Wow guys! Thank you all sooo much for this amazing feedback! I've been trying to get this update in soon, and I really hope you like where it goes!
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Hope was seeing red as she looked at her father, who was sitting across from her at the tiny Italian restaurant.
The blonde man was waiting patiently for her to yell, to scream, but she wouldn't give him the satisfaction. Instead, she did the unexpected.
She moved quicker than he had expected, her hand swinging out and slapping him across the face.
It was dead silent, Hope fuming with anger as her father's face turned slightly red from the impact. Elijah was tense and watching the two of them carefully as Klaus turned his head back toward her, his eyes just as dangerously blue as her own.
"Dick," Hope bit out through her teeth, which were bared.
Before he could say anything to match his raised eyebrows, Hope turned and stormed out of the resturaunt, hearing Elijah behind her call her name.
Her heart was beating quickly, anxiety coursing through her veins at the prospect of meeting her father. She had dreamed of this moment, but it felt more like a nightmare.
She walked briskly through the crowds of people, hearing both of her newly found family members following after her quickly.
Her hands were shaking, trembling to the rapid beats of her heart. She couldn't deal with this. She just couldn't. Not today, not ever.
She pulled out the joint of weed she had gotten from Mac and looked around at the people around her, her blue eyes flickering this way and that until she found what she was looking for.
She bumped into a man, muttering a few apologies as she walked into an alleyway, needing to get out of the crowds which made her body heat up too much.
She lit the joint with the lighter she had snagged from the guy's pocket, taking a large puff that calmed her nerves just a little bit. It might've only been a smidge, but it was enough.
Hope sighed when she heard two sets of footsteps behind her.
"Hope," Elijah said, calling her attention.
"What!" Hope said, smoking spilling out of her mouth as she held the joint between two of her fingers. "What do you want?"
Elijah eyed her warily as her father came up behind him, staring at Hope as well.
"What is that?" Elijah asked, gesturing to the joint between her fingers.
Hope looked at it as well before chuckling. "Oh this?" she asked. When Elijah nodded she simply shrugged. "Just something to take the edge off."
They both looked at her disapprovingly, but she didn't care. She never did. And now that her father was in her life, she was beginning to feel the things she had pushed away for years. So much desperation and anger and hate. Everything she didn't want to feel was coming back to bite her in the ass.
"Hope, just listen," Elijah started but Hope stopped him.
"I have listened," Hope said, her temper getting the better of her."I listened to you trying to make excuses for what you put me through. I listened and I told you what I thought about it a-and you bring him here?!" She pointed to Klaus, who was standing back for once.
Elijah's eyes turned sympathetic, but she didn't want his pity. "Hope, please-"
"No," Hope said, glaring at the both of them. She hadn't felt this much anger in a very, very, long time, and it was getting the absolute better of her. Her body was burning, as if a fire was coursing through her cells. Her hands continued to shake as she fuitlessly tried to calm herself down with a joint of weed.
She went to turn back around as Niklaus began walking toward her. She just wanted to leave.
"Hope-" her father tried to reason, but she whirled around, pushing him away. Surprisingly, he actually stumbled back quite a few steps as her anger overtook her.
"I said no," she growled, her eyes burning.
Both of then stared at her, shocked at something she couldn't see, but she didn't care.
"Hope, you need to calm down," Elijah said carefully, watching her as if she was a wild animal.
Hope stared at him for a long time before turning away, clutching her burning eyes tight as she took another puff of the weed between her fingers. Slowly, inch by inch, her temper receded.
It took about 3 or 4 minutes before she had completely calmed down thanks to the drug in her hand and steady breathing. All through this, Elijah and Niklaus had remained silent, giving her space.
She sighed once she had calmed down, turning back toward the two men.
"I...I'm sorry," she spoke, her blue eyes troubled. "But I just... can't be here."
Elijah and Niklaus watched her go, and while Klaus wanted to go after her, Elijah held him back, knowing that Hope needed a moment to herself.
Hope's body felt strange, as if she didn't fit inside of her own skin. It made her itch, made her want to explode, but she was unable to. She wanted to scream, but in the middle of the nicer side of Chicago, Hope didn't want to draw too much attention to herself.
She didn't know where to go. She had no idea where Darrin was since they got separated at school after Franki started firing his gun. She didn't know anybody else that she trusted enough to go to them.
She was completely and utterly alone.
Hope shook off the feeling as she crossed the street, heading to her most recent foster home.
She was staying with a rather large family at the moment. The head of the family was her foster father who was barely at the house to actually know that Hope lived there. John Nelson worked almost all day and night, trying to get money in a place where there weren't many openings. He was tall, with dark skin that his whole family sported.
His wife, Susan Nelson, was a housewife that stayed home with her mom. She hated Hope. Absolutely hated her, and the black woman didn't even try to hide it. She straight out told Hope that the only reason she was staying in their house was because they needed the extra money to feed their three children.
All of their kids were young, the oldest being only 8 years old. His name was Conner Nelson, and he was the cutest kid ever. He looked up to Hope as if she was his real sister, and it made Hope smile when Susan was being especially vindictive.
The middle child was Susan's only daughter, Payton Nelson. She always wore pigtails and was always excited to go to Kindergarten classes. Hope found her pleasant, but sometimes, Payton took after Susan and called Hope rude names.
And the last child was a boy barely a year old. When Susan had gotten her son, she knew that they wouldn't have enough money to feed them all, which is when Hope came into the picture.
Susan was always busy with the baby, Hunter Nelson. And when she wasn't, Susan's mom, Emily, was busy with him. Hope was barely noticed by her foster grandmother, and she would like to keep it that way.
Hope briskly walked through the cold air to her foster home, seeing it come into view. Hope really wished that Lynx would appear, but it seemed that fate would rather have her alone at the moment.
Hope opened the door, signaling her appearance as she slipped off her still bloody hoodie, making it obvious that she was hurt with the blood staining her white shirt.
"John?" a voice called from the tiny kitchen. "Is that you?"
Hope made her way to the kitchen, her hoodie in her arms. "No," she responded, leaning against the wall to see her foster mother running around the kitchen with a crying Hunter in her arms. "It's just me."
Susan gave her the evil eye but it seemed that she was desperate because she sighed and approached Hope. "Here," she said, handing Hunter to Hope's arms. "I need to make dinner and Emily is running an errand with Conner and Payton."
Hope shrugged as she travelled to her tiny room. Everything in the house was tiny. Especially the single bathroom for 7 people.
Hope opened the door to the room, bouncing Hunter on her hip as she did. The room had probably the smallest bed possible and a side table that was falling apart. There was a tiny window made so that Hope could technically be living in an actual room when it was more of a closet than anything.
"Hey Hunter," Hope said softly, siting down on the bed with a sigh as she let Hunter sit across from her on the tiny blanket that he carried around everywhere. "I haven't seen you in a while, bud."
Hunter just gurgled happily, though he seemed curious about the blood staining her shirt. It was funny because not even Susan payed much attention to her shirt, considering the amount of times she's come home covered in blood.
Hope sighed but suddenly jumped when she heard a scratching at her tiny window. She looked over and was pleasantly surprised to see Lynx there, looking at Hope with her feline eyes.
Hope opened the window and brought Lynx inside, closing it just as quickly so that Hunter didn't get a chill from the air outside.
"Lynx," Hope started, looking at the baby who was completely focused on the cat in her arms. "You haven't had the pleasure of meeting little Hunter," she finished, sitting in her spot once again.
Lynx sniffed at Hunter but then quickly started purring against his side, making him giggle. Hope smiled sadly, wishing that she was as care free as him.
She thought back to when she had first gotten to Chicago, how she was the youngest in her foster home that was right across the street from Darrin. She remembered always being hungry and sneaking out to meet with Darrin to try to find scraps in the garbage. She was only 11 at the time.
Now, not much has changed. She still didn't get a lot of food, if any at all, and she still caused trouble with Darrin whenever she could. It was simply the same thing, but in a different home.
She smiled again when Hunter giggled loudly, smiling more than she had ever seen him do so. Hunter loved animals, but their family couldn't afford one, not with their money already being stretched thin. So, it made sense that Hunter would take a liking to Lynx.
But then, there was a loud noise as the front door was opened and closed once again, followed by a few crashes through the house. Lynx immediately freaked out and Hope opened the window again for the cat to escape. Lord knows what would happen if her foster family found her hoarding a cat.
Hope picked up Hunter and returned to the living room, where she found the cause of the loud noise.
John had returned home, drunk once again.
He was stumbling all over the room as Susan came up to Hope and took Hunter back, the dinner forgotten. John was angry when he was drunk, and Susan didn't want Hunter caught in the crossfire when John took out this anger on Hope.
"You!" John seethed, his dark eyes locked onto her.
"Me," Hope said calmly with a small smirk. She had gone through this enough times over the past year to know that it angered John even more when she was sarcastic, but she couldn't help it.
John stumbled toward her as Susan left the room to go put a crying Hunter in his crib, leaving Hope alone.
"You're the reason this family's falling apart," John slurred, making the words almost unintelligible. "You come in here, thinking that you have a place, but you don't. You're just a white bitch thinking that she's okay living in the south side of Chicago because she lives with a black family."
Hope stared at John's smug face for a long time before chuckling, shaking her head back and forth in a mocking way. Immediately, his smug grin fell and anger returned.
"That may be right, John," Hope said, coming closer as well as she watched his face contort with rage with each word she said. "But I think you got the last part wrong, because right now, you're acting like the typical white man who comes home drunk and angry. Such a pussy that you can't even beat your wife, but have to settle for the kid instead."
John snarled and swung toward her, but his movements were slow and Hope was excellent at fighting. She grabbed his clenched fist and snapped it back, hearing the beautiful sound of his wrist breaking. She heard him scream out and smiled.
Normally, Hope wouldn't be so forward with hurting John, but she was still pissed off about her father showing up to town. Not only that, but she's been beaten by foster father's before, and John was very low on the intimidation list. She didn't want to go through the show again tonight.
"Here's a tip for next time," Hope spoke intensely in his ear, hearing his grunts of pain in between his clenched teeth. "Dont make assumptions, because then I'll have to return the favor."
Hope released John, watching as he stumbled back, clutching his arm to his chest. Hope did quick work and went to her room, changing her outfit into a black t-shirt and some dark jeans, grabbing her dirty and bloodie hoodie because she loved it, so the conditions of the clothing didn't matter to her.
She threw her hair into a bun and exited the house, hearing John screaming at her to get out and never come back. She did not looking his way once as she left.
She felt a cold wind sweep through her neighborhood and pulled her hoodie closer to her body. She thought about going to Darrin's house when she remembered the date. It was him and his girlfriend's anniversary tonight, which basically meant that Hope might sleep in an alley somewhere tonight since she can't crash at Darrin's.
At least she got some food at that Italian restaurant.
She looked around, glad that she had brought her hoodie despite it being absolutely filthy. She found what she was looking for and turned off the main road.
There was an alley that Hope had credit for. She was known to make all of her deals there and if anyone wanted to find her, they'd just have to wait at the alley long enough. She had discovered the very small and private space when she was 11 and running from her very abusive foster mother. Usually she got beaten by the dad, but this time it was the mom and it made her very scared. After a while, she had learnt to dealt with it.
In fact, the alley was the place Hope had met Darrin.
Hope was 11 years old as she ran. She ran as fast as she could, going practically two streets over before she found a small alleyway that looked like a place nobody would find her. Thinking quickly, Hope ducked into the alleyway, shielding herself from the harsh winds outside.
She roughly wiped at the stray tears that had leaked from her eyes. She hated crying, but she didn't know what else to do when her foster mother had started insulting her and hitting her. She had gotten this treatment from men all the time, but she had always looked to woman for nurture. Today was the day that she realized how wrong she was about that.
Suddenly, a trash can at the mouth of the alley tipped over, revealing a boy about her age with chocolate skin and light brown eyes. Hope had jumped from the crash but quickly composed herself.
"Hello," the boy said softly, as if not wanting to scare her. He could easily see the tear streaks that had slid down her face but didn't comment on it.
"Hello," Hope said just as softly. It was silent for a long time before the boy moved, entering the alley even more and sitting next to her, their backs leaning against the brick wall behind them.
"I saw you running and I thought you could use a friend," he said simply, as if it was the most normal thing in the world. Hope, even at such a young age, knew that it wasn't. People didn't like to do nice things unless it somehow benefitted them. Perhaps he wanted a friend as well?
"Do you want to be my friend?" Hope asked bluntly, looking at the boy curiously.
He met her gaze and shrugged. "Sure," he said. "My name's Darrin. Darrin Jones."
Hope smiled and nodded her head in a greeting. "Hope."
Ever since then, the alley had become a regular meeting place for the two of them. But, sometimes Hope hid out here if she didn't want to be found, which was just like right now.
She sat down, her back against the wall, and ignored the pain in her shoulder from the action. She had almost forgotten about the slight graze from a bullet she had gotten from Franki with all of the drama her family brought.
She couldn't believe that she was actually saying that sentence.
She sighed and dug into her hoodie pocket, glad to find the lighter and the barely there joint still there. She had already smoked most of the weed, but there were a few more minutes of a buzz left in it, so she lit the joint with the stolen lighter.
She almost jumped out of her skin when a voice suddenly spoke.
"You know, smoking is very bad for you."
Hope looked over to see none other than her father strolling into the alley. Why was he always showing up?
She rolled her eyes before looking upwards. "Why do you hate me, God?"
Her father actually laughed as he came closer to her. Hope was in too much of a good position to move, and she didn't really have anywhere else to go, so she allowed him to come nearer.
Surprisingly, he actually came and sat down next to her, leaving enough room for her not to feel awkward though. She cast a sideways glance at him before taking a puff of the joint, sighing with relief.
Klaus watched her carefully, seeing none of the anger she had shown earlier in her gaze. It was gone. Perhaps now he could actually get a word in and speak to her.
"How are you so at ease with it?" He suddenly asked, making Hope look over at him fully to see him already staring at her. It was a bit unnerving to say the least.
"With what?" Hope asked, deciding to try to be civil. It didn't change anything between them, but Hope didn't want to put up another fight right now. Maybe tomorrow.
"With all of it," he said, gesturing outwards and Hope immediately knew what he meant. He was talking about her life, how she was so calm with getting shot at, how she was best friends with a drug dealer.
Hope shrugged. "It's just my life," she said easily, looking away from him to take another hit from the weed.
It was silent for a long time before he broke it once again. "What if it didn't have to be?" He asked quietly, and Hope looked back at him, seeing his blue eyes bore into her own very intensely.
She was silent for a long time, thinking. What if she didn't have to live in shitty houses all the time? What if she actually got dinner every night? What if she didn't have to make money by doing dirty jobs for other people?
She honestly couldn't imagine another life.
"It doesn't matter," Hope finally said, her gaze still locked onto his as if by another force. "I can't change it."
She saw as his face changed to frustration. "Yes, you can," he said, and Hope stared at him as he got to his feet. She could tell that he was getting a bit frustrated, but she had no idea at what.
Hope tilted her head and Klaus sighed, turning away before quickly turning back to her. "Give me a chance," he said. "Come to New Orleans with Elijah and me-"
"No way," Hope said immediately, getting to her feet as well so she didn't have to look up at him. Her face had gone hard. "No, alright? You don't get to just swoop into my life and suddenly be this knight in shinning armor-"
"I'm not trying to be and I'm not saying that," Klaus argued. "I'm just saying to give me a chance to at least try and show you that what we did was for a reason."
Hope looked at him for a long time, and he decided to continue.
"Come to New Orleans with Elijah and me, stay for a month, and at the end of it, you can decide whether or not you stay or return here," he bargained, his blue eyes pleading with her to at least consider it. "If you return here, you'll never have to see me or the rest of your family again."
Hope wanted to deny the offer instantaneously, but she wasn't stupid to not think about it first.
Honestly, the deal would benefit Hope immensely. She'd have a place to sleep, food, and possibly a view on her biological family, but on the other hand, she could possibly fall for her family and not want to leave, and while that may sound fine, she wasn't as keen.
She didn't want to forgive her family for what they did. She didn't want to know why they gave her up. She didn't want anything to do with them, but she couldn't deny the perks of this deal. And maybe she could add something to it.
"On one condition," Hope said sternly, her gaze like lasers burning into him.
Klaus raised and eyebrow, but didn't say anything, so Hope continued.
"I get to bring my friend and my cat with me," she said simply.
Klaus's eyebrow remained raised as he chuckled. "Done," he said, holding out a hand for her to take it.
She couldn't believe she was actually doing it, but she found herself grabbing ahold of her father's hand and shaking it.
"It's a deal."
Alright, here's the next update!
Guys, I would LOVE some feedback on this chapter because I'm not sure on Hope and Klaus's deal and if it actually makes sense to the storyline! It would make my day if you could tell me your thoughts on this chapter because it will really help with the writing process.
Thanks for reading!