we need to make a good memory,” she points out. “Besides, this is different. If you want to leave, fine, but I kind of want to kiss my girlfriend at the top of a Ferris Wheel.”

“How am I supposed to argue with that?” Lizzie asks, faking annoyance for a second before smiling. “Why did you bring us after it closed, though?”

“So we’re alone,” Hope shrugs. She holds out a hand. “Are we going?” 

Lizzie smiles and takes her hand and they head in. When they reach the Ferris Wheel, Hope turns it on. Lizzie smirks and wraps her arms around Hope and vamp jumps them up to the top. Sure, they could do it separately, but that wouldn’t be nearly as fun. When they get up there, Hope smiles at her from the opposite side, and the way she looks with the lights of the ride against the dark sky makes Lizzie fall in love all over again. She leans in and kisses her with the biggest smile ever. 

“Maybe carnivals don’t suck,” she whispers between kisses and Hope laughs.

“I love you, Lizzie Saltzman.”

“I love you too, Hope Andrea Mikaelson.”

After a while of sitting on the Ferris Wheel, talking and looking over at the city, they head back to the school. Once they get to Lizzie’s room, Hope tells her she’ll be right back and doesn’t wait for a response. When she gets back, she gives Lizzie a canvas. On it is Lizzie herself. She looks gorgeous, honestly, and seeing herself like that, through Hope’s eyes, in the way Hope sees her, makes a few tears fall from her eyes. She doesn’t know why Hope loves her like she does, but she couldn’t be more grateful, for this and for everything they’ve ever been through. She wouldn’t trade any of it, even the bad, for anything.

“What did I do to deserve you?” Lizzie asks genuinely. Hope smiles teasingly.

“I don’t know, but you're stuck with me. Till the bitter end,” she smiles, holding out her pinky finger. Lizzie links hers with it and laughs.

It starts with the pleasant crack of Lizzie’s neck. 

Hope smiles, free of the annoying blonde and her attempts to get her humanity back. But then there’s shuffling from behind her, and Hope thinks she might have made a mistake when Lizzie wakes up. 

“You’re supposed to be dead,” she points out. 

“I know. But right now, all I am is hungry.” Lizzie’s eyes flash, vampiric.

Mistake changes to opportunity in the span of one sentence. Hope tilts her head, curious. Lizzie’s expression is filled entirely with hunger—a one-track goal at the forefront of her mind. Which means she isn’t thinking about turning Hope’s humanity on or killing her anymore. 

“Okay.” Hope shrugs. 

She leads the starving vampire out of Aurora’s house and onto the streets, where a million victims lie waiting. She doesn’t bother trying to contain Lizzie, she just lets her follow her instincts, wondering what will happen. And surprisingly, Lizzie doesn’t immediately tear apart the first person she sees. Even shivering with bloodlust, Lizzie doesn’t lash out. She simply picks a victim and follows them down the street, Hope trailing close behind. When she sees her opportunity, Lizzie grabs the woman she’d been following and pulls her off into an alley. 

Lizzie shows a surprising amount of control for a new vampire. Hope watches, fascinated, as Lizzie sinks her teeth into the woman’s neck, her hand over her mouth to keep her quiet. She squirms beneath Lizzie, trying to get free. And when Lizzie’s had her fill, she steps back, letting the woman fall unceremoniously to the ground. 

For a moment, Lizzie is bathed in moonlight. There’s blood on her face, dripping down her chin, and she tilts her head back. As the magic in her solidifies her as a vampire, she looks pleased. Relaxed. Satisfied. And it sparks something in Hope. 

She wouldn’t call it emotion—it’s nothing that serious. But there’s something there, something that brings Hope from the mouth of the alleyway to just a few steps away from Lizzie. There’s an image that flashes through Hope’s mind and tugs on her curiosity. Blood on skin, lips on skin, teeth in skin. . . 

Lizzie’s shriek breaks the fantasy. “Oh, my god! Did I kill her?” 

She falls to her knees by the woman, hands on her back, shaking her roughly. Hope sighs. Of course, Lizzie still has that pesky humanity. She’s going to be so annoying. 

She leans down and tugs one of Lizzie’s hands away, then commands simply, “Listen.” 

Lizzie stills, closes her eyes, and does as she’s told. If she focuses enough, Hope is sure she’ll be able to pick up the faint sound of the woman’s heartbeat, still persistently beating. Hope still has her hand on Lizzie’s wrist, so she feels the exact moment the blonde breathes a sigh of relief at hearing the woman’s heart. But then she brings her other hand up to her mouth, clearly intending to bite her wrist to feed the woman her blood. 

Hope grabs that wrist too. “Oh, just leave her. It’s not like she matters.” 

Lizzie nearly gasps. “Hope, she’s a person. She might not matter to you, but she matters.” 

But she doesn’t fight against Hope’s hold to heal her. She just sits obediently in Hope’s hold. She keeps Lizzie there for only a moment more before letting her go. Even then, Lizzie still doesn’t go to help the woman. Why? Hope doesn’t ask, not yet. The answer is on the tip of her tongue, but she doesn’t want to confirm it yet. It won’t matter, anyway, because they will not be together for much longer. 

Hope stands, and Lizzie follows, as if on a string tied to her. Hope takes three steps before Lizzie calls out to her. 

“Wait! Where are you going?” 

Hope turns to her, and it’s like Lizzie comes back to herself. With bloodlust no longer clouding her mind, Hope can see all of her emotions come crashing back to the forefront. All the reasons she’d tracked down Hope in the first place. . . 

“Oh, I’m leaving. I have a tiny, red-headed, hundreds of years old vampire to track down and kill,” Hope says. 

Focus comes back into Lizzie’s eyes. “Not if I have anything to say about it.” 

She runs at her, and Hope allows it only because she’s curious to see what Lizzie’s intending to do. But as soon as she gets close enough, as soon as she pulls the spare Red Oak out of her hair, as soon as she’s poised to strike. . . she stops. Lizzie’s whole body freezes, as if she’s run into an invisible wall. Standing in front of Hope, she tries again to bring the Red Oak down onto her, but she can’t manage it. Something won’t let her. 

“What the hell?” she breathes, looking at her hand like it’s betrayed her.

Hope smirks. She reaches up, wraps her hand around Lizzie’s neck, and pushes her back against the opposite wall. 

“Hope,” Lizzie pleads, though she likely doesn’t know what she’s pleading for. “You don’t want to do this, okay? You—” 

“Stop talking,” Hope says, and immediately Lizzie shuts her mouth. 

Panic flashes through her eyes. She’s trying to speak, Hope can tell, but something won’t let her. 

“Okay, you can speak,” Hope allows. Then, “Stand on one leg.” 

Lizzie raises one leg and that feeling from before comes back. Images flashing through her mind. . . all the things she could get Lizzie to do. 

“What the hell is happening?” Lizzie asks. 

“Who’s blood did you drink before you came to see me?” Hope asks. 

“I don’t know. Whoever donated their blood to the school’s first aid,” Lizzie tells her. 

Hope really didn’t need the confirmation, but it’s nice to have, anyway.

“Why?” Lizzie looks at her frantically. “What does that mean?” 

“It means you’re sired to me.” Hope looks her in the eye. She leans in closer. “It means you’ll do anything I tell you. And you’ll do anything to protect me.” 

Lizzie’s eyes go wide. “What?” 

Hope thinks about killing her. About using the bond to make her do horrible things. About keeping her hand on Lizzie’s throat and seeing how far they can take this. In the end, she simply lets go and steps back. Lizzie slumps down against the wall, still looking at her with fear. 

“Don’t worry. I don’t really have any need of you,” Hope says. 

She turns on her heel and begins walking, but again, Lizzie stops her. 

“Wait.” Hope turns back to her. She looks just as confused as Hope feels. “Don’t. . . don’t leave.” 

Hope tilts her head. Part of her doesn’t want to. Part of her wants to keep Lizzie close. 

She crosses her arms. “Why not?” 

“I. . .” Lizzie tries. 

“You realize that if you come with me, it won’t be pretty, right?” Hope says. “My humanity is off, Lizzie. I’m not going to care about your feelings.” 

“I know.” 

“And we’ve already proven that you won’t be saving me anytime soon.” 

“I know.” Lizzie straightens. 

“So then why aren’t you taking the first chance you can get to run?” Hope asks. “I could make you. Invoke the Sire Bond or, hell, just compel you.” 

“I don’t know.” Lizzie shakes her head and huffs, clearly annoyed with herself. “I just know that I don’t want to be too far from you.” 

Hope smirks. The Sire Bond. 

“And, anyway, you need me!” Lizzie points out. 

“How so?” 

“You got tricked by Aurora. She outsmarted you and took your body. If it weren’t for me, you’d still be trapped. So. . . you need me,” Lizzie says. 

Hope hums. She’s right, unfortunately. Not caring has led her to make some stupid mistakes. So she nods. 

“Alright.” Hope shrugs. “I suppose having a partner in crime to watch my back isn’t a bad idea.” 

She turns again and says, “let’s go.” 

~~~

Katherine is not a fan of vampires who turn off their emotions. It feels too weak to her. She’s perfectly capable of handling her own emotions, and she has no interest in people who just turn it off instead of dealing with theirs. But, well, she’s always been a little bit of a fan of Caroline Forbes. She’s gorgeous, for one thing. Katherine would be lying if she said she wasn’t attracted to her. There are plenty of things about Caroline that are annoying, undeniably. She doesn’t love every aspect of the girl, but she’s pretty and she’s intriguing and kind of fun. One thing Katherine does not always love about her, though: her unwillingness to kill people, her insistence on being a good vampire. 

So, when she runs into Caroline and realizes pretty quickly that her humanity is off, she doesn’t hate the idea. A few of the things she does like about Caroline are gone, and she has always thought vampires weak for turning it off to get away from loss or sadness or whatever else, but when she sees Caroline sink her teeth into a pretty redhead at a bar and drain her dry, she can’t help feeling like she might like her better like this. What she knows for sure is that she wants to see a lot more of this Caroline.

Caroline doesn’t seem to mind either, just tells her to keep up and not get in her way. But Katherine can tell Caroline likes having her around, too. It’s only two days after they run into each other that Caroline asks Katherine if she wants to share a drink after shoving an unsuspecting man into an alleyway. And there’s something extremely hot and satisfying about sinking her teeth into someone with Caroline on the other side drinking too. Once he drops, Caroline rolls her eyes.

Josie straightens and asks, “How do you know?”

“I can feel her trying to kill me with her death glare,” Hope laughs.

Josie rolls her eyes, “Penelope is not trying to kill you. She broke up with me. She’s not jealous. I wish you’d just let this go. Do you want us to get back together or something?”

“Yes,” Hope replies instantly, “you’ve been miserable without her. Plus, with all the glares she is sending me, I don’t think she’s over you, either.”

“Why would she break up with me, then?” Josie argues.

“I don’t know,” Hope says, “but I’ve got a way to convince you.”

“And if you don’t?” Josie questions.

“Oh, I’m gonna convince you,” Hope says surely, “but if I don’t, I’ll drop it.”

“Fine,” Josie agrees, “how are you going to convince me?”

Hope grins wickedly, “We’re going to make Penelope jealous.”

“Hope,” Josie warns.

“We aren’t going to kiss or anything,” Hope says in a rush, “we’re just going to make her think that sparks are flying between us, so on and so forth.”

Josie pulls a face, “But if you’re wrong about this, you drop it completely.”

“Deal,” Hope agrees with a smile. There is absolutely no way she is wrong about this. She has been trying to get Josie to believe her for weeks that Penelope still had feelings for her, but Josie had been adamant otherwise.

Hope slings her arm around Josie and pulls the other girl into her side. Josie lets her, but she is stiff.

“Loosen up,” Hope tells her, “if we want to make Penelope jealous, you need to be convincing.”

Josie sighs, but she relaxes as she does. They continue to watch the game and Hope still feels Penelope’s look on her back. She is sitting straight behind them a few rows back. 

“Is it working?” Josie asks.

“I think so,” Hope says. She knows that Penelope is jealous, but she doesn’t know what to do to force Penelope to make her move. Penelope is a stubborn woman, she isn’t going to do anything because she thinks someone else wants her to do it.

Hope lays her head on top of Josie’s, hoping that this will push Penelope over the edge. She smiles when she hears the other girl stand up. Penelope is making her way toward them. 

A cold liquid is all over Hope’s lap and she leaps away from Josie in shock.

“I am so sorry, Hope,” Penelope says. Hope looks up to see the other girl holding a hand to her chest, faking sincerity.

Hope wants to lay her a new one. If this were any other moment, she would have. She knew she pushed Penelope into this, and she needs Josie to see that Penelope still has feelings for her.

“It’s fine,” Hope says through gritted teeth, “I’m going to go get something to clean this up.”

“Hmm, you do that,” Penelope says, taking Hope’s seat that she’s just vacated.

Hope is trying to remember that while Penelope is a raging bitch to everybody else, she does really care for Josie. She helps bring Josie out of her shell, and she’d do anything for her. As Hope makes her way to the concession stands to grab some napkins to clean herself up, she listens in on their conversation. Thank you, tribrid hearing.

“What did you do that for?” Josie yells at Penelope.

Hope hears Penelope sit next to Josie, “Oh, please, it was an accident.”

Hope can’t hear the scathing look that Josie sends Penelope, but she knows her friend.

“Okay, it wasn’t exactly an accident, but Hope had it coming,” Penelope defends herself.

“Why?” Josie implores, “What did Hope do to you?”

Penelope sucks in a breath before she says, “Hope knows what she was doing.”

There is a long moment of silence, and Hope wonders if the conversation is over. Maybe one of them got up and walked away and she missed it. After a while, Josie finally speaks.

“One might think you’re jealous,” Josie says carefully.

“Maybe I am,” Penelope replies instantly.

“Why would you be jealous? You broke up with me, remember?” Josie’s voice betrays her feelings. She’s still hurt over the breakup.

“I know,” Penelope concedes, “I know.”

There is another stretch of silence. Hope knows the look that’s across Josie’s face right now. It’s her pout face. She wants Penelope back, but she’s scared to get hurt again, she’s scared Penelope is messing with her.

Penelope says, “I know it’s selfish of me to act like this just because you’re flirting with someone else. I broke up with you, but it physically hurts to see you with someone else. I am a selfish person, and I want you, Jojo.”

Josie takes in a shaky breath, “You do?”

“Yes,” Penelope answers like it’s a fact of life, “I’ll always want you, Josie. I love you.”

“Then why did you break up with me?” Josie has so much hope in her voice, but she won’t put her heart on the line until she knows the answer to this question.

Penelope responds, “My mom’s moving us to Belgium at the end of the school year. I thought it would be easier if we had already broken up before I left.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Josie yells, “That is a decision we should have made together!”

“I know,” Penelope agrees, “I’ve regretted my decision every day since, but I couldn’t bring myself to tell you the truth. I thought it might be better for you if you hated me when I left.”

“I could never hate you,” Josie admits.