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The bells rang out near and far when news of the Mikaelson tragedy spread. Witches danced around fires and enemy vampires stepped out of hiding -the wolves ran in territories long forbidden. While the rest of the supernatural community celebrated...Hope grieved.

She turned down Marcel and Rebekah's offer to fly out for a week or two to see NYC.

"But lovey," her aunt had cooed into the phone, "I very much require your help with the wedding planning."

Hope wasn't sure how to tell everyone that the last thing she wanted to do was celebrate new beginnings. Her parents were dead and even Uncle Elijah's absence left a gnawing pain in her gut. She'd already dropped a ton of weight between the anxiety and training with Mr. Saltzman. Her mom had always made kicking ass look so easy, but Hope had a ways to go it seemed.

The brakes to her new BMW (it was a post orphan-pain impulse buy the moment she turned sixteen) squeaked to a halt as she hit yet another red light. She'd use her magic to get through the traffic, but then the twins would be able to locate her. Nobody understood she needed space in the form of distance and solitude -or maybe they did and that's why so many were trying to rescue her from drifting too far.

Even Uncle Kol was being pushy about staying put in Mystic Falls.

"Darlin'," he'd sighed over their last facetime session, "I promised Elijah I'd look out for ya, and I can't very well do that if I don't know where you are or what you're getting yourself into."

She'd pretended she had to go suddenly, hanging up and getting back to her list. Maybe it was unhealthy, but she was searching for anything left of her mother's family. Not the Labonairs, since obviously they were all long gone, but the maternal side. Her grandmother had to have had living family out there.

All it took was a drop of blood and a familial lineage locator spell to reveal there were indeed blood relatives left in this world. Thing was, there was no way to tell if they were from her mother's side or some off shoot of her father's side. Who knows if her grandfather Ansel had ever fatherered any other children or had siblings that passed down children over the centuries. She wouldn't know until she met every last one of them.

Eight blood dots and all of them resided in the US. Freya, Kol, and Rebekah made three that she knew of so that left her five dots to investigate. She then crossed one off of her list after she confirmed it was a distant relative of her father's -Cary. He hadn't had any kids and resided in Alabama now. So four. Four potential links to her mother.

Take a right onto Barnaby Walsh Road and then proceed to the route, her phone's shrill map instructed loudly. Hope flicked on the blinker as she took another swig of her energy drink. She'd been driving all night and the anticipation had only kept her alert for so long. Tennessee was a long way from Mystic Falls but two dots resided there.

Spitting out her drink she gasped and hit her brakes. Hard. A dog darted in front of her speeding car just as she found the house she was looking for. Her purse was launched from the front seat, its contents scattering all over the passenger side floor. Hope's efforts weren't enough because the thud and yelp twisted her stomach and caused tears to spring to her eyes.

Throwing the car into park she ran outside to assess the damage. The dog whimpered loudly, its leg obviously broken. Hope looked around her quickly before placing her shaking hands over the mangled bones, whispering an incantation. Tears streamed down her face, she hated when innocents were in pain. Her mother used to get onto her for healing every broken creature that they crossed paths with -but how could Hope not help? Magic wasn't supposed to be a self serving ability.

I hate seeing you so sick after, Hayley would tell Hope. It was true, she'd need a long ass nap after healing a creature this size. Not to mention her magic was already wearing her thin with this amped up locator spell that allowed her to watch the dots down to an exact address.

The familiar tingling sensation and wave of power let Hope know she'd done what was intended, and unsteadily stood to watch the dog test out his healed leg. Peering up at her he began to pant and wag his tail.

"Okay, now stay out of the road doggy. Not everyone can do that for you..." she murmured, giving him a light tickle behind both ears.

Hope got back into her car and pulled into the driveway, noticing the dog trotted through the yard and beat her to the front porch. Just as she lifted her hand to knock, the door creaked open and an elderly man peered down at her. His eyes were rheumy and skin so weathered like he'd lived a life under the sun.

"Get back in here you damn mutt," the man grumbled, gesturing with a knobby gnarled hand.

The dog obediently darted between the man's legs and disappeared into the home. Hope could smell coffee and bacon drift outside and her stomach audibly growled.

"Can I help you with something, young lady?" he asked, looking her up and down. She couldn't tell if he was annoyed or intrigued.

Forcing a bright smile, she replied, "I was wondering if I could speak with you for a moment..." When he said nothing, she continued timidly, "does the name Labonair mean anything to you?"

And just like that, the door slammed in her face. She stood for several minutes with her mouth agape in shock. Just as Hope turned to leave, car keys dangling dejectedly from her hand, the door opened once again. This time a girl stood with an apologetic smile.

"Please come in. Ignore him, he's a classically cranky old person." The girl gestured and started walking further into the home. "I'm Beth by the way."

"Okay...I'm Hope," she replied, shutting the door behind her. The home was cluttered and unkempt, the smell of moth balls and dog overwhelming even with the enticing aroma of breakfast.

"Hungry?" Beth asked, thrusting a mug of coffee into Hope's hands once they reached the kitchen. Before she could answer, Beth was already scooping eggs onto a plate with bacon and handing it to her.

"Thank you, I'm starving actually," Hope said, eyeing the old guy at the table. He was staring at her like he was trying to figure something out. He must have known the name or he wouldn't have reacted like that... They must be related to her mom.

While she basically inhaled her food, she took in Beth's features in hopes she could find a little of her mother somewhere on her pretty face. She was blonde and had blue eyes, yet there was something familiar about her smile.

"So...Labonair, huh? It's like a dirty word in our family. My grandmother's sister married one and it got her killed. I take it by what you just did for our dog you must know all about why." Beth said bluntly. Hope's eyes widened in surprised.

"I was watching from the window," Beth added with a gentle smile over her coffee.

"Oh. Um, yeah. Do you know the name Andrea Labonair?"

"Sure. That's my aunt that died when she was a baby. My dad almost named me after her but my mom didn't like the name."

Hope decided not to mention that it was her middle name. Instead, she swallowed a huge bite of eggs and replied, "Andrea didn't actually die. She was rescued and grew up in foster care under the name of Hayley Marshall."

The old man's fork clattered to the plate and he gripped the table. "Where is she?"

"Shhh, calm down, you know we have to be careful with your blood pressure Pops," Beth whispered, placing a hand over his.

"I'm sorry...she, um...she passed away a few years ago," Hope mumbled, tears pricking her eyes and coating her words. "She was my mother."

"Oh...oh wow."

Without a word, Pops' chair scraped back and he slowly exited the room, the girl's eyes following his movements. When he disappeared Beth sniffed and whispered, "our packs didn't get along. The Crescents brought us nothing but trouble and when great aunt Julia become one, her dad -Pops- cut ties. Once news reached that she and her daughter died, he was never the same." Beth took a loud slurp from her mug, adding, "neither was my dad. He loved Great Aunt Julia so much. She had practically raised him until she got married."

Hope felt dizzy with all the new information and for the first time in a while, she felt the creeping feeling of relief and peace. This was turning out better than she had imagined. She left Mystic Falls an orphan with no family left on her mother's side and now she was sitting across from a second cousin.

"How old are you, Hope?" Pops asked in his gravelly tone from the doorway. Hope glanced behind her, noting the large overstuffed shoe box in his grasp. Beth stood up to take it from him, leading him by the elbow back to his seat.

"I'm sixteen, almost seventeen."

"I'm twenty one," Beth added, plopping back in her seat and sliding the shoe box in front of Hope.

For the next hour they sorted through picture after picture of her grandmother's family photos. There was even a baby picture of her mother, Hope confirmed by reading the scrawl on the back; Andrea six months. She was so beautiful, even as a little baby. Hope felt like curling up alone so she could stare at the photo and sob in peace.

"This is my dad," Beth pointed out, sliding a picture of a teenage boy. He definitely looked like Hayley with dark hair and green eyes. "So I guess he's your mom's cousin."

"I'd like to meet him," Hope admitted hopefully.

"Good luck finding him," Pops spoke tightly.

Beth's tone dropped and her jaw twitched. "Yeah he took off when I was twelve. My granddad was kind of a dick to him growing up so..."

"My son was never the same when Julia passed. He hated Christopher Labonair with a passion for taking his twin sister away from him. Took it out on his own son as the years wore on. Soon as my grandson started repeating the behavior I knew I had to save my Beth from it all. Kicked him out, never saw him again. Don't want to."

Hope felt a flicker of disappointment. Did Pops not understand how precious family was?

Beth looked sadly out the window, a look of detachment washing over her sharp features. The more Hope stared at her, the more she started seeing the familial similarities.

Finally, Beth refocused and asked, "how long you staying? Please stay."

"I have to get back to school come Monday and I had one more stop in Georgia."

"What's in Georgia?"

Hope hesitated. It was clear Pops wanted Julia to have little to do with her dad, but Hope was sure one of those dots belonged to him.

"Colleges I'm interested in," Hope lied.

"I wish I had gone to college," Beth sighed wistfully. Then she glanced at her wristwatch, eyes widening. "Oh shoot, I'm late for work. I just wanted to check in on Pops. I'd love to talk with you more though. Are you heading to Georgia immediately or would you like, I don't know, a nap and shower or something? My place is just a few miles from here."

Hope twisted a strand of hair, glancing down at the baby picture of her mom. A shower and nap did sound pretty great...

"That would be amazing, thank you."

A/N: I was always bothered we never got a deeper look into Hayley's side of the family and thought i'd explore that through Hope's desire to find a link to her mother in her years at school in Mystic Falls. I'll be exploring new relationships and I haven't decided yet if I ship Hope with Landon or not. She will be paired with whoever I connect with once the show starts. Follow for more and reviews are appreciated! Thanks!

For anyone confused. I legit had to sit down and draw stick figures to make sure I had this right. Pops is Hayley's grandfather (Hope's great grandfather) on her mother's side. Hayley's mother (Julia) had a twin brother who had a son born around the same time as Hayley. This son had a kid (Beth) a little before Hayley had Hope but he wasn't the best father due to the family tragedy affecting his father so much after Julia Labonair's passing.