I own nothing but my own words.


Chapter 2: I'm Worried About Lizzie


"I know it's only been two weeks, but—"

"No."

"You didn't even hear what I was going to say," Hope exclaimed.

"It doesn't take a genius," Alaric said.

"I need to take my driving test," Hope said anyway. "Can he take me tomorrow?"

Alaric gave her a look.

"What?" Hope said. "When he's in town, he let's me practice. Since I'm caught up on my crystals class now, can't I get away for a few hours to get my license? It's another one of those rite of passage things, right?"

He sighed, "I guess." He didn't have time tomorrow or he would take her himself.

"Thank you!" she smiled.

"But you are to come right back here afterwards," he insisted. "You still have to catch up on history and three others."

"We will!" she said, grinning as she ran off to call Ryan.

Fortunately—or unfortunately, however you chose to look at it—Ryan hadn't been able to get away from work the previous weekend so she hadn't needed to figure out a way to see him. All she had to do was figure out something this weekend, and then next weekend would be the dance. She would only have one more weekend after that to suffer through without him and voila! Their month of misery would be over and she still would've seen him at least two out of four weeks.

For tonight, she had a paper to finish for that history class Doctor Saltzman mentioned, but first, she had to work off some pent up energy.


Sparring with Rafael and Ethan at the same time had actually been Ethan's idea, but she had come to appreciate it.

She had much more fun taking on the both of them at once than she would fighting them individually.

Ethan had definitely been a godsend, and he was turning out to be one of her favorite family members.

He had taken the news that they were related surprisingly well. She explained that the crescent shape on his shoulder wasn't the same for all Crescent wolves, only ones born of the royal werewolf bloodline called Labonair. It was the same line she and her mother were born from. It was believed they were the last of that line, which was why The Hollow had come after them, but apparently there was another. She figured The Hollow just didn't bother with him because Hope had all the power. Ethan was only a werewolf and couldn't be used against The Hollow because no one even knew he existed.

Since her mother's family Bible didn't help, she combed through Grandma Mary's books which included the births of all Crescents. She researched during Christmas break until she found mention of a Max Machado. He was the son of Tomas and Geraldine Machado, who was the daughter of Darlene Knell. Darlene had given birth to Geraldine out of wedlock and never revealed the name of the father.

Judging by the birthmark, Darlene's father had to be one of the Labonairs living at the time, which could've been either Hope's great grandfather or a great uncle. Either way, Darlene must have kept the truth hidden from the pack. Much had befallen Labonairs through the years and they had many enemies even amongst the wolves, so keeping her child's lineage hidden might have actually saved her life.

No doubt, Darlene had insisted Geraldine keep the secret, and Geraldine in turn had insisted the same of Max, especially after the New Orleans vampires had turned on the Crescent wolves resulting in the all out war that killed Hope's grandparents and seen her mother given up for adoption as a baby.

Since Max's mother was related to the Labonairs, Max's father must have been the parent ascended from the werewolf line that created Malivore.

Ethan definitely had one hell of a family history.

Having him for a cousin was great, but it was slightly weird considering Ethan was also Landon's cousin from his mother's side. It made Hope less inclined to meet up with her cousin's family because she didn't want to encroach on Landon's family time, not when he finally had a family.

Ethan spent most of his time at school anyway, so she mostly talked to him then. It wasn't like she had a lot of time for much else anyway. Between Ryan, school, and the twins, her life was pretty jam packed.

If the forces of evil could just wait until after graduation to make a re-appearance, she would be able to catch up on everything and graduate on time. That was her goal anyway!

"Hey, Hope," Ethan arrived, carrying a long stick, his gloves, and a water bottle.

"Ready to knock me down today?" she asked.

"Gonna give it my best shot," he said, putting the bottle on a bench.

She grinned. He would try, but he would probably fail. She didn't use any magic while training with the guys, only her wolf strength. It was best for Ethan to train with her instead of the other wolves. He wasn't a hybrid like Rafael, but Crescent wolves had hybrid-like abilities due to her mother marrying the pack alpha—Jackson Kenner. They followed a ritual that allowed certain abilities of her being a hybrid to be shared within the pack—turning at will being one of them. It also made Ethan's senses heighten much like a vampire, and gave him even more strength which gave him a distinct advantage over all other wolves.

Hence, the reason it was best he train with her too.

"Hey, guys," Rafael said, showing up with his own stick and gloves.

"Just in time," Hope said, settling into a fight position, stick at the ready. "Ready?"

Both boys went to attack and Hope grinned as she prepared to kick both their asses.

Ethan came at her from the left while Rafael did from the right.

She shoved her stick up in the air horizontally with both arms, blocking Rafael's downward movement. She pushed up, using the momentum to throw him off balance before she swung the stick around in time to clash against Ethan's like swords.

Kicking forward, she connected with Ethan who stumbled back. Sensing movement behind her, she swung around, dropping low and tried to use the stick to trip Rafael.

On the lookout for that move, Rafael jumped over the stick then tried to bring the stick down on her head. She pounced out of the way, and then spun back around to meet Ethan's next attack. Their sticks clashed back and forth, her backing up to allow him to feel like he was getting somewhere, but mostly she was moving away from Rafael so she could see his next attack coming.

Seeing her next attack in her mind's eye, she changed tactics with Ethan, hitting his stick so hard he lost his grip, and then she tripped him easily, leaving him to sprawl on his back.

Grinning, she went running toward Rafael who was ready for her but still didn't expect her to slam the point of one end of the stick straight down against the ground and catapult her legs in a flying kick right into his gut.

The force of her legs had him flying backwards and landing on his back too.

"Damn," Rafael said, breathing deeply after having the wind knocked out of him.

"Want to go again?" she asked them.

"How about hand-to-hand instead?" Ethan said, standing up and shaking his head. "I'm still shaky with the stick."

"You'll get there," she said. "Look at Raf. He's getting better."

"Right," Rafael laughed.

She reached down to grab his hand. "Sorry if that was too much."

He pulled himself up but then tripped her and she went sprawling.

"Apology accepted," he grinned.

She rolled her eyes. "Cheap shot."

"Might be the only time we take you down today," Rafael said.

"Might be," she scoffed, jumping to her feet. "Definitely will be."

"Ooh," Ethan said to Rafael. "Those are fightin' words."

She went over and grabbed her gloves.

"Suit up," she grinned. "Time for the fun part."

After, once again, kicking their asses, she grabbed her water bottle for a much needed drink.

"Try again tomorrow?" Ethan asked, unhooking his gloves while slightly panting.

"Can't," she shook her head.

"Ryan in town?" Ethan asked.

"Yeah," she nodded her head and picked up her equipment.

"I thought you were grounded," Rafael said.

He had been feeling pretty good about this workout session, getting a lot of aggression out. Hearing that she was stuck at school for a month away from Clarke had calmed him down. Now, he was anything but calm. Hearing that name, knowing she was going to see Clarke tomorrow, brought his mounting anger rushing back again.

"Just leaving for a few hours," she said. "Getting my license."

"Oh cool," Ethan said. "I didn't think most of the kids here knew how to drive."

"They don't," she shrugged and motioned toward the school, indicating he should walk with her. "Ryan taught me a few months ago. Don't get much practice, but I've got it figured out well enough."

"If you need to practice anymore, there's always my truck," Ethan offered. "You know, when he's not in town."

"Thanks!" she said. "That'd be great."

Rafael followed them back to the school listening to them talk about Clarke and driving, not having any other choice. He would just have to go to the gym before dinner, see if he could get some hits in on the punching bag.

Something told him it was going to take a whole lot of hits to relieve the aggression this time.


Saturday arrived and Hope was waiting by the gate for Ryan after yoga class, ready to be free for a few hours at least.

When he drove up, she barely gave him time to stop before she opened the passenger door and hopped in.

"Finally," she said, leaning over to give him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Freedom!"

"Let's get out of here," he put the car in reverse and drove off.

Within minutes, she realized something was up. "This isn't the way into town."

"I know."

"Ryan…where are we going?" She didn't want to get in any more trouble.

"Well, I figure I could take you to the test, but then we'd waste a perfectly good afternoon that we could spend alone," he shrugged. "This way, we just say you failed the test."

"That I what?" she frowned. Admittedly, she hadn't really been in any big rush to get the license since she didn't have a car and didn't need one yet, but it had still been a really good excuse to get away into town for a while.

"So if he ever does this again, we can use the excuse again to get away," he said. "You can't help it if you fail and have to try again, right?"

"Or… I could go take the test, pass it because you're a good teacher, and then go back to school before I get in trouble again and have to extend my prison sentence?" she suggested.

"Do you really want to spend the day sitting at the department of motor vehicles unable to do anything but people watch and grow more bored by the minute?"

"The alternative being?"

"Anywhere but here?" he said.

"No," she said firmly. "If you don't want to go to the test, that's fine, but then I have to stay on campus. I'm not having another month added to my punishment—our punishment."

"Come on," he encouraged, giving his best puppy dog eyes.

She rolled her eyes. "On campus. Just drive around to the back, deep in the wooded area, okay? That way we're still on campus, but away from prying eyes and snooping headmasters."

"It's freezing outside," he said, even as he sighed and changed direction to do what she said.

"Luckily, I'm a witch," she said. "I can control the weather."

The place she found after they stopped actually had a gorgeous view.

Fortunately he still had a blanket in the car from the last time they went out by the falls, so he spread it out while she worked to heat the air around them, being careful not to mess with the temperature too much, just enough to make it bearable. She warmed up the ground beneath the blanket too.

"Perfect," she said, sitting down on the blanket, feeling the warmth from beneath. "Perks of dating me."

He sat down then stretched out on one side. "That is a nifty trick."

She giggled and crawled up to lay with him, snuggling her back against his front as he wrapped his arms around her. It had been two weeks since she could lie in his arms. She was going to take advantage of it while she could.

"This is a nice spot," she said, looking around.

"Mm hmm," he murmured into her hair.

"You know, I look at things a little differently now, knowing that what created everything we see is also your mother," Hope murmured back.

"I still see it the same," he said.

"Do you think she gets upset whenever I mess with the weather?" she asked.

"I think she's used to witches doing what they will," he said. "You never use black magic when you do it, so I think you're good."

"Good," she said. "Far be it for me to upset Mother Nature."

"I've never seen her upset," he said. "But then, I'm still getting to know her."

"Does she get upset?" she asked. "I mean, she seems so peaceful and just, like… earth. What would it take to upset her?"

"I don't think she's too keen on black magic," he answered.

"Being an almost vampire and a werewolf and a descendant of a witch who used black magic to create my family, I'm pretty much as upsetting as it can get for her," she said. "Guess you can forget about asking if she'll visit me."

"She likes you," he said.

"Really?" she pulled back to look at him. "You never mentioned that before."

"She knows how I feel about you," he said. "In fact, that's probably the only time I did see an emotion from her. I asked if my still being alive meant I could be with you. She smiled."

"Your mother likes me," smiling, she turned back around and snuggled into his embrace. "Huh."

"I guess she likes me too," he said. "Or she wouldn't have tried to reach me all these years…"

Hearing his voice trail off, she got the feeling there was something he wasn't saying.

"Ryan?" She shifted and turned around completely in his arms, deciding she wanted to face him for the rest of this conversation. "What's wrong?"

"I knew what he wanted from me," he said. "I couldn't give him what he wanted so I tried to do anything else to win his approval."

"Your father was an ass who didn't deserve you, though I'm very glad he created you," she said. She rested a hand on his chest, giving some comfort, encouraging him to continue.

"I don't know what she wants," he said. "She hasn't asked for anything. She hasn't indicated anything I have to do to win her over."

"Because you don't," she said. "Malivore was different. It doesn't work like that. A parent should love you for who you are, not for what they want you to be."

"But what of everything I've already done? I guess I can be excused for it since I didn't know about her," he said. "But what about now? I'm doing what I want. Should I be doing something different? What if I screw everything up and she decides she doesn't want me just like he did?"

"Ryan," she reached up and stroked down the side of his face. "You're not listening to me. She loves you for the way you are. She doesn't want you to change. I don't want you to change."

"Right," he nodded, trying to convince himself. "You sound so sure."

"You know, you could always ask her?" she said. "She made sure you could always contact her for a reason."

"She never comes right out and answers anything, you know that," he said. "She always replies in a roundabout way. She's my mother, not my oracle—those are her words, not mine."

"You wouldn't be asking her about the future, or what could happen," she said. "You'll be asking her what any child needs to know from their parent. Is their love unconditional?"

"What if it isn't?" he asked.

"I don't think she spent eight hundred years hoping for a way to reach you just to say, nah, after a couple of months," she said. "Give her a chance. If she can like me, I'm sure she has no problem loving you."

He nodded, but he still wasn't sure.

It was hard to believe that he could have a parent like she described, especially after centuries of one like Malivore.

Maybe one day he would work up the nerve to ask his mother, but for now, he'd wait.

He never claimed to be that brave. In this, he definitely wasn't.


When they returned to the school a couple hours later, Hope nervously fixed her hair seeing Doctor Saltzman waiting for them. They only made out—Hope wasn't comfortable doing anything else out in the open—but she knew her hair was probably a mess.

"How's it look?"

He smirked. "Perfect." She looked perfectly rumpled in every way. It didn't matter how straight her hair was, Alaric would immediately know what she had been up to. Not that it was any of his business.

Putting the car into park, he watched the headmaster approach the vehicle.

Hope leaned over and kissed him quickly.

"I'll see you next week! Love you!"

She pushed the door open just as Doctor Saltzman arrived.

"Hi!" she said with a quick wave before jumping out and bee-lining for the front door.

"Hope," Alaric said with a nod, taking hold of the door before it closed behind her. He didn't bother stopping her; she wasn't the one he wanted to talk to.

Clarke sighed when the man didn't close the door.

"And Clarke," Alaric looked inside with a smile that said he knew something Clarke didn't. "How'd the test go?"

"She failed," Clarke said quickly, going back to his original excuse.

"That's too bad," Alaric shook his head. "Not that I'm surprised since you never bothered showing up at the testing site to begin with."

"What's your problem?" Clarke said, a bit angry now. Did the man have nothing better to do?

"My problem is you don't seem to understand the importance of her catching up with her studies," Alaric said. "My problem is she just lied to me because of you."

"She didn't lie," Clarke was quick to correct him. "I just didn't take her."

"Then she should've made you come back here," Alaric said.

"She did," Clarke said. "We stayed on part of campus where nosy headmasters wouldn't interrupt."

Alaric wasn't impressed with that excuse. "And you did it for much longer than the test would've taken."

"She's not on house arrest," Clarke said.

"No," Alaric crossed his arms. "But she wants to catch up because she wants to graduate. It's important to her, so it should be important to you too."

"Who said it wasn't?" Clarke asked.

"Keeping her out all night? Constantly distracting her? She has her classes for this semester on top of catching up on all the ones from last semester," Alaric stressed.

"I'm not going to stop seeing her," Clarke glared.

"I'm not asking you to," Alaric said. "I'm asking you to support what she wants."

"I do," Clarke said, tight lipped. He arranged his entire life so that it revolved around her and what she wanted. She wanted to finish high school, so he got them a place nearby and did his best to see her on the weekends. When she went to college, he would do the same damn thing though at least she would be able to live at whatever apartment he found for them then. He was looking at a future of 'weekends only' for four years since Triad's base of operations was nowhere near any college she was looking at. And he would do it for her. So don't tell him he wasn't being supportive.

He was hoping for a lot of online classes though, as well as working remotely eventually once he had everything at Triad set up the way he wanted.

"Taking up her entire weekend when it's the best time for her to catch up doesn't really spell supportive," Alaric said.

"Are you done?" Clarke asked, frustrated, indicating the door. He had about enough of this. He saved the man's daughters, for crying out loud. He could damn well give him and Hope a break every once in a while.

"You know, I could revoke her off-campus privileges for the rest of the term," Alaric threatened.

Clarke was dangerously close to punching him.

Fortunately, Caroline popped up next to Alaric, nudging him out of the way and leaning into the car.

"Ryan! So great to see you again," Caroline said with a welcoming smile.

Switching gears wasn't that easy for him, especially when he was so angry, but he gave her a nod. There was no way he would be able to force a smile.

"Don't worry about all that off-campus stuff," she said. "Ric was just kidding."

"I what?" Alaric said from behind her.

"Join us for dinner tonight," Caroline insisted. "Hope will be there."

"What?" Alaric said again, shaking his head.

"What time?" Clarke asked. If it meant spending more time with Hope, he wouldn't say no.

"Around five?" Caroline looked at the time on the dashboard. "Don't bother leaving, you'd just have to turn around and come back. Go ahead and park. I'll let Hope know. Dinner's in the headmaster quarters. I assume you remember where those are?"

"I do," he suddenly felt like smirking, seeing the look on Alaric's face.

"Great!" she said. "See you then!"

She backed out of the car and closed the door, waving him off.

"Please don't tell me you did that for the reason I think you did?" Alaric asked.

Caroline turned and started back to the school.

"Because you were being completely irrational?" Caroline asked. "You know that girl is working herself to death to get caught up. If she wants to spend some down time with her boyfriend, let her." Hope shouldn't have stayed out overnight, so her punishment was reasonable, but Ric was not going to add onto her punishment when she hadn't done anything wrong.

"That's not what I'm talking about and you know it," Ric said, following behind her, smiling tightly at a couple of students as they passed by.

She turned and smiled at him. "I guess you'll just find out after dinner. I need to find Hope."

"Caroline," Ric said, reaching out to touch her arm, stopping her. "I thought we decided not to—"

"No, we both thought it was a good idea," Caroline said. "You just didn't want him involved."

"I still don't," he said.

"I'm asking him anyway," she said.

"He's not a good guy," Alaric insisted. "You know everything he's done."

"Says the guy whose best friend is Damon Salvatore?" Caroline raised an eyebrow.

He winced. "Point taken. But still. Have you even thought about Josie in all of this?"

"Josie?" Caroline asked. "Why would any of this matter to her?"

"Clarke was kind of responsible for getting her mixed up in black magic? Or did that slip your mind?" Alaric asked.

"But she seemed fine with him in New Orleans," Caroline said.

"You didn't see her before all of that," he said. "When Lizzie and Hope managed to purge all of the darkness out of her, she was scared of her own shadow thinking he was gonna try something again. I'm pretty sure he's the reason she ultimately decided to remove her magic. He manipulated her and used her. And you just invited him for dinner."

Caroline frowned.

"I'll talk to her about it… and if she doesn't feel comfortable coming to dinner, she doesn't have to," she said.

"We really shouldn't get involved with him," he said. "I'm glad he helped the girls, but that doesn't give him a free pass on everything else."

"I said, I'd talk to Josie," she said, thinking. Then she sighed. "You're right though. If Josie doesn't want him around, I won't ask him. We'll just have dinner and say goodnight."


"Girls?" Caroline knocked on the open door. She had already found Hope and sent her after Ryan. Now she needed to speak with Josie.

"Hi, Mom," Lizzie said, brushing her hair in the mirror.

"Mom, what's up?" Josie asked, putting her pencil down.

"So I wanted to tell you that I invited Ryan and Hope to dinner tonight," Caroline said. She had reinstated mandatory family dinners at least once a week since she came back home. She would rather they get together as a family than go to the dining hall.

"Okay?" Lizzie asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I wanted to ask how you felt about that," Caroline said.

Lizzie shrugged. "It's dinner."

"Josie?" Caroline asked.

"Like Lizzie said," Josie said. "It's just dinner." She groaned on the inside.

"Are you sure?" Caroline asked. "Because you don't have to go if he makes you uncomfortable."

"Why would he make me uncomfortable?" Josie asked, shifting. She would give anything not to go to dinner, but she didn't want Lizzie or Hope to think that she still held a grudge against him. It would make thinks awkward between them, and she was working hard to keep the both of them happy. So far, she had succeeded.

"Yeah," Lizzie said. "I mean, he's the reason we don't have to merge. He's not so bad."

"Right," Josie nodded. That was all she was capable of saying. Fortunately, her mother didn't prod further.

"Great!" Caroline said, smiling. "Dinner at five!"

"We know," they said in unison.


Josie was beginning to regret her decision to come to dinner.

He was ignoring her as usual, and he was sitting right across from her. She was sitting next to Lizzie on one side of the table, with Hope across from her. Mom and Dad were sitting at either end of the table, with Dad next to her.

Her mother actually hugged Clarke. It was very clear she didn't hold any ill will toward him for anything, not even tricking everyone into thinking he was headmaster. At least her father was still wary of him.

She purposefully didn't say anything to him either, which meant she spent the majority of dinner speaking few words since Mom and Lizzie kept including him.

She hated this. She especially hated that this was supposed to be family dinner night. They weren't allowed to invite anyone. She would love to invite Jade for dinner. She didn't mind Hope being there, she was practically family anyway, but Clarke?

"So, Hope," Lizzie said. "How'd the driving test go?"

"Oh, um," Hope glanced at Doctor Saltzman. "We didn't go."

"Really," Lizzie shook her head, looking at Clarke. "It's like you want to keep getting her in trouble."

"Relax," Alaric said to Hope. "He already told me the truth, that you stayed on campus."

Hope let out a breath, and patted Ryan's leg under the table, glad he took care of that.

"Only two more weeks after this, right?" Lizzie said. "How ever are you going to make it through?"

"Well, next week's the dance," Hope said. "Only one more after that."

Alaric coughed, "The dance?"

"Yeah," Clarke looked at him with a smirk. "The on-campus dance."

"That's right," Caroline said. "Have you girls picked out your dresses yet? Josie?" She deliberately asked her since she was being really quiet.

"Oh, um, not yet," Josie said. "Lizzie and Hope have something. I was gonna go into town with Jade tomorrow to pick something out."

"Yeah," Lizzie perked up. "Rebekah sent Hope and me some of the most beautiful gowns after Thanksgiving."

Yet another thing that bothered Josie. Since she hadn't been invited to New Orleans for Thanksgiving, she hadn't met Rebekah until Christmas but she didn't get the chance to bond with Hope's family the same way Lizzie had. She knew everything worked out for the best, that she had been needed to figure out a way to fight Malivore, but she still wished she had that time with them.

Maybe she wouldn't feel like she grew apart from them so much if she had been there.

"So, you're going to a high school dance?" Alaric asked Clarke, a bit amused.

"Supportive enough for you?" Clarke asked.

"So!" Caroline interrupted. She was not allowing for a repeat of earlier. "Hope and Josie have an escort, what about you, Lizzie?"

"Flying solo," Lizzie admitted. "I'm perfectly capable of having fun on my own."

"I'll save you a dance," Hope offered.

"Gee, thanks," Lizzie said. "If he lets you get away for a second."

"I'll think about it," Clarke teased.

"See?" Lizzie said. "He doesn't like to share."

"And you do?" Clarke asked.

Hope snickered.

"What about MG?" Josie asked.

"What about him?" Lizzie said.

"Did he ask you?" Josie wondered.

"To the Sweetheart Dance?" Lizzie asked. "When I've told him repeatedly we're just friends? No. He didn't ask." And she wasn't upset about it. Not at all. Nope.

"Besides," Lizzie continued, swishing her hair back over her shoulder. "As I said, I don't need an escort."

"I'm sure there will be plenty of single people there to dance with," Caroline said.

Lizzie shrugged.

"Why don't all of the girls go shopping with Josie tomorrow?" Caroline looked pointedly at Alaric.

Alaric shook his head. "Lizzie can."

"Ric," Caroline said. "It won't hurt for her to get a quick break. Josie, what time are you and Jade going?"

"Around two?" Josie said.

Hope shook her head. "It won't matter anyway, Caroline. I've gotta meet with the guys to spar."

"Because sparring with Raf is such a good idea," Lizzie said, remembering Hope's words from last week's yoga class.

"He's a hybrid now," Hope reminded her. "No one else at school can match his strength and he doesn't want to hurt anyone."

"And if he gets to cop a feel while you're at it?" Lizzie asked without thinking.

Clarke looked up at Lizzie, frowning.

Hope looked at Ryan sharply, "He doesn't!"

She looked at Lizzie, glaring as she said, "He wouldn't." Why would Lizzie even say that!?

Lizzie's eyes widened as she realized what she said and who she said it in front of.

"Sorry! Sorry! I didn't mean that," Lizzie said, putting her fork down, looking between Hope and Clarke.

"If she has so much to catch up on," Clarke said, looking at Alaric, "why does she have time for sparring?"

"Exercise is important," Alaric cleared his throat, feeling uncomfortable.

"Excuse me?" Hope raised her hand. "Sitting right here?"

Josie leaned forward to try to help. "Wolves have a lot of pent up energy. They just need a release is all."

Hope blanched. That was not going to help.

Josie realized how her words sounded and blinked rapidly. "I mean, she spars with Ethan too."

"Her cousin," Clarke said, staring at Hope now. What exactly was going on with Rafael? He knew she was supposed to help him because she turned him into a hybrid. He knew he was loyal to her. He had known from before that Rafael used to have a thing for her but both Rafael and Hope had shut that down. So why was Lizzie bringing it up now like there was a problem he should be aware of?

Glass shattered suddenly and everyone looked at Lizzie.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow," Lizzie said, shaking her hand trying to dislodge the shards of glass. That's what happened when you clenched your water glass too tightly because you said the wrong thing and ruined everything.

"Oh my God," Hope exclaimed, "Are you okay?"

Caroline jumped up, grabbed a cloth napkin, and wrapped it around the base of her hand to catch the blood running down.

"I'll get some towels," Josie jumped up too and went running.

"Lizzie, honey," Caroline said, "I need you to hold still while I pull out the bigger shards. Ric, get some tweezers?" She started pulling out some of the larger pieces. Luckily it didn't look like any had gone in too deeply.

"On it," Alaric took off too.

"Should I get anything?" Hope asked, hovering out of her seat. "Ice or something?"

"No," Caroline shook her head. "I'm going to get the glass out first, then we'll clean it up and get it bandaged."

"Now I've totally ruined dinner too," Lizzie said, face crumbling as she looked at her hand. "Great."

"Dinner's not ruined," Caroline reassured her gently. "It just took an interesting turn."

Lizzie didn't know what had happened. She had said the absolute wrong thing.

"Hope, it just came out, I didn't mean…" She hadn't thought before she spoke. She thought she was getting better at that. She closed her eyes tightly and the other glasses on the table trembled. What was happening? She hadn't felt this out of control in a long time.

"Hey, hey," Hope immediately reached out for her other hand. "It's okay, alright? No worries. We're all good, right?" She looked at Ryan, pleading with him to agree for Lizzie's sake.

"Right," he agreed, though the look he gave her let her know he wasn't going to drop the matter.

Sighing, she looked back at Lizzie who had calmed down a little and was staring at her hand again. "See? It'll all be okay."

She was worried though. This wasn't close to any of Lizzie's full blown episodes, but it had been a long time since she lost it. And it was one of the first times she remembered Lizzie accidentally hurting herself in the process.

Josie returned with a couple towels and Caroline took one.

"I'm gonna go see what's taking Ric," Caroline said, wrapping a fresh towel around Lizzie's hand. "Lizzie, come with me... and, Ryan?"

"Yes?" he asked.

"Don't go anywhere," she practically demanded. "I want to talk to you after dinner."

"Sure…" He knew there had to be a catch. It wasn't like he had anything better to do though, not once he had to leave.

Hope and Clarke suddenly found themselves alone at the table, everyone else rushing to take care of the fairer twin.

"You gonna tell me what that was about?" Clarke asked.

She looked at the blood stained napkin on top of Lizzie's plate where the larger shards of glass rested.

"Lizzie has some… issues. She's working on them."

"I meant Rafael," he said. He already knew all about Lizzie Saltzman and her mental health. He had read all of the student files when he was pretending to be headmaster.

"Oh," she sighed.

"Well?" he asked.

"I spar with Rafael and Ethan, you know that," she said.

"Why would Lizzie think Rafael would try to touch you?" he asked.

"He wouldn't," she said firmly. "I just told her I only ever spar with both of them. That I wouldn't spar with Rafael alone."

"Why not?"

"Because I know he still likes me, and I feel more comfortable when other people are around," she explained.

"Do I have anything to worry about?" he had to ask. Why wouldn't she just tell him that before? Why was he finding out from her best friend? Who had then apologized for telling him like it was some big secret?

She frowned. "Why would you have anything to worry about?"

"Hope."

"No!" she denied. "He's a friend who is going through something no one else at school ever has. I'm helping him, but he is always very respectful to me. He's not anything you need to worry about. I make sure someone else is around more for you, so I'm not spending alone time with someone I know likes me even though I will never like him the same way. Okay?" She hastened to reassure him, grabbing his hand.

"Okay," he said softly, threading his fingers through hers.

"I'm…gonna go check on Lizzie," she said, feeling flustered at having to explain herself. She knew he sometimes got jealous, she had been jealous before too, but she really hoped he would just accept her words as truth.

"Okay," he said again, letting her hand go slowly.

He watched her leave.

He trusted her completely, but he didn't trust the hybrid.

If she said everything was fine, he believed her…but he had been around long enough to know what she believed might not be the truth.


Caroline breezed back into the room a little while later and found him relaxing in a lounge chair.

"The girls are seeing to Lizzie," she explained. "In the meantime, there's something I wanted to discuss with you. Ric may be along shortly too. Bourbon?"

She removed the decanter to pour one for herself and waited for his reply.

He nodded.

"Picked the most comfortable seat I see," she said, settling on the sofa across from him.

"Always preferred this one," he said, accepting the glass from her.

"Right, right," she pursed her lips, knowing immediately he meant from his time as headmaster.

"You're obviously good at taking charge and getting what you want," Caroline said, alluding to that time. She would've been impressed if it hadn't been her school he bamboozled.

He inclined his head.

"Well, so am I," she said. "And I'm always looking for new ways to help the students here, which includes smoothly transitioning them into the world after graduation."

He nearly laughed. He knew exactly what she wanted.

She could see the amused look on his face. "Now, hear me out."

"It's not going to happen, not the way you want anyway."

"The students here have been working on self control, learning everything about themselves so that they'll be ready to go into the world and eventually find jobs. Some of them have already shown that they enjoy fighting for a good cause."

"Are you finished?" he asked.

"Not yet," she admonished. "Your organization captures creatures, erases them from existence, yes, but you still can't capture the protected species. And you know those are just as bad, if not worse, than most of the creatures you face. Having a few wolves, vamps, or witches on your team would go a long way to taking care of the troublesome ones without putting the humans on your team in danger."

"Until one of those humans gets injured and finds themselves vamp food for the very vampire sent to watch their back. Or until a wolf has to cut a mission short because there's going to be a full moon and they have to go chain themselves up," he replied.

Caroline sighed.

"Witches? Okay, maybe," he said. "If you can find one who wouldn't mind taking out another witch. Even now we have a very delicate case searching for a witch that keeps causing trouble and getting away. While we have some witch contacts, we don't have any operatives. An operative would need all the details of the mission, a contact doesn't. Would a witch operative help or hinder our efforts? What if it were someone in their coven? Or a sister one?"

"I get it, I get it," Caroline said.

"You're asking me to hire untrained supernaturals at an organization that's very purpose is to protect the world from supernaturals. That won't do much for morale."

"You know you can do anything you want," she said.

"I do the smart thing," he said. "I don't put lives in jeopardy more than the job entails. And I don't take children on missions."

"Then train them," she said. "We can look into building the extra facilities needed here. A new branch of the school, a place for recruits to train for anything they might face."

"No."

"You won't consider it?" she asked hopefully.

"I respect what you're doing here, it's a great school, and there are plenty of ways to help these kids," he said. "The answer isn't me."

"Well," Caroline sighed. "At least I tried. If you ever reconsider…"

He shook his head.

The only supernatural—besides himself—he would ever consider being a part of the organization was Hope. She had been his partner before, and she would be his partner again—if she wanted to be.


Hope finally returned to him soon after the meeting ended, and she walked him out to the car, her face worried.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"I'm worried about Lizzie," she said.

"She's done things like this before," he said.

"But she was getting so much better…" she said. "I just…"

"How is this any different?" he asked.

"I just have this bad feeling," she said.

"Like a premonition?" he asked. "Did you have another one?"

"No…" she shook her head. "Not really. Not yet." There was that dream she had after the battle with Malivore, but she had convinced herself that was just a dream, not a premonition. And she definitely wasn't going to tell him about that.

"It's just a feeling," she said again. "You said before it might've been too late to stop the darkness even if we stop the merge…"

They reached his SUV.

"Hope," he turned to face her. "This was nothing compared to what she's done in the past. I've read her file remember? Her episodes get completely out of control. She destroyed the entire kitchen at the school once. Tonight she broke a glass. A single cup. If it was like before, she would've spun into a full blown episode and broken everything before anyone settled her down."

"I guess you're right," she said, biting her lip. "But what if it gets worse again? What if you were right before?"

"Then we'll help her," he said. "There are resources, and Triad has contacts. We'll find something."

"You'd do that?" she asked, startled. She figured putting up the portal was enough to make up for the debt he owed Lizzie. To do more…

"Yeah," he said, shrugging.

She grinned. "Darn right, you'd help her. She is your sister after all."

Rolling his eyes, he pulled her against him. "Just because my mother claimed her as an adopted child of earth doesn't mean she and I are related." He never should've told her what his mother said about the twins. She loved teasing him every chance she got.

"You like her though," she teased, looking up at him. "Admit it. As much as you guys bicker, deep down somewhere you guys don't completely hate each other."

"If I admit it, do I get a kiss goodbye?" he asked.

"Two even," she grinned.

He reached for her chin and tipped her head up, leaning down to capture his lips with hers.

From afar, near the entrance to the Salvatore school, Rafael swore and looked away, clenching his teeth.

He didn't understand what was going on with him. Twice today he stopped what he was doing and went where his feet led him, not even thinking about it.

It was that damn pull again. Something was making him seek her out when she was nearby, even when she wasn't that close.

Earlier, he found himself walking completely across the campus grounds where he nearly stumbled on them making out on a blanket in the woods.

Snapping back to reality, he had immediately turned around and gone back to the school. Seeing her with him made the aggression return again. But, more than that, he hated what was happening. He wasn't trying to spy on her.

Just like now. He spent the evening close to the headmaster's chambers, reminding himself he couldn't go in there, until he finally forced himself to walk away. Then he found himself walking to the front doors, spying on her in the parking lot.

He was starting to think it might be time to do what needed to be done to break the sire bond.

Whatever he could do to stop this weirdness with Hope, he needed to try.

The thought of changing into a wolf a hundred times though… all the pain that was ahead. Would he be able to do it?

He needed to talk to Landon first.

Maybe his brother could help him figure out another way.


To be continued…