Hope let out a big sigh as she threw herself onto her bed it, closed her eyes and gave in to her fatigue. It had been a week since she and her 'super squad' took down Triad Industries and now everything was back to normal. Well, 'normal' wasn't exactly the right term to describe how Hope was feeling. She'd be getting so used to fighting monsters and being in life-threatening situations that she almost forgot what 'normal' felt like.

With the enemy defeated, everyone's back to worrying about their grades, how they look and who they should date. Hope just felt exhausted and uneasy and she didn't understand why.
She should be happy with her life right now. She made new friends who were all still alive and her and Landon had nothing standing in their way anymore after he was rescued. Two immortal beings in a relationship at a school for supernaturals... This all should make her feel very happy and content but it just ... didn't.
If anything, it made her feel anxious.

Hope was used to her life being threatened. She was also used to the fact that the people she loved would eventually leave her. And therefore this week, this awfully quiet, peaceful week was torture for her. The thought that her current situation was too good to be true and that something terrible was bound to happen kept her awake at night. And the worst part of it all was that she secretly missed the danger, the thrill of solving a mystery and fighting for her and other people's lives. She didn't really know how to be herself without it.

On top of all that was the whole 'Merge' situation with the to her aunt Freya, Hope learned information about the terrible Gemini coven curse Alaric had been keeping from his daughters. Josie and Lizzie's world had been turned upside down ever since their father told them that only one of them would make it past twenty-two. It was not an immediate threat seeing as the twins were sixteen and Caroline & Alaric were doing everything in their power to stop the Merge from happening but still, Hope felt uneasy about it. They had been searching for years and have yet to find a solution. She feared that she could not help them either. What if 'the great Hope Mikaelson' could not save Lizzie or Josie? That thought made her feel sick because in the midst of all the craziness they had been going through, her and the twins grew closer than ever and she couldn't bear the thought to lose one of them.

She had been so relieved when Josie came clean about the whole fire situation and starting that rumor about Lizzie. It all made sense when Josie explained she did all that because she had a crush on her at the time and didn't know how to deal with that and how to take responsibility for her actions. They were so young when all that happened and Hope was glad they had put it behind them.
To her surprise, she and Lizzie became fast friends after Josie's big reveal. Hope loved spending time with the blonde girl because she had a way of making her feel calm and happy during times of chaos and danger. She made her laugh and sometimes pushed her out of her comfort zone but she didn't mind that because Lizzie somehow made her feel like she could take on the world with her by her side.
Hope smiled, thinking about how the development of her and Lizzie's relationship might just be one of the best things that happened to her in a long time.

She almost drifted off to sleep when she heard someone knocking at her door. After forcing herself out of bed to open it, she smiled when she saw her boyfriend standing in her doorway with a rose in his right hand and a picnic basket in his left.

"It's a beautiful Friday afternoon. There's no monster or Triad threat in sight so you and I are going on a very cheesy, romantic date."

Hope lied down on the picnic blanket and closed her eyes, soaking in the sun. Landon really was an amazing boyfriend and this date was perfect. They couldn't leave campus so he picked out a perfect spot for their picnic in the Salvatore School's gardens. He went through a lot of effort to make this date special and it made Hope forget about everything for a while.
But as soon as she closed her eyes, that familiar feeling of uneasiness came rushing back in.

"Landon, can I ask you something?" she asked as she sat up again.

"Sure babe… anything!" He responded as he put a stray of hair behind her ear.

Hope didn't really know how to explain to him how she was feeling but she felt like she had to try anyway. She wanted to be honest with him.

"Do you ever feel like this whole situation we're in is kind of too good to be true? That at any given moment Alaric comes running at me, saying that Triad Industries isn't closed, that they're coming for us or that there are more monsters out there we can't defeat or something?"

Landon clearly didn't expect this kind of question and took a moment to reply.

"To be honest… yeah, I do feel like that. But I think that's completely normal, Hope! Just think about what we've been through. I almost can't remember a time where I didn't have to worry about monsters or those Triad guys. I guess it will take time to fully believe that we can finally live our lives without having to worry about stuff like that but I'm positive that we will be able to stop looking over our shoulders and let it go in time. And we have each other, there's nothing standing between us anymore."

Hope wished she could believe what he said. But right now, she was sitting on a picnic blanket staring at her fellow students having fun on a beautiful Friday afternoon and she couldn't imagine she would ever be as carefree as they were. She didn't want to kill the mood any more than she most likely already had so she just looked him in the eyes and smiled.

"Thank you for saying that. And thank you for this amazing date, it was just what I needed."

She gave him a quick kiss and wanted to lie down again when she saw MG approaching them with a worried look on his face.

"Guys, I'm so sorry to ruin your date but I really need Hope to come with me right now. Lizzie is on the verge of having one of her episodes and Alaric is taking Josie to the airport to visit Penelope… I couldn't think of anyone else to get."

"It's okay MG, Where is she?" Hope asked with a firm voice.

MG responded by grabbing her arm, ushering her to go with him. Hope gave Landon an apologetic look as she followed him into the school.

Lizzie had been weirdly calm after she found out about the merge. It was like the meaning of it all just hadn't sunk in with her yet and Hope could imagine it finally did once her father and sister were gone. There was no doubt in her mind that Lizzie felt very alone and scared right now so she needed to get to her as soon as she could.

"I saw her running through the hallway a few minutes ago. She was crying and yelling to everyone to get out of her way…I think she was afraid of hurting them." MG explained while they were running through the school. Right now, Hope was more worried about Lizzie hurting herself than she was about Lizzie hurting other people.

"She crashed into me and when I tried to calm her down she just kept saying she needed to go to the basement. I think she wants to lock herself in or chain herself down or something." He continued, adding to Hope's concern.

"Thanks MG, I got it from here!" she replied. Now that she knew where Lizzie was, she ran ahead of him in the direction of the school's basement, also known as the 'werewolf transitioning place.'

As she rushed down the stairs she heard screams she immediately recognized as Lizzie's. She ran as fast as she could until she found the blonde girl in the furthest holding cell, tears streaming down her face as she was reaching for one of the chains that were used to keep the werewolves in check when they transitioned on a full moon. Hope noticed that one of Lizzie's hands was already chained and her rapid movements caused that hand to bleed. She realized she had never seen Lizzie like this before and for a moment she wasn't quite sure how she could best approach her. At the same time, she knew she couldn't just stand there and do nothing because it was clear that the girl in front of her was harming herself. Slowly, she started to walk towards the crying girl who was completely unaware of her presence. As soon as she was within reaching distance, she gently placed her hand on the hand Lizzie was using to reach for the chain. The blonde reacted to the touch by letting out a scream and pushing Hope's hand away. She then lifted her head to see who had touched her.

"Hope? What are you doing here? You need to leave, you need to leave right now!" She said with panic in her voice, shaking her head.

"Lizzie… stop. Please." Hope almost whispered as she reached for her hand again, holding it as tightly as she could.

"You're hurting yourself. Whatever it is that you're feeling, this is not the answer. It can't be."

Lizzie tried to get out of Hope's grip but didn't succeed. Meanwhile, her state of mind caused the lights to flash and the ground to shake.

"Hope, I could hurt you! please let go of me, I- I have to do this, it's not safe – I'm dangerous- I couldn't get to the woods in time – I … Leave Hope, please just… leave!" She half-screamed, half-cried while lowering herself to the ground. Hope mirrored her movements and let go of Lizzie's hand so she could hold the face of the crying girl in front of her instead.

"Lizzie, look at me!" she said, raising her voice to make sure the message came across. And to her relieve, Lizzie slowly raised her head to meet her eyes.

"I am not going anywhere, you hear me? I will not leave you here when you are clearly in pain. And don't be afraid of hurting me, I can take it. So whatever it is that you need to work through right now, we're going to do it together, okay?" Hope made sure to hold Lizzie's gaze, never looking away as she said this. Lizzie's eyes were filled with tears, her breathing irregular.

"Deep breaths, Lizzie. You got this." Hope said with a gentle voice while wiping away the tears falling down the girl's cheeks with her thumbs.

They sat there for a while on the cold basement floor until after a few minutes, Lizzie's breathing became calmer, the lights stopped flickering and the ground stopped shaking. Hope slowly got up to release the blonde girl's bleeding hand from the chain it was in and performed a quick healing spell to stop it from bleeding. The supernatural aspect of Lizzie's breakdown was over. She was now just sitting on the ground, quietly crying and it broke Hope's heart to see her like this. She wanted to make sure Lizzie knew she was there for her. That she understood that feeling of loneliness, fear and pain.

She remembered how the taller girl had pulled her into a really tight hug at Miss Mystic Falls, saying to that it was okay to just 'let it out the real way'. Hope didn't realize how much she had longed for someone to be there for her like Lizzie was there for her in that moment. It felt so good to let it all go and she felt so safe in Lizzie's embrace. And so, she lowered herself to the ground to position herself in front of Lizzie again, wrapping her arms around her and whispering in her ear.

"shh… it's okay. Just let it out. Let it out the real way." Lizzie responded by tightening the embrace as she sobbed into Hope's shoulder.

The door of Landon's room immediately flew open after Hope knocked on it. As soon as he saw his girlfriend, he pulled her in for a hug and bombed her with questions.

"Hey, are you all right? Is Lizzie? I started running after you guys but MG said it was best to keep my distance and wait it out. Where were you? I was worried sick!"

Hope released herself form his grip. She had felt guilty about leaving her boyfriend behind during their date and wanted to let him know she was fine. But now that she was here and he was asking all these questions, she realized she wasn't in the mood to talk to him about what happened in the school's basement earlier. That was something between her and Lizzie, something she felt like Landon wouldn't understand… at least not completely.

"She's in her room right now, exhausted, probably sleeping." Hope replied. "I just wanted to let you know that I had a really great time at our date and to make sure you weren't too upset about me leaving like that."

"No, I'm not upset, Hope. I'm just glad you and Lizzie are okay." He wanted to pull her in for another hug but she stopped him. There was something about the way Landon tried to dismiss Lizzie's breakdown that irritated her.

"She's not 'okay' Landon. Who would be okay after finding out you either have to kill your sibling or die yourself when you turn twenty-two?" Her reaction took Landon by surprise.

"Right, I know that. I didn't mean to sound dismissive or something." He responded as he ran his hand through his hair. "What is the latest update on that by the way?"

Hope sat down on her boyfriend's bed, her arms crossed. "Alaric is dropping Josie off at the airport to go to Belgium. Apparently, the Gemini Coven has roots there so she's hoping the school Penelope's going to can be used as a source of information to find a lead. Plus, she needed some time off after that merge- bomb dropped and we had to take down Triad. Caroline and Alaric are still doing the best they can…"

Landon sat down next to Hope."Why do you think it took Lizzie so long to finally break down? I mean… isn't that kind of her 'thing'?" Hope couldn't believe how ignorant he sounded. But at the same time, she knew he didn't mean it that way and that he wanted to be nice and understanding and decided that she didn't want to argue about it.

"Because she must have felt extremely alone after her dad and sister left on a Friday afternoon, while everybody else was having a great time, celebrating the weekend, celebrating Triad's defeat. She finally had to stop and think about what this whole situation means."

Landon shook his head. "That sounds rough."

Hope got up from the bed and turned to face him. After she saw the fear, sadness and desperation in Lizzie's eyes, after she heard her sobs and felt her holding onto her really tightly, she just couldn't sit here and talk about what went down earlier in such a casual manner with Landon. It felt wrong.

"Yeah… I better go check on her, see if she needs anything." She bowed down to give Landon a kiss on his cheek. "I'm glad we're okay, I'll see you tomorrow."

Landon half smiled in response to the kiss. "Breakfast at 10?" he asked as Hope opened his bedroom door.

"Sounds great!." She responded before closing the door and making her way towards the twin's bedroom.