Author's Note: Chapter 2! Finally got around to finishing What's Left Inside so I decided to update this one. This chapter basically picks off right after Lizzie's goes and drags Hope off to hang out with her in S02E06. Enjoy.


Waiting Game

"If I spend any time with Josie then I will inevitably blow your secret. If you want to protect her from heartbreak then you're stuck with me." Lizzie said, trying to convince Hope to give in and hang out with her. The fact that Josie had left for Richmond last night and there was zero danger of her actually spending time with her twin was beside the point.

"Okay," Hope said, shrugging her shoulders and giving in. It wasn't like she had really been planning to do much more than find excuses to stay near the portal.

"Oh don't be like that. You need to do something besides fight monsters and brood anyways." Lizzie said, dragging Hope along with her after they climbed out from under the table. Hope might not have noticed that Landon and Rafael were there but she had and had no intention of letting them derail her plans for the day.

"I do other..." Hope started before pausing, "I don't brood."

"...you were going to say you do other stuff but couldn't actually think of anything weren't you?" Lizzie pointed out, smirking at how Hope squirmed as she hit the nail on the head. "You need a hobby."

"I had a hobby." Hope countered, walking beside Lizzie as they headed into town. She had no idea where they were going, or if Lizzie even had somewhere in mind, but she didn't really care. It was a nice October Saturday and for the first time in ages she didn't have to worry about a monster showing up.

"No, you had a hobbit. I said hobby." Lizzie said, smiling far to widely at her own joke as Hope rolled her eyes.

"What I actually need is lunch, I'm starving." Hope said, deciding that should be her first priority.

"It's 11:30." Lizzie said, giving Hope a curious look. It was pretty early for them to be getting lunch.

"Yeah well, I've been out here all night and I'm part werewolf. So buy me some food first, then you can tell me what torture you have planned for today." Hope said, taking Lizzie's arm and forcefully pulling her in the direction of the Mystic Grill.


"And you said you didn't want anything." Hope smirked, watching as Lizzie stole more of her fries. Not that she actually minded, having ordered double because she suspected that would happen, but it did amuse her.

"Shut up," Lizzie said, throwing a fry at Hope's face that the girl caught with ease. Stupid supernatural reflexes.

Smiling Hope just shook her head before eating the fry she had caught, no point in letting good food go to waste. Looking for the waitress she caught her eye and waved her over, "I'm getting a milkshake, you want one?"

"No, get an extra straw though." Lizzie replied, reaching over and stealing another fry to replace the one she'd thrown.

"What? No. Get your own shake." Hope protested, not seeing any reason to share more of her food with Lizzie.

"Actually, I will. You probably have terrible taste anyways." Lizzie said, turning to the waitress as she walked up and getting her order in ahead of Hope's.

"Really? Just vanilla?" Hope said after ordering her usual, not having expected Lizzie to go with something so plain.

"It's a classic for a reason." Lizzie pointed out, Hope just shaking her head. "It's better than yours, why do you need your shake to be upside down?"

"Don't knock it until you've tried it," Hope defended.

"Fine, guess you are sharing then." Lizzie replied, smirking as she saw the look of suspicion on Hope's face. One way or another she would get what she wanted, and what she currently wanted was to mess with Hope by stealing her food. Some days it really was about the simple things in life.

"Hope!" A cheery female voice said, Lizzie turning to see an unfamiliar girl walking over to them. She was pretty, very pretty, with dark hair and dark eyes that lit up as she looked Hope over.

"Maya, hey." Hope replied, smiling as her friend came over. "I was wondering if I'd see you."

"I had detention this morning. Only came by here to pick up some lunch before heading to cheer practice." Maya said, shrugging and gesturing to the Mystic Falls school bag that had her cheer uniform in it. Finally taking notice of the girl that was at the table with Hope, she extended a hand to her. "Oh, hi. I'm Maya."

"Lizzie," Lizzie replied shortly, practically glaring at the girl. She was guessing that this was another friend of Hope's from the human school which was kind of shocking. Since when was Hope friendly?

Maya tilted her head slightly, wondering why the girl seemed upset with her. She guessed that she went to the Salvatore School as she didn't know her, and vaguely remembered seeing her at the game, but couldn't think of a reason for her apparent dislike. Stepping back as the waitress brought over a pair of milkshakes for the girls an idea came to her, "Oh, I'm not intruding on your date am I?"

Hope nearly choked on the milkshake she had just taken a sip of, "What? No, no. We're just friends." She clarified, Lizzie doing nothing to help matters as she simply smirked at her, calmly sipping on her own milkshake.

"I thought we had something special," Lizzie said, fluttering her eyelashes at Hope. That got Maya to laugh, Lizzie giving her a slight smile. Ok maybe she wasn't that bad.

"So how do you two know each other? Because Hope isn't... um..." Maya said, struggling how to describe Hope. She was hard to describe, she didn't even seem like she really went to the school, instead just dropping in when she felt like it.

"Friendly? Affable? Sociable?" Lizzie offered, knowing what Maya meant.

"You two know I'm right here right?" Hope said, narrowing her eyes at the two. God help her if somehow Maya and Lizzie became friends. Maya was nowhere near as bad as Lizzie but she enjoyed teasing her as well and if they teamed up... well there was a portal to a hell dimension not that far away.

"Obviously, that's what makes it fun." Lizzie informed her, getting Maya to laugh. "And I know Hope because she used to go to the Salvatore School."

"What? You never told me that." Maya said, looking at Hope curiously. She knew the girl was reluctant to open up but she thought Hope would have mentioned she used to go to the rich kid's school.

"It never really came up?" Hope tried, the look Maya gave her telling her that she didn't buy it.

"She got expelled," Lizzie chimed in, Maya turning to look at her as her jaw dropped.

"Lizzie!" Hope exclaimed, not believing what the girl was doing. Being the new kid who happened to be friends with the star QB and head cheerleader already brought her more attention than she wanted. Being the new kid who got expelled from the private school would be even worse.

"Hey you were the one that kept getting into fights." Lizzie continued, quite clearly enjoying herself. "Not to mention all those times you just ditched class or left the school altogether."

"I hate you." Hope said while glaring at Lizzie. Technically everything Lizzie had said was true, she had just left out a few important details. Details that she couldn't exactly tell Maya either.

Lizzie just smiled, taking another sip of her shake while Maya looked between them, able to tell that there was more to what Lizzie had said but not knowing what. "Honestly I would have thought the boots would be a give away. Have you ever seen anyone that wasn't a delinquent wear boots to school?" Lizzie continued, smirking as she saw Hope and Maya both glance down to the boots the tribrid was wearing.

"Delinquent wasn't really the vibe I got." Maya admitted, well acquainted with the type thanks to being somewhat of one herself. There was a different vibe she'd gotten, one she was still trying to decide if it was accurate or just wishful thinking on her end.

"Don't listen to Lizzie. It only feeds her ego." Hope retorted, Lizzie just rolling her eyes back at her slightly.

"Well as much as I'd like to stay and hear more about this, I do have to get to practice. And then take Ethan to therapy after." Maya said, sighing at the reminder of her brother's injury. "Another time?"

"Sure. Just don't expect any crazy stories, Lizzie like to exaggerate." Hope said, giving Maya a smile as she moved to leave.

"Oh, and Hope?" Maya said, pausing a few feet away. "If you decide you would rather be on date, just ask. I won't say no." Throwing Hope a wink to sell her point she turned to leave, leaving a rather surprised Hope and Lizzie behind her.

Watching Maya leave Lizzie's gaze narrowed, turning to a glare. "Seriously? How did you get the two hottest people at the muggle school to fall for you so quickly?"

"I have no idea." Hope admitted, resisting the urge to slam her head on the table. If she had been a normal girl she probably would have been thrilled to have either Ethan or Maya interested in her. They had both been great friends to her in the short time she'd known them and she'd be lying if she said she didn't find them attractive. But humans getting involved with her was bound to end in disaster so she had to keep her distance, for their sake.

"What is with you and siblings? First Landon and Raf, now Ethan and Maya. Not to mention Josie an..." Lizzie said, before stopping suddenly as she realized what she had been about to say.

"And you?" Hope finished smirking at Lizzie. She didn't really believe that Lizzie had ever had a crush on her but if Lizzie wanted to set her up like that she was going to take it.

"Keep dreaming," Lizzie deflected, rolling her eyes at Hope. "But you know what they say, twice is a coincidence, three time is a pattern."

"I can't control someone having a crush on me, Lizzie." Hope pointed out, Lizzie shrugging as she conceded the point. "And how did you even know Maya was Ethan's sister? It was kind of a shock when I found out."

"Umm, I actually listen to people?" Lizzie replied, Hope simply rolling her eyes in response. "I was sitting in the stands while you were out there failing at football. People talk. Also how are you so bad at sports? You're literally superhuman."

Hope shook her head at that, wishing she could forget her performance in that game as well. "You try playing sports while having to hold back that much. I have no idea how any of the vampires manage to do it."

"What made you want to be QB then?" Lizzie asked, having been wondering how Hope had ended up in that spot. She had never participated in the game the previous years, and had only had the excuse of being attacked by a dragon for one of them.

"That was Maya and Ethan's doing. I made a joke about going out for the football team, he apparently told Maya, and together they decided to torture me." Hope said, filling Lizzie in on how it had happened. At least that was the theory she was working with, having done her best to appear as unassuming as possible while at school.

"And then you faked an injury to get out of it?" Lizzie said, having seen the clearly fake injury Hope had limped off with.

"Landon didn't tell you?" Hope asked tilting her head curiously at Lizzie.

"He probably did. Doesn't mean I was listening." Lizzie admitted with a shrug. She remembered Landon showing up with Rafael the day after the game, and some whining about the monsters being back but hadn't payed it much attention. If Landon had been able to deal with the monster then clearly it wasn't worth worrying about. "...wait a minute, you were the one that turned Raf back? And killed the monster? I knew the garden gnome wasn't that competent."

"You really don't let up on him do you? He actually did kill the shunka." Hope said, a half smile on her face as she looked at Lizzie. Granted that had only been because Raf had put an arrow through it's chest while she had been busy distracting it, but it still counted. Though throwing herself at a monster five times her size that specialized in hunting werewolves had not been her best plan, and had resulted in more broken bones than she'd been willing to count. Still it had worked and it wasn't like she could have let Raf distract it, she had healed in a matter of minutes, Raf would not have been so lucky.

"Nope. And I'm not planning to." Lizzie replied instantly, not seeing any reason why she should. Sure he helped with research some, and was very handy if you wanted to stab someone, but that was it. He could still do both of those and not be at the center of a love triangle. Then she'd might be less prone to stabbing him at the first chance she got. "Now why don't you pay and let's get out of here?"

"Pay with what Lizzie?" Hope asked, narrowing her gaze at the girl. She had told Lizzie that she was the one buying lunch earlier. "I was erased from memory, remember? Can't exactly go to the ATM and make a withdraw." Well not a second time anyways. She had when she'd first gotten back but the accounts had been frozen afterwards and she had used everything she had initially withdrawn already.

"That... is a good point." Lizzie allowed, speaking slowly as she thought about it. Hope had never acted like it but she was loaded, as in enough money to fund the entire school several times over loaded. The fact that swan diving into Malivore had changed that had been missed by her until now. "Well I didn't bring any money."

"Lizzie! You drove here. Did you really not bring a purse or something?" Hope said, not believing this.

"Of course I did," Lizzie said, rolling her eyes. She wasn't an idiot. "But Daddy won't let me or Josie have any cards of our own, only cash. Personally I think it's his was of making sure we remain dependent on him."

"Then use cash," Hope said, not seeing what the problem was.

"I did. To buy gas. And Starbucks." Lizzie said, wincing slightly as she remembered spending the last of her money on overpriced coffee. "I have like two dollars."

"...ugh," Hope groaned, letting her head fall into her hands before taking a look around. There weren't too many people around at least. Focusing she flicked her wrist to the side, sending a garbage bin on the opposite side of the patio flying, drawing everyone's attention to it. "Invisique."

"And you said you weren't a delinquent," Lizzie said softly, Hope able to tell that she was smirking at her despite the invisibility spell she had just cast over them. Not bothering with a response Hope just turned and headed for Lizzie's car, wanting to get out of there before they got caught. She'd come back and pay later, or better yet make Lizzie come back and pay. This was her fault after all.


An hour later and the girls were back at Alaric's, having not exactly been able to do anything else thanks to their complete lack of money. Hope was sitting against the armrest of the couch Dr. Saltzman had bought after Lizzie's complaints the last time she was here. She had her feet pulled up onto it, her sketchbook balanced against her knees as she drew while Lizzie was sitting on the opposite side, her legs folded underneath her as she pretended to read a book.

Peering over her sketchbook book again Hope smiled, seeing that Lizzie had still yet to turn a page in it, her eyes instead locked on the TV across the room. "You know you can just watch the game, I don't care."

"What? No, I don't care about it." Lizzie said, quickly redirecting her attention back to the book she was definitely reading.

"Really?" Hope said, shaking her head slightly at Lizzie's behavior. Lizzie had turned the TV on while she was getting her sketchbook and it had just happened to be on the football game. Which she hadn't found suspicious as it was a Saturday in October, football was on every channel. What she hadn't expected was for Lizzie to clearly be watching the game, much less while trying to hide the fact that she was. "Hey Georgia just scored."

"What?!" Lizzie said, her head jerking up, realizing quickly she'd been had as she saw Georgia still backed up on the wrong side of the fifty yard-line and heard Hope laughing at her. Deciding to give up on the pretense as Hope had clearly seen through her, she tossed the book to the side before reaching for the remote and turning the game up enough for her to hear.

"I don't know why you were trying to hide it anyways. I don't care if you want to watch the game." Hope said, not paying attention to the TV as anything more than background noise anyways.

"It's embarrassing. How many supernaturals do you know that like sports?" Lizzie said, her eyes glancing over to Hope for a moment.

"Kaleb. Rafael. I'm pretty sure the entire Crescent pack are Saints fans." Hope said, listing them off as they came to mind.

"Ok, how many witches do you know that are then?" Lizzie asked, cutting Hope off as she started listing them. That had been what she had been getting at anyways.

"Umm..." Hope mused, not able to think of any at the school. Back home she imagined there were plenty as it was New Orleans, but it wasn't like she really knew any of them.

"Actually why am I even asking you? You can't name more than three witches from the school." Lizzie asked, Hope opening her mouth to protest before realizing she actually couldn't. "Point is that the only people growing up that cared about football were my Dad and Josie. So I got used to pretending I didn't care."

"You do that a lot. Pretend not to care." Hope said, a little surprised at Lizzie being so honest with her.

"Yeah, well it's easier." Lizzie said, deliberately ignoring the look Hope was giving her. It wasn't doubt or pity, but something a lot closer to understanding than she really wanted to think about.

For a moment Hope thought about pressing Lizzie on it, before deciding it wasn't her place to do so. Instead she returned her attention to her sketchbook, idly drawing in it. Even as she tried to focus on it though she kept finding herself distracted by Lizzie. The girl was completely focused on the game now, and every few minutes she would visibly react to it, rolling her eyes when something went wrong, or giving a tiny fist pump when something good happened. At first she had clearly been trying to restrain herself but as time went on she became more animated, no longer seeming to care that Hope was there.

Shaking her head to clear it, Hope returned to her drawing, muttering a quiet spell to change the color of her pencil as she hadn't wanted to buy a new set of art supplies. The shade of blue she wanted was tricky anyways and this way it would match what was in her memories. "Yes!" Lizzie yelled suddenly, clapping her hands together and getting Hope to jump in her seat. "Come on, go go... Ugh, dammit. So close."

Hope couldn't help it anymore and laughed, a soft sound that got Lizzie to turn to her, blushing as she remembered Hope was there. "I'm guessing your not a Georgia fan then?" Hope said, watching the replay as the Georgia QB was intercepted on the goal line and had it returned almost for a touchdown before being tackled just short.

"I don't really care to be honest. But they're playing Liberty, who isn't good." Lizzie said, explaining herself. She wasn't really a fan of any one team, she just loved the game and liked to see insane upsets. "Liberty winning is about as likely as Landon beating you in a fight."

"Or about as likely as the two of us sitting around watching football?" Hope retorted, giving Lizzie a half smile as she did. She had just been adjusting to being friends with the blonde before she'd erased herself and it still surprised her how easy it was for them to fall back into what they'd had before.

"I'm watching football, you're drawing what I can only assume is another emo picture of the hobbit." Lizzie taunted, shifting to face Hope as the game went to half-time. God she really hoped she wasn't actually drawing Landon, she just didn't know what Hope would actually be drawing.

"Hey, you're the one that said I didn't have a hobby." Hope pointed out, laughing as Lizzie rolled her eyes and glared off to the side. "And it's not of Landon."

"Oh?" Lizzie said, perking up at that. "Who is it of then?"

"Who says it has to be of anyone?" Hope asked, glancing down at what she had been working on. There truly wasn't anyone featured, not yet at least. She had been working on the background first, trying to get the lighting on the floating embers right.

Lizzie's eyes narrowed suspiciously at that, not believing for a moment what Hope was saying. She'd been smiling far too much while working on it for it not to be of someone. Before she could really focus on it though or try to get the truth out of Hope the sound of the door opening got her attention. "Hi Daddy."

"Lizzie? I wasn't expecting you today." Alaric said, adjusting the groceries he was carrying to hide just how little of it was actual food.

"She's decided to spend the day torturing me." Hope said, letting Dr. Saltzman now that she was there as well.

"Hope? I thought you were guarding the portal?" Dr. Saltzman said, looking between his daughter and Hope curiously.

"I was-" Hope started, before Lizzie cut her off.

"She was too busy flirting and a zombie got through. But then I caught it and we locked it up so everything is fine." Lizzie said, filling her father in on her version of what had happened, Hope rolling her eyes as she did. "So now she's free to hang out with me for the day."

"Right..." Alaric said slowly, feeling that he was missing a good part of the story. Hope had told him that Lizzie's memories had been restored, and they'd been looking into how, but it was still strange to see her be so comfortable with someone he didn't remember. Sighing he moved to the fridge, starting to put away the groceries he had bought. "So you two are friends?"

"In spite of all my objections," Hope said, wincing as Lizzie kicked her in the thigh for that jab. "Ow."

"You erased yourself from everyone's memory. You don't get to have objections." Lizzie said, not wanting to hear it. There was a ring of truth to what Hope had said, as it had been partly because of her pushing them away that her and Josie hadn't become friends with her sooner. That and arson.

"Speaking of objections, why wasn't I given a chance to object to my sixteen-year-old daughter going to Richmond for the weekend?" Alaric asked, turning from the fridge to give his other daughter a stern look. He was far from thrilled to have found that out through text.

"Because you would have objected?" Lizzie pointed out, giving a slight shrug of her shoulders. "Josie left last night anyways, so you're a little late to do the whole disapproving Dad bit."

"Oh I can still be disapproving when she gets back, let me assure you of that." Alaric said, placing the alcohol he had bought under the sink where it would be less obvious. "What's she doing in Richmond anyways?"

"No idea." Lizzie said, shrugging and turning in her seat to face the TV as she heard play start to resume. "I didn't ask."

"Of course you didn't," Alaric said softly enough that Lizzie wouldn't hear him. "I take it you're staying here tonight?"

"That's the plan." Lizzie replied, glancing over at Hope to see if the girl was going to say anything. She'd been unusually quiet ever since her Dad had come home.

"Ok, well any objections to hamburgers for dinner?" Alaric asked, not getting any from either of the girls. At least Lizzie being there didn't really change his plans for dinner, she was a far less picky eater than Josie was and he'd already needed to cook enough for four given how much Hope ate. And it'd be nice to have a real family meal for change, or at least as close to it as he could get at the moment.


"Ok out with it," Lizzie said, calling out Hope finally. It was late, they were getting ready for bed, and Hope had been in an abnormally good mood all night. It was starting to freak her out.

"Out with what?" Hope said, an all too sweet smile stretched across her face.

"Whatever it is that has had you grinning all night," Lizzie said, sliding under the covers of her side of the mattress. At least Hope wasn't being weird about sharing the bed with her this time, although part of that might've been because she was actually wearing shorts this time.

"So Josie's in Richmond, right?" Hope asked, getting a slow nod from Lizzie that she could make out in the dim light of the room. "Which means that you didn't need to hang out with me to keep from telling her anything. You did so because you wanted too."

"That's..." Lizzie started to protest before trailing off. Dammit, she had completely forgot about giving Hope that bullshit excuse earlier. It had seemed like a good idea at the time, and a nice justification for her having come and found Hope so early in the day. "Shut up."

Hope laughed at that, knowing that Lizzie didn't have any way to counter her. "Personally I find it sweet that the first thing you did after catching a zombie was to come find me so we could spend the day together."

"Ugh, it was a temporary lapse of sanity that I now regret." Lizzie retorted, not liking being on the other side of the teasing.

"Uh huh, I'm sure." Hope replied as she got into bed, her tone clearly indicating how little she believed that. She had been a bit focused on the other news Lizzie had brought her but she hadn't missed how excited Lizzie had looked at being able to spend the day together.

"Maybe I was just taking pity on you because no one else actually remembers you?" Lizzie retorted, instantly regretting it as she saw Hope's face fall. That was stupid, why had she said that? Oh, right, because her mouth was connected directly to her brain sometimes. "Dammit! I didn't mean to say that."

"Did you mean it though?" Hope asked, the playfulness from earlier gone as she turned onto her side to lock eyes with Lizzie.

"Of course not," Lizzie answered immediately. "My brain just doesn't work right sometimes. See the time I hallucinated a boyfriend if you want a recent example."

"Right..." Hope replied slowly, not too sure if she believed her. It wasn't like her to be so sensitive to, well to anything really. But being forgotten by everyone she loved had hurt more than she was willing to tell anyone.

"Hope, I could have done anything I wanted today. And I did. It's really that simple." Lizzie said, onto her side so she could see Hope better. She had been standing in the common room with a smoldering zombie at her feet, MG, Kaleb, and (for some reason she didn't understand) Kaleb's sister nearby and realized that the only person she had wanted to be with wasn't there. So she had left the cleanup to them and went to find Hope. "And honestly I'm leaning towards doing the same thing tomorrow."

"Oh, and who says I don't already have plans?" Hope teased, giving Lizzie a smile to let her know she was joking. It meant a lot to her that Lizzie had just wanted to hang out with her, and still wanted too. She had never really had a friend to do that with.

"Whatever. You know you have nothing better to do than hang out with me." Lizzie said, hoping that was actually true. Given what she'd seen today she'd wager that there were at least two other people that'd be more than willing to do a lot more than just hang out with Hope.

Hope just kind of shrugged at that, before using her magic to flip with last light off and settling in too actually get to sleep. There were probably a few better uses of her time than hanging out with Lizzie, such as keeping an eye on the portal or figuring out how her memories returned. But those problems would be there Monday as well, she could let herself take another day off, "Fine, if you insist."


Lizzie yawned as she trudged up to the main doors of the Salvatore School. It was too damn early for her to be up but she needed a new change of clothes. Then she could head back and climb back into the warm, comfortable bed she had vacated. Although the reason it had been so warm and comfortable might have gotten up by the time she got back.

"Wow, it's not the first time I've seen you doing the walk of shame but I think this might be the worse one yet." Came a voice from behind Lizzie, getting the blonde to groan as she recognized Alyssa' voice. "Been reduced to going for the human's now?"

"Fuck off Chang," Lizzie snapped, not wanting to deal with the bitch this early in the morning. Or ever.

"Great comeback," Alyssa taunted, pushing past Lizzie and entering the school first. Unlike Lizzie she was a morning person and after completing her morning run in a pretty great mood. "Somehow you're actually not the worst looking thing I've seen today. But only because the other guy looked like he had been dropped in a vat of acid."

Lizzie stood there a moment before what Alyssa said caught up to her. Letting out a groan she resisted the urge to bang her head into the side of the door. Part of her wanted to ignore it, to go back to her dad's and crawl into bed with Hope and pretend she hadn't heard anything. But she knew she couldn't actually do that. Realizing all her plans for a relaxing morning and simple day off were ruined she let out a loud groan, "Ugh... Dammit! Fine, where did you find the dead guy?" Being the good guy really wasn't worth it sometimes.


Author's Note: So two things really amused me when I rewatched this episode. One, it starts with Josie in New Orleans, which means not only was she not in Mystic Falls but had probably been gone for at least a day given the travel time. So no real need for Lizzie to need to hang out with Hope to avoid her twin. And second, it's quite clearly a different day when they learn of the Croatoan, like it shows a night in between and they're all wearing different outfits and everything. So Lizzie just really wanted to spend time with Hope, and made up a reason to do so. Anyways this was fun to write, and I'll try to update sooner next time. No promises though, as I really need to update Hanging On By A Thread first. Usual stuff, leave reviews cause I love those, follow, favorite, etc.